A couple of new layouts....

This is what I made for a sketch challenge......one card, one single page layout and one double page layout.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

October Designer's Challenge

Here are my projects for the Scrapbook Generation Designer's Challenge for October!

It's a Celebration!!

My project for this week has been making birthday party invitations. I created 10 one-of-a-kind invitations....no two are alike! We're having a scrapbooking party and each guest gets to create a paper bag mini album. I guess my project for next week will be gathering and preparing materials for 12 mini albums!

Butterfly Layout

I made this layout from the Scrapbook Generation Designer's Challenge kit for September. I was so excited when I saw the butterfly paper!! I had to use it for a page for me!!

Basic Grey Ambrosia collection: Citrus and Winsome patterned paper and chipboard accents. Kaisercraft pearls.

I finished my layout with this oragami butterfly constructed with paper scraps and a brad made with my new iTop tool (toy).

Pumpkin Smiles and a tiny witch hat!

I finally got last year's halloween pictures done!! I used paper and elements from my Scrapbook Generation Designer's challenge kit (Basic Grey's Ambrosia Collection)for this month. I also used some scraps to make this cute little Witch's hat.

I saw a cute witch hat on NIkki Sivil's blog and had to make my own!! It's not an exact replica because I like to make things my way.....but I'd like to thank Michele Beck for the idea!

Rock Star layout

I fell in love with the new Bo Bunny products at Scrapbook Generation last week!! Finally BOY PAPER!! I've been waiting for just the right paper to scrapbook these pictures of Jason and Jesse with the autographed KORN drumhead that Jason got at the concert!!

This is from the Bo Bunny Cambridge collection:

Cambridge paper: Dot; Post; Stripe

Cambridge Olive Zipper Trim

Black strip from the Newsprint Wraps

and Bo Bunny Rockstar Cardstock Stickers

Jason's vacation day

Jason took a couple of vacation days earlier this week so he and Jesse could go to Kansas City for a concert. While he was there I asked him to stop at Archivers to get me a few Copic Markers. He called me from the store and sent me iPhone pictures and helped me pick out a few colors. While he was there he got me a We R Memory Keepers 16x20 magnetic cutting mat.


The mat was a surprise early anniversary gift and I LOVE IT!!! I was so excited when he gave it to me and then he pulled out a box of Christopher Elbow chocolates!! I love them......not only are they beautiful but they are also delicious!



I decided that this would be a good time to pull out the pictures of one of his vacation days last fall when he took the day off to fix all of our computers. I just couldn't pass up the pictures of him sitting at the dining table which was covered with computers! So I pulled out the Bella Boulevard Midterm collection, that I won on their blog about a month ago, to create his layout. Steve's Keys was a perfect backdrop for Jason's computer pictures.

Homemade goodies

This bucket was inspired by Tami Morrison's bonus project in the Big Idea Festival. She created a hostess gift box but I couldn't find a box that was the right size so I created a bucket instead and I LOVE how it looks!! I can't wait to give it to my freind this evening when we go to her house for dinner. It says "Let's get together Smore"

This cone is inspired by Elizabeth Dillow's project in the Big Idea Festival. It's a summer surprise cone with lots of goodies for Bethany to give her teacher on the first day of school.

I saw this in the student gallery in the Big Idea Festival. It's a pencil made with a pack of Rollos and a Hershey's kiss on the end. I folded the yellow paper to give it a little bit of a pencil shape. I put this in Bethany's teacher's summer surprise cone.

August Designer's Challenge

I'm a member of Scrapbook Generations Designer's Challenge Club. Every month we get a huge pack of scrapbooking goodies that we are supposed to make something with. We are limited as to what additional supplies we can use so I really try to stick to the kit. This month we had a huge pack of Crate Paper goodies....cardstock, punch outs, stickers etc.

These two cards have pull out tags...keep looking to get a glimpse of the tags...

Next is a cute little card I made....notice the stick pin....it was also in the kit.

Next is Jason's Birthday dinner.....this layout is special because Jason did the journaling in his own words and his own handwriting!! I'm so proud!

And yes those are hand stitched flourishes in the corner...

Finally I have 3 layouts celebrating Ashley's graduation. She has become like one of the family so her Graduation was a big event for all of us. I liked that the gold paper coordinated with her gold graduation gown.

Thanks for lookin'!

I created this layout for the Big Picture Scrapbooking Big Idea Festival Challenge for today....I live....

I live surrounded by my PERFECT family. We may not seen perfect on the outside but we're perfect for each other.

There are 5 pop-dotted owls on this page.....one for each of us.

The little charm near the middle of the page came off of a coffee mug that my BFF gave me for my birthday. I knew that I could find a good use for it!!

Bethany's Birthday 2009 part 2

This is the other side of Bethany's Birthday layout. I left the journal block blank so Bethany can write it herself. It's important to me to have my own handwriting in my scrapbook and after I thought about it I decided that it was important to have all of our handwriting in the scrapbook.

Bethany's Birthday 2009

This layout is based on another challenge from The Big Idea Festival......day 3 with Lisa Day. Her layout was Celebrating Summer for four generations and she had 4 pictures.......I chose to do Celebrating Bethany's birthday using 3 pictures from her birthday (not the party) loosely based on Lisa's layout.

Backyard Adventure

This layout will go opposite my New Bike layout in my scrapbook but it's not meant to be a 2 page spread. I fell in love with this sun and then discovered this Backyard Adventure paper to match. I was going for a "riding off into the sunset" look.

New Bike Layout

This is inspired by the Big Idea Festival at BigPictureScrapbooking.com.

The first day bonus idea was a collage layout with a banner. A typical banner didn't work for my layout so I tried to be creative!! I loved the bike on this paper so I had to create my layout around it!

My First Blog

I'm really not sure why I created this blog.....there are several blogs that I read daily and I noticed that they all have a link to "create your own blog" so out of simple curiosity I clicked it! Now I find myself writing this blog and trying to think of things that I would like to share with the world. Not that I really think the world will be reading my blog....or that I think anyone will read it, but it would be nice to be able to share some pictures and scrapbook pages with friends and family. And that is what I plan to do with my blog...share pictures and scrapbook pages. Those are the things I love....photography and scrapbooking.

I look at lots of layouts and scrapbook pages on line every day. I see lots of beautiful work but a lot of it is just not my style. I like clean lines and organization. I look at pages that have buttons, flowers, ribbons, tags, pins, and lots of "stuff" on them and it looks great but when I try to create that look it just doesn't work for me. It's just not my style! The same goes for photography; I see lots of really cool pictures that have been cropped, colored, tinted, embellished, and totally Photoshopped and, like I said, they look really cool, but to me that is not photography. I want to take a picture and it look incredible just the way it is. If I have to change it and Photoshop it to make it look good (or even better) than it's not good photography.

When I grow up (or more appropriately...when my kids grow up) I want to go back to college and get a degree in Visual Arts/Communication with an emphasis in Graphic Design and Photography. Maybe one day I can make some money by doing something I love and enjoy instead of answering phones and being nice to idiots!! Maybe this blog will help me branch out beyond my "clean lines and organization" and force me to let my creativity roam. Maybe it will help me work up the courage to write the essay required for the application to Drury University. Maybe it will help fill a small but lonely void in my life. Maybe.....