Thankful for... This Minute

I don't know about you, but my life is in a state of constant chaos. In between working and family time, playing chauffeur to the kiddos - taking them to art, dance and youth group, cooking meals, trying to keep up with chores (not really my first priority), and trying to do some scrapping and creating when I happen to have a second, it's easy to have days, weeks, months fly by with hardly a second thought.

I think it's important to slow down once in a while, take a deep breath and take time to create memories with your family & friends. Even if it doesn't happen often, it just makes you appreciate those special moments all the more.

This fall, there was an awesome pumpkin patch in our area. It was the first big pumpkin patch we have ever visited, and only the second my kids have been to at all - which is kinda funny, because living in farm country, you'd think they'd have pumpkin patches everywhere in the fall... It had been raining and nasty all weekend long, up to five minutes before we pulled into the pumpkin patch. We met my brother, sister in law & beautiful niece and all of a sudden, the clouds parted and the sunlight spilled over the field. It was incredible!

This layout features what is possibly my favorite

photo - maybe ever, of Andrew & Sophia. They

were chasing each other spontaneously through the parking lot on the way to the corn field, when all of a sudden Andrew took Soph's hand to tug her along. No urging from mom's end, no posing. Just full on, sibling love & laughter. Usually I'd have to beg & plead to even try to get them to get in the same vicinity to take a picture.

I wanted to highlight the rare, spontaneous moment and the special bond between brother and sister, so I created a bling frame. I laid a square scrapbook frame over the picture (I think it was one of CTMH's Foundry Frames), then added the self-adhesive Sparkles around in a kinda-even square (start at the corners and go out). If you're super picky, you could mark each spot using a ruler and place everything exactly where it should go, but that takes too much time for me.

FYI: Most of these supplies are CTMH, except the pen, solid cardstock & metal embellishment in the middle of the flower, which are all Stampin' Up!. The yellow flower is from a Prima collection I picked up ages ago at Archiver's.