Stacked Stones Studio!

Hello friends... Well tonight we got the pathology report about Mom's brain tumor. It is a very aggressive form of cancer that there really is no cure for. The doctors are not really recommending surgery because of her frailty and how hard it would be for her to recover from the procedure -- only to have the tumor come back almost as quickly as it was removed. We are supposed to talk with an oncologist Thursday or Friday to find out possible other treatments, but these will have to be weighed against "quality of life" issues...so there are still a lot of decisions to be made. We have talked with Mom and she knows what the pathology report says...and she is very calm and at peace. We are continuing the steroid treatment that helps keep swelling down in her brain and allows her to retain motor skills -- so today she was up out of bed and walking a bit which made her feel really good. Her appetite is also really good...pretty much eating anything that is put in front of ...

thank you all for all of your prayers. It has been good to be with my sister and her family and to be able to spend so much time with my Mom at the hospital. We have had some good days and some bad days. Mom had a biopsy done on the brain tumor on Friday and came through that procedure really well. Over the weekend however she was really sinking fast...and we were not seeing any positive progress. The neurologist decided to put her on some very STRONG steriods to shrink the swelling around the brain mass...and by today she has REALLY improved dramatically. She more like her old self (which is good and "bad" for those of you who know my mom *smile*). She decided that she was ready to "go home" today....but settle for a blueberry muffin instead. Nothing like a little bribery! *ha* Seriously, we need to wait for the pathology results from the biopsy -- which we are very hopeful that we will get on Wednesday...because we really can't make ANY decisions until...

Thank you dear friends for your prayers and support. I talked with my sister, the neurologist and the neurosurgeon this evening. Mom definitely has a very large brain tumor...but the steriods that they have placed her on have brought back some of her short term memory. (Yesterday you could tell her that she had a brain tumor and she would respond, "Oh...that isn't good" and then go back to what she was doing and not remember what she had just been told. Something to be said for not having any anxiety about it.) We have decided that we will go ahead with a biopsy on Friday...which will tell us what kind of cancer it is. Armed with that information, we can make the next decisions. I am headed to Dallas on Friday and will be able to be there with my sister and Mom during these times. I am grateful that I have such a good prayer support group and sweet friends...since this was a new addition to some of the rather stressful things that have been happening lately -- I guess...

I LOVE birthdays...mine and everybody else's. It is a time to celebrate the person...knowing that God put them on this earth for a reason -- their birthday is a good reason to remember that none of us (or what happens to us) is either a surprise to God...or experienced without his knowledge. Perhaps those words are more sobering than the Happy Birthday song...but today, I needed to be reminded of them. Most of you know that Royce and I have decided that the course of our lives will not take us down the same path. (A diplomatic way of saying :we broke up:). It has been very hard on me...because, personally, I had planned to spend the rest of my life with him. Ilove him and I love his son, Weston, with all of my heart. But love and a future takes two people who are absolutely sure that it is the correct plan -- and we didn't have that. So today, I am celebrating that I have been here for 45 years...all under the watchcare of my heavenly Father. I had a lovely time at the Scr...

Hello friends... I finished some projects last week...but never had my computer and scanner in the same place as the lo's when I had time to actually scan them (wow that was a LOT of variables...the stars must have REALLY been aligned today to make this happen). Here is a quick look.... Yesterday, I had a GREAT day doing Father's Day "make and takes" at Scrap It! on Saturday. It was the first time I had gotten to do this...and it was a BLAST! We made cards and gift tags. By the end of the day we had made 47 cards and 49 tags!

Not me....my sister -- who happens to be five years younger than me....so thanks for thinking I was that young! As a big sister, I am accustomed to doing most thing BEFORE my sister...and turning 40 is just another one of those things. Also as a big sister, it has always been my job to pass on pearls of wisdom to make her life easier...you know -- stuff like how to not get caught if you participate in Senior "skip" day...the fact that despite what our mother says you should NOT let her perm your hair...and chocolate and ice cream truly is a cure for a broken heart. So...I took it as my sisterly duty to prepare her for turning 40. Here is what I said.... (for any of you that aren't turning 40...file this away...you can thank me later). 1. Age is just a number...sounds trite - but it is true. 2. Don't act older than you think you are...turning 40 is not an excuse to start wearing house coats and knee high stockings that show under said house coat. 3. This is a GREAT age...

matter....a lot! For instance....you add a "K" to flan (a great desert), and you have a piece of meat. A whole different course....definitely not to be served together. In the national weight table for women being an inch taller allows you to weigh 10-15 lbs more and they are alright with it. WOW do I want to be TALLER! However, it is other little things that matter the most in my life. My friend, Ann, said, "Hey have a good day...and ...I love you" as I walked out the door today. My heart was a little droopy -- and it picked right up. My friend, Tracey, saw me and her face lit up and she ran up to give me a hug....it made me feel like I was important in her life. My friend Dana, asked me to meet her this weekend...just to have some girl time. I often forget that by simply showing joy and love to people who matter to me I am doing a BIG thing. Lord, help me remember the lesson you showed me today. It is how You love me...in both little and big ways....teach me to lo...

First of all, I hope all of you are having a great weekend. Weston had a youth group party last night...I was the designated "parental unit." There is nothing like twenty-two 15/16 year olds having a party to make you VERY aware of one's advanced age. Did we really listen to music that loud, watch a movie while said music is playing AND play a game of "murder" (a card game) simultaneously? Am I getting alzheimers? I just don't remember doing this...of course, I was scared to death of my parents too! Ok... As long as we are on the subject of things that make me go hmmmmm. 1. I have found evidence that my dog is a picky eater. Guess she didn't like some of the "yummies" in her new dog food. Now if I had only seen this once, I might have ignored it...but she does this EVERYTIME I put her dog food down...I just keep letting her do it -- rather than dump the food out and pull out the parts she doesn't like. When she is done eating, I just throw ...

But I forget to put stuff on here~ Here are a few things I've been working on. This first one is one I did about my favorite new shoes...CROCs. I created a watercolor background with wc pencils..."water" and some salt. I felt like it was my "ODE to Freestyle." *smile* Here is another in my Hawaii series And these two are of my nephew and niece...I am working on adding to my "Extended Family Album" and these were two current pics that my sister sent to me. On Tyler's I used the new Fancy Pants "Dapper" line of product....love the whole line and all the colors. Lindsey's is my nod to Doris Sanders....she does it well...I am learning. Hope you all have a great weekend. I am hoping to get some "surprise" scrapbooking done on Saturday before I leave for Chicago on Monday. Once I get the surprise done I will let you in on it....but the person it is for might be "blog lurking" and it would ruin the surprise! Love ya...

hurts when you hurt. Boy am I blessed. As you could probably tell these last few days have been hard for me. I don't normally get so self-possessed for such an extended period of time. Mother's Day has been hard for me since my early 30's but this year was the worst yet...and I think it was probably because of having the hysterectomy at Christmas time...it was like this year was the final....FINAL. I just couldn't shake it. I prayed. I confessed my self-centeredness. I went out and purposely did activities to get my mind off of ME...and still....deep inside my heart was just so sad....not mad.....sad. Today I called my Mom and got to share with her what she has meant to me....for me, Mother's Day is about her. But tonight -- my honey did something that melted my heart and took so much of my sadness away. He had kind of left me alone -- letting me deal with things in my way -- but this afternoon he called and asked if I would come over for dinner. When I did, he had ...

To all my friends who are mothers. To my friends who wish with all of their hearts that they were mothers, I give you the tightest, warmest, most compassionate hug I could possible give. You are loved. You are worthy. You are needed. You are complete...even though you feel a hole in you that would perfectly fit a child you could call your own. I am grateful for my friends that understand why going to church on Mother's Day Sunday has become an unbearable activity for me. I am grateful that God continues to assure me of His love and His plan for my life. I am grateful for a sister that has shared her children with me from the moment of their birth (actually letting me be there when they were born). I am grateful for Weston who is as much a son to me as any that I could have picked for myself. I am grateful that on so many occasions I have had the opportunity to talk with orphans about what that experience was like for me...and that God doesn't "over-look" them ...

Have I mentioned that I love masks? Not the kind you wear at Halloween or during Mardi Gras -- the kind that Heidi Swapp makes and let's you paint, chalk, color or ink everywhere but where the mask is. I borrowed this one from KelliDarrSuperStar -- have I mentioned that she is awesome? And I borrowed the paint from Jeanettee -- have I mentioned that I think she rocks? I borrowed the girl in the picture from my friend Carole (it is her daughter, Beth) and I borrowed the Bible verse from Ephesians 2:10 " We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." I think I should have titled this "Masks and Borrowing" ... I Love 'Em! So I did a lot of borrowing...but I put it all together myself! So there! Hope you all have a great day.

Great book by the way. I read it. No DEVOURED it. Gotta give KelliCrowe her props. I don't know her. I do lurk on her blog. But I now know KelliDarrSuperStar And she knows KelliCrow... That's closer than Kevin Bacon. Who also seems to have a "free style" But I lose my way and my point. Freestlye. I looked at my pages They don't look like KelliCrowe's That's good...because I would be a copycat....that would be bad. They don't look like Doris Sanders' or Stacie Julians, or Heidi Swapp's or Jeanette Herdman's (my new friend by the way). They look like ME....my style...whatever that may be...on any given day. Some of my pages don't even look like each other. (perhaps I have several designn personalities). My point...and I do have one is that as long as I am FREE to put down on paper the things that are in my heart...I am FREE...and not .... well... "designed constipated." Perhaps too gross of a metaphor. But appropriate...I think....

I am so very excited... Not only is this National Scrapbooking Weekend I am going to a retreat and I get to SCRAP ALL WEEKEND LONG! Oh my... I am channelling Stacey Kingman! Oh that I would channel her creativity! Stacey, I know you are recovering from elbow surgery -- know that I will be praying for you and a quick recovery. And thanks for your inspiration. I hope you can enjoy the weekend too! I am giddy! Can you believe it? Three whole days of working on scrapbooking projects. May all my fellow scrapbookers have a lovely holiday!

loves blue glass bottles. My friends that went to the ScrapEtc! events have been talking about some of what Heidi Swapp shared during her classes about the SHE concept. I LOVE it -- not because I am self-centered (at least I hope not) -- but because it has challenged me to think about what I would want people to know about me in the future when I am not longer around to tell them. Perhaps it is kind of a goofy thing that I would want them to know that I LOVE blue glass bottles...but the thing I do want them to know is that, on occasion, I had enough sense to slow down and notice the beauty of God's creation around me. I love how sunlight looks filtered through blue glass...and if I can put a single flower in it -- I love it even more. Ok...enough about me. What is the one kind of goofy thing that you love that you would want future generations to know about you...and why?

Recently Erin Lincoln posted on her blog about getting a personalized stamp to use on the back of all of her layouts. She even made some of them into "buttons" that she cut out and created a banner for the top of her blog with. (ok 0k..."with which she made a banner for her blog.") I thought it was a really cool idea...and went to check out the stamps. They were a little pricey for me...so I decided to create some for myself. Here is what I came up with so I can punch them out with my 1.25" round punch. You can do it too! (I sound like Christopher Lowell).

I don't know where she gets it... but my sister said that in church on Sunday my niece was really enjoying the singing of some old hymns. My sister was kind of surprised, because Lindsey is a HUGE fan of contemporary Christian music...plays it in her room, dances to it, sings to it really LOUD...but she has been pretty vocal about "old songs" just not being her favorite because she doesn't understand what they mean. Anyway, on Sunday, my sister noticed that Lindsey was singing along to "Victory in Jesus" and seemed to be very enthusiastic about it...right up to the words..."He PUNCHED me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood." My sister couldn't help but laugh because she remembered that when I was little, I thought those were the words too...and made a mental note to talk with Lindsey later. The conversation went something like this... Robyn: "Lindsey what were the words to the song today?" Lindsey: "Victory in Jesus..." ...

Well...I am back from spending the week in a television truck in Atlanta. It was cold and dark (it has to be so you can see all the monitors and keep the equipment from overheating) -- but I missed the sunshine. Glad to be back in Tennessee and having at least partly cloudy days. I am anxious to hear how all my buds at the ScrapEtc! event did -- I am hoping some of the inspiration rubs off. While I was gone, I ready Donna Downey's book on creative altered journals -- so I have a few ideas that I want to try out and a couple of ones I came up with on my own. Just need the time to get at them. I missed all of you my dear friends...hope you are well and that your week is off to a blessed start. Take care. See you at the CK events this weekend.

Weird...but it wouldn't let me finish posting the pictures from the mini-book -- so here they are...

Although I am not really excited about having to go to Atlanta next week for a conference, I am thrilled that I will be able to spend some time with some dear friends who are coming to work with me. One of them is Summer, who recently moved to Charlotte. She is expecting and I have been working on a mini-book for her. It is centered around "firsts." I finished it today and am happy to have it done in time to take to her. Here is the final result. Hope you all are having a great day.