Going Old School Via the Stash

I have quite the stash as do many of my fellow scrappers. I have been trying to do more with that stash and in that process I came up with these two pages.

 

 

 

Kurt Warner is kind of a big deal in my state and home. My husband and I had an opportunity to meet him and we did! I used a recently past CTMH line to make this simple LO.

 This is one of my favorite pictures of my daughter. This paper line is super duper old and I decided to pull it out and give it a go. I also cut the big image from a piece of paper, attached it to this LO and ran my Stickles over it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to School!

Really really quick! Each of my kids have a school album in which there are pages of their first day of school. This year I mixed a few new release lines from CTMH to come up with this standard sketch/ LO. I drew the sketch first and threw each of them together based on that sketch.

Until next time!

For the Dogs

As some of you know my family and I breed Golden Retrievers! We actually have a litter on the ground now, but before I start scrapping those little babies I thought I would finish up scrapping the last litter -- 7 boys.  I used the old CTMH "Lucky" line for these photos and the sleeved photo pages. These Layouts took me a total of 45 minutes to create. I like to do the title or add a few elements to the sleeved page just to keep it in fashion with the LO before.

Thanks for stopping by and  I would love to see your pet pages :-D

August Studio Calico Kit

I have been wanting to do another kit club for over a year and my favorite current kits seem to be Studio Calico. However, I always have a hard time with them and almost did not sign up again to get them. August was my first month and I am really happy I took the leap! Here are all of my pages I made using the kit!

 

 

This was the first LO I did. It took me awhile (over 2 hours) because I was so uncertain of this type of style. Add to that I am not a fan of holiday type pages it was bound to be a challenge.

This was the next page I did. I struggled through this as well trying to find that SC Mojo.....

 And I found the mojo! I love this LO and I think it works perfectly with the style.

 On a roll! This is my daughter's favorite page I did.

 At this point I am thinking that I am almost done with this kit....

 Then I found these pictures!

 Forgot about the Kraft paper in the kit and I had this last banner.

 Finally, the last page and I litereally used every single last piece of the kit on it!

Thanks for stopping in. I completed a lot of other pages these past weeks that I will be uploading over the next few days. Make sure to come back soon! 

Documenting Tough Subjects

This last year has been a tough one in regarding losing people who I love. One of my high school friends passed away. Then a few months later one of my local best friends died. Finally, my Grandma died of old age. I was actually happy that my Grandma finally passed. She had a good long life. She buried my Father in 1998 and I know that she is over joyed to be reunited with him and my Grandfather. However, her death was symbolic for me. It was like the passing of my childhood and youth and having to stand in for my Dad was really hard. Good came out of it though. Some broken relationships were restored and bonds strengthened.

Anyways, I suppose I am rambling so I will get on with it. I have been looking at these pictures for months and finally, this weekend it hit me. I finally was able to scrap them in the most heart felt respectable manner I am capable of and the process was healing.

This first two page LO was of documenting the trip I took back in October to say my final good byes to my Grandma (that is her and my Aunt Jackie in the lower right hand picture), a family trip to Apple Hill in which we ate apple pie, and a visit to my Dad -- well his resting place.

 My next trip home was just a few short months later in which we laid my precious Grandma to rest.

 I took a lot of pictures of the grave side service and really did not want to do a ton of pages on it. Honestly, I did not know if I could emotionally drudge up what I had been dealing with. So, I pulled out these pocket pages and slapped them in there! I embellished a little bit to make it flow and match the first LO (sorry about the glares on these).

 Here is the other side of the pocket page.

 Here is a close up of the brief journal I did in the lower corner. I blinged it up to make it a little bit more special.

 I was able to take one day between funeral and graveside to unwind. I think I would have cracked had it not been for my friend from high school and our wine tasting trip to Napa. I can not even express how much I love this lady and she was a GOD send that weekend and continues to be to this day.

 Close up of the journal on this page.

 My cousin and I got real close this trip. After we buried my Grandma we sent the afternoon together going to spots that my Grandma used to take us to.

 This time I pulled out my "Simple Stories" and just filled the pockets with pictures of our stops.

 Again, sorry about the glare.

This page has nothing to do with the previous pages, but I had a bunch of leftovers and I let them throw up all over this. Cute right?

Thanks for stopping by!

2012-13 Control Journal

Can you believe that summer is almost over and school is gonna start soon? Now, granted that I live in a state in which school starts really early, but still?!?!?! Each year I like to have a family manual of sorts to keep us organized, successful and productive all year long. Usually I use a simple three ring binder, but this year I ran across the big huge SMASH BOOKS and knew that it must be my Control Journal (as Flylady calls it). Here is a glimpse at my Control Journal:

The first page is my "Daily to-do List". I simply took a sheet protector, slipped it in that and attached it to the page. I will use a dry erase marker on it so  I can use it over and over again.

Up next is the year, but starting in August because that is when school starts. The past few years I have relied on my calender in my phone until my phone broke and I lost my agenda! Now, I like to have a hard copy too. See how plain it is? Well, that is because I plan on adding bits and pieces to it as the months go by, thus filling it up AND making it into a memory book when it is all said and done. I am only posting the first page of the calender because the rest are pretty much the same.

 Ah, the chore sheets for the children and I.  I have my chore list color coded. Black is done once a week and blue and pink are done every other week. The kids chores are also located in this section and I added the do (not) to their page because they would totally take me up on it being "Save For Later". Hee-hee :-)

 Up next is the weekly menu and pocket for the list. I plan on menu scheduling every other week and there is a coordinating pocket for the list next to each menu.

 Birthday organizer is up next and with a family of five and all the parties the kids get invited to we need this in a bad way.

 This section will be used for the kids letters to Santa and the receipts will be kept in the envelope in case things need to be returned and such. This is still a pretty open section in that I know I need it in the journal, but just what it will end up with is a mystery. Like I said before this control journal is both functional and a memory book of our year.

 Holiday bake list and recipes will go here! Probably a picture or two of the kiddos and I baking. I am not quite sure what I will be preparing this upcoming holiday season (I mean I am OCD, but not that bad...well that is not true...I do have separate control journal for the holidays that has all my recipes in it).

 The rest of the book I left blank and will fill it up as the year goes by. I would say over half of the journal is just waiting to be filled with our life. Here are a few of the blank pages in the SMASH BOOK. I gotta admit I love all the pockets, envelopes and decorative bags!

 Love this at the bottom of one of the pages

 This might end up being a sketch spot for layout ideas for the scrapbook.

 So, pretty right? AND the pages are super thick so they don't bleed through!

 Last page of the book.

I must confess that I love all SMASH BOOKS, but sometimes finding a use for them when I am a traditional scrapper is hard, so I am very pleased with this! Thanks for stopping by!

Is My Mojo Back?

It has been a long time since I have actually sat down and got lost in my Purple Cave (my craft room). I was able to make the following creations and ended up quite pleased with them all. Once again, I made these all from my stash...well....the first few are from a CTMH special paper pack they were running a month or two ago, but at least I am using it right?

Here is the first one I did and I gotta confess it is not my favorite. Totally tell I was searching for my Mojo with it and almost found it:

Think I found my Mojo on this one:

I then wanted to scrap our Spring break and remembered that I had purchased a "Simple Story" line from my bestie -- Nina a few years back. Sorry for the glare and it being uploaded in the wrong order. Anyways, I thought it worked out really great with all our photos! I did pull a few embellishments from the stash to complete it, but otherwise it was from the line.

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! There it is!!!!! MY MOJO!!!!!!! Love love love love love this page :-) I stole the sketch from Pintrest too.

Here is another page made with that same kit from "Simple Stories". Of course the thickers are years and years old...I am trying to use them up and never buy them again. See, thickers are like rabbits...the multiply and take over my entire craft room. It is hard to resist them...they are so stinkin' cool and fun and cute and........  ;-)

Thanks for looking :-) I hope this post means I am back! Until next time :-D

Stuff I did in June

What happeneded to June? I did manage to get a few things done in regards to scrapbooking. I am happy to report that I finally finished up the Vegas layouts from our trip back in April of 2011. To top it off I used my stash and nothing new -- SCORE! Please excuse the missing L on the first layout....it fell off and I did reattach it after I took the picture.

 The next two layouts are all about Legos. Once again I dipped into the stash to complete them ;-)

 Finally, I found these cute letters ast Hobby Lobby and knew I had to get them for my daughter's room:

 and alter them :-)

Thanks for stopping in :-) Until next time.....