Beyond the Sesa

Our family loves jazz. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald will always put a little spring in our step. I chose "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin as my music inspiration for this photo. Being a Navy family it always speaks to me of the sweetness of a homecoming after a long deployment.

"Somewhere Beyond the Sea" layout supplies:

Glitz Design "Black & White" papers: Floral, Wood Grain, XO

Glitz Design "Black & White" 6x6 paper pad

Glitz Design "Black & White" Alphabets & Words sticker sheet

Glitz Design "Black & White" Titles & Accents sticker sheet

Glitz Design "Black & White" Whatnots

Glitz Design "Black & White" Giant Rhinestones

Glitz Design "Black & White" washi tape - Dots

other: sequins, tulle, doily, vellum, lace

Dapper Dan Blog Hop & Giveaway

Welcome to  Glitz Design August "Dapper Dan" Blog Hop! This month we are featuring one of the brand new releases from Glitz,"Dapper Dan". This hip, modern masculine line is fun for featuring your main man or changing your color scheme up for fall.

As always, leave one comment here and one on each of the stops along the blog hop for a chance to win a "Dapper Dan" prize pack! The winner will be chosen at random from one of the blogs on the hop and announced on Sunday (09.01.13) on the Glitz Blog.

"I'm With Awesome" Supplies:

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Chevron paper

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" 6x6 Paper Pad

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Bits & Pieces

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Alphas & Words Sticker Sheet

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Washi Tape - Arrows

Glitz Design "Uncharted Waters" Washi Tape - Happiness

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Rubber Stamps

Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Giant Rhinestones

other supplies: canvas (Punky Sprouts), wood word (Freckled Fawn), mist (Studio Calico), ink (Stampin' Up), font: Garamond

Don't forget to leave only one comment per blog for a chance to win the Glitz Prize Pack. The winner will be posted on the Glitz Blog Sunday afternoon. Good luck!

Official Blog Hop order:

Jaime Warren – http://jaimewarren.typepad.com/
Karine Cazenave – http://karinecazenave.typepad.com/
Lea Lawson – http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/
Leica Forrest – http://www.10-4livingoutloud.typepad.com/
Lisa Andrews – http://lisaandrews.blogspot.com/
Magda Mizera – http://www.magdamizera.blogspot.com/
Marie Ramirez – http://www.absosweetmarie.blogspot.com/
Mou Saha – http://collagecollagecollage.blogspot.com/
Nina Ostermann - http://ninasblog-scrapmama.blogspot.com/
You are here: Noel Culbertson – http://paperpassionpixels.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Bryan – http://www.stephaniemakes.blogspot.com/
Glitz Design Blog – http://glitzitnow.com/blog/

God Bless America

The Fourth of July brings to mind, for the hundredth time, how grateful I am for all of our service men and women but most especially for my husband. I have watched him selflessly sacrifice and serve our country for the past sixteen years. He is just one of the ways I think that God blessed America. 

To turn the "Color Me Happy" Stripes into a patriotic theme, I used my craft knife to cut off the red, white and blue striped section, and then flipped it over. A bit of the "Cashmere Dame" crepe and some doilies added the look of bunting. Of course, being a Navy Chief, I had to add the "Uncharted Waters" anchor stamp as a finishing touch.

Supplies:
Glitz Designs "Color Me Happy" papers: Stripe, Heart
Glitz Designs "Cashmere Dame" Paper Garland
Glitz Designs "Uncharted Waters" Rubber Stamps
Glitz Designs "Vintage Blue" trim
Glitz Designs "Cashmere Dame" washi tape - chevron
Glitz Designs "Cashmere Dame" Crepe Trim
Glitz Designs "Color Me Happy" Teeny Alpha - white
other: doilies, wood veneer stars (Studio Calico), chipboard alphabet (Basic Grey)

Choose Happiness

In the scrapbook world January always means loads of new goodies making their debut at CHA, and this year Glitz Designs has released three fabulous new lines. You can preview them here, here and here. It's always hard to choose a favorite, but with my husband being a US Navy Chief I was definitely sold on all of the anchors and seaworthy goodness in the Uncharted Waters line. With my Navy man having just come home from another deployment, I figured this was the perfect time to test the Uncharted Waters. 

Check out the Chevron Roller Doodle on the pink paper 
in the photo above. 

Supplies:

Glitz Design Uncharted Waters Patterned Paper: Stripe, Waves, Anchors, Bits & Pieces
Glitz Design Uncharted Waters Decorative Washi Tape: Anchors
Glitz Design Uncharted Waters Whatnots
Glitz Design Uncharted Waters Peek a Boos
Glitz Design Uncharted Waters Rubber Stamps

Glitz Design Love You Madly Giant Roller Doodle: Chevron
Glitz Design Love You Madly Teeny Alphas
Other:

Bossy Joscie flair

Studio Calico wood veneers

EK Success heart punch

Sewing Machine

Tombow MonoMulti adhesive

3M mounting tape

Supplies:

Glitz Design Color Me Happy Patterned paper: Hearts, Chalkboard, Bits & Pieces

Glitz Design Uncharted Waters Patterned Paper: Waves

Glitz Design Color Me Happy Whatnots

Glitz Design Color Me Happy Paper Layers

Glitz Design Color Me Happy Washi Tape: Rainbow Stripe

Glitz Design Color Me Happy Paper Garland

Glitz Design Love You Madly Teeny Alphas

Other:

Bossy Joscie flair

Impress Rubber Stamps striped bag

Sewing Machine

Tombow MonoMulti adhesive

3M mounting tape

{home}

Can you tell I can't quite get enough of my husband being home? I suppose it's pretty obvious. Anyhow, he humored me by letting me snap a few more pictures after coming home from work today. After a few minutes he started getting a little silly, hence photo number two... and the giggling started in photo number three. But I'll take what I can get. Having him home is the best gift of all. 

I got a little scrapbooking done today. Keep an eye out for layouts with the all new Glitz Designs releases on January 21. In addition to that, I'll have a new Punky Sprouts mini album up on my blog on January 23. 

Walking out to fetch the mail this morning, this frost covered leaf caught my eye. I ran in the house to grab my camera, then proceeded to lay on the cold gravel to see if I could catch a glimmer of its magnificence. It was far more spectacular in real life, but this was the best I could do before I had to rush in and spend some quality time in front of our wood stove.

"It was one of those chilly and empty afternoons in early winter, when the daylight is silver rather than gold and pewter rather than silver."
-G.K. Chesterton

there's no place like home

After a year of incredible heartache, losing both of my parents three weeks apart, duty called and Stan had to ship out overseas. 

The Navy had been very gracious to us over the past year, bringing him home mid-deployment last March just in time (3 hours before) my mom went into brain surgery. Throughout the year his command, allowed him time as needed to help take care of our ever-changing situation on the home front. Just a couple of days after Thanksgiving Stan headed overseas for what we fondly call here at our house a "bonus deployment" (an extra little ditty between regularly scheduled deployments). Today, he arrived home safely. 

As a side note, I have found it very difficult to write anything meaningful on my blog since (and really before) I lost my parents. My head seems so jumbled up with the tsunami of thoughts and emotions that enveloped last year, and words do not seem to come easily in writing these days. Some of the process is of sorting through the rubble is coming through photo journaling daily life. Please forgive me if words fail when I wish they would flow. 

“When we step into the family, by the act of being born, we do step into a world which is incalculable, into a world which has its own strange laws, into a world which could do without us, into a world we have not made. In other words, when we step into the family we step into a fairy-tale.”  

-G.K. Chesterton

Anchors Away

After Mass we spent the rest of our quiet Sunday at home listening to the sound of the rainfall. It's a peaceful lonely sound, and we were missing Stan. The girls wear his shirts as jamies when he's gone. They always say the shirts "smell like dad". I'm sure they mean that in a good way. To fit the mood of the day we dug through the uniforms Stan left at home to find a little memento to use with today's photo. The hat, the anchor, the "USN", the big blue eyes all tell the story of today.

Chesterton Quote of the Day

"The principle expressed in the Prayer Book in the words 'for better, for worse'... is the principle that all noble things have to be paid for, even if you only pay for them with a promise."
-G.K. Chesterton

here today - gone tomorrow

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." — G.K. Chesterton

I've been missing for the past few weeks on my blog, filling it with the wild ride of the past few weeks. Stan was gone for about a month on Navy "business". He arrived home just in time to celebrate Easter, confirmation and First Holy Communion together as a family. What a blessing!

After just a week at home, it was time to say goodbye again. Saturday we sent Stan off for another deployment. Goodbyes don't quite get easier, just different, and God gives us the strength to take up our cross daily and follow Him.  So we press on.

Thank you for your prayers.