Hello there Maja friends! Gosh it feels good to be back here again. The last year or so has been an up-hill battle of epic proportions and just getting through every day was a major challenge but here I am, not quite the same person I was when last you saw me in this beautiful setting but never-the-less it is me. So much of me was broken, physically, mentally and emotionally, but I am getting stronger and stronger every day and THAT is what matters. The best part of this whole experience is that I will get to see my beautiful daughter walk down the aisle on her Daddy’s arm in October. Yes, that is my Heidi in the photo. I shudder when I think how different things could have turned out had I not gone for a routine check-up on that day. I am still having treatment and I am totally okay with it because I still need to see my grandchildren some day. For now, every day is a gift and I do as much as my body allows me to do. It’s not always easy when the mind and the body are not on the same page (giggle!!). For that reason, I don’t mind telling you that scrapping for the first time in over a year presented another major challenge, not to mention a blog post. It feels like I have to learn everything all over agin. “Chemo-brain” is a reality and last night I went to bed in tears because after three days of trying to put a page together, I still wasn’t getting anywhere. This morning I woke up determined to get this right, ignored the aches and pains and took out every bit of stash I own and spread it all over the place. Wow, it felt like I received a whole bunch of gifts as I have not seen my goodies in such a long time!! It was crazy but exciting and even though I didn’t scrap during my treatment I still bought a few little things here and there. Once and addict, always an addict!! So, I got to work and it came together and you know what? My aches and pains disappeared for a while as the puzzle came together. Now I just need to keep going and I have Jenny to thank for bringing me back and making me realize how much I loved this hobby. Also, thank you so much Jenny and the Maja team for being so compassionate, patient and understanding over the last year. It means a great deal to me. x

So here is my first page of 2014!! My daughter is a whole lot more comfortable behind the camera than she is in front of the camera and so I treasure every photo of her I can lay my hands on.

I used paper from three different collections as seen below.

Here a re a few close-ups..

The flowers and the brick stamp is from Prima. The little wispy bits you see amongst the flowers are just pieces of paper which I sliced super-thin and that way you achieve a natural sort of curl. The peachy ribbon flowers came out of my stash and goodness knows where I got them from. The branches were cut with a die from Memory Box called “Woodland Branch”.

The beautiful leafy circle is also from Memory Box called “Tupelo Circle” and I adorned it slightly with some Perfect Pearls. Both butterflies are stamps from Marianne Design called Eline’s Huis. I stamped them, cut them out and stuck it on. The title work is done with clear stamps from Chiswick and the stamp on the corner of the photo is a tiny little Prima stamp.

The little circles above and to the bottom left of the photo (sorry, I forgot to take a close-up of them) is just a little bottle top I saw lying on my shelf and I grabbed it, dabbed on some ink and stamped it on the page and stuck a drop of Perfect Pearls inside the little circles. I liked it:)

And that my friends, is my story for today:) The last few days have been absolutely freezing here but I love the cold weather right now. So for those of you experiencing winter in all its’ glory, keep warm, be happy and take care till next time. 🙂 xxx