Encyclopedia of Your Ordinary Life - A

A few years ago I had the opportunity to complete this extraordinary scrapbook album designed by CathyZ and based on the book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Rosenthal. While I still haven't read the book, I love the concept of this album - a random sampling of those ordinary facts about your life [my life.] The homework involves keeping a list, A to Z, of random memories for several weeks and then gathering photos [or not] to support these memories. Love it. The album is really very simple [a la Cathy Z] and easy to put together with only two square photos per page and two to four 'definitions.' Have I said I love this album? And I want to share some of my life with you so I've committed to do just that in 2009 [keep in mind this was completed during the summer of 2007.] I'm going backwards and today I present: A

ARTIST

Could I be? I love paper products, paint, photography, and all things crafty. And I enjoy pulling it all together to create a little joy in life. I took art lessons very briefly as a child [so glad to give up piano lessons] and I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure why I didn’t continue. Then I took a basic art class in college and ended up dropping it because I was so confused by the lingo the teacher used. There are times I wish I’d stayed with it and learned some basic design concepts, so I’ve enjoyed learning about and applying these techniques to my scrapbook layouts. I think I might be artsy, but an ARTIST, I’m not so sure…

AUBURN

The University that both our boys plan to attend [Drew as a transfer student in the Fall of ’07, and Matt as a freshman in the Fall of ’08.] Auburn is located in South Alabama and is about 3 ½ hours from our home. They have a wonderful engineering school that both boys and their friends are interested in attending. So happy we secured an apartment directly across the street! This is where my money, but more importantly, MY HEART , will be for the next five or six years. …War Eagle!

AESOP’S FABLES

Stories told by Aesop, a cleaver Greek slave who made animals talk and act like human beings, “to point a moral without hurting anybody’s feelings.” This was one of our favorite books when we were young. On hot summer days we would take it to the side porch and Lorna would ‘direct’ us as we acted out the different stories. Favorites were: “Country Mouse – City Mouse” [Crusts eaten in peace are better than cake eaten in fear,] and “The Eagle and the Crow” [Know yourself! Do not undertake more than you are able.]

We got the Christmas

decorations out last night - just a couple of photos to share:

Choice

Peace of mind & happiness go hand in hand.
"Peaceful" does not mean 'passive;'
it involves highly conscious choices that help you
grow in self-confidence & maturity.
Make three choices that will support a more peaceful way of living.
Write them down.
Talk about them.
Live them.

Once a Month [old stuff] Giveaway!

Okay - so I [still] have bunch of stuff that needs to GO -
and I'm really tired of seeing the OMG abbreviation everywhere
[I try hard to make my mind read 'oh my goodness!]
so am hoping that we might also come to think of it as
'Once a Month [old stuff] Giveaway!
I plan to randomly draw a name from the comments on this post
and send that person a little bag of goodies that hopefully they can use
[new to them and all, you know...]

It's been a full and happy month for us - with lots of posts - just browse through the blog and leave a comment about your favorite post from NOVEMBER.

Comments will close on Thursday night at midnight [central.]

Annnnnnddddd – here are the winners from last month!

For the “Where in the World” have we been: Anita Holden

[We were in Gatlinburg - and Pigeon Forge is pretty close, wouldn't you say?]

For October’s OMGiveaway – Rosalee

Send your mailing addresses to me [ Judy@faithbasedpages.com ]

and I’ll get a little package of ‘old-stuff’ giveaways in the mail to you!

Encyclopedia of Your Ordinary Life - B

Edited: Wow - wow- wow - can we be up to "b" already?
I remember pre-posting all of my EOYOL way back in January when I was working out of town more than I was home and it seemed so tedious and far away
- and it has been,
and I'm happy about that
- that I haven't rushed the year
- that I've taken the time to enjoy The Moments.
As we move fully into the holiday season, I hope to
remind myself to
slow down and
enjoy.
I hope you do too -

A few years ago I had the opportunity to complete this extraordinary scrapbook album designed by CathyZ and based on the book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Rosenthal. While I still haven't read the book, I love the concept of this album - a random sampling of those ordinary facts about your life [my life.] The homework involves keeping a list, A to Z, of random memories for several weeks and then gathering photos [or not] to support these memories. Love it. The album is really very simple [a la Cathy Z] and easy to put together with only two square photos per page and two to four 'definitions.' Have I said I love this album? And I want to share some of my life with you so I've committed to do just that in 2009 [keep in mind this was completed during the summer of 2007.] I'm going backwards and today I present:B

BEST FRIEND
Without a doubt – Craig is my absolute BEST FRIEND. I love him, and him alone. Without him I am incomplete. He is the one I hoped for and longed for and I am so happy to have him go through this journey of life by my side! I tell him everything and so much more than I tell any girlfriend I have. He knows all there is to know about me and still loves me completely. I am blessed.

BOOKS
My love of books and reading definitely is a tribute to our Mom. I remember she always received “Reader’s Digest Condensed” books in the mail and she signed us up for book clubs too! One of my earliest memories is going to the library each week to check out books. My favorites were: Toby Tyler, Henry Huggins, The Bobbsy Twins, and Tough Enough. And later, when the grandsons visited, they looked forward to this little outing too!

BLACKBERRY
Jam, hot, on buttered biscuits. A special treat for a cold winter morning. Every summer mom and some of our aunts would go pick blackberries near Aunt Billie’s place [by the spring.] We weren’t allowed to go because of snakes. After washing them they were home-canned in quart jars and saved for winter. Recipe: I part blackberries to 3 parts sugar; cook over medium heat until thick and syrupy. Spoon over one of Mama’s delicious buttered biscuits.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so many things to be thankful for - this year and always. I'll post photos from the day later on... until then, take a look back to last year's faith based pages layout using a favorite photo of mine - some of my cousins gathered around the table with my aunt - so sweet!

This year we had my family here at our house [last weekend] and cooked FISH - don't you think the Pilgrims had their fair share of fish at the first Thanksgiving? It was yummy since Craig always does such an excellent job frying it up! And we'll be with Craig's family on Saturday so we had our own little family here today.

I prepared everything last night while the kids had friends over to play cards and games - and then just baked and heated it all up this morning. We had turkey, Aunt Betty's Dressing [recipe follows], green bean casserole, veg-all casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce [of course!], rolls, and pumpkin roll for dessert.
It was nice to gather around the table to share... so here are some photos:

goofing off while I set-up the camera-
Ready to dig in -

gathered 'round the table

And the last photo is of my absolute LAST HARVEST - yes! I met my goal and picked a ripe tomato on Thanksgiving Day! Yay! After lunch I went out and cleaned the garden out... now I'm pondering the possibility of planting turnip greens ...
Hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving Day as well!

And now to Aunt Betty's Dressing

Prepare ahead of time:
3 boiled eggs
1 pan of cornbread
-------------------------------

Cook: 1 lb. sausage [mild] - crumble as it cooks
Add: 1 large onion, chopped
a couple of stalks celery, chopped [or a couple of teaspoons celery seed
Cook until all is tender and remove from heat -
Add: 1 quart chicken broth
1 package chicken flavored stove top stuffing
crumbled cornbread
chopped boiled eggs
Add more chicken broth if needed to make moist dressing.
Put into rectangle pan and bake at 350* until warm.
Enjoy!
Note: boiled chicken can be added before baking...

Cookie of the Month

It’s thanksgiving, the boys are home, we’re celebrating a birthday, and our house is filled with lots of good meals and treats [pecan pies, apple pie, brownies, ice cream, apple dumplings, pumpkin roll, etc.] I’m cooking turkey and dressing with all the trimmings [probably only the second time I’ve done this in my life!] so while I'd hoped to make the Cookie of the Month from scratch this month -- I’m all about simplifying things for now – and keeping with that theme – here’s the cookie of the month –
Pillsbury REady to bake Cookies

http://www.pillsbury.com/products/sweet-treats/Refrigerated/readytobake.htm

- Just keepin' it real folks. And these are really delicious! ANyone can bake up a few in no time flat! Enjoy!!

Gratitude

What am I thankful for? This man –

he makes my life feel so complete – without him

I’d be floundering around on my own.

Oh, I could say so – so much more –

but I hope he knows how much I love him

and how very thankful I am that he is the love of my life…
Happy Birthday Sweetie-pie!

Altered Art

Something fun I've been playing around with -
an old printer drawer and some of my favorite photos.

I need suggestions on what to put in a few of the other spaces

- I don't want to fill it up completely -


And also a little autmun goodness as I watched a red-headed woodpecker
out my window this morning
- always makes me remember how
I saved and saved cereal box tops
to get a little plastic woodie woodpecker door knocker
only to have it melt in the sun...
Happy fall Y'all!

Change is a comin'

In this ever-evolving journey of faith I walk I’m taking a step in a new [but not so different] direction with Faith Based Pages. You see, I really believe it’s a path that God is leading, and while I may take a few missteps along the way, I pray that He uses FBP to touch those who need Him [in whatever way He sees best.]

First, a little walk down memory lane – back in 2005 I was facing the first stages of the empty nest and had a little more time on my hands [as well as few more bills, called college expenses, on my brain.] Our high schooler still at home was getting pre-tty tired of mom standing in the door of the play room just LOOKING at him [and treasuring the time he was till with us here at home.] It was then I was searching and asking the Lord for guidance – what to do with my time and maybe, perhaps, make a little mullah on the side too?

And Faith Based Pages was born – a little monthly kit company, that was, ironically, faith based. Ha. It was fun to pull together kits with my own quirky color combinations, but it was oh so much more rewarding to introduce some for the first time to the idea of putting THEIR faith on their scrapbook pages. We traveled to shows from New Orleans to St. Paul that year as I taught class after class, and we [the students and I] shared our hearts. I was more convinced than ever that we need to share together as we put our faith on our pages. As a result the Yahoo group was formed – and what a blessing it’s been to me as we’ve grown and shared together. Crafters with our minds focused on Christ -- and while we may not always – always put faith on every single page, we do strive to live our lives for Him.

Then as 2007 was coming into view DH & I felt the Lord saying, ‘slow down, take some time, consider stopping the kits as I lead in a different direction.’ So we did slow down, maybe did two shows that year, stayed close to home, and realized, oh how the Lord prepares our way – bc that was the year my parents were so very ill and I needed to be close by to help [I can’t EVEN imagine how CrAzY I would’ve been if I was also doing classes and kitting up for those – and life was pretty cRaZy already during that time.] The blog was started and we continued the kit company, all the while, thinking, maybe we should have stopped. December 2008 was our last regular monthly kit. [Past kits are still available here – for each one ordered we’ll throw in one of our choice free.] After that I was in a waiting period – Fully in the empty nest, and finding myself with even more time – but also finding that that time was quickly filling up with Bible Study, friends, gardening, my love of photography, reading, and crafting and quality time with my sweetie pie.

It was then I felt the Lord leading me to do some free on-line Faith Based Pages classes and another Yahoo group was started just this year. It’s small, with only a few regularly posting as participating in our ‘classes’, but I know others are reading, and my prayer is that the Lord is using our efforts to touch just the right one in just the way He knows is needed. It’s a blessing to me to pull some Faith Based Pages ideas from the books I read and share with others. And I loved having Kim do a class as well [look for more from her in the future!]

Now, back to the blog – through the last couple of years I’ve tried to make it a balance of sharing my life, my journey of faith, my scrapbooking, and my hobbies [gardening, photography, scrapbooking, and other crafts.] I’ve made the occasional effort to share Faith Based Pages, sometimes with step-by-step instructions…this year I’ve seen changes in the internet world as participation in yahoo groups is waning and more and more people are into blogs and even facebook [yes! Me too.] and I’m feeling led to include Faith Based Pages more regularly on the ole blog – meaning I have to make the effort to listen to God’s voice in leading me so that I post what I feel He wants – and not just my own ramblings.

So in 2010 I plan to put a Faith Based Pages Challenge on once a month [probably around the 15^th] – I really hope we’ll have some people participate as 1] there’ll be a WHOLE MONTH to completed the challenge – and 2] there’ll be a little prize given [randomly] to one of those who share their projects, and 3] I JUST LOVE to see how different ones interpret my ideas [REALLY – REALLY love this!!] I’m looking forward to it – and think it will be a challenge for me as well! The free classes will continue on the FBP Classes Yahoo Group and the FBP Yahoo Group will also continue [maybe we can talk a little about the monthly challenges and how we interpret the faith theme, as well as how we tweak them differently?]

All this to introduce the Monthly FBP Challenge concept – and, it’s starting THIS month Now, in fact! This month's challenge is all about thanking those we love - it's inspired by that Hallmark commercial seen all over TV and the concept of handmade cards in the Scrap, Etc. Magazine [Nov. 09] Remember, if you participate, you need to let me know where to find your work - either by leaving a comment here on the blog or posting on the FBP Yahoo Group [not classes.]

Deadline is December 15th. Here we go:

Theme: Thanksgiving Blessings - cards

[Scrap lift from Scrapbooks Etc. Nov / Dec 2009, p.32+]

Create three - four cards to send to others for Thanksgiving

Must include: Thanksgiving embellishments, brown cardstock, paint and

Scripture: “May the Lord bless thee, and keep thee: may the Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.” Numbers 6: 24-25 [or one of your choice.]

Some Saturday Fun

I took a little trip down to Carrollton, Georgia
[-really not THAT far from home, a little less than 3 hours drive]
to a fun little scrapbook store, called Sweet Memories, with an awesome crop and class room. Debby Schuh [one of THE BEST designer / teachers in the biz]
was there teaching several classes and I was thrilled to take
the 3 hour class doing a Canvas Christmas Album -[photo from Debby Schuh]
It was fun to meet my friend Becky [we met --and were secret sisters at CKU -07] to scrap together - she's SUCH a talented artist [you can see some of her art here - we've already bought a beautiful charcoal and pencil drawing that I'll share with you sometime next month] and get to know her better and it was neat to see Aileen, whom I met at CKU-09. And of course it was so fun to spend some time with Debby - the little pockets and flips she puts in her albums are always so fun - and she's such a sweet person to share with -
- I LOVE THIS ALBUM!
[It's from Donna Downey's canvas line]

I plan to use it for my Daily December Album and
supplemented it with a few acrylic pages that I actually had cut at Lowes this afternoon
from a piece of 18x24 [for $6.00] So fun! I'm setting it aside for now and will work on each page throughout the month as I add photos and memorabilia from the Christmas season.
Until then, let's celebrate all we have to be thankful for -

So happy to have you here!

Today's focus is on friendship and I am so blessed to have many God-given friends in my life.
I hope you do too!
I remember going on a mission trip [way out West] when we were young and without children... we were the youngest on this trip and the "older" women
[probably younger than I am now - ha!]
were talking about having good [women] friends in our lives.
I admitted I didn't have any close friends in the city where we lived
[we'd moved for my husband to attend college.]
And they immediately prayed for me - [I can feel the Spirit as I write this]
and asked the Lord to give me some good close women friends.
And He blessed me with that request.
Since that day, I haven't been afraid to make that same request over and over again
as we moved from place to place.
And God blesses.
Right now I'm praying for those who read this and asking our Lord to bless you with good, strong, trustworthy friends like these pictured in my layout - good friends for over twenty years - friends we can share our hearts and hurts with;
friends who pick each other up when we fall.
Here's the next link on the blog hop

Penny Smith

www.artfullyembellished.blogspot.com
Need a Challenge?
www.thestorymatters.blogspot.com

I apologize for the late post on this i didn't get the link until Saturday evening since I was out of town Friday evening and all day Saturday -
For a complete list of blogs participating go h ere
http://www.ilovepapercrafting.blogspot.com