Saturday, May 07, 2011

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!

Not much time today to scrap, but I was able to finish several pages last night while waiting for McKelle to get home from JV Champs.


Studio Calico has a number of NSD challenges up on their blog. This layout is a combination of Emily's typography challenge and Laura's stamp challenge. I LOVE how it turned out! This picture of Max reminds me of myself - I could often be found walking to and from school with my nose in a book. I love how much he loves reading!


If you've read my blog at all, you know I love sketches. And SC has 10 new sketches up on their blog for NSD. This layout was done with Kelly Purkey's "Spring" sketch.


I have to admit having a little bit of glee going on while scrapping this picture. I got to use PINK! This was done for Celine's using wood challenge. Shhh....just don't tell McKelle...


Happy NSD!

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

A funny thing happened on the way to the Prom...

Otherwise known as the comedy of errors leading up to the Prom dinner which I hosted for Matthew's last high school dance (sniff.) Luckily, the dinner itself went off without a hitch and a good time was had by all (or so I'm told.)

It started out with a busy Saturday - a baseball game for Max, a Driver's Ed drive for Matthew, a Relief Society meeting (which I never made it to but did manage to drop McKelle off as she was playing her flute with a YW group) - and of course, the aforementioned Prom dinner. Four couples, Italian themed menu concocted by Matthew and Julia.



My sage, chocolate & turquoise dishes didn't really fit the Italian theme and I didn't have enough white Corel, so I stopped by Macys after dropping off McKelle and Matthew, gift card and coupons in hand. I found place settings for two, for six...nothing for eight. Then the gentleman at the register pointed out some pretty square white place settings for four and even better, they were buy one get one free. My gift card covered almost the entire purchase price and I went happily on my way, thinking I had gotten a fabulous deal.












Matthew and I stopped at Safeway to pick up the dinner ingredients, picked up McKelle and headed home. As I started setting the table, I realized the first thing to go wrong of many that day. The lovely place settings? Not a setting for four as I had been advised (and yes, absolutely my fault for not slowing down to read the box better) but a four piece place setting for one! No time to go back downtown, so I headed over to Walmart to pick up enough Corel to set my table (several plates were dropped by a certain 12 year old as he unloaded the dishwasher recently, ahem...)


I found what I needed and headed toward the checkout in record time...and just then the lights went out. Literally. After a couple of minutes of glancing around, trying to figure out what was going on, a Walmart associate announced over the loudspeaker that all customers should exit the building. I desperately asked a clerk standing near me if there was any way I could make my purchase, but power was out for the registers and in fact, for the whole area. I sat in my car and waited for about 20 minutes, hoping power would be restored, but finally drove to Shopko and found what I needed.














Back at home again, Matthew and I started the dinner preparations. Their appetizer choice was a caprese salad and we had picked up fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil earlier that morning. As Matthew laid out the alternating slices, he snitched a piece of the mozzarella...and made a face. I tasted it and realized our cheese was definitely NOT fresh. I had no idea if Walmart was open again (it's just 5 minutes from our house) and at that point, definitely no time to run to town. Luckily, I had a little bit of block mozza in the fridge, so we used that instead.

While Matthew finished up the caprese, I started the homemade pesto sauce for the tortellini. I was disappointed that many of the inner leaves of the just purchased basil were already turning black - obviously not a good day at the grocery store. As I was sorting through the good leaves and the bad, I got another surprise - a giant green caterpillar/wormy thing - alive and wriggling amongst the basil leaves! Aargh! What else??

Just before all the teens arrived at 6, I was sitting on the dining room floor, trying to fold my (non-square!) napkins into a fancy fold and the final straw - a gigantic, gushing, Wegener's sized nose bleed, all over the white carpet. It was one time when I was glad they were all a little late as I pinched my nose with a giant wad of paper towel in one hand and scrubbed the floor with Oxy Clean with the other.


Oh my, what a day! But in the end, dinner was served and eaten, fun pictures were taken and I think Matthew's last high school dance date was totally worth it, Murphy and all. :) Even if we did only have seven matching glasses...








Friday, April 29, 2011

Last Day of KP sketch class

What can I say? I'm behind in the class so I'm catching up starting at the end. It's been a busy couple of weeks with Easter, my second infusion (which went great - nothing serious to note other than fatigue) and family in town for a lovely dinner, visit, Easter Egg hunt and rousing games of Ultimate Frisbee and Can Jam.

When the sketch arrived in my in-box this morning, I knew exactly what photo I was going to use. In fact, all the elements were laying out on my table. The whole page came together in under 10 minutes!


The photo was actually taken quite awhile ago, but Mason still has a gum obsession. He asks for it as we near the checkout every grocery trip. If I have it in my purse, it tends to disappear very quickly. And if I actually buy him a pack, the whole thing will be gone in a day. He is very good about sharing, however...

Layout was made with Studio Calico's April kit, Singing in the Rain (and a spare gum wrapper, most likely emptied by Mason!)

Monday, April 25, 2011

Right now...


He is a little sad as the end of preschool approaches. He can't wait to play soccer this fall and asks all the time which team he will be on. He's registered for kindergarten but is a little leary about leaving his beloved Miss Leanne. He has several BFFs in preschool and is always asking for playdates. He lost his first tooth and is reading all the time!


He loves playing baseball (coach pitch this year.) He is very into volcanoes and oceans and reading non-fiction books about animals. He is pretty happy-go-lucky most of the time. He has been almost toothless in the front (top AND bottom) for several months but his teeth are finally starting to grow in.


He went on his first backpacking campout this past weekend. He received high praise from his Scout Master for being kind to another Scout who has had a hard time fitting in. He is getting tested today to take 8th grade math next year (he'll be a 7th grader.) He is doing MUCH better at staying on top of his homework.




He is setting up his schedule for next year in HIGH SCHOOL!!! He is playing lots of Warhammer 40K with good buddies from school & church. He stayed up way too late on Friday night playing (4am!) and missed the family Easter egg hunt while napping. He got 3rd place in the 1500 at the track meet on Thursday. He is hoping to get a job at the strawberry fields this summer.


She survived her first two weeks of Driver's Ed. She has three AP tests coming up in the next 2 weeks and is studying like crazy. She is still managing for the track team as her legs heal and is starting to run again slowly. She just did her schedule for her SENIOR year and we are scheduling senior pictures!


He is counting down the days til graduation. He just completed his paperwork and deposit for his dorm this fall. He's going to his last high school dance (Prom) this weekend with Julia. He's hoping to find work this summer as a lifeguard. He is just about to leave me...

Friday, April 22, 2011

Five on Friday

Busy day ahead - we're hosting the cousins and grandparents tomorrow for an Easter Egg hunt and dinner, so I'll just leave you with five of my favorite recent photos. I'll be back next week with more tips for time saving scrapping.



Opening Day for baseball - one just a couple of months too young to play and one playing his first season of coach pitch.



A little 80's action for McKelle and her friends getting ready for a dance.




Is there a doctor in the house??


Happy Easter! Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Save time - use one line

Tip #3 is to save time by using one line of product. The manufacturer has already gone to all the trouble of making sure all the elements look good together - paper, brads, alphas, stickers, ribbons, etc.  All of it is already coordinated so you don't have to spend the time looking through your stash for the perfect color of blue alpha to match your patterned paper or just the right ribbon that works well with your stickers.

Some manufacturers' individual lines also work really well together so just staying with one company's products can also be a time saver. Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup, Lily Bee and Sassafrass are some that flow nicely from line to line.


The patterned paper from Studio Calico's Documentary line reminded me of pool tiles, so it was a perfect fit for these Scera Pool photos from our vacation to Utah last summer. The journaling card and fussy cut arrows from the same line were a perfect compliment to the page. I did stray outside the line just a bit when I grabbed some Glitz word stickers, but they were sitting on the corner of my desk and didn't require any extra time or effort on my part :)
Other supplies used - Claudine Helmuth paint in Teal to help my pictures pop on the white background.


I love grids and what better way to showcase several patterned papers from a pretty line. This is Lily Bee's Catching Fall line. I used a variety of patterned paper, some cardstock stickers and rub-ons, both on my photo and as part of my grid.
Other supplies used - sewing machine and thread.


Micah had these shorts on the other day, complaining that he needed a new pair. When I saw this picture from the first day of school last fall, I realized how much he has grown this year! I knew I wanted something with arrows and found some patterned paper in the Jillibean Soup New England Chowder line that was perfect. The line is actually a transportation themed line, but by just grabbing certain elements, I think it worked out perfectly for this page. The stop sign sticker was a great way to express how I'm feeling about my kids growing up so quickly!
Other supplies used - pop dots

If your running short on creative time, grab supplies from one product line!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tip Two for the Time-Crunched

It's always nice to have a folder or file full of inspiration from others, but hey, YOU are a great designer, too. Tip #2 - Lift yourself!

If you've made a page you love, there is no reason you can't repeat that design again. And again! Your children and grandchildren are not going to look at your albums 50 years from now and say "hey, mom (or grandma) made three pages with the exact same design. What was she thinking?" So go ahead, save time by copying yourself.


I shared this layout last week, made with a Kelly Purkey sketch from her current class. I loved the design, but I also loved creating the circular element with stamps. Specifically, a long acrylic stamp that I could bend around the curve. So I did it again:


I used the adorable pennant banner from Studio Calico and curved it into an arc. I stamped it around in a circle and then used an embossing pen to color in random pennants. Other supplies - Zing in Butter, Blue Metallic and Rouge, Studio Calico tricycle stamp and Sassafrass alphas.

YOU can be your own best source of inspiration! Design it, love it and do it again.