My Scrap Corner

Stop and Listen to the Music

2012-02-01T09:35:00.001-07:00

You know, not everything the kids are involved in is dance related. We have some pretty good musicians growing up in our house. Here’s a little sampling of some of the musical things the older 3 kids did at the end of 2011.

Carissa loves to sing with Ms. Pat from our church. Pat has taught the kids in Sunday School over the years, she’s encouraged and helped them memorize scripture, and most importantly she loves them all. Pat’s been known to sneak off with a few or all of the kids on those rare Sunday afternoons we don’t have other plans for special trips. Here’s Carissa singing Amazing Grace with her for offertory on October 2, 2011. Just sit back and listen to this one since there’s not much to see. I was using my bitty iPod to record it and we were sitting all the way at the back of the room. The iPod’s camera is not that great, but it has a really good microphone. Carissa had a rough start, but got the frog out of her throat quickly. ;)

Elizabeth is in her second year of jazz band at Horizon this year- she plays alto sax. Here’s the HMS jazz band playing ‘Footprints’ at their winter concert in November. Elizabeth plays the alto sax improv solo.

And here’s the Vista Ridge HS Jazz Band with Bryce on trumpet. They held a special concert December 9 called “Swingin’ Into the Night” where everyone was invited to come and dance to live jazz music. The VRHS band played a set, and then the Skyview MS jazz band played a set, and then it wrapped up with another set from VRHS. VRHS played for at least an hour and a half between their 2 sets. The girls and I were able to catch the end of the last set after dance classes wrapped up that evening. Here’s the last song they played- “Blues Brothers Revue.” (sorry for the not-so-great sound- the unfinished auditorium is nice for dancing, but not so nice for good audio!).

Snapshot 2012 #2

2012-01-23T23:48:00.001-07:00

For SBG Snapshot 2012 #2- The Price of Tea

I went through the receipts in my wallet and then wrote down a few of the things I saw among them that represent where a lot of our money goes these days.

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Miss Vivi- Bohemian Krafty Paper Pack, Dawn Inskip- Working 9-5, Project 365 Doodads, and Project 365 Phrase Tabs, Flergs- School Daze: The Kit (pen), Tangie- Paperworn Art Styles; Grocery Labels by Something Blue Studios
font: FG Amelia, Harting, Ticket Capitals Impressed

Snapshot 2012

2012-01-08T20:53:00.001-07:00

Scrapbookgraphics has a fun new challenge for the year- Snapshot 2012.

Themes will be posted every other Saturday throughout the year on the SBG blog that will guide us to making a time capsule album for this year. Check out the Snapshot kickoff post and the first theme details to see if you would like to play along with us this year. The best part? it’s free for everyone!

Here’s my page for the first theme- intention.

My one word for 2012- Relax. Don't worry so much about everything that needs to be done and stop feeling guilty about stuff that doesn't get done. Relax- let others help, it doesn't matter if things are exactly the way you would have done them. Relax- taking time for yourself is OK and good for everyone.

December Scrapbook Pages

2012-01-03T23:15:00.001-07:00

I needed some smaller boxes to wrap gifts for my sister's family and we didn't have any, so I made a few of my own with digi supplies. credits: Magical Christmas Kit and Magical Christmas Extras by Flergs and Jady Day at scrapbookgraphics.com; Cupcake box template by Jessica Sprague from Holiday Memories class, pillow boxes and purse gift card holder templates made by myself

credits: Studio Mix 15- Wintery Sweet and Wintery Sweet B-sides Graffiti by Ztampf!, Julia Makotinsky, SherrieJD, Rebecca McMeen, and Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: Tangie AJF Alice

credits: A Very Merry by Natali Designs at Scrapbookgraphics.com; font: FG Script Elegant

credits: L'Amour by Flergs and Litabells and Layer Me Up Templates Vol 1 by Dawn Inskip at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: TXT Nuptials, TXT Delicate Script

credits: 12 Days of Christmas 2011 by Michelle Coleman at LDD
font: TXT Santa Font

journaling: In honor of the girls’ first year of participating in a Nutcracker production, I collected a set of ornaments representing the show for our tree this year. They decorated our mantel with the stockings.
credits: Holiday Charm page kit by Miki Ferkul and pine branch from Dreamcatcher: the Kit by Flergs at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: FG Amelia

journaling: It was snowing but still ‘warm’ for a winter day, so it was perfect for a trip to the hill behind the school for a bit of sledding. Mark took Brenna and Sarah out for a few minutes of fun sliding down the snowy hill. Shouts of “It’s a new record” were yelled from the top of the hill when the sled stopped a bit further than previously.
credits: Snow Day Bundle by Lorilei Murphy at scrapbookgraphics.com; fonts: Stampede, Susie's Hand

and the same pictures just scrapped a little differently- single pages that could be split up into the individual girl’s album later.

Our Christmas newsletter background for 2011. Coming to your mailbox soon!

credits: A Very Merry by Natali Designs at Scrapbookgraphics.com

The Nutcracker with Ballet Idaho

2011-12-29T00:23:00.001-07:00

I’ve taken the girls to see a local ballet studio production of The Nutcracker the last few years as one of our holiday activities. Last year during the intermission of the show Brenna told me that it was her ‘dream’ to be in the Nutcracker. What is a mom supposed to do but try and make something like that happen? ;) I knew that children from all across the city were able to participate in the production put on by the Springs Philharmonic with a professional ballet company as our dance studio had had dancers participate in previous years. What I didn’t know for sure was when the auditions were exactly. I’m not sure if it was fate or just luck that Wednesday morning in August that I sat down and read the newspaper sitting on the table, but that happened to be the day before applications were due for dancers to audition. I almost never sit down and read the paper like that from front to back. A quick confirmation with the girls after school to make sure they really wanted to participate and I got the applications emailed off on time the next morning, and auditions were the following Sunday afternoon. Elizabeth and Carissa just barely met the maximum height requirement this year and were assigned the roles of Big Mice. Brenna was given the role of a Mini Marzipan. Sunday afternoon rehearsals began in October. We saw some old friends from previous years of dance who had moved to other studios and got to know a few new ones too.

journaling: The girls auditioned for roles in the Springs Philharmonic Nutcracker ballet with Ballet Idaho back in August, and now rehearsals are finally in full swing for this Thanksgiving weekend tradition. Brenna is thrilled to be participating in this professional show, and Beth and Carissa are getting into their Big Mice characters which are just a little wild and crazy. Having their tap friend Iyanno in the same cast with them adds even more fun to being in the show. It’s a lot of work for two shows, but lots of fun too.
credits: By Baers Garten at scrapbookgraphics: Heart Song Mini, Magic of Christmas Kit, Layered Vintage Alpha Set 1, Everyday 365 Cardstock; Project 7 templates by JennV

Thanksgiving week found us at dress rehearsals and performances for this amazing show at The Pikes Peak Center. Working with the professional ballet company was a new experience, and overall the girls enjoyed it.

journaling: Since the mice were given the space in the hall for a dressing area they had to be extra quiet, but they still had lots of fun. We enjoyed the company of old friends as well as making new ones during the rehearsal times.
credits: everything at scrapbookgraphics.com: Nocturne Economy Pack and Merry X-Mouse Elements by Berna Datema; Layered Templates Bundle by Lorelei Murphy, Santa Brings Goodies mini (garlands and ornaments, blog train freebie in 2010) and Feathers and Mittens (frame) by Lorie Davison
font: TXT Scribbletti and TXT Santa font

Beth and Carissa were the first 2 mice to come out of the pie safe when they came onstage. They are also the first 2 mice in the line in the middle of the soldiers in the top right photo. After that I lost track of them despite the number of rehearsals I had seen LOL journaling: Since playing the role of mice in the Nutcracker, Beth & Carissa have to wonder what the rest of the story would be if the Mouse King defeated the Nutcracker.....
credits: Nocturne Economy Pack and Merry X-Mouse Elements by Berna Datema at scrapbookgraphics.com; Template 213 by Yin Designs
font: TXT Scribbletti and Typewriter

Brenna was in Act 2. She was a Mini Marzipan. She is the little one on the far left of the ballerina circle in the big photo.

credits: Studio Mix 14- Carnevale by SussieM, Lorie Davison and Miki Ferkul at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: TXT Santa Font

As I was sitting and watching the second performance our girls were in I decided that I would bring them back for the evening performance so they could actually watch it. Beth and Carissa had been able to see the second act from the audience a couple of times by then since the mice were in the first act, but Brenna was in the second act and had to stay backstage for the whole performance. They liked that idea, so go back we did Saturday evening after going out for dinner with the family. We had nose-bleed seats in the very top row of the balcony this time instead of the wonderful orchestra seats I had watched from the first time, but it was neat to see things from that totally different perspective too.

and I’ll end with a few more of my favorite other photos from the shows. I have a feeling that Brenna will be wanting to participate again next year. hurray! the mouse toy beats the Nutcracker during the party scene. One of the little things we loved about this version of the story ;)

The girls with their friend Isabelle at the cast party after the last performance on Sunday.

and Brenna with one of the Ballet Idaho dancers. I don’t remember her name, but she danced the role of the doll during the party scene, among other things.

Elf Games 2011 have begun

2011-12-01T12:01:00.001-07:00

Our trio of Christmas Elves made their appearance this morning, and brought some gifts along with them. The Head Elf realized a few of the gifts needed to come early this year so the kids could actually wear them before the holidays were over ;) Brenna and Sarah were eagerly anticipating the elves return this year.

A page about the Elf Games for 2010 and how it all started at our house last year. journaling: I first heard about Elf on a Shelf from the mom of one of Brenna's friends in 2009, but I couldn't find it anywhere except online when I started looking. When I did find them the next year, I couldn't see spending $30 for an actual 'elf on the shelf' so I had these vintage elves from my parent’s ornament collection visit us instead during the month of December to keep an eye on the kids and report to Santa each night on how they behaved. These elves were among my favorite ornaments each year growing up and Megan and I would actually play with them- make them hammocks and have parties with them on the Christmas tree and whatever else we could imagine. They were well behaved and only moved around the house each night after reporting to Santa. All of the kids had fun looking for them in the morning when they got up. The kids named the elves Holly (red), Star (yellow) and Kris (green). What a fun new tradition to add to our holidays!
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Ztampf!- Elfenoel Pack, Thaty Borges- Magical Christmas and Magical Christmas Alphabets; Messy Date Stamps Vol. 2 by Michelle Coleman; DSD 2010 template by Crystal Livesay
font: CK Journaling Condensed

Here’s a page about the letter that Brenna wrote to Santa last year and his response. I believe there is already a letter awaiting delivery to Santa by Holly with more questions about the reindeer and how he manages everything during December.

credits: by Lorilei Murphy- Whistle, Up (frame), by Flergs and Amanda Rockwell- Happy Holly Days (alpha); Letter From Santa kit by Michelle Coleman; font: CK June Bug Louise

Special Thanks to 2 of the designers at SBG, Fhung and Lor, who listened to my plea for some elves to scrap my photos with and came up with some cute ones for me!

November Scrapbook Pages

2011-12-01T11:22:00.001-07:00

journaling: Sarah's birthday gift from her school friend Keeley was this fabulous hand-made owl beanie. It was love at first sight for Sarah. She put it on and didn't take it off for almost 2 days. It turns her into a baby owl as well as keeping her head warm. It was a perfect gift for Sarah!
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Hello Friend by Blogasteva, Template Bundle 4 by Lorilei Murphy, Scattered Hearts by Flergs (owl and alpha)
font: CK Curly, FO Howie's stamps lowfat

credits: By Lorelei Murphy at scrapbookgraphics.com: Dance Deux Collection, Template 17; Messy Dates 2 by Michelle Coleman
font: TXT Sloppy Script, University Roman LET, Zapf Chancery LT

journaling: We visited the Real Pirates special exhibit at Denver Museum of Nature and Science and were enthralled with the story of the ship Whydah and how she went from a slaver to a pirate ship, and then her untimely end off the north-east coast of the U.S. From the stories of her crew to the fabulous wealth of treasure uncovered with the crew, it was a fascinating afternoon of learning.
credits: Haunting Pirates Collection by Ztampf! at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: CK Pirate Hand

journaling: Elizabeth & Carissa got to pick several new Wii games for their birthday and they chose Disney Sing It games- Sing It! and High School Musical 3. Everyone sings along when it is played and some enjoy dancing too.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Studio Mix 12- Music and Me by Dawn Inskip, Iara, Thaty Borges and Q Studio, Music and Me B-Sides- Addon, Music and Me B-sides Word Strips ; Crystal Livesay: Jumpers 49-64 (used 62)
font: CK June Bug Louise, SBC Distressed Typewriter

Beth climbed up in our maple tree to get some pictures of the glowing red and orange leaves.
credits: by Julia Makotinsky at scrapbookgraphics.com: Warm and Woodsy, With All My Heart; font: CK Constitution

credits: at scrapbookgraphics- by Em-ka: Jungleland, In The Grove; by SussieM: Secret Garden (moss); by Tangie Baxter: Field Notes (moss); Natural Wonders Collection Sticks and Stones by Jen Ulasiewicz, Instacarve Rock On Alpha by MGLscraps

credits: at scrapbookgraphics- by Em-ka: Jungleland, In The Grove; by SussieM: Secret Garden (moss); by Tangie Baxter: Field Notes (moss) Template 282 by Yin Designs; Natural Wonders Collection Sticks and Stones by Jen Ulasiewicz
font: TXT Scribbletti

journaling: Sarah is my little helper and any time I'm in the kitchen she comes and asks to help with something. Making cookies is a task she especially loves. This year she helped me make snickerdoodles for Dale’s Christmas cookies box one afternoon.
credits: Deck the Halls by Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield at scrapdish.com and The-Lilypad.com; freebie Halloween template 1 by Amy Martin
font: SBC Preschool, Technical

Hoooo-Ray! Sarah is 6!

2011-11-03T19:26:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying that birthdays are a BIG deal at our house, especially with Sarah. I think they are bigger even than Christmas in her mind. Maybe because she has 4 older siblings to share just about everything with, and this is HER special day she doesn’t have to share with anyone else? She is constantly thinking about what the theme for her next party will be, and this starts the day after we have just had one usually LOL When Sarah first told me that she wanted an owl party for her birthday this year (in the middle of Elizabeth and Carissa’s party back in August, as a matter of fact LOL), I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out as I had no clue what to do. It all started with a cupcake, which is understandable given Sarah’s adoration of cupcakes in general. She had seen an owl cupcake in one of my several cupcake books she pores over regularly and decided that is what she wanted. So, while the older girls’ party was in full swing and they didn’t need me any more, I started a search for ideas for an owl party. I started looking on Pinterest and before too long had come across several cute ideas for felted owls of various kinds. Among them were a set of handmade owls- 13 of them, all different. When I explored the link with the picture I found a blog post bySnowy Bliss about the night owl pajama party that she had held for her 6-year old daughter. She had made the set of owls as party favors for the guests. I went back and forth for days about whether it was going overboard to make owls to give away, did I have the time, etc. and in the end decided to just go for it. I had several months if I just got started on them. I purchased the pattern for the owls from Snowy Bliss’ Etsy shop, bought a stack of felt (since I of course did not have the colors needed in the stack of felt I already owned), and started working. I scaled down the pattern a bit as I wanted the owls to be smaller (and thus be faster to make). Mine were about 5” x 6” with the wing-span making them about 8” wide when they were finished, but otherwise stuck pretty closely to the pattern and original owls by snowybliss. I cut the pieces for each out and put them in Ziploc baggies and I carried around several at a time as I worked on them, usually while I was sitting in the hall at dance. I didn’t try to keep what I was doing a secret, though I didn’t tell Sarah exactly how they were going to be given out at the party. It took me about an hour and half each to stitch the pieces together for the front, including the embellishments. I really enjoyed the process and it was a nice change of pace to sew something and get away from my computer for a bit. I missed having them to work on once they were all finished.

credits: at The-Lilypad.com: Kaye Winieki- Where the Heart Is, The sweetest Thing, Pea Green Boat; Fall Moments Collab by TLP and SSD designers; Valorie Wibbons: Fireflies, retired (moon); CC Scatterelle brush set; font: CK June Bug Louise

journaling: We celebrated Sarah’s 6th birthday with a nightowl pajama party. Dancing in the dark with glow sticks, eating ice cream sundaes and owl cupcakes, and then more dancing were lots of fun. The star hunt helped everyone adopt their very own nightowl, handmade by Melinda, to take home. It was a hooting good time! Keeley couldn’t come to the party at the last minute, but she brought her gift over the day before to give to Sarah. She adopted Giggles the owl. Sarah adores her handmade owl beanie and wears it everywhere. ~Oct. 15, 2011
credits: at The-LilyPad.com: Bring On the Cake Collab by Kate Hadfield, Kaye Winieki, and Karah Fredricks; by Kaye Winieki- Sleep Tight, Where Bluebirds Fly, The Sweetest Thing, Pea Green Boat, Where My Heart Is, Down in the Woods, As Leaves Turn, Cafe Break, Ruby's Room, Here Comes the Sun, It Pays to Believe; Kate Hadfield: Make a Wish, Ballet Slippers, Spotty Dotty Alpha; Valorie Wibbons: Fireflies (retired) ; Template 173 by Yin Designs; Faerily Moonlit Sky Elements by Lorie Davison; vintage Garden Fairies by Dani Mogstad at SSD
font:P22 Garamouche

Decor: I collected owls from various places. I didn’t really worry too much about finding coordinating items other than they had an owl theme. I made the invitations and owl adoption certificates using mostly the cute digital designs of Kaye Winieki at The-LilyPad and a few other favorite digital designers. I mixed in a few pumpkins and non-spooky Halloween items as well, as with a birthday in October and a love of costumes and dressing up it just seemed appropriate for my Sarah. I tried to focus on the color combo of a medium warm brown with a mix of bright colors to keep things fun, though there was quite a bit of orange on the table in the end. I found the brown/bright colors combo in party goods in the baby shower section at the party store. Fisher Price has a super cute jungle party theme for a baby shower that had the right colors and a fun mix of stripes and dots- I just had to cover up some of the baby jungle animals. I made my own cutouts to match the invitations on the computer and then printed, cut them out and stuck them on the decor items I bought. There was another set with an actual 'night owl’ theme in the colors I wanted, but the store only had the cups, plates and napkins for it. Since I was mixing and matching that worked out just fine. Sarah is getting a new ‘big’ bed from her father when he finishes building it, so I had purchased some new bedding for her from Target and a piece or two of that was used as decor as well.

We carved a pumpkin with an owl and had a lit fall wreath hanging on the door to welcome the party owls to the festivities.

Food: I kept it simple with the night owl’s favorite foods- cupcakes and ice cream sundaes. I made both full size and mini size owl cupcakes. I deliberately tried to make the bigger cupcakes smaller/flatter after baking by only filling the cups up half-way with batter; this left some batter over to use to make the mini cupcakes as a side benefit. A tall rounded cupcake is hard to prop a flat cookie onto securely. A hint for future reference: just spend the extra to get the ‘name brand’ sandwich cookies, it will spare you a lot of grief and time since they come apart cleanly and easily, and the ‘store brand’ versions didn’t work nearly as well. Beaks on the big cupcakes are banana Runts or caramel candy corn, and on the minis they are chocolate covered sunflowers seeds which I found in the candy section of World Market stores. For the eyes I used Junior Mints, Reeses Pieces, and dots of chocolate and white icing. Ears are the ‘clean’ cookie halves cut in half- save the ones that don’t break right for making into cookie crumbs to top the ice cream sundaes with ;)

There were candy and sauces galore to choose from. This particular group of 6 year olds favored the gummy bears and Nerds candy and strawberries and chocolate sauce for their sundaes. I had Neapolitan, mint chip, and spumoni ice cream to choose from. I was really surprised that most of the kids wanted to try the spumoni; I only bought it because Brenna was with me when I went shopping and when I pointed it out as an ‘I haven’t seen that flavor in a long time’ moment she wanted to try it. In my experience, usually the kids at parties stick to what they know LOL The mini cupcakes were just about right for them. We actually didn’t eat any of the big ones at the party since they filled up more on the ice cream. My kids were more than happy to eat the big ones over the following days ;)

Activities: We had lots of glow bracelets for the girls and each got 2 or 3 when they arrived; a few turned them into a necklace by hooking the bracelets together. I also had some larger wands that they could take turns with. Once they were decked out in glowing items they were sent into the backyard for dancing in the dark/freeze dance. We had a large playlist of songs that had to do with dancing in some fashion playing randomly and if the back porch light came on they had to freeze until it went off again. People large and small would walk by and flip it on and off randomly. Dancing in the dark was the favorite activity- I guess having permission to run around like crazy in your pajamas outside in the dark is the best sort of fun! LOL

They came inside to get their ice cream and cupcakes and went right back outside to eat them. I hadn’t planned that, but it worked well- thank goodness for beautiful and warm evening October weather! Once the goodies were eaten they came back inside for gift opening. While Sarah was opening her gifts, Bryce took the large glow-in-the-dark foam stars we had made and hid them around the backyard in easy to spot places. He did a great job and only the big sisters had to have a hint or two to find the very last ones. Each of the owls had been wrapped in plain white paper lunch bags I had Sarah and Brenna stamp with owls one afternoon to occupy them. There was a randomly picked matching smaller glow-in-the-dark star on each of the bags; we didn’t even know which owl was in which when we were done. The numbers were called in order and each child got to unwrap their numbered bag to reveal their owl. Inside the bag with the owl was an introduction/adoption card which was read to the whole room, and by the time we got to #13 everyone knew to join in on the “hooo-ray!” at the end. It was very cute.

Brenna reading her owl introduction card to everyone. I will admit to ‘rigging’ this one number for her. She would just have not been happy with anything other than the purple dress-up owl. (if you know of her attachment to certain purple bear blankets, you will understand.) My other kids ended up swapping with each other a bit too after the party, but the guests were all thrilled with whichever owl they randomly received LOL

After the owls were all adopted, more dancing ensued and new toy packages were opened for playing with until the end of the party.

It’s Squinkie heaven! Sarah received 5 different sets of Squinkies- I guess I got the word out that that was what she really wanted this year well enough! She has always loved the teeny-tiny little toys, and these certainly fall into that category.

All in all, it was a wonderful and fairly simple party- certainly one that I think will be remembered by everyone. I give others most of the credit for the ideas, I just picked and chose what I wanted to use from their creativity. So thanks Snowy Bliss and anyone else who freely shares their party ideas with the world- Sarah and I appreciate it!

Misc October Scrapbook Pages

2011-11-03T08:50:00.001-07:00

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: by Maya- Blue Moon, Niche Market Book Nooks Vol. 5, Sweetums, Steampunk 6th Anniversary Collection, Painterly Art Journal Backgrounds; by Lorie Davison: Flying Dreams Elements Collection; by Wendyzine: Action: Strip Maker
font: CK Carbon Copy, CK Dandy, CK Cosmopolitan, CK Script, CK June Bug Louise, CK Pirate Hand, CK Handprint, CK Thick Brush

credits: Treasure Collection by Lorilei Murphy at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: Clarissa

journaling: Elizabeth and Carissa had asked a long time ago to be taught how to sew, and like many things it kept getting pushed to the end of the list. I came across a sale on American Girl craft kits along with a bonus coupon at Michaels craft store and thought that they would be a good starting point. With the felt pieces already cut and illustrated instructions, the girls tackled the projects right away and before too long had their own hand-crafted creatures.
July 24, 2011
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Studio Mix 10: October Potpourri and SM10 October Potpourri B-sides Overlays by Berna Datema, Em-ka, and Manuella Zimmermann; Page Templates Vol. 3 by Thaty Borges; font: CK Becky

I saw these vintage Christmas images from SherrieJD and had an instant flashback to my own childhood. I’m pretty sure that a few of the images in these kits showed up in our mailbox over the years. I have a distinct memory of a year that I had one of those advent calendars with the little numbered windows and doors you got to open each day, and it was a Christmas collage that looked a little something like this. credits: everything at scrapbookgraphics.com:
by Sherrie JD: Countdown 2 Christmas 2010, Countdown to Christmas 2011, Rudolf Jive, Santa Cutie, Joy & Glee
Christina Renee: Windows to Our Life Frames
Wendyzine: Snow Brushes
Lorie Davison: Greymouse Manor Masquerade Ball (bushes), Baby Bee Garden (tall bush), IO Festivities (falling snow)
Flergs: Fairytale (pink curtain)
Berna Datema: Impressions of Romance (pink curtain)
Tangie: Mansion Masquerade collab (iron fence)
Alana McCarthy: Carousel (red curtain, retired)
Birgit Kerr: December Morning (icicles, retired)
font: Clarissa

and while I was working on the Christmas collage I ended up making some cards too. credits: everything at scrapbookgraphics.com:
by SherrieJD: Countdown to Christmas 2011, Rudolf Jive, Santa Cutie, Joy & Glee
by Bethany Harty: Christmas Wordart 2

journaling: Elizabeth and Carissa’s friend Tricia LOVES frogs. She has a huge collection of them and is adding to it all of the time. Any time we see a frog, Beth and Carissa have to mention how much Tricia would love that. Tricia had a scavenger hunt party at the mall for her birthday and the girls had a great time hunting for the things on the list and buying something they loved. Of course Tricia got a few more froggy things with her gift money. ~May 28, 2011
credits: Studio Mix 11- November Rain by Charlize, Flergs, Redju, and Bethany, Studio Mix 11- November Rain B-Sides Paper Pack, Studio Mix 11- November Rain B-Sides Scatterz, and at scrapbookgraphics; Stuffy Collection Templates 4-7 by Tiffany Tillman; font: Old Press, P22 Garamouche

Misc September Scrapbook Pages

2011-10-10T13:42:00.001-07:00

All of the cameras I've owned over the years. I love my cameras

journaling: I’ve had a long love affair with cameras of both the film and digital varieties. I love recording our lives on film and enjoy looking at all of the pictures I’ve taken. I still own all of these cameras and keep them tucked away safely if I don’t use them any more. Some of them are in better shape than others depending on how long I’ve used them- I had to buy a new Nikon D50 in May as I wore out the first one from heavy use at all of the dance events we attend.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Catch the Cam by Thaty Borges and Luiza Gray, AJC Parcel 30- Gesso Textures and Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter, Everyday 365 Date Flair by Baers Garten
font: SP Wonderful Wendy, CK Newsclips

journaling: During 6th and 7th grade, Beth and Carissa were a part of the HMS Honor Choir, directed by Lori Depew. They got up early two mornings a week so they could be at school at 7:15 for rehearsal before the regular school day started. They were willing to do this because they love to sing and this was the only way they could be in both band and choir. The Honor Choir sang at the choir concerts and competitions, and they performed at UCCS basketball games throughout the year as the Star Spangled Singers too. They enjoyed their years with Ms. Depew immensely and were sad to see her leave to go to graduate school at the end of the 2011 school year.
credits: Studio Mix 8- Songbird by BCD, Thaty Borges and Rosey Posey, B-sides- flowers; font: GF Halda Smashed

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Miki Ferkul: Autumn Romance,
Lorelei Murphy: Blended Template Bundle 6 (template 23),
font: SP Wonderful Wendy, Georgia
[and this page made the GSO blog on Sept 20- yay!!! ]

journaling: Sarah, you are quite the character making silly faces at me when all I wanted was a nice pretty smile with the cup of hot chocolate. Despite the goofy faces, you’re still a beautiful little girl, and certainly lots of fun to be around!
credits: by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com: This Face - Doodled, This Face - Stamped, Audaciously Awesome with Kate Hadfield, Pinned Purple Paper Alpha Tags, Date It! Plastic Beads; Create Shadow Layer PSE by Anna Forrest Designs at PickleberryPop, Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics
font: CK Becky

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: by Miss Vivi- Russian Lullaby with Line Designs, Dancing Silhouettes, Pea**** Alphas (recolored) by Miki Ferkul, Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter; Template 158 by Yin Designs

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: by Miss Vivi- Russian Lullaby with Line Designs, Dancing Silhouettes, Blended Templates Bundle 4 and Glee (alpha) by Lorelei Murphy, Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter; font: Cezanne

journaling: Elizabeth and I helped Brenna and Sarah carve their Halloween pumpkins. Brenna chose trick-or-treaters and Sarah a funny face.
credits: by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com: Pumpkin Kraft, Pick a Pumpkin, Cardboard Bits Zig Zag Paper Chains, Garden Pop {Exploded} Stamped Newsprint Alpha, School Zone Elements (stitched border), Serendipity (journaling Box- ScrapWow.com kit); Inspired by Nettio templates by Darcy Baldwin at sweetshoppedesigns; font: CK Constitution

journaling: The kids’ favorite week at dance is the week around Halloween when they get to dress up in costumes for dance classes. We have so many now, the girls can each be something different every day of the week.
credits: Studio Mix 9- Twilight Brew by Amanda Rockwell, Flergs, and Veronica Spriggs at scrapbookgraphics.com: Kit, Midnight Petals, Word Art, Bsides Alpha, Bsides Flowers; font: Blackadder ITC

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Obsession by Veronica Spriggs with VIVA Artistry, I Hear a Symphony Overlays by Veronica Spriggs, Love 2 Dance (alpha) by Flergs and Charlize Creations; MJ wallpaper downloaded from internet
font: Cambria

Misc August Scrapbook Pages

2011-09-06T08:38:00.001-07:00

credits: Studio Mix 6: Bring Autumn Magic In with Lorie Davison, Natali, and Ztampf!; font: TXT Annesia, TXT Brush Script

My grandparents through the years from their wedding to just before my grandfather passed away. credits: Post Script Master Collection by Maya at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: LD Abe Lincoln

Just documenting the kids' 'loves' and 'hates' in the food department these days. journaling: I really don’t have a reason to complain about my kids’ eating habits. For the most part, they eat without complaint whatever is put in front of them. Each of them has their ‘loves’ and ‘hates’ though, and it can be hard to appease everyone at every meal.
credits:
at scrapbookgraphics: Bethany Harty- Food Wordart and Food 4 Wordart, Thaty Borges- Cooking Time with Kristin Aagard, Cooking Time Veggies, Flergs- Welcome to Paradise (shell); Pamela Donnis- What's For Dinner, Fiesta Elements (soft taco), Peanut Butter and Jelly; Happy USA by Shabby Miss Jenn (flag); Say Cheese by Kaye Winieki at TLP (cheese); font: CK Becky

journaling: The club season kicks into high gear at the beginning of January when FIRST announces what the competition challenge is for the year. The kids then have 6 weeks to design and build a robot that can accomplish the designated tasks in a 2 minute and 15 second period. “Bag and Tag” day was February 22, and no work was allowed on the robot after that until they unpacked it in the pit area of the regional competition the club was attending. We celebrated the end of build season with a potluck and a robot viewing to which family members and representatives from the corporate sponsors were invited. At the end of the evening the robot was sealed in a large plastic bag in the engineering lab where it waited until the Denver regional competition weekend in April.
credits: Bryan's Bots, Bryan's Bots- Graphic Splats, and Bryan's Bots- Clusters by Saxon Holt at 9thandBloom.com
font: CK Constitution, Century Gothic

journaling: It’s an Easter morning tradition in our church to arrive early and share breakfast with each other potluck-style. The tables are always beautifully decorated with spring and Easter decor make a pretty setting for the plates heaped with egg casserole, breads of all varieties and fresh fruit. It’s a wonderful start to the day's celebrations of Christ’s resurrection.
credits: by Natali Design at scrapbookgraphics.com: Joyful Easter Bundle and My Favorite Season (postcard altered to make photo frame);
font: FO Uptown Girl Lowfat, Harting

Brenna’s Tap 5 class with Ms. Cindy. I’m so proud of her as she passed this class and moved up to Tap 4 this summer. She has her older sisters’ knack for tapping too it seems ;)

journaling: Brenna’s first year of tap with Ms. Cindy on Saturday mornings. Her friends Brieylle and Riley were in the class too. They danced to “Safety Dance” from Glee.
credits: by Redju at scrapbookgraphics.com: Black Textures Vol. 2, Real Stitches Vol. 8, Paper Flowers Vol. 3, Sequin Spills Vol. 2, Texture Overlays Vol. 6- Twisted Starbursts, Sequin Strings, 3D Alpha Template;Templates 169 and 213 by Yin Designs; font: Natural Script

Yep, still have Savannah pages that need to be done :P I finally figured out what to use for these pages on the churches we visited.
journaling: The churches of Savannah are a big part of the walking tour around the historic town. The steeples tower above the live oaks of the town squares. The first day I walked Savannah the churches were not open to the public, but we were able to go inside a few days later. The beautiful stained glass windows are pieces of art. The history and architecture of the churches are so different from the churches of the western states, much more reminiscent of the churches we saw in Europe.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Christina Renee Designs: Authentic Artistry 3, Artistic Accumulation Faith; Lorelei Murphy: Blended Templates Bundle 2
font: Garamond

You Can’t Hurry Love – tap duet 2010-11

2011-09-06T08:19:00.001-07:00

I really enjoy watching my girls dance together. Last year was their second year doing a tap duet together for competition. As they moved up another tap level, we chose to work with the new tap teacher, Nicole Ridenour, this year. They chose the song “Can’t Hurry Love” by The Dixie Chicks from the movie “Runaway Bride.” It was traditional enough for Beth, with just enough country twang in it to satisfy Carissa.

You can't take video yourself at these competitions, which forces you to buy their copy. So, to make this I played the DVD on my TV and recorded it with my video camera. I'm learning that the video camera doesn't like low ambience lighting with bright stage lights- it just doesn't compensate very well and the people tend to be a bit blown out. oh well. Also, the tap mikes at the competition weren't working very well that day so you can hardly hear the taps on the video- boo! especially since I only bought tap routines for the 3 girls that day :P It will give you the idea of it though. Beth and Carissa earned an Elite Gold medal at Legacy this year- good job girls! Carissa had sprained her left ankle pretty severely shortly after DEA in March, and we weren’t sure it was going to be healed in time for her to dance well at this competition at the end of April. It was still a bit sore, but she pushed through it and did well.

They didn’t have their own photographer at Legacy this year, which was a bummer since I was hoping to buy their photos, as I didn’t think the photographer at DEA got very good ones and didn’t buy them. My camera had started acting funny with the flash going off constantly which caused shutter delays and other weird things and I didn’t know what was going on. I kept taking pictures though hoping to get at least a few good ones in the smaller school auditorium this time, and luckily did get a few.

journaling: Beth and Carissa did their second tap duet with Nicole Ridenour as the choreographer since they moved up another level in tap technique. It was a more traditional style of tap dance this year to “Can’t Hurry Love” by the Dixie Chicks.They danced well at DEA but we were disappointed with the silver medal they were awarded. Carissa twisted her ankle the week after DEA, and even dancing at the next competition wasn’t certain. She was doing better though by the end of April and they were thrilled with earning an Elite Gold medal at this second competition.
credits: Studio Mix 7- Charleston Avenue by Tangie Baxter, Christina Renee, Berna Datema and Rebecca McMeen; B-sides: Swanky Extras, Almost Solids, Splatter Graffiti, Dolled Up Alphas; Layered templates by Dutchie (retired)
font: TXT Monique, TXT Romanesque

Look out, there are 2 more teenagers in our house

2011-09-01T22:13:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth and Carissa have officially begun their teenage years now. We celebrated their 13th birthday with a big movie night themed slumber party. 15 friends from both school and dance invaded our home for the evening, and it was a blast. I’m very thankful that my girls have good friends who can all get along for an extended period of time in close quarters.

journaling: We celebrated Beth & Carissa’s 13th birthday with a movie themed slumber party. We ate hot dogs, pizza, cake and candy with handmade sodas from Squeak Soda Shop.There was a talent show, movie themed games, and of course watching movies- Phantom of the Opera and Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.
credits: Movie Night by Kate Hadfield and Holly Griego at The-LilyPad, Template 150 by Yin Designs; font: CK June Bug Louise

Elizabeth and Carissa helped me make the popcorn bucket cake this year. Specifically, they cut all of the marshmallows that were used to represent the popcorn by hand for me the night before the party. I then sprayed them just a bit with Wilton’s yellow spray food coloring, tossed them a bit and sprayed them a bit more.

Sarah helped me out the next afternoon after she got home from kindergarten by adding the ‘popcorn’ to the top of the cupcakes for me. She was very meticulous and made sure that all of them were covered completely. We had just enough marshmallows left in the bowl to do the cupcakes. Of course we had to spray them with just a bit more ‘butter’ to finish them off.

The big indulgence we had at the party this year was a dozen flavors of hand-made soda from Squeak Soda Shop. I picked out fruity flavors (since we have liked those the best of what we have tried at our visits), and sent the owner some labels designed after the invitation style so that they matched our party theme. The sodas were a hit with everyone. We love Squeak Soda Shop! Food fare to go along with the fancy sodas was hot dogs, pizza, 4 flavors of popcorn and many varieties of candy.
{The third label design not matching the invitation was made using Movie Night by Kate Hadfield and Holly Griego, and Cinemania by Lauren Grier and Mandabean at Sweet Shoppe Designs}

For entertainment at the party, besides watching movies of course, Carissa ran a talent show in the living room and Beth worked with me on putting together a movie trivia game during the days before the party. When I was designing the soda labels for Squeak to use, I thought it would be neat to have people try and identify a movie based off of the title font. Since most 13 and 14 year olds aren’t too familiar with fonts though, I figured we had better give them a bit more of a clue. Beth found lots of movie title fonts and then wrote out a one sentence summary of the main plot of the movie in the font. The girls had to identify each of the movies from the clues. We posted several copies in strategic spots around the house and gave them about an hour to take turns looking at them. I think the winning number for the game was 28 out of 31, which is pretty good I think since there were a few movies on the list I wasn’t sure they would have seen.

So, the girls golden birthday year started off with a successful party. Happy birthday, Elizabeth and Carissa! We love you and are blessed to have you in our family. I hope the next year is filled with wonderful memories!

Misc July LOs

2011-08-01T13:41:00.001-07:00

It’s August 1st, and that means that school starts officially for everyone tomorrow morning. Mom’s ready and not- I’m not ready to have to get up so stinkin’ early 5 days a week, but I’m more than ready for a little bit of ‘separate time’ for Brenna and Sarah. It seems like they have done nothing but fight with each other the whole summer, and I’ve had enough.

I finished up the Dance Quest 2011 Awakening photo book about a week ago, and now I’m just waiting for final approval from the director to release it to everyone. I’m so glad to have that big project almost off of my ‘to do’ list. Here are the last few single pages I’ve done during July. I’m still working on the summer staycation album, but I’m saving those pages for posting together when I’ve gotten a few more done ;)

credits: Studio Mix 5, Summer Romance by Miki Ferkul, Manuella Zimmerman and Veronica Spriggs at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: CK Script

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: by Tangie Baxter: Being Me with Lorilei Murphy, Gesso Textures, Paperworn Art Styles; by Wendyzine: Shadows and Borders Styles 2; font: AJF Mock Turtle

journaling: It was a hurriedly arranged visit via messages on Facebook, and much too short, but it was good to see Jamie, Brooklyn, Addison and Jonathan again. It had been 3 years since our last visit to Tulsa, so it was nice to get the cousins together for a few hours. We will have to do it again soon!
credits: Click by BCD and Micheline Martin at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: FO Uptown Girl Lowfat, CK Becky

credits: by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com: School Zone Papers and Elements, Three Rs Alpha; 10080 Minutes 12x12 Slip Ins by Traci Reed at SweetShoppeDesigns
font: FO Printing Primer In Between

Lycos Robotics Club 2010-11, Sea Perch Challenge at Coronado HS

2011-07-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

Sea Perch took place on May 7, 2011 at Coronado HS. The Coronado Cougars robotics team had arranged this activity and invited all of the robotics teams in the city to come join them for the day building underwater robots and racing them against each other. It was an optional event, but I think well worth giving up a Saturday lazing around for.

The kids were divided up into groups of 3 or 4 and each was given a robot kit. They followed the instructions to build their underwater robot, and of course were allowed to ‘tweak’ the design to their liking as they went along.

Once the robots were built and all of the glue set, they got to the really fun part- putting them in the water and ‘driving’ them. The challenge/race was for the robot to navigate through a series of 3 hoops at the bottom of the pool, find a ring and pick it up, then bring the ring to a team member and return to the starting hoop. Fastest time to complete the course wins.

Bryce’s team:

The ‘Mentorbot’ gets it’s turn at the obstacle course.

The girls and I popped in and out of the building as permitted during their dance schedule for the day. I think they all got a turn at driving the ‘mentorbot’- even the ‘I don’t like robots’ girl (Carissa) took a turn and then admitted it was fun. ;)

Big thanks to Coronado HS and Honeywell for sponsoring this day of robotics water fun!

Lycos Robotics Club 2010-11 Season Summary, Part 2

2011-07-29T12:49:00.001-07:00

There’s so much to say about the regional competition weekend in Denver April 7-9, 2011 that I really don’t know where to start. I wasn’t originally planning on going up for the competition because of several things the girls were doing that were going on as well. The team left the Springs on Thursday morning to transport the robot to the arena and make last minute updates and changes to it (remember it had been ‘bagged and tagged’ since the end of February). Friday morning at 9 the preliminary rounds started. I decided at the last minute to drive up to Denver with Sarah after I had dropped the older 3 girls off at school for the day. Having to be back to pick them up at 3 I knew I would only be able to stay until lunch, but I wanted to go experience a little of it myself since Mark had done most of the robotics club interaction for the family as he was a club mentor for the season. I’m so glad I went, it was amazing- and that was just from a parent’s perspective. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to go back Saturday morning too and take the other girls. Carissa opted to stay home and attend the opera showing she wanted to go to (a school sponsored event), but Brenna and Elizabeth went up for the morning with me.

The “Rookie” team award for this regional event was given to a team from Mexico this year, and they deserved it. Yes- that country down south of us. They drove to Denver for the weekend and they were there to have a good time. They were always dancing and singing together and enjoying the whole experience. It was a great example to everyone there about what the spirit of FIRST is all about. I’ll let the journaling I did on my scrapbook page sum it my feelings of the weekend, though I’m not sure I was able to capture it in that small amount of space on the right page.

Journaling: The atmosphere at the Ritchie Center during the FIRST Denver Regional competition was like a big party. Music was playing loudly, and teams showed their group spirit with costumes, waving flags and dancing. The pit area where teams worked on their robots was always abuzz with concentrated activity. On the competition floor, robots moved on and off the field with efficiency. Cheers rang out for robots that successfully hung tubes and deployed their minibot to climb the pole for a big score during rounds. The Friday and Saturday morning round scores were used to rank the teams for the final elimination rounds Saturday afternoon. VRHS was pleased to be chosen to join an alliance in the competition rounds. What I found most impressive as a parent was the 'team spirit' that wove through everything. Working well together within your group and with others was as important as the robot you brought to the competition. VRHS was awarded the 'clean pit' and coveted 'team unity' awards at the end of the 3 days of competition. Remember to build it like a tank next year, kids!

credits: Robotrix Collection by Flergs and Charlize Creations at scrapbookgraphics.com, Project 365 Templates by Jen Caputo (retired)
font: Baby Boston, Century Gothic

Here are a few videos of the Lycos robot in action at the competition, and the last one is the final match for the championship.

Friday #1, Lycos hangs white tube, the minibot was still being worked on and is not on the robot during the match.

Friday #2, Lycos minibot wins race

Friday #5, Lycos minibot wins race

Friday #6, Lycos match with Titanium, minibot places second in race

Saturday #3, Lycos hangs red tube

Mascot Dance

Final match for regional championship

Lycos Robotics Club 2010-11 Season Summary, Part 1

2011-07-29T12:27:00.001-07:00

We made it through our first season of the FIRST Robotics competition with the Vista Ridge Robotics Club at the end of May. From the time that Bryce heard about the robotics club at a district school open house in the fall of 2009 and saw the robot that they were building for that year’s competition, he wanted to join and be a part of it. The engineering academy program and the robotics club were the big reasons that we decided to send him to Vista Ridge High School even though it isn’t our neighborhood school.

The club season kicks into high gear at the beginning of January when FIRST announces what the competition challenge is for the year. This is a big deal with groups from the area meeting at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to hear the challenge specifications via a nationally broadcast video. The kids then have 6 weeks to design and build a robot that can accomplish the designated tasks in a 2 minute and 15 second period.

This year’s challenge was named “Logo Motion” and there were 3 parts to it:
1. Autonomous period where the robot is programmed to hang a gold tube, called the ‘uber tube’, by itself. The drivers are not allowed to even touch the controls of the robot. If an uber tube is hung, then any tube hung on top of it during the second part of the challenge receives double points. This section lasts 15 seconds.
2. Driver period where the robot is controlled by a driver and has 2 minutes to hang as many red, white and blue tubes as they can on any of the 3 tiers of pegs. The top row of pegs was worth 3 points, the middle row 2 points, and the bottom row 1 point. If one of each of the 3 color tubes were hung in the order to make the FIRST logo, then the score for the row was doubled, and then doubled again if there was an uber tube in place as well.
3. Minibot period ended the competition and the teams had the last 30 seconds of the match to deploy a minibot and have it climb one of four 9 foot tall poles. The first minibot to reach the top and activate the sensors received 30 points, second place 20 points, and third place 10 points.

It is an intense 6 weeks, with 3 hour build sessions Monday through Thursday after school or in the evening, and a 6 hour session on Saturdays. Mark was a mentor for the club this year and attended the evening and weekend sessions to help the kids design and build their robot. He took on the minibot project in particular, spending most of his time working on that part of the robot. Bryce chose to be a part of the CAD team and helped design and draw parts that need to be manufactured for the robot.

“Bag and Tag” day was February 22, and no work was allowed on the robot after that until they unpacked it in the pit area of the regional competition the club was attending. We celebrated the end of build season with a potluck and a robot viewing to which family members and representatives from the corporate sponsors were invited. At the end of the evening the robot was sealed in a large plastic bag in the engineering lab where it waited until the Denver regional competition weekend in April.
Mark helped a lot with the minibot this year. Many parts were manufactured on our dining room table during the month of February. Brad was the student who headed up that aspect of the robot and worked with him the most. The minibot was nicknamed “Sheila”.

“Minibot Land”
Bagged and Tagged, and waiting for April to come.

Sum-Sum-Summertime!

2011-07-27T10:51:00.001-07:00

I joined a summer scrapping workshop at the site Plant Your Story, Plant Your Story: Staycation, on a whim back at the end of June. With a huge set of templates, prompts to inspire and motivate, and a fun kit to work with I decided I would give it a try. It’s been fun. The prompts have helped me figure out some ways to fill the emptier days for the kids this month. So now I’m trying to get it scrapped. I had a coupon for a free 8x8 album that came with an electronics purchase earlier this summer and I was hoping to be be able to use it for having this album printed but it has to be used by the end of the week and I don’t think I will be making that deadline. Oh well.

credits:
Agnes Biro: basics stitches sampler
Chelle's Creations at scraporchard: Fireworks (fireworks and sparklers, July daily blog giveaway)
Sahlin Studio at TLP: Country Fair Picnic Papers
Valori Wibbens at TLP: Summer Stories elements
Kate Hadfield at TLP: Summer Staycation and Stars n Stripes Alpha
Anna Forrest Designs at Pickleberry Pop: PSE Create Shadow Layer action

Prompt 1- picture that says 'summer' journaling: One of the first signs of summer in our house is the appearance of the multiple pairs of flip-flops. Once school lets out and the weather heats up, the socks and shoes are delegated to the back of the closet where the flip-flops resided during the winter months. Even though I’m sure that we have more than enough pairs between the 5 ladies of the house, we always manage to find another pair that we have to own. Sparkly stones and glittery plastic were the new additions to the lineup this year. ~July 17, 2011
credits:
Jenn Barrett at SSD: Stay-cation
Christina Renee: Sassy Lace (retired)
Crystal Livesay: Grow with Love Staycation template
Kate Hadfield: Summer Staycation
Amy hutchinson at After5Designs: Scruffy Stitches

Prompt 2- A moment of a day. I stretched this prompt just a bit, as I decided to focus on the hours of the week that we spend at dance classes.

journaling: Summer dance classes are an opportunity to polish skills from last year and get a head start on new ones. The schedule is still pretty intense with classes 4 evenings and one morning a week, but at least we have had weekends free this year.
credits:
Sarah Gleason: Grow with Love Staycation template 1
Lorilei Murphy at scrapbookgraphics: Glee (background), Up, Imprints- Dance
Flergs at scrapbookgraphics: Robotrix with Charlize Creations (solid papers), Metallicalpha Collection
Kim Jensen at scrapdish: Shameless Glass Alpha (braces)
Michelle Godin : File It Under Glitzy (sticker tab)
Traci Reed at SSD: 10080 Minutes: Date Tools
font: Century Gothic

Prompt 3- Reading journaling: It’s a weekly activity year-round in our house, visiting the library. During the summer though it’s easier to find time for all of the kids to go. They have fun completing the summer reading program and earning prizes for enjoying books.
credits:
Sahlin Studio at TLP: Country Fair Picnic Papers and Elements
Valorie Wibbens at TLP: Summer Stories elements, Fancy Schmancy Frames, Love Letters
Jenn Barrett at SSD: Stay-cation
Misty Cato: Rainbow Week (blog freebie)
font: FO weathered lowfat, Typewriter

Prompt 4 - movies journaling: We went to see the ballet Giselle, live from Russia at Tinseltown. Yep, live from Russia and in 3D too. It was amazing. The music was beautiful, and of course so was the dancing. The ballerinas and danseurs were so graceful, and when they leaped they looked like they were floating.
credits:
BCD at scrapbookgraphics.com: Movie Weekend, Sweet Ladybug (stitching)
Sara Gleason: Grow with Love Staycation template
font: Fontdiner Loungy

prompt 8 – get wet journaling: We don’t get to go swimming very often for a variety of reasons. We found out that they had finally added a family rate to their prices at Wilson Ranch and so we took an afternoon to go swimming. It had been 8 years since we had been to this fun pool, so it was like new to the kids. The afternoon spent splashing in the water and relaxing in the sun reminded me of the many summer days I spent as a kid at our town’s community pool at Reaney park.
credits:
Crystal Livesay: Leslie's Jumpers
Oscraps designers: trOpical
Valorie Wibbens at TLP: Summer Stories elements (summer word strip)
Kate Hadfield: Summer Staycation (water splash)
Traci Reed at SSD: 10080 Minutes: Date Tools
fonts: Chromosome Heavy

Prompt 15 – Treasure Hunt. OK, this one I stretched more than a bit as I really had no interest in planning out and setting up a treasure hunt for the kids. Instead I decided to scrap about the day 7-11 and how a post I saw from a friend on Facebook about free slurpee day at 7-Elevens sent us on a trip to the convenience store down the street to find our own free icy treat that day.
journaling: It started with a Facebook post from a friend- it was 7-11 day and they were giving away 7.11 ounce slurpees in celebration of their birthday. We stopped at the 7-Eleven down the street on our way to the library. They had 6 different flavors and everyone chose a different one. Free Slurpees make us all smile!
credits:
Crystal Livesay: Grow with Love Staycation template 4
Sahlin Studio at TLP: Country Fair Picnic Papers and elements
Jenn Barrett at SSD: Stay-cation
Amy hutchinson at After5Designs: Scruffy Stitches
Traci Reed at SSD: 10080 Minutes: Date Tools
Kim Jensen at scrapdish: Rubdown- Eclectic, Pink Lemonade Alpha
Pineapple Plantation Designs: sunburst paper overlay
font: Century Gothic

HMS Talent Show 2011- it was “So Insane”

2011-07-15T20:01:00.001-07:00

Beth and Carissa have danced with their friend Derek for 3 years in tap company and various classes at dance. Last year he moved to the same school that B&C attend. They asked him if he would do something with them for the school talent show this last year. We were of course thinking it would be some modified version of the tap company dance they had been working on since fall. Derek said he would, but on the condition that he could pick the song and do the choreography himself. Beth and Carissa agreed, and they spent about 3.5 months working with him on his version of this dance to “So Insane” by Smash Mouth, which they performed on April 28. They tweaked the choreography to fit them all as they went along. It was an interesting experience to watch from a parent’s perspective since they did everything themselves, including work out the little disagreements amongst themselves. The girls had fun and enjoyed working on this with Derek. It turned out well, I think. The video below, not so much LOL Lighting was horrible, the video camera overcompensated, and so you mostly see silhouettes. Oh well. Good job kids, especially with the music troubles that the sound people had too.

At least the camera did a bit better at capturing the details- like faces LOL

Beth and Carissa’s friend Alyssa sang a trio with 2 other friends. they did very well.

And the show ended with all of the participants singing the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believin”. I think it can officially be declared as the school’s song for 2011, as every spring musical performance had a version of it somewhere on the program LOL

Feeling Patriotic

2011-07-11T22:34:00.001-07:00

It’s July and that tends to bring out the patriotic feelings in full force. Of course maybe a certain set of dance photos might have had a bit to do with it as well ;)

credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Buttercup Designs: Vogue Templates, Microferk: My Country and My Country Glass Alpha, Manuella Zimmerman: Only You (white feather), SussieM: Secret Garden (colored feathers); bronze stars made by me
font: TXT Brush Script

credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Lorelei Murphy: Blended Templates 6, Microferk: My Country and My Country Glass Alpha, Manuella Zimmerman: Only You (white feather), SussieM: Secret Garden (colored feathers); bronze stars made by me
font: TXT Brush Script

credits: at scrapbookgraphics-
by Rebecca McMeen: Evangeline and Ismene Bundle
by Tangie Baxter: Tiger-Lily font, Five, Seven and Two font, Mad Hatter font, Mock Turtle font, AJC Journal Lines, Paperworn Art Styles
By Microferk: My Country elements (flag)

and a little flashback to a year ago, last July ;) The girls are in the midst of the party plans for this year now.

credits: by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com: Tiki Beach, Jumbo Postcard Titles, Ring Around the Rosie, Srsly Stoked with Kate Hadfield (frame), Random Moments Elements; font: Baby Boston

Misc April- June scrapbook pages

2011-06-23T15:20:00.001-07:00

Too many pages I have to do in advance and then can’t post until a particular date. They stack up and I forget about them a lot of the time, especially when it comes to posting here on the old blog. So, here’s a number of pages that I’ve been collecting for a while. ;)

journaling: I can feel the anticipation of the day that there are kids playing in Grandma’s new backyard again. There will be lots of laughter and fun once the boxes are all unpacked and the spring weather truly arrives. I know that the tire swing will provide hours of joy, as I remember how much I loved the one in our backyard in Tulsa.
credits: Impressions of Playtime by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: CK Becky, Ticket Capitals Impressed

journaling: Bryce had his first cornet recital November 21 at The Springs Community Church. He played well, especially for his first solo performances! Bryce played Ballad in Blue by Robert Girlamo for his solo piece; Mark accompanied him on the piano. His second piece was a duet with his teacher, Greg Arnold. They played Blue Skies by Irving Berlin. November 21, 2010.
credits: Start the Music by Julia Makotinsky, Marker Doodle Doo, Chipper Chatter Positive Words, and Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter
font: Tangie AJF Tweedledee, Tangie AJF Tweedledum, Times and Times Again

journaling: It was bitterly cold this last day of 2010, but Sarah still wanted to go sledding. We walked to the back of the school and spent about 20 minutes sliding down the hill before Brenna and Sarah got too cold to enjoy it any more. A mug of hot chocolate helped to warm their insides once we got home.
credits: Winter's Blush by Veronica Spriggs and Laitha at scrapbookgraphics.com; Template 185 by Yin Designs; Peace on Earth (alpha) by Flergs and Eva Kipler at scrapbookgraphics; font: Vaguely Repulsive

credits: Connect by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics; font: TXT Scribbletti

credits: Peacock Page Kit and Imagica Elements (hanging pendant) by MicroFerk Designs, Blended Template 05 by Lorelei Murphy
font: Zapf Chancery LT, CK Becky

credits: Discovery by Dianne Rigdon at 2PeasInABucket.com; Jumper 57 (retired) by Crystal Livesay ; font: CK Carefree

credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Good Day Sunshine, Studio Mix; PreFABs Project 365 Pack 2 by Dutchie for The Lab; font: P22 Garamouche

credits: Audaciously Awesome by Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield at Scrapdish.com and The-LilyPad.com; template inspiration 5-11-10 by Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com; font: AJF Madhatter, Technical

How I wish I really had a wall that looked like this to hang the family portrait on!

credits: everything by Lorie Davison at scrapbookgraphics.com: Windows to the Heart {With Everything In It}, The Poet's Keepssakes, Baby Bee Garden, Greymouse Manor Winter Ball, Bunnies Bees and the Birds Big Balloon, Before the First Snow
font: Zapfino Linotype Four

journaling: Take a big breath... close your eyes... scrunch up your nose.... and blow! Brenna enjoying the age old summer tradition of making wishes on dandelion seeds.
credits: by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com: Daisies and Dandelions, Butterfly Fields Paper Pack, Page Plate 1, Audaciously Awesome with Kate Hadfield (alpha); Stick It Dates by Darcy Baldwin at sweetshoppedesigns.com; font: CK Becky

journaling: Last spring after the first grade did their musical, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Brenna told me that she wanted to have a part next year and not just be in the choir. She didn’t hesitate this year to tell Ms. Champlin when the time came and she was assigned the part of Dot the Ladybug in this year’s musical, Bugz. Not only did she get to sing a solo, but she got to dance too- her favorite 2 things in the world.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Sweet Ladybug by BCD, Layered Templates Bundle 1 by Lorelei Murphy; font: Baby Boston

A page from our 2006 vacation. journaling: It was an exhibit that fascinated everyone in the family- just how do they do those amazing magic tricks? yep, it’s science... and the art of diversion too. Each of the tricks could be seen from the front as the audience would see it, and then behind the scenes it was explained how it was all done. There was a live show too that demonstrated a few of the common tricks found in that setting.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Hocus Pocus by Charlize Creations, Layered Templates Bundle 3 by Lorelei Murphy; font: CK Elsie, P22 Garamouche

journaling: Charlotte seems like an eighth member of our family some days. Sarah loves to pretend that she is a real baby of her own. She changes clothes, eats, naps, cries, and gets sick and needs medicine. Charlotte likes to go on shopping trips and to see new things. She can often be found sitting in Mama’s purse during those longer trips. It’s fun to see Sarah taking care of her and enjoying this doll from her great-grandmother Patsy.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: by Dawn Inskip- The Playroom with Lorie M, Above and Beyond Template 16, Painted Alphas; by Tangie Baxter- Paperworn Art Styles, AJF Mock Turtle; font: Arial, AJF Mock Turtle

journaling: Several times a summer this small traveling carnival arrives at a vacant lot near our home. The flashing lights are like a beacon calling out to everyone to come and spend an hour or two having a good time. My kids are not immune to its siren call and beg to go each time we drive by.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Studio Mix #2: Carnival Story, Carnival Story B-Sides Alpha, and Carnival Story B-Sides Titles by Flergs, Julia Makotinsky and Miss Vivi, Studio Layered Templates Bundle 3 by Lorelei Murphy
font: Fulton Artistamp

dance scrapbook pages

2011-05-26T07:46:00.001-07:00

Digiscrap designers I know and love have been cranking out the dancing kits and scrapping elements recently (did they get tired of me suggesting dance kits to them finally? LOL), which has given my scrapbook mojo a little kickstart- yeah for that! So, I’ve been scrapping all about dance pages. I’m sure the growing collection of beautiful new dance costumes in my house is helping a little too. Here they are :)

journaling: It was a big leap this year for Beth and Carissa to the upper levels of tap at our studio, but lots of fun to dance with the ‘big girls’ and Ms. Nicole. Master classes with Mr. Gebauer rounded out the summer.
credits: Up and Imprints Dance by Lorelei Murphy, AJC Journey 11 kit by Tangie Baxter; Lots of Photos 1 by Janet Phillips
font: Tangie AJF Dodo, Tangie AJF Tweedle Dee, Tangie AJF Mad Hatter, Tangie AJF Mock Turtle, Technical

journaling: A highlight of each dance year are the holiday shows that the companies do at various rehab, nursing and assisted living centers throughout the city. The kids get performance and personal interaction practice with audience members they do not know, and the senior dancers practice their public speaking skills as well. Petite Ballet performed their holiday dance to "The Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker this year.
credits: Love 2 Dance Collection by Flergs and Charlize Creations at scrapbookgraphics.com; Bitty Blingy Blooms by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com; PMP Challenge Template 34 from Peppermint Creative
font: TXT Santa Font, Arial

A photo of each of the dances I was able to see at DEA this year. This is only about a quarter of the dances our studio took to the competition.

credits: by the Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics: Impressions of Time, Impressions of Enchantment; font: Snowshoe

journaling: Carissa loves this ballet tutu picked by Ms. Toni for their recital dance to The Dance of the Flute Reeds from The Nutcracker - even if it is blue. It sparkles and shines with every move and she feels like a princess with the tiara perched on her head. She has worked hard this year and is ready to move up to Ballet 6 this summer!
credits: Only You Bundle by Manuella Zimmermann at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: Zapfino Linotype Four

credits: Audaciously Awesome by Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield at Scrapdish.com and The-LilyPad.com; template inspiration 1-3-11 by Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com; font: Ziggy Zoe

Dance Quest 2011 scrapbook pages

2011-05-26T07:23:00.001-07:00

I haven’t really posted any photos from the Dance Quest ballet production this year, mainly as I haven’t even finished the enormous task of processing them all. Ms. Kathryn asked me to do the ticket booth sign again this year, and I decided to make a poster digitally that I could take to the print shop. Ms. Kathryn liked it so much that she said she wanted to put it in a frame and hang it on the wall after the production was over. It certainly made me smile whenever I saw people stopping as they walked down the hall to study it. We had to put it behind the plexiglass of the sign so that we didn’t have to worry about the little kids pointing at things and touching it. I learned quite a bit about using masks in PS/PSE working on this project since I pieced together about 8 different pieces of scrapbook paper to make the background layer and fill for the title lettering.
credits:
by Lorie Davison at scrapbookgraphics:
Greymouse Manor Winter Ball
Creative Fusion Once Upon a Time: Story Book Castle
Baby Bee Garden
Little Fishi Island Scenic Papers
Windows to My Heart (flowers)
Faerily Moonlit
Flitting Fall Faeries
Wizard Boarding School by Tangie Baxter (wizard silhouette)
Tuscan Garden by Lorelei Murphy (butterfly)
Mercado Salvage by Tangie Baxter (dragonfly)
Medieval by Alana McCarthy (unicorn) (retired)
fonts: Impact, Natural Script

The Petite Ballet gals were the magical unicorns. credits: Impressions of Transformation by The Studio Girls, Medieval by Alana McCarthy (retired); font: CK Chocolate Sundae, CK Renaissance

everything at scrapbookgraphics.com:
Impressions of Spring by The Studio Girls
Creative Fusion Once Upon a Time: Storybook Castle by Lorie Davison (castle)
Baby Bee Garden by Lorie Davison (grasses)
Blended Templates Bundle 3 by Lorelei Murphy
fonts: Typewriter, IO Spring Violet by The Foundry

The Ballet Arts group ladies were butterflies.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Glee by Lorelei Murphy, Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter; Create Shadow Layer for PSE by Anna Forrest Designs at PickleberryPop
font: Shelley LT Allegro Script, Tangie AJF Violet (included in IO Spring Collab)

The En Pointe Company ladies were the beautiful and enchanting fairies of the forest.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: by Emka: Blessed Moment, Countryside Frames, Wonder Boy Elements, Mammy, In the Grove Frames, Power of Love, Power of Love Frames; by Flergs & Charlize: Love 2 Dance (alpha), by Flergs and Mgl Scraps : Causal Attraction (feather, from Monica’s half which is retired); For the Birds (blue feather scatter) by One Little Bird at Oscraps; font: Zapf Chancery LT

The La Danse Roses graced the forest with their beauty. credits: Glorious Page Kit and Glorious Addons Bundle by Microferk Designs at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: Zapf Chancery LT, Zapfino Linotype Four

The small dragonfly who makes a big difference. credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Secret Garden by SussieM; Blended Templates Set 6 by Lorelei Murphy; font: Zapf Chancery LT

I still have pages to do for the Wizard and the Castle Dancers, but I decided to go ahead and post what I have done instead of waiting any longer. Too many projects and so little time. It will get done eventually! :)

{editing to add the other pages I got done this weekend! I think I’ve got all of the major characters in the production covered now.}

credits: Peacock, Imagica, and Summer Nights Alpha by Microferk at scrapbookgraphics.com;
feathers from- PeacockPeacock by Microferk (SBG), The Collector by Holliewood Studios at deviantscrap.com, Mood for Love by Puong (retired), Casual Attraction by mglscraps (retired), Only You by Manuella Zimmermann (SBG), Mansion Masquerade by DeCrow Designs, Tangie Baxter, Sahlin Studios and Britt-ish Designs (SBG)
sequins- Love 2 Dance by Flergs and Charlize Creations (SBG)
font: Zapf Chancery LT

The non-company dancers who joined the cast of Dance Quest were the Castle Dancers and the village children. Elizabeth and Carissa were included in this group.

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Imagica by MicroFerk Designs
font: Zapf Chancery LT

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Imagica by MicroFerk Designs, Blended Template 01 by Lorelei Murphy; font: Zapf Chancery LT

hee hee- this had me giggling

2011-03-31T14:54:00.001-07:00

I saw this over at The Pioneer Woman’s blog this afternoon, and it made me laugh as I read it, which of course had Beth and Carissa asking me what was so funny since they were in the kitchen making cookies. To which I replied that they would have to come read it for themselves as it not something that can be explained otherwise.

Eye halve a spelling checker
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques for my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it to say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
It’s rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
Eye am shore your pleased two no
It’s letter perfect awl the weigh
My checker tolled me sew.

-Margo Roark

Dancing the weekend away at DEA

2011-03-28T09:31:00.001-07:00

We made it through the first competition weekend of the year at the Dance Educators of America in Denver, March 18-20. The girls all did well and had lots of fun, which I think is the important thing. Here’s quick run-down of the results of the competition part of the weekend.

journaling: I hope that there are always smiles on your faces at the end of every competition- knowing that you did your best and happy with that, no matter what the score outcome was. I'm always proud of and love you!
credits: Hoo Loves You by Dianne Rigdon at 2peasinabucket.com; TDD freebie template by Crystal Livesay; Learning to Sew Vol 2 by Pamela Donnis
font: FO Howie's Stamps Lowfat, CK Becky

Beth and Carissa performed their tap duet Friday night. It was to the song ‘Can’t Hurry Love’ by the Dixie Chicks. They received a silver medal and 5th place overall for pre-teen duets.

The rest of the dances we were in were done Saturday. The Dolls did their tap number, Boogie Fever mid-morning. They received a gold medal and 2nd place for small-fry line.

Youth Tap followed 2 dances later with ‘Bang a Drum.’ They received a gold medal and 3rd place overall for pre-teen groups.

It was a quick change for Beth and Carissa to their ‘Men in Black’ outfits. MIB received a gold medal, 5th place for teen line and the “Audience Choice” Award.

The Dolls took the stage again first in the second half of the day with their hip-hop number, “Big and Chunky.” It received a gold medal, first place for small-fry line and the ‘Highly Entertaining''’ judges award.

journaling: The Dolls did a hip-hop dance to ‘Big & Chunky’ from the movie Madagascar 2 this year for their second dance. Brenna wasn’t too sure about hip-hop after last year’s DEA classes, but I think doing this dance has changed her mind. She has lots of fun showing her attitude and style now.
credits: Dance Like Everyone is Watching by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com; Rubdown {Alphabetic} by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com; handstamped alpha by Michelle Coleman (&); font: CK Kiddo, FO Messy Bessy

The last number my girls were in was near the end of the day Saturday, the big ‘Dare to Dream’ production number which will be the opening for recital in June at the end of the dance season. They received a platinum medal and 1st place for 12 and under productions.

We capped off the competition days with dinner at Applebee’s and then swimming in the hotel pool. I think the girls look forward to the swimming at the end of the day as much as anything!

A Lucky Day in March

2011-03-27T22:12:00.001-07:00

I have a horrible time finding Shamrock Shakes around here in March when they are supposed to be available. I see the little sign at the restaurant saying that they have that flavor, but I’ve learned to ask if they actually have it before I order since 3 out of 4 times they are either out or the milkshake machine is broken. I finally got lucky at the second McD’s I asked at this year and the girls and I were able to enjoy a Shamrock Shake. yum! they even put whipped cream and a cherry on top now :) It’s one of those little things that makes me happy.

journaling: I was so happy to find a McDonald’s with a working shake machine last week so that I could enojoy a Shamrock Shake this year!
I wasn’t so lucky last year. ~March 2, 2011
credits: by Dianne Rigdon at 2Peasinabucket.com: Lucky Day, Find Joy Wordart (recolored), Find Joy Alpha (recolored); Inspired by Nettio templates by Darcy Baldwin at SweetShoppeDesigns.com; font: CK Becky

January & February Scrapbook pages

2011-03-27T22:01:00.001-07:00

Finally finished up the few pages I needed to get the grandparents 2010 albums done in February.

journaling: Santa made his yearly appearance right on schedule, leaving lots of presents behind for everyone. Webkinz and other animals were hiding in stockings along with new Wii games to play and new movies to watch while munching on nuts and bits of chocolate. Music players were the theme of many of the gifts with a new CD player and iPod Shuffles, a Nano and a Classic under the tree. Everyone received new books to read too. Lots of good food rounded out this snow-capped Christmas day.
credits: Peppermint Twist and Peppermint Twist Addon by Michelle Coleman and Candy Striped Alpha by Tickled Pink Stuido at LittleDreamerDesigns.com; Template 165 by Yin Designs
font: Jayne Print

credits: by Christina Renee Designs at scrapbookgraphics.com: Authentic Artistry 2, Entire Collection, Authentic Artistry Collection, Glass Plate Negatives; Create Shadow Layer Action for PSE by Anna Forrest Designs; font: Jayne Print

journaling: It was something I had been meaning to do for a while- sort the bags of mixed Prima flowers by color. Sarah was a good helper for this activity. Not only did it go faster because there were two people working, but it was a good preschool learning tool. There’s no doubt that Sarah knows her colors and the order of them in the rainbow since she insisted that the jars be ordered that way.
credits:
at scrapbookgraphics.com:
by Redju: Cardboard Vol. 2: Handstitched, Paper Flowers Vol. 1, Real Stitches Vol. 4, Real Stitches Vol. 6, Real Stitches Vol. 7, Paper Grass, Shiny Beads, Clipped Flowers, Flowers March 2010 Freebie,
by LilleyScraps: Mapped 09-10
by BaersGarten: Everyday 365 Cardstock
Flergs: Dreaming of Spring freebie (frame)
flowers by Lorelei Murphy from: Beach Babe (retired), Fast Forward, One More Day, Sew Easy 1, Tuscan Garden, and Wise One (newsletter freebie)
font: Manipulative Lover, Please Show Me Some Love, Impact Label Reversed, Typewriter

credits: Impressions of Enchantment by The Studio Girls, Gothic Arches by Tangie Baxter, Mask It PSE by Wendyzine, Create Shadow Layer Action for PSE by Anna Forrest Designs; font: CK Cursive

credits: Blended Templates Bundle 3 by Lorelei Murphy, by Lorie Davison- Poet's Keepsake {with everything in it}, Before the First Snow {with everything in it}
font: Arial, TXT Sloppy Script

credits: Blended Templates Bundle {01-13} by Lorelei Murphy, by Lorie Davison- Poet's Keepsake {with everything in it}, Before the First Snow {with everything in it}, Flergs and Eva Kipler- Peace on Earth (blue paper, blended with tan background); font: Arial, TXT Sloppy Script

credits: Blended Template Bundle 1 by Lorelei Murphy at scrapbookgraphics;
font: MA Sexy

Dance Quest- Sneak Peek

2011-03-03T12:31:00.001-07:00

This year’s Dance Quest production, The Awakening, is almost here! The next week and a half is crowded with dress rehearsals and preparations of all kinds for the performances Saturday and Sunday, March 12 and 13. Here’s a couple of posters and pictures to tease you just a bit.

credits:
by Lorie Davison at scrapbookgraphics:
Greymouse Manor Winter Ball
Creative Fusion Once Upon a Time: Story Book Castle
Baby Bee Garden
Little Fishi Island Scenic Papers
Windows to My Heart (flowers)
Faerily Moonlit
Flitting Fall Faeries
Wizard Boarding School by Tangie Baxter (wizard silhouette)
Tuscan Garden by Lorelei Murphy (butterfly)
Mercado Salvage by Tangie Baxter (dragonfly)
Medieval by Alana McCarthy (unicorn) (retired)
fonts: Impact, Natural Script

Brenna aka Dot, the Ladybug

2011-03-02T12:36:00.001-07:00

Last spring after the first grade did their musical, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Brenna told me that she wanted to have a part next year and not just be in the choir. She didn’t hesitate this year to tell Ms. Champlin when the time came and she was assigned the part of Dot the Ladybug in this year’s musical, Bugz. Not only did she get to sing a solo, but she got to dance too- her favorite 2 things in the world.

and here are a few photos of that extra special ‘Lady’ too.

I’m slowly figuring out how to edit and share the videos I take with the new digital video camera. The software is fairly easy to use, but it seems to be proprietary and not compatible with the videos I have taken with my iPod. I suppose I’ll figure out if that is truly case one of these days- when I have a bit more time to read the manual (yeah, right! LOL).

Art Journal Caravan 2011

2011-02-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

So, I joined Tangie Baxter’s AJC for 2011. I kind of fell off the wagon toward the end of last year, at least as far as doing the directed prompts each week. But, I still got inspiration and found myself thinking about recording different things about myself, and that is what I thought as important to get out of the experience. I still haven’t done much quantity-wise this year, but I have done a few things. I’ve got a big project for February “in the works”, doing a little bit at a time. Maybe I’ll have it done by the end of the month, but maybe not ;)

My one word this year is 'explore', as I want to enjoy the time I take to learn new things like sewing dance costumes that I have to do for my daughters' dance company and hopefully find the time to just try some new things as well as return to some older craft pastimes.

credits: by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com: Journey '11, AJC '11 Parcel 01, AJC'11 Parcel 02; Desk Mess (hole punches) by Holliewood Studios at DeviantScrap.com
font: Impact

I had the urge to scrap this visual of what I feel like my life is like these days, in part because today was a milestone birthday for me (40)- different pieces held together, sometimes messily, but hopefully creating a larger picture that over time will come together as a beautiful whole.
journaling: I feel like a juggler most days now that the kids are older and involved in so many activities. I wake up making lists in my head of everything that needs to happen on a given day and what time it has to be accomplished by. It’s a challenge for sure, but one I’m glad to be able to take on- being there for my children, cheering them on & helping them grow on their path to independence.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: by Dawn Inskip- Sew Special, Above & Beyond Layered Template 13, Stick People, More Stick People, Skinny Minnie Alpha,and Everyday Titles, by Berna Datema- Logbook Papers Vol. 2
font: CK Becky, LD Letterpress

journaling: It’s the big 4-0 milestone this year for me. Where did the years go? It hardly seems possible that I’m now one of the adults in the midst of middle-age. Some things tell me that I’m not as young as I used to be- my knees give me warning that a storm is coming our way when they start aching, I’ve usually got a bruise or two from stumbling over something, I find myself peering over my glasses when working on small projects, and it just seems to take longer to get over small illnesses, among other things. Overall though, things are good. I’m thankful for a wonderful family, good health overall, and the energy to keep up with everything that the kids are doing as they get older. I wish there was a bit more time for ‘me’ occasionally, but I’m so glad that I have the time and ability to be there for others. This birthday only marks the beginning of the second part of my life, and I’m determined that it will be better than the first! ~Melinda January 27, 2011
credits: Queen For a Day and Big Stampy Alpha by Pixel Works at The-LilyPad, tape from Random Moments by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com
font: CK Becky

Smitten – an SBG Valentine’s Day Blog Train

2011-02-14T00:16:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Smitten with SBG Valentine’s Day blog train. We hope to make your day a bit sweeter with minikits and QPs this year! There is also a sale going on in the SBG store. Simply type the word
SMITTENWITHSBG
into the search box @ Scrapbookgraphics Store to see ALL of the great deals the designers have for you.

Download my QP HERE or by clicking on the preview.

Your next stop is Flor’s blog for another goodie I know you’ll be smitten with!

If you get lost along the way, you might want to stop by the SBG blog! A full list of the blog train stops will be posted there!

Catching up on 2010 pages & getting started on 2011

2011-01-18T22:29:00.001-07:00

A few non-Christmasy pages from 2010.

credits: Man at Work and Man at Work -Borders by Manuella Zimmermann and Impressions of Fatherhood (notepaper by Flergs) at scrapbookgraphics.com; Template 209 by Yin Designs; Distress brushes by April Anderton
fonts: Typewriter, TXT Tough Love

journaling: We celebrated Sarah’s 5th birthday with a garden party. It was only family and Ms. Becky this year as the friends we invited were not able to come. We had a fabulous time anyway! It was a brunch party, so we served breakfast goodies like blueberry brunch cake, egg sausage casserole, fruit salad, and chocolate walnut bread. We made our own puzzles by drawing pictures on craft sticks and decorated cookies to look like ladybugs with chocolate chips for spots on their wings. Sarah received new My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop sets, and her favorite gift was a gold Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster named Nugget. It was a fun morning celebrating the special day that Sarah joined our family!
credits: by Lorie Davison at scrapbookgraphics.com: Baby Bee Garden (With Everything In It!), Plump Blossom Alpha, Greymouse Manor Winter Ball (With Everything In It!) (cupcakes), Flitting Fall Faeries Tea Party Elements (tea pot and cups, fairy); Template 159 by Yin Designs; fonts: TXT Altius

credits: New Year = New Me by Pixel Works at The-LilyPad.com; Just Hangin by Lliella at SweetShoppeDesigns.com; fonts: TXT Tough Love

Sarah's favorite treats are still cupcakes, though she won't turn down anything sweet.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Yum Yum by Boutique Cute Doll, Blueprints Set 4 by True Blue; fonts: TXT Stonewashed, SP Toby Unleashed

And getting started on scrapping the new year, beginning with a coverpage for my 2011 album

credits: Impressions of Time by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com

journaling: It was a quick little trip to Staples for something, probably photo paper of some kind, that Daddy tagged along on during his last visit with us in Colorado Springs. He snapped this picture with his camera and gave it to me later. This is the type of moment I remember most of him- the quiet, every day ones with him there when he was needed, even if it was just as a companion on a 10 minute shopping trip. It’s been 4 years since he went on to Heaven, and I still miss his gentle presence in our lives.
credits: everything by Lilleyscraps at scrapbookgraphics.com: Sentimental, A Single Word, Mapped 09-10

journaling: Sarah, you are one special little girl. Each day with you is an adventure. You are sweet and sassy and know just what you like. Anything cute and cuddly is an instant hit with you. You saw this shirt with the penguins on it at Target and there was no convincing you to pick anything else. You were so happy to see it in your stocking on Christmas morning.
credits: Funky girl Papers, Funky Girl Elements, and What Holidays Mean to Me by Pixel Works at The-LilyPad.com; Scrap in a Snap Freebie 5 by Cindy Schneider; penguin template by me; fonts: CK Becky

journaling: Brenna finally lost her third tooth on January 12th, 2011. It had been wiggly for a very long time and she finally pulled it out at school. She now has a big hole in her mouth and the cutest little lisp when she talks. The other front top tooth is also loose and will probably come out soon too. She was anxiously awaiting the visit of the tooth fairy that night.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: PreFABs 29-32 by Dutchie for The Lab, In My Imagination by Flergs and Ju Kniepp, Casual Attrraction by Flergs and MGL Scraps (zig zag stitching), Scattered Hearts by Flergs (stitched border)
font: Sweetheart Script, Dirty Ego

Christmas pages

2011-01-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

A few from 2009 and a few from 2010…. but who’s keeping track?

credits: Happy Holly Days by Flergs and Amanda Rockwell at scrapbookgraphics.com; Learning to Sew by Pamela Donnis
fonts: CK Mou Saha

credits: Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train kits from the Scrapbookgraphics Designers and Crew (starts on Flergs' blog!); fonts: FG Amelia

journaling: All 5 of the kids helped me make a batch of sugar cookies to send to Dale for his Christmas present. ~2010
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Squared preFABs No. 2 by Dutchie for The Lab, Everyday 365 Kit Collection (December, solids and flair) by Baers Garten;
fonts: TXT Santa Font

credits: Holly and Ivy by Rebecca McMeen and DeCrow Designs, and Punched Petals Vol. 1 by Studio Buttercup at scrapbookgraphics.com

I spiffed up a container for the box of cookies that I sent Dale for Christmas this year.

credits: Merry Little Christmas by Dianne Rigdon at 2PeasInABucket; 12 Days Words by One Little Bird at Oscraps
fonts: TXT Santa Font

Special thanks to my mom’s friend Bill for getting this nice photo of us all together at the zoo!
credits: Alice's Winter Wonterland by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com
fonts: Spring

credits: Alice's Winter Wonterland by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com; Template 173 by Yin Designs; fonts: Spring

journaling: It’s almost a tradition now that the kids get new games to play from Santa on Christmas morning. They got 4 new ones this year- U-Build Lego versions of Mousetrap, Sorry, and Monopoly and a travel Blokus game.
credits: Impressions of Family Night by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com; Sketch Collection 29 by Jen Caputo (retired)
fonts: SP Toby Unleashed

Holiday Show Dance Performances

2010-12-26T23:03:00.001-07:00

If you are here looking for the SBG blog train, click HERE.

I finally figured out how to share some of the videos I took during a few of the performances the girls had in December.

Youth Tap - Nuttin’ For Christmas

Petite Ballet – Sugar Plum Fairy

Dolls, group 4 – Frosty the Snowman

November Wrap-Up

2010-12-06T22:18:00.001-07:00

If you are here looking for the SBG blog train, click HERE.

journaling: We spent Thanksgiving at home this year- the first time in many years. Mark made the turkey, cranberry
sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and squash while Melinda made green bean casserole, stuffing, spoonbread, sweet potatoes, and of course pumpkin pie. It was nice to enjoy the day together at a relaxed pace.
credits: by Michelle Coleman at LittleDreamerDesigns: Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day Sample; Template by Aly Hall from Cookies 4 Kids 2010 at SweetShoppeDesigns.com; by Pixel Works: File It Under (retired); By Kate Hadfield: Heavy Duty Staples (retired); Kristin Aagard: Happy Haunters Alpha (blog freebie)
fonts: CK Invitation

It was quite the holiday weekend, to say the least. Let's see if I can keep the weekend events to short novel-length :P

We had a 5 day weekend respite from all activities because of the holiday and I was looking forward to sleeping in Wednesday. I woke up to the sound of the vacuum cleaner running and the first floor of the house totally turned upside down. I spent the afternoon after getting the SBG spotlight posted trying to make some semblance of order out of the mess of my LR just so I could walk around. The big thing that DH did was move my big computer armoire I use for my paper scrapping supplies into the main LR area next to the table that I now use for my digital scrapping stuff. Of course to do that he had to empty it, as it weighs a ton by itself not to mention the ton of supplies that were packed into it. He took the kids out for lunch and I opted not to go so I could keep working and I had to run to the library to pick up a bunch of books for Carissa that had come in. He was gone a lot longer than I expected and when he did finally come home he told me to get in the car and come with him while the kids stayed at home. Not really knowing what to expect I just did what he asked and went with him. He took me to a big furniture store on the other side of town and told me we were picking out new furniture for the family room. So we did- a new couch big enough to seat all 7 of us at the same time, a tv console for all of the electronics sitting on the floor and table we were currently using, and a trunk-coffee table piece. We arranged for it to be delivered on Saturday.

We spent Thanksgiving at home, just us. That was fine, it was nice to stay home. DH helped cook so the day was pretty relaxed. In between cooking we worked on the house. I cleaned out the closet containing all of my old Creative Memories product, freeing it up for other scrapbook supplies I was keeping. I sent off an email to a consultant I still give referrals to asking if she would help me sell it. I had decided this summer it was time to get rid of the vast majority of it- most I had kept originally after quitting being a consultant intending to finish up some albums I had started and some other projects- but I hadn't really figured out what I was going to do to get rid of it and not feel like it was a total waste of good supplies and money. After not getting to any of it in all of these years it was time to admit I wasn't going to do them and let it go, hopefully getting at least some of the $ back I had invested in it. DH and I spent a couple of hours after the kids went to bed planning where we were going and what we were going to get during the Black Friday sales the next morning.

In the wee-hours after only a couple of hours of sleep we got up and headed out to try and get the items we wanted. After bombing out at the first store we went to because we weren't going to stand in line inside the store just to find out they didn't have what we wanted for one of the kids, we spent 45 minutes standing in line in the freezing cold at an electronics store. DH got his surround-sound system and I got the video camera I wanted at this store without too much drama- only had to have the manager figure out why it wasn't giving us the free movie disc burner we were supposed to get with the video camera. Our next stop was Target – and we got what we wanted in a short amount of time. Out in the parking lot the inconsiderate person parked next to us left their shopping cart right in back of our van instead of walking it back to the cart return- we saw them do it and then leave. It was maybe 5:30 at this point- still dark and we were starting to feel the lack of sleep. After putting the cart in the return I dashed back to the van to put the newly purchased item in my hand in the back since DH had it open for what he was carrying. He didn't notice me at the edge of the van and slammed the back door down on top of me- the door hit me on the left back side of my head and pushed the right side of my face into the back edge of the van- big huge ouch! I was seeing stars. If I hadn't had my glasses on I'm sure it would have been worse. Miraculously my glasses weren't damaged- investing some extra into the super-flexible metal frames was worth it this time for sure. We had a couple more stops, and while my head was hurting it wasn't horrible so we went on. Our last stop was Staples an hour later where I was looking for PSE9- a bust in the store, but it didn't take long to find that out at least. They might have had more copies since all they had on the shelf were empty demo boxes for all of the software, but no one was available who might have been able to check for me. So we headed home and I checked out their website and just ordered it online for the same price with free shipping- that works too LOL

I took some ibuprofen and headed back to bed for a nice long nap just as the first of the kids were getting up. I pretty much was fighting a massive headache all day on Friday, especially over my right eye where I had hit the side of the van. A few hours later I was starting to sport a nice black eye, which wasn't a surprise.

We put up the Christmas tree and decorated the fireplace mantle Friday- had to get the boxes put up again since they were were the new furniture was going the next morning. I helped Bryce rake up the last of the tree leaves in the yard Friday afternoon too. The couch and tv console were delivered Saturday afternoon, later than expected. The trunk we bought was damaged when the guys loaded the truck so we didn't accept that one. They brought the replacement piece Monday morning. I've tried to keep plugging away at the mess and it is actually down a lot, but there is still a lot to get through. I need to do some more weeding and tossing. The new couch is nice, it is nice to have enough room for everyone to sit down on furniture instead of half of us being on the floor when we watch movies together.

All in all, the weekend was pretty good. I had been thinking it would be nice to have my scrapping armoire next to my computer table for a little while, but I hadn't mentioned it to DH as the amount of work to move it was daunting- still is even at about 80% through the whole process. At least I am getting to the end of it, finally.

Bryce had a jazz band concert on November 10 and his first cornet recital November 21. I videoed his songs from the recital with my ipod so I could show them. He did really well!

Bryce playing Ballad in Blue by Robert Girlamo. November 21, 2010. Mark is accompanying him on the piano.

and his second piece was a duet with his teacher, Greg Arnold. They played Blue Skies by Irving Berlin.

Here are some pages I did in November- a few from November’s events and some from older dates- the usual mix ;)

credits: Srsly Stoked by Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield at Scrapdish.com and The-Lilypad.com; Learning to Sew V2 by Pamela Donnis; template by Roadside Designs for Weeds & Wildflowers Designs template challenge
fonts: TXT Scribbletti

journaling: This November afternoon was filled with Thanksgiving activities- making quick costumes for Brenna & Sarah so they could dress up for AWANA that evening, baking mini pumpkin pies to share, and collecting canned food from friends for the Care and Share food drive at school.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Basic Buds Vol1 by Buttercup Designs, Everyday 365 Kit Collection (November, solids, flair, and Word Bits) by Baers Garten
fonts: Typewriter

A page about DH's short-lived stint in the Navy.
credits: by Pixel Works at The-Lilypad.com: Always Remember Papers, Always Remember Elements & Alphas, Soldier Stuff Addon, waves from Where Are We? (retired) ; fonts: Typewriter

credits: Impressions of Comfort Home by the Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com; fonts: CK Heritage

Title page for my 2010 album.
credits: Everyday 365 Kits Collection by Baers Garten at scrapbookgraphics;
font: CK Cursive

credits: by Re Kneipp at scrapbookgraphics.com: Color My World with Damayanti Designs and Have a Nice Day Templates; fonts: MA Sexy

journaling: There’s nothing quite like getting a brand new box of markers to use. One of Sarah’s favorite things to do is draw and color- in coloring books or on pieces of scratch paper where anything she can imagine comes to life. One of my favorite ‘everyday gifts’ is a new picture drawn just for me by Sarah.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Doodlemania.ink by Dawn Inskip, Clustered 1-4 by Dutchie for The Lab, Metallicalpha Collection by Flergs; fonts: CK Handprint

credits: by Dianne Rigdon at 2PeasInABucket.com: Now I Lay, Journalique Elements (crochet lace), retired: Summer Living Pink Lemonade (ric rac), Little Buddies Glitters; portrait by Roseanne Miske Photography
fonts: Cezanne

journaling: Brenna takes ballet, tap and jazz dance classes each week, but her favorite by far is ballet. Her toes are always pointed just so, even without a teacher’s reminder. The audience can tell that she really feels the music and tries to interpret it with her movements, a skill that is hard to teach. She loves the music, the precision, the movements, and of course, the pretty tutus she gets to wear. She is a beautiful ballerina already, and I look forward to watching her improve as she learns more in years to come!
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Ballet Recital by Dawn Inskip, Sketch Collection 34 by Jen Caputo ; fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

October Wrap-Up

2010-12-06T21:54:00.001-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I know I’m way behind. I can’t keep up with everything these days. All of the hours at the dance place really cut into my computer time. So, here’s a quick run-down of what all happened in October.

Sarah turned 5. My cake lover got 2 cakes- a smaller store-bought one to eat on her actual day, and then another bigger cake in the theme for her party which happened the next day. She had a garden party with ladybugs and fairies for her theme this year.

The maple tree in the front yard turned its beautiful, fiery red. We had two cases of strep run through the house in the twins 2.5 weeks apart, probably picked up at dance on separate occasions.

Costume week, the week leading up to Halloween, at dance is always lots of fun. I took pictures of as many of the classes as I could- even ones my kids weren’t in because it is just fun to see everyone in costume :)

Brenna showing her ‘monster face’ in jazz class- they learned a small dance to part of the song ‘This is Halloween’ from Nightmare Before Christmas during this class.

Brenna and her jazz teacher, Ms. Emily.
Ms. Rozanne donned her usual black witch costume for her ballet classes.
Even Ms. Cindy got into the spirit this year and dressed up for classes- she was an OSU cheerleader for tap class on Saturday morning.

Brenna and her best buds at the 2nd grade Halloween party.
and here they are ready to go out trick-or-treating Sunday evening. Sarah was insistent on wearing the string wig that came with the Dora costume even though it was a little too small and incredibly difficult to keep on. I tried to convince her that her hair matched Dora’s without the wig, but she wasn’t buying it LOL Brenna loved the sparkly Minnie Mouse costume I found this summer at the Libert’s garage sale, and then she loved it even more when I found the red sparkly shoes to go with it. Beth and Carissa purchased their own costumes with birthday money this year, and Bryce was a ninja.
Our pumpkins for the year. These first 2 are the ones that Beth and I carved with Brenna and Sarah’s help, and the second 2 are ones that Beth and Carissa carved at a church youthgroup meeting.

journaling: We had lots of Halloween fun this year- pom pom bats, owls and pumpkins crafting, carving real pumpkins, dressing up all week at dance classes, and of course trick-or--treating Halloween night in the neighborhood. Kaylie P, Courtney H and Kaylee H rounded out the trick-or-treat crew from our block.
credits: Everyday 365 Kits Collection (October, solids and flair) by Baers Garten at scrapbookgraphics; Collection 32 by Jen Caputo; fonts: Arial

and my roundup of the rest of the pages I scrapped during the month.
Brenna enjoying a fresh apple right off of the tree at a local apple farm in 2006.
credits: by Pixel Works at The-LilyPad.com: Autumn Fresh Papers and Autumn Fresh Elements, Kitschy Stitchy Fall Doodles (grass); by Pixel Works, retired: Melt My Heart (stitched border), Wild Hearts (single stitch), My Beloved with Rachel Young (tag with string); brush strokes by Michelle Coleman, I Can See Clearly by Misty Cato; fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

A rare family picture with everone in it!
credits: at The-LilyPad.com: by Pixel Works: Autumn Fresh Papers and Autumn Fresh Elements, by Amy Martin: Hodgity Podgity; fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

journaling: It was the first year that Elizabeth and Carissa had plans for Halloween that didn’t include family. Their friend Brooke had a Halloween party and then took them trick-or-treating. They had lots of fun, but Mama missed having them with us during the holiday evening.
credits: by Pixel Works at The-LilyPad.com: Eerie-Sistable Papers and Elements, Irrevocably in Love Alpha; fonts: Spring

Journaling: Halloween week at The Dance Center is one of the kids favorites because they are allowed, even encouraged, to wear their costumes to class all week. Even the big girls and teachers dress up. Brenna had more fun picking out a different costume for each of her classes. She had to make up a ballet class, so she went to Ms. Rosanne's pre-ballet the day before Halloween and wore a princess costume. Ms. Rosanne dressed up as a black witch with a lovely large hat, twig broomstick parked outside the door and a sign proclaiming that "the Witch is in".
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Mansion Masquerade {Quadruple Collab}, Clusters and Splatters, and Mixed Media Add-on by Tangie Baxter, DeCrow Designs, Sahlin Designs and Brit-tish Designs; PreFABs25-28 by The Lab; fonts: TXT Altius

Brenna loves ballet and tells me she wants to do en pointe someday. She has many years of hard work ahead of her, but I know she can do it!
credits: The Poet's Keepsake by Lorie Davison at scrapbookgraphics.com; portrait by Jen Ulsawiecz Photography; fonts: Pushkin

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Smile.Laugh.Play and Smile.Laugh.Play Extra Papers by Flergs, by Wendyzine: Shadows and Borders 2 Brown and Warp It
fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

credits: by Pixel Works at The-LilyPad: {Her} Story Papers, Vintage Papers and Frames, Vintage Ransom Alpha, Love Blooms Here (red button), Irrevocably in Love (rose), Bits and Baubles (blue rose), My Beloved with Rachel Young (green button); Cinnamon Toasted (leaf) by Amy Wolffe at The-LilyPad; Template Pack 2 by Lili (blog freebie)

And I scrapped quite a few pages about myself as well. I do love that since I have gone digital with my scrapping that I have time to record my own memories. When I was paper scrapping, I spent a large part of my time making scrapbooks for the various grandparents for Christmas.While I loved making the albums for them it really limited the amount of time I had to get other projects done. With digital scrapping I can make a page once and just have 3 or 4 copies made of it when I have the printing done- love that!
The one picture I have of my 10th birthday celebration.
credits: Squared PreFABs by Dutchie at The Lab at scrapbookgraphics; by Christina Renee: It's Your Birthday, url=http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/Patched-with-Love-Fabric-Scraps.html]Patched With Love[/url], Ultimate Art Collection (paper), Shabby Stitchin

journaling: I’m the first to admit that my memory is just a bit too full these days with 5 childrens’ schedules to keep track of. If I don’t write things down, then they are quickly lost to the sands of time. That is why I scrapbook- to record the bits and pieces of our daily lives that would otherwise be forgotten. I’m not much for diary keeping, but I love combining photos, art and words to express myself and my feelings. It’s one way I show how much those around me, mean to me.
credits: Journalique Kit by Dianne Rigdon at 2PeasInABucket
fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

journaling: One of my favorite genres of books to read is murder mysteries. I’m very fond of vampire and werewolf stories too. Reading about blood and guts, killings and other gruesome things doesn’t bother me most of the time. Don’t ask me to watch a horror movie though, because I won’t do it. I avoid movie channels and the theater during the month of October because of the prevalence of scary movies where evil people or creatures are out to get everyone. They give me nightmares, and that is something I can do without. Maybe it is because generating the pictures to go with the words myself inside my head makes it not so scary?
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Impressions of Fright by The Studio Girls, by Lorie Davison: Don't Eat Worms World (stool, books), Before the First Snow (Raven, ink splatter), by Wendyzine: Creative Fusion Once Upon a Time Storybook Template
fonts: Pushkin, CK Becky

For the September 2010 Journaling challenge at The-LilyPad. I totally lifted Robin's "Just Hit Play" page when I got stumped for a few letters of the "ABC's of me" list I was originally working on.
credits:
at TLP: Kaye Winieki- Click to Scrap, Template Set 28; Kate Hadfield- Music Doodles, iRobot with Kaye Winieki; Jacque Larsen- Mismatch Type; Jenna Desai- Doodle Frames and Masks #2;
iPod Nano and headphones from Academic Overload High School Doodles by Tracey Monette at scrapbook-elements, notes overlay by Ellie Lash from Bring On the Music Collab (retired)
fonts: LD Beatnik, CK Journaling Condensed

SBG Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train Stop #4B

2010-12-04T00:26:00.001-07:00

Wheeee! The SBG Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train stops here at my little spot on the web today! Beginning Dec 1 and every day until Christmas, the Scrapbookgraphics’ Designers and Crew are hosting some special goodies on the Santa Brings Goodies blog train. Be sure to check the train each day for your free download(s).

Here is my gift to you- a template and a QP made with a mix of all of the pieces that the designers are sharing this month. I’ve made two versions of the QP and you can pick which one you want. If you’re like me and still have a few photos on your HD from last year that need scrapping, I made a 2009 version to share. For those that are looking ahead in anticipation of the photos yet to be taken this month, I also made a 2010 version.

Here’s my version of the completed page.

You can DL my goodies here:

template --- 2009 QP ---- 2010 QP

Today is a double stop day, so make sure to head to Jenn’s blog (Studio True Blue) to grab her beautiful gift as well.

The blog train started on Studio Flergs’ Flergalicious blog, so head on over and grab your first freebie if you haven’t collected it yet, and then enjoy the ride all month long! Thanks for stopping by and have a very merry Christmas and happy new year!

and for your December 5th stop, head to Wendyzine’s blog. She has a fabulous goodie for you too!

TLP Scrap Your Freakin’ Heart Out Contest Entries

2010-10-24T19:41:00.001-07:00

The LilyPad has a little scrapping contest going on now, and I decided to play along even though I have no allusions of winning anything. It’s always a fun challenge to get a page done that follows the prompts and guidelines within the required time frame. There are 3 weeks and 3 categories that they are judging the entries on- photography, design and journaling.

The prompt for week 1 was ‘past present future’.
Journaling: I’ve never been much for dressing up. That’s not to say that I didn’t, it just wasn’t very often even as a kid. I remember being Red Riding Hood one year, my red cape and hood were sewn simply from a red towel by my mom. She also made me a witch costume a couple of years later. I watched her cut the fabric and sew the pieces together anxiously and could hardly wait to don it on Halloween night for trick-or-treating. These two costumes were put in storage and while I would occasionally get them out of the box to admire, I don’t remember wearing them much. The only other Halloween costume I remember specifically was the white rabbit outfit I put together myself to go with the ears I purchased that year. Once I got to high school I decided not to bother with dressing up and just went trick-or-treating for Unicef each year as PHS had a class competition. We often got candy along with the money for charity from the houses we stopped at even without dressing up. Homecoming week in high school was filled with different dressup days, but I only rarely participated in those. The picture of Matt and I dressed up for ‘pajama day’ our senior year made the yearbook (probably because it was such a rare sight LOL). Now that I’m a mom I enjoy helping the kids find their costumes for Halloween each year and occasionally I can be talked into putting on something simple for the evening. I’m usually content to stick with some small wardrobe gesture to the current holiday season. I’m just not that comfortable with putting on costumes and pretending to be something other than what I am.
credits:
At The-LilyPad:
Kaye Winieki: Ruby's Room (papers, doll and dress up pieces), The Secret Garden (doll), Where Bluebirds Fly (flower and leaf on purse), Merry and Bright with Kate Hadfield (santa hat and reindeer antlers adapted from elements), Petmania with Holly Griego (angel wings), The First Noel (angel halo)
Amy Martin: Fun Felts Picnic (basket), Messy Ribbons Mix (ribbon tie on red riding hood cape)
Jacque Larsen: Ballet Slippers (wand and tiara)
Rachel Young: white alpha from You Make Me Smile by TLP designers
Kate Hadfield: Friendly Spooks with Tiff Brady (papers, jack-o-lantern)
Kim Jensen at scrapdish: Rich Christmas (jingle bell)
Ztampf! at scrapbookgraphics: Satin Swirls
Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics: Opera House (golden sparkles)
Traci Reed at SweetShoppeDesigns: Bad Sewing Machine XVIII- Kinda Kleen
Christina Renee Designs: Exotic Adventure (leopard)
Flergs at scrapbookgraphics: Flergalicious Felt
fonts: Chromosome Heavy

The prompt for week 2 was ‘small medium large’.
I've been talking with my kids a lot lately about how much computers have changed over the years and the things I remembered about them growing up. The word small in the prompt had me singing that well-known little song from Disney (sorry if it is stuck in your head now too! LOL), and this LO is the result of me putting all of that together.

journaling:
    It's a small world after all! As a kid I never would have imagined how this big world that we live in could actually turn out to be so small. Computers in the home were a far-off thought when I was young, most were so big back then that it wasn't even possible. I remember taking field-trips in elementary school to the university computer science building and seeing the computer that took up half of one floor; We were given old punch-cards to take home with us as souvenirs of our visit. A few years later the middle school received a donation of a computer lab from Apple and we had our first experiences with desktop Mac computers. I learned to type on the KayPro personal computer that my mom purchased to use at home for work. It was one of the first portable computers as it could be packed up and carried from place to place. It was about the size of a small suitcase and weighed about 30 pounds. We had a dot-matrix printer to go with it.
    When I started college, 5 1/4" floppy disks were still common, though the smaller 3.5" version of floppies were starting to become more prevalent. Most people still didn't have everyday access to a computer and a lot of students had to go to the university computer labs to type reports and assignments for class. During the year that Mark and I were engaged and he was in Germany while I was in Washington, we wrote letters every day and after putting them in the mailbox waited 7-10 days for them to cross the country and ocean. We talked on the phone once a week too, but that was still quite expensive, so letters were our primary means of communication despite its slow speed.
    In 1992, we bought our first home desktop computer when we returned to Pullman so that I could finish my bachelors degree. It ran Windows 2.0 with 256 kBs of RAM and had a whole 200 MB of hard drive space, which Mark thought would last us a long time. I got my first email account that year as well, and I had to go to the computer science building on campus and sign in to the university main frame computer to check it.
    It's now 2010 and we've continued to upgrade our home computers over the years and there are as many computers in our house as there are people. The calculator that I bought Bryce for his 9th grade Algebra II class this year has more RAM in it than that first computer we bought. I carry a cell phone and can be reached even when I'm not at home. I think nothing of logging onto the internet with my morning coffee to check my email messages, some of which are from friends I chat with daily that happen to live on the opposite side of the planet. The personal computer has revolutionized the world and made it a much smaller place.

credits: at The-LilyPad.com:
Kaye Winieki: Click To Scrap, Some Bunny Loves You (blue paper on planet), Where Bluebirds Fly (houses, circular spots pattern), Cafe Break
Rachel Young: Spell It Simply Alpha
Valorie Wibbons, retired: Fireflies elements (glowing spots)
Pixel Works, retired: Intergalactic Ivan papers (blue and black papers) and elements (stars), Melt My Heart (painted circle paper)
Dani Mogstad at SweetShoppeDesigns: Imperfect Circles
fonts: Arial Narrow

Week 3: This quote was our inspiration: "Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts: the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art."
John Ruskin

journaling: 2009 was a year of experimenting and learning about photography for me through Project 365- taking a picture every day for a year. I didn’t set out to complete P365 at first, but after a couple months of taking my camera everywhere I was used to having it with me all of the time. I love that I have photos of everything both big and small that happened that year. Even better was that my photography improved during the year as I played with my camera and learned how to use the different modes. I especially focused on using natural lighting and how to take better photos in lower light settings without using the flash. The photos on this page are my favorites, both for composition, lighting or a special moment captured. Dancers of all kinds sharing their love of this art form with those watching, a small bird huddled on the porch during an early snowstorm, nature’s majestic beauty in all seasons, family holiday traditions, and of course the enjoyment of the whole family of these things. My dad was always trying and learning something new throughout his life, I like to think I’m following in his footsteps in this regard.

credits:
at The-LilyPad.com:
TLP Designers: You Make Me Smile Collab
Kaye Winieki: As Leaves Turn, Click to Scrap
Amy Wolffe: Cinnamon Toasted
Gina Miller: Cinnamon Apples
Kate Hadfield: Cinemania with Holly Griego, Whatever the Weather
Pixel Works: Irrevocably in Love, Paint the Town Pink, Set My Soul On Fire, Vintage Papers and Frames, Melts My Heart (retired), Altered Christmas (retired)
Sahlin Studio: Enjoy the Moment, Everyday
Valorie Wibbens: Love Letters

I Can See Clearly layer styles by Misty Cato
fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

All of the pages submitted each week have been amazing! They can all be seen HERE.