10 Reasons Why

This year for Valentine's Day I decided to make each of my daughters' a special page. I thought it would be fun to tell them 10 different things, that I love about each of them. They are quite different from each other and I really enjoyed doing these pages for them.

I decided to use one of Dusty Bear's newest kits, that I've been trying to find time to play with. I really like the background papers in this kit. I believe that Lara currently has Splendiferous on sale in her store at Gotta Pixel for a limited time, if you are interested in checking it out.

10 Reasons Why - Raquel digital kit credits: Splendiferous and Poly Plastic Layer Style by Dusty Bear.
Heart Element by Art Within Designs.
Fonts Used: Old Newspaper Font, Kayleigh and Monotype Corsiva.

10 Reasons Why - Ayden digital kit credits: Splendiferous by Dusty Bear.
Heart element by Art Within Designs.
Fonts Used: Old Newspaper Font, Kayleigh and Monotype Corsiva.

We have been enjoying several more weeks of mild winter weather, although it has been quite foggy some days. The ice crystals that form on everything because of the fog, are certainly beautiful and even Raquel snapped a few pictures of the trees with her cell phone. The girls have been busy with school activities and Raquel is looking forward to the break she will get this week, due to the annual teacher's convention. I must say I am really beginning to dislike paperwork, as once again it is time to get everything together for a trip to the accountant's.

Ayden enjoys swimming and so we decided to take her for the Family Day swim at the pool. It was a busy place today, but it was great to get out of the house and do something. Besides that, we had a quiet weekend as Raquel was off visiting her dad and didn't come back home until this evening. I hope you had a Happy Valentine's day and took some time out to enjoy the Family Day long weekend.

Loved in Return

Last week seemed to go by fairly quickly. I decided to learn how to use Photo Shop Elements 5. Normally I do all my pages with Paint Shop Pro. It was fun trying to figure out how to work on a lay out without taking classes for the program first. A lot of the features are similar, but I do like PSP quite a lot. I can see I will be using both programs from now on, and may even have to find time to take some lessons for PSE5.

Vanessa has some new templates in the Blushbutter store and I decided to play with one this week, instead of coming up with my own composition, (although I did rearrange it a bit). The templates are quite beautiful and certainly good for a little inspiration. Vanessa also added some fabulous new styles to the store this week. They only function in Photo Shop (the reason I decided to start using it). Working with styles in PSE5 was interesting and I really liked the end result. I actually started this page in PSP and then completed it in Photo Shop.

This is a picture of Ayden with her favorite cat. We have five cats and they are all supposed to be outside cats. Ayden really loves Vester and usually has to have him inside during the day. He comes running when she calls him and spends most of the day curled up sleeping some place in her room. He is her best buddy and she adores him. She loves to give him water and fills special dishes of food just for him. I used a lot of Ayden's favorite color (green) on this page, and she loves it.

Loved in Return digital kit credits: Victorian Dolls Kit, Faery Kisses in Blue Mega kit, Template Layout Creator #16, Glitter Glitz Glam Styles & Felt Photoshop Styles all from Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Imprint MT Shadow & Segoe Script.

The weather got cool again this past week and we had a little bit of snow. It is supposed to start warming up in a few more days. Ayden finished up her swimming lessons at the end of the week. She is supposed to be about 3 before she can go in the pool for lessons by herself. So since she can't really advance to the next level for a while, I will probably just register her in the Sea Turtle level. Lessons start again in a few weeks. Raquel enjoyed the week at school and got to end it with a Valentine's Day party, movie and swimming, as well. She is pretty happy to have a long weekend and is trying to talk me into taking them to the pool for the Family Day swim. Sounds like it might be a good way to spend some time with the girls.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Happy Valentines's Day!!!

P.S. I love you!

February is Heart month, if you are interested, you can check out the following links to find out more ways to keep your heart healthy, the Heart & Stroke Foundation and The Heart Truth. Of course, February's most celebrated holiday, Valentine's day, is also around the corner. So remember to wear some red on February 14th to show your support of the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

Deb, at The Dapper Doxie has a lovely new kit in her store this month, that is just perfect for romantic occasions (and it's on sale for a limited time). I decided to do another page for my heritage album, because I love these old shots of my mom and dad. They have been a couple for over 40 years and I really admire them for that. These pictures, of my parents, were taken before they were married. My dad was quite proud of that Comet Capri, as it was his first new car. The journaling reads: Barbara gave Eckhard this picture while they were engaged. She wrote him the little note in the locket, on the back of the picture. These pictures were taken in the spring of 1967.

P.S. I love you! digital kit credits: Parisian Rose from the Dapper Doxie.
Fonts used: Mutlu, Porcelain & Whisper Write.

We had a fairly quiet week this week. Ayden is getting much better at floating and blowing bubbles in the pool. She is getting a lot more confident in the water, although I'm not totally sure that is a good thing, as she is such an independent little person. Raquel had a winter carnival today at school this afternoon, to finish off the week. She had a good time and especially enjoyed the fact that there were no classes pretty much all day. We went and did some shopping the other day and I got myself a new external hard drive. I found a good deal on a terabyte that I couldn't pass up. So I spent some time cleaning out files and rearranging them this week. Hopefully now my desktop will perform better, as it's memory was almost full. We are supposed to have another mild weekend, which will be so nice. Hope you enjoy your weekend also!

Always Know I Love You

I decided rather late this month to participate in the challenge at Blush-n-Dusty. The challenge is to create a page about something you are thankful for, using Dusty Bear's For Fall element kit and to include some journaling.

I have many things in my life that I am thankful for, but the most important of all, are my children. I cherish each of them. I love watching them grow up and I am so glad that I have had the opportunity, to view the world through their eyes. I hope they always know how much I love them.

Always Know I Love You digital kit credits: For Fall, Dainty Elements, Crumpled Papers - Pastel,and Crumpled Papers - Bold from Dusty Bear.
Fonts Used: Kunstler Script & Lucida Handwriting.

We had a wonderful week of mild weather. Raquel seems to be the only one who has fully recovered from her cold. The rest of us are still suffering, to various degrees. Ayden seems to have it the worst, (poor baby) and she certainly has been a bit miserable. Raquel got her report card this week and is doing quite well. Mr. "Kap" is her favorite teacher and she has been enjoying school this year. She is having a sleepover this evening with her best friend, Ellen, to celebrate. We are thinking of setting up our Christmas tree on Sunday. We finally bought an artificial one last year, so that means we can have it up longer, for the girls to enjoy. Ayden has been seeing all the beautiful trees in the stores, so I think she will be quite happy to have her own at home. It's hard to believe it's almost Christmas time again. It is going to be lots of fun with Ayden this year.

Hope you have a good weekend.