Walking By Faith

I am not even sure where to start since I have not done a blog entry since April. So, I guess I'll just jump in. As many of you know, on April 29th, my oldest daughter Ellie was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in her brainstem. You can imagine the devastation Pat and I felt after receiving this news about our precious girl, our fist baby. Both of us literally fell to our knees weeping and clutching one another. Never, ever, did we think we would be facing cancer; especially with one of children. Since that day, much has happened to me mentally, physically and certainly spiritually. I have discovered things about myself that I never knew, made friends that I know will last a lifetime and been witness to the amazing works of God through His people. I have never been this close to God; even though I wish this was not happening with Ellie, I feel an overwhelming sense of peace because I know how much He loves me. He'll never let me go.


Ellie is doing wonderful right now. Her determination and spunkiness brings joy to my heart and I am so proud of how she has handled everything she has to go through.She started kindergarten and loves it. I would write more about everything we have been doing with her treatments, but I would like to keep this blog as my creative place. Most of you who know me also know that you can follow Ellie at her own website. I have also added her link on the sidebar. I've added a couple pictures of Ellie from the first day of school.


My middle child, Desirae, started preschool this year. She still seems so little to be going to a "class", but she absolutely loves it and really likes the idea that she gets to go to school like her big sister. That's her in the red dress on the first day of preschool.


Since my last post in April, Pat and I also had a baby boy. Colson Patrick was born on May 27th via C-section and has provided us with hope, laughter and sweetness. He is a gentle reminder of just how precious life truly is.




With all that has been happening, my papercrafting time has been pretty limited. But I did get the chance to go away on a scrappy weekend in August and managed to create a few layouts. Cole provides a fun new avenue for me since I have never scrapped little boy pages before! The two layouts that I have uploaded are of his sweetness as he was brought into this world. The third layout is a picture that my good friend Dawn took of Ellie in 2006 when she was 3 years old. I finally got around to scrapping it! And the final layout is of Desi in all her cuteness. This one was actually done as part of my design team work for Making Memories For You. Unfortunately, I had to leave the design team due to what was happening with Ellie. I am excited to get back into doing some design work for the Scrapdragons challenge blog. Gabi and Laura have some great challenges planned for the remainder of the year so be sure to stop over to Scrapdragons and check it out! As I sign off for tonight, I want to take a moment to thanks all of you for your incredible kindness, words of encouragement, gifts and prayer. The scrapbooking community has reached out to me in a way I never even imagined and I am so fortunate to be part of such a caring group of crafters. Please continue to pray for Ellie and my family - God grants miracles every day; why not one for Ellie? Blessings to you all ~ Niki

April Showers bring May Flowers

I don't know about you all, but I am so ready for the snow to be gone and to see my flowers start popping up. It thas been a long winter! Nothing like doing a few scrapbooking challenges to get me in the spring mood. Below are a few layouts and projects that were all done for Making Memories For You. Some are newer challenges and some a little older, but all very inspiring! As for my blogging, I am way behind! With only 9 weeks until Baby Boy Willaert arrives, I have been quite busy getting ready for him and trying to accomplish all of life's other duties. I so hope to be back and post this week and also get caught up with you all. Have a great week!

Heather at MMFY had a great idea for one of her March challenges. We had to use 10 or more flowers on a layout; now that is for sure a great way to think spring!

Dee's March challenge was to do a layout about a spring activity. My girls love their raincoats and umbrellas! This challenge finally got me to scrap this wonderful photo taken by my good friend Dawn of Dawn Roach Photography. Dawn is also responsible for the lovely photo in the layout above; check out her site - she rocks! I am lucky to have found such a good friend and her pictures are the ultimate bonus!

Another challenge from Dee! We had to use the work "luck" or "lucky" on our layout. All of the supplies used on this layout came from a kit I purchased from Kelly at Keep In Touch. Check out her shoppe - amazing kits and Kelly is wonderful to work with!

This lovely card was inspired by a member at MMFY, Fe-Fe. She is a fabulous card maker and challenged us to use a stamped image on our card, not a word. A total stretch for me since I do not make cards very often!

Caitlin, another member at Making Memories For You, had posted this altered CD challenge early in the year. I loved doing this so much that I had to share! How cool to take some scratched up CDs that the kids ruined and make a fun little wall hanging for their room!

Grand Opening Crop at MMFY!

Hey fellow bloggers and scrapbooking friends - come and hang out next weekend at Making Memories For You for some great scrappy chatter, inspiring challenges and lots of chances to win yummy prizes! Hope to see you there!

I Made The Team!!!

What a fantastic day in my creative world it has been! Today was the day that Frankie posted her new DT over at Making Memories For You and I was chosen! I am super excited and can't wait to start my DT work in April. And it got even better as I kept reading. Remember the "Survivor" contest at MMFY? Turns out I had won that also! All of the creations by members for this contest were just phenomenal and I honestly did not think I would get all the way through to the final round. Check out my layouts and project below. Frankie had us doing everything from altering and using transparencies to scrapping a layout with no pictures. It was wild and tons of fun! I just want to say congrats to all the Survivor contestants - you all rocked these challenges and I hope you had some fun along the way! Come and visit me at MMFY!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!

The sub zero temps in Minnesota are almost too much too take! Today has been the perfect day to stay indoors, play with the kids and have some hot chocolate. I am so anxious for spring and warm weather to get here! I have been keeping crafty with lots of scrapbooking challenges. My life is so fu1l of scrappy layouts, contests and challenges right now and it has been fantastic! Below are some of my challenge layouts; the first two were created for Scrappin' Mojo and the second two for Making Memories For You. I am also participating in a 4 week challenge at MMFY; the Survivor Challenge! This has been a blast and I have made it to round 4! Once the contest is over or my torch is put out, I will post my creations - so stay tuned & wish me luck! Feel free to check the site out and see all the buzz!

Scrappin' Mojo is hosting an Iron Chef Contest and I am busily trying to complete round 1 for that as well! This is another 4 week contest and we were sent a package of secret ingredients to use on our projects. Tons of fun! Hope you are all staying warm and keeping healthy!

So Excited!!

What a week it has been! First I just want to share a little toot for myself. I am super excited to have some of my work published in a new ezine, Magazine of Memories! Go check out this awesome ezine that is chock full of ideas and inspiration. You can find the link on the right hand side of my blog under "places I like to visit." You will love it! Frankie from Making Memories For You has outdone herself with this and it shows. Looks fantastic Frankie, and I thank you for using a few of my layouts and projects! Below I have a couple fun Valentine decorations that are ready to display for February. And a couple more layouts too. Happy Sweethearts month!!

More Layouts

Here's a few more layouts I did from last week. My layout a day goal got interrupted with the kids being sick and just life getting in the way of my creative time. I really like this creative journal. I love being able to jot all my thoughts and sketches down in one spot to refer to later. This week I am working on some fun Valentine's Day projects. Hope to post those next week.
It is freezing cold in Minnesota! Zero degrees today. Stay Warm!

Gettin' Scrappy

I've been doing lots of layouts these days! For the month of January, I am trying to create a layout a day to get a jump start on my caftiness for 2008. Here's a few that I squeaked out this past week. I just love the Making Memories Noteworthy line ~ fun stuff! Anbody else on a stash diet?? I am trying to use up as much stuff as I can to make room for the new CHA releases!