I had the opportunity to be a contributer at http://gotsketch.blogspot.com/ for Valerie Salmon's sketch #70. Valerie's sketches are fantastic & I loved working with this one. Make sure to check out her blog for the latest contest - use sketch #70 & upload it to the Got Sketch? blog gallery for a chance to win prizes.


Here's my take on the sketch:

These are photos of the baby ducks Danielle got from the Virginia state fair in October.

Layout Supplies: Patterned paper - October Afternoon; stamps - Heidi Grace; rubon border - Kaiser Craft; buttons & cardstock - Bazzill. Thickers - American Crafts; mini brads - Creative Impressions; Got Sketch? #70

Boer Goats - our newest additions!

We have 2 new additions to our family - Gingersnap & Felicity. Gingersnap came from Bayside Boer Goats in Elizabeth City, NC - she's about 8 months old & is Danielle's first breeding doe. Gingersnap is a purebred Boer.

Felicity came from the Mindeman's - she's about 2 months old & such a sweetie. She will also be a breeding doe & is a Boer/Nubian cross. Danielle is thrilled with her girls!! :)

October Sketch - My Sketch World

Here's my layout using the October sketch from http://mysketchworld.blogspot.com/ - thanks for another great sketch Lucy. :)





Supplies: patterned paper - My Mind's Eye; stamps - Technique Tuesday & Sassafras Lass; rubons - Scenic Route.

State Fair & Our New Baby Ducks

Danielle & I had a fantastic time at our state fair yesterday. It was the 1st time either of us has gone to the state fair. We spent almost all day with the animals - All the animals were amazing. :) We loved the rodeo - Danielle's favorite was the barrel racing. We were also able to watch several friends compete in the goat events (Danielle loved this since she'll be doing it next year) - several of them won awards, even a state champion (yeah Nicole)!

Of course, Danielle's all-time favorite place was the baby animal barn. It's not enough that we'll be adding baby goats & a baby pig in the next couple months - she thought we also needed baby ducks!! Well - I couldn't resist either - they're totally adorable!! She called her Dad from the fair & got him to say yes. Next thing I know, we're carrying a box with 6 baby ducks back to the truck!! :) That brings our current count to: 2 dogs, 3 cats, 12 chickens, 4 guinea hens, 2 peacocks & 6 ducks.

Here are a few quick photos of our newest additions:

Some New Layouts

These are just a few of the layouts I completed during Lifetime Moment's Anniversary online crop.

My Mind's Eye - My Sunshine

Here is a layout I did using My Mind's Eye My Sunshine line from the ScrapDango July sugar kit.

We R Memory Keepers Frenzy

The June 2008 Sugar kit at ScrapDango featured the Frenzy line from We R Memory Keepers. Loved working with this line.

Scrapworks Magpie & Back Porch Memories

The May solo kit at http://www.backporchmemories.com/ featured papers from Scrapworks Magpie line. The colors in this line are beautiful. Here are a couple layouts I did with the kit:

Playing catch up!!

I'm so far behind in my blogging! I can't believe I haven't updated since April. I'm going to try to catch up with "happenings" & some of the work I've done. The summer was great but seems to have flown by & now we're settling back into our school routine.

Some of our summer highlights:

• Jerry's Dad & Maxine arrived the middle of May to spend the summer with us.
• Jerry's Dad rented a beach house & we spent a week in the Outer Banks (one of my favorite locations) - weather was beautiful the entire week.
• Danielle celebrated her 12th birthday!! I cannot believe she is already 12.
• I was a chaperone for 2 youth events this summer - a week retreat at Liberty University & a 2 day event at Liberty Baptist - both were amazingly, powerful experiences. All I can say is Wow! I can't wait to attend both again next summer with our teens.
• We held a revival at our church & Dr. Danny Forshee was the revival speaker. He was an inspiring & motivating preacher - definitely recommend hearing him if you ever have the chance.
• I was co-director for VBS this year. It was a busy but fun-filled week.
• We added to our "family" - 4 peacocks (although we are down to 2 now) & a kitten.
• We went camping in the mountains near Crabtree Falls (my favorite place to spend time) - it's always so peaceful & relaxing. Jerry spent a week there with us, then Danielle & I stayed a 2nd week. We went to the orchard & picked Gala apples - our favorite. We also got some white peaches - first time I've tried those - totally yummy.
• We started back to school the end of August & are looking forward to another fun year homeschooling.

I hope to do a better job of keeping my blog up-to-date. :)

Zsiage layout

This is a layout I did using Zsiage Starr Brites II line and a sketch by Lucy Chesna, My Sketch World. I used 2 colors of alcohol inks on the scrapbook film letters & accents (Zsiage) to give a mottled look.

ScrapDango April online Crop!

Join us for an online crop at ScrapDango - fun games, great challenges & prizes. I will be hosting both a game & challenge this weekend, April 19th & 20th.

New Projects

These are some projects I did with the April Medley kit from Back Porch Memories.



This is my friend's son, Joe. Isn't he adorable?! :)

Danielle playing with Joe at the park.


This was a fun frame to alter.

I did this for a scraplift challenge - I scraplifted Jana. Journaling: But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ & through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 2 Corinthians 2:14. The sweet fragrance of Life...our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Journaling: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness & worldly passions, & to live self-controlled upright & godly lives in this present age, while we WAIT for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God & Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness & to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:11-14. - It is through the grace of God that we have salvation. But our salvation should produce good works. While we are waiting for the return of our Lord, we are to live in this world according to His will. We walk in faith, believe in all His promises, live our lives to glorify Him & let the light of His love that is in our hearts shine for all to see. Always remember that the Lord comes before all other things - there is nothing more important than loving & serving Him!


To see other projects done with the April Back Porch Memories kits, check out the Design Team Gallery.

April sketch from My Sketch World

Lucy has the April layout sketch up at My Sketch World. Awesome sketch & I had so much fun with it that I used it for 2 layouts! :) Check out all the sketches Lucy has on the blog - lots of great sketches to choose from.

Pitcher: I used Zsiage patterned paper, Worldwin Cardstock, Zsiage scrapbook film letters - colored with Ranger alcohol ink, Zsiage chipboard circles & drew on them with a Sakura paint pen to make "softballs", Pageframes clear stars - stamped with Ranger alcohol inks for mottled effect, Stamps - Back Porch Memories & Technique Tuesday.

Daffodils: I used Zsiage patterned papers & chipboard letters; Worldwin cardstock; Prima flowers; Inque Boutique stamps; Bazzill large chipboard flower.

Spring in Bloom

Carrie at Scrapdango posted a blog challenge to take some spring photos. I always look forward to taking spring photos - especially everything in bloom. Daffodils are usually some of the first blooms in our area & one of my favorites. Danielle loves to pick them & we usually have a fresh bouquet of them in our kitchen as long as they're blooming. We went to my cousin's property where the woods & fields are full of daffodils & took lots of photos. I also had no idea until this year that there is a lacy daffodil (the ones Danielle's holding) - I love how unique they are & will be going back to dig up some bulbs so I can add them to the daffodil collection in my yard for next spring.

Another spring favorite are the camelia blooms. I remember picking these in my grandmother's yard when I was little & Danielle has grown up loving her great-grandmother's camelia bushes also. We picked some of the Camelia's in my grandmother's yard to take to her in the nursing home & also took some photos while we were there.

Freckles

I love this photo of my daughter from last summer. I think it's the perfect summer photo - hair still damp from swimming, her freckles from the summer sun showing & her beautiful smile. :)





Supplies:
patterned paper - Creative Imaginations & American Crafts
cardstock - Bazzill
stickers - Creative Imaginations
chipboard - American Crafts
jewels - Kaiser
flowers - Prima
mini brads - Creative Impressions
stamps - Sassafras Lass
ink - Ranger
pen - Sakura
sketch by Lucy Chesna - My Sketch World
most supplies from Feb ScrapDango kit

Nana's 88th Birthday

We just celebrated Nana's 88th birthday this past week. We visited her in the nursing home & brought lunch, balloons, flowers from her yard and a birthday cake.

Armor of God

Here's a layout I did for my daughter after a discussion we had.

Journaling: The armor of God is the key to standing strong in faith! Danielle, Sept 2007.

Finally, be strong in the Lord & in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Stand firm then, with the belt of truch buckled around your waist, with the breast plate of righteousness in place, & walk with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation & the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers & requests. Ephesians 6:10-11, 14-18

**Notes: Painted grungeboard letters then added black ink. Painted chipboard swirl with paint & crackle medium. Painted grungeboard keys & sanded.

Supplies:
patterned paper TaDa Creative studios
cardstock - Bazzill
grungeboard letters & keys - Tim Holtz
chipboard swirl - Fancy Pants
paint - making memories
crackle medium - delta
ink - Ranger
stitching stamps - Technique Tuesday
journaling pen - Sakura

A Few Photos to Share

Thought I'd share a few recent photos.

This weekend Danielle went out to feed her chickens & found a small dove caught in the chicken coop covering. The poor little thing was scared but, fortunately, not injured. Of course, Danielle wanted me to take a picture of her with him & I was happy to ablige. :) After the photos, she let her surprise visitor loose.

Danielle also started spring riding lessons this past week at the Triple R Ranch. She was very excited to be starting lessons again & kept checking the clock to make sure we wouldn't be "late". Her horse this time is T. C. Here are a couple photos I took during the lesson. It was in the 30's & she was freezing.

One last photo to share. This one is of Danielle & our little friend, Sarah. Danielle loves to have Sarah come visit so she can play "big sister". Sarah's one of seven kids so I think she also likes the time to be the center of attention rather than having to share the attention with 6 other brothers & sisters. :) Sarah came over during the holidays & made Christmas cookies and a gingerbread house and wanted to make cookies again during this visit. The girls ended up making chocolate chip cookies - I think they enjoyed the batter as much as the cookies.

Grandpa Builds Dreams

Danielle is very fortunate to have 3 wonderful grandfathers & has many special memories with all 3.

This layout is a tribute to Danielle's clubhouse & all the hard work her grandpa put into it. :)

Journaling: Grandpa is a hero in Dani's eyes. He took her dream - a hand drawn sketch of a clubhouse she desperately wanted - & made it come true. He put her drawing to scale & worked on it for several months on the weekends. She was always close by, helping when she could, bringing Grandpa drinks & just keeping him company. While building her dream, he also built some wonderful memories for the two of them. 2006

TaDa Creative Studios

OK - I can already see that I'm going to have to work hard & making sure I post regularly. :)

Just wanted to take a minute to congratulate Julie on making the TaDa Creative Studios design team. CONGRATULATIONS Julie!!

Here are a couple projects I made using TaDa papers:

I'm busy working today on some projects for the ScrapDango March Kit. Carrie's kits are awesome -- if you haven't checked them out, you're missing some great kits! :)

I'm finally blogging!!

I spent lots of time saying I'd never start a blog. However, after spending so much time reading other blogs, I've become a convert. It's amazing how well you can get to know someone by getting a "glimpse" into their lives and I found a lot of inspiration from the blogs I've read. I finally realized how great it would be to document my journey & share it with family & friends. So, here I am finally starting my own blog. It's been on my "to do" list for a while now & thanks to the encouragement from some of my friends at ScrapDango, it finally became part of my "in progress" list. {I think I even managed to insert a link!} Making the decision to start was only the first obstacle. Then I actually had to "name" my blog. I'm still not sure why I struggled with that aspect so much but I finally decided on "My Creative Journey". It just came to me that my creativity is just that - a journey.

I still have a long way to go with my "blogging" and will be figuring out how it all works, but I wanted to get my first post done. I'll continue to add to & improve my blog and hope you'll keep checking back.

I might as well share a couple new projects I've done. The first was just a random page I did with photos of Danielle playing in rain puddles. I love Inque Boutique stamps & couldn't resist using them as part of my "splashes".

The second was a layout I did for a "bling" challenge at ScrapDango. If you need some inspiration or challenges, come check out what's going on there.