December is one of my most favorite times of the year. Yes, everything is hectic with gift shopping, decorations, and Christmas baking but when I sit down, set all of that aside, and stop to clear my mind, I remember all of the good things of December and the real reason for the holiday! Being together with family and friends, giving gifts that show our love and appreciation, sharing a meal and a prayer with the family, or seeing a friend or relative that you haven’t seen in years, and being able to catch up with laughter and even tears. All of these things are in celebration of the birth of Jesus.
During this time of the season, I wish you all joy, comfort, and peace. May all of your Christmas wishes come true this Christmas season.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have been away from the blog for far too long!
I am trying to get myself motivated so I can get back here on a more regular basis. Please do not give up on me because I have not given up on myself! Just to update a little, I have been pretty busy since I last posted. The main event over the past few months was my Grand-Daughters’ wedding in September. Most of my days were filled with helping her plan and create all of the wedding decorations and setting up the day before. In addition to all of that, my husband and I catered the event with the help of my Son, my husband’s brother, and a few of the groom’s family members.
I promise that I will get back here after the Holiday and give you a glimpse of what has been happening in my little world and share some of the wedding layouts that I have created. Until then, all of my US friends, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! If you do not celebrate this traditional US holiday, then I pray that you will have a safe and happy weekend!
Hello again! I know that I have been gone for a bit but wowzers have I been busy with life! Where do I begin?
First, my Grandson graduated form High School on May 25th. There was a time that I would have bet that this day would not have come…I would have been wrong, and thankfully so! He has lived with me for the past 10 years and only recently moved back in with his mother. This is a wonderful young man(even if I do have to say so myself) but he has a temper from hell (guilty as charged).
June is when the whirlwind begins! First there is the wedding dress and preparations for the wedding. My beautiful Grand-Daughter is getting married in September so a wedding dress shopping we will go!
She said yes to the dress!
On the way home, we had to stop and eat so we hung out at BJ’s in Mobile, Alabama for a lunch. Of course, alcohol was involved! We are all over the age of 21!!
Mother of the Bride, the Bride, Matron of Honor, and Grand-Mother of the Bride(Me-Dad’s Mom)
Now there is my Mother. Mom has Degenerative Eye Disease and her left eye has become much worse than the right eye. It has been leaking fluids and she cannot see out of it to drive. So, she insisted that we sell her car because she knew she wouldn’t be driving and in doing so, I have become her main transportation. Her eye doctor has started scheduling shots for her left eye in the hopes that the leakage will stop and maybe the eye will clear up a bit. We can only hope and pray that this will be the case. So, I take her for these eye doctor visits, I take her to her regular physician when needed, we go to Walmart and the Mall shopping, and I take her to the grocery store and the laundry. I am not complaining. She is my mother. There is simply not anything that I would not do for her.
After all of this, I must pay tribute to all things good and beautiful. All things summer!
Congratulations to all 2021 High School Seniors! You made it through one of the toughest years of all of your years in school. This school year you have been faced with the full force of a pandemic. Many of you may have been quarantined and have had to take classes over the internet. Schools have been closed because of surges in the virus and the faculty of the school has had to find other ways to help you continue to learn. You all have had to wear mask all day in the classroom and social distance. These things are not easy for anyone much less a 17 or 18 year old! But you made it through and Graduation is upon you. Maybe you have already had your graduation ceremony. Whatever the case may be, I sincerely hope that Lady Luck shines on you no mater what road you take.
So, I am sitting at my computer which is in one of the spare bedrooms in the front part of the house, and my husband is seemingly talking to himself in the dining room. This is not an uncommon occurrence at my house. If we are not talking to each other, we are usually talking to ourselves.
Anyway, I ask him what he is talking about and he points out that there is a beautiful black, white and red bird at the bird feeder in the front yard and he doesn’t think that he has ever seen one before. Of course, I grabbed my camera and headed for the front door!
There are always a large number of wild birds in our yard because of the bird feeder and we have quite a few Live Oak trees in the front and the back so they have plenty of places to perch and nest. Well, what I saw was exactly what he said, “A beautiful black, white and red bird at the bird feeder”!
Rose Breasted GrosbeakHaving an argument with the Cardinal!
I was so excited to be able to get these photos and I just had to look it up!
So this was the most exciting part of my Saturday! Now, I am going to eat pizza with my husband. Enjoy!
I am back this week with some new layout shares showing off a few of Laura’s new products that are now available in the store at Forever.com. You can click on the link at any time to be taken to Laura’s store. If you are a scrapbooker or a wanna be scrapbooker, I encourage you to take a stroll through her store.
“Here comes the Sun Bundle” is the newest kit that Laura has in the store. I just love the soft pinks, greens and yellows that are in this kit. Here is a preview along with some of the layout that I have created with the kit.
The next new item is Laura’s “Maskable Templates“. These are beautifully done and can easily be used with or without the blending layers. So versatile, they can be turned and flipped to make them what you need them to be. Here is a preview and a layout that I created with them.
I used the Maskable Templates and Here Comes The Sun
Last but certainly not least is “Flirting With Spring – Seamless Layflat Papers“. These are created in 12 X 24 and are just gorgeous! They can be used for a double layout or can be used separately on a 12 x 12 layout. Again, here is a preview along with the layout that I created.
Created with the Seamless Layflat Papers and “Captured Moments 7 Bundle”, also by Laura.
I hope you enjoy the preview and will stop by Laura’s store and share the Love! I also want to mention that all of these kits are created for sale at Forever.com and are for use with Forever’s software, Artisan. Artisan can be purchased on the Forever site HERE if you are interested. I have Artisan5 however, I create all of my layouts in Photoshop CS 6. Not all items will be interchangeable. Just sayin’!
You know the rest. 5 inches on Thursday, 3 inches yesterday and we are well into over an inch so far this morning. I will be so glad when it all just goes away for a little bit. In between the rain drops and the thunder and lightening, my husband and I have gotten the new sand leveled in the bottom of the pool area and we have managed to get the new liner put in and all of the wrinkles out. What a job it has been getting all of that done. My oldest Grandson, Taylor, helped his Pop get the stairs back into the pool and I am happy to say that it is complete and water is now being hosed, and rained, back into the pool. Bring on Summer!!
Taken before we were able to get all of the wrinkles out. I love my new liner!Stairs in and water flowing!
Shout out to my fabulously wonderful Mother today for her 87th birthday. She has lived a beautiful life and we hope that she will be around to share many more birthdays with us!
For the scrapbooker in you, Laura Burger has a new kit out this week at Forever.com. It is part of her Life Story series, “Life Story: Away We Go”. It is a great kit for scraping about your family vacations. Or maybe you travel for work and go to far away places or even places close by. Where ever you go, this bundle is going to give a lot of scrapbooking miles for you dollars. Grab it for 50% off through April 15, 2021.
This kit can only be purchased at Forever.com and is created for use with Artisan however, I use it in Photoshop CS6 without any problems. Please note: This is a digital scrapbooking kit and you will not receive a physical product when you purchase, just the link to download. If you are new to all of that, you will also need a program to unzip the files. There are some great free ones out there. Just google zip files.
Here are some previews of the kit and a few layouts that I have created! Enjoy!
Carla's Treasures 