Merry Christmas to you and yours.

With my belly full of pie, turkey and stuffing, Im already feeling the push to pack up Thanksgiving holiday and celebrate Christmas.  Part of me wants to scream to the world, slow down. lets savor the thanksgiving season just a bit longer.. Our stores, tv and media wont stand for that because they lose money. Then I look at this pic of my grandson, so full of wonder and enjoying the season.  This is my adorable grandson Kason during last christmas 2009. 

I dont know about you, but i used to look forward to the holidays like a kid at christmas morning. Maybe because Im getting older, but it seems the holidays turn into one big drive through fast food moment. Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, !!! We rush around making the season appear  nostalgic and cozy. It seems we are so busy making things appear joyous,  but are we Joyous???  Joy cannot be created with strings and strings of lights, wishlists or shiny ribbons and bobbles on the tree. If that were true, why are so many people depressed during the holidays? I"m not saying we shouldnt be festive and partake of the holiday traditons,  but its important to look at what your doing on your list and ask yourself if it stresses you, why do you do it? Are you adding things to your to do list only because they were tradtions from your past. If you dont love them, do something different that you enjoy.  Make your own tradtions... I know Im guilty of: lets hurry and run through the holiday checklist..Lights, baking, shopping..check, check, check!!! We as a society have busied ourselves right out of enjoying the simple pleasures of holiday. Thats why I love this picture so much. Kason is full of wonder, and curiosity and amazed by simple beauty of the christmas season. Yes, I will probably stress and worry about things that shouldnt matter during this holiday. As I work on holiday crafts, making the cards, I will try to remember that these are the simple joys to enjoy... 

Have we been in such a hurry that we have taken the enjoymnent out of JOY???  So I encourage you to slow down and savor the birthday of our Savior. After all, isnt it really his day? The best birthday gift we could give Jesus is to love our father in heaven, be loving and kind and thoughtful to each other and to savor the things that mean alot to you and your family.  For me, I cherish time with the family doing crafts or baking and singing christmas songs, snuggling up with the family and watching every sappy Christmas movie.

Have a blessed Christmas...
Lana B.

losing your mojo-finding it and balance...

For the past year I have been in a Scrapping slump up until recently. I secretly feared it would never return. I would gaze at my scrappy space and the goodies it contained and feel frustrated because no matter what, I didnt feel inspired. I lost my Mojo... where did it go? I looked high and low, under beds, in closets, and called out to it..but I thought it had ran off. Then I realised that I developed a case of gotta do it all or nothing attitude. Otherwise known as a perfectionist attitude.  I kept waiting for the perfect inspiration, waiting to feel inspired.... thats like waiting to go on a diet- why wait, just get in there and do it...Right? Easier said than done. Another issue I have is trying to do too much at once. I really need to work on balance. My problem is whatever I throw myself into whole heartedly, something else falls to the wayside. I think alot of us are like that. One month I may be in a gardening frenzy, then home fix up, school, volunteer work, grandkids, family and working out at the gym. I thought of making a schedule so that I find time to do all the things I need to do, things I love to do and balance it with taking care of myself and family. I havent set the schedule up yet because realistically it would have to be flexible. 



My daughter Amber on the land thats been in the family for so long. She is a
country girl at heart.. taken in wickliffe, Ky.



My uncle Morris and Aunt Pat. Uncle Morris was told he didnt have long to live. that was over a year ago. Today he is still living life to its fullest enjoying each moment and we are all praising the Lord that he is doing as well as he is. He is a walking testimony of the Power of Prayer.

This is my daughter Erica, trying on her great grandmother Ruth's hats.

Recently, I had an opportunity to do an online crop. Doing this really helped me find inspiration and my mojo. Once I began, little by little I felt my Mojo return home to me. Like with excercise or diet, you just gotta start a little at a time til it becomes a routine of taking care of responsiblities, then myself; (aka: working out), then playtime for me... taking care of responsibilities first; cleans the mind of negative guilty stress we all put on ourselves, taking care of myself, through workouts and prayer, helps to relieve stress and create endorphins which also help mood and positive feelings. taking care of my playtime whether it be in the garden, working on a craft or scrapbook page, or fixin up the house, these are the things that renew us and keep our minds active and fresh. So the key is balancing all these things to keep your mojo flowing. So next time your mojo has vanished- maybe check to see if your overloaded in one area or another... see if you can harmonize all these things.

More Halloween Layouts.

the Halloween 2000 is a layout makeover.. when I first started back in 97, I only had a few supplies and limited know how. I botched many of the layouts using those edge scissors on the pics with no templates to keep my shapes clean. so here is my son Collin in a homemade  costume.

this is another layout makeover. I had to redo it because I botched it as a beginner with those edge scissors and sticker spatterings.  This pic is one that my girls Holly and Amber never let me forget. They remember this Halloween as the year of the boxes. I thought it was very creative of me to design amber as a tv set and Holly as a "Jack in the box". A year later they became a pair of dice, which I dont have a pic for that year unfortunately.

this is a Layout of my daughter Holly the year after she graduated. She dressed as a princess and kissed Zachary my grandson the mummy.  sorry the layout is a bit washed out. I took it with my phone.

thriving in holiday chaos.

I don't know what it is about the holidays but it seems that the holiday as crazy as they get inspire me to do more and create more. I guess I don't function well with simple and laid back.  Currently I have been working hard to finish up all 7 kids Halloween albums. I have been re-doing old layouts that were botched by my beginner hands 10 years ago. Normally I leave old layouts alone no matter how awful they look but when the pics are so precious, they deserve to have a makeover.

with thanksgiving approaching, holiday decorating, and the urge to finish Christmas cards, I know that my scrappy room will look like a crazed scrapper got hold of it. I know somehow the chaos of holidays will fuel my mojo into creating some fun in the scrappy room. Hopefully I will get a chance to post some of what I am up to...