My Heart's Content...

Project 52 Week 2

2012-01-09T05:55:00.004-05:00

Here is my photo for week two. I have to say I was not very enthusiastic today when I first walked outside with my camera but had just a bit of an idea of what I was looking for. I wanted a wildflower or some other thing that grows unattended and would be withered and dry by now. Something leftover from summer, something I could bring to life on my computer screen. I found just what I wanted so I shot a few frames. Even though the colors weren't vivid they were there. Thru the viewfinder on my camera I could see the touches of green in the background, the grass that hasn't died out yet, and the blue bit of sky above and the light. To me those are the colors of spring and the promise of new life. This image represents the pain in my heart that life has put there, and the sadness… and hope.

This turned out better than I even imagined, I love the hidden surprises that digital photography and the power of Adobe bring into my creative world! Thank you dear Lord for giving me this gift. I hope that in some way it will bring you glory.

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T23:55:00.010-05:00

After 2½ years I am back. I won't even try to write what stopped me in my tracks back in May of 2009. I was almost halfway finished with Project 365 and then things in my life changed and my heart was broken. It has taken a very long time to get back to a place in my life where joy is bigger than my grief. Life does this to many of us at some time and I thank the Lord for hanging on to me when I would have let go.

It is a new year and I am excited to have a photo project underway once again! I would love to do the Project 365 Photo-A-Day but I'm pretty sure that won't work out for me. Instead I will attempt to do a Project 52. One photo per week that I am happy with. It may be of some every day item kind of like I was doing a few years ago. Grandkids, nature, family. Or whatever. I would like it to have some faith based inspiration to it but I think I will just see how this goes, and since it is my project I can make up the rules along the way, right? LOL!

Today. January 1, 2012. I started out the new year by going to church with Aaron and Lynnsey. Then home. I haven't been attending church on a regular basis for a long time and even though I have stayed close to God it is still different than when there is a church family to spend time with and worship with. I want to earnestly seek an even closer relationship with the Lord, and I believe that will also bring me closer to those that I love so dearly. I know that I need something more than this halfhearted existence that has become my life. New year, new beginning. Here is the photo I took today, and made a little scrapbook page with it. I posted this image on Facebook earlier today as a New Year Greeting. Here's to 2012. He makes all things new. :)
(you can click on the image for a larger view)

Hugs and prayers,
Cheryl

Saying Hi to Dad plus some other stuff...

2009-05-06T02:04:00.008-04:00

April 27
Here is the balcony of my new apartment. I'll start moving some stuff in there by this time next week! Nothing real special honestly, but it's going to be my own little space.

April 28
Chris and I attended the awards banquet for his high school band where they made a surprise announcement! Guess who is marching in the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?!!

April 29
Nine years ago, how can that be? It doesn't seem like so much time has passed since Dad left us to be with the Lord. I love you and miss you Daddy, but I rejoice that you are where you are meant to be and I will see you again.

April 30
I've been taking my camera to work with me so that when I walk during breaks I can grab a few shots here and there. I love this lacy flower, not sure what it is tho. It reminded me of a doily with the large flowers surrounding the smaller ones in the center...and as usual my photo doesn't do it justice.

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Tulips, Cute Boys and Missing My Sara...

2009-04-30T05:45:00.008-04:00

April 24
Tulips in late afternoon...gorgeous sunny yellow tulips!

(click the photos for a closer look!)

April 25
I spent part of the weekend with Joshie and Justin. We went for a walk on Saturday, it was a gorgeous and almost HOT day! after all the cold weather we've had I won't complain too much!

April 26
Missing my sweet Sara Ann...it's only been a few days since I last saw her but since I've spent nearly every day with her for the past year it is especially hard, I don't even know when I will get to see her again. Here is her baby doll; she misses Sara too, but always has a smile on her face, LOL!

Gotta run, time for work!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

What's Green and Sticky and Yummy?

2009-04-23T21:29:00.003-04:00

A lollipop in the hands (and mouth) of a sweet baby girl! and yes, that is my bed she is sitting on. Who in their right mind would let a 1 year old have eat a sucker while sitting on their white down comforter? hehehee, I never said I was right in the head now did I? LOL! here ya go!

April 23

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

How About Something Pretty...

2009-04-22T23:25:00.007-04:00

I have just a couple of photos to show you then I am off to bed.

April 21
This photo was a challenge, it was rainy and windy and so very cold! But I saw this tree on the property here where I live and it is simply LOADED with pink carnation/rose type blooms. I hated to wait until another day to photograph this but as usual, I couldn't do it justice. I tried different settings etc, to get the depth of field I wanted but I think I was just too impatient to get out of the weather...a nature photographer I am not, LOL!

April 22
My sweet Sara Ann looking at her album of scrapbook pages. She loves photos of babies and especially enjoys seeing herself so she flipped through this album over and over.

I can barely hold my eyes open so I'll say good night!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Rainy Days and Mondays

2009-04-20T20:31:00.010-04:00

Spring is being really contrary this year. A day on and 3 days off...another nice day and then more rain and lots of cold air. We do need the rain so things will be pretty and green (for awhile) but I would like less of the cold stuff. Oh well, in a few weeks I will be complaining about the heat and humidity. LOL!

Here are some pics from the past few days. Most of what I photographed over the weekend at my Mom's were flowers and cats. I really enjoyed just being there, away from the stress and tension that is the normal at my place. The time went by way too quickly tho, I need some more days off for sure.

April 18
This Columbine is so beautiful! I took many, many photos at all different angles and light and could never do it justice.

April 19
This is Snoopy...he's a wild and crazy kitty cat!

Party hat by Vera Lim, font is Pea Lacy Chunky

April 20
24 days and a wake up until I get the keys to my new apartment!

That's all I have for now and it's bedtime anyway. Have an awesome week!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Ready For More Photos?

2009-04-17T18:54:00.009-04:00

Ahhhhh! It's the weekend, finally! Tomorrow I'm driving up to see my Sweet Mother. I haven't been to visit since our Christmas get together and I was so busy with all the kids that we didn't really get to just chat and be together. Can't wait to see you Mom!

On a sort of sad note, Sara (and her mommy, it's a package deal) doesn't live here with me anymore. They moved out today, and even though it's past time for a change here I will really miss seeing that sweet baby pretty much every day. This has been planned for awhile and I thought I was somewhat prepared for it but now I'm not so sure. I think once I move into my new apartment it will be a little easier for me and I might even find that I have time for some of my crafty hobbies that have been neglected in exchange for taking care of a baby. It has been a very good trade, and I am so thankful that I had the past year to bond with this very precious little girl. I pray that God will keep her in His care and that Sara will be allowed to spend time with me as she grows up.

So here are the pics...

April 13
Little girl doesn't feel well, she had her one year checkup and immunizations today. Poor sweet baby, she just looks so sad.

April 14
My Sara is feeling lots better today. She just loves this baby dolly and after hugs and smoochies she points to her baby's embroidered eyes. She is facinated with facial features right now and eyes are her favorite.

April 15
Today is Aaron's birthday. Yep, he was a tax baby! He refused to let me take a photo of him, so I grabbed this one instead...sharing his birthday cake and some ice cream with Sara.

April 16
Spring finally made it's way back! I hope it stays awhile this time. The sun came out and it warmed up enough to enjoy a stroll around the neighborhood this evening. I was bad, I picked a bloom from one of those trees that are all over the place and gave it to Sara...and what did she do with it? I have her well trained in sniffing flowers!

April 17
I gave Sara this little book for her birthday. I've been wanting to do a scrapbook page using this title and then list some of the little things about Sara that I love...but then I would need to do one for each of my grandchildren...Hey that sounds like a good idea to me!

This catches me up! Since I'm expanding my boundaries a bit this weekend I am hoping that I won't have to work so hard to come up with a photo idea the next two days, fun fun!

have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T19:21:00.022-04:00

He is Risen! Jesus is risen indeed!

Time to post some more photos...

March 31 (I must have missed the 30th, oops!)
My baby princess in her little girl night gown playing in her favorite spot!

April 1
Daffydillys!

April 2
Remember the iced crab apples from January? Well, now we have gorgeous blooms!

April 3
I'm spending the night at Tammy's tonight, everyone is asleep except me and the bear, LOL!

April 4
It's a gorgeous weekend to be outdoors! Here is Meikina flying down the slide at Chancey Playground.

April 5
Meikina again, on the way to the playground again today...such a pretty little princess!

April 6
Oh my goodness, she's texting??

April 7
Bloomin' Trees! Whatever they are, the blossoms are just beautiful!

April 8
I have missed a couple of days here and there, but overall I've done pretty well taking a photo a day the past four months. I have been extremely exhausted this week, no energy whatsoever...just soooo tired.

April 9
The Easter Bunny sneaked in to work today and left everyone something sweet...yummmmidy yum yum!!!

April 10
Sara absolutely LOVES to play on my bed! When she says "Ni Ni" that doesn't mean she wants to sleep! When I put her on the bed she rolls over on her tummy and curls up in a tiny ball and waits for me to say "I'm gonna get my baby girl!" Then she crawls to the edge as fast as she can go and waits for me to grab her up and tickle her. I don't know which of us has the most fun! Sara Ann is simply adorable no matter what she is doing!

April 11
Endangered species! And that's all I've got to say about that!

April 12
I spent the day alone...mostly by choice. It was quiet and peaceful and I really enjoyed the day. This is the first time I colored eggs in I don't know how many years! what a mess, LOL! But look, they even have glitter! Click on the photo for a closer look!

I am so thankful that Jesus gave his life for me so that I can live with Him forever. God's greatest gift is His Son, and with that gift comes peace, blessings, and the promise of eternity in Heaven. Thank you Lord! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Sara's Birthday

2009-04-11T08:55:00.010-04:00

It's a couple of weeks past but I wanted to post this layout that I made that day. Since I didn't get to spend her birthday with her, (other than just a few minutes) I scrapped instead. I have gotten so much pleasure from watching little Sara Ann learn new things every day, she is growing up so fast. Sara is turning into a toddler right before my eyes, that tiny baby isn't tiny anymore! I love her so much...

Credits:
Sadie and her Sisters - Misty Cato
Worn overlay - Lynn Grieveson
Alpha - CD Muckosky

My March 29th photo of the day was posted on Sara's birthday, out of order from the last post but I just had to post it on the day, so scroll way down if you want to see. ;o)

more later!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Happy Spring!

2009-04-10T21:25:00.033-04:00

We have gone from almost summer temperatures to freezing then back again! Storms galore, lots of blooms and green grass, a few snow flurries, and now it's Easter weekend! The promise of new life, given to us by the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What better reason to celebrate and be joyful?!!

Here are some more photos I've been collecting for my Project 365 album.
Click on the images to see a larger version!

March 19
Sara Ann's One Year Portrait. She is wearing a dress handed down from Meikina who never even got to wear it. Perfect for a birthday girl!

March 20
Tomorrow is Sara's birthday party! Mike and Michele are bringing the boys down, and we are all going to Tammy's house for food fun and birthday cake! Here are some treat cups Aaron put together for the little kids to take home with them. Notice he chose Winnie the Pooh, which is really cute, but if I had been putting on this party there would be some girly stuff going on!

March 21
It's party time!

Cake! No pink but cute and very yummmy!

I tried to teach Sara how to blow out a candle before the party but she just wanted to grab the flame.

Instead of going for the cake frosting, Sara wants the toy. Didn't take her long to figure out there was good stuff on the bottom of it tho!

Little Sara totally enjoyed her cake, now it's time to get in the bath!

There are a few more photos opening gifts but this post has gotten way too long so I'll move on now.

March 22
I am sooooo sick. I think it's strep, miserable. but I got a layout made with today's photo of Sara...isn't she a little dolly baby?!!
Credits:
Betty Jo's Adorable Sue
Green paper - Betty Jo's Amour
Scalloped paper border - Betty Jo's Cherry Cherry
Doodles - Nancy Kubo
Template - Michelle Filo
Fonts - FO Doodle Dance, LD Dainty

March 23
My tonsils are so swollen they are almost touching each other....gagz! I needed something cold and easy to swallow, and Steak and Shake has Happy Hour between 2pm and 4pm....so I dragged myself out to get a large milk shake. sooooo good! I saw a gorgeous tree in bloom while I was out so I stopped to get a photo. The wind was blowing pretty hard so I had to work at it a little to get something worthy of Project 365, this one isn't too bad.

March 24

March 25
Happy Birthday Jimmy!!
Here is another little bloom on a tree growing here at the apartment complex. Spring is coming!

March 26
Continuing to document the world coming back to life...

March 27
Not well composed and blurry in places...windy? or an unsteady hand? maybe both!

March 28
Little girl Getting ready to go bye bye.

All for now. Have a great weekend!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Happy Birthday to Sara!

2009-03-29T11:57:00.007-04:00

I don't get to celebrate with Sara today but I did get to spend a little time with her this morning before she left with her mommy. Here are a couple of quick snapshots of my sweet girl...
Miss Sara Ann...One Year Old!

I'll post Sara's birthday portrait and a few shots from her first celebration with my family in the next post. Have a happy Sunday!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Time Marches On....

2009-03-28T07:07:00.026-04:00

Nearly the whole month of March is gone! Tomorrow is Sara's 1st birthday, I can hardly believe it. Last night I was going through some of her newborn photos and I wonder how she grew into a toddler almost overnight! My family celebrated with Sara last Saturday since her Daddy has to work this weekend. Her birthday celebration with her mommy's family will be tomorrow, and no I haven't been invited. Anyway, enough of that, let me get to posting a few of the photos from March!

March 1
I love watching my precious angel while she is asleep. I have enough sleeping photos of her to fill an album!

March 2
This little sugar bowl was another tiny treasure I got from my grandma Avis' house after she passed away. I love the colors and pattern, reminds me of scrapbook stuff! I must have been in a hurry or got interrupted because I didn't check the photos afterwards and my flowers are way out of focus.

March 3
I keep thinking about how fast the time has flown by since Sara was born. Already she has grown out of these little bitty shoes.

March 4
I went a second time and looked at a one bedroom apartment here in the same complex where I live. They have a waiting list for the end of April but I gave them a deposit to put me on that list. They are pretty certain one will open up by then. The layout of the apartment is really cute, but I am going to have to downsize a bit more. The only thing really wrong with it is that my little Sara Ann won't be living there too. But I am still excited about the move, For the first time in my life I will be living alone and I'm looking forward to it!

March 5
I found these kinda cool blends at Cottage Arts.com and decided to play around a bit. I think this would be more suited to roses or something not quite so springy, but it was fun to experiment! Oh yeah, the tulips were "picked fresh" at Michaels, LOL!

March 6
Yikes! I must have missed a day, I can't find a photo for March 6th!

March 7
Joshie's birthday party! His birthday isn't actually until March 8th but this day worked out well for having a party at Mr. Gatti's. All my grandkids got to go, it was somewhat wild that day but they always have a lot of fun when they get together.
Happy Birthday Sweetie, I love you very much!

March 8
All of Tammy's kids came by to spend some time with me today. It was a little chilly and overcast, but I think we were all glad to get outside for a little while. They like to make their rounds here on the apt. complex property, their favorite place being the pool area...even in the dead of winter they have to check and see if it is open yet! They will be excited next visit because the maintenance man has gotten all the deck chairs out in preperation of pool opening day next month!
Here is my Princess Meikina looking all cute and sassy:)

March 9
Steak and Shake has a happy hour special, 50% off shakes and drinks, M-F 2-4pm! I get off work at 3:30 and have just enough time to run by the drive thru and pick up a treat for Sara and I to share when I get home...nothing like ruining dinner huh? YumYum!

March 10
Today it actually warmed up enough to go outside without a jacket! Sara loved being out on the patio, and I got several photos of her. Something about this one just grabbed me, maybe it's the soft light drawing my eyes to her precious face

March 11
Playing with the photo blends from Cottage Arts again, this time with some roses I picked at Michael's years ago, hahaaa! gotta love the kind that don't die! Not sure I like the effect, but I enjoyed working with it.

March 12
Management has started to put a few pretty blooms out around the grounds...

March 13
Friday the 13th! No matter the date, it's finally Friday! Here is the sweatshirt I wore to work. (Casual Fridays, the only day for jeans and sweatshirts, and other fun stuff like team logos, etc.) Sara loves the bears, and has learned to say "bear" and of course it's true, my Grandkids are the Beary Best! a little bias on my part, but still....

March 14
My Sweetie girl loves to "read". She opens her book and pretends to read but is really good to just sit and let others read to her.

March 15
Precious little one! Sara is growing into some of Meikina's outfits, so out comes the camera!

March 16
Spring is nearer, things are starting to grow! Look at the tiny leaves on these shrubs at the edge of my patio...hate the thorns tho, I worry that the kids (especially Sara since she's so little and doesn't understand what could happen) will fall into them sometime...no matter tho, since I'll be moving in about 6 weeks.

March 17
St. Patrick's Day! I don't really do much except try to remember to wear something green so the department goof at work doesn't pinch me! Here is some green for today tho, my little pot of Hens and Chickens, a contribution from my Mother. I love these little growing things, and they lived thru the winter!

March 18
My Sara reading again...guess what she's getting from me for her birthday?? :)

Okay, that's all I can do for today. Have a great weekend!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Still posting February photos...arghhh!!

2009-03-09T05:31:00.012-04:00

Seems like I'll never catch up, but who cares but me right?
Here are the last photos from February, good thing it was a short month!

February 22
Sara is getting steadier on her feet, dragging a small quilt around with her for safety, heheee!

February 23
This was given to me by my nephew a few years ago, not sure what it is but it sure is a pretty little thing. It's about 2 inches tall and has a painted purple iris on it, my grandmother's favorite flower. I think she loved all flowers tho...like me!

February 24
This is my cutie pie again! I even have a page layout done using this photo. I'll have to go back and see if I can remember the credits later, it's been at least 2 weeks now since I started the layout and I didn't keep track...well I did in my head thinking that I would remember, but I really should know better, LOL! Since this wasn't the only sweet photo I got of Sara that day I will need to make a 2nd page to go with it.

February 25
This is just some little things on a wall in the dining room. My sweet Mother cross stitched the picture. I found the shelf at a flea market/antique barn several years back. Stevie gave me the ceramic apple/trinket thingy, and I just adore my little bear. Guess I've been thinking about how I want to decorate my new apartment:) Pretty sure I will keep the apple theme going in the kitchen and dining areas, I love all my stuffs! Maybe this time I will even do some painting, management allows us to paint as long as we put it back to the original color when we move.

February 26
This one cracks me up, look at Sara's little foot!

Febrary 27
It's Friday! woohooo!

February 28
Here is my lil sweetheart lovin' on her baby dolly she got for Christmas from her great grandparents, my Mom and her hubby, Paul...love them both so much. When they were Christmas shopping for the little kids, he told Mom that all little girls need a dolly and he was determined to get her one. They looked and looked to find one suitable for a baby with no moving/edible parts. This one was the perfect baby doll for Sara's first Christmas.

ok, that catches me up for last month. back soon with some from March!

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

Just a few...

2009-03-01T17:46:00.023-05:00

I am so far behind on posting, but at least I am still managing to get my photo-a-day. Doing this project has proved to me how limited my world really is these days...work and home and work and home. Most evenings I take care of Sara shortly after I get off work so nearly all my photos will be of her...who cares right?!! I think once the weather is nicer and things start to grow I will venture out more. For now, this is my life!

February 15
I lost my phone and had to buy a new one.

**sighs**

February 16
This pretty little cup and saucer was one of the few things I retrieved from my grandmother's house after she died almost 10 years ago.

February 17
Stamp club night! We made some really cute projects this evening, this one was my favorite! So easy and pretty!

February 18
Here is sweet Sara Ann, it's time to get ready for a bath, then jammies and snuggle time :)

February 19
This little hat box was another treasure I got from Mamma Avis' house. It is just full of junk mostly, stamps from letters and cards that she had saved, a few other tidbits. Mixed in all those items was this piece of torn newsprint with a couple of lines written on it. I don't know if they were lyrics to a hymn or words to a poem she might have written. There were alot of those poems (I won't get into the details of what happened to them) but I only have a couple that she gave me many years ago. Anyway, it was a nice surprise to find these handwritten words.
"Walking down that rocky road with one more hill to climb; I'll find a rainbow and a cross divine."

February 20
Sara loved this flower, bless her heart! One of her favorite things to do right now is point and say "see?" So sweet!

February 21
I love color! I hope to get a lot more use out of these pencils once I move into my new apartment. Is there any such thing as "free" time?

More later!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Catching My Breath!

2009-02-19T16:32:00.015-05:00

and hopefully catching up with the Project 365 photos. I hate to let them go too long, because the journaling is important and if I get too far behind then I won't be able to remember what was going on the particular day I took each photograph. So...here I go! Let me see how many I can get posted this entry.

February 8
No time for creativity today at all...but I did get to have one of these!

February 9
I spent the evening with my serious and sweet Sara Ann. She is my dolly girl!

February 10
I spent lots of time with Sara this week and didn't see a single thing or person I would rather photograph than this gorgeous little angel!

February 11
So busy today and all evening...time for bed...past time...boring photo...zzzzzzzzzzz

February 12
Sara playing in her favorite spot again.

February 13
Beans, Beans, the musical froot...the more you eat the more you...never mind, you know the rest! :)
After these simmered for a few hours...yummmidy yumyum!

February 14
Valentine's Day...which I don't normally sillybrate. But I had to grab a photo of my sweet Sara before her mommy spirited her away for the day. I only got a couple of shots tho, and this is my photo for today. I do love this little girl!

Credits: Frames - Katie Pertiet, Tags - Betty Jo Martin.

How about this, I managed to get a week's worth posted tonight. Now I'm signing off and going to bed, it's that magic hour again. Have a great rest of the week! Tomorrow is Friday, woohooo!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

A New Month for Photos!

2009-02-08T07:52:00.017-05:00

I have here the first week of photos for February. This week has been a busy one with very little time or energy to be get creative but I managed to get a photo every day.

February 1

Sara playing in her favorite spot, in front of the french doors. She has dozens of toys to play with but today she preferred the big plastic spoon and a cake pan...what noisy fun she had!

February 2
Be still my heart, this boy is so gorgeous! Andrew is pretending to play me a song, he is my Guitar Hero.

February 3
This past week I spent my evenings with lots of grandkids. Their daddy is in Western Kentucky somewhere with the National Guard, mommy is at work. At bathtime I saw that Tyler still has his Froggy towel, a little worn but he still loves it...he has had it for years! When he was 3 or so I took some photos of him with the froggy hood on his head after a bath one time when I was visiting. Anyway, it also reminded me of this little poly-plastic statuette I have and the name on the bottom is actually "Tyler the Frog". I thought I would photograph it, just so that this little story is in my scrapbook for the kids to read someday.

February 4
By Wednesday I was starting to feel the exhaustion setting in. The kids are so good and fun, but working full time during the day and then being gone all evening was wearing on me. But it's just a temporary thing, and as tired as I was I still looked forward to seeing them every day. I had Sara with me most of the time too, baby girl makes 5! Dealing with the bitter cold made it so difficult, and a major task to get food, diapers, etc. packed and anything else I might need for the evening, then get Sara and her car seat installed in the back seat of my 2 door car with piles of ice still on each side of the parking places in our apartment complex. Then I had to unload it all once we got to Tammy's house, and do it all in reverse when it was time to go home. Whew! Ok, after all that here is my next photo. I saw the sun breaking through some clouds just as I was getting Sara out of the car at Tammy's house and it was so pretty. I had only a few seconds to get Sara indoors, open my camera bag and run back outside to snap a photo. Already the scene had changed but that's ok, I needed this one. Sweet, sweet sunshine! even if it was just for a moment!

February 5
Sometimes I get to spoil myself with little treats that make me smile. Awhile back I ordered this gorgeous set of salt and pepper grinders from Pampered Chef...love them!

February 6
This is my favorite coffee/tea mug...lovingly made by Chris, Tyler, Andrew, and Meikina...with their mother's help. They gave this to me on my 50th birthday and I just love it so much! You can even see Meikina's little handprint on one side of it. I took two different photos but still failed to get Tyler's signature on there. Here is my mug shot.

February 7
Past due for a new photo of myself...ugh. I need a haircut. I hate doing this but it was time, so here is one more "mug" shot. Thank goodness for photoshop! LOL!

Credits: Date bits by Misty Cato, double photo frame by Katie Pertiet.

Wow...all done for now...have a wonderful week!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

January 25-31 Project 365

2009-02-01T15:14:00.021-05:00

Wow, a whole month of photos and I didn't miss a single day! Here are the ones from the past week.

January 25
My Sweet Sara showing me the bear's nose. She likes to point to my nose and eyes, she even tries to say the words. Smart girl!

January 26
This is my beautiful daughter Tammy and her youngest son Andrew. The whole family came over, they even brought dinner! We had a wonderful time, good food and lots of laughs!

January 27
Winter Storm. The beginning of a bad one too, almost 700,000 homes in Kentucky have been without power and it could take up to two weeks to get everyone back on. We have been very lucky here at my apartment, we didn't lose power this time. Back in the fall was bad enough but at least it was warm weather and not below freezing temperatures.

January 28
More snow and ice. I made it in to work after Aaron offered to drive me. I have many photos from today but this was my favorite, taken on the property at work.

Iced Crabapples

January 29
This is a photo of ice coated trees just outside the entrance to my apartment complex. The ice has been so destructive but amazingly beautiful.

January 30
How about something besides weather related pictures? This evening Aaron graduated from the recruit program at the Worthington Fire Department. My flash gave out on me during the ceremony so I didn't get the shots I wanted, I'm so disappointed. But I did get some afterwards, which is a blessing for me. Aaron rarely lets me photograph him, so I took advantage of this situation! Here is the one I chose for my picture of the day.

January 31
I spent most of today with Sara. I can't help but get my camera out when I am with her, she is so much fun and just as cute as can be!

That's all for now, til next week!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

A Week of Photos!

2009-01-25T10:36:00.017-05:00

I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to find the time to post every day, or even every two or three days so lets try once a week...for now. At least I have been able to manage my photo a day. I'll start with January 18th and move forward.

January 18th...my little monkey girl! She is wearing a new outfit from her Aunt Tammy, a Christmas gift.

Monday, January 19th was a special day, Tyler turned 8! His big present from his parents was an iPod, and when I stopped by to see him he let me listen to all the songs he had on there so far. Sara got to go with me, it was a fun evening. Happy Birthday to my very special 8 year old!

Tuesday was Stamp Club night. I didn't do the projects because I was taking care of Sara that night, but we stopped by Donna's to pick up last month's order and see what they were making. Oh my goodness the new Stampin' Up! Catalogs had arrived! woohoo! The outside is very pretty, but you should see what's inside! I'm going to have to hide this thing from myself! LOL!

The musical carousel in this photograph is a Christmas gift from my Dad. He gave it to me on his last Christmas before he died. Sometimes it is difficult to believe he has been gone from us for nearly 9 years. My photo for Wednesday January 21st...

On Thursday I got to hang out with my little princess again. Sara has a book that is made of hard plastic (which is a good thing since she loves to put paper in her mouth!) and plays nursery rhymes. When she gets to the one that sings Pat-A-Cake, she claps her sweet little hands to the song...such a smart little girl! I love how she is looking up at me with her beautiful brown eyes. Sara looks so much like her daddy!

I was so glad to see Friday get here! It was so pretty outside, well not pretty to look at but the temperature was nice, almost springlike. I was outside looking for color anyway, tho I knew there wasn't much of anything growing around the apartment complex. Here is the most color I could find out there in the soft afternoon light. My front door...wish it were attached to a little house instead of an apartment...

Ok, this last photo catches me up to Saturday, January 24th. These guys sit on my bed when I'm not in it, sometimes when I am, that depends on how tired I am when I crawl in! The little bear was a Christmas gift from my Chris and Tyler, seven years ago. I love the little quilt proclaiming me to be the "Bestest Grandma"! The pretty bear in the yellow outfit was given to me by my sweet Mother, and so was the throw pillow behind the bears. She made that with her very own hands and it matches the quilt that is folded and draped on the foot of my bed.

So that's it for this time around. Today's photo is already taken but I will save it for later. I've got to figure out how to get all these photos into a weekly layout, I just have the hardest time fitting ~SEVEN!~ photos on one page, plus I want to leave room journaling. That means I have to make the pictures small, and I love big photos in a page layout. I am in the middle of Week #4, I need to just do it!

Have a great week!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Days 16 & 17th

2009-01-18T23:07:00.006-05:00

As usual the weekend has gone by way to quickly! Friday evening I made some really yummy White Chili. The photo I took doesn't quite do it justice, food photography just isn't my thing, LOL!

Saturday Sara had on the cutest little blue jeans. I just love the embroidery and the mint green trim on the bottoms. Tho the jeans were adorable, the best part was her sweet little piggy toes!

I still have the one for today on my camera and it's very late so I'll post it a little later on. It's way past my bedtime!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Days 14 and 15

2009-01-15T20:41:00.004-05:00

Surprisingly I've not missed a single day taking a new photo for the past 15 days! Sometimes it's a challenge to decide on a subject, especially when there are no people around...most especially little kids. But I enjoy thinking about what my subject will be, and thanks to all my grandchildren I will often find their sweet faces in the viewfinder of my camera. I got to spend lots of time with Sara last evening so here she is gobbling a cookie after she ate her dinner. She even offered me a bite! I got that photo as well and it will look so cute next to this one in a layout someday. Here is my cookie eating princess!

Tonight everyone is out and it is just me at home. No cute babies to take a picture of, and it's way too cold for this old person to go outside...the radio said the temperature was ZERO around 5pm. There isn't much out there to see anyway but a parking lot and the bare trees I photographed the other day. I decided to feature my new camera for todays photo. I bought my Canon 40D back in October after saving for over a year, then felt so guilty about spending the money I couldn't even enjoy it like I thought I would. Thanks to Project 365 I have finally gotten past that and it's part of my everyday life now. My new toy...

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

You Can Buy Sunshine!

2009-01-13T23:34:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I moaned and grumbled about the gloomy, cold weather and stated that I need sunshine. Today, I stopped by the store and bought a tiny bit of sunshine...here is my photo for January 13!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Project 365 - Catching up!

2009-01-12T19:27:00.009-05:00

I spent my entire weekend reformatting the hard drive in my computer...twice. The first time I had already reinstalled many of the programs I absolutely have to have, but it wasn't going well and I just knew something was wrong. So on Sunday I called my little brother, and he talked me through the mess and got me going again. It seems like I have a brand new computer now! Anyway, I have a few days worth of photos to post, at least I did manage to do my one a day while I was buried in computer doo!

First is the one from Saturday. Christopher spent a good portion of the day with me, just hanging out and keeping me company while I had the tug of war with the computer. I've been wanting to get some pictures of him holding his flute for quite some time, and since he had already put it away after the concert Friday night, he didn't have it with him when I took the shots of him in his tuxedo. He loves music and is so very talented...here ya go!

On Sunday after my brother rescued my computer (and me!) Chris wanted to come over again, he just likes to hang out with his gramma, heheheee! He had been talking to me about Twilight and brought me a very well worn copy to read. Can't wait to start on it!

Today's photo is blahhh. Today was blahhh. This is what it looked like outside around 4:30 this afternoon...cold and gray and really... blahhhh. And, to make it even worse, it was Monday all day long. ugh! I started to brighten it up some in Photoshop, but I decided to leave it as you see it here, just because this is how I saw it outside. I need some sunshine!!

that's all for now!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Day NINE

2009-01-10T00:38:00.003-05:00

Here is my firstborn grandson, Christopher! He had just performed in his high school's band concert, I am so proud of him. We only had time for a few quick shots, so I grabbed what I could and I'm happy, LOL! I love you Chris!

My family is my life and so if they are the main subject in most of my photos, then my Project 365 album will be as full as my heart!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Day 8

2009-01-09T00:15:00.003-05:00

Sara Ann...that's all I need to say about this one... my Sweet Sara Ann.

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Days 6 & 7

2009-01-08T17:37:00.004-05:00

The photo for January 6th is simply a shot of an old family Bible that came to me from my dad after he died. The earliest date I found recorded is 1883. I took this photo to use in a layout for a Bible study I am participating in at Faith Sisters.com and I really like it, so it also gets the honor of Picture of the Day for Tuesday.
Wednesday's photo is simply a cute shot of Sara having fun in the tub...she's my little sweetie pie!

Now I need to work on today's photo!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

January 5th

2009-01-05T20:04:00.007-05:00

I went out for a short walk on this cold and dreary late afternoon. Just about everything in my part of the world is gray and yukky but these looked so pretty in the late afternoon light...where there is life there is hope, right?

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Day 4 Photo

2009-01-04T22:13:00.005-05:00

I got to spend most of today with my sweet Sara! Of course I took lots of photos, I always do. The thing is, my apartment doesn't have alot of light, especially in the winter. So I have to use a little bounce flash to keep from getting blurry photos and little Miss Sara has learned to anticipate the flash! She is just adorable, and I had so much fun with her today. I have lots and lots more photos, and I need to get scrapping but for now I will leave you with the one I chose to showcase for January 4th Project 365.

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Day 3

2009-01-03T23:22:00.005-05:00

Today I took all the ornaments off my Christmas tree, and as I piled them up on the table I noticed how pretty they looked all grouped together. A photograph began to form in my head so as soon as everything was off the tree I lit the candle, got out my camera and played! All these Christmas ornaments are just hodge podge to most anyone else, but a huge portion of them have memories attached, going back more than 30 years when my kids were small. There is a clothes pin angel that my daughter made when she was in 2nd grade, a ceramic Rudolph my oldest son painted at about the same age, and a Baby's First Christmas ornament belonging to my youngest son who now has his own child. I have ornaments that were given to me by friends, some made by myself, and others I have purchased over the years with the date on them. So, here is my photo for today, little reminders of my Christmas past...

Day 2 Photo

2009-01-03T06:24:00.002-05:00

Wow, this was a tough choice since I took so many photos at the birthday gathering. There are plenty of cute shots I will use for Meikina's birthday scrapbook page, but here is the one I chose to showcase in my Project 365 album. My sweet little Meikina on her 4th birthday!

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

Happy New Year and Project 365

2009-01-02T12:01:00.003-05:00

Well it has only been a little over 6 months since I stopped by my own little bloggy! I am going to attempt to make time to post more often because I've decided to do a photo-a-day for the next year. HA! that may fall by the wayside like most of my other hobby related activities due to being really busy with my 9 month old granddaughter...a good reason right? But for now I want to give it a try and I suppose you could call this a New Year's Resolution. Yeah yeah, I need to lose some weight, and exercise more, and try not to hate my job so much, but let me just stick to something I am really excited about!

This Photo-A-Day should be fairly simple, in theory...it's just a photo of any little everyday thing going on in my life. Here is the first one from yesterday (since it's after midnight now as I'm writing this), January 1st. I spent the day wrapping gifts for my oldest granddaughter, Meikina, her birthday is January 2nd. Her mother and big brother have been in Florida all week, the Eastern High Marching Band got to be in the Disney World New Year's Eve Parade! They will be home just in time to help Meikina celebrate turning 4. So, for the first day of Project 365 I took a photo of all her very pink gifts!

'til tomorrow...

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

New Layouts to Share

2008-06-15T10:17:00.005-04:00

I spent last weekend at my Mother's house, kitty sitting. I got some nice photos of some of her flowers and here is what I did with one of her gorgeous Clematis vine.

I used a gorgeous kit by Ruth Davis at E-scape and Scrap called Butterfly Kisses. The preview doesn't do it justice, you really have to see the beautiful watercolor papers to appreciate this kit.

My sister lives in California, and has a beautifully landscaped pool area with lots of growing things. She sent me this photo of one of her roses, and here is the layout I created with it.

I used a kit called Manila Picks by Julie Mead, also at E-scape and Scrap. I haven't posted this layout in the galleries yet, but will try to post full credits later on today too.

Better run, I have some new pictures of Sara and Meikina that I want to put on my computer and see what I can do about a layout, I'm itching to do some scrapping!
Have a wonderful Sunday!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

New Layout - Sara

2008-05-15T06:19:00.004-04:00

Just posting real quickly this layout I finished last night. I stayed up way too late, but wanted to get it done for a challenge I found yesterday at Amanda's Blog (TaylorMade Designs). Here is one of many photos I've taken of Sara since she was born...I just don't find alot of time to scrap. For the journaling I used lyrics from one of my favorite songs, Hold on to Jesus by Erin O'Donnell, and will probably do additional pages with the rest of the lyrics.

Credits for the layout can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Thinking of Dad Today

2008-04-30T06:10:00.011-04:00

I think of my dad every day. Today is special tho, it is his 8th anniversary in Heaven. I still miss him,
but am at peace with his passing knowing where he is and that I will get to see him again someday.

Words from Unnamed Hymn by Chris Rice.
This layout was done several years ago, one of my first digital pages.

I love you Dad!

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

One week ago last night at 9:28 pm....

2008-04-06T11:51:00.012-04:00

...Sara Ann was born! She weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 19½ inches. This is how I first saw her, in the arms of her proud daddy.

Here is another one, she was so alert and wide eyed! Sara was about 1 hour old in these first photos. Look, she is blowing spit bubbles!

The next day I went back to see everyone, Sara's momma was still not feeling well at all so I don't have pictures of her yet. She had a rough labor, and some bad side effects from the epidural. She is feeling fine now though.

Sara Ann's Daddy feeding his new little princess...

This is Sara in her coming home outfit shortly after Mommy and Daddy brought her home, worn out from all her first adventures!

That's all for now. I have a few new ones from this morning but I'll post those a little later. Maybe I'll actually get a layout made from them. Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Adoption Day - Two Years Ago

2008-03-14T06:48:00.002-04:00

How the time flies! It's been two years since my granddaughter was officially and forever made a member of our family! This is a layout I made awhile back from photos taken in China of the adoption ceremony. Credits are here

Even before he made the world, God loved
us and chose us in Christ to be holy and
without fault in his eyes. God decided in
advance to adopt us into his own family by
bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.
This is what he wanted to do, and it gave
him great pleasure. So we praise God for the
glorious grace he has poured out on us who
belong to his dear Son. -Ephesians 4-6

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Abide

2008-02-19T19:34:00.010-05:00

John 15:5, 9-12

I finally got myself back to the Big Church on Sunday morning. It was awesome, wonderful to be back in God's house worshipping with other believers. This scripture was part of the sermon and it really caught my attention. I have read this, heard it preached before, but this time my heart listened. I know this is something we all need, but first off I thot of all my kids and how they have drifted away from a faith that used to be so important to them. I know how easy it is to get caught up in our daily lives which leaves no time to Abide with Him. Since I moved to Louisville, being away from my little church in Vine Grove and the fellowship that was there has contributed to my own faith starting to waver. Not that I ever believed less in the Lord, but was starting to falter and unable draw as near to Him as I needed to be. I knew, but needed to be told that in the place where I have been all these months God is unable to use me, there has been little if any fruit. I've withdrawn so much from life, like something inside me has died, how could I possibly be any good to Him? so, here is my latest page inspired by the Lord Jesus and His Words....ABIDE...to remain with, to stay faithful, steadfast. To dwell with Him...Always. Eternally.

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

I'm baackkk!!

2008-01-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been well over two months since I last posted. Since that last post I have survived Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day! Now if I could just disappear until winter is over and done! Well, life has been busy and creativity at a total standstill. Yikes! actually I think I simply burned myself out finishing Meikina's photo book. I didn't want to be on the computer, and especially didn't want anything to do with scrapping or Photoshop. But this past Sunday I made up my mind that I was going to try to break thru the funk I've been in and try to scrap. So I made myself open Photoshop and ACDSee and browse through my paper stash and finally chose one pretty paper. I wanted to keep this simple so I picked out a frame and a couple of tiny flowers. So far so good. Now, how about a photo! I didn't really have one in mind, but have gigibytes of images so I just picked a folder and opened it. There was a picture of Meikina already edited and it was just sitting there begging me to put it on a page! Well, darn, the frame I chose was horizontal and this photo is vertical, so I flipped things around a bit. That didn't leave room for a title tho, so I went hunting for something to balance the layout and found some word art that was a freebie from Designer Digitals back in 2006. I placed a little embellishment behind the frame and added a glitter style to it, wrapped that gorgeous ribbon around the bottom of the frame, placed a butterfly in a couple of spots and don't forget the date... then all of a sudden it's done! Not bad considering my scrapping creativity had dried up. But in my eyes the most special thing about the page is that precious little girl smiling back at me, and all at once I realize that is what matters. I think I will skip posting this in the galleries for the moment anyway. For now I'll just leave it here in case one or two people happen to drop by. I think right now I don't want to hang out on the forums, or play the praise game in the galleries, or write a big description, or wonder if anyone will notice my indistinctive layout and leave a comment. none of that is important right now. I just want to scrap sometimes, then share my creations on this poor little neglected bloggy, and eventually print out my layouts so someday my grandchildren will see themselves as I did while they were growing up. That's what it is really all about isn't it? Maybe in a few weeks or months I can bring myself to check in at the hub of digiscrapping and see what's going on...maybe things will be fun again and the negativity and bad things will be gone. maybe. and if not, I can still scrap! My grandchildren keep growing and getting cuter every day. The new baby will be here in about 10 more weeks or so! how time flies! Then of course my camera will get a workout, and I'll happily share photos of this new little life! And spring will come!

Here is my layout! Credits: Paper by Michelle Coleman; frame, and pretty border by Katie Pertiet; flowers by Holliewood Studios; ribbon by Annie Manning; butterfly is by Rina Kroes. The photo is mine!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Wonderful news!!!

2007-11-07T18:06:00.010-05:00

I am overjoyed! A few posts back I mentioned a little tidbit about a new grandbaby coming in the spring. Well, today was the ultrasound appointment! I have been so hoping for a little girl. Not that I don't love little boys, I have 5 grandsons that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world! The thing is, my daughter traveled all the way to China to bring a little girl into our family. Meikina needs a girl cousin, right? Well...the ultrasound shows that our new little one is a girl! OMGosh, this day I am viewing the world through pink tinted lenses, LOL! The happy parents have informed me that her name is Sara Ann. Right now she weighs 10 ounces, so tiny! But by the end of March or maybe early April she will be here! Can you tell how elated I am? :)

I haven't done much scrapping this week, other than yet another partway finished layout. But I do have a few pics from the weekend. I picked up my daughters 4 kids Saturday afternoon for an outing to a local park. We finally had gotten just a little color here and there, what hadn't already hit the ground that is!
Chris and Tyler scooped up some leaves to make a pile for Andrew and Meikina to play in. They loved this!

Tyler hanging from a tree. He is wearing his very favorite shirt!

Here is Chris. He is such a big help when we take the kids out.

And here are all four of them walking back to the car. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We had a wonderful day!

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

Smile!

2007-10-28T09:26:00.001-04:00

I have been so buried in wedding photos that I haven't even been able to do more than think about scrapping. I finally went on strike yesterday and started a page. I'll do wedding photos this afternoon.

SMILE!

Full list of credits are here

I started out with some pretty papers by my friend, Betty Jo. Those fabric curls at Scrapgirls have been on my wish list for a long time so I treated myself to something new to play with. It took me awhile to figure out how to make them work with the papers but I think I got it! So, I got the photo, background papers, and some elements on there, but journaling is not so easy for me, though it's very important. Sometimes word art will do the job, so I looked through my stash, and found this one. I don't have many pictures of Meikina smiling like this! She is a very happy girl but when the camera comes out she gets very serious, or she does that fake smile that looks more like a grimace, LOL! So this particular word art worked well for me, and I think there is just a little more meaning to the part "the heart is home". This page will be added to her Shutterfly photo book. if I ever get it done, LOL!

I've got to run now, almost time for church. Until another day...

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Biscuit Adventures

2007-10-23T00:35:00.007-04:00

I would like for you to meet Biscuit! He lives at Andrew's preschool, but lately he has been spending a lot of time getting to know the children and their families. Biscuit came home with Andrew for a few days last week. Andrew's assignment was to have fun with Biscuit and at the end of the visit write a story in the book, and maybe even include a photo. Last Saturday Andrew, Meikina, Chris, Tyler, Biscuit and I went to the Louisville Zoo for the annual Halloween Party. It was a super gorgeous day, and we had such a good time walking around, collecting treats and taking photos. Here are just a few photos of our day.

Here is Biscuit and Tyler smiling for my camera...

Biscuit was hungry, so Andrew fed him a bite of his Twizzler.

Andrew would rather push the stroller than ride in it, so Biscuit got to cruise around in his personalized buggy!

(click photo to see up close)

Biscuit needs to go potty. We looked all over for a place where puppies can go!
LOL!

Here kitty kitty kitty!! ( you have to look closely, Andrew and Biscuit are hiding!)

Posing for gramma. Aren't they adorable!

Andrew and Biscuit are getting tired and Biscuit needs some snuggle time.

I hope you enjoyed meeting Andrew's new friend!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Layout Share! and some news....

2007-09-15T10:16:00.001-04:00

This will be quick, lucky for whoever might be reading this today! I have a couple of layouts that haven't been posted here. (For the news you will have to scroll all the way to the end!)

Here is the first one:

Now I don't really let the little ones scavenge through my purse, but since I was supervising Meikina I took advantage of the photo op and let her have her fun. She hadn't been with us too long, was still really young but she absolutely knew what the lip gloss was for! I love the bright colors in this layout and those ladybugs are so sweet! The kit I used is one of Betty Jo's called Ladybug Red. Full credits can be found here: Exploring

This next one was completed just a couple of days ago. I thought I would never get it finished!

I started out with a background to match the pink in Meikina's swimsuit, but finally changed it to see how it would look if I matched the soft blue of the water. That was what I settled on since it helped make her photos stand out so much better. But I still needed to accent with some pinks to balance everything. I prowled through all my digi supplies and found some cute doodled flowers from Weeds and Wildflowers, recolored the centers and there ya have it! The word art and butterfly are also part of that cute (free!) mini kit, it is recolored too. And look at this frame isn't it just adorable?! This was created by my friend Betty Jo, she is so sweet to let me use her stuff. Full credits for the layout are here.

Last of all is one that I did a makeover on. I never was completely satisfied with the old version, but now that old antique-ish frames are so popular, I decided to redo it. If you want to see the original version, go here: Growing Up. I did that one nearly 2 years ago. It's amazing how far digiscrapping has come since then!

Full credits are here

Well this ended up being much longer than I thought it would! Stay tuned for more bragging from this gramma to 6 adorable grandchildren, going on 7!!! Yes, this is my official announcement! Another one is due to be born next spring!

Have a great weekend!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

I really am still alive, LOL!

2007-09-10T17:34:00.000-04:00

I just haven't been blogging, had no energy, didn't care. Bad huh? I couldn't scrap, didn't want to edit photos. nothing. ugh. Ok, I had to do something about this, so the other day I downloaded Betty Jo's super cute frames and started a layout. Got stuck. The layout is almost done but what a struggle! So, I prowled around and found a challenge I thought I might be able to manage. I definitely needed something to get me past this inability to do anything creative. The one I decided to try was the weekly Digi-Dare. They have been doing this every week for a year and I have never participated in that one. Not that I do many challenges but sometimes they can be fun. Here is what I had to do: scrap in a style that is not my usual. And use some digi supplies from a designer that I haven't tried before. Easy enough, right?? When I browse the galleries many of the layouts that capture my attention are the ones with lots of "white space". A small photo with lots of nothing around it but background paper. I like those for some reason but they aren't me. I have a hard time leaving all that empty space when I can fill it with something pretty like a picture or some flowers, or even some journaling. I gave that a try and here ya go! My entry for the Digi-dare week # 52...which by the way was in the Gallery Standouts thread at DST yesterday. Now that is a first for me!

Full credits here.

I am pretty well satisfied with this LO, but will most likely add some journaling along the left hand side before printing. Isn't my little granddaughter adorable?!

I need to get some new up to date pics of my grandkids to scrap. I am using lots from the months that I lived with my daughter and her 4 little people. It was just too easy to get snapshots on a regular basis. Now I don't see them as often so I have to make an effort to go pick them up or just show up with my camera with the intention of taking pics. We don't get together as a family anymore because a few months ago my daughter got a job working evenings and every weekend. The opposite of my hours. hate that and I miss her lots.

Ok, I'm going to close for now so I can work on wedding pictures and try to get that other layout finished. I hope that my dry spell is over for awhile. At least I am in the mood to scrap again!

Love you guys lots!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

100 Good Wishes

2007-08-17T19:33:00.000-04:00

Hi there! This is just a quick stop to show you a couple of layouts for a 2 page spread...Yes, I am STILL working on Meikina's photo book. Once the Shutterfly coupon expired I sorta slowed down a bit, I guess I work better under pressure, LOL! Anyway, this one is really special to me. It has my Mother in it, and my Princess...and Snoopy! He's a crazy kitty and lives up to his name every minute that he isn't sleeping. He just has to know what is going on, all the time!

These layouts tell about Meikina's 100 Good Wishes Quilt. My daughter was a member of a Yahoo group made up of parents who were also waiting to adopt their little girls from China. They agreed to do a quilt square exchange so fabric pieces from all over the world make up this quilt. Several members of the family got in on the fun too! After all the squares were collected my Mother stitched it all together. I think she worked on it for about a year and finished it a couple of months ago. I brought it home on my last visit in early June. I don't know if you can see the top stitching very well, but it is done in red thread. "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break." Ancient Chinese Proverb

The photos could never do the quilt justice, it is absolutely beautiful, a work of art made with my Mother's own dear hands! Snoopy made sure she did a good job, LOL!

Here are the layouts along with the journaling in case it's too small on the images. I hope you can see by reading this how special the quilt is to the family, and will be for Meikina as she gets older.

Credits: Frames by Katie Pertiet, Flowers by Jen Ulasiewicz, Stitched silk flowers by Kim Christensen, Journaling Note paper by Gina Miller. Cross Stitches by Amy Teets, Buttons by Christina Renee.
(Click photos to view larger)

Left side journaling:
In some parts of Northern China, when a baby is born, family and friends of the child donate fabric scraps from old clothing to the child’s mother. She then makes a quilt for the baby from the scraps. It is said that the luck and energy of the people who wore these clothes surrounds the child when she is wrapped in the quilt. This is the tradition upon which the 100 Good Wishes Quilt is modeled. In April 2005 letters were sent out to family and friends asking them to contribute a piece of fabric along with a written wish or note for Meikina. Families from all over the world who were waiting to adopt from China also sent squares of fabric along with their blessings and good wishes for Meikina. Each wish was mounted in a scrapbook with a small piece of the corresponding fabric attached to the wish. This way, Meikina will be able to read the wishes and see who sent each piece of fabric. She will cherish this quilt and the good wishes that were made for her before we ever even knew her.Meikina’s great-gramma Betty took all the squares and with her loving hands stitched them together to make this very special quilt.

Right side journaling:
Dear Meikina, I hope you will treasure this quilt for all of your life. I enjoyed putting it together for you. Every stitch was sewn with love. You can count the pieces and see how many people love you even though many will never get to meet you. You might not remember me later, but I hope when you use this quilt you will think of your great-grandma Betty. I wish you happiness and health and may all your dreams come true!
Love, Gramma Betty

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

I'm ROCKIN'!

2007-08-09T06:57:00.000-04:00

As far back as I can remember, ROCKIN' has never been used to describe me. LOL! I will borrow one of my Sister's words and just tell you...I am BO-RANG! gotta love my little word wizard of a Sister! I approach this bloggin' thing hesitantly, and still nearly hit the delete post button after I tell it to publish post! But somehow I have managed to write a little something here and there, and normally I post a photograph or layout to ease the pain of reading my ramblings. To my delight there are a few people who stop by on a regular basis to see lil ol' me! One is my dear friend Betty Jo at Digiscribbles. I met her a few years ago when we were both members of a yahoo group called The Scrappin' Grannies. She was just getting started designing digital scrapbook supplies and asked me to be on her creative team. Since I was really new at digiscrappin' I was just tickled pink and that was where our friendship started. She has been there for me when I was needing prayer during some really dark times in my life, and she cheered for me during the exciting ones, especially when my family was waiting for news of Meikina during our adoption journey. And she is ever faithful to leave me words of love and encouragement, and offers of prayer. Betty Jo is one fantastic and loving friend! Bless her heart, she even awarded me the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award!!
Now that is a friend! I am to pass this on to my blogger friends, but all the people I know in my small bloggin' world have the award, so now my goal is to get out there and expand my circle of friends in the bloggin community. Then I will pass on the award, and will be blessed even more! Thank you dear Betty Jo!

New news is that I have postponed my surgery. I asked the doctor for alternative treatment options. There aren't many, and ultimately I will have to have it done. In the meantime he put me on Synthroid to hopefully suppress my thyroid from growing anymore, and in several months it might shrink it. At any rate, the final diagnosis from one last blood test that he didn't have the results from yet at my last visit is that I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. That's a mouthfull. Makes my throat hurt. My surgeon chuckled at me yesterday when I told him I didn't want him cutting open my throat if I could get out of it. He reminded me that he wouldn't be operating on my throat but my neck. So I grinned at him and said it didn't matter what it was, the idea of being cut open anywhere was enough for me. Anyway, I always get off track! It explains alot of what has been going on for so many years. I feel angry that if I'd had any kind of health insurance I might have gotten this diagnosis way before it progressed to this stage and treatment would be so much easier. But for now, my anxiety over the upcoming surgery is easing away, and life goes on. Thank the Lord that I am not too uncomfortable most days and I pray that it will get better and my energy level will also go up.

Of course I can't leave you without some eye-candy ...
Here is my princess posing for a photo I plan to use on a layout in the next day or two. Isn't she just a doll baby!

Better run, it's a work day like every day! Love you guys!

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Buried Treasure

2007-08-05T12:21:00.000-04:00

My daughter wants nothing to do with Photoshop, but owns a Canon 20D DSLR. When she purchased this camera for her trip to China, she wanted great images, and most of all NO SHUTTER LAG. She hates that, and was about to just buy a film camera to take with her, but didn't want the aggravation of carrying around film for the two week duration along with everything else. besides, you can't email film easily and that is how I managed to get pictures of Meikina while they were still gone...that and the wonders of a web cam! So, I told her that if they needed any Photoshop work, that I would do it.

Even though I have finished most of what she needed for Meikina's life book, there are still tons of photos in that file that are untouched. I've had these images for well over a year and every once in awhile I glance through them to see what might inspire me to scrap or just do a little editing for prints. I keep going back to what I said in my last post about stressing over making things perfect. To remember more than anything else, that it is the memories that matter. Since I have been feverishly working to finish Meikina's Story I have had to remind myself of this more than once. Many of the photos I am using for this project are far from being technically correct, but I use them because for one thing, they are what I have. However, when I really think about it, those images work perfectly for the job that I need them to do. You know, the way God uses us, our imperfect selves to do His perfect will. I ran across another photograph in my Trip to China folder that were taken either by my daughter or her husband when they were in China. This particular photo had never captured my attention before now. I totally missed it in the hundreds of images in that file because I was looking for the perfect one. The one I wouldn't have to mess with too much, or one that I would have been proud to call my own. I am such a nerd. This photo that I speak of, while not perfect is exactly what I was wishing for! Except the lighting is horrible, the composition leaves alot to be desired. But the emotion! Oh it is there, it's all there, from the eyes and heart of a husband to his wife and their new daughter. All the EMOTION and AWE of that moment is captured forever. I just had to look at it with my heart and not the eyes of a perfectionist/ex-sort of a pro photographer. Once I had cropped, adjusted a bit and added softening, all of what my granddaughter's parents were feeling are more visible. Now I show you this, my daughter holding her very own daughter...on Adoption Day.

"In the mirror of His love I see my own reflection. I accept myself for who I am, with all my imperfections."

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Blessings and Hugs,

Cheryl

IT'S SATURDAY!!

2007-08-04T09:25:00.001-04:00

woohoooo!!!

For the most part I like my job, I enjoy being at work. I do love my quiet mornings at home though, and since I work during the day, that only happens on the weekends when I have absolutely nothing planned that I HAVE to do. So, this morning I puttered around the house, drank my tea, and just enjoyed my quiet time!

I also finished a layout that I struggled with all yesterday evening. I don't know why this one was so hard for me. Maybe the odd sizes of the photos? Multiple photo layouts are just tough. I have a hard time getting them to balance and then I wonder what to do with them after I figure out where to place them. I decided to just be satisfied with this one and let it go. I keep telling myself that it's the memories that matter and I'm not making progress when I spend hours on end trying to make it perfect. LOL!

Mother's Love Orphanage is where Meikina spent most of her first 8 months of life. She was very fortunate because Mother's Love was one of the nicer institutions, clean, with lots of space to play and a somewhat bigger budget for food and other necessities. That particular orphanage mostly cared for special needs orphans and only took healthy babies when there was extra space. The first orphanage Meikina was assigned to was really full, and since there was room at Mother's Love, she was sent there 22 days after she was found. Mother's Love was going to close at some point, and once a baby was assigned to a family for adoption, they were sent out to foster care until their adoption day. Meikina went to live with a foster family when she was 8 months old. She was very well cared for compared to many of the babies that are adopted from China. One family that Tammy traveled with were given a baby that they weren't even sure would live through the first night, because she was so tiny and sickly, lethargic, and malnourished. Very sad. It didn't take long for her to perk up though once she was given plenty to eat and lots of love.

The Mother's Love nannies took several photos of Meikina as she grew. It is rare to have any history of the babies, especially photos. God has truly blessed us because Meikina's birth parents even left a note stating her date of birth. Many babies are assigned a birth date based on how old they appear upon first examination. Meikina's foster mother took lots of photos with her digital camera and gave my daughter a CD of all the images when they met at some point during the trip to China. Before that she was emailing them, now that was a huge treat!!

Here is the layout, with photos of Meikina's first day at Mother's Love Orphanage.

Credits:Bg paper by JulieO, pink flowers by Amber Clegg, Tiny Flowers by Coreen Silke, Jewels by Syrin, Ribbon by Kylie Clark, Butterfly by DebF, Button by Ronna Penner, Swirls by LaWanna Lesjardin, Frames by Nancy Comelab. Fonts are CalistaMT, Unnamed Melody.

Lately I have been using oodles of different products on my layouts, and most of the ones I used for this one were freebies! Love that!

Ok, I'm gonna get off the computer for awhile and do something else. Later I will start another page of Meikina's life in the orphanage. I think I am really close to being done with layouts for the Shutterfly book. I do need to get a photo of her with her 100 good wishes quilt and plan to do that either today or tomorrow. And somehow I want to get a photo of Meikina and I together for the back cover of the book. I have no photos of myself with her, hard to do when I'm the photographer!

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Middle of the Night (and some layouts!)

2007-08-03T01:07:00.000-04:00

Ok, I have my sleep schedule all mixed up! The past few weeks I have had a terrible time sleeping (besides staying up late to chat with my sister!) because of the fist in my throat feeling. I have had to prop up almost to a sitting position and sleep on my back and with head in a certain position in order to NOT feel like I was being strangled. Really uncomfortable. Well, Sunday night I had just fallen into a light sleep and I woke up to a voice telling me to get up now. I did. I wasn't sure why I was getting up but I obeyed, LOL! On the way out of my room my legs got all rubbery and my head was swimming, like the day I passed out at work, so I called out to my son who helped me to the living room. I was fighting to stay conscious, my heart was racing at high speed, and then I got to shaking so hard and couldn't stop it. This went on for a couple of hours, off and on. I was up until 4:30 AM, because I was afraid to go back to bed. I am pretty sure I was having a panic attack, but who knows really? I truly thought I was dying. It's hard to describe. I know that seems really strange but I didn't imagine that voice that told me to get up now. I think I had stopped breathing.

Hours later I was able to relax enough to try to sleep a little. And I slept like a rock! I slept through both of my alarms and woke up about the time I should have been leaving for work. YIKES! The people I work for have been so good and since I have never called in sick, or been late that wasn't a problem. I did call my doctor and he saw me later that day. Promptly gave me some antidepressants and an anxiety drug. great. I am sure he was thinking that I am a total basket case! He said my thyroid was enlarged but not enough to block my airway, that I shouldn't be feeling like I am choking. plbbbbt. That didn't change the fact that I was living with it every day and night. That was Monday.

Tuesday morning I woke up after sleeping off and on for a few hours, and started my morning routine. By the time I had showered I realized that "fist in my throat" feeling was gone! I had energy I hadn't had in several weeks! I had a great day that day too...except for a developing rash...hmmm. oh well so what is next, I put some cream on it and went on to bed that night.

Wednesday morning....totally covered with a horrible rash that worsened by the minute! my stomach and back were a solid red swollen miserable mess! My left arm was almost as bad. I could feel it creeping up my neck ears and sides of my face and then to my scalp! I went ahead to work, I didn't have much choice since I have no sick or annual leave because I am so new. I've missed alot of work lately due to medical appointments, but I stay late or work on Saturday to make up the hours. But my dear co-workers kept at me to call my doctor again so finally I did. I just dreaded going after the last visit two days before. I never did start the antidepressants or fill the prescription for Ativan that he gave me. I talked to one of the girls in the office, and she pulled my chart and went to ask the doctor if he wanted to see me and he said yes, today. I went on in there and he was shocked at the way I looked, LOL! It was pretty bad. But the thing is, other than the itch, I felt great. I must have been high on some of the histimines running through my body or something, hahahaaa! Anyway, he told me that it appeared to be a rash associated with an allergic reaction to a medication. But the thing is I don't take anything but Nasonex spray for allergies. That's it. period. Ahhhhh, but when I said something about the CT scan I'd had the week before, the mystery was solved. (Another physician, the ENT surgeon, had ordered the scan so this dr. didn't have it in my chart.) I was having a delayed reaction to the dye contrast that was injected into my veins for the CT scan. And all the fainting episodes were most likely related to that. So, maybe I'm not crazy. I believe I was very blessed to have had a "voice" telling me to "get up now". All I know is that I feel better than I have in a very long time. I'm sleeping way too much, I have been going home from work and sleeping for hours at a time.

Good restful healing sleep. Catch up sleep.

I came home from work today, went straight to bed. I woke up at bedtime, ready to roll! So, that is why I'm sitting here typing this boring stuff in the middle of the night! LOL!

God is very good to me. I know there have been many people praying for me, and I want you all to know that I appreciate those prayers very much. There are some dear people I consider my friends that I have never met in person, but I hold them close to my heart. Thank you so much for caring and for praying!

Now, I have some layouts to make your visit worth reading through all that stuff! LOL! This is a two page spread of my grandsons using photos taken during the two weeks my daughter and hubby were in China adopting Meikina. I had the honor and blessing of taking care of the boys while they were gone, what an adventure that was! We had a great time and stayed busy to help the time pass quickly. I sent new photos by email every day so the parents would feel connected to the boys, these are just a few of the many, many photos I took during those TWO WEEKS.

You can click on the photos for a larger view.
Credits: Background paper - Carla Gibson. Swirls - LeWanna Desjardin. Glitter paint - Meredith Fenwick and Christina Renee. Cardboard - LindaGB. Alpha stamp - Michelle Coleman. I used a template by Penny Springerman, altered somewhat, the frames and drop shadows were included.

Here is another one from the day Tammy and Kenneth arrived at the Louisvile airport with Meikina. The photos are really bad quality but I think for a layout like this, it doesn't really matter. (sorry, the old pro photog in me still stresses about things like bad lighting!) It's the memories and the journaling that are most important. Both of these two pagers will be in my Shutterfly photo book.

Credits:
Background paper - Michelle Coleman. Glitter paint splats and the tab - Christina Renee. Frames are - Nancy Comelab. Alpha Stamps - Amber Clegg.

I have lots more but this will do for tonight! Thanks for checking in!

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl

Bumpus Floribundus - LOL!

2007-08-01T07:29:00.000-04:00

My sister is a wizard with words. She told me a week or so ago that someday she would finish a book. She has started several but never finished any of them, so the next one she writes she plans to finish it before she starts it. HA! Silly Sister! She has the most fun sense of humor and is one reason I don't get nearly enough sleep. We chat online several times a week and have such a blast! She lives in California and I am in Kentucky, a 3 hour time difference, so by the time she is done with dinner and other family stuff I should be getting ready for bed. anyway, about the Bumpus Floribundus...

My CT scan shows my thyroid is huge. It's wrapped around my windpipe, squeezing it from the sides. I feel like there is a fist in my throat, sleep is something I used to do. I feel like I'm being choked all the time. Skeery! My thyroid has grown several cysts and nodules, the doctor calls it a goiter. What an unattractive word! My sister promptly renames it to Bumpus Floribundus. We have had lots of laughs over this! It's good to laugh about it, because that is the only thing funny about it. I have to have my thyroid completely removed. Not a big deal I suppose but I don't do well when it comes time to actually go and have the surgery. The day after I had the CT scan, I passed out at work. More fun. They called an ambulance, required for liability purposes. So, I get all the standard tests etc. including an EKG. All is normal. The doctor was relieved that I didn't have a cardiac EVENT. Event? That sounds like a partay to me! Some party, and the fun is just beginning, hahahaaaa! I've had more IV's and needles stuck in my arms the past few days than I've had in years. PARTAY ON!!

I've been buried in Photoshop most every evening. I have scrapped probably 15 new pages, re-worked a few others and I'm still not going to make the deadline for that Shutterfly coupon. It expires tonight so I'll just have to continue on and order it at full price when I am done. The book is going to be awesome tho, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it! I wish I had the time to post some layouts but it's time for me to go to work.

I actually feel pretty good today other than a rash covering most of my body. now what? I have no idea, but don't even think I'm seeing a doctor for this one....another event...LOL!

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Journey of a Lifetime

2007-07-27T06:48:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday everyone! This is just another quick post with the newest finished layout for my photo book. I am so happy to finally be inspired to do this story. I've had the photos for well over a year. I'm just not good at multiple photo layouts, so I have enlisted the help of some cluster photo frames that were a free download by Traci Sims a few months back. The photos aren't the best quality (except for the main one)but made to help preserve some exciting memories of the day Tammy and Kenneth left for China to get Meikina. This really was a journey of a lifetime in more ways than one...there is so much going on in my mind and heart while I create this memory book.

I just realized that I never did post the credits for the layouts in my last post...and right now I don't have time to do that for this one either. LOL! it's a workday, and the past week has been a little crazy!

I will be getting results and discussing a treatment plan with my doctor later this morning. I am a little nervous I suppose, but it will be a relief to finally know what is going on. Hopefully it will be an easy fix and I'll start feeling better soon. It's out of my hands and in the hands of my Heavenly Father, who better to manage my care? So, today...all is well. **smiles**

Love you guys so much, and will chat more later! I plan on having a quiet scrap filled weekend, as I have to order my book by Wednesday next week. Have a wonderful day!

Blessings and Hugs,

Cheryl

Shutterfly!

2007-07-24T06:30:00.000-04:00

Hi there! It's me again! Well, I sort of had a new post on here the other day wishing my Dad a happy birthday. I tried to edit and add a different photo later on and everything just got messed up so I deleted it. I really did update before now, LOL. Oh well! Betty Jo said it's ok to post whenever I feel like it, so there!

I have been pretty busy scrapping these past few days! I got a coupon for a free photo book from Shutterfly, woohoo! So I decided to try and make it really special and create a book about Meikina. Well, I really challenged myself when I set this goal as there are several layouts/pictures I still need to add. I re-scrapped one of her referral pictures. I didn't intend to change so much as I liked the kit I used but it evolved into almost a new layout. I should have known better! Then I threw together another one called Referral Day. Wow the memories that brought back, an emotional rollercoaster! I am needing to add more journaling to my layouts to bring Meikina's story together so I'm starting to wonder if I will be able to finish before the August 1 deadline on the coupon. Last night I worked on a 2 page spread of some really bad photos I tried to take at the airport the day my daughter and her husband flew home with my granddaughter. Even with the bad photos I am loving how that one is turning out. The coupon from Shutterfly expires on August 1st, I wonder why they give you such a short time to use it? Well, if nothing else it has booted me into gear and maybe I'll actually get layouts caught up to date for her at least. Then there are the 5 grandboys.....

Oh my, I really need to be getting ready for work! Here are the two layouts for you to see. I haven't uploaded to any galleries yet so the credits will be added possibly this evening.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Some New Pretties to Show You

2007-07-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick post to show off some stuff, you know me, I always flaunt my beautiful grandchildren! LOL! I did this layout for last weeks Lifts with a Twist. The layout I lifted, Beautiful by Juliet, was so lovely and I couldn't resist giving it a try. Hmmm.... The one I did is only barely similar in design but no matter, I ended up loving how it turned out. That's how it is done I believe, you use the featured layout for inspiration, not necessarily to be copied. I need to do something different with the title tho...I dead-ended on that, but the main photo kind of makes up for it, don't you think?! Here she is, Gramma's Beauty!

Credits here

Yesterday Mike, Michele, and the boys came over. Michele and I took Joshua and Justin to the pool while Mike and Aaron hung around working on Aaron's car.
The little guys weren't too crazy about the water, so they stayed close to the side and steps of the pool. I did manage to get a couple of shots of them having fun. The water was a perfect temperature, and it was hot outside, a great day to swim!

Here is Joshua...

...and Justin. He thought it was so fun to sit on that top step and splash.
Look, he has a farmers tan!

Watery Washes brushes by Katie Pertiet
Frames by Nancy Comelab

I'm outta here now, my friend from Radcliff is coming to visit. She should be here any minute.
Everyone have a wonderful day!

Blessings and Hugs,

Cheryl

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

2007-07-04T10:44:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a fun filled day! I am on my way out the door to visit my son and his boys. I think he is going to burn some stuff on the grill later on, LOL!

In the midst of all your festivities let's not forget to say a prayer for all of our soldiers who are overseas. They are spending their holiday in countries where there are fewer reasons to celebrate, especially the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted in our lives here in the USA. So send up a little prayer of thanks for all of them, and ask God to keep them safe and bring them home soon.

Now before I go, here is a little eye candy for you! I took this photo of my sweet Meikina one year ago. I forgot I had this in my stash of unseen images, but decided that it's time to scrap it. I think the quote is very fitting because her life would have been so different if she had remained in the orphanage in China. God is so good! Here she is, in all her American Girl beauty!

Full credits here

Have a wonderful and safe day! Love you all!

Blessings and Hugs,

Cheryl

One more post today!

2007-06-30T20:24:00.000-04:00

This post is for Becky's challenge, she's the guest blogger for Nancy Comelab this week. Nancy is the creator of the awesome frames that I use all the time. Here is what Becky said to do..."Instead of a LO, let’s go out on a limb a bit and look through our pictures and find, you know…the ones that we just took because we wanted to try and capture on film some special little moment to remind us…and if you can, here’s the catch: Try to find one without any people in it…or at least for the subject." Well, I just couldn't choose one, so I am showing a few! I took these photos a few years ago at Spring Mill State Park near my hometown. Spring Mill holds alot of childhood memories for me and some fun ones as an adult too. Whenever I visit there even the smell of it reminds me of that time. I love going there and I always take my camera to the old fashioned garden in the Pioneer Village. My grandfather used to work at the Old Grist Mill, he retired from there many years ago. When my daughter was a small girl we used to stop by and visit him. He would give her a quarter to buy a treat from the concession stand. (well, it sounds like I need to make a layout of these and some other images I have from Spring Mill!) So, this is my non-person presentation using Nancy's newest and awesome Ultimate Frames Collection! For the images of the Grist Mill I used Nancy's mask with the blend mode set to overlay. The small flowers are by Correen Silke. I picked those up at SBB the other day using my happy birthday coupon from DST. The jewels and ribbon were a blog gift from Becky, thanks so much! (If you scroll down you will see a layout using Nancy's fab frames and a gorgeous kit by Betty Jo!)

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Layout Alert!

2007-06-30T09:11:00.000-04:00

Warning: this smile can be hazardous to the word NO!

full credits are here and here

This is my 3½ year old darling, sweet, mischievous, charming grandson...Andrew. How could anyone resist this smile?! He knows how to use it for sure, and when he wants something or thinks he might be in trouble he does use it. His parents are probably a little more immune to it than I am, but not much! He's all boy, still just a little bit of a baby, loveable, huggable and just all around precious! (well aren't they all?) He has a great sense of humor too. The other day he was lounging across his daddy's legs, head resting on the arm of the chair. He was very tired, and those big blue eyes were slowly blinking, he looked like he could go to sleep any minute. I quietly asked his daddy, "isn't he just the 'prettiest' little boy you have ever seen?" and Daddy agreed with me, because even if Andrew is a boy, handsome is not the right descriptive word for him, tho handsome he is. Well, I didn't think Andrew even heard me, but he piped right up...

"Gramma, I'm not pretty, Meikina is pretty!" Then he smiled that smile!

x

***sighs*** I adore him, can you tell?!

Here is another one of Andrew, taken the same evening as the one in the layout. You will see what I mean by "pretty"!

Now he is showing his mischievous side! LOL!

Okay, that's all for now! I have lots of pictures of the other kids from last Saturday, but you will have to wait to see them:) Laundry and other household chores are calling my name! Have a wonderful day!

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Here is Christopher!

2007-06-24T22:10:00.001-04:00

Can you believe it, I finally finished a layout! woohoo! It took me a whole week to figure out what to do with it. I mostly scrap the little kids and I can embellish with flowers and other pretty things even if they are boys. But this time I was scrapping my first born grandson. I couldn't do flowery things for a 12 going on 13 year old young man! I wasn't so sure about glitter either and I wanted this one to have just a little bit of a grown up feel to it, but still fun. So finally I went with the doodled frame, stars, and a touch of cardboard to go with the cream background paper and the stripes. So much for the grown up style layout, LOL! I really like how this came out though and I think he will too. I feel bad that I don't have alot of layouts of Chris, I would love to have a new scanner so that I can scrap my film pictures of him. The very first digi-layout I ever created was one of Chris, it's been over two years ago. I have been tempted to rescrap that photo, but I think I really should leave it alone. I had the best time doing that layout, it would be a shame to change it. Chris isn't around too much when I get my camera out, so I was very happy to get this shot of him last weekend. credits here

I hope everyone had a nice weekend...but look out, here comes Monday!

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T14:06:00.000-04:00

The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. Psalm 103:13, NLT

It's Father's Day. I have been blessed with TWO men in my life that I can call Dad. One has gone on to be with the Lord. It's already been 7 years since he died, how the time flies! It doesn't seem so long really. And even though I know I will see him again, I miss him still. The other has been married to my mother for nearly 30 years. He is very dear to me and I love him so much! He is so much a part of my family and a wonderful husband to my mom. That by itself makes him very special! Then there is my son-in-law who has helped provide me with gorgeous grandchildren! And my oldest son who has his two boys, Joshua and Justin. Lots to be thankful for, that is certain! So this post is dedicated to all those wonderful fathers in my life! I love you guys!

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

It's The Weekend!

2007-06-16T02:01:00.000-04:00

Have I been absent or what? I have barely started this blogging thing, and I am already guilty of neglect. It has been a crazy long week though, so I will forgive myself for being away for so many days in a row, LOL! I am really glad to see the weekend though. I don't have a huge bunch of stuff planned but just enough so that in between the busy stuff there will (hopefully) be some much needed downtime for me...and maybe even time and mental energy to scrap a page.

Today is my beautiful Daughter's birthday! Tammy, I wish you love, happiness, and joy on your special day. I love you so very much!

I did promise some more pics from LAST weekend, so since it's been almost a week since I posted I'll just present a few snaps of Meikina, Andrew and Tyler from the playground last Saturday.

The Boys

The Princess

My Birthday Cake

Ribbon flowers and stickers by Shabby Princess!

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Blessings and Hugs,

Cheryl

Butterflies and Blessings and My Birthday!

2007-06-10T09:53:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! LOL! I got an amazing email from Betty Jo this morning. Here is what she wrote:

"Hi Sweetie,

I just got to my computer to check the post where I'm designer of the week at Lifts With A Twist. Take a look here: http://pachimactoo.typepad.com/. I actually suggested this layout to Susan, as I think it is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Low and behold she went with it too although you're on my team!! Awesome!!"

So this means lots of people will be using my layout for inspiration, how bout that??!!

This is one of my all time favorite layouts too, because it looks so layered and has lots of fun stuff going on, I really enjoyed creating it. Betty Jo even featured it on her blog last week to introduce me to her blogging friends. She's just a doll, I love her dearly.

I also got an amazing email from my Wonderful and Wise Mother, I love you so much Mom!

I'm watching my daughter's kids again today, since she and my son-in-law both have to work. I'm going there around 11am or so, and after lunch we are going to the pool for a little bit. Mike and Joshie are going to try to come to Louisville to visit me this afternoon, that will be a nice treat...I've miss them alot since I moved to Louisville.

I have some photos to share later from my babysitting adventure yesterday, that was an all day one, but it was a fun and awesome day. At one point as we were driving in the van I heard this little voice singing "Happy birthday to Gramma, happy birthday to you". It was my sweet little Meikina singing to me! Here is one photo from yesterday of my sweet princess, I'll post some more later of the boys. Gotta run!

Credits: Frame is a freebie by Mindy Terasawa, background paper is by Christina Smith. (not sure if it's still available.)

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

No Internet?? YIKES!

2007-06-05T21:53:00.000-04:00

I went all of Monday evening with no internet access. OMGoodness, I actually had withdrawals, with severe anxiety, and I was just totally whacked out! LOL! I guess it wasn't really quite that bad but I still didn't like the way it made me feel. But really, all I wanted to do was check my email real quick, scour through a few blogs that I like to visit and say hi to my Mom and Sister and whoever else might have been online. The internet is my doorway to a bigger world and I miss it when I can't go there! Anyway, I'm back up for now and I sure hope there is no more trouble for awhile.

Ok, that gripe is out of the way. I have a few more pictures to from the weekend that I want to show you. Not many, but Mom's flowers were just so pretty and I had to take a few photos of them. Looky here...

Aren't they gorgeous?

The Photo Frames are by Nancy Comelab.

Silly Frilly Butterflies by Syrin.

Blessings and hugs,

Cheryl

Weekends are TOO short!

2007-06-03T22:41:00.000-04:00

I really miss some of the things about working from home, when I was my own boss...in charge of my schedule. I miss the photography part of it too, the pleasure of delivering pictures to the coaches that I knew were some of the best sports pictures those parents would ever have of their kids. Maybe not such a big deal for some, but preserving memories is important to me, and I took alot of pride in my work. I also miss just being at home...free to take a day (or two) off if I needed to. I am glad I got to experience all of that for the time that I did, even with all the struggles that went along with it. So now I continue to move on with my life, still adapting to a "real" job....and thankful that I have one that I don't mind going to. And they are finally getting the paperwork ready so that I will be a permanent employee with benefits...yay!

I left Friday evening for Mom's house. My brother worked on my car Saturday, so while he had the car at the shop I spent the morning with my Sis-in-law and their little guy. Dawson is an extremely bright, ACTIVE 2 year old. Here are a couple of photos I was able to grab of him.

He's such a stinker! Cute tho, huh?! LOL!
My mom gave me the prettiest birthday card while I was there. I love it and the message inside could have been written by her. She's so sweet and thoughtful. We have a really special relationship that I cherish. She also gave me a cute little framed poem to put on my desk at work! And fixed taco salads for dinner on Saturday! yummmmy!! My fave food!

Here is my Mom! Thanks for a really nice weekend, even if it was too short!
Remember, I love you very much!

Blessings and Hugs,

Cheryl

Arteest!

2007-05-31T00:30:00.000-04:00

It's MEEEE! It's way past my bedtime, YIKES! So what else is new, LOL! I have played and created to "my heart's content" this evening. Here is my latest page layout, another one of my sweet princess. I took these photos last weekend when I was at Mikey's house. I had all 5 of the kids out in the yard (Chris was with his dad) and I just wanted ONE photo of all of them. I didn't care what they did but I wanted them all in one picture! No way did that even happen, but little Meikina just sat there with her artist's canvas (magna doodle) and ignored all the craziness going on with the boys. Now, that is truly a princess for ya! So, without further ado....

Full credits here.

Ok, I'm outta here!

Blessings and hugs,
Cheryl

Me? Blogging??

2007-05-28T03:24:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is. I started this blog almost a year ago and never finished or even posted anything. Check out this huge header, LOL! I'll have to work on that but for now I'll leave it alone. I love that it has all of my grandkids on it, so it has to have lots of room right?? Anyway, I'm not much of a writer, but I will do my best to keep things up to date. Most of what you'll see here will be photos and layouts of my family, usually my grandkids. I have many gigibytes of hard drive space just filled with images that I have taken the past five years and way too many of them are still waiting to see the light of day....

It's Memorial Day in the US. May God bless our soldiers who are working hard to keep us safe and free...remember, Freedom isn't Free.

Here is my latest page layout...

full credits here

Blessings and Hugs,
Cheryl