One Little Word

Deanna over at SM posted a link to Ali Edwards' blog post titled "One Little Word". It has Ali (and a bunch of others) picking a word for the following year. A word that you will try to live by, a word that will become part of who you are.

I really like this idea.

Click here to read Ali's post.

So I thought about it all morning and decided my word for 2010 will be 'SELF'.

From the moment that Kevin was wounded, I was no longer the Leslie of old. I totally immersed myself into being a nurse/doctor/caretaker/chauffeur/etc. EVERYTHING I did - I did for Kevin. I can honestly count on one hand the amount of times I did something just for me in the past 579 days.

Don't get me wrong - I don't regret it - not for one second, but it's time to get some of me back. Kevin has come so far now and I think he can handle (in small doses) me stepping back and doing things without him.

I'm going to try anyway, and that's what the premise is all about. Hopefully I can regain some of my sense of self in 2010. Wish me luck!

Yipee! BasicGrey!!

I ordered the new BG Origins from Croppin Paradise and as soon as I got my box I knew that I wanted to finally scrap the photos of my dad, Breezy and I at the ballgame this past summer. Once I started though, I couldn't stop. I did another layout of Breezy and you can just tell by the look on her face that she is sooooo tired of me taking her picture, lol.

I have more in mind using the BG - I just love this line!

I had to laugh on this one though. I didn't have a "Y" to finish off the word "day" so I took a "U" and a "J" and created one. It's a little larger than the other letters, but I still think it works.


I have to say that I really love the new font used on the BG alpha stickers in this line, but when I used them they really weren't very noticeable so I outlined them with a black marker. It made all the difference. I learned this from Tricia Peever over at SM. It's really such a simple thing, but it made all the difference.

Naive Tourists

Years ago, my best friend Moe and I took a 5 day vacation to Las Vegas and we had a blast. One thing we couldn't believe was the promise of all kinds of emotional and physical changes if we sat down at an Oxygen Bar. We truly were laughing our butts off on the inside, but we had to try it - just to say we did. This was a hilarious photo op!

Kevin scrapped with me!

Kevin actually came out of his room last night and scrapped with me. We always have so much fun when he does this, I just wish it were more often.

Here is the layout he designed:



He was so excited to play with markers. I can't tell you how long it took me to understand what he wanted though.

So here are the last two layouts that I designed. The first one is of Breezy back when she was a year old in 1985.



This is a photo of myself at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio. I didn't notice until I had it printed that my bra strap was hanging down below my sleeve. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to mention it in my title, lol.

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

Holly over at ScrapMuse shared this on the boards and I had to post it here. Love it!!

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup or brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add one peastoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another cup just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy.

Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the frigging fruit off the floor.

Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters just pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who geeves a sheet. Check the Jose Cuervo. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table.

Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.

Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.

Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the wishdasher.
Cherry Mistmas !

Yet another layout, lol!

I have been scrapping a lot lately and I am so glad. It gives me peace of mind and enables me to get through the days a little bit better.

Anyway, here is one of Breezy taken at the Japanese Tea Garden (again, lol). Her face looks so sad in this one though. It just breaks my heart...



The journaling reads: It's been such a rough couple of years for Brianna. Ever since Kevin was wounded, she has suffered the loss of not only who her brother was, but also the loss of her friends, her job, her freedom to live her life as she would have chosen and even the ability to be happy. Time does heal all wounds though...She'll see!

I won!!!

Guess what?! I won the monthly layout contest over at Scrapmuse! We had to design a layout based on what we feel thankful for and mine won! (you can see it in the post below this one).

How cool is that, huh?

And I decided a few days ago to try out for a design team position over at Croppin Paradise. I really like it over there, the people seem very nice. I did have to design a layout about me for the submission and here it is:



I am forcing myself to do layouts about me as there really aren't any in my books. If something were to happen to me, I want the kids to be able to look back.

I also did one of Breezy the other night. Very simple, but it appeals to me that way.



I have to say, I have become quite addicted to Glimmer Mist, lol.

So Far Behind

I am so far behind in updating this thing. Since we have been home I have been able to scrap more and I am having so much fun. I do wish I could move my scraproom downstairs so that I didn't have to run up and down the steps after Kevin all night long, but I have so much stuff it could never fit into a small bedroom.

So anyway, here are some layouts I have been working on:

This one has special meaning for me, obviously. It was done for a challenge over at ScrapMuse and it was based on what we are most thankful for. We are so lucky that Kevin is alive after all he has been through and it means the world to me that I CAN take a family photo.



Levi came to visit us in Florida this summer and he and I went to Busch Gardens one day. While there, I allowed him to run through the fountains. He didn't have his swimsuit, so he was fully clothed and he got so wet that my car seat didn't dry out for days. He was just so excited!



This one is of Breezy at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio. I have SO MANY photos of that day so expect to see more, lol.



This photo is of me sitting on a bench at the garden mentioned above. I played with some of the special photo effects using PSE I learned over at Jessica Sprague.



I took some mulberry paper and cut it into strips and stitched them to the paper in a gathered fashion. I didn't plan on it looking this way, but I do like that it's different than any other layout I have ever designed. I used a lot of my Nov ScrapMuse kit for this one.



I had this wonderful photo of Hope riding a horse while she was here visiting over the summer. I used some stickles on the sunflowers to make them each different and I am loving those Prima flower centers!



Can you believe that Kevin took this picture of me? For someone with the use of only one arm/hand, it's amazing to me.

Finally!

We ended up going to San Antonio for surgery for my son and we didn't get home for 2 months. Aaargh! I am so glad we got back though and I finally got some scrapping done!

Here are a few I made recently:





This one is based on a sketch designed by Tricia Peever over at ScrapMuse. You can view the sketch by clicking here.

I can't believe I'm doing this (again)...

I had a scrappy blog once, what seems like a lifetime ago, and I figured I would give it another shot. I hope to get this updated within the next few days...