Year Of Kayla

While doing Project 365 in 2009, I managed to snap a photo of Kayla each month (and then some!) In these photos, she's 11 - 12 years old!

Layout Credits:
What a Hoot quickpage(freebie)-Sweet Blossom Designs (slightly altered).

Breckenridge Flowers

Last summer(2009) while RV-ing at Tiger Run Resort in Breckenridge, CO I photographed these lovely flowers!

Layout Credits:
-Template-2 Many Photos 6 -Janet Phillips
-Sweet Envy kit-Scrapmalin
Every Life Alpha-JM Designs

Brothers Layout

On our way back from our daily walk, the boys were deep in imagination with their swords. Hunter grabbed Riley's hand to keep him from falling in the smoldering lava and bring him safely home!

Credits:
-Background paper- by Rainbow: Cluster frame- by Lottchen: Stitching-from Falalala kit by Fruit Loop Sally and Kate Hadfield: Quote-The scrapping Sisters: All other embellishments from Shabby Orchard by Misty Cato

Ice-Skating/Gingerbread Event

COVA (Hunter's online school) hosted and Ice-skating party / gingerbread contest. This was the first time on ice-skates for the boys and they loved it!
Credits:Template #73-Yin Designs: Kit-Frosty Flurries-Pamela Donnis: Ice skate doodle-Bundle Up by SMJ & Kate Hadfield: Gingerbread Doodles- Cookies for Santa by Kate Hadfield: Fonts- Chubble and Dupree

Christmas Day 09 Layouts!

I managed to fit Christmas day in 3 2-page layouts thanks to Yin's templates. I Love them! It always seems so daunting to scrap big events but I just took my favorite photos that tell the story and got it done. I really tried to not use every photo I took. If it wasn't a good photo, I deleted it. Now, I would love to go back and scrap last year's Christmas this way!

Credits: Template 167(slightly altered) by Yin Designs: Kit-Falalala collab by Kate Hadfield and Fruit Loop Sally; Alpha- Funky Junky Old School by Kate Hadfield. Top Layout also has Sparkle snowflakes fro Weeds and Wildflowers-Jolly Holiday; Scalloped edge-Jen Caputo: Stiching by Misty Cato.

Cookies for Santa

This is the only picture I took on Christmas eve this year!

Credits:
Frame by Yin Designs
Swirls by Kari Q
Paper and Holly from Kate Hadfiled's Falalala kit
Number title-Funky Junky Old School Alpha by Kate Hadfield
All other doodles-fromCookies for Santa by Kate Hadfield

New Year's Eve 09/10

We rang in the new year at home, just the 4 of us and it was perfect! The boys had no problem at all staying up until midnight and then some! We watched a movie, played a game of Phase 10, ate pizza, brownies and popcorn and watch the ball drop at Times Square. At midnight we went out on the front porch with our hats and noisemakers and contributed to the noise and fireworks echoing through the night air!

I hope you all enjoyed the start to the new year!

Credits: Cluster frame by KimB
Paper-Waiting to happen by mgl designs
Title-Elegant Wordart by Bethany
Everything else form Midnight Kiss freebie by Bren Boone
Font-BoyzRgross
Custom Shadow layer styles by Kristen Rice

Hand-picked Freebies!!!

Just wanted to spread the word to those of you who love a good scrapping freebie! In case you didn't know, Ikea Goddess has retired from freebie hunting and my friend Christie aka Digital Daisy has taken on the job! Go visit her sight for the best hand-picked freebies around digi-land!

Digital Daisy's Hand-Picked Freebies

Happy New Year!!!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all a joyous holiday season filled with love, happiness and good cheer!!!!

CREDIT: Christmas Story kit-Kitty Designs (plus I scraplifted one of her quick-cards);'Peace, love, hope' Word art-Nicole LeBlanc; Font-Dupree; Boys and dog- all mine ;)

Gingerbread Cookies!

I LOVE to eat gingerbread cookies and the boys LOVE to make them! I couldn't resist making a layout of the fun time we had getting our hands dirty with gingerbread, frosting and chocolate!

CREDITS: Template 153 by Yin Designs; Falalalala kit by Kate Hadfield and Frootloop Sally; Gingerbread title using Funky Junky Old School alpha by Kate hadfield; Cookie title-Waiting for Santa alpha by Bellisae; Font-Dupree

Birthday Layouts!

Riley's Birthday!

Hunter's Birthday!

I always get overwhelmed when it comes time to scrap the boys' birthdays. I take lots of pics and in the past(paper scrapping days) I've done many layouts for each birthday. What usually happens is I end up not even scrapping them at all. After reading the last part of this article, I challenged myself last weekend to scrap each of the boys' birthdays on one 2-page spread. I found a layout that I thought would work, flipped it horizontally for the opposing page and chose enough photos to describe the event. Since both of their birthdays fell on a weekday and their parties were on a weekend, I kept each day on it's own page. It was a bit challenging but hey, I actually scrapped both birthdays in the same year they occurred. Now to go back and do previous years...

CREDITS: Template by Shandy Vogt, Red paper from Feelin' Silly Freebie by Andrea; Black and blue papers by Kate Hadfiled; Number 5 from my Birthday Bliss kit; Superman and Transformer clipart form the web; Fonts-Dupree, Impact, Tekton Pro and Transformer.

Halloween Kit Freebie!

Sample Layouts!

Just when I thought I would never be in the mood to create another kit, my brother e-mailed me a few drawings he created in ArtRage (If you want to see more of his artwork, visit his Gallery)! My SIL and I thought they would make great elements for scrapbooking. One thing led to another and he went on a roll creating all these adorable hand-drawn doodles this week. Of course I couldn't resist making this darn cute kit! The best part is that it's yours for the taking so go forth and scrap. In return, My brother and I would love to see what you do with it so please send your layouts :) Not all elements are shown in the preview. Personal Use only.

Download Papers
Download Elements

Enjoy!

Spring Planting Layout!

A fun layout of the boys planting some seeds for the garden last spring. I just LOVE Kate Hadfield's hand drawn doodles and they are on sale at the Lily Pad right now so I grabbed a few but think I will go grab more today!
Credits: Template #45-Liz Designs; Yellow paper and chickenwire-Misty Cato's Farmers Market; Blue paper, doodles and Alpha are by Kate Hadfield!

Pumpkin Patch 2008 Layouts!

There are so many gorgeous Autumn kits out there I couldn't resist doing a couple of layouts! It's too early for this year's trip to the pumpkin patch so I scrapped last year's pics. It seems we have taken a trip to the pumpkin patch with my nephews all but one year since they were born and this is only the second time I've scrapbooked it. I would love to get them all done before we go this year!!!! The goals of a scrapper never end do they? :)

Credits: HarvestTime (freebie)-Designs by Krista; Template-Yin Designs; Font-4990810

Layouts of our first trip with the new trailer!

I've been on a roll with scrapping lately! I really wanted to get the pictures from our first trip with the new trailer scrapped because I know there will be lots more in the future! As you can see, I took a lot of pics on this 5-day trip but thanks to Yin's Templates, I was able to arrange them without it looking too cluttered. I re-arranged most of the templates just a bit as to not have the pics fall in the crease (when/if they get printed in a book) even though it wasn't really necessary. Thanks for looking! Enjoy!

CREDIT: All templates are from Yin Designs; Kits- Most everything is from NitWit's Lodge Creek Collection and Add-On; just a few elements are from my Go Camping and S'mores kits; Font-Black Jack.

Back to (Home)School Layouts!

Credits: Kit-It's Elementary by Dani Mogstad; Font- Amanda's Hand

I went shopping for some Kits over Labor Day weekend and was excited about this school kit so I did two layouts with it. I just changed things slightly to reflect their grade level. Since the boys do school online at home, I brought them out to the backyard and snapped these photos on their first day of lessons :). Now while I'm on a roll, I should scrap the pics I took on last year's first day :)

I finally did a layout!

I have been so busy enjoying the summer and spending time outside that it seems like forever since I've done a layout and even longer since I've designed anything. I've been trying to learn Adobe Illustrator for quite sometime and it's a daunting task. I did manage to draw some bird and tree doodles (some used in the layout above) and it was fun but I have a lot to learn. I actually made everything in this layout and it has inspired me to do more. Who knows, maybe a kit will come of it or at the very least, some CU doodles!

Credits: Font-Cheesburger, A little Pot; scribble action-Atomic cupcake

A post about watching birds and a new blog!

Where have I been, you might ask???? Watching birds, of course! It is spring so what better thing to do. As a matter-of-fact, this new hobby of mine has been taking time away from my usual computer time of blogging, commenting, Facebooking and digital scrapbooking. Well, that's not completely true as I did complete a 23-page scrapbook for my 22 year old nephew. I had it printed at Shutterfly and although too pricey (in my opinion) it did turn out nice and my nephew loved it! I would love to post it but I used such a mish-mash of products and didn't keep track of them for credits so it would just be wrong to share online. I do want to say that I used templates from Simply Yin Designs and I love them!!!!!
Back to birdwatching...I didn't want to clog up my scrapbooking blog with all the bird and nest pictures I've been taking so I decided to create a blog just for that. Come read about the trials and tribulations of my backyard birds over at Calico's Nest! If you follow my Project-365, you may have seen a few of my bird photos over there, also. I hope to work on some layouts soon!

Happy Easter!

For our Easter card this year I just had to use the bunny ears as I'm pretty sure it will be the last time my boys will wear them. Riley willingly put them on but I had to pay Hunter a quarter to do it. Kayla...well, she just tolerated it because she's old and too arthritic to care.

Credits: Spring Fling Bling 5x7 Quickpage by Lliella Designs; Font- Bickham script

My boys didn't want to sit and pose for a pic with the Easter bunny but they didn't mind giving him "five". Hunter was thrilled but Riley was a little apprehensive about getting too close!
Credits: Easter Fun by Lliella Designs; Frames by Mz Pimptress; Font- Giddyup

Train Set and St Patty's Day Layouts!

Another fun photo shoot with my boys!
Credits: Cluster Frame by Lemonaid Lucy Designs; Word Art by Kathy Winters Designs (Wordart fun); Paper, Glitter and Shamrock by Ellie Lash.

Credits: Template by Simply Yin; Kit-Happy-go-lucky by Shabby Princess!

Another Sporty Layout

The boys and I had a field trip to Invesco Field the other day so I had to scrap it! I learned so many interesting facts about this stadium and the old Mile High Stadium which it replaced in 2001. At the end of the month we'll be touring Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies!
Credits: Background paper (merged with photo) from Design July; Frames-MzPimptress; fonts-Georgia and Marnie regular; Inspiration for the photo background was from my friend Christie Hayes.

Sporty Layout

I had to capture Hunter engaging in a little game of soccer with his brother. In general he would prefer building something with Legos or Kinex rather than play sports but he has his moments where he really enjoys some sports fun in the backyard!
Credits: Template by Racketty Scrappety; Kit-Grungy Athlete Elements and Papers; Font-Dupree

Sunny Layout!

It's been unseasonably warm this past week for Feb in Colorado so I thought I'd do a sunny layout to remember it by. This photo was also a P-365 runner-up so of course it gets a layout. The reason it was a runner-up is because I featured Riley in the previous day's photo-of-the-day so it was only fair to feature Hunter on this day to keep things fair. You can view both photos here :). I used a quickpage made by my friend Christie Hayes from my Funshine kit Thanks Christie! The font in Dupree.

New Dog Kit & Free Qickpage

I think I started making this kit in August or something and fizzled out on it. I finally set a goal to finish it up and get it released by the end of the month so here it is! You can grab it in my store HERE. To view just the papers, click HERE. To help me preview this new kit and the free quickpage, I'm using a photo of my brother and SIL's new puppy, Alexa!!!! She's a cutie, don't ya think?

Dog Park Quickpage

Project 365 Runner-Up

For those of you doing Project-365, you may have run into this same dilemma. At the end of the day, I sometimes end up with more than one photo worthy of being "The photo of the day." I came across that problem on the 12th of Jan. It was the first decent snow we had and the first time the boys got to go sledding with their new sleds. I brought my camera to the park with us and took several nice photos. My personal favorite of the day was this photo I took of Kayla. The reason I like it so much is because in the exact moment I snapped this photo....A) I caught her looking right at me (something she NEVER does when I have my camera aimed at her). B) She's in focus. C) The lighting was just right. Despite this being my favorite photo of that day, I chose THIS PHOTO instead because it defined the day more adequately. At least Kayla gets to have her own layout :) For a closer look at Kayla click here :)

Credits: Template by Hannah: Winter Wonderland Sampler by Ellie Lash: Winter wordart and snowflakes by Sev-Designs: Font-Mom's Typewriter

Geocaching layouts

I finally got around to using my latest kit Geocachin' Passion for this layout.
Journaling reads: This was a cold windy day for geocaching. We went with your uncle Eddie and cousin Jackson. While we were looking in one spot, you found this tiny cache well hidden in a hole in the tree. GreatJob Hunter!

Credits:Geocachin' Passion papers and elements by Calico's Digital Designs;Template by Sya's Blueprints; Fonts-Stencil STD, Chapparral Pro

My Friend Christie used the same kit to do this wonderful 2-page layout of her geocaching adventure!
Credits can be found here

Playtime with the Wii

Our latest pastime...or should I say obsession, is our new Wii. We decided to buy one this year and we gave it to the boys on Dec 19th so we could all enjoy it on our 2 week vacation. We were so immersed in all the fun over Christmas and the boys are still having a ball with it. They're favorite games by far are Lego Batman and Mario Kart but they love all the sports games, too. I can't decide which game is my favorite...Wii fit, golf, bowling, dodge ball, pool...I love them all. Great fun for sure!!!
Credits: Template by Cathy K Designs; Kit-Come out and play by Amanda Heimann; Font-Dupree

I forgot to mention MY project 365

I've decided to join in on the hottest thing in digiland...project 365. If you haven't joined in on the fun yourself, you're probably tired of hearing about it (and you're probably not even reading this). Anyway, when I first read about it I had ZERO interest in it. I thought why would I, someone who has thousands of photos on my hardrive already, want to take 365 more photos of random things. Then on the second day of the year, I started reading and seeing examles of finished 365 projects and found myself emmersed in the thought of doing my own. Luckily I took some photos the day before (Jan 1) so I grabbed my camera and set out on the journey. The best part...my 6 year old son, Hunter heard me talk about it and said he wanted to do his own p-365. I got us both set up on our own blogs and I'm proud to say that on day 10, we're both still going strong! Here's our links;

Hunter's Project 365
My Project 365

Another Layout

Credits: Quickpage from December Scrapper's Guide Premier (Kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow); Alpha-Spring Breeze by Shabby Princess; Font-Tekton Pro

The boys got new sleds for Christmas and have been hoping for snow every day. Colorado has been getting lots of snow in the mountains but here in the city, it's been well below average. They decided to head out in their pj's one (unusually warm) morning and try them out. We don't have a hill in the backyard but Hunter did a pretty good job pulling Riley around on a little patch of snow. Here's a quick video:

Resolution time...again!

It's that time of year again for setting goals and making resolutions. My scrapping goal is to complete one layout per week but I hope to do a lot more than that. I'm not sure how much designing I'll do this year but I would like to finish up my dog kit and get it released very soon. I got a new Wacom tablet for Christmas and when I get time to play, I'd like to create a little freebie with it. I've been in a scrapping lull lately and just can't seem to get started on any layouts. I tried to challenge myself last night and I think that's how I finally got this one done. I pretty much gave myself an hour to get a layout done. It took me longer than an hour(fine tuning it) but knowing I set that goal really forced myself to stop spinning my wheels and just get something done. I'll think I'll try that again next week. I hope you're all having a good start to your new year!

Credits: Template 047 by Moriginals; Wordart by Denise Beatty; Paper and elements from 'A day to remember' by Merkeley Designs; Font- Amanda's Hand.
Journaling reads: "We celebrated the New Year on the club level at the Sheraton Denver Tech. We had an atrium window with a great view of the city. The boys stayed awake until midnight with the help of snacks & Wii-Lego Batman! Since they allow dogs , Kayla was able to party with us!"