Christmas & Raggedy Pics

:) Hope everyone had a chance to visit De's Raggedy Ann blog :)
I just wanted to share some pics from last month that really bring to my mind the meaning of Christmas and Winter :) and of course the pics of Tink & I's first Raggedy Ann doll :)

I love this pic b/c this is something I see at least a few times a week. Yes they are both sound asleep...Yes that is a paci in Tink's mouth....No, i make no apologies for that fact.....Yes, this melts my heart every time I witness it :)
She loves her daddy so much, and vice versa :D
She has him wrapped around her finger even more than he has her wrapped up in his arms :)

We had a pretty good little snow storm just a few days before Christmas break, but as is so often the case in ohio it snowed great (perfect snowman snow!), then the day heated up and it rained and washed the snow away and turned it to mud, then it froze again that night making the roads a pain in the butt!......and Tink had a cold so she couldn't go out and play in the snow, so I went out and made a little snowman to put on the front porch right outside the window so she could see him from the couch :)....this also protected him from the rain that day, so he was around for the whole day or two :)


While she wasn't feeling the greatest we decided to straighten her hair :)....if you look at other pics of her, she appears to have barely shoulder length hair b/c of the curl in it....lol it is halfway down her back!!!!...I am so happy she has curly hair though; I love it much more on her than straight hair :) (as you can tell I can't part her hair when it is straight so it looks like she has a bald spot....trust me, she doesn't lol)


Here is another one of her and daddy :) he is making a goofy face but in his defense he was a bit under the weather too (we were all fighting a nasty cold)...I just like this pic b/c it shows how different (and grown up) she looks with straight hair....


This year, as I said in my last blog post, Tink finally got the nerve to sit on Santa's lap :)...she almost chickened out, but mustered her courage at the last minute and was SO proud of herself :)....we tried to get the boys to be in this pic but they weren't havin' it....all she asked Santa for was a doll and some candy LOL sigh, if only it stayed that easy :)


My 3 gorgeous young'uns Christmas Eve at my Mom & Dad's house :) Every year we get new pajamas on Christmas Eve (the ONE and ONLY gift we are allowed to open on Christmas Eve). By "we" I mean EVERYONE who is at my mom's that night. We have done this for as long as I have been alive (i think it started with my mamaw and papaw when my mom was little). When I was little it was a case of we didn't get new clothes a lot or new pajamas. There just wasn't the money to splurge on stuff. At Christmas we also didn't get a bunch of store bought stuff, Papaw would carve us something, Mamaw would make us stuff, but EVERY year EVERYONE got a new pair of pajamas so that we looked fresh and bright opening gifts :D.....the tradition has just carried on and I wouldn't change it for the world. When we get to my mom's on Christmas Eve, everyone gets their pajama's on and then one or two of the adults usually (this year we did this part on the WAY to mom's b/c we were running so very late) takes all of the kids out for a drive to go "Santa watching"......as soon as someone spots him and it is confirmed by all the others in the car that yes indeed it is Santa's sleigh with Rudolph in the lead and not some common airplane, the driver rushes home, the kids fast foot it into the house, give hugs and kisses and jump in bed and get to sleep as soon as possible so that they will not ruin Santa's arrival by being awake when he gets there :D...great way to get the lil ones in bed on Christmas Eve night.....yet another tradition carried over from what we did when we lived with my mamaw and papaw when i was little :) (there is actually a hillside near knoxville tennessee that it looks like ruldolph is landing b/c the way each part of the hill hides and reveals the plane tower things...the things that show the planes where the top of the hills are)....


My 3 and my gorgeous nephews :) this is a crew and a half I tell ya....this also gives you a great idea as to why Tink is like she is....the baby of the bunch AND the only girl....yeah, 'nuf said


Not sure what they were doing here but Daniel started it and Chloe chimed in...this is their "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" pose



Tink says daniel is her "bes' freend"....they sure are cute.......



yes this is my family....this is how we act when we get together....no, no alcohol was involved....lol
this is my baby sister doing God only knows what to my Uncle.....and what is even funnier is this is not an uncommon sight at my mom's house....


here is the tree and our stockings at my mom & dad's...our stockings are our main gift every year.....for instance, the ALWAYS have socks, panties/underwear, toothbrush, bras (for us gals), lottery tickets, and fruit in the toe of the stocking....then each persons stocking has gifts just for them....the year I moved away from home mine was full of house stuff (nice spatulas, nice utensils like veggie peelers) or another year, when I went back to school, it was all school supplies for college....the past couple years it has been full of ink cartidges for my photo printer, photo paper, and nice stuff like pricier soaps and stuff i normally wouldn't splurge on.....



This is more of us just being us....this is my nephew Chase, my sis Crystal (his mom), and my Elijah (in the corner making the bunny ears)....i really love my family


this is the first year in 5 that my li'l brother has been really HOME (not just visiting on leave from the marine corp)...it was so nice to have him home...he adores all his nephews and his niece.... he kept asking tink "do you know how beautiful you are?"....he has missed so much of her life, i love that he is finally becoming part of it :)



all in all we had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! as i think the pics show :)





if any of you visited De's blog and really looked around, she has a section describing the tools she uses and she has a pic of a lil wooden tool that she calls her "favorite stuffing tool".....she uses it to stuff the dolls....well here is MY favorite stuffing tool :)


Here is the email I sent to De, it explains the story behind our doll....AND there are pics that follow of the different stages our doll baby went through...

Last night I sat down to just "see if i could" make the annie from the "i got you babe" set. As I drug up my sewing machine from the basement, covered in dust from only being used once or twice in the 5 yrs that I have had it, my little girl followed me into my bedroom where I was "setting up shop" for the evening. She watched me get the stuff all laid out, wandering in and out as I did so. after cutting out the pattern and very um...not-neatly? sewing it together (i am about as domestically challenged as they come and can't sew unless it is a straight line), I looked at her and smiled. She cocked her head to the side and said "what you do momma? you makin a balloon?" (lol the head/body kinda does resemble a balloon shape) I told her I was making a doll baby. She said "Tink wants to make a doll baby too." I figured with this being my first, it wasn't going to go exceptionally well anyway so what damage could she do if she helped ;). I tore off several bits of stuffing and showed her how to insert it a piece at a time with her fingers. I figured she would get bored and leave it, but she stuffed about 85% of the head/body!!! I didn't take the time to tea stain it, but "three" stained it (as in my 3 yr olds lil fingers always have some dirt dust candy or unknown residue on them even though she is obsessed with handwashing and since she did so much of the stuffing there are dirty little fingerprints all over it lol). I got tickled as I started taking pictures. In your series of photos that explain your tools and such you talk about your favorite tool for stuffing, so I took a pic of MY favorite stuffing tool....her name is Chloe but she likes to be called Tink ;)!
after she had done all she was able to do she kept right by my side watching intently as I worked, asking over and over, "my baby done yet momma?" Before I could finish, it was her bedtime, so she agreed to go to bed with the promise her baby would be done before we left for church in the morning....should have bit my tongue! the face/hair took me a long time and I think I am going to use smaller thread for the facial features next time (I used the first crochet thread i could find b/c walmart was out of the colors I needed in embroidery floss, so i used a size three crochet thread...toooo big for this little face I was making)...anyway, I was up til 4 a.m. finishing her doll baby for her. It has no shoes (i hate shoes anyway, so i am sure annie would prefer to go barefoot too if she is playing with a 3 yr old), and her dress/body/face doesn't match your dolls hardly at all even though i tried to do it right ;), but she is cute none-the-less! I can see how this could become an addiction and I LOVED the bonding time it gave my daughter and I....I cried more than once last night as I watched her face while she worked on stuffing the doll, it made me miss my Mamaw so badly, but also made me feel so happy that I am creating those memories for her great granddaughter who she never got to meet.....


hopefully now y'all can see why De's simple pattern is such a huge blessing to me :)







if you made it this far, God bless ya!....i will have a freebie up this week, along with another big announcement....if you email me, I will send you a link to another freebie when i post the one I am working on now (just for reading this far....)...all you have to do is email me and tell me what kind of tool i call Chloe :)

the oddest ways....

God works in such wonderful ways doesn't He?!
Most of you know that finances have been scary for us this year, as in facing losing everything every month since about September. Yet, month after month after month God comes through for us and we have yet to lose anything except some selfish pride!
Christmas was looking scary, as we have 2 who still believe in the jolly ol' elf and we didn't have the moola to put out even for gifts from him and both of our families helped us in ways this year that we were not expecting them to be able to help much gift-wise. Well, as always, we should live by the verse Phillipians 4:6 " Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." because it is true that if we only ask, He is ALWAYS (yes ALWAYS) faithful to answer....sometimes the answer is "yes, of course" sometimes it is "no way" and sometimes it is "wait, I have something better for you if you are patient".....
Anyway, we ended up being able to get each of the kids gifts from each other (from us), our parents on both sides got them every single thing on their lists except a Wii (like they really need that anyway!), and mike and I got some very nice things even though we asked for nothing and expected nothing...AND there were 3 gifts for each young'un from Santa, one for each from their personal elves Jingle, Tingle, and Tiny Kringle (they each got long johns to wear under their clothes when they go sledding...oh yeah they got 4 gifts b/c Santa left each of the boys a sled too) all of this under our tree when we got home Christmas Day!!!
Anyway, all of this is leading up to something. How God works in mysterious/odd ways....
anyway, most of the gifts we bought were gotten on Ebay. At first I felt horrible thinking about giving my babies stuff that had been previously used or owned but OH MY, we got some GREAT gifts for a little bit of nothing (you have to be willing to pick a low price and refuse to go above it and really watch the shipping/handling costs)!!! During this time I got used to just browsing ebay.
Well today I was browsing again and thinking "if i see something i really want, i can use some of the money I got for Christmas and get something just for me".....
lo and behold I came across what I thought were raggedy ann and andy dolls that were SO cute. Growing up I always had raggedy ann and andy dolls b/c my Mamaw used to make them (I will have to tell you the story of the year she sold them to get my birthday supper)....I have priced them at different places/thrift shops/boutiques to get for Tink so that she can have some of the things i loved so much as a child (ok ok yeah it has as much to do with me wanting to relive my childhood as it has to do with wanting her to have a raggedy ann). Anyway, back on track....
well i clicked on it b/c it had a raggedy ann AND an andy!....well it wasn't the actual dolls, it was an e-pattern. Then it hit me, if i buy the pattern I can MAKE them for tink like Mamaw made them for me!!!! The post was for 6.50 for the patterns for both. I bought them.
A few minutes later I got a reply from the seller with the patterns enclosed, and in her siggy it gave the link for her store and her blog.....well i visited the store (she had some ADORABLE freebie patterns on there) and thought "wow that is a great place...." then at the bottom of the page it had something that caught me off guard, she gave ALL the credit to Jesus Christ!!!!!!
sooooooooooooooooo I thought "hm that was a great surprise, knowing I bought from a fellow believer, why not visit her blog".....this is where I say that God works in odd ways. On this blog I found entries and sideblogs of a kindred spirit!!! A fun lovin', shoe hatin', animal adorin', God fearin', Christ praisin', family girl from the south!!!!! I am already hooked and her blog has already blessed me today more than she could probably know! I will be blogging soon about some of my memories growing up in tennessee thanks to her and i will work on some sort of freebie for all y'all over the next couple days :).....anyway here is her blog addy.... http://itsaboutannie.blogspot.com/ , thanks De for brightening my day!

blogging...hm....lol oh yeah freebies too

:) I usually open my blog by apologizing for the long delay between posts...well, that is changing :)
I blog when I can, and when I have something to say or something to give away. I wish that were every day/week/month, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way lol
I have a big announcement! (part of my reason for blogging today) and here it is....

Yep I am designing at Designing-Moments.net :)...We are really working on getting the site running full force (by "we" I mean Carla is and I am just her yes-man telling her how nice of a job she is doing) *smiles* so stop by, visit the shop and the blog and maybe even take on a challenge from the blog :)
I have actually scrapped a few things also :D....i am LOVING Nancy Comelab's frames...sigh...I have a couple frames I have made, but hers are just too great to pass up (she can be found at the lily pad)...and Cherie Shields has a great alpha that I will be using over and over and over (she can be found at one of a kind scrapz)...

This is one I did as a "gift" to a close friend using my Santa's Vintage Suspenders Kit, Nancy's frames, & Cherie's Charming to Me alpha :)


Then there is my "dainty" daughter proving that she can be just as "funny" as the boys (my nephew, chase, and middle young'un, elijah, were trying to make her smile by PRETENDING to pick their noses behind my back while I was taking pics...she decided to make THEM smile by picking for real....) I have had several people not see the humor in this PICKture, but if you know me or my family, this is us...unconventional, finding humor in the mundane and sometimes gross, and more or less just not taking ourselves too seriously :) The caption says "Pickin' Out the Perfect Gift"....Frame by Nancy Comelab, everything else from my Santa's Vintage Suspenders Kit (except the brad)


then my cat, Zoe has a new fave spot to snooze....under the Christmas tree, that way after she is good and recharged she can rearrange all of our ornaments without having to walk across the room to do so...


and Malachi (our 112 lb black lab) "made" a card for a very wonderful family who took him in when he decided to take a walk out of our fenced in yard and into a nearby neighborhood...they took care of him for 2 days (i mean took REALLY good care of him...he got to sleep on a people bed and everything lol....)....we printed this off and gave it to them as a "thank you".....(both this and Zoe's pic have my frosted framer and snowflake overlays from Santa's Vintage Suspenders kit)...


and finally, our family picture for our Christmas Cards, but I turned it into a 5x7 for the mantel :) (once again using nancy's frames and my Santa's Vintage Suspenders Kit)...our final card is below it....I loved the way they turned out....


Our family truly is a miracle...this time last year, hubby and I were separated and both were hurt/disenchanted beyond the point of reconciliation...new relationships had been started and our marriage was over, it was just a matter of paperwork to make it final....then God stepped in and we are now stronger and happier than we have ever been despite the enemy's plan for our family :)....it can be done, no matter what the hurts or transgressions have been against one another if both people are willing to fully submit themselves to God and His will...it is not easy, but it is so much more than a "possibility".....The fact that we are happy and still together and raising our kids in a TRULY Christian home now is in and of itself a true Miracle :)

Now on to products and freebies :)

All of the following items are now available there (www.designing-moments.net) and at my store at OAKS (www.oneofakindscrapz.com) :)

This kit is called Santa's Vintage Suspenders :)....it is available as a full kit, as a paper pack only, and as an element pack only. Here is the description :)
This li'l Christmas kit is full of fun and charm :)
The elements include:
a double tied/laced up frame
a double suspender frame
2 fasteners
a frosted framer overlay
one inked edge
a 17 1/2 long ribbon (able to reach from corner to corner of your layout)
a 2 part envelope (so you can "stick things in it")
a little name plate
a textured vellum
and 3 snowflake overlays :)

there are 7 textured papers in traditional Christmas colors :)
and with names like "Red As Santa's Rump," "Santa's Underpants," and "ReindeerFood" they are sure to elicit a smile as you create your treasured layouts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future :)....the papers are all 300 dpi and 12x12 inches and saved at a high quality

**dropshadows are for preview purposes only except where needed for layered products**
**elements are previewed at 75% of their size in order to fit them all on one preview page :)**

personal and scrap for hire use only :)
please read TOU included in zip :)





I really stepped out of my box the other day, color-wise :)....My dear friend Carla LOVES these bright bold colors, whereas I tend to lean to the muted earthy tones lol. SO in honor of her birthday I made a paper pack and overlay using her "style" of colors lol.
This is called "Carla's Christmas Paper Pack Plus"....the "plus" comes from the overlay included :) and it can be found at Designing Moments and One of a Kind Scrapz :)


And now for a little freebie :) you get both of these quickpages :)...
These were made using the Carla's Christmas Paper Pack Plus (frame not included in the Paper Pack, but the swirls/snowflakes overlay is) (of course the photos are for display purposes only lol) **click on either layout to get the freebie**


and for those of you who may be looking for a last minute personalized Christmas Card...here is a 4x6 quick page ready for your family/kids/pets photos! All you have to do is add the photo and whatever sentiment you want :)...also I do scrap for hire for cards and such so if you know of anyone interested in that I can be contacted at SweetAsSodiePop@gmail.com....I am not fast and cheap, but I am quick and inexpensive ;)...any questions just email me :D Here is the quickpage ...(4x6, 300 dpi) **click on HERE to get the freebie**



Happy Scrapping, and Happy Holidays if I don't blog before the end of the year :D....
(Happy Hannukah to our Jewish friends!!!....already in full swing!)

belated freebie *blush*

:) I am very sorry for not having a freebie up the other day as planned, so instead of the one sneak peek paper I planned on giving as a freebie, I added a word art and decided to give you an alpha to match my Feral Faeries kit :).....but (yes there is almost always a but) i have an issue that needs addressed....
a close friend of mine blogged today about something very timely to me giving another freebie out...
for over a year she has been creating freebies and graciously giving them away...she has RAKed many friends/customers/fellow scrappers...she, like most of us, spends a lot of time making things to simply give away....yet she rarely sees any fruit from her efforts.
I have to say, that i have been extremely blessed that so many of you have used the freebies I have provided, I have gotten unusually high numbers of comments, and I have recieved emails from so many of you linking me to your wonderful creations....and I do understand financial restrictions on buying things....
My friend seems to have stirred a couple of her readers up with her blog post, as they see it as her being ungrateful or unChristian in saying that she is no longer giving freebies and asking "Where is God in all this?"....to those people, I can assure you that she IS a very generous person, but like the rest of us designers, she is also trying to make a living and support her family (one of God's greatest commands)....and she was not saying she wouldn't RAK people, give away "free with purchase" items, or do nice things for people (i know for a fact that she is one of those people who will readily help fellow scrappers AND designers!..which it is rare to find designers willing to help boost one another).....so if anyone is wondering where God is in these feelings, why not ask Him? ask Him to reveal to you what someone is going through when they come to such big decisions, ask Him to give you an insight, and heart of understanding and I bet He just might show you ;)....
I know personally, I have stepped on people's toes by only giving a freebie as a 24 hour gift...that was never my intention and when it has happened i have been deeply hurt that they seemed ungrateful for the dozens of quality freebies i left up for months!...so next time you visit a blog (not mine in particularly...lol even though i LOVE the attention and kind words) make sure you say thanks for their hard work, and if you use it (which if you download it, i would hope it is b/c you plan on using it) let the other designers know by linking them to your layouts! I know i love leaving love on layouts where people have used my stuff :D....ok, off my soapbox.....

**update on the home front**
Tink (Chloe as she is very firmly callng herself now...which it is her name so i can't complain, i just have a hard time calling her that lol) is now potty trained 100% day, night, and naptime!!!
Lane has now been moved up to 8th grade math (he is in 7th)...
and Elijah's teacher is in the works of having him moved to 4th grade math (he is in 3rd)...
both boys' reading skills are off the charts also and tink is obsessed with drawing...i mean she does it all the time!
This weekend marks my biggest sales ever (lol which isn't a lot compared to most designers, but I am seeing it as a blessing all the same!). Hopefully, with more people sampling my stuff, maybe i will have more sales in the future :D....AND I have been praying about a certain store that I wanted to be part of but didn't want to flat out ask, well the owner approached me about it last weekend so i will be having a BIG announcement concerning that sometime this week ;)..
Mike's going to be going to court concerning getting his job back with his former employer....God knows my heart on this matter, He knows Mike's heart on this matter (lol we don't necessarily agree on what we WANT), but I also just want His will done no matter which of us is going to be most pleased, so please be praying that God gives us both the strength and understanding to be grateful no matter what the decision is....another job has possibly presented itself (the same line of work) so if that is what God wants, that is what we want also....
Finally, tomorrow (the 6th) is my 31st bday! (it didn't bother me much until the last few hours, just getting a bit anxious about it for some reason...) and it is Mike's 33rd bday :D...here is our "almost" bday picture (he really is not this aggrevated, he just looks like it in most pictures lol)...and i am happy my hair was hanging just right to cover most of my chubby face! lol



Here are some trick or treat pics :).....it was too chilly for Tink and Elijah to wear their original costumes (pictured below the trick or treat ones...i took the other photos before the fall costume contest a couple weekends ago), so we just rigged them up with some different (warmer) homespun costumes :D....lane went "goth" both times, and it is a little unsettling to this momma how "naturally" he took the persona of his costume :(, I am so glad it was only for Halloween....lol if it was anyone else's son, I would compliment them on how handsome they looked (lol i love the look, just not on my oldest baby boy :P)....

Tink looking Ghetto Clown Fabulous ;) (this is how she NORMALLY dresses lol, we only added face makeup)...she refused to say "Trick or Treat"...she would only say "treat" lol smart girl ;)...her hair is actually a lot lighter than it looks, and more reddish but i used a photo action on these and it darkened it a lot lol....


and for the costume contest....she was a victorian princess, she won 2nd for "cutest" in her age group...



"Please sir, may i have suh'more?"...elijah kept using his "Oliver Twist" accent and asking for "Canday for thuh poor" instead of Trick or Treat....

and for the costume contest he was a piece of the lawn (yes that is fake dog poo in his hair, c'mon admit it, most of us have at least one pile hidden somewhere in the grass ;) )...he got first place in his category :D


and my Goth Boy, who DID say "Trick or Treat" (if they think they are too old to say it, then they have NO business trick or treating ;) )......

and for the costume contest he had a fake lip ring, black nails, and "sleeves"...and we worked a bit more on his hair....lol


I am very proud to say that all 3 of mine thanked every person who was handing out candy and were very polite and considerate of everyone else out and about that night, I was very pleased...


sniffle, i fear this is the last year my oldest young'un will be trick or treating though (he is taller than momma now lol)...he will probably still dress up, but trick or treat is best left to the younger ones :)

ok now to the freebie :)...um i mean freebies!.....
first off is a bit of a preview of a couple of the things that just might could be made using some items from my grab bag ;)....this freebie contains the paper and the word art (separately so you don't have to leave "harvest" where it is)....if you like it, better go grab my Scrapz Sack at www.oneofakindscrapz.com (scrappin hillbilly sweetpea designs) while it is still up and only $2.00!!! (click on the preview for the freebie link)...



and the 2nd freebie is an alpha that coordinates with my Feral Faeries kit (also available at OAKS)...this wonderful layout, done by Tracy Little (5 angels) shows you the alpha that our lil feral faeries munched on!...definitely not your normal run of the mill alpha :D


Hope those were worth the long wait since my last freebie :) HUGS!
Be sure to see last Friday's (nov 2nd) post if you would like to see a preview of the Feral Faeries kit!

*SOBBING!!!!* I just discovered that all of my previous 4shared files were deleted (I was not logged in for over a month :(....ugh i am almost sick, all the wonderful comments and such that were left are forever gone :(....please if you leave a comment, do it here (i will still love them on 4shared, but if they are on here i will never lose them)....ugh, NOT a good bday "present!!!"....

:) long time no blog...

after a hard month I have spent the last week working on designing and getting myself emotionally and spiritually back in line :D!
This is going to be a quick blog, as my oh so hot hubby is waiting for me to finish up here so we can go drop all three kids off with relatives and have an entire night alone!!! Our birthday is coming up on Tuesday, and I have to work the polls so we can't do anything on our birthday...yes i said OUR, as hubby and I have the same birthday lol ;) HE is older just in case you were wondering...
I have a new kit, a grab bag, and have been part of the november free with purchase kit (and the kit for Victoria's scavenger hunt) so if you have been looking for a chance to sample some of my stuff, NOW is the time....all items excluding my grab bag (scrapz sack) are 30% off :) now through Sunday night!...my grab bag is $2.00 but has over 100mb worth of items! I will have a big announcement AND a freebie up tomorrow (Saturday) in celebration of National Digital Scrapbooking Day!
here is a link to my store.... http://www.oneofakindscrapz.com/store/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=39

and here are some previews for you....



My kits almost always come as a full kit, as a paper pack, and as an element pack so you can get what you want :)



**one of the freebies tomorrow will coordinate with this faerie kit!**
I will also post some layouts created using my kits :D, stay tuned!!!
Swing by One of a Kind Scrapz for loads of deals and sales!

Love, Prayers, and a Freebie ....lol

hiya everyone....
well after the last post, several things have happened and one in particular really drove home the importance of letting those you love know it now...not tomorrow, not next time you see them, NOW....

I got a phone call at 7:30 this morning from my cousin Heather. She was calling to tell me that our 23 yr old cousin, Nathan, was driving way too fast, not wearing a seatbelt, and veered off the road and hit a culvert/bridge abutment and was killed instantly....

no time for "good-byes" or last minute "i love you"s....no time for my aunt to take his face in her hands, look him in the eye and say "baby, no matter how much you mess up or have messed up, i love you more than you will ever know".....not even a chance to sit at his hospital bedside and get out all the unsaid things in hopes that he heard it through the fog of a coma....nothing....
My uncle asked the question "Is there really a God?....because if there is I am SO mad at him right now".....my aunt replied, "yeah...there is...and i am too..."...he said "then we need to get to church because i need to know there is some hope that maybe my boy is alright now"....
Nathan left behind an almost 6 yr old son, 5 nieces and nephews, 2 sisters and a brother, and his parents....my prayer is that they had all said their "i love you"s and "you are something to me"s....
sorry to start this off with such a downer of a post, but it just feels so very important to me right now to let everyone who will hear or read know that God loves you (whether you believe or follow Him or not) and that whether it feels like it or not, there are people all around you who love you (online and off)....
If you are someone I talk to at all and I haven't told you lately, I am telling you now, I love ya...and i don't say that lightly....I would name you, but then i would, without a doubt, forget someone very important to me and i would feel like crap...so you know who you are....
please be praying for our family and friends who are mourning this loss...and please pray for traveling mercy and protection over all of us who have to travel to be together in the coming week for the funeral and such....thanks :)

ok...on to brighter things....

My kids are getting excited. Fall is upon us, the weather has changed for the better, leaves are changing and it is time to start decorating and celebrating the upcoming holidays....:) I am happy b/c it is picture takin' season again :D....
The boys will be staying with my mom & sister (they live across from one another) while I am away at the funeral and Mom is taking them to a local Canal Days festival...they are really looking forward to it (esp Elijah)....
Tink will be going with me on the 4 hour trip, which should be interesting with her new found training skills...eek!....she did "the other" all by herself TWICE tonight....so that means all day she had a grand total of ZERO accidents of ANY kind!!!! (this is the first day ever for that)....I am pretty proud of her ;)...
Mike said "i love you" to me twice tonight out of nowhere, just in passing....it made me feel pretty awesome...

now onto scrapping things....
I now have a CT :)...I will be giving the BIG announcement soon (i wanna do it with fanfare and all that jazz and not after a somber post)...but I will be on the look out for a couple guest CTMs within a week or two soooooooo I will be on watching for anyone who uses my stuff or who sports my fan blinkie (and I will have my li'l hillbilly helpers doing the same!) to fill those spots....
here is the blinkie if you wanna shot at it!

now for your freebie....this was going to be a mini-kit in my store at OneOfAKindScrapz, but with everything happening, I just wanted to give you guys something for all the nice things you have said/done for me, and I also didn't know if I would get it in the store before Halloween....so here you go....it is only slightly screamable....;)
it includes one 12x12 inch paper & 3 doodles (each one comes as just the doodle and as a sticker, for a total of 6 elements)...let Punkin Dewdell and WitchyWoo brighten up your layouts of your li'l ghouls and boos this Halloween....
click on preview to be taken to the download...
PLEASE leave some love here if you like the freebie....it really makes my day :)





I have actually scrapped a bit :)...here are some of my most recent ones....(click on preview to be taken to the credits...)
This one is of Elijah on the first day of school...even though it was the FIRST day, he was SO bored waiting on the bus without Lane, that he almost didn't know what to do with himself!...he was so nervous (i think he was a bit excited, but mostly nervous) and was really acting goofy to cover it...it was a perfect example of Bus stop Boredom...



This was for a challenge, and also for my guest spot on Kris Myers' CT....it really shows how my family deals with nearly everything...we laugh...through tears, through gritted teeth, through it all we love and we laugh in order that we might live a little better....the photos are of my daughter (lol our early attempts at potty training made her laugh at us, and us laugh through gritted teeth), my brother & sister & I at my sisters wedding after goosing each other during a photo shoot, my sons just being goofy last summer, my dh making his silly smiling face at the park, my 3 and my 2 nephews laughing after shocking each other at the end of the slide (it generates a LOT of static), my 3 laughing b/c one of them supposedly um uh "tooted" while i was taking their picture, my son going "airborne" b/c my dd "kicked" him while swinging (it was totally staged which made it all the funnier), DH Me & the kids posing for our Valentine's Day pic, and my 3 and my nephews again just laying "around"....lol see we find "funny" in everything from the day to day to the dys"fun"ctional ;)




I have so many photos of my 3 kids that i have not scrapped....these are just a few of them that I have taken in the 3 yrs since Tink was born....I really liked the way this turned out (and it was made using my Li'l Bluebirch Kit, so it made it even more special to me :D )


This one I did for the Not Just a Template Challenge at OAKS...I loved the way it turned out...
I used my Hallow-teen Paper Pack to make everything, and I used pics of Tink's first trip to the pumpkin patch...I loved using older photos that I haven't scrapped :D


and last, but not least I did an "all about me" one for the Embellishment Explosion Challenge at OAKS...these are all photos of me from Sept of 2006 until March of 2007...I no longer have my tongue ring (lol i would if Mike wasn't opposed to them probably), but it was all part of who I was and who i was becoming :)....each of the words on the layout describes a piece of me...not who I am, but why I am who I am :) did that make a lick of sense?...


remember that no matter how bad we have it....someone else has it worse...
See your trouble as your servant, not as your master and realize that often our problems are simply our prophecy...God uses our trials to build us up and put us where we need to be...so after a test, which do you choose: a testimony....or just the moanies?...;)