What I Wore Wednesday...Cobalt Trend Spin

So, I know that this is a scrapbooking blog, but I have realized that I have not been caring as much how I look/dress/eat as much lately, so this an attempt to start to remedy that. I don't know if this will be a regular weekly feature or not, but it sounded fun, so I thought I would join up (this week, anyway).
My try at the cobalt trend:

If you wanted to put a scrapbooking twist on it, you could just be inspired by this beautiful color:

Thanks for checking in with me today!

*Keepin' it real...I am out of the heels and barefoot now...

I Have a Confession...And a Giveaway...

First, the confession: I fell off of the No Spend Challenge! I saw some really great deals, and I just couldn't help myself! First, it started with me running across this Double-Sided (!) patterned paper pad at Wal-Mart for $2.50:

 

It is a good cardstock weight, and for that price, I just couldn't pass it up-especially when I flipped through and saw even more cute prints inside, that weren't even featured on the front!

Then, I was out with my hubby at Tuesday Mornings on Saturday, and saw this Tim Holtz stamp set for $6.99:

So pretty! I love the butterflies especially, and there was only one, so into the buggy it went...

By this point, I figured I was already off the challenge for the weekend, so I made a few more stops and got all of this (for AMAZING prices)...

 

I got the paper pads at TJ Maxx for $5.99 each for the Studio Calico Snippets and Amy Tangerine Yes, Please 12x12, and $2.99 for the 6x6 Studio Calico Darling Dear...They also had Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm and Studio Calico Sundrifter, but I skipped those two because I had already purchased a lot of the collections when they first came out at Winter CHA. The Thickers were $1.49 each(!) at Marshalls, and I got the roller stamp for $2.99, the pen for $1.49, the Amy Tangerine stickers for $1.99, the On Trend buttons for $1.99, journal cards from Studio Calico (I think they are from the Atlantic collection!) for $1.99, Mistable feathers from Studio Calico for $1.99, and washi tape 2 pack from the Dollar Tree for $1! My little scrappy heart was so excited to find all of those bargains...even if I did feel just a little bit guilty...

To assuage my guilt, I have decided to have a giveaway!

 

To be entered to win, just be a follower of my blog, and leave me a comment! Can you resist a great deal? Have you seen any really great deals lately?

I will leave the giveaway open until August 30th! 
*****Due to rising postal costs, I will have to limit this giveaway to U.S. residents only, unless you are willing to pay international shipping costs. So sorry!

Sharing some more scrappy pages (No Spend Challenge 6/50, and 7/50)

I'm getting back on track with scrapping, because I am itching to shop!! I have some hot tips on great deals and new goodies at Hobby Lobby, Tuesday Morning, and T.J. Maxx... so I better get a move on or I am going to break! Here are a couple more pages to count towards my total, though!

With that page, I am counting my July Counterfeit Kit as killed, since I have no full sheets of paper  left! I will keep the embellishment leftovers out for the rest of my kit-killing process, then return them to my stash...

I do have another page to add to my total, made with left overs from my last Halloween kit, and a few bits from this kit (washi, journaling spot, label, hot pink tag, index tab):

I also pulled out all of my open packs of Thickers and put them in a huge Ziploc, that I am keeping with my scrappy supplies, and I am determined to use them or purge them by the end of this challenge (Don't worry, I still have a canvas bin full of unopened Thickers, so I don't plan on going Thicker-free anytime soon!). The little extra bits in a Thicker package are sometimes perfect for scattering across a page for embellishment, as I did in the layout above.

A time out from scrapbook shares...

To share a few of my life moments with you! I will tell you, there is nothing quite as scary as watching your son play tackle football for the first time-and he's the quarterback! So proud of my number seven!

Today was just a Jamboree, but it was enough for him to realize that football is no walk in the park! It is tough! He's played flag football since second grade, but tackle is a whole different scenario! He made some plays:

And he even got a couple of runs for a pick up of 15-20 yds!

He got tackled too-I bet he'll be sore tomorrow!

Scrapbooking in Triplicate With a Bunch of Stickers (No Spend 5/50)

Today's page focuses on Shimelle's challenge to scrapbook in groups of three. This was actually a fairly easy one for me, because I tend to use groups of three on my scrapbook pages naturally. I used three embellishment clusters and three groupings of Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist splatters on this page, along with Shimelle's Sketch twenty-two.

My Page:

Shimelle's Sketch:

This also fits Shimelle's Sticker Sneeze challenge, so I am linking up to that, too.
One more page in the books, and I am that much closer to my goal of fifty pages! A tenth of the way there!

I used: papers by Elle's Studio, Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye, and an ancient one from the Paper Studio (polka dots), lots of stickers from the Echo Park Sticker sheet that was in my kit, Heidi Swapp Primrose Color Shine mist, Martha Stewart gems, and Jenni Bowlin washi, and my black/white diagonal pinstripe washi, and a few bits from the Jillibean Soup Pea Pod Parts.

Scrapbooking with 3 3x4 cards ...Or Not! (No Spend Challenge 4/50)

Well, I read the challenge on Shimelle's blog, went about and did some chores-and then I did it, but I did it the wrong way. Go figure! I promptly went, got 3 4x6 cards and put them on the page, and didn't realize I had done the challenge wrong until I went to blog about it! Oh well-happy accidents, right? This is my page:

 A closer look at some of the details:

I made this page for my son and his best friend, Trevor-photo was taken on his 5th grade graduation.
This was another page filled with yumminess from the last CHA: Glitz Color Me Happy (LOVE the Giant rhinestones), MME About a Boy, Jenni Bowlin whitewashed woodgrain washi, Jillibean Soup Wise Words, and all splattered with some yummy Heidi Swapp Sweet Cherry Color Shine.

Scrapbooking With A Choice of a Sketch (No Spend Challenge 3/50)

One of the challenges that Shimelle put to us this past weekend was to take one of the past Sketch To Scrapbook Page sketches (our choice), and make a page based on that sketch. My choice for this challenge is sketch 7 from this year:

 I used some of my favorite goodies from the Winter CHA show, these beautiful papers and embellishments from Cosmo Cricket's Sweet Disposition line:

 A closer look at my embellishment clusters:

 

Love this self portrait of the girls and me before we went to the ballet in March- a rare moment that I get to be in the photo, too-and even if it is imperfect, I still love that I got to be captured in that moment with them! I used the Cosmo Cricket Sweet Disposition line, and added in some of the other embellies from my kit-Jillibean Soup Wise Words, and the butterfly, heart, and sun are all from the Pea Pod pack, Jenni Bowlin whitewashed woodgrain paper tape, mist that I splattered across the page from Heidi Swapp and Perfect Pearls from Ranger, stickers from Glitz and MME, and gems from Glitz and Martha Stewart.

Scrapbooking on the Vertical with Shimelle (No Spend Challenge 2/50)

Three posts in one day? I must be sick! Nope-I just have lots of pages done that I am eager to share with you! And this one was done in response to Shimelle's challenge to "Scrapbook on the Vertical":

 

Title: "Around the World on a Horsey Swing"

Journaling: "Porter and all of the kids love the horsey swing at Gram and Papa's cabin in the mountains! Built by hand, with lots of love-offers up hours of fun and enjoyment!"

 

Supplies used: papers by Dear Lizzy and Fancy Pants, Stickers from Echo Park/Allison Kreft's Photo Freedom line, letter stickers from Echo Park, Jillibean Soup, and Cosmo Cricket, and a couple of printables from Glitz's digital Color Me Happy line, along with a Glitz sticker "Life is a beautiful ride", and a Martha Stewart gem.

Back to Scrapping (No Spend Challenge 1/50)

And it feels so good! Shimelle's weekend filled with scrapbooking challenges and inspiration were just what I needed to jumpstart my mojo, and get me back on track. This page is number one of fifty of my challenge to myself to complete fifty scrapbook pages before I spend any thing else on new scrappy supplies. I had already completed a few, but, I will have to be honest, I spent some money on scrappy supplies while on vacation, so I am starting over. I based this page on Shimelle's Sketch to Scrapbook page challenge that was based on a "Flexible Template" from Noell Hyman of paperclipping.com . The idea of this Flexible Template is to have the photos lined up at the top of the page, and the journaling at the bottom, and the title and embellishment placement are flexible to give many different looks to a page. Here is my take on that:

A closer look at my embellishments:

Be back later with more! Thanks for looking and leaving a comment!

*ETA: I realized that this also fits the Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1: Geocaching (use something hidden), since the cute little kraft bag hides the journaling!

Back to Regularly Scheduled programming...

Ok, so I know that most of you are my scrapbooking and card making friends, and that that is what you read my blog to see...right? And, due to a really busy and stressful summer, there hasn't been much time for that lately. But, these munchkins headed back to school on the first:

So, without further ado, that is what I am getting back to! I started by making myself some kits of supplies to scrap with:
Based on the May Counterfeit Kit challenge:

 

And the Counterfeit Kit Challenge for July:

 

 

And Shimelle's Best Of Both Worlds kit for July:

And, then I made myself stop, because I could make up kits forever, and never get any pages done! And I have several (think 10-12) kits languishing sadly in my closet, because I haven't had time to play with them all summer. So, I am setting myself a challenge to use up at least two or three of these kits before I make any more new ones. And Shimelle's Scrapbooking Weekend challenges are helping me do just that! So, be sure to come back, because I am getting ready to start scheduling posts sharing some of what I have been working on to meet these challenges!

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt, Continued...

I took lots more photos on our trip, keeping the prompts from http://gallorganico.blogspot.com/2013/05/2013-summertime-photography-scavenger.html in mind, so I am back to share my take on a few more of the prompts:
7. A sign that is unintentionally or intentionally funny:

 

8. A Tower:

Saw this in downtown, Atlanta, and just thought it looked so cool with the light reflecting on it!

10. A Bench that is outside:

 

One of my little girls (Cecilia) taking a break in the Centennial Olympic Park.

 

11. An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc:

I thought it was very interesting that the turtle could climb on the alligator's back without being "dinner"!

 

13. A Fence: (I have a couple for this one)

 This was taken on a Father's Day trip to the mountains:

And this one was taken at Dauset Trails, near Indian Creek, GA:

 

14.A Stained Glass object or a mosaic  (I have a couple for this prompt as well!):

This one isn't "real" stained glass, but, rather, a stained glass sticker, and I thought it was pretty how the light was reflecting through it:

 And then I went to the Olympic Park, and I saw a beautiful sort of "mosaic" (I know this is a different interpretation of it, but I love when I can put a creative twist on a photography challenge!). This sculpture is called the "Quilt Of Nations", and those little rectangles are the flags of the participating countries:

 

16. A Windmill:

 



Seen at Dauset Trails.

That's it for now-I have until September to try and find the rest of the prompts!

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

I have seen this list floating around blog land, and had to go check it out at http://gallorganico.blogspot.com/2013/05/2013-summertime-photography-scavenger.html . I love the idea of looking for those shots that you might not normally take! We just got back from a end of summer trip to Atlanta, GA, so I kept my eyes open, and found some of the shots:
#2. Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater):

This photo was taken in Newnan GA, with my hubby's iPhone. (Do you believe I took the battery out of my camera to charge it and forgot to put it back in?) Oh well, the best camera there is is the one that you have with you!

3. City Hall, Capitol, or other similar Civic building:

 Covington, GA City Courthouse

Newnan, GA City Courthouse (another one taken with the hubs' iPhone).

I love the beautiful, ornate, and historical buildings, and it is so interesting to me to read the plaques and feel the history, knowing that some of these old buildings were used as hospitals during the Civil War-it truly brings history to life for me!

5. A Sunset- I have 2 different takes on this one!
The first is a group of flowers that reminded me of a sunset:

 

The second is of an actual sunset, taken this past Saturday at Stone Mountain:

And #6. Someone or something taking a nap (or faking a nap, as the case may be!)

 

I have more to share- but since my eyes will barely stay open, and the kids start school tomorrow, I had better call it a night for now!