Hey I bet you thought I disappeared!

Well you could say I was Frolicking!  My husband was home so we spent some quality family time together during the holidays.  But there is a new kit out that I want you to know about.

Sweet Tomato Designs is having a Guest Designer Spot over at Scrappity-Doo-Dah this month. 

And as a part of this she has this exclusive kit called Frolic.

I used it to document what at first looks like not the best photo because it is blurry.  And after I took the picture I wonder how it would look in a page and for a while I worried about the fact I didn’t have the “perfect” picture for this moment.  The moment was of my first daughter, my Angela Faith, who is flying in heaven right now.

We went to a local school’s festival and although she was not able to get on the kids rides, she loved to watch them.  Sunday (1/30) she would have been 9 years old.  So although it has been a bit hard this past weekend; creating this page actually helped.

I based off with a template from Chrissy W that she gave away as a freebie on her blog, called Freebie Template #54.

Angela loved to watch the lights, she loved the music of the ride and to be honest I think she just loved being out and about.  Living with a child with a disability, that for simplicities sake I’ll say is related to Cerebral Palsy, it was not always the easiest to get out an about with her; but we were getting there.  And since we live where there were not many opportunities like this school festival, we took advantage of it for her to experience.

The journaling says,”You loved watching the kids ride as it went around and around.  You laughed and it gave my heart such joy!”

I know posts like this or topics such as loss are not so easy to read about sometimes.

But this is my life reality.  And my scrapbooking is my therapy.

And Angela and her sisters have been such a joy that I love to share those sometimes not so perfect pictures that have that  perfect memory.

I hope you will visit Sweet Tomato’s shop and see what perfect memories you can have fun and Frolic with!

With Blessings…

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.

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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!