An Overwhelming Task!

Whew! I just completed a little scrapbooking organizational project. I didn't organize my space or my supplies; I organized my layouts! I am NOT a chronological scrapper, and I often pick photos and memories from various years (decades even!) to scrap. If I reach back too far in time, I end up with a finished page which often needs a date. (Here's where the trouble begins.) The layout will go into a pile, the "look-up" pile. It isn't a very good idea, but once a page is done, I just want to move on!

So...what I did until 1:30 in the morning for two nights in a row was to work on that pile. Consulting date books, old photo albums, photo envelopes, camera image files, etc. I looked up of all those dates, AND put those layouts in their correct chronological scrapbooks. THAT was a lot of work. But now everything's in order, and I am feeling so much better about my books. Yay. Note to self: Don't let that pile get so out of hand. (I found pages created around 2006 in there!)

So now I'm ready to begin a new set of projects with Scraptastic's March kit, It's My Life. Here's a little peek:

 Scraptastic's other kit choice for March is equally awesome:

And sorry for the tease, but this month's This Life Noted kit is already sold out!

The exclusive flair and wood veneers, along with all the other hand-picked embellishments and papers make these kits a cut above! I can't wait to get started on my kit and hope to have some pages to show you next week, along with reveal of the full kit contents.  :)

American Crafts' Valentine's Day Blog Hop

Welcome to the American Crafts' Valentine's Day blog hop! I hope you will be inspired by all of the lovely projects you see today. Below is the photo that inspired my project, a card for that special someone, my husband. 

This wall of photos, with frames fitted in every possible space, reminded me of a certain Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party paper, and the print included in the 6x6 inch paper pad was the perfect scale for the card I had in mind. Here it is filled with colorful flower patterns, many from the same paper pad.

Supplies: Tropical 12x12 Pack (AC712P12-49) - Cardstock, 6"X6" Paper Pad (366214) - Polka 

Dot Party,  Cross My Heart Paper (366037) - Cut&Paste, Adhesive Chipboard Pieces (366074) - Bits, Dear Lizzy Acrylic Stamps (366797) - Daydreamer

How to:  Cut card base from pink cardstock, and fold in half. Trim frame print paper to fit the card front leaving 1/2 inch on each side. Cut out windows in the center frames only. Back each open frame with flower print paper, using pop dots to add dimension. Mount frame paper on pink patterned paper and and then adhere to card base. Paint chipboard heart and attach to card. Stamp, watercolor, cut out, and adhere image to card. Write sentiments inside, sign, seal, and deliver! 

Thanks for stopping by today. The next blog on the hop is the fabulous Allison Waken. In case you get lost, here is the full list of participants:

Paige Evans

Meghann Andrew

Katie Ehmann

Patricia Roebuck

Lilith Eeckels

Becki Adams

Ashley Horton

Heather Leopard

Elizabeth Gardner

Gina Lideros

Diana Waite

Janna Werner

Jill Cornell

Erin Stewart

Angie Gutshall

Madeline Fox

Allison Waken

American Crafts

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

A Decade Apart

I have two more pages to share today, one with a photo from last summer, one with a photo from over a decade ago. Both were created with the very vibrant Scraptastic kit, Mr. Big Stuff. 

As soon as I saw all of the color in the kit, especially the flurry of primaries, I was in love. On the page below, however, I went with a more subdued look, using kraft and blue. The page was split, diagonal print up top, ticket print on the bottom, with an assortment of similarly colored embellishment goodies layered along the horizon. Pure fun!

And now for a very vibrant page put together piecemeal from colorful polka dot and striped paper.  A 10-month old Kevin looks on in amazement and admiration when his big brother blows a bubble. So funny. I love the little one's expression.

Yes, you never know which decade I'll be scrapping next! Every once in a while it's fun to pull a really old picture out from the box. I tend to hop all over the calendar. Do you like to scrap chronologically or out of order? Or does it not matter?

Not All Athletes Wear Shoes

 When I first pulled out the patterned paper with football schematics and field outlines, I was sure I'd use it for some sort of page about football, maybe a Superbowl Party or Saints game. But then I went a completely different route, and used the paper with a witty t-shirt slogan to contrast such sports with the sport my son loves, swimming. I had the perfect picture, Kevin with his teammates standing around the pool deck, barefeet and all. Yes, not all athletes wear shoes. These boys swim:

On one side of the page, the title takes center stage. On the other side, I layered a few papers and embellishments. The chipboard alarm clock has special meaning for me and my son. During the high school swimming season, their team practiced twice a week, in the early morning, before school. They were in the water at 5:00 AM. Oh my, those were some dark rides to the pool in what seemed like the middle of the night!

But the boys persevered, and his 8th grade team won first place in the boys metro middle school swim meet. Way to go team!

All papers, stickers, and embellishments are from the Scraptastic February kit, Mr. Big Stuff, with the exception of the large blue letters, leftovers from a previous kit.

Mr. Big Stuff

February's Mr. Big Stuff Kit from Scraptastic couldn't be more perfect for scrapping my boys, their cousins, swim team friends, etc., etc., etc. Here's a look at the kit and a peak at three layouts I'll be sharing this week.

While I love the vibrant colors throughout the kit and add-on, I went with a more subdued look for the first page I tackled:

I added a little more color here, but it was clearly all about the title below:

And then I pulled out the stops and combined all the colorful dots and stripes on a single page:

Oh yeah, Mr. Big Stuff is fun stuff!

Alaska

Lacking winter landscapes, I had to be a bit creative with last month's Scraptastic kit, Baby It's Cold Outside. One thought was to sift through my photos from an Alaskan cruise a few years ago, and use some of those pictures. Here is what I came up with:

By cutting out the center, distressing edges, and mounting on a background of cardstock, I was able to use both sides of the same sheet of paper, one inside the other, tree trunks and cardinals.

The cardinal motif is repeated with a sticker and journaling card. Love the bits of red.

And now a couple more of those cruise pics are scrapped!

Unfazed

This was his first time surfing and it almost didn't happen. After brief dryland instruction, the kids headed out on the water with their surfboards. Almost immediately one of the other kids lost his board to a large wave, and it popped up hitting Kevin in the eye. He came to shore hurt, mad and a bit flustered, but determination took hold and back out he went...unfazed...to catch his first waves! WTG!

I didn't see the possibility until the page was otherwise completely done, all but the rub-ons. I was thinking of adding a bit of mist, but ugh, that wasn't going to be easy covering up all the photos and elements. And then I spied those rub-ons from the Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste collection. Oh yeah...they might just work. 

Placing them willy nilly here and there, it resembles carved graffiti on the woodgrain background.

And my undying love for banners continues...especially when they are this easy to make. I used the American Crafts 1.5 inch punch, inked edges, crumpled them up a bit, added to twine, and voila...done.

Now, does anyone have an old used surfboard for sale? He can't wait to try this sport again!

Cheesecake Celebration

7th grade graduation from Christian Brothers is a big deal. It was a rough two years, but two that prepared him well. So, after the ceremony, we let Kevin decide where we'd go to celebrate. Not surprisingly, he chose Cheesecake Bistro. Funny thing...I don't know what he was thinking, but he was disappointed when he realized that we were going to order LUNCH first. Um, yeah...lunch THEN dessert. Here he is with his gigantic celebratory cheesecake. Yum!

Patterned papers, stickers, letter stickers, tag, ribbon, baker's twine, and frame are from American Crafts. I love these ready to stitch tags:

Yes, he did it! And now that we're in the middle of his eighth grade year, I'm glad he had the challenge, because this is no picnic either! ;)