A few new creations and a recent loss of a friend

So today I have a few crafty little things I whipped up yesterday. First, I belong to a fun CafeMom group called Artistic Papercrafting. What a sweet bunch of talented ladies they are! Heather headed up this weeks Wacky Weds Challenge with an embellished bird house project. What a cute crafty little idea I said. Only problem was I had no birdhouse in stock to embellish. Not to worry tho because we all know how resourceful I am. Thankfully I hang on to odds and ends and had some cardboard on hand to work with. So I got to work using hinges and brads to connect the walls of my birdhouse rather than glue because it would be a pain to work with even tho a glue gun is one of my favorite replacements for glue dots these days. So a little paper kit from Close To My Heart, some Prima Bling, red velvet flocked paper, funky red fibers and Prima Holiday Poinsettia and VOILA! Whaddaya think??

The sentiment reads "Joyous Holidays Start with Loving Hearts and a Happy Home"
What a fun challenge, thanks Heather!

Next is my layout for The Design Experiment. We had to create a layout about what get us thru the day. I love my children with all my heart but it's my wonderful and supportive husband that keeps me believin in myself and standing tall.

I just love this paper kit by basic grey and the awsome sheet of stickease. I try to use everything up to avoid scraps. You should see my scrap bins! One is for plain cardstock and the other is patterned and they are bursting with scraps! So here is another layout I created using the basic grey line for a sketch challenge in my Cafe Mom group.

Don't forget to check out Scrapping out Loud's weekly project tmr. There's a new RAK up for grabs this month and you could win it if you come and join us!

I discovered some sad news while Googling for a friend of mine last night. i have to say that there are so many resources online to find old classmates and friends and a certain friend from my twenties was weighing on my mind these last few months. When I was 19 I moved to San Diego with my boyfriend (hindsight of course, what a mistake!) he turned out to be a two timing smuck but that's another story. I was working for JC Penny at North Count Faire in Escondido when I met a sweet guy named Paul in Men's shoes. At that time there were lots of handsome guys working at that dept. Paul and I became friends and he later introduced me to Gary Parrill. Gary was the funniest, sweetest, coolest guy I had ever met. He would have me rollin with laughter every time I was with him and Paul. They came to be very good friends and when my ex started stalking me those boys packed me up and moved me to San Diego to live with them so I'd be safe. Paul gave up his room to share with Gary so I'd have my own space and then Gary went out and furnished my bedroom with a beautiful daybed and accessories that were very girly. We'd go out dancing on weekends at the clubs and have a ball. I celebrated my 21st birthday with them and my mom came to visit me and fell in love with them too. Those boys were the brothers every girl should have. Time passed and each of us moved on and I lost track of both of them but Gary was always the nearest and dearest to my heart.

I had surfed around for a My Space page or a Facebook profile hoping I'd find somthing that could lead me to an email address to get in contact with him but I could never find anything until last night.

I sadly discovered thru his High School Alumni Page that my dear friend passed away in May suddenly while at work as the obituary read. He was working as a Hospice nurse at the Veteran's hospital in Miami. Gary was a RN stationed at San Diego Navel Base when I met him. He was so good at his job and he loved it.

Regret is an emotion I despise and as I write this post I am so full of it I can not express the way I feel other than just that. I wish I had been able to get ahold of him earlier. I guess now he knows as I write this how much I truely appreciated and treasured his friendship all those years ago. I can never begin to thank him enough for watching out for me and being there to listen and picking up my share of the tab on those late night Denny's runs. He never let me pay because he was such a gentleman. Gary, I've added Madonna's Vogue to my playlist just for you. I'll never forget that day in the park, watching you Vogue in the back of that Amigo making pass after pass by Paul and I. I am still laughing my friend...and I am sure you're still Voguing!