Vacation anyone?

Awesome pictures of Izzy's first trip to the beach

With the hopes of warmer, nicer weather comes thoughts of vacation.  Don’t know if we’ll have the luxury of a vacation somewhere wonderful this year; if not, living vicariously through the lives of my kids will suffice.  I have to admit, it’s always humorous to me how my boys indulge their own families.  When they were growing up, they complained at most ideas we had of going anywhere.  Did we take them too many places?  I don’t think so.   It was our way of  introducing them to learning about places in our country, and world, by going as many places as we could. 

Sometimes going places was out of necessity.  We were required to stay in some pretty cramped quarters at times so getting out and about was paramount to staying sane.  Shortly after returning to the states, after being stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for three-and-a-half years, Hubby was assigned to a school in Tennessee for a few months.  We lived in a very small efficiency apartment while he attended precision approach radar school.  Nicholas went to school during the day, but Thad hadn’t reached school age yet so he and I stayed in the apartment during the day.  Fortunately there were stores nearby so when the weather permitted, we would walk to, and around, the store.  On the weekends, we all ventured out to state parks which were beautiful.  However, one day while hiking the woods in one we became lost!  Eventually we found our way back to one of the park’s roads but the kids were too tired to go further.  Hubby volunteered (or was it that he WAS volunteered?) to follow the road and get our car.  In retrospect, I must have been insane to let him leave the kids and I…fortunately, nothing horrible happened.  Hubby came with the car and we all went “home”.  To this day, the kids still talk about getting lost in the woods…I wonder if they remember all the debris in trees from tornadoes that had gone through nearby areas months prior…

These pages were made with ClubScrap papers and embellishments, using awesome pictures taken by my Daughter-In-Law Jennifer.  I absolutely love the perspective she has while behind the camera; too bad we don’t have a few of her in front as well!  These pictures are very dear to me as they depict the immense love Thad has for his son.  I love how oblivious Izzy is with the ocean simply because he’s holding Daddy’s hand.  His little hat is pretty cute too!

No fear when Daddy holds my hand

I love how the printed design on some of the papers span across both pages in a unifying way.  I hated cropping away parts of the photos, yet it was necessary; so I used the cropped away portions as embellishments.  These pages were done for our last Challenge in the ProScrapping League.  The Challenge was to use at least three kits in your layout…not easy to do!  I used ALSB pages from a Crafters Classic Remix and added embellishments from other kits.  I really prefer using everything ClubScrap provides in a kit over mixing them up; they make everything so simple that anything you create looks great!

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Boys Will Be Boys

Two separate, fun pages that work well together.

Remember the Fourth of July spread that I shared yesterday, and mentioned another spread done with the same basic sketch?  This is that spread.  It’s actually two separate events, but because I used the same colored papers and embellishments, they blend together as if they are one event.  The left-hand page is actually of Will’s tee-ball season last year; and, the right-hand page is of a trip to the park with Izzy.  The words you see are all done with rub-ons; some have round clear epoxy stickers over them to add dimension; some rub-ons were applied directly to the pictures; I love doing that!  The “X’s” you see are blue cord woven through dark blue eyelets.  I really loved this spread…this is the second I created; the first was done as a display for a store where I worked…unfortunately, I feel confident it is now in a land-fill so I’m very glad I had the foresight to recreate it.

I remember seeing these pictures of Will for the first time and thinking about how grown he looked…I missed that tee-ball season because we were living in the other house.  I hope I get to see him play sports this year when the weather improves.  The pictures of Izzy were taken the day after Christmas 2008.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to go to the park and had a lot of fun…I have more pictures from that day, I should put them on layouts too!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Family Fun

Carrying on family traditions

Backyard Fourth of July Fireworks is something we’ve done for many years.  Before Hubby retired from the Navy, and the kids (Nick & Thad) were still young, we would take leave every July so we could visit with extended family and have fireworks fun.  Between us, my niece & her boyfriend (now her husband), and my brother, we had fireworks to last all week.  We always had lots of fun, all week long.  During the day, using fire crackers we’d “launch” large red plastic cups high into the air…OK, that way MY fun; the others didn’t get as much fun out of it as I.  But once the sun went down, we’d go out to the street and light-off countless fireworks that we’d buy at vendors who would come into town just for the holiday. 

So, after the boys married and had their sons, we started having Fourth of July cook-outs at our house.  Eventually, we bought a few small fireworks…not wanting to scare the little guys who were still quite young, nor wanting to draw too much attention to our back yard.  We live in town and [apparently] it’s against town ordinace to light fireworks.  So we do it on a much smaller scale than all those years ago, but we have just as much fun.

This spread was made using pictures from July 4, 2009 in our back yard.  We were actually living at the other house at the time and came down for the holiday and cook out.  I made this layout for a store where I worked at for a very short time.  I designed at the request of the owner of the store to be HER make & take for the anniversary celebration of the store…unfortunately, she didn’t properly advertise the event nor did she offer the project to any of the folks who attended.  (This was a different store than the one mentioned in a previous post.)  As usual, I used a sketch as a starting point for this layout.  I made another layout using the same layout which features similar colors (sans the burgundy/red colors) and pictures of Will & Izzy which I will share at another time.

I hope our little Fourth of July family tradition continues.  My favorite thing to do is spend time with my family; we always have a good time! 

Do you have special traditions?

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Soccer

I love how nice the die cut soccer balls turned out for this spread.

Watching pre-schoolers play soccer is a delight.  When one kicks the ball, regardless of which direction it goes, everyone on the field runs after it…even long after it’s out of bounds!  Some might think three- and four-year-olds are too young to play soccer, but after watching Will play at this age, I realized they learn a lot from the endeavor.  Fortunately it’s not a competitive arena; rather, they learn to work as a team and learn some of the basics of the game, depending on the coach’s enthusiasm.  I love how big the “aprons” were on the little guys as well as how huge their shin guards were…as well as how tiny their cleats were…OK, I love everything about little people, they’re just so doggone cute…especially Will & Izzy.

This layout is a relatively simple layout.  The colors of the cardstock were chosen from the colors in the pictures.  I had only one 12″ x 12″ piece of the soccer ball printed paper and wanted to use it on both pages so in an attempt to stretch it as far as I could, I cut it so as to avoid any unused scraps.  I am most proud of an idea my friend Jacki recommended…using little black arrows to identify Will.  It was a great way to show where he is in each picture.  These pictures were taken from quite a distance so even when I digitally cropped-in close, it wasn’t easy to identify him since all the players were wearing the same thing.  The larger soccer balls were cut using my QuicKutz Silhouette die cutter.  I let the largest hang off the edges of the upper right-hand corner of the right page, then trimmed it with scissors.  The small soccer balls on that same page are large brads painted to look like soccer balls. 

The best part of this season of Will’s soccer “career” is that his team sponsor was my office and he got to wear the #1 jersey!  How fun!  And, of course, I had him turn around so I could take a picture as proof…well?  What’s a Grammy to do?

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Pool Fun

These two little fellas have fun ALL the time!

Will & Izzy are so much fun to be around…they completely exhaust me, but I love every second I get to spend with them.  The day I took these pictures was sweltering…very hot.  It was the middle of summer 2009 and the little guys were with Grammy & Grumpy while their parents LARPed.  Like all little boys, they wanted to be outside…as well they should be in during summer.  But Grammy’s house doesn’t have a lot of outside toys and after being away for nearly a year, the yard needs work to get rid of weeds and problem spots.  So we inflated the little pool, put it in the shade, and filled it up.  I went through kitchen cabinets to see what kinds of make-shift “toys” I could find for them to play with…plastic pitchers and bowls, perfect!  They spent hours playing, laughing, and pouring water everywhere…nearly a perfect day for sure.

I made this layout while at a crop.  I purchased the colored papers just to go with the pictures…if you’re a scrapbooker, you know what that’s like!  I helped my dear friend, and scrapbooker extraordinaire Diane teach some classes (a WEEK after she had thumb reconstruction surgery I might add; she’s tuff!) so she gifted me a Close To My Heart stamp set which I had intended to buy just for this layout…the little duck images and some of the words/phrases are from that set.  To color those images, I used water color pencils and a water brush to blend the color…I was pleased at how they turned out.

For the actual placement of the pictures and papers, I used the book “Cherish” by Jeanette Linton, the founder of Close To My Heart.  Here’s the actual layout from the book:

My inspiration for the Pool Fun layout

Sure looks different, doesn’t it?  I will admit that I turned the layouts so they would work with my pictures, but that’s the beauty in scrapping this way.  It does take some imagination to envision how your own pictures, colors, paper patterns, and embellishments might work with such a layout/sketch, but once you’ve done a few you, too, will have complete trust in the method. 

Just like ClubScrap’s ALSB, these methods of scrapping really work.  Give them a try!

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Fur Babies

It started with just one...really!

It started quite innocently…Hubby worked out of town all week and I wanted a companion.  A co-worker’s in-law’s had recently lost a dog and were looking for another.  One day, a friend came into the office and asked if the in-laws were still looking because she had an out-of-town friend whose dog was expecting a new litter soon.  My ears perked up and I asked what breed…dachshund…woo-hoo!  Miniature dachshunds too, perfect!  So, I let her know I might be interested…but wanted only a healthy female.  When they were born, there was one female…mine!  They were born in early November, and I picked up my little Savannah on New Years Day 2006.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget getting her.  I met my breeder, now my very good friend “Charlie” at PetSmart.  She had a shopping cart full of puppies…all black & tan miniature dachshund puppies…awwwhhhh!  Interestingly, when I put my hand into the cart, one little puppy immediately jumped to my hand…it was Savannah!  After chatting a little while, I gave Charlie the balance of the cost and we went our separate ways.  Of course, my “way” was to buy “necessities” for my new puppy.

In the coming weeks and months, when I would leave her to go to work, I always felt guilty and worried that she was lonely.  So, about a year later when Charlie sent pictures of a new litter, I fell in love with a chocolate & tan puppy that had a white spot on her chest…a “Star” was born…MY Star!  This time, Charlie brought her to me and spent the weekend stamping & scrapbooking…well, not so much scrapping because she’s not a scrapper, but we did stamp a lot.  May I just interject, Charlie is an amazing artist; she has an incredible gift for vintage collage…I am always awed by her talent!

I neglected to mention, between the time I got Savannah and Star, she acquired a new puppy herself…a chocolate & tan piebald male.  He was Star’s father.  I was so intrigued by the markings in his coat that I decided I must have one just like him…hoping there would be one in Star’s litter.  There wasn’t, yet I loved Star from the first time I saw a picture of her.  When Charlie brought her to me, we immediately bonded.  I named her Star because of the white spot on her chest, but because she follows me everywhere, I should have named her “Shaddow”.

Then, there was another litter born three days after Christmas 2007…and I can’t remember if there was a piebald female or not, but I wasn’t ready for another puppy at that time anyway.  However, the next litter had a beautiful little girl piebald puppy.  I love Angels and decided I would take this puppy and name her Angel because they were born so close to Christmas.  She is gorgeous and a very special animal.  She is quite attached to my husband, more than the others.  If he’s not paying attention to her, she will sit on the floor at his feet and whine until he invites her to sit in the chair with him…spoiled for sure!

This layout was made at an all-night crop using supplied I had on hand; I normally make pre-planned page packets to take to crops with a few other supplies “just in case”.  At the crop, there was a class on paper piecing and since I hadn’t done that, I decided to take the class.  One project we could make was a dog, but not just any dog…it was a dachshund…perfect!  After the class, I couldn’t wait to make a page with it and some pictures of the dogs I’d brought along.  This is what I came up with and I like it.  The left-hand page features Angel; the right hand page has one of my favorite pictures of Savannah (in the upper right-hand corner) and Star below it.  The spread is quite asymmetrical and still seems to need something in the bare spot in the lower right-hand corner, but I haven’t found the right thing to go there, so for now, this is it.

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Blue Ridge Beauty

There are so many breath taking places in Virginia, the Blue Ridge Parkway is only one...

I love Virginia!  It has so much to offer:  mountains to the west, the ocean to the east and amazing history everywhere.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a spot of beauty that stretches along the Appalachian Mountains the entire length of the state and into North Carolina.  I love going there because there’s so much to see.  The pictures in this spread were taken in October 2008; the two upper most pictures on the right-hand page were taken at Big Meadow in the Skyline Drive section of the parkway.  That day, the foliage colors of the meadow were breath taking and seemed to go on forever.  I love visiting there and am thinking a spring time trip may be in order this year as well as a trip to the beach.

This layout was made with Bazzil cardstock and decorative papers from 7Gypsies.  I used a layout sketch from a designing book from Close To My Heart.  I love using sketches as a jumping off point.  Often I use them exactly as the design suggests, other times I may rotate a page or put the design elements on the opposite side of the page.  Using them is a great way to kick start the creative process whether or not you have a scrappers block.  I always find it interesting at how different the same design can look when using a different color pallette.  Resources abound; there are books, websites, blogs…all you have to do is look.

Happy scrapping!

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Daddy’s First Grade Picture

This was my Daddy at age six!

As I write this, I am preparing for Hubby’s birthday get together with the family…I’m not sure if I’ll be able to create and schedule a new post for tomorrow (today as you read it), so I thought I’d see if I have something that I can write about now…while I’m enjoying a cup of morning coffee and thinking of all I need to do to get all the food ready and the cake finished.  I’ll probably blog about the cake later, but for the almost 33 years we’ve been married, Hubby has always asked for chocolate cake…not this year…he asked for lemon.  Lemon?  Who is this person and what did he do with my Hubby? 

The layout shared today is the companion page to one previously shared of my Daddy and his brother, Junior, who died as a child.  As long as I can remember, I recall seeing this picture in my mother’s picture box (literally, a cardboard box!).  As I looked at it, I always wondered what Daddy was like as a little boy…this picture gave just a glimpse.  The actual photograph that I used was a copy of mom’s original.  Perhaps one day I’ll see if I can borrow her original and have it professionally restored…or, if I ever get proficient enough in PhotoShop maybe I’ll give it a try.  Still, I love this picture!  What always intrigued me most, other than peering into Daddy’s eyes, was that his hair was blonde.  In fact, he always talked about being a “toe-head”…meaning his hair was so blonde that it was almost white.  As an adult, his hair was very dark brown…and all my life he used some kind of oil or styling cream (remember Brylcream or Vitalis?) which made it appear darker yet.  He never changed the style:  left part with a little “flip” of the “bangs” toward the right ear.  Hmmmmmmm, maybe down the road I’ll have to try a layout of how he wore his hair! 

This page uses plain cardstock without ink, something I rarely do these days…in fact, it looks rather bare to me.  The corner brackets have dry embossing on them which don’t show up very well in the picture of it, they and the alpha stickers were purchased at that crop I mentioned in the previous post where I set eyelets and everyone gasped!  If I were creating this page these days, I’d surely add ink…and would probably alter something…a little edge distressing perhaps to give it an aged feel.  Hmmmmmmm, should I re-do it? 

Enough blogging for now, the cake awaits!  I’m sure I’ll take pictures today and will share those.  We usually have some kind of Wii tournament going on.  Hubby got a new flying game and Nicholas has always loved flying, so there’ll no doubt be a duel sometime during the day.  Fun times!  Hey, did I ever mention that I love my kids?

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An Anniversary Trip

These were the breath taking views from our room at the lodge where we stayed.

We found Babcock State Park while visiting West Virginia.

 I am fortunate to be married to a man who loves to travel.  We’ve taken some awesome trips.  This was one that I wasn’t really looking forward to, but it turned out to be an amazing experience.  My parents were from West Virginia…the southern part of West Virginia in coal mining territory.  As a small child when we visited my Grandparents I remember being car sick from the hair-pin turns in the mountains and seeing all the coal dust on things, thinking West Virginia wasn’t such a good place.  So when Hubby said he’d read about Hawks Nest and wanted to go, I was less than enthused.  I am so glad we went though, because the New River Gorge area of West Virginia must be what John Denver talked about in his song “Almost Heaven, West Virginia”.  Gorgeous is a gross understatement!

Finding Babcock State Park was a bonus while on this trip.  While exploring one day, we saw a sign and decided to check it out.  What a nice, quiet place tucked back off the beaten path.  The right-hand picture of Hubby on the left page of this spread looks like he’s mad; I assure you, he’s not.  While we were on this trip, every time we saw a display that included historical pictures, no one in them smiled.  Of course it’s because they had such a hard life and little, or no, dental care so their teeth were bad (or perhaps gone).  He was simply trying to replicate that “feeling” in a color picture…silly!

I have more pictures of the trip to scrap, of course…and I will, but this week has been fairly busy not allowing for much creative time.  I was, however, able to complete these two spreads for this week’s ClubScrap PSL…this week’s challenge was to use February kits only.  The kit I used was Bridges from February 2008.  I thought the pictures of the bridges would work extremely well with the kit’s theme…what I didn’t realize is how well the color pallette would work with the pictures.  Somehow, some way, ClubScrap looks good with any picture!

I have more pictures from this trip sitting on the table in my studio so I hope to get them onto layouts very soon…hopefully this week.  Wish me luck!

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Another Birthday

No layouts or spreads today…just a simple, loving “Happy Birthday” to my Hubby…and a thank you for going through life with me…it’s been a ride for sure, but look at our rewards, two wonderful sons who make us very proud.  I’m glad you now have so much gray hair too…I wouldn’t want you looking younger than me!  I love you!

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