Hey There!!!

So if you are actually reading this I'm more surprised than you are.  I'm not sure what possessed me to go to my old blog... maybe it's that my DH gave me a new touch screen laptop for Christmas and I felt like playing... or that I've just been scrap deprived... probably a bit of both. I've been wandering around some of your posts and WOW!!!  I'm so thrilled to see so many familiar people still scrapping and blogging... you are dedicated!  I've been out of the loop a bit, I can no longer look at a layout and know all the product that was used on it nor am I up to speed on the latest techniques but I'm still scrapping a bit.  Here are 2 layouts I'll share that I've done recently (definitely nothing fancy), as I said not sure about all the product used... but it's likely that most of the product comes from Freckled Fawn and Cocoa Daisy Kits... I know the game controller stamp used on the 2nd layout is from Simon Says Stamp.

That's about it!  

A Little Update

Hi everyone!  Well it's been just over a year now since I've been blogging regularly.   I blame it on a new baby and getting a smart phone.  Both of which are very enjoyable time sucks.  The baby is now almost 6 months old and he's perfect (of course).  He sleeps about 10 hours a night without waking.  And when he is awake, his older brother and sister are very doting distractions.  He loves watching them.

I have been doing a little bit of crafting here and there and actually finished a cutie little layout this past weekend that I thought was worth sharing.  Here's a picture of Aidan at 3 months.

(Paper Bo bunny, Arrow Stamps Cocoa Daisy, Frame KI Memories, Twine Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimmings, Stencil Studio Calico, Alphas misc Thickers)

Thanks for looking!

Wow!

Wow!  Can you believe 2012 is almost over?!  This year has flown by for me.  How about you?  Well anyone reading this knows that I haven't spent the year scrapping and blogging. :)  But I hope to change that a bit next year.  But in spite of not having time for my favorite hobby,  it's been a great year, namely because I'm now the mother of 3.  Aidan Luke was born on November 15th and he's such a blessing.  Having a little baby again has gotten me in my scrap room lately so here are a couple of layouts I've done of Aidan...

This is at about 8 days old... love the cheeks in this picture.  The layout was inspired by a sketch at Skissadilla.

And here he is at about 3 days old.  This was inspired by a sketch over at Sketchabilities.

I have plenty more pictures where these came from, some with his eyes open even!

And here are the layouts I've done over the past few months.  Most of them were based on some sketch or challenge somewhere.  I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due, as I never submitted these in the challenges and no longer have any idea where the original inspiration came from.  I'm also not going to type up product lists as I hear Aidan waking up and if I don't get this posted now, who knows when I will (hurry hurry)!!!  And if you're a part of the scrappy bloggy world you can likely identify most of the product used (you know it's true!)  If you want to know what a specific product is then ask me and I'll let you know. :)

Well I have big hopes of being back soon.  Thanks for looking and have a happy and safe holiday season!!!

3 More Months!

Hi everyone, yes I've been absent again but I know you'll all still love me anyway.  I'm getting bigger and more uncomfortable with this pregnancy, by the time I do what I have to do around the house, blogging keeps getting pushed back.  But can you believe there are just over 3 months left and the baby will be here :) yay!  I think we've settled on a boy name and girl name.  We're not going to find out the sex of the baby, which surprisingly bugs a lot of people, most of them family members. And due to my own demented sense of humor I find that enjoyable. We didn't find out with the first 2 and we kind of like them, we just hope and pray for a healthy baby!!!

I do have 2 layouts to share.  This first  layout is based on Sketch #221 at Creative Scrappers.

(felt sun - American Crafts Remarks, fabric clouds and sun, and wood veneer camera - Studio Calico and  colored with Copics,  alphas - good ol' American Crafts Thickers, clear buttons - Webster Pages, Sun - made from scraps of Crate Paper, variegated ric-rac - Walmart)

The picture is from last summer during this short little laughable heat wave we had, that's compared to this summer at least.  The kids came in from playing, red faced, wet with sweat and were ready to go back out for more.  I wish I could have their energy and enthusiasm.

This last layout I finished a couple of weeks back and used a sketch from Sketchabilitities.  The challenge has been closed for awhile but here's a direct link to the sketch so I can give them the love and credit that they deserve.

Back when I started this layout, I was just in the mood to scrapbook and not over think it.  So I grabbed one of my Cocoa Daisy kits and just went for it.  Kind of fun, I tend to not use too much  from my precious kits for each layout, but I'm trying hard to be a user and not a hoarder.

Thanks for looking!

Let's Capture These Sketches

Hi there.  Just a quick post today.  I was inspired by sketch #142 at Let's Capture These Sketches.  I saw a pants pocket when I looked at the sketch and I remembered that I kept some of Marin's old jeans with fun embroidery on the pockets for such an occasion.  My overall goal on this layout was to use stash.

Why use one set of  those cute yellow Prima flowers when you can finish off the pack and use two? Oh and if anyone out there has any good advice on the best way to alter Pink Paislee mistable flowers please let me know.  The big flower on the pocket is my second attempt and I think it looks... okay.  I misted my first attempt and this one is inked.  The crocheted lace I made myself sometime ago and the rest of products are as follows:
(Rub-Ons - Fancy Pants and Basic Grey, Frame - K & Co., Rosettes - American Crafts, Base Paper - Glitz, 6x6 Paper - Echo Park, Twine - Jillibean Soup, Flower with the button - Basic Grey, Love Locket - Around the Block)

The picture is of Marin holding her own in a Nerf gun battle with her big brother, hence the title.  Yes, protective eye-ware is a rule for Nerf gun battles in our home. Oh and the little bit of hand journaling across the bottom isn't actually crooked... your eyes are playing tricks on you. :)

Thanks for looking!

Divided Page Protectors

Recently my DH asked if he could see my scrapbook layouts from our Disneyland trip from earlier this year.  First of all I was surprised by the request in the first place and secondly I hadn't scrapbooked one photo from the trip.  The reality is that I struggle with scrapbooking vacations and big holidays such as Christmas.  There are just so many pictures that the undertaking seems intimidating.  Well I come to find out that the reason he's asking is that a coworker of his wants to scrapbook her Disney pictures and doesn't know where to start.  So I have him tell her to go to the LSS and buy some divided page protectors.  That way she can just slide in her 4x6 photos, leave a block open for a title and another one open for journaling.  Easy right?  I thought I was giving this newbie scrapbooker great advice and then it dawned on me... why don't I tackle my  own vacation photos this way?!

(Variety pack of the different kinds of WeR page protectors.  The first 3 layouts are done mostly with the June Cocoa Daisy kit, except I bought another sheet of the Simple Stories line that was included in the kit.  The Minnie Mouse layouts are done with Simple Stories Fabulous collection)

Well, what do you think?  Sorry about the glare in the photos but as they're in page protectors it's hard to avoid this.  Okay this was fun to do, and if you have any Simple Stories paper lines it feels almost like cheating as their papers cater to this type of scrapbooking so perfectly.  This wasn't as quick as I thought  it would be as I feel the need to even trim down a 4x6 photo, mat it, and sometimes even embellish it, but it still took less time than traditional scrapbooking (for me at least) and it's fun to change things up occasionally. There are still A LOT, I meant A LOT more photos from this trip but at least the task no longer seems overwhelming and I feel like I'm accomplishing something... YAY!

Thanks for looking!!!

Lawnscaping #37

So did everyone who celebrated Independence Day this week have a great one?  We did.  My DH ran a 20k in the morning and then we took the kids to an indoor water park for 2 nights.  It was so much fun and the timing was perfect as the water park was air conditioned and the weather here has been unbearably hot.  It seems wrong to complain about the summer when you live in MI and never know what the winter will bring, but when it's in the high 90's low 100's and humid you don't want to be outside enjoying the sun.  You're holed up inside in the air conditioning... unless you're my crazy husband who biked down to the YMCA to swim and then biked back home when it was 103... he's a nut job... but I love him :).

So now that we're back home and I'm at my computer in my nice cool scrap room I hope to be stopping at your blogs soon.

I have one little project to share that I did for Lawnscaping Challenge #37.  I'm so excited because last time I played along with them I was an Honorable Gnome.  I'm not exactly sure what that means except that I get a super cute blinkie to add to my side bar... so I'm excited.  The challenge this time is...

And here's the card that I made...

The Lawn Fawn stamp sets used are sunny skies, critters in the 'burbs, gnome sweet gnome, and fanciful frames.  I colored all the pieces with Copics, fussy cut them and popped the kite, cloud, sun, and the tree leaves.  I attempted some sky-like shadowing behind some of the pieces and yay... it actually turned out.

That's it... thanks for looking ! :)