~~SPRING BREAK~~

 {WARNING: picture heavy post}

It is spring break for the kids this week and we have been very busy with day trips to lots of fun places. Our favorite so far seems to be the butterfly garden in Chattanooga. I practiced my photography skills and was quite pleased with my results. The garden was just fantastic! The kids were sooooooo thrilled to be landed on or to hold a butterfly gently on their fingers:

 Okay...this one. Not sure if you can tell by the photo and baby bear's grin but he was LESS than enthused about a critter landing on his head. Daddy had to talk him through his fear...

I just LOVE to look at all the cocoons they have on display at the garden. If you watch long enough you can always catch a "live birth." So amazingly cool.

We also hit the aquarium. The kids love the peek-a-boo chamber. Well, maybe that is not quite right, some of the kids love it. Personally, I am so not interested in being surrounded by giant SPIDER crabs. YUCK!

This is more my style. The shark and ray touch pool. As I was going through all the photos from the pool I just had to giggle when I noticed that my kids were ALWAYS holding out 2 fingers with which to touch the animals. The docent gave instructions to "only touch the animals with two fingers." My kids are well-known for following the rules;). ESPECIALLY this guy:

We also made a stop at the Children's Museum. The kids created their own pose for this photo and I didn't even panic about baby bear standing on the wall! Maybe there is hope for me yet!

 My climber.

Baby bear was pretty good at this!

Ah, the T-Rex. We have about a thousand shots of our kids "getting eaten" by this very dinosaur. Apparently baby bear knows the drill because we found out he is not really that scared:

Hmmmmmmm.

Daddy climbed up high for this shot. Such a trooper!

The kids had lots of fun playing in the waterworks! I need one of these in the backyard!!!

And finally, the famous Choo-Choo.

Off on another adventure today, have a wonderful weekend!

Easter Egg HUNT!

It rained all morning. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed. It appeared as though it was going to be a rain-out for the annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt. We have lived here for 13 years now and never, not once, in all those years have we missed the hunt. Then, 30 minutes before hunt time, the rain stopped and the hunt went on. Wet, soggy, cold but no one seemed to care a bit.

Baby bear couldn't take his little eyes off the Easter Bunny

This was the first year that biggest brother couldn't hunt for eggs himself. He took on the role of helper in stride.

No caption needed on this one!

It was a bit difficult to pick up the eggs with mittens on...

Yes, I know this shot is blurry. That is just how fast she was going...

He looked all the way out into the forest

Jason chatted with a couple of his fellow dancer dads

The loot!

Not sure if you can tell from her face but she was thrilled to FINALLY get her face painted;)

Happy Easter!

Scrap-a-Little BLOG HOP

Welcome to Scrap-a-Little's First Blog Hop! Each designer has chosen a song and based a layout off of their chosen song.

April's challenge is to pick one of our 6 songs and base your layout on that. You will need to link your layout to Mr.Linky on the bottom of Helen's post.
This all has to be done before April 30.

As you know, Easter is in April, so in honor of Easter, my song is Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter's on its way


Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter
Bright and gay


He's got jelly beans for Tommy
Colored eggs for sister Sue
There's an orchid for your mommy
And an Easter bonnet too. Oh!


Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day


Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Look at him hop and listen to him say,


"Try to do the things you should"
Maybe if you're extra good
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way


You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev'rywhere,
Oh!


Here' comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day.

And THIS is my Easter basket!

I used lots of Crate Paper for this project. I started with their big yellow die cut paper and used my Creative Memories circle cutter to cut out a half circle to form the handle of the basket. I repeated that process to cut out the woven paper base of the basket.

The fan fold flowers are some of my favorites. They are quick and simple to make but have tons of impact on a page. I learned how to make them from one of Helen's fabulous tutorials.

The grass is a  12 inch paper strip that I ran through my paper crimper and then snipped into blades. After I adhered it to the page I used my fingers to scrunch it down a bit. Super easy!

This is a fairly "thick" layout but I love all the dimension.

If you decide to become a follower on my blog, leave me a comment and I will put your name into the hat for a little prize at the end of the month! Now, hop on over to Kayla's fabulous blog and see which song she chose for your next stop on the hop! Thanks so much for coming by!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Acrylic Paint Storage

Today I have a really quick tip...I love acrylic paints! I use them for tons of projects, lately painting chipboard is my favorite. I have collected quite a few colors and so I thought I'd share my cute storage solution with you! I found an antique soda bottle crate at an antique store many years ago and it is just perfect for holding my paints!

I thought about mounting it on the wall but it is sooooooo heavy that I decided it was better to simply lean it up against my wall.

This way it is easily transported to my kitchen island or the garage where I do most of my painting. The handles are really handy for carrying it;)

 

I just love to use items in ways other than their intended use, especially antiques. So if you have any fun storage tips, I'd LOVE to hear them!

Happy Scrapping,

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Paper Bag Albums

I am all about saving my pennies these days and here is one fabulous way to do it. Head to your pantry and pull out three paper lunch sacks. 

Lay them on top of one another with the middle bag going the opposite way of the first and last.

Adhere your bags together however you like. I have used staples, brads, eyelets and stitching but I don't really have a preference for one way over another. It just depends on the look I am going for. 

This is the quickest way: staples

My daughter makes bazillions of these albums. It is a great kid project! Easy and CHEAP!

In the top example I used eyelets so I could tie on some ribbons. The eyelets give the bag the necessary stability to resist the dreaded tear. 

I also like to stitch the bags together. I begin by actually measuring {gasp} and drawing myself a little guideline:

 Then, I clip the edges together so they don't slide on me while I sew

Finally, off to the machine:

Ready for embellishing!

Once your album is assembled, you can begin adding some pretty papers. I used the 3 Bugs in a Rug Simple Pleasures line for this album. I adore this line of papers and embellishments that I got in a My Creative Scrapbook months ago. 

I like to cover the flaps with different paper than the main bag section but that is just personal preference. My daughter likes to cover the entire page with one paper, making it "more like a book than a flappy album." Her words;)

 Sometimes I even leave some of the paper sack exposed

And I also love to add some pockets to hold items like handmade tags. This is a very interactive album.

With the paper sacks, you also get these nifty "built-in" pockets for storing tags, journal blocks, pull-out pages...the ideas go on and on. I have found it is best to glue down one side of the flaps. Otherwise when sliding things it and out...well, let's just say I've met with a bit of frustration and who needs any more of that, right?

 Before

 After

I use my pockets to store extra pages that I made for the album. I made good use of my beloved border punches to jazz up the exposed edges.

***For these type of pull-outs, double sided paper is a must.

On this page, I used a scalloped circle punch to chomp out half a circle to give me a nice grippy spot with which to pull out this slide-out page since I didn't give it a fancy edge. I did pop a circle sticker on the spot where I will pull it, for durability and cuteness...

See the other side of the circle sticker?

And finally, the back of the album. This is where I plan to journal an "About this Family" blurb.

Happy Scrapping!

Design Team Call!!!

We are having a DESIGN TEAM CALL time over at LET'S SCRAP!!! Show us your take on the above sketch and you might be the next member of our team!

We have a call out for 4 talented ladies that have ample time in May, June & July to be on our Design Team!

Requirements would include
*Posting a layout from our sketch each week {FUN}
*Posting 2 challenges {MORE FUN}
*Posting 2 'Questions of the Week' {EVEN MORE FUN}
*Being VERY active on our site {a minimum of 1/2 hour per day}

If this is something you think you'd like to do, please email us your take on the sketch to dance@tekstar.com no later than April 16, 2010. Please provide your blog or web-addy where other layouts may be seen. Our new Design Team will be announced on Friday April 23. The sketch can also be found here letsscrap.ning.com. This is a international call.

Good LUCK!!!