Vintage Football

We don't have many pictures of my husband as a child.  So I was happy when he gave me a couple of pictures of him in football uniform when he played the Pop Warner league in Hawaii many, many moons ago.  The original photo was badly damaged but was repaired and these are the result.  I just think they are great...he's so young and although he's never been heavy he is certainly very skinny here!  I also love the old car behind him...what is that...a Corvair?  I'll have to remember to ask him.

Lucky guy...he grew up on Maui.

I used Echo Park's This and That by Lori Whitlock...I thought these colors were just perfect.  This layout was QAS...Quick and Simple.  I haven't journaled yet and I may still add some buttons but this isn't the kind of layout where you'd add bling or lots of ribbon.  A football player just wouldn't have that!

Here it is:

Tomorrow I head back to Atlanta after my month vacation at the beach.  It's been a great month but I'm looking forward to getting back home and seeing the kids and grandkids!

Happy Crafting!

...Together

This is the second page of my Fun Together 2 page layout....the first page was posted yesterday and was titled Fun. And let me tell you...it sure was FUN putting these pages together with the very cute Bo Bunny Back to Basics line of papers and embellishments.
I love these photos of my grandkids.  They do squabble at times....she likes to take his toy and run off with it...he likes to knock over things she's doing but mostly they do quite well and the little guy is quite protective of his sister.  I wonder how baby #3 will fit into this equation?! :)
Here is the page:

 Aren't the colors just sooo fun?  And so happy?  I had the photo where the children are facing printed as a 5x7.  I do like to use enlargements in my layouts.  I just like to fill my scrapbooking pages with my photos and don't like them looking lost on a layout.  And when you have such cute subjects....a 4x6 just doesn't always do!

 I loved these layered chipboard accents.

And isn't this bird so cute?

And here are the two pages side by side:

(Ok, if you look closely you would think that the background papers are not the same size....and that is because I photographed them each on white poster board and then when I pulled the two photos  into Photoshop Elements I didn't crop them quite right.  I'm sure that none of you probably even noticed this but now you will! LOL!...anyway, they are truly 12x12 layouts with no white or black background.)

Fun Together....that's what they have!  (Most of the time, anyway!)

Happy Crafting!

Such a Cute Boy!

My grandson attends a mother's morning out program (we call it "school") a couple of mornings a week.  He just loves it.  The first 2 weeks were tough a year or so ago but then he got into the routine and loves going and being with his "fwiends".  :)
Of course they have "school" pictures done a time or two each year....and we loved the photos taken of him at the end of 2012 that we paid a fortune and bought the CD with the images on them so we could duplicate them at will!
I had them printed as 8x12s as that is what they seemed to be sized as and I didn't want to crop one pixel off! :)
So then you have these huge pictures to scrapbook....and that can be sort of challenging because you don't have a whole lot of extra space to deal with.  But here is what I came up with and I'm happy with the results.  I used the Echo Park This and That kit which I've used before so yay me....I used something I already had!
Here are the 3 layouts....all similar but hopefully enough different! :)

 and my favorite pose:

I know I'm biased....but is he not the cutest little boy?  And yes....he is all trucks and trains and loud things...yep, he's ALL BOY!

Christmas-y Layouts

I actually pretty much have all my 2012 Christmas layouts done.  But of course that doesn't account for the previous 11 months of 2012! LOL!  I freed myself up from scrapbooking chronologically many years ago so I don't stress about that anymore.

I took my scrapbook to my daughter's the other day and my grandson, David, had the best time looking at and talking about the layouts.  I got such great joy having him do that.  Just tickled this ol' Omie's heart!

Here are a few simple layouts done with some printed papers I got at a huge after Christmas Michael's sale.  I basically just slapped some photos down and added a few little touches.  They were pretty quick to complete and I'm glad they are done and now can be shared!

 and the companion side using a 6 slot We R Memory Keepers page insert.

And here they are side by side:

And here's another 2 page spread:

And the side by side:

And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting!

Fall Festival

My daughter, her husband and their little kiddos live in a great family oriented community.  They have lots of family events each year and one they have annually is the Fall Festival.  The kids love it...this year there were jump houses, games, food, animals to pet and see, classic cars and more.

I took my camera and got a few shots although those children move so quickly I seem to never get a good one anymore! HAHA!

I used DCWV papers and my Silhouette to cut the title:

I printed the pumpkin from a free digital stamp but can't recall where I got it right now.  

I colored it in with Copics and then used Spellbinder dies to cut the flag pole and rectangle to use for journaling.

Off to see the little ones today...

Hope you all have a wonderful day with some time for some crafting!

The Roll

This is a layout with small (horrors!) photos.  I just prefer big photos!  But these little guys worked fine for this layout.  It's funny to me that after a horse is groomed that it will go roll in the sand!  What is most aggravating is when you bathe the horse and then she runs out and rolls! LOL!

This is my daughter's horse, Corona.

The layout was done with Close to My Heart papers.  You can't see it here but some of the little circles were punched out and popped up.

Happy Crafting!

A Day at the Lake

I love the summer.  I rarely complain about the heat. I don't like the cold.  I think my grandkids like the summer, too....they are both little waterbugs!
They recently spent a few days in southern Indiana visiting extended family and had a wonderful time playing in the lake.  I love the photo of Taylor on the left...I would have preferred to have it printed in my favorite larger sizes but it was a cell phone photo and the resolution was not high enough. But it still turned out cute the way it is and I thought I would just use the photos of the two kids playing in the water and make a full 2 page spread.
I used Echo Park Hello Summer papers and embellishments as well as some Core'dinations cardstock as the base.  The "To the Lake" sign is the free shape for the week in the Silhouette Store and I saw it yesterday and thought it would be perfect!  And look how well the words and letters were cut! The little border at the bottom is also an Echo Park digital file I cut on my Silhouette Cameo.
Here is the left side:

And the right:

And how the two pages look side by side:

Don't you just love those bright happy papers?!
I used a little Glossy Accents on some of the embellishments:

 And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting!

Scary? Or Too Cute to Spook?

I scrapbooked yesterday!  Woohooo!!!  And I loved every single second of it.  Hours and hours of fun.  What do I have to show for my time in my room?  Two very simple 12x12 layouts.  LOL! Yep, it took me forever to do these pages.  I tried a whole bunch of things that I didn't end up using but like I've said before...it's the process that is fun and therapeutic for me...not the result.

My daughter took these photos of David with her iPhone.  She had ordered his Halloween costume for him and it had arrived so she tried it on him to see how it fit.  He did not like it and was just plain crabby about the whole thing.  I just LOVE the expression on his face.  He's just so totally annoyed that she made him put the costume on AND then made him stand still to snap his pictures.  It reminds me of the scene from one of my FAVORITE Christmas movies, A Christmas Story where Ralphie is made to wear the ridiculous pink bunny costume! 
Anyway here is the first page of the 2 page layout:

I just love his face! :)

But then...some magic happened!  David saw himself in the mirror and decided he looked pretty cool afterall! 

Love it!

I used Fancy Pants papers, some basic ribbon and cardstock I had around. The bat was cut from the Simply Charmed Simply Charmed and the SCARY title from Happy Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridges.  I put a couple of little wiggly eyes on the bat.

I often use larger prints on my scrapbook pages like on these pages where I used 8x10 photos....I just like bold looking photos and I think sometimes 4x6 photos can get lost on a page.  And Costco has such good prices on enlargements...

HAHA! When I look back at these layouts I think WHAT ON EARTH TOOK HOURS TO DO HERE???  HAHA....well, you don't see all the mistakes and things I tried that I didn't love (like punched edges, different ribbons, etc.) in my trash can! 

Well, I was hoping my use of Simply Charmed would count on my personal Cricut Challenge to use all my cartridges but DANG...I've already used it! :)

Happy Crafting!!!

Our Little Princess (The Scrappiest Sketch Challenge 132)

Here is a layout I did of the baby announcement we sent out recently for my new granddaughter, Taylor.  I am most proud that I also took these photos.  They aren't perfect but they worked well enough and my daughter was most happy with a "free" photo sitting and 50 printed announcements from Costco with envelopes for under $15!  I also did the announcement with Photoshop Elements.

I used the sketch #132 at The Scrappiest Sketch and will enter this in that challenge.  I liked the grouping of the papers and embellishments.

(And of course, on the original the last name is not blacked out...just doing that because of all the weird internet stuff going on these days.  One can't be too careful!!!)

I used:
Bazzill Cardstock
Printed Papers from Heidi Grace (although the pink dotted paper came out of my stash)
Prima Flowers
Fiskars Scalloped Punch
Kaiser Craft Rub on
Pearls
Glossy Accents
Seam Binding that I dyed pink with Stampin' Up's Pink Passion Ink *edges were also inked with Pink Passion
Rock Candy Distress Stickles
Sentiment is from Stamp it Loud and Clear
Tag is from Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio 2

Here's a little closeup:

It took me alllll night to do this! LOL! Even with a sketch.  Ok, so I cut my papers and that was fine...it was the embellishing that I just couldn't get right!  I tried all sorts of different...the Spellbinders Carnation, the Tim Holtz Rosette, chipboard shapes, ribbon....and I just fiddled and fiddled for a cople of hours.  I finished it with the Carnation...looked at it a moment and said "I DON'T LIKE THIS!"...so off those flowers came and I found my stash of pink Prima flowers and was much happier with the result!

Like I said before....I thoroughly enjoyed the process in my little craft room...it doesn't matter if I do one page or half a page in an evening...it's all about the process for me...and it is such wonderful therapy and sure beats watching some gazelle being eaten by a lion which was what my husband was tuned into last night...just after watching how the Roman empire was built which was after Monster Bug Wars on the Science Channel and then I think he was gearing up for ammunition used during WWII!  LOL!!!

Happy Crafting and for Donna who is at the beach...HAPPY BEACHING!!!

Onwards: The Birth of a Baby....

And below are a couple of additional pages I did for my granddaughter's scrapbook.  The layouts are here but if some of you are squeamish about icky, gooey newborns you may want to skip this post.

As some of you know...I WAS THERE when she was born.

Now I had one child "naturally" (the mother of my AG and NBG) and I pushed for 4 1/2 hours and she still had to be delivered by forceps.  That was quite a few years ago!  My baby #2 was born by scheduled section so that was a whole different experience.  You know what they say about C-section babies, though?  They "are a cut above".  HAHA!  OK...I digress....

Anyway, so after this incredible day which included a wonderful win on the tennis court followed by a massive dehydration headache...I got to the hospital about 5pm.  I had gone to my daughter's house because at first it looked like I was going to take her to the hospital because my SIL was on a sales call and then stuck in traffic.  Thankfully he got to their house about 5 minutes after I did so he whisked her off to the hospital which was a good 40 minutes away...maybe more like 50 minutes...and I stayed at their house to try and get rid of my headache and to take care of AG.  I told them I'd be 15 minutes behind them but I put my head down on the couch and couldn't move.  I drank a lot of water and tried to rehydrate and then I ate a pickle (yes, pickles and pickle juice has lots of electrolytes in them) and finally started to feel better.

Like I said.... I made it to the hospital at about 5pm.

I thought I would have plenty of time and planned to take tons of pictures because I was going to be in the delivery room.  I've watched a lot of Baby Center and it usually takes a while to have a baby, doesn't it?

Well, when it was time...at about 6:30 pm the doctor told Amanda to give a little push...well, that head just popped out...and another push and NBG was HERE!  I didn't even have time to focus my camera!!! It all happened so fast.  I wanted to say "PUT HER BACK...I'M NOT READY!!!"

So the pictures are a bit blurry...but let's face it...you get what you get...you can't recreate the scene now, can you???

And it was the most magical 22 and 1/2 seconds I ever experienced!!!

These were the first photos ever taken of NBG (Taylor Aemelia).  The doctor is the same one who delivered my grandson...she was wonderful, calming and funny....

The layouts were completed with Bazzil paper, Making Memories printed paper, some chipboard stickers from K & Company, ribbon from Michael's. I did the journaling on my computer but decided against a fancy font...using Arial Narrow because it was simple.  I wanted this layout to be simple and basically unadorned...I think the pictures are powerful enough....even if they are blurry....

Precious Baby Girl

I've been working on a few scrapbooking layouts recently including some of NBG (New Baby Girl).  I am already way behind in my scrapbooking .... the other day I actually ordered a couple of photo books just to get the pictures organized and printed (plus My Publisher and Shutterfly were having great sales). Doing that sort of frees me up to really scrap the photos I really love.

And this is a photo I love...
Many of you have seen this photo before.  This is NBG in her dad's hand....she was about 2 weeks old here.  We have a similar photo of AG (Adorable Grandson) when he was a newborn so my daughter wanted the same pose with her.  I took this photo and this was actually one I had leftover.  I had put different filters over the photo and this was not our favorite but I just couldn't bear to dispose of it.  I wish her eyes had a little more catch light to them but I didn't edit it that way and decided this will be good for her scrapbook.

I used some My Mind's Eye paper as well as some ribbon I'd gotten at Michaels (the black is satin...the pink is grosgrain) and I just ruffled it up a bit.
The label is from the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery Cartridge.  I've actually used it several times now (Yay for me!).


We took AG to the train (tootoo tain) at Stone Mountain Park today and here is a photo I took of him on the train.

I know you'll agree he is ADORABLE! :)

Happy Crafting!

Teresa Collins and Giveaway

The Craft Channel is featuring Teresa Collins (an awesome designer) and also hosting a Cricut Expression 2 giveaway.  I have an E2 and love it...so here's your chance to win one! ;) Click Here: The Craft Channel.

I recently took a class with Teresa Collins herself and it was great fun and we ended up with a wonderful little album.  I had posted it a while back but if you didn't get a chance to see the wonderful photos of NBG here it is: Teresa Collins NBG Album.

Which reminds me...I never did totally finish this little album off so that will be a good project for me on this cloudy (but much cooler) day!

Back to Scrapbooking...a Bit....

It's been so long since I've done any scrapbooking...I've been on a card making frenzy and have enjoyed every minute of that but I am seriously getting behind!  I was behind before NBG was born...now it's even worse! LOL!!!  AG will be celebrating his 2nd birthday in September and I still haven't done all the photos from his first birthday!  Don't you wish you could slow down this fast moving GAME OF LIFE!!!  I wish I could stop time for...say...a week or so so I could get caught up!  LOL!

So here's a two page layout I did earlier this week...

I did the left side of this layout at Archiver's as one of their make and takes but needed a companion page so did the right side to half way match.  I used one of my Cricut cartridges to make the squirrel...maybe it was Birthday Bash.  Wow!  I really have NO memory and I'm at my daughter's for a few days and don't have my notes!  I only did this about 3 days ago but that could have been a month ago when it comes to my memory! Haha! Sheesh!  I know I cut 3 1/2 inch circles with George and Basic Shapes! :) 

I also used the Hero Arts Friendly Flags stamp set which I LOVE!  I have used that set in other cards I've shown on my blog before.

The paper, I think, was Echo Park but again I'll have to look back when I get home!  Anyway, it was fun and at least I have 2 pages done for AG's Birthday Album! :)

Oh...and a little extra something...here is a picture of NBG...she is 6 weeks today!  This is her best impersonation of Carmen Miranda!  She had you fooled...admit it!...although really, she does look a lot like her brother the wonderful AG in this photo!

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 8: B is for Boys (Lite)

Last night I worked on a companion page for the layout I posted yesterday (with the Boys Will be Boys cartridge).  I wasn't quite able to finish it but decided I'd share what I'd done anyway....I need to get a few photos developed to finish it off and add a few more embellishments, I think.
My grandson, David...is ALL boy....it amazes me that at 21 months he is all about cars, trucks, planes, tractors, "cottadoos"...anything that moves!  He has stuffed animals which he has little interest in...if it has wheels or moves he loves it. 
We got him this Little Tikes car for Christmas and he loves scooting around in it.  I had seen on the B is for Boys cartridge that there was the shape for that little car and I thought that would be adorable on a layout.  The Lite cartridges are available exclusively at Walmart (well, excluding places like eBay) and frankly I think they are sort of high priced at $39.99 a cartridge.   They generally have quite a few images but they don't have very many feature keys.  Still...I couldn't resist buying a few! Of course...
So here is my partially finished layout... I am still going to add a few things to bring it up to snuff!

Again I used Echo Park papers and American Crafts, Bazzill and Coredinations cardstock.

And here are a few pictures of David in his little car...

David calls cars "Car-Car".  I love his language!  



Teresa Collins Mini Album

A few months back I took a class with my friend, Cyndi, of Angel Cakes Crafting from the great Teresa Collins herself.  It was mostly a cut and paste class although we did learn a few new things (like using crepe paper to make ruffles on our pages).  It was lots of fun and a great way to spend a cold and rainy Saturday morning.
Cyndi finished up her album a while back and you can see hers HERE.
I worked on my version last night after all my kiddos went to bed...I can't quite finish it while I'm here at my daughter's because I don't have my Crop a Dile for punching and I need to add a few more things but it sure felt good to work that paper trimmer! :)
So here are some images of mine...and the photos I used are from NBG's photo shoot the other day when she turned 8 days old!

We used velvet paper which was so cool and rich looking!

We added lots of cute little elements and bling....

Don't you just love pictures of babies' feet?



Still need to add some journaling and a few "Expression Avenue" touches!

Don't you just love these tulle rosettes???  (You can buy some at Joann's with your 40% or 50% off coupon and it's waaay cheaper than what they typically sell prepackaged in the scrapbook stores!)

So, I'll finish this when I get home...by adding the jump rings, ribbon, and a few other embellishments and some more Teresa Collins "Blingage"...don't you love that term? 

And here's a photo of the new family of 4...My daughter, son in law, AG and NBG.

This afternoon I'm getting a break from Omie-hood and taking a card class at Archiver's.  Can't wait!

Happy Crafting!