Like father, Like son.

Here’s something I did just recently for a design team assignment at Practical Scrappers.  Our challenge was to use animation or cartoons somehow and I had saved these little drawings Summer did of her dad and her brother playing basketball.  Years ago when she drew them I scanned them and printed them out onto white cardstock because I knew I wanted to use them someday on a basketball layout.  The time finally came and here it is.  Her drawings have been decreased in size (they were originally a full 8×10 page) and they’re a bit smaller than a playing card. 

and closer views:

Here’s a closer look at Summer’s drawings (she was 6 years old):

On a side note……This is also a good way to incorporate your child’s artwork into your scrapbook pages.  I have another page where I did that and just realized I never showed it here on the blog before.  I will post that one for you to see tomorrow.

Ouch.

This is what happens when you’re the catcher on your softball team…..and the pitching machine pitches at 30+ miles per hour (yes I know that’s not very fast but she’s 10 years old)…..and the batter misses the ball…..and you get hit with the ball!

See that line of little red dots?  Those are actually the indentation from the stitches on the softball!  Her momma (ME) probably would have cried, as I am a big baby when it comes to being in pain…….but this kid is like her daddy in this kind of situation.  She’s a tough cookie.  Didn’t even complain about it!  You’ll be seeing this photo again in the future on a page for her softball scrapbook.

Heartfelt Wishes.

I had an order for a wedding card in black and green recently.  Aren’t those interesting wedding colors?  I thought so!  Anyway, I decided to go with a simple and elegant look with this and used a huge Heidi Swapp clear sticker.  Love that.  The “heartfelt wishes” part is a Hero Arts stamp.

What do you think?

She’s A Hoot

Part of my job as a design team member over at Practical Scrappers is using products from our monthly sponsors to show others how they can be used in projects.  This month the sponsor is Digi Doodle Stamps (digital stamps), and I chose this owl on a branch (it’s called Hoot Owl) because when I saw it the title I used immediately popped into my head.  I knew I wanted to pair it with a goofy photo of my daughter, and it wasn’t too hard to find one.  ha ha! 

When she saw me working on this, she came over and said “What am I doing in that picture?”  (She was only 3 years old so she doesn’t remember) and I said, “just being silly.”  And she was like, “But I don’t have any clothes on!” and I said, “Well, you’re wearing rain boots!”  I forgot to mention I would be showing this on the blog.  Maybe I’ll just keep that tidbit of information between you and me…..

See how I used Stickles to make his pretty eyes sparkly?

(I learned today that Stickles might make your ink run just a bit…perhaps it wasn’t dry enough…but I’m just gonna pretend I don’t see it)

For the word HOOT, I had glued 2 little googly eyes onto the O’s to make them look like eyeballs, but Summer came up with what I thought was a great idea so I did it her way.  I took the googly eyes off and then colored the inside of the O’s with yellow marker and drew a little nose under them so that it looks like the owl’s face from the stamp. 

I honestly can’t decide if I like it or not (and it’s just TOO BAD now, right? ha ha).  What do you guys think?  Is it weird looking?  Or is it cute?  Opinions please!

On The Road Again…

This week at Practical Scrappers our design team challenge was to use 7 products in our stash.  HA.  Not a problem for me!  My double page spread is shown on their blog today, but I will show you here.  It’s the first page I’ve made from last year’s Canada trip.  It’s hard to believe it’s been a year and a half already since I got to meet Anita in person.  I am so very glad I made that trip!  (Thea, thanks again for going with me!)

a closer look:

a few details:

I added little dots of Stickles to the trees.

I glued jewels onto the car for headlights.

Go over to Practical Scrappers right here to see the other entries and enter your own page for a possible prize.  You have until Saturday evening!

Sweet.

Over at Practical Scrappers we have a sketch posted every Friday and you can make a scrapbook page or other project using that sketch and enter it for that month’s prize.  I made a page based on the sketch from this past Friday.  (you have all month to enter a page for any of the sketches)  I’m not a big sketch user, but I really liked this one.

Here’s the sketch I worked with:

The sketch was done by one of our design team members, Lisa H. 

and here’s my page:

If you liked it too and you want to make a page and enter it for the July prize, go to the Practical Scrappers blog right here.  Right now there are only 4 entries!

But first tell me, what do you think of my page?

Camo is cool.

My #1 customer requested a birthday card from me for a 1-year-old boy and she mentioned “camo” in her e-mail.  I had (luckily) some camo patterned paper because I had picked it up previously to do some pages about my nephew in the Army.  This is what I came up with. 

 I struggle a bit with cards for 1-year-olds, mainly because I know they’re not really gonna give a crap about the card…..they’re gonna be more excited about playing with the empty box after they open their gifts.  ha ha

 What do you think?

Almost Home.

I miss her.

(i love her shirt)

I haven’t been apart from her for more than 4 days since I went to a girlfriend’s wedding in Texas 2-1/2 years ago.  (wow, has it only been that long?)  I was on an adventure back then and way too busy experiencing new things and meeting my online friends in person and just in general having a wonderful time to miss her too much back then. 

My house is too quiet. 

There’s no video playing loudly from her computer.  (I usually have to shout “turn that music down please!”) 

There’s no Lady Gaga song blaring from her bedroom.  (just in case you’re wondering, I only let her listen to the ones without curse words) 

There’s no shouting at the Wii coming from the family room and drifting through my office door while I’m working at my computer.  (the kid really gets into her games)

It’s just me.  (and the cats and dogs of course)  Working at my computer all day.  Making my scrapbook pages that are due now (yes, I wait until the last minute nearly every time). 

Waiting.

We dropped her off at camp (2 hours away) on Sunday afternoon.  It’s her first time ever going.  She BEGGED us to let her.  We were reluctant to say the least (especially her Daddy).  She begged MORE.  We were scared.  It’s a big world out there, and it’s not always a wonderful place to be.  Bad things happen.  But in the end I said we can’t hold her back because of OUR fears as parents.  Hell, if we’re gonna do that then the poor kid won’t be allowed to leave the house until she’s 30.  We can’t keep her from doing something she’s dying to do and having that experience because we’re afraid.  I don’t want to raise a daughter who’s afraid.  Let me rephrase that.  I want to raise a daughter who maybe is afraid but does it anyway (and I’ve tried to set that example for her).  I want to raise a daughter who is strong and competent and confident.  So we let her spread her wings…..just for 5 days…..

Today is day 5.  Oh, how I miss her. 

I knew it might be hard, so Monday night Ken and I went to the movies.  (we saw Grown Ups and laughed our asses off)  And then Tuesday night Ken and I went to the movies again.  (we saw Knight & Day–it’s no Mission Impossible but it was pretty good. Tom Cruise is FUNNY)  Thursday night was a rented movie from Netflix and painting some patio furniture so my front porch will be prettier. 

But Wednesday was when it hit me.  The quietness.  We went out to dinner that evening (at Arby’s–big spender, that Ken is) and then had nothing to do.  Well, of course there were things I could have done (cleaning, dishes, vacuuming), but nothing FUN.  Nothing to distract me from feeling like there’s something missing, like one of my arms or legs has fallen off, this weird feeling that I’m forgetting something when I leave the house, it’s hard to explain…..it just feels OFF.  Like my world is somehow wrong.

So I’m waiting.

Today I’m leaving work at noon and going to pick her up at camp.  I can’t stand the suspense.  I’m going to try VERY hard not to cry when I see her so as not to embarrass her in front of her new friends. 

She’s almost home.

Full Circle.

This week over at Practical Scrappers our challenge is to use something in your supplies that is at least a year old.  HA.  Not a problem!  I could do a page using supplies that are a year old every day for a year and probably still have some old stuff lying around.  For my page I used some American Crafts Thickers letter stickers that are about a year and a half old.  Here’s what I did this week:

 I love these little letter stickers from Making Memories.

These are my favorite letters to use and I wish I could buy them in every color!

This is a special layout for me, and one that would probably never have gotten made if it weren’t for Stacy Julian.  Reading her blog and her books and her magazines changed the way I scrapbook.   ( I wrote about that a long time ago here.  )  This layout is about a connection that I have with my dad and with my daughter also, and it showcases photos taken 3 years ago and 39 years ago.  One of them is me with my dad on his motorcycle and the other is of my daughter with my dad on his motorcycle 36 years later (different motorcycle! ha ha).  This is what I wrote around the edges of my page:

Thirty six years.  The amount of time passed between these two photographs.  My dad with “his girl” and my dad with “my girl”.  It’s a cool connection, a common bond.  I love this shared experience between us. 

If you want to join in (there are prizes!), there is still time to do so until Saturday afternoon I think.  You can link up your own page over on the Practical Scrappers blog  right here.

Orange.

This week our theme at Sunday Shutterbugs is ORANGE.  So sometime this week go on over to the blog here to see my photo and Edie’s (it’s awesome) and share your with us.  We would love to see them!