8 Candles

 Today 8 candles burn brightly in a window on a cold, windy Minnesota day. A reminder of a life that began and ended too early, but cast a ray of sunshine upon any who stepped onto her path...

Today a little brother savors a brownie for breakfast in honor of his big sister; his big blue eyes a beautiful reminder of her....

Today a little sister dresses head to toe in her sister's clothes so that she may be as close to her as posssible. She writes notes and draws rainbow hearts in an effort to send her love up to Heaven....

Today a treasured dollie sits upon a shelf dressed in blue and waiting to be held and played with again...

Today signs of spring emerge and we are reminded of becoming new again; love is born and rises....

Today a little girl dreams in fields of yellow flowers with Jesus...

Today a head full of strawberry colored tresses smiles her heart out and skips along the hills of Heaven...

Today in Heaven blue eyes twinkle brightly and dance with each giggle...

Today a Mama remembers the moments a baby girl came into her life

 and made her a mother for the first time...

Today a Daddy's arms long to be filled with a little girl's hug

as he remembers holding her through thick and thin....

Happy 8th Birthday Ellie Rose! I hope you can hear us celebrating here on earth as we remember you with laughs, tears, Johnny Cash songs and root beer floats. Our hearts are heavy, but joyful as we know that one day, one glorious day, we will all be together again. Love you, sweet pea.

"I thank my God everytime I remember you." Philippians 1:3

XOXO, Mama

Happy Sweethearts Day!

Just a quick little post before I head out the door. Had to come and wish you all a Happy, Happy Valentine's Day! And I had to share these gorgeous roses that my sweet pea Ellie sent to me. Breathtakingly gorgeous, don't you agree?

I am quite sure that Heaven is overflowing with beauty this very moment.... 

                                           

Miss you like crazy Ellie Belle. Spread some love today; give a hug, a smile, a kiss, a kind gesture. You never know who's heart you could touch.

XOXO, Nik

February Loves

Ahhh, the love month. What could be better than an entire day devoted to hearts, chocolate and sweet nothings? Each month brings a new beginning, a new chapter. How lucky we are to have a fresh start each and every day. Makes my heart all warm and toasty inside...

 What makes your heart skip a beat? What simple little love do you indulge in? Is it a someone? A something? A taste? A smell? Breathing in all each day has to bring us can sometimes be difficult, but so so necessary to sustain happiness. Joy is abundant.

 I love pretty romantic Valentine paper. Every January after all the Christmas things have been placed away, I swoon over all the pinks, reds and hearts that make their way to shops for us to enjoy for such a short time. I am always utterly amazed at how pretty paper can be. This year my favorite is the Echo Park "Be Mine" collection. Hot pink, vintage cream, black, soft pinks and grays all mixed together with a Paris theme - be still my swelling heart! The "Be Mine" collection simply exudes romance.

The possibilities are endless of the pretties you can create. I opted to decorate some little heart boxes and embellish them with paper flowers, another love of mine. Using the Tim Holtz "Tattered Florals" die I cut out several flowers, inked and lightly distressed them. I stacked them atop each other and used a toothpick and pencil to curl the edges. Just adore making paper flowers - a total addiction.

Can't wait to fill these up with some sweets for some very special people. Hope they will cherish these little treasures as much as I cherish them.

Ever spend a day doing something you love and basking in glow of it? That was me last week. I love the look of tea stained tags, fabric, lace, papers. The aroma that fills the house after a few hours of hand dyeing all sorts of things with tea is delicious.

Oh the thrill of opening the oven after 20 minutes on a low setting to see that worn, caramel looking color wash over what was once very plain parcel tags! So yummy...

I think I spent almost 3 hours tea dyeing all sorts of things and then another hour or two creating some little pretties for my Etsy shop. I have not been the best at adding items, but that is changing. You will find these there...

And these too. I love tags, don't you? the perfect compliment to any package is a sweet little handmade tag. Almost makes the packaging better than the gift itself. The little house and scalloped circle were made using the "Love Lives Here" dies from PaperTrey Ink. These dies have stamps to match and they were inspired by one of my favorite designers, Melissa Phillips. Aren't they sweet? Again, endless possibilities.

That's all for today my friends. Seek out your passions today and May your little hearts be filled with gladness, hope, faith and most of all LOVE.

XOXO, Nik

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Oh how I love this time of year! Everything is so festive and decked out in holiday beauty. I so hope you are all taking some time here and there to be creative and let the season inspire you. I am trying to do that too. My studio is covered in Christmas scrapbook paper, glitter, snowflakes and all sorts of holiday pretties just waiting to be tinkered with. So much to do and never, ever enough crafty time...

I mentioned my excitement about the Teresa Collins design team in my last post. Unfortunately, I did not make the DT, but I sure had fun playing with her products and submitting. It has been a long time since I submitted for a design team and I love the challenge it brings - always an inspiration for me. If you have not already, please visit Teresa's Blog and take a peek at her new DT - they are fabulous. Congratulations ladies! I thought I would post my entries for all of you since they are perfect for the season. My first project is a little wall hanging featuring Cole in a Santa hat. This picture was taken last year by my photographer friend Dawn and I actually used it on our Christmas cards. I wanted an airy light look to the picture, so I edited in photoshop and then printed it on some resume paper instead of photo paper. For all of my projects I used the NOEL line. I had mentioned in a previous post how pretty and classy this line is - love it!



The holly paper was so pretty in its most simple state. I hand cut some of the holly leaves and edged them with silver glitter. This paper is so pretty and has such a heavy weight to it that it stands up to all sorts of distressing, crinkling, twisting and rolling. For the small rosette-type paper flower, I simply took a thin strip of paper and twisted it around a pencil. A small dab of hot glue secures the ends.

Some time ago, fellow blogger Cristal aka Pinky posted a tutorial on the Helmar blog on how to make these adorable paper bows. Remembering just how cute these were, I took her lead and fashioned my own paper bow for the top of this piece. So fun to hang this up in Colson's room and bring a little bit of Christmas cheer into his sweet little life.

I also submitted this little round box topped with some paper trees, fluff, and the "Naughty or Nice" sentiment. The vintage image is from Lisa's Altered Art. Please pay her site a visit - she has the cutest collage sheets for every occassion. I loved how this little girl is trying to be so sneaky...

And a close up of my simple paper flower with wound ribbon in the center:

I used the ribbon from the NOEL line and cut it into two inch pieces. Then I looped it and secured it with hot glue to form a "fringe" around the box lid. All in all, it turned out so cute and made the perfect gift for my friend Jen. Hope you liked it, sweets! Remember, Santa is making a list and checkin' it twice...

My final entry was the card I had posted a few weeks ago. Thank you to Teresa Collins for the awesome opportunity to submit! I for one am looking forward to seeing what the new team has in store for all of us. I will leave you with a few Christmas cards I whipped up after digging into my holiday stash. Amazing how many Christmas papers I have. Some of these are a few years old and it was fun to revisit them again and use up some scraps.

Kids are gettin' antzy and ready for dinner. That's all for tonight!
XOXO
-Nik