I think my scrapping days are on hold for awhile.... as much as I hate to do it. :(

Brayden has been scheduled for his first heart surgery on June 27th... after a few months of waiting and pushing and waiting some more, we were given this date just this past Friday! Talk about moving quick once they finally got it going.

So now I have 8 sleeps to get everything ready for us, for Brayden, and for the other 3 kids to be at my moms for who knows how long.... 8 sleeps isn't a lot of time. LOL!! We'll be leaving Snow Lake on the 22nd, flying to Edmonton on the 23rd, pre-op and another test on the 24th, take the weekend to ourselves maybe walk around the mall ;) and then surgery on Monday the 27th. If you want to skip on over to the other blog I have just for him, please feel free... it will be updated as we go through this surgery and recovery!

Felt a bit Sketchy today!

I think I might become addicted to Sketchy Thursdays... some really awesome sketches to work with every week! Take a peek right HERE!!!!

This layout is from this past Thursdays sketch....

Hope you had a great weekend!!!!

Lookie what I found!

So I found some layouts that I haven't posted on my blog yet, I guess I just put them on the LIITD gallery and FB.... somehow I neglected to put them here. :) So to fill up part of my oh so exciting Saturday night... here they are! LOL!

Finding some time

I decided that since I missed the BIG Spring Crop at Love is in the Details in Miami, MB this long weekend, I would take a few hours today and sit at the scrap table, something I have not found much time for the last few months... I'm glad I did, it always reminds me how much I LOVE it...

This layout I whipped up using the weekly sketch at Sketchy Thursdays and I love how it turned out! Used some of my 'new' Basic Grey Aged&Confused 'Phresh&Phunky' paper!

I hope everyone had a great long weekend (it was a long weekend here in Canada, anyways! LOL!) and a has a fabulous week ahead :)

SNOW?!?!

Yup it is SNOWING out. And not just snowing, but I can barely see down the street it's coming down so bad right now. Unbelievable. Actually, this is the norm for around these parts. I had Brayden on April 29th of 2010 and I remember it snowed while I was in the hospital..... We've also had snow in May.... but hopefully this is the last storm of this winter!

So I have started a new blog for our updates with Brayden.... not sure but I think you can find it linked to my username with this blog? Anyhoo, I won't be updating about him on here, I'll leave it all for that blog... and just keep using this one for crafty stuff and other fun stuff I might feel like sharing...

This layout I completed the other day when I was in need of some 'scrap therapy'. I opened up some of the new Echo Park 'For The Record' collection! Not sure how often I'll get new ones posted, but I will definately post when I can. :)

I hope your day is a much more beautiful one than it is around Snow Lake! LOL!

Oh Sunday Sunday....

Welcome to another 'Chelsea's Picks' reveal for the month of April!! I decided to go with My Mind's Eye's 'Good Day Sunshine - Boy' paper pack. I was worried one small paper pack wouldn't be enough, I'm not used to having only one sheet each of any double sided paper... but it was perfect! The colors are perfect for those 'cool dude' layouts of your little boy, but work just fine for some girly layouts too!! But if you prefer, Lori also has the Girl collection in the store ;)

Here are my layouts and cards that I created using all of this yummy stuff!!

And now, here comes the very hard part... :(

I am very sad to say that I have accepted a leave of absence from the Creative Team here at LIITD, and this will be my last monthly reveal for awhile. Lori and Paul are so understanding and generous, and they have asked me if I would like a break until the New Year.

For those of you that only frequent the blog and not the forum to know my reasons, I will keep it brief. My youngest son, Brayden, was diagnosed with 2 congenital heart defects and congestive heart failure about 2 weeks ago, after fighting for months with the doctor to get him tested. He is turning a year old at the end of April, and otherwise is a very happy and amazing guy that just fills our house with nothing but sunshine. The next year will be full of ups and downs, surgery, doctors appointments, and a lot of travelling, as we live 7 hours away from Winnipeg where all of his testing needs to be done.

My family means the world to me, and they have to be my #1 priority in my life in every single way. Those extra moments I have on any given day need to be used to spend quality time with the older kids that are going to be feeling the effects of us being gone a lot, and just to let them know that I am here for them.

LIITD is my home away from home, I love everyone there.... and this has been a very very difficult decision to make. I will still be around, but without the commitments of the Creative Team. :) I hope that when this is all behind us, I can rejoin my special little 'family' and we can pick up where we are leaving off.

Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement, it means so much to me!!!

To Lori, Lisa & Amber.... thanks for everything, ladies.... you guys are wonderful and I am not even going to try and put into words how I feel about ya!!!!!

Now go and enjoy your family and friends, cherish your time together....

Little Brayden Update

So we went down to Winnipeg last Sunday, and had Braydens cardiologist appointment on Monday.... the tests were fast and we didn't have to wait long for the doctor, so we figured it was good news. It was not good news. We were kind of blown out of the water.

Brayden was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease and Congestive Heart Failure. He has 2 defects, one in his aorta and one in his mitral valve. This has also affected his lungs and has caused his heart to enlarge. We are now waiting on a call from Winnipeg to head back down for a CT scan to confirm the aortal defect and once that is finished, they will book the first surgery in Edmonton or Vancouver, probably Edmonton. There will probably be at least one more surgery to follow, if not more.

We are overwhelmed, in shock, and just sad that we didn't get better results. I had prepared myself for the possibility of surgery but this was even worse than I had prepared myself for. However, we have amazing support from all of our family and friends, and Brayden is a trooper and I know that in the end, he will get better and we will all be ok. His health and well being is being FIRST in all of our decisions from here on out.

Please send all of your prayers and love to this little peanut as we embark on a very scary and unknown journey..... thank you everyone!!!!!