You At 8

I've gotten a bit behind on posting my layouts.  Last month I took my kiddos' annual photos.  I loved how their individual photos turned out.  So many fun ones to chose from that seemed to capture their personalities just right. Today I'm sharing a layout called "You at 8" about my oldest.

First of all, I'm not sure when he grew up this much.  Seriously, he's always been a bit of an old soul, but now he doesn't even look like a little kid anymore. 

I used lots of different paper collections on this layout.  I started with Heidi Swapp's September Skies for the base of the layout.  I don't know why, but I just think that light bulb paper is so stinkin' cute!

I love a good paper printed with words, so I also added paper from Pink Paislee's Bella Rouge Collection (it's currently in the AWDML Brick & Mortar store, and should be showing up in the on-line store any day).  The white and blue heart paper is from Studio Calico's Lemon Lush.  I've wanted to use that heart paper forever and finally had the right layout to use it on. 

My embellishments for this layout consisted of a Project Life journaling card, Thickers chipboard alphas, Pebbles washi tape, enamel dots, and some Studio Calico chip shapes.  So, as you can see this layout is a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, all put together to scrap my oldest at 8.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hockey Layout

I'm over on the Moxxie blog today sharing a cross ice hockey layout.  I'm using a mix of Moxxie papers and a 17 Turtles digital cut file. Here's a peek of what I'm sharing.

Silly Boys

A Walk Down Memory Lane just got Heidi Swapp September Skies (it's in the Brick & Mortar store and will be in the on-line store very soon). It came in just in time for me to scrap the annual photos I took of my silly boys last month.  This photo is what I'd consider an outtake, but I love how it captures their personalities: My youngest being silly while my oldest tries not to laugh.

This was actually the last of 3 layouts I made with this collection. I built the layout from bits and pieces I had left over.  When I build a layout from leftovers, I often end up with lots of small pieces layered on top of each other to build my background, just like I did here. It's a great way to use up scraps and create a layout with visual interest.
September Skies is a bright, fun collection that is really quite colorful. I especially love the mix of navy blue with bright green.  Since I have boys I gravitated towards the blues and greens in the collection, but you'll find shades of pink and orange in it, too.

I created my title from a mix of alphabet stickers and words cut from paper in the September Skies Collection. 

While I created from leftovers, I actually saved this card to put with this picture.  I knew it would be the perfect card to add to this photo of my silly, amazing, happy boys.

Thanks for stopping by!

At 5

Tuesday I shared a layout of my oldest titled At 7.  Today I'm sharing a similar large photo layout of my youngest.  Here he is at 5.

 Just like my At 7 layout, I used my Cameo to cut "Love this Boy" into the photo.  I slipped some Pebbles Special Delivery paper underneath the cut out words.  I love those itty bitty white hearts on that gray paper. 

I layered the photo on some gold dot vellum from My Mind's Eye, which was then layered on a piece of patterned paper from Crate Paper's Notes & Things. 

 I finished up with some simple chipboard embellishments from Studio Calico.  I love those gold cameras, they're so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

At 7

I take annual photos of my kids every year.  A few years ago I started scrapping one of those photos with a list of sorts of what my kid is like at that age.  Last year I decided to scrap the large 8 x 10 of each of my boys that I hang on my wall for this layout...but that meant I had to wait a whole year (until the next year's photos were ready to hang on the wall) to scrap my layout.  To make sure I remembered what my kiddos were like at that age, I jotted down my journaling for the layout last year and put it in a safe place until I needed it.  This week I'm finally ready to scrap those photos.  Here's my oldest at 7.

It was kind of fun to do this layout a year later.  It's amazing to see how much he has changed, and yet how much his personality and core likes have stayed the same.

I used my Silhouette to cut the words out of the photo, and then slipped a little Crate Paper Notes & Things patterned paper behind the cut out area on the photo.  

I finished up the layout by layering on some embellishments from Studio Calico's Essentials collection.  Keeping it simple helped to keep the focus on the photo and the journaling.

That's if for today.  I'll be back later this week to share a similar layout I made with my youngest son's annual photo.

Moxxie Hockey Layout

Well, our first year of hockey is a success.  At more than half way through, my kids love it, and are looking forward to next year.  So you know what that means? Lots of hockey photos and soon lots of hockey layouts.  Today I used Moxxie's Hockey to scrap a photo I took of my youngest son making a goal.

It's really quite hard to see in photos, but the Moxxie Hockey papers have some really cool texture to them.  They're printed so they look like scratched up ice.  I love it.  It gives the whole layout a fun skated on look. 

  I used some shiny black chipboard Thickers from American Crafts for the title.  They went well with the feel of the whole layout. 

Since my son's been averaging about 3 goals a game, the hat trick label and goal die cut fit just right with the photo.  I popped those up with a little bit of foam adhesive to add a bit of dimension.

Thanks for stopping by today, and Go Tornadoes!

2 Cards 1 Sketch

It's time for the November Moxxie Blog Hop.  The list of disigners is at the bottom of the page so you can hop along. The info on the prize is also below.  This month's theme is cards.  I decided to come up with a sketch, and share 2 cards from the sketch. 

Here's the sketch I started with:

I created a birthday card for my grandpa from Autumn Glory.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the center out of the card and create some small leaves for decor. 

For my second card, I decided to make a shaker card from Moxxie's new Winterland collection.  I used white, silver, and purple sequins inside for the shaker part.  That little snowman was just asking to be surrounded by sequins!

Now, on to the great prize being offered this month.

None other than the amazing new Winterland!!!

This line has a fantastic color combo, fun patterns and cute embellishments for all of your wintertime activities!

Details on how to WIN this line are below.

Samantha Taylor

 Amelia Harris

Jen Taylor 

Leslie Mitchell

Joan Liddle

Wendi Robinson

 Julie McGowan

Renee Robbins

Amy Allred

Daniella Hayes

Rebecca Price

Ange Weisbeck 

 Moxxie

 To be eligible to WIN all you have to do is comment on the Moxxie blog.
(US addresses only please) 

Extra chances to win include:
  Comment- on any (or all) of the designers blogs
  Facebook- share the blog hop post (let us know by leaving a link on the Moxxie blog)
  Pinterest- pin any (or all) of these wonderful projects (leave a link for each pin on the Moxxie blog)
  Challenge- Enter your card in our challenge! 3 extra entries if you use MOXXIE product! Link directly to your project or project post. (link up using the inlinkz tool at the bottom of this page)

Commenting and Challenge end Nov 30th.

Lunch Box Notes

It's time again to replenish my stock of lunch box notes for my kids.  Every once in a while I stick a little note in my boys' lunch.  I'm not allowed to get too mushy with them at school, so I found a nice balance is to send joke cards in their lunchbox. 

This time, I decided that I'd make use of the adorable Doodlebug Doodle-Pops dimensional stickers. Pair it with some matching paper, and they come together so easily.  The hardest thing was coming up with some fun jokes my kids haven't heard! I make a little lift the flap piece, with the question part of the joke on the top and the punch line underneath. 

Q: What's a beaver's favorite snack?  A: Trees and crackers.
Q: What's a rabbit's favorite music? A: Hip hop

I threw a couple of mushy (You color my world! and Whoo loves you? I do!) cards in with this batch.
Q: What do monsters play on at the park?  A: The scarey go round.
Q: What's an owl's favorite subject in school? A: Owl-gebra

Q: What did the reindeer say to the elf? A: Nothing, silly! Reindeer can't talk.
Q: What's the first thing elves learn in school? A: The elf-abet.

Q: What do snowmen eat for breakfast? A: Frosted flakes
Q: What's black and white, black and white, and black and white? A: A penguin rolling down a hill.

Here's a quick list of papers I used too:
Doodlebug Happy Camper Outdoor Dots
Doodlebug Happy Camper Campground
Doodlebug Happy Camper Happy Camper
Doodlebug Stars & Stripes Old Glory
Doodlebug Take Note Totally
Doodlebug Take Note Tweed Stripe
Doodlebug North Pole Jolly Lollies

Thanks for stopping by!

Volleyball Accordion Album

I am over on the Moxxie Blog today with a volleyball accordion album I made for my niece.  Head on over to the blog to check it all out.  Here's a little peek of it:

Christmas Card Class

If you're in the NW Iowa area, my annual Christmas Card Class at A Walk Down Memory Lane is quickly approaching.  Here's the official info about the class:

Join Samantha to create 4 Christmas cards using stamps and dies that will be mailable without sacrificing any of the wow factor.
Supplies to bring to class: Adhesive
Cost: $20
Saturday, November 8 at 1 pm
or 
Tuesday, November 11, at 6 pm

Call AWDML at (712)476-3443 to reserve your spot.