this & that

Well, I have actually gotten a little tired of scrapping the most 

recent photos of the kids and our daily life.  I love the idea

of Project Life and I think it would probably be the most rewarding

album to look thru later on, as a real document of what we REALLY

did every day.  But, when I started scrapbooking it was because 

I loved looking back at older memories, some I had journaled 

about at the time in a diary or baby book.  

I used to tell me husband that I loved to scrapbook because

 it was usually of happy events or moments that I felt were 

worthy of my time...which is becoming invaluable every day - 

AND that in scrapbooking those happy moments I remembered why

my children were such a gift and it was essentially therapy for the 

terrible two's & three's and too soon to be tweens....ugh.

So, I have been looking back through this enormous Cropper Hopper 

photo file box that could hold thousands of photos...

I had arranged them carefully into categories and then into more

specific categories depending on scrapbooking necessity & importance.

Well, until recently, that ginormous box has been gathering dust.

In moving my scraproom, I have discovered lots of old/new toys! :)

Kind of like my children, when I hide a toy they have been fighting over and a 

few months later when I break it out, it is super exciting!

This was an old photo from December 2007, right before Sam turned 1.

I did this LO for the Scrapbook Circle Challenge #37, which is a Gallery Lift challenge,

found here:  http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2012/08/challenge-37-gallery-lift

I based it on the sketch that Allison Waken lifted from another SC subscriber...

Three time lift!  Kinda neat...She used that lovely white painted wood plank paper, found here:  http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2012/08/lifting-you-patricia/allisonwakenhappyboys1-3   

I also used the same Crate Paper paper for some arrow/triangular shapes like she did.  

I had been hoarding this wood plank paper & really didn't want to 

use it, so this got me out of that hoarding mindset...bad Jenni, bad. ;)

sweet tooth...My Mind's Eye

 

Sofia had to have two of her bottom teeth extracted the Thursday

afternoon before school started, the next morning she got braces.

It was a whole lot of activity for an 8 year old within a span

of less than 18 hours.  So, knowing that we were in for possibly

a few days of liquid diets and sore teeth and attitudes, I gave

her a peace offering in the form of her "last supper", or lunch as it was.

She wanted to go to IHop...goodness, with the IHop.

You would think it was the most renowned restaurant in the country.

 

Their new specialized pancakes took up their own special menu,

which featured this crazy red velvet pancake...personally I am not

sure it should be allowed and if she wasn't a child her cholesterol and

carb levels would be thru the roof...however, you only get one first trip to IHop.

 

 

I had to take a before photo to email to Shawn so he could see the ridiculousness

which I had subjected myself to...then I had to get an after photo because she

wanted to keep eating but I really thought she might be sick.

Ironically, I made the kids walk around Hobby Lobby afterwards so I

could get adhesive and I honestly didn't think they would make it.

I thought with all the sugar, they would be bouncing off the wall but

Sam could hardly keep his eyes open on the way home.

 



 

I did this LO with the MME August Challenge #2 in mind that linked here:

http://mymindseye.typepad.com/blog/2012/08/august-challenge-2.html

It is to use Holiday papers of some sort to scrap a non-holiday page.

I had just been delivered the new "All is Bright" collection which is fantastic!

And the reds in it are a perfect red velvet color!

 

ray of light...Sunday Sketch

          I have been avoiding doing any scrapbook pages of Sofia's

         First Communion so far.  I have so many great pictures and

it was a very well documented event that I may need to do a mini book. 

But, after getting the HeyDay Collection and papers, especially this rose

paper I had to do one.  Studio Calico's Sunday Sketch was perfect

for it too since it was based on a square grid and this was one of the

Hipstamatic photos that Shawn had taken with his phone.

Here is the link to their post:

 http://studiocalico.typepad.com/studio_calico/sunday-sketch/

 

I didn't stray too far from Maggie's sketch and made a serious effort NOT

to over-layer, which is really hard for me these days...

I watered down some mists and painted the butterflies with a brush.

 

 

I am loving this gold embossing Zing! powder.

 









HELLO ROUTINE.

          School started back today...thank goodness! And kinda sad too.

         Sam's first day of Kindergarten was today and now all our babies have

left the nest...or at least the nest from 7:50am-3pm...

It would/should seem a little sad, but Sam was SO excited and

wants to do everything his sister does, so he wasn't apprehensive

or clingy or whiney at all...I hope that means we did something right.

That, or he just wants to be closer to his sister...which would be okay too.

Anyway, the past few days have been a process of getting

everyone back into the routine, or idea of it, going to bed early,

so we can get up early...preparing an 8 year old for homework...again.

Last year, Shawn did more documenting of our everyday activities

BEFORE we started school...this year, I think we were lucky to get

a photo of them with their backpacks on and ready to go, much less

with their teachers or at their locker.  Shawn asked Sofia if she

was embarrassed that we walked her in and kissed her goodbye in

front of her friends...?  I think next year could be the "too cool for school"

attitude...or too cool for school with my parents 'tude.

gosh you're awesome!

My mom is really trying to get Sam to be a golfer and he
seems pretty keen himself.  I thought our golf clubs looked so
cool in my car all stacked up and how cute is a 5 year old in a visor??

I really love stars...can you tell??
I have had this giant burlap star hanging on my board for months...
I couldn't figure out what do do with it until I looked thru all
Jillibean Soup collections and realized that there are a million
stars in the "Game Day Chili" Collection.
Jillibean has the greatest die cuts too...I love all the little date tags,
journaling spots and yep, more stars!

I am pretty much a sucker for stars and polka dots...

They are probably the graphics I gravitate to the most. 

In fact, I found lots of paper with stars that I had apparently

been hoarding for whatever reason. 

I didn't use it here, so I must not be able to let it go yet. 



HELLO my name is...sugar

Sam and I had lunch with the neighbors at the park last Fall

and Marianna bought these fabulously huge, full of icing and sugar

cookies for the kids.  Their little hands were barely big enough to

hold and Sam complained about them being really hard to eat...

He managed though.  Talk about a sugar rush!

I had to include the speech bubbles because that is totally

what I could here them saying to each other! :)

I used the Scrapbook Circle August Kit "True Stories" for this

layout and also used their August sketch found here:

http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2012/08/august-sketch-challenge

I tried to make it more grungy and distressed since I was using that

great woodgrain paper and that little denim patch.  I also left a lot

of my threads hanging out on the front to make it look more distressed.

That is really hard for me to do, seems silly, but I am more of a tie everything

down neatly and keep everything clean and glued down. 

I misted the leaves I die cut to try to match the green of the park benches.



beginning.

Ok, so I really can't get enough butterflies.

I had these great photos of the kids with 3 caterpillars

they found outside.  One photo had two of them crawling up

Sam's arm...they were giggling because it tickled and it was

cute but a little creepy, literally.  They loved it and I

love that they aren't afraid to get down and dirty outside.

I was the same way as a kid and I might not be

willing to carry insects around anymore, but it is nevertheless

fascinating and part of being a kid.

This was a Sketch Challenge for Jillibean Soup, which of course,

has the perfect collections for butterflies.  Even though the kids

let the caterpillars go back to Mother Nature, I thought it

would be cute to have a "jar" full of butterflies on my LO.

I think I have gotten my monies worth out of those Martha Stewart punches!

Here is the link to their Challenge Post:

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/layouts-and-a-project-on-thursday-sketch-contest.html