Living with Autism

The main purpose of this blog is to share paper crafting projects with you. I also throw in a bit about me and my family because sharing scrapbook pages is a little more personal than other types of blogs. There are real people with real families and real life struggles behind every scrapbooking blog and sharing some of these struggles helps others see that they are not alone.

Many of you probably know that my son Christopher is autistic. You also may know that his birthday is coming up because I've mentioned it a couple times in previous weeks. Today is his big day. Today Christopher turns 11. On what is supposed to be a very special day for our family, Christopher woke up in a bad mood and threw one of his worst tantrums ever.

It's a reminder that we live with autism. Some days seem very 'typical' and then some days are a reminder of the difficulty and struggles that come with autism. A lot of the time we have no idea what sets off a tantrum like this so it's difficult to foresee and take steps to avoid which is the best weapon against tantrums. Christopher has a history of not liking April and his birthday. For what reason(s) we don't completely understand. This year seemed different. He's been maturing quite a bit over the past year and his tantrums have decreased significantly.

As I type this post, I'm at a loss. I don't know how to precede with the day. Christopher is too upset to go to school. Starting the day this way usually makes it too difficult for him to get through the school day. If we try to send him, we would most likely get a call from his school asking us to come get him.

His father and I hardly feel in a festive mood. Do we put on a smile anyway, bake a cake, cook a special dinner and unwrap presents as usual. Do we try again tomorrow?

We don't have the answers. We do the best we can. We make mistakes. We struggle. Living with autism is difficult! Sometimes it makes me so mad! Mad because this 'condition' took away the 'typical' little boy I thought I gave birth to 11 years ago today. We didn't sign up for this. But it is what it is.

This card was created with Doodlebug products: Create a Card, Boys Only Collection and Doodles Card Stock Stickers.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Kathy

May Your Wishes Come True - Precious Remembrance Shop

Time sure flies when you're having fun and I've been having a great time with the Precious Remembrance Shop stamps this month! Can you believe this is my fourth project already?

This brightly colored birthday card was crated with a combination of  stamps from the Birthday Stamp Set, Bella Blvd. floral paper and Doodlebug papers and twine. They all coordinate beautifully and make for a festive card, don't you think?

I stamped these Birthday Stamp Set balloons in a variety of colored inks on Petite Prints papers from Doodlebug. I gave the pink balloon a mini heart button and all the balloons some colorful Doodle Twine strings.

Can you spot the four dies I used? The envelope die is pretty easy since it's the largest and just so fun! The circle and felt flower that are layered on top of the envelope are Spellbinders. Lastly is the photo corner die which is old Quickutz. Do you have any of those two inch Quickutz dies laying around? I have quite a few and I still use them.

To see more creative Precious Remembrance Shop projects, visit them on Facebook or their blog.

Before I go I want to remind you of an upcoming event you don't want to miss!

A Day at Doodlebug
A LIVE Crop & Shop Event with Stacy Julian
May 5th, 2012 | Salt Lake City, Utah


What's better then National Scrapbook Day with Doodlebug? National Scrapbook Day with Stacy Julian coming to our offices to PARTY with you and the Doodlebug Team!!

 

Stacy Julian will be kicking off this FREE BPC Creative Crop event with a LIVE video chat from the wonderfully colorful Doodlebug headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. But, it gets better ...

We've created two LIVE Crop & Shop events later in the day (as a BONUS!)

Each three-hour event will feature 3 rotations, including a lecture-style class with Stacy, a hands-on, create your own 8x8 album with Wendy Smedley and Doodlebug designers and a final hour to enjoy a delicious box lunch, delightfully fun make & takes and a special National Scrapbook Day store chock full of Doodlebug products at special prices.

The product value alone for this event is $100 per student, plus there is potential prizes and instruction and personal time with Stacy Julian, Wendy Smedley and the Doodlebug Team! Our promotion time is short for these events, but we're excited to share this opportunity with you for only $50.00!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Please note that registration is limited to 70 students per event. Due to the limited nature of the event, cancellations are not allowed. Questions can be directed to allison@stacyjullian.com.

But if you can't join us at Doodlebug, then join us for the FREE Big Picture online Creative Crop event starting at 9:00am PST on May 5th.

 

 

 

Click here to learn more details and how you can participate!!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Kathy :)

You Make My Heart Sing & A Day at Doodlebug

Yesterday made my heart sing! Can I tell you all about it? Because the events of yesterday do not occur in my life everyday or even once a month or once a year! It was a very rare kind of day! Now you're curious, right?

I'll start out by showing you this fun little card I whipped out at the end of my extraordinary day. Do you recognize these adorable little birds? While you think about it...I'll tell you about my day.

It started with the usual shower, checking e-mails and a bowl of multi-grain Cheerios. All normal stuff, nothing to write home about. But then my hubs came in with the mail and guess what was in there? My Papertrey Ink order! Papertrey Ink is just so awesome isn't it? And the releases they had this month....I love! But this was just the beginning!

Last week Dan and I celebrated our 20th year anniversary. You may have seen my post with the anniversary card I made for him. Well, last weekend we went to a jeweler and had a pair of earrings made for me! And yesterday I got to go pick them up! They are amazing!

Diamonds are a girls best friend, right? ;) Years ago I stopped wearing my diamond wedding ring because nearly every time I hugged my son, he complained that it scratched him. Lucky for me I had a plain gold band that hubs placed on my finger on our wedding day inscribed with the date and a little message...so I started wearing that instead. Well, we took the ring to a jeweler and had the stone taken out, purchased a matching diamond and had these earrings made! The mounting is called a halo setting because the diamond is wrapped completely around in white gold.

See, I told you this was no ordinary day! How often does a girl get to go pick up a pair of diamond earrings? After my trip to the jewelry store, I picked up my BFF for a lunch date. We had a lovely lunch while it poured buckets! By the time we were finished with lunch, it stopped raining and soon became a lovely sunny day.

Then BFF took me to our first cupcakery to open in our area. Big cities like New York and Los Angeles have these places on every block, but we had to wait a while for one to make it's way to the city of Raleigh! Oh but it was worth the wait!

The place is called Gigi's Cupcakes and they have 35 types of cupcakes on their 2012 Spring & Summer Menu! The above photo is just 10! Each day they feature about a dozen of their flavors so depending on which is your favorite, is the day of the week you must make a pit-stop! I can't wait to see their Fall & Winder  Menu! I bet it's loaded with pumpkin flavors and maybe eggnog? We'll see!

After my friend and I consumed one of these sinfully delicious cupcakes and bought more to bring home...we headed to a couple crafty places which is right up our alley! I got a few delicious thread colors for my hand stitching habit! :) I also bought a skein of year and a crochet needle...I used to know how to crochet, just a basic stitch, and I want to see if I can remember how and perhaps continue on with it.

What a wonderful day! If that weren't enough, I came home to two goody boxes sitting in the foyer, one from each design team I'm on! I couldn't believe all the wonderful things that were happening in one day! One of the boxes, from Bella Blvd, had some prodect from another manufacturer that we're teaming up with. I'm so excited to play with these new goodies. Then Doodlebug sent us a box full of their rubber stamp collections along with stamp pad colors to match all their signature hues!

I let the cat out of the bag...this birdy image and sentiment is from Doodlebug Design! I absolutely love them! Cute, cute, cute! So, as you can see, I couldn't wait to play and made this quick little card to share with you today! I stamped the image on canvas and colored it in with Copics being very careful not to color too much so it didn't bleed.

I attached my canvas stamping with on some vintage sheet music with an antique mother of pearl button. What's funny is that I didn't realize that the sheet music was perfect for the sentiment until I was done and sat back to look at it! Too funny!

So, that was my extraordinary day! You're a real trooper if you read the whole recap! Thanks for listening to me blab on and on! And, as always, thanks for stopping by!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention a special event that's coming up!

A Day at Doodlebug
A LIVE Crop & Shop Event with Stacy Julian
May 5th, 2012 | Salt Lake City, Utah


What's better then National Scrapbook Day with Doodlebug? National Scrapbook Day with Stacy Julian coming to our offices to PARTY with you and the Doodlebug Team!!

Stacy Julian will be kicking off this FREE BPC Creative Crop event with a LIVE video chat from the wonderfully colorful Doodlebug headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. But, it gets better ...

We've created two LIVE Crop & Shop events later in the day (as a BONUS!)

Each three-hour event will feature 3 rotations, including a lecture-style class with Stacy, a hands-on, create your own 8x8 album with Wendy Smedley and Doodlebug designers and a final hour to enjoy a delicious box lunch, delightfully fun make & takes and a special National Scrapbook Day store chock full of Doodlebug products at special prices.

The product value alone for this event is $100 per student, plus there is potential prizes and instruction and personal time with Stacy Julian, Wendy Smedley and the Doodlebug Team! Our promotion time is short for these events, but we're excited to share this opportunity with you for only $50.00!

 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Please note that registration is limited to 70 students per event. Due to the limited nature of the event, cancellations are not allowed. Questions can be directed to allison@stacyjullian.com.

But if you can't join us at Doodlebug, then join us for the FREE Big Picture online Creative Crop event starting at 9:00am PST on May 5th.

Click here to learn more details and how you can participate!!

Wow, I wish I could attend this special Doodlebug event! Sounds like a ton of fun! And a lot of Doodlebug goodies to be had!

Hope you have an extraordinary day! T.G.I.F!

Kathy :)

Springtime

Yesterday I posted a colorful spring-like card in hopes that it would bring spring back our way and it worked for the most part. It was sunny and pretty out, but just a little nippy. So, I'm going to post another and see if it'll help raise the temperatures just a bit. ;)

This card may look a little familiar because I created one a few weeks ago using the letters from this Silhouette cut. I saved the negative portion thinking it would work for another project.

This lovely chevron paper is from the new Bella Blvd. Sunshine & Happiness collection.

And these adorable chipboard accents are from the Spring Flings & Easter Things line. That little pink button is a new Bella Blvd. accent from their Button Market collection. This style is called Pink Flowers...pretty straight forward and easy to remember! ;)

Just in case you missed it...here's the other card I made with the die cut sentiment. For this one I used the new Hello Spring collection from Doodlebug.

If spring took a leave of absence where you live, I hope my card shares will help spread a little shunshine until it returns.

Have a lovely day!

Kathy :)

Hello Spring

Has anyone seen spring? It's been cold and unseasonable around here for the past few days. I think the month of March was warmer on average than this month. Just when we started opening up the windows and wearing fewer layers, we are having to pile them back on. Maybe a happy springtime card share will help bring spring back? ;)

The 'Hello Spring' collection from Doodlebug Design is perfect for springtime projects, don't you think? It's loaded with lots of color, flowers and fluttering butterflies.

I created this little flag with a die from My Favorite Things and topped it with Simply Sweet rub-ons from Doodlebug.

I love texture so I used this sticker tree to cover up the printed one on this Cute Cuts die. To adhere it to the card, I used adhesive foam tape from 3M.

The flowers are also stickers with adhesive foam tape underneath. A little bit of Doodle Twine wrapped around the Create a Card base finishes it off.

I hope you enjoyed my card and that you are enjoying warm spring weather.

Thanks for stopping in!

Kathy :)

With Love

Good day to you! I have a crafty card share for you! This card is the result of playing around with a Mister Huey Mask, Glimmer Mist and washi tape.

As you can see it's quick and easy.

Embellishments include a couple left over do-dads, a simple office supply tag and a Kraft heart left over from a card I made last week.

The finishing touch, a button from my stash with a bit of jute from May Arts.

The yellow chevron tape is brand new from Bella Blvd. and the other two are from Freckled Fawn.

So, what do you think? A little different from my usual dimension, details and hand stitching. I always enjoy trying something new.

Thanks for popping in!

Have a fantastic day! Okay? ;)

Kathy

Hi Friend

Have you ever noticed that the more fun your weekend was, the more difficult Monday is? My son is discovering this after a great weekend at Camp Royall. He can barely contain himself when he gets home from school Friday as he dumps his backpack inside the door and runs for the car! It's awesome that he enjoys it so much! Hubs and I do too because we get some kid-free time to ourselves which is a rare treat. So we all had a fabulous weekend! I hope you did too!

To start the week off on a crafty foot, I have a card share for you. It's a card I made with scrap paper and left over do-dads.

You may recognize a few of my favorite Papertrey Ink dies here, the notepad paper, alphas and tiny tags die. I also used one of the tiny tags stamps.

I had another little bicycle image from the 100 Days of Summer line by Simple Stories. The pink ticket stub is from an Etsy order I placed a while ago...I still have just a few left.

The patterned papers are a combination of October Afternoon and Basic Grey.

Details include some jute from Papertrey Ink, a mini paper clip from Tim Holtz and a vintage mother of pearl button.

I love this little vintage dresser tray that I photographed my card on. The flower design is so delicate and pretty. I get to go on a vintage treasure hunt next weekend. It's been quite a while since I last went. The semi-annual Liberty Antiques Festival is where I'll be heading. It's such a fun event and my gal pal and I always have the best time.

As always, I appreciate you stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Kathy :)

Saturday Creations - Precious Remembrance Shop

Thanks for dropping by today! It's Saturday which means I have a Precious Remembrance Shop project to share with you! :)

 

I've been having a lot of fun with these stamps this month and for today's project, I thought I'd share a scrapbook page instead of my usual cards to show you how versatile these stamps are and that they work equally well on pages!

 

With the exception of the 'Celebrate' sentiment, the stamps I used for this project are from the Calendar Stamp Set. Not only is this calendar image perfect for save the date cards, but I love that it can be used as a fun way to add the date to my layouts! This stamp set has all the months of the year and numbers that you need to create any date.

 

 

I used a combination of the new Doodlebug Design Snips & Snails collection with some of their Petite Print papers. The title was made with the Silhouette.

I added some fun rosettes, created with Tim Holtz's rosette die.

 

This 'Just a Note.' stamp is awesome for cards and for an accent next to a journaling block.

I embellished my page further with some of stash items. I was thrilled to find a great home for the two American Crafts badges, that chocolate bunny badge is awesome! I also made some little flags with some old Fancy Pants pins which were exactly the colors I needed!

I hope you enjoyed today's share. To view more creative Precious Remembrance Shop projects, visit them on Facebook or their blog.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Kathy :)

We Make a Great Pear

Hi! I'm back today with another 'pear' of cards using the very colorful Bella Blvd. Sunshine & Happiness collection! Also, Bella Blvd. and Unity Stamps teamed up to create the 'Great Pear' stamp that I've used as a focal point today.

 What a yummy pair of pears, don't you think? I love the chevron pattern on the left pear! I thought it would be fun to play with some of the new Designer Tapes and stamp on them. I used StazOn ink because I wasn't sure if regular ink would smear?

For the second pair, I create a second stamped image on this cheerful yellow polka dot paper and cut it out to piece on top of the Designer Tape. For a little dimension, I added a Button Market style called Pickle Squares. Cute name!

For my second card I used more of the beautiful Designer Tapes, I stamped my pears in a bright pink ink and I also paper pieced one of the pears. This time I used more patterned papers from the Sunshine & Happiness line along with a couple more yummy buttons.

Instead of stamping my sentiment directly onto my card, I made a little tag with it.

What do you think of the Sunshine & Happiness collection? It sure is bright and happy! And I can tell you it's a lot of fun to play with!

While we're on the subject of Bella Blvd, did you know the Bella Buzz April newsletter came out yesterday? It did and it's loaded with a lot of inspiring projects including some from one of my favorite scrappers, Jana Eubanks!

Here's a little sneak peek for you...

To get all the latest news from The Bella Buzz click here.

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you get a chance to check out the Bella Buzz. I'll be back on Saturday with another Saturday Creations project featuring Precious Remembrance Shop stamps.

Have a fabulous day!

Kathy :)

Love is in the Air

It's a very special day! Twenty years ago today I married my sweetheart, Dan. We were two youngsters head over heals in love and I couldn't have imagined loving him any more than I did, but today I love him even more! It's a deeper love that comes with sharing twenty years of adventures together including the biggest adventure of all, having our son Christopher.

I truly believe I'm the luckiest woman in the world! I'd marry him all over again in a heartbeat! He's my better half, my best friend and my soul mate! It's sounds cliche, but it's so true!

In honor of our special day, I made this card. Dan loves maps and this Amy Tangerine patterned paper just so happens to have our home on it...where the little red heart is.

To the map paper I added these Silhouette cut hearts floating around the sky.

I was going to include a 'Happy Anniversary' sentiment, but found this 'love is in the air' stamp from Papertrey Ink...a match made in heaven! Just like hubs and I! ;)

Dan and I are really fortunate that this weekend happens to be a Camp Royall weekend for Christopher. So while he's away, we'll be able to have a lovely dinner out to celebrate our big day. I'm really looking forward to it!

Kathy :)