It's a Pirates Life for Me! *Out For Publication*

Matthew's pirate phase lasted about two years. It started in Kindergarten and went through 2nd grade. He was a pirate for Halloween twice. Once in a costume I made him and again in a "store bought" costume. You'll see in these photos that he was wearing it his way...with the collar on the outside. He insisted that this was the way it was supposed to go!

One of the reasons I bought the Wrap It Up Cricut cartridge was for the pirate ship cut. One word... amazing! I've already used the gingerbread house and castle from this one and there are several more I want to use.

This Fancy Pants paper has been in my stash for a couple of years, apparently waiting for this layout :)

Accented with some Jolee's and Recollections stickers. It's amazing what you can do with these little sticker packets. I love taking them apart and using just what I need.

 Check out that motley crew!

The Stone Script Cricut font was suitably piratey.

 I wanted to include as many photos as I could and that didn't leave any room for journaling so I tucked it behind the photo collage.

More stickers, including one from Jillibean Soup.

There were still photos left over from the pinata whacking so a 3rd page was born!

The number diecut is ancient too :) It helped tone down the background paper (I think).

and finally...a treasure chest full of loot, just like the treasure chest pinata! That's my friend Lyn assisting the Birthday Boy. I could (and still can) count on her for party assistance.

Wow, You made it through all that! Guess I'll have to give you a break and save the family update for later in the week :) Thanks for stopping by!

Living In Paradise

That's how I feel when I'm walking around my yard marveling at the beauty God has created! Each year I take multitudes of photos that just beg to be made into a layout. The problem is that they are all so colorful it's hard to choose paper and embellishments that don't compete.This year I gave in to the color and used some gorgeous floral Basic Grey paper with even more colorful flowers :) The pop of yellow on the left seems to balance it nicely.

My interpretation of a Creating Keepsakes sketch.

 

I love Basic Grey sticker sheets. They have so many cute icons, aren't the birdies sweet! Martha Stewart border punch and my ever favorite Thickers.

 

I loved how the sketch mixed squares with circles.

 

Prima and Recollections flowers.

Splattering on the background helped keep it from looking too stark. 

 

Another sticker from the sheet, such a pretty journaling spot.

Dad is slowly getting around. The catheter in his chest is quite annoying to him and necessitates sponge baths instead of showers. Hoping the new fistula will be ready in another month or so. Thankfully it's football season and he's semi distracted!

Matthew had an awesome last game of the season with several tackles, 2 quarterback sacks (one sent the quarterback to the hospital :/ Sorry to his Mom), and he ran a 2 point conversion in for his first ever points!!! They moved him up to Varsity for playoffs, hope it goes well. My nails will be gone before the game is over :(

My poor Mimi is burning the candle at both ends. Volleyball, Colorguard, Student Council, Peer Helping, Health Careers Club and I could go on! She is sick with an ear infection now. Thankfully her last Colorguard appearance will be next weekend, so no more practices in the cold & rain.

Off to bed, work tomorrow. As they say...no rest for the wicked!

 

On the Go!

I'm happy I can check off another couple of random photos from my scrap list. Do you have piles of random photos too? These are photos from when my kids were little and before I was a bona fide scrapbooker :) A picture here, a couple there...what was I thinking!?

Matthew was only 10 months old and cruising his way around the room. You can get a sense of his size by the fact that he can reach the doorknob. Cruising with the ever present binky :)

Used some more Amy Tangerine from my ScrapRoom Flavor of the Month kit. The peachy color of the paper matched an antique bowl in the picture. What better reason do I need?

 The day was a Wednesday, hence the Wednesday flair. Went a little crazy with the ink!

 

Finally used that one Sassafrass brad left from a long ago, doesn't it make a cute hanger :)

Layered all the little goodies from the kit for my title.

Journaling to finish it off.

Back to Kalamazoo we (Dad and I) go. Tomorrow he is having the non working subclavian catheter replaced. We have to get up at the ungodly hour of 4am to be ready and there by six. Seriously! Hoping to get home in time to take Mimi dress shopping for the teen contest. I'll fit some sleep in there somewhere, it will be worth it to see my girl playing dress up again :)

Happy Fall *Thinking Through Design*

Fall...my favorite time of the year. I never tire of taking photos of the beauty it brings. It must be Mother Natures way of  making up for the dreary months to come. These are the photos from a stroll around my yard. 

What better way to accent nature photos than with burlap, a natural fiber. Burlap just happened to be our "thought" at Thinking Through Design this week. I actually purchased a yard of burlap a couple of weeks ago thinking it would make some cool flowers, so I was excited when I discovered that it was the focus of our assignment!

 

I used Simple Stories paper and stickers from my "Flavor of the Month" kit from The ScrapRoom, it was perfect for this layout.

  

I had to photograph this layout at night so please forgive the different colors. The little house and tree represent my house. We have a tree with a swing in our back yard :)

 

The border punch is Martha Stewart and the dot paper is Bo Bunny Double Dot. Love it!

 

Cut these out with the Sizzix and spritzed them with Smooch spray ink in two colors. Topped with a vintage button. I bought the bleached burlap because I wanted to be able to color it with other mediums.

 

Punched holes in the banner stickers, added Stickles, then threaded them and popped them with...say it with me "FOAM SQUARES"!  Sometimes I crack myself up :}}

 

Used a journaling stamp and it didn't quite cover so I stamped over it. I'm still trying to embrace the distressed look it created  :P

 

A closeup of the cute house. After reading through my post I've determined I shouldn't compose posts when it's late and I'm tired ;)

Well...everything was going well with my Dad until Wednesday. His Subclavian catheter isn't working properly and now he has to go back to surgery next Tuesday to have it replaced. Three surgeries in less than 4 weeks. Enough already! Calgon take me away...

The Hartford Indian Emerald Vanguard (the band) made a Division 1 rating at their competition on Wednesday, I've discovered it's really fun to watch all the bands perform and nerve racking watching my daughter weave in and out, spin and throw a big stick with a flag on it!

Matthew's football game didn't go quite as well but he did recover a fumble and broke up a 2 point conversion, I was at work but Mimi texted me to keep me updated.

Tomorrow is Homecoming and the kids are excited. Both will be in the parade. Matthew as a Prince candidate and Mimi in the band. Some of the other girls in the color guard begged me to chaperon so we could do the "Wobble" at the dance. They were quite impressed when I joined in as they danced in the band room after the performance. I convinced them that Matthew would have a heart attack if I showed up at the dance :}} Much less at the dance "Wobbling". In case you were wondering how I know how to "Wobble", a patients' family taught me during a particularly long induction. No, she wasn't in labor yet. We had a blast and they said "This white girl can dance!"

Have a great weekend!

1st Salon Haircut *The ScrapRoom*

 The Flavor of the Month kit from The ScrapRoom, is full of awesomeness! This layout uses the Persnickety line by Lily Bee Design. Each design has the very trendy chevron pattern on the "B" side in a coordinating color! Perfect for any project. 

Mimi was thrilled to have 1st salon haircut last year. I think the stylist thought I was crazy...but that's not the first time I've gotten those looks :) You can see how much she has changed by looking at the photos in this previous post. She has contacts now and her braces came off in October of last year.

 

The "Recipe Card" (step by step instructions) are available at The ScrapRoom if you are a subscriber. Each month our designers create a recipe card with one of the kits available!

 

Fussy cut the "You" banner from the index journaling card, slid the rest of card behind photo and then added the "You" on top with foam squares.

 

Thickers...Yum!

 

So easy to draw lines for journaling. No trips to the computer or preplanning involved, just the way I like it!

Used spray ink to color the "Terrific" and backed with dark paper.

Fussy cut the embellishments ( they look like the Wedding Ring quilt pattern) added a threaded button and foam squares.

My Dad came through surgery without problems but in a lot of pain. He has an incision from just below his elbow to his armpit and a catheter stitched to his chest on the other side to get dialysis from until the new fistula is ready. Spending lots of time helping him get around as he isn't suppose to put pressure on either side or lift anything bigger than 5lbs.

On a happy note...Matthew was nominated as a Homecoming Prince candidate. His picture was on the school Facebook page and will be in the local paper. Unfortunately it looks like a mug shot!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Funny Face *The ScrapRoom*

Mimi loves to carve pumpkins! We go to the same farm every year to pick out the best pumpkins for our creations. Matthew (on the other hand) could care less. I bet you've noticed that I haven't been scrapping him much lately. He is being a stinker when it comes to photos :( All his photos look like mug shots!

Anyhoo...back to pumpkins. Mimi carefully plans her pumpkin faces and was in a particularly silly mood that day, as you can see by her face. This layout was created with part of my Flavor of the Month kit from The ScrapRoom. Bella Blvd has the cutest sheets of paper that can be fussy cut and made into embellishments! The clouds, pumpkin and flower are cut from such a sheet.

 

Cut the title with the Opposites Attract cartridge, layered and then used Distress Stickles. Love the non sparkly effect. Used the Bella Blvd. mini flags and Queen & Co. gems that came in the embellishment kit.

Pop on over to The ScrapRoom and check out their kits, Tammy has an amazing selection and you may even find some goodies you can't live without in The ScrapRoom store!

Wow! That's All I Can Say

 I took my daughter to a nearby arts district for some photos this past Sunday. We had just come from a Miss Hartford Teen meeting and Mimi said "I'm all dressed up with no place to go!" When we got home, I tweaked the photos a little and posted them on Facebook. Not really thinking much about it, I post photos all the time...and my page BLEW UP!

 Now I think my daughter is beautiful, but all mother's do. I'm happy everyone loved them but in retrospect I'm wondering if I shouldn't have posted them. Not for the reason you are probably thinking but because I didn't think about possible backlash at school. There are "mean girls" at every school and ours is no exception.

 So far she hasn't mentioned any rebound effects and I hope it stays that way!  One of her teachers asked her if she minded that I post photos of her and she replied " I'm used to it", my Mom's a scrapbooker! Here are the photos in question.

 

 I love photos when they aren't cheesing it :)

 

I told her her hair was getting flat and to fluff it up!

 

She curled her hair and did her own makeup.

 

Isn't that dress adorable?! A TJ Maxx find.

 

This is her Mom look, the one she gives to me when she thinks I'm being silly.

 Well...We are definitely going to have to lock her in her room and feed her through the keyhole (as my Dad used to say) or invest in a baseball bat.

 On another note. Unfortunately my Dad has to have surgery yet again to build a new fistula for dialysis. His old one is no longer working properly and he isn't being dialyized enough. We could use some prayers, this is 5th or 6th surgery this year and they are tough on him. Thanks for taking time to read to the end! I really appreciate you all :)