It's been a while - LOL!

One of these days I will get better at updating my blog on a weekly basis. Not sure why I get so distracted and don't get it done! Thankfully so many of you are better at it than I am because I get to hop all over blog land and ooooohhhhh and aaaaahhhhh over all of your FAB-U-LOUS creations! Fall is such an awesome season for crafting, don't ya think? It just gets you motivated to create with all the beautiful colors and the crisp cool air that brings about the hint that winter is on it's way. I was busy in September with a wonderful kit from Back Porch Memories. I had a blast being on their guest DT for September. This kit was packed with goodies from Pink Paislee, My Mind's Eye and SEI. Lot's of yummy colors to mix and match! Below are a couple of my layouts from the kit. I love the first one with my girls and the second one is my little guy Colson. As October rolled around, I was asked fill a guest DT spot at Scrappin' Mojo, my home base scrappy forum. The paper I was blessed to work with were from Paper Trunk - loved this paper!
They sent so much, that I still have sheets left over. The "Wrangler" line was perfect for some projects for Cole. I made this simple little name banner to hang in his room and a couple layouts:

This is my fave layout using the Paper Trunk papers from the "Socialite" line. The picture was taken just 5 days before Ellie died; she did everything with grace and always had a smile on her face. Love how her and Desi are holding each other in this photo.

Another fave - Ellie and baby Colson. I wrote a note to Cole on this one:

Each day for me continues to bring it's own set of grief struggles and at times it can be very hard to move forward because I am constantly thinking about Ellie. I have never wanted to get to Heaven so badly - it is difficult to think that it could be 40 years or more before I get to hold her in my arms again. She keeps me motivated with my creativity, however. She was my crafty partner and when I am working a project, I can almost feel her next to me asking how she can help. Recently Desi and I organized my Clip-It-Up. I could not help but shed some tears because Ellie helped me put it together and get all the little clips on there. We spent about an hour and a half arranging it a couple years back. It's those little memories that get the best of me and cause a mini breakdown. God, do I miss my little girl.

Thanks for looking my sweet blog friends and I will be back tomorrow with some exciting news to share! Until then - be blessed!

XOXO ~ Nik

New Look and a Guest DT Spot!

Ok, so I was not very good about getting back to blog after our little vaca to Colorado! LOL! Sorry about that - the rest of July and most of August has been so busy as I am sure most of you can relate. We had a fantastic, relaxing time and here are a few pics for you. This is the gorgeous Rockie Mountains - beautiful. For those of you that have been there you know what I mean!. The pictures just do not do this country justice. We saw all kinds of wildlife in the mountains. Including this fella, a large, and I mean LARGE moose! We were fishing on one of the streams in the mountians and this guy and a friendjust passed us by. A little scary for us, but glad I got some great pics!

We did lots of fishing and more fishing! I cannot belive the size of the trout in the Colorado River. Of course, this picture of me and the little fishy at the end of my line is not what I am talking about, but this was the only pic Pat took of me fishing. We grilled lots of yummy food; here's a picture of the steak kabobs we grilled at the fishing hole one night:

And here is my sweetie pie by a gorgeous waterfall we found as we did some hiking one day. Love his big smile; this trip is just what he needed!

On to scrappy news! I am thrilled to be the guest designer for Back Porch Memories in September! If you have not been over to their site, please go check it out. They have awesome kits at a very resonable price and a wonderful forum full of sweet and talented ladies that I know will inspire you. I have been a lurker on their site for almost a year and decided to enter the contest. So excited to have won! Also visit the gallery to check out the great entries; each was fabulous and very creative. Below is my entry; little Miss Ellie playing T-Ball. Finally got these pics scrapped after two years! LOL!

I have also been playing around with my Webster's Pages papers thatI simply adore. Here is a layout I did for an online crop challenge over at Scrappin' Mojo a couple weeks ago. Thanks Sophia for an awesome challenge and to Jan and Terri for having such a fun scrapbook community to be a part of. I LOVE these girls! This layout of Colson seemed to take me forever, but I am happy with the results. Sophia wanted us to use stitching and an envelope on the layout and here is what I came up with:
And you will notice that I finally have changed my background and header on my blog. It has been in need for some time now! Thanks to Deb at Sparkling Scrapbooks, I found a great little blog that has the cutest blog designs. Go check out Cute and Cool Blog stuff to get your own. She also does custom work too. I am loving the new look just need to add a few more details. Hope you all had a great weekend and I am hoping to be back tomorrow to share a couple designs from a fun kit that I recently received. Until then, be blessed! XOXO ~ Nik

Off to Colorado and a little TOOT!

Well, Pat and I are packed and are headed out to the mountains of Colorado until July 18th. We are so blessed to be given this trip by a friend of ours and are really looking forward to spending some much needed time with each other and just relaxing. I am hoping that Ellie makes it known that she is with us in the mountains - God, do we miss her.

For the first time ever, I have a little toot to share! Today I got an email from Memory Makers saying that they are featuring my American Classic layout in the online gallery as the featured layout! I am thrilled as I have not been submitting any work for months and just started to again. Go check it out at Memory Makers - woo, hoo!

Please pray that we have safe travels and the Lord continues to heal our broken hearts. I'll be back to blog on the 20th!
XOXO ~ Nik

Another Monday

Are Mondays hard for you? They are for me. Even though I am a stay-at-home mom and I do not have to head to work outside of the home, Mondays have always been a challenge for me. I am hoping someday I can embrace them as a new start to the week and jump out of bed ready to tackle everything. But for now, I still have trouble with Monday. Hope you all had a great 4th of July and were able to capture lots of memories with your cameras. I am relying on my niece Lindsey for my pictures since I just didn't seem to pull the camera out this weekend. I know she got some great shots of Cole and Desi and I can't wait to see her talented eye got on film. Lindsey is only 18 and she is so gifted when it comes to taking pictures! Below is a layout of Cole that I did using one of her photographs. Pretty good for just a kid, huh?


So I was thinking I need to do some updating on my blog. A new banner, new profile pictures, etc. Any ideas for me fellow bloggers?? I feel like I have not updated very much since all that has happened with Ellie and I just need a little blog facelift, KWIM? And if you got some suggestions for me send them my way. There just might be a little RAK involved if I pick your idea! Wink - wink!

Speaking of RAKs, my pal Pinky has a great little giveaway today, Head on over to her blog and post a comment. She needs 40 comments to give this RAK away so go and give her some lovin' on her blog. Enjoy your day all and I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more layouts that I have been working on! XOXO ~ Nik