Winter Croppin'

Personal Scrapper is hosting an online crop and I enjoyed working on some challenges this weekend.

I pulled out my Crate Paper "North Pole" scraps and knocked out a couple of challenges. The first one was to scrap a hobby. I scrapped Blake's hobby of playing the drums. The photos I used were from a performance he had with the percussion ensemble at his school. I scraplifted a layout by Allison Davis for this one. This next challenge was to use bling on a holiday layout. I lifted Melanie Call, the guest designer for this month at Personal Scrapper.

I used my OLD May 2008 Personal Scrapper kit for the "use up a kit" challenge. The kit is now all gone. I scrapped a page about my younger sister being a mom now. Her baby was born in September. The photos are from Thanksgiving. I was also able to use up the rest of the Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" papers I had in my stash, too. I made four more layouts with it. The first one documents my husband's relationship with my nephew. Luke is so funny around Tom! I completed a "recipe" challenge with it. I have one piece of cardstock, two sheets of patterned paper, three photos, two alphabets and another embellishment (rick rack).

The crop this month introduced a few sketches by members. "Cheese" is based on a LO by Sheila Mayden. It's about my dad and the journaling tells about how hard it's always been to get pictures of him and includes a few recent funny shots.

"Hair Today" is based on a sketch by Lisa Hidy. I turned the sketch upside down to make this LO. I loved Reese's headband and curls on Thanksgiving.

Reese is becoming a popular topic in my albums! I had to do one more of her from Thanksgiving for Kevin's album. The challenge was to scraplift a design team member and I lifted Carrie Postma. (She's also the owner of Paper Trunk.)There is a "TV Time" challenge to use either the title of a TV show or some other inspiration from it. I used an Informercial - hey, they are on TV! Blake asked for and received a Snuggie for Christmas. I think they are the craziest thing ever. (I mean, really...it's just a housecoat worn backwards!) He talked me into putting it on Christmas afternoon and Kevin snapped these pics for me. See the Dec. tag in the upper corner... I've had it for years. It's so nice to use something old.

The home decor challenge had me stumped until I was looking through my alphabet sticker baskets and I noticed a plain white waiting-to-be altered A that I bought over a year ago. I covered it simply in a fun striped paper by October Afternoon and simply added a couple flowers and an old bottle cap looking brad by K&Co. It's a nice accent in my newly redesigned scrap area.

I think I have two or three challenges left if I want to finish them all. Check back to see if I can get them all finished!

January Personal Scrapper kit layout

As soon as I opened my January kit from Personal Scrapper, I knew I had to scrap these photos of Reese with it! We watched her on Black Friday while my sister went shopping and Kevin pulled out a disco ball ornament to entertain her with. She loved it. I loved her expression!

I love having two boys, but have to admit that I really enjoy getting my girlie fix when Reese is around. :)

On another note...it's finally Friday!!! And...we have a THREE-DAY WEEKEND! Woo-hoo! I plan to get some scrapping done.

Happy Scrappin' to you all! :)

New Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff layouts with "Junior"

Four sheets of patterned paper and some embellishments can really stretch a long way!

This month I ordered American Crafts paper, printed chipboard and Letterman Thickers for my design team assignments from Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff. I used these products on both birthday and sports pages. Since Blake's 7th birthday party was football themed, I scrapped a 2-page layout for his album about his cake and cupcakes and a single page of the whole party for Kevin's album.

After the birthday pages were out of the way, I got back to sports. I paired Blake's "official" photo from '08 with a couple shots from the Opening Day ceremony.I had several other photos from Opening Weekend, so I made an additional 2-pager.

To finish out my photos from that weekend for Blake, I made a page of his game in that tournament. To keep it to one page, I cropped several photos into circles. Check out the store at Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff for items used on these layouts and for all your sports themed layout needs.

Earth Love and scallops...

I have a confession to make...

When I saw the Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" paper line, I felt no love at all for it. None.

Was not a fan.

Then on Friday, I received my new Personal Scrapper kit and inside the box was a crop prize bag. It contained a few "Earth Love" papers. And I liked them. I really did. I think it helped that I'd recently picked up some prints from last month (Thanksgiving) that I instantly thought would work with these papers.

On Saturday, I pulled out the prize bag and matched the papers up with cardstock. I was able to finish four layouts in no time. I just had to add titles using a bit of this and that from my (too large?) alphabet stash.

First, I scrapped pics of the boys "leaving their prints" in the concrete foundation for my dad's new grain bin. It brought back good memories of when I was asked to also leave my mark in concrete when I was growing up. My sister Kaitlin and her fat cat Chase just crack me up. That poor cat did NOT like his Pilgrim hat on Thanksgiving!

And this is sweet Reese, my niece. I love her. Tom thinks she's cute, too. She's a doll! Blake loves Reese, too! I'm not leaving Kevin out! I knew I had another photo of him with Reese on Thanksgiving. I actually have three of them and now that I've located them all, a new layout using this line will soon be in the works.

Thanks Erica for sending me something I needed!

I'd also like to send a thank you to Deana for inspiring me with her recent blog posts to use scallops. :)

A new year...new space

I started off the new year without any resolutions. I think more than anything, I want to continue to simplify a lot of areas in my life. After my grandfather died in '07, I decided I needed to "let go" of things whether it be actual "stuff" or even just feelings about things I can't control.

After Pappa died, we had to clean out his home for the estate sale. I knew that Mamma's sewing counter/cabinet would likely be tossed by the new home owner. I decided to bring it home with me to use for my scrap space. It was a true '70s style row of cabinets with a very '70s yellow countertop. I have to admit it was an eyesore, but it was Mamma's and I enjoyed doing my craft where for years she had done hers.
After Christmas, I realized that the set up in my scrap area wasn't really working for me. I felt like my area was continually growing and taking up more of the bonus room and cutting into the available play space for the boys. Although everything started out with a space for storage, it wasn't set up in a way that made sense. I realized I was just making due with the space/drawers/cabinets I had. Shortly after bringing the cabinets home, I realized the counter wasn't a functional workspace and I added a table to form an "L". It worked. For a while. More importantly, I was able to put something meaningful to me to use during a time I couldn't part with it.

After Christmas, I stumbled across a 50% off scrapbook storage sale at Michaels. I realized the money I'd been saving for my dream piece of storage furniture - and Expedit shelf from IKEA (for which the nearest store is hours away from me!) - could be put to better use with this customizable cube system.

After much thought in the store imagining the perfect set up in my head, three trips to two different Michaels (I realized I could use more than I orginally purchased and then after reconfiguring it, I still needed just one more!) and a lot of hard work with some help from Blake and Kevin, my space now looks like this:By positioning my table/workspace parrallel with my wall of cubes, I feel like I can more easily access my supplies which will make for easier use and returning unused items back to their space. This set up is a lot more functional. Plus, my table is pretty much clear so I can really spread out my projects.

I'm a happy girl.

January 1 marked the tenth anniversary of Mamma's death. It's been hard for me to celebrate New Year's since she passed away. Ironically, I started scrapbooking after attending a Creative Memories party less than three weeks after she died. Scrapbooking was a great distraction for me during my mourning process and today it continues to be my "escape" when I'm stressed.

Mamma's cabinets and counter were donated on New Year's eve. I was able to let them go. In doing so, I've started simplifying my scrap space. I have a few bags of items to donate and giveaway.

That's a good start to a new year.

It feels like the North Pole here...

The weather report tonight said that the high later this week may finally hit ABOVE FREEZING for the first time THIS YEAR. Can you believe that? Oh...it's COLD!!! We had a bit of snow that started on Wednesday night and since this is Kentucky, they called off school for two days. I can't complain though. I really enjoyed my time at home with the boys and I was also able to get some scrap-related things finished.

Notice I said "scrap-related." I spent most of Thursday editing and ordering the 385 photos I had in my "to print" folder. Yes, I was a "bit" behind!!! I spent most of Friday morning organizing/reorganizing. With the new year, I caught a reorganizing bug and my scrap space has changed quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. (I'll have to update you on that later.)

Anyway...my point is that it's so cold here that it feels like the North Pole. On that note, I have more layouts to share that I completed with the Crate Paper "North Pole" paper line that I received for my birthday.

These are in no particular order.

Christmas 2006... Christmas prep 2005 for Blake's album...

Christmas 2006...

Christmas 2008...

Christmas prep 2006 for Kevin's album...

Christmas 2006...Kevin's grown so much!Kevin's Kindergarten Christmas party in 2007...I still have some scraps yet to use!

;)

Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff projects

Last month I was given the assignment to submit an article for the December issue of the Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff newsletter. I used a few projects from the store and stretched them to make three projects - one of them a Christmas gift.

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I never posted them here.
I made two layouts with my items...

and a tri-fold frame that I made out of bingo cards by Tattered Angels. This was a gift for my mother-in-law for Christmas.

You can check out the newsletter here.

Happy Scrappin'!

Jenni Bowlin Studio kit layouts

Every month I stalk the Jenni Bowlin Studio website to see what the monthly kit will include and whether or not she's added any new items to the store. Lately, my urge to order has been eased by knowing that Archiver's carries many of her products. However, when I saw the December kit, I just loved it. It wasn't really Christmas-y although it did have a lot of Christmas colors in it.

It was hard to pass up the kit!

I completed a non-Christmas LO using pics of Blake the day he came home and announced he'd made Safety Patrol at school. I added Thickers and Scenic Route stickers from my stash. I wanted to document our Christmas card this year and our letter, but didn't feel the need to have a traditional layout. I kept it simple with just a patterned paper background with our card overlapping an envelope like I used to mail our cards. I left the envelope open so our letter from this year can be removed and read. To finish it off, I added a red ribbon down the side of the page.

There was a challenge on a board to do a year in review LO. I did this LO for Blake using our Christmas card letter (cropped slightly) and the photo collage I included on our card. It's a great way to summarize the year for him.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this page!!! (I don't mean to brag - really!) The map of Canada on the October Afternoon paper had me stumped a bit until I realized there were a lot of waterways on it. Waterways...boats...my Raingutter Regatta layout was born. This page for Kevin just makes me smile. The boys made their simple boats with Tom and they worked quite well!

I guess I'm saving the best for last...

This layout really documents a memory I don't want to forget. I've eaten Krispy Kreme donuts my whole life, but they've always been purchased in a store. Every time I go to the mall in Louisville, I pretty much drive right by them. For some reason, after my birthday dinner, I decided to stop with the boys to check it out. It was cool seeing them make the donuts. We picked up 20 mini donuts for breakfast the next morning.

When we got home, I snuck a bite of one and couldn't help myself - "Oh. My. Gosh!" Blake asked me what I was talking about and I gave him a bit of the donut. His eyes got huge and he repeated what I'd said, "Oh. My. Gosh!" But he continued, "They're like heaven...God's gift to us."

Um, yeah...they were good!

Oh, and yes, that's a Krispy Kreme hat in the layout, too. We've made one more trip since then to get fresh donuts and one morning when I had a craving, I even stopped at the gas station by school to buy one. But they only sold half dozens. But, I bought them. And ate three... They weren't quite heaven, but they were still good.

Happy New Year everyone!!!