Mixing up my holidays...

My February Chocolatier project for Crop Chocolate was to create something for Valentine's Day or love themed. Instead of using your typical Valentine's Day products, I decided to use the leftovers from the amazing "Everybody Loves Christmas" line by Echo Park. Since I scrap my boys, I didn't like using the pink patterns for their Christmas layouts. Plus, I thought the brown patterned paper I used on the left hand side made this page for Kevin a little less feminine, too.

In addition to the items in the EP paper pack, I added a sheet of white cardstock a strip of rose trim, and red foil Thickers (all by American Crafts). The pink brads were from my stash.

Kevin actually helped with this layout. He drew up a "sketch" for me and I actually used elements from that sketch to come up with this page. (He's my little artist!)

Here's hoping we get a full week in at school without any snow! It's back to work tomorrow.

Something to share...

I spent last weekend rearranging my scrapbook area in the bonus room. The moving/cleaning interfered with my scrap time this week. I did manage to finish one layout that I'd like to share.

I used the January "Who's Who" kit from Studio Calico to make this layout for my personal album. I had this photo of me with two of my sisters that told a story I needed to scrap. For years, whenever a camera comes out when we are together the hand gestures do, too. A favorite seems to be the spelling of "blood" with our fingers. Why? I guess we are pretty gangsta down on the farm in Kentucky?

Now, years from now when my grandkids are looking through my albums, they'll know what Lindsey was doing with her hands. She's spelling out "blood" because she's cool like that.

More Christmas memories...

As you may have noticed, once I open up a paper collection or kit, I like to use it until it's gone. The Echo Park "Merry Christmas" line has been keeping me entertained lately. I finished four more layouts with it (we had two more snow days!) and still have a bit left that I might be able to stretch into another one.


I made this really, simple layout for Kevin's album about the cousins all decorating cookies for Christmas. Baker's twine is my latest addiction...

And, I'm still getting a lot of use out of my tags from Shabby Chic Crafts. I ran out of "o"s on my Thicker sheet, so I cut a "g" down into a heart shape.

"Tis the Season for Cookies!" is a layout from the same event, but with close ups of Kevin and one of his finished masterpieces. On this one, I pulled out a piece of oversized rick-rack I've had for a long time. I sewed it down the middle and then pulled a string from each end to wrinkle it up. (I'm sure there's a more technical term for that...) Then I added a sticker strip to cover my stiching.

I also remembered I had some Jenni Bowlin Chistmas themed bingo cards. I ended up cutting the designs out of the packaging card and used the "mini" cards as accents.

I didn't think Kevin wanted to see Santa this year. I didn't push it. Then on Dec. 23rd, one of my sisters called to tell me he told her he WANTED to go see him. So off we went to Louisville (an hour away) to see the "real" Santa. (The one is our town is rude and won't let you take photos. Plus, he wears a fake beard!)

I'm not holding my breathe that he'll ask to go next year. I added a MME die cut quote to this page because Kevin is pretty charming, adorable, AND ever so sweet. :)

And I used more baker's twine. Imagine that!

I noticed the same Santa was on the Echo Park sticker sheet AND on the cut-apart card sheet. So, I cut one out and layered them - with pop dots, of course. Love pop dots. They are right behind baker's twine on my list right now.

And, I'm saving my least favorite page for last. In my mind this was much better than my final result. But, a finished layout is just that...a memory scrapped. My kids won't care if it's "right" or not. :)

My scrapping has come to a tempory halt for right now. I interrupted my space by deciding to rearrange. EVERYTHING. I started at 10 pm last night and while working on and off throughout the day think I'll be really happy with my changes. My computer work area is already complete and a real plus.

Now, I just need to finish putting things in their new places so I can find my scrap table and create something.

I like to create. :)

Enjoying the holiday(s)...

I enjoyed being out of school for the holiday today.

Although Tom had to go into work, we still made time for a family game "late afternoon" with Monopoly. We love the new electronic banking version.

Kevin thought it was a "hair-raising" experience!

I also worked in some time to scrap today and made three layouts last night after the boys went to bed. Since I didn't have to get up early for school, I stayed up late. Really late!

My recent photo order contained several Christmas photos and I decided it was finally time to use my "Merry Christmas" paper collection by Echo Park. I had purchased this as soon as it was released, but saved it to use with this years' photos.

For the first layout, "Ready for Christmas Mass," I used a silvery shade of Bazzil bling cardstock. The boys' expressions were so fun in these photos that I had to scrap them all. To accent my page, I used the ornament stickers from the 12x12 sheet and adhered them with pop dots. I added baker's twine to make them look like they were hanging.

The dark brown background I used for "Christmas Pajama Memories" didn't photograph too well today. It stayed overcast. I am really happy with how it looks in person though. I was inspired by Allison Davis' 2-page Sketch #7 at Sketch Support.

I added a word sticker by KI Memories and foil Thickers for my title.

When I thought I was finished with the layout, I realized it was still missing "something" so I added the buttons to the tree. Of course, I had to tie them on!

Then I switched gears to scrap a few single-page layouts. First up was Kevin's Christmas program at school this year. I liked the "Merry Christmas" sticker so much that I used it in place of a title on the page.

I used pop dots on the sticker embellishments.

One of my favorite Christmas activities was the family outing (16 of us!) to see "A Christmas Story" at a local historic movie theater.

I added bling to the centers of the snowflake stickers.

Finally, I completed a layout showcasing the tree in Kevin's room. He decorated it all by himself. I love seeing the handmade ornaments from each year.

Several items from my stash were added to this page (Jenni Bowlin large star covered in Stickles, Jenni Bowlin mini bingo card, random vellum tag, baker's twine, button, bling brad). I also sprayed the page with Pearl Glimmer Mist.

I think I have enough scraps left for a few more layouts...

Unexpected finds...

My latest two layouts are seem to have very different topics, but when looking back at them, I realize they both tell a story about unexpected finds.

First, is a layout of Kevin and Reese. What's the find? Being reminded of my two youngest sisters around the age Kevin is in these photos playing with Blake when he was a baby. Then it hit me, the age difference between my youngest sister and Blake is the same as that of Kevin and Reese. On Thanksgiving, I loved watching Kevin in the floor playing with Reese and sharing the toy tractors with her. (And aren't her curls just adorable?) I used my "Dear Diary" (Nov. '10) kit from Noel Mignon for this layout. I added the American Crafts crocheted flowers and the yellow Basic Grey alpha stickers.

My boys don't have as many first cousins as I did (50 or so...), but the bonds they share with the ones they do have I hope will be stronger.

I used the same "Dear Diary" kit for my next layout. I thought the papers fit my topic perfectly. In November I attended an auction on the property next to my parents' farm. I didn't go to buy anything, but ended up spending $20. I spent $5 on each sale and my title mocks an auctioneer, "Fi-dolla, fi-dolla, who'll give me fi-dollas???"

When I saw a green floral frog on a table, I knew I was going to make a purchase. Then they grouped it together with a bunch of stuff I didn't want, and the bidding went over $10. I approached the winning bidder and gave her $5 cash for the frog. There were a few green dishes on my wish list, too. They went over my $10 limit. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I approached that winning bidder, too. One of the green bowls what the only thing she had wanted and she said it was actually valuable. She sold the large green salad bowl and 3 matching smaller ones to me for $5. Later, she came by and gave me a green vase, too.

Then I saw the chairs. I actually needed an extra one in our formal dining room. I had my sights on two, hoping to get one of them. They went late in the auction and the crowd was dwindling. They started the bidding high on both and no one would bid. I offered $5 (both times) and no one bid against me. The one with arms looks great in our dining room. I just need to recover the seat. The smaller one has a great shape and is just cute sitting in a corner in our living room. I liked the scalloped shape of the packaging that came with my Jillibean Soup corrgated shapes, so I used it on my layout. I also added a tag and bling frame (around my journaling).

Although I had fun at the auction, I haven't been to one since. I don't "need" anything and am afraid I'd bring home too many deals!

I'm looking forward to spending the day with my boys tomorrow since school is out for the holiday. Apparently UPS is still delivering because I have a shipping confirmation that says I should expect a cool package tomorrow...

Rewind to fall...

It's been sooooo cold here lately. Cold since Thanksgiving. While I can't say that I'm ready for warm weather, I am ready for "warmer" weather. Fall is warmer than winter. Maybe that's why my "fall" Dear Diary kit from Noel Mignon put me in the mood for scrapping when I received these photos in the mail the other day.

My younger son is named after my dad. Some days it's very appropriate that he is. I've noticed lately that Kevin has a funny, serious face when he is concentrating on something. My dad does the same thing. Last month while we were at my parents' house, I captured both Kevins in deep concentration. My Kevin was decorating cookies. My dad was working in a Sudoku book.

The title came to me instantly. And yes, I was a huge Joker/Heath Ledger fan in the last Batman movie!

I actually thought I was finished with this layout before I added the buttons/brads. When I stepped back and looked at it, "something" was missing. I LOVE that I added them. They are my favorite part of the layout. (Aside from the photos/story, of course!)

Even though we've lived here for seven years, we still see a dentist in our old town. It's worth the 40 minute drive a few times a year because it guarantees we'll be visiting an area we love. It's a nice little outing for us. On the boys' last appointment date, we went over early for lunch at the historic Old Tabott Tavern. LOVE this place. Their fried green tomatoes are DELICIOUS! Unfortunately both boys like them now, so I have to share. Blake and I tried their catfish sandwiches and were amazed at how BIG they were when they came out. Blake picked his up and declared, "Mom, it's just like Man vs. Food!" (That's a show on the Travel Channel.) And so, a title for a layout was born...

I added the corrugated star shapes by Jillibean Soup, a Girls' Paperie alphabet ("vs."), and some twine. Finally, I scrapped a super simple 2-pager to document our Thanksgiving. We delivered meals for our church.

I think the house shape is a leftover from another Noel Mignon kit. I also added the envelope.

We are enjoying the beginning of our 3-day weekend. We went out for an early dinner tonight at Outback (yum!) to celebrate two boys' great report cards. On the way home, we attended church (now we can sleep in tomorrow!) and went to a 50th birthday party for my favorite uncle. (50??? Wow!)

Now, it's movie time. ;)

Snow Day #2...

Hopefully today was the last snow day for a while! I made the most of my time and enjoyed scrapping while the boys played video games.

"Nothing beats a cup of cocoa on a cold winter's day" might be my longest title ever! I used scraps from my January Polka Dot Whimsy kit for this layout. I am still cutting individual letters out of that keyboard patterened paper by Bella Boulevard. :)

I received a photo order from Shutterfly yesterday. I had taken advantage of their 99 prints for 99 cents sale last week. With a fresh supply of photos, I wanted to get some stories down on layouts before I forgot some of the details.

"16 cents" tells the story of my Christmas gift from Kevin this year. He was upset that he didn't have a gift for me for Christmas, so I gave him $12 and showed him some things in Archiver's that I'd like. I told him to pick out one or two things (all under $5 each) and then I went to wait by the door. He came out all smiles with the bag tucked inside his coat. Then on the way home he commented that he had three things for me. AND that the sales lady was nice enough to give him 16 cents! My boy is too good at math and wanted to spend all of the money on me, but hadn't considered tax! I wish I had known this before we left the store so I could have repaid the nice lady. I guess it's a good thing Kevin is so cute!

He even wrapped the package himself when he got home. The chipboard accents I used on my layout were one of my gifts from him. The alphas were another.

I added Glossy Accents to some of the details on my layout to add dimension.

I also scrapped Kevin delivering gifts to the neighbors on Christmas Eve. I love mixing alphas in my titles.

School is ON for tomorrow. By the time we get back into a routine, it will be time for our 3-day weekend!

1/11/11: Snow Day...

Today's Snow Day was brought to you by the number 1 and the letters P, D, and W (as in Polka Dot Whimsy)...

I have a clean scrap space, so I spent the morning creating with what is left of my January kit. I made a layout for my personal album that focused on journaling what I want out of this year. I loved the "keyboard" pattern on a sheet of Bella Boulevard paper in the kit. I cut the individual keys out for part of my title.

It's rare that I do a single-photo layout, but that was all I had for this "event" - the boys asleep in the backseat. I used the remaining portion of the KI Memories die cut calendar paper that I used on the above layout. The backside was just ruled and it was perfect for my journaling.

I used the Washi tape that was wrapped around the fabric in the kit to back part of my title. (Now I want more of it!)

There were several buttons in the kit. I made a whimsical border on the page with the Basic Grey felties and layered buttons and sequins.

I made a couple simple cards, too. For the one on the left, I layered a couple of die cut flowers with a crocheted flower, a regular flower and a big button. The flower on the yellow card is made of fabric. I like the fabric border on that card, too.

This afternoon we took Blake to our county's first Fiscal Court meeting of the year. For a merit badge, Blake had to meet with a local elected official. He asked his former principal, Mr. E.G. Thompson, if he could interview him and was invited to attend the meeting and lead the Pledge of Allegiance. (Mr. Thompson was also my principal for 1st-8th grades!)

Blake is pictured with Mr. Thompson and our county Judge Executive Harry Berry.

Blake did a great job. We are so proud of him.

No school again tomorrow...