How is April Almost Over???

I said the exact same thing last month:)  The year really seems to be picking up some steam and it is moving much to fast for me to keep up with.  I haven't been blogging or posting but I have been creating and there is a big pile of pages waiting to be posted on the blog.  

Lately I've been into making these tassels out of thread and they are so fun!  Not to mention easy as pie to make.  I used one on this page about how much my niece loves to read.....

This page is just one of my absolute favorites.  I just love it!  The bold black stripes are part of the original pattern of the paper (it was black and white).  I used watercolors to paint in between the lines and black ink to make those big splotches.  It came together in less than 30 minutes if you don't count drying time....

These chairs are the gathering spot in our house.  It seems that everyone migrates here when they need a spot to talk or just to get a little quiet time.  This space truly is the heart of our home.

6 kids and only one boy.  He is smack dab in the middle too:)  We adore our one and only boy.  The photo says nothing about the story to anyone but me.  when I saw it, it was the first thing that I thought about so I decided to give myself permission to use this random photo to tell the story of our relationship with our only brother....

Another random photo but this time it was all of the girls dressed up so very fancy.....

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday!

Better Photos = Better Scrapbook Layouts

I've come to the conclusion that I must put more effort into taking better photos.  I will still use bad photos to tell the story but I realize that I am just not as happy with a great layout that has a terrible photo as I am with a great layout that has a fantastic photo to match.  For example, my zoo layout that I posted a couple of weeks ago.  I was so, so happy with that page.  Until I put the photo on it.  Uughh!  The photo is so dark and blurry that it just sucks all of the life out of the page!!  I have 2 choices:  1 - try to edit the photo to make it better and reprint it or 2 - use a different photo.  I haven't decided yet.

I think that I did pretty good with the photos today.  They are not stellar but they are pretty and I like em:).....

My daughter and I on the day she graduated from college.  So, so proud of her then and now...

This is from Aly Dosdale's class at Big Picture Classes.  Document 2015 April.  My page is nothing like hers....

Love these girls.....

Fun page to make!  My nephew being wowed by all of the animals.  I think he kept his finger pointing like this the whole time....

Happy Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!!

How is March Almost Over?

This year is flying by!  

I do have some pages to share today.  I have gotten better about the photos that I put on my pages but a couple of the ones that I'm sharing today have terrible photos.  In spite of the quality, these pictures are the best representation of the story that I have to tell.  For instance, on this page, that is the only photo of these guys ever.  They grew up together and this is the first time in over 20 years that they have all been in the same place at the same time.  The photo is from a cell phone and the picture was spur of the moment so there are no formal photographs from this event......  

All of my pages for today seem to be leaning on the simple side.  I'm not sure why but lately I've been really leaning off of the embellishments.  This is another page that has a photo that wouldn't normally be considered a good one but it has us all in it and it will help me tell the story of how our family interacts......

Every photo on this page is a selfie:)  Love it 💗 ....

Now this photo and this layout.  They both speak volumes about this particular point in my sons life.  He was swearing into the Air Force and although he was excited, he was so, so nervous.  It was his first time away from us, first time on his own and his first real experience with taking care of himself.  Years later and he is doing great but I really wanted to talk about how he had to be brave to take that first step...

Happy Humpday everyone!  Thanks for stopping by!!

Not Today

I have a funny story today.  I think it's funny anyway:)  My sister and I were talking last night, just catching up and she shared a story that my niece told her about the tooth fairy.  My niece is way too smart.  Like you have to watch her all the time smart.  This kid is losing teeth and knows that the tooth fairy pays cold, hard cash for them so she put the tooth under her pillow.  She was telling her auntie that the tooth had been under the pillow for a long time but the tooth fairy hadn't come yet.  My other sister (her mom) overheard the story and talked to G about being patient and advised her to give it a little more time.  Of course, the tooth fairy came that night.  There was no tooth under little G's pillow for the tooth fairy to take with her because.....  

Little G decided that she was going to catch the tooth fairy and kept the tooth in her hand so that she could nab her when she tried to make the exchange.  My sister aka the tooth fairy left the money under her pillow with a note that said "Not Today".  Guys.  I laughed so hard that I cried!  I only wish that I could have heard G telling the story.  I don't have any photos but that story is going on a layout!  

Speaking of little G, here she is looking very lovely and sweet......

And my little nephew on donut day at school.  The page design was completely inspired by Eva Pizarro's quilt inspired layout on the Pebbles blog (11/9/16 post).....

I guess today it's all about the boys bc my last 2 pages are boy pages too:)

I loved the washi strips in the background here.....

This one has my heart bc of the yellow paint.  Oh the yellow paint was so fun.  The boys love of icky bitey things, not so much.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Mix and Match

It can be easy to freshen up your style by mixing & matching the supplies and techniques that you use regularly.  It  does not have to be challenging or frustrating either:)  Being part of the brain trust or a member of Mensa is not required either.  You just have to be willing to give it a try and your on your way.  I mix and match all the time in too many different ways to count.  Most of the time i'm not even aware that I'm doing it until I step back and take a look at my project.  

For instance, on this layout I used mixed really old products (like from the 90's old) with products that I purchased this year (my last scrapbook.com order) and I mixed themed products (beach paper, kids line, birthday) with non-themed (washi and cardstock).  As you can see I did a little m&m with the themes too!  The photo on this page makes me so happy!!  We were in the Bahamas with almost all of my siblings and their kids + my dad and my husbands mom for vacation.  The water was so rough and you can see everyone in the background struggling to get out.  So funny....

Another place that I like to mix and match is in the area of inspiration.  Who says that you can only be inspired by one page or one idea at a time?  My basic layout inspiration came from a page by Sue Plumb that I saw on the Cocoa Vanilla blog.  I loved the triangles that she had in the background so I decided to cut some triangles out of white cardstock for my background.  My second inspiration came from the pretty colors of the die-cuts & butterfly rub-on's in my January 2017 Hip Kit.  I probably wouldn't have used most of them on their own, but clustered together inside the triangles.  Ummm.  I just love the look:)

Talk about old.  This paper is from yeeaarrrs ago.  I still love it and am happy with how it worked with these photos.  Even our pig Mia made an appearance.  She was kind of grumpy because we were loving on her.  She prefers her affection in treats....

My sister dressed up as Maleficent and she nailed her costume.....

Happy Monday everyone and thanks for stopping by!  

February Numbers

I'm not sure why but the month of February was not as productive for me as far as finishing pages go.  In the end I managed to complete a little less than a page a day.  If I'm being honest, there were many days in February where I just pushed through to make sure that I got something crafty done.  That left me with more than the usual number of pages that didn't make me 100% happy and photos that got printed again and rescrapped.  It is what it is.  No regrets.  In February I:

·                     Completed 28 layouts (much lower than the 79 pages done in January)

·                     Used 55 pieces of patterned paper  

·                     Used 18 packages of stickers & embellishments  

·                     Used 21 pieces of cardstock and 

·                     Used up 0 - 6X6 pads  

It will be interesting for me to see how I do this summer as we have a really busy season planned.  

Speaking of completed pages, I have 4 more to share today.  My March numbers should be amazing if I keep this up for the rest of the month:)

 This layout is super simple.  The colors and the photo really are the design.....

I could have done a better job with the title here as it doesn't completely go with the photo.  I plan to use the journaling and title together to make it make sense...

February 2017 Hip Kit Loveliness:)  I was just notified that my April kit was charged but I'm only half done with March!  I do have a few more layouts to share from February but this is close to the last page.  I just have to put the finishing touches on the rest of them.  This page is not a hands down favorite but it'll do....

My daughter and I went to the Adele concert in NYC and I haven't documented the event nearly enough.  It. Was. Amazing!  We had a great time together and the concert was just so, so lovely.....

Hey, hey it's Thursday!  Have a great one!

Vintage

As I was browsing one of my magazines from 2002.  Wait, what?!  2002!  Yep.  2002.  And that is not even one of my oldest lol.  But I digress.  As I was browsing two things hit me.  #1 The realization that I have most of the patterned papers featured in the projects (the designers used a lot of cardstock back then so it's not as bad as it sounds) and #2 there are only 3 or 4 scrapbookers throughout the entire magazine that are still active.  I'm sure a lot of the ladies still scrapbook but where are they?  

Jamie Waters, Jennifer McGuire, Rhonna Farrer and Nichol Magouirk had quite a few pages in this particular magazine but few other names even seemed familiar.  This got me to thinking, again, about when I myself would tire of this hobby.  This is probably the 2nd or 3rd time the thought has come to me and it makes me panic a little.  I have waaaayyyy too many stories and way, waaaayyyy to much stuff to quit.  I also enjoy it a little:)  

Just sharing my food for thought today.  I would love to know what your thoughts on the subject of quitting scrapbooking are!  

I am very blessed in regards to the bond that I have with my Dad and my siblings.  Thankfully we are very close and get along extremely well.  No excuse is too small for us to use it to get together!  Every other year we take an extended family vacation and there are a lot of us!!  Last year we had a group of about 30 at Disney:)  In these photos we are in the Bahamas at Atlantis....

My mom and my youngest daughter when she graduated from college.....

My niece when she was a baby.  She wasn't to sure about us.  We were laughing, talking and holding just a little too much for her and she was over us at this point:)

I adore how these kids play together:)  I also adored putting together this page.  Do you see the A.  It looks a little strange yeh.  I completely ran out of A's in this letter pack but was not willing to use something else so I took a little thread, flipped a "V" upside down and made me an "A".  so pleased with myself right now 😎

My inspiration for today includes:

• PLAY - Big Picture Classes - Jen Chapin - Rainbow - Lesson 1
• Love You - Big Picture Classes - Lilith Eeckles - 30 Minute Layouts - Lesson 5

Guess what y'all?  It's HUMPDAY!  I hope you have a great one and are busy working aka planning a fantastic weekend.  The weather is expected to be super nice here so we have a list of yard chores and outdoor home maintenance projects waiting on us.  Fun Times😊