y2k9

for those of you who follow my blog, you know i occasionally enjoy play-on-words and puns. ever since we first started using the Y2K designation in anticipation of all the logistical scares of entering a new millenium, i've been waiting to use the canine pun you see in today's freebie #1. as soon as i can i'll work on a special y2k9 album featuring our dogs all year in 2009.

silly? perhaps. but fun? you betcha!

i would LOVE to see any layouts you do with these. i'm going try to do some other word art, papers and elements in this same color palette over the next day or so, so stay tuned (if you like it). i really need the left-handed keyboard/mouse practice if i'm going to be able to function at my office when i get my medical release late next week.

blessings
melanie

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inside out

having lots of "healing pains" at the moment so being extra careful
blessings
melanie
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new year

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let us be grateful

so, how was your Christmas? mine was very quiet, just my husband and myself and our two westies. my husband had to do all the cooking but he enjoys it. i'm looking forward to our big family gathering on saturday.

my doctor's appointment wednesday with my surgeon went well; he continued to reiterate how badly my wrist was broken and that he had to piece together my palm back in place -- so i'm quite grateful for his skills! unfortunately, i can't go back to work yet which means another week without pay. it's been a tough year ..... 2009 will hopefully be better ... for everyone.

blessings to you and yours
melanie

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CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

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LOVE GIVING

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this moment

treasure them all,
melanie

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Christmas is ...

hope you are able to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest by now. it's so special when you can take time for yourself and your family to remember the WHY of the season. i wanted today's word art to help reflect those thoughts as well.

thank you for all your kind words, well wishes, thoughts and prayers. my surgery went better than the surgeon expected, even after he discovered that two other broken bones were hiding behind the 6 broken ones he'd seen on x-rays. everything is fragile still, but not my spirit. still experiencing pain, and this only left-handed usage is seriously frustrating; however, i'm keenly aware that this is nothing compared to what so many others are experiencing...... what some of YOU are experiencing.

blessings on your day,
melanie

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bummed out

fell and broke right wrist in six places and dislocated hand from wrist thursday night. having surgery tomorrow. will check in as soon as i can afterward.

this is my designing/blogging wrist!!

blessings to u and urs
melanie

A Baby Changes Everything

Thank you for the terrific comments you've left for yesterday's Christmas tree word art. That meant a lot to hear, especially from people of faith. Some of you asked for more of the same, so today's word art also reflects our Savior's birth. It's taken from the new song by recording artist Faith Hill on her Christmas album. I've put a link to her music video if you're interested in hearing this beautiful, meaningful song.


MUSIC VIDEO




And it's not to late to get Faithful Seasons 1 and 2 Christmas music overlays. Your donation of $2.00 for each set would be most appreciated.





Happy Thursday!
Melanie

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What Christmas Means to Me

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Random

I was so pleased to discover a layout in my e-mail at home last night, in which Suzanne sent me a layout she'd prepared using the DEAR SANTA word art from yesterday. What a cutie!!! And I'm NOT talking about Santa. :) Thanks so much, Suzanne.

I was also delighted to have a message from Arianna, in which she told me how much she really liked the Faithful Seasons 1 and 2 packs which she had ordered. In fact, she said that she was singing those carols all day, and said "it was worth every penny." Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, Arianna for the endorsement. For those of you who are still considering it, please do order them -- I would greatly appreciate it. $2.00 each is the requested pricing.

For those of you who only stop by for the freebies, you have 3 today -- they're totally random and not Christmas-y. Hope you find them useful!

Blessings,

Melanie

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Love in Action

I can't believe I'm already asking this, but how was your weekend? I have NO idea where it went. I think time is going so quickly because -- for one thing -- my assistant is out. Her daughter was in a serious car accident during the Thanksgiving holidays and I've been preoccupied with that, and trying to be as supportive and as encouraging to my assistant as possible. There was a fatality in the accident (her daughter's friend), and such sobering reminders of the fragility of life just blow you away some times.

As crazy as it may sound, being able to do things like this blog online, and particularly to read other blogs, help me personally keep grounded during such trials. And if I'm grounded, then I can help others as well. The daughter is home from the hospital now and slowly recovering. She has no idea how long her healing of body, spirit, mind will take ... and how close she came to losing her own life. This has been a wonderful opportunity for her mother to tell her that God isn't through with her yet, and that He has something in mind yet for her to do.

It shouldn't take tragedies and near-misses to get us to that point of being open to God's leading, but in our stubborn human selves, we think we can do it on our own. God's love in action makes certain that we are not alone, if we but ask.

Not coincidentally, I received in my e-mail over the weekend this sweet, meaningful layout from Sonel. As you can see, she used word art that I had shared some time ago ... it uses a phrase in a Rascall Flatts song. That was the theme of my sister's wedding ceremony to her high school sweetheart two years ago today. Thank you, Sonel, for sharing this lovely layout with us all. By the way, you should check out Sonel's blog -- she has some very cheerful word art on it and other things you'll enjoy.

Here's a reminder, too, about the Christmas music lyric overlays featured in my Faithful Season 1 and Faithful Season 2 packs. You can order them individually (for a suggested donation of $2 each) or together for a requested gift of $3.00. I greatly appreciate your consideration in this. Look at last Friday's post for more information about these word art overlays.

I'm sharing two new freebie word art pieces today for your Christmas collection. I would be delighted to see how you use them!!!

This quote is attributed to Dale Evans:

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings to you and yours today,

Melanie

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Faithful Season 2 Children's Carols

As I mentioned last week, I am posting another set of Christmas music lyrics -- these are specifically geared toward children (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth, Toyland, The Chipmunk Song, Frosty the Snowman, etc.) It's called Faithful Season 2, and consists of overlays for TEN songs.

If you would like to order this set of TEN lyrics in word art, please click on the DONATE button on the far right of the screen. A donation of $2.00 would be greatly appreciated. If you would like to order both sets (Faithful Season Sets 1 and 2), please consider a donation of $3.00, and specify that in your request. Please let me know which set you are ordering.

BY THE WAY, if you ordered Faithful Season 1 last week, I'm sending you this set as a thank-you gift. Hope you consider that a nice surprise!

Many thanks,

Melanie

Rock with Christmas, Dood!

We were fortunate to have my niece and her family visiting us this past weekend. Her three little boys can be rowdy, but oh-so-fun most of the time. At one point during the visit when they had to come indoors because of the rain, I pulled out the snowman notepaper I had saved for them, along with some felt-tip markers. Simultaneously, they all began drawing and writing notes for us grownups. How sweet!

Caleb, the oldest one at age 7, made me smile when he handed my husband one, where he had written a phrase I'd never heard before (and I'm guessing he just made it up): "Rock with Christmas" -- this note is now displayed on our refrigerator. But I had to laugh when he prepared one for his dad that said, "Rock with Christmas, Dood!"

So, you have Caleb to thank for inspiring today's word art. Both of these are in a single zip file. PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR LAYOUTS IF YOU USE THEM!!! I'd love to share them with Caleb when I see him on Christmas Day.

I'll be back later today with more.

Enjoy your day!

Melanie

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Some of the Best Gifts

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Can you tell I'm in a Christmas mood?

Just a reminder that there are only a few more days in which the FAITHFUL SEASON 1 traditional Christmas lyrics art will be available to order through a donation. Your patronage would be most appreciated.

Blessings to you and yours,

Melanie

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December at Home kit

Here's my entry for the December Color Challenge, hosted by the fabulous KimB at DSO.

Hope you can use it.

Blessings,

Melanie

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Jingle Swells

It amuses me this morning to give you this Christmas-y word art for my coastal friends and everyone else who will be enjoying Christmas by the sea. I'll be back later today with something else.

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TTFN,

Melanie

Prayer Changes Things

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Grateful U

Back with another freebie for today as I'd hoped! This expresses so eloquently and simply how I feel about family and friends. How about you? :)

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More ThanksGiving

Today's posting is a quick one. My sisters brought Mom to my house so that she can spend Thanksgiving with my husband and me -- but she got sick on the way. She still feels rotten this morning -- so much so that she didn't even get up to say hello to my husband before he left for work (he's her favorite!!!). So, now we're faced with the decision of knowing if it would be better to take her back home because we know her own bed and stuff are increasingly important to her when she feels unwell -- or taking it minute-by-minute throughout the holidays. She can get stubborn about people trying to help her (and she wonders where I get that from!!), but I'm hoping that she'll allow us to set her up by the fire to get cozy. I felt sooooooooo guilty leaving her to come to work so will try to get away as fast as I can.

I know you can all relate.

I wanted to add more Thanksgiving word art to your collection today, but couldn't resist the one about the elastic waistband (see below). It fits on so many occasions (especially for the guys as they watch sports games on television), but seems particularly appropriate at our Thanksgiving time.

Hope you'll forgive me for again promoting my Faithful Season 1 traditional carols lyrics package. I was hoping more of you would want them, but I'm so very grateful for those of you who have ordered them and appreciated hearing how a couple of you plan to use them. As I mentioned before, any donation would be greatly appreciated.

I may pop in before the day is out with another gift if I have time. Until then, I hope that those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this week have a meaningful time.

Melanie

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CARE

After I prepared today's quotations, I realized that plants in my house don't have a chance -- I have the opposite of a green thumb -- but I PROMISE I pay more attention to my marriage, and would love to shower that kind of care on children if I were so blessed.

When working on the colors, I was thinking about the words: "remember" in red as a TAKE NOTICE command; "children" in purple because that's the color you get when you combine blue and pink for boys and girls; "marriage" in platinum to symbolize the rings that bind us; "flower gardens" in green, for obvious reasons(!); and "care" in a teal color to represent the mingling of the other colors. Does that make sense? Hope so!



Many thanks to those of you who are helping by ordering Faithful Season 1. Through your donations, any assistance would be a great blessing.

Hope your day goes splendidly well,
Melanie

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Christmas Music Overlays

As I often mention, I enjoy making word art to post on this blog and love to hear from you with your comments and layouts.

Things are tough all over, and they are at my house, too. My medical bills have been exorbitant this year and I'm trying to find ways to take care of them. In that regard, if you are interested in these FAITHFUL SEASON overlays and would consider a $2.00 USD donation, I would be extremely grateful. My plan is to make more next week, with, of course, plenty of freebies along the way. As soon as I receive a receipt, I will forward the link to you.

Thanks for your kind comments and continued encouragement!

Melanie

ThanksGiving Thoughts

Lynette Jacobs sent this cool layout over the weekend. She used a word art I'd made some time ago and pieced it together in a way that suited her purposes. Nice job, Lynette! Thanks for sharing.



Of all the things my British husband, Stephen, had to adapt to, a new set of holidays has been an interesting change for him since we've been married. Even though we've been married for six years now, he's still not accustomed to the fact that we don't have Guy Fawkes Day or Boxing Day as work holidays. However, he has heartily embraced our Thanksgiving and truly enjoys it as a time of gathering with family as often as possible. Just as long as he's not made to watch any football games, of course. :)

I'm supplying you with two because of my absence on Friday.

Blessings,

Melanie

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Language of Friendship

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Learning from Trees

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Children Teach

I'm sorry for not spending much time on my blog -- I'm still incredibly weary. I'm diabetic and just haven't gotten my body back in sync over the past week. My apologies.

As I post this word art today, I realize that the shape somewhat resembles a tornado!

Blessings on your day,
Melanie

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Passionate Colors

The second word art for today was inspired by the current slogan of a popular American toy manufacturer.

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Legacies

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After all these years

Yes, I'm back from my convention. It was exhausting. I was so very fatigued yesterday that I was doing well just to get a word art piece done and posted! I'm planning to do a lot of catching up tomorrow, to formally acknowledge the awards I've received and the extra word art for those who sent the layouts.

In the meantime, I hope you can use today's word art. I've been enjoying listening to the group JOURNEY decades ago. I'm not big into rock music, but somehow always enjoyed most of their music, and missed it when Steve Perry left the group. It's not the same now, but the new guy who joined as lead vocalist (from the Philippines!) is extraordinary and hauntingly similar to Steve Perry. Their newest release is one that I enjoy listening to every day on the radio during my drive time.

All that to say, that those lyrics inspired today's two pieces of word art.

Blessings on your day,

Melanie

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