It's been a while ...

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted here. It's not that I haven't been creating ... it's exactly the opposite. I've been so busy making everything work, fulfilling CT requirements, uploading to various galleries, cooking dinner, being a wife and parent ... you get it :)





So ... what shall I share with you first? I can't decide! I have a backlog of well in to the double digits and I always want to be passionate about what I display even if I'm not very eloquent about it. Sometimes I feel like it doesn't matter because who knows if anybody will see it - nobody comments - but that sounds rather bitter, doesn't it ... oh, well :) You could always comment and prove me wrong!


Anyway ... as fun as it is to tease my non-existant public ... I will stop now.

I really love this layout. It's about my hubbie dearest and me - picture taken at my brother's rehearsal dinner (in Michigan). I was thrilled to have him home! Love that man :)

I used The Beautiful Life kit from A+Designs and Danielle Young's Black Typewriter Alpha.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Celebrate Together

We are so funny. I don't know why we do what we do ... about many things. But now, I'm talking about my approach to photos. Why do we save the good ones and never do anything with them? Sometimes I'll print out a good photo and frame it and then scrap it ... and sometimes I'll just hang on to it (you can only frame so many photos) and then forget that I have it. Now, scrapping my brother's wedding is a big job and I haven't done it yet ... I have a few photos framed in the house, including this one:

And now I've scrapped it. I did it for the New Year's Day Speed Scrap at SHCo ... which is risky. You have a very short time and you want to do a good layout for a special photo ... and I like this one. No, it's not perfect, but I have no idea what I would done without the speed scrap. At least it's done and it's pretty and I'm happy :)

I used Danielle Young's Midnight Tuxedo and Holiday Twinkle kit.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a little late, but Merry Christmas! I took hundreds of pictures this Christmas (as I do every year). And, like every year, I have not scrapped them ... so, this year, I pushed to scrap some more Holiday things. I did the layout from a few posts ago of my siblings from last Christmas and here I bring you two layouts from 2009 and 2010.


This one is of the kids playing around with my Christmas decorations ... of course they would be hats :)

This is Justin and Samantha making their Gingerbread House and cookies. I made it for a Speed Scrap in December. I really like the way it turned out.

For both layouts I used the Jingle All the Way kit by A+ Designs.

I hope to scrap more of my Christmas photos. I really do. Hopefully I can go back and do previous years as well.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Friends

I wish I had a better title for this, but they are just what it says - Friends. My daughter has a little girl that she loves and they are so sweet together :)

I used the kit, Sweet Serenity, from A+ Designs.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Little Shop of Sketches - Sketch #77 and #78

It's time for not one, but two sketches! These sketches are brought to you by Little Shop of Sketches guest designer, Danielle Young!

I love these sketches! They are also available as templates for all you digi designers out there ...

Here are my layouts:

I tried to stick with the holiday theme ...

I hope you like them!

*~*~*

Now head on over to Little Shop of Sketches to see the other ladies fabulous layouts and be sure to show us your wonderful creations!

*~*~*

Thankful for the Little Things In Life

The kids and I go to the park quite often. I take pictures some of the time ... and come up with some great ones ... and never scrap them! So, this time, I did! We had an unseasonably warm day and we really enjoyed one of our last trips to the park this year ...

I'm thankful for these opportunities. These little things mean so much to the kids and I'm so happy to be able to do this with them.

I used two 52 Inspirations kits from Oscraps - Week 45 Template from Biografitti and Week 47 kit from Vicki Stegall (paper, wordart, button).

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Time of Wonder

This is such a wonderful time of year. I love the holidays :) I love sweaters and snow ... it's such a time of wonder ...


You may have noticed this layout on the top of the stack of layouts in my recent post about printing. I finished it the day I ordered them and it was wonderful to get it printed so quickly!

I used the new Time of Wonder kit from A+ Designs.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

P.S. This layout also made two Layout of the Days and is being featured in Scrappity-Doo-Dah's scraplift challenge for the beginning of January!

He's Back! Speed Scrap Layout

I participated in the Sugar Hill Co. Speed Scrap this past weekend. I love the fact that I have a completed layout in just a few hours!

Here it is:
This is the official Freedom Salute for the CT 1-169th Aviation Army National Guard unit that my husband deployed with. They've been back for a couple of months but this was the official welcome back ceremony with the governor and all ... love my hubby and so glad he's back!!!


I used Danielle Young's new kit, Holiday Twinkle. I love the non-traditional colors ... you can scrap anything with it!

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Printing Digital Layouts

I have a different kind of post for today. As you have probably noticed, I do a lot of digital scrapbook layouts. They sit on my computer for a while and then every few months I get them all printed. I've tried out quite a few photo printing sites in my day. No, I haven't tried them all, but sometimes it feels like it.

Anyway, it was time for another round of printing. I've been waiting for a while and I finally got a coupon in my email for a discount and I placed an order! I've also been hearing so many wonderful things about Persnickity Prints that I decided to try them out.

And I was blown away! I mean really speechless and almost breathless. They were wonderful! So well printed. So beautiful. Worth every extra penny!

The things that bother me about printing out my photos (printing out darker than the original and cutting off the border) are the things that they said they were better at. They were a bit more expensive, but I still tried them out for about half of my layouts. So, I got my package of 36 prints in the mail yesterday ...


And just for comparison, I pulled out some layouts from my last printing:
And maybe you can't tell, but they are noticably darker. The tell-tale sign is in the shadows - especially around people's hair and faces. It gets very dark and loses any definition. It's always bugged me so much. And now it's fixed! Like I said, worth every penny!

*~*~*

So, taking advantage of my excitement, I spent a few hours last night putting my layouts in page protectors and inserting them in the right places in my albums. I don't scrap my photos chronologically, but I do put them in my album that way. I also insert my normal, paper scrapbook pages along with my digital ones. Every time I go through my photos, I'm always surprised at what I've actually scrapped and which ones are great and should be scrapped, but haven't, yet. Someday ... hopefully soon :)


I had these two black embossed-leather albums from Making Memories already. However, I decided it was time to actually put a label in the label holders and front windows. I'm so happy that I was feeling energized and inspired. I just whipped up a quick label on my computer (kind of like a mini-digi-layout - with A+ Designs Sweet Serenity products) and printed it off on photo paper.


Cut them out, insert them and I was done! I had a printed rose on one and chose to put some Prima flowers on the 2010 album. Love it! And it's done! Oh, the sense of accomplishment is wonderful!

*~*~*

Thankful for You

These next two layouts aren't necessarily designed to be a two page layout, but they are designed to coordinate and go next to each other. They have photos from a wedding my husband and I were at a couple of months ago. My dress and his tie were this gorgeous shade of teal.




I used Sue Cummings (Oscraps) and EHStudios (MScraps) collab kit, Gratitude, available here.

I hope you like it!!!

*~*~*

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful day :) I have had a very full day and it's not even over yet!
I once again participated in the Manchester Road Race. Record attendance this year and it was a mad house. It was cold and a good hard run, but it still feels great to have done it. Lots of food and family afterward and lots of good times :)

This is us last Thanksgiving in 2009. This year we have two more because hubbie is home from his deployment and Johnny has married now.

I used the Sketch from the October Sketch Challenge at Sugar Hill Co., Danielle Young's collab kit, A New Day, from Oscraps and Danielle Young's Giving Thanks CU Vectors from Sugar Hill Co.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Little Shop of Sketches - Sketch #75

Time for another round of inspiration from Little Shop of Sketches!

Sketch #75 was provided by yours truly. I based it off of a layout that I had seen months ago ... I saved the link in my favorites, but the link is now broken, so I can't properly credit the original. However, it is still a wonderful layout!



Here is my take on it:
I used a retired kit, Freckles and Giggles, from Kim DeSmet (formerly of Oscraps)

So head on over to Little Shop of Sketches to see the other girls' layouts (which are just lovely) and enter for our prize!!!

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Lego Man

My son, Justin, goes through phases. When he was a baby, he liked blocks. When he was a toddler, he liked trucks. When he was a little older, he graduated to Cars movie items. A little older than that and his thing was Hot Wheels cars. These phases were long and persistent. When he likes something ... he really likes it. Now, it's legos. It's been legos for the past six months. I don't know why I was surprised ...



I used Sue Cummings and Taylor Made Designs collab This and That as well as an add-on from TMD's Composure kit and the paper and label from a Sue Cummings collab.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Back to School

School started again a few months ago and the kids were very excited. The good news ... they still are :)


I used Danielle Young's School Chips (owl, ruler, apple, pencil), Danielle Young's A New Day collab with Aja Abney (papers, swirls) and Danielle Young's Creative Chick kit (stars)
Kate Teague freebie from 2 Peas in a Bucket (title element and school days background patterned paper)

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Speed Scrap - November

Another Speed Scrap over at Sugar Hill Co. It's amazing how frustrating they are. You have no idea if you've picked a good photo or the right kit. I've actually switched in the middle of it. What if the kit you picked doesn't have the elements they call for? What if the photo just doesn't fit the theme? And the time? What if the kids need you? Or your husband needs you? Or you're just tired? Well ... it may be frustrating, but it's also a lot of fun. You end up with a layout! Yay! A layout is done!!! And it's usually not bad. You take the instructions and inspiration and make them you're own. I've been very pleased with the results so far ... so I did it again last Saturday!

Here's my layout:
Made using the Sweet Memories collab from SHCo. I've found it's helpful to use a HUGE kit when doing these things ...

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Little Shop of Sketches - Sketch #74

Time for another wonderful sketch from Little Shop of Sketches!


What a fun sketch for those multiple photo layouts! I was very excited to see it!

Here's mine:
This is my sister and brother-in-law weeks away from their two-year wedding anniversary. The goofballs are very much in love!

I used a mish-mash of products - Danielle Young (background paper, always word strip and sequin heart from Game of Love, metal swirl from SHCo collab, staple)
Paislee Press (today word art, moments word art and sequin camera)
Sue Cummings and EHStudios gratitude collab (text matte)
Kitty Designs (trail of hearts)
Ashalee Wall (forever word art)
Oscraps O Boy collab (frames)

The girls did an excellent job - go over to the Little Shop of Sketches blog to check out their layouts!

And ... be sure to check back in a couple weeks. We're going to have a monochromatic challenge! Woohoo!

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

52 Inspirations - Delightful!

I've been really enjoying the 52 Inspirations subscription from Oscraps ... a little treat every week that inspires you to create beautiful things!


Samantha and I went to a bridal shower and I got this beautiful shot of her lounging in the special 'bridal' chair. She was a very good girl (even though being in a small room with 80 women made her nervous) and I loved being able to share this 'girl' time with her :)

I used mostly Week 38 from the 52 Inspirations kit (paper, butterfly, word art, swirl and paint). Also using Week 32 (very bottom paper, recolored), Week 30 (small frames), Week 28 (pink paint spray) and Week 5 (photo mask with flowers).

I let my husband give me some input on this layout ... he preferred the busier grungy paper, so I went with it. He doesn't like white space at all ...

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Sisterly Love ...

My sisters are the best ... and they're not afraid to pose for pictures :)
Here they are on a road trip ... goofing around as usual :)

I used a limited edition kit from Danielle Young that was sold to support Breast Cancer.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Chipboard Album

I made this album for my sister and her husband for their one-year anniversary. I used a chipboard album and kit from K&Co. and can't remember the line of papers and embellishments ... Gypsy or something like that.

The front cover with lots of layers and a wonderful peek-a-boo center to the chipboard flowers. It's a great way to open the book :)

The first two pages. Another layered, dimensional chipboard flower (with 3-D glue dots giving it even more pop) and several dimensional stickers. I distressed the edges to the second page and drew on the stitched look. A little bit of lace, some buttons and it a journaling tag make it look fabulous!I love this page because it has a two page pocket. I only attached the outer sides and the bottom so the the whole pocket can be opened if you want to. However, it is creased and folded so that it fits nicely. Journaling tags, awesome chipboard pieces, and some 3-D glue dots make it really pop!This one was challenging be because of the size of my photos. I wanted to create interest by angling them, but not too far off the page. Journaling tags, some letter stickers and more dimensional stickers are lovely!The back ... I used lots of fibers and lace to make it special. I really loved this chipboard album. It's nice and sturdy and I made my job a lot easier! I hope my sister loves it too :)

*~*~*

Tweet! Makin' a Mess!

Oscraps came out with a new collab kit when they joined Twitter. It had a very 'twitterish' theme. Here's the layout I did with it (and yes, I did post this message on FB)
All products used are from the collab kit. It was free for those who 'followed' Oscraps on Twitter :)

I hope you like it!

*~*~*