It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that SWING....

I feel like this layout is missing something, but I haven't figured out what yet. Maybe I'll figure it out and add it later. In the meantime, here's how it stays...

Hands and Hearts

It's difficult to see, but this is one of my blank pages, too. I finished it off with pictures of Eliana and Corinne and journaling about their friendship. It's very simple, but I sort of like how it turned out!

More Blanks...

It turns out I have quite a few blank pages I never posted. Some have since been finished, some I haven't photographed, but these few fit neither category, so I share them here! =D

Painting

FlickrDroid Upload, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Another "premade" page that I finished off with some pictures, a title, journaling, and a little paint of my own.

Before and After

I've got a bunch of blank scrapbook pages all made up, just waiting for photos, journaling, and titles. I pulled a few out and started working on them this weekend, and I thought I'd give a little peek at the before and after. Here's what I started with:



I pulled out my photos and looked for ones that might match according to color and/or theme. Then I started playing to see what else would be needed to pull the page together. Here's the end result...



It's really fairly simple, but I like that it makes the pages work up quickly. The title says "Color us {friends}" and the pictures are of Eliana and my best friend's daughters coloring the last time we were in Texas.

I have to admit I'm really a fan of these blank layouts. They're easy to put together, and then they're easy to use later! It takes a lot of the guesswork out of scrapbooking, without taking any of the creativity out! I'm hoping to have time to finish more pages tomorrow!

Weeds

FlickrDroid Upload, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Just a quick scrapbook post from this evening... This is one of my "premade" pages I put together a while back. I have a whole stack of them, so I'm going to try to finish off some of them in the next little while. I love these pictures of Alyse and Alex from last spring.

The journaling reads:
"Weeds are never so beautiful as when they're gifts from children."

The picture really doesn't do the page justice, but you'll just have to live with it for now. ;)

Inspired by the clean craft room...

I think this happened last time, too. I clean the craft room, I get inspired to paint. So, I painted.





And here's where I put them...

Book Clutch

I was inspired by my friend Michael who made a bag out of an old textbook. I thought it was a brilliant idea, so I decided to try my hand at it by making a clutch out of an old book. It's not perfect by any means, and I didn't follow any instructions, so I'm sure I would make changes if I made another, but I kind of like how it turned out. In fact, I have been thinking that I might store some old photographs in it instead of using it for a clutch. We'll see. Either way, it was kind of a fun little project to do and it pushed me outside my normal crafting zone.

Here it is, inside and out...

Update on the Manleys

Elizabeth passed away this morning. Thank you all for your prayers. Please continue to keep Jon and the family in your prayers, especially as they have baby Megan to care for, as well as the other children. Here is the update from Jon this morning:

Jon Manley My dear sweet Elizabeth passed away this morning about 7:25. We all appreciate your prayers. For everyone praying for a miracle, please don't think that there was not one. The miracle is how many people were touched by her life and our struggle. We thank you all for your prayers and support, and would appreciate continued prayer.

Update on the Manleys

Here is the latest update from Jon...

Jon Manley Elizabeth bleeding lessened through the night. That is neither a good sign or a bad sign, it just is. They are attempting dialisis again. We asked the dr if we are just delaying the inevitable. He said he didn't know. A decision will probably be made later today or tomorrow about whether we continue to keep trying. We decided to wait and see how the dialisis is going to go. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

I would also like to let everyone that we have a peace that passes understanding. This morning I took a walk in a prayer garden. There that have a little path that twists and turns and it is impossible to really tell how far one has come or how far one has left. As I was walking, i felt like giving up on walking the path and just go back to my room. I had a thought to "stay the course." I kept walking and very shortly came to the end. I then thought "you don't know how close the finish is". This has helped me today because I recently had been thinking that I wasn't sure how much longer I could go. But the finish will be soon. Whether it's what we want or not, we don't know, but it will be soon. Just keep walking, we don't know how far we've come.

Thank you for praying!!

--
Elizabeth Wickland
Independent Beauty Consultant
http://www.marykay.com/elizabethwickland
elizabethwickland@marykay.com
406-570-4199

Please Pray

A while back I posted about Elizabeth Manley's Apple Pie. Very recently Elizabeth has had some serious medical concerns come up and things are not looking good. Please lift them up in prayer as God works through this situation for His glory.

Elizabeth is married to Jon and they have 4 children. She was 24 weeks pregnant with their 4th child and found out last week that she had lung cancer. Later, tests revealed she had some cancerous spots on her liver as well. Shortly after discovering the cancer, Elizabeth had the cancer in her lung, along with 2 lobes, removed. Several hours later, her fourth child Megan was taken 15 weeks early via c-section when Elizabeth went into cardiac arrest. As a result, she was put on a lung and heart machine. She has now been taken off of that and had a device placed in her chest to assist her heart in the pumping of her blood.

Megan stopped breathing at some point when she was born. However, the doctors quickly got her breathing again and she is now breathing and moving around on her own. She is just over 2 lbs, and seems to be doing fine, now.

Elizabeth is in critical condition and they aren't sure she will live through the night. She was in surgery most of the day and the doctors chose not to close up her chest after the surgery so they could act quickly if they needed access to her heart again. Her kidneys have started shutting down, and family members have started coming in to say their goodbyes. She is 24 and will leave behind a husband and 4 children, ages 5 to newborn, if she does not pull through. Please keep them in your prayers as the Lord works through this situation for His glory. He can heal her if He chooses. Either way, the family needs strength during this time. Thank you for your prayers!

Playing...

I haven't been in my craft room much the last month, so I decided to take a few minutes and play the other day. I was inspired by some of the Prima flowers I've seen recently, and thought I'd try my hand at creating some larger ones. I couldn't get any good pictures, but here are a couple to give you an idea... Then hopefully I'll be able to get pictures of some layouts with them on!



See how sparkly they are!!! I used spray adhesive and "Glass Shards" (I think that's what they're called, by I'm too lazy to go check) to make them sparkly. I've had the shards for a couple years, but never used them - now I am loving them!

Here's a picture of the flowers separated...



The gold one is tulle and the green one is sheer ribbon with polka dots on it. I wish I had a good picture, because I'm really liking them!

My mom is coming to visit in a month and said I should be ready to scrapbook while she's here. She's bringing heritage stuff to do, so even if I don't get a lot of crafting in before then, you can at least look forward to knowing that I will eventually have stuff to post again!!

Rainbow Pancakes

Rainbow Pancakes, originally uploaded by death by cupcake.

I saw this on Flickr - isn't it amazing?! Eliana had green shamrock pancakes for breakfast this morning, but these beat those hands down! I want to make some!

Vintage Spring Banner

A new fiber, paper, and metal mercantile opened up today in Bozeman... Simply Fresh Arts! I'm excited about it! The owners are 3 of my friends, so I was up there taking a peek and giving a small hand last Thursday when I was inspired by all the beautiful products. Lots of vintage, lots of shabby chic, lots of fun! I came home and made this over the weekend:

The illustrations are from a book I have from the 1890's, the gems are from a necklace that was my grandmother's, the flowers made from another vintage book and hymnal... I'd been wanting to mix crochet with paper art, so I gave it a try on this project and I like it! I took it to the store today to show Kristii, since I'd been telling her about it, and there it remains, hanging on display by all the Prima goodness. Ha ha! I think it will become a class, and I'm actually excited about teaching some projects again, especially if they are as fun as this one was! Here are a couple closeups:

These illustrations crack me up, because they have such funny captions for seemingly normal pictures. The one of the boy says, "The most popular boy in the deaf school." The one of the two little girls says, "He kept pointing toward the fields." They all have pretty funny captions. Gotta love vintage!

The Craft Monster...

The Craft Monster got bored one day and painted my wall. Who lets that Craft Monster out, anyway? Really Monster should have been contained so the house could get cleaned, or some more organizing projects tackled, but no... Craft Monster went on a teeny rampage.

The wall makes me happy.

One Blank Page, Two Ways

I really like this blank layout, but I haven't decided which way I like it better. I guess it will depend on what pictures I use. That's part of the fun of making pages before I have photos, I think!

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Funnel Lickin' Good

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Flower Girl

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Blank Canvas

I have the desire to craft, but my pictures are all disorganized and I want nothing to do with them. My solution? Make pages ready for pictures when I get around to organizing them! =D This has actually been a lot of fun, and I'm stockpiling for the day I get excited about getting my pictures in order...

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Butterfly Attack!

These picture crack me up!!

From Scrapbook Pages