Skating Buddies

Once upon a time, I ran a local playgroup -- we had outings and parties and fun with loads of other families. This photo is from an Ice Skating outing during Winter Break 2009-2010. It's been sitting in my organizer a long time!

I decided to get in on the triangles trend here and basically just cut a bunch of triangles from the scraps of another layout that were on my table. I sort of started with Susan's Sketch #90 but wandered far afield...

I think it's playful and fun!

Project 12 July

While I was tackling June's Project 12, I decided to go for July, too! (Right on time!)

This was one of those months where I had a hard time narrowing down pics, there are actually two additional pics that I printed sitting on my scraptable waiting for some future project.

For this month's project I found my Page Map in the May 2011 group.It felt sort of similar to the June map with the strip of horizontal photos running down one side.

The paper this month is Echo Park's Note to Self, and if you know what you're looking at you'll know that it's all from the 6x6 pad! I love mini pads! I am a total sucker for being able to buy a whole line that I love for ~$6! This is no exception, I wanted every piece of this line but my scrapping budget is stretched thin right now -- so I went with the mini!

Photos this month -- the younger boys with their Florida cousins while at Nana and Papa's for a summer visit, Oldest the day he got his driver's license, Muppet Boy and the Little Guy at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta (yes, those ARE Pigs in Space!), The boys with my Dad and Grandfather in Missouri for my step-Grandmother's funeral, and ME with the Space Shuttle Discovery at the Udvar-Hazy Center, and the Explorers with Apollo 11 at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.

And Project 12 is all caught up (except for Journal) ! WOOHOO!

You Belong to My Heart

 First, Aug 12th is my baby brother's birthday, Happy Birthday, Andy-Pandy!

I am seriously in love with this layout (since I made it that sounds kind of nuts... but hey!)

I started with Sketch Savvy #94, I  replaced the bottom paper with stitching (see that Sus! I SEWED -- with my Sew Easy that I got for my birthday!) There's kind of a mix and match of papers here -- MME KRAFT Funday, MME 12 Days of Christmas, MME On the Bright Side, EP - Country Drive and Simple Stories Summer Fresh.  Instead of cutting a sun, I misted one. And I adore these pinwheels, they seemed to totally fit with the layout.

And thank you to DTunes for providing the perfect title!

Project 12 June

July was so unexpectedly busy that the only scrapping time I had was spent on Lauren's Disney album... So, I fell behind again on working on Project 12!

But I'm caught back up now.

With the changes in Project 12 this year, I've ended up going my own way -- I'm still using Pagemaps sketches, just finding the ones that work best for me each month after picking my photos.
For my June Layout, I chose this Sketch from Aug 2012, As always, I didn't follow it exactly but you can definitely see where it played in!

The papers for this one are totally Close To My Heart -- even the Cardstock. The papers are from the Stella Collection and the Dotty for You Promotion Pack.

The photos are - Top Left ME singing at the Sky Sox game with my church choir, At the Circus, Muppet Boy leaving for Summer Camp, the Little Guy at VBS, the Little Guy at Cub Scout Day Camp, the Little Guy at Church Soccer Camp.

Have I mentioned (probably approx 30 times, since this is my 30th layout) how much I love Project 12? Project Life or Project 365 both seem like amazing projects but a little too big for me! (See how I'm behind when I've only got a single layout to do!) And this feels perfect, and I love going back and seeing the overviews of all the months I've covered. Thanks to Susan who introduced me to the project, then didn't participate! and especially to Davinie who has been such a great leader for the Project!  (and now they're both on the Echo Park Design Team!!! CONGRATS to both of them! My new favorite team!)

Back to School

Today I sent all three kids off to school! Another year off and running! I think they've all grown quite a bit since last year.

The older two actually started school on Friday! (Who starts school on a Friday?)

Oldest has begun his senior year! ACK! We're up to our ears in college and scholarship applications. He's got a great schedule this year that allows him to start late most days. He's taking advantage of it for an early morning gym visit.

Muppet Boy has set off on the adventure called Middle School! So far he's very excited about it! We picked up his clarinet last week and today he took it with him. I'm hoping for a great year!

And the Little Guy is the lone holdout in Elementary school. It seemed so odd seeing him off on his own this morning. Second Grade is going to be  good year for him. He's got the same second grade teacher that Muppet Boy had and we LOVE her!

I know, I know... Early August seems so EARLY to you! (It certainly did to me the first year we lived here!) Your kids didn't get out of school time the middle of June!  My kids got out just before Memorial Day and they've got a two week break in October coming up... so while it may not be ideal, it's not that bad.

Washington DC Smashbook

For our recent trip to Washington DC, I decided to try a new approach to scrapping and journaling the trip as we went along -- a Smashbook.

Before we left I collected some materials I thought would be easy and helpful for making such a book - adhesives, scissors, die cuts, etc.

And so, on my trip I began with collecting ephemera (which I do on every trip! Brochures, Postcards, Pressed Pennies, etc.) and dove in with journaling.

The book isn't quite finished but it's close! I cannot believe I have  a scrapbook of a trip I took a WEEK ago to share with friends and family!

 Things I love about my Smashbook vs other projects I've done  are 1) TONS of journalling! and 2) it's super interactive! I've got things that flip and pockets to open and things that fold! It's so fun!

 For example on this page about NASA Goddard, I've got two postcards that flip down to reveal journaling! (If you see an empty journal space I'm probably saving it for my oldest son, who was also on the trip, to fill in)

 The little pocket on this page has Squished Pennies in it. The tabbed solar flare photo is actually lenticular (holographic).

 And flips up to reveal a photo!

 I added envelopes and pockets to lots of pages to hold brochures and papers. And used postcards in place of photos as I went along, adding photos later.

 This map was cut from a hotel brochure.

 The folded paper here is a map of the cemetery. I took along some die cuts with me and added others after I returned.

 There are a few of these small pockets holding Smithsonian tokens and pressed pennies.

 I am adding photo collages now (in fact I am just waiting on ink to print some more) -- this one is of photos of the National Air and Space Museum.

 I forgot to bring a white pen so journalling on dark papers had to wait til I returned home.

This book is a little fatter than I expected. But I LOVE it!!!

Water Park

Today I packed the kids up and took them to Englewood, CO (about an hour and a half away) to visit Pirate's Cove Aquatic Center (which is a small water park)! As they start school in FRIDAY, this was a last Summer hurrah!

We had a great time (though the weather threatened a bit), all three boys really enjoyed it (even the teenager didn't complain much!)

This is Muppet Boy going off the Drop-Slide:

 This is Oldest coming off the fast slide (which the Little Guy Bravely went down twice! and I bravely went down the slide, too, but my bravery is really on the side of standing at the top of the platform waiting in line - I HATE that!)

A lot of time was spent in the shallow "play pool" where water cascades, pours and is sprayed about willy-nilly.

And of course, we love the Lazy River!