Tracking the Olympics - Go USA!

In our house we are tracking the Olympics with a simple chart that I made from poster board and 2" by 2" red and blue squares.  Check it out!

"GO USA" was cut from white cardstock using the Cricut, then I hand drew stars and strips on them.  I added some bling to the stars and stripes with stickles.  (My 7 year old daughter is CRAZY about stickles!)

We are tracking only the medals that we watch the USA win.  So far, USA has won 17 medals, but we only have 15 on our chart.  The goal is to encourage the kids to take an interest in the Olympics!  So when they see the USA win, they get to add a sticker to the chart.  To up the ante... we've given them a money incentive, too.  Each gold medal on our chart is worth 25 cents, each silver 10 cents, and each bronze is 5 cents.  The stars may have been enough incentive, but adding money to it has really gotten them interested in watching the USA at the Olympics!

We are using stars to represent the medals - gold, solver and white (bronze).  We purchased these in the kids craft area at Walmart.

Happy craftin' and GO USA!

 

Countdown Craft

I saw an idea for this years ago and finally got around to making one to coutdown for an upcoming trip we have planned!  The kids can't wait to start using it!

What is really great about this Countdown Calendar is that it is 100% reusable!

The flowers were cut with a Cricut, then I punched circles for the centers and used number stickers to label them.  The flowers are stuck onto green drinking straws with glue dots then a small strip of tape on the back for reinforcement.  The leaves (cut with cricut) are also attached with a glue dot.

The "vase" is a large Bush's baked beans can that I wrapped with decorative paper and stuffed with handmade "grass". The grass is made from thin strips of green paper that we (me and the kids!) accordian folded.

 I made 21 flowers... So the countdown will begin three weeks before the event.

We'll remove one flower a day - starting with 21, then 20, then 19...  until they are all removed. Then it will be time for our vacation!

 Since it's reusable, for the next vacation (or birthday or beginning of school...), just reload the can and start the countdown all over again!

Happy craftin'!

 

Little Brother

This is a picture of my kids from 2007...  Oh the Memories! 

Carter was only 3 months old and Allison is in her terrible two's! She was SO uncooperative that day that I am amazed we got this cute picture!

I scrapbook the "professional pictures" of the kids in an album separate from our regular family album. When I scraped this, I had a new paper tearing tool and my Cricut was new, too! I used the tearing tool to tear the patterned paper and add just a little bit of texture. 

My favorite part of this layout (beside the adorable kids!) is the striped letters! I cut thin strips from various scraps of blue paper and stuck them to a thin sheet of velum. I lined them up right next to each other and used a Zyron sticker maker to make sure they were stuck down really well!  Then I ran the striped sheet of velum through my cricut!  I really LOVE how it turned out! And it was fun to make!

Hope this inspipres you to make somthing great!

Happy scrappin'!

 

Hands, Ears, and Feet

A year or two ago I saw this layout in a Creating Keepsakes magazine and I fell in with it. The close-ups of each little baby part... lashes, curls, toes, ears...  So sweet.

So, I set out to create my own version.

 One day the kids were playing in the backyard in grass that was WAY overdue for a mow. I was taking a couple pictures and decided to try to get some of those cute parts... hands, feet, ears.  Then, in a style similar to the layout above, I put them all together.

I love the pictures in the tall grass! And I am happy with how this layout turned out!

Happy Scrappin'!

 

Grand Canyon Vacation

In May 2010 we took a weekend trip from our home near Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.  We had moved to Arizona in 2007, so in 2010 we thought it was about time we saw the biggest attraction in our state!

It turned out to be a scenic, fun, exhausting, amazing vacation.  And it was the start of our passion for weekend mini-vacations to National Parks.
It's taken me two years to get to it but I finally finished scrapbooking this little adventure!  Check out my pages, below.

SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO
National Monument
Our first stop was at Sunset Crater Volcano, a volcano that erupted about 1000 years ago and completely transformed the landscape of that area.  It left behind incredible colors and beautiful volcanic rocks.
Love, love, LOVE this layout!  This is a page kit from Mosaic Moments  by Tami Potter.  Their page kits are wonderful...everything is precut and they are super easy to assemble.  And you end up with gorgeous pages like this!!  When I saw this kit, I knew it would be perfect for my Sunset Crater pictures - I like the oranges and browns with the orange and brown "cinders" on the volcano.

Can you see the glitter?
How do you add a title that is as WOW! as the pictures but without distracting from the pictures?  My latest passion is glitter titles!!  I cut them with my Cricut - although I have to slow the cutting speed and increase the pressure of the blade to cut all the way through the paper.

 

WUPATKI
National Monumant
Our second stop on this trip was Wupatki National Monument - an Indian pueblo ruin.  Really, really interesting!

This layout is also from Mosaic Moments. It was a class kit from the 2011 CKC Convention In Mesa.  Mosaic Moments makes it easy to fit a lot of pictures in a two-page layout - and you'll find that a lot of my pages are influenced by the Mosaic Moments style even if I am not using their grid paper.

GRAND CANYON
National Park
We finally made it to the Grand Canyon. It was breath-taking.

At least a year before we made our trip to the Grand Canyon, I bought some scrapbook paper that had the Grand Canyon logo on it. I knew I'd need it some day! So, when I sat down to do this layout I started with the Grand Canyon paper... Then I looked at the 25+ pictures I wanted to fit into this two page spread. In the end, I wanted to show the picture of us at the Grand Canyon. Sure, we took a lot of scenic pictures - but none of them can match the beauty of the canyon in real-life. So I decided to use mostly pictures that showed people and some of the memories that we made there.

I managed to fit 12 pictures in this two page spread.  I cut out the Grand Canyon logo from my cherished Grand Canyon paper and then tore a picture of it and layered it on the left side.  The right side was the back of my Grand canyon paper (the side without a logo) with a big square of brown layered on tope of it.  I used a simple grid pattern on the right side.

The journaling on the right side is one of my favorites...  I used www.wordle.net.  I LOVE how it turned out!

SLIDE ROCK
State Park
Our last stop on our trip... Beautiful Slide Rock State Park. It was too cold to swim, but not too cold to dip our feet in the creek.

I used my Mosaic Moments grid paper and Stampin Up! paper.  (I love Stampin' Up!.  Great quality and it all coordinates so well!!)

And with that, we made it back to our home. Awesome vacation. I had a blast scrapbooking it (even though it took me TWO years!)  I hope ya'll enjoyed it, too!

Happy scrappin'.

 

Less is More

Oh my!  It looks like it's been almost a year since my last post here.  Well, this creative mamma took on a job as a part time math teacher at a community college.  It's been keeping me busy!  Too busy to scrapbook most of the time.  But, after a year of teaching, I feel like I have settled into a routine and I have been scrapbooking like crazy since January!

But, to be clear, I should define what I mean by "like crazy"...

When I say, "like crazy", that means I am completing 2-6 pages per month. (That's only 1-3 2-page layouts.)

Yep. That's all.

I have never tried to scrapbook ALL the pictures I take.  I don't even scrapbook most of them.  Rather, I like to scrapbook some of my very favorite moments... 

I remember as a kid and teenager looking at other peoples vaction pictures and sometimes being very bored.  Then one time, some friends showed me a video of their adventure through the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Yosemite, etc.  It was wonderful and captivating...  Can you guess why?  They'd forgotten to take the battery charger for their video camera!  So they had to conserve the battery by only shooting a minute or so at each place! 

That's when I realized... Less is More.

I scrapbook the memories that I want my kids to have forever.  I'm not a fast scrapbooker, but there is a lot of love put into each page!

New posts of my latest pages coming very soon!

First Communion Card

I made these this morning to mail along with the First Communion gifts for my neice, Kelly, and goddaughter, Kaitlyn.  I almost ran out of time to get these done, and I thought of just buying the cards... but I really wanted to make them! 

What I especially love on these cards are the tiny pearl embelishments.  So cute and I think they really add a finishing touch!

Thanks to Margaret for the inspiration for these!

Happy Stampin'!