~Naptime~

Naptime. The word brings a smile to my face. I just love to watch a baby sleeping...Yes, this one will ALWAYS be my baby~

Seriously, is there ANYthing more precious???

My layout is based on this brand new sketch by Helen Croft {I flipped it}:

I used only one piece of cardstock and only one piece of Prima paper for this layout, plus the chipboard journaling block, the letters, the pompom trim and the pebbles. That's it though. No ink, no stitching...maybe I will go back and stitch around the edges with a nice brown thread...

Maybe it was the paper, maybe the sleeping subject but once I got the layout to this point it just seemed complete, enough. But now that I look at it, perhaps a little stitching...what do you think?

This layout is for the September sketch over at Scrap-a-Little so head over and check out what the rest of the design team came up with.

And don't forget to stop by the Cookbookin' blog for a chance to enter our September sketch contest and win this:

Happy Scrapping,

September Sketch Challenge at Cookbookin'

 Autumn is the time that I make LOTS and LOTS of these Pumpkin Cakes which I affectionately call "Boo Cake" here. My family loves it and I love the smell of the cake cooking in the oven. Mmmmm.

 

This layout is my example for the sketch challenge up over at the Cookbookin' blog. Helen from Scrap-a-Little provided this adorable sketch for us to work from:

 I used some of the Halloween papers from Cookbookin' that are in the prize pack they are offering to one lucky random winner!

 

 Come on over and link your project based on the sketch to our challenge for your chance to WIN!

Happy Scrapping, 

Scrappy News!

I have some great scrappy news! Patty over at Cookbookin' has entrusted me to write the blog for them! I am so excited!!! My first post was about our new school lunch system here at the Coleman house!

Pop over to the Cookbookin' blog for more photos and the funny little story about why our family NEEDS this bulletin board.

As you probably know, I am one of the designers for Cookbookin' and I recently got a batch of their brand new papers! SOoooooo adorable! My daughter just celebrated her half-birthday and the new pink and brown chocolate chip papers were just perfect for the layout!

Detailed photos are up at the Cookbookin' blog.

Now for even MORE scrappy news! I am heading off today for my very first weekend away scrapbooking. 

THIS is where I am going:

I have NEVER left the kids except to go into the hospital to have another one. Packing was an absolute CHORE and I am sure I have forgotten something but unfortunately I won't think of it until I get there...I am sooooooooooo excited!

HUGE thanks to mom and Jason who are taking on all of my mommy responsibilities while I am away.

~Back to SCHOOL~

Ahhhh MAN! Is it that time of year already?!?!

Here are some pictures from the first day of school:

This is me with my 6th grader!!! I canNOT believe he is in MIDDLE school!!!

Mr. 8th grade, BMOC!

Off to 1st grade!!!

LOVE this one!!! While I was taking pictures of my 4th grader I caught a moment where baby bear showed his true feelings about getting left behind all alone...

It's time to go in...

Our Principal is always there to greet the students...

Welcome to FIRST GRADE!

Welcome to FOURTH GRADE!

No meet the teacher photos for the boys...Middle School! Really!!!

Here is the first week in a nutshell:
My 1st grader thinks her teacher is the nicest teacher in the world. "School is great!" YAY!
My 4th grader loves her teacher too. They need to read 4 novels per quarter. She has completed THREE novels THIS WEEK.
My 6th grader experienced a lot of anxiety about moving up to middle school. We are working through it and it is getting better. He has fabulous teachers that I already know and LOVE! He ran his first Cross Country meet on Thursday and beat his brother by many minutes!

Yep, that look says it all!

My 8th grader has already had projects due and tests in every class. With the exception of Honors Algebra everything is going just fine...:)

Baby Bear has been left behind at home with me. I really worried about this but "Buzz Wikeyear" has saved me, and him! :)

New Card Sketch at Let's Scrap!

With the temperatures STILL soaring near 100* each day, I am dreaming of cool Autumn weather. So this week I used some of the brand new Cookbookin' Fall papers to construct my card based on Kimmy's sketch over at Let's Scrap. Here is her sketch:

There are so many BEAUTIFUL versions of this sketch posted by other Let's Scrap designers, be sure to head over there and check it out!

For my card I started with some textured cardstock from The Paper Studio. Then I punched squares from the Cookbookin' paper and sewed them to the card. Speaking of sewing, yesterday I was at a fabric store looking at patterns and materials for actually sewing clothing! It felt so odd to be thinking about sewing something besides a layout or card.
I am very ambitious this year...I am planning to sew costumes for the children. Yikes! They have decided to stick with a theme for Halloween and this year they are all going to be characters from Toy Story. My oldest wants to be the Chicken Man. I don't know...sewing a chicken costume??? Anyone ever done that? I did get some cow print material to sew chaps for my Jessie and a vest for my Woody but that is as far as I have gotten.
Anyway, back to my card. Once I had sewn on the squares, I rubbed on the sentiment from Imaginesce and then I attached one of my tissue paper flowers. I ran a tutorial on these a while back and the layout featured in the tutorial is actually of my kids from last Halloween:

I really don't think we will be able to top the cute factor from last year but they are sure excited about it anyway! If you'd like to view the tutorial just click here.


Happy Scrapping!

~This is NOT Mother Goose~

Ahhhhh, idyllic looking isn't it. What is it they say, that looks can be deceiving?

We met Jason for lunch up in Nashville and then went over to the park to feed the geese. I was a little worried about the weather, it was like 102 or something but that didn't turn out to be the problem...

I was kinda surprised at how big the geese looked standing near baby bear...

And he seemed a little cautious at first...

But eventually he got into feeding them

And then one goose brushed his arm as it walked between baby bear and big brother...

Winding up...

Look at the geese, they are all lowering their heads...poor animals

So we moved over to the water's edge...

And for a moment everything was okay...

Then, he THOUGHT it was coming for him...this goose never even touched him

Biggest brother tried to hug away the tears 

but after that it was this for the rest of the day:

I'll be back soon with a fun five minute "recycling" project made with real scraps!

Here is a tiny preview:

August Sketch ~Scrap-a-Little~

This is my take on Helen's fabulous sketch!!! I love to have my kiddos do their own journaling on layouts...captures such a moment in time. DD#1 decided to grow her own garden this Spring. She planted tomatoes, lettuce, chives and sunflowers. She was really good at the planting part, the nurturing seedlings part...and then...well...things got away from her a bit. But she did a great job decorating her own little watering can!
On this layout I used some of the super cute Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety line. AND, I finally used a funky Prima flower that I just had to have MONTHS ago. {:-)2J} I also used some more of that fun pom-pom trim on my sun and one of my MS punches for the orange border strip. Then I did some of that "real" scrapbooking...those green buttons tied with jute...those were castoffs from some other page...scraps!!! :-)

Here is Helen's  sketch:

Head on over to Scrap-a-Little to see the rest of the DT's layouts! They are inCREDible!!!