Modern Christmas Cards from LD Design Loft

Top Holiday Designs, Motherhood and Overcoming self-doubt

Zazzle has selected their favorite Christmas card designs this holiday season and I’m excited and honored to be part of this group. I’ve now learned to create for myself but validations of my work is certainly welcome. Hey, I’m a real person and it’s amazing to get noticed and recognized. Designs from these collections have made the Editor’s pick if you want to check them out, here they are below. Minimalist | Modern | Greenery Wreath Christmas by Lorena Depante Minimalist Modern Merry Script by Lorena Depante   View the full HolidayZ Design Challenge Winners post here.   I’m always […]

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Family night fuhnel cake with ice cream

Keeping Family Night Alive

“Why do we have to do this?”, I remember asking my mother as a teenager. That’s because she insisted that every Wednesday night we gathered for Family Nights.   I’m the first to admit that at the beginning I thought it was so corny. Being teenagers we felt we had so many other things we wanted to do. Like be on our phones or go out with our friends. At the time there was a lot of resistance.   I have to give it to my mama for being faithful to having these evenings. Family Night just meant that we […]

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Julia splashing in the ocean, sand and beach.

Do you dare to dream?

Some day I’d love to take the whole family on a vacation and see our kids splash in the ocean and play in the sand. Since my youngest was born we haven’t been. Do you have a dream board? Well I do. It hangs on our bathroom wall. I see it every day. This is one of my dreams. I also have other things on there. One in particular jumped at me a few months ago. It was “To give more” We had planned for our family vacation in October for our 10th anniversary but it seemed like it wasn’t […]

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First day of Kindergarten, Mom and son

First Day of Kindergarten – how I really feel.

I told a friend that I was emotional when my third child entered kindergarten a few days ago. He had this surprised look in his face as if to say… “Really?! Shouldn’t you be used to it by now” Maybe I should be, and maybe I could avoid feeling emotional. Truthfully, I don’t want to. I join the other mothers that want to feel, because I get to relive and remember the times my baby needed me. They all enter the big world with different readiness. And we are fearful how they will adjust to all the changes. I mean for […]

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You're loved sign held by my little girl

You Are Loved

“I don’t understand why you don’t want to try, you’re brilliant and amazing!” These words caused my daughter Camryn to cry as if she had no idea. I remember thinking how can she be doubting herself already, she’s so young. Am I failing her?⠀   Our self image is shaped by everything around us. We are so sensitive to the opinions of others and form our own conclusions, not always to the truth. ——– On my 40th birthday I received a gift. The gift of delivering a very important topic to young adults in our Christian community. I say it’s […]

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Baby keepsakes, how much should I do? Tangible vs. digital

It’s so much easier nowadays to snap a shot, document your daily activities right in the palm of your hands. Leaving you with a keepsake all the time. #Poweroftechnology But do you wonder if there’s still a point to printing things or is the cloud enough? When I first got pregnant we received albums and books about baby’s first year. Being a new expectant mother, I dreamt of filling it up, I was fortunate that I kept some thoughts in a journal. When my baby was born I printed a few photos and wrote in the book but any new […]

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create, be and use your God given gifts.

“Boring” a word I wish to ban from our home.

I was in the middle of reading an email from @jennakutcher, somewhere in there she says “Are you wondering what really does set you apart? Or maybe you’re just feeling like you’re the most boring human on planet earth and everyone else has cracked the code on being different! How did she know 😳??!! I received another email. It was from a friend sharing that they saw I was the featured designer on a blog post. If that happened then someone finds me interesting afterall. We are so much more than we think. My fear of the word “boring” stems from […]

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My boys and I. A 4 month old and my 2 year old.

Don’t Wish it away.

“Don’t wish it away!” Wise words from a friend whose children are grown and on their own. She said that when she spotted this photo on my desktop wallpaper — time flies. My children are at that stage that only mom will do. It can get overwhelming and tiring but she’s right!! You know she’s right! ❤ . The other day my husband said I left the garage door open and when I tried to recall what happened I had to laugh. I got home and quickly dropped some groceries in, when my 1 year old and 3 year old […]

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5 Tips to party planning – a NEW perspective

I remember party planning at home for our first born. I felt so exhausted and overwhelmed. Being new to hosting parties at the time I recall the anxiety to please everyone, the worry of making everything perfect. Then on the day of the party, my daughter got the stomach flu, she was miserable and it really put things into perspective for me. ‘What was this for again?’ I look back at that event now and learned that it didn’t have to feel that way. It’s really just my approach that has shifted and if you can get anything out of […]

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