Because I think of you often.

The month of July has for the past eight years felt like a roller coaster of emotions. I jump for joy with the kids when they are off school. With the sunshine comes some extra happiness , especially when it is not too hot and humid and paired with being off work. I get excited to go new places and try new things. All of which makes me think of my brother. I think summer was his favorite season. Maybe this is why the month of July is the month in which he died. Certainly as the anniversary of his death approaches it makes me think of him more and more, but I wanted a page that reflected the truth that he is always with me in my heart, and that I think of him often.





Journalling reads.

I often find myself thinking about what it would be like if you were still here. Living. I wonder if you would have a family of your own. I wonder what you would be doing with your life. I wonder what kind of relationship you would have with my children. With me. Would we still fight like cats and dogs? Would we still talk till the wee hours of the morning about everything and anything?

I often find myself thinking about the past. Our childhood, our teenage years, and finally the few years we shared as adults. I find myself clinging to memories wondering at times if they are truths to our past or figments of my imagination. Were the tea parties and water fights real. Did you really torment me when I was 13? Did you really stand outside my delivery room door waiting for Drake to enter this world?

I often find myself thinking back to that day. The day you left this world. The day our lives were turned upside down. The day you never came back. I fight the anger, but it resides in me. I struggle with moments in time, the ones where I think you belong. I embrace the peace, because know you have it.



I miss you.

Memory Box with Matching Album.

This is a gift I made for my boss who is getting married next week. She is going away to a resort which is why I chose to use this paper pack. She can choose to either keep the album in the box or use the box for any mementos she wants to keep from their wedding.

This is the cover of the box. it will fit an 8x8 slightly cropped picture of them.



Cover of the book.








Back cover.













Most of the pictures will be 5x7 with a couple 4x6's.
book, box, pp, cs, stickease, and some embellishments by CTMH.

On a side note if you have found me again you will notice that I have changed my blog name. Of course when I changed my ULR it also wiped out some info I had on my blog, and deleted my old blog name so I can not be found using it. That also means any links will no longer work.

A Happy Easter.

I sat here for quite awhile tonight with so many different things to ramble on about, then I thought better of it. So, with my ramblings and thoughts saved for another day I will focus on the celebration that is only two days away. We will be going to my Aunt's for Easter this year. Something I haven't done in many years. I haven't stepped foot inside her home since my Grandmother passed away over a year ago. The thought that it won't be the same makes my heart hurt but, I hope it will make her smile to have us there. I'm hoping to fill her home with the joy and laughter of my children. It has been far to long since her home has had that. The weather will be beautiful, much like today's +25 degrees. May you all have a beautiful and blessed Easter.

You know how it is. You either make time to blog or it slips. Mine seems to have taken a giant leap off a cliff for all the blogging I've been doing lately. I guess I haven't been particularly creative these days either. But tonight I need to vent a little. I could tell something was on my hubby's mind the minute I got home from work. He had something to tell me. Those of you that know me know that I haven't had a relationship with his family in about two years. Let's just say I'd had just about enough of the controlling argumentative environment that always seemed to hang over our time together. So I put an end to it. Of course there is more to the story than that but these are my biggest issues. So tonight he drops the bomb. "My old man sent me an email about getting together to talk things out." By "talk things out" his stepfather means I yell at you for an hour and you listen. ugh. I know that it hurts my dh to not have a relationship with his mom. Even his stepfather. I know it bugs him that they play him and his brother against each other. I know he hates it when they tell him what to do and how to raise our kids. I know it hurts him that I've been this stubborn for two years because I'm sick of their crap. I also know that when it comes to them he clams right up. If I'm going to do this I need him to take charge of the conversation, to tell them how he feels and that if this time it doesn't change for good that it will be the last. I don't know how to get that to happen. I don't want to disappoint him, and I certainly don't want him to be angry at me for saying no. So, I guess at the moment I have no choice but to go ahead and have our little "chat". Anyone experience anything like this???

Three Words.

GO TEAM CANADA!!!!!!!!!

15 Minute Scrapbooker?

It seems to be that I have somehow managed to morph into a 15 minute scrapbooking machine over the weekend. I've avoided scrappin'(except for my monthly scrap day)since I started my new job. It just seems that by the time I go through photos, choose papers and embellies that somehow over an hour of time has elapsed. Then I still need to put it all together... So after a nice 3 day break from work I decided that some scrap time was exactly what I needed. Before I started I knew I wanted to keep it simple. To "bang out" as many pages as I could in just a couple of hours. The result? 4 REALLY simple 1 page layouts. All of these pages took no more than 15-20 minutes to complete.

Snow Day


Working Girls


These 2 Melt My Heart


That Look


just incase you wanted to see it


This last page I made a couple of months ago. It took about the same amount of time so I thought I would include it too.

Moment In Time


Have a great day!

Just Me and First Photo Shoot.

During some recent scrappin' time I made these two layouts. This first one is an old picture of me. I thought for a long time about a title for this page, but being as young as I was I have zero memory of it. All I know is that I was going to the park. So my friend suggested "just me" and I like it. I think it's a sweet picture and really wanted to scrap it for awhile. I used Cherry Hill LOP from October Afternoon. I think the colors in these papers are stunning. You'll notice my beautiful wonderful lovely new toy. The Topnote die. Love. Thanks to my sister for the great gift.



This second DPS is of my oldest son's first photo shoot. These photos were taken over 12 years ago and I've been struggling a bit with doing my oldest two children's baby albums. I think I've been trying to make it look like it was done 12 years ago. lol. I've decided that not every page has to have a story. Some defiantly will and others like this will just tell their own story. These papers are sasafras. They look like a baby blanket that belonged to my DH. Super cute and bright.







I hope that you all are having a wonderful New Year. All the best in 2010!