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 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  

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??!!

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!

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.

    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

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 … 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!)

 

I did cheat just a bit on the journaling              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 !

 

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my family!

Enjoy the moments!

Stacey

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!

 

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

And this is my creation:

I have pictures of my youngest niece posing…actually she was trying to ignore me …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

 

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                                                                                                 

and when you open it there is a “pocket” for tickets, notes, whatever!

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

 

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

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