Welcome to Best Creations' First Blog Hop!

We have all been on blog hops, but I promise you that this one by Best Creation Inc. will be one of the best in terms of inspiration and in giveaways and prizes!!  So let the Blog Hop commence!!!

This Blog Hop will have you hopping along 13 Design Team Members blogs where they will share with you some inspiration by sharing projects created with Best Creation products AND where they will share with you one letter of the alphabet that when you put them all together will give you a phrase.
One lucky person will win $100 worth of Best Creation products:

A second person will win Best Creation's Valentine collection of papers and stickers:

And I hear tell that if you follow the Best Creation Blog that there will be random drawings for every 10 followers added and the winners will receive a paper collection of their choice!

My project that I want to share with you is my December Daily!  I used the FaLaLa Christmas Line and the Winter Wonderful line for my mini album. For the front and back of my album I used some Teresa Collins Bind it All covers and then cut the Best Creation papers to size.  Best Creation papers are double sided and a perfect thickness to be able to use as pages.  I chose to do 25 days, dedicating two pages to each day, and used the Glitter Cardstock as mats for the 2x3 photos that I will add.  I used some rub ons that I had in my stash from Rusty Pickle for the numerals and then rubbed them onto coordinating papers and made my own epoxys using my Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio 14 Round......perfect!!!  I did some embellishing on the pages adding some fussy cut designs from the Best Creation papers, Best Creation Chipboard and stickers and other trims and flowers from my stash.  I will do additional embellishing as I add the photos daily, things that will be inspired by the photos themselves.  So I will quit talking about it and just share it now........

My December Daily 2010

I know that this mini album will be cherished for many more years  to come by all!!

Now on to the details:  You will be collecting letters of the secret phrase on each of the 13 stops and when you have the phrase you will send that entry to teresa@bestcreation.us . The winners will will be announced on Friday Dec 3rd so good luck and have fun hopping!

You have come from Natalie's blog and will be continuing to Ann-Katerina's blog.  Your letter from my blog is: "i".  Don't forget to leave comments along the way, become a follower of the Best Creation Blog , and comment on the Best Creation Blog.  If you enter the blog hop in the middle you can always go to the Best Creation Blog for a complete list of all the stops in order.

Good luck and thanks for visiting!!!!

 

Thoughts

Today I have been writing and preparing for a booklet we want to make to Celebrate my Papa's journey here on earth.  Remembering times with him, things he said and did, what a character he was.  We were blessed to have been part of his life and now he watches over us, cant ask for more.  Everyone has their own stories and the stories bring smiles to all of our faces.  What a great life he had and what a great family he had surrounding him....all the way to the end.  Facebook was a great resource to us as we shared his journey for 23 days.  Many kept up with the journey via Facebook and we appreciate all of the words of support that we received during that time and continuing even now.  We are in preparation for a Celebration of Life which will take place on December 4th.  We hold him in our hearts free and strong now that he has no ailments to hold him back.  I love you Papa!

During this journey I asked for prayers to help me get past something that was done to me towards the end of this journey so that I could focus only on Papa and have only him in my heart.  I received this comfort from all of you and I thank you for it.  The hurt that was done to me is something I want to share with you in the hopes that someone may learn sensitivity, to think before they speak and to know that something done as a result of drama will only make you sink to the level of the person creating the drama.  I wont name names but I will tell you that it concerned a Design Team I was on and am no longer.  They no longer appear on my blog or in my resume but I know it wouldn't take much to figure out the kit club if you so desired.  And the reason for it can be seen in who took my place on that Design Team.  I am not one to sink to the levels of those that feed on drama but I felt in this situation that people should know the source of the blemish on the journey for which I asked for support.  Now I can put it behind me and rise above.

My creativity right now is being focused on creating some bulletin boards of Papa and writing a booklet to Celebrate his Life.

Thank you all for being such great friends and a great source of support and love during this time!  Love ya!!!

RIP my Papa

The journey has ended for my Papa, it continues for those of us still here.  We had an experience that was a special as he was.  For 23 days my mom was at his side with only short little breaks.  For the last 8 days we surrounded Papa with love and family each and every minute save those that my mom had to sleep and the hospice nurse took over.  He took his time with his journey, he did it right and he did it his way, just like he lived life.  Though he was in a semi conscious state and then an unconscious state he still managed to ooze his charm for those around him.  We were told yesterday that it would happen last night.  I slept on the couch in the room next to where he was and I awoke at 3am sensing a change in his breathing.  I sat with him while the nurse cleaned his mouth and gave him a manicure.  His breathing was changing rapidly during this time.  Around 5am we woke my mom to come and say good bye.  She spent the next 12 minutes whispering to him and holding his hand as I held his other and his breathing slowed and slowed and slowed and stopped.  He finished his journey at 5:12 am and started his next journey at the same time.  Our plans are that he will be cremated and the close immediate family will spread his ashes at the beach where we spent so much time together, his favorite place.  There will be no viewing, he didnt like them when he was here so he certainly would not like having one for himself.  We will celebrate his life on Dec 4 at home with an Ice Cream Social, since he loved his ice cream.

We got this poem from one of our hospice nurses and my mom just loves it so thought I would share it:

I am standing upon the seashore.  A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.  She is an object of beauty and strength.  I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says:  "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight.  That is all.  She is just as large in the mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.  And just at the moment when someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"

And that is dying.

Henry Van Dyke

Rest in peace my sweet Papa, you are forever in our hearts and we know you are in a better place free of the body that shut down way too soon.

The Scrapping Spot December Kit

Well the last two months have been sell outs for The Scrapping Spot monthly kit and judging by the preorders for December I am betting this one will sell out as well!  Take a look at the kit:

Featuring the LYB Christmas Delight line (all papers are double sided except the two foil accent pages).

 

1-Christmas Delight Lace Cut - Poinsettia

1-Season's Celebrations with Foil Accent

1-Very Merry Ornaments with Foil Accent

1-'Tis the Season Stripe/Starry Night

1-Christmas Morning/Gifts Galore

1-Delightful Dots/Merry Mint Brocade

1-Merry & Bright Bands/Chestnut Carols

2-Bazzill Rainforest

1-Bazzill String of Pearls

Handful Christmas Delight CB Shapes

1/2 pkg. Christmas Delight Jewel Stickers

1/2 pkg. Old School Vintage Tinsel Ribbon

1/3 pkg. Deck the Halls Metal & Epoxy brads

1/2 pkg. Rossetti Roses

1-Combo Noel Stickers

3 ea. Noel Noteworthy spiral bound die cut

1-Forest Moss Stickles

And of course I want to share my layouts with you!!!!  I did give you sneaks so I guess I should give you the full reveal too huh? The kit was so much fun to work with, really got me in the Christmas Spirit.

And so I hope that I have inspired you with my layouts from the latest The Scrapping Spot kit.....get yours now!

On another note an update on my dad is that he continues to be surrounded with love, he is comfortable and peaceful.   The nurse today thinks he may go tonight.  We all have closure and have enjoyed our time focusing fully on him, helping him on his journey to a new adventure.  No one or nothing can put a blemish on this time though they have tried, shame, shame.  I love you PaPa!!!!

The Scrapping Spot for November and December Sneaks!

The November The Scrapping Spot kit was so amazing that it sold out in a matter of hours!!  I know that the owners have upped the number of kits they are offering and if you visit the message board there is a place where you can preorder the December kit and I have to say, I just worked with the December kit this weekend and it is another awesome kit....sure to sell out!  Here are the sneaks of the December kit from The Scrapping Spot......

 

and here are some sneaks from the layouts I have done so far:

Reveal day for projects done with the December kit is Nov 25th on the message board and here.  The kit should go on sale shortly after that, dont miss it!

Here are the layouts from the sold out November kit that I did....another fun kit!

Again, thanks for visiting!!  I hope I have inspired you and I hope you will come back to visit again :)

Hiya!!! sorry I was MIA

Its been a busy month.  The last two weeks have been spent split between normal regularly scheduled things and the hospital leaving me very little time to update here.  I have still been busy creating when I can, its a great release for me right about now.  My Dad has been ill for a long time, he has Parkinson's and some Dementia and was in a residential care home.  About 2 weeks ago he got a fever, a high fever, and he was admitted to the hospital and has been there ever since.  He had pneumonia from something aspirated and septic shock.  Once that was under control he spiked a fever again, another infection somewhere other than his lungs.  His weakened condition will cause the infections to keep coming back where ever they can and the antibiotics will be useless.  He is having a problem with his potassium levels too.  He has always been Do Not Resuscitate so we made the decision to bring him home on Hospice Care.  He is bedridden right now also, we are hoping to be able to get him in a wheel chair so he can go outside.  We set up the main living room as his living space, its bright and sunny with lots of windows and he can see most of the house from his bed.  He comes home tomorrow morning.  We are ready to surround him with love and family.  We are at peace with our decision and look forward to being with him all of the time.  So that's where I have been and where alot of my attention will be focused for as long as he is with us.

This month, the month of November I am Guest Designing for Helmar Adhesives.  I cannot say enough about all of their products, I use them all the time!  Their is an application for every need that you can think of.  I think my favorites are the ZapDots, Liquid Scrap Dots, 450 Quick Dry and the Quick Fix Adhesive Runner.  The Tape Runner was one that I had not used before, I am an ATG user and have been for a few years but I have to say that I really love the Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner, I was totally surprised because I love my ATG.  I have several blog posts for Helmar coming up and have had one post recently featuring the Christmas cards I made with Best Creation papers and Helmar Adhesives, you can see it HERE, but here are the cards I made:

I have been busy with my Best Creation projects too...most have been featured on the Best Creation Blog already but I thought I would share them with you here too.

This layout was done as a scraplift of a layout by Emily Pitts from the September issue of Scrapbook Trends Magazine and was a submission for a call...it didn't get picked up so I can share it here:

 

I used my Cricut cartridge, Accent Essential, to cut the snowflakes from Best Creation Glitter cardstock and I was thrilled with the results!!  The glitter cardstock is nothing short of amazing!  I love working with it and the glitter is embossed into the paper so it doesn't flake off everywhere.  Here is a close up of the snowflakes:

My next layout uses Best Creation papers, love these, and my Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Round 14 epoxy circles, so much fun!

 

and a close up of the Epiphany Crafts Epoxy's

I used alot of Helmar adhesives here too, check out the ornaments where I doubled them up and lifted them with Zap Dots

I love my homemade tree too!!  I used the Best Creation Glitter Cardstock for it:

And one more project to share and this one uses Best Creation papers, Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Epoxy's and Helmar Adhesives.  One of my favorite gift items to make is a altered composition book to be used for Notes, Lists or as a Journal.  I love how this one came out and am debating giving it away, lol!!

 

I am a snowman lover and collector as you can see :)  And with this one I did the inside over, adding a little pocket, and the back cover:

 

So this is a big post and I must stop now.  I have more to share but will do so in another post.  I want to share my layouts from The Scrapping Spot for the last few months...I didnt get a chance to post them and the kits sold out immediately so this is just sharing and not advertising, lol!!

Thanks for your visit!

See you soon.

Real soon ;)