Acetate embellishments

Just a bit of a cluster going on and you can

see the acetate asterisks (say that 3 times fast) and triangles 

sprinkled all over the page.

In fact, I may have used the entire pack as they've

been the stash for a long time.

 The paper came this way which is totally

fun as I didn't need to use the packaging technique

that for some reason has been a disaster for me.

Love this photo. 

Sleeping with her bestie.

She's a hot mess. 

LOL.

Studio Calico. Pinkfresh. 8x8

Doilies, Doodles & Sequins OH my

On a page celebrating the granddog's birthday.

And what a fun party it was!

Love the little ticket I fussy cut out of WRMK PL card.

I can't remember were those feathers came from.

 and what's a party without balloons.

Using a heart punch and some twine - because

the balloon die cut I have is way too big for the page.

So how fun is this!

August looks so dignified in his party hat

and so well behaved.

And the kids are having a blast.

Studio Calico, WRMK, 8x8.

My faux traveler's journal

I thought a lot about a journal mostly because

I'd start and stop one almost in the same breath.

But I became curious about the travel journal so I checked them

out of course.

And I really loved the concept - but I didn't want

to spend the money - especially with my track record

of incomplete journals.

So...I happened to be in Michaels where I did rearrange

their products because of indecision.

I did pick up a travelers journal- well actually three, I'd put

one in my cart, find another, switch them out, etc, and then

decided I really did not want to spend $40 for one.

So I happened to sashay by the art dept and there were 

art journals for $5.

Shazam.

I figured no harm no foul if I dumped this project after awhile.

However, since I'm already on a cut down on

some pages kick, this works out perfect for those

photos you want to scrap with a story to tell but don't

quite need their own 12x12 page.

 I have been tentative with stuff at first but I'm

really getting the hang of it and I think this one may

actually become a finished project.

 I'm trying to decide how much and what to put in there.

Because its not exactly a "private" journal if you know what I mean.

 And some days its an everyday thing and somedays not.

And I like that.

 Then some are goofy "filler" pages because 

it was fun.

 I'm liking the random, fun, goofy things.

Like getting ahead with the kids cards.

 I'm also getting a handle on the white background.

 And highlighting an adorable trinket a friend made

or just a note about missing mom.

 No explanation here.....

So far, that's January.

It's a great way to use up them PL cards

that mutate like bunnies, and its

a great way to highlight the little things that

make my day rock.

I sense a pattern here

In more ways than one -

getting photos out of the box

another pocket page

using up those PL cards that seem to

mutate like rabbits.

The more I use the more I find.

Favorite eldest son home on leave and mom

caught pictures of him relaxing.

I'm also using up a bunch of bits and bobs too 

which is wonderful.

Have a great weekend!

Photos from mom's wayback box

My wayback box is out of control so I decided

to plow through my mom's - it was

a mission for a photo of her and found a treasure

trove of photos of my kidlets as kidlets.

(And I didn't notice that stupid tag moved. Sigh

Says not a quitter under it).

Anyhoo, while I was plowing through the box I found a ton

of photos and these I decided to put together

as a "theme". 

Nick on all of his rides throughout the years.

I thought that was pretty cool.

Of course the pix were all different sizes so putting

them on a mat was necessary.

I put a bit of journaling about his tenacity in learning

to ride, which didn't come easy.

That boy fell off the bike so many times I had to quit

watching because I wanted to make him stop.

But I had to let him persevere and sha-zam - he stopped falling.

Yay!! Go Nick.

Double pocket page spread

I have been wanting to do these pictures for a long time

but couldn't quite make myself do a 2 page 

spread because frankly they baffle me.

So these pocket pages worked out perfectly.

(and my title is crooked. Sigh)

And on a somber note - NONE of these photos were marked

with the kids names (and I did know every one of them)

however since I'm just getting around to scrapping them now

some 25-some years later, I only remember a couple of names.

So mark your photos and ID them right away, just in case you

can't get to scrapping them right away.

I did round the corners and in hindsight I'm not crazy about it.

This is Nick's kindergarten class and every year the put on 

a muscial/play and this year

was Jonah and the whale.

The kids and parents had so much fun and I never

laughed so much in my life.

(and yes I know Jonah and the whale was serious)

but they made it fun for everyone.

So they're lining up and the spotlight was getting into position,

well Nick wasn't happy the light was in his eyes

so mom got a picture of him pointing to the light and

waving his hand in a "move that" direction.

After they lined up to everyone's satisfaction, musical 

instruments were dispensed and in the course

of that, one boy just fell off the stage - then popped right up again.

Needless to say it cracked everyone up.

THEN

there were the action moves while singing.

The entire school did a delightful job and I really didn't

want to have to pick and choose these pix.

Since I can't do a cutfile

But I love the results, I try to "create" my own.

These are nesting dies/cookie cutter from Quikutz

and I rearranged them in the background for

 a faux "cutfile."

 Is that own not adorable?

Picked them up at WM for 97 cents.

 Love how it made a fun background, and

I tend to do something similar

with circles.

 Very fun photo and the kidlets are always going for the ears.

LOL.

All Pink Fresh except for the hearts-bella blvd, owl-WM and tassel.

Background stamping

On Kraft - I love Kraft it can be whatever you want

and today I'm going for rugged.

Love my Creative Cafe stamps and I really use them a lot.

Especially for backgrounds.

You can't have too many stamps.

 I also had some lime green tissue paper laying around.

I mean how often can you use that color.

Shockingly I had embellishments in that color.

 And of course my "fireworks" "sunburst" punch.

Topped off with some arrows and a tag

with some thickers - Studio Calico.

My favorite eldest son competing in a crossfit competition 

a few  years ago

- I need elbows like that.

One of these days.

Grandkidlets in a Pocket Page

I'm kinda getting the hang and liking pocket pages.

I've used a bunch of PL cards and

then found more 😕.

I printed a bunch of photos in different sizes. 

Why? I'm really not sure.

Based on that indecision I broke out a different

design pocket page and started

laying them out.

Decision made!

It really worked out well having a bunch of 

random photos - especially when

its all the same family

but hey, it could work for all grands too.

A bit monochromatic

Which I love every now and then and it is

perfect for this photo of Owen.

Love the hat, the pose, the smile.

Love this paper from Pebbles and paired it up

with some old Basic Grey and

just a bit of embellishment that went sort of

'old' school. 

It totally focuses on the photo.

In the pink baby album and blanket

A lovely, dear young lady who I have the

distinct pleasure of sweating with and then whining about said sweat

(when she isn't pregnant)

when we work out.

As soon as I found she was expecting and knew what

flavor said baby would be I got to work.

 Shocking I know.

This was a 6x6 Recollections paper pad.

 With some extra and leftover embellies.

Love how they both turned out and

she totally loved them.

Whew!

Completed my Smash/Art Journal

I started this bad boy back in 2013 or thereabouts.

That is Creative Cafe paper - and that

has long been defunct.

And then it laid around because I am

seriously not that talented but here are

a few pages in case you care.

 Over New Years we went camping and my first

thought was not to take anything scrappy-wise.

And that was okay until we had to return to the house

because hubby forgot something important 

(which I now forget what that was)

BUT...

in those few seconds I dashed back in the house and changed

my mind.

I only had a few seconds so I grabbed this album 

a bunch of different colored sharpies.

When we made a stop a Walgreens and I picked up a small

Crayola watercolor set and that was it.

I was gonna grab the watercolor from home but had second thoughts then.

Now I have one to keep for other road trips.

This is more journaling than anything else with some

*coughcough* art.

I'm glad I completed this book FINALLY.

It was a long time coming and its really just a random,

no theme or consistency (except the drawings are bad LOL)

album that need completing.

Just a smidge off center

And there's a reason - there's this issue I've been having

lately with mists and the packaging technique.

It's been a flat out horror story - in fact there's one page

I seriously can't fix - that I may or may not ditch.

It's that bad.

Therefore in order to cover up said horror that strip

had to moved just a titch to assist in the

cover-up.

Feathers help too.

Now there's just a bit of color popping out 

that actually looks good.

Grands on a rock - they love the outdoors.

Pink fresh, thickers, and die cut feathers.

And mists 😐😐😐😐

Just adding a little bit more

I finished this page and while it looks nice

after I saw it in a picture - to me it looked well

meh.

 I tossed back on my desk and messed around with some more

embellishments and mists which added a touch more.

Just what was needed - nothing overwhelming.

Basic Grey - except for the hearts and flowers and nuvo dots.

New Years Pocket Page

Last time when I was running low on page protectors

I grabbed a box without looking and wa-laa

50 project life pocket pages.

I decided to keep them because I'm seriously

running out of album storage so I may

play around with them more to reduce the amount of 

albums I've been creating.

Since I create a page for 5 days each for the blog times

52 is about 260 pages a year.

About 3-4 albums sooooo....

 if I want to highlight a certain photo I can do that too.

Love how this turned out for maybe my second or

third 12x12 pocket page (I have done smaller ones). 

We took off camping for new year's 

with some friends and camped in Fort Perkins for 2 days

and because of bad weather we left and went

back to their place (they have a nice slice of property)

 and camped out.

However, prior to the bad weather we did go on a field trip

to the Naval Aviation Museum and the Pensacola Lighthouse.

I adore both.

It was a lovely time all around and very easygoing.

Christmas card layout

I have done this every year since I lifted this idea

from Ali Edwards way back.

Every year the amount of cards get a little smaller but

its still fun. I also put the cards on my little tree long.

So I take all the cards from the tree and put them on a page

to remember them and to save them.

(This tree is from a few years ago).

This year was the year of snowmen and if it wasn't

a photo card which are tucked into the pocket,

 I fussy cut out whatever took my fancy and

added it to the page like an embellishment.

And there is no guilt in tossing out the remnants of the card.

I did save a card from my Uncle Harold who is up in age

in order to preserve his handwriting and little note.

Using what is left of the Pebbles paper or maybe there's more

I'm sort of "out of order" on posts.  

Finding forgotten little gems

My mom and I got into scrapbooking about the same time

and as I was looking in some really early albums, 

tucked into a "cutting edge pocket page" for back in 2002.

I came across this gem.

 Mom always made sure there were pictures - (I was

usually not paying attention or busy) so there she was

grabbing snaps all around on Christmas, holidays and 

just ordinary times and she created and 

gifted me this little mini album.

 However, the reason I got emotional was not about the photos

it was about the fact that she put this little album

together and it has her handwriting on it

and her thoughts.

 Funny thoughts.

Not real deep journaling and I'm okay with that 

because just getting mom to write something was like pulling teeth.

So here's my question.

How often do you look back and go through your

early stuff. 

Had I not been on a mission to look back in photos

to find some information I would've missed this

(because I had forgotten I had it - as I have

about 40 albums of mine on my shelf and I have

about 12 more of her albums in safe keeping).

I also found to my delight and annoyance (because I'm competitive that way)

 she had pictures and information I didn't have and she didn't

share and it was such a treasure trove and a connection.

My mom passed a few years after she created this gem and her

other albums which I have actually paged through

(not very often now) because they are stored, and love the

comfort it brings because there are times when I miss her beyond a lot

and I feel blessed I have this piece of her.

Paper piecing sort of

I love this Echo Park collection and I used quite a bit

so when I came across these pix 

that are totally perfect for them and because I didn't have enough.... 

 I used various strips of leftover papers and adhered them

on a 12x12 kraft paper and yeah covered it up totally

but I'm diggin' the result.

 Various embellishments - homemade and from 

the sticker sheet.

Went a little old school here.

Love it.

app

I used all the bits and pieces.

Really loved this line.

Love using all stuff I purchased without leftovers.

Connor picking apples - fun!