New Couch

I'm glad that I like this layout because...it took me 3 hours!!  (Not including the journaling.)  Not even kidding.  And not because I struggled with the layout, but because I kept getting distracted.  I was at a crop with a friend, and there were things to eat, shopping to do, news to catch up on...everything else but scrapping.  That was fit in between all these other things.  But, I do love how it turned out, and thanks to PageMaps, who gave us a cool challenge, and helped me complete my page.  I usually use a sketch with each page - that is nothing different.  But this challenge asked us to use something creative in place of the flowery embellishments that were shown in the original sketch.  So, I did.  I used tags, a heart, and enamel gems.

The journaling says, "After 20+ years of having the same couch, we were finally able to replace it w/ a brand new one!  We looked all around until I finally saw it & knew it was THE one.  So comfy & soft!  July 2012".

Pizza & Palm Trees

Another layout, prompted by a Pagemaps sketch.  I was so glad to get this sketch because I needed a layout where my primary focus could be something other than the patterned paper.  But yet, I think the borders underneath the photos add to the page, rather than compete with the lovely embellishment, which is the palm tree!!  It was just so neat to be in Florida at Christmas-time, and see the lit-up palm trees in the marina next to our favorite pizza place.

Everything about you!

Well, yes, it has been a long time since I posted ANYTHING.  My goal, as always, is to change that & post a little more.  I wanted to post this layout I did for a sketch contest at my favorite place, Pagemaps.  This layout came together like pumpkin pie & cool-whip...easy!  I stayed fairly close to the sketch because it was perfect for my layout.

The journaling says "I like EVERYTHING about you - including your Puerto Rican Polvorones Cookies!  For Social Studies class, you had to find a recipe that represented your chosen country, which was Puerto Rico.  You got extra credit if you actually made the dish, and brought some in for the class to try.  You made these all on your own, and even decided which sprinkles to put on top.  They were pretty good to eat too! -6th grade"

Cutie Pie

Was so glad to get a chance to scrap again. No, it's not been as long as my blog shows, but got a free day to scrap a little. A week's vacation (a stay-cation) & I took a long afternoon to scrap. My inspiration was Becky's latest sketch contest on the Pagemaps blog. This picture was taken one day last Fall when we went for a drive & ended up in Madison, IN - one of our daughter's towns, as we like to say, as her name is Madison. As far as the layout, I finally got to play with my anywhere punch. It was a lot of fun to play with. I hope you like my layout!!

Really?!?!

I finally took a few moments for "me" today, and scrapped a page. I had this Pagemaps sketch that I thought was perfect for this page, and everything came together quickly. This picture was so funny because I didn't see the "Dead Chicken" on the sign until after I had taken the picture. What a laugh we got, and the meal was great too. It was a good afternoon that day!

Glory to God

Hello - I've been gone for too long. Now that it is summer, I am FINALLY getting caught up on some things. There is hope that my scraproom will be clean one day!!! Nahhhh, just kidding!!

Here is my latest layout for the PageMaps layout contest that ends tonight. I've had these pics for a long time, almost a year, and finally found some pretty patterned paper to go with them. I loved that I was able to "hide" the journaling because I didn't want to take from the pic or the pretty paper, but I did want to say something about the pics. All of these colors put together really make me happy!

The journaling says: "Madison sang with the King's Kids (our elementary-aged choir) at the Family Fun Fair & Grillin' for Gilda BBQ contest on Saturday, Oct. 16th, 2010, which gives cancer support for the whole family. Madison sang pretty & we ate LOTS of BBQ! Then, we perused the car show & enjoyed the beautiful weather. -10 years old"

Some journaling prompts for today:

Outside my window... I'm at work...I don't have a window. But if I did, it would be overcast and rainy, so I will just pretend it is warm & sunny outside.
I am thinking... about In A Nutshell.
I am thankful for... for a job that I like.
From the kitchen... tuna noodle casserole leftovers - gotta make deviled eggs tonight though.
I am wearing... my burgundy sweater, hopefully for the last time this winter!
I am creating.. nothing; again, I am at work.
I am going... to send my sister a quick email.
I am reading... the latest Country Living magazine.
I am hoping... that In A Nutshell will bring in money instead of helping me spend it.
I am hearing...Every Little Breath She Takes by The Police, on the radio.
Around the house... evidence of having gone through a choir weekend - so things need to get in their places, & laundry needs done.
One of my favorite things... Etsy.com!
A few plans for the rest of the week... All-staff luncheon tomorrow, haircut, lunch with a friend on Friday, getting out in the nice weather that is supposed to come!!

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!

Family layout

I like this layout...a lot...because it used a lot of scraps of one of my favorite paper lines - Basic Grey's Bittersweet line, and because it's not a typical fall layout with oranges & other fall colors. I, however, did scraplift this one from someone (I'm sorry...I don't have a link to it...) almost exactly as their's was - well almost - I changed it to fit my one picture. Also, the picture is like the one we used on our Christmas photo cards this year - we don't get many of the three of us together, so it was a treat to scrap it. Love using pinks & browns for a family layout!!

Here's the Rules:

For Christmas morn', that is!!
1.) Don't get up before 7:00 AM (for our house, that is reasonable...).
2.) Don't open any presents until we all get down to the tree.
3.) Don't whine!!
This is pretty much the guidelines set before we go to bed on Christmas Eve. Thought I should list them, as one day, there will be no need for guidelines.
Merry Christmas to all & to all a good night!