Sneak Peek

I managed to scrap some! It took me two days to do this layout for Lucy Chesna's My Sketch World May 1st layout sketch, but I am really happy with how it turned out. I used the Kreaxions Circle Cutter, Kreaxions Positioning Pieces and Kreaxions 4-in-1 punch #905. Well worth the effort! Here's just a peek at one corner of the layout... Reveal will be May 1st!

A Touch of Pneumonia...

Yep. I've got it bad it seems... And it's NOT fun! But considering all I've been through this month it doesn't surprise me... Among other things, since April 2 I've had a dear friend die, made the trip to her service, got violently ill, started getting better, had craziness at my new job (first job in 4 years too!), traveled to Virginia for my brother's wedding where we endured two crazy plane rides and near tornadic weather, got to see my daughter and grandsons, and finally came home where I again got very sick. So it's been a wild and crazy month! I am very thankful for a wise and caring doctor who understands we don't have insurance to pay for x-rays and expensive meds. I am thankful for a husband who is willing to pick up the slack and experiment on me for dinners. I'm thankful for the thoughts and prayers of loving friends. And I'm thankful for my little dog Baxter who keeps coming up and seems to say "Petting makes me feel better so if you pet me you'll feel better too!" Awwww! Meanwhile 875 mg of amoxicillin twice a day, cough syrup and two different decongestants are knocking me down so I can't do much. I'm bored outta my mind!
However, I did manage to finally do a layout last night. I used Lucy Chesna's April 15 layout sketch and finally did the example for my April challenge on My Sketch World... Check it out at http://mysketchworld.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=8687.

There's a RAK for a random draw winner! I hope you'll join me there!
Happy Scrapping!

Just Imagine/Kreaxions Marvelous Monday!

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!!! It's time for another Just Imagine/Kreaxions Marvelous Monday edition. I wanted to share a couple of layouts I made with some VERY old pictures of my brothers and I celebrating Easter Sunday. Even though the theme of these layouts is Easter, you could use any punch, any subject, any holiday or any theme to create your own borders! I used sketches by the amazing Lucy Chesna of My Sketch World (http://mysketchworld.blogspot.com) for both of these pages. The papers and stickers are by Reminisce.
For the first layout I punched a border with the Kreaxions Butterfly Punch #604, scalloped the edges of the border with my Fiskars rotary trimmer, then put it over a strip of yellow ribbon and outlined the punched shapes with my pen. Simple and easy and cute!

For the second layout as my border I cut a circle from a piece of two-sided paper, flipped it over and stuck it back in the hole. Then covered it up with punched butterflies (negatives from the Kreaxions Butterfly Punch #604 border) and flowers. I used Crystal Lacquer and glitter to color white Thickers letters. And I stuck mini circle stickers on brads for the “Hoppy” part of the title, then put Stickles around the brads. Again, simple and easy and cute!

I hope your holidays are fun and can’t wait to see what you create with your punches! Don’t forget the Design Team challenges for the month of April! For every creation you link to a challenge, you get one draw for any brand punch and two for using any Kreaxions punches! Happy punching!

A Beautiful Wedding!!!

Just posting quickly to say that the wedding was BEAUTIFUL yesterday! The weather was horrible so instead of having all the festivities outside in tents we ended up squeezing everyone and everything into my parents' house. At one point we had a thunderclap that made EVERYONE jump! But thankfully everyone was safe and a good time was had by all. The bride Maria and groom Bill were very happy and looked awesome! Maria's twins - Xena and Donnish - were on their best behavior and looked fabulous! The caterers did an awesome job but the limo was a no show and was quite rude to Bill about it. Grrrr! However, we all managed to overcome and now my 53 YO brother is married for the first time! WOOHOO! Below are a few of the pictures that my brother Tony and I took. Later I'll do some photo editing and believe me, there will be MANY more! We still have a couple of other cameras to download. :) But I had to share to show how beautiful Maria and Xena were and how handsome Bill and Donnish were.
And now I have to go get ready because my daughter and her family are on their way for a visit today!!!! That means a LOT more photo ops today!!!!!
Have an awesome day and check the next post for the slideshow! Enjoy!

TIME TO CELEBRATE!!!!!

This weekend is very, very special in my family. My brother Bill is 53 and has never married. This weekend he is marrying Maria Javed!!!! Maria is a beautiful woman with two awesome twin 15 year olds - Xena and Donnish. We are very, very blessed to have you join the family!!! They will be married Saturday and there will be a big party afterwards. Talk about fun and photo ops!!! :) This scrapper and sister can hardly wait!
Meanwhile, I have a couple of projects to share... One is the card I made for my husband Steve's birthday last week. I was totally ill with the flu and had taken a bunch of meds for sinus and pain so I was "high as a kite" when I made this card. (Blushing here!) It's totally not my style but I love how it turned out!

Next is a two page layout that took me over a week to do between grief and illness... I used a Close To My Heart sketch, a Scrapdango challenge for one page, a My Sketch World challenge for the other and created this layout about my dear friend Trish...


And finally, I just want to thank all my dear, dear friends and family who have been praying for my family and I lately. Life's been super crazy with emotional ups and downs, crises, illness and everything else. Without your support and prayers and encouragement it would have been much more difficult to get through the past few weeks. I honestly don't know how people manage to get through life without faith in God! I certainly wouldn't be able to anymore! So THANK YOU! God is gracious and merciful and has placed some wonderful people in my life to be "Jesus in the flesh" as a little girl once told her daddy many years ago. May God richly bless each and every one of you!!!
Now... It's time to get ready for my trip!!!!!! It's WEDDING TIME!!!! :)

Just Imagine/Kreaxions Challenge Month!

All the month of April the Just Imagine/Kreaxions Design Team are sharing challenges. At the end of the month someone will win either a Kreaxions Circle Cutter (the best EVER!) or one of the fabulous Kreaxions punches. You get one draw for each project created with any brand punch and two draws for each project created with any Kreaxions punch! You can check out all the challenges in the blog posts at the Just Imagine blog at http://justimaginecrafts.typepad.com.
Today I want to share with you a card I made for Bev's monochromatic challenge. Using the video I shared in the previous post, I used the Kreaxions Stencil Templates to create the main element for my card. Once I cut my circle with the Kreaxions Circle Cutter, I then used the Kreaxions 4-in-1 Punch #916 with the small inserts from the Kreaxions Positioning Pieces to make my design. Then I used the punch with Insert C to create the four corners. A little detail with my white pen, some Colorbox bling and some purple Stickles and I have a completed card! Very simple and easy to do - I did this card in less than an hour but it looks like I spent a lot more time on it.

So I hope you'll head over to the Just Imagine/Kreaxions blog and check out all the beautiful projects the Design Team has created and participate in the challenges for YOUR chance to win!
Happy Punching!

Marvelous Monday - April 4

Hello!  Ginni here with another Marvelous Monday posting.   Today I’m going to share a card I made with some Graphic 45 papers.  The intensity of the patterns and colors in the G45 lines can be intimidating, but I encourage you to take out your punches and just a couple of sheets of G45 (or any other patterned papers) and PLAY!  Experiment!  After all, it’s only paper! 

For this card I used a dark background pattern for my base.  I used the B Kreaxions Stencil Template, Kreaxions Punch #916 and the Kreaxions circle cutter to create the large flower in the center.  This video should help you understand how the templates, Positioning Pieces and various punches work. 

 

Once I had my circle cut, I adhered it to the base and used the negative swirls around the outer edges.  I curled the edges of the “flower” up just a tiny bit and added some Stickles for oomph.  The two flowers in the center are white Prima flowers that I sprayed with Glimmer Mist and attached with a brad.  They got a tiny bit of Stickles treatment as well.  I punched a border with the Kreaxions Punch #919 and used more Stickles and the negatives to finish off the card. 

Simple, easy and fun!  That’s what I love about the Kreaxions products!

Don't forget several DT members are challenging you to use your punches!  There's a special prize randomly drawn at the end of the month!  My April challenge is that I challenge you to use more than one punch on your project and to use both the negative AND the positive from your punches!  You can use InLinkz to post your creation and be eligible for the April prize.  You get one draw for using any punch and two draws for using any Kreaxions punch!  Use this link to post your creations - . Can’t wait to see what you create!  Happy Punching!

A VERY Sad Day

I am grieving today. My very dear friend Patricia "Trish" Antonas went home to be with the Lord this afternoon. I was honored and privileged to call this mighty woman of God my friend. You see it's a miracle we even were able to meet because 13 years ago she got very ill. The doctors decided to do emergency "exploratory" surgery to find out what was wrong and cut her from her belly button to her spine on one side. Not thinking she would live through the operation they weren't careful and cut all the nerves from her waist down on that side. They didn't know Trish or her husband Elias or their faith.
Trish not only lived through that ordeal, but eventually was actually able to walk a little bit with the aid of a walker. But two years ago she got sick again and never really recovered. A few days ago she got another infection and pneumonia and nearly died before getting to the hospital. It was one of many times that she nearly died. This time she just wasn't strong enough to make it through and now she's in the arms of a loving Father when she's not dancing with the angels.
I met Trish through her husband's ministry. Elias came to the church Steve and I were attending and did some meetings. Somehow Elias and Steve became friends and one day we went to visit them. Trish and I were instantly good friends! That was over 7 years ago. Since then there have been many visits and emails and phone calls. If you were someone who needed prayer and I knew about it, so did Trish. She couldn't hear very well and she couldn't walk but MAN could that woman PRAY!
I took this picture when she was in the hospital two years ago. She was missing her Cocker Spaniel "Sammo" and so I wanted to give her something soft to hug and love. I spied this gorilla in the hospital gift shop and knew it was the perfect gift for her. His tag said he was made in Glen Burnie Maryland so she named him Burnie. I believe this expression on her face says it all.

I will miss Trish very much. I already miss emailing her and saying "Please pray!" I miss her calling my husband "Party Boy" because she misunderstood something he said on the phone. I miss her laugh and her smile. But most of all I miss her prayers. However, I also rejoice in the knowledge that she's no longer suffering. I rejoice in the knowledge that someday we will spend eternity together in Heaven praising our beloved Jesus. I rejoice that she lived long enough so that we could meet and I could be blessed by her wonderful friendship. Thank you Trish for everything. I love you Girlfriend!