McVic is 36 Happy Birthday Blog Hop

 Hop on over to Kacee's blog to start the McVic is 36 Happy BIrthday Bog Hop for today Wed. August 31st..There is plenty of time to get through it even if it is late in the day..  There are only 13 gals in the hop but each has a great post and idea for you..:)

 Kacee - http://youhadmeatscrap.blogspot.com

Gloria - http://omascrafts.blogspot.com
Yolie - http://www.justyolie.com
Shannon - http://my-o-scrappin.blogspot.com
Laura- http://laurascraftsandmore.blogspot.com
Shawnee - http://www.blessedonthebrightside.com
Amy - http://www.lovetocrop.com
Rhonda - http://scraphappenswithrhonda.blogspot.com
Brenda http://createbyburffrau.blogspot.com
Audrey - http://cuteandsome.blogspot.com/

Alisha - http://scrappin-happens.blogspot.com
Celeste - http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com

Can you help?

http://www.orphanlist.org/index.cfm

This is an orphanage in Papua New Guinea that my cousin David Schreier is on the board..It is such a worth while cause..if you could just check out the website and if there is a way you can help it would be wonderful..thanks for checking and considering helping..If you can't it is fine..I know the economy is bad so if you would pray ..that would be a big help as well..God will provide for these kids..thank you!

Faith Verse Blog Hop

Faith Verse Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! Today we kick off the Faith Verse Series that Kari Sanchez is doing on her blog starting September 12th...today I am a part of the DT that will be guesting on Kari's blog (PurpleFuntastick Creations)  for the Faith Verse Hop, and she is doing a Faith Series that takes place on Mondays every week. I am excited to be a part of this group, to share my favorite verse and story for God.  Thanks for stopping by and if you are arriving from Kari - http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/ then you are in the right place.

There is a grand prize with Kristal Andrews Faith Stamps and other scrappy prizes to the winner and you have to comment in order to be eligible and also love to have you as a follower to my blog. It is not required but sure would be fun to have you..

Here is my verse and story:  Proverbs 22: 6 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.  This is such an awesome responsibility!  I have failed God on so many levels but he picked up where I did not succeed and I have a son who loves the Lord and is trying his best to be the example before his son's that he believes God wants him to be.

Someone once said to me that we try way to hard..they said that all God really wants us to do is to plant the seeds and then stand back and let Him do the harvesting..  Think about that for a minute and really take it in..It is true!! We get in the way so many times..

My contribution to this hop is a layout I did of my son with a wonderful prayer from a new father to God..This of course is my son and my first grandson, Nolan.  The prayer goes like this:

          Lord I am asking for your help to raise my newborn son.  Give me strength and guide me because I know that You're the One that sent this angel to me, a little heaven here on earth.  For now I know my place in life...I'm no longer who comes first.  Once I had no answer as to why I am here, but when I looked into my baby's eyes..it all became so clear.  This little bit of heaven owns me, heart, and soul and it is You that sent him to me a greater love I'll never know.  So take these rugged hands of mine and help me to understand, just what it is I need to do to raise this little man.  Help me build a boy that knows it's You that holds the key to all that heaven holds for us...Show him YOUR love through ME.  Mitch Speed

Thanks again for checking me out and your next stop is Carolyn -http://messmuddleandfun.blogspot.com/

I will be offering blog candy in the form of Inque Boutique acrylic stamp set..so please be sure to leave a comment..:)  God bless all who read this and participate in this blog hop!

Vicki - transport7800@aol.com

My Grandsons started Kindergarten today!

Nolan and Eli were born about 3 1/2 months apart..Nolan lives an hour away and Eli here in town..This morning Annie and I went to see Eli get on his bus and I am getting ready now to drive to Nolan's to watch him get off of his!  I can't believe these five years have gone by as fast as they have but it's true and I am just going to have to deal with it..:)

  Eli James Vickers, so grown up!

Who would have thought that I put this young woman on her bus for the first time in 1988 and now she is putting her son on the bus for the first time?

Such a big boy!  He has stepped into the next adventure of his life and an entire world of learning has opened up for him...

I will be back with pics of Nolan and his first day..

Layouts as promised

Yesterday , my client and I scrapped some of his pictures for his album..It had been a while since we had done any and we had a 5 hour time frame to work with so I brought him to my house..much easier than carrying all that stuff with me, and we got started.  The first layout.."Arrested"..we did from scratch using a Page Map and changing it up a bit..then I got to thinking...I use all of my supplies and  stash to do his pages because there is no extra money for him...Now I am like every other scrapper and I share my stuff with delight if it helps someone achieve what they are hoping for and Heaven only knows I do have ALOT of stash but still, if I do this alot it does end up costing me..

A few years ago I was kinda hot and heavy in to color kit swaps..If you do not know what that is..each month a color is selected and the participants make a kit of photo mats, title or border, tags, deco squares etc..put them in a baggie and like most swaps are sent to the hostess and she divvys them up and sends you back kits from the other participants.  It's fun because you see all kind of new ideas and a lot of times it helps stir up your mojo.  So as I was helping Kevin I started thinking about all of those kits I have in a box and thought.."Why not?"  So the last three layouts are kits..his pages are more simplistic than mine but he likes them and he does have a great scrapbook....When we scrap, my clients make all the decisions..IE  they choose the colors, placement and they apply the adhesive, when we use my QuicKuts they use the hand tool.. So while I am assisting the layouts are theirs..Sometimes I do not agree with papers or colors but again they are their albums.  Kevin chose the kits he wanted to use .. So here are the layouts..

During the Memorial Day parade in 2010 and officer walked by..Julie, my little Down's lady who I am legal guardian of is a sucker for a uniform so I approached the officer and asked him if he could play for a minute and put them in handcuffs so I could take pictures for their scrapboooks..lol  Surprisingly he obliged me but said he would not secure them ..just lay them around their wrists...I can not tell you how much fun they had with this..I will upload the Ju-Ju's picture soon but I wanted this post to be about Kevin's layouts..

This is his mom and his great niece..The "J" is all chipboard with silver glitter .  These elements are from one of the kits

 

I like for my clients to do at least one community service project a month..They have so much given to them because of their disabilities that I feel they should understand giving back  a little..This particular day we had dropped off another client after our bowling league and we stopped by my parents home.  Mom frets when the snow is on the driveway so my guys got out the shovels and started clearing it.  It was just a powder snow but it was about 6 inches deep.  They did a great job and Mom ended up paying them a little so all parties were happy!

For some reason our 4th layout didn't upload and I have to get to work so I will try to upload it later..

Like mother like daughter!

On August 11th I had gall bladder surgery and for the last two weeks my daughter, Katie, has been in and out of three different hospitals trying to find out what was wrong with her and they determined it was her gall bladder as well!
She arrived at the hospital this morning at 11:30 AM and they did not take her back to surgery until 6PM!  Then it was not until 9PM that she was taken to a room because she does not come out of anesthesia well and it was so late they did not want to send her home..I finally left at 10:45 PM and now here I am trying to unwind from all of this..
She did well otherwise and now in a couple of days she should be feeling much better and my life will become more of my own and I can get busy posting again.
I was able to work some today tho .  I work for the developmentally disabled and I have two gentlemen clients who love to scrapbook.  We do alot of activities and I am always taking pictures for them..I use alot of my stash stuff so it helps me keep it at a minimum, but don't ask me how I determine minimum!!  LOL
Anyway, we did the first page and then I remembered that I have dozens of color kits that I received from swaps that I had been in a while back..I was able to match three layouts to kits I had and I felt really good about using them..These layouts are more simplistic than I do for myself but they are still very nice layouts for the guys and they do their photos justice.
Since I spent so much time at the hospital and didn't get home till late I do not have the pics of  the layouts to post but tomorrow I will make time and get them posted to get your viewpoints on them..  So please stop back by...thanks

Oh My Gosh!

Recuperating at home with a computer can be a set back!  I have spent so much time on here and all for blog hops!  I am totally addicted but I have gotten some really wonderful ideas and now I am ready to get started creating.  But the best part is that I have won some really great prizes too.  Stamps sets, both acrylic and digi, beautiful cards created by talented women, and mini albums!!

I have gained quite a few new followers from posting my blog addy when I make my comments about their creations.  If I am going to keep growing and have others continue to visit my blog I need to start posting some stuff!!!  I think life is going to start settling down here soon..Annie will go back  to Ohio University, I'm hoping the illnesses will stop and believe it or not..Fall is in the air here.

This is a two page layout I did of my husband and his friend and fellow referee, Gene.  It is pretty simplistic but then I am scrapping men and I wanted it to showcase some of the motions they do throughout the game rather than draw attention to embellishments.  I can't tell you who makes what paper except the cardstock of course is Bazzill.  Love that stuff.

I was happy to have found the black and white striped paper and I think it is a fun manly layout.  Jim liked it so I guess that is saying something!  LOL   There is no journaling except the title and I need to work on that but I wanted to use all of these pictures and that didn't give me room I thought.  Looking at it now I guess I could have put some at the bottom of the first page but hey ..it is what it is right now..I can always add some later if the mood strikes me..

The day after:

Yesterday was my birthday and I celebrated by having my gall bladder removed!  Everything went smooth as silk so I am happy about that..Today my daughter Katie ended up back at ER after having spent three days in the hospital and her stay was nothing like mine.  It was full of what seemed to be incompetence and disappointment.  After a cat scan and multiple blood workups they sent her home again so we will see what happens next.
I ended up taking care of my grandson today but he was so good and helpful..He let me rest and he picked things up for me so I didn't have to bend over.  I am anxious for these spots to heal so I can get the tape off of me.  I think one of them is causing an allergic reaction.

I am shooting for Sunday to be able to work in my craft area and get something made so I can finally start posting some fun stuff to keep people coming back...

I won an award!

I received this award from Shelly at KC Croppers Cut Swap Group.  Shelly I thank you so much for the encouragement..My blog right now is rather boring due to no new projects..I was posting about my gsons and my family but it seemed no one was reading or if they were they were not commenting which is fine except I never knew they were there so I just kinda stopped posting .  Until that is ,I got myself hooked on blog hopping!  :)  Then I just started posting icons for blog hops and when I was making comments I was putting my blog addy in so I figure people will be stopping by so I better get something going..  Unfortunately at this point my desk is buried!!   LOL   I was cleaning it off so I could get started and stopped to read my emails and came across this award!  How cool is that?!  It was a sign!  A serious sign!  I need to get my rear in gear and start showing what I am made of..or at least what I can make..:)  Thanks again Shelly!

Old School Cartridges Blog Hop

This was a fun hop!  It was fun to have the older cartridges resurrected so to speak..As I told one participant it was like having  PSP, Wii, or any new high tech game set up but then reconnecting with Atarti!  Just because things are older doesn't mean they necessarily have to lose their appeal!!  Stop by this blog hop for some fun and hey you may even win some blog candy!!  I hope I do!!