Use Your Stash Saturday...Collection Pack cover sheets

Just a quick post today to show you how I used a cover sheet from a collection pack- you know, these sheets that show a sampling of the collection of papers:

I handcut it at the bottom of the blue scallop, put it on cardstock and added more borders and bits and pieces. One of the simplest ways to put those sheets to use and get a sampling of the collection papers-and makes a lovely vibrant layout! I even scattered some ancient Jolee's flowers on the layout as well. What do you think? How do you use your collection pack cover sheets?

Friday Favorites

Here's a look at what I am loving this week:

*My Gran's scrapbook.

 I found it a couple of years ago when helping my parents clean out their library, but my dad wanted to hang on to these priceless memories of his mother at the the time. He passed away in a car accident a few months later, and the scrapbook was forgotten, left on a shelf to be discovered at another time. I came across it about a week ago when I was over at my Mom's house, and she told me I could bring it home to look through. I found so many treasures inside, and learned so much about my grandmother in the process! It sort of seems like fate that my grandmother, the one who I was named after, was a scrapbooker too. In a different sort of way than I am, of course, but what a wonderful thing to be able to look through her book, learn about her life in a way that I never had before, and to see the things that were important enough to her for her to put them in this book of her special memories. Just a few of the things inside were several of her high school papers, a copy of her valedictorian speech, her cadet nurse's patch from WWII, all of her course study cards from Memphis State, newspaper articles, graduation cards and announcements, and a few programs and things as well. Her report cards from 6th grade (in 1936!) through high school were even there. It made me realize that it is important that I tell my own story as well as my kids'-hopefully, even just one person will treasure my albums in the future, the way I treasure my grandmother's now...We all want someone to be a witness to our lives, someone to listen to our stories and pass them along. I want my children to know how much they were loved and to carry on a legacy of love.

*Pumpkin Recipes.

It rained and got cooler, so it really feels like fall here. And when fall comes around, I just can't seem to get enough pumpkin-I wouldn't be surprised if my skin took on a slightly orange glow ;-). I have had some yummy pumpkin waffles this week, and have plenty more pumpkin recipes on the brain now, thanks to some of these links.

http://sweetsugarblossoms.blogspot.com/2013/09/i-freakin-love-pumpkin.html

 http://www.yellowblissroad.com/best-pumpkin-recipes/

*Tuesday Mornings Stores- I have had great luck finding bargains the last few times I have gone by there! Here's my most recent set of bargains:

 I hit the jackpot on embellishments and diecuts!

*Olympic One Paint+Primer from Lowe's. 

I tried buying a couple of gallons of mistint paint at Walmart because I loved the color for my master bedroom, but it was a nightmare! It bubbled when I put it on the wall, you could see through it after 2 coats...luckily I tested it on one wall first, because I spent a couple of hours sanding the wall afterwards, because when I saw how terrible it was I tried to prime it so I could repaint, and primer wouldn't stick to it. I went to Lowe's and got my favorite paint, the Olympic One, and I was soooo much happier. It covers very well and goes on so smoothly. The moral of this story? Don't buy cheap paint! It's not worth the trouble to save a few bucks!

*The Scrap Gals -
 Tiffany and Tracie totally deserve a shout-out from me this week! I won a giveaway of these fun October Afternoon goodies from them:

I love listening to their scrapbooking podcasts each week. If you haven't listened yet, and you love scrapbooking too, check them out! They are so sweet and so much fun to listen to, it's great for inspiration, scrappy information, and just plain fun! Check out their blog here.

So, this is what I am loving this week! What about you? What are you into this week? I'd love to hear from you!

Throwback Thursday...Football Then and Now

It seems like just yesterday that Evan started playing football-he started playing flag football back in 2010:

He was so proud and excited to be the quarterback for his team! We didn't win very many games, but he had so much fun!

2011 Season (4th Grade):

He was picked to be the QB again, and we had a different coach this year. A girl was his center- she shocked all the boys with how fast she was! We got more wins this year, and it was so much fun to watch his face light up when they got a win!

2012 flag football season (5th grade):

This was the best season! They had the same coach as the year before, and most of the same teammates. They knew their plays and ran them well-and had an undefeated season, culminating in a championship trophy at the end!

2013 (last year, 6th Grade) First year of tackle football:

Last year was a rough year. After coming off of a flag football team that won every game, it was hard (for him and me both) to come to a new team, and to learn a new way to play football. He has told me many times that tackle is nothing like flag football. It hurts. And it scares me to watch him play. It scares me to sign the concussion or death waver that we have to sign each year. It gives me chills just to think about it! But. He's learning. He's learning to be a part of a team, even if you're not the star. He's learning how to do his part in a different place or position. He's learning to be braver and tougher. And I guess I am (trying) learning to let go. A little bit.
His team didn't win any games last year, but they got so close by the end of the year!

2014 tackle football (7th Grade-this year):

I didn't know if he would want to play again this year after last year being such a tough year on him and his team, but he did. And I am so proud of that! He is on the JV squad this year, and they don't keep score on the JV games. But he got to play in the varsity game last week, and that made me proud too. Even if I do cringe, wince, and shrivel inside when someone breaks a leg or gets hit too hard in the helmet, hurts their arm or hand. Maybe this will make me tougher too?

If you're here for scrapbook inspiration, I have more of that in the works! But, I love taking a moment here and there to reflect on my life and share little tidbits of it with you.

Trendy Tuesday

As a scrapbooker and generally creative person, I am influenced and inspired by current trends in fashion, color, and home decor. Something I like to do from time to time is head to pinterest and type in the search bar, "trend", "trending", or even something like "trend fall 2014", which is what I did today. Here is a small sampling of the trends that are inspiring me right now;
Color:

I love the richness of the jewel tones and shades for fall, so pretty!

Prints/Patterns:

Other inspiration for me and my crafting right now:

If you would like to keep up with the trends that are inspiring me, feel free to follow my "Trending Now" board on Pinterest.

September Master Forgers Kit Reveal Blog Hop

Welcome to the September Counterfeit Kit Club Challenge kit reveal blog hop! This month, the kit we have chosen to be inspired by is the Scrapbook Circle Island Paradise kit:

I love the kit-but, it is sold out, and I know I have some older Basic Grey in my stash, along with some other goodies that will give me the same "feel". I found my kit from August to be a bit lacking in the embellishment area for my taste (not to worry, I had plenty of kits to scavenge, so I made do quite easily). But, I wanted to make sure I had plenty of coordinating embellishments within this kit to use. And I have sooo many embellishments that work and I want to use! Editing kits down to a manageable size is one of the biggest struggles of kit making for me. One day, I will find a perfect balance. Until then, I will be quite happy with this kit!

There are papers from Maggie Holmes, Dear Lizzy,Basic Grey, Carta Bella, and a few from DCWV's Mango Frost and Lemon Flower stacks. For embellishment, I have stickers,  a few frames, metal clips, and vellum letters from Basic Grey,  Glitz epoxy words, burlap Stickers from Little Yellow bicycle, I made my own glitter diecuts with my Cricut, DCWV Glitter cardstock, and the  Lucida Sans and Ma Sexy font (free on dafont.com!).I also have some triangle tags from Chic Tags, some buttons from AC, Recollections Flair, some yellow floss, and some cork paper with stamps to make my own cork embellishments .Grab a cup of coffee and have a hop around to the other design team members for loads of kit-making inspiration and fun!

Here's the list:

• Guest Designer:  Tina:  http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Susanne: http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
• Lisa H.:  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Leslie:  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/ 
• Julene: http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au 
• Stephanie: http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca
• Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/
• Sherri:  http://sherrithompson.blogspot.com
• Margie: http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com *YOU ARE HERE
• Lynnette: http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/
• Angela: Toucan Scraps and News

Saturday Scrapbook Sharing

Well, it's not early in the week, but I am here to share more scrapbook fun from my Golden Summer Afternoon kit.  I still have a bunch of scraps left, though, so no kit killing photos just yet. This first photo is one of the only heritage style layouts I have made, because I just recently came across a stack of photos from my grandparents house, and would love to start incorporating them into my albums. The vintage style of the Maggie Holmes Flea Market line is perfect for these type of photos! Lots of scraps were used in the making of this layout. I love how rich and pretty you can make a page just using lots of layers of scrap papers and a couple of embellishments!

For this next layout, I combined bits from my Golden Summer Afternoon kit, my June Stash kit, and my Summer Solstice kit from this month. I misted the wood veneer with primrose Color Shine, and painted a bit of the Color Shine on the hearts, and the center of the bows on the shoes, and dropped a bit in the center of the camera chipboard. I added little butterflies and pinked circles punches from scraps, and cut scraps of paper into fishtail banner shapes for layering.

I had some scraps that were perfectly sized for a card front, so I whipped up a birthday card-the chipboard stickers from the Flea Market line make it special and give dimension.

So what have you been up to this week? Be sure to drop back by on the first, I have a fun new kit from my stash to share!

Scrapbook Sharing On Saturday

I know I have been somewhat MIA from the online world this past week-it has been a week of getting settled into back-to school routines, end of summer colds, and football. Lots of football! Evan is still playing for the middle school team, but he wants to go to all of the games, including the high school games. Which makes my life a little more hectic, but I have to say I understand and even expected it! Anyway, it's the weekend, and my poor sick hubby is trying to sleep off his cold right now, so I will share a little of what I have been working on. I have a bit of a back log of kits that I have made up for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and I just grab one whenever I am feeling inspired to create.The kit I grabbed this past week was my Golden Summer Afternoon kit from July:

This kit was one of my favorites that I have ever made! Seriously loved the creams, pinks, and gold, with the textures of the canvas and kraft hearts, the gold chunky glitter Thickers, yummy Color Shine... anyway, I killed a pretty good portion of this kit last week, so I am happy to share what I made with it!

Probably my favorite page from this kit;  "34th Birthday Pancakes":
so many reasons I love this page, but it started with the product! I love the Maggie Holmes Flea Market collection, and the sheet of vintage plates was probably one of my absolute favorite things about the line, but I had no idea how I was going to use it. Then I saw that someone had cut them out and sprinkled them across the page, and had an AHA! moment...it was the perfect solution...and I could re-arrange the plates on my page in clusters with other bits and pieces, so that my favorite pieces were showing. I added in chipboard, enamel dots, drips and drops of Color Shine mist,  and then added the photo and story about how special my Mommy made me feel (yes, I still call her Mommy) when she made me a special breakfast and brought it to me for my birthday. A simple little story, but one I don't want to forget.

"Me&You": 
More fun products to capture one of life's best moments with my love- Background paper by Basic Grey, from their Mellow collection a few years ago, and from Sassafrass Lass's Sunshine Broadcast (I think) line, mixed with bits of chipboard from Maggie Holmes, an enamel geotag and enamel dots, kraft labels from Target's dollar spot, a few bits from my scrap bin (the journaling card that I put under the chipboard frame, and the pink hydrangea in the cluster) I also slipped in a leftover plate from the vintage dishes patterned paper.

This layout was inspired by the lovely Jill Sprott. The background was not in my kit, but I saw her lovely layout, and was instantly inspired to sit down and scrap, and this is the result, something a good bit different from what I normally do, because I am usually a bit too lazy to pull out the paint for my pages, then too impatient to wait for it to dry before I continue creating. But I did it this time, and I am quite happy with the result! Thanks for the idea, Jill! I put down all sorts of journaling cards from my stash, then painted over them all with a watered down white acrylic paint. Then, I actually went about my housework, etc, and waited for it to dry! It was actually pretty painless ;-) . Once it had dried, I built the layout on top with lots of bits from the kit for embellishment, drips and spritzes of mist, added the photos and story of my daughter creating a birthday card for my son (basically she just wanted an excuse to try out all of my mists), and did some final embellishing.

 This layout was modeled after this sketch from My Mind's Eye:

I like it, but I think maybe my journaling is a bit hard to read...anyway, love the colors and richness of the Carta Bella paper (their patterned paper is just so wonderfully thick and textured!), and I feel that the blacks and golds go quite well with the photo. The funny part? I forgot to use My Mind's Eye on this page, even though almost all of my other pages do have at least some enamel dots!Oh well, I was too late to link up anyway, I just thought it was funny!

 This is a page for my Disney album, although the "Travel Essentials" part really does hold true for most car trips for me: Since it's going in my Disney album, I added a Hidden Mickey (so much fun to do, and glad I saw the idea on Susan's blog -she makes some of the best Disney pages and sketches I have seen, too). Most supplies for this page are from the kit, although I did pull out the blue glitter Thickers from my stash, since I knew they came from the MH Flea Market collection, and I felt that they would work a little better with the layout than the gold ones. I even got to use some of the fun Studio Calico printables, as they suited the travel theme of the page perfectly:

This page was inspired by the October Afternoon sketch shared as the CKC Challenge #2:

Basically just a note to my younger self, used a pretty paper from Tim and Beck (Sassafrass Lass) for Studio Calico, and bits leftover from the other papers, with washi tape, and a cluster of flowers and  feathers:

And I love this one of my little girl (the one who cooperates with me when I stop because I saw some lovely light on the way to school):

So, what have you been up to this week? I'd love to see! I'll work on a few more little projects, and share what's left of this kit early next week (not much-yay!It feels so great to "Kill a Kit!").

Throwback Thursday...An End to Elementary School

It seems just yesterday that these girls were starting Pre-school, and so excited that they slept in their clothes the night before (shoes and all!) their first day.
Natalie:

Cecilia:

(Just look at the tiny Dora beds-they loved Dora the Explorer!)
 I had a lump in my throat as they waved goodbye to me then, but I must admit I was a bit excited that I would have a bit of time to myself, and to actually be able to keep the house clean for a few hours. The lump in my throat and tears in my eyes are swelling now, as I realize that this will be a year of lasts for me, as my babies are growing into young ladies, and this will be their last year of elementary school.



I have seen such a change in them, even since last year. Last year was all about comfort in clothing-t-shirts, jeans, and jackets. This year, they are starting to develop a bit of a style, wanting to match their shoes to their shirts or clothing, hair chalk for fun, colorful streaks... and Cecilia (on the left) told me yesterday that she wants to grow her hair out long. I love the young ladies they are becoming, smart, and beautiful, but I do miss those babies, too! Ah well. Time marches on. Time to embrace the change and try to shrug off the nostalgia, as my mommy heart breaks just a little.