Grand Day

    We stay way too busy for our own good...... I do not get to spend the time with Jeremy and his family that I would like too. They recently bought a new house..new to them... and they are so excited. I decided we were going to carve out time for a visit before the calendar filled up. We went over the long Labor day week end and what a treat that was. The house is simply amazing. It is a great floor plan with lots of room. I am thrilled that they are going to have space to spread out  as the kids get older ( I tried and I do not have the ability to stop time I am sad to say). I enjoyed getting to spend relaxed time with all of them and even got to watch the first Auburn game of the season! Yep, it was a glorious trip.
  They have a small park directly next to their house. It is very secluded and not used a lot so it is wonderful to get to have it to ourselves. I walked over with the kids and we played and swang away the afternoon. Does it get any better than that?
  Unfortunately I did not get any really good pictures but decided the day was too wonderful not to document, so poor pictures it is. I love that I have a picture or two to remember my time with these 3 special ones. I encourage you to save and document even when the picture is not perfect. Often, it is the memory that counts not the amazing photography.
  So here is the layout

 The papers are all from the Lori Whitlock Summer Bliss collection.
Also the alphas for the title and journaling along with most of the word stickers are from that collection.
Twine is maya road
Splatter stamp is from the Stampin Up Gorgeous Grunge set...(one of my favorites!)
The flip flops are jollee's boutique
The "family" sticker comes from jillibean soup
The embellishments are MME cut & paste.
 I used sketch #113 at My Scraps and More 

 And here it is

  I want to sincerely thank you for spending a portion of your day with me. I know that each of us get to choose how we spend out time and I truly value yours. I encourage you to spend a portion of today making good memories, because tomorrow will be here too soon.
  Thank you
Brenda

Coffee and Forgiveness

    I saw this post on facebook this morning.....

 I had never seen this acrostic before but,  I immediately  knew that I needed a new coffee mug today! So I spent a few minutes playing with MTC to get the file the way I wanted it, Then a quick trip to the dollar store. I couldn't decide between a mug and  travel mug so bought them both, after all it is the dollar store!

 This is the outcome

I look forward to using them and showing them off! I do not usually use items that broadcast my faith but just could not resist this one. Love the message so much and it holds COFFEE! I am also thinking gifts for pastor appreciation week?? I am truly happy that I dug the vinyl out today I had forgotten how much fun I have playing with it. Hope you will give it a try.

  Thank you so much for stopping by my little blog. I hope today you will walk in total forgiveness as it is offered.
Brenda

A star of a birthday!

  My precious grandson Neal has always been challenged in the conforming category. He started school the beginning of August. We have all been very pleased with how well he has done. He is truly trying so hard.Today is Adrienne's birthday and he brought home The Star Student award. Happy Birthday Mom! Of course a picture was taken and It made facebook...thus Grandma swiped it and a layout followed. Yes I had to dig the papers out of the mountain on my desk but no time like the present and I am so happy to have been back in the craft cave for me. Yes I have mountains of pictures but I love nothing better than the day of layouts!
    So I began with a little blog surfing for inspiration. I liked the September sketch at Stick It Down
I have been saving the last snips and scraps of the Boy Crazy collection from Echo Park. I have loved working with this collection but am also proud to have used it all up.This is the sketch

And here is my take!

 

I just saw the You Rule the School Challenge at Paper Issues. Think I will go ahead and link this one up!

 Don't you just love that smile. He is so very proud of himself!  It makes my heart so happy to see him trying so hard!
  I used MTC to create the title and to cut the pencils from a file that was in the MTC gallery. Everything else was just stash raiding. I need to do more of that lol.

 Thank you so much for coming by to visit. I am so happy to be able to share again!
  May today be filled with much happiness and joy.
Brenda

Flutter by birthday blog!!!!

  Danni is having a birthday and we are all here to help her celebrate!  She has set up this flutter by blog hop with all things butterflies and faeries just like during her wonderful Flutter By Wednesdays!  I am so very thankful that she included me in this hop.I really needed the push to create and share. I have been so very busy and have good intentions of sharing.... but........
   I realized the other day that I needed a birthday card for my daughter. She has had a pretty rough summer and I wanted to do something special for her. So a butterfly box card fit the bill. She is my butterfly rising from a very dark cocoon. She brings brightness and light everywhere she goes! I am so very proud of her!
   Danni is giving away 2  gift certificates to 2 lucky commenters. You have until Monday September 7th to leave a comment and be in the running for the prizes!

  So here is my card.yes it has a butterfly or two!!

 I use a cut file from svgcuts. I have the best luck with their 3 d files. I find that they are well laid out and their instructions walk me through the details. I had to color and draw a lot more than I am comfortable with, but I can honestly say I was not unhappy with the results. Adrienne loved it and that made it worth the effort. Thank you so much for hopping by.
  Now Hop on over to Ashleys blog for more fluttering fun.... and don't forget to wish Danni a Happy Birthday!
 Thank you so much for stopping by.
Brenda
 
  
   

Number 3 and last numbered layout....

Ben risked his iphone to take this wonderful shot. The boys absolutely LOVED everything about the beach. They truly could not get enough of it. So this really captures vacation for them. I loved working with it. I used a sketch from Let's Get Sketchy. And am going to add it at Jo's Scrap Shack. She allows 3 entries and with the inspiration pic of the sea I have plenty of photos to work with!

Here is the inspiration photo

Here is the sketch

This is my layout

I told you it was a fun picture.
All the papers are from the Fancy Pants Nautical collection.
All the cuts are from Miss Kates Cuttables. She always has a freebie of the day and also many adorable reasonably priced cut files. take a minute to check them out.

thank you so very much for spending time with me.
I hope that today your blessings are many.
Brenda

Vacation Layout Number 2

   I am going to have to eventually stop numbering these layouts as I am still getting pictures sent to me from others. I know that when they send me a picture they are thinking it is layout worthy. This may be quite the volume.
  This is one of 2 pictures that Ben took that absolutely were my favorites of all vacation. With all the great cameras there these were both taken with his iphone. I was so lucky to be able to watch the sunrise with dear Zade as he is  a morning kinda baby. And I am so very happy to have a layout to help me remember those special times.
   I was inspired by the challenge at Kraft+ mustard explosion. Since yellow is my favorite color and this is my favorite vacation picture I just had to go for it. I love to see all the amazing entries in their challenges. The talent that is there is very inspirational. I can not begin to create at that level, but I always find that I step way outside my box when I attempt the challenges. So though mine are a hot mess, I am learning and growing and ultimately I have a layout that I like.
  I am alsogoing to enter this at Jo's Scrap Shack. for Fun-Day Friday challenge. This is a new blog for me a nd I look forward to following along.

  Here is the inspiration piece 

Isn't this a wonderful picture. I really enjoyed doing this layout though it is definitely the product of many mistakes but ultimately it achieves  my goal:  to showcase this wonderful picture. I really love the sunburst and will use that method again for sure. Also learned that I have much to learn when stenciling on a layout. But I am armed with some youtubes and ready to try again another time. And found that if the paint drops just are not right you can always smear them everywhere while trying to clean up the mess.
Thank you for the challenge and inspiring me to stretch and learn.
 I hope that your day is full of inspiring moments.
Brenda

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First Vacation Layout

  We were totally blessed last week to be at Cape San Blas Florida. Adrienne's in laws go every year for a family vacation. This year they had an extra bedroom and graciously invited us to go along. I am amazed at their awesome generosity. And it was such a blessing to have a weeks vacation with 3 of my grandsons. Right before I left my keyboard decided that I no longer needed some of the letters so I had to order another one. Thus I came home from vacation to a new computer with Windows 8.1 (which is new to me)and none of my files and my new camera had 600 photos to download. I finally have managed to get the new computer set up enough to edit photos and use my cutter, let the crafting begin!! Really got my fingers crossed that it will not take me another week to get the second vacation layout done.
   Without further ado, I used this sketch from The Memory Nest

 And here is my take

 This was the last day there and Jeff was catching fish fast and furious. This was the very first fish of the day. I love seeing the body language of the boys when they get excited to see the fish.. It wasn't long until he had caught so many they didn't even notice.
  I used MTC to draw the fish background and also to cut the lure and the sign for the title. The papers are Lori Whitlock " A Perfect Summer". It really felt good to finish a layout.

 Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing a moment with me. I am honored.
Hope today is filled with bright moments.
Brenda