It's a Bug's Land

Here's a two pager of fun pics from California Adventure's FABULOUS Bug's Land!

I have become a total addict for this Swiss Dot cardstock... you'll be seeing a LOT of it on my pages! I used a lot of Bo Bunny's U Bug Me! line here... and a little of this and a little of that, too!

Project 12 - July and Auigust

I've been working on Project 12 for several years now, the idea is to do one two-page layout per month.

I haven't posted any of my P12 items since the June page. The pics here for July are mostly focused on the Little Guy, as Muppet Boy was away for the month and Oldest was busy working! I had a lot of fun with the Circle maker for my Sew Easy on this one :)

And here in August, we're focused mostly on back-to-school/off to school...and you'll probably notice- Oldest swearing in for Air Force ROTC (and in his uniform!)

If you're paying attention you've probably noticed that this year's pages all include a Kraft background, and a black die cut title. I love how this pulls the album together. I'm considering going to divided page protectors for 2014.

Been a while...

and I do have new pages to share...

But my mind has been occupied with other goings-on...

Meantime, someone posted this verse as a comment on the amazing blog of an acquaintance of mine... and it stood out to me, so I felt the need to post it and breathe it and meditate on it. This is not a translation that I usually use. I love the language of King James but my everyday Bible is an English Standard Version (ESV)...

Matthew 6:33-34
The Message (MSG)
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Celebrate a Street Party

Still working on Disney.

Today I'm sharing a 2-page Parade Layout

 I had a ton of photos from this fun parade and wanted to use a BUNCH -- There are 12 here! I wanted this page to be bright, fun and colorful -- accomplished that with some fun products from  AC's Margarita and Simple Stories : I {Heart} Summer.

Back to School Boys!

My younger boys went back to school last week.

The Little Guy headed off to THIRD GRADE! Craziness. I might have to come up with a new online name for him since he's not so little any more.

I took them both to get haircuts earlier in the week. The Little Guy's hair has NEVER been this short before... while still in the stylist's chair, he cried! But now he loves it and comes up and asks me if I "want to rub the fuzzy head?" LOL

And here's the Muppet Boy, all ready to start 7th grade!

Another kid who was unhappy with his new haircut but LOVED his purple stripey new shirt!

So tall!!!
I'll have to ask TGF to get a pic of Oldest on their first day at college later this month!

Explorers in California 2011

In 2011, Oldest and his  (Aerospace) Explorer Post set off for a trip to California. He brought home lots of fun photos and they were in my stash of unfinished 2011 photos!

These photos are of Oldest suiting up in the Bomb suit!

 Here's some misc photos - they visited the JPL and Edwards AFB and a lot of other places and I'm not sure that I have them all organized properly!

 Vestibuloocular Reflext Testing -- AKA The Spinning Chair.
For this one I used Sketch Savvy Sketch # 105.

And here he is, in another suit -- this time a dog training suit! That kid was born to volunteer!

The papers are from October Afternoon's Rocket Age line (8x8 pad) and October Afternoon's Boarding Pass (8x8)

Dole whip!

I have tackled the misc leftover 2011 pics recently. These are pics I couldn't decide what to do with, so they just sat and sat in my photo sorter!

Like these fun Dole Whip pics.

If you're not a Disneyphile, like me, you may not know that Dole Whip is Pineapple soft serve awesomeness that is served both at Disneyland (at the Tiki room) and at WDW (Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian Resort). It is occasionally available elsewhere (we had some at a Day Out with Thomas event one time) and at the Dole Plantation on Oahu (I got some there in November - HEAVENLY!)

But on this occasion, I was eating it at home. Many years ago I first saw this video:

And that is the same ice cream maker I have! So I finally gave in during 2011 and ordered the mix. This was the first time we made it! Such yummy, yummy fun!

The papers here are DCWV's Endless Summer Stack.

Wonderful weekend

Last week, the Little Guy attended Zoo Camp. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday he was at the Zoo from 9 AM- 3 PM learning about Reptiles and Amphibians. Thursday night we arrived at 7 PM for the best part of the camp! I got to hang out for the evening tour and s'mores then the kids spent the night at the zoo and stayed til 12 on Friday! What a fun time!

After zoo camp, we packed up the car in preparation for our weekend camping trip... but first we had Friday night plans -- my church choir (including me) was singing at the Sky Sox game! We ended up shorter than expected on singers and the youth choir (including Muppet Boy who isn't technically a member of the Youth Choir) came to our rescue and sang with us to fill in the gaps!

(Muppet Boy is in the purple on the front row, I'm wearing a white scarf and blue top - second from the end closest to the camera on the back row)
And Friday night Sky Sox home games = FIREWORKS! Since we were under heavy firebans following the Black Forest fires on the 4th we didn't get any fireworks then, so the kids were pretty excited!

Saturday morning the Muppet Boy picked up his official 7th grade schedule and then we headed off to the campground to meet up with my parents, my brother and his family. We intended to stay Saturday and Sunday nights but Sunday's forecast focused on 10 hours of thunderstorms and we decided to head for home.

While exploring, the kiddos found a great spot on the stream not too far from our campsite. It  became their SPOT for the rest of the weekend. They were muddy and wet and delighted! They built a "bridge" across the stream with sticks, they played on the tiny island. It was a good time. And definitely no adults allowed! I went down the gully to take some pics and slipped and twisted my knee.

The dirt tried to make them a part of it!

In the evening we roasted marshmallows and hung out around the fire - the kids telling silly round-about stories.

Grandma provided them with glow sticks, necklaces and bracelets and they put on a pretty good nighttime entertainment with them!

The next morning, it was straight back to the stream!

Overall a packed but super fun weekend!

How Do You Get to Wonderland?

Here's a layout that I'm particularly pleased with using Reminisce's Fairy Tale line, which I found a lot harder to work with than expected! And that adorable cloud paper from SC's Here and There , to balance out all the PINK!

This page features a pic of the Little Guy trying out tiny doors in Fantasyland at DLR. The title is taken from the Intro Song of Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

Not a Thrill Seeker - Space Mountain

For this layout about Space Mountain I didn't really have a lot of photos to work with but there was a story I wanted to tell, so I went looking and found this great vintage Space Mountain Poster and put it to work!

Journal reads: On our 2007 trip to Disney World we managed to start almost every day with a ride that terrified the Little Guy.... well, at least Space Mountain wasn't our FIRST ride at Disneyland. By the end of the ride the Little Guy was very vocal in  proclaiming that he wished Space Mountain DID NOT EXIST and he refused to go on any other "Fast" attractions for the rest of the trip.


Products on this one are almost all Fancy Pants To The Moon as I won that full line in a blog contest some time back.

it's a small world

One of the Scrap subjects I've been working on this Summer has been our 2010 Disneyland trip!

I LOVE all things Disney, and tend to save Disney photos as a treat for myself when scrapping... I pump up the Disney music on DTunesLive.com (where I'm a moderator) or listen to some great Disney podcasts while I work away .... The other day when listening to Disney podcasts celebrating the Tiki Room anniversary I had to keep checking my phone because the Tiki Room song is my ringtone!

I did this page way back on National Scrapook Weekend for a challenge at Disney Scrappers... I've never USED a divided page protector before, so using one here to make a three pager to highlight tons of fun photos worked out very well!

it's a small world

I had a lot of fun with this crazy mix of colors - mostly from BG. And I got some sequins and stitching in there too! For the Left side I started with Sketch Savvy #103 from there I grabbed some older divided protectors I had on hand, as I said I hadn't worked with these before so it was a fun undertaking!

As I'm sure you can see, I had a LOT of fun with this one!

Project 12 - May and June

So here's some of Project 12... and a little bit of a glimpse into what we've been doing!

Of course, the biggest news in May is that Oldest graduated from High School! It's hard to wrap my head around that! We've got pics of Muppet Boy fishing, the Little Guy tackling BBs at Day Camp, Free Comic Book day with the 501st, Mother's Day, Oldest's Grad Party Luau and Graduation - the gold stole is for NHS, the white is for his Engineering program, the gold tassle is for honors and the silver cord is for his GPA, and of course he pinned his Eagle Medal on there... and yes, he is wearing jeans under his robe.

Papers here are Curiosity from Authentique (6x6) and a little bit of Sassafrass and ummm whatever that blue shaped one was LOL

June!

This one's got a LOT of pics! Oldest boating with TGF, younger boys playing in the pool, at the Zoo with cousins, bowling, Oldest at his college Orientation, boys at the Arboretum, Father's day at the new Space Museum (with Chewbacca! and a Storm Trooper), in the yard, at their Summer camps... lots of Summer fun!
Again I kind of went with whatever colorful scraps I had about... so the papers are a bit of this and that. But there's a lot of MME Summer Splash (Six by Six 2) .

And we're all caught up on Project 12...

I'm BACK! with some Project 12 catchup!

I think I may actually be back to blogging! It's been a long break (May, June, July...) but I really want to get posting again!

May got away from me -- so crazy to believe that the Oldest has graduated from High School!

So let's start posting with a basic -- Project 12.

The last time I posted P12 on my blog was January, OUCH! Sorry! I have been keeping up on my 4th year of P12, just failing at POSTING it! I've been posting these pages to the Gossamer Blue Project 12 Pinterest Board. While a monthly kit is not in my scrapping budget I do find that kit clubs have the best communities, full of dedicated scrappers. GB seems to be a fab kit! I love the looks they put together.

A lot of people have taken P12 in a Project Life direction this year, we're seeing a lot of divided page protectors in use. I may go that direction next year, but for now my pattern is a two-pager with a Kraft background and a black die-cut title.

February

From February 2013 = wrestling for the Oldest, playing in the snow, friends to play Magic, Valentine's Day, Oldest inviting TGF to prom, and a Youth Group retreat for the Muppet Boy!

I can't even begin to identify the papers here.. I know the stuff on the far right is Studio Calico. The blue dots is Echo Park... the rest, I'm not sure. The black washi is from Smash. 

March 2013
St Patrick's Day, Oldest's baptism and confirmation in the Episcopal church, Easter, Muppet Boy's birthday, wrestling for the Little Guy and Muppet Boy, the Little Guy knocking out his two front teeth and "Sir {HS}" for Oldest... and the Muppet Boy being an Imagineer for Career Day!
Again - the products are mix and match, Crate Paper and old Scenic Route for sure, the rest I'm not 100% sure on.

 For April 2013, We've got pics from the Oldest's Prom, Baptisms of both Muppet Boy and the Little Guy, birthday parties for both, Wrestling for both, and DH's birthday, too!
 I really like these blues and greens for this page! Mostly they come from MME Lost and Found 3 (6x6)

May and June coming tomorrow!

Main Street Cinema!

This weekend, we celebrated National Scrapbook Day... and I've got some layouts to share!

But first, we celebrated Free Comic Book Day! Not only that but it was also May the Fourth (Be With You)... we arrived at our new local comic shop and found the 501st!

We got some fun pics, temporary tattoos for the kiddos... and, of course, some free comics!

 Came home and dove into some scrapbooking!
I love National Scrapbook Day! I found all kinds of inspiration! I gathered and/or particpated in challenges from Big Picture Classes, DisneyScrappers, StudioCalico, Echo Park, and Basic Grey.... I pulled out my photos from Disneyland in 2010 and dove in!

Here's the first layout I did

 This page focuses on the Main Street Cinema at Disneyland.
I tackled this one for a challenge from Disney Scrappers to use a wonderful Sketch from Susan Stringfellow, and sneak in at least one semi-hidden Mickey. 

The papers that I used here are Echo Park's For the Record, and they're all from the 6x6 pad... I LOVE 6x6 pads and use them a ton! The background is from My Mind's Eye's Kraft FunDay line

 More pages from NSD coming up!

8x8 October Afternoon Fun!

I buy a lot of 8x8 and 6x6 pads, and use them for all kinds of projects, especially 12x12 pages.

These three all use October Afternoon's 8x8 pads.


For this one, I broke out the Campfire pad and got to work.

These photos of the boys playing in the water are just so... them! Quite fun.
A little of this, a little of that, some Jenni Bowlin pennants and alphas... I really like how this came out... and yes, all of these are 8x8 papers on a sheet of 12x12 background paper.


This one uses some Sasparilla  and a little bit of Campfire

The photos here are of my boys with my dad on his birthday 2011. It's such a great multi-gen photo! I did not intend to use that die cut "Grandpa" that way but it caught on the photo and I really liked it that way!

And this one mostly uses the Rocket age line

 I adore this photo of my oldest and his Explorer Post on their trip to California (this one is from NASA Dryden) I really like the rocket and the Explore tag that I cut with my Silhouette, they really bring this together!

Backstage Tour

I got a lot done last week by getting my stuff and running away from home, to Archivers.

I needed the time VERY MUCH and was glad to get it... Thanks DH for being awesome about it.

Here's a fun layout... I think I may still add "Chick Fil A" in red to the title... I dunno. Do I know what these products are? Nope. I see some Studio Calico, Some Basic Grey and ummmm some other stuff. but I like it! and I'm happy with it. And these pics from the boys' backstage tour at CFA are super fun (Oldest was there too, but declined to be in photos... I think this was before he gave in to the inevitability that his crazy scrapbooker mother WAS going to take photos either way ;) )

Autumn Days

Here it is, Springtime in the Rockies... in Colorado, transitional seasons do NOT mean a gradual change in temperature between Summer and Winter... here, it's one day quite hot, next day snowing.

Like these two photos taken two days in a row in my front yard in October 2011.

For this one I've used the My Mind's Eye: Follow Your Heart line and a little bit of Crate Paper Toy Box too.

And here's another with the American Crafts Campy Trails Line -- I've got several of these soon to appear here, I've been ripping through this line that I've held onto for too long!

Love these photos of my older boys jumping off the swings at a nearby park.

Bobcat for Scraptastic Club

What a fun sketch from Jana Eubank via  Sketchy Thursday over at Scraptastic Club

I love a good multi-photo sketch!

For this page I turned the sketch to its side. I also adore this American Crafts Campy Trails line, with three boys I'm always hoping to find a line that is friendly for boy pages, outdoor themes, and boy scout pages... since I do a LOT of those!

These photos are of the Little Guy earning his Bobcat rank as a Tiger Cub. He was the first boy in his den to finish it and he was so pleased!

Senior Prom!

I did a bunch of scrapping yesterday and I'm really pleased with what I got done. I will put some of those up soon... but in the meantime, I've got another share for you...

Oldest's Senior Prom!

This photo was taken in a park near our home. TGF is wearing some serious heels to be so tall... and they're sinking into the sand where she's standing.

And here's one with a bunch of their buddies

Aren't they adorable?

I sent out his graduation announcments this week... So bittersweet. So glad they're out, so proud of him, cannot believe my boy has less than a month of high school left!