Thursday, June 30, 2011

I Don't Want...

My Picture Taken. That's the title of this layout based on this sketch posted at the Scrapshotz blog for the Summer Sketch Challenge. It's a gorgeous sketch by Valerie Salmon and here is my interpretation:

Those circles were so much fun to use. I used a some Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye, Cosmo Cricket and Sassafrass. I die cut the flowers with the Tim Holtz Tattered flowers Sizzix die and the large butterfly is die cut & embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and die. I hand stitched under the Jenni Bowlin and Sassafrass alphas and the smaller butterflies are Jenni Bowlin as well.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sketchy Thursday 06.23

The sketch made this layout come together super quick once I finally figured out what photos to use. I wanted to add few more details but I've run out of time. I'm happy with the final result.


I used patterned papers from Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and Lily Bee. The bling are iRock glam rocks and alphas are My Mind's Eye and Glitz.

Below is the link to the sketch itself.
06.23 Sketch

Thanks for looking!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

LITTLE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!

I as so proud of Jack and his Little League team. They won the District 3 Majors Little League Championship. Great job Jack. It was a fun season and the team went 18-1 including playoffs. Here are some photos I took of Jack during the warm up:


He played first base which he's played a lot this season. He got 3 walks in the game and scored twice. I believe the final score was 13-1. Here's a photo of Jack receiving his medal:

WAY TO GO JACK!!!!!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Looking Forward To

a great weekend!!! It's been so much fun having the boys home early as they have had 1/2 days due to exams the last 3 days. I took the boys to Marketmall today and made a quick stop at the bank first to withdraw cash to pay them for all the babysitting they've done in the last 2 months. I paid each of them $300, Blake has acutally earned $350, I gave a $50 iTunes card as payment for babysitting. Blake wanted to upgrade his iPod Touch so we went to the Apple store and he bought himself a 32G iPod touch for $334.95!! It felt good to me to not have to foot the bill! Blake really understood how much money it was when he counted it out to pay. That little item is really cool, I have to control myself to not buy myself one too!
Jack is the frugal one. He deposited $75.00 in his bank account and spent $40.00 on a Star Wars Lego set. He is saving the rest of his money for a rainy day. Now Peyton is super excited because Blake told her he might "sell" her his old iPod touch so we'll see what transpires!
We are enjoying a quiet evening at home tonight. Ray has to be at work by 10am tomorrow and Jack is playing in the D3 Little League Championship game tomorrow at 1pm. Go Royals Go!!!!!!!!!!! The rest of us are looking forward to cheering Jack on!!! Will have results and some photos to post tomorrow!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

SCHOOL ROCKS

The kids have been enjoying the last few days of school here, mostly because it's almost over! These last few days are full of fun for Jack and Peyton and tests for Blake.
Blake had a fabulous school year winning the award for having the the highest mark in Grade 7 math.
We're so proud of him!
Keeping with the school theme, here's a mini-album I made using those many extra pictures from school photo packages, a Heidi Swapp mirror album and transparencies and the Simple Stories Elementary line.
I added some bulldog clipps from Fancy Pants to keep the transparencies in place where needed :)



It was fun looking back at these photos of the kids. Those preschool pics are just so sweet! Here's to another school year down and a couple of months of summer fun!







Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sketchy Thursday 06.16

****EDITED**** SORRY COPIED THE WRONG LINK IF YOU WANT TO VIEW 07.07.11 LAYOUT CLICK HERE (07.07.LAYOUT)

I have been wanting to participate in Sketchy Thursday for quite awhile but haven't been able to get the layout done by the deadline. I so loved this past Thursday's sketch I made it my mission to get it completed, here is the sketch:
and here is the layout I came up with:


I used Bazzill kraft cardstock and patterned paper and sticker for the Simple Stories Elementary line. I misted the red circle with Maya Road Maya Mists. It took me two tries to get it right, I flipped the cardstock over to redo the misted ring after I majorly messed it up the first time ;) .
I hand stitched with Stampin'Up linen thread and finished off with the black brads from my stash.

This sketch worked great to document my daughter's school project. So glad with how this turned out!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Echo Park Fun

I've been dialed into my Echo Park stash lately as I'm signed up for a Thank You card swap at Creative Escape in August. As Echo Park is sponsoring the swap room I have to use EP papers so it's a great reason to used my EP stash. I will post photos of those cards after I've sent them in.

This layout uses a bunch of Echo Park goodness, the "Walk in the Park" collections, "The Twinery" twine and of course Bazzill cardstock. The design is based on a Sketchy Thursday sketch that I wasn't able to finish in time to post on that site. Here was the sketch from Sketchy Thursday:


and here is my layout based on this sketch using Echo Park papers:


I handstitched around the layout to frame it and made the holes with the Sew Easy tool. This was a great sketch to work with as well! :)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Handmade with Love...

My mom was very excited to handmake a purse for Peyton for her ninth birthday last year. As she is in her mid-70's with arthritis, I really appreciate her efforts in doing this. I remember her doing lots of crochet and knitting when I was a child. She even knit outfits for my sister and I and also sewed us outfits as well. Unfortunately her health prevents her from doing this much anymore. Now that I think about it, this is more than likely where I got my crafty streak from. My kids won't have handmade clothes from me but they do have the scrapbooks I've willingly spent much time, effort and poured love into for them to enjoy and share with their children and hopefully future generations long after I'm gone. :)

Here's the layout I made to document grandma's lovely gift for my dear daughter.

I used some bits and pieces from various kits. Some Scenic Route, October Afternoon, American Crafts, Glitz Designs, Bazzill cardstock and Coredinations cardstock as well. I hand stitched a border on the heart in "love" and misted the chipboard shapes with Glimmer Mist along with misting the white cardstock as well.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Team Mates

This weekend marked the beginning of Little League playoffs for Blake. Unfortunately his team was not sharp tonight and was beaten quite handily by the number one team in the league. Good thing he's got two more games so they're not completely out of it. Blake played well, coming in to pitch and striking out a couple of batters as well. While he played ball, Jack stayed home and babysat the other kids. Blake will babysit tomorrow when we go to Jack's game, his last regular season game.
Keeping with the baseball theme, here's a layout about the boys being team mates last season.

I used the Sports Edition line by Tereas Collins, Thickers and a Jenni Bowlin bingo card. Can you tell the guy on the right was fighting with his brother just before I took the photo? They wouldn't stand next to each other so we went with individual shots of them both.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Bike Ride

We had a fabulous time enjoying this beautiful July day outside. Jack was tickled pink to take Cole on a bike ride.
I glimmer misted the kraft cardstock and then added layers of WRMK patterned paper and a bit of Studio Calico paper as well. I put my Fiskars cloud punch to use and finished off with Thickers and Jenni Bowlin alphas, Jenni Bowlin butterflies and Sassafrass blossoms.

Monday, June 6, 2011

LOOK...

I love these photos of DS#3 dragging his foot on the ground on his tricycle. He couldn't help putting his foot on the ground once he realized he could readh it. It reminded me how my brother wore out a pair of shoes one summer when he was probably 13 or 14 dragging his feet on the ground to stop his bike rather than used the brakes. This was back in the days before bikes with handbrakes so you pushed your pedals backwards to stop your bike.
I used some bits and pieces I have left from a Studio Calico kit and obviously lots of glimmer mist. I've doodled along the top with a fine tip Sharpie. I've also distressed the edges of the Bazzil kraft cardstock. The frame highlighting his foot dragging was cut with my Cricut and I finished off the title with Jenni Bowlin and Kaisercraft small alphas.
Looking forward to what this coming summer brings to us :) !!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Adventure: England

When I bought this 7Gypsies "Lilie" paper I immediately thought about my niece moving to England and how this paper would be perfect to document that. These photos of the amazing cake made for her by her coworkers as a going away gift were a perfect match to this paper. The papers are from 8x8 paper pad and I've also used tape from the same line. Blossom ribbon was from a Studio Calico kit. I've also added a few MME rhinestones.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

LAYOUT TAG: May Edition

It was another round of layout tag at Scrapshotz last week. I love playing this. The first person kicks it off with a layout chosen from the gallery and creates a layout inspired by it. You then "tag" the next person with your layout and they draw inspiration from that layout to create their own and so on down the list players until completion.
The full reveal hasn't gone up yet but here was my contribution to the game:

I gave my poor little sewing machine some love pulling it out for this layout. I used Fancy Pants papers from the December 2009 Scrapshotz kit. I love how it turned out!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

RAIN OUT

Well a thunderstorm rolled through right at game time so Jack's baseball game was cancelled. That means an early arrival back at home which gives me some time to post here and Jack some time to work on his homework. 


I've been playing on with a card challenge at Scrapshotz the last while. This past weeks challenge was to create a card from this sketch . I stuck with the sketch and created these two cards:



This is the inside of the card on the left:

I used up some scraps from a Studio Calico kit, the alphas are all from my stash. What I like best about these is that they have a masculine feel without feeling "little kid". Totally appropriate for teenagers! Now that my oldest is a teen I can't make cutesy birthday cards for his friends anymore.


In another Scrapshotz card challenge to use woodgrain, I made these cards:
Again, papers from a Studio Calico kit, alphas as well. I'm thrilled with how these turned out and now I am ready for Father's Day!


It is beautiful outside right now and it smells so fresh after the thunderstorm, two out of four kids are in bed with the other two to follow shortly. I love my life right now :)

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps March Release Hop & Shop!

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