The LAST Layout of 2011…

Well, we are hours away from the close of 2011. I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by! We had a wonderful Christmas season (all staying healthy!) and are looking forward to ringing in the new year with good friends tonight. I wish you all a safe and happy new year!

In my quest to actually complete the kids' baby books, I've done another "milestone photo" page. Here is Jon at 6 months old. What a cutie! I also did this for a sketch challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. We'll be having more challenges and fun stuff to do in 2012 so be sure to stop by!

Merry Christmas!!!

Well it's almost Christmas eve and the boys are very excited!! We're looking forward to our church's candles and carols service and I'm not madly trying to finish Christmas preparations. It's a good day! I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow and MERRY CHRISTMAS! =)

Jon's First Christmas…

I love going back and looking at layouts I've done for past Christmases. They boys get big so fast! Here's one I did for Jon's first Christmas. Of course he wasn't too into it but he looked awful cute in his red stripey footie outfit, lol.

The House That Greg Built…

I want to share some past Christmas layouts I've done with you. The years seem to zip by so quickly it's important to preserve these memories! They all blend together after a while if you don't lol. Here is a layout about the gingerbread house we decorated a few years ago. It was a lot of fun but Greg had to be convinced it wouldn't be worth eating after sitting around all month as a decoration. Bleh! I'm not sure he really believed me though!

We have a winner!!

I have chosen a winner from the comments section of the "Day 3 of Inspiration Week" post and she is…
Libby E! Please send me an email and I'll get your prize sent out to you! Thanks everyone for participating. Merry Christmas!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #11!

It's time for another challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles! The challenge is to scrap about something you are thankful for this holiday season and to include a treasure as part of your project (which doesn't have to necessarily be a layout). I chose to alter a box to hold special correspondence that my husband and I have exchanged for the past eleven years. (Notes, cards, valentines etc.) I am very thankful God brought him into my life and that I waited for His timing and plan, which was not the way I thought things should work out. I  finally let God do things His way instead of trying to make things happen my way and was mightily blessed as a result. I had to be patient and wait, but the wait for Matt was worth it!

Here is the box I made:

I chose a fall theme because we were married in the fall and I love fall stuff, lol. For the leaves I tried this technique shared by Tim Holtz on his blog. The little rose I made with the Tim Holtz Sizzix pinecone die and Tim showed how to use it to make roses here (watch the video). (Can you tell I really like his products, lol?) Enjoy and be sure to upload your take on this challenge to the challenge linky on Scrapping Everyday Miracles!

Welcome to the Greatest Gift of the Season blog hop!

Welcome to the Greatest Gift of the Season blog hop! 

Welcome to Day 3 of our inspiration week! If you are just dropping by make sure that you start at Scrapping Everyday Miracles to get all the details on our hop and catch up on the first two days. And so they don't get buried in all the tag photos following, here are the secret words for today (shh…don't tell): the greatest 

 

Many of these tags are inspired by all the great techniques that Tim Holtz shares on his blog every year in the '12 Tags of Christmas' that he does. You should check it out, they are so much fun to do and you can adapt what he shares to materials that you already have (which I think is half the fun). So, without further ado, here are some closeups with links where appropriate.

Tag 1, Tag 2

Tag 3,  Tag 4

 Tag 5, Tag 6

Tag 7

Tag 9, Tag 10 (for number)

Tag 15, Tag 16

Tag 17

Tag 21, Tag 22

Whew! That's a lot of tags! I hope you're inspired. You could use these techniques and looks for cards too. Be sure to become a follower if you aren't already and leave a comment for a chance at a prize. At the end of the hop (on the 5th) I'll do a random drawing to pick a winner. Merry Christmas!

The hop details: 

1.    Come back and visit us each day this week to be inspired.  Hop to the Design Team member’s personal blog and collect your secret word.  At the end of the week e-mail us at scrappingeverydaymiracles@yahoo.com with the secret phrase and you will be entered into the drawing for this awesome prize from Burlap & Buttercups, one of my personal favorite kit clubs. 

2.    Create something or many things based on our inspiration and link it to the Mr. Linky by December 10^th for a chance to win a December kit from Scrapbook Circle, yes this is also a favorite of mine!

3.    Every day that you come back to visit you will also find a new discount code to give you some help in your shopping; some codes are good just for the day and others are for a week so make sure you get them quick!

4.    Have a ton of fun and don’t forget to join us on Monday, December 5^th for our December challenge and another awesome prize package!

Christmas Inspiration Blog Hop Coming…

Are you ready for a week of inspiring Christmas projects? Each day a member of the Scrapping Everyday Miracles DT will be posting a different Christmas project to get your Christmas crafting vibe going. Get ideas for gifts and decor! There will be chances for prizes and other fun stuff happening so check in on November 28th to join in.

10 Great Years

Today is my 10th anniversary and I am so thankful for this time that Matt and I have had together. I can't believe that we've been married for 10 years though! Time sure flies. He is such a wonderful husband and I am blessed by him. I created this layout to commemorate this milestone wedding anniversary.

The journaling on the tag behind the photo reads:
Thank you Lord for 10 wonderful years with Matt. He is such a blessing to me and you brought us together. Matt, thank you for being a wonderful, supportive husband. I love you so much and I can't believe we have been married for 10 years! Here's to many more!

I used this sketch for the layout:

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #10!

It's time for another fun challenge over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles! This one is all about nature. We are certainly surrounded by beautiful places and things. We would love to see you take on this challenge and scrap about what you find in the natural world. For my layout, I chose photos I took when we went camping at Calaveras Big Trees State Park last summer. Those trees are truly amazing and so gigantic you really can't comprehend it, even when you are standing right by them. I feel very blessed that I live in a part of the world where I can easily make a trip to see these amazing trees.

Holy Smokes – It's November!

11/1/11, how about that? I'm tempted to celebrate by baking some cookies (maybe chop up some leftover Halloween candy to mix in? hmmmm…) but I will be strong and just blog about making cookies. ;-) Greg is getting to be a pretty good "cooker" (as he used to say at three). Start 'em young is what I say. One of these years he can start cooking dinner too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Have fun all you kiddos out there and don't eat all your candy at once! Stay safe folks and don't be too scary. ; )

Our First Family Halloween

More trips down memory lane! We had fun with these costumes, Greg was almost a year old. I made him this cute tomato costume and then Matt and I were the farmers, lol. Guess I'd better get cracking and finish Greg's costume for this year. He's going to be a "landshark". Ha ha!

Here we are two years later. Little Jon is on the scene and we were able to come up with another family theme for costumes. Greg was SO cute in his lion costume and delighted in showing off his roar. Fun times!

Pumpkin Guts, Oh Ick!

Ha ha, this was such a funny moment. This was Greg's first real year of pumpkin carving (he was almost four). He was all excited until I cut open the pumpkin. When he saw what was inside he was horrified! This is a great example of a picture being worth a thousand words.

Stay tuned for more Halloween fun!

More Pumpkin Patch Fun

Look out, I have a whole pile of October layouts to share with you in the next few weeks! Greg was three on this trip (and it was over 80 degrees!) Fun was mostly had by all although baby Jon had his first freak- out fussy fit there in the parking lot. Talk about mommy stress! It was totally unexpected. Little did I know it was a harbinger of things to come …

Time for October layouts!

Holy smokes it's the middle of October already! Time sure flies by. At least I have my house all decorated for fall already. I love this time of year - I think fall is my favorite season. This is one of my all-time favorite photos of the boys and it always cracks me up. My boys are such goofballs and I am so thankful for them. How quiet and dull life would be without them around!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #9!

Yes, it's that time again. Time for another Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge! We're only doing one challenge a month now so this one will be due on Oct. 25th. Be sure to join in for a chance at the great prize package! The theme is "Grandparents". I am fortunate that I grew up in the same area as my paternal grandparents and got to see them often (and still do!) I have many fond memories of childhood sleepovers and creek exploring. Here is my layout:

Go check out the great examples from the other DT members on the SEM blog and join in the fun!

Blog hop, Blog hop, Blog hop!

Welcome to the Scrapping Everyday Miracles September Blog Hop!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles is having a blog hop this weekend and we invite you to join in the fun. We joined forces with 2 Cute Stamps and the SEM Design Team members have all created a project (or two) based on our theme friendship. You can "hop" from blog to blog to check them out!

All you have to do is visit each of the DT's blogs for inspiration, become a follower and leave a comment. There are RAKS to win along the way and if you leave a comment at each blog you could win one of two grand prizes from our sponsors: Artful Delight and 2 Cute Stamps.

Here's the DT blog line up:

Scrapping Everyday Miracles
Wendy
Jeannine
Lisa(me!)
Leigh
Roulien
Nicole

Here are the two cards that I made with digital stamps from 2 Cute Stamps:

I will pick at random a poster here on my blog and they will win Creative Juice RAK! Enjoy your hopping!

Your next stop on the hop is Leigh...
Thanks for stopping by!

You have until Sunday October 2nd @11:59pm EST to post your comments and become a follower at Scrapping Everyday Miracles and 2 Cute Stamps as well as commenting on each DT members blog. Winners will be announced Wednesday…

Camping! and Banana Slugs!

Well, this last weekend we went camping in the Santa Cruz Mts. and you know what that means. Banana slug sightings! We saw four of them this time, all on Sunday morning.  Our friend Fred who was with us got to see one for the first time. I think he was thrilled (ha ha). Here is a layout from when Greg first met up with a banana slug when he was about 20 months old. He was rather horrified!

And just in case you wanted to know more about slime:

And did you know that banana slugs are the second largest slugs in the world? And they can grow up to 10 inches long? Aren't you glad you read all about them now? =) Happy camping!

Challenge #8 at Scrapping Everyday Miracles!

Gosh golly it's been two weeks since I've posted something new! What a busy time of year - so many things gear up in September. I'm happy to announce that there is another challenge posted over at the Scrapping Everyday Miracles blog, be sure to click over there and check it out. Here is my layout I did for it:

The journaling is on a tag behind the photo and reads:

This photo was taken about 12 years ago. These days when I look in the mirror, I see some fine lines, a few grey hairs and “baby weight” that‘s still hanging around. In a culture focused on outward apearances, it can be tough to see time marching on. I need to remember that I am perfectly crafted by God and He is continuing to work on my insides no matter what direction my outsides are going!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #7!

It's challenge time at Scrapping Everyday Miracles! This was another hard one for me since I am always trying to think three steps ahead of the present. We were challenged to create a layout about focusing on the moment. I made me realize I need to slow down a bit and live more "in the moment". Anyway, go check out the challenge and I hope you enjoy my layout.

Memory Lane

Well I have been doing lots of cleaning and organizing around here (and trying to get my act together ha ha!) Yesterday I was cleaning in my scrap area and finding old photos of the boys, layouts that haven't gotten put in albums yet (I know I'm not the only one with big stack of layouts sitting around!) and other goodies. It made me realize how fast time is flying by. The boys are getting so big it seems hard to remember when they were babies. The beauty of this hobby is freezing those moments in time and preserving them. So many sweet memories would be lost otherwise. So keep fighting the good fight and keep scrapping those photos! =)

Here is a favorite layout of Jon I was reminded of in my cleaning spree:

What a cutie! (I know I'm biased though.) Well, have a good rest of the weekend and God bless and protect those in the path of Irene on the east coast.

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #6!

Here we are again with another Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge. This one is about the special friendships that we have in our lives. I chose to do a layout about the friendship that my mom and I have. I feel so blessed that we are good friends and that I get to see her often. I am very thankful for our relationship, she is the best! You can join in our challenge too and have a chance to win a great prize. Head on over to SEM and check out all the details and to link up your project. Happy scrapping and take time to tell those special people in your life that you appreciate them!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #5!

It's that time again – time for another Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge! I loved this one since I'm fond of doing humorous layouts anyway and the boys are such good subjects for such things. It is called "I couldn't help but LAUGH!" and is about finding those things in life that just make you laugh. I've been wanting to do this layout for AGES and this challenge finally spurred me on. (Isn't that the great thing about challenges?) The Dr. Spoonface photo is of Jon when he was 17 mos. old and the Superdog Greg photo is recent. Love them, those guys make me laugh.

So click on over to the SEM blog for full details. Link up your take on the challenge and you could win the sponsor prize or be chosen to be a guest designer. I bet you have funny photos and stories just waiting to be scrapped.

August?? Really?

I can't believe it's already August! Where has this summer gone? School starts in two weeks and my head is spinning with all the "get ready for fall" stuff on my to-do list. What happened to summer lasting until Labor Day? Alas. Well, I'm still going to try to hang onto that summer time feeling while I work on my to-do list, lol. In the meantime, here is a layout for you celebrating summer. It's not too late to go buy a box of popsicles.

Birthday Birthday Birthday

I am WAY behind on scrapping birthdays. I hadn't made any bday layouts for the boys since their one-year parties. I'm going to start working on catching up a little. So many photos, so little time! Here are layouts for Greg's second and third birthdays. I'll have to do some of Jon's next. Maybe one of these years I'll even get their baby scrapbooks done, LOL!

Inspiration Challenge

Over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles, we are having an "Inspiration Challenge". I used the color scheme from the magazine cover as my inspiration for the Gregisms layout. If you're feeling inspired too, we'd love to see what you come up with! Check out the details over on SEM and link up your creation there. And, happy Monday!


The inspiration:

The result!:

More about the layout - These are all funny things that Greg said when he was little. I'm glad I wrote them down because I would have never remembered what he had said. It makes me chuckle to go back and see them now. And he arranged his lunch remains that way. Carefully positioned crusts and apple slices with one bite out of each. What a little character!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #4!

Well we have another challenge up at Scrapping Everyday Miracles! This one is all about taking a meaningful song and scrapping about that. Take a peek over at the SEM blog to see all the details. Participate and you stand a very good chance of getting one of the challenge prizes. ; ) Here's my layout example for it. The song I used is What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

I got a little crazy and didn't even use a photo! (gasp!) I think I went a little crazy with the red roses too, but it's all good. Here are the lyrics and journaling:


What A Wonderful World ~ Louis Armstrong
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.




journaling:
I have always loved this song, it is so hopeful and optimistic. It makes me look at what is positive in the world. There is a lot of bad that we tend to focus on, but there is a lot of good to be thankful for too!

Pixel Love…

Well, sort of. I've dabbled in digital layouts before but it's not my favorite way to scrap. I love getting my hands all inky and the tactile sensation of playing with paper too much. I'd rather do hybrid layouts. But every once in a while I go for it. Here are two digital layouts I recently completed with freebie kits I had found somewhere. Enjoy!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #3!

Well here we are with the first challenge of July at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. Roulien has challenged us to share what a new day means to you. Check out the blog for all the details. Here is my layout with the journaling for you to read.

journaling reads:
This was a hard challenge. Usually my first thought when I wake up is “Rats!” followed by “God, please help me survive the day & give me patience.” My youngest son has Sensory Processing Disorder & is quite a handful. He requires constant help & a watchful eye. He’s not verbal yet & is strong willed. I know that will probably benefit him in the future, but now I’d like a bit more compliance! I was trying to picture my day as a gift to unwrap & I found myself getting pretty resentful towards God. I can’t even remember the last time I got to savor a whole day. I started throwing a little pity party & had to make myself think about people that have worse problems to snap out of it. I don’t know why God has given us such a challenging child but I know it’s for a purpose. I have hope that there is a reason & I need to remember that. In the meantime, I grab whatever little moments I can to savor – like my morning cup of coffee! It’s a little ritual and kickstart to the morning. I take my perks where I can get them (pun intended).