Layouts For Sarah

Anytime there is a picture up my computer screen, Sarah has to come over and ask if that is her. Even photos that look nothing like her, she still has to ask which I think is just too funny. I’ve done ABC books for all of the kids for their third birthday, but I just didn’t get one done for Sarah last year for several reasons. She gets out all of the other kids books and pretends, or maybe just wishes, that the child in all of the photos is her. I’m working on her book slowly, she just doesn’t know it. I plan to have it done for her 4th birthday, as I have to squeeze working on it in between all of the other assignments I have to get done. I’m sure I can have it done by then ;)  I’ve actually scrapped her more than any of the other kids, but the layouts are scattered all through the family albums and we don’t get those out all that much. I guess I need to do that more often for her. In the meantime, here are a couple of layouts that are just for Sarah.

Sarah attended her very first dance class on Monday, June 15. She did very well and had lots of fun. I don’t think she was ready for class to end. I was a bad mom and forgot to take her tap shoes though (Brenna's being in the bag already threw me off), so she had to wear her ballet shoes while everyone else was making glorious noise with their shiny black tap shoes. She was a trooper and didn't pout but a second, going back into class and following along anyway. I had to let her wear her shoes at home for over an hour to make it up for it (usually not allowed since we don't want the wood floors ruined).

credits: Ballet Slippers by Kate Hadfield and Jacque Larsen, Mismatch Type Alpha by Jacque Larsen, at the-LilyPad; Stitching with flowers from Kaylee's Kadleidoscope by Flergs at scrapbookgraphics; P52 Week 25 template by Tracy Blankenship at funkyplaygrounddesigns.com; In the Pink by Kate Hadfield (blog freebie); fonts: CK Becky

journaling: This was Sarah’s favorite dress for one main reason- it had pockets she could tuck her small toys in and take them with her wherever she went. Polly Pockets and My Little Ponies were usually the favorites, and Tinkerbell too.
credits: Sprung by Creashens at catscrap; LO template by Janet Phillips; Plastic Pockets by Holliewood Studios at oscraps; paper piecing set 9 by Michelle Filo at LittleDreamerDesigns; Tropicana by Flergs at scrapbookgraphics; Date It by Amber Clegg at scrapartist; fonts: CK Becky

Catching Up with Layouts

I’m sitting at a Burger King while the kids enjoy the games and play area here for a while. I keep forgetting that this new computer came with Windows Live Writer and I don’t have to be on-line to work on blog posts!

This last week went by pretty quickly with the usual busyness. Bryce’s report on computers for language arts is done, and his toothpick bridge science project is completed too. Beth’s experiment is underway, and we need to give Carissa’s a try to make sure we will have a little time to do some tweaking if it doesn’t work the first time. Next week the elementary school kids only have 3 days of school for some reason. I can’t figure out why they do the schedule the way the do a lot of the time. I don’t remember having so many days off when I was a kid. Dance classes are going and the teachers are getting the recital pieces polished up as we only have a few weeks left now.

I’ve been meaning all week to get this post written, and so here it is- nothing fancy, just catching up with getting my latest layouts posted.

One of the signs spring is coming is when the fresh strawberries start arriving in the grocery store. We love to eat them fresh!
credits: Victorian Strawberry by Flergs and Kaye Winiecki at scrapbookgraphics.com; Maya's Personal Stash- The Ultimate Staple Collection by Maya at scrapbookgraphics.com; Vellum Date Dots by Ellie Lash at scrapbookgraphics.com; P52 Week 15 template by Tracy Blankenship at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; fonts: FO Messy Bessy

journaling: All the years I played in the orchestra at church growing up, I never imagined that I would someday be playing for Christian music stars like Steve Green and Michael Card. The best thing about these experiences has been feeling the wonderful sense of worship these men bring to the concerts. They aren’t there to increase their fame and fortune, but to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to worship and praise Him through their music. it is humbling to be a part of such a mighty worship experience.
credits: Wishing 4 Sunshine Papers, Vintage Labels, Apothecary Journals, Office Dates, and Defined Stamps by Holly McCaig at 2Peasinabucket; Paperborders Volume 9- Music and Sing A Song Alpha by Birgit Kerr at scrapbookgraphics; Date Stamps by Amber Clegg at scrapartist; P52 Week 14 Template by Tracy Blankenship at funkyplaygrounddesigns; fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy, Susie's Hand

The individual pictures of the kids during the Easter portrait session.
credits:Tropicana and For Mellisa (B&W alpha and circles) by Flergs at scrapbookgraphics.com; The Daily Digi Template 5 by Janet Phillips; fonts: snowshoe

The girls literally singing and dancing in the snow/rain last week.
credits: by Dianne Rigdon at scrapartist: Rainy Days Collection- solids, papers, art bits, flowers, bling, and journals frames and mats; Notables Stacks and Frames; Shabby Love Alpha x2 - Black and Cream
Alphapalooza Random Bits1 by Corina Nielsen at funkyplaygrounddesigns; fonts: FO Doodle Dance

journaling: Carissa and Beth have become good friends with Alyssa this year. She lives just a few blocks from us and they often walk to and from school together as well as just hang out together at our house.
credits: Girlfriends- Paperie 2 and Elements by Holly McCaig at 2Peasinabucket.com; Press Plate No. 15 by Paislee Press for PencilLines blog (PencilLines #130) ; fonts: CK June Bug Louise, Gigi

journaling: Beth chose to work with plants for her 5th grade science project. She will be exploring the effects of rooting hormone on geranium leaf cuttings.
credits: Grandma's Garden by Shabby Miss Jenn at scrapbookgraphics; Eye Love You Year Round and Eye Love you Labeled by Berna Datema at scrapbookgraphics; Layered Up in You- Scallops by Lauren Grier at SweetShoppeDesigns;
fonts: FO Weathered and FO Journal Away

journaling: Brenna drew this picture of her and Sarah at school during free-time.
credits: Sparkly Delight and Crumpled Paper Borders Vol 4- Family by Birgit Kerr at scrapbookgraphics; scalloped mat from Drafts & Blueprints Bundle 2 by Tangie Baxter and DeCrow Designs at scrapbookgraphics; Matties Curlers by Corina Nielsen at funkyplaygrouddesigns; fonts: CK Becky

 

A compilation of P365 photos from February to April. This template, made by a fellow SBG crew-mate comes with an awesome action that resizes all of your pictures and puts them in the correct spot.

credits: Angel's World by Line Designs at scrapbookgraphics.com; Heart Template/Action by Arisu at TheDigiChick; fonts: CK Becky

 

and I did this LO last week for the Digi-dares #130 challenge to scrap a layout with no photos and to use a silhouette or outline on your layout. One of those rare quirky ideas I get occasionally when I saw the challenge for the week and I had to go with it. I showed Brenna the LO and told her I made it for her since she still thinks that incident was so funny- she just laughed again, and that is what it is all about.

journaling: July 20, 2007 I took Brenna & baby Sarah to the zoo. Brenna had lots of fun feeding the Budgies seeds on a stick. As we were getting ready to leave, a green bird landed on top of my head, and I couldn’t get a picture because my camera was around my neck. Brenna has no problem reminding me of this time & still laughs about it almost 2 years later!
credits: all at scrapbookgraphics: Bunnies, Bees and the Birds' Big Balloon {A Spring Collection} and Flying Dreams Storybook Papers Collection by Lorie Davison, Crumpled Paper Borders & Templates- Vol10 Children by Birgit Kerr, Text Paths Collection 1 by Jen Caputo; Nikon camera photo found on internet
fonts: CK Becky, Baby Boston

A hybrid project and a couple of new layouts

I made this 2009 Binder Organizer back at the beginning of December for the January 2009 DST Insider. I was the hybrid feature for the month and wrote a tutorial on how I made this for the newsletter. You can go check it out if you are interested, the newsletters are free to registered members of DST.

credits:
Binder Template 8.5x5.5x1by Melinda Staley at scrapdish.com
Horizon Classic and Horizon Scrap page templates by Dianne Rigdon at scrapartist.com
Outnumbered Girl and Homegirl Gets Frilly by Jessica Bolton
Timepiece wordart (Create blog freebie) and tag shape (from Sweet Sugar Pop) by Holly McCaig
font: CK Becky, TXT Fat Hatch

journaling: Sarah is my late-night companion, staying up long past everyone else’s bed time just because Mama is still up and working. She plays with her toys or watches a DVD if it is not a night one of my shows is on. I took this picture at 10:30 PM and she is as perky as ever still.
credits: at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns: Love Me Tender by Krystal Hartley, Project 52 Week 3 template by Tracy Blankenship; 365 International Edition by by Monica Guerra Leiria (mglScraps) at scrapbookgraphics.com; fonts: 2Peas Fiori, TXT Monkeyshine

journaling: One of the things I was looking forward to the most about the trip was walking through the historic district and having enough time to stop and appreciate whatever little details caught my eye. Mark was busy at the conference on Friday, so I had most of the day to myself. I left the hotel about 10 AM and spend over 6 hours strolling the streets with my guidebook and camera in hand learning about the city and it’s historical buildings, people, and events.
credits: everything at scrapbookgraphics.com: Lots of Photos 2 by Janet Phillips; Listen To Your Heart by Manuela Zimmerman; Curlies Alpha by Birgit Kerr; greenery by Berna Datema in IO Fatherhood and Birgit Kerr in IO Serendipity; fonts: CK Heritage

Project 365 and other new layouts

Well, we survived the first week back at school this week. It sure is hard to get myself out of bed that early after two weeks of being able to sleep until the time my body wants to get up. So, we are officially back in full routine again- school, dance, music practices, etc. Beth has caught the nasty sinus bug we were passing around (and evidently still are), so she's been the one laying on the couch all day coughing. She was feeling a bit better today than last night, so hopefully with another day of rest she will be on her way to getting over it. It's a good thing I stocked up on Sudafed and cough medicine a few weeks ago, as we have been going through a lot of it the month.

Project 365 is once again a big buzz around the digital scrapping community this new year. I didn't really participate last year, but I certainly took more than enough photos to qualify number-wise- they just weren't necessarily one a day. I decided to jump in and go ahead and put together my photos from last year in a photo-book format using the awesome set of templates Amy Pearson is giving out at scrapbookgraphics in the P365 forum. I'm really loving the clean lines and white space on these and how it really lets the photos shine.

Credits: Amy Pearson's Project 365 templates and Monica Guerra Leiria (mglscraps) Dreams In Color Collection from www.scrapbookgraphics.com, font: CK Becky

I've scrapped through March so far. If you'd like to see the rest of the pages I've done so far, I'm posting them over at facebook. You can see them HERE. As I get more done I'll be adding them there.

And this year I've started taking photos for P365- we'll see how long I keep it up. I have a feeling it will devolve more into what I did last year, but that worked out pretty well I thought. No pressure, no committment LOL Here's a layout I did of my first 7 pictures. I used TracyB's Templates With Attiude Combo 1 set, which she made specifically to go with a P365 project. She is also co-hosting a P52 challenge over at FunkyPlayground and will be giving out templates once a week- check that out here.

credits: Everything at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns.com: Templates with Attitude Combo 1 by Tracy Blankenship; I Love Winter Wellworn Solids and Embellishments by Jaime Young; Everyday Whites by Corina Nielsen

We've had a couple of pretty big snowstorms during the last month and I scrapped some of the pictures I took.

journaling: Winter finally arrived in full force December 15, 2008- frigid temperatures, the lowest recorded in well over a century, snow, ice and freezing wind kept us bundled up inside the house with the fireplace turned on to chase away the chill. Usually the temperature will warm up enough during the day to melt off the accumulated snow and ice on the trees, but not this day.... I took these pictures in the middle of the afternoon.
The breeze would gently blow and knock the snow off the branches making it seem like it was snowing still.
credits: Snowberry by Franziska Altmann at scrapbookgraphics; Templates with Attitude Trios 1 by Tracy Blankenship at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

journaling: Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.
credits: Frostbite and Frostbite Extras by Saxon Holt at scrapbook-elements; Templates with Attitude 10 by Tracy Blankenship at funkyplaygrounddesigns.com; I can See Clearly layer style by Misty Cato; Acrylic drop shadow layer style by Traci Reed
fonts: Journaling Hand, LB Angela Squiggle

and I did this layout the other night for this week's Studio Starts challenge at scrapbookgraphics.

journaling: Brenna is so happy to be in a dance class this year and looks forward to Monday evenings when it is her turn to wear tutus and dance shoes.
credits: Victorian Strawberry by Flergs and Kaye Winieki at scrapbookgraphics.com; Worn Overlays by Manuela Zimmerman; The Bricks Lightroom Preset by Kelsey Smith; fonts: CK Becky

scrapbook pages- Savannah, Monsters and Thanksgiving

A few layouts from our Savannah trip- these first two are actually pictures from our night and day in Charleston. We ate at Bubba Gumps our first evening there and it was delicious and the atmosphere was very unique!

journaling: After a long day spent at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah and then driving to Charleston in our rented PT Cruiser, finding a hotel and sightseeing on Sullivan's Island and Fort Moultrie we were hungry and ready to eat! We found Bubba Gump’s and were seated right away. After starting with an order of Hush pups, Melinda ordered the "I'm Stuffed!" Shrimp - shrimp stuffed with crab, baked in garlic butter and topped with Monterey Jack cheese. Mark ordered the Cajun Shrimp -Shrimp Sauted in a hot and spicy Cajun Butter Sauce and served with jasmine rice and garlic bread for dipping. We had been eyeing the chocolate cookie sundae for dessert, but were much too full after eating our main dishes. The Forrest Gump memorabilia, pictures are props were fun to look at, we enjoyed chatting with our waitress, and we would go back again!
credits: background and restaraunt ephemera by me; photo frame by Nancy Comelab; tape by Black Squirrel Designs; Stationeries paper by Linda GilBildal at scrapartist.com; starfish from Me Hearties by Clever Crow Designs and Berry Me In the Sand by Amy Hutchinson; rubon action by Atomic Cupcake; font: CK June Bug Louise

I loved the decor of the Palmetto Carriage Tours barn- an actual red barn right off Market street where all of the tours start.

journaling: There was a rooster wandering around the carriage barn- he was looking for handouts from waiting guests, but he would let you pet him briefly too. I also liked the rooster sculptures perched in the rafters around the barn. A cute sign in the outer courtyard where the mules are tethered during their breaks. The carriage company uses mule teams to pull their carriages- ours were named Lucy and Sully. We spent Sunday morning touring downtown historic Charleston. We spent Sunday morning touring downtown historic Charleston. We opted to take a carriage tour to save my aching feet a bit (I had a rather large blister on my left foot from all of the walking in Savannah and the cobblestone and tabby sidewalks weren't helping) and we got to hear local history and stories that we wouldn't otherwise learn about.
credits: Caleb and Stacey from the Young Love Collection by Chere Kaye at funkyplaygrounddesigns; Brazen Borders by Tracy Blankenship at funkyplaygrounddesigns; string (recolored) by Catherine Designs from Happy Hour collab at After5Designs; font: CK Becky

Now it's back to Savannah with pictures of the Owens-Thomas house we toured on Monday.

journaling: After admiring all of the houses in the historic district from the outside, I chose this one as the one I wanted to tour on Monday. No photographs were allowed inside the house, and I doubt I need to say that it was beautiful and a great way to peek into the history of Savannah.
credits: Marilla Collection by Michelle Godin and Wrought Iron element from Measure of a Man by Birgit Kerr at scrapbookgraphics.com;
font: ILS Script

credits: Marilla Collection by Michelle Godin at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: ILS Script

Photos from the special exhibit at the St. Louis Science Museum this summer on movie monsters and animatronics.

journaling: After lunch we got tickets to the special exhibit called "Monsters" which explored the
world of movie monsters and animatronics. There were lots of scary monsters there, but Sarah didn't seem bothered by them since they were still and didn't make noise. With everything from creepy, scary monsters to fuzzy and cute animals there was something in this exhibit to entertain everyone. There was a movie that showed us how they sculpt, form, and animate the creatures, as well as lots of signs and photos with the models themselves. We saw models from many movies including George of the Jungle 2, Peter Pan, Nim’s Island, Inspector Gadget 2, Pitch Black, Oceans of Fire, Racing Stripes, and Wolfman, among others. -St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis, MO
credits: Closet Monsters by Victoria Greenlees and Holly McCaig at Chirpi Creative Digital Scrapbooking; Template 68 by Yin Designs; fonts: 2Peas Dear Diary

and some cute photos of Sarah feeding the Nortons' dogs last Thanksgiving. It is amazing how bad I am at taking photos during Thanksgiving- these are the only ones I took last year and they are of one child feeding the dogs dog food by hand LOL I guess I need to do a better job this year- anyone who will be there is fore-warned-- the camera will be out and snapping this year!!

journaling: Sarah thought that the dogs at the Nortons were the best thing about Thanksgiving dinner. She followed and chased them around and around the house the whole time we were there. She tried sampling their dog food, and got upset when we told her it wasn’t for her to eat. Everything was OK though once she understood that it was the dogs’ food and it was alright for her to feed it to the dogs. She spent about half an hour feeding them one piece of food at a time- even the dogs must have thought that was pretty neat since they went along with it for so long.
credits: French Countryside by ChristinaRenee and Shabby Princess; Templates with Attitude 17 and Toolbox 15- Pet Pal Cuties by Tracy Blankenship at funkyplaygrounddesigns.com; colored chrome action by Atomic Cupcake; fonts: Boys R Gross and CK Constitution

sharing more new LOs

It's finally the 15th, and that means that the FPD makeover is finally revealed, there are lots of new goodies in the shop, and I can show you some of the layouts I've made with Chere and Tracy's new things I've been hoarding!

First up, a couple more birthday party LOs for Beth and Carissa. The first one is from the family dinner we had on the 14th, and the second the girls on their new bicycles which were their gifts from their father. I used Tracy's Templates with Attitude 16 and all of the papers and elements are by Dianne Rigdon. I love the birthday confetti and garlands- so fun!

journaling: We celebrated Beth & Carissa’s 10th birthday with the family on Aug 14, 2008. Grandmama came over for dinner- Hawaain chicken chosen by Beth, and cherry chip cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles on top. Then, they opened their gifts- MP3 players from Grandmama, Klutz books from the Rodeffers, watches and music CDs from Mama, and an IOU for new bicycles from Daddy.
credits: Chelsea Meadow collection, Out on a Whim (scalloped mat and file tab), Scrapfetti alpha and Scrapfetti Happy Birthday Sprinkles and Garland by Dianne Rigdon at scrapbookgraphics.com; Photogrids #1 templates by Jen Caputo at scrapbookgraphics.com; Templates with Attitude 16 by Tracy Blankenship at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns.com; fonts: 2Peas Dear Diary

journaling: Beth and Carissa received IOUs for new bicycles from Daddy at their family birthday party on the 14th. Saturday the 16th, they got to go shopping with him and they came home with these new purple bicycles which they have enjoyed riding around the neighborhood.
credits: Chelsea Meadow collection, Notables Tagables, Scrapfetti alpha and Scrapfetti Happy Birthday Sprinkles and Garland by Dianne Rigdon at scrapbookgraphics.com; stitch from Life is a Bistro alpha by Dianne Rigdon; Templates with Attitude 16 by Tracy Blankenship at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns.com; fonts: 2Peas Dear Diary

and this LO with Chere Kaye and Miss Tiina's new collab kit, Your Future is Bright. This is my good friend, Marta. I took the picture at our annual July 4th barbecue at another friend's house this summer.

credits: Your Future is Bright by Chere Kaye and Miss Tiina at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; Triple Dipped Stitches The Basics #2, and Everyday Basics Office Finishers by Chere Kaye at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; Smarties Vol 1 template by Teresa Ferguson; fonts: CK Constitution

and this last one is with Chere's first kit, David and Maya, in a new collection called "Young Love" and it also uses another TracyB template from Templates with Attitude 17.

credits: David and Raya and Filer Tabs from the Young Love Collection by Chere Kaye at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; Templates with Attitude 17 by Tracy Blankenship at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; fonts: CK Legacy, TXT Antique Poster

Ange and kids at Disneyland

The photo my long-time friend Ange sent me for the high school reunion stuff I did was of her and the kids on vacation at Disneyland. I had to keep the pages for the HS DVD pretty simple out of the sheer necessity of doing over 50 pages in about a week's time, but I knew I would have to go back and 'dress-up' hers just a bit. You can't have a Disney page without that extra bit of sparkle ;)

credits: by Sophia Sarducci at sophiasarducci.com: Arctic Tundra papers from the Earth Laughs in Color collection; Magical Dimestore Beads; by Saxon Holt at sophiasarducci.com: Basic Blacks Papers, A Little Bit of Magic Dust Overlays; by Tracy Blankenship at funkyplaygrounddesigns.com: Templates with Attitude- Magic of Childhood Edition from the August FPD Designer collab
fonts: Walt Disney Script

I hope she likes it!

Omniplex Gadget Trees

This was the kids favorite exhibit at the Omniplex in OKCity.

journaling: This was a new exhibit at the Omniplex, built as part of the Oklahoma Centennial Project that teaches kids about how science enriches their every day lives through the use of simple machines such as levers and pulleys and the use of natural products in building materials. Of course the kids think it is all fun and games as they climb, totter, slide, swing, and hoist and throw balls at each other- ours certainly did!

credits: LO Template #13 by Yin Designs; Toolbox 5 Element Templates by TracyBlankenship at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns.com; Thrifty Solids Collection by Jessica Bolton at scrapbookgraphics.com; apple from Under the Apple Tree by Jofia Devoe; I Can See Clearly layer styles by Misty Cato; grass from Rain Rain by Kristen Aagard; cracked paint action by Atomic Cupcake; Staple Stash by Maya at scrapbookgraphics.com; fonts: TXT Abrasive