Some layouts to share

I wanted to share the layouts that I made using the MSS October kit.

For this first layout, I used a Sketch from the September 2010 Page Maps, which I posted as my Fall Sketch #2 at the MSS blog:




Another layout using photos taken on the field trip:




I'd been looking for something on my blog recently and came across this post from January and decided that I needed to document it in a layout.




For this next layout, I used some My Mind's Eye patterned paper and American Crafts thickers, in addition to the kit. My journaling talks about how most of the time, Sage is a real sweetie, but how she also has a dramatic/not so nice side if crossed.




And a last layout, that I've been wanting to create for a while. Austin and his friend Soren have been inseparable buddies from the first day of kindergartin. The "best friends" card in the kit was exactly the motivation I needed to make a layout about the two of them and their great friendship.



In addition to the kit, I used some MME pp and a Crate Paper brad and a brad from The Girls' Paperie.

Thanks for looking!

September photos & sneaks

I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos that I took this month....

We went to the farm on Sage's birthday for a wiener roast and hayride with their cousins. I took some of these pictures there.

I love this one:



And one of the birthday girl:



A picture of the cousins on the bales:



And one of just Austin and Jonah:



And here's a picture of my boys on the couch on the weekend, playing with Jonah's new DS. I ♥ how close they're sitting together-- so cute!



And I also wanted to share a couple of sneaks.
Here are two that I created using the MSS October kit:





Thanks for looking!

Random weekend stuff

1. The boys went to the Blue Bomber game on Friday night with Cameron, so Sage & I had our first "girls' night in." We painted the paintable tea set she got for her birthday, then got our jammies on and watched a Disney princess movie. It was a great evening!

2. Feeling lazy this weekend. Or maybe just tired. Trying to get into the groove of working again....

3. A friend from church requested some birthday cards this morning, so I made some this afternoon. Also got two layouts made with the MSS October kit.

4. Jonah had two highlights this weekend: the first being his first Bomber game (he is such a fan now!) and buying a second-hand DS yesterday in Winkler. He's one happy camper!

5. I was posting summer sketches on the MSS blog this summer and because they were well received, I've decided to keep posting sketches this fall every Friday. You can check out the sketch I made for my first Fall sketch post here. And here's the layout I made with it:



I took the pictures with the timer on my camera (loving that lately!) on my birthday of my wonderful, beautiful friend, Val, & me. Used lots of The Girls' Paperie goodness, some October Afternoon letter stickers (a definitely fave!) and I even used some stamps!

Thanks for looking!

Some inexpensive wall art

I wanted to share a couple of things I made to frame and display in our home.

First of all, I redecorated our kitchen this summer and made this for the shelf near our phone:



I trimmed a piece of My Mind's Eye patterned paper and added a favourite Bible verse with my printer.



And, we got a new bed for our room. Yay! But the pictures I had over the bed no longer fit. I was looking through my cabinet and found three white 6x6" IKEA frames that I'd never used. I trimmed another piece of MME patterned paper into three 5.5x5.5" pieces and added a verse to one of them:







Thanks for looking!

My last summer sketch....

I've been posting Summer Sketches at MSS every Friday this summer and today, posted the last one (Summer Sketch #12). It's Sketch 216 at Scrapbook Challenges.

I was making this layout of my son and SIL last weekend and loved the pictures, but didn't know what to call it. I was thinking "fist to fist" and then asked Jonah what they were doing.

"The fake punch boogie."

"The fake punch boogie?"

"Yes."

"Is that what I should call the layout, then?"

"Yes."

So, I did.


I used Fancy Pants Roadshow patterned paper and Pink Paislee, Scenic Route and Basic Grey letter stickers.

Thanks for looking!

A renewed love....

... for my Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I used it on three layouts that I made last weekend and was pretty happy with the results.

And the three layouts also happen to be about me, which I think is a good thing, and they all use Fancy Pants Roadshow goodness.







The last two layous are back to back.

I took the photographs in the first two layouts and my friend, Val, took the one in the last one on my birthday. :)

Thanks for looking!

More layouts....

.... that I made for the MSS online crop.

I know that the words "caught up" are suppose to be taboo in the scrapbooking world. And I agree.... to a certain point. There shouldn't be a pressure to be "caught up" in your photos and layouts. I agree on this.

However, there's still a part of me that doesn't like to be behind. And for me, it's more than a year. If I'm still within a calendar year of photos to scrap, then I'm good.

So, that being said, I decided to use this weekend's online crop to get some of my 2009 photos scrapped. Here's what I did...

This was for Flo's challenge to scrap some "back to school" pictures. These are from last year, when Sage started kindergarten.



This layout I made for Marcy's copycat challenge. Marcy had us add together the digits in our age and go to that page in the gallery and scraplift someone there. I went to page 11 (& I wish it was because I'm 29, but alas, I'm not.) I lifted Marcy's buds layout.



This layout was for Marcy's challenge to use only scraps (no full sheets of pp or cardstock allowed.) I pieced together the background on this layout and then stitched it together.



This one I made for Marcy's challenge to use 6 patterned papers, staples and felt on a layout:



And this one was for Marcy's something old/something new challenge to use something from your stash that's over a year old, combined with something you bought this summer. My old stuff were the Scenic Route chipboard saying, the Anna Griffin journaling diecut and the MME pp. The new was The Girls' Paperie & Echo Park patterned paper.



Thanks for looking!

September Online Crop

My Scrap Shoppe is having an online crop this weekend-- a great way to kick off back to school! If you'd like to check out the challenges, click here.

Here are a couple of layouts that I've posted as challenges.

The first one is for my "Kick it old school" challenge-- to do something on your layout that you used to do at lot, but haven't done lately. On my layout, I printed the whole title on my computer and journaled around my grid of photos.



For this layout, I posted two challenges.



One is a sketch challenge (to see the sketch I made, click here.

The second challenge is called "Hide & Seek": where I challenge you to hide something on your layout. On this layout, I hid the journaling behind the largest photo.



I hope you'll come and check out the challenges and play along!
Thanks for looking!

Back to school

Well, it's that time of year again....

The kids had staggered entrances this week. Jonah went on Tuesday afternoon and met his new grade 3 teacher. He's pretty excited about the new books in his classroom and the project they'll be doing on underwater creatures.



Austin went this morning to meet his new grade 6 teacher and is excited about the smart board in the class, as well as the new books.



And Sage went this afternoon and met her new grade 1 teacher. She's just all around excited to be going to school full time.



To start the year off right, I gave each of their teachers an apple pie and a card I made with October Afternoon patterned paper:







Thanks for looking!

Apple pies

I thought I'd share my recipe for making apple pies...

My grandma's no-fail pie dough recipe:

5 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 lb. of Tenderflake lard
1 egg
milk
1 tbsp. vinegar

Mix together the flour, salt and b. powder. Cut up the lard and add it, mixing until it resembles course crumbs. Crack an egg into a measuring cup and beat it with a fork. Add milk until it comes to 1 cup. Add vinegar, beat and add to flour mixture, mixing well.

Now for the pies.

Wash your apples (I picked mine from my Goodland tree in my backyard.)



Peel and core them, cutting them into bite size pieces. I put them in salted water so they don't get too brown.



Roll out your pastry and put in the bottom of a pie plate.



Add apples.



Mix together 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Pour over apples. Dot with butter.



Roll out more pastry, cut some vents into it and cover the apples. Flute the edges.



Sage asked if she could take a picture of me, baking pies.



Put it in the oven and bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes, then at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes.



(I made 15 of these today. :)
Four will go to the kids' teachers and 10 will go in my freezer.
And the last one will be enjoyed by our family this evening.)

Thanks for looking!

My little chewer

Sage has always been my little chewer.

She chews on everything: toys, her fingers, clothing (sleeves, collars, little beads or bling on the shirt, etc.) her toes, etc. It's been a source of frustration for several years, so I figured I should document it on a scrapbook page.



I used Bazzill cardstock, Crate Paper pp and Pink Paislee chipboard letters.

Does anyone in your family do something that annoys you?

Just wanted to share....

... some layouts that I made with the My Scrap Shoppe September kit:








(These two layouts, A Great Day and Something to Celebrate, are made on the same piece of Creative Imaginations patterned paper, one on the front and the other on the back. For more details, check out today's post on the MSS blog. )



Thanks for looking!