Faith Is…

Scrapbooking About Where Life Leads

So I’m sorry you may have been waiting for a new post.  Things have been busy here.  Hubby has started his new job(s), I’ve had little to no energy and what I do have has been taken primarily to take care of our two girls and to try and take care of myself day to day.  Scrapbooking as much as I want to do it, has had to wait.  Baby dropped just over two weeks ago, and has made things very interesting.  Last week, at 32 weeks, I was at the doctor’s office and the baby measured a “bit” large… 6lbs 11oz.  So we are waiting.  I go back next week to see how big baby is and we figure out our options from there.  The goal is to make it as long as possible, but it may mean you might not see something here from me for a little while.

I will try to get caught up when I can.

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…

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…

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!

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.