Faith Is…

Scrapbooking About Where Life Leads

If you read my blog with any regularity you have probably figured out that my primary OBGYN is not in the town that I live.  We have to travel 2 1/2 hours south of where we live to go to a Perinatal Center which specializes in higher risk pregnancies than what my town can do.  In the city we go to, there is a mall with a Carousel.  Our older daughter loves the carousel and wants to go on it every time we say we are going there.  My youngest daughter says she wants to go on it but as of yet has not gotten past one foot up on the carousel platform.  We keep trying though, and the nice people who run it give us back our dollar each time she decides she doesn’t want to ride after all.

Well Sweet Tomato Designs recently came out with a new kit in honor of her son Nolan.  And although the colors of this kit could be very boyish, I love how they work with my story and my pictures.  When the call came out that the kit was ready, I had just gotten my camera back from accidentally leaving it at a friends house over the Independence Day weekend.  So as I downloaded pictures, these were right there and just calling to be scrapped.

Sweet Tomato Designs also is releasing today a set of templates and when I saw the one, I knew I just had to combine these two releases today into a 2 page layout.  Here they are side by side.

.

.

.

.

.

Here is a closer look on each side…

The text on the left says…

“Lia, You completely cracked us up this day.  We tried to get you on the carousel and you wanted nothing to do with it.  So we got back off and as the music started you started dancing.  As you saw Cayli go around on the carousel, you started chanting “Go Cayli, Go!  Go Cayli, Go! Go Cayli, Go!  Go Cayli, Go!”  Your hands were moving up and down so fast like a cheerleader with her pom-poms that the camera, even on its “fast” setting for kids and pets could not keep up.  And you kept that up for the ENTIRE carousel ride.  Grandma and Aunt Beth couldn’t believe it.  You started to get a little tired toward the end, but you just took another breath and kept on going.  It’s been 2 months and we still haven’t gotten you on the carousel yet for your own ride.  But you keep getting closer.  One of these days you are going to get on, and have your ride and when you do, we’ll be chanting right with you, “Go Lia, Go!  Go Lia, Go!  Go Lia, Go!””

I love the way this layout came out and I hope as you are looking it you can see the effect of them side by side.

In order to purchase either the kit Nolan or the Twofer Template which contains the template I used to create this layout visit Sweet Tomato Designs at Polka Dot Plum.

Remember my last post highlighting the kit Finley?  Sweet Tomato Designs has also released Nolan and Finley in a Siblings Rivalry Como Kit so you can get both of them together.

I know it may seem like I’ve disappeared.  But really I’m here.

I actually have gotten some scrapbooking done, not only with Sweet Tomato’s Designs latest kit (more on that in a sec) but with some other kits because the topic spoke to me and would not let me go.

So where to start…?

Well hubby has a job for the Fall Semester.  It is only an adjunct position, which although is a great resume builder will create it’s own set of challenges.  More on that if your really interested on our personal family blog here.

Sweet Tomato Designs has a new kit out called Finely in honor of Cara’s daughter.  It’s one of my first pages that will have something representing all four (yikes) of our kids.  I love the colors in this kit and I apologize for not getting the notification out about this sooner.

.

.

So what to do with such a pretty kit?  Well the butterfly attracted me right in the beginning and there is this great frame which I used to frame out a picture of each of our daughters from the day they were born.  I knew that was what I wanted to do.  Then I started looking in my book Faith Is by Pamela Reeve for a quote that I could put on the page and keep it nice and simple.  (I tried looking this book up on Amazon but haven’t found it yet to link to.  As soon as I can find it somewhere I’ll link to it.  I tend to go towards this book a lot when I need something like this.)

Anyways…  I loved playing with the pendant banners, trying some fancier Photoshop techniques (okay not fancy for some but for me they are) to split the papers along the pendant banner.  And I think the butterflies leading up to the frame for the new baby just add that perfect touch.    I hope you enjoy it!

I want to make a quick page out of it for you to download if you are interested so hopefully I can get that done here pretty soon.  Check back!

The companion to this kit Nolan, is coming out next week.  And it looks like I might actually have this layout ready in time.  I’m combining a template set from Sweet Tomato Designs (newly released) with this kit so I hope you’ll enjoy it.  Check back after the 21st to see the result, and of course where to buy the templates and the kit!

I have lots of blogs that I read or subscribe to with my Google Reader.  Actually I use iGoogle to look at everything because for some reason it seems less overwhelming that way, and it’s prettier.    So in that lately  my motherhood section is what I have set to come up first.  I’m nesting like I never have before.  (At least in my memory.)  I think it is all related to the uncertainty of what is coming in the next few months and how we are going to handle each aspect.  I am a planner when I get like this and have had to complete things like our Baby Needs List in order to be able to focus on anything else.  So things like my previous post of I Can Do This have started appearing in my scrapbooking.

I’ve also been looking at our nursery and how we wanted to decorate it long, long ago.  8 1/2 years ago as we were preparing for our first baby girl, we painted her room on New Year’s Eve.  Yes, you read that right.  In Northern NY with the windows open (low VOC paint was not a big thing then up here) we painted the room blue.  Unfortunately that was as far as it got.  Other than the aquarium being added.  And that is still where it stands.  For a while we didn’t want to put pictures up and holes in the wall (stucco walls) but since we are going to be here for a while longer I think they are going up.  One of the first kits that drew me to digital scrapbooking was Octopus’s Garden.  Partially because of our under the water/aquarium theme.  I love this page that I created for a challenge at JessicaSprague.com.  Even though this is not exactly an aquarium theme picture, I think I’m going to put a frame up in the baby’s room where I can put pages like this (as soon as I can get them printed) just for variety to look at.  Otherwise we have puzzles that have been graciously put together by family members and framed.  Lord knows I don’t have the time or space to put them together with two kids, little space and three cats who love to play with puzzle pieces!

So yeah, I’m still here.  We are still trying to figure out the logistics of what is to come.  80 short days until baby’s due date.  It is unfortunately staying hot here in Northern NY and humid so it makes things being interesting being this pregnant.  Air conditioners are running, and we are moving some things around which seem to be making it easier to get things done and so I do not feel like I’m ignoring my two girls and they do not feel like they are being ignored.

So I’ll be back with Cara’s newest kit that gets released on the 21st if all else fails, but I’m hoping to get some more scrapping done before then.  We will see

With Blessings…

I have TONS of blogs coming to my google reader.  There are probably about 5 tabs for scrapbooking, 1 for news, and one for Mothering…  Lately I’ve placed the mothering one as the one that shows up first each morning.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed.  Lack of sleep doesn’t  help.  And today there was a post on Simple Mom, that almost put me in tears, but reminded me that I CAN do this!

Visit the Simple Mom blog for today’s post on Raising a Three Child Family.  The basic gist…

• Count Your Blessings
• Encourage the Older Two to work Together
• Find Time for Each Child
• Watch Your Language so your not labeling your children in unflattering ways (middle child)
• Be prepared to Make Difficult Decisions
• Remember Why You Are Here
• Savor the Moment

Now more than some of this seems overwhelming as a mom who is pregnant again, feeling overwhelmed by the need to-do list and the wish to-do list.  The continued unemployment, the lack of sleep, and being sore.  Some of this I know already… technically we are on baby number 4 even though we only have 2 on earth with us right now.  So for me it has already been finding a balance when talking about our children.  Time is an issue already and I know it will become more of one as the months wear on.  And of course there is always that advice of saying “Take Time For Yourself” in there as well.  I worry about what will happen if Michael has to live apart from us for a portion of each week so that he has a job and I’m on my own with all three kids and the managing of the housework.

I’m a worrier by nature so I have to be careful to remember that God has it all under control.

Even though I have tons to do and have been interrupted a million times by the kids, I just had to create something to help me remember.  So here it is…  I used Ordinary Moments by Sweet Tomato Designs, the fonts are Holiday Home and Huxtable and I’ll apologize to the unknown entity that I had saved the hand picture from, I can’t remember where I found it.

We will see if I have enough ink to print it off… if not perhaps it becomes my wallpaper for a little while.

With Blessings….

Okay, so I don’t normally blog about some of the giveaways that I find, even though I tend to enter quite a few, but this one I have to.

My girls LOVE bubbles…

Lia chasing bubbles

As you can see from Lia’s picture having us blow or make the bubbles with the big wand and then them chasing them and trying to pop them is one of their FAVORITE things to do.

We either end up completely winded or pretty soon we can’t lift our arm.  (Yes I know I need to work out more!)

Well today I was looking through different posts and I was directed to Rebecca Cooper’s blog called Simple As That and on there is an opportunity to win the Gazillion Bubbles Bubble Machines by Funrise Toys.  So I entered to win there and am blogging about it for another chance.

We keep thinking of these machines, and try to look when we are actually at a store that might have them (not easy up here in the North Country) but as of yet can’t justify the expense when we are still unemployed (16 months and counting).  So… I hope you’ll pardon the sidetrip from scrapbooking.  If God wants us to have one then he’ll provide it. 

But of course the bubble pictures are coming out, I’ve downloaded Sweet Tomato Designs Octopus’s Garden Kit to try and get something into the Spraground Concept Challenge (of course I’m running out of time!) and a few of the pictures like these are going to be on it.  Hopefully I’ll have that up in the next day or so.  Basically it depends on what I work on tonight the need to do (work) list or the want to do (life and scrap) list.  Maybe I’ll do a little of both if the power stays on. 

With blessings and lots of chasing of bubbles…

Okay so has anyone else looked at the date on the calendar and wondered how it can be June already?!?!?!?

We have been very busy with doctor’s appointments for the new one on the way, interviews for my husband (still nothing yet for an offer), and just trying to live life with two young ones in the house there hasn’t been much time to scrap.  Sad I know!

I have something in the works for Father’s Day using the Springtime Zen kit by Sweet Tomato Designs.

What I really like about this kit is it is so universal for what you can use it for.  I had originally started my same idea as a calendar layout for May (and Mother’s Day) but ended up turning it into June for Father’s Day because of the pictures I chose…they had all the guys and none of moms. 

You can purchase the kit here at Polka Dot Plum.

I hope to have my layout up later today, my server is off right now and the kids need some attention. So scrap’ing will have to wait a little bit longer.  The girls have already been up since 6am and I’m more than ready for some me time.  But I figure you all will understand.

Hope you have a great day and get to enjoy some Scrapbooking Zen of your own sometime today (or whatever day you are reading this!) 

With Blessings….

Happy Mother’s Day to all!  Whether you are a mom or have a mom you know what I’m talking about. 

I have an idea for something to put together to celebrate mother’s day and I’m hoping that this afternoon I might get a chance to play and put it together.

But I just wanted to do a quick post in case anyone is actually looking

How do you focus?  What keeps your mind on what is important?

Sweet Tomato Designs has a new collab kit with Page Frocks and Heather Hess, and yes it is called Focus.

I’ve recently been taking a real look at the way I need to do my scrapbooking.  I love to be part of a CT team because it causes me to stretch a little beyond my comfort zone at times because I may get a kit I might not have bought at least on the initial glance.  (Not the case with this kit!)

At first I wasn’t sure what to do.

I’ve recently figured out pictures add to my stories but I almost need the stories first for a layout to work.

So I thought and thought…

Then I thought of the perfect picture and hence the perfect story.

On this day Angela had Physical Therapy (PT).  We were talking as she was hanging out.  And then she did it.  She lifted her head, on her own!

Here is the journaling if you can’t quite read it all….

“You didn’t think we were looking.
Right to left… and left to right…
three times…
It was all I could do to not say something
and to just continue talking to your PT like nothing extraordinary was going on.
Click goes the camera.
Capturing those moments…
that you were never supposed to do,
that we were never supposed to dream about.”

The kit has a lot of other great elements that didn’t fit this picture but I’m sure I’ll be pulling it out again to highlight how the camera is ever present in my hands, capturing those moments that I need to remember the stories that I want to tell and want my children to remember.

You can purchase and download this kit at Sweet Tomato Designs Shoppe at Polka Dot Plum.

Have a great time playing with it!

Well actually this layout was created at the end of last year but the sentiment still applies.

Michael is still unemployed.

I still find myself having to do things that I am not wanting to do at that moment because those are the things that help pay me and put the money in the bank.

But I have two beautiful girls who although they can play on their own very well, want and need my attention to become the beautiful girls that I want them to be as they grow.

So even though my to do list never gets any smaller (usually bigger) I need to make sure that I remember God’s biggest job for me right now.  Being a mom and being a wife to a very loving husband.

Sometimes that means stepping away from the to-do list and making sure that I take the time and make the time do my scrapbook therapy and fulfill some of those obligations that allow me to have kits to play with since I can’t afford to buy them right now. 

So to buy this wonderful kit, visit Sweet Tomato Designs at Polka Dot Plum and purchase the Today kit.

Go on, you know you want to! 

Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch. ~Ramona C. Carroll

May you find a way to give your eggs (stresses, concerns and worries… all the things you are worried about dropping…) and give them to God today. No matter how “pretty” we make they look they can still drag you down and make it hard to trust and function through each day. Celebrate with me and many others around the world as we celebrate His rising knowing He is close even when sometimes He feels so far away.

We all know a Princess in our lives.  I happen to have three.  And perhaps have a fourth on the way… we won’t know that until October! 

Sweet Tomato Designs has a beautiful kit out called, of course, Princess.

All the wonderful things from little girls can be captured with this kit.  I’m sure I will be using it over and over again to help capture those princess moments in my girls lives from them being a baby to gymnastics and probably eventually dance recitals.  My girls love pink so this fits so well with a lot of the photos we take. 

This kit contains…

5 solid heavily textured papers
9 patterned papers
1 footprint stamp
1 word art
1 diaper pin
2 journal spots
1 single frame cluster
1 4 square stamp frame cluster
1 flair
1 brad
1 tag
2 individual flowers
1 flower cluster
2 button
1 button with ribbon
1 ribbon cluster
2 individual ribbons
1 chrome crown
3 puffy swirls
1 puffy heart
1 chrome heart & gem brad
1 wire heart with beads
1 lace border
1 little tag alpha (lower, numbers, & symbols) in individual pngs and full sheet

To purchase this kit visit Sweet Tomato Designs at Polka Dot Plum’s Shoppe .

Here is a set of pictures of my daughter right after she was born using of course the Princess kit!

I hope to get one of these done for each of my girls and perhaps even a quickpage out there for you to grab with the basics if you are interested.  Check back soon for that.

And there are more exciting kits that are out catching up with my scrapbook therapy is one of my priorities in the coming weeks.  I’ve gotten behind with all the traveling that we have been doing.

Check back soon for more of my scrapbook therapy.