Guest designer at Stick It Down

  I am so excited to have my layout featured today at Stick it Down. Please hop on over there and check out the awesome sketches and the projects by the very talented design team.
I know I have disappeared again..... but what a wacky end to 2015 beginning to 2016. My mom fell and broke her hip and wrist so I went and stayed with her for 3 weeks of her rehab. I have been totally out of the loop. We just finally got to celebrate Christmas this past Saturday. I am really feeling like I totally missed January.
  Since I had no Christmas pictures to use for this wonderful sketch, I decided to take some photos of my Christmas decor. It is very hard to "plan" a family gathering for Christmas with my family( too many other families to work around.) This year I told the girls to figure out what would work best for them.They picked Christmas Day!!!! I was  so excited to get my entire family for Christmas Day that I ramped up the decorating this year and added several new projects..... then it all fell apart lol...But I have the projects complete for next year, and I enjoyed them this year! And Christmas in January was awesome. I truly love any day that I can have all my chicks and their chicks under my roof.
Here is the January sketch from Stick it Down

. Here is my take on the sketch....

Sorry for some of the poor photography. My sweet husband was trying to help me out so that I could get the layout done in time. You only thought I was the lousy photographer in my family .

The old window came from the "junk man" from downtown. He owned a block of the downtown area and it was a piled high junkyard. He died this year so this window has special meaning to me. I used MTC and vinyl for the nativity scene.

The vinyl tree is a favorite of the toddlers. They played a game with grandpa with pushing the dots and the lights would "go on and off"..... they would laugh and laugh. So much fun! The border is a Martha Stewart punch.

This was the prettiest tree we have gotten in years. I really enjoyed decorating it. Unfortunately by January 16th it was a mess. But we enjoyed it anyway.

I wanted to hang all the stockings this year. I had Jeff hang a curtain rod for me and used shower curtain hooks to hang them. I was so happy with it. Can you imagine we will have two more next year! I also truly love the tomato cage trees we built for the sides of the front door. They are just sooo cute!!

This tree is from a cut file from Miss Kate's Cuttables.

This is the tag that I made for all the presents this year. It was much simpler than past ones but ended up being a good thing with our wacky year. I numbered each picture and explained on this tag.
Well that is a few highlights from my home this year. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a smooth start to 2016!


Thank you so very much for sticking with this LONG post. I am honored to have you visit.
Brenda

One more Halloween

  I finally finished this layout. Adrienne and Ben did not get any really good pictures this year so had to make do with what I could get. Our family has had the crud big time the last 2 weeks. Poor Zade ended up at the hospital a couple of times, Dear hubby actually missed work and that NEVER happens so this has been on my desk for awhile waiting for a break to get back to the craft cave. Right now it looks like the worst is behind us.....Happy Dance!!
  So here is the sketch #172 at Sketches in Thyme.

And here is my take......

The papers are all from Carta Bella Spooky and so are the workdstickers.
I drew the rocket on using MTC. and the buttons of course were from the stash.... the stars actually came from the dollar tree!  I have not put buttons on a layout in so long it was fun!

Thank you for spending your time with me. I hope today finds you healthy and gives you many reasons to smile.
Brenda

Back again

  I have become the world worst crafter/blogger. I have really been going through a rough patch and am not sure how long this return will last. I am truly hoping that we have discovered the issues and I can get back on track. So thank you for sticking with me and really hope to be sharing consistently again soon.
   This is a double layout which I do not use often so they fight with me, but I am happy that I stuck with it and defeated this sketch ! This is the November double sketch at Stick it Down.

As soon as I saw this I knew these pictures were perfect for the sketch. Adrienne was having a tough time getting into Halloween this year which is not typical at all. She usually is the pumpkin carving queen but this year just barely got it done. The big boys were very into it and actively worked on theirs. Zade didn't like the feel of the guts at all which led to some adorable pictures. I am thankful that Ben captured the day so that I could do this sketch!!

The papers are a combination of Graphic 45 Hallowe'en in Wonderland and Carta Bella Spooky. Both are dug out of the stash. I am not a big fan of Halloween so it takes me awhile to use my collections up. The title is Neals way of saying carving pumpkins... just had to document that, he says the funniest things. It was cut with MTC.
The embellies were all dug out of the stash.
I used my favorite stampin up gorgeous Grunge set and Lawn Fawn fake tan to create the background paper.
 Thank you all for stopping by. I truly appreciate each one of you that takes the time to visit my little blog.
May today bring you many reasons to be thankful.
Brenda

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