Stacked Stones Studio!

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!