I'm a lucky girl...

Something got me thinking yesterday about how lucky I am. Often times, we find ourselves complaining about things from day to day. Life is not always easy. Stress, work, bills, gas prices, bad drivers, etc. I could go on and on about the things that can get to me. However, when I stop and have a minute to look at the big picture...my life is pretty darn good. I am blessed with so much...health, family, friends, a decent home, a job that I love, my wonderful son, etc. I guess I could go on and on about the good things, too. In thinking about my blessings, I have to include my ability to scrapbook. It might sound odd to some people that I would be thankful for something like scrapbooking, but it really is a blessing to me. The creative outlet is so good for my spirit. I am so happy while I am creating, and I get giddy when I create something that I love. I know that some of you reading my blog can relate, too. Maybe that is why I wanted to say it here...because I know that I am not alone. I know that there are so many others out there who feel like I do. I like that I can share my work with others, and I love to see what others create.

I have been kind of spoiled this summer. Between creating lesson plans for the upcoming school year and improving my home, I have been able to enjoy surfing message boards, galleries, and blogs to see some incredible scrapbooking, read some great stories, and "meet" some very sweet people. It almost makes me sad to know that I will have less time for these fun things once school starts in the Fall. I am enjoying it while I can, and I want to thank everyone who has left me praise in my gallery and nice comments here on my blog. With all of the nastiness that has surrounded the scrapbooking industry as of late, it is wonderful to know that there are good people out there....and we won't let the "scrooges" get us down!

On a scrappy note, some of you may have heard about The Ultimate Summer Challenge over at the Scrapbooks, etc. website. It's a 10-week challenge where each week participants create layouts based upon different challenges. A panel of judges then chooses the top 10 layouts of all that were received in a given week. The public then votes on those 10 layouts to choose a winner. At the end of the 10 weeks, 10 winners will then compete for the grand prize of $2500 (quite the prize, huh?)

Here is my layout for the 8 Photo challenge (this is week 4 of the challenge):

(click to enlarge)

I had lots of fun with this layout. I mentioned before my addiction to beads lately...this time I added them to wire. I just may have to try my hand at jewelery making one day...maybe. Next weeks challenge involves scrapping your vacation pics with a collage that you download. Has anyone given any of the challenges a try? If not, why don't you? It's fun! You can vote for your favorite layout here. It's going to be a tough competition with many wonderful layouts.

Well, off to Home Depot to haggle for price on new carpet. Enjoy your day!