Picking up the pieces...

Seems like that's what we've been doing around here for the past week. We woke up a week ago today to the tragic news of the loss of five neighborhood children in a horrible house fire. The children ranged in age from 6 to 15 and the oldest three went to the school where I teach. The oldest boy was in the classroom next to mine and had been with that teacher for three years, so it was especially hard on that teacher who is also one of my dearest friends. Yesterday, we attended the memorial service and cried yet again. The mother and father of these children lost all of their babies and I can't imagine how they will find the strength to go on. The family will need the support of many for a along time to come to survive this tragedy so if you find it in your heart to send some extra prayers to the Jordan family, I know it will be greatly appreciated!!
With things being such a mess here this past week, I am a little late getting my card posted for this week's challenge for Totally Stampalicious. The challenge this week was paper piecing and I just don't use this technique nearly enough! I used Shopping Cart Stella for my card and some new papers from Basic Gray. Had to fussy cut the layer around my Nestie label as the next size was just too large for my liking. The layout is from one of the sketches I spotted this week out there in blogland and I'm sorry to say I can't remember which one. But rest assured...the layout is scraplifted!! The ribbon is some new stuff that just hit the shelves at the LSS, Priceless Scrapbooks. It's from May Arts and has such a gorgeous shimmer to it and makes perfect bows!! Comes in like a kagillion fabo colors, too and I had to have every single one!!!
There is also going to be a new release this Thursday with a blog hop to celebrate. Join us at 9 pm Thursday for some fantastic eye candy from the design team and some fabulous prizes from Totally Stampalicous!!! The new release will feature four more new sets of Bugaboo images available in acrylic for the first time! These are some of the cutest sets yet, so be sure to stop back in for the blog hop!! See you there!!!

Thankful Challenge

The challenge for the week at Totally Stampalicious is to make a project or card with the Thankful theme. Well, I have to admit that the theme is a stretch for this project, but it was the first thing that popped into my head, so I went with it. I immediately thought of this cute Shopping Cart Stella image from TS when I saw these 5 x 7 inch photo sleeves to go on the fridge. I thought it would make a great place to jot down those things you need to pick up from the store. While I hate grocery shopping, I am so thankful that my hubby and I have the means to purchase our own groceries and provide our own transportation to the places we need to go. So many people don't have these options.
The colors for my project were inspired by the shirt that was worn by one of my students on Friday. I just loved it and he was so tickled that I wanted to take a pic of it to use as a color guide for my stamping that night. I used BoBunny papers to match up the colors that you can see in my student's shirt below:

The blue-ish green in his shirt is a little brighter than those in the papers, but it works for me. Nestabilities and an EK Success punch provided the shapes for the project. The clear sleeve works perfectly with a dry erase marker that is kept handy with a couple of Velcro dots.