Vacation Memories

Tommy's mom loved going on vacation with our family. She never ventured into the water, or even down to the beach, but she enjoyed her time away nonetheless. Here's a great photo from several years ago:

The colors and designs of Simple Stories' Summer Fresh (a collection from 2013) were perfect for my photo! The flowers, clothesline and picnic plaid paper screamed summer:

Here are a couple of closeups:

We'll miss having MawMaw with us this year. Chickenfoot and Upwords just won't be the same.

Get Crafty

I pulled out all the pretty, girly papers and die-cuts for this one about what may be a new beach tradition...craft night! There is so much layering going on here:

While the guys, young and old, played poker in one of the condos, the gals gathered to paint and decorate picture frames. We've been on a mission to collect a variety of beer bottlecaps. As you can see, no one minded contributing to the cause!

It's not often that I get to splatter a page with pink and/or flowers, so this was especially fun! That's a little "beach house" silhouetted at the bottom of the page. The "sun" is actually a record die-cut from some Maggie Holmes collection or another. Many of the die-cuts are from the Jillibean Soup Chit Chat Chowder collection.

I should start scouring Pinterest soon, as we will need another project for this summer's beach night craft! Ideas anyone?!

Coach Laura

Swimming was such a big part of Laura's life, so it's pretty cool that she has been able to share her love of the sport with the younger set. 

Coach Laura is such an enthusiastic supporter of her kids. Here she's motivating her group before the Shark's annual intra-squad meet. 

The layers of scallops at the bottom of the page were inspired by all those little swimmers and their caps.

I liked the lower border so much that I created a top one to match. A colorful "fish cap" stands out in each grouping!

Coincidentally, this weekend is the 12 and under Louisiana State Championship Swim Meet. It starts this evening, and I pretty much expect Laura to lose her voice completely by Sunday! Go Sharks!

Summer Swimming

Taken with my (very old) phone, this photo isn't the best, but these are a few of Kevin's pals from summer swimming. Yes, everyone here is also on his year-round USS team, but swimming in the more laid back country club meets is a favorite activity every summer. Here, the kids are celebrating the summer's end with a party where they received their Meet of Champs awards. 

The heart embellishment on the page was created many moons ago with a Scraptastic kit. Dozens of colorful phrase stickers were chopped up and arranged on cardstock before cutting out the heart. Yep, these kids are always happy together, working at the sport they love.

While I was sorting through my photos, I came across one from Kevin's second season of summer swimming, and scrapped it with Echo Park's Summer Party:

It was meant to be a quick page, but then I decided to cut around those flip-flops at the bottom! =O

Towel...check. (SO glad that we get towel service thanks to Julie's employee membership.)

Cap...check. (He ONLY wears a cap for meets. Even then, he avoids covering his ears!)

Goggles with bungee strap...check. (Oh yes. That first season of swimming, he lost his goggles more than once. Now they are secure with a bungee strap AND he wears them UNDER his cap for extra security.)

Flip-flops...always! (Always in them, unless he's in the water. ;)  )

Just a few more months until another season of summer swimming begins! 

Breast Stroke Is The Best Stroke

A couple of weeks ago, I was inspired to join in the Sunday Scraplift Challenge at Paper Issues. I loved the tilt of the original layout, and positioned two photos one on top the other, to resemble a filmstrip. The photos are actually the same, one more closeup than the other. That's Kevin, swimming his favorite stroke in the summer league Meet of Champs. He looked awesome, and came away with second place:

Oh I do love blue! Even the smallest scraps of favorite blue patterned papers are saved, and ultimately used again...and again, in smaller...and smaller increments. Some of these scallops were cut from pretty small pieces of paper.



Lettering for the title is courtesy of five sticker packs. It's fun and eye-catching to mix it up like this:

A few words of journaling describe how breaststroke is a family favorite!