Happy Mother's Day!


Anything special planned for today? Think it's ok to want a day of "nothing"--no activities, no chores--just resting, reading, and relaxing. That's what I want most for the day. LOL!


Did you hear Lisa's announcement on QVC? She's retiring from doing the shows. I'm sad. I really enjoyed working with her and the QVC team. It was sometimes a challenge to work with product that I'm not typically drawn too, but I always loved the challenge. :) I also loved working with Marci and Angela and Kerri (they were wonderful bosses, and I'm going to miss them TONS!!!). I hate to see doors close. Doors that I loved.


I was also sad to hear that Memory Makers will no longer be printing their magazine. :( This economy is so awful. So many awesome designers and editors losing the jobs they love. My heart goes out to everyone in any industry affected by this economy.


On a happier note, I wanted to share some designers work that I just love. These gals styles just make me happy. And since there are so many of them, I'm going to break this up into a few posts.


One gal, that I read her blog as much as possible is Laura Vegas. I'd love for her to photograph my children. Her photos are always phenomenal and her layouts are lovely. She's one of the gals that turned me on to twine on my layouts. I got to meet her in person and she's absolutely AWESOME. She works for Making Memories and rocks their lovely products like crazy.


Another gal I just love is Mary MacAskill. She has this awesome graphic style and always knows just when to stop adding embellishments. She can work vellum like crazy. I still want to know how she prints stuff out without smearing it. She is a sweetheart, and I'm always inspired.


Susan Weinroth is one of my happy places. Her darling family provides her with countless yummy photos. She's such a positive person and I admire her for that. I love her playful, graphic style. She works the Queen and Company and Fiskars like a pro, and I love her lovely color schemes.


Want to meet THE die cut queen? Then you MUST check out Nichol Magourik's blog. I'm hoping she'll become my own private tutor for all things die cutting. Nichol is always an AWESOME stamper. And she can work a double page spread like a master. Seriously one amazing gal!

On another note, the above layout was recently published in the May issue of Scrapbook Trends Magazine. They were looking for extra Mother's Day layouts, and I knew that I wanted to journal about my concerns over unfinished business with Joey. I can't help but wonder if I did enough or taught him enough or loved him enough in the short time we had together. You just never know if this moment will be the last. Got some mail for him yesterday and it just made me sad. Miss my boy on days like this. :(

11 comments

  1. Hey Jen :) I really love your layout today. I love everything about it. The design, the eyelets and string on the letters, the stitching around the edges... everything! But what I love most is the journaling. How powerful. Being a mother, it's always hard to know if you're doing the right things... I often feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, trying to make decisions in the moment. But I take comfort in knowing that each of us does our very best every day, and I truly believe our kiddos know that. :)

    On another note, Mary, Laura, & Nichol are some of my biggest idols, too. How I'd LOVE to meet them (and you!!!). I'm sure Mary wouldn't mind me sharing what she taught me about embossing on vellum... she said she prints it out on her computer using the transparency setting, so that she gets lots of ink on there, and then as soon as it comes out (while the ink is still wet), puts clear embossing powder on it and heat embosses it. I tried it... it's AWESOME! I will never print on vellum without it again (mostly because it smears everywhere, like you said!) Oh, and thanks for introducing me to Susan! I took a peek at her site, and I'm sure I'll find another idol in her :)

    P.S. I've been meaning to tell you, I got my blog candy package from you a while ago, and I love it! I'm excited to try out the Sassafras products you sent. Like you were saying, it'll be a challenge to use some products I'm not typically drawn to, but I'm looking forward to it!

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  2. P.S. Mary, if you're reading this, please correct me if I didn't do the vellum process justice :)

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  3. Hey Jen! I know how hard this time of year has been for you. And on Mother's Day I'm sure you're just missing your boy terribly. But there's comfort in knowing you have so many family and friends that love you here on this earth and more family up above watching over you and loving you too. You are an amazing woman for sure!

    On another note, I hope we get to continue working together...on the QuicKutz scene. ;) I'd love to see you work your magic! You always amaze me with your scrapbooking style AND SPEED! Girl! You are crazy fast!

    Have a beautiful day!

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  4. hugs hugs hugs to you. i admire you to no end. your boy was so blessed to have you - and still is. love you.

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  5. oh, and your page is AMAZING!

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  6. happy mother's day jen! such a touching layout. it brought tears to my eyes just reading your journaling. it's a hard thing to worry about ... whether we're doing all we can for our kids and teaching them all they need to know. but i really, really believe that you're an awesome mom ... and joey was so lucky to have you. i admire you for all you've been through ... and how you have handled and dealt with it.

    and i'm also honored to be amoungst the amazing designers on your "favorites" list. i appreciate your sweet comments on my work and photos. that really does mean a lot to me :)

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  7. I thought about you today in church. Wondered how you are doing. Hope that you had a wonderful day despite the hard moments. Every picture I see of Joey, he has a big smile on his face. I think that is proof enough of the love and blessings he had from a wonderful mother and family. But I think it's a natural feeling for a mother to never think she did enough... hang in there.

    I LOVE your layout--the title is just really really cool!

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  8. hi Jen,
    I just want you to know what an inspiration you are to me, personally (and many others, I;m sure). I ADORE your layouts, the clean lines, colors, everything about them! I follow some of the uber creative people you mentioned and I'll be checking out the ones I haven't heard of.

    Did you watch Oprah last week? She was interviewing Elizabeth Edwards and she mentioned a powerful quote from Elizabeth's new book. She said, "Death means something else to someone who has put a child in the ground. You are not afraid of dying anymore." (I'm sure I'm off on the exact words, but they really hit home for me. I lost my father to cancer in July of 2008. I've never heard such words that describe how I feel. Even though I lost a parent, not a child, which is another different kind of loss completly, I no longer fear dying. That is such a huge milestone for me (I'm a huge worrier), beacuse I was always afraid of when it might happen and who I was leaving behind. Anyway, sorry for the super long comment, but I really believe God has a purpose for everything that happens. The fact that you are brave enough to share your loss with the world means you are one strong human being. thanks.

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  9. yikes, sorry for all the typos!

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  10. Anonymous1:04 PM

    Hey girly, I'm so glad you posted these blog links... I'm always lookin' for someone new to stalk. :)

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  11. WHAT??! I just saw this, and oh, girl, thanks for the shout-out! You are SUCH a sweetie! I hope you know that I feel the same way about your amazing style! You rock every product that you touch! :)

    Your layout is absolutely beautiful. You are one of the few scrappers out there who scrapbooks the real stuff, and that is so inspiring. And for what it's worth, I think by virtue of the fact that you worry about whether or not you did enough for Joey means that you did the absolute best that you could. At the end of the day, if we can say that we tried our best, then it is enough. Mothers though, we're always second-guessing ourselves, aren't we?

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