Life is Good with You Around

I have used several pieces of my Elmwood Park kit, but I also have had several of those office type items that I haven't been able to fit into any of my layouts.  Luckily last night I finally got inspired to use some of them!  I stamped the burst stamp across my white background and used a 1 3/8" circle punch to fill it with scraps of paper from the kit.  I used an October Afternoon journaling spot to stamp the title and just added a few pieces of chipboard and jewels for accents.  It took me a while to come up with a good design that I liked, but in the end I was pleased.

I used a We R Memory Keepers page protector to add a few more pictures to the vacation album.  I loved how I was able to add the phones to accentuate the funny picture of the lady in period costume talking on her cell phone!  Too funny, but so real!

Play

Here is one of my favorite pictures from Williamsburg.  As we came and left, we stopped at the children's barn where my daughter enjoyed playing Colonial games with the young people there.  Here she learned how to play a number game - a great math game.

I made an accordian flower from a scrap of paper and added some Petaloo flowers in the corner.  Vintage illustrations are october afternoon and chipboard banner is My Mind's Eye.

I've been trying to use these We R Memory Keepers photo pages so I can stick a few more pics in without feeling too guilty (they're just hard to get pics of!).  I just added a few more of the same pieces here - a little OA Washi tape and a tag from a Studio Calico kit.

A trip to Colonial Williamsburg

Here is a picture of the fam at Colonial Williamsburg.  Typical picture you get when you ask a tourist to take a picture of the family - a whole lot of forground and a tiny image of the family!  But, hey, full family pictures are rare these days, so you take what you get and don't throw a fit!

I used a vintage die cut from Pretty Little Studio as well as several October Afternoon chipboard pieces and a My Mind's Eye journaling spot for this page.

Here are just a few of the photos of sights around Williamsbug - the oxen pulling the yoke, the drummer and fife boys, and the cannons blasting.  Things you don't want to forget!

More OctoberAfternoon paper and chipboard.  Studio Calico paper and a Hambly overlay here.

If you want some living history, Colonial Williamsburg is the place to go!  I'll have more for you tomorrow!

And just a little sight of the start of the fall leaves changing - here's a view from the corner of our road Sunday when we went out for a walk - it's starting to look like fall!  I just loved the gorgeous warmth of the sun melting the tops of the trees here.

Gettin' crabby!

Does your significant other have a love for some kind of food that cannot be denied?  You could probably say that my husband likes crab legs.  I can recall when we were just dating a time when we went to an all you can eat crab legs place.  My husband ate plate after plate after plate....I was nearly mortified!  Well, 13 years later things haven't changed.    The big guy on campus still loves his crab legs and enjoys plate after plate when we can find them close to the coast. 

Here are two pictures detailing how much he loves them!  I had the camera with me and took a picture when we sat down to start eating.  Notice how the second picture is nearly the same image?  It is an hour later.  That's right - an HOUR LATER PEOPLE!  This boy can put those crab legs away!  Meanwhile I got to chase our daughter who was enjoying lovely waterfalls and an indoor brook!  But, hey, if that's his only request, what can I say?  I'm pretty blessed!

 

The sweetest thing - my sweet baby boy!

Well, you know, I guess I am a little partial!  ;)  I think my baby boy is the sweetest thing in the world.  He really is - he is such a good boy!  Here he is just hanging out at 2 months old.  Flashing smiles here and there, just taking it all in.

This piece of paper by Basic Grey was pretty easy to use - I just cut it down a bit and put it on a kraft background.  I used another piece of Basic Grey behind it.  All I did on this layout was added some washi tape here and there and a couple of pieces of the Central High kit to the layout and I was finished!  I wasn't sure if I was going to like that paper, but it turned out to be really easy to use!

Closet Capers

It has been such a blessing to have our second child.  I know he is still little, but right now our daughter just adores him and he adores her in return!  Knowing what it's like to have a little brother, I realize that this will change soon - those whiny days and fighting evenings are coming.  It's inevitable!  But for now, I am just going to enjoy them being happy with each other.

Here is my daughter deciding she needed some one on one time with her bubby.   She is careful with him, thankfully!  While on vacation, she took him into the closet with a pillow so she could make him giggle all by herself.  How silly - and cute - is that?! 

I just love the way this layout turned out, too.  I used some of the elements from the 35 mm kit from Studio Calico for this page.  The stickers and envelope and banner pieces are all from Heidi Swapp.  The gorgeous flower is Petaloo - on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  The cutie pie piece is My Mind's Eye and the heart border and people borders are from Amy Tangerine.  Thickers are American Crafts and the star is KI Memories.  Scrap of polka dot paper is October Afternoon. 

PLS giving me some mojo!!!

If you are not familiar with Pretty Little Studio, you need to get to know this company!  It is a scrapbook company that makes ALL of it's product right here in the USA!!!!  That's what I'm talking about!  Plus, the quality is superb and the designs are darling....now if only I had a money tree to supply all my wishes!  ;)

Anyway, I've not been getting much scrapping done lately....you know how life gets in the way, gets you down, or keeps you busy....that's been me.  I decided I needed to peruse my favorite inspirational sites (this is a NEED, people!) and it was well worth my time!  In addition to this layout, I made 3 other layouts for a great start to scrapping those vacation pics from this summer! Woo hoo!!!

Needless to say, the sketch challenge is where this all started!

I started with a grey cardstock background and took my Studio Calico mask and some Bonnie Blue Mr. Huey and went to work.  I also sprayed my splash tag from PLS with Bonnie Blue. 

I strayed from the sketch quite a bit once I got started.  I decided I didn't like the placement of the title at the top right corner and placed it down below instead.  I added several sandcastle hexagon stickers and an assortment of other embellishments to that area.  To make the word Splash stand out, I added a dotted outline around the inside of the words.

I took the inspiration for the tag lineup from a layout I saw in Scrapbook Trends.  I thought it was cute, so I added 4 of my sandcastle tags to it. 

Now....if only my housework were this fun to do!