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!

{ dream...THINK BIG } **REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION**

I ADORE her so...

Shawn said that I challenged myself to cram as many stickers, tags, and "bits"

onto one LO as possible...And more importantly, he deemed me it a success!

I'm not sure if he meant that in a complimentary way, but whatever...

I have a tendency to layer until I pick up a piece of something and literally

cannot find a place for it, so this isn't too much of a departure for me.

And I love all of the stickers in the American Crafts Dear Lizzy book so much

I didn't want them to fall to the bottom of a drawer and become dusty and sad.

Everything is from the Scrapbook Circle Kit for October, 

except for a couple little bits...

Anything with teal, gold & chevrons is on my love list right now!

So, about the photo, Sofia LOVES animals, and she loves Lola like

no one else in our family.  And Lola will follow Sofia, mind her and let 

her basically "hug" her like she won't let anyone else do.

This is one of those huggy times...ever though it is hard to even see 

the features in Lola's face, she is so black.  

Which is the reason for the black background.  And white splatters

since Lola is actually getting some gray in her "beard", 

she must be going gray early for a teenager!