It's November!!!

Okay, I know I promised myself I would update more on this new blog.  Honesty I have been trying to cut back on all things scrappy.  My addiction to buy was at the limit.  I felt like God was sending me signs that it was time to evaluate my priorities.  First my Hobby Lobby was closed for a while due to damage from a storm, then our TV blew up while I was watching scrapbooking on HSN, and then my gypsy dropped on the floor and had to be replaced.  So I am trying to realize that scrappin is just a  hobby not a lifestyle.  It is so funny that I even scrap cause I am so bad at taking pictures.  I have missed so many photo moments.  I am thankful that my husband has a good camera on his phone, he should be the scrapper.

Another reason I have not kept up like I hoped is school.  I am finishing up the classes that I need to get my teaching license.  I will student teach in the spring semester.  It has went by so fast.  If you would have told me a year ago that I would be doing this NOW I would have just laughed at you.   But I am so thankful for second chances.  During the holidays when school is done I plan on scrappin more.  I look forward to being able to relax.  Well it's that time homework calls!!!

New Imaginations!!

So excited to get something in the mail yesterday.  I finally made the leap and got the imagine.  I have not really played with it yet however tomorrow will be my first day at home with out the kiddos.  I miss them while they are at school but I am looking forward to having some uninterrupted craft time.  My goal is to finish the baby book for my friend and do some cuts for my aunt in law.  If those two things get done tomorrow then I will be very excited. 

The other night my hubby made me go play in my scrap room!!!  I really spend a lot of time looking and watching all the great stuff the other bloggers put out there.  He told me if I am going to have all that stuff I need to use it.  I am thankful for  a man who supports my addiction and makes me scrap.  He really is understanding and self sacrificing for me.  He does a lot that I don't thank him enough for. 

God has been really good to me.  He is teaching me new stuff and reminding me of past lessons.  I get a lot of spiritual encouragement from www.reviveourhearts.com Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a wonderful ladies Bible teacher.  Today she had guest one with her that talked about self doubt.  It was a real blessing that opened my eyes about somethings.  So just passing this along if you want to check it out.

Wish me good product scrapping tomorrow.

Whats up with that?!

I caved and gave in to the deep and denied desire for the imagine.  I was a little mad at the orginial price when it premired on HSN.  So I was going to "boycott" it.  But as I suspected the price went down and I caved.  Actually I purchased it from ebay for less than I paid for my expression on black friday.  WHATS UP WITH THAT?  I guess it was meant to be.  I have been watching videos of projects and I am getting excited to get it.  I am still eyeing the silhouette.  I wish cricut would come out with a cartridge that would do the cursive hand writing like i see on some of nichole magourik's layouts.  I love her stuff she is very talented.   I saw that SCAL v.2 was like 500.00 on ebay kinda makes wish I would have bought it when I first heard about it.  I understand provo crafts rights and all but I wish they would come up with a way you could cut true fonts and svgs.  In my opinion having that would help them corner the market, because they would be offering the best of both worlds.  Maybe we will see that with the new cricut craftroom program. 

Well the kids go back to school next Wednesday.  I am kind of looking forward to some real crafting time before I start school at the end of the month.  So I hope to be posting some projects soon.  Enjoy your day.

Beth

They are Listening!!!!

I love those monents when we can teach our children without a lot of hopla.  Tonight we went to eat after church and we had one of those monents.  My son told me that he liked the song that was playing in the resturant.  It was not the type of music we listen to or want our children to listen to, Sooo, I explained that this was not the kind of song we need to like or listen to.  I was actually able to use the explaination that he had heard his dad give that day in a Bible lesson at our day camp.  I could tell that he was processing the discussion that we were having.  He has such a tender heart and spirit and is very teachable.  MY SWEET BOY!  Well the conversation topic changed, and we had moved on.  However, a few minutes later my daughter was sing and dancing a little to another song that was not what we would listen to. That is when, My Little Man said, "Gracie we aren't supposed to sing or listen to that song".   It was then I knew that he had really heard me. 

I love the summer and I hate to see it go, but I must say that I am gettig so excited that fall is around the corner.  I love everything fall!!!  School supplies, football, cool days, and most of all the changing leaves.  We live in the mountains of southwest Virginia and autumn here is breath taking.  Fall has always been my favorite time of the year.  So come on Fall I am waiting!!!

Friends!!

My friend Crystal has been on my mind a lot this week.  She and her family moved to Lima, Peru in January as missionaries.  She has been a sweet friend and encouragement to me for many years.  I have learned so much from her during the process of them getting ready to go to Peru.  God has been so good to their family as they have stepped out on faith to follow his leading.  They actually made becoming a missionary seem fun.  Sad to say that some missionaries make serving the Lord look like it is a burden.  But it is really a blessing.  I don't know if God will ever call us to be missionaries, but I hope that I will answer the call with as much enthusiasm as my friend Crystal.  They are in Peru to start a church and then a children's home for the many orphans.  I just want to thank God for my friend.

This is a picture of my husband and I with Matt and Crystal at their commissioning service.

New Look

I want to thank http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/!!!  These talented blogers have some awsome free backgrounds and banners.  I played around with my blog today and Love my new look  I have strangely attracked to yellow recently.  I don't know if it the season and the sun shine but yellow is my happy color right now.  Also over at their site is a list of secrets that give you detailed instructions on how to customize even more.  LOVE it and HIGHLY  recommend it if you don't want to send the money for a custom blog.

Excited for a new Start

New starts are refreshing and exciting.  As I mentioned before, I had another blog, but it did not get off to a good start.  I didn't keep up with it and only had one follower after a year, and that was my mother in law, thanks Cindy.  Starting over can be energizing and open up new ideas and oppurtunities.  A new start means no mistakes, no failures, and no missed oppurtunities.  I am so thankful that God made new starts for us to forget where we have failed and move on to bigger and better things.  The most important fresh start that he gave us was that of salvation.  I am thankful that I was saved as a teenager and that Jesus Christ gave me a fresh start as a new creature. (  2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.)  Just like I deleted the orginianl polkadot scrapper blog, accepting Jesus as my Savior deleted all my sins.   The blood that He shed on the cross now covers my sins.  I now can take this new life and use it to glorify him.  If you have never experienced this I would love to talk to you more about this. 

A lot of bloggers share their personal religious beliefs with their followers openly.  I know that all of you will have your own beliefs and I only share only to encourage you and brag on what God has done for me.  If a post is mostly dedicated to this bragging I will label it Polkadot Parable.  I chose this label because Jesus taught lessons with practical everyday experiences.  I find  that even now He shows me things even in day to day routine things.  Any way I hope that theses will be an encouragement.  Enjoy your day.

Hello Again

Anyone else back in school after ten years?  I started last spring, finishing up a few classes to get my teaching license.  I already have a bachelors and some teaching experience.  I had forgotten how put together you have to be to be a student.  I wish I had known how easy I had it as a single college student with no children, living in a dorm, and eating cafeteria food.  I only took two classes last semester to get back in the swing of it.  I hope to be student teaching in the upcoming spring semester.  Today I finalized financial aide and hope I can soon to finalize my schedule and know for sure if the timeline I have in mind will play out. 

With thoughts of school I must say where has the summer gone?  I have enjoyed being home with my kids again.  My son will start kindergarten this year and my daughter will be in the first grade.  Time is speeding by.  We have tried to stay in the swing of things and keep up on our reading skills.  During the winter we saw what no school can do after having a lot of snow days.   The teachers call it use it or lose it.

As for scrapbooking, I have been working on an album for the little boy I babysit.  He has become apart of our family, but sshh don't tell his mom.  If I get the classes I want and finish up this year I won't be keeping him anymore, so I wanted to do something special for him and his parents.  I am doing an ABC book with each letter of the alphabet standing for something special from his first year.    I am almost finished and will post a video of the completed project just as soon as I can.  I find that because I usually have a deadline when scrapin for others it pushes these projects to the front of the stack.  Which leaves my other family projects on the shelf for a while. 

I thought I would post the videos from my previous blog to get things going over here.

This is my first video of my scraproom.  I has changed a few times since and I hope to get a new video up soon.

This is a project it did just for fun.  I am not sure who actually crocheted the doily, but I love vintage things and I thought this would be a great way to show case.  I would do a recipe for the project but I dug deep in the stash and used some things I have had for long time and don't remember where I got them.   I do know that the paper is K & Co.  LOVE me some K & Co.

This is a video of a project I did in my living room.

This project was for my husband.  He needed thank yous for all the supporters of his mission trip to Tanzania, Africa.  I used the Destinations cartridge for the front cover design and interior flap design. The card measured 5X5 inches and fit a CD perfectly. I designed the card on my gypsey by using the welding feature. 

These are just some storage tips.

I hope you enjoy and Have a great day!!

Hello New Friends

Hello crafty people.  My name is Beth and I want to share my love of crafting with you.  There is no better way to enjoy crafting than a global crop party in the blogger world.  I have tried blogging before but often the business of life kept me away from my craft desk.  But with a renewed dedication and desire to be apart of the crafting community I start this endeavor again. 

I guess a reintroduction is the first order of business.  My name is Beth and I live in Virginia.  My husband is the youth pastor at our church.  We work together with the youth in our church and he has several after school Bible clubs.  Sharing God's gift of salvation with young people is a great blessing.  We have two children of our own that star in most of my scrapbook pages.  They are five and six and growing by a country mile a minute.  It is encouraging and depressing all at the same time when I work on a baby layout and remember back to what seems like yesterday.  I am currently finishing up some classes to get my teaching license.  I have a four year degree and have some teaching experience as an instructional aide.  After having our children we felt it was important for me to stay at home with them.  Of course now they are in school and I want a way to work and be with them.  So instead of stalking the school (just kidding),  I figured I could do something that will keep me close and pays well. 

Anyway right now that's me in a nutshell.  I hope we will get to know each other and enjoy this great hobby together.

Looking Forward
Beth