My Creative Sketch Challenge

My friend Izzy posted about a sketch challenge My Creative Sketches was having.  I followed the link and really liked the sketch.  

I have been keeping my layouts super simple.  I just don't have time these days to get much scrapbooking done and keeping it simple seems to work much better for me.  Here is my layout using Echo Park papers and sticker and Doodlebug alpha stickers.  

Thank you for stopping by!

Randomness

Are you ready for this randomness?  I thought for sure after the holidays things would slow down!  They definitely haven't!  

Over Christmas break  I was searching for something new and fun to entertain the kids.  We hadn't built a tent in a while so I brought out a few extra sheets and we built a fort/tent.  The kids had a lot of fun bring all the toys they could into the tent.  

 Peyton started putting on magic shows for me.  It was pretty darn cute!

I'm hooked on vinyl.  It is so much fun to create projects with!  I was given two Cricut Cartridges for my birthday and had so much fun playing with them. I came across a quilting quote and thought of my mom.  I texted it to her and wouldn't you know it...one of her good friends had a birthday next week and it was just perfect for her!  So to work I went....and this is what I came up with.

 I did some machine stitching to give it that 'quilting' feel.

My Mom's birthday is Monday. I came across this quote a while back and instantly thought of her.  I finally got around to making it for her.  I had made a card for her a while back with this same design and she commented a couple times how much she liked the design, so I figured she'd like the tile with the same design.  I used some really old My Minds Eye papers as well as a satin flower I had made.  

 I love these satin flowers.

I have been on the hunt for cupboard doors.  I clean them, paint them and then create this:

 The above was made for a big fundraising event Chris and I go to every year.  We have a blast at this event.  A few years ago I started making items to donate to their silent auction.  I decided to make the above for this years auction.

Another board with quote I made:

This one I have set up in my entryway on a beautiful quilted piece my mom made for me.

Today was Miss Maddy's 4th birthday!  How quickly the 4 years have gone!  Maddy can light up a room.  She can have me frustrated like no other and the very next minute be as sweet as can be giving me kisses and hugs. She is a true blessing.

Maddy shared her birthday with 1 of her cousins (turning 9) and one family friend (turning 2).

We had 3 cakes set up, as well as a table for each kiddo's present.

The family friend who had the 2 year old's birthday was amazing.  She created all 3 birthday cakes!  :-0  I can barely pull off my own, let alone 2 others.  And look how stinking cute Maddy's cake was:  

 My brother was able to make it to the party and bring his two kiddos.  All four kids just LOVE to get together!

 Maddy really liked her cupcakes.  She had two and wanted a third!  Haha!

 And she was definitely spoiled and made out like no other!

3 kids (ages 2, 4 and 9) sharing a birthday party.  The restaurant was packed and lots of fun was had.

That is it for now!  Thank you for stopping by!

Finally...some layouts to share!

Anyone still stopping by?  I know it has been a long time since I've posted anything crafty or scrappy.  

I've kind of reverted.  I'm keeping layouts super simple and not worrying about making them spectacular.  

This is actually a layout I had done a few months ago, just never got around to taking a picture and uploading it.  I just love Jillibean Soup!  Love their sheet of die cuts and how easy they make it to do embellishment clusters.  I used a sketch from PageMaps for this layout.  

 I am so thankful to have Chris's grandparents (GG's) in our lives. My kids love spending time with them!  Sadly, I am not very good at getting pictures of the kiddos with them, so when I do they are treasured.

Next up is a layout I made using from Elle's Studio.  I want to go back and add machine stitching around the banner, but haven't taken the time to pull out my sewing machine.  This was fun cause I used a bunch of little scraps I had been saving.

 These two crack me up!  They make me laugh every single day.  On this particular day, Peyton was pushing Maddy around in the laundry basket.

I think I used a sketch for this one too, but can't remember!  :-S  Peyton was pretty surprised when I told him to run through the sprinklers with his clothes and shoes on.  He thought that was pretty darn cool!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Wow...where has the time gone?  3 full months without posting?  Busy, busy busy!

For Halloween, Chris took The Hulk (Peyton) and Belle (Maddy) out trick or treating around the neighborhood.  They then came back and handed out candy to the trick or treaters that stopped by our house.  I should clarify, Peyton handed out candy. Maddy had a break down and went to bed early!  

Since Halloween was on a weekday this year, we took the kids trick-or-treating early (over the weekend) to the grandparents house.  Peyton wanted this Mario costume so bad I was surprised he wore his Hulk costume on Halloween.

In October one of our friends got married.  I was honored when she asked for my help that day.  We shipped off the kids and I spent most of the day at the outdoor wedding location helping get ready. Her mother in law has in insane knack of party set up, home decor, etc.  This was the kitchen (later on filled with food, I was too sidetracked to take pictures later on...haha!).  The night was finished off with my fave band playing live, dancing and a bonfire! 

At the end of October we took our first every siblings vacation.  Chris, his brothers and their wives and I took off to Vegas for a couple of days.  SO.MUCH.FUN!  I can't wait to take a siblings trip again!  This was also Chris's and my 10 year anniversary trip!  Yep...10 years!  :-0  Can you believe it?  Neither of us  can!  Haha!

Chris was able to attend a few OSU games this year.  Peyton really wanted to go to one, we only had one possible weekend that he could go!  :-0  Like I said, busy busy!  So we took off as a family to the game.  Maddy put on a show at Fred Meyer's while getting some tail gate food and rain ponchos.

Maddy and I enjoyed a little tailgating before the game with Peyton and Chris then took off for the hotel while Chris and Peyton went to the game.  Peyton made it one quarter before coming back to the hotel!  :-0  In his defense though, it was cold, wet and windy!  NOT a good combo!  

Peyton lost his first tooth!  I was quite disappointed it fell out while we were gone.   But Mema (my mom) made sure the tooth fairy left him a extra special surprise!  The picture below is of the wiggly tooth not too long before it fell out.  

 The whole family was able to make it to Portland to meet up with my on-line friend Karen for the first time!  SO much fun!  I really wish we lived closer as the kids had a lot of fun together and so did us adults!  We didn't get a posed picture of all the kids together but this one cracks me up!  They were having so much fun playing around!

  The following weekend, or maybe it was the weekend after...they are all running together now, just liked they did at the time...Chris and I were able to sneak away for the Civil War.  We enjoyed the time with my sister and brother in-law.  Just wish the game ended up differently!  ;-)

 There were moments of dancing and fun....

 Moments of playing in the snow....

 Some snowman were built....

 Some Christmas stockings were enjoyed....

 Nails were painted, whether you wanted them to be or not...

 and more time was spent in the snow.

The kids had a lot of fun playing Go Fish on New years...

We have a new thing of "I Love You"  in sign language.

 New years in pj's, snowboots and hats....haha!

 What is New years with out fire works?  And snow of course....... even in 4 degrees it was fun!

Well if you made it to the end, congrats! :-)  Thank you for stopping by!  I was able to pump out a few layouts before starting my room-by-room cleaning.  An attempt to purge then deep clean one room a day.  So far I'm not keeping my one room a day schedule.  But I'm still working at it!  Hopefully I will sneak a few minutes to share my layouts!

A couple layouts and a furniture make-over

Pardon the bad coloring in this picture.  My phone takes the clearest pictures but struggles with lighting.  A few weekends ago Birds of a Feather had a Back to School Crop.  I was able to complete a few challenges.  One challenge was title 'old school'.  These photos were 2 years old and the papers are easily that old or even older (I'm thinking around 5 or 6 years old).  I just loved that Basic Grey Christmas line though, so pretty!  I used a sketch, and will be back soon to give credit to the person who drew the sketch.  

 Next up is my take on the challenge to use your school colors.  It is pretty sad that after a few tail-gating experiences I have but a couple photos.  I think it is because it was my first time experiencing that and I was soaking it all in.  I had fun with this layout.  Again, super simple, but that is my style lately!

Maddy has collected quite a few princess dress up dresses.  They had been in a treasure box, but we ran out of room.  So I taped a box together, cut one side off and then two holes and put a wrapping paper tub through the holes to create her a place to hang her dresses.  

 Then a friend of mine was moving and getting rid of an entertainment center.  I thought to myself, that would be a great piece of furniture to get.  I could get rid of the storage piece Maddy had in her room that just wasn't working and alter this entertainment center to put in its place.  Here is the entertainment center:

And I turned it into this:  

I didn't take the time to pick up her room and make it all organized and pretty.  Sorry....  I put a little bar at the top of the larger section and she is now able to hang all of her dresses up there and keep all the other dress up things (shoes, wants, tiara's, etc) in the trunk (in the bottom right cubby).

Thank you Janelle!  I love it and so does Maddy!

Project 12 June using Simple Stories.

I am still continuing to create a layout for every month, trying to recap that months events.  Project 12 is not going anymore, but I am continuing on with it as I like it so much!  I have pinned numerous two pagers on Pinterest to help inspire me.  

Birds of a Feather posted a fantastic two page sketch for their sketch challenge this month.  I knew instantly that I wanted to use it for a Project 12 layout.  Here is June's layout.  

I continue to use Kraft as the base and Simple Stories papers.

My kids were in heavy jackets for a parade in June!  :-0  

 And then a few days later shorts and sundresses!  Haha!

June was a busy month for us.  We kicked it off with the school carnival.  I volunteered at the event and GG's (Great Grandparents) came and took the kids to the carnival.  Chris and Peyton finished up their t-ball season.  Chris enjoyed coaching and Peyton really enjoyed playing.  We (the kids and I) spent a lot of time in Peyton's classroom the last few weeks of school and even after school was out.  Peyton's teacher moved out of state.  :-(  So we helped her pack up her room.  The Crooked River Round Up (rodeo and horse races) was kicked off with a parade.  Maddy was so cute waving at all the princesses and queens as they rode by.  It was a mix of weather and we tried to get outside when the sun shown.  We had a big down pour one afternoon and I sent the kids out to play in it!  They had a TON of fun and thought it was really cool to be able to play in the rain like that!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your week is off to a good start!

Silly layout using Cosmo Cricket Social Club and Toddler layout

I finally got to scrap a little bit last week!  Yahoo!  I found a stack of layouts that I don't think I've share yet too!  

This first one I can't remember if I shared yet or not.  So my apologies if I already have.  I had held onto these pictures for sometime thinking I'd do something creative with mustaches.  But alas...no fun ideas came about so I decided to get them scrapped.  I used the Salt Air line by Cosmo Cricket.  I'm pretty sure I used a sketch, but it was so long ago, can't remember and can't find it.  I need to start writing down the sketch I used on the back of the sketch.  I WILL start writing down the sketch I used on the back of the layout.  

I layered a few tab stickers to create a journaling spot.  

 I think I say this every time, but my photos are horrible!  I have asked around about cameras and get 100 different answers and I just get that much more confused!  Haha!  I even bought one like a friend had, same exact one and still had horrible pictures.  I'm starting to guess it is user error!  haha!

I used a sketch by Gloria Rogers for this next layout.  I had a handful of pictures of Maddy being silly that I wanted to scrap.  But with my lack of time to do so, didn't want to create 6 different layouts.  So I put them all together into one layout.  And a simple one at that.

In the pictures below, Maddy had just discovered the fun of dress up princess shoes and would wear them all over the house (funny side note, she put them on last night to go help us pick veggies out of the garden.  haha!).  She also started helping me clean.  She liked to wipe down glass and dust.  She is quite happy and content being naked, so I often found her stripped down to her diaper.  One day, actually a handful of days, she walked out in her diaper and snow boots stating she was ready to go outside and play in the snow!

 These ones really crack me up.  We had problems with Maddy stripping at night, even taking off her diaper, then crying in the middle of the night cause she was cold or wet and cold.  So I started putting on her footed sleepers backwards.  Worked like a charm!

 Thanks for stopping by!