More layouts (3..4...um FIVE from last night/today!!!)

:) hello....AGAIN!
Ok I am on a scrappin' roll!!! I did 3 new ones since I last blogged...no wait, 4....um 5!
The first 4 on here are not new ones but they are ones I wanted to share b/c I loved how they turned out!!!
This one is using Kami's (Ziggle Designs) Sk8r kit! I actually thought I would only use it to scrap pics of Lane, but as you can see, it worked perfectly for Tink's pics too!


ok...now...we have to talk about this stupid online craze concerning "flair"...."flair" used to be a word used to describe (or make fun of) a certain restaurant's "bling" that their waiters/waitresses wore, am I right?
I had NO interest in it when it hit the digiscrap scene, of course one of my besties kept talking about it and showing me different pieces...they were cute but eh, what did i need with digital flair?!.....sigh, then one night, just to see if I could, I decided to make A piece of flair...just one...just to see if I could manage it from scratch....I am not a huge fan of the quirky little sayings flair pieces, but I thought "ok I MIGHT deal with a piece of photo flair"....
one pieced turned into 2...then 3...then...well you get the pic! The problem NOW is that I want a REAL button maker so I can have these in real life to pin all over the place!!!! (yes all of those pics are mine, even the butterfly ones ;) i had a very good photo day a couple months ago)


Then a site had a contest for a canon printer if you used their items that were their "deals" that week, and yep, they involved flair :P (but you had to use THEIR pieces, so these are not my layers that made up these flairs)....

I did not win, don't think I even came close or was even really in the running, but I loved the layouts none-the-less :)

NOW we are to the new layouts :)...
This first one I did with a RAK I recieved from Andrea & Jules Designs (Alice) from ZigZag Scraps :) (Alice gave the kit to Andrea to give to a lucky winner at dst), Sept. 30th would have been my papaw's 74th birthday if he were still with us and I have been missing him somethin' awful the past couple weeks...he & lane were SO close and alike in so many ways from the time lane was born (he loved all of his great grandbabies but Lane was the only one old enough to have gotten to spend much REAL time with him)...ANYWHO (before I get all teary eyed and snot nosed again), these are some pics of the 2 of them in 1997 :)...ty ty ty Andrea & Alice for RAKing me with this adorable kit! Funny Farm from Jules Designs


Then there is this simple, but oh so sweet one I did of Daniel (my nephew) & Tink...the pic was taken last summer (2007), but it looked so cute with this kit by Irene Alexeeva (um have I mentioned how much I love her work?!....This kit is available at TheDailyScrapper for a VERY limited time!!!! go grab it while you can HERE (read the article first...she is such a sweet soul!)
She is also exclusive to The Scrap Orchard, all her kits are a must have! (my bday is coming up in a few weeks...hm wonder if hubby would grant me a bday wish...like putting me on Cloud #9)
Seriously you have to go check out her store....Irene Alexeeva


Then there came this...lol
After church last Sunday, Tink wanted to pose in her good clothes for pics...As soon as I took them, I knew I had to have Shauna's (Pineapple Plantation Designs) A Girl's Best Friend kit to scrap it with, how freaking cute did this turn out?! that alpha and the bling just totally rocked this layout (even the staple has bling on it!!!!).....the journaling says (& is repeated) "Baby, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got some bling"..."A hand on your hip and one on your lip" (this is what one of her teachers says to get the kids quiet, and "miss dara" does it with as much attitude/spunk as Tink does)....and "Fashion isn't a statement, it is a way of life"....
Keep in mind that 90% of Tink's clothes come from Goodwill's 99 cent kids' clothes day lol, she has baby gap, old navy, and several other brand names from it! she LOVES going to Goodwill!!!

:) then there is this one that is out of my box (way too clean and straight compared to my normal layouts ;) ), but that I REALLY like!!! I did this one using this Apple Cart Challenge Freebee by Polkadot Plum...this is a really neat twist of a challenge! You are given a mini kit and you must use EVERYTHING in it on your layout....HERE is the A.C.C. thread, go check it out too!


And last, but definitely not least, is a layout I did for Kami's "Bring It!" challenge (title is linked so you can go play too!)...this month it is a challenge to scrap "it is the little things that matter"...
at first I had wonderful visions of Tink's tiny baby toes pics, Elijah's sweet grinning pics from when he was a toddler, and pics of Lane's precious baby curls 12 yrs ago (he didn't get hair until after his first birthday...none of my kids did lol)....then yesterday I was outside taking pics of just random fall things. We have a tree in the side yard that never turns colors until late October/early November at the earliest. As I was walking past it, a glint of red caught my eye and upon closer inspection this little leaf is what I found....the leaf is upside down compared to all the other leaves on the tree, it is the only red one, and it really stood out to me.....all of the sudden I seriously felt like God had just reached down and gathered me up in His arms and had given me a big "I love YOU, princess" hug like my husband does our daughter...it was a "little thing" that really mattered ;)....
The journaling reads:
It’s the small things that make all the difference sometimes, but in order
to witness & appreciate the small things, one must first take a minute
to refocus...a minute to reevaluate, a moment to simply quit looking
& let God reveal Himself to them.
I have never been shown a burning bush of direction,
I have never been shown a pillar of fire by night,
I have never had an arc angel visit me as I went about my day,
but God reveals Himself, His will, & His love to me on a regular basis.
On a few occasions it has been a profound, monumental moment,
but most of the time it is in a subtle, sweet, surprising whisper.
A little ray of light shining through the blinds, illuminating one of
my children’s still sleeping faces...
A soft breeze that plays through my hair like my Mamaw used to
when I was a child, reminding me of what a blessing she &
Papaw were in my life...
A giddy feeling when my husband walks
in after work, reminding me of our first dates
Or even a simple red leaf in the shape
of a heart, nestled amongst bigger, green leaves
Just a simple reminder that sometimes
God just wants me to know just how much
He loves me....yeah, it’s the little things
that make life so wonderful...

This layout was made using just a few of the items in the collab I mentioned the other day from Kami & Irene....which is NOW AVAILABLE!!!! Birdilicious is a must have!!!!
I will post some Fresh Fruit tomorrow or sometime this weekend (new stuff at the orchard comes out on Fridays) for you to feast your eyes upon ;)....until then...thanks for stoppin' by!!