kiss them goodnight

As I awoke to a gentle rainy morning after a stormy evening, I couldn't help but think of my beautiful nephew, Jesse, whom we've learned is newly arrived in the hot, arid region of Bahrain for a tour of duty in the armed forces. What an adjustment for a young man to make...and that story can be told and retold countless times over the centuries all around the world.

But I can't think about the enormity of that right now. For just this morning, I'm selfishly just thinking about my precious nephew, who is sorely missed ... and praying for his safety and well-being.

Today's word art is a reminder to kiss your babies goodnight...and if you can't physically be there, pray for them!

All the best,

Melanie
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Tickle-Me-Nathan

Participating in the Font Challenge (led by Andrea Dickinson), this layout was prepared using the Yugly font and elements from KimB's most recent grab bag (DSO).

I thought this quote was funny; I don't really have a problem setting a good example for children, though!

Hope your day goes great!

All the best,

Melanie

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no matter how hard you try ...

...you still find yourself saying this, over and over. I SOOOOO didn't want to sound like my mom when we had our little 3-year-old visitor last week, but eventually, you run out of answers for why they should or should not do something, and it just slips out against your will. :)

[credits: KimB's Dec 08 challenge posting gift, Digitreats' Smirk, Tinette's Caribe Club, Melanie's Digital Creations Marchopolis and word art]

Have a great day!
Melanie

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Battle times two

We came back home from Easter weekend at Mom's with an extra passenger in our car: a 3-year-old rowdy boy (my youngest great-nephew). We're going to have him all week. It's a real test of my progress on my wrist, but he's an irresistible cutie.

He's taking a nap right now ... but the process of getting there (finally) inspired today's word art pieces. Hope you can find a use for them, too!!!

Off to do some little-boy laundry. See you tomorrow.
Melanie

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in the zone

Passionate about those you love? What better way to scrap those photos than using word art that shows how very much you care! That's the reason I made the set I call PROMISES. It can be yours for a simple donation of $2.00. Your order would be enormously appreciated.

Now, here are today's freebies; the download links are shown below.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Melanie

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Delight in happiness

Shamelessly plugging my special little word art set, I would appreciate your considering ordering it for the low, low donation request of $2. A few of you have ordered it, for which I'm quite grateful.


Here's a new piece of word art which I hope you can enjoy as you work on your layouts:


Blessings on your day,
Melanie

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back to basics

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silver linings

first on my monday list is to publicly thank Sonel (Sonel's Corner) for graciously providing me with my first blinkie! i'm posting it today finally because i just haven't been feeling like doing any extras since she sent it to me not long after my first wrist surgery. she used elements from my september quilt kit and added the razzle dazzle to make people take notice. i've never figured out how to make a blinkie, but certainly hope to some day. thanks, again, sonel for such a neat gift.

she also made a matching header, so i'm color-coordinated at last!

i've been blessed with many silver linings lately ... like being able to spend more time with Mom when she came to help be my extra set of hands during the Christmas holidays. she's still been regaining strength after the slow healing of her leg fracture last autumn -- and we spent a lot of time laughing and joking about the fact that between the two of us, we still didn't make a "whole" person!!

today's wa about moms with middle-age children is dedicated to her.

looks like my new blinkie isn't blinking, so i'll check to see what i did wrong.

blessings on your day,

melanie

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true

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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

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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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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Heart Sings

I want to share something that a reader named Ruby wrote yesterday, in response to the word art. I think she spoke delightfully about what scrapbooking means to her, and I share her sentiments:

What a blessing scrapbooking has been to those of us who do it; to those who read it, and to generations to come. I look at old albums with no names, no details, and there is just blankness; I look at an album lovingly filled with emotions, memories and my heart sings.

My husband has told me many times how much he loves the scrapbooks I do for our vacations. I include a lot of journaling and bits of photos of even the tiniest things that make each page a collage and a portrait of those five minutes ... that day ... that week of our journey. He "gets it" -- for which I'm profoundly grateful. He understands that reading the scrapbook is like taking the journey all over again, with all its sights, sounds, smells, adventures, rain, signs, people, history, authenticity and HEART. Memories. My heart sings, too, Ruby.

On another note (pun intended), I love the exuberance with which most children approach life. One of my little great-nephews often dances to a tune that only he can hear, but we smile and laugh and adore him every time. May they never outgrow it!!!

Blessings on your day,

Melanie
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What Happened?!!

I've had a rough few days at work and apologize for being AWOL. Just very distracted by some events that made me alternately mad and sad. Hope today's posting freebies will make up for my absence.

Many thanks to those of you who've taken the time to send notes of appreciation, encouragement, and support. It sometimes feels as though the digital-scrapping community is its own sorority -- the very best that such organizations can offer, I'd like to think. I love the opportunity to make new friends around the world, particularly as I've had a lifelong love of learning about geography and the diversity each segment of the world contains.

Through digi-scrapping I've learned that there are some very talented ladies in South Africa, for example!!! LynetteJ sent another very nice two-page layout in which she used some word I made some time ago (coordinates with Pamela's wonderful Digitreats' JUMP kit). I love to work on two-pagers, too. I think that I think in clusters so often, that I like that symmetry. Great job, Lynette, and thank you SOOOO much for sharing your work with me.





Seeing the photos in Lynette's layout reminded me of my great-nephews recently. The oldest one, age 7, had one of those OVERNIGHT growth spurts, and I swear his feet look the size of a teenager's! [I wouldn't tell him that, though] My niece had just bought all three of her sons new school shoes, then had to turn around and buy more before school even started.

This next piece is one I plan to use to scrap an afternoon tea my husband and I enjoyed Sunday afternoon. The anticipated downpour from Hurricane Ike changed our plans for a birthday party for my hubby, and when I asked him what he wanted to do instead, he said "have a proper tea." So, we went to a downtown hotel that has wonderful traditional afternoon teas.

My British husband misses that sometimes, and frequently indulges in his tea in the mornings with bread and cheese. Every time we visit his family in the UK, we enjoy cream tea several times at some of our favorite tearooms. They're not all just for tourists, especially in some of the smaller villages. One of the delightful things about taking tea is that it makes me slow down and unwind. Wish I could do that every day. This sentiment below describes how I feel about it exactly!

Do you see yourself in this last quotation for today? For a long, long time, I felt 25 on the inside -- a very nice place to be. I don't feel that young anymore, because I can see myself drawing away from the more youthful things -- I don't even pretend to understand some of the music, but some of it is quite good. I try to keep an open mind!

I'm beyond grateful that it's Wednesday. I'm not wishing my life away, but I'd much prefer a shorter work week -- or being able to stay at home more. Sigh. Heavy sigh. Wishful thinking. :)

Hope your week is going splendidly.

Blessings,

Melanie

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At the end of the day ... it matters

I've got several things to discuss today, so please bear with me!

First, in response to a request by Sheri, I made the plural version of the Phenomenal Woman word art I posted recently. She had just enjoyed a gathering of friends for which she thought the phrase Phenomenal WomEn would be perfect, and asked for a special version of it. I should have done that earlier! Thanks, Sheri, for reading my blog and for your request. Download links are at the end of the post. Keep reading!

Along the same thread, Vera sent me a link where she had posted an album page on her blog, in which she used a word art I had prepared some time ago. I LOVE the way she did this. It's simple, uses the maximum amount of the page, emphasizes the people in the photo and not the art, yet it's clear she took her time thinking it through and preparing it. Great work, Vera! Thanks for sharing. She also has excellent tutorials in her Saturday newsletter, so check them out.



Now, back to Sheri for a few minutes. When I visited Sheri's blog after seeing her comment, I was immediately drawn to her life story -- at least the part that was visible at first glance. You see, Sheri is a single mother to two daughters she adopted.

It's a memory still close to the surface for me, and it often still brings tears to my eyes. I won't relate the entire story, but just let you know that adoption is a subject close to my heart. It's only been little more than a year that my husband and I learned that the adoption of a daughter for whom we had soooooo long been waiting would not come to pass. There were several factors involved in causing that huge disappointment, and that was our only chance. We deal now with the fact that we had used all the extra money that we had put away for the adoption and will be unable to do so now.

It still hurts with a pang in my heart that's deeper than words can describe. Someone else will read our little McKenna a bedtime story, and wake up to her smiles and kisses. Someone else will have the privilege of watching her play games with her friends, and teaching her how to cook. Someone else will enjoy the right to tell McKenna that God loves her and made her especially for us. She's out there -- I feel that just as surely as I feel the warmth of the sun on these hot August days.

Sheri's daughters both came from China. Our little McKenna would have come from near Beijing.

Thank you, Sheri, for the moments of pleasure seeing your adorable daughters, Mirielle and Maelynna.

With such thoughts on my heart today, I wanted to share this quote from an unknown source. I hope to see it on your layouts some day. Please.
Blessings to you and yours,
Melanie

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Precious Gifts

Now more than ever, it is vital for us to remember this. Promise me you'll remember?!!!

I'm also taking today's posting to show you a layout that was prepared using my "August in Port Elizabeth" kit (for the August DSO color challenge). It was done by Abby of Abby's Bowtique:

She told me that she was inspired by the kit to use circles to display her photos. It was great to see that someone used this kit, and I ALWAYS appreciate hearing from others. Thanks, Abby!

Blessings on your day,
Melanie

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Being Present

Both these word art pieces are in today's download.

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Miracle of Life

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Beginnings

The start of a new month is always a target goal to start that diet ... to stop chewing our nails ... to look for a new job ... to try a different hair color ... and so on. You know all about that, don't you.

The beginning of June also means other beginnings as well. This past week, as I mentioned earlier, I attended my nephew's graduation from high school, and his Court of Honor where he was awarded the ranking of Eagle Scout. This particular nephew of mine made the decision a few weeks ago to join the military service rather than go straight to college/university. He's very excited, and appears to have joined for all the right reasons. For that reason, we are so proud of him, yet there's an apprehension about where he may serve eventually while in the Armed Forces. I just want to hug him every time I walk by him. Although he is my younger sister's son, I claim all of my nieces and nephews as the closest thing I'll ever have to children.

In that context ... in the frame of mind it brings ... I prepared word art today about children. What precious little human beings they are ... what futures they have in store ... what a loss if we didn't have them. And how proud we are when they become responsible young adults.

Now, I've just got to get busy uploading photos to be developed from the weekend -- my camera is tired from all the activity! [not really ... I never get tired of taking photos!]

Blessings on your Monday,

Melanie

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