Getting Ready!

It was my day to host a challenge over at Scrap Friendzy! With the holidays quickly approaching I decided to put up a card challenge. I did these cards as a scraplift but decided to make them both Christmas cards to help me get a jump start!

A Good Day

I seem to be having a good day! I have managed to get a lot done. I cleaned up the house, ran all my errands, got some work done, organized a teacher appreciation lunch and still got some scrapping in! Here is a plaque I altered. I saved it from the garbage when we were cleaning things up at the church - I hated the gold color around the outside and I am not a coffee person so I painted it black, covered it with patterned papers that match the colors in my scrap room and of course added a pic of my beautiful little niece. A few flowers, a little chipboard and some bling and tada! Something much prettier!

Before:

After:

 I also did this LO for a challenge on ScrapFit to use numbers on your LO and at Flying Unicorn to do a purple LO. It is hard to find good purple paper!

Hot Springs

Hot Springs, AR has become one of our favorite vacation spots! We loved it so much we bought a time share week there. Having four boys means going on vacation places where they can hike and climb around - and of course you can't go to the National Park without sticking you hand in the water to see if it is really hot - well it is - 143 degrees worth!

This LO is based on a sketch from My Scraps & More and for a challenge at Flying Unicorn to do a LO about boys and ScrapFit to journal "around" something.

Well... I ran away from home!

I hit a scrappy slump! I know we all do. Life got busy, work was hectic and the boys were going 20 different directions. BUT I have an awesome husband! He took off work Monday and handled life for two days so I could retreat. I was able to go to our time share in East TX and just relax and unwind - and guess what! I actually got a few pages done! Sooooo here is my return to scrappiness:

These are all based on sketches from My Scraps & More:

This LO was to scrap something you are proud of - this is my oldest DS and I am so proud of the young man he has become - we had a rough start, but he is very hardworking, caring and compassionate!

 

This LO was for a challenge at Scrap Friendzy to scrap someone who inspires you. This is my Mother-In-Law who battled breast cancer and won - she has always been a fighter!

This LO is for a challenge I posted on Scrap Friendzy - in honor of breast cancer awareness we are doing "Think Pink" Challenges all month long. My challenge was to create a LO where "Real Men Wear Pink" and to scrap a boy or man and use pink on the LO!

This one is based on a sketch from Sketchy Thurdays and I made it for a challenge on Scrap Friendzy to scrap "Overcoming a Challenge" - the boys faced the challenge of riding a skim board, I'm not completely sure they overcame it though!

Scrap It to Win It!

Go check out My Scraps and More! They are having a Sketch-a-thon across the month of October! Lots of great sketches and many prized to be had! Tammi is also running a sale on some great scrappy stuff!

Scrap Friendzy Design Star Challenge

It is my turn for a design star challenge over at Scrap Friendzy - come check it out and play along!

I love watching all kinds of design shows, they are so inspiring! My favorite ones are the shows that have a tight budget. With 6 people in our family we don't have a lot of extra money to spend on design things, but we just rearranged the house and I now have a scrap room - I still have to decorate it right?! So here is a project that I made for my scrap room!

It is a  pin/dry erase board. The backing is a piece of foam board left over from one of the kids school projects. I painted one side pink and glued on some acrylic inserts that came in my art bin to use for a dry erase board (I have never used them for anything) and added a piece of fabric with spray adhesive on the other side for my pin board. I wrinkled the fabric before I glued it on to give it an even look (much easier than trying to get it perfectly flat and smooth!)

 

Big News!

I have been chosen to be on the Design Team over at Scrap Friendzy! It is such a fun place to be a part of, everyone is very friendly and they have great monthly challenges - some of which will now be brought to you by yours truly! Come by and check us out!

Summer Craziness!

Well for a lot of people fall means returning to school, sports, jobs for some and a long list of other activities - I on the other hand am so glad fall is here! For me even though we have places we have to be, at least it is a predictable schedule! I actually know what direction I am going every day. Summer has been so crazy I haven't done but maybe a dozen LOs all summer, so even though life will still be a bit busy I am glad for a little more structure. With that said here are a few of the LOs I have gotten done in the last week or so!

 Here is a LO of my boys and their cousins in one of their favorite places - up a tree! Scrapfit Workout #49 asked for a banner - which I'm not fond of so I did a nontraditional banner made of a ribbon vine with flowers hanging from it. The paper is Pink Paislee and I created a tree out of rafia and Petal Soft.

This LO is also from a ScrapFit challenge Weekend WarmUp #12 to use scallops on your page. This page is made from paper and embellishments by Fancy Pants and has a scalloped border and a scallop tag under the flowers.

Spa Weekend!!!

Join in the fun over at Scrap Friendzy this weekend for a "Day at the Spa" Crop! Lots of fun, challenges and prizes to be had!

Winner Posted

Thanks to everyone who came by and checked out my blog! So this morning I drew a name and the winner is...

Cheryl! Congrats - send me your info and I'll get your prize to you!

Tinkerbell

Can you tell I love Tinkerbell?! I do believe in fairy tales and I think that childhood is magical! Here is a LO from my Birthday - my sister, niece and mom bought me a Tinkerbell cake! It includes a digital LO done by my best friend and is based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

Only You

Morgan has always been his own person and when plaid became popular he jumped on the band wagon and wanted a pair of plaid shorts in every color he could find! This LO is based on a sketch from The Scrappiest.

Happy Mail!

It has been a great week! Right before NSD I got my picture order in and an awesome new kit from Scrap Friendzy full of stuff and highlighting BoBunny's Ad Lib line. Then I got an overflowing box from Jill at Memorable Seasons full of lots of awesome new scrappy stuff! I got the new Fancy Pants summer collections - Beach Bum and Beach Babe, a gorgeous boy line by Teresa Collins called On the Edge, and lots of assorted ribbons and embellies! Then I won a silent auction basket with a 3 night scrapbook retreat! I tried to get everything put away and organized, but I am running out of storage space! So I have spent the last couple days organizing (in between scrapping with my new stuff!) and cleaning things out. Here is a pic of my first LO with my Ad Lib kit!

 

Now because of my great mood - if you become a follower of my blog (if you aren't already) and leave me a comment by Sunday 5/15 at midnight and I will draw for an RAK!

National Scrapbook Day

I had a blast scrapping at a friend's for NSD - although I think I got a lot more talking done than scrapping! (And be careful who your friends are - they might hijack your blog and change everything) Although I do love Tinkerbell - so she can stay! Here are a few of the LOs I got done in honor of NSD!

Celebrate Life

We moved to Texas when I was very young, so I missed getting to know cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles etc. very well. I feel very blessed that my children get to see their extended family often. This LO is my DH and kids with their grandmother and great-grandmother. I love this new paper, found at my LSS, by Simple Stories and is based on a sketch from Liz at The Scrappiest.

Journey Down Under

Having four boys, it shouldn't surprise me how much they love dirt! It seems like on every trip they find a way to spend time with dirt - on this trip to the Texas hill country, we went to Natural Bridge Caverns. They loved every minute of it, especially having their cousins along for the trek. This LO is based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays with paper by Scrap Within Reach.

Just the Two of Us

It is rare to have pictures of Trace and I together, since one of us is always holding the camera. The benefit of having a teenage son is that he was able to watch the twins while we went to dinner in Hot Springs and took a picture of us before we left.

Piece of My Heart

Here is a LO of me and my oldest son. As a teenager, good pictures of him are few and far between. especially ones with me in them!

Sweet Victory

I have managed to pass on my love of chocolate to my DS Joshua. So, when it was time to design his car for the Awana Grand Prix, he opted to make a Hershey bar! This LO is based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

All Because Two People Fell In Love

I love using song titles on my pages, so when I saw this tag in my BoBunny Timepiece collection I was very excited! Here is one of the many amazing pics taken by Tabitha of Triplett Photography. Of course being the good friend that she is, she thoroughly enjoyed ordering me around to pose for pics (reflected in my journaling). I also reused some tissue paper from a gift, sprayed it with Glimmer Mist, inked it and shaped it into a flower behind the clock. This LO is based on a sketch from Liz Chidester she made for Memorable Seasons.

 

Another Branch

We have a lot of family - some share DNA with us, but many do not! Here is a LO of some of the many girls in our extended family. Since we have four boys, I have to scrap everyone else's kids to get my girl scrapbooking fix! This LO is based on a sketch by Liz over at The Scrappiest that she designed for Sweet Peach Crop Shop's Anniversary celebration. I am a Bo Bunny addict, so I used their Time Piece collection for this page.

At the Zoo

I never seem to manage to scrap my zoo pictures, but I decided to tackle a few for a challenge to use animals in your LO over at Scrap Friendzy. These pics were taken at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX.  This LO is also a scraplift from a LO by Caroline the member of the month over at Memorable Seasons.

Sweet Child of Mine

We actually managed to have a family photo shoot back in the fall with Tabitha at Triplett Photography. She got this beautiful picture of Justyn after he insisted on climbing up in a tree! I love Guns n' Roses so when I came upon a "musical" challenge - I had to use their lyrics as my title. Also, out of the four boys, he is definitely the "Sweet" one. It is based on a sketch from Stuck on U Sketches.

My Joy

While completing challenges over at Scrap Friendzy, I came across one to use the theme "My Joy". It was a no-brainer for my to do a LO about my children - they are my joy. I love that I can experience the world all over again through their eyes - what greater joy can there be in life!? This LO is base on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

Precious

I have four boys that keep me very busy, unfortunately I have no girls, which puts a serious damper on my scrapbooking at times! Every opportunity I get I take pics of my niece and friends daughters'.  This is a LO of my DH and my niece when she stayed with us for a couple days. It is based on a sketch from Liz over at The Scrappiest.

Come do the Bunny Hop!

Come join us this weekend over at Scrap Friendzy for the Bunny Blog Hop!

Faces of Joshua

Joshua is constant comic relief around our house. He always has the funniest comments and witty responses to everything. He also loves attention - I am convinced he will be and actor or model or something that will keep him in the spotlight. I went to take pics of the boys and their cousins and he was adamant about posing for pics by himself and had lots of opinions on how to pose and what facial expressions he wanted in his pictures! LO was based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

Fun Flowers

My sister posted this great flower tutorial - of course I had to tweak it a bit to make it easier and add a little more color, but they are really cute! Stuck on U Sketches

Egg-citing

Well I was very excited to get Tracy's "exciting" challenge done! It was her first challenge on her first design team and very cool to have her hosting. Congrats sis! You can check out some of her work on her blog A Scrap at a Time.

Pressing Onward

Well I think I might be dealing with burnout! I have not been in a very scrappy mood lately so I have been forcing myself to get a few LOs done. Luckily I have found plenty of sketches, challenges and inspiration to keep my going! This LO is from a sketch by Kristin over at Memorable Seasons.

Dream On

Having a 14 year old son means that cars are a frequent topic in our house! During a museum trip last year he found a Mustang on display and promptly jumped behind the wheel. I have spent the last year trying to explain that a sports car is not in his teenage future!
This LO is based on another great sketch from Liz over at The Scrappiest. Patterned paper is from Colorbok, chipboard from Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey. Wire bracket was recycled from the spiral in a journaling pad.

Still Going!

Well I'm still going! I have been on a roll and still getting several LOs done every week. I can't wait for this weekend because I am running away from home to go on a scrapbook retreat with my sister! I did manage (in the midst of deciding what to pack!) to get this weeks Sketchy Thursdays sketch.

Elusive Purple

It was brought to my attention recently that everyone tends to have at least one color that they just never use or have trouble scrapping with, after considering past layouts I decided mine was purple and set out to use that color. Of course since purple is very girly I had to do a LO of my favorite niece, whom I just happened to have a picture of - wearing purple! I used a sketch from The Scrappiest and love how it turned out. I would love to use purple more often and so went on a hunt for purple paper only to come up empty handed. It seems that manufacturers just aren't putting a lot of purple products out! Ces't la vie!