saturday . . .

The past 2 weeks we planted seeds . . .

we made pizza bread . . .

we spent time downtown with cousins & Aunties . . .

we enjoyed time with cousin Matthew . . .

we played with friends at the zoo . . .

we celebrated AK's birthday . . .

we had fun at Bay Day . . .

we worked on REALLY organizing the scrap room - almost done - here's a sneak peek at my ridiculous ribbon collection - sinful really . . .

we spent the 15th celebrating me turning 33 - another year older (excuse the horrible pic) :)

In my recent blog surfing, I came across this blog post excerpt from Stacey Hansen's site . . .

"Anticipation is one of those things that can be the best thing in the world or the thing that just makes you crazy. It can cause those little butterflies to flutter around in your stomach like nothing else. Especially when you are waiting on a miracle. A job, a baby, an answer. Time passes differently when you are waiting on something. So if today you are waiting, anticipating, holding out for an answer....be encouraged. Miracles happen. They are not planned, constructed, or to be manipulated. That would deny it being a miracle at all. Expect a miracle. It may not look all like you wanted it too or how you thought it would look when it gets there. But it will be a miracle indeed."

It is interesting, this quote. As many of you know, we lost our 2nd second just shy of 2 years ago when I was 24 weeks pregnant. It was . . . well just too impossible to put into words how difficult, how painful. Somehow, we made it through - only to finally decide to start trying again this past December & miscarry twice. The most recent miscarriage just barely 6 weeks ago. I have been so confused why all this would happen - why not just not get pregnant. People try & try & just don't conceive, but to conceive & lose your child no matter if it is 4 weeks, 5 weeks, 24 weeks . . . well it just makes you wonder, why would you have gotten pregnant only to then lose the baby . . . And then two weeks ago we discovered this . . .

we weren't trying to get pregnant - in fact I was just about to go back on the pill - just this week it has really registered in my mind that I am pregnant. We have been to the doctor's and she feels VERY confident all is well. My HCG levels are totally normal & increasing properly (they were not with the last 2 miscarriages). I will be 6 weeks next Tuesday & we will be going in to see if we can hear the heartbeat. I know that there is no guarantee this will be a successful pregnancy - I have already experienced the "non-successful" pregnancy & I certainly know that it is possible it could end up being the reality here. I like the part of the post above that says "It may not look all like you wanted it too or how you thought it would look when it gets there. But it will be a miracle indeed." To me, I thought maybe this meant that amidst this very difficult journey of the past 2 years, a journey that definitely never "looked" like one would want a journey of this nature to "look" - maybe, just maybe, there is a miracle waiting here for us at the end of it all :)

ttyl - julie :)

tuesday . . .

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I am here - just super busy!! First of all I am finally (after almost a week) able to actually walk in my scrap room - I have been working on a MAJOR purge of products I know I will not use or ones I have doubles of as well as a little reorganizing :) Seriously a major undertaking but actually pretty fun to uncover some fab products I forgot I had!! I also have some other news - not quite ready to share just yet but soon I promise!!!

Pam from My Creative Scrapbook sent me this FABULOUS kit to play with this month - just loved all the spring colors & so many fun embellies!!!

Here is my sketch for May . . .

And my sample using the MCS Main kit - this kit totally rocked!!!!

I am so into layering these days & LOVED playing with these little clips Pam included - so fun :)

The title work took me a bit because I hand cut this shape from some patterned paper - I thought it was so gorgeous & knew as soon as I looked at this paper some "fussy-cutting" was in order :)

I will be posting a challenge with this sketch later tonight on their forum HERE so make sure to stop over & join in the fun!!!

Also - if you are in the mood for some more sketch inspo - head on over to The Scrap Room blog!!! They are running their sketch challenge this week - here's the sketch . . .

And look at this fabulous prize . . . hope you can all join in!!!

I'll be back soon to share more :)

ttyl - julie

monday . . .

Hello everyone!!! Hope you had a fabulous Monday :) As I mentioned yesterday, I have a fun reveal to share with you!!! Aphra, the owner of Paper Poppy, asked me if I would guest design for her new kit club & of course I said YES!!!! I have been a BIG fan of her wonderful scrappy talent for a while now & had the AWESOME pleasure of working with her on 52 Sketches 52 Weeks. She is not only a talented artist but has really put together some FABULOUS kits!!!

First up I wanted to share the sketch I created for her - the design has LOTS of layering which I love!!! She is hosting a challenge with it on her blog HERE - be sure to play along if you have time :)

And here is my sample using the sketch - LOVED all these Jillibean Soup goodies!!

As you all know, I LOVE alphas & creating fun title work - the Jillibean Soup corrugated alphas are a personal fave of mine - added a bit of cream paint to them to change the color up a bit :)

Between all the stickers, journaling sprouts, buttons, and patterned paper, I was in layering heaven!!

There was also some FABULOUS GCD Studios paper in the kit & LOVED this color combo of teal, yellow, and white!!

Again with the title work obsession of mine :) The "2" was cut with my Slice from the Prima packaging in the kit & I added a bit of sewing to pull in the yellow.

Close-up on the journaling . . .

Okay - I got a bit artsy on the last one - I always admire scrappers who can do this successfully - I am just playing around a bit with this style but love it. The kraft paper is misted with brown Maya Mist & I just loved working in these FABULOUS Maya Road envelopes!!!

This GORGEOUS bookpaper was included in the kit - perfectly vintage & went so wonderfully with these Prima flowers.

A close-up of the tags I created - finally, broke out the Crop-A-Dile & my eyelets!!!

And last but not least, this altered frame. Simple but I really LOVED how it turned out. Oh & by the way - the frame was totally a $7.99 Marshalls purchase!!! The butterfly chipboard from GCD Studios was covered with bookpaper from the kit & then I created this fun little tissue rosette to layer on top. I wanted some pattern within the plain tissue so I used the butterfly stamp that was included. I cut squares of tissue and stamped the image on each of them. Then I layered about 12 sheets up on a flower Sizzix die & cut them all out. I layered the tissue flowers, folded them in half, and then added a staple to the bottom center. Fold back all the layers & TADA!!! Instant rosette :) I added one of the GORGEOUS GCD Studios buttons to the center and a few pins peeking out for antennae.

Thanks so much for looking!!! Hope you enjoyed these projects & hope you head on over to Paper Poppy to check out this kit!!! It's AWESOME!!

ttyl - julie

sunday . . .

Back from our trip and wanted to share some pics :) We had such a fun time & the scenery was just beautiful!!

Here's Ryan - ready to go :)

This is where we stayed - Ryan loved the log cabin!!

Hiking at Swallow Falls . . .

Ryan pointing out all the stumps & fallen trees :)

The gorgeous falls . . .

Watching the water . . .

Daddy & Ryan . . .

Mommy & Ryan . . .

Taking a break :)

Ready to go boating . . .

Ryan - all tuckered out on the ride :)

On to some scrappy :) I always LOVE Tara's kits from Magpie Club & this month was no different. The main kit is already sold out but I believe there are still some credit crunch kits left :) Here is the May sketch . . .

And my take on it using the May kit . . .

I LOVE title work & had a fun time mixing the 3 alphas included in the kit. I really enjoyed making the layered "o" :)

Tara always has so many fun "bits & bobs" in her kits & used a bunch to create this layered photo corner . . .

A quick close-up on the journaling . . .

Tara will be running a challenge on her blog with this sketch so please play along if you have time. You can find out all the details HERE later this week :)

Stop back tomorrow - I will be sharing all my work for my guest design spot over at Paper Poppy!!!

ttyl - julie