Purple Has Meaning

Well, while I'm sharing my recent purple acquisitions, I want to throw one more out there! If you've surfed my blog a little bit, you've probably read about my new job as a hospice nurse, which I am super excited about. I'm done with the majority of my training, and get my "wings" to start seeing patients on my own next week, finally!

I have to say, I really like the company I work for, they are so supportive of the patients and their families, and so involved in the community. They are also supportive of employees. One of our staff lost her mother to Alzheimer's, a disease that affects so many of our patients. In support of the staff member, the company as a group, participated in the local Walk to End Alzheimer's. In our matching purple t-shirts (which happens to be the designated Alzheimer's color), we walked together, supporting our co-worker, her family members that came together that day, and all of our patients that are affected. It was so touching.

As a participant in the walk, we were each allowed to have a flower. This was my first experience with this event, so I just picked a flower, without knowing the significance of the four color options. Guess what I randomly picked....

During opening ceremonies, they explained the colors. It just so happens my purple flower signified having lost a loved one. My pretty purple flower will stay planted in my flower garden.  I smile as I watch it spin, not only because I love the color, but also because it will reminds me of my grandmother that I lost to Alzheimer's,  just a few years ago. Just one more reason to love purple!

Thanks for stopping by-

Favorite Color

...swap reveal that is!!! Yep, I received a wonderful box of goodies, and I'm excited to share!

I don't know if you've had a chance to look at this blog, but I'm hooked! This is the second swap that I've participated in with Chaotic Goddess, and I'm keeping my eyes open to get in another!

I was assigned a wonderful partner, Kaylee, from A Chair in the Shade. I thought it was funny that we shared the same favorite color, purple! We shared a couple of brief emails about ourselves, and surfed each other's blogs a little bit to learn what we could about each other. Kaylee was right on with everything she sent me, I couldn't have asked for a better box of goodies. Wanna see what I got?

This was a lot packed into one little box! 

 First off, because I like flowers, I received a little purple flower pot, and crocus bulbs. I can't wait to plant these little bulbs!

Since I do love my scrapbooking, I also was the happy recipient of several scrapbooking products:

Pretty ink, Washi tapes, pretty purple sparkles, and embellishments. I have some pictures of my daughter in law at her law school graduation, with purple and black being the dominant colors, these will be perfect to complete the pages!

And last, but not least,

I received handmade items as well! Kaylee sent me ( see bottom picture) a small zipper pouch that she made. This is just the right size to carry in my nurse bag every day, since I don't carry my purse into patient homes with me. I took a second picture of the bag squished, so you can see the pretty fabric inside as well. The bag is laying on a purple dishcloth that Kaylee stitched as well. One can never have too many dishcloths!

There were so many thoughtful items in this box, and I think Kaylee did a wonderful job putting this together for me, thanks Kaylee, and thanks Chaotic Goddess for hosting this swap!

Pages, as Promised!

So, maybe I didn't get this posted over the weekend, but at least I didn't wait a full week! Yes, I finally found the time to take a couple of really lousy pictures of the latest scrapbook pages, hoorah! It makes me feel like I'm starting to have a life again (insert smile)

This first layout is Close To My Heart's new Sarita paper. I created these pages for my group that meets every month. These were the August pages. The colors are soooooo bold on these papers! Lots of pink, purple, dark blue, just so many colors to pull out of the patterned paper! I used the layout instructions that came with the Sarita Workshops on the go kit, but I changed up the papers a little bit from the suggested ones. Personally, I like to have just a little bit of pattern with more solid cardstock for emphasis. For me, too many patterns takes the focus away from the photos.


The next layout is one I did this past weekend, for our 4H group, the Happy Scrappers

This club is a mix of seasoned scrappers, and people just beginning. I didn't want to overwhelm the new girls, and I didn't want to bore the others. I chose what I love, simple elegance! This is the new Huntington paper from Close To My Heart. These colors are wonderful for fall. I love that there is fall paper, without pumpkins and trick or treat. My kids are too old for that, and I know others are in the same boat too, so these flowers were perfect.  I'm not sure if you can read it, the embellishment says "Give Thanks For All You Have".  I hate to put a title on pages I demonstrate, because I want people to actually use the pages. I also included a small label on the left side, made from our Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. I am starting to use the Cricut cartridges more and more.

I'm so glad I was able to share these pages with you, thanks for stopping by to see them! I've got a gorgeous card I received, that I will be sharing later this week, hope you'll come back to check it out. Thanks for stopping by!

I did it again!

Yep, I did it. I joined another swap. I enjoyed the Local Flavor Swap so much, I joined the next swap hosted by Chaotic Goddess:

This swap will be super easy. Once assigned a partner, contact them, get to know them a little bit, and send them a package with at least 5 items in their favorite color. Doesn't that sound like fun! It's just something different. I would love to swap handmade items, but currently, I don't have as much time for handmade as I would like. I'm getting to know new people through these swaps, and I am really enjoying that. Today is the last day to sign up for this, so go I encourage you, go check out the details.

Just a little update. I started my new job a couple of weeks ago. I am officially a Hospice Nurse. I'm making the long trek out to Terre Haute every day for training, but once I'm officially done with that, (in about a month), my territory will be my own local county. I'm super excited about this job, it was what I wanted to do when I finished school-and to be able to work local is a bonus! I think the hard part right now is finding a car that will be fuel efficient, and spacious enough to work out of every day. I've been driving hubby's Prius the past week, but he needs it back. I promised myself a new car when I finished school, and had my heart set on an SUV. Comparing the mileage in those, with the Prius, I just can't do it. Unlike me, hubby loves car shopping, so I've put him on the hunt.

I've got a Close To My Heart demonstration to do this afternoon with a group of local ladies. I was up last night preparing, working with paper, and hubby finally asked why I was so energetic at 10pm. I guess it just felt good to be in my craft area again. Before the weekend is over, I will post pictures of the scrapbook page they are making today, as well as the one my group made a couple of weeks ago, before I headed to Tennessee-hope you'll come back and visit again this weekend! Thanks for stopping by today, have a great day