A Beautiful Surprise in the Mailbox, and Taylor Swift at Scrapping The Music!

Hello and a happy Friday greeting to you all! First, can I just say that there is so much going on lately that my head is spinning - but in a very good way!!! It's too much to put in one post, but I am going to try to post more often from now on, so I can keep up!

First, have you been over to Scrapping The Music yet this week? If not - there's still time to get over there and play along!!! The song is Taylor Swift's "Stay Beautiful" - a really great song by such a young talent. Here's my take:
The journaling reads: "The simplest things in life have become my greatest pleasures. This is a trail that we take our walks on. It's right behind the houses across the street from us. It's beautiful and peaceful and it smells good - like summer. There are these tiny frogs that jump across the path in front of us when we walk down this trail. They are about the size of my pinky fingernail and you have to get right down to the ground to be able to tell they are frogs. I get the biggest kick out of seeing them. These are the little things that make my days bright."

I used my "Oh Happy Day" Collection (designed by my sister Renee!) for this layout. Materials used from the collection include: Red patterned paper, white cardstock, 70's rainbow from a paper napkin, the bird and sun (children's book illustrations). Also used SiStv houndstooth gaffer tape, doodling pen, hole punches of varying sizes, colored pencil around the clouds for shading.

The sunflower is a photo also taken along the trail. I just enlarged it and cut around the detail of the flower.

Okay, I also have to tell you about this beautiful and touching surprise that came in the mail yesterday from my friend Kim Maxey:
The story behind it is - she had sent me that gorgeous teal felt rope, which was leftover from her SiStv Beach Bum Collection. She didn't think she would use all of it, and I had said how I loved mine. Nice thing for her to do, huh? Then, we both found out that this very same teal felt rope was the bonus product needed for the "Project Catwalk" Challenge we are both in (I will post about the challenge in the near future), so I sent it back to her. Well, so, she uses the rope to create the BEAUTIFUL card you see in the photo (the fuzzy pompom flower centers are the rope). And then, to my delight and surprise, she sends the rest back to me, WITH the card and envelope she made for the challenge! It's a thank you card for sending the rope to her - isn't that sweet!!!??? I mean - it was her rope to begin with - of course I would send it back to her! But that is the kind and thoughtful sort of person Kim is! I feel so honored and touched that she sent ME that beautiful card! And also, this wonderful woman put in a raven stamp, cuz she knows I love ravens. That was so nice! Thank you so much Kim!

Okay, I guess that's enough for one post - I don't want to get toooo long winded here! But I will be back soon. Have a super duper wonderful weekend everyone! And don't forget to head over to Scrapping The Music!