No worries, please!

This little bird house could not have come at a more opportune time!

I have really been going through a lot, and God has been working on me, through it all and one of the verses that I have claimed is this one:

"If God will take care of the birds in the air...how much MORE will He take care of Me!!" Matthew 6:26

So, I made this cute little birdhouse, as a little tiny reminder! It's in my studio, and it greets me when I walk up there (which is usually when I need a little getaway!)

Some love for our local service men and women!

Now, please don't get me wrong....I am all for supporting our soldiers....but all too often, we forget about the ones who serve us right here in our back yard. I mean,literally, our fire station is about 3/4 mile from my house. I run by it almost every day!

So, part of our Valentine's celebration this year included making treats for our firemen.

And, yes, of course I used my SLICE! I used the Basic Shapes card to cut this cute little heart button, and the tag to go on!


Then, tied some tuile and tada! So simple, yet, so perfect!

I love these Military Sweetheart candies this year! They were great for this project! Then, on the way to school one morning we dropped them off at the Fire Station!

Good times!

IHOP....schmihop!!!

Yeah, to the world, it is the celebration of National Pancake Day!!!

We usually celebrate (mostly because we just love an excuse to eat LOTS of pancakes!) Sometimes we go to IHOP, last year we celebrated with The Bailey's (and I am so glad we did, because they have moved now!), and this year...fun times!

It started off with a morning at the school, treating the teachers to a much-deserved-warm-pancake-breakfast!


Then, tonight, thanks to my friend Lucy for a fabulous idea......we made Rainbow pancakes!

Now, think back to THIS POST, with the rainbow cake.....well, we turned this same concept into pancakes!

Started off by making individual bowls of pancake batter.... and adding a splash of color to each.


Put those beauties on the griddle....



*and, I must admit, the yellows had chocolate chips! I had to do it. We LURVE chocolate chip pancakes!

But, here they are, all cooked up!

And, then the stacking begins....


Oh, they were yummy!


Even the 14-year-old was fascinated by them. He said "mom, you know this is cool, don't you". Oh, what I would not trade for these days!!! Not a pancake-flippin' thing!


Now, let me go have some salt or something.....to offset all this sugar!!!


Happy National Pancake Day to ya!

It's a Girl---and a giveaway!

Ok, Ok.....so it's NOT a girl.......but it's a PINK SLICE from Making Memories! How great in the world is that?!

Oh, how happy can a girl be!!!! So, what do I do......but start cutting! I will NOT show you my first cuts, because I was just cutting shapes to be cutting them.

Like a kid with a new toy!

But, then, I made this cute little funsie!


So, we hate our front door (well, it's actually the side door, but no one that KNOWS us uses the front door)! anyways, so, I decided to "spruce it up" a little with a bit of personalization!!!

I love this symbol!! So very different, and great!

So, I decided to cut it using vinyl, and then....add an "S"....um, you know, for SMITH! to personalize!


Anyways, I just love how it turned out...



But, then, Mr. Smith wanted to know WHY in the WORLD I put "that" on the front door! Ha! I did not even notice.......

So.....here's the giveaway! Can you guess what he thought it was?! If you can......and you are the first to guess it.....you win a prize!

I will draw for the winner Sunday, February 21! Good Luck and Happy Guessing!

A Candy Kind-of Birthday!

So, how fun in the world is this, if I do say so myself!

A Christmas time, I fell in love with this Dollar Tree vase (thanks to Virginia).....so, when it was time to make a birthday gift for Scott's Administrative Assistant, I fell back to this new fave!

I started with the candle holder, and the vase.....a little bit of E6000, and let it set!


Then, I used my Can't Buy Me Love Scripts Kit , and made the little "J" tag, and the "happy birthday" note. I love those JilliBean Soup alphabets!

I then hot glued some candy bars to skewers, the tags to skewers, and the best part.....the marshmallows as filler!!!! Ahh, I love it!

And, then, topped it off with an Apple Gift Card....and tada! Happy Birthday Jenny!

I hope she loved it as much as I do!

Good day, Sunshine!!

How exciting!!! Lanie J gave me the sunshine award!!!! Oh, these dreary days here in Alabama, we need a little sunshine!!!

So, I am passing this award on!!!!

Gotta follow some rules and have some linky fun! Here they are:

1. Put the logo (above here!) on your post~

2. Pass the award onto 6 fellow bloggers

3. Link the nominees within your post

4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5. Share the love and link to the person whom you received this award from

So, here's a little sunshine for:
1. Susie
2. Jennifer
3. Gretchen
4. Lisa
5. Carol
6. Mandy

My heart wreath!

What I used:

• Foam Heart Wreath
• Straight Pins
• Red Felt (approx. 1/3 yd)
• Scissors
• Something to use as a template (coffee cup!)

Oh, I just knew when I saw it that I had to make one of these!

I saw it in the square version, but I had to have it in a heart shape. I have since seen them online, but here's mine!


I started with red felt.....um, I bought a yard (totally not necessary!) but 1/3 would have been plenty!

Then, I used a coffee cup, about 3 1/4 inches, to make my circle template. I traced it with a sharpie, and you may not like to see the sharpie trace on your circles, but I like how it turned out.

I cut them out, probably 60 or so.

Then, here's how to make the fold. Fold the circle in half. Then in half again (I used a really good looking model to help me with this one!)


Then, using straight pins, I stuck them through the fold, and then into the heart wreath form.

Covered it up, filled in the gaps, and tada!!!

Here's my good looking model showing off the finished product.

Can't we just skip February 5th?

So, for several weeks now, I have been PLANNING for this day. Preparing fun things to do, and knowing in advance, with confidence that I was going to take it head on, and conquer the grief of this day.

So, even Monday, I sat down (because I knew I had some great stuff planned) and I pre-posted this blog post....see below..... I mean, I was prepared, and excited.

Well, now it is Thursday night, February 4th, and it is crazy, I know, but I relive every second. Every second that I waited for a kick. Every move of mine, that I hoped would bring on a move of his. Dang that day. Dang it.

It's not because I hate my life as it is today, or because I can't get passed it. No, that's not it at all. It is honestly just because I know the love that I have in me for Mas and Chap, and I know, man, I know that I could have loved him just as much. And, I wanted to. I still want to.

Ugh. I was gonna kick it this year. I was gonna be strong, and embrace it.

But, not the case. Just not the case at all.

I do have a fun coffee/girl time planned for EARLY in the morning, and I hope that will help start the day off right. I am really praying in advance for a bright start and a wonderful day.

So, it's February 4th as I type, and even 11 years later, it is all so fresh.

So, yip hip, freakin' hooray for February 5th. Can't we just delete it. Kind of like leap year?!

----------------------
Previous post (when I was feeling very optimistic!)


I am not a fan of February 5th. At all.

February 5th. Elijah Cole Smith's birthday.

11 years ago, today, well, actually the night before, I realized, I knew, that something was wrong with him, and he was not his spunky, little kick-y self! I rocked that night, all night long, waiting for the sun to come up, and that night, in that rocking chair, I prayed that no matter what God's plan was, that I would learn to accept it. (I am not really sure I meant it).

But, now, 11 years later. I can almost see it.It's like sometimes when I get upset about it, or even angry with God, it's like He shows me a glimpse of His glory. What about Chapman? We would NOT have him if Elijah was here. Not mathematically possible!

What about our perfect complete family that we have now! It would be different. Probably still great, but I am ok with not knowing. Ya know.

So, usually, I spend today, February 5th, all by myself, usually scrapbooking, and just being me...and if I don't want to be with anyone, I don't. But, if I go have coffee with Susie, well, then I do.

But, not today! Today is the day that I am saying, I am going to surround myself with fun, and embrace today, as a celebration of Elijah! A celebration of the wonderful, many wonderful things that God has done with us BECAUSE of his death. A celebration that when Kendall walked through those pearly gates, she had a nephew waiting on her! Wow, what a reunion!!!

Glory to God for today, February 5th, 2010!

I can't wait to hang with my girls, and have a fun day!!!

Happy Birthday, little guy!

(but selfishly, I kind-of do wish I could throw him a party!)

Miles for Money

Well, last year, I ran a LOT of miles......I mean, too many!!! Well, not too many for me, but too many to think about!

So, I saw this idea somewhere (can't remember where!), but I thought it would be great to reward myself for my miles. Every single time I run!

So......I started January 01. 2010.

Every time I run, races, or just runs around the house, I pay myself $1.

Now, I know, I know. $1?! That's not very much. But, when you think about it like this, I logged over 1,200 miles last year.......wowza!!!!!! This could be VERY fun at the end!!!


And, here's the best part.....I glued the top to the jar, so I can't open it!!! (I know myself all to well!)

**I used the Gen Z line from Little Yellow Bicycle, and a recycled jar from some chocolate covered pretzels to make this handy dandy container!

Oh, Oh, Oreo Truffles

I am just now realizing that I did not post my Oreo Truffle Recipe! Ahh, it is to die for!

And, oh, so simple:

• 1 bag oreos
• 1 block cream cheese (very softened)
• Dipping Chocolate

Crumble up the oreos, very fine. I use my Pampered Chef Chopper!

Then add the softened cream cheese.


And, mix very well. The mixture will be a soft, crumbly mix. Kind of gooey!

I used my hands, but you can use a "melon-baller" if you want to. Regardless of the method, take the mixture and form it into balls.

Drop the balls into the dipping chocolate. (Note: This part of the process needs to happen quickly, or the chocolate could harden too soon. Option: make all of the little truffles, then dip.)

Then, drop them onto wax paper, and let harden. If you'd like, you can drizzle white chocolate on the tops, and viola!!! Oreo Truffles.


This recipe probably only takes about 20 minutes, start to finish! And, it makes 40 or 50 truffles, and believe me....they will vanish in about a second! Yum-O!

We interrupt this blog........for MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS!

If you are my facebook friend, you know that I have a friend, that has a 3 year old little girl in Children's Hospital fighting for her life.

It's a long story, not really, but more details than really matter. The only thing that matters is that she needs to be healed, her Mom and Dad have spent their hours and days seeking God's peace and believing in His healing power. ONLY HE can heal this little girl, and we are all praying, and when I say all, I mean, I think there are probably people in all 50 states praying for Ella Kathryn.

So, I made this pdf file, so that we could cut it out, and put it all over the house....as a quiet reminder.

Our struggles are not so significant.
Our hurts can be made better.....easily.
Our trials are not so hard after all.
Our mountains...are really just bumps in the road!

And, best of all, our Jesus can heal her body, if that is His will.

And, I believe that it is.

So, I believe by faith, and by His words, that He will heal this sweet Ella Kathryn, and now, before I fix my ice water (for the millionth time a day), use my scope, when Chap opens his I will be reminded to pray for her.

So, here's the file.

Here's what we've done with ours!


And, if you feel so inclined, take a picture, and email it to me (scottorbsmith at gmail dot com)......I'd love to post them for Mom and Dad to see that God's people are praying!

One more time: http://tinyurl.com/yc38v5l

And, while you are clicking, take a moment, to pray for Ella Kathryn.