A great scrappy night!

Woohoo! Three layouts in one night. Amazing! All of them are from Swirlydoos kits. It's pretty much the only supplies I have right now, lol.

This is Breezy last fall. I used the water distressing technique from over at Swirlydoos and I really like how dark this one is. It was my first attempt at this type of distressing and I hope to do a lot more of it.



This is myself on the same day as Breezy's photo. The dark purple flourishes are Dusty Attic painted with Smooch. The tulips are real silk tulips as opposed to scrapbook florals. I pretty much use a lot of different flowers and even the 'tree' like stuff in the layout above is from the floral section at Michael's.



And this last one is of Kevin at Atreyu's sound check last year. I just love all the MME papers in the Mon Amour kit. There's something about red, black and cream that just speaks to me anyway.



I think it's a pretty safe bet that I won't be reaching my goal this year. It was a little optimistic, I guess, but I thought Kevin was past all the medical instability and that things would settle down. Now I am just striving to at least reach 52 - that's an average of one a week so I'll settle for that.

Wish me luck!

A quick layout

I am in love with Moonshadow Mists! In the layout I did last night, I used three different ones and the effect is so cool. The photo here doesn't do them justice at all - the glimmer is so pretty.

Anyway, this one was done using two of the past Swirlydoos kits. I don't have much time to scrap anymore, but I loved using all the mists and inks on this one.

Obviously this one is of Kevin at the Tea Gardens (once again, lol). The title is to remind us of how long our journey to recovery has been (is still...really).

Darnit!

I finally got around to finishing the layout I started the other day using my Swirlydoos kit and I'm sad to say that it didn't quite turn out like I had envisioned. I was trying to emulate Finnabair and although I think I got some of it right, when I went to spray my Smooch Spritz (LOVE!!!) I didn't have the bottle turned correctly in my hand - not once, but twice! - and ended up spraying in the wrong place. Darnit!

So the layout really doesn't do anything for me, but I still did it and it still counts toward my total so here it is:



And I'm not one to let fear hold me back so rest assured - I will try again.

This next one I did with some Prima papers from my stash. This is another one of those photos that I already scrapped, but the last one I did in B&W so maybe it doesn't count? LOL.

This is one of those 10 minute jobs and I admit it's pretty simple, but I usually like them that way. It's also a real struggle to not be home with all the embellies I collected over the years. I have only a small bit of stuff here in TX so my hands are tied with limited choices.



And last but not least, this is another using my Swirlydoos kit. I just LOVE this month's box of goodies. I am almost at the end of my gift subscription though and it's gonna kill me to not get my box anymore, but it's just the way it is, I guess.

Anyway, this photo was taken by Rebecca Droke of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and it was taken at Kevin's Purple Heart Ceremony. It's one of those rare photos that all three of us are actually in and I think it best shows naturally how much love there is amongst us. We are just such a lucky family in how well we all get along - not that we don't fight - but generally, we are all really good to each other. I sure love my kids!



Again, another VERY simple layout, but this one was more about the journaling.

It's been so long since I scrapped.

We have hit a real rough spot in our household lately so scrapping really hasn't been on my list of things to do.

But last night - I was determined. I somehow managed to get 3 1/2 layouts done too! So here they are:

These are all Swirlydoos inspired. The first two are using the new kit "Mon Amour". Wow - I love this one just as much as I loved "Antebellum Beauty"!

I am just loving the red, black and cream. Oh and the glitter too, lol!

So the first one is Kevin giving us attitude while at the Tower of Americas in San Antonio last fall. He really is such a ham! I was so happy to use the harlequin stamp that I had in one of the very first ScrapMuse kits way back in the day because I had never used it before. I didn't scrap pretty much the whole three years I was building ScrapMuse as it was really just a whole lotta work. Fun though!

I also took one of the Dusty Attic corners and used red stickles to give it the same glitter effect that is already on the papers. I love how that turned out!



And this is a photo of Breezy I had already scrapped a while ago, but it really was just perfect for these papers so I had to do it again. I just love the red and brown combination and those bloomers are TDF!



This photo of me was also scrapped before, but when I went home to FL I grabbed a bunch of photos and most of the ones I grabbed are duplicates of the ones I already scrapped. So we may see more of the same, at least until I can get more printed.



I am really anxious to finish the other layout I started last night as it is nothing I have ever tried to do before. It is totally Finniabair inspired as her style totally rocks! Hopefully it works out and you get to see it tomorrow!

Finnibair meets Donna Downey

I wish!! Seriously though, this layout is inspired by both - I just wish I had a portion of their talent!

Anyway, this is a pic of Kevin with the band Atreyu last Oct in San Antonio. We got to spend the day with the band - hanging out in the tour bus and at both sound check and the actual concert. I have never seen Kevin so dang happy!

So without further adieu (is that the right spelling of the word?), here is Kevin:



I might enter this in the Grunge Contest over at Swirlydoos. I haven't read the rules yet so it may not be applicable. Sure is grungy though, huh?

I can't believe it!

I actually got to scrap last night. Kevin has just been calling me so often that there was no sense even attempting to scrap. To be honest, he called me bunches last night too, but I still kept at it.

So here is the layout I did of Kevin at the Tea Gardens in San Antonio. I want to journal on the back about what a long road his recovery has been and I want to focus on how sad his eyes are. That was a happy day and still...his eyes reflect how sad his life really is.

Anyway, here it is:



I am really struggling not having all of my scrap stuff here in Texas. There are so many things I have at home that I would just love to use on some of these layouts!

And I really need to make a new header for my new background, huh?

I'm Getting There

Finally - #30. I am hoping I can get a couple more layouts in tomorrow as I got my new Swirlydoos kit today. Yipee!!

Anyway, here is a layout that I feel just needs a little bit more, but I am unsure of what. I love the Dusty Attic frame, but the whole thing feels a little 'off' to me. Maybe I'll come up with something, maybe I won't.



Any suggestions?

Here's Another

Really working on this goal...



I am so into orange lately - have no idea why. I also really love those butterflies that Lisa over at Swirlydoos turned me on to.

Catching Up

I am so far behind in my goal for this year. Truthfully, I am about 18 layouts behind - ack!! I am really determined to reach this goal so I am forcing myself to get into my scraproom. Here are my two latest:

I am so in love with the Road Show collection from Fancy Pants! This one is Moe and I at the Riverwalk last October. It was a wonderful, much needed, day out!



On that day, we also went to Mission San Jose. Here are a couple of the photos from that visit.



Man, that place was just beautiful and there was a young, Mexican girl there that was getting married. I so badly wanted to take her photo because it was like stepping back in time seeing a dark skinned girl with this gorgeous white gown with the mission as her backdrop. I wonder if my daughter might get married there? Hmmm...

Anyway, this layout was once again created using the Swirlydoos kit "Antebellum Beauty". I have created 5 or 6 layouts with this kit and I have NEVER done that before! Krissy really rocked this one if you ask me (not that she doesn't always, lol).

A Scrappy Day

I finally got motivated to go into my scraproom today. The first layout I did was of Kevin and Moe at The Tower of the Americas in San Antonio:



The second one I did was of Kevin and Levi hugging when Levi visited us in Florida last summer. I sure miss that little guy!

Anyway, it is made using the Swirlydoos kit from June - Antebellum Beauty. If you haven't figured it out yet - I REALLY loved that kit, lol!!

This layout is also based on a sketch by Beggahuna and you can see it here:

Beggahuna Sketch

A Day at the Tea Garden:

By far, the tea gardens are my most favorite place to take photos! I have hundreds and hundreds of them from there and can't wait to keep going back to take more.

Anyway, here is another layout I made last night of our day spent at the gardens last week:



I used the Fancy Pants 'Road Show' papers and tons of Prima flowers!

Yipee!

The layout I did called "Siblings" was named Layout of the Week at Swirlydoos this week and the very same layout won the Memorial Day Layout Contest over at Scrap Play! How exciting is that, huh?

Scrapped Again Last Night

It was a rough night last night being the 2nd anniversary of Kevin being wounded, so I retreated to my scraproom and got a few things done.

The first layout is designed using the Swirlydoos kit again. I so loved this kit! It also follows the sketch that Beggahuna puts out for them each month. It is Kevin and I at the tea gardens last November.


This one is Moe and I at Vegas a few years back. I had a blast playing with paint and glimmer mists on this one. It's simple, but I still like it.


And this is a journal I have started. Since I am becoming a grandmother, I have decided to create an art journal full of tips and ideas for my daughter to help her raise her children. This is the first project I have ever sewed and I have Donna Downey to thank! She is one of my inspiration gurus, lol.


This last is the first page of my journal. It sucks. I wasn't going to put it on here, but I am hoping that, through time, I get better and it becomes obvious, lol.

Another One

I mentioned last night that I had another layout and here it is:



Lucy Edson did a tutorial over at
The Color Room on using the photo frames in PS Elements. I grabbed a photo of Breezy and Chris and I just love how it turned out.

This layout was also done using my Swirlydoos kit. I added some small mosaic tiles around the photo to add some dimension as well as the Dusty Attic embellies.

If you haven't noticed yet, I am a simple scrapper, lol. I wish I could be more eclectic, but I always end up with something straight and clean.

Anyway, I do hope to scrap more today so we shall see...

So Long...

I haven't scrapped in so long. I just haven't felt inspired in the least to do anything in my scraproom. But the other day I got my Swirlydoos kit in the mail and finally - FINALLY - something made me want to scrap! This kit is just gorgeous and it is so my style.

I actually designed two layouts today, but it was dark by the time I finished the second so I don't have a photo of it yet. Here though, is Breezy and Kevin as we were heading to the stage for Kevin's Purple Heart Ceremony:



This photo was taken by Rebecca Droke of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and is one of my all time favorites.

So this layout is the first time I have ever used Dusty Attic products. I AM IN LOVE! I took the border that is along the bottom of the photo and painted it green first, then dabbed some copper over that and topped it off randomly with some Tim Holtz "Frayed Burlap" distress ink. You can't really see the effect, but it looks great in real life.

This second layout is one I did back when we first got here, but I never uploaded it. Honestly, I don't like it. I imagine I am going to end up either adding to it or starting over. I just think it's top heavy, but I can't find anything in my stuff to throw on the bottom. If I were home it would be different, but I am very limited here in Texas.

So anyway, here it is:



This is my niece, Christina, back when she was younger.

Tomorrow I will add the other layout I did today and who knows...maybe I will even do more before uploading :)

Yay! I scrapped!

We have been in Texas almost a month now and things have been pretty rough. We are staying at a Fisher House and today a woman came in to teach everyone how to scrapbook so I asked Kevin if I could go scrap for a bit and he was ok with it. It wasn't long, believe me, but I did get a quick layout done. And here it is...

7 Gypsies Printer's Tray

I fell in love with this thing the very first time I saw one all decorated. I finally picked one up at Scrapbook.com and I rushed to get it done last night for my parent's anniversary. I did plan to make it more creative, but there just wasn't time. I want to get a couple more for myself, so maybe next time it will be a little more detailed.

What fun though. And it's the first 'project' I have ever completed.

Believe it or not...

I did two more layouts since yesterday. I have been under a lot of stress lately and it's the only time I can forget for a few minutes so I am running to my scraproom as often as possible. Anyway, here they are:

This first one is Breezy, Kevin and I at the Alamo this past summer.


And this next one just cracks me up. Kevin and I went to some drive through safari in Texas a few months ago and this ostrich came running over to the car. Kevin - being the drama queen that he is - acted like it was going to kill him and started screaming bloody murder. It was just such a hilarious moment!


My family sure is crazy, huh?

A Couple More

Kristy, one of the DT members over at ScrapMuse, turned me on to Sketchy Thursdays and I fell in love with this sketch:


And here is my take on it:



This is Dolly from over at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL. She is a very friendly giraffe, lol.

This next layout is of my nephew Michael. He took this photo a while ago and actually sent it to Kevin when we were in the hospital:



I just noticed the "H" in "what" is crooked so I will have to fix that, lol.

And I think I am going to take a short, little nap now. Maybe when I get up I can scrap some more.

Well...It's about time...

It has been a while since I was able to scrap. With Kevin being sick and my dad being in the hospital (not to mention all of the family members staying with us), there just wasn't time to scrap.

But, I did get to last night! Yippee!!! Here is the layout I designed:



Can I just say that I ADORE Prima flowers? Lucky for me I have quite the collection from over the years, lol.

Just a couple more!

I am feeling so good about all the scrapping I am accomplishing so far. I am roughly 3-4 weeks ahead of my goal and I intend to stay ahead for those times when something is up with Kevin and I can't scrap. So here are the latest two:

This first one is Kevin and Mathew. Kevin has this tendency to plop down on people's laps and it's just hilarious!


And this one is Breezy walking down the path at the Japanese Tea Garden. I have so many photos of us there and I bet everyone is getting sick of them, lol.



I really just love the size of the photo on this one. And I so love the pink paper from My Mind's Eye.

A Wild Safari Adventure!

This is a photo of my buddy Levi from this past summer. He came to stay for a week and we went to Busch Gardens one day. We had so much fun!



I picked up some grass at Michael's and thought it would add a nice 'jungle' touch. I also used a set from Jolees, which is something I rarely do. I just thought it added that cute safari look.

Finally - OLW

I finally got around to designing my One Little Word layout. I am really into pink right now - probably because it's almost Valentine's Day, but who knows. So anyway, here it is:


It's one of the flattest layouts I've done in a while, lol!

So to the word itself - I can't really say I have made any changes yet. I have been trying to scrapbook more, but I still haven't went out and done anything this year. 'Wicked' is coming to Tampa in February though and I am so determined to see it. I sure hope Kevin is well enough for me to go.

Yukky Night

I had such a mentally draining night last night so I scrapped. What else can we do when we are so very depressed?

So here are my layouts. The first is a scraplift and I am very mad at myself because I can't remember who I lifted. I have it in my mind that it is Donna Downey, but I might be seriously wrong.

Anyway, I just LOVE how she flowered the whole background! And what a way to get rid of some of the million tiny Prima flowers I have from years ago, huh?


This second layout is for the challenge over at ScrapMuse. We had to hand cut paper to make embellishments and add chipboard. I cut the leaves out of some old Prima paper. Cutting things is a little hard for me, but I managed!


Now I am off to scrap for a bit. Kevin is out with Ronnie and I am so enjoying being home alone!

6 Layouts In One Night!

I scrapped all night last night. Kevin only called me downstairs twice, so I got hours of scrapping in and I loved it! Unbelievably, I got six layouts done. I have never gotten that many done in one night before.

So now I am ahead of my goal. I plan to design at least two layouts a week during 2010 and that means I am ahead a week so far.

So anyway, here are my layouts:

This first one is of Moe while we were at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio. She HATES to get her picture taken and just won't smile, lol. So after a while, she finally gave in and gave me a smarta$$ smile and I snagged the photo real quick!


This is of my son while at his Purple Heart Ceremony. The photo was taken by Rebecca Droke, the wonderful photographer from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I must say that every time I looked at this picture I saw stars and knew I had to incorporate them somehow. I cut them all with my Cricut and then misted them with Glimmer Mist.


This one was created for a sketch challenge over at Amy's Creative Treasures. The sketch itself is from Pagemaps. This is what actually got me inspired to start scrapping last night!


This one didn't really turn out the way I had hoped and I am not overly thrilled with it. I do love the look on Kevin's face in this picture, but I'm just not happy with the layout itself.


And here is one of Breezy at the Japanese Tea Gardens too. I just LOVE this Life Stories line from My Mind's Eye. It has such a unique feel to it.


And this one is my favorite of the night. I actually started this layout a long time ago and put it aside for a while. When I got the Mudd Paste in the mail recently, I knew I had to add it to this layout. I was also VERY brave and actually painted the sun's rays onto this layout and I was so scared to do it. I'm glad I did though, because it really added to it (in my eyes anyway, lol).



I sure hope I can get to some more scrapping this week. It was just so relaxing getting so many layouts done!

No scrapping for me!

I made a goal to do a minimum of two layouts a week in 2010 and I haven't done a one yet. I have been sick the last week or so and have not felt well enough to even scrap. Kevin's aide is coming tomorrow, so I am hoping I can at least get one in. Wish me luck!