SEM Birthday Celebration Blog Hop

 
I am so excited and honored to be part of SEM Birthday Celebration. I recently became part of the SEM Team, and I have to say it truly has been a blessing. To come to know this wonderful group of women, not only on the Design Team but also you the ones who play along with us and share your everyday miracles with us with your amazing creations. We thank you and  are so blessed to have you be a part of it. We have been asked to share our favorite layout created for SEM mine has to be the challenge titled She's Somebody's hero. I created a layout featuring my daughter and her newborn son.

I am also sharing a layout created for Celebration, I thought the photo of Elisa was perfect we were celebrating the New Year and her first time being a flower girl.

If you arrived from Lisa's blog you are in the right place. We have an exciting hop planned for you this weekend but that is not all will also have on the blog through out the weekend  tutorial and techniques from past designer from the last year and  5 fun and easy challenges that you can enter to win some amazing prizes. The celebration doesn't stop with the blog... on our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/200817343359030/ we will be offering games each day of the event that will have some fabulous prizes.  We will also be posting and discussing the challenges that we created for the Birthday Celebration.  We might even sneak in some fun random giveaways.

 So let the Hop begin....

Each of the Design Team members and our Guest Design Team members have created a project with the theme of celebration to show you on their blogs and they will be showing you their favorite project that they created over the past year here at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  Make sure that you hop along to each blog because you never know where there might be more prizes hiding along the way!

Our hop Grand Prize has been provided by two wonderful sponsors...  Paper Loves Glue and Memorable Seasons...  Our grand prize winner will win both a gift certificate for $15 to Paper Loves Glue and a $20 gift Certificate to Memorable Seasons.  If that isn't enough both sponsors have provided a discount to their stores!!!!!

As a special offer to all the followers and participants of Scrapping Everyday Miracles, Paper Loves Glue, is offering a special discount of 30% off the entire store. Just enter code SAVE30 upon checkout at paperlovesglue.etsy.com. This offer is valid until June 13, 2012

 For a limited time (until June 30th), if you shop with us and use the code MIRACLES at checkout, you can save 15% off your purchase. This offer does not apply to items in the Pre-order section since they are already 25% off. Please place separate orders for Pre-order & In-stock merchandise if you’d like items from both. 

 So are you all ready?  It is time for some hopping!  Have fun and remember in order to qualify for the Grand Prize you must comment on all the blogs in the line-up. .  The hop will remain open until Sunday night, June 3rd at 11:59pm PST. 

Here is your hopping order

Scrapping Everyday Miracles
Nicole's blog
Sherri's blog  

Einat 's blog 

Cara's blog 
Jeannine's blog 

Elizabeth's blog
Lisa's blog 
Dolores' blog <----you are here
(GDT)Amanda's blog  <---next on the hop
(GDT)Linda's blog

Make sure you also stop by our Facebook page for games, challenges and even more prizes.  And don't forget, Monday, June 4th will be a new challenge and another chance at a prize!

Don't Count Me Out...

I decided to create this layout in honor of God and how He truly has brought me full circle in the past year. Let me explain those who follow my blog may remember a post last yr. on May 6th to be exact. Here is an excerpt from that post "I don't even know where to begin. I will begin with some of the emotions I'm feeling right now. Guilt, hopelessness, overwhelmed, anxious, emotionally exhausted, mentally exhausted. I have always said the mind can be your worst enemy. The thoughts can literally take over your entire body. I know nothing is making sense, but that is just how I feel. I can't take the pressure, I am shaking as I write this cause I know what I have been thinking. It's selfish really for me to think that if I end it everything will be alright afterwards. I have had a rough week even more this morning, I need help and I can't really ask for it. Why because my son is my responsibility, I don't see any hope in the near future still waiting for a residential but in the meantime I feel like a little piece of me is dying and wants to die." That was just the beginning of my post I remember every emotion I was feeling that day, but I want to say that I am at such a different state of mind right now. As I continued to read that post I came to the end of the post which was "Lord Jesus help me, and to my friends pray for me that I am able to mentally heal, it's not easy. Please don't judge my sharing what I'm feeling here, I just need to vent, to try to clear my mind. Write it down, so that who knows maybe just maybe in the next few months I can read this and say WOW God you brought healing and good friends my way. So of course I said WOW and OMG Lord you are an awesome God, I have learned to deal through the difficult times, but it is only because of God's mercy on me. I realized that in order for me to heal I had be at my lowest and really come to God and leave it at His feet.

That is where the restoration began, this is where my healing began. The definition of restoration found on Dictionary.com:

1.the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment.

In order for God to restore me I had to surrender what I had , submit my life to Him, and commit to want to have a relationship with God for most of us this is difficult but I knew if I didn't do all of the above I couldn't be where I am today. RESTORED, RENEWED and OMG I am REVIVED I am ALIVE!!!!! I am not literally RICH, but I am spiritually RICH! So I am sharing this with you, because if today you feel as I did a year ago and felt hopeless I want you to know that there is hope in God. He will make a way so that you too can give testimony of God's miracle.

I created this layout titled "Don't count me out" I chose this title after listening to a Marvin Sapp song titled Don't count me out. You see God molded me, He made me, and He is building me up to be part of His Kingdom. These photos were taken at the Bronx Zoo 5k marathon by Joe Golden & Jeff Morey. I remember getting an email saying view the 5k photos and thought oh there is only one photo that I know of, but I didn't realize that when you finish the race there was a photographer there too. How awesome that he was able to capture that moment that even at the end of my race I lifted my hands up to say thank you Jesus. The photographer didn't know that, but I know that this was just a 5k race, everyday I live my life praising and living and knowing that when I finish the ultimate race of life the Lord our God will say you have done well my good and faithful servant. Thanks for stopping by Muah. Te quiero Mucho, Mucho! { I love you Much}

Creating, creating, and creating!!!!

I have become the creative mojo monster, lol. It feels so good to have my creative mojo back. I was asked to create some canvases for Mother's Day and I was inspired by the bible verses that I was given. It was really cool not only to create but to dive into the word of God. Here are some of the projects I created.
I also created a layout for Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge blog this past week, the focus is on Mother's and I created a layout of my daughter with her son Chris. Scrap twist: Use a page from a book (can be any book, novel, dictionary, etc.) . 

 Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be Strong and Courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes.

 Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not go weary they will walk and not be faint.

 Philippians 4:8 Finally brothers and sisters whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.

 Psalm 91:2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I trust.

 Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be discouraged. Do not be afraid; for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

 Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

Come and join us over at SEM 

The miraculous gift of God

As many of you know I became a Grandma about a week and a half ago to a beautiful little boy named Christopher Xavier. It was so important for me to be with my daughter on the day she delivered her little bundle of joy. Let's just say it was a very long day, and he was 5 weeks early so I know she was worried. He is going to be my new scrapbooking inspiration. LOL. Here is a photo of my daughter with her baby boy.


In the meantime here is a layout I created for Scrapping Everyday Miracles sketch challenge, it's a great sketch and the twist is to use distressing on your layout. I also created a layout of how I am living my life right now. It is titled Focus, and this is where I have been lately, it is how I walk knowing that if I have my eyes and my heart focused on God I will be alright. Thanks for stopping by.

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Say What?

that is the name of the challenge over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. We all have those moments when your child or a loved one says something funny and we say what? Now you can share with your funny moments with us. This month's challenge is asking you to create a project that focuses on the people in your life that brighten your day with their silly side.  More specifically, the funny things they say.  Scrap twist: Use baker's twine on your project. Here's mine. Thanks for stopping by...

Open my eyes..

that I may see wonderful things in your law. Psalms 119:18. I created this layout for Scrapping Everyday Miracles Sketch.
I chose this Psalm because of my journey in the Ashes To Beauty Program, the Lord has really allowed me to open my eyes and see so many wonderful things in my life and in my walk. Sometimes we don't realize that when we are going through our most difficult times the Lord is also there, our past good or bad makes us the who we are today. I've decided that I am going to remove the blinders put on my glasses so that I can see more of what God has for me. I am only my 3rd week of the program, but what an awesome journey it is. Now you all have a chance to earn this program. Nana Campana is one of the sponsors this month at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. So hop on over to the blog.

Search me, Oh God...

and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. Psalms 139:23. This is the verse I chose for my cover journal for my Ashes to Beauty course. I have to say that I am truly honored and blessed to be part of this course. It has allowed me to really dig deep into my heart, my hurts, and my struggles with forgiveness. Funny I didn't think when I first began this journey that I had a struggle with forgiveness. I thought I was past all that, but there is a hold in my heart right now I'm going to say it's a blockage to an artery that can be critical in my walk with the Lord.
For the past 2 weeks I've been thinking about my childhood, I have even questioned where was God then, but I am realizing that His was there protecting a little girl from a physically abusive father. At the age of 15 that same father was strangling me, and I remember wanting to die asking God to take me, but He had something more for me. What I love about reading the word, and in particular Psalms 139 is that He was there when I was created, in the secret place. God knows the truth, and I am comforted by that, but I am also afraid of being let down. So I am asking God to continue the work in me, give me strength. thanks for stopping by.