Use Your Words - Sweet

Good day!

I hope you've had a good weekend, and are rested, before heading back to work tomorrow.  It was a nice weekend around here.  We went to the Clay County Fair yesterday, and boy did we have a great time.  We walked around and saw everything, then I let the girls do their thing.  They ate tons of fair food, and rode every ride on the midway, quite a few times.  To say that they were exhausted is an understatement.  Having that much fun is a lot of work, apparently! lol

Since today is the 15th, there is a new challenge posted at Use Your Words.  Our challenge this week is the word Sweet.  For all of the details, click HERE.  Here is what I came up with.

I needed a card for a friend, who doesn't speak English.  The word "dulce" in my sentiment, means sweet.  A direct translation of this sentiment is, you're so sweet.  I thought it worked perfectly, even if it was in a different language.  I received my Simon Says Stamp card kit not too long ago, and this is the first time I've had to play with it.  The colors and papers, and elements are beautiful!  Since I'll be mailing this card to my friend, I kept it simple.  Hopefully, she'll like it.

I do hope you'll head over to the Use Your Words blog, and check out the other projects posted today.  They're gorgeous!  I'll be back with my next project tomorrow.  Hope you'll check back then to see what I've got for ya.

Have a great day!
Hugs!

Use Your Words - Tough

Hi!

I hope you're having a great holiday weekend, so far!  I'm excited to have a day off, and be able to sleep in for three days straight.  Sometimes it's the little things, right? lol  We don't have much planned for this weekend.  I was hoping to take a road trip, but I couldn't make my budget work.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful daughter, who doesn't complain or get upset when things don't work out as planned.  She really is an amazing person.  So, we're going to cook lots of good food, and watch tons of movies together.  That's pretty cool, in my opinion.  I'm thankful that at almost 17, she still enjoys doing things with me.  Gosh, I love my girl!

Anyway,  it's the start of a new month (can you believe it's September already?!) and we have a new challenge posted over at the Use Your Words blog.  For all of the details, click HERE.

The challenge word this time, is TOUGH.  I knew I wanted to include a picture of my daughter.  I wanted to document how far we've come over the last year, and how tough she is to overcome everything she's endured over the last few years.  But, she's very private and doesn't speak to anyone but my mother and I about things she's struggling with, which makes it difficult to journal sometimes.  I didn't want to expose her in any way.  I decided that I would just include my feelings on the journey we've been on, and how she's maintained her composure, and strength, no matter what has happened.  I really like how this turned out, but I did have a bit of a time trying to get a good picture.  I love this photo of her, doing what she loves...swimming.  I took this picture of her while we were in Denver.  In my opinion, you can see the calm strength in her eyes.  I am thankful my new Studio Calico kit arrived shortly before I created this.  It had lots of great elements in it.  I used THIS sketch, although the challenge is now closed.  I tried not to overdo anything, as I wanted to focus on the photo and the meaning behind the layout.  She loved it, so I'm good. :-)   

I was able to combine the following challenges in my layout today.

Crafts Too Challenge You #2 - Sumer Days (Twist: Beach Colors)
Inspire Me Fridays #118 - Anything Goes
Happy Campers Challenge #21 - Use A Stamp
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon # 200 - Pretty Polka Dots

I do hope you'll head over to see what my friends have created over at the Use Your Words blog.  As always, they're absolutely gorgeous!

Have a safe and happy rest of your holiday weekend!
Hugs!   

Use Your Words - Moment

Hi everyone!

How's your week been?  Mine has been pretty good, considering I was on vacation for three days.  Luckily, I was able to work ahead, which made it nice and easy for me when I returned and there was nothing major going on. 

I'm excited to bring you the next prompt for Use Your Words.  Our word for this challenge is: Moment.  For all of the details, click HERE.

For my layout, I broke out some old photos of my mother and I at the beach, from when I was about 4 years old.  We lived in South Texas, and the beach was about 20 minutes from our house.  I loved going there with my parents.  How I wish I were young, and carefree again.  Thank goodness I received my Studio Calico scrapbook kit, as these papers worked perfectly.  I tried to portray the sun with the yellow scalloped circle border and the waves with the blue chevron paper.  It looks a bit plain, but I dig it.

I just found out that I had been chosen as a Favorite Peep, over at The Hybrid Chick, for THIS card.  So excited!

I do hope you'll head over to the Use Your Words blog to see the other amazing layouts posted.  They're gorgeous!

Have a wonderful day!
Hugs!

Use Your Words - Story

Hello!

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a good weekend, and are having a decent start to your week.  I'm excited to bring you my first post as a new DT member for Use Your Words.  Seeing as how I have TONS of photos and hoarded supplies, this is going to be a great push for me to use them.  In case you haven't heard of them, here is a bit of information about them.

Our challenges will be posted on the 1st and  15th of each month.  You will have until the 29th of the month to complete the challenge.  On the 1st and 15th you will be given  a challenge inspiration word. This word can be used as your title or in your journaling.  We MUST see the word somewhere on your project.

Our challenge this week is the word Story.  For all of the details, click HERE.  Here is my interpretation...

As you can see, there are no photos on my layout.  I wanted to do something that was close to my heart and had been an idea in the back of my mind for a while.  This is a VERY personal situation for me.  I was baptized as a baby in a Catholic church, but I chose to become a Christian on December 3, 2011.  I'm still considered a "baby Christian" by many friends who have been Christians for a lot longer, but I am just as dedicated to living the same, faithful life as they are.  I wanted to make sure that my daughter was being guided in the right direction as well, and am thankful that He has shown her the way too.   

On this layout, I used some new goodies from the Studio Calico Roundabout kit.  It's travel based, but I really thought the papers would go well with my theme.  I also combined them with one of my favorite Verve stamps (Philippians 4:13 plain jane), and some items I got in my Simon Says Stamp June card kit.  The stamp in the bottom right was a perfect fit for this.  A bit of Mister Hueys mist, some washi tape, and some stitching and I was done. 

To be honest, I was a LOT nervous about this first layout, as it's the first I've created in over two years.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make anything that was even close to the amazing projects that my fellow DT friends have created for you today.  I decided to keep it simple, and do what made me happy, and am satisfied with how it turned out. 

I do hope you'll head over to see the gorgeous projects posted on the Use Your Words challenge blog.  They're gorgeous!

Back soon with another crafty post!
Hugs!

Use Your Words

Hello, hello!

It's a wonderful day here, and I can't wait to be done with my work day, so that I can come home and play with some more new goodies.  We got a much needed rain shower this morning, but now it's going to be hot and humid.  A couple months ago, when it snowed in May, I was longing for the warm Texas weather.  Now that we've got the heat and humidity, I am almost regretful I missed it. lol  Anyway, I'll move on to why I'm posting today. 

I have tons of photos that I haven't done anything with, in ages.  I haven't even created a scrapbook layout in probably two years.  What's bad about that, is that I have tons of supplies, and photos, but I'm not doing anything with them.  I'm even subscribed to the monthly Scrapbook Kit at Studio Calico.  When my new box arrives each month, I oooh, and ahhh, over everything and then put it in my scrap room with the rest of them, where they have began to collect dust.  I've been afraid to create any kind of layout, due to my lack of creating them, and therefore just let the boxes continue to collect dust. 

I'm happy to announce that I'm dusting off all of my goodies, and photos, and jumping into the scrapbooking world again.  Thanks to Brenshevia, over at the Use Your Words challenge blog, I have been given an opportunity to use up some of my stuff, and finally use the photos I've been collecting.  She has kindly invited me onto her design team, and I couldn't be more excited.  I'm nervous, but still excited. lol  I'll include a bit about the challenge site below, so that you can get a feel for what we're going to be doing.

Our challenges will be posted on the 1st and  15th of each month.  You will have until the 29th of the month to complete the challenge.  On the 1st and 15th you will be given  a challenge inspiration word. This word can be used as your title or in your journaling.  We MUST see the word somewhere on your project.  

I will be back on the 15th with my first reveal as a new DT member.  I do hope you'll join me on this new journey, and use up some of your neglected goodies and photos as well.

Have a wonderful day!
Hugs!