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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Imagine


Gotta make this quick as the natives are getting restless and demanding food! I went back to work today but couldn't wait to get home and scrap. I think I may have left my mojo at work though because I went through several different variations and themes with this sketch before I finally decided with this one. I like how colorful it is and I love these pictures of Susie...I guess its jus not as good in my opinion as some of the layouts I did last week....however I also spent many hours on each of them and this one was under an hour from start to finish, including all the variations! I used the March skech at The Scraproom and combined it with the Imagine Challenge at Bird Is The Word. Now there's another challenge I saw this morning to use GLITTER, but at the moment I can't put my finger on it! I will edit this post when I figure it out! I used a glitter title and glitter borders.  I used Echo Park "A Walk In The Park" papers for this.  Yep, I still have some of that line left!!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

We Are Family



I don't have a traditional family. I have three children--a son who will be 21 from my first marriage; and from my second marriage I have a son, 14 and a daughter, 12. As some of you know, my second husband passed away a few years ago and I am now in a relationship with my boyfriend, John. He also has a son but he lives pretty far away and we don't see him often and I have no photos of him. That makes us a multiple blended family! But a family we are! I swear I spent more time photographing this layout than I did actually creating it!! I am submitting this to the following challenges:

1. Color Challenge at Challenge Masters - Dark Blue, Tan and Cream; .
2. Make It Monday Challenge at The Kraft Journal - Use Flowers (and Kraft paper!)

After I had it all done and had already uploaded it to the Gallery there and two other online galleries I post my work, I remembered about the March challenge at Kraft It Up which is to incorporate the phrase "There is no greater GIFT than today." I realized that the phrase fit perfectly on my layout and I had used Kraft paper!!!!! So back to the drawing board I went, trying a few different ways of adding the phrase, and finally deciding on my own handwriting and one word in mini letter stickers.   And as my luck has it, AS I WAS writing the word "day" I realized that it was supposed to say GIFT.  Oh well, I was not about to ruin the whole layout and the idea is still there.  Its an Aussie challenge blog so I wasn't in the running for a prize anyway!  I love the layout and the phrase fit it so wonderfully!  

I  used a sketch by Beggahuna. Its almost impossible to not love your layouts using her sketches! Used strips of MME Stella & Rose. The swirly things are K&Co and were originally silver but I misted them with Denim Glimmer Mist and I love the way they came out mottled looking. Lace, flowers and pearls from my stash. Letters are Thickers and October Afternoon.

I Caught A Wish

 I am so bummed out that my days of endless scrapping are almost over that I wasted hours this morning poking around at different Challenge sites trying to decide what to work on today. I finally decided to jump in on some other challenges at Challenge Masters. I'm currently doing their "Chopped" challenge (like the TV food show) and thought I'd do the March Sketch challenge. I was happy to see that the sketch this month was done by my friend, Cheri, who owns Let's Scrap. I am a previous DT member there and haven't done much with her sketches in a while so it was like coming home! I also paired this with Color Combo #51 at The Color Room---another challenge site I haven't been to in quite a while!

I love these photos of my daughter.  She was almost 4 years old in these pictures.  On a trip to the dollar store she picked out a Bug Catcher set which included a net and a box to save your bugs.  It was a beautiful day, I can remember it like it was yesterday, and all the kids were outside playing so I sat on the porch with my camera.  All of a sudden Susie is charging towards me full speed ahead with something in her hand!  I was snapping pictures while at the same time terrified of what it was she had to show me!  I do NOT like bugs...no bugs...not even the cute little Ladybugs.  Eeew!!  As she got to me she squealed with such delight:  "Mommy, I caught a wish!".  I was so relieved and so excited with her.  It was sooo cute!

Papers by BoBunny and Scenic Route. I made the paperpieced Sun probably 10 years ago when I used to sell PP's on Ebay! I finally used the i-Top tool to make the orange brad. I love that thing but just wish the darn braddies weren't so expensive. Thickers, My Little Shoebox and Echo Park letters, Tim Holz tag, butterfly brad by Creative Charms, journaling spot by Doodlebug and ribbon from stash

Daydream Believer


I really like the new BoBunny Gabrielle line. The colors in it are so soft! I did this layout using a sketch (that Trisha made inspired by one of my older layouts! Yes, I've actually scrapped a few pages without a sketch!) at Sketch Inspirations.
 So today is my "time's up" day. I've been home with Shingles since 3/21. I go back to work tomorrow. While I won't EVER miss Shingles, I will miss my long days and nights scrapping to my heart's content! As they say, all good things must come to an end and on the good side....is just a month or so away from our Summer hours which means Friday's off! So its not ALL bad!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Chopped! Week #3


I am involved in the Chopped! Challenge over at Challenge Masters. I survived Weeks 1 and 2 and the "recipe" for Week 3 was posted this morning. "Use White, Cardboard and Stitching". The first two I was ok with but the stitching had me terrified. You should have seen me sweating while I was sewing those strips! My sewing machine doesn't usually cooperate so I don't usually bother. I thought about using the Sew Easy tool but I have to get in the shower and then go get the kids from school and I really just wanted to get this finished! Add to that the fact that the needle was not threaded and I couldn't see the eye of the needle to save my life! Took me 15 minutes just to get it threaded! Its not the best stitching....a little crooked....but its there! Chipboard butterflies and BLISS wordart by K&Co as are the shells, the "moments" sticker and the brown loopy border. The strip at the bottom that looks like sand is actually the packaging from the K&Co border I used!! Yay for re-purposing!  That qualifies it for the Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs - use something laying around the house! The "beach" sign is October Afternoon. Bling by Recollections and KaiserCraft. I used a dry brush to wipe white paint across the cardboard and then swiped a Tea Dye distress pad across the white paint to sort of mimic the dune fence in the photo. Flowers from my stash. My new FAVORITE layout!

What am I going to do after Wednesday? I go back to work and am soooo going to miss scrapping all day!! Alas, something has to pay the bills from all the supplies I want!!

Daddy's Boy


I don't quite know what's going on with me. I keep going to older photos of my mom and my husband (both of whom have passed away) for the last few layouts. I haven't scrapped a single photo of Michael with the kids since he passed away several years ago until last week when I did one of my daughter and daddy. Today its my son (now 14 years old) and daddy. And I didn't even cry. Maybe its therapy and I just don't know it! Anyway, sketch by Lets Capture These Sketches.  I am also entering it into the challenge to use 7 or more flowers at Scrapbookers Anonymous.  I hope that its ok to enter more than once...I read the rules over and over and didn't see a restriction!  If you are from SA, let me know if I should remove the duplicates and I will!!  I don't want to break any rules!

Papers are all My Minds Eye Lost & Found. Letters are Jillibean Soup and Echo Park. Brads are MME and Creative Imaginations. Flowers are from either AC Moore or Michaels (paper roses and porcelain flowers) as are the round ball things! Not sure where the phrase stickers came from as they were the last two left on the backer sheet! And who says you can't use flowers on a boy layout!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Missing My Mom Today!!

  This is one of the photos of my mom that I mentioned in my earlier post about wanting to scrap today. There are actually two...this one and one of her leaning in and smelling the roses but I really liked this sketch at The Paper Trail Makers Challenge Blog and couldn't work both photos in it so I will do a separate but sort of matching layout of that one. I am also entering another one into the 7 Flowers Challenge At Scrapbookers Anonymous and finally for Challenge 95 - a layout about a woman in your life - at Scrap Whispers. I plan to put this in a shadowbox frame and hang both layouts (when I get the other one done) in my bedroom....or perhaps I will give one to my sister. I used My Minds Eye Stella & Rose papers, K&Co and Mambi embellishments. Flowers by Recollections, Michael's and AngelicaFransen Etsy Shop. Wood fence from Joanns that I painted white and lightly swiped pink ink across. Doily by Wilton.

It's been a rough day. I want to scrap more but I think I need to move away from photos of my mom for a while. Its been so bad that I have to tell you my adventure! I had to go run some errands today and I was on my way home and was in lala land, tears streaming down my face. I just kept thinking about my mom and how much I missed her. I had started this layout before I left so I was anxious to get home and finish it and was sort of daydreaming about it as I was driving. I was on this road that's very straight and easy to speed on (I honestly don't know the speed limit but if I had to guess I'd say 50mph) and apparently I was doing 72mph and when the cop passed me I never even hit the brakes! Of course he pulled me over and by the time he got to my window my tears were quite obvious. Now I know the oldest trick in the book is to cry, but my tears were real. I was so deep into my thoughts of my mom that I didn't realize how fast I was going. I admitted that I was speeding and that my mind was somewhere else. He saw my tears and asked if I was ok. I said yes, that I was just really missing my mom. He told me that I was the second person today with that problem! Anoter lady was missing her dad. He musta felt bad cuz he came back and said since I had no points on my license, he didn't want to make my day any worse! Phew! Its funny now, but I was so upset!!! Its been MANY years since I've been pulled over by a cop!!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Mystical Memories


Ahhhh....its Saturday and for the first time in well over two weeks, I FEEL GOOD!! If you follow my blog regularly you know that two weeks ago I was complaining of a mysterious back and abdominal pain. Well, I now know the reason for it. Last Thursday I awoke with the first of many sores and rashes on my back and belly. I waited it out the weekend and on Monday I saw my doctor who diagnosed me with Shingles! All I can say is that I would not wish this on my worst enemy. Its been a long, painful process but I'm so happy to say that I feel good today. The pain is minimal, the rashes are healing and I am actually looking forward to returning to work on Wednesday. The doctor has me home throug the 29th due to the fact that I work in a very public place - a college - and I need to be extra sure there is nobody there that will be affected - even though theoretically someone would have to TOUCH me to get it, and trust me...even John can't touch me!!

I have some errands to run today after I take Matt to baseball practice so I scrapped this morning. I completed yet another challenge at A Cherry On Top, this time the March Sketch Challenge. I think this makes 10 or 11 challenges for the month of March! Definately a record for me! I did turn the sketch on its side! The photo was from my honeymoon with Michael. We spent a weekend before a cruise in New Orleans and went to this Farmer's Market where they sold all sorts of different Mardi Gras masks. The photo was taken in 1996! I was so stinking skinny!

I used Lily Bee papers, Thickers, feathers and gold buttons, a Hambly transparency corner and I have NO idea who makes the "playing card" but it says "Life is a Daring Adventure". I also used some VERY old Prima rub-ons for the word "memories" under the title and also the small crest thing I added to the playing card.
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Friday, March 25, 2011

Relax and Renew


I know I have scrapped this photo before but that was for our Antigua vacation album. There are not many photos of John and I together so I wanted to scrap it again for my everyday album. I used Color Combo #1 for the Monthly Contest at A Cherry On Top.
I  also used sketch #111 from March 14m by Liz Chidester at The Scrappiest.
I used a mixture of October Afternoon Seaside and Fancy Pants Rusted Sun papers, embellishments by K & Co. and October Afternoon, lettering by Forever In Time (which btw are hands down the worst letter stickers I have ever used.  No wonder they are almost given away!) and October Afternoon.

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Crate Paper Sketch Challenge


Today is the last day to enter the March Sketch Challenge at Crate Paper. I recently got a couple of their new lines so thought I'd give it a go. I've been sitting here working on this layout since 7am....almost 4 hours. It's not that its very detailed or labor intensive, it's the pictures. And the memories. My husband, Michael, passed away unexpectedly from a stroke just a few short years after these photos were taken. Wednesday was his birthday and he's been on my mind constantly. It's very hard being both a mom and a dad to my kids. I have a great man in my life now but he's not DADDY. I miss Michael so much. I haven't scrapped but a single photo with him in it since he died. I just couldn't do it. I can look at the photos and smile and remember, but to put them onto a layout was just more than I could bear and I didn't want to upset my kids, as they always want to see my newest layouts. When I saw the sketch, and decided to go with the Emma's shop line, I knew I had the perfect photos. I edited the photos to be black and white with the exception of my daughter, simply because there were way to many colors going on between Daddy and Susie's "baby soups" as she used to say. Now that its done, and I've shed my tears, I am happy with it. As I said, I used Emmas Shop papers, stickers and border stickers. I added lettering by Thickers and Echo Park, some pink ric rac and two flowers by Recollections.

Here is the original sketch I worked from:
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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Natural Beauty


This is now my new favorite page! I seem to be doing that a lot lately! I used a lot of "stuff" on this one but all of the papers are by My Minds Eye and once again, I used three different lines and they all coordinated beautifully! I used Lost & Found, So Sophie and Stella Rose on this one. Again, I love how most of their lines will flow seamlessly with several of their other lines! I feel like I get more mileage out of my papers that way!! I definitely don't get rid of MME scraps!

I used metal accents from Making Memories, crochet doily and some of the flowers are Prima, the rest are Recollections.  Flower brad in center of largest flower is MME Lost & Found.  Bird and Butterfly are Recollections. "Beauty" quote is a sticker from DCWV. Bling by Jolees, dewdrops and glitter tape at the bottom by Recollections. Glitter Chipboard letters by Recollections. Calendar tag is Maya Road. Adore ticket is Tim Holtz. Paper doily under circle photo is Wilton sprayed with Patina Glimmer Mist.  Under that is a Fancy Pants glitter cut transparency but after I finished embellishing you can hardly see it!  ITs there though...right under where the bird is you can see a little bit of a blue flourish which is what I was going for...although I was hoping it would show more. Metal frame is Making Memories. Onion grass from Michael's. Sketch by Beggahuna. I THINK that's everything!

I am submitting this to the monthly challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous - use 7 storebought flowers...I think I covered that!  Also to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge at The Paper Variety - Make a layout, use a bird and use scallops (on the doily).  I actually had Tic Tac Toe twice as one option was Use Spring colors, scallops and 2+ flowers.  And finally to Scrap Whispers Challenge 93 - use only head shots. The funny thing is I used the transparency that you can barely see for a challenge as well but I didn't write it down and now I forget who is doing that challenge this week!  ACK!


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Big Brothers Give Big Gifts



I am not what you would call a "Holiday Scrapper". Any holiday...not just Christmas. In fact, even being a scrapper, there are a couple of years that I don't even have pictures of the holiday events! Some I lost in a hard drive crash but there are at least 2 years that I didn't even take a picture. Mostly when the kids were much smaller. There was so much going on....his one needed help with this and that one couldn't open that....and then of course Christmas Breakfast has to be made. Well who do you think DOES all that? Yep, me....and between all of that I am supposed to be the photographer as well? So there are not a lot of Christmas pictures in my scrapbooks and I am ok with that because the time spent with my family was much more important and the memories are still there!

Having said that, there ARE years that I do have photos. And even THOSE years aren't well represented in my scrapbooks because quite frankly, Christmas layouts intimidate me. There is SO MUCH stuff you can buy and I just get overwhelmed, I buy a whole bunch of stuff and never use it. These photos are from two Christmas' ago and I am just now getting them scrapped! I LOVE these photos. I have three kids from two marriages. My oldest son Johnny will be 21 in August (and I will be 29!) and the two "kids" as they are referred to are 14 and 12. Being older, the "kids" make out at Christmas because Johnny always buys them big gifts! This was from 2009 and he bought Matt a RockBand game system and Susie got her first pair of Uggs (because I am a mean mommy and refused to spend $100 on shoes when her feet are still growing!). After they opened their gifts from Johnny, they both gave him big hugs! I love my kids and I love that even though Johnny is 6 and 7 years older respectively, they are VERY close.

All paper and most embellies are Echo Park - Merry Christmas. Title letters are Jillbean Soup and the little letters are Echo Park - Playgrond and Crate Paper - Portrait for the date at the bottom. Sketch by Diana for Frosted Designs and I am entering it in their Sketch Along Tuesdays sketch #11 contest.

Now that its done, I really am very happy with this Christmas page! But I don't think I want to do another one today. Even though it does feel about as cold as it does on Christmas morning and the calendar says its Spring. Yeah right!

Asleep in 30 Seconds!


Another day, more crappy weather....and its COLD!  A week ago it hit 80 and today with the wind chill it feels like 20!  This weather is nuts!  Anyway, again it makes for a lousy day to photograph layouts.

The pictures depict a common site in our house. John, asleep on the couch...usually snoring! Now it matters not what time of day it is. If he lays down on the couch, it almost always means "Lights Out" for him!

I used three different My Minds Eye lines on this page. Its one of the things that makes them one of my favorite scrappy companies. Most of their lines still work well with their other lines. I used Life Stories for the background (I used a Tim Holtz mask and Harvest Orange glimmer mist to tie in the orange from his shirt), Quite Contrary is the argyle print and the brown/white polka dot print, and So Sophie is the graph paper on the right. I added a K&Co orange triangle border strip and some buttons and pleated twill trim. The two "dream" elements are by Tim Holtz and Brenda Walton. The sheer journaling spot is Maya Road. For the title I made some more of the faux scrabble tiles I told you about earlier this week and added mini letters by Crate Paper and a bingo chip 30 by Maya Road.

I used a sketch from March 4th from Your Scrapbook Stash and will enter it in their Sketch Challenge issued March 16. If you have never been to YSS, stop by and check them out! I have placed two rather large orders with them since December and both have been chock full of awesomeness and the personal attention to questions or concerns is outstanding! They are definately a go-to scrappy supply site!!
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My Angel


Another lousy picture but its just been a lousy, sunless day here! This one was done using the Twisted Sketches #93 sketch with the twist of a "swirl" of some kind. My swirl is the chipboard piece at the bottom that I inked with Cats Eye ink and then sprayed with Bubble Gum and Pearl Glimmer Mist. You can't see it in the photo but it shimmers really nice! The pink doily I cut with a new Nestabilities die I just got in the mail today! I used Dear Lizzy fabric paper and a piece of a Crate Paper banner to qualify it for the ACOT Guest GCT Challenge and the Frosted Designs Friday Challenge to use a banner.   I'm REALLY not a fan of banners. I know they are the "in" thing but I just am not crazy about how they look on my pages. I added some rose trim and bling to the chipboard, banner and doily. Letters are from my stash--not quite as thick as Thickers, but not flat either and I'm not sure where or when I got them! The are a shimmery pink glitter gelly letter. The heart and journal tag are by Prima.
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Man vs. Food - Boardwalk Style



First, I apologize for the dark picture. Its as grey as can be outside and this was the best picture I could get. I will replace it once the sun shines again here in New Jersey!

This layout was done using Sketch #148 at Creative Scrappers. The photos are a series I took on ONE day at the Wildwood Boardwalk and there's a couple more that I didn't put on the page! The journaling reads: "John starred in his own version of Man vs. Food, eating his way down the Boardwalk in Wildwood. Cheese fries, funnel cake, ice cream and two macaroons!"

I used Kraft background that I lightly misted with Patina Glimmer Mist, the circle is a piece of Little Yellow Bicycle paper and the coral scallops are by K&Co. The title letters are Prima, ticket is by My Minds Eye, "Boardwalk" sticker is by Jolee's and I added the word "style" using Crate Paper mini letters from the Portrait Collection.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

"Hive Creative Challenge" - Spring!


I have always found this odd, but our school district takes two sets of pictures every year. One in September and the other in the Spring which are much more informal. This layout features last year's Spring portrait of my daughter. I discovered when starting this layout that I don't have many papers in the yellow family. I like yellow well enough, but I guess I'm not drawn to it when picking out scrapbook papers! I thought that was rather odd too!  Guess I'm finding lots of things odd today!  :)

I remedied my lack of yellow papers by using a lot of Glimmer Mist! the very bottom layer is white cardstock that I sprayed along the edges with Lemon Grass Glimmer Mist. The second layer is a sheet of Bazzill yellow cardstock that I sprayed with water and them crumpled up in a tight ball. Being impatient I then ironed it so that the paper would dry and I could move on. I'm not a fan of taking forever on one layout and this one....FIVE HOURS! Once dry, I ran the cardstock through my Distrezz It All to soften the edges. The next layer is a piece of yellow paper from an older Basic Grey line - Lime Rickey. It has some orange-y tones to it so I fixed that by misting it with Meadow Green and Wheat Beer Glimmer Mist and wiping it off really quick so it only tinted the paper. I edged that paper with a scallop lace Martha Stewart punch and sort of distressed it . The next layer is a sheet of green paper out of the same Lime Rickey line. Didn't do a thing to this one and as it turns out, after I finished adding all my embellishments, you really don't even notice the paper! I topped that with a white paper doily and finally the 5x7 photo. I added leftover pieces of a scalloped border by K&Co and put green dew drops on top of each scallop.

The big yellow flowers are from a Prima Calypso tin that I got for a steal on clearance at Michael's the other day! I layered and twisted two sizes to make the flowers resemble a daffodil. I put a yellow rhinestone in the center of each. The small yellow roses I got at YourScrapbookStash.com but not sure who makes them. The little yellow flowers are from a "Got Prima" bottle named March Daffodil. I put yellow bling and/or pearls in the centers. The leaves and stems I cut by hand. The crochet butterflies are from Creative Charms and the ribbon from my stash. Now on to the title!

These look like wooden scrabble tiles, right? Nope! They are cardstock and chipboard and I made them myself--which is part of the reason this layout took 5 hours! A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon a blog called "What a Beautiful Mess". LISA NAZARIO-GREGORY is the owner of the blog and she has some of the most awesome tutorials I have seen! These "faux scrabble tiles" are just one of MANY! She shares some beautiful layouts and beautiful stories of her life. She is currently mourning the loss of her sweet mother-in-law and I am sure she would welcome any prayers for her family. Be sure to check out her blog HERE!
This layout was done with several challenges in mind!
At Creating The Hive, the challenge is to "create anything that inspires you from the season".  

For the Chopped Challenge at Challenge Masters...yay, we all survived round one and here is the recipe for round two:

Yellow;
Dimensional Flowers;
Scallops

I am loving this challenge and the creations everyone is coming up with using the same recipe! If you haven't checked out Challege Masters you should! There's so much to join in with there!

I am also entering into the monthly challenge at http://scrapbookers-anonymous.blogspot.com/ which is to use at least 7 store bought flowers.  I used way more than that!!

There is a Spring Fling challenge over at http://scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/ which is to create a layout that makes you think about Spring.  The colors, the daffodils I made, the trees in the background of the photo and the fact that I know the portrait was taken in Spring all make me feel "springy" about this layout!

And finally, since I never met a sketch challenge I didn't want to do....I used the March Sketch for for challenge ASC6 at Artful Delight as my inspiration! It happens to be designed by my scrapping idol, and friend, Debbie Burns! If you want to see some AMAZING art-full layouts, stop by Debbie's blog at Love Life's Little Pleasures. You will NOT be dissapointed in what you find there!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Just Be You


I really needed to do this layout tonight. The lighting wasn't great so I will replace the photo tomorrow when there is daylight. My daughter who is 12 is having some problems with her "friends" of late. When she broke her leg in mid-February all of her friends just dropped her. If she couldn't run around or walk to McDonalds or the park, they wanted nothing to do with her. She counted down the days until the cast came off, looking forward to hanging out with her friends again. This weekend she spent the night at another friend's house in another town and when I picked her up today she was upset. I thought maybe something happened at Emily's so I asked her about it. She didn't want to come home. :( She didn't want to get back to her normal life at home because all of her friends have turned on her. She's been so depressed lately and has been such a trooper dealing with her broken leg and my heart breaks for her. She's a sweet girl and has always gone along with whatever her friends want. Its never HER way. So to have them ALL turn on her has been a real eye opener for her. She's hurt, she's lonely and I'm sad for her. I had a long talk with her today and told her to just be herself (hence, the title of the page). If these girls don't like her for who she is, then they are not true friends. She listened to everything I told her and then at the end smiled and said "it's ok, mommy we are moving at the end of the school year anyway and I will make new friends". Its true, we are moving....but I wasn't expecting that out of her! She's very good at seeing the big picture...and that big picture for her is a new start, in a new school. So when I finished this layout and showed her she smiled! I snagged the photo off her Facebook page and she had edited it in Picknic and put the caption: "Live the Life you Love; Love the Life you Live". I told her that she needed to remember those words and she smiled and said "I know mom". How did I get such a grounded, good girl? Hopefully this will all blow over...which is what I told her...but even if it doesn't I think she's going to be just fine. (However, you can be sure I will be watching her Facebook page and watching for signs of anything else in her life. I'm NOT going to let my daughter be a statistic. I will ALWAYS be there for her and am so thankful that she feels comfortable talking to me.

I used a sketch from Page Maps for this layout. There is a contest for layouts using this sketch with a sweet prize from Webster's Pages. I used papers from Melissa Frances and October Afternoon, letters by Recollections and Thickers, tickets by Maya Road, "Girl" tag by Junkitz (wow is THAT old!), rose trim...not sure by who as I have several different brands, silver bling border is Recollections and blue bling is by Jolees.
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Leaving on a Jet Plane



I've been trying to be with my family today watching TV and not doing much of anything but this pain in my back (which has now progressed to a large rash and a few bigger sores on my back and across to my stomach.....calling the doctor in the morning) that I have been fighting for a week today just won't let me sit on the couch! I'm ok sitting in my desk chair at work or my scrapping chair (which is an old kitchen chair that I repurposed) but the minute I sit on the cushy couch or forget my bed....OUCH! So after a couple hours of trying to grin and bear it I retreated back to scrapping! Poor me! :)

This layout came about as part of the Scraplift the GCT challenge at ACOT. The page I scraplifted can be seen here. I used the travel theme mostly as my inspiration as well as the colors and the die cut paper. The funny thing about this piece of BoBunny die cut paper is that it was in two pieces when I started this layout! Apparently at some point in time I only wanted to use half of it then must have changed my mind on it all together. I did a good job lining it up but you could still see that it was cut. My solution was to cut a strip of airplane paper by Best Creations and put that over where the cut was. 

I used a mish-mash of stuff on this layout! The airplane and camera stickers I have had FOREVER and are by Sandylion. The Palm Tree and the word "Fun" are chipboard stickers from a package of K& Co stickers, the "Adventure", "Journey" and the two circles at the top were out of a box of Chip accents from the Sea Glass collection by K&Co. Wow, I seem to be using a lot of K&Co stuff today. I didn't even realize I has so much of it! The ticket under the title is a Tim Holtz ticket and I used green October Afternoon mini letters and black Thickers for the title. The journaling tag is from Elle Studios and I layered that on top of a leftover piece of the border strip I used on the layout I made earlier today. I backed the entire layout on a sheet of Bazill Swiss Dot cardstock. I need to get more of that stuff!! I'm almost out!
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Truth Is....

I don't know how many of you have kids with Facebook, but around here ALL the kids have one. Fortunately I am friends with all my kids on Facebook (well...not really fortunately because if they didn't have me as a friend they would not be allowed to have one!) as well as most of their friends! Its a good way to not only see what your kids are up to but its a REALLY good way to snag some photos of your kids that you would otherwise not have! Like photos they take on their phones at school, at the park etc. Many of the kids use a website called Picnic to do special effects to their photos before they post them. The photo in this layout was edited in Picnic to add the streaks through the photo and the title border which says "Susie & Caitlin...best friends at heart...sisters at soul" . I snagged it off my daughter's Facebook and was surprised to see that while 4x6 is as big as you can print it without losing a lot of quality, I was able to use it! SCORE!! I see an endless amount of photos in my future!!

I made this page using a sketch at Let's Capture These Sketches Number 73. I have been returning to that sketch over and over again trying to think of something to use for it. Finally this morning I woke up and my first thought was COFFEE...second thought was this layout! It came easily once I paired it with the GCT Challenge #3 at A Cherry On Top which is to use 1 picture and 7 items in a cluster. I used flowers by Recollections and not sure where the little white ones are from but I got them at Your Scrapbook Stash, a metal key by K&Co., "Always" tag by K&Co., metal butterfly by Recollections (can I tell you these things are a STEAL!! For 99c at Michael's you get FOUR butterflies...I thought it was only two until I opened the package! Going to have to get more of them!), a button, a word strip by K&Co that says "Just be Yourself" and a couple of those flat backed clear marbles things that are supposed to go in the bottom of a vase. Not sure what they are really called but I like them here and there on layouts! I used a border strip by K&C, the backgrond paper is Best Creations. I distressed the edges with my Distrezz It All. Been a while since I pulled that nifty little machine out! The title letters are by K&CO and look like metal but are actually thin paper and they don't stick well so I had to add adhesive to each letter. That's ANNOYING! :) Here is a close up of the cluster.
I did straighten that "S" after I took the picture!! I also used bling by Recollections and another Butterfly on the left side. And what's the BEST part of this page you ask? Ok, so you didn't ask but I'm gonna tell you. See that copper colored paper I used under the photo? Well I have had that piece of paper for...drumroll.........12 years! YEP! It was sent to me many years ago by a lady I used to do custom paper piecing for and I just never found a way to use it. Its by Paper Adventures and is called Al Fresco. It sort of feels like wallpaper and had swirls in it that you really can't see in the photo. I was soooo impressed with myself!! THIS is what happens when you spend from 2am - 11am yesterday sorting and organizing paper!! I have it in two other colors so now I'm on a mission to use THEM!

The title of this page came from the picture. I don't know if this happens all over Facebook, but my daughter and her friends will randomly post on their friends wall with the status of "Truth Is" and then all of their friends will respond to that post with random nice facts about each other. Like Truth Is...you have beautiful eyes. Or Truth Is....you are really funny. Its actually kind of cute and although its not self-explanatory I think it was a perfect title for this layout which features a photo of my daughter and her friend Caitlin that one of them edited in PICNIK to put the words on it. I snagged and it and think it was perfect for this layout.

I have an hour before I have to go out...wonder if I can get another layout done! There's another sketch at Let's Capture These Sketches that has caught my eye!!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Apple of My Eye


Happy Saturday, peeps!! You will have to excuse me if I seem a little rambunctious today. It's due to lack of sleep and wayyyy too much caffeine. I think I've mentioned that I did a number on my back LAST Sunday. Well the worst part of the day for my back is laying down to go to sleep. If I am sitting upright in a chair I'm ok. The couch or my bed...not so good. I took a Percocet last night hoping to sleep a solid 7 hours. I haven't had a run more than 3 hours since Sunday. Well it didn't work. I slept for about 3 1/2 hours and woke up at 2:30am. I was too tired to sit down and try to scrap so I did something that has needed to be done for a LONG time! I reorganized all of my patterned paper. I had a retarded system before where I kept Mfr. lines together but then sometimes I kept like colors together. Well NOW I have everything sorted by Mfr. If I have 6 different lines by that mfr., they are all in the same holder. Even though I have enough patterned paper to wallpaper the walls, floors and ceilings twice over, I sorta know what I have and usually do pick my papers by mfr. So I think this system will work a little better for me. There are a few exceptions to my new "rule". Holiday papers are sorted together, regardless of who makes them. I have a holder for Christmas, Halloween and All Other Holidays (I don't stockpile a lot of Easter, St. Pats, etc. papers so they are combined. ) I also have a separate holder for Vacations and for Beach. I live at the beach so I do a ton of beach layouts every year and I often mix and match mfrs.

I had a few things I purged and if I get the energy I may do a blog candy although its mostly older stuff that nobody would probably want anyway! Now I know I said I know what I have. The exception to that is the above layout! I had NO CLUE I even had this cute apple paper by Best Creations! And it didn't have a partner so it didn't really have a place to go being a single sheet of themed paper. So I left it out floating on the living room floor until I was all done with the sorting. Then it moved to my desk, still not knowing what I was going to do with it. Then for a brief moment it went into the purge pile!

Once I was done sorting the paper I grabbed a pack of pictures that was laying on my desk and decided that I was going to scrap from there rather than printing off new pictures. I grabbed these two pictures of Matt and headed back into my scrap room on a search for papers with red in them to match his shirt. I started out with papers from the Basic Grey Cupcake line and then it hit me! The apple paper was perfect!! I wanted to get my layout done for the weekly Sketch Inspiration sketch which has to be posted by tonight but I just wasn't sure I could make it work with these photos and only one patterned paper but it did! And as of right now, its my new favorite layout!

The specs are as follows:
Patterned paper by Best Creations, letters are Cloud 9 and Echo Park, Doily by Wilton, bling by Glitz, Buttons and rick rack from stash, journaling square is MAMBI. Used this weeks sketch at Sketch Inspirations.

Now I think I will try to lay down. Matt is at baseball practice, Susie is being picked up to sleep over a friends house at 1:00pm and John is working overtime again so its going to be pretty quiet here today! I do have some shopping errands to run but I can do that tonight!

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday! I may or may not be back with more to share!
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Friday, March 18, 2011

In Search of Me Gold

I'm fighting to keep my eyes open right now thanks to painkillers for a back issue I've been fighting all week. But I just about panicked when I remembered that the "Chopped" Challenge at Cha{all}enge Masters had to be done by tomorrow. Since I *think* tomorrow is going to be a busy day I didn't want to leave it for the last minute. The "recipe" for this round was pretty simple:

Circles
Lime Green
Paint

My circles are the doilies; I used every shade of green imaginable I think and the paint is the Gold paint I used on the pot of Gold and also brushed a little on each of the shamrocks.

I wasn't sure what I was going to work on for this challenge and I was still a little bummed that my kids refused to either wear green yesterday or pose for me in the cute wiggly leprechaun hat headband I bought. HMMF!! I love St. Patrick's Day...its such a fun and happy and stress free "holiday" and being mostly Irish, I am proud of my heritage. Clearly my kids disagree! Oh well, at least dinner was delicious last night! I made THE BEST Corned Beef and Cabbage I have ever made and I make it at least twice a year. I used the Crock Pot this time and boy did it make a difference. It took 9 hours, but it was YUMMY and there was not a bit of leftovers!

Anyway, I remembered that I had these pictures of the Leprechaun show at Busch Gardens from our trip last year. So I quick printed them up and I used Sketch #146 from Creative Scrappers as inspiration.



I hand cut the pot out of black glitter paper and accented the top with Metallic Gold Folk Art paint. The polka dot paper is from a few years ago by Reminisce. The shamrocks and gold coins I got at Michaels, the gold letters are Anna Griffin, the bronze letters and green dew drops are Recollections, flowers are Prima, doilies are Little Yellow Bicycle, and the journal square is My Minds Eye So Sophie!

Now that its done...I'm off to dreamland!

Here's hoping I am "lucky" enough to not get CHOPPED in Round One!!
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Winter Fishing


The journaling reads" It doesn’t matter what the calendar says or what the thermometer says.
John will go fishing any time he can! Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. As long as there’s fish to catch, he’ll be out there." And that's te truth! I don't think I can recall him fishing in the snow, but it doesn't matter how darned cold it is...if he hears that the fish are biting, he's out there giving it his best!! This layout is based on a PageMaps sketch for the March 18th Challenge at Stuck On You Sketches. I used an older piece of Glitz paper for the background. The reverse side has bright pretty colors but this side was perfect with the blue whitewashed look. I also used the last leftover piece of TPC Mediterranean Summer I think its called. For the first time in probably 6 years, I also used Vellum although in the photo you can't notice it much. I tore a piece of clear and a piece of light blue vellum to mimic waves and inked the edges. I then went over the edges with white Puffy Paint. I also used the Puffy Paint to draw the waves. I added two different types of snowflakes (white irridescent and silver glitter) both by Recollections, a "Passion" tag by Maya Road, White Sprinkles Thickers, blue/white bakers twine and some seashells and sanddollars that I popped off a leftover Jolee's sticker.

I hesitated to do this page because for the first time in what feels like FOREVER, it hit almost 80 degrees here. I long for the warmer weather, especially since we opted to move in June and pay off some bills rather than go on vacation this year. WHAT were we thinking!
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Run, Don't Walk....


to your nearest Michael's Arts & Crafts store. I just happened in there because I had an hour or so to kill before picking up the kids. Of course I had my weekly coupons with me because you just "never know". Well.....I was shocked!! I was JUST in there last week and it was the same old stuff. NOT anymore! The are completely revamping the scrapping area again and have added some really great stuff....tons of new bling, letters, flowers, etc! But better than that was what I found OUTSIDE the store in the clearance bins. If you look at the top of the picture you will see 4 tins of Prima flowers that were regularly $8.99 marked down to $3.99, 4 jars of Recollections flowers in glass jars with wood lids reguarly $7.99 marked to $3.99 and 4 tubes of small Prima flowers regularly $6.99 marked down to $2.99. What you can't see if that underneath the pile is a Basic Grey Cupcake paper stack that was marked down to $2.99! Just that alone which is only a small portion of the picture, would have cost appx. $80 regular price. I got a bunch of stuff off the clearance racks....journaling spots, tiny alphabet letters, dew drops...and then they were having terrific sales! All K&Co is 40% off so I picked up a bunch of stuff from them, I got some of the new Recollections bling swirls as I am very close to running out of all the bling I got last summer at CKC and no way I will make it till July and CKC 2011!! All Flowers and Metal Embellishments were also 40% off so I got a bunch of thta stuff too from Making Memories, Recollections, Prima, etc. The only things I paid full price for were the glue dots and ballpoint glue pen that I NEEDED, trimmer replacement blades which I also desperately needed and this pack of glitter letters that are brand new to the store. 
There were a bunch of different styles but I really liked the glitter color on these and they were $4.99...the most expensive item I bought! Not pictured is a few St. Patty's decorations that I also got for 70% off. I'm 90% Irish so some of the things (Blessing Plaque, Good Luck Slate Plaque) will be left out all year long and the rest will be put away for next March 17th! All total, for all the items in the picture above I spent .....DRUMROLL......$101.89! Now I did have the coupon this week that I printed off the internet for $25 off $125 (or $5 off $50, etc.) but even still....I have a HUGE haul here and paid just a little more than the flowers would have cost me at regular price...and I've paid regular price for them MANY times!! I was so excited, I decided not to bother going to AC Moore. I kinda, sorta just spent my monthly budget!! Oops!!

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

First Haircut


I'm so happy I don't scrap chronologically! If I did, I would not have gone back almost 20 years to the day that my oldest got his first haircut! Sure made me smile....boy how time flies! That little boy is now a 21 year old man!! I used LYB Twig papers that just matched perfectly, MME Lush flocked chipboard letters, Crate Paper mini letters, Recollections dew drops and ribbon from my stash. Sketch by Liz Chidester http://thescrappiest.blogspot.com/. Check out The Scrappiest this month for a chance to win some awesome doily dies!
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