Happy Halloween & a layout!

Happy Halloween! I cannot believe that tomorrow is November 1st and we are getting ready for another round of 30 in 30! I tried the 30 in 30 scrapbooking challenge back in September and ended up finishing 24 layouts (22 actually got uploaded). I think that may have been a new record for me since I am kind of a slow scrapper and I have a few other projects that I am working on. That's what makes the November edition of 30 in 30 so great. We are not limited to only scrapbooking - any papercrafts are going to count. That means all those cards and Christmas gifts that I would like to get started on will count. Maybe I'll actually get 30 projects done this month!

The September 30 in 30 really took it out of me! I have not been productive at all throughout the month of October. I've done a few layouts for a client's album and I participated in Scrappin' - N - Chattin's 24 hour challenge (didn't make the deadline on that one - darn it!) and I signed up for the Triple S swap challenge over at Inspired to Scrap.  Basically  we were to cut a total of 20 squares out of 3 different colors of cardstock, in 4 different sizes with the largest being 2 inches. I really wanted to do something like the inspiration layout they had posted because I really loved it, but I just couldn't get it to work. I worked with it and fretted over it for days...weeks is more like it, until I came up with something I liked.

 

 

Stacey sent me the orange, green and tan squares to work with and I added in a dark brown, too. I ended up cutting some of my squares into triangles for my arrows, then added 3 stacked squares on the diagonal under the photo. This photo is of Shane back in 2005 at Bennett Springs and is one of my all time favorite photos of him. I also based this layout on a sketch from My Scraps and More. 

I am pretty happy with the end results, even if it took me forever to finish!

You & Me

supplies used - patterned paper and brads - MME, alphas - EK Success and American Crafts.

Here is the layout I made for the 24 hour challenge over at Scrappin' - N - Chattin' this weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get it done in time to be entered in for the prize, but I at least did get it done and I will be entering it into their "happy couple" monthly challenge.

There's a great giveaway...

 

going on over at my friend, Sandi's beautiful blog! Go check out how you can have a chance to win this fantastic prize!

Sponsor at Sketch Inspiration

I am the sponsor this week over at Sketch Inspiration! Here is the fabulous sketch that I got to work with:

- And here is what I came up with. I love the banners and the cluster of circles on the left side of the page.

And this is the prize you will have the chance to be getting if  you play along this week! Some of the beautiful Simple Stories Handmade Holiday papers. I love this line for Christmas!

 

I hope you stop by Sketch Inspiration this week and join the fun!

Trick or Treat Crop

 

I am super excited! My Scrap and More is having a Trick or Treat online crop this weekend and I plan on being there! They always have fun games and challenges throughout the crop and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us! Come check it out!

Layouts 13-16 for 30 in 30

#13&14 is a layout titled Saturday morning treat. This summer Abby stayed with us again while Shawn was in Texas for the National Guard. I knew this was probably going to be the last time she was home with us for any length of time, and we needed to make some fun memories! We decided that grocery shopping would be so much better if we got a frappe from McDonald's. It definitely gave us non coffee drinkers energy that's for sure! We didn't get one every week, but when we would grocery shopping would be so much more fun!

For this layout I used My Mind's Eye - Lost and Found two collection and sketch from Scrapbook Generation's Sketches for Scrapbooking  Vol. 3. It was also made for the For Girls Only challenge at Colorful Creations

For my #15&16 layout I used some older photos of Shane listening to Abby's i-pod. He loves music - always has! He definitely has his favorites and you'd better not change the station while his favorite song is on or he will let you know he's not happy! On this day, Abby had Kelly Clarkson playing on her i-pod and she put it next to his ear so he could hear. He thought it was pretty cool, but he wasn't too crazy about the ear bud in his ear. As long as they were close enough for him to hear he was happy!

I used Echo Park - A Boy's Life collection and a sketch from Scrapbook Generation's Sketches for Scrapbooking Vol.5.

Layouts 9-12 for 30 in 30

I have a few layouts to share today. I'm trying to get caught back up on my 30 in 30 posts so I don't get too far behind! This first layout I made for the Say It With Words challenge over at Colorful Creations. The challenge was to use any of the words that were on the inspiration layout. I found these old photos of Shane and Matthew with the neighbors dog and knew they would be perfect for this challenge. Shadow was such a good old dog and let the boys "love" him any way that they wanted. He never got grouchy with them no matter how much they squeezed and pulled on him.

This is just a photo of the second page to show the hidden journaling.

I used Echo Park's Woof and Times and Seasons collection and a sketch from Scrapbook Generation's Sketches for Scrapbooking Vol 1.

This is my #11&12 layout. More old photos of Shane! When I found these photos I just fell in love with them all over again. His face in the first photo is just priceless! He was so in awe of the Super 8 sign. He would get so excited when the words would change or run across the sign. I think he would have stayed there in the parking lot all day if we would have let him. Even after he was buckled in his car seat he was still trying to turn and see the sign until it was out of sight.

I made this layout for the more or less challenge over at Scrap-Friendzy. The challenge was to use more photos if you normally scrap fewer photos or scrap fewer photos if you normally scrap more. Lately I seem to be scrappin' 1-3 photo, so I thought using 5 on this layout would definitely be more! I used more paper from Fancy Pants' - The Good Life collection and I used a sketch from Scrapbook Generations August downloads.

Layout #17 - All Star

I've done quite a bit of scrappin' over the weekend, but I'm still nowhere near being caught up with my 30 in 30 challenge. It's a good thing I have another online crop at Inspired to Scrap this week to try to get caught up and finished with this challenge!
Here is my #17 layout. I used the September sketch from Artful Delights for this layout about Matthew.

This photo is from his 2008 Coach pitch baseball season. I have so many of his baseball photos that I really need to get scrapped - so at least this is a start! I used the Fancy Pants Little Sport collection and I love it! I'm sure I'll be using every last scrap of it that I have.

I'll be posting several more layouts in the next couple of days - trying to get the pages that I've made this weekend posted before I get too far behind.

Me and my randomness

So, I guess you could say that I am spending my day getting caught up on my blog! I thought while I was at it I would post the other two layouts that I have done for my 30 in 30 Challenge this month. Now maybe from here on out I can post them in the order that I make them!
This first one is layout of my sweet, sweet nieces, Allie and Baylie and it is my third layout for 30 in 30.

It was made following two different challenges. Rach's recipe from Colorful Creations was to use ric rac, stitching, a minimum of 2 photos, journaling, metal (staples), and to fussy cut one element (flowers). I have not used my sewing machine in ages, so it was fun to get it out and sew a little! The fussy cut flowers...they were a pain to cut out, but I really like how this turned out!
I also used it for the pre September challenge #1 over at Scrap-Friendzy. They had posted a layout that we were to use to inspire our layout. I used the overall design of their layout and the color pink.



This second layout was made using a sketch from one of the Back to School Crop challenges over at My Scraps and More a couple of weeks ago and is my #7 layout for my 30 in 30. Again I used some old photos of the boys that I've been wanting to scrap, but just never got around to doing. I love seeing those sweet "little" boy faces. They are both so big now!

Now I am all caught up  and I hope I can keep up from here on out!

I was featured!

I got an email from Let's Scrap on Monday telling me that this layout that I made using their 9-12-12 sketch was one of the featured layouts! (Click on the photo for a larger view.) I was so excited! This was the first time that I have participated in any of their challenges, and then this was a featured layout! How cool! I was also able to enter it into the pre Sept. Challenge #3 over at Scrap-Friendzy. That challenge was to use at least 2 different border punches on your layout and I used a total of 3. And lastly, it was also made for Deborah's summer vacation challenge over at Inspired to Scrap. We were to make a layout about what we did over the summer. I thought the last hoorah of summer for us would work for this one!

This is my #5 and 6 layouts for the 30 in 30 challenge. I love that a double page spread counts as 2! This layout is about our Labor Day fun at Bennett Springs. We decided to take the kids down to Bennett to walk the trails and maybe let them get in the water. Shane loved it! With the drought this year, the river was pretty shallow. I think at the deepest point where we were at it never came much above their knees. Shane would not hardly let go of Abby's hand (it was a little slippery!) and there were a couple of times when I thought they were both going to go down! I absolutely love the big picture of the 3 of them holding hands. It means so much to me to see Abby and Matthew taking care of their brother. (More on that in another layout!) 

This time we walked a different trail than the one we normally walk. It was really pretty and in places got really narrow. Shane never watches where he's going. He's either looking straight ahead or all around him. Scott just happened to turn around and grab his hand - right when Shane stepped off the side of the trail and about went into the river! I thought for sure the fishermen were going to have to "fish" him out of the water, but Scott was able to pull him back up and out of the hole. I'm pretty sure we heard a couple of the fishermen give a chuckle! 

It was a really fun day and a perfect way to spend the last summer holiday!