It's the Last Saturday of March

So that means..... really not that much. LOL. Did I have you going?

I know it's a bit early, but how about some Easter cards! Okay...okay... so I'm really just very late in posting some. But, if you are celebrating Easter late this year.... here's some ideas.

This one uses Flair Designs' Easter Surprise Collection.



The next one uses Easter Surprise again, with some Making Memories Garden Party paper and 3D sticker.



And I have to add this little Easter related info. Flair Designs has an Easter photo contest. So, get your best shots together and hop on over and enter.

And last but not least, I participated in a fun challenge from one of my favorite paper crafters,Melissa Phillips. Her challenge was to make a card using tags, accordian style (2 or more folds) and something old. My card uses a gatefold card, 3 chipboard tags, and a couple of vintage buttons (they aren't used, but they are pretty old). I used papers from Dream Street Papers Enchanted Line (by Tracey Whitney). The vintage labels are from Crafty Secrets.




It's not too late to participate in the challenge. Jump on over to Melissa's blog and join in. Have a great Saturday!
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For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

One pink... and one blue

Just playing around with birthday cards. I made two very similar - just changed up the papers. Do you ever do this? It's amazing how the same design can look totally different when you change the colors and patterns.

The first card (blue) uses Dream Street papers.


The pink card uses Basic Grey and Melissa Frances papers. The stamps for both cards are from Paper Salon.




I can't believe it's already Friday. I just got in some new Pampered Chef items and I can't wait to use them. Just trying to decide what to cook. Have a great weekend!
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Bless the Lord, O my soul
And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Psalm 103:1

Have a Wonderful Day!

It's definitely March around here. The wind has blown down my new fern three times already,with the last time breaking the pot - so it's now in another (non hanging) pot. I guess its safe to say that Spring has arrived in Louisiana.

Here's a springy card that is in Paper Craft's newest publication called Paper Crafts 101. It's full techniques and out of the box ideas.



I used a butterfly sticker as a mask and painted around it, then removed it. The papers are from Dream Street, the stamps are from Inque Boutique.

I'll be posting some new cards soon. Have a wonderful day.

Something old... something new

For the old - I thought I'd share a layout I created last year. It was originally going to be my theme page for Memory Makers Masters, but I ended up sending in another page. I sent this in to another call they had, and they used it in their January 08 reader idea gallery, page 70. Most of the supplies were from a Scrapology Kit (I think it was the May kit?). I miss their kits.




And the something new - the page I created for Creative Xpress using Making Memories' Love Story.



I'm hoping to get lots of new things created today. Have a great one.
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Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Psalm 84:10

Family Day

Yesterday was family day at the park. Our church always spends Easter at the park. There are things for the kids, games, football, tennis - and pets are included. And it was a beautiful spring day. Slightly cool, but nice and sunny.

We made homemade bread, and hubby's favorite - strawberry caked (with fresh strawberries). We went down one of the nature trails.








Arielle is getting to be quite the photographer - she took this photo of me and Jeff. Yes, I love my Memory Villa tee so much I wore it 2 Sundays in a row. And I can't help but wonder what my dachshund would look like in this little outfit.



As you can see - Azaleas were blooming everywhere. Hard to believe it actually snowed a couple of weeks ago. I never did get any photos of Daniel. He was off with the other teenagers, flying kites (and losing his keys). I think we'll have to go back out there with the metal detector.









Back to the Monday, Monday grind. Have a great day.

He Is Risen!

"Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! Mark 16: 6.

I hope you have a blessed Easter. We went to a musical drama at our church tonight. That explains the photo of the dude dressed like Jesus. It was a really nice production. My favorite was the dancers. I'm going to see if they'll let me join them next year. :)

I cranked out a couple of pages for Creative Xpress today. Here's a couple of peeks. I used Making Memories Love Story on one and Garden Party on the other.




Tommorrow I'm cooking, among other things, a strawberry cake (hubby's request), and then it's church family day at the park. Gotta put the ole camera to work again.

Have a Blessed Resurrection Day!.

Petit Jean Mountain, Revisited

This weekend, some of the girls on the mountain were interested in the waterfall they could hear while standing near the edge. I remembered visiting it years ago, but wasn't sure where it was, so I dug out my old album and scanned a few photos. According to the State Park Website Cedar Falls cascades more than 90 feet to the canyon floor. To get there, you take the Cedar Falls trail from Mather Lodge (at the State Park) and hike for 2 hours in to the canyon. Gosh, now I wish we would have went there this weekend.

Here are my very old photos of the falls, the lodge, and the cabin we stayed at.





And here's a card. I used Dream Street Papers and the flower is from the Cricut "Walk in my Garden" cartridge.



Today is the big Easter party at school. I'm taking my camera!

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Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Psalm 112:1-2.

Getting in the Groove

So I'm slowly getting back in my groove. I still haven't unpacked, tho! I worked with the March Self-Addressed kit and made a few cards.






And here are a couple I made this weekend with my Karen Foster Design papers that I had been hoarding. I really need a cure for hoarding papers I love.




How many LOST fans are out there? I have a Lost related story. When I got back from my weekend get-a-way Sunday night, I was getting ready for bed and told my hubby "I didn't have TV for 3 days, I need a fix" - which I was really joking, but turned it on and flipped channels just for fun. Then I saw Lost's Desmond! I stopped and said "There's Desmond!" We looked and realized it was a moving on TBN, and there were what looked like disciples. So we watched and realized Des was playing Jesus! So we watched for a bit. We thought he looked 'younger' but I found out later that it was a 2003 movie - so I guess that island sun aged him a bit. LOL. If you want to try to catch the movie this week (I would think they would play it again being Easter week) it's called The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John .

Speaking of movies - I bought Enchanted yesterday! I rarely buy movies, and especially not on the day they go on sale. I just love that movie. Already watched it again!


TAG TIME!!
I've been tagged by Donna, Julie, and Anabelle. Here are my 7 random facts about yours truly:

1) I'm known to break out and sing (softly) songs from the movie the Sound of Music (come on - you who sang along with me this weekend know who you are)

2) I took piano for 7 years.

3) I like to mash my potatoes and carrots together when eating beef stew.

4) I hate to empty the dishwasher (question is - who actually does?)

5) I lived in Oregon until I was 6.

6) I closed my eyes the whole time while riding the WDW Tower of Terror ride except for the first time the door opened. That was it for me.

7) I have naturally curly hair. No, make that naturally kinky curly hair.

So there we go!
And I almost forgot!! I need to tag 3 people. Hmmm...eeny, meeny miney moe... the tags will go to.... Ruth, Robyn and Elizabeth. Tag - You're it!

Have a great day!
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scriptures for the day
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12

More Pics from the mountain

I'm still not unpacked! But I'm already back to creating. I introduced my daughter to Stickles yesterday. She (really, "we") had to decorate a tin can for her to use at their egg hunt at school. It needed a touch of something so I used Stickles around the bunny and a few flowers. I wonder how long it will take for her to "remember" that glittery stuff and ask for it one day while she's creating.

I don't have scans of anything scrappy yet. But I do have a few more pics from the MV Retreat.






Late Saturday night everyone was asked to step outside for a special treat. There were decorative bags with lighted candles along the path outside the building, and we all huddled together in the cold. Mandi, one of the Memory Villa Princesses, has been blessed with an amazing voice and she shared a song with us. She started singing (accapella) the most beautiful song about the mysteries of God. I felt the Presence of the Lord so strong on the mountain as we stood outside under the nightime sky. Her voice was pure, beautiful and so annointed. Several of us were brought to tears. I asked her later who wrote/sings the song, and I found the CD at www.worshipmusic.com and ordered it yesterday. I also found an accoustic guitar version with the artist on youtube. It's a beautiful song. I really liked Mandi's version and if she had a CD - I would buy it. Best wishes to you, Mandi, with school and pursuing your musical passions. Thank you for sharing your gift with us. Many people will blessed by your giftings.

The song was called "Mystery" and the artist is Phil Wickham. Here is the link to the youtube video. It will have to do for me until my CD comes. Hope it blesses you.
Mystery by Phil Wickham

a portion of the lyrics:
I want to hear the thunder of who You are
To be captured inside the wonder of who You are
I want to live I want to breathe
To search out Your heart and all of Your mysteries

What a beautiful heartcry to hear on the top of the mountain.

And on another note, those of you that have tagged me. I haven't forgotten! I think that makes 3 people so far. Yikes.

Have a blessed day!


Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Views from the Top

I'm back from the mountain top and just wanted to post a few pics. The Memory Villa retreat was wonderful. April and the team did an excellent job of providing, pampering, teaching, sharing, and prize giving - the list can go on and on. The time fly by and just when I found my groove - it was time to pack and go.

This is the view that was all around us.






Donna loved the mountains so much - I think she wanted to stay. Actually - watching her pose for this photo made me nervous.

I met another Melanie! I was happy to get to visit with Chatterbox girl Melanie Stout. She also taught a class where we made the cutest memory album.



On another note...Kiss me, I'm Irish! Seriously - my grandfather was a Fitzgerald and my grandmother was a Kelley. Enough said! Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Just a Quick Post

Just a quick post before I head out to the mountains for the Memory Villa Retreat. I'm having a Mexican Themed Pampered Chef party tonight and have some white chili cooking as I type. I already sampled it - yum! My mother gave me subscriptions to Paula Deen's cooking magazine, along with another magazine called "Taste of the South". I found a cream cheese tangerine cake in one of the magazines and made it last night. I've been waiting ALL day to slice into it.

I don't have much to post right now - still trying to recover from being out most of last week (you'd have to read the older post).

Here are a few cards I made using brand new CHAW08 Paper Salon's new stamps.







I hope I come back from the retreat with lots of new creations. Truth be told... I don't ever get that much done but I sure do laugh alot.


Julie- I got your tag (gee, thanks) and I got one from Donna while I was sick. I'll try to get to them next week. Oh, and I'm sure I'll post some pics of me and Donna - she's flying into Arkansas right now for the retreat. I'm taking her some of my homemade Louisiana gumbo. I hope she likes it! bye for now.

Snow in the South

Well - the weather man was right. It snowed.

Or, as my little one said. It snowed because they said it would on the radio. If only things worked that way.

Bad news is that the temps weren't low enough, so after hours and hours of beautiful snow, there is really no evidence. It melted when it touched the still warm Louisiana ground.

I took this photo when soon after it first started coming down.



And today, ironically, I was in the mood to scrap summer things. This page uses
Dream Street Papers' (Miss)fit Collection along with a Hambly transparency.






Have a great weekend!

I couldn't help it....

I couldn't help being absent from my blog. I was sick! YUK! Me and the kids - no fun. And guess what? The weather man is predicting..... get this.... in Louisiana..... snow????? Maybe I should set up a video camera to see if a flake or two falls. My friend thinks she saw some a few days ago when the weather went bonkers again. But hey - my friend in Texas - 4 hours west (not north - just west! had 5 inches of snow this week. And it was falling again today. Okay - so is there a saying about "when the south freezes over???" i wonder how many random people will google that phrase and end up here and be so disappointed when they end up here

So - how about some scrappy news? Now that I'm back to the land of the living, I browsed my favorite online store to see what is new and what I need to add to my ever-growing shopping cart... and what did I find? Pages and Pages of
New My Mind's Eye! Oh My! Thanks, Cindy - I'll be broke before the week is up!

Well, since I've been out of commission, I have absolutely nothing new to post this week. Nothing, nada. zippo. So how about something sort of new? This is one of my projects for Creative Xpress. I made this page the last day of my daughter being five. I showed it to her and told her "Since today is the last day that you will be five... I made a page about the day you turned five". She thought that was cool. The papers are from K & Company's Smitten line.




Well, I feel like I missed the whole week - sort of. I can't believe Friday is almost here. It's movie date-night for me and hubby. Have a great weekend!