As the Years Go By

Easter is almost here again, and all of the world seems to be teeming with new life. Here in Western Washington hundreds of acres are a kaleidoscope of colors with tens of thousands of tulips in bloom. Every year since my girls were knee-high, we've had a tradition of kissing a particular stone frog at one of the tulip gardens. After looking through the photos this year, I went through some of the photos of springs-gone-by watching the girls grow up before my eyes. This layout features two sets of spring photos seven years apart, capturing the little moments as the years go by.

"Tradition" layout supplies:

Glitz Design "77" papers: Feather, Kaleidoscope, Bits & Pieces

Glitz Design "77" 6x6 paper pad

Glitz Design "77" Titles & Accents sticker sheet

Glitz Design "Carpe Diem" Alphabets & Words sticker sheet

Glitz Design "77" Giant Rhinestones

Glitz Design "Carpe Diem" washi tape - mint chain

Glitz Design "Hello Friend" Crepe Trim

other: card stock, vellum, calligraphy pen and ink, gray ribbon, mini clothes pin

Life in an Instant

Keeping up with staying behind is becoming a regular occurrence for me. The sun has been out, showing off the glory of spring in the Northwest. Our family is preparing for another deployment, so we are, as always, striving to squeeze the fullness of joy from every moment we have. In light of this, combined with my many shortcomings, the photo update will be in the form of Instagram snapshots from my phone. (One of these days I'll catch up on my photo editing, and get my "big camera" photos up as well.)

A beautiful design and an expensive window replacement.
(One should be mindful of flying rocks from weed eaters.)

"There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. Men do not quarrel about the meaning of sunsets; they never dispute that the hawthorn says the best and wittiest thing about the spring."  
~G.K. Chesterton

Trivial Pursuit with Fr. Harkins

Precious time with daddy while he is stateside

Deceptively simple homemade bread

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” 

-G.K. Chesterton

The beautiful broken window being replaced 
with an ordinary unbroken window.

Our spring fruits & veggies all planted, complete with a homemade sign made with the spring sunshine and a magnifying glass.

Bike ride in the sun, with an ice cream break half way. Not a shabby way to spend a Satruday.

"The truth about life is that joy and sorrow are mingled 
in an almost rhythmical alternation like day and night." 
-G.K. Chesterton

A Glitz Spring

Happy Spring Glitz friends! I hope you had a fabulous Easter weekend. Last year our family had a rough year, but Easter was a gleam of sunshine in the midst of the storm, and my girls enjoyed having Grandma living with us at Easter. May your springtime be filled with all good things, and precious moments worthy of immortalizing in your albums. 

Easter Reflections supplies:

Glitz Designs "Uncharted Waters" paper - Scallop

Glitz Designs "Love You Madly" Paper Layers

Glitz Designs "Love You Madly" Journaling Stickers

Glitz Designs "Love You Madly" Peek a Boos

Glitz Designs "Love You Madly" Paper Garland

Glitz Designs "Love You Madly" Washi Tape - Stripe

Glitz Designs "Hello Friend" Crepe Trim

Glitz Designs "Happy Travels" Giant Rhinetones

daily life

Wow! These pictures sure stack up if you get a day or two behind. Sometimes editing everyday gets a little overwhelming, but then I suppose it isn't as overwhelming as letting the photos stack up. So here they are. I think I've just about caught up on editing and posting or very nearly. So let's see if I can keep from getting behind again!

For scrapbooking news: I've got a new Punky Sprouts & Carta Bella project that'll be up on the blog on Wednesday. Then we'll have another Glitz Designs blog hop on the 28th of March. 

We copied another hairstyle we found on Pinterest, which as a bonus came out in beautiful waves the following day.

Second day hair. 

Torrey's been working on writing a story for the past month for the Young Authors conference coming up. Every spare minute has been spent clicking away at the keyboard.

This was the final result... her short story Battling Darkness. We modified a photo of Emma for her cover.

A glimpse of spring on our lampshade. 

A little sneak peek at the Punky Sprouts & Carta Bella project that will be up on Wednesday.

St. Patrick's Day we did Emma's hair up into a shamrock in honor of the saint's illustration of the Trinity.

This past week my brother was in town and we did some work on sorting through our parents' things. One accomplishment was getting Dad's library moved over to our house. (The above is just part of his collection.) We also got the girls moved back into their rooms, which they both gave up when Mom and Dad got sick last year. I still struggle a lot with moving their things out of the rooms, and Stan has been more than a blessing with helping me through all of this. We both were able to work together on setting up the library. Made it feel like there was a piece of him here with us, or several thousand pieces!

“Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point and does not break.” –G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

catching up

I've been a little behind on posting Project 365 shots. I'm not sure how a week slipped away from me, but there you have it. So without further ado, here are the missing week's photos (along with a couple of bonus Instagram shots).

Monday: a photo from my Bible Study.

Tuesday: Emma under our willow tree

Wednesday: Stan's grandma's Bible & reading in the rain
 

Thurday: Fog

Friday: Leftover crafting scraps & prayer time at Chruch

Saturday: Hint of Spring

A poem Chesterton recalls writing as a child:

"I asked through what incantation or prenatal purgatories I must have passed, to earn the reward of looking at a dandelion."

This childhood sense of wonder stayed with him:

And since I have owned a garden (for I cannot say I have been a gardener) I have realised better than I did that there really is a case against weeds. But in substance what I said about the dandelion is exactly what I should say about the sunflower or the sun, or the glory which (as the poet said) is brighter than the sun. The only way to enjoy even a weed is to feel unworthy even of a weed. -G.K. Chesterton, Autobiography