Friday, February 22, 2013

Small Joys

It feels great to get another layout done!  Ever so slowly (baby steps) my life is falling back into place.  I even spent a little time last night playing catch up on visiting everyone's blogs.  Not quite caught up, but getting there.  I wanted to share a layout with you today that I created for Berry71Bleu's February WhiteSpace Challenge along with LESSology's Challenge #22 How Charming.
The whitespace challenge was a hard one for me.  I normally don't leave any surface untouched, but I have to say between the gorgeous 7 Dots Studio papers, the Berry71Bleu handmade tag and a few special touches here and there I was quite pleased with the final result.

If you're wondering who the baby is and if you guessed me, then you're correct!  I cut out the center of a doily, misted it, then stamped it, inked the edges and crumple it and place it around my photo.

Dug into my stash for the LESSology challenge and found some charms:

 I took some small Prima flowers, you know the tiny ones in lots of colors in the tall jar 
( I know we all have them !☺) and strung them onto some thread:
 Some random stamping, beads and modeling paste:
and the finishing touch, a beautiful Berry71Bleu tag:

Hope you have some free time to create a project for Berry71Bleu's WhiteSpace Challenge.  There's lots of great prizes to be won!  You can check out all of the details here!

Thanks for stopping by!
. . . Debbie

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Little Girls Are Precious Gifts . . .

If you are here for the Berry71Bleu Blog Hop please click here.

I have a layout to share with you today that I created using the February kit from Artful Delight which I combined with a couple of challenges.  The first challenge is the February Sketch Challenge at 
Once Upon A Sketch with the theme of "love" and the second challenge is Challenge No. 14 "hearts" from Scrap Africa.

Here are a few closeups:


 Tucked beneath my punched border is a journaling tag with a personal note from a mom to her precious daughter.

Thanks for stopping by!
. . . Debbie

Supplies Used:
Artful Delight February Kit
Dienamics Vintage Flourish Die
Martha Stewart Lattice Heart Punch
Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch
Martha Stewart Vintage Doily Punch
Bo Sunny Stamps
Sizzix Flourish Die

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Berry71Bleu Love Blop Hop!

Welcome to the Berry71Bleu Love Blog Hop!
 Hi this Debbie! You should arrived here from Bellaidea's blog.
If you get lost along the way, start here at the Berry71Bleu blog.

Happy Valentines Day!  
Today is a day all about love . . .   Each of our designers is going to share with you something or someplace they love where they live.  This should be interesting since we have ladies from the USA, Poland, India and Puerto Rico. 
The blog hop starts here at Berry71Blue
and the rest of the order is as follows:
 We have a fabulous prize for one lucky person who completes all of the rules of the blog hop,  a 7 Dots Studio collection, Domestic Goddess:
 

To qualify for this month's FABULOUS Prize you must complete the following:

* Visit each blog listed on the hop to see what each designer has to share with you and leave a comment.
* Each designer's blog hop post will feature a word to make up a secret sentence, 
collect these words along the way.
* You must become a FOLLOWER of each blog along the way
 and LIKE us on our Facebook Page!
* For your last stop on our Blog Hop return here to the Berry71Bleu Blog.
Leave a comment letting us know you have
completed the hop.
(Please do NOT include the secret sentence in your comments.)
Now comes the hard part, you must take the words you have collected along the blog hop and  unscramble them to create a sentenence.

*Email the secret sentence to Debbie: mdjsburns@aol.com. 
The Blog Hop ends Sunday, February 17th at Midnight CST

Here's a little bit about where I live and what I love about it.
I live in a very small rural town in Maryland.  Lots of open space, wildlife and quietness!
I'm only a short car ride of 15 minutes to what I will call civilization, the hustle and bustle of traffic, stores and restaurants.  I'm about a hours drive from our Nation's capitol and will admit that even though I have lived in Maryland all of my life, I've only visited Washington DC a couple of times.
Winter is my favorite season where I live, especially after a snowfall.  I don't like driving in the snow, don't like shoveling the snow,  but love the scenery after freshly fallen snow.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures after a snowfall:
 These pictures were taken by my daughter back in 2010 after we were hit with back to back snow storms.  As of now except for a couple of inches here and there we have not had any major snowfall this winter.
My word for the blog hop is "where" . 

Your next stop is Kay's blog which you can find here.

Thanks for stopping by!
. . . Debbie

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Love You

I'm just way too busy lately.  Life as usual is hectic and stressful and so little time for myself.  I am still spending the majority of my time caring for my mom.  She continues to spiral downwards ever so quickly.  So many tear filled days.  I treasure every moment I spend with her regardless if it's a bad day as I feel her days are numbered.  We are getting ready to move her into Assisted Living where she will be cared for.  I'm sad over all of this, but relieved that she will have people caring for her.  To actually have some free time to craft is not that often, hard to focus on, but a joy.  I've got a layout to share with you today that I made using the February kit and sketch from Artful Delight and one which I am entering in a couple of challenges,  Zeus and Zoe February Love Challenge and Inkido's Black and White Photo Challenge.

I really enjoyed working with the Authentique Renew Papers in the February kit and pumped them up a little throwing in some pink.

 Love this cluster!  Lots of fussy cut work and some Purple Pumpkin embellishments.


You still have plenty of time to enter the February sketch challenge at Artful Delight.  One lucky winner will receive their choice of a March scrapbook kit or card kit.  I can guarantee that you will love the March kit!

Hope to get by to visit you . . . will try my best.
Thanks for stopping by!
. . . Debbie