Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Oh snap! Where Does the Time Go?

Holy schmoley! Where DOES the time go? Well, I guess that August has been a wee bit of a busy one with a few days in Vegas with my hunny, back to school shopping and also getting into the back to school groove!

Let me tell you—once I got over the tears of sending my baby off to first grade, I've totally been LOVING the free time. I mean it's not like I'm just lazing around doing nothing. I've been back on the exercise horse, the dishes and laundry are always done and my work is even a bit ahead! (At the moment). Here's hoping it lasts because I like this feeling.

I was able to have a "sisters" day this past Saturday and spend the day on Saturday with Tracey's sisters scrapping. Of course I decided to tackle a few sketch challenges from my favorite sites all while finishing some more pages in the album about dad.

However what is sad is the fact that it took me nearly all day to do FIVE layouts. Yeah. I never claimed to be fast.

The first layout that I created was of the morning after dad passed. It was so fitting, yet a total punch to the gut to leave mom and dad's house on the morning following his passing to see the flag at half mast. Such a wonderful tribute to an amazing man, but somehow this made it official, to see the flag flying at that elevation.





Next I made a layout about a photo that I had taken of the downpour that was occurring the night of dads viewing. 

It wasn't a sad thing and in fact really hit the spot for the mood. I couldn't help but think that it was Heavenly Fathers way of sharing with us that he was joining us in our sorrow at missing the great man—even though on His timeline the time is short until we will be together again. 





The outpouring of sympathy from neighbors and friends was unbelievable. Even though dad requested that donations be made to the Latter Day Saint Temple Fund, we were still blessed with a bounty of color from those we love and those that love us. I was especially touched by the beautiful spray of flowers that my very dear crafty friends arranged and sent. Such a thoughtful gesture from some of my very best friends—many of whom I've yet to meet in this life. 





Lastly in the pages that I created for the memory book was this layout about the viewing. We were honored to have a Murray City Police officer stand as an Honor Guard at the head of dads casket. It was touching that an officer that had no work experience with Dad would take the hours out of his night to stand guard. A wonderful tribute to the many years that Dad spent as an officer. 




(No sketch inspiration for this page. I whipped it up in about 20 min! Yay!)

I managed to create one more layout during the day, which I positively LOVE! This layout was inspired by the August sketch challenge on the LilyBee Designs blog. Oh goodness how I love LilyBee! Such fun prints and great colors and a perfect companion for the silly photos that I took with my boys one night to send to Tracey while he was away on a business trip. 




Well. There you have it! I keep hoping to sneak away to my crafty cave and scrap the day away while the kids are in school, and mayyyyyyyybe, just mayyyyyyybe one day I will. If I could get these dishes and laundry and everything else to take care of itself then it might be a wee bit easier. ;)
















Monday, August 5, 2013

You're Not Sick of Dad are You?

Nahhh.  No one in my little cobweb of the interwebs is tired of seeing my layouts about dad, are they?  Well if you are, you can just wait in that corner over there, because I'm on a mission to get this entire journey scrapped and put into a book, because quite frankly it just makes me feel better.

Maybe I'll be nice and throw in a random project here and there, but for now the mission is all about my Daddy Dahl.

I boggle my mind sometimes. And not necessarily in a good way. I just don't get being a girl. It's a wonder that any man is willing to stick with the female species as we are just so darn unpredictable. Why do you ask? Well let me tell you.

I've been holding off on scrapping these particular three photos for quite awhile because the pain was just too much and I didn't want to cry splatters all over my project.  Because what good would that be—a layout with streaks all over. (Then again, it might just be the next big thing!)

Amazingly enough I made it through this layout with nothing but smiles and memories of good times.

Yup. Unpredictable.



I'm so happy that our dear family friend Mary Hughes, thought to snap this photo of my brother holding on to dad's hand. It was heart wrenching to see dad walking the line between this life and the next life and all we could do was console him, help him be comfortable and encourage him to let go and join his party in heaven. 




The other layout that I completed over the weekend was a fun one to make. Or maybe I should say a cheery one. I honestly had no clue that dad's favorite flowers were the Daffodil. Dad was lucky enough to have been able to see a few open their faces before he passed, but on the Sunday morning following his passing, they all exploded into bloom.  It was as if dad was smiling on us from above and this was his way of saying everything would be alright. 





Oh and a huge thank you to those of you that take the time to share in my life. And a huge thanks to my new follower that I gained over the weekend during the Kiwi Lane blog hop. I feeel sooooo groovy cool!








Friday, August 2, 2013

Blog Hopping with Kiwi Lane

 

Hello Kiwi Lane Blog Hoppers! Welcome to my work in progress of a blog. It's not the cutest thing on the block, but hey—it's a place to host my thoughts, and that works for me!

Speaking of thoughts, I'm THRILLED to finally have had the guts to participate in one of the Kiwi Lane Blog Hops. 

Truth is when it worked out with the line up that we have for this month, I couldn't resist participating in the fun. Why do you ask? Well some of these girls are some of my long time favorites and highly inspiring and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to "work" with them. 

Well first things first, if you haven't stopped by the other blogs along the way to leave a comment, be sure to do so! I mean, you don't want to miss out on every opportunity possible to win a $25.00 gift code to the Kiwi Lane shop, right?

You should have arrived from the home of the ever so gorgeous and spunky Leslie Prinkki

And if you're lost or just happened to have stumbled across my blog, which I realize is nearly impossible since it's such a cobweb on the internet, then here's the line up:

  1. Kiwi LaneHome base!
  2. Kristy Mackeen—Mama’s Sanity
  3. Elizabeth Hellum—Life and All That Goes With It
  4. Martha Bonneau—Mugysboo
  5. Brie Pinales—Classic Coture
  6. Heather Gray—Heather’s Crafty Corner
  7. Linda Auclair—Bliss
  8. Melissa Dehne—A Bit of Scrappy Goodness
  9. Leslie Prinkki—Scraps of Mine
  10. Kristy Lee—Life ScrappedYOU ARE HERE! I FEEL SO LOVED AND FAMOUS! ;)

And now: The projects. :D

The templates that we are working with this month for the blog hop are some of my favorites. I use the Tiny Brackets on almost everything that I create. They are just so darn cute and tiny, and—well—everything that is tiny is cute! It's a law, isn't it?

When I was thinking about what to make I saw an empty Crystal Light canister sitting on my counter, and thought it would be fun to alter, as a pencil case to give to my kids' new teacher, as a condolence gift for starting out another year in the books. ;) (Hooray for kids never throwing out empty containers, because this really worked out perfectly!)

I rifled through my stash and found some of the We R Memory Keepers, Hall Pass collection, which for obvious reasons works well to create a school themed project.



After wrapping the canister in the "Pop Quiz" paper, I thought the Sunnybrook Lane 1A Designer Template, made a great border to go around the bottom of the canister.  I used the Bracket 1T template and traced it back to back to create the yellow design behind the embossed die cut. 



Next I had to get my paws back on some of the Jinger Adams Sweet Tart Collection that we are highlighting throughout the month of August on the Kiwi Lane blog.  Not only is this paper so darn cute, it smells really good too!

I started out this layout with the traditional framing process, to get an idea of how I would design my page. 



You can see how the idea is similar, but thanks to a perfectly splatty splat of yellow Mr. Huey's, I had to modify the design to let it show. 


I just love how pleasantly perfect, Jinger's Sweet Tart collection works with this haul I made from my tomato bushes just yesterday!

Add some Sunnybrook Lane 1A, 2A and 2B Designer Template action along with Bracket 1 and Bracket 1T and a splash of mist, some buttons and a little stitching, and an easy peasy layout was made!


Thank you so much for taking the time to hop along with us at Kiwi Lane Designs! Don't forget to leave a comment at each of the blogs at some point by 11:59 MST on Sunday the 4th for your chance to win!

The winner of the $25.00 gift code will be announced on the Kiwi Lane blog next Thursday.

Have a great day and a fabulous weekend!