Feels Like Summer

You know that song by Weezer; well, it's in my head a lot now...and I couldn't be happier with these warm summer-feeling temperatures! Summer is my season. ;)

Here is a colorful page documenting Kevin's summer of 2016, a summer filled with lifeguarding, swimming, video games, swimming, Driver's Ed, swimming, watching Big Brother (an addiction I tell ya!), a week at the beach and swimming. Ahhh...soon he'll be at it again, minus the Driver's Ed.



The next layout was published in the summer 2017 issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today. It features a fun assortment of patterned papers, a melange of die-cuts, washi tape banner, and a title of colorful chipboard letters.



Summer days...bring it on!

Sisters Do Lunch

Me and my four sisters...we've taken this photo before...a year before to be exact. Each year during our beach vacation, the girls all go out for shopping and lunch. Two years in a row we've chosen to eat at George's in Alyc Beach, and both meals ended with a photo in the same spot!

I chose the Summer Fun collection from Echo Park for it's combination of color and whimsy, fussy cutting some of the elements like the flower cluster...

 and scooter below:

Hmmm...should we find a new photo spot next year...or continue taking our picture on the steps under the frogs?

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.

That was SO cool!

These two!

Cousins.

For hours on end.

They would kick out past the surf and wait, 

and wait, 

and wait, 

and wait,

patiently waiting for that perfect wave.

And then this.

The surf was relatively calm all week during our time at the beach this year, but they found a few waves to carry them in on their boogie boards. 

I remember this one time, many years ago, when they were just learning how to ride their boards, that these two caught the "perfect" wave. Uncle Chris was out past the surf, helping them get situated, telling them when to go for it. And they did. Eventually they rode a nice one all the way into the beach, the two of them, at the same time! All smiles, Jake turns to Kevin as if to say, "That was SO cool!"

It was also pretty cool that I happened to have my camera ready that day. Here's the layout that I created with two photos from their epic ride:

Catching Waves & Rays

It's Throwback Thursday! The photo on the layout below was taken several summers ago, and I can't believe how much those three have changed. The two on the right passed me up in height quite a while ago. The one on the left is getting ready to head off to college! But on this day, the three cousins were getting ready for a day on the water, "Catching Waves & Rays".

Patterned papers are from October Afternoon's Summertime collection.

I'd love to have the three cousins recreate this photo one day. In fact, I'm going to put it on my to-do list for next time we all go to the beach!

Go Catch A Wave

I love the action photo I captured on the page below! The three cousins were going out to ride their boards on the first day of our beach vacation, jumping up over the swells as they head out in search of even bigger waves.

The beautifully vivid patterned papers are solely from the Carta Bella Beach Day collection.

Banners are still a favorite embellishment, and on the layout below I created an oversized one, cutting out flags, phrases, sunglasses and a swimsuit from Beach Day papers.

The large acrylic word, GO, is an exclusive from a Scraptastic kit. I completed the title with colorfully printed Thickers chipboard letters.

They caught many a wave that day, the day after, and the day after that. What fun it was!

Scraplift Challenge

What better way to jumpstart some summer scrapbooking than with a scraplift!? Given this challenge for a Scraptastic blog post, I headed on over to the Scraptastic Members Facebook Group and perused all the awesome pages that were uploaded to the group. There were so many gorgeous layouts that I couldn't just choose one. I chose two, and came out with two wonderful pages of my own.

 The first piece of beautiful inspiration was created by Aimee Dow:

Here's my take, albeit with two photos and an extra strip of stripe on the left:

I love how this photo came out sort of silhouette-like, just before his event, the 1500 meter freestyle (a mile!). Of course I had to mimic the pool flags with a little banner of my own. ;)

I created a second page based on this fabulous layout by Paige Sterling Fox. Grid designs are a favorite!

As you can see, I switched around the placement of my photo and the little squares, but still kept true to the basic design. 

This was my son's first time swimming in the State Championship Meet, so stars, splatters, and appropriate phrases abound:

It was quite nice to have these wonderful Scraptastic Subscriber pages on hand to direct my own, as it sure shaves time! Thanks for the inspiration ladies!

Ice Cold Snowballs

For about 8 months now, this place with the bright orange paint has been taunting us, windows closed, umbrellas packed away. But when the flags started flying and the menu board was placed outside, it was time. Kevin and Julie got their first snowballs last week, but I recently scrapped a couple of pictures from last summer. The layout was shared on The Cut Shoppe blog:

I used the Abstract Angles cut file from The Cut Shoppe Etsy store to create my fun and colorful background:

There were two great photos that I wanted to include on the page. To fit them both, and not cover up too much of the cool background, I cropped and mounted one on a tag, placing it strategically over an empty spot in the larger photo:

I'm still addicted to banners, so of course I had to make one to mimic the one draped on front of the stand:

Cardstock letter stickers spell out the title:

I can't wait to try out this cut file again: monochromatic with shades of the same color or with a riotous mix of color, with all the openings filled in or with only some of them backed by patterned paper. There are so many options, I'll have a hard time deciding...kinda like choosing a snowball flavor! ;)

Boys Rule

Yes, I love cut files...and what could be more fun than taking one and making it GIGANTIC?! On the page below, oversized lettering was filled with bright and colorful patterned papers from American Crafts' #Summer collection, with the large "O" reserved for my photo:

The phrase/title is one of the many designs in The Cut Shoppe's Boys Rule cut file set:

The closeup shows how the "0" not only frames the photo, but holds a bit of journaling-in-the-round. Uncle Chris was supposed to be helping to hold up the board, but couldn't resist photo-bombing the two kids. ;) 

Most of the supplies (patterned papers, stickers, flair, transparency pieces, and wood veneer) are from the #Summer collection by American Crafts. 

Come on summer! I'm ready!

Dive In & Swim

Today I'm sharing a page created with the Scraptastic Club's Just A Girl kit and add-on, featuring digital cut files from The Cut Shoppe Etsy store.

To contrast with the vivid papers and embellishments of my page, I cut a title and star flourish from black cardstock, using the Make A Splash and Let's Make Music cut files from The Cut Shoppe:

To tone down the stark black of the cardstock cuts, I spritzed them both with white mist:

I love the contrast of black and white with the saturated teal, yellow and red of the patterned paper, enamel dots, tags, and acrylics. It's a wonderfully bold look that works well for my colorful photo!

Lifeguard

I know, I know...it's been a while. But I'm back to blogging and can finally share my first project for The Cut Shoppe! Isn't that lifeguard stand the best?! I serendipitously captured this photo a couple of summers ago, when Chris was on the pool deck, working ONE of his summer jobs. (He also drove delivery for Jimmy John's Sandwich Shop, fitting one schedule around the other.)

I had to use this cute quote I found: "Don't make me use my lifeguard voice!" Hahaha.

That awesome lifeguard stand is from this cut file:

 

After cutting the stand from white, wood-look paper, I added another dimension by piecing a life preserver from red and white cardstock. It's the perfect touch!

The Make A Splash cut file, provided my page with a whimsical sun:

By adhering only the center of the sun to my page, its "rays" are left to curl up slightly. And finally, a banner, fashioned out of polka dot kraft tape and embellished with red crosses. 

Supplies: Patterned paper-American Crafts, Carta Bella, Crate Paper; Stickers-Crate Paper; Ephemera-Crate Paper; Envelope-Fancy Pants; Flair-Scraptastic; Chipboard letters-Jillibean Soup; Chipboard word-American Crafts; Kraft paper tape-Jillibean Soup.

Fun stuff, huh?! Now if only I could sneak a photo of Kevin as he works. I've got to be stealthy. ;)

Hello Summer

Yes, I WISH it was summer already. After a few pretty nice days, we're getting ready to have another cold snap around here. Of course "cold" is a quite relative thing. Southerners like myself shiver when it dips below 50 degrees. Bring back the hot muggy days of summer and I promise not to complain. Meanwhile I have a summer-themed scrapbook page to share, based on the following sketch by Susan Stringfellow:

Yesterday was Sketchy Thursday on the Scraptastic blog and this was my contribution to the effort:

Thanks to a loaded sticker sheet from Bo-Bunny, I was able to list all the activities that kept us most busy and amused during the summer months, in circular formation around the page. 

Scraptastic's Sweater Weather kit and add-on were used exlusively on this layout, setting aside the wintery embellishments of course. Stars take the place of snowflakes!

A thick banner was the perfect spot on which to journal about our summer activities. "There was never an 'I'm bored', just an 'I'm hungry'!" That about sums it up!

 Hello Summer...I can't wait to say those words and have you back! ;)

For more interpretations of this sketch, see this week's Sketchy Thursday blog post!

Smooth Seas

I shared the following page on the Scraptastic blog last week, featuring papers and embellishments from their brand new store!

It was easy to assemble an almost monochromatic page using the b-sides of the otherwise colorful Creative Agenda collection from Kaitlyn Shaeffer for Echo Park. The calmer, more subtle patterns were perfect for my paddleboarding photos from this past summer:

Here are some close-ups:

SUPPLIES: Patterned Paper (Echo Park Creative Agenda-BlueStripe Paper, Arrows Paper, 3x4 Journaling Cards Paper, Positively Paper, 4x6 Journaling Cards Paper), Stickers (Echo Park Creative Agenda Element Stickers), Flair (Gossamer Blue On My Desk Badges), Buttons, Mist, Thickers Chipboard Letter Stickers.

Stay tuned for another page with this collection...one that makes the most of those colorful "A-sides" this time!