Let's play softball

Tiffany Tillman came out with a fabulous new set of Artisan Blend templates this week. They're absolutely fabulous! It's so fun blending photos into the papers and textures into the photos. I love digi! Now my mind is working. I'm thinking of some photos I want to take this week so I can play around with some more of these templates later this week. Yup. I'm a scrapper! LOL!

FYI, my daughter loves playing softball!

You can find all the credits to this page here.

This is what happiness looks like - A New Bike!

This was a fun page to create. I've been using blending modes on my scrapbook pages for a long time now, but I knew there was a lot more to blending than I knew and I wanted to learn more! I decided it would be fun to take Tiffany Tillman's blending class at ReneePearson.com. (FYI, it's a self paced class.) I'm so glad I did. Tiffany answered a bunch of questions for me ... and more importantly taught me things I had no idea I didn't know - options I didn't even know existed. Awesome! {Yes ... I'm a computer geek!} I'm going to be playing around with blending on a lot more pages to come - that's for sure!

Oh, the pictures ... we just got my daughter a new bike. She's much taller this summer than she was last summer. Growth spurts = new bikes. If you saw my photo of the day from a short time ago you know that she's been using my bike all summer and that she was not happy about it. I've had my bike for a long time (it's a perfectly good bike) and she was not happy about "riding a bike that's older than she is!" She was quite happy when her dad took her out and got her a new bike. Happiness = a New Bike!

If you'd like to see the credits for this page, click here.

If you'd like to read more about Tiffany Tillman's blending class, click here.

P365+1: Week 25: June 17 - June 23, 2012 + Softball!

Another fun week. Oma is visiting us this weekend. The weather was gorgeous today ... perfect for a softball tournament! What a fun day!

FYI, the Lord of the Rings photo kind of creeps me out. My son wanted me to snap the photo with my phone while we were watching the movie. He played the movie in slow motion during this scene. He thought it might be a fun profile pic for FB. Turns out it was a fun pic (yikes!) but he decided he didn't want to use it for FB. Probably a good decision. (But that opinion is coming from an adult and not a high school boy!)

Super Kool Kidz! ... (Comic Book Style ... again!)

I seem to be drawn to comic book style pages these days. The fonts and the papers and the shapes ... way too fun! Tiffany Tillman at Design House Digital came out with an awesome set of comic book templates this week. I used them for these pages. They're great ... check 'em out!

FYI ... these pics are from a field trip my daughter took this year with her class. I got to chaperone ... which I don't get to do very often anymore. What fun! I loved it. I need to take these opportunities while I still have them, right?!

Left Page:

Right page:

You can find a full list of credits here.

FREE Jessica Sprague birthday blog hop!

The Jessica Sprague birthday bash bloghop starts today! The first stop is Jessica's blog. It'll include 9 stops and in the end you'll have an awesome Beach Party kit created by the J*S designers. Click here to get to Jessica's blog and you'll be on your way!

And don't forget ... there's a sale and birthday contest. Lots of fun!

My Goofy Guys!

I love when I get fun goofing around photos of my husband and son! They make me laugh!

I love Design by Dani's Super Pop kit. I've used it a couple of times in the last couple of days. It's just so fun!
You can see a full list of credits at my gallery at Jessica Sprague here.

A fun surprise! I'm in the Club CK Blog!

I wanted to share with you that I just had a nice surprise waiting for me in my email box. I received an email from Club CK (the Online Community and Scrapbook Club from Creating Keepsakes magazine). I’ve been a big fan of CK magazine for a long time now (can I say forever?). They’ve got a fantastic gallery filled with so much wonderful creative inspiration!

Anyway, I ramble, their email told me that they spotlighted one of my recent pages in the Club CK weekly gallery picks. What fun!

If you want to visit Club CK’s blog post featuring this week’s gallery picks, click here.

Also ... this is the layout they chose:

Here it is in the CK gallery.

Just a Picnic?

This probably looks like just an impromptu picnic. It was more than that.

My daughter has so many awesome traits, but some of my favorites are her spontaneity and her sweetness. The weather has been beautiful lately and she has been enjoying spending lots of time outside biking, reading books or just enjoying the sunshine. On this day my daughter asked me so sweetly – “Can we eat dinner outside? Just have a little picnic?” How could I say no? My husband was traveling for work so it was just the kids and me. My son thought it was a really dumb idea. Eating on the ground? Really? (I think he was embarrassed. What would people think as they drove by and saw us out there?!) I thought it was sweet. I remember that we had sloppy joes and that it was a little difficult to eat with our plates on our laps, but I also remember that it was fun! 

Today’s picnic reminds me of where the kids are at right now: My son's teenage embarrassment (he did still snap this picture for me though!) and my daughter's sweet 12 year old innocence. Impromptu moments make the best memories!

You can find the credits for this page at my Jessica Sprague gallery here.

Yummy! My daughter the baker...

My DD is such an awesome baker. I know I'm biased but I have to say I'm impressed with her dedication and how many beautiful and awesome things she has created - especially considering she's so young. It's pretty fun. She's gotten a reputation around the neighborhood. (She's always bring treats to the neighbors!) If I let her she'd bake EVERY day! I don't want us all to weigh 800 pounds so I do have to limit her at times. (Lets be realistic - it is difficult to say no to desserts when they're sitting right in front of us!)

I hadn't planned on scrapping these photos but I liked these papers by KI Memories and I created this page for this week's challenge at Jessica Sprague so what the heck?! I'm glad I did! (Looking at the pictures makes me really wish I had a cupcake right now!) ;)

You can find full credits for this page here.

P365+1: Week 24: June 10 - June 16, 2012

Happy Father's Day everyone!

It's 8:00 Sunday morning. Everyone in my house is still sleeping. The dog is laying on the floor next to me and I got up about an hour ago. Since the house is so quiet I thought I'd work on my photo of the day page. It feels good to be able to look back already on some of last week's photos! It was a good week.

I see some serious happiness in the new bike photo. My daughter has been wanting (OK, needing) a new bike for a while now so I'm glad Scott took her out yesterday and they found one she liked. She's been riding my bike this summer (hers really is just TOO small ... she's getting tall). She wanted her own bike (makes sense!) but was o.k. with riding mine until we got one for her. OK, I should say she was fine with it UNTIL she found out that I got my bike "BEFORE SHE WAS EVEN BORN!" OMG. Can you believe it?! Before she was even born?! Ha! Once she realized that, she wanted a new bike and she wanted it yesterday! Too funny. Now she's got her bike and I can go back to riding my ANCIENT bike. (It's not really ancient - but it is 19 years old. With the few times I ride a bike every summer I'm perfectly happy with mine!) I'm glad to see her so happy with her bike though! Now we need to get to PROP so we can donate her old bike. The to-do-list continues ... :)

And that bucket list ... LOVE it!

Have a great day!

It's party time! The birthday bash at Jessica Sprague starts Monday!

It's party time! *JessicaSprague.com* is turning 5 and they're throwing a huge bash in celebration. You don't want to miss it. The excitement starts Monday! Come on over and pay a visit!

Click here to come on over for a visit!

Geometry - Rhombicosadodecahedron

This was one heck of a big project! Hmmm ... like I even had a slight clue what a Rhombi...what-the-heck-is-it? was! All I can say is that it took a LONG time for my DS to hot-glue together this many shapes (in hindsight a net would have been a good idea - ha!) He got this big shape created so in my mind that warranted a scrapbook page! 

Click here for a link to the full list of credits for this page.

Happy girls are the prettiest!

I can't believe how grown up my daughter is becoming - right before my very eyes! I'm so proud of her!

I used Design by Dani's Hello Gorgeous kit for much of this page. It was so girly - perfect for a page about my DD! You can find a full list of the credits here in my J*S gallery.

You are Super!

What happens when a normally stoic teenage boy finds a chicken hat on the dining room table? Why he puts it on and hams it up for the camera of course! He makes me smile!

I used Dani Mogstad's (Design by Dani) awesome SuperPop kit for this page. Aren't these papers just TOO fun?!

Volleyball - team photo

My DD had such a great time playing volleyball. I scrapped a fun volleyball page already, but hadn't done anything with her team photo (and some photos of her with a friend) so I wanted to scrap those so she'd have those to look at down the road. Its a simple page ... but it's got memories!

End of the School Year Party!

What a fun way to celebrate the end of the school year and to start out summer vacation!

You can find a full list of the credits here at my Jessica Sprague gallery.

Smile for the Camera

I love my iPhone and all the fun photography apps. I like being able to snap so many fun random pics at a moment's notice. These photobooth style photos are always fun!

You can find the credits for this page at my gallery at Jessica Sprague here.

P365+1 Week 23: June 3 - June 9, 2012 + End of School Year Party!

What an exciting week for the kids. Finals are over for Grant. School is out. Summer vacation is finally here!

Lauren celebrated the end of school year with a party/sleepover at our house with a few of her friends. She had very definite ideas of what she did and didn't want for her party. She wanted lots of balloons. She wanted snacks. She wanted pizza. She did NOT want a big party. She only wanted to have a couple of good friends over so that everyone would be able to chat and just hang out without there being TOO many girls. The girls were all so sweet. There was lot and lots of giggling and laughing so I think they all had a great time. They stayed up talking really REALLY late. (It's summer vacation so why not?!) They dyed their hair, they did their makeup, they watched movies, they ran around outside, they closed themselves into Lauren's room and talked, they hung out well into the next day. They are definitely seeming like they're almost teenagers. Yikes!

What fun!

Family Dinner (J*S - Lori Whitlock)

One more page today ... then I suppose I'd better clean my house or be productive or something! ;)
I created this with a new kit that will be coming out soon from Lori Whitlock called "Patriotic Picnic." I thought I'd pull out the reds and blues in some of ours shirts with this kit. Such fun summer colors!
I love scrapping!

You can see a full list of credits for this page by clicking here and going to this page in my Jessica Sprague gallery.

Easter: Snapshots of a good day! {J*S - Design by Dani}

One of the new designers at JessicaSprague is Design by Dani. I've gotta tell you, her kits are fabulous. They're all so fun - bright and cheerful. I love kits that are loaded with elements ... and these definitely are! Check 'em out!

Here's a layout I put together using a new kit called Snap Happy that will be coming out soon!

FYI ... these are a few snapshots from Saturday of Easter weekend. It was an absolutely gorgeous day - so fun and relaxing!

You can find the credits here.

Good night ... I'm off to bed now!

Tubing Fun: Live in the Sunshine

Echo Park Hybrids is coming out with a great new summer/beach kit. The papers and elements are just too fun ... make we want to head out the beach again! Check it out at JessicaSprague.com soon! It was perfect for the photos of our day at the lake with friends! 

It was the end of May and we were already tubing and enjoying the day at the beach ... awesome!

You can find all the credits here.

P365+1 Week 22 : May 27 - June 2, 2012 + Holly's Graduation!

Another busy week for the family. It sure was fun spending the weekend with family to celebrate my niece's high school graduation!

It's official ... my niece is a high school graduate. She excelled in school and was very involved in tons of activities. We're so proud of her. Does the fact that she's graduating mean that I really have to face the reality that my kids are also getting older and will graduate before I know it? NO! I'm not ready!

FREE Photoshop / Digital Scrapbooking Class at Jessica Sprague

Check it out! In honor of the website's (www.jessicasprague.com) 5th birthday, Jessica Sprague is offering a FREE photoshop / digiscrapping class!

I have taken many of Jessica's classes and have loved every one of them! Seriously, they've ALL been awesome! No matter what your level of knowledge of Photoshop, you'll be sure to learn some new tips and tricks! And free? You can't beat the price!

Click here to register for the class!

Graduation!

We went to my niece's high school graduation yesterday. It was fun to see her so happy. What a great time in her life! She's the first of the kids to graduate and is so excited and seems so ready to move on to college. It's amazing how fast time is flying!  Before you know it my kids will graduate too. Yikes! OK, I'm not going to think about that ... YET! 

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Right Page:

For these pages I used Design by Dani's School Spirit Kit and School Spirit Add A Grad kits. Dani is debuting at Jessica Sprague very soon. Her kits are absolutely fabulous - so colorful and fun!

For a full list of credits, click here and here.