Joy; In The Jungle

Last Saturday the library host a crop and swap that Anna and I went to. A week later, I still couldn't figure out how to make the finishing touches to complete these two pages. I'm still not sold on them, but I think it'll do. This first one is called Joy.

The pictures are of me with our niece, Emily, and then one of Travis with her opening gifts at Christmas in 2006. I was lucky enough to have Anna show me how to heat emboss, that's how, "Emily" showed up so great. I used various brads and fibers as well as markers to create this page. And I also included a tag that I stuck behind the pictures where I journaled about that day. It says, "Our niece, Emily, was 1 yr old this Christmas. She really was a joy to be around. She was full of excitement and wonder as she saw all the packages, bows, shiny ornaments, and lights. And after she figured out how to open gifts she tried to open them all!" She really was a blast!

This next layout is called "In The Jungle". Of course it's of our trip to see the Bengals game in October of 2006.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be doing some home improvement projects while it's nice outside.

Movie Favs

I decided that with all the seriousness in live , I needed to make a layout that had some humor in it. This one is called "Movie Favs"...

As you can see I took pictures of the DVD covers of our favorite Christmas movies. I thought it would be funny to make journaling strips that have our favorite lines too. That's a big thing with me and Travis. We see a movie, and repeat funny lines from it over and over. Beside "A Christmas Story" it says, "Oh Fudge!", "I can't put my arms down!", and "You'll shoot your eye out!." Beside National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation it says, "The Griswold Family Tree", "Oh Clark!", and "You taught me everything I know about outdoor illumination." Beside "Elf" it says, "Cottonheadedninnimuggins!", "Smiling's my favorite!, and "Sea of swirly twirly gumdrops." And lastly, beside "White Christmas" it says, "Sister, don't come between me and my man.", and "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas."

By the way, Cottonheadedninnimuggins is one of my favorite words! Have a great weekend!

I'm Getting Published!!!

I am still in shock. This is one of the greatest feelings in the world! I am getting a layout published on Scrapstreet.com's Ezine (Internet Magazine) Here's the thing. I was picked as a "Cover Finalist". They picked 10 layouts, all of which get published, but they are picking one to be featured on the cover page. That person wins a prize package. That would be great to be on the cover, but at this point I'm thrilled to even get published!!! Ahhh accomplishment.

Easter Cards

I have really been wanting to get into making cards to send to my family and friends, so the past two days I've made a couple Easter cards.

This first one turned out adorably! I'm sending it to my BIL, SIL, and little neice. I used Paperbilities plain white cards that can be purchased at Walmart in the craft section for the main base. I then cut out the large egg shape onto cardstock and fitting the patterned paper to it. I then embellished it with different rick racks, flower brads from Creative Impressions, Prima -Fall Flowers, and Bazzill Hershey mini brads, and used a pink glitter pen, and a yellow one to add the shiny "colored egg" feel to the card. I used Autumn Leaves -Flowers clear stamps to add a little whimsical design, and added a cute pink bow. Then lastly, I distressed the edges with black ink.


The second card here I made for the Pastor and his wife from the church we used to attend. It is just adorable! I know, I said that about the last one ;-). This one was alittle tricky to make though, especially since I had no more basic card to go by. I cut out my little birdy, then I found some light green cardstock and just folded it to fit the bird. The patterned paper the bird is made out of is from the Wild Asparagus Collection. I then got out some ribbon from my stash and attached them as wings with Making Memories Colored Staples (light). I love that part about the card. The wings are so cool! I then did the feet the same way. After that I got a blue button and a white one and attached them together for it's eye, and voila! On the inside with all the staples, it looked kind of dangerous. I didn't want my recipient's getting cut on them, so I cut out white cardstock, black inked the edges, and then used the Autumn Leaves clear stamps and put some swirls on there for added safety and looks.

I got the ideas for both of these cards from members on scrapbook.com.

Funny Face; Couch King

These two pages were one of the last layouts I did for the March Scripture Challenge on scrapbook.com. The first one is called "Funny Face". The picture cracks me up!

Looking at the paper now, I couldn't tell you what brand they are, but they were in my scrap stash. I hand cut out the title, made the frame out of white cardstock, I also used some of the white craft mesh material, and black w/ white polka dotted ribbon. I got the idea for this page from TessaAnn.

The second page is really funny too. It's called "Couch King". The picture is my mom's cat, Philemon. He's named Philemon because that was the name of my first ancestor to come to Meigs County. For this layout I used black cardstock as the base page, I hand cut a title, then used white cardstock for the journaling strips, copper wire mesh, orange rick rack that I distressed with black ink, and I scanned all the king cards out of a deck, cut them out and arranged them on the page. Again, I got this idea from a member on scrapbook.com.

Keeping Up

For the sake of time, and I do mean it's way past my bed time, I'm just going to post my latest layouts. I'm hoping that after this contest is over that I will have more time to spend on my pages and describe them in more detail. If you're interested in seeing all the products I used to create these or to see my descriptions, you can go Here to my Scrapbook.com gallery. Thanks for looking!

Thirty Five

This layout got featured on a website today...


After I did this page my creativity went somewhere...I don't know where though. :-(

Who Needs A Title?

Ok. This is proof of how competitive I am. It is 4:08am and here I am. Still up scrapbooking because I want to win this freaking challenge on sb.com. Is that stupid? I guess it's not so much about the challenge itself, it's mostly that I want to prove to myself that I can do it and not quit. And also that I can win. Hee. I have 17 layouts completed as of now. The nearest competition has 11.

Here are some new ones...

"Together"

"This is love"

"Spring Blooms"

A few of the contests and calls I've done should be coming to a close this week. Keep your fingers crossed that I hear some good news!

Bummed Out

I'm bummed out right now. I have worked my butt off this month scrapbooking and I feel like I haven't really done any great pages. I know, whah, whah. I don't know. I'm always looking at different websites and I keep seeing the same people featured. Every page they make is the best ever. How can I get that good? I have also seen some scrapbook resumes that are full of published work or that they were a guest designer. I want to do that! I guess this stuff doesn't happen overnight, but I want it to....

This Is Me; My Soldier; Uncle Travis

Whew...this March Scripture Challenge is wearing me out!!!!!! Let's start off with the good news of some of the progress I've been making.

1. My LO called "Psalm 119:105" that has a picture of me and my mom together got featured on a scrapbook forum I belong to on 3.19


2. My LO called "This is me" that I'm about to post here made it into the favorites gallery on scrapbook.com!!! This is really exciting for me!!
   

Ok, so here's my newest LO's...

"This is me"

"My Soldier"

"Uncle Travis"

New Layouts

I've made two new LO's for the March Scripture Challenge on scrapbook.com. I'm happy to say that it will take 4 layouts to beat me as of right now. I've really been scrapbooking in high gear to win this challenge.

Job 29:4

Proverbs 17:17

Featured Layout!!!

Oh my gosh!!! My layout, "Iraqi Sunset", was a Featured Layout today on scrapbook.com's home page....I don't know if it means anything, but I am still excited!!!!

www.scrapbook.com

6 Is My Favorite Number

Here to #6....the 6th layout I've made for the March Scripture Challenge.

In this layout I used the part of the verse from John 21:3 that says, "...and that night they caught nothing." Well, in these pictures, we did catch something, but usually that's not how it goes. I liked the little twist between the verse and life.

Oh, and here's an update for you.......

I finished a great 3rd place in the Serendipity Kits March Layout Contest. Yeah me! :-)

Iraqi Sunset

I have been scraping like a mad woman. There ya go, there's a good movie title, "Diary of a Mad Scrapping Woman". Ha ha! Yea, you can probably tell I'm tired. As I've said before, I'm doing the March Scripture Challenge on scrapbook.com. It has been ALOT of work. Here's the rules: Use any or a partial verse of Scripture on a layout; whoever has the MOST layouts at the end of March wins a little prize from the person who came up with the challenge. Well, I am a very competitive kinda person, so....here I am it being only the 15th of March and have created 5 layouts just for this challenge. I think in order to win this thing it's gonna be more like an entire album. There is one other woman who is really giving me a run for my scrapbook supplies. It's all good though. I think that from now on I'm only doing things that are about the quality of the layouts, not about quantity. That's too rough. Anyone could just throw a picture on and write something on it and there ya go. I don't like putting all the effort into my layouts to be beaten that way.

Here are my 2 latest layouts, both of which I did today for that challenge...

This one's about Bible School last summer at the church we used to attend. Travis was asked to help teach the Teen Class. He had a blast doing that! He got to teach the lesson on the last night of class. Their class was about learning about different cultures and how you could use what you learn from the Bible to better understand them and to be more tolerant of differences. The night Travis was teaching the word "Swahili" came up. It's pronounced Swa heel e. The teaches kept saying it like "kiss wally" HAHAHA! It was bad, a student had to correct them! HA HA! So I included that story on my page in the journaling.

My second layout is called "Iraqi Sunset". Let's start of by saying, I did not do this picture justice in the layout!!!! How could I??? It's absolutely beautiful! Travis took this picture in the Iraqi desert sometime in 2004. I used the verse from Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I could not think of a more perfect verse for this picture. Just looking at it I could almost imagine God there making some masterpiece, like mankind or a solar system. Wouldn't it be awesome to have so much power? It would scare me if I did lol.

Creativity

The past few weeks I've had a "creative explosion" so to speak. I've been getting on SB.com non-stop almost getting new ideas, chatting with other scrapbookers from all over, and uploading my new layouts. I have really been trying to step up my game and create better layouts. And I have also made it my new goal to enter contests and to get published. That would be a huge accomplishment for me. So wish me luck, and I really appreciate feedback on what you think and how I can get better.

As you know, I've entered in the Serendipity Kits March Layout Contest. Voting ends tomorrow. As of right now, I'm very happy with my 3rd place. Hey, for me, 3rd out of 20 or more layouts is great! I have also entered in a few other contests and sent in a few layouts for possible publication. I'll keep you updated on how things go.

Here are a couple of my newest layouts...

This one is for the March Scripture Challenge on SB.com. It's called "Baptize." The pictures are of me and one of Travis when we got baptized last April.

This second layout is of me in my wedding dress. Oh my gosh, almost 6 years ago..where did the time go??? And yes, I know, the orange square is sort of awkward, but it was part of the challenge to use the colors blue and orange, as well as use 4 different types of ribbon, use something new, something old, and have a large shape (circle, square, star, etc.). Here's what I came up with...

Thinking Of You

"Thinking of You" is a page about my Grandma Warner. She and I were very, very close. She died of cancer in 2000. I think in my whole 20 years of knowing her, I saw her mostly everyday. She was my person to go to when I was afraid to go to my parents. She was also the one to take up for me and help me get out of trouble with mom and dad. She spent time with me not because she had to as my grandmother, but because she genuinely wanted to. I loved that about her. She was the smartest, kindest, best cooking, and funniest person. I try not to think about all these things very much because it just reminds me of how much I still miss her. Anyways, here is the layout...


The picture of her was probably from around the 1940's. I think she was just beautiful! I used the Wild Asparagus collection paper and cut the flowers out of one of the matching papers. I also used rick rack, anchorettes, brads, and ribbon.

I have entered in the Serendipity Kits March Layout Contest so be sure to go vote for me! Voting ends on March 15th, so hurry! Mine is the page called "Unforgettable". Here is the link:

http://www.serendipityscrapbookdesigns.com/sLayoutContestEntries.html

Thanks for stopping by!

Psalm 119:105

My latest layout was for the March Scripture Challenge on Scrapbook.com. The challenges on there is a fun way to get inspiration and ideas for and plus you get to chat with other scrapbookers which is cool! I used the verse Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." I thought it was a great verse to use with a picture of me with my mom because she has taught me so much throughout life. She has been a big inspiration to me and has shown me the "right path" so many times.

Steven, Untitled

The first page is called "Steven". It is a picture of Travis' real dad when he was young.

The next page is untitled, but it's of Travis and his two brothers when they were little.

Santa?

This is my latest and greatest. Well, maybe not greatest, but you get the point. The picture is Travis with Santa. Who is Santa? He, until I saw this picture and told him, couldn't tell you. It's his dad, Gary dressed up as Santa. So it's kind of a joke about the title.

Splash

I created "Splash" today. It took me FOREVER to do. Actually I worked on it about all afternoon. It was probably the hardest layout I've done, or should I say, figured out. What made it so difficult was having to piece the pictures and then the paper together to fit in the curve. I got the idea from the scrapbook.com member gallery. I used Wild Asparagus paper, various brads, ribbon, blue ink, and alphabet stamps. Ta da!

Unforgettable

I know, I've been busy making layouts. I'm getting alot of inspiration from scrapbook.com, so I'm creating while it lasts. This page called "Unforgettable" is different pictures of Travis' expressions when he was little. To me they are unforgettable faces. He was just the cutest kid.

In Love

Yesterday I made this page using the picture of Travis' Grandparents. Again I used the Wild Asparagus paper, and I also used some of my Grandmother's old buttons to add to the antique nature of the layout.

Kin

I was in desperate need of some inspiration so I decided to look on scrapbook.com's member galleries for some ideas. I saw a great page on Anna's favorite picks so I decided to give it a try. To see the orignial page go here. Needless to say, mine didn't turn out quite the same (no surprise lol), but it's unique in it's own way. I tried to freehand cut the ovals but that isn't so great, but it does add some distinctness to the layout.

The page is titled "Kin". The picture is of Travis' dad, Steve, his sister, Amy, and Travis.

I found a really good quote that I added around the ovals. It says, "I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich." -Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H. I also journaled about their first time to see each other.

Brothers

For my birthday, my mom ordered me a scrapbook kit called Wild Asparagus. I love the colors it has, mostly greens, tans, and reds. Here is a page I did with it the other day.

I talked to Anna on Saturday and she was telling me about new collections coming out from Basic Grey. My most favorite new one is Stella Ruby, and I also really like the Perhaps collection.

*Hint to Travis- I put Stella Ruby collection pack in my Wishlist* ;-)

And as a birthday present from Travis I ordered the Basic Grey Fruitcake Collection and the matching fibers. The Fruitcake collection is Christmas patterned paper so I can do our album of our first Christmas in our new house. I'm wanting a Bo Bunny Bare Naked Binder or a Rusty Pickle 6x6 Chipboard Album for the project, but both are out of stock as usual. For anyone who has no clue what I'm talking about, don't worry, most people other than fellow scrappers don't know either. But if you're interested you can go to the Basic Grey website and look under the products drop down list for Fruitcake, Stella Ruby, or Perhaps.

And a quote to end...

We gather up pictures and bits of our past and scrapbook them into a gift that will last.~Kimberly Rinehart, "Scrapbooker's Verse"

Baby Travis Lee, and The Cube

Here are my latest projects. The first one is a page of Travis' heritage scrapbook I did today. It's Travis' baby picture. Awww-

And this is a really neat project kit that I picked up from Makin Memories. It has 3 cubes in the kit all together, but I made one of them for my sister in law, Amy. I just put pictures of all of our family and put the quote, "Love wasn't put in your heart to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away." I think it turned out really cute. Here it is...

A Good Quote

"Love wasn't put in your heart to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away."
-Unknown

Courtship, Ladies, and Who They Were

I know you are probably tired of checking my blog and it being the same old post. Well here are some new pages for you, who ever reads this. As you know I'm working on my heritage album.

This first page is of my grandparents called "Courtship". I'm not sure what brand of paper it is, but I got it from Makin Memories (of course). And I made the flowers with my heart punch.

The second page is called "Ladies". It is of my 2 Great-Great Grandmothers and my Great-Grandmother as a baby with her older sister. I think they looked so "proper" in this picture, like ladies, hence the title. There is a little folder that I made with a punch. Inside I wrote who the picture is of. I thought it was a neat idea.

And last but not least, this is my most recent page I've done. It is of my Great-Great Grandfather with his family. He died in 1902 so I imagine this picture was taken in the late 1890's. I was fascinated with this picture and getting to see what he looked like. We actually sit the same way how our hands are positioned. Underneath his circular picture I have his obituary from the newspaper. That was hard getting. I had to research it on microfilm at the library. But it tells how he died and alittle about him, all things that I wouldn't know if I didn't have this little piece of paper.

Happy Scrapping!

Some New Pages

I haven't been able to get much done in the way of scrapbooking since the holidays, so since I have the day off I decided to get back into the scrapbooking seat. I'm working on a few projects at the same time which is irritating, but they are all equally important to me to get finished. Today I worked on my heritage scrapbook. Here is what I've gotten done over the past few weeks.

This is a picture of my mom as a baby. I made this page using matching paper and Basic Grey punch out letters. Very simple.

This page is titled "Jimmy Dale". That is what everyone called my dad when he was little, I think it's cute.

And last but not least, this page is my 3rd Great-Grandparents, the oldest relatives that I have a picture of so far. I just love stuff like this. I made the "Nease" letters with my cool new handy dandy Sizzix Sidekick. And off to the side I wrote what I know about these ancestors.