one little girl

well im finally settling back at home after being away for 3 days.......there's no place like home when you have been away from it a few days.........soooo i stared working on this blog entry when my mom called...so she and i got to talking.....and talking...and talking......she is an AWESOME MOM....

well last week or so, when i told her that i had won a 3 day pass to scrapfest....who did i call - my mom!!!!! i was sooo excited...and she was excited for me..... so naturally and without saying.....i asked her to come along with me...and even though she had a ton of things to do, she said that she would.....so i started looking online at the scrapfest goodness...and i noticed that the event was open to anyone 10 years of age and up....so i was like - WOW!!!! - abby can come too!!!!

abby is sooooooo far more creative than i am....and for 10 y.o., she is a true scrapbooker...... she always wants to tag along with my mom and i when we go to different crops and such.....sooooo i thought this would be great to get her to go with us...... so i texted my mom and i told her the news.... she gives me a call and says...how about i buy abby's ticket, and the 2 of you go together..... i didnt know what to say......i was sooooooo thankful for the offer....but i was gonna miss her not being there...cause she and i have a blast togehter when we go....she is the reason i am the scrapbook addict i am......she had joined a stampin up group...and after being in it a year or so, she invited me to a workshop....ive been hooked ever since...and oh, the amazing people i have met too.....which led to me to where i am now....... loving life and scrapbooking the memories that bring so much joy to it......

anyways......were was i......oh, my mom and i talking.....so i was telling her that i made a beautiful layout using the picture of her at the age of 10 for one page and for the other page, i chose the picture of her and her siblings...... even before hitting the highway to mandeville to scrapfest, i knew that these pictures were a definite.....with out a doubt....

anyways....... so i was saying that i was happy and sad at the same time cause i really wanted her to go too..... but abby and i made out just fine....its funny, cause my mom is just 3 doors down from me...and when i go away a distance , just me alone, or me and one or both kids, i feel like im a kid again...acting as a grow up...an i want the guidance of my mom with me.....so when abby and i traveled this weekend...i was thinking the whole time like a teen who just got her drivers license...and it was the first time driving alone on the open road....that nervous, scared feeling you get.......ha ha ha.....

and so i was putting this blog entry together when my mom and i got to talking.....she was telling me that today marked the anniversary of her oldest sisters passing, some years back (she is the one in the picture holding the little boy)..... it made my heart sink..... i hadnt even connected the two...i mean , i was sooooo moved to make this layout...using this particular picture!!!!....

and i had to have it exactly perfect..and it took me nearly all my time there at the event to do it to my liking..... and in a way it was like we were both thinking of the memories she had as a child, those she shared with her brothers and sisters....... it all happened by chance.... isnt that irony at its best???

... this is my favorite layout ever....it has a very special place in my heart.....

......both pictures ahve always been favorites of mine..... my mom said that the one of all the kids was the first and only photo that they ever had with all the kids...and the 5th grade picture of my mom made me think of abby - being in 5th grade this year......wow!!!! how time (and style) has changed...has changed :)...

i had my mom copy the picture onto a piece of canvas paper.....it added the perfect texture.....i also used canvas as a backing to my picture and added a touch of hand stitching..... i love love love buttons, so that was a given, as was the ribbon, pins, tulle, flowers, and hundreds of pop dots :).....i added a few feathers and other accent pieces and it all blended so nicely with the colors too.....

i couldnt come up with a journalling entry right away....so when i was at the event i snapped a pic and emailed it to my mom and was like....mom tell me what to write...what comes to mind when you look at this picture???? ha ha ha..... she she and i tossed around a few ideas....and after getting ready for bed that night...i was lying there and it came to mind.....1,2,3,4,5....i could list 5 things.....and it all fell into place....

i must say that i was very happy with the way it came out...and the whole time that abby and i were cropping at scrapfest...i was telling her..."well ab, its kinda like ma ma is here with us ... and she doent even know it...." ha ha ha...

well, thanks to my mom for giving me copies of these pics and lucky for me....( and paula too) , our layouts both won , and we will be heading back to scrapfest in february......... yay!!!! but guess who will be tagging along????? good old mom :)