My latest creation...

I've been working on this digital/hybrid book for Evan for a month! Finally finished it today. I used Adventures in Fun kit and Alphamaps from Mad Scrapper Designs at Treasures to Scrap. LOVE this kit...and the alphamaps!!!!! Each letter has a photo of Evan through the years and words that describe him. Even scanned some of his baby photos and put in there. I think he was touched when I gave it to him...but well, with an 11 year old boy, it's hard to tell!!!!!

He's now out of elementary school! WHERE did the past 7 years go??? Yesterday at an awards ceremony he received honor roll AND The President's Award for Academic Excellence (along with a letter from the president!). Today we had to go get a frame for it and he wants to hang it in his room!

So now, what to do with him for the next 2 1/2 months!!!! LOL!!!!!

Scrappy weekend......

For years the boys have the other one's name on their bedroom door cause somehow in the past 9 years they have switched rooms! LOL! So...I made these altered names for their doors...now to pry the old ones off! I used Alphamaps and Adventures in Fun digi kit by Mad Scrapper Designs and chipboard letters!
Shaker Box had a challenge this weekend to scrap a heritage page. I have totally be avoiding scrapping photos of my mom but I finally did a couple pages. Maybe it's time I start scrapping these. Mother's Day this year would be my mom's 75th birthday!

Love this photo of my mom when she was about 2-3 years old. She had one similar to this hanging on the wall next to a photo of me....so many people thought that this was me!

Been a busy week....haven't been working full time but seems as though I am busier (or it feels that way) when I am not working full time. Maybe it's because of the lack of daily/hourly routine that just makes it seem like I am busier! I know this week I am busy.....Mon--errands, relay for life meeting, scouts...Tues--all day field trip to Yosemite with Evan's class (yep, tune in later this week for new Yosemite photos!)...Wed--teaching....Thurs--teaching....Friday--packing for a camping trip. We're spending Mother's Day weekend camping with a couple other families.

Here's my Satisfied SIX for the weekend..things that left me satisfied this weekend

1. Dave saying that he was going to try to make his work hours 4am-4pm. Long days but at least he'll be home in the evenings for dinner, activities, etc.

2. Seeing the boys get their religious medallions at church today..they were so proud of themselves...and Alex was so excited to go to church this morning!

3. A GREAT weekend....did some geocaching, some bicycling, had ice cream for dinner

4. A chance to scrap this weekend...had been a while since I had really gotten a chance to play with paper and glue...oh and the computer too!

5. I got some housecleaning done this weekend....felt good.

6. I managed to get new patches sewn on Evan's uniform last week and have started sewing some new patches on his blanket.

Altered Tissuebox

I've had this acrylic tissuebox holder sitting around here for months.....always meaning to do something with it. This week I've been working on some little digital layouts to slide into the tissuebox. Credits: Di's Delight by Mad Scrapper Designs (see link to Treasures to Scrap) and template by Timounette. Love the fact that when I am tired of looking at these photos I can change out the layouts!

Free mini kit and template

Had a chance last night to play with Robin Blankenship's sneak peak of her new kit and a new template of hers. Head over to her blog: http://madscrap.blogspot.com/ to pick them up! The papers and colors are so much fun. I am really looking forward to the entire kit....seen a few of peeks of some of the other goodies in the kit and they are YUMMY!

Only a few more days of full time work for a while! Looking forward to getting things done during the day when the boys are in school. First on my list of things to do is clean the house. So many things get neglected when I am working full time.

Pre-Crop Challenge

Come stop by the Shaker Box for a PRE-CROP challenge.....the challenge is to document some accomplishment or something you are proud of WITHOUT using ANY photos! Decided this was a good time to document Evan's first year in Boy Scouts.

Make sure if you aren't signed up at The Shaker Box head over there now and get registered so you can join in the fun we're going to have!!!!!!

Deck of Me week 6.....

If you haven't been to the Shaker Box to check out Cheryl's Deck of Me challenge, go do it now!!!! Each week she is posting a challenge...usually a word, and we alter a playing card (or similar sized paper). This week was LOVE....now, I didn't want to do the obvious which would be my husband or family. So I decided to do Yosemite....a place that I LOVE!

Shaker Box, Sheetload of Cards and Scrappin'

Hmm...guess I could have titled this post the 3 S's......Have you checked out Sheetload of Cards (see link to the right) before???? Would you like to WIN a $25 gift certificate to The Shaker Box store???? If so....visit Sheetload of Cards.....and put your name and email in a comment for some BLOG CANDY!!!!!! And while you are at Sheetload, if you haven't ever been there before, download and print out their GREAT cutting guides to make some of the fabulous cards below! I LOVE the fact that they tell you EXACTLY what to cut and how to assemble.......

Let the creative juices flow....

Photo from Thanksgiving. Did this as a challenge to use more white/blank space on a layout. Patterned papers are from Close to My Heart.
This was for a challenge to scrap a non-people/pet photo....LOVE this photo of Lower Yosemite Falls last winter and that the rainbow came out! Patterned papers are American Crafts, stamps and ink are Close to My Heart
Quick card I made last night......

We're having another crop at The Shaker Box in a couple weeks! Come join us for a WEEK of challenges and fun!!!! We've got tutorials and about 30 challenges planned for you to take part in! It's going to be BIG!!! You won't want to miss it!

Been Scrappin.......

For a challenge at Scrapcity last weekend, I altered these two CDs to hang on the wall of my scrapbook room.

Two more cards using the wonderful stamps from My Favorite Things. Be sure to go check them out (I read earlier today that she released some new stamp sets today!!!).
Quick, fun layout I made tonight for the Super Spring Mega Challenge at The Shaker Box! Managed to get a few points with this one by doing an SOS challenge, using the word "LUCKY" and striped paper! LOVE these photos of Alex and the Basic Grey paper!

When life gets tough...SCRAP!

Well..life has thrown some curve balls my way in the past week or so.......still trying to work it all out in my mind but decided that when life gets tough...the only solution (besides a GOOD glass of wine...) is to scrap!!!!

These two cards I made with stamps from My Favorite Things (www.mftstamps.com) who is the March Design Team sponsor at the Shaker Box. I had been looking at this stamp set for a long time and was so excited to finally get my hands on it! The perfect card to send to a friend....
This is my card for the Deck of Me week 4 challenge over at the Shaker Box. The prompt was...."A symbol you love"....I love lighthouses. Maybe it's because my parents did....maybe it's because they are near the ocean, which I love, maybe it's the peace that they have or the ever shining light that guides the way. The photo of the one on my card is the Hunting Island Lighthouse in South Carolina. It's the only one in SC that is open to the public and YES, we climbed all the way to the top!

Also wanted to point people over to SHEETLOAD of Cards for their celebration they are having this month!!!! If you are a card maker and haven't been over there go check it out. http://sheetload.blogspot.com/ They have GREAT patterns for making tons of cards and are giving away prizes this month!!!! So be sure to stop by and enter to win some prizes.

A New Year...a new LOOK!!

Happy New Year! We're already off to a busy start.....scrapbooking, hockey games, work, wine tasting, business trips.....just a few things occuring this month! I have been getting lots of scrapbooking done....I've been participating in a Layout A Day Challenge at Big Picture Scrapbooking...so far, I've kept up. Not sure if it will happen all month...but so far already 10 pages done! Here's a few projects....

Evan running in the waves in South Carolina....simple page here with just some chipboard and cardstock.
FUN stamps from Papertrey Ink....the Design Team at The Shaker Box were lucky to receive this and 2 other sets from the owner!!! Go check her out!!! http://www.papertreyink.com/
Sea Star....photo I took last January while exploring the tide pools in Monterey with Evan's class. Just love it.....
Fun, fast pages of our backpacking trip last August/September.

And check out my book list -----> I'm going to list all the books I read this year.....last year the list was about 45 books long....10 days into January and I'm already at 3 books!!!! So, if you are ever looking for that next novel....check out the list, I'd recommend any of them!

Some recent projects...

The Design Team at The Shaker Box has been blessed with having two wonderful sponsors this month!!! Cosmo Cricket (http://www.cosmocricket.com/) gave us all a Gretel paper pack and a package of Buck Naked chipboard. Nichole from Paper Trey Ink (http://www.papertreyink.com/) gave us 3 stamp sets! If you get an opportunity PLEASE go support these wonderful companies!

Adore

photo of my 2 neices

Altered Clipboard to keep track of how many projects I do this year.
Just the Boys

photo of my boys and nephews

Card made with Chatterbox paper and Paper Trey stamp set: Beautiful Blooms

some more calendar pages

getting some LOs done...

Finally getting back into the scrapping world.....and getting some calendar pages done!

Some cards...

This card set was made with 2 sheets of patterned paper and 3 sheets of cardstock! NO scraps left over....all of the papers were used!!! Oh, the complete set has 3 of each of these cards!

All the cards are made with CTMH products!