Mother's Day

Hello! I've let my blog slide a little....sorry about that.
Today is all about Mother's Day. It is just around the corner and I'm actually ready and not scrambling the day before to make a card.

My cards are very clean and simple. CAS seems to be the style I always go back to. I love the layers upon layers and embellies everywhere, but when I try to create that way, it looks like a big jumbled mess. Yuck!

I've been trying to use up papers in my scrap bin, which seems to be growing minute by minute. The card on the left is a 1/4 fold card from DCWV and the one on the right, A6 (I think) from Recollections. The paper is from an ancient Color Bok pad. Embellies are from Recollections and the Kangaroo Sticker, Me & My Big Ideas.

Please make a stop at Crafting By Designs and play along with us. The challenge will run for a week and let me tell you we have an awesome sponsor with an equally awesome prize! I'm not going to tell you what it is, you're going to have to go have a look for yourself!

Thanks for stopping by. Comments are always welcome!

Hugs,
Sharon

Spring Flowers Blog Hop

Hello there. Welcome to the Crafting By Designs Spring Flowers Blog Hop. Hopefully you found me through Rene's Blog. If you get lost along the way, you can always go back to Crafting By Designs to find your way again. The whole line up is posted there.
Our Design Team has come up with the most beautiful creations to welcome spring. QKR Stampede is our sponsor for the Hop and has graciously donated 5 Digi's to one lucky winner. And all of us would like for you to Hop and play along with us.
Here in my neck of the woods, the dreaded white stuff has finally quit falling from the sky. The birds are chirping, the peepers are peeping at night. The tulips and daffodils are waking up and popping up through the ground. The windows are open and the fresh air is pouring in. Ahhhh spring.
I chose this cute little digi for my creation. I'm pretty CAS (Clean & Simple) when it comes to creating. I do not own Copics and love to use chalks for my coloring.

I colored in the image with my chalks, added a little rub to make it pop. All of the papers and alpha stickers are from my stash. I'm trying to use up all of the odds and ends before cutting a new sheet of paper. The ribbon is actually from the Dollar Store. I love sunflowers. I believe they have character and these little ones are the cutest.

***I do have Blog Candy for this Hop!!!*** One lucky winner, chosen at random will win the 4 packs of seeds shown in my picture. Those are my most favorite flowers of all. All you have to do is become a follower of my blog, leave a comment letting me know you are a follower and an email address so I can get in touch with you, should you win. I will use Random.org to pick a winner and will post the winner Tuesday, April 16th after 4:00 p.m. est.

I hope you are enjoying the hop and decide to play along with us. Please leave a little love for the other Design Team members.

Now I have taken up enough of your time, get back to hopping! Hop on over to Tammy and take a peak at her beautiful creation.

As always, thanks for stopping by and HAPPY SPRING!!!

Hugs,

Sharon

Our Family

What can I say about family? You can't pick them like you can pick your friends. They can make you so mad at times that you just want to move far, far away... Family also know every single stupid, silly, embarrassing thing you have ever done in your whole life and can not wait to bring it up at the most inopportune moment. BUT...they're your family. Your roots, where you come from.
Being the youngest of 3 is very hard...contrary to what my older sister and brother may say. They say I was spoiled. Spoiled isn't the word I would use. I would just say that Mom & Dad loved me more :)  I think my sister and I shared a bed until I was 5....yes...I peed the bed too...Terri LOVES to remind me of it...We shared a bedroom until I was 14. That is when Terri got married and moved out. I couldn't wait to have a bedroom all  to myself. Guess what? I was lonely and I missed her like crazy. BUT I got to have sleepovers at her house and at her house I could do things that I couldn't do at home.
Then there is my brother....ahhhhh my brother..... Jimmy did the all of the normal big brother things. He tried to get me to eat a spider (dead of course), tried drowning me in the swimming pool every chance he could, ended actions or sentences with, "Don't tell Mom or Dad or you'll get it worse." Something happened, he moved out and finally accepted me as his little sister and we would hang out together. And now that my dad isn't with us anymore, I see my brother in a different light. I watch him, I listen to him and I can see my dad in him.
Of course growing up I had the fear of Jim and Maureen instilled in me. I'm almost 45, my dad is gone, my mom is 72 and I still have that fear instilled in me. I thank them for it. My mom and dad did the best they could with what they had. Growing up wasn't always a garden full of roses, but with the thorns, we learned to appreciate the beauty of the rose. We may not have had the best clothes, the newest this or that, but we had love. We were taught lessons, we were taught to respect and we were taught to help one another. Oh and the saying, "My mom and dad are going to kill me." well....they don't, they never do. I'm still alive and let's just say I tried them in many, many ways.

And in the end, they are my family. I wouldn't change a single thing about them. I would go to the ends of the earth for them.

I love them with all of my heart and soul.