Another Creative Team???

I'm so excited! I just got invited to join Faith True Originals Creative Team! She sells at Scrap Orchard and you just have to see her stuff to see how amazing her creations are! I can't wait to play! Stay tuned for some digital yumminess from Faith True Originals! :D

Sea Glass and Scrapbooking!

Today the family headed out on a sea glass hunting adventure for Green Creations: West Bank. We headed north to Dor Beach National Park. SUCCESS! We came home with enough good pieces to get us really started in jewelry development before Christmas gets here! And we had fun to boot!

I also had some time this week to play with a few new kits from Scrap Matters! This first one is Shabby Black and White by Elise's Pieces! It's a stunning and FUN kit. I just had to pull out my sister's wedding pictures to use with this kit! I couldn't resist the fingers and toes! :D
This next new kit is Paisley Princess by Jennifer Labre Designs, and it's chock full of cuteness! I'm a freak for anything purple, so I fell in love instantly! But the kit is seriously adorable! And I think my little Maggie is, too!
It's a scraphappy world! My heart is full! I'm focusing my mind on reading 1 John through as part of a Bible study. And I'm listening to Christmas music! Yep, I'm crazy...but lovin' life! :D See you again soon, friends!

My baby turned 6!!!

It was Georgia Kate's birthday on Sunday! I can hardly believe how the years fly by! She turned 6, and we got to celebrate as a family with Aunt Danni (my sister, Regina) and Uncle John Facetime-ing into the party! I love modern technology! Thought I'd share a few pictures from the day!

My baby is growing up! Habibti, Georgia!

This Barn Tells a Story

I wanted to use this gorgeous kit, Harvest, by Jennifer Labre Designs. I pulled out some Thanksgiving pictures, but it just wasn't grabbing me. I started searching through my unscrapped photos and I found this picture of Papa Joe and Na-na's barn. I think it was taken in the mid-80s or so. And the colors of fall made it perfect for this kit. But what do I do with a picture of the barn? Journal from the heart, of course!

The barn might not survive another season. All have acknowledged that the barn will need to come down sooner rather than later. And it makes me sad. This barn tells a story. It's been there for so very long and has seen so much. It stands as a symbol of the Stoschack farm. When it finally comes down, my heart will feel sad.

The kit is available at ScrapMatters. Trust me...if you need a fall/harvest kit, you want this one! It's STUNNING! I just had to scrap with it!

Making jewelry and PLARN!

As part of a poverty alleviation project I've started in the West Bank, I've been learning some new crafty ways! I started crocheting with Plarn, which is plastic yarn made from plastic shopping bags! It's been a fun ride! I also just learned to wrap sea glass and make jewelry! Can you say FUN?

Green Creations: West Bank has hired 2 ladies for a 3 month trial period. We're hoping to have product to sell in time for Christmas gift-giving! These ladies are working hard right along with me! I'll share a few samples of things we've created!

If you've got any wonderful ideas about creative ways to upcycle trash, please feel free to share! I'd love to hear from you!

MIA? More layouts to share!

It's been a month since I've been here! The kids got back into school, and my life has been crazy every since! But I have managed to scrap a bit, so thought I'd drop in an share a few layouts from September! Hope you enjoy!

This is one of my all-time favorite layouts! I used the collab kit, Unforgettable from ScrapMatters! And this layout even found me featured on the ScrapMatters blog for a GSO! (Gallery Standout for those unfamiliar with scrapbooking lingo!). It's a picture of my mom and her family when she was just a little girl:

This layout was a FUN one to create! I used the kit Authentic by Jennifer Labre Designs. I also used Picasa photo editor to pull together all the headshots of me throughout the last 7 years! It was just plain FUN!

This kit is Full of Life by Jennifer Labre Designs, and the template is a Scrap Orchard template Thursday freebie by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.

Finally, this kit is Denim and Daisies by Jennifer Labre Designs, part of the September Mix-A-Kit at ScrapMatters! Love the blues in this kit!

That's all from me for now! Lots more going on in my life, but it's time for me to sign off and get some work done! Thanks for looking!

Back to School?

It's back to school time for my kids! They return on Monday, September 5th. In honor of the back to school time of year, Jennifer Labre released a fabulous new kit: School Zone! To say I'm in love with this kit is a slight understatment! :D It's full of rich colors, fun elements, and yummy papers and a great alphabet! I created 2 layouts using School Zone, available at ScrapMatters, and templates by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.

This first one uses a template from Fuss Free: Eclectic 2, available at ScrapMatters and page 2 uses Fuss Free: Square Pegs:

The second one is another template from Fuss Free: Square Pegs, not currently available. I hope Cheryl puts it up for sale soon, because this is one of my FAVORITE template packs! This is a gift layout for the teacher at my kids' preschool. All of my children attended The Sunshine School! It's hard to believe they've all moved on beyond preschool!

Prayers appreciated for my kids. Going back to school is exciting for them, or at least for Maggie, but comes with the challenge of studying in your second language, and for Georgia Kate, it's her first year in the Arabic school. She's taking it bravely, but still showing a little fear!

Back and Scrapping!

Had a great time in Egypt! Scoty returned sans the bottom of one of his teeth, but other than that, it was a relatively safe and sane trip! Thomas performed in the Talent/No Talent Show and brought the house down with Beiber Fever! That was tons of fun! The other kids performed, too. As they said, they've got no choice as long as I'm coordinating the event!

Before we left I finished this layout with Jennifer Labre's new kit, Squeaky Clean, available at Memory Scraps. Her bubbles are so amazing!
More when I've got a bit more time!

Off to Egypt!

Egypt is calling! We leave in the morning for our annual conference. This year we're in Egypt again. In the past we've been in Petra and Amman, Jordan, too! I'm taking my laptop to see if I'll find any time to scrapbook digitally while we're gone!

Oh...and you should check out Scrap Orchard! I joined a few weeks ago and have received a warm welcome! Several designers have sent me a coupon for their shop just for being new! I thought that was super sweet...and I just had to go and check out their shops! :D Scrap Orchard is a really fun place in the digital scrapbooking world!

Okay, my blog friends, I'm heading to bed! See you all after I spend some time in the sun in the Sinai!

SPEED SCRAP!!!!

I got to participate in a Speed Scrap last evening as part of the Scrap Matters birthday celebration! What is a speed scrap? Well, you gather in one location (chat room or thread) and every 10 minutes for 1 hour you get instructions. The first one last night was to gather 3 pictures of a summer time activity. The second was to use at least 3 patterned papers. And so on. Then you've got a certain time limit after that hour to complete and upload your layout to the site.

I was pretty much finished within the hour, and this is what I came up with:It was tons of fun to complete during that time frame and try to follow the directions while still making the layout my own. I used the kit, "Ticket to Ride" by Chelle's Creations with a glitter spray for Jennifer Labre Designs' kit, Joyful. I loved scrapping this FUN memory!

Now we're off to Mosaic Church! Love me some church time! :D