thank you card...ScrapFit Workout #80

 

Just a quick card I did for a friend & used the color combo challenge

at ScrapFit...some of my favorite colors!  Fall or otherwise...

 

 I am a little obsessed with these resist hearts from Pink Paislee right now!

And doilys, are ALL over my desk...I am not a doily person but they

seem to be the perfect backdrop and with some color, can go with whatever!

 

Here is the link to the ScrapFit Workout #80:

http://scrapfit.blogspot.com/2012/11/workout-80-fall-color-inspiration-blog.html

 

Thanks for stopping by...

 



thankful EVERY DAY...My Mind's Eye

 

I did this LO for the My Mind's Eye November Challenge "Gratitude".

http://mymindseye.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/november-challenge-gratitude.html

 

This is actually the Christmas collection "All is Bright" with some

Lost & Found 3 papers mixed in to pick up on the leaves.

I love the colors of the Christmas collection this year mostly

because it is so versatile!  This photo definitely has a fall look

but I think the papers still work well. 

 

 

This is a photo from the little photo shoot I did for our Christmas

cards...even though I may not use it for the card, this is one of

my favorite photos! In trying to get the kids to smile naturally

and be more candid, they started getting really silly...love it.

This picture embodies everything about Sofia & Sam's relationship

right now, well most of the time (unless the drama queen appears!)

Sam is looking up at his big sister and would follow her to the ends of the earth.

She has her arm around him and is trying to make him laugh.

While he adores her, she loves him in a nurturing way, and in a

"I'm in charge of you, bossy way".

 

 

The stamp is from Studio AE's last November set and is one of my favorites.

Nichol Magouirk had used it this this way...with the "heart" in red

and I don't think I have stamped it any other way...Love it like that!

 



Give THANKS...we are family

 

 

I know I am partial, but how freaking cute are these little people??

As the first grandchild Sofia grew up smiling at the paparazzi,

but Sam has become just as photogenic and charismatic.

Sometimes, I am mesmerized by the miracle of the two of them...

then someone comes to ask for a snack while I am trying to

go to the bathroom, and I am jerked back to reality. 

Seriously though, I am truly blessed and not nearly grateful enough.

 

I loved this Crate Paper paper that was included in the Scrapbook Circle

November Kit.  It reminded me of a really cool contemporary quilt with

angled lines and chevrons and muted colors...I also found it buried under

a pile...I think it was trying to hoard ITSELF!  Honestly...

 

I did think it would look pretty framed in my son's bathroom.

 

 

Anyway, as soon as I realized how ridiculous that was I set the stop

watch on my phone and whipped out this LO in about 20 minutes!

I just grabbed whatever was on my desk or within reach, some

scraps, some die cuts from other projects, some new stuff...

That is the kind of scrapping that makes me feel energized! 

To scrap more...or to sit back and have a glass of wine in celebration! ;)

 

 

Most everything is from that Scrap Circle kit...a couple extras that

were floating around on my desk and these fabulous resist heart

from Pink Paislee that I can't get enough of!



poinsetta card...Little Black Dress Kit November

The Challenge for the DT at Little Black Dress Kit Club
for November was to come up with any sort of gift wrapping,
holiday cards, etc.  That was a little challenging since
there was no specific holiday papers included.
It is refreshing to get away from the traditional colors
sometimes, and that challenge helped!
 

 

I thought this geometric print looked a little like flowers
and cut right, and stretching it maybe, poinsettias...?
Ok, stretching it a lot, but anyway, that is what I went with!
Gold stickles in the center of the flowers layered over vellum
helped jazz it up a bit...I used different heights of
foam adhesive to make them have more depth. 

 

 

hi. WHAT'S UP?...Little Black Dress Kit November

 

Just a quick card to keep on hand for a general occasion!

 

I love that typewrite paper from Studio Calico...and the sticker

from Glitz inspired me since I am pretty convinced that is what

my children hear when I speak...blah, blah, blah...

or more specifically, like any teacher or adult in Charlie Brown!

I used to think that was awesome, when I was a kid...now, not so much.

 

 



DreAm On!?

Pretty self explanatory page...I know Shawn wants a motorcycle.

Several of his friends have them, his father rebuilt his vintage Triumph,

and even I admit it is beautiful.   And he looks pretty hot on it.

But seriously, they are so dangerous...and it scares the poo poo out of me.

So, that is where I stand on the topic of motorcycles...

to quote Steven Tyler, "Dream On".

On a happier note, at least for me...

I did this LO in a  serious multitasking way!

It was using this weeks color scheme from Color-Me-Scrappy

and their technique this week was to use staples...perfect for a manly LO!

Here is the link to their blog post:

http://color-me-scrappy.blogspot.com/2012/11/challenge-17.html

I also used a sketch from a new blog I discovered My Scraps & More Sketches.

Lots of great inspiration and I used their current sketch #3 for this page.

Here is the link to their post:

 http://www.myscrapsandmoresketches.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-scraps-more-sketch-3.html



Sometimes it is nice to have a break from more serious scrapping and just have fun!

I love "shopping" thru my stash and putting together my own little kit

for a color challenge and then having a sketch to go along with it!

I know it is a good one when things come together easily

and quickly and it is really relaxing to me!  It is nice to remember that!

Hope everyone has a safe & Happy Thanksgiving!



YOU ARE now entering 40...

Here it is...dah, dah, dah, dah...daaaaa.
After doing however many pages about my 30's, now that is over.
I'm OK with it, I guess, not really, no I am...maybe 40 makes you indecisive...:)
I don't feel 40.  Not mentally.  Physically , I do feel...older.

It is what it is....can't stop time.
All I have to do is look at my 8 going on 13 year old to remind myself.

This was a photo taken by myself, I think, with my phone.
We had some close friends over for my birthday and it was lots of fun...
SO much fun, that I didn't do a very good job of documenting it.



I actually had this project laid out in my head for the Color Me Scrappy
Challenge that combines a set of colors with a word = enter.
Perfect for entering this new phase, decade, downhill slope, whatever you want to call it!

I ended up using, sort of, the Sunday Sketch that I was asked to use for
Studio Calico, just in case I didn't like my first LO for that project.

These are my kind of colors and what better way to use that drink stain stamp
of Kelly Purkey's, than on a page about a party...
Here is the link to the CMS blog post:
http://color-me-scrappy.blogspot.com/2012/11/challenge-16.html

LOViEw...Sunday Sketch Studio Calico

I was asked to do the Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico using a sketch
based on one of Marcy Penner's layouts...I was absolutely thrilled to be asked!
And aside from being a fantastic sketch, I love Marcy's style...
very clean, laid back, simple & intricate all at the same time.

I changed the sketch up quite a bit to fit my photos and to get a vertical
title.  I used a play on words for the title...Love View -
of Sam looking thru my book mark which he had just bent...ahem.

Anyway, sometimes I really love sketches where there aren't a whole
lot of restrictions. I kind of use it to clean up my desk and use all the teeny
bits and pieces of this or that, that I refuse to throw away.

I have bowls and bowls and little boxes full of the positive or negative pieces 

from various cuts I used with my Silhouette...lots of stars, hearts and leaves.

I had this sweet little vellum coin envelope from Jillibean Soup 

and decided to scoop up all those hearts and dump them in!

I used several other scraps and odd things like pieces of tags, a paint chip

for the green color I was trying to convince my husband to let me 

paint in the laundry room...a piece of muslin fabric I tested out some stitching on

and carious other tags pieces of paper I tucked here and there.

go climb a tree...Page Maps Sketch

I have so many new projects planned and new products to be used, that I 

desperately trying to work thru some piles!  I loved this paper by 

Studio Calico that is large brown overlapping scallops on one side

and a vibrant red wood grain on the opposite. The scallops reminded me 

of scales at first, but then a little like tree bark.  

I had this photo of Sofia that my Mother-in-law took one day when 

they went to the park and Sofia climbed up a tree...she is a little monkey like!

Anyway, it was after we had just been to the doctor for a bad scrape

that got worse and started to look infected to me.  Turned out it was Staph

infection and pretty bad.  It had to be drained with a needle out of her 

arm and then carefully watched to make sure it didn't need to be drained

again.  That was one of the worst doctor's appointments in my 8 years as a mother.

She was brave, but let's fast it, it was nasty, scary and a BIG 'ol needle.  Ugh.

She survived and I am sure there was some sort of ice cream of sweet treat

used as bribery for a brave face, not to mention not scaring the crap out of everyone

in the waiting room... :o  But after all that mess was over, Nonna came in to save

the day, took them to a park and Sofia was right back at it, climbing all over the 

place and right back up a tree...

I used the November Kit from Scrapbook Circle and a couple tags,
the Elle's Studio journaling tag and a couple stamps of my own.
I also used the sketch from the Ruby Rock-It sketch challenge on www.pagemaps.com
 which I turned upside down so my photo could be on the right.
Here is the link to their blog post:
http://www.pagemaps.blogspot.com/2012/11/ruby-rock-it-sketch-contest.html

life is a journey...Little Black Dress Kit November

So, other than a vintage photo, this has to be the picture in
my pile to be scrapbooked that has been there the longest.
I think I might have been nervous about documenting it until recently.
 Sort of when people don't want to share a birthday wish with
the superstition that is wont come true if you don't keep it secret.

But last month, my Mom, myself and my 5 year old son walked in the
Breast Cancer Awareness Walk together, and it made me decide that
I needed to get around to finally documenting this!

This photo was from my Mother's 60th surprise birthday party, 11 months
after being diagnosed with breast cancer, having surgery and undergoing
that life sucking thing doctor's call "treatment"...Isn't it odd how many people
are diagnosed with the cancer whose month it is of awareness??
Anyway, her hair had started to grow back in, baby soft, and I thought it
looked fantastic...short, cropped, very hip!  And was a very successful surprise!

This was using the Little Black Dress Kit Club November Kit and
although I do love the way the LO turned out, it is a bit more fussy than
my normal style...at least I think so.  But, considering how colorless and
tasteless life seems during chemo, I thought it only appropriate to incorporate
 as much color and "life" into this LO as possible.

That may be WAY too much of a psychological reach for something like this, 
but I once read something Jen Gallagher had written about scrapbooking
as a form of dealing with loss.  I guess in a way that is what this was for me...
I didn't lose my mother then, and thankfully, she is still cancer free, but I
think I lost some of my naivete and hope that life is all roses...
probably why it took me so long to build up the courage to commit to it...

I recently cut almost all my hair off, 10 inches to donate to Locks of Love...
I would like to do it again, but not sure how much demand there is for
 strawberry blond hair that is starting to turn grey :(

To learn more or to help fund a free mammogram to someone less
fortunate than ourselves, check out the site...
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

BINGO!...Little Black Dress Kit November

Since movie night is our Friday night tradition, I think Bingo is becoming
our Saturday night tradition...unless it is football season!

The kids love to play!  I love to play and that is mostly because
it is all chance and I don't have to break up any fights depending on who
the loser is.  The kids love it but I think more than playing, it is about
who is going to get to spin the ball and call the numbers.
That has to be agreed upon before we play or there will be anarchy.

This was using the November Kit from Little Black Dress Kit Club and
since it was filled with lots of products from the October Afternoon Midway
collection it was easy to get inspired!  I can't get enough woodgrain either.
Woodgrain and chevrons will stay in my heart long after they are done trending!

Part of the ephemera in this month's kit was a few little round chips,
one with numbers on it like it could be for Bingo.
I put lots of Glossy Accents on those chips to make them look like they were Bingo
chips and that way they matched the epoxy word stickers from Glitz as well...

KeeP My PLaCe...Little Black Dress Kit November

It is amazing to watch a 5 year old discover the independence of being able to read
a book to THEMselves!!  And all the things that go along with it, like not
wanting to stop reading when it is time to go to bed; like wanting to read the
same story over and over and over; like asking how to say a word about 5 million
times, and then asking what it means; like wanting to read every street sign, every
billboard, restaurant name and bumper sticker while driving down the road!

It is all good and I feel even more appreciative watching it the second time around,
realizing exactly what it means in terms of your growing independence.
And then it makes me a little sad and weepy because it makes me think of how fast
you are growing up.   Okay, enough of that.

This is one of the layouts from the November Little Black Dress Kit Club.
I love this TO DO: list that was included as part of the ephemera package
and since your Kindergarten teacher has said that all we should concentrate
on right now is you reading as much as possible and trying to cultivate that
love for reading, I thought it would be great to stamp it on every day!

COWBOY day...

One of my daughter's most memorable days from Kindergarten was 

"Cowboy, or Cowgirl" Dress Up day...Mostly because I 

gave her freckles with my eyeliner and she thought it was the coolest thing!

I have so many freckles and I hate them, it makes for very uneven skin tone,

especially after 40...so I was told recently by someone in the business of dermatology...

Thanks for that one!  

Anyway, didn't give Sam freckles but he wore a little pleather vest circa 1978,

that was part of an old Halloween costume of Shawn's, so cute, and the red

bandanna that my Dad always wore cutting the grass...but old and silly

but very meaningful, at least to us...Oh, and the crappy Styrofoam hat I bought from 

the Dollar Tree! :)  An eclectic, not as so much Urban Cowboy!

This was a layout inspired by the current ScrapFit Workout #79 which 

is to use washi tape in new and creative ways...I do love Challenges,

but some really do make me do things I wouldn't have thought about before, 

or would have thought about, just never done!  And I am pleased with the turnout 

and think it is a great technique to use again!  I would say that makes 

for a good workout!  Here is the link to their blog:

http://scrapfit.blogspot.com/2012/11/workout-79-tape-it-up.html

I laid out several different tapes on a diagonal on some plain cardstock

and then punched squares out of it...There are so many possibilities for this, 

making gift tags, photo mats.  It is like my own personally designed 

pattered paper, but better because it is so versatile, it can be removed if 

crooked and there is so much on a roll, I don't feel that hoarding sensation!

Speaking of hoarding, I had been saving this alpha sticker sheet from Crate Paper 

from the Farmhouse collection and I could NOT find a good place for that

font of alphas, not the big one anyway, so it finally found a home on Cowboy Day!

mummified...Little Black Dress Kit November

Obviously this is a Halloween page,  but this was Sam's costume last year.
I love Halloween and getting dressed up and going to our neighborhood party,
but until last year the kids didn't really want to dress up as anything
creepy...SO, the extent of Halloween make up was glitter or lip gloss
for my daughter...

I used the November Little Black Dress Kit, which is great because it has lots
of papers from the Midway collection from October Afternoon, lots of neat
graphic patterns in bright colors...a little challenging for what I had in
mind for this page.  But I think it all worked out!  I misted some cardstock
and cut it into strips as well as a few of the papers from the kit.
I layered those with some vellum strip as well, for that "mummy binding"
effect and used that as a backdrop for the photos.

I couldn't resist adding that "Hello Handsome" sticker at the bottom! :)

Now that I look at it, that is about how I look after not sleeping for a couple nights.
Especially without coffee, it might actually be scarier than that.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE & coloring...

One of my my favorite things to do as a kid was to color.

There was nothing as wonderful as a new tiered big box of crayons,

the kind with the sharpener in the back...and Crayola, of course.

I remember having this one little coloring book that was Raggedy Ann
& Andy and I had just gotten the new neon highlighter colors, which
were a big deal back then, WAY back then...at least to me!
I loved that book and I was so careful with each page, I didn't move onto one
page until the one I was working on was completely finished.
And I started at the very beginning and didn't skip pages.
How anal retentive is that???  I mean seriously...future architect at work!

The kids love to color with markers, and I understand after having to use crayons
and pencils at school, getting to write with pens and markers is exciting!
I am trying to teach them to love colored pencils...Which I think are the
best of both worlds.  We used to do so much rendering with Prismacolor pencils
in school that I just think they are the best.  I am trying to teach them
about shading and blending and creating depth...well, I am teaching Sofia
that.  Sam I am just trying to get him to slow down and take his time.

I don't care if they skip pages or don't finish what they started,
even though inside it bugs the crap out of me!!  The Virgo me...
The artistic me is just thrilled that they love art too!
That we could actually all sit down and just color, no t.v., just
hang out on Saturday night and color.  

This is all the new stuff from the Scrapbook Circle November Kit "Harvest Moon"
and it is filled with warm, earthy colors and wood grains...my favorites!
This was for their "Wood grain" Challenge #41, which you can check out here:
http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2012/11/challenge-41-wood-grain


I have to start crediting Shawn for taking a lot of photos that I use to
scrap with...obviously I couldn't take this one since i was in it, and
I didn't know he had taken it until he emailed it to me later.

NEW FRIEND...Little Black Dress Kit November

There are so many new things to be excited about going to Kindergarten...
Especially for the second child who wants to do everything his big sister does.
He couldn't wait to have to "do homework", have a bigger backpack,
go to the cafeteria and a new playground.

Sam had made so many friends after two years at the same
pre-school that I was actually a little worried that he might miss them.
I am sure he does, and some did move on to our school too.
But he didn't skip a beat.
He isn't near the extroverted social butterfly that his sister is and
sometimes I wonder if he really is, he just couldn't ever get
a chance to show it, since she was always talking.

He has been showing his social skills off now and I am really proud of him.
Making lots of new friends in his class and in after school activities!
Even apparently with some 4th grade girls on the playground...What??

This is one of his new friends that sits at his table.
They sit together at lunch and Sam talks about him all the time.
Not only is he making new friends, he is growing up WAY too fast...
Seriously, it is November all ready???

This is one of the layouts I did using the November Kit from Little Black Dress Kit Club.
The kits just get better and better and seem to be growing in size too!
There is an awesome hexagon mask from Studio Calico included in this one,
lots of new October Afternoon Midway collection and great alphas!
I used the mask to make my own "patterned paper" with a really light mist from October Afternoon.

the agony of Defeat

I will pay for doing this layout.  My husband will most definitely

be up for kicking my bootay in cards next time we play!

But, it needed to be done...heh ;)

We played Gin Rummy before, but on our honeymoon, 

we played ALL the time (cards, that is)...

And I am not a competitive person...

I am a very competitive person, I can admit it...

Shawn has a very good sense of humor about it, thank goodness.

I had been on a pretty good winning streak, until recently...

Maybe it was all the smack talking that is coming back to teach me about karma.

Either way, I haven't been winning as much lately. 

This was a beautiful weekend in May, our 11th anniversary, when

we ditched our kiddos and had a staycation!  Sitting outside playing

cards and drinking wine...so nice and relaxing!  

 ( Could use another of those right about now, actually. )

This layout was done for the Color-Me-Scrappy Challenge #15:

http://color-me-scrappy.blogspot.com/2012/11/challenge-15.html

The colors were awesome but they have also changed up their challenges

a bit to include another key to the challenge as well as just the colors, 

it could be a sketch, like this was, or a specific technique, etc.

It is a great new concept, and the colors were perfect for using my 

Scrapbook Circle October Kit, since my November Kit arrived yesterday 

and I am itching to get busy with it!  So much to do...so little time.

But now, off to vote!