I am getting Smart!

I ordered my first ever Smart phone today from HSN (cheaper) which is a Samsung Galaxy Sll 4G

Then I hopped on eBay and bought a couple of cases for it......my luck I would drop it coming out of the box!

This case is going to be for Spring and Summer because I love the white background and we all remember the old adage.....no white after Labor Day.

This will be my Fall and Winter case. If you notice I seem to be harkening back to the 60's with 21st century technology! Of course pink is in the mix and the only thing to make this better would be if they made these in aqua!

I also have a few photos to share of my granddaughter, Mia's first Holy Communion.

Mia being given communion by her Papa who was an ordained deacon ( he still is just retired from it).

Monsigneur Mancuso asking Mia questions, Mia by the Crucifix, Mia by the Blessed Virgin, talking to her best buddy, Sister Vicki, and her cake at the reception. We had a great time and were blessed that Mia's great-Aunt, Carol, was in town from Texas and played the piano and sang. She has such a beautiful voice (studied Opera) and is the Liturgical Minister of Music at her church. Mia's great-Aunt Eileen was there from St. Louis, her great-Uncle Patrick and his new bride Lisa another great-Aunt came to be with us also. They live nearby and had a wonderful wedding and reception just about 6 weeks ago. We had the mass and communion at Our Lady of Mercy Country Manor, a retirement community, where John's parents lived. This was planned while John's mother was still alive but sadly she passed a few months ago. The people at the Manor are like family and Mia has visited with everyone since she was a baby. It just made sense. We have had a wedding, 2 baptisims, and now a 1st Holy Communion there and the residents like celebrating with us. Everyone was in town for the inurnment of his mother the day before so those that could stayed and celebrated with us. Mia's cousin James had his 1st communion at another church in town and her great-Aunt Peggy was there (James is her grandson) but joined all of us at lunch after the reception at Brava restaurant. My daughters Jennifer and Susie took care of the reception and it was lovely. They are such a good bunch, how did I get so lucky! I got a picture of the 3 of them together, Samantha, Jennifer, and Susie with their heads together over the cake. I wish I would have gotten a picture of them all together!

Have a great week and eat cake!!!

Cloudy Skies, Remodeling and Slushies (a little scrapping thrown in too)

Grey days this week with predicted storms and rain so massive an Ark building might be underway, at least according to one local forecaster running the numbers. He was quick to predict rainfall of epic proportions equaling 32 inches in 4 days.....15.5 inches in one day alone. Now I have to slow down, take a deep breath and remember that this particular on-air personality is the brother of a well-known Congresswoman from MN. who herself is predisposed to exaggeration and doomsday predictions. So far, looking out my window, we have had sprinkles with 1 more day left for the predicted deluge. So, on to more uplifting and inspiring topics.

My daughter posted a slushie recipe from Pinterest that was frozen fruit and diet 7-up.....I must report that it is excellent and will go a long way to help curb my sweet tooth. That sweet tooth was cultivated the moment I was born. My Mother told me that she would make my formula from a recipe that included Karo Syrup, sugar in a bottle.

Then if this wasn't bad enough, my pediatrician, Dr. Shore, would offer a sucker on a safety stick at the end of the visit. My first taste was at 6 weeks.

Is it any wonder that I am addicted to sugar and it is my one nemisis in my quest to lose weight. Then add to the equation, butter or lard and flour and deep fried oil and I am putty in the weight gods hands.

So, I will take any manner of recipe and suggestion to help me replace all of the sugary substances in my life. I have gone cold turkey at one time when my Mother put me on a diet so that I could lose the chunky weight I put on at the age of 12. Poor mom didn't understand that what I was gaining was due to my ever changing hormones and not the food I was eating. I had 2 of my children that went through the same thing. There growth cycle was very visible to everyone, the would put on a few pounds and then spurt up a couple of inches, going from wider to taller all through puberty. So the battle rages and I WILL WIN!!!

We are going to be staying in our home so we are on a remodeling quest to keep it the way we want it and to forget about remodeling for resale. In other words I can use the colors I want. I am going to be painting my front door this week and I am trying out a few colors. I picked up the free sample of paint from Valspar called Tranquility in a satin finish. They had a coupon in some of the design magazines and luckily I could get 2. I think this might be the color for my door. I have had a lot of inspiration:

I love this color of door and how it plays off the grey of the stone. My house is that color of grey. My other choice is:

I love the color combination of grey and yellow with touches of black and white, it is very elegant and uplifting at the same time. Imagine this door with spring daffodils in among the foundation plantings with pink azaleas later in the season.

I scrapped another layout this week using a closeout collection from Authentique which had a beach theme but that I wanted to use for these pictures of my grandsons. Love the pictures of them and their relationship.

Have a great week everyone! Stay dry and run for the Ark if you see a need.

It has been a while or late to the party

It has been a while since I last made a post and I must say that we have been sick around here. Thankfully the sickness is gone and I am still awaiting the presence of Spring.....she too is late!

I am trying to get my Project Life up to date and I really am not too far behind. I seem to agonize over a smaller canvas to work on. I find tags, cards and PL to be my nemisis for some reason. Give me a 12 x 12 and I can rock it but freeze up on a smaller area. I am still debating whether or not I want to continue on in a kit club or not. I am finding that if I just limit myself to the items in the kit that it is stifling my creativity but when I give myself permission to add from my stash I am a much happier person.

I have 4 layouts to share 2 are new and using some of the supplies from the last 2 months kit clubs and the other 2 are UFO's ( unfinished objects) that I have updated with embellishments and of course photos that are more recent. It was really fun updating the UFO's and I also realized that I love doing 2 page spreads occassionally. I will make it a point to do them more often.

First up is a layout done with the March kit from www.mycreativescrapbook.com. It is a layout for Amelia's First Holy Communion and I am just waiting for the professional photo to complete it but I will show it to you now and then when I get the picture I will repost.

The next layout is of Mia and Lily on a shopping expedition and lunch. They loved shopping for clothes and sunglasses. What a cute picture of them both. This is using some of the April kit with the Maggie Holmes die cuts and background paper. The paper strip that is matting the photo is from the March Kit with the Dear Lizzy collection. I also used several strips of washi tape and a flair badge along with my own crocheted heart and bows made with my Cameo. Love how this one turned out.

Now we venture into the land of UFO's. These have been the bane of my existence since I knew they were there but chose to ignore them in a drawer somewhere buried. I will admit that I had a bigger stack of them but the papers were way outdated and really didn't appeal to me at all. I just trashed them. Sacralige to some but it had to be done. This first one is of all the grandkids and how they have changed over the years. I love this one even the cheesy 5 petal flowers with the brad centers. I added more embellishments to flesh it out some more.

This last one is of my son on his beloved Harley. It was originally intended by the designer to highlight her grandkids and I really thought about doing that but had these great pictures that would work well. I used wood veneer ( my now favorite go-to supply) in the stars and the motorcycle embellishment in the lower right corner.

So that is it for now, I am going to try to remeber to post a little more often and to keep a better record of what I create and what is going on in my world!! Have a great week!