Weekend Getaway

My son has loved dirtbikes since before he could walk I believe.. he's had one since he was 5.  He rides for fun.. not in competition.. but it is one of his loves.  Here are two LO's I did using some pictures from a weekend getaway with his uncle and cousin.  The 4 x 6 photo is one of my favorite photos of him.

I'm learning to use the Gesso on paper and I haven't quite got the nack of it yet... I will though.. between that and the stitching, those are really the only techniques I used on these two LO's.  Just alot of paper layering and piecing.  The works and dirt bike pieces were all on a 12 x 12 sheet of paper from Adornit.  It's an older line, but dirtbike stuff is so difficult to find that I snatched it up when I found it and have been saving it.  TFL~

2011 All Conference Team

These pictures bring me alot of pride.  My son is a hard working type of kid and he doesn't always get the credit given to him that is deserved.  I've noticed him shying away from some things because he notices the same thing.  It's a hard lesson in life to learn.  I was very proud when we were out and about the other night when I heard him tell someone that he realized that life isn't always fair, but these things build character.  I'm so happy to know he's learning that at such a young age.  It will save him alot of heartache. 

I had alot of fun making this LO.  I used some stamps that I had purchased at an in home party and I've fallen in love with their products.  Ever heard the saying 'you get what you pay for'?  These stamps prove that right on!  They are Close to my Heart products and I can't wait to get a little money saved so I can purchase the Cricut Cart. that is so full of neat things to cut out.  I believe there are over 700 ways to use that cart. 

I hand stamped on this LO a TON... all but the GO TEAM flag was hand stamped, the letterting on the baseball, the ribbon, the Love this Game embellie, and the small tags.  I also stamped the stars & #1 on the background paper.  The rest of the LO is just layered and the papers are from Bo Bunny's Homerun line.  There are also some My Minds Eye papers in this.  TFL~

Homecoming 2008

Seems I am in the mood for the Homecoming theme.  Here is a LO that I did for the Page Map #33 challenge.  I knew as soon as I saw the design what picture I was going to use and I love how elegant it turned out without having a 'girly' feel to it.  Really all I did with this one was alot of paper layering.  Even my tags are layered.  The letter that I used for 'Dance' are a foam letter and have a bit of height to them.  The stars on the tag were cut with a punch out of photo corners.  They have some glitter on them and I was looking to bling the tags up since I wasn't going to really journal on this LO.  TFL~

Me & My Friends ~ Jr. Prom

Remember those fun prom days?  Well, thankfully our school has some great people that come to take photographs of the kids and help make it a great time.  One of our photographer also offers class photos of the boys and then of the girls.  They all get to pose together and have something to take home for mom to scrap right?  ha!!  This layout is one that I made at a home party for a scrapbooking line.  I had the base part of it done but really wasn't sure what picture to use on it.  Then I ran across the ABC Challenge.  Each month they use three letters of the alphabet to name an item that starts with that letter to use in your layout.  This month was the T U & V letters which means we had to use something TEAL, put something UPSIDE down on the layout and use VELLUM.  I embellished my premade layout to match the requirements.  The base paper was already teal, I used the vellum phrase "Me and My Friends" and cut it apart.  I flipped the word "me" backwards (honestly  by mistake but it worked perfect) and turned the word 'and' upside down.  This finished off the requirements but the layout just needed more.. so I added the letters to spell out Junior and added the ribbon with the letters on it.  And there ya have it..... another great page to add to my son's graduation book!~ 

Party Time ~

Do you ever just look back at some photos of the kids and first wonder where the time went and then chuckle because they've grown so much?  Well this layout that I'm going to share with you is of a photo that made me do just that!!!  It's a picture of my son's class when they were in middle school at a party for one of the girls in class.  They are being goofy and just having a great time!!!

I made this for two challenges over at Scrapbook.com and had a great time doing it.  The first challenge was to scraplift the person before you in a list.  I scraplifted off of Chaton_13 from a beautiful layout that had a stamped brick wall on it.  The other part of this layout was inspired by a challenge to use Gesso or paint on your layout.  I've never used Gesso before so I thought this was the perfect time to do so.  So I created my wall with paper and paint instead of stamping it.  The results were fantastic and I think the paint added a great dimension to my layout... have you tried painting on your paper?  Or over a photo before?  If you haven't... well now's the time.  You will be glad that you did!

TFL~

Fun Fabric Coil Coasters ~

I'm not sure you've heard of this.. but you have HAD to have heard of this.. I've recently gotten ADDICTED to Pinterest.  Oh if you haven't heard of it you MUST go look.  It's a pin up board of all the things that you love and you can make folders to save the sites that tell you how to make something, or how to cook something, or just photographs of the places you love or places you want to visit etc.  www.pinterest.com

Well anyway... I was looking around the other day and found a blog that showed you how to make these fabulous coasters.  I thought they'd make some nice Christmas gifts so I went and purchased some rope clothes line and grabbed some of the material that I had in my stash and started rippin'!  I wrapped the material around the clothes line, hot glued it all together and walah!  Coasters.  I am going to hand sew them together just for added strength so they last longer.  I also found online where you could sew them together on the machine while crafting them, but I'm just not that great on a sewing machine so I opted for the good ol' glue gun!!!  Here is the site with the tutorial: http://twoshadesofpink.blogspot.com/2011/05/fabric-coil-coasters-i-green.html   Check out her site, she's got some fun projects!!!

Here are some of my finished coasters ~

Time flies when you are having fun!!!

Hello blog world!!  It's been awhile.  I've been trying to get back into the swing of things in the craft room..... and I figured what better way to start then to just jump in and start creating.... so last night I did just that.  I'll show you my creation as soon as I get this blog post done ~

Well let's see.. what's kept me away???  Well.. HOMECOMING!  It's one of my favorite weeks of the whole school year.  My youngest son Matt is a Sr. this year and I'm very sad to say that I participated in my last homecoming having a child in school.  Bittersweet I know... But... I have also learned not to be to sad about those moments.  But to relish in them and know that there are many more memories to be made! 


I'm not sure how your town celebrates Homecoming week, but we have a fun packed week for all!!!  The Friday before Homecoming the Seniors vote for the top 10 girls and the top 10 boys for their Homecoming Court.  I am so very proud to say that my son did make the top ten. 

He's the handsome young man in the blue Columbia jacket with a black t-shirt.  Now I have to add that the kids up here for this photo are all just great kids.  Of all my kids, this class has been the closest at heart class.  They don't thrive on drama and really do just enjoy each other.  It had to be one of the closest years of voting ever!!! The top 10 is announced on Monday during a pep assembly. It is also the first dress up day of the week. As you can tell by the photo, the girls dressed in animal print and the guys in camo. After the assembly it's off to the local businesses to paint the windows.. It was pouring down rain but they didn't let it stop them. 

Tue. brings another voting day.  But the whole high school votes now.  And it's a dress up day as well.  My son didn't participate in them so I am not sure what it was. 


Wed. brings the votes for the top 5..... and.. well.. my son didn't make that but that doesn't make a difference to me.. he got there in the top 10 out of a class of about 150.  After all the sports practices are over, they kids all meet at the high school parking lot to spray paint.... EACH OTHER!!  I have never seen kids have SO MUCH FUN as they do with this activity.  It is a supervised activity and just pure innocent FUN!!! 

They also get to white wash on the school parking lot.......

Thur is toga day for the Sr's and pajama day for the rest of the student body.  The football players got to wear black togas and their tie ~  Usually Thur. is dress up day for them... so their black dress pants and dress shirts were replaced with a black sheet.  I was happy the coach let them participate. 

See the blond young man with giving you the thumbs up???  You guessed it, that's Matt.....  It takes a few days to get all the spray paint off of them as you can tell!!  After a short practice and a team meal.. the kids get their floats out and jump on the fire trucks and the top 5 get in the fancy cars and drive through town for our Homecoming parade.

I did so good and I was SO proud of myself.  I held the tears until after the firetruck was by...... you could say I may be an emotional mom.... just a little...  After the parade we all meet at the high school football field for a pep assembly and to announce the king and queen.  It was a surprise to all the top candidates.. but we were proud to say that our Queen is on the football team and has just recently moved here and has won the hearts of many!!!  After the crowning the girls get to take the field for some powder puff football.  Don't be fooled though.. these girls get down and dirty and have some fun tackling.. um I mean going after those flags!!  The Senior girls took home the win!!!

Friday is spirit day as they all wear black and gold to support their team..... It was a great night as the Varsity team pulled out the first win in 6 years for our Homecoming game! 


I know this is only ONE of the weeks that I've been away from my blog but it was the most exciting.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing the fun we have through our Homecoming week.