Happy Birthday, Bean!!

Our puppy turned one on December 29th! It's been an exciting year with the new addition to our family. He still has much to learn, but I think he's going to be a great dog!

Wisdom

It seems everywhere you look, people are choosing a theme "word" for the year. I always felt really limited by choosing just one, so I refrained from every doing it. I found this word search on another blog, and the word I first saw was "wisdom". I realized that would be an awesome word to use as my word this year!

Favorite Projects of 2010!

Inspired by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog, I once again selected some of my favorite layouts and projects from the past year. Here they are, in no particular order.













Looking back at the work, I am amazed at how much I like them! Although I felt a lag in creativity in 2010, I did make some things I was happy with. When looking at them for similarities, I discovered that many of my projects are heavily distressed and inked, many have a soft and romantic feeling, and many feature a single photo (my new goal is to do more multi-photo layouts). Circles are a common element used throughout the work, as are photos of children and animals. I don't know what that says about me, but it is interesting to look at!

A few photos from the tree farm!

I've been in a real funk lately with photography, ever since I killed my beloved Minolta D5 by dropping it last summer. Joey was kind enough to lend me his new Kodak Easyshare camera to get a few photos at the tree farm last Sunday!

DCWV Giveaway and Sizzix Blog Hop!

A lot of fun and prizes are going on right now at DCWV. Check out the giveaway here http://www.dcwvinc.blogspot.com/

It's week three of the big Sizzix blog hop! Check it out here. http://sizzixblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/sizzix-triple-play-blog-hop.html

More challenges!

The challenges are continuing over at the Life Preservers message board! I created this layout for my last challenge, which was to use only cardstock as a background for a layout. I stitched lines of stitching on the machine for the background, and used a Pencil Lines sketch as inspiration for this layout.

If you complete a challenge, you can display a fun flair button on your signature!

Scrapping Echoes!

Chris (1CC) came up with a fantastic challenge/game over at Life Preservers message board called Scrapping Echoes! The idea of the game is that she comes up with a layout, then sends it to the next person on the list. They create a layout using hers as inspiration, send it back to Chris, and to the next person on the list. That continues until everyone on the list has created their layout. Then, Cris posts them all to the gallery side by side. The progression is really amazing and so much fun to see! So far, she's done two Echoes. Here are the projects I created.

The first Echo challenge was a layout design.

Echo #2 was a card.

It's beginning to look a lot like....Halloween!!

We are throwing a Halloween party this year, and I have been feverishly decorating the house! I made this cool Halloween tree, which was inspired by one from Pottery Barn Kids and Martha Stewart. I made it for a make and take from the last crop at LPS. I hope to post some photos soon of more Halloween decorations from around the house.

LPS Harvest your Memories Crop!

We hope to see you over at Life Preservers for a fun crop weekend October 15 through 17th! These crops are always guaranteed to be full of fun challenges, chat, games, and prizes!

My challenge was called the Fall Classic challenge, and was to create a layout about your favorite fall sport.

I wish I had been able to complete more of the fun challenges! I was able to do Jodi's 1 hour sketch, which is a favorite of mine. Here is what I came up with.

Life Preserver's August Featured Kit!!

I've had the pleasure of making some things with the fabulous August Featured Kit at Life Preserver's this month! The papers are very youthful and fun, and are perfect with some of the kid's photos I took over the summer.

More challenges!!

Last Friday was my turn to post a challenge for Life Preservers! The new flair given for completing the challenges are so fun, and we decided to make it even easier for you to earn your monthly flair! At the end of the month, the challenge will be a Keep It Simple card challenge. My challenge was to use a pre-made element on your card! What could be easier? I used a little wreath and leaves by Jolee's Boutique to embellish my fall card. I hope you give one of these challenges a try!

August Challenges at LPSC!

Are you in a rut? Try one of the weekly challenges at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club to give your creativity a boost!

August weekly challenge #2 - Make a positive from a negative:

This is one my favorite photos I took during a recent family reunion! I just love the faces of the two girls, who look so much alike when they are side by side. Using the #2 August weekly challenge from Life Preservers, I was able to scrap it! Lisa's challenge was to use make a positive out of a negative, or use something unusual as a "mask" on your page with spray mists. I used some heart shaped doilies I have to create the lacy background for this page.

The French title was inspired by a past month's challenge to use a title in a language other than your own. I thought it was perfect because the girls are so pretty, and the only girls on that side of the family.

August Week #3 Challenge - LPS in the House!

Sharon's challenge was to use one of the LPS kits to make a decorative item for your home. I have coveted these pretty paper garlands I've seen around, and decided to give one a shot. I used papers from 5 different October Afternoon kits, punched circles from the paper, and sewd them together using a straight stitch on a sewing machine. It was so easy, and very pretty!

Fly A Kite!

The kits at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club are always adorable, but I especially love the Alternate kit this month, which features products from the October Afternoon "Fly a Kite" line! Here are a few of the projects I've done so far.


A little mini book made with tags.


Here is a card I made for my sister's birthday.

The Race Goes on!

The Amazing Scrap Race continues at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club! This week, each of the players had to choose one of three rooms. Each room has a percentage of points you can win if you guess either an odd or even number correctly in a game of roulette! Von and Frank thought of everything for this contest! Then, each of us had to do a layout about a time in our lives when we took a chance on something. I decided to do this layout about getting married and having four kids at a late age and in a short amount of time. My journaling describes how we stress out at times, but feel very fortunate.

Challenge of the Week 7/9/10

I've posted a new challenge of the week over at Life Preservers Club! There is always something exciting going on to help get you motivated. This week's challenge is to use your spray mists on a layout! It's easy to do, but sometimes we forget to use this awesome supply! Spray mists are perfect for personalizing your background paper, spicing up plain cardstock, jazzing up your flowers and other embellishments, and is amazing for quickly covering plain chipboard! Have fun with it.

Man of Mystery

One of my favorite June kits at Life Preserver's Scrapbook Club was the awesome mini kit, which features papers by Graphic 45 (A Proper Gentleman)! Browsing through G 45's fantastic blog, I saw this idea to alter a book as a base for a project. Here is what I did with it.

Dude!

The June kits at Life Preservers Club are to die for! I'm excited to be working with the Alternate kit, which features papers by Paper Loft (Dude collection), and embellies by Little Yellow Bicycle. The film strips and lace cardstock are so cool and are perfect for masculine pages! Here is my first layout. I was able to use these wild photos of my oldest son jumping off the deck in a bedsheet and mask! Perfect subject matter for this kit!

This layout was done for Rhonda's week #4 weekly challenge to mix up your title on a page. I scrapped some photos I took on Father's Day.

Weekly Challenges!

The weekly challenges at LPS have become even more exciting, now that you can get flair for each challenge you complete! And now, you have until the end of each month to complete the challenges, which makes it much easier to get all weekly flairs! I managed to do weeks one and two, so far. Here are my layouts.

Melissa's June week #1 challenge was to use journaling on a layout.


Lisa's June week #2 challenge was to use something on a layout in a way that it was not originally intended. I used the Prima backing packaging as a frame for my photo, and the 4 as part of my title. I'm hoping to work on the other two challenges this week, so I can get all that fabulous flair!! Check out the challenges at Life Preservers Club.

This challenge was to fulfill Andrea's June week #3 challenge to scrap something that is not a person, and the Amazing Scrap Race challenge to use lime green, teal, and orange/yellow on a layout.