Mom's Marker

Sorry for the small picture. My blogger template won't let me make it bigger without losing pieces. But, you can click on it to see a larger version.

This layout is about a trip my sisters and I took last fall to see our mom's road marker where she died in a drunk driving accident back in 1995. We were on our way home from seeing family in Nevada and wanted to stop and see it. None of us had ever seen it before, and I don't think we were prepared for how emotional it would be.

As soon as I could see the marker, my eyes welled up with tears. I could imagine the accident and how terrified my mom must have been. And I thought how she must have been thinking of us kids when she realized the vehicle was going to roll. And I just know she would have been praying. Because she always prayed. Then I started thinking how she never met any of our husbands or children or got to enjoy our families. And my heart just broke. I'm so glad my sisters were there with me to share the moment and that we could comfort each other.

This layout helped was a little bit of therapy for me, and I'm glad I did it even though it was difficult.

I used this week's sketch over at Let's Scrap for this layout and, as you can see, I followed it pretty closely.

This is also my last DT project for Let's Scrap. I enjoyed being on the Design Team there very much, but I just have too much going on in life right now to give it the full attention it deserves, so I decided not to try out for the new term.

Thanks to my Let's Scrap DT family for always making me feel welcome and for pushing my creativity to new heights these past 4 months. I'll still be a member and participate in the weekly sketch challenges as much as possible. I just don't want to feel like I've let anyone down when I can't manage it.
Maybe I'll try again in the future, but for now I have to say goodbye :(

Creative Belli Challenge

I created this card for this week's belli challenge over at the Creative Belli Challenge blog. This blog was just recently taken over by the owner of Heart Song Designs, Leah Cornelius, and I'm so happy for her! For those of you who don't know already, Leah is in the midst of adopting an Ethiopian boy, and she will be using all proceeds from sales at Heart Song Designs to help fund this miracle. So please, check out the store and inspiration blog to make a purchase today!

The Creative Belli Challenge blog was created to help us use up all those old and forgotten tools and embellishments we all have hanging around. This week's challenge is "Royal" in honor of the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton this weekend. For this challenge we were to use our fleur de lis, diamonds, jewels, princess, crowns, tiaras, the color purple, gold, etc.
I used the three jewels at the bottom and the color purple. I could say I used gold, because my picture looks like the mats are gold, but sadly I didn't have any to use. Those mats are actually green.
The image I used was a birth flower, February Iris, image from Heart Song Designs. My mom loved irises, so I figured I'd make a Mother's Day card with this image.

Today's Mother's Day Card

I only managed to get one more card out so far, but here it is. I actually changed the "Happy Mother's Day" tag to just say "Mother" because the other two words make it look crooked.

Another Mother's Day Card

On a roll today lol. If I had known I'd finish this many cards, I would have saved it for one post. But, I'm too lazy to go back and delete them and make one post.
This is a card I cased from a user named ceramic over at Splitcoast Stampers. You can see her card here. I had the purple embossed piece hanging around from the bridal shower invites I did, so I wanted to use it on a card today. I didn't think the Mellow Moss would look this good, but I really like it.
And, as you can see, hubby fixed my printer--Yay!

Mother's Day Card

This is a card I created for Mother's Day. I don't have any Mother's Day stamps as mine and my husband's mothers both passed away at a young age. But, I'm making some cards to sell.  So, I improvised with a universal sentiment from the Holidays and Wishes set from Stampin Up. I would have used my printer, but I did something bad to it and need the hubby to fix it.
I used the April Daisy digital stamp from Heart Song Designs for this card. I just love daisies, and so did my mom. And, I really wanted to use yellow because it just seems so 'springy'. Is that even a word? It has been so nice the last few days that I'm feeling sunny lol. I left the flowers mostly white because I thought if I colored them in, that would have been too much yellow.
In case you're wondering why the butterflies are placed sort of wonky, that's because I'm covering a stamping mistake :)
I started with this week's sketch over at the Heart Song Inspirations blog, but it didn't quite end up looking like it lol. Oh well. Sketches are just a jumping point anyway, right?
Thanks for looking, and please leave me a comment to let me know what you think!

Random Crafties

I have a couple of new things to share. Today I am working on some graduation and Mother's Day cards to sell at my friends salon. She is so great to let me do that! So, if you need a really awesome hair stylist, let me know. I have never been so happy with a stylist as I am with Tibi!
Here is what I have so far for graduation cards. Haven't started on Mother's Day yet.

For the above cards I was inspired by cards here and here at Splitcoast Stampers.

Also, a few days ago I went to a bridal shower for my cousin, Jamie. She is getting married in May, her colors are orange and purple, and she loves butterflies (almost as much as me tee hee).
Here is the card I made for her shower on Saturday:

I also made the invitations for her shower. Here is a pic of what I came up with:

Thanks for stopping by, and please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
Stay tuned for Mother's Day cards, and probably some wedding ones too. Something tells me more butterflies are coming lol.

Sketches with Heart Sunday

Well, it's Sunday again. Wow! This week really flew by. My father-in-law is doing much better and came home yesterday. But I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things ready for him. So, I'm sorry to say I didn't get a chance to play with this one yet. Hoping to later in the week.
But, I still wanted to get it posted so that y'all could give it a whirl. I have something in mind for this one, and I think it's a really great simple sketch to get the juices flowing.
Please head on over to the Heart Song Designs inspiration blog and check out what the other DTs have come up with. And, if you link your card up, you have a chance to win a free digi!
So, without further ado, here is the weekly sketch:

Let's Scrap New Sketch

Well, today is Wednesday, and that means a new sketch over at Let's Scrap. I didn't really think I would be able to do this one because of all that is going on with Shane's dad right now, but I ended up unable to sleep one night. And scrapping is pretty therapeutic sometimes. So, this is what I came up with.
First, here is the sketch:

And, here is my take. I just used the left side this week. 

Sketches with Heart

It's Sunday, and that means a new card sketch from Heart Song Designs. I really enjoyed working with this sketch, and I hope you decide to play along too. You do not have to use an HSD image in order to enter your submission, and there is a prize involved.
Here is the sketch:

And, here is my submission:

Heart Song Designs New Release Blog Hop!

Welcome to the first monthly Heart Song Designs New Release Blog Hop! On the first of each month, Heart Song Designs will now release a new set of digital stamps (instead of weekly like it used to be), and we'll have a blog hop for you to check out some cards and projects using the new stamps.
I am the seventh stop on this hop, and you should be coming from Davi's blog. If you didn't start from the beginning, please hop on over to the Heart Song Inspirations blog to begin.
Leah has some beautiful new releases this month, so you might want to check it out! I love the April Showers image that I used today, but I think my favorite might be the Easter Cross.

Here is a watermarked image for you to check out. And, if you buy the entire 10pc set, you can get them for $26. That saves you $6! Although, you can buy them separately as well. To buy these or other HSD images, please visit the shop here.

Also, one lucky winner will receive the entire new release set for FREE! All you have to do is leave a comment on each of the 13 blogs in the hop. Easy Peasy!

On to your next stop--please hop on over to CEAL'S BLOG.