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I blogged a handwriting challenge here yesterday.  Be sure to check it out.

This was $40 well spent this past summer.

The kidlets had so much fun in the teeny-tiny pool – just enough to splash and cool down in.

(some up close details)

Made this entire page (except title) from this free kit from Two Peas!

It is nice to be scrapbooking again.  Just to sit and relax on a summer day with my favorite hobby and scrap the day away.  (OK – maybe I don’t get the whole day but a few hours here and there are lovely!)

I made this page yesterday using some photos of Magnus from last February.

(Supplies:  Text paper by Scenic Route / Grid paper by Sassafras Lass / Zig Zag paper by American Crafts / Letters by Arctic Frog / Buttons by Fancy Pants /Dies by Spellbinders) 

I love these photos of Magnus.  He is always dressing up as one person or another and the doctor costume is one of my faves.

I outlined the letters with a thin black pen so that they would stand out from the busy background – worked like a charm!

When you have a ‘tween it is hard sometimes to capture them accurately on your scrapbook pages.  I mean who want to capture the mood swings and the sass talk?  LOL

I created this fun page to capture my daughter accurately but in a fun way (so she will not roll her eyes when she sees it).

(Supplies:  Patterned Paper, Letters, Felt Flower, Journaling Tag  by American Crafts / Chipboard Hearts, Journaling Tag  by Heidi Grace)

She smiled when she saw it – with no eye rolling what-so-ever.

Lately whenever I am finished a layout I try to create a card with the leftovers on my desk before I clean it up.  It has been great way to use up my scraps and to build up a nice little pile of cards ready for ever occasion.  Here is what I made after I created the above page.

(Additional Supplies: Paper Butterflies by American Crafts / Border Punch, Circle Punch by Fiskars

Love the simplicity of this one and love how my Fiskars punch, well, punched it up a notch.

(sorry for the bad joke but I couldn’t resist!)

Yesterday my copies of the last issue of Memory Makers arrived.Even thought I have been prepared for it for awhile it still made me sad.  I have read and been part of Memory Makers for a long time.  The last issue seems so final.

So it is with a sad good-bye that I end this chapter.  I will savor this last issue for awhile.

Here are my pages from this month’s column.

And here is this month’s color palette (great for fall layouts).

If you make something with this palette make sure to show me.  I love to see what you make.

(In addition to my Color Swatch column I also have a DIY wedding quiz in the issue – be sure to check it out.)

Hope everyone out there had a great weekend.   I spent the weekend with my nose in a book (loved, loved this book), lounging by the “pool”.  LOL

I have another page to share today. I dug into my stash for this one – some paper from Prima from 2006 or 2007(?) and the last labels from a package of Martha Stewart labels.  (Don’t you just love finishing a package of embellishements off?)

To enhance the background I stamped this stamp randomly over the paper with some of this yellow paint.

(Foam letters are by American Crafts.   Ribbon by Basic Grey.)

Pretty quick to put together – I like to keep things pretty simple for a quick moment in time like this.

As mentioned yesterday I have been creating again. To clear off my desk I decided to finish up some pages that I have had “almost” done for awhile (they just needed journaling).

I love the way this one turned out.

It is kind of hard to see the details so here are some up close photos.

The stars were created by die cutting the shape with this star and then running it through my Big Shot with this Texturz plate (some are lifted off the page with black 3D foam squares).

(The title letters are by Cosmo Cricket and the journaling tag is by Cherry Arte.)

Do you like how the photos look?  It was pretty easy to get this look using these Photoshop Actions.  I love using PS Actions to improve less than stellar photos.  This is what the photo looked like before I ran the PS Action.

The colors were all over the place and it lacked focus.  By running the PS Actions I love how instantly you focus on the kidlets and how it adds a dreamy quality to it.

Today I am working on Magnus’ album again. 

I printed off all the photos I need and I started arranging things on the album pages.

The row of photos that you see above the album are for the back sides of the pages.  I spent a few minutes moving around embellishments so that I could be sure that the items were evenly spread through the album.  Next I started adhering things down (some of the embellishment placement changes as I was adhering).

Today I will finish up the journaling on it and figure out how I want to bind it all together and then it will be finished!

These are some of my favorite photos of Magnus playing in the snow – one of the many reasons this is a favorite page. 

To create the black matting around the photos I added it to the pictures before I printed it – you could get the same effect with black cardstock also.  I love how this looks against the black and white photos.  I must remember to do this again sometime soon.

I am now off to do some work – hope you all are having a great day!

to be sitting and scrapping today. I feel like it has been forever (really only a few weeks). I’ve done a few things here and there but not any real, sit-down-and-glue-paper-to-paper-just-for-fun-kinda-scrapping.

It all started yesterday really. I played hookie yesterday and didn’t do a thing. Nothing, nadda, zip, zilch. Just buried my nose in a book. Forgot to each lunch, didn’t check emails, didn’t do dishes and definitely didn’t do any laundry. I really just read all day. And I felt gulity the whole time even though the kids and my husband were out for the day. That was what made it so awesome. The slightly guilty feeling – it made me feel as if I was getting away with something, lol. I needed it though. It has been crazy lately with all the travelling and trying to keep up with my other creative commitments. 

Today I couldn’t wait to get into my scraproom.  I made myself do the chores I skipped yesterday first but now I am busy creating away.  It is nice to feel all charged up again.  Here is the first page I made – appropriately about my daughter who has also turned into a bookworm.

Just a simple page using only cardstock, some foam letter letters and some rub-ons. 

Foam letters and letter rub-ons are by American Crafts.

 To make the decorative border I used some scalloped cardstock and then took a 1/2″ hole punch and punched the circles.

It is just a simple page to document my daughter’s sudden love of reading this summer.

More page soon.

Sometimes it is really great to scrap your latest photos. I took these yesterday when my new nephew came for a visit (9 days old).

I just wanted a page to document his birth – no fancy journaling required!

{Supplies:  Brown Paper, Orange Paper, Flair, Punch, Journaling Stickers, Alpha Sticker, Title, Vellum, Flowers, Button, Rhinestones, Adhesive}