Your'e so square (Mojo 238)

 What a fun concept!  I have a little bit of order and on top of that a lots of chaos.  I LOVED this sketch!

This layout is very much my life...there is a plan of order but then on the top is a mass of ramblings and flying by the seat of the pants.  There is me trying to have order and everything all planned out, but then there are the others in my life that don't plan anything that just kind of throw things together and it works. 

Enjoy!

All patterned papers are by K&Co
All inks (with the exception of the black ink) are Distress inks
Black ink is Ranger
All ribbon is by Making Memories
Scalloped border is the trash from a K&Co sticker border (I just colored it red with fired brick distress inks)
Bingo number and domino by 7 gypsies
Chipboard by Technique Tuesday (Technique Tiles)
Butterfly by K&Co
flowers by creative memories
grunge tag by Tim Holtz
paper clip by Making Memories
sunflower found at my father in laws house

National Scrapbook Day by CM

On April 20 and 21 I was invited to the National Scrapbook event sponsored by our local Creative Memories ladies.  It was at the SportsPlex, which to me sounded like a very strange place to put on a scrapbook crop....turned out it was a great place. 

It was a crop where I got a lot of stuff done.  It was a very good atmosphere and there were some very friendly people.  The CM ladies gave away prizes, did some silent auctions and had a yard sale table.  But my favorite part was where they gave us free layouts and let us try out their CM tools.  Of course, I fell in love with the CM border punch (gonna have to get that one day).

Below are the things that I made over the course of the two full days.

I have confidence in paper scraps

This was a self imposed challenge.  Something to get my creatives waves flowing and something that I would not allow myself to spend bunches of time on.  I limited myself to 2 minutes per card and only to the papers, embellishments that were in a canvas box.  You can tell that I have been heavily influenced by the Titanic and once again that love has spilled over into my cards.

The first could have been a card that was in the writing room on the Titanic. Maybe the lady in the photo was a passenger.  Did she make it or not?  Quite possibly she did and this is a thank you card she sent to the captain of the Carpathia?????   

And the second card?  Maybe it is a photo from the newspaper articles written on the Titanic?  Maybe a photo of a family that did not make it?  Or a photo of a family where the kids survived and were now orphans?  

The last card is my favorite.  I think this girl is so happy to be doing whatever it is she is doing.  Maybe going on to a new life?  Marrying the man of her dreams?  Leaving Ireland for some greener pastures?   She is living her life NOW!

The stamp and the photo of the lady are by Tim Holtz.  All inks are by Tim Holtz.  The papers are scraps but they are combos of K&Co, Making Memories, and Recollections.  The Thank You stamp is by Fiskars. The flower stamp and pennant punch are by Stampin UP! String by DMC. 


What did I learn from this challenge?  That sometimes art doesn't have to take all day to be nice.  That sometimes I should trust my instincts and just go with my intuition while crafting.  Be confident in myself. 

Today I had a Bible verse on my mind, it might have something to do with my creations...it might just be another of my ramblings....Philippians 1:6
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Today...utter sorrow clouded by utter joy

Today is one of those very tough days for me...let me tell you a story.

January 2001, we were living in Little Rock, Arkansas.  I get a phone call very late at night that my dear father-in-law was ill.  I go to the TV station and get John and we make the most miserable trip to KY we had ever made.  John made the 5.5-hour drive in a record 3 hours!!!

On the way there he says "this is not going to work, I can't lose one of my parents and be this far away from them".  So literally the next week when we returned to our home in Little Rock, John began searching for a new job closer to home.  It was not long later that a job (and a big pay cut later)..... we were packing up the family and moving too little and I do mean LITTLE Paducah, KY.

For the next eleven years, we enjoyed their company, have taken care of them, many trips to Mayfield, many trips to doctors, and many vacations cut short, while we have cared for them.

Today is just one of those days that I miss him.  I have talked to him almost daily since 2001.  I saw him almost every weekend.  I missed the money that we once made in Little Rock, I missed being a stay at home mom (as I could be in LR and could NOT in KY); but it was worth it to be with him.

I am not handling things as he would want them done today and I hate that.  I feel that he would be let down. I am praying and trying.  It's not happening.  I am just trying to focus on the fact that he is now pain-free.  That he is rejoicing in his heavenly reward.

the last photos taken of Henry when he was not in the hospital.  He did not feel well  this day.  It was the second to the last time he was in my house.  The last time was February 4, 2012.  I sat with him while John and his mom went to Ft Campbell. 

Death is sad for the living and today is just one of those sad days and now that I have depressed you. I am sorry, I promise to fix that....come back.

Blessed!!!

Today's posting is all about choices.  I was thinking about the choices that I have made.  I guess in friends.  I was thinking about friendship and the people that were there for me when Henry (Grandpa) died.  There were some people that I expected to come to the visitation and did not.  Then there were those that I thought might come but would not and they DID!  Then there were those that true friends.  Friends I have had for over 20 years.  Friends I feel like I have let down in the past and won't do that again.  God has shown me much in the last two weeks.  He has shown me that I can do things that I did not think I could.  He gave me the ability to tell someone I love that it was okay to quit fighting.  He gave me the ability to promise I would care for my mother-in-law and mean it.  He comforted us during a very hard spring break.  He gave my mother-in-law a blissfully aware attitude to be able to cope with the funeral.  And He showed me that I have put my trust and love in the wrong place.  That I needed to shift what I was doing and who I was doing it with and realize that I have made the right choices by following His will and I need to continue to do so.  I am going to try not to look back at mistakes I have made but look ahead to the good that I can do.  I am have made so many boo-boos, I should learn from them and not repeat them.  I intend to do just that.  I am focusing on truth and not falsehoods.  

I am blessed!!!

To get the looks below:

Patterned paper-K&Co I believe it's Bailey

Pink card stock- open stock from Hobby Lobby

Cream card stock-Bazzil

Doily from a local supermarket

Pocket watch chipboard-Bo Bunny

Ink-Distress inks in Spun Sugar, Frayed Burlap,and Old Paper

Flower from something my father-in-law bought from Publisher's Clearing House

Girl stamp-Hot off the Press Vintage Ladies

Butterfly Chipboard-Oriental Trading

Stickles-Distress Stickles in Picket Fence, Spun Sugar, Vintage Photo, Black Soot and Gold

 

Titanic---100 years later

I have followed the Titanic since I was a very small child.  I have been obsessed with the ins and outs of the ship, the what-ifs, the makeup of the ship and just the ship in general.  The Titanic helped to fuel my love for massive ocean liners and my deep desire to sail all the time.

Today marks the 100th year of the sinking of the history-making ocean liner.  All-day yesterday I followed the real-time events. I just wanted to see how I would react when it hit that "100 years mark".  I felt just as I thought I would.  I was very sad.  I had a tear in my eye and I could not help but think "what were those people thinking about and doing at that very minute".  It was a horrible feeling when the clock struck 2:20.

I decided to do a layout based on a Titanic timeline.  This one features a History Channel timeline.  While it doesn't contain all the facts, it does offer a wonderful representation of the events that lead up to the sinking.  It was also formatted in a PERFECT way.  Around the timeline I have placed photos of the ship....then and now.

Then I added my collage.  My college sums it all up on April 15, 1912, at 2:20 am.  The only thing wrong was that the calendar I used had the 15th on a Saturday when it was a Sunday.  I used an image from a pad of Tim Holtz's paper.  The little boy looks like he could have sailed on that ship, maybe in third class. Boy does that make you think.  The gears can be something that could have been in a machine room.  The fabric could have been from a chair in a first-class lounge.

What did I do the exact moment?  I said a prayer for all.

Keeping it going!

I promised that I was going to be more gracious this year and send cards as much as I could.  I feel that I am keeping this promise.  This week I have to send some thank you cards. Since I can't stand to do things like everyone else, I decided I MUST send some unique cards.  I am so grateful to the love that everyone has shown me the last few days.  I hope that my cards will let everyone know exactly how honored I am for everything that they have done for us.  

All paper used to make these cards are from my scrapbin.  All inks are by Tim Holtz (Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed).  The punches and die cuts are made by Stampin UP!.  The Thank You stamp is made by Fiskars.