Friday, June 25, 2010

From the archives: Happy Birthday Emma!

Emma has always had a special place in my heart. Remember this blog post about her sixth birthday?

She and her family joined us this past weekend at Susannah's baptism, and it was fun to watch this little girl turn into a lady. Amidst all the business of the afternoon, I did get a few moments to chat with her, and it's clear that she's moving full speed ahead into a more grown up version of herself. It made me feel kind of old, to be honest! With images of baby Emma floating fuzzily through my head, I decided to reminisce a bit and dig up some old photos of her. Of course, then I had to make a scrapbook page!

credits: 
All For One templates by Britt-ish Designs
Another Candle on the Cake by Graham Like The Cracker and Michelle Batton

It won't be long before my own little girl is smashing birthday cake in her face, which means that she'll turn into a big girl like Emma before I even know it. Thanks, Emma, for being a special girl, and for being a special part of our family. :-)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

From generation to generation...


June 18, Father's Day 1978 - My baptism day.

and June 20, Father's Day 2010 - Susannah's day to be marked with baptismal water.

What a special moment to see God's faithfulness from generation to generation. My mom, dad, and sister (who are pictured above circa 1978) plus many other family and friends sat in the front rows of our church, joining our covenant church family, and promising with Mike and I to raise Susannah in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

Taking our baptismal vows.

Aaron and Mike pour water into the baptismal font. This pitcher was a wedding gift to Mike and me.

Pastor Dave marks her with the water of our identity, 


and prays that God would use all things in her life to bring her to know and love him.

The choir sang a special hymn while Rose walked Susannah through the congregation. So many commented after the service about how well she handled all of this - not a single tear or whimper.



The Porter family.

And the Sharps.


Grandpa Lloyd looks happy, but not so sure about Susannah. It was way past nap time!

Then we headed home, praying the rain would hold off so we could enjoy lunch on our new deck.

Aaron and one of his best buddies, Jacob.



No party is complete without a cake from Costco. :-)

We made a lot of special keepsakes to remember the day. This photo has the words "We do, God helping us," which was our answer to the baptismal questions, around the border. As a way of affirming their promise to partner with us in raising Susannah, each person present at her baptism was encouraged to sign this photo. It's hanging in our dining room now, and is a wonderful reminder that we're not on this parenting journey alone.


There were so many special details that went into this event, and it all came together even better than I could have imagined. The banner that stood behind the baptismal font was a special project I created as a gift to the church, and I'm excited to see it again and again with each baby welcomed into our covenant family. It couldn't have come to life without the help of Rebecca (my sewing tech support) and LeAnn, who came to my rescue on Friday night when I needed help with the finishing details. And Susannah's dress was expertly crafted by "Oma" Ligtenberg - Rebecca's mom. Because they live in California, they weren't able to join us, but each time I received a compliment on that beautiful gown, I felt a little hug from them. And without a lot of help from my sister, mom and two nieces, who did everything from dusting and vacuuming the house to preparing sandwiches and assembling name tags, I could have never gotten it all done. I love that it was such a community event!

Finally, I wanted to share the video of Sunday's service. It runs about 10 minutes, and you may have to turn the volume up to hear everything that is said. But I know Susannah is loved by many, and lots of you don't live nearby. So consider this your front row seat. :-)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Father's Day cards

Every time I stand in the card aisle of the grocery store, I think to myself, "Next time, I'll just make something!" But then life gets busy and the next special event rolls around and I'm again staring at a rack of cards at the store. But no more! I'd seen handmade cards pop up in the galleries of several scrapbooking sites, and finally decided to take the plunge into hybrid (that's the "technical" name for projects that mix digital design tools and paper products). There are some really great templates out there to help make these lovely cards, and I was feeling inspired. Here are two cards I made for Father's Day:

This one was for my dad, and was made to be a replica of his pilot's uniform.

And this one went to Mike's dad. These papers and elements are from Junior by Graham Like the Craker (follow the link to visit her store).


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

UNDER CONSTRUTION!

Please pardon the mess while I figure out how to configure the new blogger templates. A brand new look is coming soon! :-)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

My sewing machine is just warming up!

Do you have a list of things you thought you'd never pull off, but now have proudly mastered? I do! Driving a stick shift, French cooking, and getting to the top of the climbing rope in my elementary school PE class are all on my list. And today I added one more: sewing.  



Isn't it adorable! This little frock is for Baby G., due to arrive in early August. I had so much fun thinking about that new little person as I cut and stitched. "If you can follow a recipe, you can sew," my friend Rosie told me today, and I have to admit she's right. The pattern for this Itty Bitty dress is super simple, but the results were simply amazing! As I completed each step, I'd holler for Mike to come over and look at my progress. "Can you believe I'm doing this?!?" I asked him so many times. And I knew I had done well when the gift was unwrapped at the baby shower and no one knew I had made it myself (at least not until Rosie mentioned it to the group - she's got my back!). 

Now it's on to sewing a banner for Susannah's baptism, happening on the 20th. When I showed my inspiration drawing to the lady behind the fabric store counter, she just gasped. "You're making that?" she stuttered, amazed that I'd take on such a big task. We agreed it was an inspired project, and I'm counting on a little divine intervention to help me get it finished in time. This little dress gave my sewing confidence a major boost, and my machine is all warmed up, so here's hoping it all goes smoothly. I'll keep you posted!

Friday, June 4, 2010

I'm crawling out of my scrapbooking cave now

Oh, my! I've never been so relieved to watch the calendar page turn to a new month. May turned into a super-intense scrapbooking month, thanks to the Queen of Scrap competition over at ScrapMatters.com. The contest ended just before the stroke of midnight on June 1st, and I used almost every last second of time to design pages. It was a wonderful, crazy time to get a lot of work done, but I also made a lot of new friends via the chat thread that accompanied the competition. It was fun, but I'm so glad it's over! Winners are going to be announced tomorrow, but the fact that I completed 120 pages during the competition is the real prize. Here's the very last 2-page layout I put together for the contest:

left side:

right side:


These are just some of the new pages I created! I also put together a 48-page album of Susannah's birth. To see my complete gallery, you can go here

A few of you have asked how to get started in digital scrapbooking, and my best piece of advice is to go hang out at ScrapMatters.com. There are tons of helpful threads in their forums, and the contests and community will really give you a jump-start in your creativity. I've never met a happier, more supportive group of scrap addicts!

So now I'm taking a short break from designing. It's onto the next big project, this one involving my sewing machine. I'm creating a banner to celebrate Susannah's baptism (happening June 20th). Pics and updates will begin next week, so come back soon!


Thursday, June 3, 2010

I HEART Stolen Moments Designs

Spending lots of time over at ScrapMatters.com means I've gotten to know a lot of new people in the digi scrapping world. One of my new favorites is Amber of Stolen Moments Designs. Not only is she crazy talented, but she's a really sweet gal, to boot!

One product I have on my wish list is her custom blogwear design and installation. It took me a lot of time to bling up my blog, and true to my right-brained leanings, I'm itching for another makeover already. I don't have the time right now, so I might just let Amber do the work for me. :-)


I'm hoping to post here more often about digital scrapbooking, so if you have particular questions, please let me know. I want to get you hooked on this hobby, too! :-)