Double Layout!!!

I am so excited to be back to scrapbooking my own children's photos! I didn't realize how far behind I was and now it is a real "mission" to get caught up. One "good" thing I am finding is that the pictures are less - not as many "firsts" as when they were itty bitties - so the process is a bit streamlined - mabybe???

This was of my birthday weekend and our "discovery" of Big Kahuna's. What fun we had (with many more days of this to follow)

I couldn't resist including this photo of my boys being silly - just makes me laugh!

I wanted some texture as I am NOT a fan of "white" space (I hear Lisa saying amen!) I used havey thread for buttons in a "sand" color just to give a bit of texture there. Just a few lines of it and I was satisfied. I struggled with these two pages for nearly a week. They are not perfect but they are done!

Another great shot of the three of them - despite the fact Braden might be on the verge of choking them both - they are having fun TOGETHER!

Hope you are inspired to get your pages "out of the computer" and onto the page!

The two wallpaper pages are American Crafts. The orange "center' page is My Minds Eye (So Sophie) and the journaling tag is Cosmo Cricut. Not entirely sure who to give credit to for the brads and baubles as I took them out of the package long ago and can't be certain - sorry:(

Back to School - ahhh!

So I'm back (with a bit of a vengence) with a "Back to School" teacher gift. I saw this here on a blog and modified it for my stash of randomness just lying around. As a substitute teacher I learned many things....one of which is that there are NEVER enough sharpened pencils and that happens on purpose I think because little ones LOVE to go sharpen their own pencil which was previously sharp but they ground it down just to make the trip to the sharpener! Remember that as a kiddo? Most teachers had a container where the children could exchange their dull pencils for an already sharpened one (hence removing 19 trips to the sharpener and ten more minutes before valuable lesson time!) So I made this....

This will hold their sharpened pencils and hence the term "one sharp bunch" (clever, right?)

So I started with an empty decorative paint can and covered it with two layers of random (well not so random because I was trying to do blue/green for our school colors) The first layer was 4 inches X 12 inches. Here is where I didn't really think ahead. The standard 12X12 paper doesn't go all the way around - but I fixed that - you'll see in a bit.

Next I added a decorative little trim. This too was leftover stuff and I loved adding the yellow/orange to the color scheme. I primarily did this to ground the project as well as give a backdrop for the word SHARP. I wanted the kiddos to know this was the already sharpened bunch of pencils.

Then I added the "title." American Crafts thickers are just amazing - these poolside (blue) were great because they were glittered and that was just too much fun!

So another thing I learned is that teachers (genenerally speaking) are super grateful people. They are just so happy that you thought of them. This will go to Braden's teacher who is new but we are already in LOVE with. I will be back tomorrow to show you a little something for the "big kids" teachers.

Hope you have a great day (and a great last week of summer)!

I think it's here!?!

Fall that is! Maybe, we can "cross our fingers" can't we? The weather today is AMAZING! and my children actually went out to play without being forced or threatened with punishment - that too is AMAZING considering the hottest summer in what feels like forever. So, I had this card to make, a little late for World Card Making Day but it needed to be made. Today's cooler weather inspired me to go fall for it.

SUPPLIES: American Crafts (plaid paper and striped flair), alphas by October Afternoon, Pebbles for the brad, ribbon (paper & actual) is Hobby Lobby.

This one came together very, very quickly (less than 15 min - honestly!) Hope you like it!


And here is glimpse of what we do on fall days - we apparently take the Dominoes on the front porch and play with them there. I took this through my front door because I didn't want to mess it up by them knowing I was taking a photo. Love how well these two play together!

Off to organize! I was inspired by this blog and so I'm off to tackle Braden's closet and all the "hand-me-downs" from Mason. Enjoy this weather - I think I might open some windows while I'm at it.

I heard Angels Singing!!!

Soooo, as a MAJOR bonus to my trip - I happened upon this fabulous "little" scrapbook/craft store: http://papertales.typepad.com/ which I had seen on several blogs. Just a quick story about this:

Braden had gotten sick and we had to call the pediatrician for a prescription. The CVS was unknowingly located in the same plaza. David was waiting for them to finish it so i took the kids down the way for lunch. I walked right past it the first time. As we sat outside waiting for lunch I said "Am I sitting outside a scrapbook store?" Abbi: "Yes, you are." David: "No, it's a junk store." Abbi/Mason: "no it's a scrapbook store" David: " If you kids want to make it to SeaWorld today, it's a junk store!" Well, I proceeded to visit while the food was being prepared and the Angels Began to Sing (at least in my head anyway) There was so much scrapbooking goodness in such a tiny space I could hardly contain myself.

However, I knew I wouldn't be able to shop or even absorb all this goodness with everyone waiting (including Shamu) so we made mental note to return (Thank Goodness for GPS). So on our last full day, we returned and I took a solid hour to just look at it all and carefully make my choices. And took a few photos for a friend - wink;)

She had tons of vintage beads, crystals, wallpapers, notebook paper, books, etc.

Just look at all that!

I was inspired by the things she used to display stuff - so wish she wasn't on the other side of the country.

It really turned into a Jenni Bowlin kind of day - all the stuff I've seen on the blogs but was too cheap to pay shipping for - was now at my fingertips!

As well as LYB, Basic Grey, and 7 Gypsies!

Here is a new line: Echo Park (which reminds me ALOT of American Crafts.) The sales person says she believe the originator actually worked with American Crafts so that would make sense.

My favorite paper purchase was this piece with the sun on it! Saw Stephanie Howell use this a few times and just loved it. Thinking about which pic would be the perfect one for it!

More JBS (left) and a new line I hadn't seen before: Websters Pages. Very vintagy and I didn't buy a ton of it but loved these few pages.

Cosmo Cricut's Sew Cute - thought I would scrap some of my new sewing ventures on this - can't wait - might actually step outside that OCD tendency and scrap out of order - GASP!

Cosmo Cricut Travels

And my last purchase (really only shopped at Paper Tales and the Airport) was this great bag by Fossil. Loved it and walked away. Came back and walked away. Finally, David went back and got it for me - he said I was worth it but I wonder if he was feeling "guilty" for his two Tommy Bahama belts he bought (on sale though) Either way, it's fabulous and I love him for it!

NOTE: It's not as bright in person - a bit more "olivey" if that's a word.

Hope you enjoyed this little venture into what awaits us outside of Panama City. So nice to go away, SO NICE to come home. See you all soon!

Sorry to Keep you Waiting!

And even now I'm not sure this is exactly the post "you" wanted but I'm very O.C.D.about chronollogy that I just couldn't help myself. We just returned late last night from a great vacation in San Diego. By great, I mean, No one killed anyone else and I believe most of the memories for the children will be great ones. I am trying to get go of the fact that my kids will be kids just like everyone elses - they all have their moments - as do we adults! However, 75% of this trip was VERY enjoyable and I will share those pics with you gradually as not to overwhelm you - as you can imagine there are a TON of them!

This however is our "Father's Day/Teresa's B-day" post as well as a little crafty card thrown in.

Since we were going to be out of town on the actual day of Father's Day we celebrated with my family on Teresa's B-day. Honestly, the food was pretty good even if I did cook it myself, and the company wasn't bad either - hee hee!

After dinner and gifts (and desert!) we (actually some of us) went swimming - here are the results:

He won't ever think he's too big to be thrown!


Sorry this is out of order but I messed up and didn't have the know how or the energy to re-do the order. Grandpa liked his card - reading it aloud to everyone is a must.

Abbi and Tori with the water gun. Love how big they are getting and happy to have these memories.

Sweet Taylor!

She looks so grown up here and I love how all you can see are Melissa's hands but she is holding on tight - we all need to hold tight to our Mama's!

Here is a card I made for a young girl I was missing terribly. Used GCD product & the cricut. I think the smaller words are American Crafts rub-ons!

Glad to be back on track (despite the humidity - which I am avoiding today like the plague) and hope you enjoyed these and I'll be back soon with more. Lisa - the Paper Tales one is coming I just haven't quite gotten there yet.

Love you all and thanks for following!

Gotta Start Somewhere Right?

So this isn't how I pictured it in my mind (nor the way the inspiration layout pictured it) but I haven't scrapped in a LONG time and so I had to get started somewhere. Fortunately these aren't my fav. pics and I'm sure Hailey (Cummings) will hate me one day for these (maybe at her wedding - hee hee!) Anyway, gotta start somewhere right?


This paper is all GCD studios. Alpha's are Bo Bunny and American Crafts. All the other embellies are a mix. Enjoy your day!

American Crafts Card Challenge ~

So I decided to put my "card" in the hat! It was time to send a little gift to someone so I made it with American Crafts stuff (mostly) and here we go. I am so ready for spring - love the BIG red flower that I cut out (as well as the white ones) from the a la carte line (it's a bit old but I just love the color combos for spring!) I used pop-squares to make the red one stand out and then added clear acrylic glass product to make the center more interesting. American Crafts foam thickers for the SPRING word and wala!

Hope you like it! It'll brighten someones day if you send them a card - I promise :)

For a LONG time ....

I have been thinking of doing a layout like this. One about me, where I am right now. I have always felt a bit overwhelmed (wanting "perfection") but decided to just do it. So last week, I started putting it together. I had been making my "list" of who/what I am for a few months and just kept adding to it as things came to mind. I am loving the Picasso 3 program and am hoping this will help me do more of the layouts like I want since I can edit/print much easier than with former programs. Also, love the "Soft Gloss" paper that David purchased.

Maybe this will inspire you to do yours today! We'll never have this time again, we'll never be the same person we are right now, EVER again. Put it on paper for those future generations - even if you aren't a scrapper - write it down somewhere - for their sakes!

This paper is Basic Grey and the alpha is American Crafts fabric thickers. I loved the bird but he didn't show up well so I mounted him on the pink. This pic isn't perfect but the sun was so bright - but I'm not complaining about that!

I did this double layer butterfly that kinda pops up - new for me and I know when I put it in a book it's going to go flat but it's cute for the pic!

Hope you have a great day and thanks for reading :)

I finally caught him! (or her?)

So this guy (I think the males are red) has been everywhere except when I have had my camera, so this morning while waiting on the dog I took my camera out with me and he showed up. I know it's a big grainy but it was pretty good distance away. With my love for red and birds combined - how could you not think this guy/gal is stunning!

For a little creative inspiration (my list of cards to make is a MILE long) I thought I would share a card I did that I scraplifted from the card section in my Creating Keepsakes Magazine. I purchased this ribbon a while back and it wasn't really fitting into my current stuff so I thought it would work great for this "Thinking of You" card. The flowers were my Spare Parts and I'm pretty certain the button was American Crafts (and I know the ribbon is). Enjoy your day and take the time to tell someone you are thinking of them - it'll surely make them smile:)

Something Borrowed. . .

So I was hunting for inspiration and found it with a layout that Mrs. Scurlock posted on her blog (amberscurlock.blogspot.com). I had only two photos and she had only two photos so I scraplifted her page and here is how mine turned out. Hope you are pleased Amber!

This is Braden - age 3- and his first Best Friend . . Sawyer. They were adorable together!


Hopefully life will return to some routine soon and I can begin to have more to share on a "regular" basis. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Wouldn't You Know It!

Now that I start this thing my computer has issues (or maybe it's me?) I got this new great camera for my birthday recently and my wonderful husband bought me an 8 GB memory card and my reader won't read it. I am still working on it so please don't give up, PLEASE!

So after a bit of persistence, I was able to upload the pic of the card I made using mostly American Crafts products - this was for my friend Nathan who is getting married today - CONTRAGULTIONS and many happy years!