Sympathy in Kind

When I stared working at Bruce school in 2004, I had just returned from the funeral of my mother in England, and had to start at a new school. I was greeted by a few staff, but one in particular stood out.

Blair was the French Teacher, whose parents were originally from Scotland. He is the best at accents, and he loves English comedy TV shows. We have that in common, (comedy, not accents). We became friends, and he made me laugh on a daily basis. He didn't know about my mum dying, but his humour made me happy, and that was how he unknowingly helped me with my grief.

Blair left Bruce school to teach at another school, and I missed him. However, I always stayed in touch, and if I ever go to England, I pick him up some Thornton's toffee and some Fortnum and Mason Lemon Curd. It gives me an excuse to see him.

This past summer I had to go home for my dad's funeral and again I picked up both goodies for Blair. We got together, grabbed a coffee and went down to Sugar Beach, where we found a couple of Muskoka chairs and sat and caught up on each other's lives. He had a scare last year with a heart concern, but he looked good and he made me laugh with his always very funny stories. Even though we don't see each other very often, I consider him a good friend and we can pick up wherever we left off.

I saw a Facebook posting from him letting his friends know that his father had passed away. It made me feel sad, initially remembering my dad's recent death, but then for Blair. He was very close with his dad, and I know he must be suffering the pain of losing him.  What can I do to bring him comfort? Well I will do what I know, I have made him a card, and I will be there for him when he needs to talk. I don't think I can make him laugh, but for sure I will try.

My deepest condolences Blair, I know the pain of losing a parent, and can only say to hold your memories close and your family closer.

3D box cards

I bought a Silhouette Cameo earlier this year, and although in the beginning I was a little disappointed, I am now in love with it.

I have had a Cricut die cutting machine for many years, graduating from a tiny one to the larger one. My son bought me the Sure Cuts A Lot program that I could use with my Cricut to cut almost any thing I liked, only to have Provo Craft, who make the Cricut machines, sue SCAL. I could not use the program on the new bigger machine that I got, and was limited to my mini.

So when I discovered that I could cut out anything on the Silhouette, I saved up and got one from Amazon.  As I mentioned before, I was a little disappointed, as I discovered, there were some cutting files that I couldn't use without making a further purchase of Studio Designer add on.  Once again my son came to my rescue and got me Sure Cuts A Lot3 , that works a treat.

I have just started buying files from SVG Cuts, and I am in heaven making some fantastic card boxes.

Here are some that I have made so far.

I've made 2 of these for friends

This one is being sent to my great niece Talia in England

I think I will be keeping this one for me. I made a few adjustments as it originally came with the American flag

My sister Lorna asked for this one as it is her anniversary later this month

That is 6 cards. I bought 3 sets and I think they each have 5 cards in them, so I am going to be very busy in the last few weeks before I have to go back to school in September.

Beautiful

I have been reorganizing my scrap stuff for a week now and have wanted to quit and just play with the stuff instead.

I discovered the light box that I bought a few months ago, I also found a bunch of things that I bought when Keitha and I went on a road trip looking for new stash.

So this afternoon, I decided enough, it was time to use some of my stuff.  I found photos too, and picked one from August last year, and put together this layout, using flowers from the Home Decor cartridge and my Cricut machine.

It came together pretty quickly, and so did the clean up.  Hopefully I can keep the new scrap space clear now that the reorganizing is ALMOST over!

Christmas Card Layout

Every year I make a layout of the Christmas cards I receive.  This is my layout for this year, 2009.  I usually include the stamps and airmail stickers from my friends and family living all over the world on another page.

The following picture is from my 2008 Christmas cards.

And this one is from 2007.

Who knew??

I actually did another layout today.  Must be on a roll!  I have been sick almost all week and haven't had the energy to do anything.  Now it looks like I'm a scrapper all over again!

Seems to be blurry here!  Anyway this is a couple of photos of my parents and their long time friends.  My mum is the one who looks like she's about to be under the table!  While I was home in England this past summer, my mum's long time friend Connie died.  She is the one in the top left corner.  So now I figure the two of them are raising hell in heaven!

February 1st Layout

So I made this page today and completely changed the papers that I had originally picked out. This one is much more vibrant. Yesterday I was at Walmart and picked up 2 paper packs that ususally sell for $20 each, but I got them for $5. There are some very lovely papers in there, hopefully I will get them used up.

This was the last night in Cuba. We had dinner with friends that we made down there. I took a couple of shots from the dining room window of the sun going down.

Christmas card layout

Every year I take the cards that I receive for Christmas from family and friends and make a lay out with them.

I also make a page with the stamps, return addresses and air mail stickers.

This is this years pages.