Challenges and Life

Another 2 months have past since I last was on this blog…and I am accepting that while I LOVE to share my LO’s I am not as willing to share our life. Seems a bit strange to hear that from a “Life Memory Preserver” (i.e. Scrapbooker), seems even stranger when I hear myself saying that! But there it is. Written for all to read. Don’t miss understand, I love sharing the projects and LO’s that I create, and I love to do my morning “blog hopping” to see what everyone else is creating, but as my scrapbooking is evolving into more of a Project Life type style, I find that I am writing more and more family info/memories on the pages and really does anyone but the family need to read that?! I admire those that want to share their stories with the blogging world! And I love to read those stories Everyone has their own way of crafting and sharing. And that is what makes us all so very special and distinct in our own styles!

Okay so enough rambling for the morning and on to the “scrappy-ness”! All of the LO’s to follow are for the April Scraptastic Club challenges.

Challenge 1 - To complete the 1st April 2012 Blog Challenge, you will need to embellish a scrapbook page or card with one or more of your handmade layered flowers, using at least three patterned papers.

  This LO is based on a sketch by the very talented Heather Landry.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 2 – (recipe challenge) this challenge is about the power of 2! here is what you need...2 boarders, 2 patterned paper, 2 alphas in your title and 2 embellies.

This LO is based on another sketch by the very talented Heather Landry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 3 - Use an older kit that you have in your stash. The twist, add some sewing - hand, sewing machine or pen stitches to your page.

This LO is based on a sketch from Sketch Inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 4 – is a sketch challenge by …(drum roll please)…. Heather Landry!!!! I am really LOVING her sketches this month!!! (thanks Heather for all the wonderful inspiration!!)                                                           

The sketch and my interpretation of it!

     

Thanks for stopping by! I am still planning to share LO’s that I make…however not all of them will have pictures/stories on them! I am also hoping to show a couple pictures of what our Project Life album looks like! I love that it is so versatile and that I can still play with all the pretty paper!

Enjoy all of Life’s Moments!

Stacey

Last Scraptastic Club challenge and a Sketch Inspiration challenge

Wowsers! I have my Scrappin’ mojo back!!! I can’t believe how much I have gotten done lately… have been inspired by some awesome sketches and some really awesome paper

So the last Scraptastic Club challenge for February is “dig through your bottles of mists! See what you can come up with! Spritz them, splatter them, you could even paint with them. Use them on a layout, card, project of your choice.” I don’t use mists much on my pages either but they do add a nice and fast “POW” to your page. The mist that I used is Mister Huey’s Custard. It does not show up in the photo very well But I had fun with it! I love this layout (which is based on a PageMaps sketch) of the boys hard at work on painting their cars! It is so nice to have  big attached garage to utilize when the weather outside is yucky…plus it is heated so that is an added bonus!

This next LO is for the Sketch Inspiration weekly challenge.

 

  Sketch #308

 

 

 

 

The paper and embellishments are from Close To My Heart and the stamps are from Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards. The book and glasses stickers are from a previous Scraptastic Club kit. I LOVE this LO. It really shows what we do every day. Finding the joy everyday in the every day tasks is truly what keeps our family together and happy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting! Hope you enjoyed a look into our lives

Enjoy the moments.

Stacey

February Scraptastic Club Challenges 1, 2, & 3

Hello my friends! I have finally found time to participate in the Scraptastic Club challenges this month! I am so excited to finally have my scrappin’ groove back

So the first challenge is “to do some fussy cutting of your own to make your own die cuts for your layout, or card”.
  And here is my LO. I Love the fact that Jon and his parents are having just as much fun as the boys….and that I got a picture of Grandma swinging Love you Mom! (forgive me for this?? please!!)

I “fussy cut” the banner for “outside” to sit on. Nothing too fancy but I think it looks cute on the page.

The second challenge “is to use the title from a favorite childrens book as your title.” We have so many favorite books that I couldn’t decide which one to use. So I picked out 5 books, then went through my pics…and I found the perfect match!


I love the relationships that my parents have with all of their Grandchildren. Any time we go to visit…no matter what the reason or for how long…I always come back with a TON of pics And I just couldn’t resist taking the pic of my niece Jordyn’s pants… too cute!!

And the third challenge was a sketch challenge. Now this one had me stumped…and I am still not overly excited about the way that my LO came out BUT this challenge did “challenge” me to step out of my comfort zone…which is the point! I really do like the sketch and I have seen wonderful LO’s using hexagons, it is just one of those shapes that I am not comfy using. Guess that means I need to use it more!!
A gorgeous sketch…. and my attempt…
So that is all I have for you for now…HAHA
Enjoy the moments my friends,
Stacey

Another Challenge…or two!

You just thought I was done for the day! I have two more LOs that I want to post and THEN I think I will be done for the day…..

I have chosen to do the challenge at Artful Delight this month and it is a sketch challenge. I did something a little different with the sketch…instead of making a LO with pictures, chose to use a poem that I just love at Christmas time. I am going to put it in a shadow box and hang it in the living room by the front door. Perfect!

 

So this is the sketch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is my interpretation. I actually turned the sketch upside down to make it work for me! I love that about sketches… it is just a starting point!

 

 

 

 

 

I also used the Versa Watermark ink for the first time on this project and I am happy with the way that it turned out! Here is a close-up of the stamp.

 

 

 

Okay, so the last LO that I have to share with you is based on the weekly sketch at Sketch Inspiration.

This is sketch # 247.

And this is my interpretation of the sketch:

I just love the first snow of the season…especially when it doesn’t come until well into November and is light and doesn’t last! The snow came down in about 1 1/2 hours and was gone 30 minutes after it stopped snowing and the sun popped out. The boys were excited that it was snowing when we went to get Anthony from school…and so heartbroken when we got home because the snow was already gone   I know they are ready for the BIG snows that come and stay for weeks So here is hoping that we get enough snow to play in all winter but not enough to cause any problems!

Enjoy the Moments!

Stacey

Challenges galore!

 

Hello! Just a warning that this may be a long read! I am posting several LOs

So I have been following Jessica at Scraptastic Club for a while now and I am loving all the inspiration her blog and her designers have to offer! I have also been trying to do all of the monthly challenges that she posts…but I must admit that life gets busy and while the LOs get made I just don’t get them uploaded in time But this month I have completed all 3 of the challenges to date and I am actually going to get them published on my blog! YIPPEE!!! Okay enough rambling!

Challenge #1 – must have banners somewhere on the LO

This LO is from Brady’s Preschool trip to the SunnySide Pumpkin Patch in Assaria. Love how it turned out! And the colors really suit Brady

 

Challenge #2 – sketch challenge by (Heather) that has to show a family relationship.

 

This is the sketch (which is fabulous!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is my interpretation of the sketch:

 

 

 

 

I had so much fun with this sketch! And the pictures of my parents with 3 of their 7 grandkids where just perfect! I love the relationships that all of the kids have with their Mema and Papa. Make me so very happy!

 

Challenge #3 – recipe challenge

This month's recipe is... use any three of the following:

• Use a fall photo
• Dig out those embossing folders. Try using them on a chipboard piece!
• Use two colors of cardstock
• Use rub-ons. I think that sometimes can be one of those items we tend to forget to use.
• Punch a border
• Use teal, orange and brown
• Mist somewhere on your page, be it the whole page or a mask or an item adhered to your page.

And this is what I came up with:

 

*use 2 colors of cardstock

* Use teal, orange, and brown

* Mist somewhere on the page

*use a fall photo ****this doesn’t look like the “typical” fall photo but it was taken after Fall had officially started!

 

Okay! So that is all for the Scraptastic Club Challenges…unless there is another one before the end of the month!

I want to share one last LO that I just completed last night. It is of Brady and the Preschool Bear, Precious. Brady got to bring Precious home for the weekend and was to care for him like he was Brady’s “little baby”! Oh that bear went everywhere…he even got lost a couple times BUT was always found again once the toy mess was picked up (poor Precious was always buried under the toys). I had so much fun with this LO…I love all the colors and yes ever single letter is stamped, embossed and then hand cut around! Took awhile to get just the letters done but the end result is so totally worth all the time

Gosh I just really LOVE how this turned out!

Remember to Enjoy the moments!

Stacey

I am here!!!

So I just realized that it has been almost a month since I last posted something! Really??!! Has almost 30 days gone by already…where exactly did it go?! Well we have been busy with school activities, and getting ready for Thanksgiving and winterizing the yard and house and all those daily blessings that we have… so okay that is where the past month has gone. I have been crafting up a storm too… AND all of the pages have pictures on them! I know! I am just as surprised as you SO now the challenge is to get pictures taken, blurbs written and posted…hmmm I am thinking that it will be after Thanksgiving before I can get that done. And by then there will be more LOs (layouts) to make, photos to print, photos to take and more blurbs to write… my head is spinning! I don’t know how those of you that post everyday do it.

OH! I did purchase a new Cricut! I got the Cricut Mini when it launched this past Monday! So excited to be able to cut cute shapes again! Although not having a working CE for the past couple of months has challenged me to get back to the basics and I must admit that it has been fun! Circles and squares and triangles and stickers and markers and stamps and… you get the point! But I am also super excited to be able to get back to doing the “scene” LOs and those are SO much fun! You can tell a story with the LO as well as with your journaling and pictures! I will try to remember to post some of my scene LOs soon…ish 

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the Moments

Stacey

Birthdays and Blessings!

So today is my birthday… and it has been a great day! I am not one who dreads the day of turning a year older as I have come to realize that with age truly does come wisdom. The wisdom of knowing that when you were younger you really were not that smart in the choices that you made. And I made several that make me cringe to remember. But even with that being said, I would not change a thing about my life so far. The ups and downs, the smart and oh so not smart, the friends, the friends that are no longer friends, the family and friends who are no longer with us except in spirit, the laundry and dishes that never end, the sleepless nights when kids are sick, the frantic running to get all the kids to the right places at the right times. All of this has made me who I am. And it has brought me to where I am right now, which is a very blessed place. So here are 20 blessing for my birthday (and they are in no particular order except the order that they popped into my aging brain!):

1. JT learning how to snap his pants. Strange to be thought of as a blessing but for only being 3 I think that is quite an accomplishment…and he keeps interrupting me as I am writing this to show me. He has the biggest proudest smile on his face

2. My parents. They are awesome! They brought the wonderful me into the world. They tried their hardest to teach me the right path to follow…and I think after 38 yrs I may finally be on that path! And through it all they never lost faith in me…although I think that some of the stories that we never told them back then but are starting to tell now (usually with the help of wine and my brother saying “hey sis remember when you…”) really should be left untold. There are certain things that your parents probably knew you did but didn’t really know you did that just don’t need to be reinforced with a story about how you really did do what they thought you did but really didn’t want to know you did. You know??

3. My In-Laws. I just love them so much! They accept me as I am. Loud, opinionated and totally not at all like them! But flaws and all I know they love me!

4. Jon. Hands down the best man for me! He loves me for me. He has never asked me to change anything about myself. He loves me through the bad days and the good days, a never failing or changing love. And he can and does still take my breathe away with his actions and words. And he is mine, that right there takes my breathe away!

5. Brady’s smile. What a kiddo Braydon is. No matter what challenges life has thrown at him, he is the happiest little boy I have ever known!

6. Anthony’s charm. Is there a mom out there who is not head over heals in love with her sons? I know I am! And Anthony, being the oldest, is so protective of his little brothers. So loving and kind. He has the biggest heart and truly cares that others feel welcome and included. And his charming smile that he gets whenever I catch him doing something that is on the verge of being “naughty”! You can’t help but laugh

7. The dish washer. Come on, you know it is a blessing to anyone… especially a family of 5!

8. Stickers and goo smeared on the walls. Call me crazy, but that just reminds me that I have 3 healthy and active boys running through our house and it is very much lived in, making it a home. Our home.

9. Lack of Sleep. Yes, you read that right. Lack of sleep. Because that means that I have been up all night snuggling with a kiddo. It may not seem like a blessing at the time but it is.

10. Coffee. I can’t function without it… well I can and have, but not many people wanted to be around me…and some didn’t even survive!

11. Jon’s Job. It is demanding of his time and energy and it takes away time and energy from the family. But where would we be without his job? That is a scary thought. And Jon is very conscience to spend as much time as he can with the boys, even if it means that after they are in bed he has to go back to work until 1 or 2 a.m.

12. Hair mousse. Natural curls + Kansas wind = YIKES without mousse!

13. Flat Iron…because there are days I just don’t want curly hair

14. God and my faith. Without which I would not have all the blessings in my life and I would certainly not be who I am. There are many times that MY way seems better but in the end HIS way is the only way.

15. Cousins. You may not be able to pick them but like kids’ burgers they will stick to you through the tough times!

16. My Brothers. Jason and Joe are always there for me. And while we may not be able to see each other as often as this clingy sis would like to, I know that when I call they will Answer. Are you reading this boys??? YOU WILL ANSWER!!!

17. Tom, my dearly departed Brother. Just thinking of him brings a smile to my face! And I know that he is near…. how else do our boys come up with some of the stuff they do? I know that Tom is whispering in their ears “If you do this, your mom will make the funniest mad face”. Thanks Tom!

18. Toilet bowl cleaner. 3 young boys, potty training, really…do I need to say more?

19. Best Friends who know how to listen, who will let you vent and scream and yell and then tell you “buck up B*&ch! You know you are over reacting again” and says it with a smile and love.

20. The internet and blogging. How else would I be able to reach random strangers and friends and family with all of my glorious words of wisdom to enrich their worlds with my wondrous words??!!

I could keep going all day! But I have only allowed myself 30 mins of playtime and it is time to get back to my daily blessings. May you all be able to see that everything in your life is a blessing.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Stacey

P.S. to those of you wondering… Yes JT is still snapping and unsnapping his pants! How can you not smile and see the blessing in that?!