From One Child to Another

I have a fun mix of the old (hey, not that old!) and the new to share this week - a couple of layouts from my childhood, and some of the pages I created for my nephew Logan's 3 year old scrapbook.

DigiZines by Teri recently released Arabella, a beautiful new scrapkit that was a joy to work with. Take a look at what I did with this kit.

Dream Big and Bold - this is me as a child, which was a little bit longer ago than I care to admit.

Little Girls Love Dresses and Dolls - another look at young Tania

Young and In Love - reflecting on my parents, pre-children

And now to switch tracks, this year Nicole and I decided that Logan's 3 Year Old album should be themed with Marvel Superheroes. Obviously this was very exciting for me, although scrapbook supplies for some of the heroes were harder to find than for others. For example Spider-Man is all over the place, but The Avengers are not (even with their movie just coming to DVD). As it turns out, Logan is very into superheroes this year, so it's perfect timing. Here are a couple of my favorite pages from the album (Nicole will be putting pictures in it throughout the year, as he just turned 3).

Avengers Assemble! Did I mention I love superheroes? Or that this year was awesome with the release of The Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man? Well, I do and it was. That's it for now. Happy Scrapping!

On the Edge of My Seat

The hardest part about having an exclusive first look at designs as a part of a Creative Team is sitting on your layouts until the kit is released. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to share layouts that were created using new kits from several designers, and that's a testament to how fantastic these kits are.

In the meantime, here are some layouts I can share. Some of these were a part of a recent reveal called Falling For Fall over on the E-Scape and Scrap blog, where you can see some gorgeous layouts by my E-Scape Artists as well.

Autumn Sun was created using a kit by Lavender Designs by the same name. Logan and Connor are really enjoying their new yard.

You Can't Put Fun in a Box, created using Autumn Whispers by Mamrotka, captures Nicole and Logan exploding with joy at a recent fall festival.

And A Miniature Horse Farm, using On The Farm by TheBusyElfDesigns, reminds us of Logan's experience with these tiny creatures last month.

Lisa and I visited Sea World last weekend for the Sea World Halloween Spooktacular. They had charactres out in droves greeting guests and posing for pictures. I found vampire penguins to match my Twilight shirt. We trick-or-treated around the candy stations with a bag they provided to us, and watched children enjoying the craft stations and interactive activities. It is a really fun event. John and I also made our first trip of the season to Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, where I tried a lovely sparkling Moscato in Italy and revisited the sweet apple ice wine they always offer in Canada. Yum!

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fall, Go Gators and Howdy Y'all.

Frightfully Fit For Fun!

It's October! The weather is cooler, the ghouls are testing the waters, and I am so ready for the fun of fall festivals! I've been eating concord grapes, eyeing caramel apples, and downing Pumpkin Lattes in preparation for the season. We'll be hitting up Sea World's Halloween Party, Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, and Syrup Sopping in Alabama before the month is over.

Since the activities for this year are just getting started, I took a look back at some highlights from last year's Halloween. These layouts were created using papers and elements from Fright Night kit and Fright Night Special Papers by Courtney's Digiscrappin'.

Trevor made up his own costume last year.

We started our trick-or-treat route at the mall, Lisa met us straight after work.

And not all of these pictures are from last year, although Logan and Connor as Tigger and Eeyore are, but this is a fun collaboration of costumes.

This year Logan is getting into the holiday spirit, although it's still a little too scary at times.

I found the perfect mask at Target, it's Batman (and Lisa can get Captain America). But I just found out that though we're allowed to dress up for work this year, masks are strictly prohibited. I can't be Batman without a mask! Back to the drawing board I guess. I still think it would be completely awesome to show up to Logan and Connor's house as Batman, though.

And September... is out of here

I guess I was too busy to blog in September. Not really sure what happened there, but I certainly found time to scrapbook in September.

There were challenge entries, like She Is a Horse Lover starring Trinity.

And there were layouts for a new team - I'm guesting with DigiZines by Teri for a bit!
This layout uses Rose Wedding Scrapkit available in her wedding store.

And of course, there were layouts for my home base, E-Scape and Scrap:
First up is Tabatha 2012 using A Matter of Time by GreenEyedLady Designs.

Next is another favorite of mine from September, Brother Teaching Brother, created with a picture of Logan and Connor using It's Fall Encore by Sweet Spot Designs.

I captured some cute memories of Trinity using I'm Ill by butterfly Dsigns.

And I wrapped up the month with Grandparent layouts to showcase DigiZines by Teri's new Grandparents Scrapkit. Check out my parents and my in-laws as grandparents.

And that's September in a nutshell. Unless you wanted to hear that we hit up Sea World for Labor Day and rode Manta 3 times, or that Life After 50 Hikes continued with a fun day in Oakland at the Oakland Nature Preserve, or that Lawless was awesome, or that work was brutal but we pounded out some results. All of that is true too, but pictures of these occasions are a bit light. See you in October!

Stop. Getting. Injured!

Look, I know that getting injured comes naturally to our family. I am constantly hitting my toes on one thing or another anytime I forget to wear slippers for even 5 minutes. I get that it's hard to avoid. But the sheer volume of serious injuries in our family this year are starting to get me down. First Trinity broke her wrist, then Dad's knee, then Trevor with his burn scare, it's just been quite ridiculous, even for us. And now Nicole has her foot in a boot and Dad's knee had a flare up.

Nicole is on fire with her impromptu acrobatics lately. She is always doing handstands and cartwheels, and even has her youngest son joining the act. A recent failed attempt left her in even more pain that she apparantly has been in the month since originally (and secretly) injuring her foot. Enough pain that she finally admitted there was a problem and went to visit the doctor, where she told him not to give her any bad news. On the up side it isn't broken, but there was bad news to be had - she has a level 2 sprain. That means No Zumba. The amount of time is sketchy - the doctor told her what might have been 2 or 3 weeks, which she has interpreted as 2, and I personnaly think 5 is more appropriate.

My sister thinks I am being very unsympathetic to her plight, and that the boot is overkill. This is a girl that's been in pain for a month, didn't tell anyone about it, and continued doing 7 Zumba classes per week on a sprained ankle. Anything less than chains on her leg is too light a deterrant. I'm sure the doctor at least momentarily considered a full body cast. She didn't even give herself 24 hours to get used to wearing the boot before she was clamoring for its removal. Aye Carramba! This girl! I told her she needed to get used to it, and she responded that she didn't want to get used to sitting on her arse. (She wants me to tell you she used the word butt instead, but she didn't.) I told her: "If you didn't spend so much time on your head, you wouldn't have to get used to sitting on your arse." Someone tie the girl down!

Dad's knee swelled up earlier this week and that was quite a concern, but luckily he seems to be on the mend once again. He was impressively well-behaved as a patient during his stint in physical therapy earlier this year, but the bottom line is we never want to have to go through that again! I need my Dad well, and able to travel. We haven't been able to go anywhere together this year, which is not the norm.

I'll wrap up this post with layouts of each of them, during less injury-prone days:

Nicole has recently taken up archery, which opens a whole new line of superhero possibilities for her (or at least Olympic chances):

And here's Dad and I on our trip to Boston a few years ago:

That's it for today - happy scrapping!

When the Stars Align

Sometimes things just come together - running into your best friend at the store, finding out you have enough food to feed the extra person that shows up at your dinner table unannounced, picking up a new scrapbook kit that matches an old photo still waiting to be scrapped... It always feels so good to have things work out in a world where often you miss the boat by mere seconds.

I picked up these new templates from Katie the Scrapbook Lady, who is now selling amazing templates via her blog store. Then I remembered I had the perfect papers and embellishments hidden away on my external drive to match up with photos I'd taken at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventures on Spring Break. And wa-la, thank my lucky stars I have a layout I love - Sheer Seuss!:

Next I worked with Julie Mead's newest scrap kit A Linen Curiousity and a few pictures we took of our niece over the sumer. Ooh La La!

And finally, my last share for today is a layout I put together last week for Sus Designs' new 20/20 Vision kit, about my niece's goal to get herself into contacts, and soon:

Disclaimer: The kits from Julie Mead and Sus Designs can be found at E-Scape and Scrap, and were provided to me for free in exchange for layouts, as a part of my role on their Creative Team.

Catching Up!

I've fallen behind on my scrappy goals all year (30 layouts per month was my goal), but as July draws to a close I find myself catching up, finally! If I keep going at this rate, I'll only be 5 short by the end of July and I'll be able to get ahead of myself in August! Ah, but there I go, already pushing my luck.

Here are a few of the layouts I finished this week:

Our nephew on vacation down by my dad this summer using the kit  Who Who Summer by The Busy Elf Designs.

My sister almost never gets in a picture, so I'm taking full advantage of all the candid shots I took of her on Memorial Day. Here she is with our other sister's oldest son. This layout was created using the kit - Seaside by GreenEyedLady Designs. The journaling is my take on the "conversation" between the two of them.

Thanks for looking!

A Successful June

June was a very happy scrappy month for me - so many layouts, and layouts I was happy with too. I finished 40 layouts for a cool 165 layouts in the first half of 2012. My goal for the year is 350, so I'm hanging in there. None of my paper layouts have been posted online yet, I'll get around to those in a few days, but here are a few of the digital layouts that are floating around out there.

Here's Logan in The Waves Roll In, created using SeaSide by StarSongStudio

Connor had his own beach experience in Escape to the Sea, created using SeaSide by StarSongStudio

This is Trinity in She Doesn't Need Pixie Dust, created using Blossoms and Fairytales by TheBusyElfDesigns

Proud to Be an American is about my sisters when we were younger; this layout was created using All American by GreenEyedLadyDesigns

Bianca recently had a proud moment, captured here in Bianca's Recital which is one of the layouts I created using the brand new Collab Kit A Moment of Thanks by the Nifty Designers

Tabatha also had a proud moment at her High School Graduation, and I couldn't help but reflect on her growth over the years into the lovely young lady we know today, captured in The March of Time is Persistent using the brand new Collab Kit A Moment of Thanks by the Nifty Designers.

Thanks for looking!

Busy Busy Busy as a Bee Bee Bee

What happened to March, you ask? Well I really couldn't tell you - it just zipped on by. So much going on, and lots of travel, kept me away from the computer. Luckily I can update Facebook from my cell phone! What I'd like from April is not necessarily less action, but less injuries. That would be awesome.

I have a few helpful hints for those of you who, like myself, love to win things or get things for free.

The GoodReads First Reads program is amazing. I've won quite a few books since I started entering the giveaways. I only enter for books that sound enjoyable to me, and that is paying off with some very good reading material. So far I've read and reviewed 3 of the books I've won, with another in-progress. If you love books, I highly recommend the GoodReads site, and if you love winning, you should totally check out their Giveaways section. Once you are logged in click the dropdown arrow next to Explore and choose the link for giveaways.

Another fun source of online giveaways is FreebieShark. If you like them on Facebook then the latest sponsor giveaway entries will show up on your News Feed. The idea is that they direct you to Manufacturers/Stores who are giving away free samples, and for the price of your personal information (usually mailing address, email address, and phone number) you can get something in the mail for free. From Oatmeal Squares to Kleenex samples, the mail has started trickling in. Their Facebook site also offers helpful tips for cleaning up your Facebook App associations once you've registered for the free stuff.

This week I've returned to scrapbooking (digital, at least) with a vengeance. Some of our fun March events are included in my subjects. I'll leave you with these...

First visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventures:

kits used: Gizmos ATC Mak'ns Paper Solids, Gizmos ATC Mak'ns Pen and Ink Elements, Gizmos ATC Mak'ns Pen and Ink Papers, all by Sweet Spot Designs

Connor's Birthday Party:

kit used: Vintage Memory Board by AneczkaW

My niece and her boyfriend before Prom:

kits used: Gizmos ATC Mak'ns Paper Solids, Gizmos ATC Mak'ns Pen and Ink Elements, Gizmos ATC Mak'ns Pen and Ink Papers, all by Sweet Spot Designs

(All kits used were provided in exchange for my work as a Creative Team Member at E-Scape and Scrap.)

A Big Little Project

Well, I'm a lot more excited about my latest project than pretty much anyone else, but that's the way it goes, lol.  I recently made a mini-album (which I used as an example for this week's Use Your Stash Challenge at ACOT) and when I handed it to John to show him he opened it up to the middle page.  That's not how albums work!  Where's Nicole when I need her?

I've had an Epcot Passport kit for several years - it was super cute in the store but I had never gotten around to opening it up and using it.  When I decided to create a challenge about kits I suddenly had the urge to use that kit (even though it's technically not a scrapbooking kit).  I loved the end result - a passport book filled with memories of my experiences at Epcot's Holidays Around the World, one of my favorite events at Ecpot.

Check it out - here are a couple of images from the mini-album.  The rest can be found by clicking here.

cover:

title page:

intro:

Germany:

USA:

United Kingdom:

Thanks for looking!

Eat What You Want Day

May 11 is Eat What You Want Day.  I know some people who ate chocolate cake today just because.  At least the holiday fit the crime.  :-)

After a couple of weak months, my scrapping has picked back up.  I finished 11 layouts for the crop this past weekend which brings me to 17 in May.  My end goal is 47 in order to catch up with what I didn't finish in March and April.  I have plenty of digi kits I need to work with, plus I'm having a lot of fun playing with my paper stash, so I don't see this being too much of a problem.

Here are a few of my most recent layouts:

CHA - Initials That Mean Nothing to Non-Scrapbookers

If I ran around my house yelling "It's CHA Week!" I would get blank stares.  My family already thinks I'm pretty crazy, so it's not like that would push them over the edge, but they wouldn't get it.  Of course for scrapbookers this is an exciting time - it means new products on the market!  What?  Of COURSE I need them.  They are pretty.  LOL  Oops, pretend I didn't say that.  I need them because they are vital to the aestetics of my scrapbook pages - I promise they are not too pretty to use, ending up on the shelf with my other too pretty supplies.  :-)  Although I've been tearing through my stash lately, using up some items that once would have been deemed too pretty, too gorgeous, or too dang cute to use.  I'm committed to getting some of that pretty, cute, adorable, beautiful, gorgeous, fantastic and any other superlative you can think of on to my pages.

Scrapbook Update has an up-to-date listing of all the sneak peeks.

My favorites this year (so far) are Fun House by GCD Studios, Antiquities by GCD Studios which comes in 8x8, Paper Crush by Sassafras Lass (though admittedly not my all-time fav from them), the die-cut tags from Studio Calico's new Countryside line, State Fair by Studio Calico, and of course Monkey Adventures from Reminisce.

Look at Her Go!

6 days into April and I've already finished almost as many layouts as I completed in the whole month of March. March layout count - 17. April layout count as of now - 15. I choose to think of my April numbers as impressive, instead of dwelling on the low numbers of March. After all, Nicole and I were busy having fun, fun, fun! And that gave me plenty of new pictures to scrap this month. Not that I was running out, lol.

First let's take a look at my very favorite layout so far this month. I wrote the poem myself.

The Time Before They Went Away

The layout was inspired by Ruth Davis' Earth Angels papers and elements, and the empty chair inspired the poem.

I was excited to learn that my layout Let's Ride was chosen as a "Layout to Love" on the E-Scape and Scrap blog by Julie Mead.

Let's Ride was a fun layout - I think I may have scrapped that picture before but it was the one that jumped out of my stash at me when I decided I wanted to use that window frame on the page. I used Kay Eflin's Tuscan Steam Punk Papers and Elements to create this layout.

Last but not least are a few layouts from last month - several paper layouts I scrapped to finish up the month and to add to my Disney album. Which is out of pages, so technically these are to start my next Disney album.

The Little Mermaid


Ariel with Melissa


Ariel with Solange and Melissa