Grrrr....Internet!!!

As I mentioned before, we are having sporadic internet outages here. I don't know if its due to the heat or what. What even when I am connected it takes FOREVER to load a page....so rather than waste time looking for challenges, I have just scrapped what I want how I want! The only exception is the last layout here, Waterboy, which qualifies at Practical Scrappers. This first page is photos John took while standing in the Caribbean Ocean, looking at the resort. The top left building was where we stayed...beachfront baby!!! I used Little Yellow Bicycle paper that I cut along the waves, also used LYB title letters and the ESCAPE at the bottom right. Seahorse is from K&Co, swirls are Queen & Co (felt) and Recollections (vinyl), tiny letters are My Little Shoebox and miscellaneous bling!!

This one I don't like....but honestly, I don't like fishing so it was hard for me to put my heart in this one but John has asked a couple times if I scrapped his fish pictures from earlier this summer. Sure wish we had some more of that Striper in the freezer. All paper and embellishments are Karen Foster. I think I went a litle nuts with the stickers and that's what makes me no like it. But I didn't feel like trying to remove stickers and then end up having to start all over.

This one is of Matt in 2005 just after getting out of the water when were out on our boat. I wish we still had that boat...we had so much fun...but it was SO expensive! I used leftovers from the Beach Fun layout from yesterday. The sandy colored base paper is REALLLLLLLY old Creative Imaginations....I mean like 8-10 years old! All I added to the layout were some Colorbok Metal Dots (also over a year old), some pearls, and Bella Blvd. letters.

Now lets see if this post will upload!!

Been a Good Scrapping Day!

I am so glad that I got several layouts done today that I like! I was getting so upset with my scrappers block. I will say, though, that having sporadic internet all day has forced me to use my own creativity, rather than using a sketch as a jump off point and that's felt great! Not that I don't love sketches....but its nice to be able to say the WHOLE IDEA was yours!

The above layout is me when I was 23 years old, holding my oldest son, Johnny when he was just a month old. He will be 20 years old a week from today yet I look at that picture and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my mom's kitchen and I can hear my dad's voice. Kinda weird since I can't remember where I put my car keys every day yet I can remember a moment from 20 years ago! I did this page using the weekly sketch over at Sketches in Thyme.

Basic Grey Capella paper and title letters.

Paper roses from AC Moore and were white but I misted them with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist.

Lily flowers are made out of clay and I got them at AC Moore in the wedding aisle as well.

String Pearls from AC Moore

Wilton Doilie - my LAST one in white! ACK!

2 Sassafrass Lass butons

Dream brad from Eyelet Outlet

The metal tags are by SEI and I put my son's initials on one with letters from My Little Shoebox and his birthdate on the other using Echo Park stickers.

Organza ribbon at te bottom of the photo from Close To My Heart

Next up is another beach layout but these photos are from 5 years ago! The kids look so little!!! Its a fairly simple layout using Creative Imaginations papers and embellishments and some accenting with my Signo white pen. No challenges or sketches used on this one. At least none that I know of! :)

I think I have hit the wall for the night and must put my head down! I hope to be scrapping tomorrow too! Its supposed to be 105 here with the heat index tomorrow and I refuse to go out in that kind of heat! So if I am home I hope to be scrapping!

Pink Overload!!!

Third post today - scroll down to see others!

Do you think I missed any shades of PINK on this layout!! This afternoon I decided it was time to clean off my desk and reorganize a few things (not EVERYTHING of course!) because I was just piling stuff upon stuff everytime I sat down to start a layout. I purged some scraps and some paper that I knew I would never use giving that to the PALS program here in our town. When I finished that I had a large empty drawer so decided to consolidate my flowers. Instead of being in several smaller bins, they are all now in one large drawer. While I was sifting through some stuff I found the remnants of an old kit. I wanted to use the pink polka dot transparency paper by Teresa Collins and that's what I built this layout around. The photo is my daughter Susie when she was 3 months old! Don't you just love those chubby cheeks!! We were having internet issues this afternoon so I couldn't get online to make this layout along with a challenge or sketch so this one's all me! It does qualify for Practical Scrappers though because ALL of the papers used I have had for more than one year! I don't even think you can buy these lines anymore!!

Theresa Collins Crush paper, transparency and tickets.
Cloud 9 paper (pink at the bottom) and circle Sentiment
Fancy Pants Splendid (blue I Love You strip)
Queen & Co Felt swirls
Recollections bling....the last two swirls on that sheet...glad to be rid of more packaging!
Brad flower centers are Fresh Anthology by Making Memories
Flowers are a grab bag from JoAnns Fabrics
Pearl sprigs from AC Moore
Doilies by Wilton

Now that's more like it!

This is post #2 for today. Scroll down for other posts.

OK, NOW I feel much better. This is more like me!! After I posted the last one, I hopped over to my friend Barb's blog at Crafty Girl. She is on the design team at Practical Scrappers and showed her take on the weekly sketch that I had forgotten all about! I looked around to see if I could get immediate inspiration and I did! I had just received an order from Crafty Steals containing some nice KI Memories paper assortments. The photo was already sitting on my desk as were ALL of the other embellishments except for the

Making Memories epoxy shapes (the heart, the love tag and the photo corner). THOSE I had to dig for and have had them for well over one year (probably closer to 3) so yep....another one qualifies at Practical Scrappers for the weekly challenge! My title started with the "Be Mine Forever" woven tag. Frosted Designs challenge this week is to use a song title on your page. I was a little annoyed at myself because last week I had done the Pina Colada page and that would have worked but it was done and posted long before the challenge came out. I'm sure people do that, but I figure if I'm going to play along with all the challenges out there, I want to create something new and make a dent in my scrapping. Besides, I don't really do them for the prizes...even though its fun to win stuff! I just LOVE challenges. Simple as that! That is not to say I don't LOVE when I can combine several challenges into one layout as I have done here!

I basically used the sketch to a "t" but added the flowers and bling up the right side. The title is a line from the song "Forever" by John Michael Montgomery which qualifies it for the Frosted Designs challenge. The pink letters I got on clearance at Walmart and are by Martha Stewart! They are blowing all Martha's stuff out and I've been able to get a few really good deals! The black letters are Doodlebug and the woven tag is Making Memories. All of the paper its from KI Memories. The flowers are my cheapo wedding aisle paper roses and some small blue silk flowers from AC Moore....a whole stem with 25-30 flowers was only 49c. I used some leftover pieces of bling and vinyl flourishes that have been floating around so I got rid of some stuff, finally made a layout I like and am ready for the next one! But first I MUST go to the bank!!!! So this time I really mean it....I will not be back till later!  Sorry about the not so great photo...I had a hard time finding a shady spot on the porch...its HOT and BRIGHT out there today!

Trying to get my MOJO back!

It's been over two weeks now that I just can't seem to get my scrapping MOJO to cooperate with me. The last several layouts that I've done I've been less than pleased with and its starting to really bother me. It's probably due to the fact that the last couple weeks have been really stressful for me at work and I just can't seem to turn my work brain off and my creative brain on. The above layout is the ONE exception to this. I DO like this one BUT the problem here is that this single layout took me over 3 days to complete! WHAT?!?! Those who know me, even just by my blog, know that I am a fairly quick scrapper and its not unusual for me to crank out 5-6 layouts a day when my groove is there! So for this one layout to take 3 days is just beyond!! I didn't use a sketch or challenge for this one because honestly, it was too much work for me to try to incorporate any challenges onto this layout! In fact I did most of it sitting on the couch watching TV which is about all I could muster! I used the Imaginisce Splash Dance papers, Making Memories bling title and the little seascape at the bottom which is my favorite part is Imaginisce Glass Stickers and I LOVE how they look! I hope they use them again in other lines!! The wave border I cut from a scrap on the Cricut and the seagrass I cut by hand. I used to do scenese like these on lots of layouts so it was kinda neat to go back to my old ways of scrapping before the Cricut and fancy store bought embellishments.

So I have today off from work and while I usually stay up late on Thursday nights and scrap, last night I still couldn't get the inspiration going so instead I browsed through some blogs and made a sort of game plan for today! First up...Design Dollies. I couldn't quite make the Trifecta this time (the third part would have required this layout to draw inspiration from a Vintage/Classic movie and there was just nothing there for me!!). I did make an Exacta though! I used the weekly sketch as well as the Color Challenge which was brown, teal, cream and a pop of red. I am not thrilled with this layout but I think it has to do with the photos. Neither John nor I look particularly good in them....in fact, I look AWFUL....but I paid to have the photos printed and dammit I'm scrapping them. The funny thing is these are from Antigua but this layout has exactly ZERO tropical feel to it so its not even going in the Antigua album.

I also managed to qualify for the challenge over at Practical Scrappers which was to use product that you have had for at least one year. That makes up most of this layout! I used scraps from one of Pink Paislee's very first lines, Spring Fling as well as the teal from Basic Grey Lime Rickey, the brown from an old SEI kit and the red glitter stickers I've also had forever and they are from Making Memories. The stickpin and ribbon have been in my stash a while but maybe not a year! I think I'm going to take some time and have another cup of coffee and try to relax my brain a little and then hopefully be back with more layouts today! And hopefully I will LIKE them!

PS - I tried 3 times to get a decent photo of this one and each one made it look all crooked. It doesn't look this way in real life!

Weekend Update!

Wow...its Monday.  I don't know what happened this weekend, but scrapping certainly took a back seat to everything this weekend!  I'm not one to leave a partially complete layout but I have one that I started yesterday morning that I dabbled with on and off all day yesterday, and NOTHING is glued down yet.  Its almost like I have NOTHING original.  I have 1000's of photos not scrapped and yet I feel like I  have nothing to tell about...nothing fresh.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  I cannot be in a slump.  Not now.  I need my scrapping to keep my mind off of the million other things running through my mind right now.  Here are two layouts that I did finish this weekend...neither are based off of sketches for a change and only one of them qualifies for a challenge!  Its been so bad I haven't even blog hopped to see what all my blog buddies are up to!!  Hopefully today I will have a chance to do a little of that.

This is just another layout from Antigua.  So getting tired of doing layouts of beaches, ocean, blue water, etc.  I guess I'm just tired of BLUES!!   This one uses one sheet of paper from Quick Quotes By The Bay line and some leftover paper strips and stickers from Bella Blvd. All Inclusive line.  Title letters are also Bella Blvd.  The flower I cut from the paper and layered and fluffed til I liked how it looked.  I know a flower doesn't really fit on a sailing layout, but I don't care...I liked it!  LOL!!  I'm feeling a bit rebellious these days.

For this one I dug into the box of OLD photos again and found this one of my mom kissing a horse.  Where I grew up, horse farms were all over the place!  I remember as a kid dreading driving through Colts Neck to get anywhere because that always meant numerous stops along the way so that Mom could pet the horses that were near the fences!  Its one of those annoying as a child/endearing as you become a mom yourself moments that I will always remember about my mom.  I only wish she were healthy enough to go pet the horses again! 

I loved this paper....the leaves are all flocked and there is great texture to the paper. I'm not crazy about the layout as a whole though....I guess it feels too bare to me but everything I put down to try out did not look good and I have NOTHING in the way of horse related embellishments!!  I finally settled on this flower that I have no idea where it came from but its been bouncing around in my stash for a long time.  It almost looks like masking tape...reminds me of when I was young and we would cover an old wine bottle with pieces of masking tape and then go over the masking tape with brown shoe polish and then wipe it off.  It gave the same effect!  You all probably think I'm nuts now!  Anyway....simple layout!!!  But I did use border punches which qualifies it over at Frosted Designs!

Hope you all had a better weekend than I did!!

Yes I Like Pina Colada!

Its been a slow scrapping weekend for me. I don't know why...I've had plenty of time...just no desire to do much. Its SO FREAKING hot here that all I can think about is how bad my electric bill is going to be. I don't think my Central AC has turned off ONCE since Friday morning. Anyway, this layout is another for the Antigua album. The drinks were free (was an all-inclusive) so I took complete advantage of trying the drink of the day and every imaginable flavor of Pina Colada. As you can see in the top photo....sometimes one just wasn't enough....a sip of Melon, and sip of Mango, a sip of Melon.....lol!! Ahhhh....I want a Pina Colada so bad now!! (And not in a 6 oz plastic cup either!!).

This layout is loosely based on an upcoming sketch at Let's Scrap. Papers are Bo Bunny Flower Child. Lettering is Echo Park for the small letters and Basic Grey June Bug for the bigger ones. The Pineapple Drink was an SVG from Digital Designs by Stephanie that I cut on my Cricut and then pieced together and accented with Prismacolor pencils.

This one I did just because I came across the pictures and had to do something with them. I didn't even use Christmas papers but you would never know! The photos are my mom and youngest brother in 1973. Make sure to note the lovely flocked artificial tree and the small tree on my mom's head...oh wait, that's her hair! (We love to tease my mom about her 60's and 70's hairdos! There are some real DOOZIES!!) I used Prima Urban Cosmos and Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste papers. The letters are Pink Paislee...yup, still using those green glitter letters...I'm running out of vowels though! Chip buttons are Making Memories Mistletoe and the chip journal spot and flower thing are Basic Grey. I made the pointsettias myself and the large one has one of my favorite paper roses from the bridal section...I'll tell ya again....69c for a bunch of 10 blooms vs. $5 for a bunch of 8 made by a scrapping mfr....smooshed into the center of it. I detailed the flowers with gold Stickles. The organza ribbon that I bunched around the back of the half circle at the top is from Close To My Heart from a ribbon buy I got in with some friends about 12 years ago and I STILL have tons left!

Hopefully I will have more to come later tonight!

Soak Up The Son

I got this one done last night but couldn't get a decent photo of it so waited for the daylight to return!! Its based on the Thursday Sketch at Design Dollies. I used what was leftover from my Happiness layout from the Creative Imaginations Christine Adolph Oceania line. Added a couple leftover stickers from K & Co and Recollections and the title letters from I forget!! :) Also added the sand dollar trim from Making Memories and journaling with a white Signo pen. I also usedd the title of a Sheryl Crow song for the page title to qualify it for the Design Dollies Elements Challenge. Now I must wake up two kids who REALLY don't like waking up before noon these days and take them to the doctor for a checkup! Will be back later!!

4th Birthday

OK, so I didn't get too far with scrapping tonight but I DID get this layout done from Susie's 4th birthday!! I cannot believe that just last month she celebrated her 12th! Where does the time go!! This layout is based on the latest sketch at Sketchabilities. I used papers by Crate Paper, covered a chipboard cupcake with matching papers and used Vintage Pink and Wild Cherry Glimmer Mists to color the chipboard swirl and word "fun". American Crafts Felt letters and Crate Paper journaling spot and border. This layout also uses the color pallet at Design Dollies.

I think that's it for tonight. Have to get up early tomorrow as the kids have their annual check-up at the pediatrician tomorrow morning!

The End of a LONGGG Week!

I didn't think I was going to get here!! But its here....its Thursday evening and the start of my WEEKEND! Woo Hoo! I have been going non-stop since Monday and have been SOOOO looking forward to tonight! I have my list of sketches ready and am anxious to get into my scraproom and do some creating tonight and tomorrow! I haven't created anything since Sunday and I miss it! Monday night I went to a Little River Band (I know, I know...but it was FREE!!) concert with my girlfriend and was out past 11pm. Then Tuesday night was John's 45th birthday and we celebrated by going to a show at the Tropicana in Atlantic City and then dinner at PF Changs (I kept the chopsticks to use on my layout!!) and didn't get home until after 1am. I am NOT used to two late nights during the week. Wednesday night I crashed and was in bed by 9 after running Susie to and from Crew practice! 

I did manage to create the below "JUMP" layout last night for the Sketch Challenge at ACOT but quickly realized that my scrap "mojo" just wasn't there after cutting into 3 pieces of paper THE WRONG WAY! I used Little Yellow Bicycle Free Spirit papers and a few of the peace sign stickers from Doodlebug. A few flower brads from Making Memories and letters from American Crafts and its done. Its just an "eh" layout to me but its done.

The below layout was created a while ago but it is for my Guest Design Team for July at Sketchy Thursdays so I couldn't post it till today. Again, it is just an "eh" layout for me. It drives me nuts that one day I can create several layouts that I just love and then the next day its gone and I can't seem to do much better than 'EH'! I used BoBunny papers, Recollections flowers, clock and acrylic saying by Kelly Pannaci, Bingo card by Jenni Bowlin, circle letters by My LIttle Shoebox, star gems by Creative Charms and Puzzle Pieces by K & Co. The photos are from a few years ago when we visited Historic Batsto Village.

Stay tuned....I'm chomping at the bit to get this posted and get started on some new stuff!!! Yay for weekends!!!!

Happiness

I think this is one of my new favorite pages. I know that I scrapped the top picture on a layout earlier today but it was in wallet size...this is the original 4x6 and it just worked for the layout so who cares....I scrapped it twice! LOL!! This sketch is for the weekly challenge over at Sketches In Thyme. I'll tell you what, the last few sketches there have been amazing! And I think the layouts I am creating with their inspiration are equally amazing to me! I'm so happy to have gotten three pages added to the Antigua book today!

The papers are Creative Imaginations Tidepool collection as is the chipboard border. The teal bling is Jolees as are the teal rhinestones scattered throughout. The white puffy accents are the end of what I had left on a sheet and I think they were Recollections. Pearls from my stash but probably by Recollections also. The little white flowers I am going to tell you again.....hit the bridal crafts section of your craft store! This was a bunch of 8 flowers on wire. I snipped the wire off, added a glue dot to the back and stuck them down! The entire bunch of 8 cost me 69 cents!! And you can glimmer mist them to match your project! I LOVE that aisle now!! The seashell embellishments are from K & Co. The large shell in the lower corner had a round gel circle on it that said CLAM BAKE but I popped that off and added pearls in its place! I added more pearls throughout the layout and a pre-made title that I have had for quite some time by Me and My Big Ideas. I couldn't believe how well it matched!!

I am also posting this over at Pages In Time for the pearl challenge. I'm not sure if I have anymore scrapping in me today!! I'm about to watch the season premiere of Hannah Montana with my daughter! LOL!

Katie - Creative Scrappers 112

I've been noticing a trend lately with sketches. Lots of strips of paper which makes it soooo easy to put together a layout using just scraps! This layout is of my niece Katie and is based on Creative Scrappers Sketch 112. Don't ask me what the face is for but considering it was a hot, summer day and she had a broken ankle, she was probably complaining about something, and rightfully so. I'm not sure of the date on this which I will eventually add to the circle at the bottom once I send it to her on Facebook and ask her when she broke her ankle! She ought to love this! LOL!  This is the sketch it's based on:

The paper strips were actually "ribbons" printed onto paper that I found in a really old kit that I bought at a scrapbooking convention from Leaving Prints which is no longer even in business. Am I the only one who goes to expos and conventions and spends all kinds of money on stuff I didn't even really like just because it was cheap? I have a stack of these kits and honestly, the paper is low quality and I don't even like most of it. I pulled out about 6 of them that I know I will never use and think I will give them to my friend who is just starting out scrapping and has very little in the way of patterened paper. I cut the "ribbons" into strips and glued them down.  I crinkled and distressed the edges of the blue paper. I have apparently run out of ALL SIZES of chipboard circles so I just punched a bunch of orange circles out of a leftover piece of BoBunny paper....the only quality paper on this layout...and glued them together to give them dimension. The bracket was plain chipboard that I also covered with the BoBunny. While I was searching through drawers looking for chipboard circles, I came across a sheet of chipboard pieces by Little Yellow Bicycle Zach's Life. That line is CLEARLY a boy line but the colors worked for this layout so I used them! Even the printed words on the circles at the top fit...it says "It Takes Courage To Grow Up And Become Who You Really Are" on one and the others say "Wherever You Go, Go With All Your Heart" and "Laugh". I was so excited that these obviously intended for boy pages embellishments worked on this teenage girl's layout! The green glitter letters you have seen on at least 3 other layouts this weekend! I have a habit of using whats in front of me and these have been sitting on my desk since Friday! I just put them away though...to force myself to be more creative! I will laugh if I do use them again this weekend because they REALLY work! I inked the edges in orange to tie the layout together and added some muslin and jute knots and this puppy is done!

Dinner is ready....John is cutting the ribs as I type this and I just took the cornbread out of the oven!! Be back later!!!

More Antigua!

My original plan was to use up the rest of the paper that I used on the last layout, but as you can tell, that didn't happen!! Another layout without ANY patterned paper on it. What is this world coming to? LOL! There is, however, something much more special on this layout. The sand at the bottom of the page was taken right off the beach, just steps from our room at the Grand Pineapple Resort in Long Bay, Antigua. The sand there is very "shelly" and if you look close enough you can see the little bits of crushed shells in the sand. I had to get this on the page quick while John was still out golfing!! He is the one who always "steals" sand from wherever we go and then we put it in small jars labeled with the location. If he knew I took sand for a scrapbook layout, he would not be happy! LOL! Needless to say, I won't be showing him this page until he sees it in the book, and at that time I'll just tell him its sand from the beach at home! LOL! Hopefully he won't read the journaling!! The "F-U-N" stickers, the two shells and the tag at the top are what was left from the embellishment sheet by Little Yellow Bicycle! I rarely use EVERY item in a package so this felt good! No leftovers! The title letters are a font called LD Geneiveve and cut on my Cricut out of Whitewash Coordinations cardstock which I then embossed with a swirl/wave design and sanded to let the coral color show through a little. This layout looks MUCH better in real life...I couldn't get a decent photo at all without the photos looking to washed out or two dark, of which neither the original photos are!

Ok, enough from Antigua for today! John just got home from a golf tournament and put dinner on the grill! BBQ ribs are slow cooking for the next 2 hours, fresh Jersey corn and tomatoes....can't wait for dinner!  

Oh, and no sketch for this one....did this one all by myself!  LMAO!  But it does qualify for the Monthly Challenge at Practical Scrappers which is to use something you would bring to or find on the beach!  I'd say sand covers that...and the regular weekly challenge which is embossing.

Sun, Sand & Surf

I always look forward to Sundays and the new sketch at Sketch Inspirations. I always love Trisha's sketches and this week was no exception. I whipped up this layout based on the sketch in no time flat. Only 2 inches of patterned paper used and 1/2 the embellies on the sheet, so I'll get more mileage out of this Little Yellow Bicycle Boardwalk line. I only bought the one piece of paper from this line for some reason....that's very unlike me! In fact so unlike me that I stopped what I was doing and started sorting through piles of paper that had not been put away yet from two recent orders, SURE there had to be at least one more piece from this line, but nope...just this one double sided sheet! :) The photos are just some random shots from around the resort while we were on vacation in Antigua. I'm getting closer and closer to getting that whole album done!!

Scraplift Challenge and Monsters!!!

I got a great box of goodies in the mail today from Crafty Steals!! My Minds Eye Holiday paper sets! I LOVE My Minds Eye paper! As soon as I got home from the baby shower for my friend, Lisa, I sat down and created two layouts! The first one is my adorable baby girl on the merry-go-round! I just love how happy she looks!! I used the "Be Loved" line and this is a scraplift of a layout done by LilKoala at the A Cherry On Top forum for the Scraplift The Guest Design Team challenge. Here is her layout:

The second one uses a PageMaps sketch from 10/09 and is all three of my kids dressed up for Halloween 2001! I used the MME Boo To You line for this one and it qualifies for the color challenge, also at A Cherry On Top. The main color had to be ORANGE.

And now, for the MONSTERS. Nope, its not the monsters in the above layout! Its the monsters that I live with! The other night I was sitting at my desk when John asked me something from the kitchen. There is window between the two rooms and I rolled back on my chair to answer him when all of a sudden it was lights out! I went backwards on the chair, the chair popped out from under me and scrapping supplies began pouring down on top of me! Instead of rushing to my aid to get me out of the chair...trust me...I could not MOVE....what did they do? John and Matt both ran for the camera. This is the result. 

 Yes, I was laughing.....I laugh at myself all the time because things like this happen to me ALL THE TIME!! I was on the phone with my mom when this all happened and scared her half to death! LOL!! All she heard was a crashing sound and Matt asking if I was alright, in between his hysterical laughter! Yep. I live with monsters!! Hope this gives you a giggle too!

Me at 19

This will be the last one from me for tonight....sleepy time is a-calling! And you will not believe it....this layout does not qualify for a single challenge that I know of!  I just came across this photo and decided to scrap it.  I admit, I did look at my regular sites for challenges and it wasn't going to work so I went with it anyway!

This photo is of me when I was 19 years old. I don't know why but I really got emotional when doing this page...could be that the house is quiet, everyone is asleep, and I started thinking of all the dreams and goals I had back then, mistakes that I've made, etc. I'm not usually like that at all so it kinda freaked me out! I've always been more of the "yeah, I've screwed up here and there but I have no regrets because those screw ups got me to where my life is now and I wouldn't trade that for the world" type of person.  Feeling all sorry for myself and nostalgic sorta threw me for a loop! Instead of going embellie crazy on this, I thought it best to keep it simple and get it out of my face!! LMBO!!  That and the fact that I didn't feel like digging out more stuff....you should see my desk right now.  First order of business before I scrap another page, is to put some of this stuff back where it belongs!

Paper and bookmark clip are by Basic Grey Kioshi and I fussy cut some of the flowers and put them on pop dots, butterfly is by ...oh man I forget now and don't feel like trash picking right now...(ok I dug out the backing...its by Kelly Pannaci and I've had them forever...this was the last one!  The green glitter chip letters are Pink Paislee and the brads are from Creative Charms. Oh and the hair....that's AquaNet Mega Hold!!! Hey, it was the 80's and I'm a Jersey Girl....two things synonymous with big hair!

Oh Baby!!

I was a little bit quieter today than I usually am on Fridays in the Summer! Did you notice?? LOL! I didn't get too much scrapping for me done today but I DID get the last 9 pages of an 8x8 baby boy album finished and wrapped up nice and pretty, just in time for the baby shower TOMORROW! I actually was going to say forget it, and finish it between now and the time the baby is born next month, but as I started the Rebels layout above my phone rang! It was the Mom-to-Be calling to tell me there was a location change for the shower! WHAT? You know? So anyway, since she knows I am a scrapper and knows that I had started a baby album for her because I had to ask her what the baby's middle name was....I felt guilty and decided to stop what I was doing and finish it! I am glad I did now. It came out cute but I didn't take picturs of it. Its not much to see...very basic using DCWV Nana's Nursery line and a set of K & Company 1st year stickers. Add some ribbons, a few die cus and buttons and that was that. It was boring to me and I don't anticipate ever doing a blank album for anyone anytme soon!!

After I finished that up and wrapped that and the bouncy seat and outfit I bought her, I finished up the Little Rebels layout above. Not my best work but honestly, how the heck do you scrap photos of 3 kids aiming rifles at you! LOL! Granted the rifles were attached to a shooting gallery! The pictures are adorable, but I just couldn't come up with a fun or cute way to scrap them so this is what I did! Eh...its done.

The next one holds my record for fastest ever layout. I few squirts of two different colors of Glimmer Mist and Smooch Spritz and some splatter from some Smooch paint, a few seconds hit off the heat gun to dry it, glue the photos down, place a few stickers around the photos and add the journaling. Not even 10 minutes from start to finish! Not a speck of patterned paper either! But I like it! Its different...its not something I would do often, but it worked for both of the challenges up at Practical Scrappers. This is the sketch....see how perfect the spritz and splatters are:

The other challenge is Animation, Characters and Cartoons! The photos were taken at Disney with the first character the kids got an autograph from! And honestly, NONE of us know who he is! LOL!!!  (ETA:  Thanks to Melissa who left a comment, I now know who the character is!  John Worthington Foulfellow from Pinocchio!!  Thanks, Melissa...I better go add that to the journaling before I forget!!) Its early yet...just 9pm here on the East Coast....so I may get some more scrapping in tonight! Tomorrow is pretty much a wash as I have a baby shower to attend and tomorrow night we are taking the kids to Wall Stadium to watch some "roundy-round", aka car races!

Timeless Love

This photo is of my mommy taken in September of 1987...thank God for dates printed on the back of older photos!! This is how *I* remember my mom. It was so funny when I was working on this layout. My daughter looked at the photo and thought gramma looked so FUNNY. For as long as my two younger kids can remember, Gramma has had WHITE hair, never wears makeup anymore and always has oxygen tubes around her. I long for these days again....my mom is now struggling with health issues, no longer the independent go-getter she used to be. Its almost like a complete role reversal where I am calling her every day to make sure she's ok, make sure she's eating, make sure she took her medicine. Its sad and it hurts me so much but I am thankful for every day. The running joke in my family is that my mom is part cat....she has been on Heaven's doorstep several times in the last 3 years and has fought back valiantly. This past Christmas was tough for me as she was just diagnosed with oh...I forget the technical name now...but it is lung cancer. The doctors were not optimistic, saying 3-4 months tops with agressive treatment. I cried as I wrapped her gifts thinking it would be the last time I did so. Well she fought back and the tumor, while not GONE, has shrunk tremendously and she feels better today than she has in 5 years! Praise God. Of course it seems like everytime we turn around something else creeps up...we are currently awaiting results from a stomach and thyroid biopsy. But we stay positive and figure that no news is good news at this point!

This layout is based on a sketch at Pages In Time. I used papers by The Girls Paperie and the clocks and die-cut heart journaling spot are from them as well. I mounted one of the clocks on a lacy paper doily and the other two are raised on pop-dots. The large pink roses were white (my new favorite find....go to the bridal aisle in AC Moore. For 69c you can get a bunch of these white paper roses...JUST LIKE PRIMA's. Unless you WANT to spend $4 for the same thing. I compared them side to side in the store and could not see a darn thing that made the Primas worth $4 more with the exception of perhaps the Primas are ACID Free and the bridal ones not...but I will worry about that if and when my pictures seem to be getting eaten by Acid in 20-30 years. ) Anywhoo.... :) the roses were white but I just gave them a quick mist with Black Cherry Glimmer Mist and voila...perfectly matching roses! The itty bitty flowers with metal brad centers are Making Memories that I got on clearance at Michaels for 49c the other day! What a PAIN it was opening all those brads on the back of my page. They are so tiny and SHARP!! The leaves are a free SVG file I cut on my Cricut that I got from My Cricut Scrapbooking. I cut apart some bling (it had other colors that didn't match) that was by Recollections, added a few Martha Stewart butterfly punches and a title with Basic Grey letters and I was done. I stayed up WAY too late working on this layout last night!! Good thing I am off today and could sleep in a bit!

Flowers for Mommy

The first sketch in Fia's Sketch Crazy group at Sketches For You was posted on June 30! I've been looking at the sketch, but haven't actually thought much about using it until today. A few weeks ago I had pulled some older photos out of albums so I would scrap them too instead of JUST the newer photos. This one of Susie holding some buttercups she picked for me kept creeping to the top and it was there again this afternoon when I started thinking about scrapping. Then I remembered the sketch and got to work! I had a hard time coming up with a base for the layout. White was too stark, and other papers from the Lily Bee line that I used for the flowers and photo mat didn't work either. I tried Kraft and didn't like that. I pulled out one of my paper holders that has a mish-mash of older papers in it that I still liked but didn't really go with anything else and found this lonesome sheet of dainty floral paper by DaisyD's that is probably 5-6 year old. I had to back it onto white cardstock because the paper is very thin. 

I made the flowers by tracing an image of a Primrose flower into my Sure Cuts A Lot program then cutting three different sizes out of Lily Bee Lovely papers on my Cricut and layering, curling and fluffing each layer. I added a clear cabachon to the center of each flower. Te flourish was also cut on my Cricut using an SVG file from My Cricut Scrapbooking. I thought the sketch left a little too much white space for my taste so I added another flower at the top right. The title letters are Thickers and Echo Park and I added my last delicate butterfly from Creative Charms that I sprayed with some Wild Cherry Glimmer Mist to help it stand out more than just the white did. Thanks for looking!!!