Artsy Wednesday

Hey everyone!  I have actually been doing some scrapbooking lately.  There are kit clubs from which, for a certain fee every month you can get a box of goodies to scrap with.  I had long admired pages where people used kits from My Creative Scrapbook.  So, last month, I took the plunge and signed up to receive their Limited Edition kit on a monthly basis.  I received my first one, and I was amazed at all of the product they included.  The colors are delicious and the embellishments are plentiful.  I have already done four layouts with this kit, and I still have plenty left over to do several more.  If you are a scrapbooker, I highly recommend that you look into My Creative Scrapbook's  kits.  They have the Limited Edition kit, a regular kit, an album kit, and several other options.  It is well worth the money, if you are a scrap addict like I am.  Their website is www.mycreativescrapbook.com. 

Now for the layouts:

Aren't the papers and the embellishments beautiful!  I know there must be a lot of work that goes into these kits.  I am just really excited to be able to have access to them  on  a monthly basis.  If you ever see anything on any of my LO's you have questions about, please let me know.  I would love to share the things I have learned in the years I have been participating  in this awesome hobby.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  Ours was truly blessed.  We went to C3Magnolia to hear Casey preach, then we went out to dinner with our wonderful extended family.  I hope yours was filled with joy.

Until next time. . .

Best Intentions

When last I posted here,  I had ever intention of getting another post up in a few days.  As usual, life intervened, and I am just now able to collect my thoughts.  For those of you who are in your 20's,  30's, etc., I want to tell you self discovery is an ongoing  thing.  I think if we stop learning  things about ourselves we have reached a time in our lives where we need to find someone to motivate us to keep ardently searching to discover what we are about at  that certain stage of our life.

I have just reached the top of the precipice before jumping off next year into a new decade.  Perhaps this is why I have been doing so much internal investigation of late.  I think I have finally reached  a point where I want to make peace with who I am ~ the real me ~ not the person other people think or project  or tell me I should be.  Here are the few of the things I have made peace with:

1) I am an artistic person ~ and for this reason I may see things a bit differently from a lot of my peers ~ and that's  O.K.  I need to express  myself the way that feels true to me.  Anything else  is insincere.

2) I believe in the rightness of selflessness ~ to a degree.  That being said, it is important that this not become your life force to the point you lose yourself.  I am still working on finding a balance on this one.

3) I need to really work  on getting rid of perfectionism in my life in regards to the things that don't matter.  Some perfectionism  is  good, but it is very easy to let this rule your life. 

4) I haven't picked up my camera  in a few days.  I also haven't posted for several of the prompts in the class, because they didn't touch my heart.  I would have made myself do something or shoot something  to post before ~ because  it  was what I was supposed to do.   I am finally learning,  since I am not being graded on this project ~ it is O.K. to skip a few prompts because forcing  myself  to participate will  end up frustrating me and producing insincere and inferior shots.  I  guess it's the old  quality versus quantity thing.

5) My body is healthy (thank  God),  but I am still trying to learn my limitations.  What I have learned  is, when I am exercising, I don't think  I have any limitations: hence, I overdo and end up hurt or sick.  Before continue doing what I have been doing, I need  to come to terms with what I can safely do today rather than what I  was able to do 20 or more years ago.  This one is turning out to be a bit tricky.

These thoughts of mine are probably a  bit boring to anyone  who decides to peruse them.  I understand.  The reason I posted them was more to prompt you to think about your life and how you're living it now,  rather than waiting to take inventory 20 or more years from now.  Like a friend of mine told me one time "This  ain't no dress rehearsel".  Better to live the performance that is your life to your utmost fulfillment rather than to regret what you have are haven't done when it is time for the last curtain call. 

Have a happy Easter and a  blessed one.  I will be back next week with something less serious and more fun.

Happy Sunday!

Despite my very best intentions, I haven't blogged in a couple of days.  I think one  of the main reasons I have held off is because I am trying to figure out how I want this to go.  I am very bad about overthinking  things.  Add that to my perfectionism, you can probably figure out why I make  everything so complicated.

I decided on Sunday's I might make it my "faith" or "about God" post.  I have been doing the Bible Study Fellowship (BSF - wonderful Bible studies) study on Isaiah this year.  I have read the book of Isaiah before, but I don't think I really understood all of the ramifications.  Some people find Isaiah very difficult to digest.  They also find it depressing.  I have to say for all of the punishment God bestows on His people in this book of the Bible, I have to say the most prevailing  message I have gotten is one of encouragement and promise.  If you haven't read this book of  the Bible, I really encourage you to do so.  One of the questions for today was "what person do you know personally who has had the most affect on you because of God's light showing through them?" or something  to that affect.  I thought about it for a along time, and I ended up saying that God has always been my light.  I came to faith at the age of 10, and I have to say for some reason God was just there for me.  I never doubted He heard me when I prayed.  If you asked me how I knew this at such a young age (and growing up in a home where going to church was an irregular occurrence at best), I would have to say I really don't know.  I just knew.  . . . and I remember when I prayed literally focusing on a light.   I have to say I don't know where I would be without God.  He has held  me up more times than I can count. 

Here are today's photos:

I will be back soon.  I will give you an easy recipe next week at some point.  It is a wonderful casserole - easy and yummy.  The recipe is one my Mom gave me.  She was an awesome cook.  Miss you, Mom!

Oh and Casey, thanks so much for being the first person  to follow my blog!  Love you!

It's Never Too Late ~ To Learn Something New

Well,  I guess it is mighty good I didn't tell anyone about my blog before now, because it was totally IMPOSSIBLE to find me.  I finally told my kids about my venture into the blogosphere, and fortunately my extremely computer literate son found several blogs under this name, but none of them were mine.  He told me all I should have to do is change my URL (Up until then,  I didn't even know I had a URL!).  Hmmmmm!  Anyhoo, I learned something new ~  I learned how to change my URL all by myself, so now I can be located.

Any of you who haven't check out Layla Palmer's blog or website really must do so.   I mentioned before it is called The Letter Cottage but, since I inherited my sweet mother's tendency to change the names of things, I told you wrong.  The web address is http://www.theletteredcottage.com/.  Layla and her husband just redecorated a small room (They called it a  reading room.) and made it into a guest bedroom!  This is a tiny room, ya'll,  but it turned out to be perfect ~ so warm and cozy.  I also confirmed the web address for Big Picture Classes ~ and it is http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/.  I just started Jenni Bowlin's class on everything vintage.  If I make something cool, I will be sure to show you a picture of it. 

Now for today's photos ~

As you can probably tell,  I was quite taken with the water drops on my roses and on my grass. I am taking a photography class call "Picture Spring" from Tracey Clark at BPC.  I took it last year, so it's fun to compare the shots I posted last year with the ones I am taking/posting this year to see how my perspective has changed.  The one of the grass was loads of fun ~ kidding ~ since I was down on my belly in the wet grass to take it.  I'm still trying  to decide which "grass" shot I should post at BPC.  Maybe I will share a few more with you, so you can  help me decide. 

Last, but not least, a shout out to my grandson Noah who rocked his baseball game last night!  WAY TO GO NOAH!!  Unfortunately, I wasn't there to see his magic on the field, but I am still just as pleased as punch (for my younger readers ~ that means I'm REAL happy) for him.

Also,  to our "B" girl ~ thanks for all of the hugs on Sunday.  Nonnie cherishes every one of them!

Until next  time . . . .

It's Never Too Late ~ To Realize It's Not Always Possible to Blog

Hey Everyone!  Well, when I first started my blog, I thought it should be NO PROBLEM for me to blog everyday.  See ~ it is never too late to fool yourself into believing your life is really YOURS! Ha!  Since I am truly working on not being such a perfectionist, this is a good place for me to start by letting it be OKAY for me to not blog every day.  IT'S OKAY is a favorite mantra of an extremely talented lady ~ Ali Edwards.  She is a wife, Mom, designer, journaler (I don't think that's a word, but you know what I mean.), scrapbooker extraordinaire.  She has an amazing blog for those who find yourself either at a similar stage in life or are a crafter, journaler (I know ~ I said it again.) soul-searcher, etc.  I don't have the link to her blog, but if you google Ali Edwards, I'm sure you will find it.  I really need to figure out how to give you those links here.  I'm a novice, so give me a little time to get it done.

Okay, now it is picture time:

These are some shots I took around  the corner from my house.  My DH suggested I take a walk over to the creek to see if I could search out any photo ops.  Let me tell you, the man has a sixth sense about these things.  Some of you know I live in a very populated area of Sugar Land and that this creek runs right along a pretty busy street.  Even so, there were plenty of things that caught my eye.  I will be sharing some of the things I found with you along the way.

One more thing ~ If you are a crafter or photographer ~ in any sense of the word, you need to check out Big Picture Classes.  This is a site where they offer some of the most wonderful online classes for people like us.  I have taken a number of the ones they have offered, and I have learned so much.  Stacy Julian is one of the creators.  I had the pleasure of taking a class from her several years ago.  She has been a part of the scrapbooking industry for quite awhile.  She also knows the importance of offering classes in all areas of crafting and photography.  Check it out.

Oh, just one more thing.  My son, Pastor Casey, is having his church launch tomorrow.  I am so proud of him, Steph, and Braelyn.  If any of you are in the Magnolia area and are looking for a church, this would be a great place for you to go.   (And I'm truly not just saying that because Pastor Casey is my son.)  His testimony is truly a "God" story.  I don't think anyone could hear it without being inspired.

Ya'll  have a great weekend!