~Three layouts in Scrapbooking Magazine~

 

So now my kids have gotten into a "submit one with me" contest. I have been working on so many layouts of the younger two that most of my published layouts include them but FOR the RECORD, everyone has been in at least one of my paper published layouts. This month's Hobby Lobby Idea Magazine, Stamping, Stationary and Scrapbooking includes three of my layouts and yes, all three are of the two younger kids. 

 HOWever, my first three kiddos have many more completed albums and tons more layouts in those albums. That is because their albums were done back when my focus was more on the photos (and on scrapping chronologically) and less on the artistic process. My goal is to find a nice blend of the two:) Suggestions welcome!

We are gearing up for school, I canNOT believe my "baby" is starting high school next week! I was looking back through his scrapbooks this week and I am so thankful for them. Time really does fly by so quickly and it becomes hard to remember all the little details. Scrapbooks keep them safe and handy...and pretty!

Happy Scrapping,

Scrap-a-Little Guest Designer

  Helen Croft, papercrafter extraordinaire, was kind enough to ask me to guest design for her!!!
She sent me her latest, greatest sketch to work with:

And here is what I came up with:

I used a stack of adorable We R Memory Keepers for this layout plus a bunch of punches! The big ticket and star pin are Maya Road and the memo pin is Tim Holtz. I used an old piece of blue ribbon to tie onto the pin but it was too bright so I just hit it with some distress ink and voila! I can see myself using this sketch a gazillion times...sideways, this way & reversed, thanks Helen!

I just don't know how Helen comes up with great sketches month after month, she truly amazes me. If you haven't had the chance to check our her gallery of sketches click here.

I did a little bonus layout for her based on sketch 49:

 I used some great old Sassafras from my stash for this one. Lots of fun layers and stickers and stitching. I am on a use what I have kick and that is actually making scrapping pretty fun, a bit of a challenge and I do miss the shopping and the NEW stuff but quite honestly, my scraproom is FULL!

Back when we only had three children I began a tradition of celebrating half birthdays. It seemed like a GREAT idea at the time...two kids had January birthdays and my energy for celebrating is a little lacking at that time of year...so the half birthday idea was born. I keep it pretty simple really, just half a cake and one present. Well, it was pretty simple until our family grew and grew and grew and now we have a half birthday, a real birthday, and/or a holiday constantly it seems. Sigh. I do LOVE to scrap the half birthdays though!!!

 I used my Papertrey Ink banner dies for these but they were too long and just looked funny to me so I altered them with a pair of scissors and got just the look I was going for. I strung a bit of Karen Foster floss through them and that made it so much easier to place on the page. I had always placed each individual letter first but that made it difficult to get that "hanging" look. Definitely worth the time to pierce holes and string floss first!

Happy Scrapping,

Surpise!!!

Surprise!!!

~Arriving this Fall~

~I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to those of you who have sent me sweet inquiries as to where in the world I disappeared to for the last couple three months. I really appreciate you all checking on me...the morning sickness was super awful this time and I am just now getting back to some bit of normalcy, as normal as one can get at home for the summer with 5 kiddos~

 I have even gotten back to a bit of scrapping...just a wee bit. We are heading out to Oregon shortly to visit lots and lots of relatives. My in-laws are VERY kindly putting us up at their house and with 7 1/2 of us, that's quite a sacrifice! So I am taking along a little token of my appreciation:

I used the Earth Love line by Cosmo Cricket for this ATC tray. My in-laws live in Eugene, Oregon so what other line works better than this?!?! I have a few bits and bobs from other lines and manufacturers (Maya Road, Prima, Tim Holtz, Cookbookin') scattered throughout as well. This was such a fun project to put together, I hope they like it!

Here is a progress shot just before my oldest son vetoed his photo...I thought it was perfect: teenager in mall, texting away (middle row, first slot) but he said he wanted a soccer shot and that is, really, much more appropriate. I adore that he likes to look at my work and helps with great suggestions and ideas. When I put these trays together they spend hours flat while I move all the pieces around. Then I take the plunge by adhering the backgrounds. Then there is another round of moving the pieces all over the place. Once I get the photos or main memorabilia adhered I move on to embellishing, my very favorite part of the entire process. I can embellish these for weeks! Eventually I call them "finished." 

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  I also managed to eeek out this recipe layout for the Kitchen:

This soup recipe is so yummy and so not for summer but it took quite a while for the heat to hit this year in the south. As a matter of fact, our friendly little cicadas were a few weeks late themselves. More on them later!

It's good to be back, wishing you all Happy Scrapping!

Kitchen Crop Coming Soon~

Kitchen Keepsake is cookbooking at its finest! Come and find your creative culinary muse!

The designers have cooked up some fun challenges, games, and there are of course lots of prizes!

All challenges will be posted on Friday, April 29th and will be due on May 4th.
 
We hope you'll join us in the kitchen and get those creative juices flowing!

www.kitchenkeepsake.com 


See you there,

Green Milk!

No, no, not THAT kind of green milk. Milk NEVER has a chance to turn green in our fridge. The only time we have green milk around is when the Leprechaun's pay us a visit each March;).

I used some Little Yellow Bicycle papers that I have been hoarding for this layout. I just KNEW they would eventually come in handy. My layout is based on this week's sketch up at Let's Scrap:

I know! I kinda went a bit my own way. My layout really did start with the left side of the sketch! Ah well, there are those times that I follow sketches quite closely and there are these times when I start with a sketch but by the time I finish creating my layout the sketch is hardly recognizable. When I added my layout to the design team gallery, I thought they might just reject it but they didn't. It is up there on the main page at Let's Scrap;).

I broke out of my white thread mold on this one and used some black thread to stitch my rick rack on and to stitch together my large hearts. Then I used mini-staples {Tim Holtz} to attach my journaling strips and my small hearts. That big scrappy flower...that is just what it is, a bunch of scraps that I trimmed from my mats and they all fell in a pile and voila, an embellishment!

I added the Maya Road pins to my scrappy flower just because I thought they looked good with this Making Memories metal frame that I used around his tiny hands clutching his little glass of green milk.

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Let's Scrap is having a Design Team Call! Here is the sketch to use if you'd like to apply. Details on the call can be found here. We'd LOVE to have YOU apply. Good luck!

Is it really MARCH already?

Where is the year going? I seriously canNOT believe it is March 1!

We've had an interesting couple of weeks here at the Coleman camp...baby bear "bwoke his wittle foot" on February 15th. Actually he really smashed his toes to bits after accidentally pulling the kitchen table bench over but there was a slight fracture in the foot. Then, the very next morning, his sister was diagnosed with the flu. I don't know what clued me in...perhaps her temperature of 105*!!!

All is well now though. We got her Tamiflu within 24 hours of the fever starting and would you know...it knocked that flu right out! Fever was GONE within 12 hours of the first dose and she NEVER developed any respiratory symptoms at all. AND since I isolated her before anyone else got home, NO ONE else in our rather LARGE family contracted the nasty virus. Oh, yeah, she DID have the flu vaccine this year, oh well.

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So I actually have been finding a tiny bit of scrappy time here and there. First up is this Snow Day layout. This is one of those really satisfying layouts...I thoroughly enjoyed every step of creating this project from photography to that last little snowflake detail. I am still really loving working with GCD's line, Joyful Peace. Even though it is technically a Holiday line I am loving it for a variety of projects. Some of the other bit and pieces on this layout include lace from an MCS kit, chipboard snowflakes from a Swirlydoos kit and lots of Prima. I used three MS punches to create some of my own snowflakes from the GCD papers. The title is cut with my Cricut using the Songbird cart. LOVE that cart!!!

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I also have a new challenge up at Kitchen Keepsake. It is a VERY simple challenge: use a banner on a recipe layout. Sound a little familiar? I am just called to put banners everywhere these days. They are so much fun to create and they add such a playful touch to both layouts and cards and my mantle and the dining room chandelier and...and...here is my example:

The papers are from the Gourmet Holiday line by Cookbookin' and the recipe is from my dear friend Shannon who has really been helping build up my stash of family friendly dinners. Just click on the image if you'd like to try the recipe yourself;).

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This last weekend was lots of fun...I got to dance with my darling son at his Grand Cotillion Ball. Yeah, no, he did not have the time of his life.

But he was soooo the sharpest looking guy at the ball!

 He called this his "French waiter look."

Can't wait to scrap these~~~

Happy Valentine's Day~

Aren't these just GORGEOUS! Thanks honey~

And for those of you wondering what my chicken feeder is wearing this month: 

I used some of the yummy Echo Park papers that came in my MCS kit this month, thanks Mom!

I am really loving sewing my hearts down the middle so they have wings. For these I used Spellbinders to cut the scalloped hearts and then I backed them with a simple scalloped circle.

I also decorated this adorable little tin mailbox that I picked up at Michael's. Baby bear is VERY disappointed that he can no longer use it to park his cars in;). Kids!

I used last years Making Memories Lovestruck collection for this project...still my favorite Valentine's line:). Remember this layout {using Lovestruck} from last year:

Hope you all have a wonderful day filled with the sweetness of love~