Cherish {Crate Paper}

I really liked this sketch from Sketchy Thursday:

and knew immediately what photos I wanted to use when I saw the challenge was to scrap a page that reflected gratitude/thankfulness. 

Last weekend we had my niece over for a sleepover - first time in over 2 years! My girls love their cousin and I am thankful that they are close. I was not close to any of my cousins growing up since we lived so far away...but I have always wanted for my girls to know their cousins - especially this one since she is so close in age :) This is my take on the sketch:

{please click on the images for better viewing ;-) Not sure why the first one looks so blurry... }

And a closeup:

 My youngest initiated the hugging on her own - SO SWEET!

I am linking this post up to this challenge at The Paper Variety for showing "thanks" :) Thanks for stopping by today :)

August Project 12 {Echo Park: Life Is Good}

I'm entering this layout into this week's challenge over at The Paper Variety to use stickers. The flourish and flowers are all stickers. The blue flower & brown circle w/pink flower are stickers that I took the sticky out of before adding dimensional stickers to the back. I also used stickers for the date and title. 

I actually finished this layout a while back but haven't felt motivated to post it. August was a hard month here. I had spent the summer preparing to go on a 10 day vacation to Oregon and Washington to visit family and also get to meet an online friend. I worked so hard to be prepared for the trip and then the school year starting right as we returned. Two days before we were to leave, and the day after we told my daughter about the trip, we lost a very important family member. I am still glad that I prepared so much in advance for the school year so that I wasn't thinking about that while also dealing with the trauma of loosing a loved one.  So August wasn't what I thought it would be and that alone made it difficult to scrap. I didn't want the focus to only be on what we lost, but I also couldn't scrap just the happy, beginning of school times.

I realized toward the end of the month that it was a month of beginnings and endings so I went with that for a "title".

 With the obvious ending of a life, we also ended karate lessons for my oldest daughter. In just one more month, she would have been in it for 2 years. In turn, she was able to start a new gymnastics class, which she LOVES. She also started Kindergarten and we had a special dinner the night before to celebrate (idea for that stolen from here, but not quite as fancy!). We celebrated one birthday in this house and at least 2 birthdays for friends...ending one year and starting another.

I originally thought I would use a different sketch...because how could I fit everything in with just 3 pictures? But then I decided that the most important part was documenting the girls at this moment in time, and not every picture from every event. If an event is important enough to me anyway, it deserves its own layout.

I really did want this layout to focus on how much this month has changed our family and the heavy emotions that we have felt all month long. This is partly why I chose to print the pictures in black and white - to create more of an emotional, somber feel. However, in my journaling, I tried not to focus on the loss so much as get in all of the day to day details that aren't documented in the photos.

So sorry to have rambled on and on so much in this post ;-) and thanks so much for looking (and reading if you made it this far!).

First Year Album

This project started nearly 6 years ago with me buying a baby book and matching 12x12 scrapbook during my pregnancy with my oldest. I also attended a Creative Memories party where I bought the calendar pages and decided that I wanted to use those to record milestones on one page, with the other page being a collage of pictures. I believe I completed one layout in a timely fashion and then the rest were completed over the last 3 years. Not my original plan, but hey, it's done! Yay!!!!!!!!

The front page:

 Each month has it's own double page layout but I included the tail end of December with January since she was born at the very end of December.

 I created a hidden pocket for her very first daycare artwork!

 Some pages have flip books included - this one has a few extra pictures under the picture of clothes.

 Each of the pictures on the right has pictures underneath...

 There are some naked bath pictures under the June title spot-

 The tag pulls out on this one.

 This one is full of extra pictures too :)

 Can you tell I was embellishing less trying to just hurry up and get done? lol

 I was running out of milestones and notes...I tried to be good and write them down back then but as I got into December, I didn't write much down. Possibly I was too busy with a baby, work and the holidays? ;)

 This is the last page and is based on a PageMaps sketch.

Thanks for stopping by and suffering through these itty bitty pictures full of itty bitty writing ;) I'm just so glad to have this album completed!

Balls a.k.a. Pumpkins {Bo Bunny: Kitchen Spice}

I came across Birds of a Feather Kit Co last week when they were in the middle of their grand opening online crop. I've been following Amy's blog for a while now but had missed that she was starting up this company :-\ Luckily, Suzanne wanted to win some goodies and referred me over to the site :)I completed 2 challenges...this first one obviously a sketch challenge! I used pictures of my little one at the pumpkin patch. The circle immediately make me think of these pictures - she's at the stage where all things round are balls {said with MUCH enthusiasm :)} and where she wants to THROW all things that are balls! Pooooor pumpkins, lol. I love this sketch and will be using it again :) The best part is that I was able to use scraps of pattern paper! Can you believe I was fussy cutting those flowers after midnight on Saturday? What was I thinking?! lol

Sweet Pea {Cosmo Cricket: Garden Variety}

I created this layout and plan on submitting it for the October Cosmo Cricket Challenge at Scrapbook.com but man, some ladies just uploaded some really great layouts! I have no expectations of winning this month. :) The challenge is to use 90% CC products and more than one photo. My September layout for P12 is also something I created but it's even more blah compared to this layout! So here's my entry:I nicknamed this horse Sweet Pea a few years ago because she is SO sweet to me and the girls. Not so much to strangers and the other horses ;) I just took these pictures last week and when I saw the paper in my stash, I knew I had to use it for a page about her! I used a Julie Bonner sketch as my starting point.

Did you notice that I was too impatient to let the stickles dry? lol

Grid designs {Cosmo Cricket: DeLovely}

I saw this layout: on Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine (Monday's challenge) and I just loved the grid design. I have been dying to use the Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper so I broke it out for this. I also used this layout for the September CC challenge at Scrapbook.com. This month's challenge was to use 2 or more lines of CC paper. Most of mine is DeLovely, but the sweet pea embellies, pear and yellow chipboard flower are from Garden Variety & Early Bird. I have to be honest....DeLovely was the only line I own that didn't flow really well with all of the others! It truly was a challenge for me ;)

And then I had this bright idea that when I like a sketch/design and I'm using a picture of only one of the girls, I should make another layout for the other one! Two layouts, one design...but totally different looks. Loved it!

This is using the same retired Stampin' Up! paper from my last post....

I love these little Scrabble letters and was so excited when I realized I had the right letters for her name! I'm really getting down to the end of those letters though :( Does anyone else use the same design for multiple layouts at one time? Any other tricks you can think of like this?

August Project 12 (and July, too!)

Back in January, I started scrapping one {double page} layout per month as part of Project 12. I was so excited about the concept and it is making me feel a little better about being so far behind on my scrapping. I can't even scrap all the current photos that I want, much less scrap something from years ago!

I am very proud of myself for having kept up with Project 12 so far even though I've only shown a few here on the blog. And I've never submitted for a prize before because the prize for me is just getting the month done. They are not usually my most favorite pages...but I really cherish them for all of the details they hold. I love how they all have something similar yet look so different. In mine, I've used Kraft CS as one of the two base papers for every month.

So here is August and I've got to tell you there are several parts I'm in love with. One is the title "August" how it's all scrunched up. I'm normally VERY linear ;) The pattern papers are all from a retired collection of Stampin' Up! I've had for years and it felt so good to use some of my stash. Another part is this little owl and the rubons I mixed with it. I'm a rubon hoarder so I was glad to use some up. I'm also an owl hoarder...I have a whole separate section in my stash that is devoted to owl paper, rubons, embellishments, etc. I'm glad to finally be using some of that, too!You can see more rubons in the tree - the owl and 'shrooms. I stickled the heck out of the flower paper and the tree cut out. It's a very pretty LO in real life :)

One thing I wish is that I had stitched instead of doodled...but I'm just not comfortable enough yet to sew on a layout - especially a double pager!

Here is July, which I also finished this week...

My favorite part on this one is the little word stickers on the photos in the collage. I saw that somewhere recently and was so proud of myself for remembering to try it ;)

Whew, that was a long post...as always, thanks for looking!

TuTu Cute {Fancy Fants: Christmas Magic}

I PROMISE...my next post will not be about Christmas! lol

Here's a double page, title courtesy of Suzanne!Could the girl stand any farther away from the ballerinas? lol This guy just snatched her up. She was soooo tired by the time we met the dancers. I hope she'll enjoy them more this year :) The Playbill is inside of a clear envelope and has a couple of autographs inside marked by my bookmark with hidden journaling on it.

The hardest part was working with scraps on this layout. Once I decided to NOT attach the playbill, I had to find more scraps to cover the part behind the Playbill. But it all worked out in the end and I'm excited to have this event scrapped!

Thanks for looking :)

More Christmas In July {Fancy Pants: Christmas Magic}

Another Christmas time layout. It will be the next door neighbor to the first layout in the last post I did. One more double page layout to go and I'll be done scrapping this event and can get back to non-Christmas layouts! lol

Do you spy my new border punch? It's not much but I had to find a way to include it ;) I think I'm addicted to making these flowers. Seriously, it's so easy and I get to make them match the LO so much better :)

Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend!

My Girls {Basic Grey: Olivia}

I was so excited for the new Olivia line to come out and was just a tad disappointed when my LSS only had 4 of the papers :( I guess I"ll be buying collections online from now on! I came across this sketch (#50) from Inspired Blueprints a few weeks back...and was inspired to use it with the new Olivia papers and this photo of my girls. It's not the greatest photo but when someone takes their pictures at "school" I can't pass up buying at least one! I'm a total sucker :) It was a super easy sketch and I think it helped me find my mojo again ;)

Thanks for all of your kind comments that you leave me and thanks for stopping by!

Magpie Challenge at Creative Cookbooking

Tara from Magpie Club is our guest designer at Creative Cookbooking this month. Her challenge has two parts and the prize is one of her kits! Click here to join in the fun. {hint...your odds are pretty good at winning since not too many people have entered yet ;) shhh}

The first part of the challenge was to create a food LO using only the colors black, white and gold. This was realllllly hard for me but once I found the background paper, things came together. The paper is actually printed with Christmas theme text but since we normally have the same meal for Christmas and Thanksgiving I went for it. This was our first (and so far, only) meal that was just our little family. I happened to be pregnant with The Tasmanian Devil (she's that NOW, not back then) at the time and had just had an ultrasound. See... she was making a turkey hand wave at us? We told the big girl at that meal that she would be a big sister so I thought it was appropriate to add the ultrasound picture.I wanted to journal about our meal and how we told the big girl about the little girl, so I added a hidden tag for all of the journaling. The gold mat is actually a piece of mat board that had come in a project kit a few months bag. I had no interest in the project so I've been using it on LOs and I really like the dimension it adds. It is NOT the easiest thing to work with though since it's too thick to cut in a trimmer and the finish is not one that takes to adhesive well. The ribbon also came from the kit - and I've got to tell you, at times like this, it really comes in handy that I hoard so much!

February Project 12 {Pink Paislee: Cupid Collection}

As I was uploading pictures, I realized that I never shared my layout from January's project 12. I'm hoping this project will give me some focus each month for what to scrap. Basically, a sketch is posted each month and you scrap your month using that sketch. I think there might be contests posted somewhere, but I just want the sketch ;) Here's February's:and my layout:This was from January: I do NOT plan on using Pink Paislee's Cupid Collection for the whole year, but I had enough to do these two months and it goes so well with the pictures! The flowers are also very similar in both months and I wouldn't mind continuing that theme on to the other pages.

To be honest, I had "forgotten" I was doing this so I haven't even looked at the March sketch yet! But right now, I'm off to find the March & April sketch and then will print pictures....

Thanks for looking :)

Bunches of flowers {Little Yellow Bicycle: Baby Safari}

Only 3 more months to go on her first year album! I stayed current until 6 months and then Christmas happened. I'll be glad when I'm done with it - like any project, it's exciting in the beginning but by the end I get sick of it. I've tried to use only Little Yellow Bicycle papers & embellishments throughout the album to have a coherent feel but I couldn't resist the Jenni Bowlin butterflies - they are sooo cute!

I'm sharing this LO because I took a flower technique class at my LSS this week and promised to share what I learned :) One of the flowers was stacked circles - using all the same size. I prefer stacking the scalloped circles or using circles of varying sizes. I can't remember the name of this one....box something...because it's assembled much like folding the flaps of a box shut. This flower would look really good with the right patterned paper. Kinda boring with cardstock.

And still not quite right with this patterned paper. But the LYB stuff is limited on it's double sided paper.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!