I'm Back! Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Hello friends!

I'm so excited to be back in the blogging world!! My guest room/scraproom/office has been vacated and I can now create!!! Yippeee!!! I felt like I was going through withdrawls.... that's not a good sign, of course I'm joking, but I can see my tendencies to overdo! I consider myself a pretty balanced person so it was an eye-opener! Moderation, moderation, moderation! I enjoy this so much (scrapbooking, writing, being inspired by other bloggers, etc.) it's my "getaway" from my busy life. I just don't want my priorities getting skewed.

I've been reading a lot of other blogs and there has been a theme of making lists of what makes you happy, so I'm going to get on the bandwagon here before I post my layouts...

First, I want to share a scripture from Proverbs 16:20
"He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he."

So, here goes!
#1. The LORD

2. My family (husband, kids, grandbabies - not always in that order - ha!)

3. Reading the Bible and coming to a Scripture that really ministers to me for that moment of time so I know the Lord is speaking to little 'ol me! Just makes me want to shout with joy - if you've never experienced this - there is nothing like it! It makes me realize that this book just isn't written by mere man but is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

4. First sip of coffee w/cream in the morning! (I say "Ahhhhh")

5. A finished scrapbook page

6. any chocolate (as long as it's without coconut)

7. playing the piano (by myself no audience but One)

8. Opening up the boxes of freight at Scrapper's Edge and seeing all the new scrapbooking "stuff" it's like Christmas every week!!!

9. good harmony in a song

10. a good fitting pair of pants that make me look smaller (ha!) haven't found one of those in awhile! Of course it may not be the pants....... blahhhh!

11. A CLEAN HOUSE (that should have been up in the top 5)

I'm going to stop there! Cause I could go on and on and on and bore you to tears!! But I do want to say that the word "happy" for me is determined by what's "happening" so I'd rather have "joy" that is from a contented spirit - and I truly have that and it's a wonderful gift from the Lord!

So here's what I've been working on (and it makes me happy because it's pics of my grandson Jakob's birthday one year ago) what doesn't make me happy is that it's taken this long to get to it!!

This is before I attached anything - I took a picture because there were a lot of layers and I wanted to get it back in the right order: The layout is from a sketch from CMK's Friday Formula 3/6/09. http://www.createmykeepsake.com/ (sorry the pic is so busy, but that's what my table looked like!)

ALL the pattern paper comes from PINK PAISLEY's Captivating line. http://www.pinkpaisley.com/ Isn't it beautiful!

Here is page 1 of a 2 page layout:

Here are some of the Delightful Details:

On the next image I had a "swirl" of chipboard in my stash so I traced the design onto cardstock so I could have duplicate images. I like to repeat designs, color or embellishments on my layouts, it's just what I do! After cutting them out, I painted them Expresso (Making Memories) and then sprayed them with Tiger Lily (Tattered Angels) Glimmer Mist. It's hard to see but they do "glimmer!" It's more noticeable on the other pictures at the end.

Obviously I've used buttons to embellish but I did add a blue ribbon and brown rickrac (American Crafts) underneath for the layered effect. I LOVE my Xyron Create-a-sticker for attaching my ribbon!!! The blue "celebrate" came from my stash and it's metal.

"Fun" I did on the computer at the church and I'm not sure of the font, I forgot to write it down, sorry! But it's on a transparency as is all the black writing on this layout. (except my own journaling with I did in my own handwriting) The blue cardstock was cut out from a Marvy punch. Can you see the glimmer on the swirl?

Here is the second page to the layout: Again the PINK PAISLEY Captivating line and the alphabet stickers are from that line as well. I outlined them in black because they were hard to see. It says "Babycakes (left) So Sweet (right) The "Happy Birthday" is a transparency I did on the computer. The blue scallop I did on my Cricut and I used the Celebration cartridge. I inked the edges with Tim Holtz's Antique Linen Distress Ink, then added a little tail of ribbon from American Craft, I wanted to highlight the birthday cake. It was so cute!

Here are the two layouts together and hopefully will soon be in an album!

Have a great weekend and I'm going to head back to my craft table!!!

Blessings,

Natalie

PS. I hope to get in another post before I leave for Nashville on Tuesday for the Minister's Wives Event! I'll be gone for almost a week counting my traveling days... I think I'll be too busy for withdrawls :-)