Let's dance!

Do you like to dance? It's not something that I do personally, but there are times when I feel like my inner self is dancing; like when I see a beautiful sunset; like when I feel God near to me; like when I step outside at night & hear an owl's "who-who"; like when I am in awe of the birth of a new grandson -- yes, there's many times I feel like I'm dancing.
But what about times that you don't want to happen? What about when you are angry with yourself for doing something stupid? What about when you get a call in the middle of the night with the news that your son has died? What about during the storms in your life? Do you still feel like dancing?
Yesterday I ran across this quote by Vivian Greene: "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain!" And that my friend is called trust & hope & faith; faith that God is in control and that He will work all things out for good if we trust Him.
That quote inspired me to do this scrapbook layout:

 

Think about it! Is your faith strong enough for you to dance in the rain?

It's About Time

My last post has been a while ago, it's about time I got around to blogging again. :)
I've really been doing lots of commenting at Gotta Pixel, the major part of my job as a Praiser there. Plus feeling the need to do some learning I signed up for The Art of Blending at Digital Scrapper. This is just week one, but it's got my mojo working overtime! The class was a bit expensive in my book, but it's for 10 weeks which breaks down to less than $10 a class. I have forever access to the class materials -- this week we got over 200 textures to use in our blending (the class is for Photo Shop & Elements users). Here's what I did for my first assignment:

 

Isn't it amazing the difference a little blending can do? This isn't my first class on blending, I had one at Scrap Girls several years ago, but this class is an advanced class, so I'm hoping to learn lots more. Linda has gone into taking photos with the intention of blending them. Lots of good tips right in that first video - there were two others & an introduction video as well as some pre-class videos. I'm totally impressed with her teaching methods. The only thing I miss is that there doesn't seem to be a chat room at this website -- bummer. But Linda is very quick to answer questions in the forum set up especially for class members.

I had a little time yesterday to do another & used my blended photo in this layout remember our trip to Brazil in 2008:

 

 

This is so different from the flat lands where I live that it is always something special to see so many hills & mountains -- really fascinating to me, if not a little scary. Don't get me too close to the edge please!

 

Then there's Dave, he's hurting so badly that I just want to take away all of his pain. He has a pinched nerve in his back & has been laid up for several weeks now. Just when he thinks he's getting better, he goes & twists & has to start all over. I think this time he has finally learned that he needs to take it more slowly when he starts feeling better. It's really not his nature to sit around day after day & is anxious to be outside working in the yard. In reality thought, he can hardly make it from one side of the house to the other. Please pray for him that he will finally realize some relief from all this pain.

 

Lastly, there's this Fruitful Congregation Journey that we are trying to decide if the church is going to participate in. I'm still feeling called to join if we do. And I've pretty much determined that the Emmaus Walk will be on my agenda for October. Again, continued prayers for these decisions.

 

May God bring you blessing after blessing as you journey through your walk in the world.

 

New Arrival

At last our grandson has arrived! He was born last Friday & chaos ensued for several days after that.
Here's a layout I did Friday evening:

If you're on any websites I frequent then you may have already seen it.

Well, lots of other things have been happening in my life as well. I am seriously considering doing an Emmaus Walk later this year. An Emmaus Walk is a 72-hour spiritual retreat offered to committed, church-going Christians who have a personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is something I have thought about & prayed about for a number of years & now the time has come to make the commitment.

Our church is also considering a "Fruitful Congregation" experience. This takes about three years to complete & is a huge commitment, but one that I really think is part of God's plan for the Howe UMC.

I would like to ask you to pray for me & for our congregation as we make these decisions. We need to do this prayerfully & look to the Holy Spirit for guidance.

And there's one other covenant that I've made & that's being involved with Kathy Carter's Project Faith-Book. It's similar to something I did a year and a half ago. I don't know quite what to expect, but our first assignment is to do a layout about who we are. Hope you go very deep Kathy & we get to the depth of our souls. I feel God is really pulling me to do something that will make a difference & dig deep within as I cling to His promises & develop my relationship with Him.

Here's my first layout (I decided to do this in 8½x11 size instead of my usual 12x12).

Thanks for listening.

Ahhhhh -- Peace & Quiet

But it may be short lived! Looks like another storm is rolling in.
It's been chaos around here for most of the day. Julie & the girls came over for breakfast before her doctor's appointment. Then  Kalei & Jenny arrived. Kalei had made plans to spend the day working on her 4-H poster here. The little girls were just here while Julie was at the doctor. That took most of the morning. It was time to fix lunch when they finally left.
Kalei's project didn't get started until after that -- and it took two trips up to the church for things I had in the office there. But she did get it done.
All that on top of a very stormy night. Janessa had spent the night & she's a little afraid of storms, but nothing like the dog. I have scratches & bruises from where she clawed at me. For some reasons she thinks I'm her great protector when it's storming. We ended up with over 3" of rain during the night. And I was right about it looking like another storm was coming -- it's really pouring again.
I did manage to do a layout about the river rising....

Yesterday there was a sand-bar in the river behind the house. Today it is gone & the log back there is pretty much covered up. Amazing! I can't imagine what it must be like in Calgary where they have had to evacuate thousands of people.

I think there is electricity in the air here. What with the stormy weather, the humidity and to top it all off, Julie's doctor is putting her in the hospital Friday morning to start inducing her labor. It's all very exciting though.

May you see rainbows in the sky in spite of the storms of life & have a blessed day!

PS. I forgot to report that I did not make it to round 4 in my contest, but that is really a good thing because of my new spot at Gotta Pixel. It was fun creating the layouts & getting to know the other contestants!

Learning the ropes & more

Wow, learning all that a praiser does has kept me hopping! Busy, busy, busy.
To top it all off Dave hurt his back & I've been trying to do extra things that he normally does & playing nurse for him. When it rains, it pours!
I've been having so much fun learning my new job at Gotta Pixel & loving every minutes of it. I think I need to get out my thesaurus & learn some new words before I start sounding like a record with my comments on layouts there. LOL!
I have done a little scrapping too, including using the kit provided for the GoDigitalScrapping contest -- My Main Man Bundle by Seoule2Soul Designs. It is a great one for scrapping that special man in your life, but I struggled with this one. The first one I did was so cluttered looking that I just started over with a blank page.
Here's the first one I did (I really liked the little heart I made with the quote marks in the alpha set with the kit!):

And here is what I posted in the gallery for my entry in Round 3:

 

We find out Tuesday evening who made it to the final round.

 

May God's blessing pour out to you all day long!

New Doors Opening

My last post was a bummer. Seems like I was having doors slam in my face -- Dawn's website closing; Jolanda's store closing; my decision to leave Wilma4Ever...I was feeling a bit of a hanging-in-the-air sensation.
They say when one door closes, another opens -- well it certainly has for me!
I was looking around over at GoDigitalScrapping & saw a contest starting this month for a 4-month stint on their Supreme Team. I figured it might give me some inspiration. Well, in tonight's chat I found out that I'm on to Round 3 (out of 4 rounds)! I'm very excited to say the least. Even if I don't make it any further, I feel quite honored to get this far.
And after I signed up to do that contest, I got an email from the owner at Gotta Pixel asking me to join the Praiser Team at GP. That website is where I call home & I jumped right on it. They had a Praiser Team call a while back & I was so busy I didn't think I would have time to do it & give it the proper time needed so I didn't even apply. Needless to say I'm honored to be on this team!

Here are my layouts from the first two rounds at GDS:

 

Happy Scrapping!

Saying "God Be with You" to Jolanda

Sadly, Jolanda of Jellebelleke's Designs is closing her shop. Her family has moved into a new home & she has taken a full-time job, so her designing days have been put on hold. I have enjoyed my time spent on her Creative Team & will miss creating layouts with her templates & kits. She was with Gotta Pixel for only a few months -- that's where I first became acquainted with her work. Right now kits & templates at her store in Gotta Pixel are on sale.
Here's my latest layout using one of the templates due to come out next month -- I don't know what's going to happen as these were supposed to be a part of the Gotta Pixel specials for June and are not in the store yet -- but I was really happy with the way this turned out:

So I bid farewell to Jolanda & pray that her new walk in life's travels will bring her happiness & fulfillment.

Progressive Challenge at Wilma4Ever

I'm working on a progressive challenge at Wilma4Ever.
Here's the first week's instructions:
Step 1:
Select a photo that you can stretch across your background. You will be using a single image as your background, so it needs to be stretched to cover your whole page. It could be a photo of a scene, a close-up of your garden flowers, a portrait, whatever. Keep in mind that we will be adding things over it in the next three steps, so there should be some white space or parts of the photo that you can artistically cover once it is re-sized to cover your page. After you have selected and stretched your photo over your page, add some texture to it. There are many ways to do this.
And this is what I did:
I made a copy of my photo after I stretched it to fit the page. Then I aded a a canvas texture to that layer. I added a second copy of my photo on top of that and aded a watercolor filter with the opacity lowered the opacity to 48%. Next I added a mask to the filtered layers and brought out the Great Blue Heron from the origional photos.
And it looks like this:

Step 2:
Create an arrangement out of some type of greenery (vines, leaves, pine boughs, etc.) AND some combination of long paper strips, straight ribbons, cord, beaded string and/or ric-rac.
 I would suggest that you design this strip either horizontally or vertically on your LO and that it should be no wider than 3 or 4 inches and at least 9 inches long. It can be narrower and longer than this, but I wouldn't make it very wide or very short. Think about layering this thing up -- stack things on top of each other, angle items just slightly so that some are a bit askew, mix paper strip patterns, different textures and patterns of ribbon, choose items of varying widths, etc. Have fun!

And here's what I did for the second step:

 

I picked up step 3 today --
TASK 3:
Select a photo and frame. You will position this photo and the frame on or under the strip you created last week. Let's really make the photo pop by using an action or an overlay or a blending mode, etc.
Now I'm off to do this task & will post the LO when I'm done.

Here it is -- I picked my photo & used an action by Dave Jaseck that created a mask & frame for the photo all in one action.

 

One more step to go & then I'll have a completed LO!

 

 

TASK 4:
 Title/Journaling
 Make a title out of at least two words. Use a handwritten font for at least one word and a chipboard alpha (or something similar) for at least one word.
Add some journaling, even if its just the date.

 

And here is my final project:

 



They're Back!

When I came home from work today, I was absolutely thrilled to see a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak sitting at the window feeder. And as I watched this afternoon, I spotted two females & four males in the backyard. A sure sign of winter's passing! Now I only hope they will decide to spend the whole summer with us like they did last year. Our friends said they saw a Baltimore Oriole yesterday -- one more sign. Happy birding!

Project Heritage May Kit by PattyB Designs

 I've been working on a new-to-me kit from PattyB Scraps over at Wilma 4 Ever - a great place to pick up goodies for your digital scrapping & lots of great challenges each month!
Here's PattyB's kit -- click on the image to link to her store:

 

And here's a look at the layouts made with the kit --

 

 

 

And one more --

 

 

This last one is a quick page that I put together --

you can pick it up without my family photo & the text here.

All you have to do is put your photo on a layer behind the QP

& add your own text (or not).

 

I also made a little cluster for you - click on the cluster

to link to my dropbox & it's your's to use in your own LOs:

 

 

Have a wonderful day & happy scrapping!

 

 

Topical Tuesday -- Neighbor

I think my layout for this topic says it all. Praying for the people of Boston & around the world who were there for the Marathon.

I'm on a roll!

Well I did it! I finished another layout for PattyB Design's "That's the Way It Was" kit. Not only that, but I did 2 clusters!
Here's a preview of the kit found at Wilma4Ever:

Here's the LO, this kit really does well for heritage photos:

I kind of altered an old ad jingle for Oldsmobile -- do you remember that one?
 And here's the cluster's I promised, just click on the image to download at 300 dpi copy of the cluster:

 



I think I'm having trouble with the dropbox, if you're frame cluster isn't a png file with no background, let me know & I'll try to fix it.

Happy Scrapping!



More inspiration

I finished up the Alien Invasion with a quick page.....

You can snag it here -- or go to April's store at Wilma4Ever to get the full kit.

I've also started working with PattyB's "The Way It Was Then" Kit )also at Wilma4Ever) to use with all the slides I've been scanning. It's beautiful kit!
Here's my first LO using it....

Hey, it's stormy here! Have to bake brownies for soon-to-be 17-year-old grandson. Have a glorious day & I'll get back with more from PattyB's kit & another freebie real soon -- maybe another QP or a cluster for you.

Inspired

I've been inspired & sort of creating outside my normal box. I've been working with April the Scrapaholic's "Alien Invasion" kit over at Wilma4Ever. You can find the kit here. It has these cute little space creatures that just looked like they needed scrapping -- not my normal flowers & wildlife style. When I went searching for a photo to use & saw this one of Logan from a very long time ago -- he's almost 14 now -- I thought it would fit right in. The photo is a little blurry, but it just works. Here's the layout I did:

 

And to show you the versatility of the papers & elements I did this one with some goose photos I took last week: -- doesn't look a bit like an alien invasion does it?

 

 





And I finally got started on the challenges at Wilma4Ever (they've got a new batch of challenges each month -- see the one's for April here.)
I just started at the top with the Ad Challenge for April --

 

You have to use 50% of your elements & papers from Wilma4Ever's designers, but there's lots of freebies to get you started -- and you often get more free things when you participate in the challenges. The flowers are here from ABCreation's Chinese New Year kit.

I've got more coming soon -- but it's time to fix supper for my DH.

Busy! Busy! Busy! And a Big Happy Easter to You!

I keep thinking it is already Wednesday & here it Tuesday. I have a feeling after Easter I'm going to totally crash! This week I've had three extra bulletins (that's a total of five). Plus the monthly newsletter that needs to be mailed out by Friday. The old copy machine at work is going to get tired of me printing stuff this week for sure...I only hope it doesn't give me problems.

It is a good busy though. I love what I do and I only pray that it will bring glory to my Lord and Savior.

But isn't it exciting to be celebrating Easter? I am amazed to think what Christ did to take away my sins -- the sins of the whole world. WOW!!! Can't you just imagine walking the streets of Jerusalem with him? Spreading out the palm branches. What would it be like to have been one of the disciples and watch in horror what he went through on that Friday? How would you have felt to see your Lord hanging there on that cross; to see him laid to rest in the tomb; and then to find his body gone?

Sometimes I think about these things and wonder if I would be able to stand up for him, or if I would have been one of the ones declaring "Crucify him! Crucify him!" I think of how he taught us that it's all about love, not about law. What if he came now & told us we were doing things all wrong? Would I trust him; would I follow him? I'd like to think that I would follow him, but I'm not sure about that.
What I am sure about is that I will be a part of that heavenly banquet. That he did indeed come to save my soul. And for that I stand in awe and sing his praises!

Another New Set of Templates from Jellebelleke's Design

Jolanda has been very busy this week! She's got another set of new templates in the store at Gotta Pixel.

And here's the layout I did with template #1:

I also used this for the "Blast From The Past" challenge at Gotta Pixel. They have so many fun challenges each month -- try it, you'll like it!

LOTD!

I had a nice little surprise at Gotta Pixel this week. One of my layouts was chosen for Layout of the Day (LOTD)!
It was one that I did for a challenge there -- every week they have a "Sketchy Thursday Challenge" where they provide a sketch to use for creating a page. I did one of my granddaughter's photos & made this for the challenge:

 

And now I have a new blinkie on my signature :)

 

!

Thanks Gotta Pixel



Topical Tuesday - Feelings

Time for another Topical Tuesday from Barbara. This week her word was "Feelings".
I chose to go with the peace & calm that I feel from God when things get tough -- and it's there when things are smooth too!
Here's the layout I did for her challenge, I think it explains how I "feel"!

 

You can find out more about Topical Tuesdays here.

Jellebelleke's Designs -- New Templates Available at Gotta Pixel

Here's Jolanda's newest set of templates --

You can find them at the Gotta Pixel Store -- on sale right now for $2

 

And here's a layout that I made from #4:

 

 

This is one that I also used for the Font Challenge at Gotta Pixel. Did you know that they have monthly challenges there? Lots of inspiration for capturing your memories!

 

Be watching for another new set of templates from Jolanda to be posted soon!

 

Topical Tuesdays

I really struggled with Barbara's latest Topical Tuesday word "Covet". I had to research the word to see exactly what it meant because I just wasn't sure. Yes, I know - the Lord commands us to "Not covet thy neighbors..." , but is it okay to covet things like a better prayer life; more devotion to my God; a closer walk with God? What about coveting joy?  And peace? 
So when I looked it up in the dictionary I found three definitions:
Used with an object -
1. to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others
2. to wish for, especially eagerly
Used without an object
3. to have an inordinate or wrongful desire
I'm sure the commandment was directly referring to #1 and #3. And my questions refer to #2.

Here's the scrapbook page that I made pondering the word covet:

 

 

Waiting for Spring with Jellebelleke's Designs

Jellebelleke's Designs has just put her first kit in the Gotta Pixel store,  This afternoon I put together a layout using one of her Valentine Templates and her new kit.
Here is the kit & the template pack:

 

And here's the layout I made:

 



Scrapping Away!

It's been a scrapping week for me -- a whole bunch of pages for our DAR scrapbook & more to go. My goal is to have them finished up in a couple of weeks so I can get them approved & printed.
Today I did one that is dual in many ways....
Using on of Jellebelleke's Templates for my Creative Team responsibility there.
Plus it's also for the Topical Tuesday layout for the Faithfully Yours Creative Team & Barbara Grave's challenge over there. This week's topic was "contentment".

When I think of contentment, I can't help but think of the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" so I included the words kind of in the background. And I included things that make me content -- the river out back, the wildlife & birds, flowers (can't wait to start seeing them popping up in my garden!) and my grandkids.

Drum roll.......here it is:

 

 

Have a wonderful day & be content with what you have.

In the words of my friend Betty: Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Wonderful Day Clusters

Here's two clusters I made for Jolanda with her "Wonderful Day"  which now available at Jellebelleke's store at Gotta Pixel.

Thanks for looking!

Lent - Preparing for Easter

The last week has been one of those where you kind of go "ah!" or maybe "ah-has!" for me. I'm not sure how this relates to Lent, but it is food for thought. I hope this all makes sense to you as I bring together some of the things from my weekly readings...
My word for 2013 is LISTEN. I've not been doing a very good job of it however up to this point. But this week has changed everything; God has been putting things in my path at an unbelievable rate and giving me quite the challenge to put my listening into full gear.
First off over at Gotta Pixel I am in a book club. This month we are reading "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. It is a book written through the eyes of a dog which is in itself an interesting idea; it is about loyalty & family and having troubles; it is about a race car driver - not something I would pick up & read for that idea; but it is so much more. I can honestly say that I look at Nikki in a whole new light. Some of it I'm not sure about - like reincarnation, but on the whole it does give one a new perspective of the idea of reincarnation. Mostly though I learned that a race, whether it's a race with cars or a race through life, must be met head-on with your eyes focused on what ever path that you find yourself on.
Then on Sunday I got my journaling prompts which I mostly just read & meditate on rather than journaling. Bud Katter's website is here. And here's a link to his newsletter from this week. Look especially at the poem in the art journaling section -- that was what truly inspired me.
Pastor Jean got in on the act with her sermon on Sunday entitled "Unveiled Understanding". Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday and we read in Exodus 34:29-35 about how Moses had to veil himself when he came down the moutain after talking with God because he literally glowed from being in God's presence. Then the sermon scripture was II Corinthians 3:12-4:2 where Paul is urging us to transform into the image that God has planned; follow the path He leads you down; be transformed into His image.  We live in the valley, don't ignore them. Sure we have mountaintop experiences, but we need to make the most of the valley of everyday life. We need to continually seek God's grace and His face as we train for eternal life. As we do this we do not lose ourselves, but we become more like Him as we travel up the mountain to meet Him. Do you feel the "Holy Glow"? Are you working your way up the mountain?
And one last thing was from today's Simple Truths -- Finishing Strong.

Chinese New Year

Sunday, February 10 is Chinese New Year & Anmarie of ABCreations has just released her newest kit - Chinese New Year Snake. EWWW, I don't like snakes, but her snakes in this kit are so cute! I was honored to be a part of creating with this kit before release & now I'll share my layouts with you...

 



You can get Anmarie's kit at Wilma4Ever, find it here along with her other Chinese New Year kits (the one I used was "Snake") You'll see the quick page that I made offered FREE there as well. Here's what I did with it -- so simple, just drop it behind the QP layer & you've got an instant layout!

I also have a little cluster for you made from this kit -- click on the cluster to download it & enjoy.

Happy Chinese New Year to you all!