Valentine's Day Freebie for ya!

I've been busy getting my Valentine's day stuff done before Valentine's day is over!  We were in Disneyland last week and I'm busy catching up.  I barely made it, he he :)  I finished my kids' photocards just in time to run them around to the fam.
Here's my son's photocard for Valentine's.  I saw someone else do this fun idea making their hand into a heart and wanted to try it!  It turned out fun - hope it gives you some ideas!

Originally, I wanted to do a Disney one for my girls but I ended up changing my mind when I found some big bears to decorate their graves.  So I went with Irene Alexeeva's new kit called Oh Dear Teddy.  It was perfect for their Valentine's photocards and grave decorations.

So I ended up not using the Disney Valentine's characters that I photographed and extracted for their photocards, but I wanted to share them with you!  Hope you can use them :)
Here they are:

Download here

Hoping that you were able to spend your Valentine's Day with those you love.
Hugs :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Finally got my son's Christmas Thank You card done!

So it's only January 20th, that's not bad for sending out the thank you cards for Christmas right?  he he
Here it is.  Credits to my awesome sister for the idea of wrapping my lil munchkin up and photographing him as he unwrapped!!!  Hope this gives you fun ideas :)

Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy
ps - scroll down for the winter sledding freebie kit.

Merry Christmas in Heaven to my Angels

This year we decorated our girls' graves in a Snowman theme.  It turned out very cute with all of the different snowman decorations.  We went over last night on Christmas Eve to light their lanterns so they would be lit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  And to take over their metal signs with their photos on it.

You can't see their photos in the pictuere of the graves.  I did a Snow Princess theme for their photos.  This is what they looked like.

I am sharing their Snow Princess stuff with you here.

Download here.
Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to my friends out there!

I always hate the Christmas card thing.  It's so hard to represent the girls when they are not here to photograph.  So this year, I used the Disney fairies to represent them.  My son and I argued about which one is which girl!  He thinks Chloee is Tinkerbell but I think Bree is.  It's not your traditional card, but it let me be creative and still include them somehow.  And I actually took a family photo - which is also hard for me.  So yay!  Sending love to you this Christmas :)

My son has been putting the Happy in Happy Holidays.  He just LOVES the holidays and decorates our house with little crafts and colored pictures!  He is such a joy and helps me smile even if I am also crying because I miss my daughters.  I scrapped a page for him using Delicious Scraps' Happy Holidays kit.  He's making a gingerbread man to hang on the wall.  You should see our house.  It has taped drawings hung up in the most random places!

I've taken a break from scrappin' this month (more info on that later) which has been super nice and let me get Christmas stuff done.  We've been busy getting the last gifts done.  My son is 6 and I always want him to be involved with the gifts because we teach that Christmas is about giving.  We did "angel" gifts for 3 kids his age and he picked out presents for them.  And we're taking donations to the children's hospital where the girls lived on Christmas again this year.  He fabric painted some hot pads for each family member to go with his own "Tyson's Tasty Treats" Christmas Trail Mix.  (He's a little chef in the kitchen and he always claims to be making a tasty treat!)  We went to the store and he just picked out his favorite things like MnM's, fruit snacks, marshmallows, pretzels, cereal, etc.  Then we came home and mixed it up and packaged it to give to his friends and family.  I've been busy making a hybrid craft - a new bow box for the hospital's infant unit (more about that later!)  Then I made this cute little tag for his Christmas Trail Mix.

And scrapped a page of him with his little gifties!

As for what my son wanted this year, he decided he didn't need any more presents and that "he's taking a break from Santa this year"!  Seriously!  He really said that...  He wants to go to LegoLand instead.  So we will be off on Christmas to go to his favorite place on Earth (it's sooo not Disneyland).

Have a merry Christmas from me to you with this freebie kit - Tasty Treats 4 Christmas

Download here

I hope that you will get to spend Christmas with the ones you love.
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Angels In Waiting Pages and Dear Easter Bunny Letter for the Grieving

There is a Tammy Cochran song that means so much to me.  Her 2 brothers died and she wrote about them in the song Angels in Waiting.  That song inspired these 2 pages.

The lyrics from the Tammy Cochran song Angels in Waiting:

We camped out on the living room floor
In our old sleeping bags, by a make-believe fire.
In a tent made of covers, we talked for hours
My two brother and me.
Keeping the faith; racing with destiny.
They were angels in waiting.
Waiting for wings to fly from this world,
Away from their pain
Treasuring time, til time came to leave,
Leaving behind sweet memories.
Angels in waiting; angels in waiting for wings.
They always knew they’d never grow old.
Sometimes the body is weaker than the soul.
In their darkest hour, I made a promise
I will always keep:
I’ll give them life; I’ll let them live through me.
They were angels in waiting.
Waiting for wings to fly from this world,
Away from their pain
Treasuring time, til time came to leave,
Leaving behind sweet memories.
Angels in waiting; angels in waiting for wings.
Angels in waiting; angels in waiting for me.
They were angels in waiting.
Waiting for wings to fly from this world,
Away from their pain
Treasuring time, til time came to leave,
Leaving behind sweet memories.
Angels in waiting; angels in waiting for wings.
Angels in waiting; angels in waiting for me.

Dear Easter Bunny letter - author unknown

Dear Easter Bunny,
I just had to write today,
to see if you’ll stop in heaven
as you hop along your way?
You see, a part of me is up there
that I miss with all my heart.
My children are up in heaven
and it’s torn my life apart.
When you take the eggs up there,
please whisper in their ears.
Wish them Happy Easter,
And that I miss them more each passing year.

Credits: Kristi W Designs

Happy Valentine's Day

My son's valentines were super fun. It says, "You're out of this world valentine."  

And then of course, since he's a 5 year old boy we made a super silly one (check out his eyes) that says "I've got my eyes on you valentine!"

Credit: Faith True

Valentine's Cards

I've been working on doing Valentine's cards for the family. I ended up making this super sweet card to send out to fam and nurses and so forth from the girls. I love the Angel bears!! So super cute - they are (and paper) by Kristi W
The card says "Sprinkling down love from heaven above to you this Valentine's Day."
Miss my girls. Sending love to them in heaven.

This Thanksgiving...

We found the cutest girl scarecrows to decorate the girls' graves for Thanksgiving.  They turned out super cute with big sunflowers in their vases!




Thanksgiving is a hard holiday for me.  What is there to be thankful for?  I can't see my daughters, talk to them, hear them...  Bree died two years ago, right before thanksgiving.  We didn't even do a Thanksgiving that year.  We ran away.  I remember eating at a McDonald's in Vegas on our way somewhere that was away from where we were.  I love that memory though.  I love that I wasn't thankful and I didn't celebrate that year.  My way of saying whatever, screw you to the universe, God, everything.
I am to a point now where I can be thankful for some things.  And of course, I was always thankful for our nurses, family, and certain people who made a difference.  But thankfulness is a place you have to get to and it has taken me a long time and it's still going to take me a long time.  I am thankful for my husband and son and that they are alive with me.  I am still not always thankful I am alive.  I am thankful for the good times I had with my girls - when they were not suffering and dying.  I am thankful that Bree slept in my arms every night of her life.  I am thankful that Chloee had something that looked like me in her.
But I am not thankful they died and they suffered.  How could a parent ever be thankful for that?  If someone tells me that, they are just bassackwards.
This Thanksgiving, we are heading out of town.  I will spend it with tunnel vision on my son and husband... Because that is my key to thankfulness - tunnel vision - to keep from thinking about every other family I know that has their daughters alive and well and with them.

Happy Halloween to my Angels

Again this year, we carved pumpkins on Halloween for the girls.  We lit them and put them out at our house this year instead of at the graves.  It made me feel a little better to have their names lit up that night as we did Halloween with our son.
Happy Halloween BumBum and Chloster...  I wish I knew what you would have been this year.  I wish we could go costume shopping.  Would you be like your brother and wear a different costume each day or have a one and only favorite one?  Would you pick princesses or witches or Wonder Woman or what?  I just wish I knew.

Sending love to you,

Mommy

Easter Grave Decorations

Here are the girls' grave decorations for Easter. I've been doing a lot with metal lately because it is totally weatherproof. I've had so many things damaged from the weather - warped wood especially. Plus it's easy to clean and shines when you drive past it - blinds you sometimes - I like the idea of people noticing my girls. Plus, they are so nice because they stand up and you can see them from a distance and they are super easy to put in the ground.
These are metal signs that I made using a garden trellis ($17 each) and attaching a piece of sheet metal ($3 each) to it with wire. You can get the sheet metal at HomeDepot or Lowe's by the ducting. The garden trellis you can find almost anywhere - at a nursery, home improvement or even Walmart store.
The photos and clip art I made in photoshop and then cut and laminated them. They are weatherproof also. I use a good magnet to attach them to the metal.
Then, when Easter is over, I just take them off and put some other laminated photos up. So cute and easy! I could even reuse the laminated photos and clipart next year if I want to.

Happy Easter girls! I miss you and love you.

Bree's Tree: Smile Down from Above

This is Bree's tree that we did for the Festival of Trees, a benefit for Primary Children's Medical Center where she spent part of her life.
It is purple and "glammed out" like our little princess Bree-Elle. We miss her so much.
She would most likely have been our drama queen. She had the funniest personality. Of course, now we will never know what she would be like now...
Her tree is named "Smile Down from Above" and we hope that each day she sees us and smiles down and is proud of us.
The tree was purchased by Nu Packaging and we appreciate them buying her tree.
WE LOVE YOU BumbleBree!

In Loving Memory Christmas Ornaments

Every year, they do a memorial Christmas tree at the funeral home and at the support group. I always struggle with what to do for the girls' ornaments. This year, I decided to do paper ornaments like the ones above. I put their faces on wings and cut them out. Then I glued with glue dots ribbon on to the back as a hook and adhered another paper with the words "In Loving Memory etc." onto the back. They turned out way cute and different then the usual ornament.

I digital scrapped their faces onto the wings.