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…

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! 

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.

My baby girl’s birthday was yesterday.  A few friends came over with cake and ice cream just like she would have loved.

She would have been eight years old.  Hard to believe in some ways, but in others it is hard to believe it has only been that long.  Her two beautiful sisters here kept me smiling but tonight I just had to sit down and put my facebook post down in a scrapbook page.  I choose Autumn Bliss created by Sweet Tomato Designs, who I am woefully behind on my CT duties for.

This month has been stressful.  The next month brings continued uncertainty and another emotional anniversary. But this is why I started scrapbooking.  Therapy.  And digital scrapbooking therapy is certainly cheaper than retail therapy!  (Not that there is anywhere around here for the latter either!)

If you enjoy the tone of this page, even though the subject matter I know is hard for some, be sure to pick up Cara’s kit here, it is a beautiful colorful kit especially needed with all the white (and cold) we have around here.

I know I’m going to have my moments, especially over the course of the next month.  But family is here to support, and God is hanging on to me.

Happy New Year Everyone! I’ve been a little behind on some of my Creative Team duties for Sweet Tomato Designs so here is an announcement…

Cara’s moved to one store so she can focus on designing more, YEAH!  As I get my life more in order I’ll have more stuff to play with – that is always good!  So make sure to check out her new store that opened today at PolkaDotPlum!

And to give you a little push (like you really need it right?) here is something I created with Cara’s kit Ordinary Moments which you can get at the PolkaDotPlum store 50% off!

I loved creating this and hope (cross my fingers) to be able to create a page where you can replace the date with a picture from that day.  There are many different designers and scrapbookers out there doing many different things to try and keep track of what happens in life so you can look back through the whole year.

This is my take on it, and who knows I might just get inspired to do one of these for each month.  We will see how it goes.

We have a recovering kid (was sick all night) here today so I haven’t had a chance yet.  But maybe later this weekend.

As it is, since I haven’t gotten my yearly Christmas present of my calendar for the fridge this works well for me to at least have an idea of what day it is!  :>)

I hope you enjoy and if I get the other idea completed then I will make sure to post an update!

Happy New Year and stay warm everyone.

Well I have gotten one of my layouts done for Cara’s kits..

Remember her Today kit? 

You can buy Today at Faith Sisters or Designs in Digital.

Well when I first saw it, the to-do list caught my eye.

I am a maker of lists…  Usually ones that I hardly look at again.  I am trying to get better at that because it feels so good to cross things off of my lists!

Anyways…  so I saw the to-do and that was pretty easy to fill in once I thought of my real to-do list.

Then I thought of what I actually do every day.  You know, the day to day things that you do because real life is there?

I have two kids under 4 so my real life usually gets in the way of what I hope to accomplish each day.  But I love my distractions immensly.

And after all they are really what is important.  It isn’t going to matter whether I got the laundry done today or not, my children will remember me taking the time to play with them.  Especially C. since she seems to have the mind of an elephant!

SO …. here is my layout done with the Today kit.

Here’s to remembering what is really important in life.

Enjoy!

Well I am trying to be a CT for a new site I just found tonight (of course the deadline was tonight) at Log Your Memory.  There is this awesome book that has been designed for you to help keep track of what is going on in your life and the things you want to scrapbook about each and every day, along with other challenges and things to get you thinking throughout it.   I really, really want a copy.  And the idea of CT’ing for that seems like it would be really good for me to do to remember the little things that God does for me every day.  So I entered my application, we will see what happens.

As a part of that I’m posting a few links that I couldn’t link any other way because it seems that this  has been the weekend for sites going down.

• Pretty Scrappy’s store has gone down but they are in the process of coming back up now.  (I’ve linked you to the blog here).  As soon as they are up, I have a new kit for you from Sweet Tomato Designs to tell you about.  I will post about that kit in the next day or two.
• Stone Accent Studios is where I first started this digital odyssey and since their gallery is down, here is what I created as a part of their Site Makeover contest back in May 2009.

Here is what I submitted to there.  We had to design a header, footer and 5 buttons using at set of digital tools we were given.  Sorry there is no preview that I have for it.

So the header…

The buttons…

.

.

.

.

and the footer…

.

.

.

So hopefully when you are looking at this you see the pictures lining up right!  :>)

So enjoy and I’ll be back soon with the new kit from Sweet Tomato Designs!

So Sweet Tomato Designs has a new kit out, on my birthday no less!  I love the kit and had so much fun playing with it.  It is called (as you probably guessed) Spooks!

Here is the preview of the bundled kit…

There are:

…three alphabets

…lots of fun elements

…gorgeous papers (especially for those craving a more adult type of paper for Halloween pics)

…and four different masks for your pictures to add just that right touch.

.

When I first saw the kit all I could honestly think of was the nursery rhyme of “Little Miss Muffet”, you know the one that goes like…

Little Miss Muffet
sat on her tuffet
eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider
who sat down beside her
and frightened Miss Muffet away.

So I setup my picture to (hopefully) look like the ghost and the bats are helping to carry Angela away.

Angela Faith is our first daughter and a little girl flying in heaven for a little over four years.  She could not support her head herself so she always had to be carried or supported in some way.  I’m working on getting a portion of my blog setup to explain more about her life and the joy and blessing she brought to us.

It felt only appropriate that the ghost and bats would be helping her to fly.  :>)

.

.

I also found the pictures from last Halloween when our (now) eldest daughter went trick or treating.  The story goes like this…

Mommy was not here on Halloween.  (Are you completely aghast yet?)  I had a meeting that I really had to be at for one of my part time jobs (wanna be web designer) so I had our youngest daughter with me and Michael (my husband) and Cayli were home for the trick or treaters.  Well I guess they handed out a little bit of candy and then Cayli said how she wanted to go.  We didn’t think that our then 2 1/2 year old would care about going but she was adament.  So Daddy got her her princess nightgown, put some other clothes underneath and they went out.

He tried to get her to head home when he was starting to get a little cool figuring that she was getting cold as well.  She would not have any of it.  We figured out later that she walked at least a mile around the neighborhood getting as much candy as she could.  Everyone loved seeing her face and her outfit.  They also loved the fact that she did not care about the chocolate (she has since changed her mind on this) but wanted all the colorful and little candy.  So often she probably got more than other kids might have gotten going around that evening.

So I come home and being the great Daddy that he is, he made sure to get some pictures so I would have them since I missed out on her first Halloween outing.

When he showed me her stash of candy we both said, there is no way she can eat all of that!  Hence the script… “no two year old needs that much candy!”

She is so looking forward to this year and actually so am I a little.  Our youngest is old enough that I think she will enjoy going around and I almost can’t wait for it this year just to have some pictures of my youngest to scrap with the kit!

.

Remember you can buy Sweet Tomato Designs Spooks kit here or here so you can have it just in time to scrap your own Halloween pictures this year.

..

I’m hoping to do up a quick page of something but I have two sick kids here at the house so time has been an issue a bit.  And if I can figure out how to make my WP theme allow my pictures to be clicked on to seem the bigger that will be added soon (I hope!) so you can see the pictures better…

Check back (see my RSS feed at the top?) to see if I’ve pulled it off and to look at more layouts from Sweet Tomato Designs kits coming soon!