HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS...Scrapbook Circle

Well, here it is...first LO from our Disney trip.

I will probably end up with an entire album of Disney or

maybe 4 mini albums making up the 4 places we went,

but, I couldn't resist doing just one from one of the kids 

most memorable parts of the trip...getting their faces 

painted.  Funny how some of the things we thought would be 

trivial or not near as special as the rest of it, considering where we

were and all.  I didn't think they would enjoy Hollywood Studios

as much as they did, and the face painting was a big part of it!

This was for the Scrapbook Circle Challenge #39, which was a color palette 

challenge.   Here is the link to their post:

http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2012/10/challenge-40-news-flash-color-palette

I know these aren't the colors that are normally associated with Disney and I
probably will use something different for that album.  However, these are some of my favorite
color and the October Kit is full of them and so many other wonderful products.
Even though their faces were painted such vibrant colors, I wanted to make the
picture black and white to focus on the smiling faces, and not compete with
the color palette.  I also that thought all the gold in this month's kit was perfect
for anything about Hollywood!

MakiNg SpoOKy...

I love Fall!

Fall in our house means lots of school activities, football Saturdays,

lot and lots of leaves to rake, and a super Halloween!

I love to change things up, move artwork or shift furniture,

mix things up a bit to see how things feel or work in different light,

in different ways or sometimes, just to keep my husband on his toes! ;)

And I love decorating for Halloween...My bins of decorations get bigger

and bigger every year, mostly after things go on sale!  Even though

that means waiting another year to take them out...

I enjoy using the same decorations year after year, but 

changing them around a bit, or putting them in a different place.

Now, that the kids are older and really into more scary things, 

they are all about "making it spooky"!  

Just about all of this came from the Scrapbook Circle October Kit, which

could be my new favorite...I thought the triangles were perfect for carving

out pumpkin eyes and all the tags and colors are great.  A Halloween 

page without too much orange and a great challenge!  I am liking the copper,

gold & ochre for Halloween colors this year, with some charcoal grey!

Sam went to a birthday party where they picked little pumpkins and

decorated them with those styrofoam stickers...Shawn change its

eyes at some point to take this picture like it was looking up at him.

I thought it was hilarious and begging for a word bubble!

eight days a week...Little Black Dress Kit October

This was taken on the first day of school, a Kindergartner
and a 3rd grader...Still don't know when that happened...?*#!

Anyway, Shawn has this brilliant idea that he wants to make a
"Music History Dictionary" for the kids, that will be comprised of
photos, historical background of the artist and obviously songs
from that artist that we think are important, somehow attached to an MP3??
Kind of like a little mini Pandora lesson!

And The Beatles would be a prominent artist in this project and so we
have been listening to a lot of Beatles lately.  Lots of my layouts seem
to be inspired by song titles too...It started with the LBD Challenge from July!

Soooo, this month's kit includes these wonderful journaling 

cards from Ormolu that had the days of the week and the extra "today" card.

I knew if I didn't use them soon, I would end up hoarding them. 

I love Ormolu's designs.  Eight cards, seven days of the week and one extra for today.

That was the inspiration, as well as the Pink Paislee paper with the postage

marks on it. I die cut a little envelope with my Silhouette and used my 

postage stamp punch a lot on the cards to make them burst out of the envelope! 

COLOR outside THE LINES

I wasn't sure it would happen.
The love for drawing and coloring that Sofia shares so passionately with Shawn and I.
Maybe it took longer than it took for her to love art.
Maybe it just seems that way because you still seem like my baby
and  I'm not ready to admit you are growing up so fast.

At any rate, you are drawing, coloring and painting up a storm.
I can admit that I am pretty anal retentive about a lot...okay, about lots and lots.
But, not art.  That is where I encourage the kids to paint the sky yellow
and the trees purple if that is what they want to see...
It is where I want them to color outside the lines, not to feel confined
by a definition.  I know that practicing and a lot of coloring technique
they do at this age is to help with dexterity, motor skills, and coordination...
( Not that you are going to inherit any of those traits from me! )
It is just that I also think this is the time to be free with your
interpretation and artistic license...before it gets spoiled with reality.
That might reek of cynicism, but there it is!

Most of this was from the September Scrapbook Circle Kit.  A few bits from

past kits and several Elle's Studio tags.  I loved this patterned paper by Glitz,

 but didn't want it to be too flowery since I was trying to make it a little more masculine.  

I used the vellum overlay to mask a little of the floral-ly bits.  

**REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION** the call of the WILD

YOU SHOULD KNOW...Little Black Dress Kit October ** REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION **

paint your dreams...Little Black Dress Kit October

I LOVE all of My Mind's Eye collections, especially The Sweetest Thing!

And even though I am a fan of the hexagon trend, 

I really like it much better associated with bees and honeycomb!

Just looks better to me!  

Sofia and Sam got on a sidewalk chalk kick, 

(that is what happens when you put the same old chalk into a new container...

it becomes exciting again!) and started doing self-portraits...

Shawn had the brilliant idea of getting them to lay down and take their

 photo next to them.  I love that Sam drew his self-portrait including the 

football on his shirt and as always, gave himself a "flat top".  

I don't know why he does that, but all his men have flat hair...??

It was late afternoon and the light was really nice. 

Shawn likes to point out that his iPhone photos are always

better than mine, and I hate to admit it, but he might be right! 

This was all from the Little Black Dress Kit from October, 

except for some watercolor paper behind the title, the navy cardstock 

& the washi behind the title was from the LBD September kit.  

pile it on...Little Black Dress Kit October

Not quite leave raking time here...yet, but it will be here before I know it!
Fall has totally gotten away from me!  I love this time of year,
but it seemed like we were just going to the pool...a sign of age, I think.

Anyway, I used the LBD Kit for October for just about everything in this

LO, except for the shipping tags.  The color in all the Cosmo Cricket products

included were perfect for Fall and for these photos of Sofia in that

red tracksuit!  I used a grungy stamp in a couple different colors for the

shipping tags to look a little like leaf/rake lines...or that was the thinking!

World Card Making Day!! Little Black Dress Kit October

The October Kit from Little Black Dress Kit Club is very versatile.

Both of these cards were made from the kit and they comprise 

completely different color schemes...as you can see.

Usually when I look back at projects from one Kit, they are 

around the same color wave, tint or theme...

This particular Kit all works together, but DOES have 

products that can be used for completely different color schemes

and themes...(ha, that rhymes)! 

The other DT Member's projects & cards are the perfect example!

There are Christmas, Halloween, Fall and some "everyday" projects....

one of the great things about their Kits!  

I love the versatility...the unusual ephemera that inspires thinking 

outside of the box, even if you are like me, and kinda like it inside the box! :)

Check it out!!  http://littleblackdresskitclub.com/

IRISH HEARTBEAT

Isn't is amazing how much we rely on the digital revolution now?

In one way it is great, but there is a part of me that misses the whole 

ritual of taking photographs (not being able to review them immediately)

and then take the actual FILM to be developed...sifting thru the stack for the 

first time, remembering each moment.  I love having a digital camera, or even

more so, the convenience and versatility of instagrams and the iPhone...

but there is something lost.  

Kind of the same as reading a book made with actual PAPER. 

I love the convenience of a Kindle, the green factor, 

and the practicality of late night reading with someone who goes to bed at 

9:30pm and falls asleep in 2.5 seconds.  Well, Kindle for the iPad...

But, I love being able the bed back the spine and really get into a paperback,

to mark my pages by folding the corner down, even thought I get onto 

my kids for doing the same thing...but lets face it, I'm reading trash and they 

have school library books!

Anyway, all of this has to do with the fact that these photos were taken

12 years ago and I had to scan them in, hence the darkness, haven't 

quite figured out Photoshop yet....I have on my ever growing wish/to do list 

to actually sift thru all my important photos and either scan them in, have a

digital copy made or transfer them to CD for safe storage.

I did use these photos for the Studio Calico Sunday Sketch from 

09/30 and rotated the sketch 90 degrees counter clockwise to fit my

photos and own sketch...here is their link:

http://studiocalico.typepad.com/studio_calico/2012/09/sunday-sketch-3.html

The photos are from Downhill Castle, now in ruins, that sits right on

the coast of Northern Ireland.  It is about a mile walk from my 

Grandmother's house, and a favorite place for my brother and I

to come play and pretend a whole fantasy world of our own making...

The weather that Fall when we were there was absolutely amazing...

I have never been there for so much sun and beautiful days as I was

during that visit.  Shawn thought that it was an Irish/British conspiracy to

promote the country for having bad weather to discourage tourists!!

It was pretty funny...he didn't believe that it was very unusual.

The title is from a Van Morrison song called "Irish Heartbeat"

that I love and makes me think of all the people there, blood or not,

they treat you like family.  It is a feeling in the air of welcoming and

genuine love of life; it is palpable and one of the things that I believe

that tourists & visitors take away from their stay, even though they 

may not be able to place what it is exactly...

when you see the LIGHT

At 3 years old Sam didn't quite get the photo booth concept.

Aside from the fact that I refused to pay $5 for 4 pics, 

I guess he never had a chance to practice!  But Daddy spoils them.

When my Mom and I went to Memphis for our birthdays, Shawn took 

the kids to the Zoo and happily forked out the five bucks for these photos.

They are cute, but he couldn't get Sam to look at the right place until

it was too late.  Needless to say, we haven't had any more practice,

 but I am sure he would get it now!  

I did this layout for the Scrapbook Circle Challenge #38:

http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2012/09/challenge-38-speech-bubbles

They had a great kit that included lots of speech bubble accents,

so it was easy to come up with a plan...

Unfortunately, since I wasn't actually present, I don't know what was said.  

But, I am it was silly, goofy and included "when you see the light, SMILE"!