Thursday, July 12, 2012

Take me out to the Ballgame….

Yep. We took the boys to their first “real” baseball game! Aunt Tamara and Uncle Joe joined us, as did my Auntie Jean and Uncle Doug! It was fantastic Open-mouthed smile And we were SO close to the field that everyone could really see what was going on! Ok, so the heat was a bit of a downer…103 with no breeze at all, but we were in the shade…and the boys got a teeny bit overheated before the first inning was even over, which they actually figured out how to use to their advantage by asking for more juice every 20 minutes which meant a trip back up the stairs to walk around all the vendors so they could pick out a different juice to try. YEP, they got spoiled! Jon also to JT to the “Meat Locker” (which is the gift shop) to pick out a hat. HOWEVER, once inside JT took his sweet little time looking at everything! And even picked out a hat to buy for Brady! Guess he really liked being in the A/C Smile 

Brady, JT, Tamara and I left during the 5th inning as the little boys had had enough and were actually asking to “go home to take a bath and go to bed”. It was so cute. Everyone else stayed for the rest of the game and the KC T-Bones won the game 8-3.

The only picture that I took with a family member in it was of Brady styling his new hat! Not sure how I “forgot” to take a group pic of us all there….think I can blame it on the heat??!! Smile with tongue out

Here is the LO that I created to document our Baseball outing. It is loosely based on a Pagemaps sketch.The paper that I used is from the Scraptastic Summer Picnic Kit. If you have not checked out Scraptastic & the fantastic kits Jessica puts together, you really should. Go. Now!

Scraptastic July kit_0002_edited-1

I always keep the tags and receipts from all of our trips/outings just in case! And they really came in handy with this LO. I had some blank spaces that I just was not liking so I picked through what I had saved and used them on the LO. I really like how it adds to the page.

Scraptastic July kit_0004_edited-1

    Again there was a “white” space that was just not doing it for me so I smushed up 2 bottle caps with my Cuttlebug, circle punched some of the printed paper from the kit that says “happy” and “memory”, then fussy cut out leaves and made the caps look like flowers. I covered the bottle caps and paper with Ranger Glossy Accents to give them a finished look. I also used a black gel pen around the outside edges of some of the banners on the paper to make them pop. I really LOVE the way this turned out!!

Enjoy!

Stacey

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

a “GREAT” day

Do any of you have a photo or a memory of a photo that was taken that really stands out in your mind or has a special place of honor in your home? I have several but the ones that really stand out in my mind (as I have yet to “steal” a pic from my mom) are the pictures taken on my Grandparents couch. All of us cousins would pile onto the couch… which I remember as being a fun wrestling match for the best position and couldn’t have taken more than a couple minutes, at least a couple of “kid” minutes Smile… and our Grandparents would find a place to sit after we kids were settled and the parents would snap a pic or two or three hoping that one of them shows all 9 of us smiling and looking at the camera.  These memories and pictures are very dear to me as we did not get to see/visit our Eastern Kansas family very often. It was a 6+ hour drive that would usually start after my Dad got done working on a Friday night (8pm or later) and end in the wee morning hours of Saturday, with 4 very grouchy kids and 2 not so un-grumpy parents. We would re-wakeup on Saturday morning, play with our cousins as everyone in the county (or so it seemed to me) would show up to see my Dad and his family from “way out west”. There would be lots of laughing, eating, drinking, a couple scuffles…not all of them between us kids… and of course picture taking. We would load back up in the truck for the torturous (to us kids’ way of thinking) 6+ hour ride back home after Sunday Lunch.

Now that I am a parent of 3 little darlings I know all the “fun” of making one of those trips... and why a normal 3 hour drive turns into a 3+ hour drive. Seriously?! How can kiddos need to stop and use EVERY REST AREA on the interstate when we have not given them anything to drink?!  So while the speed limit has changed from 55 on all roads to 70 and my family lives closer to our “Eastern Kansas” Family, we still don’t make it back to visit as often as I would like. But when we do, there is always a welcome “committee” to great us, laughing, eating and picture taking. Grandmother is now in a cute little apartment with a different couch, and my GrandDaddyBob has passed away but still I am able to get THAT picture of my kids with their Great-Grandmother. And it is still the same process of the kids wrestling for the best position (which by the way takes way longer than a minute in “adult” time!) and Grandmother sitting after they are settled and me snapping away hoping that at least one of the pictures will show all 3 boys smiling and looking at the camera.

I took one of those photos and featured it in a scrapbook layout. The paper from Scraptastic Nostalgic Summer kit was perfect for this picture! The pattern paper that I used reminds me of the many quilts that Grandmother has created over the years. And while the picture is not the most “perfect”, it perfectly displays the personalities of our boys! I am using this LO for the first July Challenge at Scraptastic.

The challenge is: #1 you can only use 1 sheet of patterned paper!
#2 you have to use word stickers for your journaling!
(no hand written paragraphs here!)

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I did cheat just a bit on the journaling Smile             I made a pocket with the center square of pattern paper and tucked a tag behind it that has this story written on it. It was just too precious of a story not to put with the picture! BUT you cannot see any hand written paragraphs so hopefully it will count Fingers crossed!

 

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my family!

Enjoy the moments!

Stacey

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Scraptastic June Challenges

Here are my entries for the June challenges for Scraptastic Club.

Challenge #1 was to use a cluster of 6 or more embellishments.  I have photos of my late Grandma and I together that I am going to put on here. Along with the story of our closeness!

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Challenge #2 was a sketch challenge by the very talented Heather. Here is her sketch:

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And this is my creation:Scraptastic Challenge June 2012_0004_edited-1

I have pictures of my youngest niece posing…actually she was trying to ignore me Smile…that I am going to use on this LO. All the bling and color is SO her!!

 

Challenge #3 was to scrap about something that I like. I don’t usually scrap about myself so this was a challenge. I am okay with how it turned out…I think Winking smile

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Challenge #4 was to get messy using paints, sprays, mists… anything messy!! I am still having fun with this one! It is not a LO, but the first couple of pages of an album that I am making for our oldest son to keep all his treasures and memories in when we go to Portland in August (just he and I) for my cousin’s wedding! It will be his first time flying! This album is made out of “6 pack” sized paper bags! LOVE IT!!!!

This is the front cover                                                                                                  Scraptastic Challenge June 2012_0007_edited-1

and when you open it there is a “pocket” for tickets, notes, whatever!Scraptastic Challenge June 2012_0008_edited-1

Here is what a few of the other pages look like:

Scraptastic Challenge June 2012_0009_edited-1  Scraptastic Challenge June 2012_0010_edited-1

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This album has been fun to make…and my hands have been very messy and stained after working on it! I think that is another reason I am loving it so much…I get to be as “messy as a kid” working on it!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a fun and very safe Fourth of July!

Stacey