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!

Photo Catch Up

Warning:  picture heavy post.  Layouts to come.....

Labor Day weekend started out with a jam packed weekend full of plans.  The plans ended up getting changed, but that was okay as we had more time to spend with family and we had a lot of fun anyways.  

Chris is one of 3 boys (he is the oldest).  Both brothers and their wives were in town over Labor Day weekend.  This is the first time in a year we had all gotten together!  :-0  For some that may be normal, but we like to get together a year is way to long to go without all getting together.  

Saturday we took for a round of Frisbee Golf.  Have you ever played?  It is fun!  

Last Tuesday, Peyton started school!  He was quiet excited for his first day.  I am very happy to report that he is enjoying it very much.  :-)

 Of course, we gotta show the backpack!  Super Mario Bros!  Big surprise, haha!  He wanted to color coordinate so wore his sport shorts as they matched his shoes then picked out a new red spiderman shirt to wear.  But it was pretty darn chilly, so he ended up putting on a sweatshirt and their went the color coordination!

 This was him as I was about ready to leave!  He had two girls from his kinder class at his table and a boy he knew from preschool.

 Last week he came home with an award and a prize.  The award was for Great Manners!  :-)  This mama is so proud of him!  He came home with another one this week!

 Last week there was a Open House at his school.  Of course we had to go and check it out.  Peyton was excited to show us his puppet.  I thought it very cool that Peyton had colored stripes on his.  Everyone else had colored their solid colors.  I love it that he got creative and made his different!

Maddy started preschool this week.  She was ready....actually she was wondering how come she didn't get to go to Peyton's school!  Haha!

 Just a little excited on the first morning!

 Notice the shoes.  Peyton got back to school tennis shoes so she wanted tennis shoes.  She wears them even when we go to pick Peyton up from school or drop him off as we are 'going to school'.  Haha!  So cute!  I love how their little minds work!

 We arrived at school and she was bummed we had to wait in the car 15 min.  I drop Peyton off a tad before 8 and she can't go in til 8:20.  It doesn't make sense to run home, so we wait in the parking lot.

She learned the new drill pretty well (hang up back pack and coat, wash hands, find name plate and put it on a board) and could care less that I left.  When I went back to get her, she asked how come we had to go home!  Haha!  She wanted to stay longer!

This week, Peyton started bringing homework home!  Luckily it hasn't been to much of a fight yet.  But that darn handwriting practice he DOES NOT like!

Thanks for stopping by!  Life has been super busy!  Hopefully we will get into the swing of things and I will get more time to get crafty!

Been in a Tail Spin

I feel like I have been in a tail spin the last month or two.  Seems like I can't catch my tail!  ;-)  

We headed to my hometown for the County Fair.  We went with my mom, nephew and niece.  

 This kids had a blast on the pony rides.

 They also enjoyed the animals (even on the second round through the animal barns) and the carnival.

The following week there were the swim lessons.  It was a 4 days a week, two week program.  Peyton refused to participate.  Up to the point of walking in the aquatic center.  So I opted to enroll them in swim lessons in my home town, 45 min. away where I know he was comfortable.

 Odd enough, he did GREAT the first week and it was Miss Maddy who struggled a bit.  I heard Maddy tell her instructor 'no'!  Yes, my little spit fire wasn't about to do something she didn't want to do.

 I have to say, that I was extremely impressed with both instructors.   They were fantastic and worked so well with the kids.  Since it was a good little drive, I stayed at my parents house, just up the street from the pool, a few nights each week.

One weekend we took off to Peyton's teacher's, who became my friend, wedding.  It was in a itty bitty town way out in the middle of no-where.  The COOLEST place!  Seriously, would love to live there.

The next weekend Chris wanted to camp at one of our favorite places, Walton Lake, for his birthday.  We went with some of our friends that have kids our age.  SO much fun!  The kids had a blast and so did us adults.

 Peyton has his bug replant bracelet around his head like a headband.  haha!

 Not sure why Maddy has no clothes on or what she is doing.  But the picture cracks me up.

 Doesn't he look sexy with a little pink pole?  Haha...such a good Daddy helping miss Maddy untangle her line.

 While out camping, Chris all of a sudden said 'check out those sheep'.  We all turned to see hundreds of sheep being herded by.  The kids were pretty impressed.  Me on the other hand, was having a panic attack for the sheep herder.  What if he lost a sheep?  What if a animal came in after them at night....what if?  haha!

We took a little drive to Allen Creek Reservoir one day.  SO much fun ! LOVE this place!  It is a bit rough to drive in too.  I wouldn't do it in anything but something with 4WD.  But man is it nice.  I even took a swim!

The following weekend there was the Willamette Country Music Festival.  We have such a BLAST.  We already reserved our spots for next year.

 Unfortunately Chris's cousin wasn't able to make it this year.  But my brother and sister in law were.  :)  I love spending time with them and was so glad to hear they had so much fun that they want to go back again next year!

 Below is a view of the stage behind the huge crowd.  That stage was HUGE too!  Way too many people for me.  I didn't get anywhere near the stage.  I get crowd-phobia.  So I hang out in the back!

 Directly following the music festival was Chris's family reunion.  Oh how we look  forward to these family reunions.  I love his family to pieces.

 Chris's cousin was in charge of adult games.  One game she planned was similar to the Newlyweds game.  Chris wrote this sign when I was gone answering questions.  Haha!  It says 'My contract with John ******** already expired'.  It is a joke between Chris and I that my dad payed him to marry me.  The sign brought quite a few chuckles.

 We came back home and luckily Chris had a few days vacation left.  I took off Friday morning garage saling and hit a jack pot.  The gal at this garage sale used to be a Mary Kay Rep.  She isn't one any longer and wanted to liquidate her product.  She was selling everything for 25 cents a piece!  :-0  Say what?  Yes...brand new product, for 25 cents a piece.  I spent $10.50 on all of this.  That is 2 powders, 10 pressed powder foundations, 3 foundations, 2 compacts for the foundations, 22 eye shadow compacts, 3 brushes, one liquid eye shadow, 2 sets of suntan lotion and after suntan lotion and a TON of free samples!  I added it up to over $380 worth of product!  Now...I am not a make up fan, don't hardly wear foundations, but couldn't resist this opportunity!

That is somewhat of a recap of my last week or two.  I have a handful of layouts to share so check back!  My biggest apologies for not posting more frequently.  But what can I say, life happens!  :-)

Peyton turns 5!

Wow...I don't even know where to start!  I started this post a month ago!  :-0  Yikes...time goes by quickly!  My life went into a tail spin a month or two back.  But it is a good tail spin!

A quick scrapbook share:

I wish I could tell you what sketch I used.  But I am at a loss.  It has been WWWAAAYYYY to long.  I have had this pack of 8x8 papers from Pretty Little Studio for a while, just itching to be used.  

I am still on a banner kick.  Is that out of scrapbook fashion now?  It has been son long, I'm not sure whats 'in' and whats not.

The banner pieces were printed on a piece of cardstock, I just had to cut them out.  So nice to not have to free hand them.

One big blooper in the above photo....Peyton was turning 5 not 3!  *gasp*  I have fixed the layout, but didn't retake photos.  Not sure what made me put 3 on there.  It couldn't have been the gazillion and one interruptions I got while working on the layout could it?

Other things that went on during the time I originally started this layout...

We listed our house for sale.  I like our house and LOVE our neighborhood and neighbors.  BUT...our lot is tiny.  It is just not big enough us and all our 'stuff' and toys.  We aren't able to park our camp trailer on our lot which is a HUGE thing to us.  So, I have been spending a TON more time keeping the house as clean as I possibly can.  We have also been doing a little driving, checking out possible new houses.

Check out the views of this one:

Alas...it is not in the running.  But the views were killer!

We took a day drive out to a nearby reservoir.  The kids LOVED it!  Thank goodness Chris is a good Daddy and got in the water with them.  It was murky the first few feet and there was lots of seaweed and I just couldn't bring myself to get in.  Please tell me there are other people out there like me?  That don't like to step on seaweed and get creeped out by murky water.

I was shocked that on numerous days Maddy took a nap.  Sometimes I caught her like this:

Sometimes she took a nap in her bed.

Before heading to the reservoir we had to finish up touch up painting on one side of the house.  I had to go back inside after I walked out and saw both kids with cups of paint and paint brushes!  :-0  I have to admit though, they didn't do too bad!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hopefully I can get another post up soon of more recent pictures and more layouts!  I have both, just need to upload and edit them!

T-Ball Layout

After many weeks of not scrapping I was able to sit down and play with paper and pictures a little bit this week.  It has been a while since I have completed a challenge at Birds of a Feather, so I decided to start there.  I chose to do the color challenge.  I got the inspiration for this layout from a sketch I had pinned here on Pinterest.  

The pictures are from last years t-ball, his first year of playing.

Thanks for stopping by!

Echo Park Layout and Vacation Layout

Hello there!  Back again to share some layouts I have made quite a while back.  I had two pictures sitting on my desk FOREVER waiting for just the right paper.  I finally got tired of looking at them and figured I'd make whatever I had on hand work.  I chose to go with a fun summer line from Echo Park.  I used a sketch, but for the life of me cannot remember where from.  

I wanted to get a picture of these meals that I crave.  I LIVE for these meals!  Wilted lettuce salad, green beans, taters and corn on the cob all from the garden (either my parents or ours) and a good ole' steak bbq'd up by the grillin' king, my hubby, Chris.  Saying these meals are delicious does NOT do them justice.  So I grabbed a pick and by the end of the meal it was obvious that Maddy loved it too as she had food all over her face.  

And a close up of the titling, journaling and stitching.  

 A while back my friend Karen was purging her scrappy items.  She came across this layout she had completed but hadn't put pictures on it yet.  I jumped at the offer as it was stinkin' cute and perfect for some vacation photos I had waiting to be scrapped.

I loved how there was a smaller page on top of a larger page.  I want to try this myself sometime!  So fun!  

Thanks for stopping by!