Celebrating birthdays...

Today wasn't anyone's birthday, but Blake celebrated his a couple weeks back. Next week Kevin (my baby!) will turn 9 (!?!?!?!).

I wanted to share the card I made for Blake's birthday. I used scraps from a Scarlet Lime Frugal Fab kit. I pieced the kite together and adhered it with pop dots. (They seem to be my go-to item!) It still doesn't seem possible that Blake is 12!

I also recently scrapped a birthday layout. The photos are from Blake's 11th birthday though. I scraplifted a Kelly Goree layout in the new issue of Scrapbooks Etc. I was able to use my new papers from Imaginisce. I've wanted these birthday papers for SO LONG!

The layout is for Kevin's album. I am so blessed to have these two wonderful boys.

22 down...

Only 15 more to make!

I saw Halloween treat boxes (pumpkin, mummy, frankenstein) in an issue of Scrapbook Trends magazine. I knew they'd be easy to make with a sheet of 12x12 cardstock and fun to do with Kevin. When I found some black pipe cleaners in with our craft supplies, I decided to add spiders to our collection. I did alter the mummy and frankenstein a bit. I didn't want to waste buttons on things that will likely be tossed after a school party. So instead, I am using punched paper circles and adhering the top layer with pop dots.

I love these! I just might make four more so I'll have a whole set to use for decoration here at home.

The best part has been working with Kevin to make them. :)

I've got "School Spirit" (and one month post-op)

I am in love with the Crate Paper "School Spirit" line. This weekend with half of my family (Tom and Blake) away on a Scouting trip, I managed to work in some scrap time while Kevin either played or slept.

Our neighbor gave me a couple shots of Kevin from the first day of school. In these photos, he's sitting next to Adam who lives across the street. Kevin has talked about how Adam is his best friend in their class this year. Because of enrollment numbers, it was necessary to add a fifth 3rd grade class. A few students were pulled from each existing classroom to form the new class. Adam was moved. Kevin has commented that he misses seeing Adam, but is thankful that they still have "specials" (art, music, PE) together each day. I used these photos to document that story.

Next, I decided to scrap Kevin ready for school on the first day. Finally, I went back to the end of the last school year. Well, "almost" the end. It was actually the day before the last day, so I gave it the title "The End is Near." Because of work, I wasn't able to be home to see the boys off to school on the last day. Instead, I took advantage of being home the morning before the last day (awards day) and took their photos a day early.

I think this is my new favorite layout. :)

In other news...

It's hard to believe that it's already been a month since my thyroid surgery. I am quite happy with the way my incision healed. Over time it will just blend in with the natural crease in my neck. I am amazed at how much better I feel since my surgery. It was really worth it!

Tom and Blake are back from their trip. They had a great time hiking, but are glad to be home.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. I can't believe we are a week away from Halloween!

Woo-Hoo!!!

I just found out that my "I love fall" layout that I lifted from Allison Davis' blog was included in this week's Gallery Highlights over at Creating Keepsakes.

You can check out their blog post here.

Wooden Farm & "Maple Grove"...

The new "Maple Grove" line from We R Memory Keepers was great for scrapping our photos from last month's trip to a local farm to get our fall display items. I got lucky and found the "slab" of the paper complete with a 12x12 die cut sheet, 12x12 sheet of mixed alpha stickers and 12x12 sheet of gold chipboard letters for only $8.99!

The first layout I made for Blake's album is simply named "Wooden Farm" - the name of the farm. I had printed a 6-up 4x6 photo collage and just cut them in half to make the row of smaller photos. It was easy to "smoosh" my photos together and place them on one oversized photo mat. Then I was able to build the page around it. The next layout - "Sweet Family Fun" - is also for Blake's album. I was inspired by an October PageMaps sketch, but switched things up a bit and stretched it into a 2-page layout.

Everything on this layout (and the one above) came from the slab with the exception of the felt rick rack that I added. I also used pop dots to add some dimension to certain elements. My final layout is for my personal album, so I scrapped it 8-1/2x11". I was inspired by an Allison Davis layout that she posted during her October Sketch Week. It's an almost exact lift.I just loved the hand-stitching and use of leaves. I did have to hand cut those leaves out of the patterned paper. I think it was worth it though. I still have plenty of this line left to work with. That's a good thing, too, because I have PLENTY of fall photos left to scrap!

I'm in the photos...

Kevin is almost 9 now (two weeks from today to be exact!) and just as thoughtful as ever. Now when I have the camera out, he'll often ask me to give him the camera so he can get a photo of me, too. I love that kid!

On our recent outing to a local farm to get items for our fall display, Kevin snapped some shots of me and Tom goofing around in one of the displays for photo ops. Then, just as we were leaving, he reminded me that we didn't have a shot of me in the corn teepee. I had already taken of photo of my three guys in it. To document his thoughtfulness (and photos of me!), I used the new Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli line. LOVE IT!I decided to splurge and use SIX of the journaling sprouts on the one page. I layered scalloped and round sprouts and adhered the top layer with pop dots.

Happy scrappin'!

Scrapping Christmas...

With so many new Christmas products coming out in time for the upcoming holidays, I decided to use up a bit of my stash to allow for some guilt free purchases. I purchased a great American Crafts Christmas kit at a crop I attended earlier this year. I paired the kit up with photos from Tom's family Christmas get-together last year.

We gave my mother-in-law a hard-to-wrap gift. Tom brought a stub roll of paper home from work and the I wrapped the gift in that and added a huge bow. That wasn't enough for the boys. they each drew on two sides and then decorated the top together. "For Grandma" is for Kevin's album and shows the two pictures he drew. I put the rest of the photos from that day for Kevin's album on a 2-page layout. It's pretty simple and focuses on the photos. It's hard to believe that Christmas is in two months, 5 days! Yikes!

Weekend update...

This weekend was a whirlwind! On Friday night, the four of us went to the local high school football game to see our team come from behind to win in overtime. The team is now 8-0! What a night!

Saturday, I woke up early to meet my mom and sisters at a local festival. The weather was beautiful for the outdoor event. We enjoyed the food (including fried oreos...yum!), crafts and antiques.

I found the coolest booth - Just Your Type - with vintage typewriter jewelry. I had a bracelet custom made with the year we were married, all of our initials and the boys' #18. Love that my bracelet is an original piece of art made from typewriter keys from the '20s and '30s. I already have a "W" ring on order from them and I'm debating another purchase.

I had to leave the festival a little early to rush home. My friend Debbie had called earlier that morning to see if I had plans for the evening. Her son was sick, so I was able to use her husband's ticket to go see the Eagles with her!The concert was the first one in the brand new Yum! Center in Louisville.

It was a great night with a great friend, great food and great music!

And today the great music trend continues...

I am the proud owner of Kings of Leon's album #5 - Come Around Sundown.

12 already???

It's hard to believe that it was 12 years ago today (5:05 a.m. to be exact) that we were blessed with Blake. He has brought so much joy to our lives every day since. Blake is a great son. He's loving, protective, smart, handsome, strong, athletic, caring...I could go on and on.

And according to one little guy, he's the best big brother in the whole world!

Weekend Wrap Up...

In early August, before I even knew I had to have surgery, I found out that one of my favorite bands - Band of Horses - was going to perform in Louisville. Tom refused to take me, but offered to buy my ticket if I could get one of my sisters to go with me. My sister Kaitlin was game, so I purchased tickets. Then I found out a couple weeks later that I needed surgery. And then surgery was scheduled 12 days before the concert.

Luckily by the beginning of this week I was feeling better! Over the weekend, I had stopped taking my pain pills, so I was cleared to drive. I met Kaitlin and we went out to dinner with a couple of her classmates from school. (She is working on her Masters in Engineering at UofL.) We went to Hillbilly Tea and had a great dinner. The Bourbon Bread Pudding was delicious! ( I also wanted to swipe the antique chair in their women's restroom!)

I always have fun when I go out with Kaitlin. I think we need to take regular outings together!Then we were off to The Brown Theater...

I honestly believe that Band of Horses put on the best live show I've ever seen. It was great. My favorite performance was also my favorite BoH song - The Funeral. I didn't think that song could get better, but live it was something else. My second favorite was Evening Kitchen from the encore. It was just Ben Bridwell an Tyler Ramsey on stage with a guitar...amazing!I went home happy and with a t-shirt. It's been a while since I bought a concert tee!

I had Thursday to run errands and recover from staying out way too late!

Friday we talked Tom into taking the day off from work so we could go to Huber's in Starlight, Idiana.

We had to stop at Cracker Barrel on the way up for breakfast! Yum!
At Huber's this trip, we did a few new things.I treated the boys to ice cream. I admit, I wanted some for myself. Why not splurge a little. Blake had pumpkin. It was great! Kevin selected Blackberry - it was even better. All of their icecreams are homemade and the two we had used ingredients they grew there. The other new thing was that we ventured out into their apple orchards. (We already had PLENTY of pumpkins at home and didn't need to pick out own...)
We are going to make this a new tradition!The Winesap apples were delicious! (And yes, you were allowed to eat ONE apple per person out in the orchard!)No, Kevin's not right... :)From there, we went over to Joe Huber's Family Farm for more fall fun and a delicious lunch buffet. We all ate way to much, but it was sure good!It was the perfect day, but it didn't end there. When we got home, our Boy Scout built a fire in the back yard. Both boys had worked on making the "pit" perfect for days.We roasted hot dogs...and marshmallows...and made s'mores!Saturday was a day of rest! And preparation. Today we had family over for Blake's birthday party.He'll turn 12 on Wednesday. It doesn't seem possible!

Tomorrow is our last day of fall break. It will be weird going back to work on Tuesday!

Two weeks post-op...

I knew I had a good surgeon. He did the same surgery on my mom 3-1/2 years ago, and her scar is barely noticeable. Sure, it helps that my ENT is also a plastic surgeon. But I didn't expect to go from this:

to this:

in just two weeks!

Scrappin' Old School...

Last Friday I was happy to come home from my doctor's appointment to find a box from Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff on my porch. I had ordered the new Pink Paislee "Old School" line for my design team projects this month. I thought the papers would go well with photos I had from my sister Kaitlin's graduation from the University of Louisville in May.

This layout has a lot of notebook edge borders. I used Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist on the American Crafts Letterman Thickers since they were too white for their page originally. Kaitlin has always given 100%, so that's where I came up with my title. I liked how one of the papers had "No. 5" on it. I cut that out and used it as an embellishment since Kate is #5 of us six girls.I used the same punched border strips for a second layout of the graduation. I wanted to keep it simple. Mixed my title up a bit...

Added more strips for my date. (That's Tim Holtz's film strip ribbon you also see as an accent.)I also used the line to scrap Kevin's "schadle" he made over Spring Break. He had the whole night he and Blake were going to stay up late planned out - all the way to 1:08 am.! (I think they were asleep by 10:00 though!)I have a few other projects in mind for these products. You may even see a mini album (or two?) in the near future...