Congratulations

...to Heather

...and to Liza!

You are the winners of the Autumn Leaves idea book drawing! To receive your copy of the Designing With Recipe Book, please click on my profile and send me an email with your address and phone number. I'll ship the books out this week. Thanks for playing and congratulations!

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Sneak Peek

I've received quite a few emails asking about the products I'll be selling on my Etsy shop. Thank you for being curious! Here's a little sneak peek. I should have everything up by Sunday. I've been having so much fun creating these ... the process is my favorite part, just digging in and getting my hands dirty; sketching, experimenting, refining. I love it! Hope you do too.

Don't forget to sign up below on the previous post for a chance to win the new Designing With Recipe Book by Autumn Leaves. Such a beautiful book loaded with inspiring ideas! And yes, I can ship anywhere so be sure to play.

Take good care and God bless.

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Yummy

...is what I call the new idea book by Autumn Leaves. The Designing With Recipe Book includes 100 inspiring pages with a step by step 'recipe' to follow for creating each layout. Once again, Autumn Leaves delivers a beautifully photographed publication full of great tips and techniques to get your creative juices flowing.

As an added feature, the DW Recipe Book is spiral bound and lays flat, making it easier to follow the recipes without the pages turning while cooking up your creative masterpiece.Another bonus: the chapters are divided according to the number of photos on each layout. So it's simple to find just the right recipe you're looking for.

I have two copies of Autumn Leaves' new Designing With Recipe Book that I'd love to share with you! Just post a comment on the link below anytime from now until Sunday evening. I'll randomly draw two names and announce the winners here on my blog Monday morning.

Good luck everyone! Don't forget to post!

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For Becca

Hello family and friends! Welcome to my blog. After years of resisting the power and popularity of the blogging movement, I have come to realize that at the core of this revolutionary advancement in technology is simply the ability to stay connected. And isn't that why we're here, after all? To connect, to move and inspire, to understand and care for each other. My niece, Becca, spent each and every day touching the lives of others, and it is because of her that this blog now exists.

Four weeks ago, Becca passed away at the young age of 25. When she was just 10 years old, she was diagnosed with Type I (Juvenile) Diabetes. Joe and I often expressed our sadness over the huge burden Becca had to carry during the majority of her life. Her death has been especially hard for my husband. Becca was the middle child of Joe's older sister, Maxine. He was still in college when Becca was born, and eagerly took on the role of the doting and playful Uncle Joe. He is pictured here with Jessi (Becca's older sister), Becca (center) and Missy (their cousin, holding on to Joe's neck) .

Becca was, and will forever be, one of the most kind-hearted and incredible human beings I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Despite all of the challenges that manifested because of her illness, she accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime. In a way, I think she knew her time here in this life would be limited. And I believe that motivated her to make the most of every single day. Regardless of the effects of her Diabetes; the bruises that covered her legs, the infection in her foot that never seemed to heal, the discoloration in her fingertips, and the countless trips to the hospital, she graduated from high school as the Valedictorian of her senior class, earned a college degree in education, and taught special ed classes in the elementary school setting. She was more concerned with the welfare of the children entrusted to her care, the stray pets that managed to find her, and all of the family members she made a point to stay in touch with. As her sister, Jessi, described, Becca was the glue that held everyone together. At any given time, Becca always knew what was happening in each of our lives. And no matter how you knew her, what you'd see in her was the same thing everyone else saw in her: goodness. Her constant was her love for others.

The title of my blog makes reference to the Biblical account of David before his well-known battle with Goliath. That is how I remember Becca. Even in her youth, she managed to face and conquer all of her giants, the struggles life constantly threw at her, with just a sling and a stone. Her funeral service was attended by a mass of people she touched, lives that she changed ... a true testament to the kind of person she was and to the way she chose to live her life. In the end, her frail little body just couldn't keep up with all her heart wanted to do.

So I've set up this blog with the hope of staying connected; to hold fast to the bonds of friendship and family, and to form new friendships with those who have similar interests. I'll leave you with a scripture reading from Becca's funeral service:

Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may learn how frail I am.

You have given my days a very short span; my life is as nothing before you. All mortals are but a breath.

Mere phantoms, we go our way; mere vapor, our restless pursuits; we heap up stores without knowing for whom.

And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

Deliver me from all my transgressions; let me not be the taunt of fools.

Psalm 39:5-9

For more information on Juvenile Diabetes, please go to http://www.jdrf.org/

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