You've Got A Friend In Me

I am close with all of my siblings but I am especially close with my very first baby sister.  We are only 11 months apart and have been partners in crime for more than 40 years.  She is my ride or die chick, my most trusted (non-husband:)) confidant and the best sounding board a girl could ever wish for.  She can tell me that an idea that I have is completely asinine without making me feel like an idiot.  She has a way of letting me know that I am wrong about something but at the same time, not making me feel like an @$$hat.  My relationship with all of my siblings is precious but with her I always get the feeling that we are not only reading the same book, but on the same page.  Not many conversations pass between us that I don't have to tell her to get out of my head bc she will say exactly, word for word, what I am thinking!  Love her and would not trade her for all of the coffee in Starbucks:)  Here is a page about it that doesn't do our relationship any justice but does scratch the surface....

The page about me and my sister above is for a challenge over at SB.com.  There are 2 that I have participating in for the last couple of months (scraplift the person above you and round robin) and this is for one of them.  I had to scraplift the person that posted prior to me and she does mostly cards. I really loved the strips of paper and the twine that she used on this card.  Great inspiration:)  Did I mention that that floral paper is one of my favorite papers in the history of favorite floral paper?  Love, love, love it!!

Still rolling pretty good with the whole prolific creating pages thing and have several to share today.  The rest of the pages .....

So excited about the grid design on this one.  

I made the watercolor paper behind the photos using glimmer mist and rub-on's.  Super fun:)

This is my least favorite page and I am thinking about changing it.  The photos of my nephew in his Batman costume just don't "go" with the background papers.  I don't have a problem putting boy pictures on floral paper and the colors aren't bad, they just aren't playing well together.  

These 2.  I have no words for how happy their relationship makes me.  My oldest with my sisters youngest.  Happy, Happy...

Me and my crew on a weekend getaway.  It was super hot and we spent 95% of our time in the pool but we did get out for a bit to enjoy the mini golf course at the resort.  That adorable little girl in the corner is the worst sport!  I'm glad I got a picture of her at the beginning because she lost and was so, so mad and grumpy about it...

And as promised, here are the pics of my May "kit".  As you can see from the photos, it is not really a kit as most people think of them, more a gathering/focusing of supplies.  I have so much stuff that I get overwhelmed pretty quickly and waste a lot of time looking for the "perfect" thing if I don't put the supplies together in some way.  This system works so much better for me because it satisfies my need to look for things but at the same time, doesn't allow me too many options....

My papers are held in 2 different ways.  Either in bags that have been presorted to put papers that I feel would go well on the same page, together or loose so that I can rifle through them for accents or mats....

I do my embellishments pretty much the same way.  Some or loose so that I can sift through them and others are kept in the clip sorter or in the album that you see in the photo above.  I don't use post bound albums for my pages, only to hold supplies...

This bin holds inks, stamps, adhesive, paint brushes, markers and other tools that I use a lot.....

The clip sorter is so handy for keeping my embellishments close and in their packages.....

Thanks for stopping by everyone and Happy Humpday!

May is Just Around The Corner...

and I am soooo ready for homeschool to be over for the year, to dig into some new old scrapbook supplies, to finalize my summer plans, to have more free time to read.  This is all of the stuff that comes with summer and I am ready!  

Last night, I went ahead and put away the unused things from my April stash kit.  It was a lot.  But I am very tired of looking at it so I decided to call it done.  No guilt or regret.  April was not a good month as far as keeping up with how many pages I was creating and how much stuff I was using.  It really didn't happen at all.  May on the other hand is going to be different.  Goals have been set and a great scrap stash kit has been created.  I am almost too excited to dig in.  

Pages to create - 60

Up to now, I've been using mostly scraplifting to get my pages done but I am going to change direction a little for May.  May is going to be all about the challenges and classes.  Some of the plans that are posted/sneak-peeked for NSD have me chomping at the bit!  I've also decided that I must.  Repeat must use the classes that I have signed up for at BPC.  

Kit Contents - This kit is a whopper.  I included a ton of stuff simply because I plan to create a lot of pages and because I plan to use the kit for an entire month. 

120 - 12X12 Scrapbook Papers

8    -  6X6 Paper Pads

4    -  12X12 Chipboard Embellishment Sheets

6    -  12X12 Cut-Apart Sheets

85  -   Misc Packages of Embellishments & Stickers

4    -   12X12 Die-Cut/Sticker Sheets

4    -   Packages of Alphabets

I had intended to take a photo of how I keep the kit but forgot about it.  I'll post that tomorrow in a separate blog post.

Some of the pages that I've posted in my online galleries this month:

Yep, This girl was productive:)  And I have to purchase another album or 2 to hold all of the pages that I plan to create this month.  If I keep up this pace, I will add another 16 albums this year.  Wow!!!!  

Thanks for stopping by and happy Monday...

About 2 Years Ago

We took the first official extended family vacation.  We have always traveled to places and spent time at the beach or in the mountains but in late 2012, we decided to plan a big vacation every other year.  December 2013/January 2014 we went on a cruise.  There were 27 of us and man did we have a blast!  Kids and adults alike at too much ice cream, slept too much and spent too much time in the pool.  The photos on this page are just a snippet of what went on....

The layout of the page was based on a Studio Calico Sunday sketch but I am unsure which one.  What I am sure of is how much I love those cream colored sequins against that white cardstock:)  Love how this page came out.  

This next one is a scraplift of Leslie Ashe.  I pinned this page because of all of the banners and totally stole the idea!  Thanks Leslie:)  I used vellum to add some softness on top of all of the patterned papers.  My sister is an amazing mom and her love for her youngest is so obvious in this photo.  

That's it for today, thanks for stopping by... 

A Favorite Photo

We recently went on a quick getaway trip to the Big Easy.  My son was so excited to get a window seat and while the plane was making its descent into DC, he snapped this incredible shot of the city with his phone...

I have a lot of layouts to share today too.  Just like yesterday.  I kind of fell off of keeping track of how much stuff I use and how many pages I do but plan to get back to that in May.  As you can tell from the number of pages i'm posting, it is a lot of stuff!

Still really enjoying scraplifting and taking classes but I've recently added more challenges to the mix.  It is so much harder to keep yourself entertained when you become an adult lol.

This first layout is about my daughter and my best friends son.  We were pregnant together and delivered them 4 days apart so they basically grew up together and were inseparable for the first few years of their lives.  

My husband and I are always joking around but than we always end with a smooch:)  This page doesn't make me entirely happy but it'll do...

This next one is a scraplift from Nic Howard.  Oh how I miss seeing her work regularly!  I hope she comes back to scrapbooking soon.  The page is about a selfie (my girl takes a lot of great selfies) my daughter took of us at my brothers wedding.  I'm so in love with the elegant grunge of this page....

This one is a favorite too.  Both the layout and the photo.  My son is not touchy feely so it was extra special to catch him letting his big sister rest her head on his shoulder like this.  The littlest moments can sometimes show the biggest love.....

Becki Adams has a wonderful style and she is really able to demonstrate it in her classes.  Sometimes you can take a class from a person whose style is so eye catching and interesting but that person can't translate what they do into a teachable format.  Not the case with Becki.  She is 100% interesting and understandable and I LOVE her class.  This is the page that I created and it is almost an exact scraplift of her sample.  

Ok, this is the last one.  It was inspired by this pin.  I used acrylic paint, a charcoal pencil, a background stamp and white ink to stamp, paint and splatter the pretty hearts on an old book page. Stephanie Ackerman made mini canvas's but I decided to use mine on a layout as embellishments.  I will definitely do this technique again.  It was fun to create and it came out really pretty.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thursday everyone!

Very Good Friends

That is what I consider my siblings.  We all work hard to maintain our relationship to each other and spend a considerable amount of time traveling to each other.  I see them more than I see my neighbors, which is fantastic for maintaining what we have built over the years.  I am feeling kind of nostalgic for them right now because they just left after visiting for a week.  I missed them the moment they pulled out of my driveway.

My youngest daughter with my cousins daughter.  To date, they get along well even though they live in different states and far from each other.  Facebook can be a beautiful thing...

Lately I have been very happy to be sharing so many pages.  For such a long time, I wasn't creating anything at all and had nothing to show for all of the hours and money that I spent gathering supplies.  For the first time in many years, scrapbooking is helping me to connect to my families story and to feel that the effort that I'm putting into it is going to be reward with the documentation of the who's, how's, and why's of my family.  

My parents, aunts and uncles are all getting older now and my sisters and I have just lately had this crazy need to ask them every question that we could think of about our families history.  They remember so much and that feels like a blessing and we are grateful for how eager they are to talk about the stories that make up our beginnings.  Some details have been forgotten or may have never been known but others are as bright as a full moon.  One of my aunts is very ill and fighting for her life right now.  She is too weak to tell her story but you can tell when you sit with her that she wants to.    

Recently, I mentioned the fact that I only seem to scrap a few select people.  Now that I am creating more pages, that is changing and my albums are truly starting to reflect the whole of our lives and our story.  

Like this story of my oldest and my youngest in their Sunday best to celebrate my brothers wedding.  I often write long stories on the backs of my pages and put shorter details on the front.  

My sweet niece who is now 19.  Very happy to pull this cute picture of her out of the box...

This little one could not eat a cupcake without ending up looking like this:)  I have many photos of her with cake face...

I don't have the words to express how happy these photos make me.  I had forgotten all about this day.....

My oldest son was a handful when he was a baby!  He had to be near me or he would cry so yes, he is sitting on the counter playing with frozen corn.  Happy baby = sane mama...

This is my least favorite page!  It did not come together from me at all and those red beads, those are the devil:(  It will still be going into the album with a hope that the page grows on me...

On the contrary, I absolutely love this page and was extremely happy about the way it came out.  That cat in the top left corner makes me soooo happy.....

This was my daughters first adult vacation.  She went on a cruise with her friends.....

My oldest when they were babies.  She adored him and would bend over backwards to see him smile and laugh.....

My girl again.  I thought that the photo of her on top of the car waving was appropriate to document all of the trips we plan to take this year....

What strikes me about all of the pages is that they are so very different.  The colors, styles, techniques and materials are eclectic.


Thanks for stopping by and scrolling through my page overloaded post!