"MY" Kevin

My niece's oldest boy is so cute! As there is no one close to his age in our extended family, he goes hunting for the next best thing when it's time to find a playmate. Of course he looks up to the teens in the family, and Kevin is one of his favorites. In fact, he's become quite possessive, referring to him as "MY" Kevin, in other words, my friend. :)

Here they are playing in the sand at the beach:

I can't even begin to say where all the "stuff" on this page came from. I just pulled out bits and pieces from here and there and joined them all together. It was great fun.

The mint and pink papers are echoed by a scattering of enamel dots, and the woodgrain-look Thickers match up with the wood veneer nautical pieces. Speaking of which, those boats and anchors must be multiplying. I've certainly used them on several pages over the past few years...and yet, I still have more. Sailing anyone?

Fire Fighter

It's hard to believe, but my oldest son has already been a firefighter for three years. (And this photo has been hanging around my scrap desk for just about as long!) Finally, I decided to put pedal to the metal and get this one done. Here he is at his graduation ceremony:

With his blue shirt and a flag in the background of my photo, it seemed natural to go with a red, white, and blue color scheme, adding to it a smattering of gold (ampersand sticker, decorative clip, star vellum, and chipboard letters). A combination of Thickers forms my title. The chipboard letters JPFD are a favorite with their gold-dipped bottoms.

Buttons are always a good idea! As are tags. ;)

And finally, a couple of pieces of wood veneer from an old Scraptastic kit are layered beneath my photo. Ta-Da! That celebratory exclamation could apply to both his graduation AND the completion of this page. Yay!

Let's DO This!

 After layering up an assortment of colorful papers for this swim team photo, I knew that I wanted to add in a bunch of fun embellishments to highlight their black swimsuits. (They also happened to be a part of the Black team at their springtime Blue-Black Instrasquad swim meet.) I found quite a few embellishments in my "Bella Blvd. Box", and chose chipboard pieces and stickers to add on top of my patterned papers.

Some of my favorite funky alpha stickers begin and end the title, with larger brighter letters emphasizing the word "DO"!

A bright red mini file folder slipped behind my photo is the perfect "landing pad" for several of my embellishments, which would otherwise be lost on the colorful melange of papers beneath:

I again raided my stash for an assortment of brads. How did I accumulate so many?! =o

When journaling around the page, I called my son over to help me out with a couple of names. I told him that this was important, because one day, when he's around 90 or so, he might need a little help remembering them himself! ;)

Chill Out

Don't you LOVE this blue plaid patterned paper from We R Memory Keepers?! It just may be the reason that I picked up a few pieces from their new High Five collection, and scrapped a favorite picture from our beach vacation:

Another favorite paper from the bunch gave me the following cluster of icons. One was hand cut, another punched and a third mounted onto a chipboard round:

After adding two cards from the High Five collection, one for journaling, another for the sentiment, I raided my stash for a few bits and pieces: a chipboard pineapple, flair, brad, stamp, and buttons.

It's always inspiring to have a new set of papers, but it's also quite satisfying when I'm able add a few "vintage" pieces to the mix. ;)