Library of Memories

I am taking an online class with Stay Julian and Big Picture Scrapbooking called Library of Memories and I have been really busy organizing my photos on my computer and the photos I have printed. I can tell this will really pay off because it is sparking my creativity and giving me lots of ideas to scrap. I also backed up all of my photos stored on my computer. I have been meaning to do that forever and this class has really inspired me to stay on top of things. I am sort of an organization freak anyway so this has been really fun. The only down side of this is that I haven't been scrappin much and I was really missing it. So tonight I pulled out a couple of pages that my cousin and I did in Memphis at Archiver's in a class. All I had to do was add photos so it was easy. I don't like to do a blog post without pictures so there you go! I hope everyone has a great week!

By the way Stacy has a new book out that tells all about the Library of Memories System. I'm sure Brandi at Scrapbook Addiction will be glad to order it for anyone interested.

Easter

We sang this song this morning at 1st Baptist Church and I just love the words so I thought I would post them on this beautiful Easter day. The song is called "On The Third Day" with words and music by Matt Maher and Marc Byrd.

"On The Third Day"

Creation brings an offering as autumn leaves turn to gold.
The trees bow down in highest praise, now made bare before your throne.
The western sky is an amber blaze at the end of the day,
for everything must die to rise again.

The winter’s chill, a bitter cold, as sin and shame leave us to fall.
The clouds, now full of new born snow, for grace to come and save us all.
Within the darkest night of man was found Your saving hand
for everything must die to rise again.

On the third day, behold the King. On the third day, death has no sting.
On the third day, we’re forgiven and reconciled.

The earth, it groans in labor pains, as flowers stretch to heaven above.
Your creatures sing the prophet’s song to be a gift of selfless love.
The sun is rising in the east, and Your Spirit is unleashed,
for everything must die to rise again.

And so we wait in joyful hope for You to come and take us home.
And so we join beneath the cross in suffering, from whence we go.
The greatest act of sovereign grace in the universe displayed
for everything must die to rise again.

On the third day, the saints rejoice! On the third day, we lift our voice!
On the third day, we’re united and glorified



Happy Easter Everyone!

My Sister Book

This is the second Donna Downey Kit that I bought. I decided to do this one on my cousin (we call each other Sister). She is my dearest friend in the whole world and I talk to her every day on the computer. We leave each other messages all day. I don't know what I would do without her. Some of the best times I've had have been with her. At the beginning of the book I put a couple of pictures of us as kids and then when we had our own kids at the same time. I have known her my whole life and I just love her!!

Donna Downey Kit

I ordered this kit from Donna Downey. (www.donnadowney.typepad.com) I thought it was so cute and it was scrapbooking and sewing all together! How fun and challenging for me at the same time. This is the finished projct. It took me about a day to finish it. It used these vintage thread spools to make the canvas stand and they just slide into these little pockets that you make. I also stamped using some Tim Holtz ink and some paint. She also included some beads and templates for the hearts and the scrolls. Everything was included in the kit except for the stamps and the ink and paint. Also included was this June Tailor photo transfer paper. This stuff is cool!! You put all the pictures onto a page in your computer and size them and include words and sayings in different fonts that you want to use on the project and then print it onto the photo transfer paper using your regular printer. Simply cut them out and iron onto your canvas. You can't really see it from the photos but I stitched around each picture and the hearts. I bought another kit from her site and I think I will start working on that next. She is really creative and funny and uses alot of mixed media things in her projects. I'll post pictures of that as soon as I finish it.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Every year I make valentine's for my family. I really should gather them all together from years past and make a scrapbook. Good Idea! On Thursday I am making Seth's favorite meal for him and John. Shhhh don't tell! I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

February

Please pray for the people that were hit by the tornadoes in the South. The devastation in Gassville is heart breaking.

I have posted a layout I did at Creative Escape in Heidi Lynn's class. All I add is a photo each month. Easy! Lauren comes home this weekend so I'm looking forward to her visit! Have a good weekend everyone!

Golf Scrapbook

I have been soo busy scrapbooking Seth a golf scrapbook for last year. I do this every year to document his tournaments and his golf season for the High School. The last 2 years have been wonderful because they have won the State Tournament both years. This years has 31 pages and it really turned out well. I know he will cherish it, especially when he gets older.

After I finished the scrapbook, I did a little organizing (I love to organize!! Seriously! I know weird!). I bought a 3 drawer unit from Walmart and organized my paper scraps. I always try to keep and use scraps, especially solid colors. I now have a drawer for Neutral colors (black, brown, white), one for Warm colors (red, pink, and orange), and one for Cool colors (blue, green, and purple). I love the way it turned out. I am putting it in my closet in my studio. I sorted all of my scraps and this will be so much easier to use. I'm off to scrap again! Have a wonderful week!

Back To Back State Golf Champions

I have finally started Seth's golf scrapbook for the season last fall. Yes they won the State Golf Championship two years in a row. How exciting is that! He acts like it is no big deal that I make these scrapbooks for his golf adventures, I include pictures and all the articles from the Baxter Bulletin, score cards, etc., but every once in a while I CATCH him flipping through last years book. hahahahah I just act like I don't see him and keep walking with a BIG grin on my face. I love this hobby!

Cathy and Ann in Memphis

I have been so busy since Christmas. We took Lauren back to Fayetteville last weekend and it was good to get back to normal. She was so glad to see her friends and the Monday classes started was her 21st birthday. I can't believe that!!!!

After a month of Christmas, my cousin and I decided we needed a break so we met in Memphis which is half way for both of us. We had the best time. We went to the Pottery Barn Outlet and the Willams Sonoma Outlet and got some deals! Of course we took our scrapbooking stuff. Memphis has an Archiver's store there so we scrapped on thursday night and then took a class on Friday right before we left to come home. Ann also found this really cool antique store in downtown Memphis that was 3 stories and had some great stuff. She is redoing an old house in Port Gibson, Mississippi. It freaked me out to go into the basement because the stairs were probably 200 years old and I just knew the door was going to slam behind us and we would never be heard from again. The basement was under the street and I am really scared of ghosts etc. She just laughs at me. Anyway, we survived, but seriously I am just going to stick to scrapbooking.

Believe Christmas Book

I made this little "Believe" book at Scrapbook Addiction's Christmas Expo in Anne-Camille Collins class. I filled it with pictures from Christmas this year. I love the way it turned out and it only took me about and hour and a half!

Heidi Swapp Class Coming to an End

I have been enrolled in a year long class with Big Picture Scrapbooking taught by Heidi Swapp. I have learned so much and tried so many different techniques over the year. I am really sad it is ending. One of the pojects was a calendar for 2007. I have posted my November and December layouts. On the November layout we used different sizes of envelopes and wrote letters to the important people in our lives to be opened in 2012. It was fun to do and I had to make sure all of the envelopes opened and I love all of the bright colors. The December layout was all about family and the reason we scrapbook. We made tiny envelopes or pockets for each day and put a little surprise in each one. On the background we used Tim Holtz distressing inks. I am going to Creative Escape AGAIN this year (So happy!!) and he is one of the teachers. I will always cherish the scrapbook calendar I made for 2007. So many wonderful and challenging things happened this year. It will definately be A Year To Remember for me.

Annual Christmas Party 2007

Lauren had the annual Christmas Party for her High School friends this Friday. We made lasagne and pound cake and fudge. It is so good to see these kids each year as they grow into wonderful young adults. I am so proud of them. They have all done really well in college and I know they will become adults that will actually contribute good things to the world. It's hard to believe they will all be 21 this year!!

I have finished all my shopping and wrapped all my gifts so I am ready! Lauren and I made the dressing today and we'll do some more cooking tomorrow. My brother and sister-in-law arrived today from Little Rock. Tomorrow we will go to our church service at 5:00 and then the Episcopal service at 10:00. The ladies ensemble that I sing in is singing at our service. ( I love this group of ladies and singing in this group). I love this time right before Christmas. I almost dread Christmas morning coming because it will all be over.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas surrounded by their families.

Merry Christmas

The Reason for the Season

Every year we struggle with Chritmas decorations. We love the lights and we wanted to do something that represented what Christmas was really about. John wanted something that he could set up every year that was easy to store. So I came up with the idea to do a big nativity scene that we could use year after year. Sooooo what to do? John bought one off of ebay!! Yes I said ebay! We set it up in the yard and John built the manger around it. It will all fold flat for easy storage. He really did a great job and we used the hay from Halloween and spread it around inside the manger. We love it and we're proud to show the reason for the season.

Chalk Board

My cousin Ann, (we call each other Sister) gave me this for Christmas!! She loves everything old and this was a mirror frame. She took out the mirror and painted the frame red and turned it into a chalk board for me!! I love it!!! I hung it in my den. She is soo talented.

I had the best time today at the Scrapbook Addiction's Christmas Expo. We made some really fun things and I visited with some great ladies!! Hey Girls! I just love this hobby. It was 5 hours long and the time just flew by. So much preparation goes into these things and I really appreciate the teachers for all the hard prep work that they did, and of course to Brandi who organizes it all. I'll be back next year!

Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for this year! We traveled to Jackson, Mississippi for Thanksgiving. We switch every year and next year they will come here. I made each family a little cookbook with blank pages for them to put their family's favorite recipes in. We are going to exchange recipes so that we will have a cookbook with each families favorites. We had a great time in Jackson and on my next post I will show you the fabulous gift my cousin made for me.

A picture a day in November

This is a 30 day picture journal I made for the month of November. I am taking a picture everyday and then I journal on the back. I thought this was a good month to do it because of all the beautiful fall colors and I will see all of my family this month because of Thanksgiving. We will be traveling to Jackson this year to visit our relatives in Mississippi.

Update: I am feeling much better although my leg just doesn't want to heal. I am trying to keep it up as much as possible. I have devised a way to scrapbook with my leg propped up on a chair. I should take a picture of that!!!

My Studio

A couple of years ago we turned a guest bedroom into my studio. I told John all I want for my birthday, anniversary, and Christmas is to have a studio. Our guest bedroom is only used about 2 times a year so I had over taken it with scrapbook supplies. My parents live in Mountain Home and so some of our out of town guests usually stay with them. We pulled the carpet up and had some laminate wood floors put down. My good friend Lori Kauffman from Cabinets and Interior Design helped me design some cabinets with a Murphy Bed just in case we needed an extra bed for company. Lori did all my cabinets for me when we moved in and her and her husband Bob (Anderson Construction) built our Dental office. My studio is like my sanctuary. I love it and I love being in there. It just relaxes me to go upstairs and sit in there. I got the 2 metal rolling carts from Sam's and they are perfect and really cheap. My table is an old table I got at Rusticities so I wouldn't feel bad messing it up. I got the sewing machine about 5 years ago for Christmas and I think John thought I would make all my clothes. hahahaha NOT! I dabbled in quilting for a bit before I became addicted to scrapbooking. Now I use it with my scrapbooking. Anyway, I am very blessed to have found something I am passionate about. I feel like I am recording my families history for generations to come and that is the real reason I do it. I made my first scrapbook in High School and I still have it. I hope my kids can look back and remember the good times we had and share their history with their children. When I was 9 we lived in Gulfport, Mississippi and a terrble hurricane named Camille hit our area. We were without electricity for a week and had a couple of trees hit out roof, but we were all alive. My grandparents lived on a creek and they got about 8 feet of water in their house. The water ruined all of their belongings but what I remember most is how all the pictures of my Dad's family were gone. Wet! We have very few left and most of them have water damage. I think it all started there. The desire to preserve the history with pictures.

I have been tagged by one of my cyber buddies, Colleen at http://cestmoi.typepad.com/, from my Heidi Swapp class to tell you 7 facts about myself (some random, some weird). So here goes:
1. I am a home body.
2. I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi.
3. I would love to be a computer nerd.
4. I sang my first solo in 6th grade and have sung solos at weddings and at church.
5. I am determined to learn more about photoshop elements!!!
6. Next year I will be married for 25 years on August 13th.
7. I treat my animals like they are members of my family.

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you're tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Now, here's who I'm tagging:

1.Denise: http://deniselauerman.blogspot.com/ She is such a sweetie and is moving to my neighborhood soon and is a greatscrapbooker.
2.Anne Camille: http://annecamille.blogspot.com/ Is a very talented scrapbooker who has some really neat original ideas.
3.Brandi: http://scrapbookaddiction.typepad.com/ Brandi owns our local "WONDERFUL" scrapbooking store. We love her!
4.Jennifer: http://jclarestudios.typepad.com/ She is a great photographer!! Just look at her work!
5.Amy: http://amywelch3.typepad.com/ She inspires me with how she used the Hambly products!

Ok so tag your it!

Getting Back to Normal

It's been 3 weeks since my surgery and I am feeling stronger everyday. I go back to the Doctor on Thursday so I hope to be able to drive soon. I am so blessed to have all of my family and friends.

There is something I forgot to post about. The Mountain Home Golf team won the State Championship for the second year in a row. I was nervous for Seth because my surgery was the Thursday before the State Tournament. I was hoping he would be able to focus and play well and he did. The tournament was in Little Rock so John went down on Sunday and was with Seth on Monday, the day of the tournament. My Mom and Dad stayed with me and I ended up going home from the hospital the day of the tournament.

I am also posting 2 layouts from my Heidi Swapp "A Year to Remember Class". These are the layouts for the September and October calendar pages. It will certainly be a "Year to Remember" for me. I thought it was cool that the September layout said to include a heart. That's kinda appropriate don't you think.