Tidings of Comfort and Joy...Comfort and Joy!

Last week before all of the craziness began of shopping and Thanksgiving and company and parent/teacher conferences and Scholastic Book fair started, I found some time to get a little peace and sanity!

This first layout is another of Fancy Pants Wishful Thinking line.  When I finished with this one, I cut all of my remaining papers up for card making.  Erin got a Bible for her birthday this year, and she was just as delighted with it as she was with her Mobigo (video game system).  It really touched my heart she would be thrilled with having her own Bible.

Unfortunately, the picture of this layout isn't the best with that touchy November sun in the great up north, but you can get the gist of it.  On the bingo card, it had all of the digits of her birthday (7-20-10) so I used my new Big Bite to circle them up.  Fun!

I also dug into my Basic Grey stash for this layout from our jaunt to the pumpkin farm this past October.  We did the corn maze for the first time ever, and my hubby powered through that thing like no one's business.  They warned us before we started that it could take as long as 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes to complete.  He victoriously announced as we exited it that we had made it in 45 minutes!  Basic Grey's Origin's line was JUST perfect for these pictures and subject.

I included the map of the corn maze because it was pretty complicated--at least to me.  If I'd been the guide, we might still be wandering through there! 
Thanks for stopping by, and happy belated Thanksgiving.  Maybe I should be wishing you a Merry Early Christmas!!  :)  Wendy

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Hello!  Welcome to another installment of....This is Wendy's life!  I'm your host, Wendy. 
Catchy, isn't it?

Anyway, I was given the assignment of working with Bella Blvd.'s line, "Lovey Dovey," for my design team duties, and immediately I thought of a picture I had of Erin that was just the right style and colors to use for this line.  Of course, I'd scrapped this picture way back when....you know...in the Stone Ages of 2006 when I first took this picture.  Want to see that LO?  I thought you'd never ask.  Here's an oldie...(not so sure about the "goodie" part.)

Back in my beginning stages, this was a pretty standard layout for me.  Flat border along the bottom, flat border along the side, a couple of matted pictures, and SHAZAAM!  A beautiful layout to treasure!  Of course, it would have been nice if I'd thought to put a DATE on the thing.  I'm GUESSING Erin is about 8 months old here. 

So now, 4 years + later, we have a retake on one of these pictures.  I still kept the design pretty simple, but this time we have some dimension, some sewing, some journaling(!) and some paper layering.

I love how the background paper this time just makes her picture pop off the page.  It's probably hard to tell, but I lifted up one of the "Loads of Love" strips and the pink elephant in the border.  (If you'd like a larger view so you can read the journaling, click on the picture.)

 I can't believe how quickly time has passed!  Just recently I've had three different people mention how Erin's lost her baby face...she's growing up.  Thinking about those comments and looking at a picture I took of her on our deck at the end of the summer, I came up with another layout I titled "Changes." 

Lately Erin's been dealing with some emotional growing pains (and exhaustion, I think).  For the past two weeks, we've had complete MELT DOWNS on Friday afternoon trying to get to dance class.  This week, I couldn't even get her into the building.  So, we came home last night, and I gave her a bath and dinner.  After that she laid down and sang and hummed to herself for an hour (literally!).  She was happy as a clam to be doing NOTHING.  Today we are taking a break at our house.  It's 1:23, and I'm not even out of my pajamas yet.  When I announced this morning that we weren't going to go anywhere today, Erin cheered!  The girls have been happily coloring and playing all day, with hardly even a disagreement. 
I think Erin's days of dance may be done for awhile.  She doesn't seem to want to go, although she did say she wished her lessons were on Tuesdays.  Could it be that by Friday she is just fried from long days at school? 
My point to all of these musings are that it can be very stressful sometimes to be the Mom and not know what to do.  Thank God we have Him to guide us...

Five Years of Sisterhood

I decided the other night I wanted to do some baby picture scrapping even though my youngest baby is five years old.  Looking through the albums, I came across a picture of Paige holding Erin shortly after she was born, and I thought of the picture I'd just taken this past August on the front porch when Paige spontaneously scooped Erin up into her arms.  (It's hilarious that Paige can pick Erin up when they weigh within two pounds of the same weight!)  Anyway, trying to go to sleep that night, I thought about doing this LO with the two pictures together.  Throw in a little bit of Fancy Pants Wishful Thinking line and a wee touch of Prima and I have a layout that just showcases their close bond!

 The journaling reads:  "These two pictures~taken in August 2005 and August 2010~show a beautiful friendship just born and now thriving.  I love how Paige is holding Erin in both pictures.  Sure, they fight like sisters do, yet they depend on each other too."

Thanks for looking!