Madison's Brick

I, for one, am not a cold-weather person. It could stay Summer (OK, with a little bit of Spring & Fall thrown in for good measure) all year long, and I would be OK with that. So, to that end, I decided to scrap some Spring pictures that I've had for awhile. After pulling this layout together, I did feel a little bit better!! :-) I used the latest PageMaps sketch as my base, but flipped it to fit my pictures. Looking at these pictures, I know it will be awhile yet, but I am already ready for Spring!

Because...

...I looked at my blog count for the year and it is only 9. BORING!! 9 times...surely I have more to say than that!! (My husband would attest to that!) So, I decided to add a layout that is not for any kind of contest or anything like that. It is just one of my favorites that I've done, and I want to get it on record. This is one of those layouts that came together quickly for me. I think I got it done in about 30 minutes - I can't believe it even took that long! I added the bling, flowers, sticker & did my journaling. But even better than it being a quick page, this layout helped me say some things that I wanted to get on paper. Just because...

Happy Halloween 2010!

If it weren't for my daughter, I don't think I would "celebrate" Halloween. But Madison absolutely loves Halloween - all things gross & scary & creepy. So, I try to decorate a little, have a costume ready, get the "in" candy - those kinds of things - but Halloween always sneeks up on me. This is my only piece of new decoration this year - well, the entire grouping - and though it does make me happy, it was not very much effort. But Happy Halloween & BOO to you!!

Vera Bradley

I knew not to introduce my 9 year old daughter to Vera Bradley - that once I did, it would be all over. And it was...Madison begged & begged me for a VB purse. Well, for Easter, we surprised her with a dittybag in her favorite pattern. She loved it, and here is my layout documenting that. I tried to pick PP's and title letters that would give the feel of Vera Bradley too. Once again, a Pagemaps sketch did the trick. Now maybe if I got that second job, I would be able to afford a VB for myself!! LOL!

Making Cards again...

I've been neglecting my cardmaking. I go through spurts where I like to make cards. They are quicker, help me use up scraps, & actually give me a different type of challenge. I actually made 3 cards today with scraps from (get this!!) one two-page layout that I did. I'm only going to show two of them though because the first one just turned out OK for me. The first one is my favorite, and will go to my friend & co-worker, who's birthday is this Wed. The second one I will just save until such time that I need a card. Also, both were inspired by a challenge from a blog that I haven't visited in some time, the Stamp Something blog. I decided it was time to say hello again, along with my card making. Gotta use those stamps!! TFL!!

Don't you love Summer??

I LOVE SUMMER...may I just say that?? So many reasons, but one of them is that I usually have more time for scrapping! Not to mention flip flops, hummingbirds, sun tea, summer vegetables, gardens, grilling, green lawns, fireworks, picnics, fishing, swimming, beaches, taking pictures, staying up late, and so much more!! I will say it again...I love summer!! :-)

This latest layout is again for Pagemaps, and the latest sketch contest. I was happy to finally get a chance to use this patterned paper, and to do a banner (well, sort of a banner...), which is popular in scrapbooking right now. An additional challenge was to make sure that teal, orange and yellow were included in our layout, and I squeaked by with the teal, orange & yellow being in the shirts in the banner. And actually, my daughter is spending the night with a friend tonight, and I am missing her, so it is a good excuse to scrapbook a picture of her, right? Oh yes, another good thing about summer... sleepovers & quiet time!!

All it takes is a little...

Courage - this week, my daughter & I had an interesting conversation regarding courage. It all stems from the theme for our VBS this week, which was Becoming Fearless. My daughter is somewhat of a scaredy cat, so I am glad that we got to approach the subject, and from the look in her eyes, I think she actually got it!! The layout itself is based on a sketch from PageMaps, and I used some of my all time favorite papers (and I still have 3 sheets left - enough to make another layout!!) May everyone have a little extra courage today! My journaling reads: At VBS this week, one of the crafts you made was a "Courage " bracelet. While talking about the craft, you asked what courage meant. It was hard to put into words that I thought you could understand, but I told you it was doing something that was hard, but making yourself do it, like walking into a room full of people you don't know, but making yourself do it because you can. Then, we had a great discussion about things we do daily that take courage. In the words of Walt Disney, "All our dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." May you always have the courage to dream BIG!

Yup - it's a good one!

It's been almost a month since I blogged, but it's not because I haven't been on the computer, just been so busy lately! Now that Spring is here, I can't wait for Summer either!!

The latest Pagemaps sketch was PERFECT for my layout. It is about my staff Christmas Party, which is never typical, so therefore my choice of patterned papers is not typical either...for a Christmas layout! My friend, Gretchen Howard took the pictures at the party, and they turned out adorable. We all dressed up in our "country" best, and had a great time:

The next two photos include detail shots of my hidden journaling, and the actual invitation we received, which I definitely wanted to keep with the layout.

Have You Ever?

I got the title/journaling idea for this layout from one of those papers that cover the trays at fast food restaurants. This particular paper came from Culvers (mmmmm!!). The sketch came from the latest Pagemaps contest. And I just used the journaling idea to document some of the fun things that have happened with Madison, rather than make a layout for each fun thing. The picture is one of my favorites, taken quickly the morning of the first day of 3rd grade while we waited for the bus. Thanks for looking!

A WOOF kind of relationship!

I'm getting some time to scrapbook again, so I wanted to try the latest PageMaps sketch. It was an odd sketch for me, but I was determined to make it work. So determined that I took more than 4 hours to do this layout. I just worked & worked on all the little details. I am so happy with the layout, I think it conveys what I wanted to say. I don't do many canine layouts as some, as our dogs are "outside" dogs, and I don't necessarily consider them "part of the family". But Madison does, and I wanted to document that.
Here is a close up of the stitching, raised paw prints, bling-y eyes & the ribbon colllar...just a few of the details that took me **4** hours of my life to do!! Gotta love it!

Butterfly Kisses

OK, sometimes layouts are about the pictures, sometimes they are about the journaling, and well, sometimes they are just about creating. This layout was definitely about the creating. I played with Glimmer Mist, basically a spray ink. I wanted to see what it would do. The "orange" paper is really white cardstock, that I covered with paper masks, sprayed it, removed the mask, and voila...instant "orange" patterned paper (the color on the bottle says "Mimosa" - that sounds so much more exotic, doesn't it?). I had this photo that I had been saving for awhile, and I put it with the layout. I love that photo, we look so happy in it. Plus the swirl patterned paper, and ALL those butterflies - it just makes me happy! I love that they were already 3-D for me! The journaling is just lyrics from the song to help tie everything in. OK, on to the next creation!