Welcome Back...Special Announcement from JulieChats

Welcome back to my blog!

After taking a break for summer and a major absence of creativity over the summer, I'm back.  I worked a crop at Whimzee's the other night and started working on a fun new banner project for my studio space.  I'll share it as soon as it's finished!

I'm not exactly sure of the reason behind my break from blogging.  I guess it started after my 40th Birthday Mexico trip with two of my closest friends.  Before that, I had been working very hard since January, at blogging, working at the store, volunteering at Delaney's school, house sitting for my neighbors and being a mom-wife-friend to those around me.  I was also forcing myself to complete creative projects in order to submit them for design team consideration.

Thinking about my "Words" for 2010, see post about that HERE, made me rethink what I was doing and how I was going about it.  My "Words" are BELIEVE and ACHIEVE.  After spending countless hours over about six months and not being chosen for any of the design teams I had submitted creations for, I thought I should reconsider what I was doing.

First of all, I love creating!  I love sharing my creations with friends, family and blog readers.  Also, not all of my creations are scrapbook pages.  I love creating beautiful things for my home and as gifts for others.  I love how the papers & embellishments originally created for scrapbooks can be used to create things that I enjoy seeing hanging on my walls and adorning my surfaces everyday in my home.

One day it occurred to me that no one was paying me to write my blog or create projects for it.  I knew that there were a few who would miss my posts, but I had to start thinking again about my goals for this year.  One of them was to make some money to contribute to my family's expenses each month. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to separate my creative projects from my desire to make money.  Being totally honest with myself, I had to admit that it would be very difficult (or next to impossible) to make much money as a scrapbook blogger.  I know that people do use their blogs to make money and I give lot's of kudos to them for their efforts.  But with all my other responsibilities, I didn't have the amount of time I thought I would need to devote to making my blog a money maker.

So while I took a "Summer Break" from my blog and enjoyed the long days at home with Delaney and Jake and also some summer travel, I thought about how I could help my family and get my "creative mojo" back.  I think that turning 40 this summer was also a part of my re-examination of my choices. 

Speaking of turning 40, I decided to throw myself a Willow House home decor birthday party.  I invited friends and had them skip the gifts and get something for themselves.  My gift was all the great free items I received as the hostess.  My consultant, Darby, is also a friend of mine from the scrapbook store and a mom at Delaney's school.  She's great at her business, starting out 7 years ago with Willow House's predecessor, Southern Living at HOME, Darby retired from teaching a couple years ago to concentrate on Willow House full time.  She's now a Director, inspiring a team of more than 40 women, and making a great living, even earning a couple free vacations each year.  So I listened when she suggested, nonchalantly, that I would make the perfect Willow House Design Consultant.

My love of home decor, design, color and creating, along with my retail background (I have sold so many pairs of jeans at The Gap, that it would make your head spin...along with 1,000's & 1,000's of pieces of scrapbook paper.) all combined with my desire to help out with the finances at home, all contributed to my decision to join Willow House as a Design Consultant.

Into my second month with Willow House, I'm very happy with my decision.  This job allows me to be home with my two year old, volunteer at school, be a good wife-mom-friend, make some money and even have some time left for my creative endeavors.  I'm still house sitting for the neighbors and working part time at the scrapbook store, so I'm a pretty busy lady.  But I'm now able to separate my desire to help out with the home finances and from my blogging and my creativity.

So, yes, I'M BACK!  I'm excited to create again and share some fun home decorating items with you!  So join me here at JulieChats, as I embark on a new journey in my life!  Of course, I welcome you to join me on Facebook, where I keep a Willow House Julie business page.  And also on my Willow House website.  I promise not to be one of those pushy sales people, but to share things that I think will help bring beauty, creativity, simplicity and organization to your life!  When you see something you like, you're able to order it on my website where the entire Willow House catalog is available for purchase, along with our bargain-priced outlet for those among you looking for a deal...I love a deal, so I'll be sure to share as many of those with you as I can!

I'll try to post some new ideas each week, check back here for posts to inspire your creativity and home decorating in the coming holiday season.  But I'm not going to push myself over the edge trying to be sure I post something each and every week, so if you'd like to receive an email reminder when I post something new, be sure to click subscribe to JulieChats over in the right side column of this page.

I look forward to sharing my creativity and passion for decorating with you!  Thanks for sticking with me through this long break!  I look forward to communicating with you through comments here and messages on my Willow House Julie page.  Let me know what you're interested in seeing here or things that you need help with around your home, I'd be happy to help!!!! :)

Layout of the Week - Punky Posh Mini Album with Punky Sprouts & Chatterbox Part 1

Ta Da!  I shared a sneak peek of this album with you last week and here is the finished product!  As you can tell, I'm very excited about this mini album!  I love all of the albums from Punky Sprouts, who makes these very cool albums.  The albums all include pages made from chipboard, ivory canvas and acrylic.  The comb binding on this album, Punky Posh, holds the pages together very loosely.  The binding is loose so you can pull the pages out, decorate them and replace them on the binding.  The flexible style of these albums is my favorite quality.  It allows you to push your creative boundaries as far as you want on each project.

I took this album home and my first thought was that I should add some of my own pages into the mix.  After reading about so many creative uses for burlap all over the blogosphere, I just had to use it in this album.  And with my love of sepia tone photos, I knew that a brown canvas page would look great too.

To decorate my album, I chose papers, ribbons and embellishments from the Together, Fabulous and artsy.licious collections by Chatterbox.

If you're looking for more fun ideas using the Punky Sprouts albums, check out their blog!

As for me, I'll share some more detailed photos of this album in Part 2 of this post next week.  I'll be writing it this weekend as I pack for my trip to Mexico.  I'm lucky enough to be celebrating my upcoming 40th birthday with two close friends I met in the dorms my freshman year at UofO.  We'll be laying in the sun & having a few margaritas this time next week.  After I'm back, I promise to make more rounds of all the cool, creative blogs out there!

If you're in need of a party tomorrow night, don't forget to stop by Ann's Virtual Girls Night Out.  You'll meet lot's of other fun bloggers and get tons of comments for your blog.

If you're looking to find other creative bloggers, stop by Today's Creative for Tuesday's Get Your Craft On Blog Hop.

Layout of the Week - FRIEND chipboard mini album

I'm excited to share this week's Layout of the Week with you!  But first, I want to apologize for missing all sorts of blogging opportunities last week.  It was Spring Break here and we took Jake in to have hernia surgery on Tuesday.  We were expecting to be home that day, but our wise surgeon advised us to stay overnight in the hospital just in case the little guy needed some extra pain meds.  And thank goodness we did, those extra pain meds let him sleep through just a few of the MANY interruptions...I know that the wonderful nurses & residents have to check in on patients all night long, but boy, it sure would be nice if patients could get more sleep in the hospital.  So my schedule was thrown for a loop last week.  But I'm bouncing back this week, just like Jake...baby steps for both of us!  If you're in the Portland area & in need of an excellent Pediatric Surgeon, I highly recommend Dr. David Bliss.  He's done surgery twice now on Jake and he's a great listener, explains everything so even people who aren't medical geniuses (like he is!) can understand and he's saved the lives of countless preemies, infants, toddlers & kids!

So back to my project!  I created this mini album to celebrate Delaney's 8th birthday.  I did actually get it done a couple months ago, so she did get to see it before her 9th birthday!  I used Bo Bunny's My Word Chipboard FRIEND album and Basic Grey's Lime Rickey collection pack, plus a ton of fun embellishments to create a fun, bright colored album, perfect for Delaney's Tie Dye Slumber Party Photos. (Read all about our Tie Dye Slumber Party activities HERE.)

I used one of my favorite tips to squeeze a ton of photos into this small book.  I created photo collages with Costco's photo organizer program so I could cut them apart and put all different sizes of the tiny photos on my pages.  I love being able to create these collages and use so many photos in such a small format album.

Here are all the fun inside pages!

Of course, since it's Friday, you can join me over at Ann's for her Virtual Girls' Night Out!  I'll be celebrating mine by working the crop tonight at Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio in Beaverton...if you're in the area, call to sign up (we have a couple spots left) or stop by & shop, I'd love to meet you!  Be sure to check out our online community if you're in need of some extra inspiration, we have 300 project photos for you to enjoy!

Tips

Use Costco's photo collages to squeeze a few more photos into your projects!

Don't be afraid to mix it up with bright colors & patterns, it creates a whimsical page!

Use paint to coat the edges of your chipboard albums, it covers up any number of flaws in your (or my) paper cutting skills!

Supplies

Basic Grey Lime Rickey collection pack paper & stickers

Bo Bunny My Word Chipboard Album - FRIEND

So many embellishments...it would take a year to list them all, if you have a few you're wondering about, leave me a comment & I'll get you the manufacturer info.

Layout of the Week - Believe Achieve (my words for 2010)

I just have to say, I love this layout.  It isn't very often as scrapbookers that we create layouts about themselves.  At the beginning of this year, I read a lot of different blog posts about finding a word for yourself for the year.  The word would be your theme word, giving you something to focus on throughout the year.  I started to think about myself and all the things I've done in my life and the things I'd like to do in the future.  Being the mom of a two year old, it has been a while since I've thought about my own goals or even thought much about myself at all.  I was just starting to get back to thinking about me when Delaney turned 6 and was at the end of her year of 1/2 day kindergarten.  It was nice to look ahead at the things I could start to do for me once she started school full time in September of 2007.  And then suddenly my world was turned upside down.  I found out I was pregnant with Jake in June of 2007, just a week before Delaney was done with kindergarten.  It was quite a shock after about 5 years trying to conceive and then coming to terms with our being a 3 person family.  I still can picture the look on Dave's face when Delaney & I told him we'd be having a baby.  I'll tell you more of this story another time, but suffice it to say, shock doesn't even come close.  So my thoughts took an about face, away from what I wanted to do with the "rest of my life" and toward raising another little one.

As I was reading these "word of the year" blog posts in January, I thought maybe I should think about me a little sooner this time and not wait until Jake was going to be in first grade...for goodness sake, I'll be 43 by then.  Here's my first Believe Achieve blog post.  And the thought of turning 40 this year also added to my eagerness to make plans that were mine alone.  For years, I've been involved in scrapbooking in some way, working on albums at home, helping my friend with projects, working at Whimzee's, writing my blog.  I also began another of my efforts at being healthier and losing weight this year.

Being someone who isn't short on words, I couldn't narrow my choices down to just one.  For my 2010 words of the year, I chose Believe and Achieve.  I chose them even before I walked into Jake's room to get him up from his nap and saw those exact words stenciled on a plaque on the wall in his room.  Dave chose it at a baby boutique when we were shopping for bedding & decorations for his room.  It hangs over his crib and someday we'll explain to him what they mean...right now, he just enjoys pointing out that there is an "A" on the sign.

These words are important for me to remember this year, because I have a few goals for myself.  I want to expand my blog and find a sponsor or two (if anyone has any suggestions, bring 'em on!) and I hope to be chosen for a Design Team of some sort in 2010.  I also want to continue with my efforts to work out, eat healthier and by doing those things, lose some weight.  One more important goal, for the whole family really, is to make smart money choices.

I think that I am moving toward all these goals, but I do have to remind myself everyday, that I have to Believe in myself and make efforts in order to Achieve them this year.  I created this layout to highlight my words and remind myself everyday of what I am working toward.  I challenge you to find a theme word or two, even three or four, who's counting.

In creating a layout that highlights my words, I wanted to use some of my favorite products.  The papers are from Lily Bee and the embellishments are from all sorts of places.  I wanted to show contrast in this layout.  Not only am I a mom and wife, I also have personal and professional goals outside of my family.  These goals will benefit my family in many ways, but they are my goals.  I chose to create contrast in my layout by placing the rhinestone "BELIEVE" on a distressed piece of corrogated cardboard.  The rhinestone title also contrasts nicely with the slick orange "ACHIEVE."  I created depth by using a cardboard circle covered with word filled paper.  I used pop dots to raise my photo above the background.  Again highlighting my words, I used Photoshop to print them on my photo.

I love this photo of me.  I asked my friend, Pandra, to shoot a photo of me to send in with a design team application.  I was planning on changing & doing my hair first, but she just got out her camera one night when we were hanging out with friends.  They started telling jokes & I couldn't keep a straight face.  It just all went downhill from the very beginning....  This first photo was the best of the bunch!  Thanks P! :)

Tips

Think of a theme word for the year & remind yourself of it everyday!

Create a layout or project highlighting your word and place it somewhere you will see it everyday!

Don't be afraid to create contrast with by using totally different embellishments in your layouts.  Rhinestone & cardboard...glitter & slick plastic.

Have a friend shoot some photos of you and create a layout that shows your personality or how you felt that day!

Supplies

Patterned Paper - Lily Bee
Rhinestone Title - Kaisercraft
ACHIEVE & 2010 - THICKERS by American Crafts
Paint - a variety of craft paints

This post shared on Today's Creative!  Be sure to check them out for links to all things creative and the best features of creative blogs on the internet!

Meet my 200th Follower! And the Layout of the Week - Friends

WOO - HOO!

200 followers!

YEAH!

OK, you can tell I'm SO excited to have my 200th follower!  And since 200 is a pretty big milestone, I want to share my 200th follower with you.

Meet Adrienne from Kitschalicious!  She has one of the cutest blogs I've seen, all covered with polka dots, little cherries and a splash of glitter.  But that's not the only reason why I love it....the craft ideas & projects are wonderful!  If you've got tons of little Happy Meal toys underfoot, just check this out....a Happy Meal Toy Wreath!  Boy I wish I hadn't give ours all to Goodwill after they didn't sell in the quarter box at the garage sale!  So click on over to Kitschalicious, be sure to leave a comment to say HI, sign up to follow Miss Adrienne's adventures & tell her Julie sent you! :)

I met Adrienne on a great blog hop adventure sponsored by Today's Creative.  I've been participating for a few weeks now and I've met so many awesome bloggers.  I'm pretty sure that Today's Creative is now responsible for my last 20 or so followers!  ThAnKs! :)

Every week there are between 100 and 300 crafty blog posts listed for you to check out.  I have tons of awesome ideas for my scrapbooking, decor and organizing, so many that I'll never have time to get to all of them, but still, so much fun to hop around & see who's over there.  So click on over to Today's Creative to see the "Get Your Craft On" post.  And be sure to see whose crafty blog is being featured today.  Kim created Today's Creative & she's also got a personal blog loaded with funny stories & crafty ideas, so skip on over to Scrap to My Lu!

to see what's up with Kim.

OK, now on to this week's Layout of the Week!

This is one of my favorites that I've made in the last few months!  I really LOVE Lily Bee, who made this cool paper!  Their die cuts are to DIE for...is that a pun??? :)  I knew I'd save this paper for something special and this photo of me & two of my bestfriends is just the thing.  That's me, Amy & Julie.  We've been friends since freshman year in college, wow, 22 years, say it isn't so!  We've been through all sorts of things together good, bad & ugly, but we're still together, well, Amy lives all the way out in Denver, but as together as you can be across a few states.  Julie & I really are together, I bought her house and when she moved a few blocks away, that's pretty together for two almost 40 year olds!  Every time we are lucky enough to be together, we take a self portrait.  Now, we've been doing this since college and even with the introduction of digital cameras into our lives, we still do it the old fashioned way...no, not with real film, but without anyone standing there looking at the screen to see if we're really in the photo!  It's a tradition, even the order we stand in is always the same.  There have been many special occasions when Julie & I (yes, we're the 2 Julie's) have taken a self portrait, just the two of us with a space in the middle, to let poor Amy know she's missed!  This photo was taken last fall when Amy came out to visit for a Duck football game...we're all University of Oregon Alumni and fanatically proud of our school & just about everything related to it.  It's Oregon, afterall, no NFL here!  So GO DUCKS!

I knew I'd have to print this one in my old standby sepia tone if it was going to work with the cream/brown/pink color scheme.  There's no way dark green and neon yellow would match with this subdued color scheme.  I kept the photo 4 x 6 so I'd have plenty of space for lot's of fun embellishments.  I added some cute ball fringe ribbon and a couple other pink & brown ribbons.  I love the Mark Richards Mosaic Tiles, cute little pink squares.  This was my first layout using them & I just can't stop!  For a some more bling, I added a little field of pink & brown Prima flowers.  For the centers of the flowers, I looked for tiny bronze brads.  Not finding any in my HUGE stash up in my studio, I settled for some copper ones.  Then I dipped them into some G Studio glitter glue and then my favorite brown Pink Paislee glitter.  I think they turned out great!  I also used the G Studio glitter glue & brown glitter to add a little flourish to the brown birdie paper near the top of the layout, a little difficult to see in the photo, sorry!

I used brown ink on the edges of my papers in this layout, I love the added texture it gives.  For my title, I chose some brown THICKERS.  I painted "3" & "us" with pink G Studio glitter glue and sanded the letters for "of".  I like the juxtaposition of the soft pink glitter and the roughed up word in between.  Hey, aren't we all soft & glittery sometimes and just a little rough around the edges other times!

I did enter this layout in Lily Bee's Design Team contest this week, so wish me luck!

Hopefully I'll see you Friday, over at Ann's, for her Virtual Girls' Night Out!  Such a great place to meet other cool bloggers, get & leave a few comments and see what's going on in the blogging world! :)

Tips

Of course, print your photos in sepia if it will help them blend better with your papers.

Don't be afraid to use one 4 x 6 on a layout, it will give you lot's of room for embellishments!

Ink the edges of your papers & embellishments for a little added texture and it's free to boot!

Chipboard letters, dress them up with glitter glue or down by sanding them.

If you're brads don't match your layout, dip them in glue & coat with opaque glitter, no one will ever know what color they really are!

Supplies

Patterned papers & die cuts - Lily Bee

Mosaic Tiles - Mark Richards

Glitter Glue - G Studio

Glitter - Pink Paislee

Ribbon - Creative Imaginations, American Crafts

Flowers - Prima

Brads - Making Memories

Ink - Creative Cafe

Alphabet - THICKERS by American Crafts

Happy New Year! Make one last donation to help others this year!

I know most of you probably read my post about my husband Dave's best friend, Brent.  Brent passed away 6 years ago from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  He was passionate about raising money to help others with the disease and so we participated & fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk.  Our local walk is held here in Portland each October.  I typically fundraise for a few months before the walk and then put it out of my mind for another year.  This year, however, I have a special reason for sending out one last fundraising reminder.  An anonymous donor has stepped up and offered to match all donations received by LLS by December 31st, up to $100,000!  I'm very excited about the prospect of such a wonderful organization receiving such a generous gift!  So if there is any way you can donate, in any amount, no matter how large or small, your gift will be doubled this year!

Please take a look at my fundraising page for a bit of Brent's story and to see the last photo of he & Dave.  And click HERE to read the flyer about the anonymous donor's offer.

Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to learn about our friend and the organization he was so passionate about!  Enjoy your family and friends, and take a moment to remember those close you who are no longer with you, this New Year!

GNO - with Delaney at the Miley Concert

This is so cute, I just had to share! Miley Cyrus opened her concert tour in Portland on Monday night and Delaney & I were there. I must say it was a great show, lot's of cool stuff, including a red Harley descending from the ceiling & Miley riding on it over the crowd singing "I Love Rock N Roll"...took me right back to the 80's. It was a fun Girls' Night Out with our friends! If your daughter's a fan & you get a chance, you should definitely go! (One little disclaimer though, Delaney's 8 1/2 & loves Miley latest CD, which has some really rockin' music, I'm not sure if the younger only Hannah Montana music fans would have quiet as much fun, but I did see tons of littler ones there.)

If you go, get there early so you don't miss a chance to have your girl's photo taken with Miley. It's sponsored by Walmart, as is the whole tour. The girls get to put on some jewelry & grab a mike then they stand in front of a green screen for their photo. Then the ladies at the computer put your girl in her choice of venues with Miley, either her dressing room, her tour bus or her on stage. (Usually the girls can only pick one, the line was 30 minutes long, but since there was a mix up & they put Delaney in the wrong venue, they took an extra photo of her.) You get a little lanyard with an email code & some photos of Miley on it, so you can look up your photo & share it at home. This is all FREE, which is awesome, considering the t-shirts are $35!!!! Of course I still bought one for my little Miley fan, but really, they could still make a ton charging 1/2 that!

So here's my little angel in her rock star moments!

Layout of the Week - Memories of Brent

This week I'm sharing a layout I created a couple of years ago. I pulled it out this week to use the photo of Dave & Brent on my fundraising page for the Light the Night Walk. The photo may be the last one taken of Brent before he died. He was fighting to gain his strength after a bone marrow transplant we hoped would cure his non-hodgkins lymphoma. He was coughing a bit on this day and was hospitalized the next day and died, still in the hospital, about 3 weeks later.

It took me a few years to "get it together" enough to create some layouts honoring his memory. Of course I wanted to include this special photo. But I also wanted to include some others from that warm June Seattle day. If you have some photos of a loved one who has died and haven't been able to bring yourself to scrapbook them. Take some time to just look at them and let the feelings come. After you've exhausted that box (or case) of Kleenex, you may be able to remember some of the fun times you shared. I know it takes a while, this layout was created about 4 years after Brent died. But when I started working on it, it just came together. It's amazing to us today, what Delaney looked like at that time and that was how she looked the last time Brent saw her. Putting this layout together helped all of us, Dave & Delaney included, remember Brent as a friend & uncle who was looking ahead at his future with such a brightness in his eyes. This day is such a stark contrast to our last emergency visit to his bedside just hours before he died. By creating this layout, I wanted to replace some of our sad memories with earlier more peaceful ones.

If you are trying to find a way to create a memorial to a loved one, this is just one example. You might want something you can look at everyday. I created a shadow box of photos & memories for Dave after his dad passed away. The box hangs in the hall between Jake & Delaney's bedrooms where we can talk to them about their Grandfather who passed away before they were born, but still loves them so much.

Thinking about creating something like this may be very upsetting. If that is the case, you may want to gather your photos & memorabilia and put them into a box in a safe place until you are ready. Like I said, this could take a long time, but in the end, you will have a wonderful keepsake to help you remember your loved one.

Celebrating and Remembering

I'm so excited to have my 100th follower today! Her name is Erin Bassett. She's got a great blog, creativitE, where she shares all sorts of cool cards & scrapbook pages she's created, along with some beautiful things using ProvoCraft's Yudu Screenprinter. Check out her silver chandelier tank top! Join me & follow Erin on Twitter!

I'm not stopping at 100! If you're looking for some creative inspiration or just enjoy JulieChats, please sign up to be a follower! And THANK YOU to all my current followers! :)

Oh, and it's Friday! And Friday's around here wouldn't be complete without a stop by Ann's blog, Ann Again and Again for her Virtual Girls' Night Out. Join me at the party & meet lot's of other cool bloggers in this great big blog hop! Fridays wouldn't be complete without it!

Now, for the remembering...today is the 6th anniversary of the death of a close friend. In 2003, at the age of 34, Dave's life long best friend, Brent, died of complications following a bone marrow transplant. (The photo is Delaney & Brent on his 34th Birthday.) We had all been so hopeful that the transplant would cure Brent's Non-Hodkins Lymphoma that his death came as a complete shock. All throughout his 3 year battle against cancer, Brent was the most positive person I had ever known. He was strong and sure that he would beat it in the end. He laughed and made us laugh while he shaved his head, receding hairline & all, hoping that maybe he'd have a full head of hair when it grew back after the chemo. He laughed more when he sent me for Taco Bell during a chemo treatment. Being a guy who didn't eat much fast food, he figured, "what could it hurt now?" He laughed that the nurses said he was the only chemo patient they had who GAINED weight!

Personally, I think that was because I made him what we called the chemo cake after his treatments, and I'm pretty sure he ate the whole thing! Makes me want to make one today, in Brent's memory. It's really called an Earthquake Cake, German Chocolate type "frosting" on the bottom of a chocolate cake filled with big chunks of cream cheesey goodness! I'll find the recipe & post it soon!

Now, looking back, I think that Brent laughed with us about his cancer because he was comfortable enough with us to laugh about it, but also because he knew that's what we needed. It had been a tough couple of years for us with many deaths in among our family and friends. Dave's dad had passed away less than a year before Brent's diagnosis. And Brent's dad passed away not too long into his treatment. We all needed to find things to laugh about or we might never stop crying. It wasn't until Brent's funeral that a friend of ours (an unmarried guy, like Brent) said in his eulogy something Brent had told him just after he was diagnosed. Brent told him that he was glad that he was the one among all our friends who had cancer. He was thankful that all these guys, who counted him among their very best friends, would not have to worry about leaving their kids without dads or their wives without husbands. Of course this made me cry more, even though I didn't think that was possible. I'm so thankful that Brent had so many wonderful friends who he could share all the complicated thoughts that someone with cancer must have during all the stages of their illness.

I cry a lot, thinking back about all of this...about how only the pictures remind Delaney of her Godfather, who passed away when she was 2 1/2...about how she learned about death at such a young age...about how Dave must miss his best friend, the best man at our wedding, Delaney's Godfather, Jake's namesake. And how Brent would have loved Jakob Brent, in all his screaming, dancing, Terry Bradshaw look-alike glory.

Brent definitely would have had a big laugh at his little guy! I know he's looking down on us smiling! And right now, he's telling me, "Hey Jules, go throw away that pile of Kleenexes & get out there and enjoy the great Oregon summer day with those beautiful kids!" ...or something like that! :)

Please check out my fundraising page on the Lukemia & Lymphoma Society webpage. The LLS was one of Brent's favorite charities. He got us involved doing the Light the Night Walk when Delaney was only 18 months old. It's a great event, everyone walking in cities all over the country with red glowing balloons. The cancer survivors carry white glowing balloons, which bob up & down among a sea of red balloons, surrounding them with all the people who love & support them. Donate to the charity on my page or sign up for the Light the Night Walk in your area & do some fundraising of your own!

I know this post has been a pretty sad one, but I hope helping someone with cancer will make you feel much better & hopeful today! You might find some of this post on my page, along with a photo of Brent. Enjoy your weekend & take a moment to think about how someone with cancer has touched your life!

Layout of the Week - HOME

OK, I know you can see that this isn't technically a layout! But it's the project I managed to finish this week. Sometimes I just feel like doing something "outside the box". I was looking for something to hang above the mirror in my foyer and these Rusty Pickle chipboard letters jumped right out at me. Alright, that isn't quite how it happened, when I was at the store one day, Twila said, "Hey, Julie, why don't you take these home & do something cool with them!" I did think of where to hang them right away, it just took me a while to get to the project.

I'm going for kind of a Fall pallet downstairs in my home. Dark red in the family room, a pretty gold in the nook, a great color from Devine called ginger in the dining room and aspirations of a nice caramel macchiato type color in the kitchen & foyer. I say aspirations, because in August we'll have been here 5 years and it's still the same "builder's off-white" as the day we move in. Well, at least we've painted most of the rest of the house. And if the foyer's walls weren't 2 stories tall with a huge staircase, it would probably be painted by now too. I guess I'm waiting for one of two things to happen #1 we have enough extra money to hire a painter or #2 our overworked friend Jeff, takes pity on us and does yet one more "honey-do" job for us! Jeff has been doing "honey-do" projects for us for years. Outside of simple painting & yard work, home improvement projects aren't Dave's (or my) strong suit. So when it comes to balancing a ladder on one step & a couple phone books, Jeff's our guy! Don't laugh, I've seen him do it, in the stairway of our last house. I was the one standing there, mouth dropped open, with the 9 & 1 pushed on the phone just waiting to push the other 1. There was Dave, pushing against the ladder while it balanced on one step & the phone books, while Jeff perched on the very top on tip toes, perfectly edging the wall up to the ceiling.

It's awesome to have friends who'll risk their lives for you....but I digress! This cute wall hanging will perfectly match my caramel macchiato walls, in the event that Jeff feels like risking his life again for us sometime in the future!

So, to be sure it matches, I chose papers from Bo Bunny's Beautiful Life collection. This collection is a great combination of Fall colors: browns, reds, oranges, greens. I used copper acrylic paint on the edges & backs of the letters. I thought about tying them together with ribbon, but I liked the more rustic look of thick twine. For embellishments, I used some paper leaves I had in my scrap room. I'm not sure who makes them, they were shared with me by a friend who thought she could never use all that were in the jar she bought them in. For the final touch, I used a couple of the matching stickers from Bo Bunny's Beautiful Life collection. I mounted the stickers on copper metallic paper and tore it around the sticker's edges, just to cover up the adhesive on the back.

Right now, my HOME wall hanging is hanging in a door way at Whimzee's. So maybe that will give me time to bribe Jeff with some ice cream...to come over & paint the foyer!

Supply List:

Rusty Pickle Chipboard set H-O-M-E

Bo Bunny's Back to Basics Beautiful Life Collection papers
H-Life Stripe (I used the back of this one.)
O-Collage
M-Leaf
E-Blessed

Copper Metallic Acrylic paint from Tulip

Paper Leaves (not sure of their manufacturer)

Bo Bunny's Beautiful Life Collection stickers

Thick Twine (not sure of its manufacturer)

I'm also thinking that I might print some tiny sepia tone photos of the family & hang them on the letters too, but that's a thought for another day! Enjoy your week!

Family, Friends & VGNO

I hope everyone had a great week! We had a blast with a lot of old friends over the 4th! The neighborhood parade was as fun as ever. Delaney & the neighbor girl decorated Jake's stroller, Delaney's bike and even Dave's bike. We were all so festive!

I picked up my niece on Monday, so she could stay with us a few days. My sister-in-law came the next day, to stay for a few days, then take her wonderful daughter home. They'll be back in a week & a half. The Wonderful Niece is coming up to attend the University of Portland School of Nursing in the Fall. There are all sorts of college related things she's doing this Summer, so we get to see her more than ever. We're very excited to have her closer to us. We all went to the zoo again this week. It's so fun to see Jake enjoy the animals. And this time, Sam the baby elephant was much closer, so Jake got to laugh at him as he walked around. I guess that little toddler stumbling is even funny to them!

We've got friends coming over tonight for dinner and then I'm working in the morning at the scrapbook store. I'm excited to work since we have a digital camera course starting tomorrow and I can listen in & hopefully learn a lot! I'm stopping by Ann's Virtual Girls' Night Out as soon as she's ready to party! I may not be able to visit a lot of you until Sunday, but look out for a late comment or too, that will be me!

Enjoy your weekend!

Off on a holiday

Just thought I'd post a quick note. I'm off to Seattle in the morning with the kids. It's Spring Break here in Oregon and after the big hoopla of Delaney's birthday & slumber party, it's going to be nice to be away for a few days. We're heading to Seattle and Bainbridge Island to visit my friend Laura. I can't wait to see here & use her place as home base to explore the island and ride the ferry over to Seattle to eat our way through Pike's Place Market. Mmmmm....I'm thinking tiny doughnuts sound awesome right now! It will be Jake's first ferry ride, Delaney's so excited to take him on a trip. We're hitting Rainforest Cafe on the way up for lunch. We'll have lunch with our friend Christine & her boys. Delaney loves animals and has been asking to eat at Rainforest Cafe since we ate at the one in Disneyland. If the weather is nice enough, we'll visit the Woodland Park Zoo, with our membership at our zoo, it's free. So that makes a great addition to our Spring Break vacation on a budget. I'll give everyone a little kid friendly review of all the places we visit when we get back.

Enjoy the rest of your week and chat with you next week!