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Saturday, August 21, 2010

You, again?

Yeah, it's me again!  A second blog post in one day!
The girls are playing so nicely together today.  Currently they are playing "librarian" which involves Erin sitting with her kiddie computer ordering Paige to clean up their bookshelf.  Paige has organized the books beautifully!  How can I complain about that??  :)  Anyway, since they are being such good little kidlets, I'm getting some Mommy time.  Now, we won't even discuss the way the HOUSE currently looks, but hey, I still have 3 more hours before Jon comes home from work.  No rush, right?

So, two more pages!  I created this first one for a sketch contest on the Crate Paper blog.  http://www.crate.typepad.com/
The sketch looks like this:
I stayed pretty true to the sketch, overall.  The main change I made was flipping the left and right sides.


The Brook collection was the one I had the most left of, so it's what I used.  Since many of the papers had a cream color to them, I inked the edges of the patterned paper with some chestnut colored ink to pop them off from the background paper  The colors in this line are just right for some beachy layouts.  Remember my Sand Swimming one?  :) 

Is the scrapping fun over yet?  No, it is NOT!  Next, I played with more of We R Memory Keepers "Show and Tell" line, but I added in some papers from two of their other lines to brighten up the palette.  I'm finally scrapping pictures from Paige's first day of first grade.  Go me! 
(She's starting second grade in about 3 weeks.)  :)

Once again, I used one of Liz Qualman's sketches for inspiration here. 
This is based off of sketch #55 at  http://lizqualman.blogspot.com/


There is some hidden journaling under the green paperclip that talks about how smart Paige is...how high her reading level is...all that proud parent blah, blah, blah stuff.  But, check out that super fun apple embellishment!  I took one of their apple tags, and I fussy cut some of the apples from the glitter sheet of patterned paper.  Some layering of different sized apples, with strategically placed glue, and viola!   I'm so proud of this thing!  :)


Well, I still have 2 hours and 45 minutes before Jon comes home from work...do you think I can get another layout in AND fix the disaster of this house too?  Eh, probably not....  :)

Embrace the Green!

Just a quick Saturday posting with another Echo Park "Sweet Summertime" layout I created on Thursday.  The pictures were so GREEN, and I didn't want to print them black and white because I thought they would lose something without their color.  So, I decided just to embrace the green!  Besides, when it's the middle of January and there are 4 ft of snow on the ground, I can look back at these pictures and remember I WILL see green grass again....someday.  :)

See what I mean about all of the green?  Other than the buttons and the background GREEN paper from We R Memory Keepers, the rest of the page is all from Echo Park.  I powdered the back of the letter stickers so they would have a little more dimension and not stick down to the pictures.  Paige and Erin had a great time running through the sprinklers.  Their favorite thing to do is the "booty wash."  That's exactly what it sounds like too.  :)  Thanks for stopping by!
Wendy

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Tick, Tock, I Keep Hearing the Clock...

...reminding me that school is due to start soon.  Don't get me wrong, I really do like my job teaching second graders.  And I love my students.  It's just that a girl can get used to being a stay at home Mom and having some extra scrappy time.  So, I'm making the most of what time I have left!

Since last night, I've made four new LO's.  These are DT work for my LSS.

First up, Paige's performance in the Halloween Hustle last year.  Eh, we'll not talk about how this LO is a little behind the times, okay?  Anyway, Paige has quite a gift for running, and during this mile race she was the third first grader to cross the line.  Not only that, she was also the first girl in her grade.  Woo hoo!  Welcome to Proud Parentville, population two!  She ran the mile in 9:28.  Pretty good for a 6 1/2 year old, I think! 
I wanted to challenge myself to use the Pink Paislee Starlight collection in a different way than the other two LO's I've made with it.  It's supposed to be a Fourth of July line, but I think it's very versatile for other topics!
I had a hard time getting a good picture of this one, but it's sunshiney yellow and dark blue in real life.

Next up, Erin's preschool graduation.  (Well, at least that was in May...I'm not quite so far behind on this one!).  She had a GREAT preschool year, and she learned so much.  Not only that, but during our conferences, her teacher always made a point of telling us how Erin was a kind friend to all of the other students in the class.  That just warms my heart.  This LO is all from the We R Memory Keepers Show and Tell line.  The glittered alphas were so much fun to play with, and layering the thicker alphas on the top of them just mad me happy!  :)



Then, I used a very recent photo from Paige (taken in July) to play with those glittery alpha squares some more.  Yes, they are just THAT much fun!


The story of the LO is really the icons around it and the wishes I have to go with them for her. Journaling around the edge reads: "May the sun shine warm on your face. May you always take time to fly a kite or enjoy a popsicle. May the wonders of nature, the rainbow, the trees, and the sweet songs of the birds fill you with the wonder of God. May your family and friends always be as loyal as elephants are. May you take the time to wish on dandelion fluff and dance in the rain. May your heart leap with joy, and may you be as wise as an owl." I know some of those are cliche, but that's what I came up with.

Finally, one more of Erin.  These are pictures of her from last...February...or so.  See, this is why I need to scrap so much during the summer.  There is NO time during the school year.  Anyway...  Here is Erin clowning around with her gorilla. She LOVES to get her picture taken and pulls many faces and moods like she's a model.  I took the angle of how a fuzzy blanket and a stuffed animal can be the ticket to happiness. :) The middle shot is framed with a transparency cut out in over the picture. I wanted the photo to stay crisp and clear. This is all My Mind's Eye So Sophie collection.

I seldom work with red papers, so this was extra fun!

That's it for now, folks.  We're off to turn these LO's in and to visit the library.  I need to get some more summer fun reading in too!  Thanks for taking the time to visit...I really appreciate it!  :)  Wendy

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Dun, dun....Dun, dun....Dun, dun (Jaws theme...)

Well, hello to all of my fans...all three of you!  :)  I'm sure you've missed me ever so much since it's been quite a while since I've put up a new blog entry.  For ten of those days I was visiting family and friends in Ohio.  While I was in Ohio, I had a wee bit of a disappointment as I was not chosen for a Design Team I'd thought I had a good shot at making.  It made me go into a scrapping slump and some navel gazing.  I lost sight of the whole point of my scrapping, which is not to try to get other people's approval, but rather to have FUN, relax, remember the things worth remembering, and so on.  Maybe it's part of the Type A personality, but I've always been a pleaser since birth, probably.  What I need to focus on is whether or not I'm pleasing God, and the rest will fall into place.  How's that for some deep thinking at 9 am on a Tuesday?

Anyway, I am still on the Design Team at my local scrapbook store.  The owner, Vanessa, is such a great scrappy friend.  She got to go to CHA, and she returned with a pack of Echo Park's Life is Good for me to create with as she's ordering it into the store.  Echo Park satisfies my playful side of scrapping, but you can also use it to get a little more serious.  First up, a layout of my best friend Anita and I.  We've been friends for 16 years, since freshman year at college.  Now all of these years later, it's still one of those friendships as close as family.  I'm an only child, so Anita is my sister substitute. 

One of my favorite details on this LO is the layered punched edges.  After I created this LO, I got my new issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. and saw some other work where punched edges were layered.  I was so proud of myself for being cool ahead of time!  :)  This is NOT my favorite picture of myself, but we realized the last picture we had together was taken at my wedding 12 years ago.  So we were due for an updated one!

After I did a mushy, sentimental layout, I wanted to go back to my more playful roots.  Last Friday Jon took Paige to some car races, and Erin and I were left to our own devices.  Erin wanted a GIRL PARTY!  So, we gathered together all of the elements of a successful stay at home party, and we boogied on down...
This design was based on Liz Qualman sketch #54.  Her blog and sketches can be found at http://lizqualman.blogspot.com/

Here's the sketch: 

and here's my take on it.

Who wouldn't love a night of hugging and snuggling with your five year old?  Even if it means you have to watch a Barbie movie?!
Once again, this layout is made from Echo Park's fantastically fun Life is Good line. 

And yes, my life is good.
Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave me comments!  I love comments! 
 (It's that whole pleaser/approval thing again.)