Happy New Year and Smiles from Belles N' Whistles!

Happy New Year! I'm so glad that you stopped by and I've got one of the new sweetie pies from the new Sweet Things Collection from Belles N' Whistles! Elisabeth Bell has really gone over the top with these cute things and I so hope you enjoy them! I'm going to share Smile with you and share a memory I have of a precious friend of mine, Marybeth, who passed away this week. She was an incredibly giving, sweet, warm, encouraging and talented woman. She and her husband and their kids camped next to us during the summers and we would go play Bingo every Saturday, have coffee every morning and share meals and time together. When I saw this sweet girl hanging on a tree branch, I instantly thought of Marybeth and my girls.



One weekend we were up closing up camp and it was cool and chilly by the lake so in the evening we built a campfire. We went through all of the wood we had on the site and the girls were sent over to Marybeth's site to gather some wood. Being funny, they came back with a small tree and thinking they were going to be hauling it back, thelook on their face was priceless when their dad put the entire tree on the fire! Nichole looked at her dad and said "Dad, we've gone too far and crossed over Mr. McCormack's line!" We all laughed so hard and it was one of those moments that you had to be at to really appreciate but Marybeth laughed so hard when she heard that story. It's times and people like that that make memories precious. Yes, Marybeth was precious to me and I shall miss her more than ever. She encouraged me to write and I think I may pick it back up. Yes, I'll miss her sweet spirit.



Look at this sweet face. I look in it and see my Allie when she lowers her head and her eyes look so big and sweet (or devilish!), I see my Tiffany's sweet cheeks that you could just eat up and I see the shy way our Jennifer has about her, my Nichole all dressed in pink, her favorite color, and my independent Emma. All of my girls and one of the best parts of my life all wrapped up in one image. Now that's a keeper!




I hope you'll take some time to check out the rest of my DT sister's fabulous cards and projects for you! They're all fabulous and you'll be running over to Belles N' Whistles to scoop up these Sweet Things! Here they are:

Anki, Iris, Jacque, Jodi,
Kathrin, Lillian, Rosette, & Lynda!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and I hope you all have a very Happy New Year full of health, happiness, and lots of creating! I'm going to try and spend more time with the people who are important to me and let them encourage and inspire me. I hope you find something wonderful waiting for you in this upcoming year.

Card Ingredients:

Smile from Belles N' Whistles, Lemonade Paper Pack from BasicGrey, copics, Stickles, Kaisercraft Flowers, Spacers, pearls, ribbon, MS branch punch, SU ticket punch and distressor tool.