Happy New Years Eve!!

Today on Facebook,
I saw sooooooooo many people posting
about how awful 2009 was
& how glad they were to see it go.
That made me kinda sad.
Though I have NO idea
what these people dealt with in their lives,
I'm very thankful for my 2009.
Yes, it was a difficult year.
Financially, it was the hardest
year I've ever experienced.
BUT, I know the Lord NEVER
gives me more than I can handle
& for that I'm very grateful.
This past year made me realize
just how blessed I truly am,
I can do without,
& areas of my life that needed some cleaning out:)
So having said that,
I hope people will take the time
to really think about some positive aspects
of this past year.
I guess we could all say......."it could have been worse!!"
Anyway, enough from this soapbox,
here's my last two 2009 layouts.
On the first, I took inspiration from
the talented Nicole Samuels.
I won't post her layout,
but you can see it here.
I'm sure you can tell
which one I got the inspiration from.

And to end my post,
I'd like to paste a little blurb
about New Years Resolutions.
It's rather lengthy,
but worth the read.
For me, this puts things in perspective:

Question: "What sort of New Year’s Resolution should a Christian make?"

Answer: The practice of making New Year’s resolutions goes back over 3000 years to the ancient Babylonians. There is just something about the start of a New Year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. In reality, there is no difference between December 31st and January 1st. Nothing mystical occurs at midnight on December 31st. The Bible does not speak for or against the concept of New Year’s resolutions. However, if a Christian determines to make a New Year’s resolution, what kind of resolution should he or she make?

Common New Year’s resolutions are: to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to manage money better, and spend more time with family. By far the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, in conjunction with exercising more and eating healthier. These are all good goals to set. However, 1 Timothy 4:8 instructs us to keep exercise in perspective: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions, even among Christians, are in relation to physical things. This should not be.

Many Christians make New Year’s resolutions to pray more, to read the Bible every day, and to attend church more regularly. These are fantastic goals. However, these New Year’s resolutions fail just as often as the non-spiritual resolutions, because there is no power in a New Year’s resolution. Resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no value unless you have the proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity. For example, why do you want to read the Bible every day? Is it to honor God and grow spiritually, or is it because you have just heard that it is a good thing to do? Why do you want to lose weight? Is it to honor God with your body, or is it for vanity, to honor yourself?

Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 declares, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If God is the center of your New Year’s resolution, it has chance for success, depending on your commitment to it. If it is God’s will for something to be fulfilled, He will enable you to fulfill it. If a resolution is not God honoring and/or is not in agreement in God’s Word, we will not receive God’s help in fulfilling the resolution.

So, what sort of New Year’s resolution should a Christian make? Here are some suggestions: (1) Pray to the Lord for wisdom (James 1:5) in regards to what resolutions, if any, He would have you make; (2) Pray for wisdom as to how to fulfill the goals God gives you; (3) Rely on God’s strength to help you; (4) Find an accountability partner who will help you and encourage you; (5) Don’t become discouraged with occasional failures; instead allow them to motivate you further; (6) Don’t become proud or vain, but give God the glory. Psalm 37:5-6, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

May you have a Blessed & Happy New Year!!

nearing the end of 2009

How was everyone's Christmas?
Good I hope.
Ours was wonderful.
The girls were soooooooooooo excited this year.
We believe this is the last "Santa" year"
for our 9 1/2 year old.
Too many questions this year,
not to mention she found 2 Santa gifts,
for her sister,
we subsequently had to let family give:)
But, all-in-all, it was blessed.
I am still in my very unmotivated state.
But yesterday I suddenly had an inspiration attack
and ended up doing 5 layouts.
I'm only showing 3,
though the other 2 are my favs!!
These pics are 2 years old,
but when I came across them,
I smiled & realized how much I miss this age.
This is the "diaper wearing, running stiff-legged,"
2-year old age!! You know what I'm talking about!!
This next one is pictures from Christmas morning.
LOVE the look on my 5-year olds face.
In her words, "this is the best Christmas ever!!"
I did use some mist on this page,
which resulted in the warped edges.These pics are from Christmas 2006.
With the Cosmo Cricket chipboard,
I wanted to create a layout about her gingerbread house.
Nothing fancy & I still feel it's lacking,
but it's already tucked away.

I'm already anxious to get our Christmas decor put away.
We're having a New Year's Eve get-together
& could use the extra floor space.
Unfortunately, I think hubby wants to wait until Friday.
So, I guess that leaves me
to clean some more & scrap.
What else is a girl to do:)
Hope you have a wonderful New Year!!

it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas:)

I live in sunny, FL,
so it's hard for me to say
it "looks" like Christmas,
when we have no snow:)
But, it's definitely getting closer isn't it?
Are you ready?
I'm not, but getting there.
This past weekend
I spent time making layouts.
I decided to duplicate some layouts
for my sister & brothers.
These pertained to family,
so I thought they might want
one for their own albums.
I ended up making a total of 14,
including the two below,
which were not duplicates.
LOVE how these turned out.

I still have a few gifts to pick up
& even more to wrap,
but I'm not stressing about it.
I probably won't post again before Christmas.
I hope everyone has a very blessed Christmas
& enjoys time spent with family & loved ones.

So Sketchy's Farewell

I'm sad to announce, Ally, at So Sketchy,
has decided to discontinue the site.
As a final farewell,
she asked all of the So Sketchy Sistas to participate.
Here's all the information concerning the contest & prizes.
For my card,
I used some old K&Co Christmas dies I found,
a Bazzill border, sprinkled with Flower Soft
& embossed Bazzill.
It's hard to see,
but the red cardstock is embossed too.
I hope you'll visit the site
& see all the other creations
& participate in the final contest.
Good luck to Ally in her future endeavors.
I also have some Christmas projects
posted at Scrapscene today.
I didn't plan it,
but 2 of these projects were made
using The Cutting Cafe templates.
So many cute cutting templates.

That's all for now.
I'm hoping to be back
with more projects,
but I've been baking & baking!!
So, we'll see.
Happy Monday everyone!!

I Kid Not

For how long now have I been saying,
"I have projects to upload,"
yet you haven't seen them?
Welp, here are SOME of them.
I forgot to retake pictures,
so these are ones I finished up
last night & today.
The others will remain unseen for now.
These will all be gifts to family.
The first is my annual ornament.
I got this idea from Jenni Bowlin 4-years ago.
I make them for my tree every year
& decided to make this for someone else.
Mine's already on my tree,
& I'm too lazy to get it for a picture:)

These next projects
are an idea I got here.
I used a larger size chalkboard ($1.99)
& on this first one,
I used Asian coins,
but I didn't glue them down.
To adhere the ribbon,
I used a regular stapler.

My local scrapbook store
wanted me to make one,
but she asked me to use these clipboards
she already had in stock.
So I did & it turned out great.
To adhere the ribbon,
use a Crop-o-Dile to punch holes
through the pressed board.

I still feel like I have so much to do.
I have other gifts I'm planning on making,
but some involve home-made cookies,
which won't get made until this week!!
And,
I haven't done any Christmas shopping
*sigh*

*hehehehe* just a post

Hey,
no pictures to show,
but wanted you to know,
I have some projects to show,
BUT,
the pics are just plain yucky.
So, Friday my job is to get better pics
& I'll hopefully load that night.
Thanks for sticking with me!!

somebody help find my motivation

So, I have absolutely NO motivation.
I haven't been in my scraproom
in over a week.
I have so many ideas swimming in my wee head
for teacher gifts, tags & cards,
but it's hard to do anything when I won't come upstairs.
Below is a layout that has been on my desk
for OVER a week.
In fact, it's been finished,
except the flower I added today.
It's definitely nothing fancy,
but you can see I'm keeping things simple.

I did go to my lss, Scrap Happy, today
& picked up some fresh packs of
8.5x11 Bazzill cardstock.
Nothing like fresh cardstock to get the juices flowing!!
Christy wants me to do some projects,
so it looks like my days of slacking are over:)
I did get my Christmas decor up,
minus the tree.
We're getting that Saturday.
Ashlyn is also taking her first karate test.
She'll be testing for her yellow belt
& her instructor thinks she'll do fine!!
So we have another busy weekend,
but I'm determined to get something accomplished!!