Double layout - "Ropes"

My favorite time of year seems to be slipping away too quickly! Brrrr! Praying for the East Coast and everybody inland who is dealing with or preparing for "Frankenstorm". That's one serious looking storm on the radar.

Earlier this year we attended a birthday party for a friend of the family. The shindig was at a youth center and they had a fabulous ropes course, up in the rafters of the gymnasium. Crazyness! Not for me, but my son had a ball. Of course, it did make for some great pictures.

Once again, I had a lot of pictures, so placing them in a grid worked the best. The lined graph cardstock helped emphasize all of the horizontals in the pictures. A couple of different border punches on strips of paper help to draw the eye across the two pages.

That's his worried Mama looking up, praying he won't fall. =) The little bungee cords made out of braided hemp didn't photograph very well. When the paper lays flat, as it will inside the plastic sleeve, it looks way better.

I happened to have the hand paperclips on-hand (lol...coudn't resist) in my stash. I used a couple new stamps from SU on Kraft paper inked with black around the edges and a handmade Kraft flower for embellishments. I journalled right on the cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by! Take care and be safe out there in your corner of the world.

Blessings!
Julie

Two page layouts - "Dorm Sweet Home" and "Tigers Baseball"

It's days like today that make me love the fall so much. It's cool and breezy and I'd like nothing better than to stretch out in a hammock.

My son is back at college, and I'm missing him already. This seems like the perfect time to share a layout of him in his dorm last fall.



The paper is from Teen Angst paper stack. I used the Fiskars notebook border bunch and zigzag ribbon. I love the hand-shaped paper clip giving a thumbs up to his dorm room. This was such an emotional day for us. He's only an hour a way, but when they're not in their bed at night, they seem so far!

I really miss his gentle happy spirit. Both our boys have the ability to light up the room. We've been so blessed to be given the opportunity to raise them. Jacob is our youngest...Makes for an empty-feeling in the house.

We had the opportunity to take in a Tiger baseball game in July. Yep, I scrapped it already (patting myself on the back). Right in the middle of our hot, muggy, almost unbearable summer was this perfect night for a baseball game...Seriously, the weather was in the lower 70's with a nice breeze. I was so excited not to be cooking in the sun.

The best part was they played great and won. This was one of the first games in the series and very exciting to watch...that is coming from somebody who is not a fan of baseball. =) I actually find it kind of boring to watch, but this game was so enjoyable! 

I prettied up the baseball theme with a scalloped oval punch border. The word baseball was cut with Cricut's "Sports Mania" cartridge. The 3D looking stars are from Art Philosophy. I acutally remembered to work the ticket stubs into the design this time. I played with the grid a little bit to get as many pictures in as possible. It's a good thing my camera ran out of battery or I might have had to do a second two pager...lol.

Have a great week!!

Two Summer Layouts - "South Haven" and "Enjoy"

Oh man, I could handle weather in the 70's for the next four months or so. It's breezy and beautiful! Where is the hammock?

I have a couple more Lake Michigan getaway layouts to share with you today. My youngest boy is back at college, and I'm missing him already. He's the good looking one in these layouts.

 Lovin the red white and blue distressed nautical look to this layout.

 I used my Fiskars postage stamp border punch around the edge. The banner is from Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. It punches the holes and everything. That makes it really easy to string it up with baker's twine. If you are looking for an excellent jam-packed cartridge that you will use all the time...Art Philosophy (from Close to My Heart) is it!! I use it every time I scrap.

The stamped tags are StampinUp! I love the distressed, nautical look when stamped in this pretty blue.

This paper was pretty fitting for the pictures we took on the boardwalk at Pentwater. I grouped my pictures in the center of the two page layout so the design on the paper remained visible. There were several cute little gears, tags and stamps on the paper for me to journal on. The August 12 tag is from Close to My Heart. I also added several red circular stamps on the layout to bring some red over from the the right side of the layout.

This paper already had the red distressing on it. I added some more random red stamps and sentiments around the pictures. When I'm at a loss for a title, I turn to Cricut's Graphically Speaking cartridge. There are so many great options to choose from.

 Here are the pages side-by-side. I love it when I can find papers from two different brands that work together. =)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and have a blessed week!

Double layout "Lake Michigan Mini Vacation"

Time to share another layout of my son. He's so photogenic and he's very patient with us constantly taking his picture. Our oldest son is married now, and they aren't always able to join us when we head out for a long weekend. So....he's our main target. Every once in awhile we give him the camera so he can shoot some of us.

 The patterned paper and stickers are from Creative Memories. I picked these up at a crop I attended last year (on sale...yay). The mini sun stamps are from StampinUp! I just love all these pictures of my handsome son. We are so blessed with such great kids!! I cut the title with my Cricut, with either the Jubilee or Lyrical Letters cartridge.

 I found a stamp in my collection that I used as rays around the striped circles. The "picture perfect" sticker is Creative Memories.

Here are both pages together. This layout went together fast and easy!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Have a great week!

The Great Sebastians - School drama

I'm a few days late in wishing all of you a happy and blessed new year. So hard to believe another year has come and gone already. I hope that everybody enjoyed their Christmas and New Year's celebrations! We had a great time with family. I'm hoping to scrap some of those photos this weekend.

Until then, I have something else to share...These pictures were taken at the fall play at Jacob's new school. I can't remember the name of the part that he had, but he did a great job. I wasn't familiar with this play at all, but they did a nice job with the backdrops and costumes.

Here's a close up... so you can see Jacob kissing the leading lady's hand.

The left page sketch is from Scrapbooking Competitions a few months back. The right is my own. When I work in my son's album, I try to fit in as many pictures as I can. It's really all about the pictures and telling the story, rather than the way I put them on the page...At least in his eyes. Usually, we are both pleased with the results.

The recipe: 

Paper:    Paper Company, Tim Holz Ideaology "ticket tubs"

Stamps:  Close to My Heart "Free Spirit"

Ink:  Gold Metallic

Ribbon: Gold "Celebrate it"

Die Cut:  Locker talk drama masks, Sweethearts bracket frame

Letters: Creative Memories black  letter stickers

Have a wonderful week. I'm planning to have some scrappy time Friday evening, and I can hardly wait!

First Day of Senior Year

Hope your Christmas celebrations were wonderful! We had a great time together. Looking forward to celebrating some more this weekend with our extended family. This post has nothing to do with Christmas at all. =) Thought it was time to give you something new to look at, though.

My son, Jacob, is a senior this year. What makes that even more significant is that he had to transfer to a new school this year. It's going really well for him! This layout is pictures taken the morning before he left for his first day of school. We've had a tradition of going out for breakfast on the first day of school. It's always been a lot of fun, even though it means getting up earlier. So, this is my last "1st day of school" layout! Isn't that sad??? Oh my goodness (sniff).... I'll try to be strong.

Left side:

I should explain here that he doesn't typically have to get all dressed up with a tie. He played goal keeper on the varsity soccer team. They had a game that day, so he had to dress up on his first day, which was a bit of a bummer. I used his new school colors and that worked so well with the clothing he and my hubby were both wearing. 

 Right Side (my photo is a bit blurry...=()

The layout ended up almost too balanced and symmetrical, so I added the off centered brackets at the bottom to throw things off a little bit. 

Together:

If you're wondering about the snazzy blue car, it's from Paper Doll cartridge. It's one of the accessories. My son probably wishes he had a cool car like this, but as you can see from the top left picture, he does not.

Have a happy New Year and enjoy your time celebrating! Thanks for following my blog. I look forward to another year of scrappy fun with you.



Life is Good - more vacation

Here's another layout of vacation pictures for you. These were just some miscellaneous pictures that I kind of threw together to describe the laid back time of our vacation.

The inspiration for the sketch came from Pagemaps.com and I entered it in Paper Secrets October sketch challenge. I had to add a second row of pictures because there were just too many pictures to fit it. I do like the way it turned out, though.

I love the photo of Jacob asleep in the hammock swing. He looks like he is back in the womb or something. The Life is Good title is cut with the Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge. The solid background is from Cloud 9 Design. The pale blue cloud paper near the top is American Traditional Design's Summer Sizzle collection. The circle paper is Stampin Up "Sweat Pea" collection.


I added my own second page, and here they are together so you can see the flow. I used my Fiskars eyelet border punch on some random scraps of paper to show off the edges. I also cut some circles from the paper to fill the center space. These pictures are just us hanging out and walking down to Lake Michigan.

It was one of those weeks where God intended us to fully kick back. The cottage's tv system was not working and there was no internet connection. The cell phone was hit or miss too....Hence the reason Jacob and I decided to play some chess. The kid didn't know how to set up the board, so I was thinking I would have no problems beating him...LOL. He won every game. I think he just pretended to not know how to set it up. I also love the picture of him chugging his little jug of chocolate milk....only on vacation! =)

Blackhawk Christian Soccer layout - Senior Night

Howdy! Got some scrappin done last weekend and it's time to share!

I've blogged before about Jacob having to change schools in his senior year. While it was not what any of us wanted (his small Christian school closed due to financial reasons), the transition is going fairly smoothly. He made the varsity team and this layout is pictures of Senior recognition night. It was really odd to walk out on the field and meet him amongst relatively new acquaintances. We've met a few parents and students and they have been very welcoming. However, it wasn't "my" plan for Jacob in his senior year, so it has just taken some getting used to on our part.

The first is the left side of the layout featuring the senior recognition. I believe the papers were from Bo Bunny "Roughin It" collection. The back side of the papers are all about camping, but this side is perfect for these colorful soccer pictures. The sketch is one from Lets Scrap
I didn't win the prize drawing at Lets Scrap, but it is always fun to paticipate! Here is the right side of the sketch. I've done 3 x 3 grids like this before, but the differnce with this sketch is the square that is under the striped paper in center of the layout. Mine is in Kraft. It gives it kind of a tic tac toe look. I'm kinda liking it, but the picture of the layout may not be showing it clearly. I used Sports Mania Criucut cartridge to cut the soccer ball and I rounded it up in the middle a little bit with a foam square to make it look more like a ball rather than flat. And...who is that awesome keeper???? He did a good job with the little bit of field time that he got this year. Again, a little frustrating, but definitely a good character-building experience.
Here are the two pages together. Thanks for looking! I'm looking for more followers for my blog. So, if you enjoy what you see, please click on the "Follow" button and you'll get an email every time I update! If you know anybody else who might enjoy the blog, feel free to pass it along! The more the merrier!

Basketball layout using a found item

Here is a layout that I almost forgot to share. The pictures were taken back in May and June. Why does that seem so long ago? Jacob was playing in an off season league and he was pretty amazing!

The cool thing about this layout is that I was determined to use the little washers that my husband had left laying on the counter. I asked him several months ago if he needed them. He, of course, wondered what I would want with them. =) I mean really what is a washer for anyway? When I told him it was going to go on a scrapbook page some day, he just laughed at me.

So here it is. I am happy with the way it turned out. I used a bit of smooch spray on the title section to tie in the metal look. I used a border punch to create the edge on my journaling block. I cut the red rick rack with my Cricut machine and used the ribbon to attach the washers. The caption on each picture was done with my new label maker using the clear tape. I love the label maker! Great for captions and journaling!


Have a great weekend! My boys turn 18 and 20 this Sunday. Yes, they share the same birthday. Isn't that awesome? They were just babies yesterday!!

All about Jacob

Wow...Where has this week gone? It's clouding up outside and getting ready to pour. Taking a minute or two to share another new layout with you.

I've scrapped these pictures before for Jacob's scrapbook; however, I wanted them in our family book too. We took Jacob to get his pictures taken back in the fall of 2008. He actually had a little fun and I think they turned out so well. The hair....well the hair was a few styles ago (thankfully)....never a favorite of mine, but still scrapworthy!!!
The pictures were printed with the brushed white edges and I'd planned ahead enough to know that all of these would be together on a layout. I used a distressed khaki paper and went to town cutting out circles from the patterned paper. It didn't seem done, so a few days later, I stapled on the striped ribbon at the bottom and it helped a lot to ground it. Then I had the urge to doodle around the edges of the page. I have a plastic ruler that has a cut out to follow to draw a line and a small circle. It's all kind of random, but I am really happy with it now. There is also doodling around the outline of the Fiskar's bracket punch.

Enjoy and thanks for looking! Have a great evening...

Double Double- Prom Scrapbook layouts

Yes...I'm posting two prom layouts for you today as a reward for sticking with me through a week (or more) without a new post....lol
This first layout is one that I did for the family album of Jacob's Jr/Sr Keystone banquet (aka Prom). The theme was "Hollywood Premiere".
I used a full page diecut with hearts cut out and filled some of the negative heart spaces with black and white patterned paper. I used a pink and white theme because it seemed to bring out the best in the pictues. Honestly, if there is a girl anywhere in my photo, I kinda jump on the chance to use a little pink.

The second layout is for Jacob's book. I featured him and Anna with a 5x7 and then completely packed in a bunch of wallet size photos. I knew he would want to remember everything about that night, so I put them down without a lot of rhyme or reason. The flowers are made of silky white (petals) and green (stems and leaves) ribbon.I just kept sticking them on the page. lol! I love all of the shots, but to me it's a little too much chaos. Somehow, I knew he would love it. When I showed it to him that night he was so excited. It was his favorite page and because there were so many memories packed into one layout. Again, not my favorite layout. It won't win any awards, but if he loves it, that is what really matters!
Thanks for looking! Have a marvelous Memorial Day weekend.

Contest submission - Jacob's school pic 2009

I based this one on a sketch from http://www.52sketches52weeks.ning.com/ . It was a layout featuring one photo and some circular designs under the photo as well as around the edge. I used my circles for journaling. Can you see that I stamped peace signs on them before journaling? It's subtle, but I like it! I'm pleased with the way the layout turned out. I also submitted this one for a crative journaling contest through http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/. Enuf jabbering...here it is.