Echo Park Papers ROCK!

I got a kit of Echo Park's "A Walk in the Park" line a few weeks ago. Last weekend I sat down and started playing with those papers and some challenges. What FUN I had! I love that the papers are so versatile - if you'll see I did a birthday page, a park page, a page about our mango tree and a page about Steve and Baxter just chillaxin'. I also needed a Christmas layout and had some EP "Everybody Loves Christmas" papers and embellishments. So I created a two-pager using a CTMH sketch from their Cherish book. Old memories and pics! But a FUN two-pager to create! These papers are fun to play with because they're double sided and of excellent quality! They cut well in the Cricut too! Let me just say they were a joy to play with! (Think I enjoyed myself??? Hehe!) I just HAD to share! Now... Where's the rest of that EP Everybody Loves Christmas kit I got the other day..... Gotta go play some more! Slideshow's in the next post. Enjoy!

Giveaway - Silhouette SD Machine!

I've wanted one of these ever since I heard of them YEARS ago! So when I heard there was a chance to win one, I decided to follow the instructions and see what happens! My links don't work for some reason so copy and paste the link below and maybe you'll be luckier than me. :)

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2010/11/25/giveaway-silhouette-sd-machine/

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!

I can't believe it's already here! This year has been filled with a lot of events in our family - especially since the summer! There's so MUCH to share! But for now, I just wanted to wish everyone a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I will be cooking with my wonderful husband Steve's help and our friends Karen and Scottie will be joining us. Our little dog Baxter will enjoy it tremendously because Karen and Scottie just sit and pet him almost the entire time they're here. And I'm sure he will get LOTS and LOTS of treats too! So whatever you're doing and whomever you're doing it with, have an awesome day.
Oh and the scrap organization contest results - I came in third. But I'm SUPER happy with that! Thank you to EVERYONE who voted for me! I consider this bragging rights and will be posting about it on Steve's new blog soon too!

I've got LOTS of scrappy projects to share but been too busy to get them posted so look for those over the weekend. LOTS of Echo Park's "A Walk in the Park" paper line. SUCH FUN to play with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muchas smoochas, much love and many blessings!

The other day I submitted a picture of my new office/scrappy space to Scrapbooks Etc. They just emailed me and said I'm in the running for the $100 prize!!!!!!! Yesterday when the voting started I was #29 out of 40!!! Today thanks to a LOT of friends voting I'm #TWO!!!!!!!!! You can vote every day at the link below. You just have to answer a security question first... Thanks for your help everyone!!! I'll keep you posted... (Oh and you'll have to copy and paste the link because for some reason I can't get links to work in my blog posts. It's all one line too. Sheez!!!)

http://photos.scrapbooksetc.com/category/vote/photo/588598?esrc=nwphotofaves_storagesolutions

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

I LOVE Miracles!

Many of you don't know that I'm a walking miracle. Yep. A real live honest to goodness miracle happened to me!
It all started in September 1999. Hurricane Floyd was a Category 4 hurricane barreling towards us. I was working with another lady and 7 commercial real estate agents in a satellite office of a large firm in the area. The main office told my co-worker and I that we would have to move all the computer equipment and other expensive items that were somewhat portable to a back office where they would be safer and away from the windows. She was a mom with a kid in day care so I sent her home when the day was supposed to be over and I finished the job. The last thing to move was the monitor on my desk. It was SUPER heavy and I could barely scoot it across the desk - much less move it to another ROOM! Well, I knew I should just leave it but decided to be Little Miss Good Employee (LMGE). I got the thing off the desk and into my chair and wheeled it back to the other room. But once I got it in there it started to look like it wasn't gonna stay on the chair. So again LMGE decided I had to secure the thing safely. I picked that thing up and felt something in my back.
It didn't hurt at the time and I didn't think much of it. But by the time I drove my tiny stick-shift car home I was pretty darned sore. Of COURSE I was! We'd just moved most of the office! Well, Floyd missed us by 40 miles and it was a GORGEOUS S Florida day. The next day it was back to work. But now we had to move all that stuff BACK! I got Steve to come move that heavy monitor for us! He was shocked that I'd been able to do what I had with it - It was even heavy for HIM! OMG!
Long story short, I ended up in the doctor's office a few days later. I had slipped the L5 S1 disks and they were herniated and protruding into my sciatic nerve. I spent the next 8 months in agony. Physical therapy 3 times a week, lots of drugs and most of my time in bed unable to even lift a magazine or a book to read. I couldn't sit for more than a couple of minutes much less stand or DO anything! It was HORRIBLE!
Workers comp was slow to respond but in May 2000 I had back surgery and man did it help! But I was still in bad shape. If I even lifted a gallon of milk wrong I'd be in bed for 3 days. I was like that for FOUR YEARS!!!
And then on November 13, 2004 I went to a church meeting. It was a week of special meetings and it was a Wednesday night. Nothing special about this one. I was just enjoying the music and being around all the people.
And then the speaker asked who had pain in their bodies. I raised my hand... "Put your hands on the place where it hurts" he said. I did. And then it happened!!! No one touched me. No one had moved out of place. But an electricity and a heat went through my body AND THE PAIN LEFT ME!!!!! Now you have to remember, I hadn't been pain-free for four years! I was absolutely hysterical with joy! When my husband realized what had happened we both started crying! And thanking Jesus for my miracle!
That was six years ago. Today I am still totally healed! I've traveled, lifted, ridden in cars for long drives, driven long periods of time, sat for hours on end, scrapped to my heart's content, lifted grandbabies, you name it I've done it! Totally pain free! What joy it is to celebrate one more time the day that God had mercy on me and set me free! And people say miracles don't happen today much less in the USA... I'm here to prove them wrong!!! And thank Jesus one more time.
Many blessings and much love!

NFL FOOTBALL SUNDAY!!!!!

I absolutely LOVE Sundays from September to February! I pull all my scrappy stuff out of my craft room and plop it down on the dining room table so I can watch all the games and scrap. Then on Tuesday mornings (after the Monday night football game is over) I cart everything back into my room. When Super Bowl is over I am at a loss as to what to do with myself because I absolutely, positively LOVE pro football!!! :) So today I'm posting this week's projects just before I go hunker down in the other room. Hope you enjoy!
First up is a layout that I based on one I saw at Everything Scrapbook and Stamps. It's my daughter Michele at age 6 in a Popples Halloween costume. Hard to believe she's the mother of two now! Hehe!

Next are pics of my parents with their new great-grandson...

This is a picture of Noah and a Lucy Chesna sketch. I used this LO for the Mega 90 Minute Sketch Challenge at My Sketch World last night...

You have to read the journaling on this one... SOOOOO cute!!!

I lifted this layout from a magazine. Sooooooo cute and sweet!

And finally a two-pager of Garrett's fun faces...


Thanks for looking! Happy Scrapping and go watch some football! :)

Are You Ready?!?

This weekend has LOTS of fun things happening! Scrapdango is hosting a blog hop all weekend...
And on Saturday night I will be one of the hosts at My Sketch World for a 90 Minute Mega Sketch Challenge!!! This means you'll have 90 minutes to create a layout and a card and get it posted! Believe me, it CAN be done! :) Here's the web addy with more details. It starts at 9:00 PM Eastern time. www.mysketchworld.com
If you're a scrapper or cardmaker both of these events will be great fun! Hope to see you there!

How'd It Get to be November Already?!

YIKES!!! I know I've had a hugely busy summer, but I can hardly believe it's November already! Those of you up north are getting colder and starting to bundle up and turn your heaters on. We are looking forward to turning off the air conditioning and to the end of hurricane season! One more month and we're off the hook for the most part! YAYAY!!! So far we haven't even had a threat come close enough to make anyone panic so that's a really good thing! :)
November also brings a new bunch of challenges! At My Sketch World there's a new sketch by Lucy. Just one this month and next because everyone's so busy. I created a layout about Noah riding his bicycle without training wheels for the second time. I'm SO proud of him! It's a FUN sketch! You can check it out at www.mysketchworld.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=7288

And I am hosting a recipe challenge at My Sketch World this month. You can find all the details at http://mysketchworld.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=7274. Here's my example -

There's more challenges there as well and I'm looking forward to playing this month! :) There are some great prizes available for all of the challenges too!
Scrapdango is celebrating a new Design Team and a change in their challenge format. Check them out at www.scrapdango.com for lots of fun and inspiration!
I'm also playing at www.scrapbookdaisies.com, www.citrustreestudios.com, www.awalkdownmemorylane.com, www.coordinatescollections.com and at www.scrapbooknewsandreview.com! Gonna keep myself busy for sure!
So..... hope everyone has a happy November! Keep coming back because there will be garden pictures, more layouts and cards, and lots of other wonderful things to share this month! Happy Scrapping!!!