Back to the Grindstone/School

This font reminds me of school and makes total sense to use it in honor of today's layouts.  They are all about Back to School. I didn't go for the extra credit points, so they are pretty minimal and simple, but that's the way I roll.  Come to think about it I should get extra credit.  I scrapped in the dark.  Crazy road crew working on improving the streets around my home feel it is ok to turn off the power whenever they wish.  Even when the most important elements on a layout is being contemplated. Gah! So there I was - perched on the edge of my seat vacillating on the placement of a die cut thingie and whammo the lights went out.  Whatever.  I continued and sadly I have to admit, I scrap better in the dark.  Go figure.  Here's what I came up with:  

Working with the same kit - Studio Calico Continental - that I have been using for over two weeks.  How many layouts can you make from one Studio Calico kit?  Well, it is endless.  I think I have enough supplies for two more layouts. 

In regard to the layouts, the top layout is Emily.  Grade 2. It seems Hello Kitty is her new best friend.  Either that or she is hiding the fact that she has to wear a uniform.  The second is  Jake.  Grade 6.  He had a rough start this year.  Someone stole all his school supplies the first day. All is good now, but it was touch and go for a few hours on whether he was going to go back for a second day or drop out.  He chose wisely.  Truly, he did not have a choice, but what matters is that he thinks he did.  OK...the third layout is Nick.  Grade 8.  Holy cow....grade 8. I had to be sneaky about taking photos at the bus stop.  The kids go to a charter school, which is grades K through 8.  This is the only reason I still have photos of Nick.  We blame it on  the Fairness Factor.  I have to be there to take photos of his little sister.  Fair is fair.  HA! He's just lucky I don't chase the bus to school and wave like a mad man like I used to. Now that is embarrassing. 

The Hmmm Pose

Did a bit more scrapping this week.  I thought I might as well scrap, since the Vikings were being trounced by the Saints.  Not that I watch football that much, but my little scrappin' friend, Judi, was poking me with a stick ...I mean a Super Bowl ring all day long saying her team was all that and a bag of beignets.  I had to back the Vikings with the fervor of a....ummmm....drunken Viking.  Skol Vikings!  A quarter into the game and I realized scrapping and watching Destination Truth was probably a better way to spend the evening.  If only I had one of those beignets, my night would have been complete.  

So I whipped out the remaining pieces of the Studio Calico kit I am trying to eradicate and worked on the current Sunday Sketch.  Here is the sketch based on Nicole Harper's Just Be Still layout:

Nice, right?  You can see Nik's original layout by clicking on the Sunday Sketch link above.  It is a gorgeous layout.  Here is my take:

 

OK...what the hummingbird has to do with anything on the layout I do not know.  I just thought he needed to be slapped on.  In other words he was the right size.  Let's say it is a metaphor for living a life with a little poser.  Does that even make sense?  In my world it actually does.  Scary.

Scrap Kits and Bob Barker...Let's Discuss

I'm on a quest.  Sounds ominous, doesn't it?  Well, basically I am on a quest to once and for all use up every single item in a Studio Calico kit.  I bet you thought the quest was going to be something serious and important, like ending world hunger or boarding the Bob Barker and saving the whales.  Ummm....you need to watch Whale Wars on Animal Planet, if you don't get that last remark.  Speaking of Whale Wars, I get why they named one ship the Steve Irwin, but why is the other named the Bob Barker?  If anyone has an answer, please tell me why?  It can't be all about spaying and neutering cats and dogs.  Or can it?  Anyway....the layout below is the sixth layout I've made with the Continental Kit.  Seeing that some of my kits sit unused this is stellar in the book of Denise.  I came across a challenge posted by Waleska and Celine that intrigued me.  The challenge was to use themed items on a non-theme layout.  Check it out HERE.  This is my take:

 

In non-scrapping news, much like almost all of the US, today was the first day of school.  A few snaps of how my morning went:
LOL  OK...that is funny.  Lots of yawns and sleepiness.  They went to bed early, but couldn't fall asleep due to first day jitters.  Poor kids.  Hopefully they will sleep better tonight.  Here are a few better shots:

Well, that's that for today. River Monsters is on.  I have to go learn about Killer Snakehead Fish.  Who am I kidding?  I am watching it to catch the hot host - Jeremy Wade.  Don't hate.  Good lord...what an accent.  This dang Animal Planet Channel.

Labor Day Smabor Day

I totally loathe Labor day.  Not the fact that I get the day off from work, but the meaning it has in my head - the last hurrah of summer.  I guess it is plain to see that I am not a fan of change.  I whine about every season change.  Then once immersed in it it becomes my favorite time of year.  Right now my favorite season is ending.  On the other hand my favorite season is beginning.  Nah...let's not go there yet.  I need to mourn the loss of the hot, sunny weather.  So long sun drenched moments of lounging by the pool clad in bikini.  Well, that was gone for me at the age of ten.  Let's amend that to say just lounging.  Adios relaxation time sitting on the patio with friends.  Ta ta gardening.  Goodbye serene moments of watching Nick mow the lawn. Au revoir watching Dana pick weeds. Arrivederci to the little signs Jon leaves once he has fertilized the lawn.  Uhhhh....did I mention I am the lazy gardener?  My tip for a successful garden.  Know friends with landscaping and fertilizing businesses, have the best, hardworking, money hungry nephew on earth and a sister with ADHD (not really).  But I digress....oh summer 2010, how I will miss you.  Sigh.

Whining over.

This Labor Day weekend resulted in a miracle.  I moved furniture that resulted in me being able to squeeze into my scrap area.  Do you hear angels singing?  Yes.  Yes, you do.  Here's the results:

A couple of weeks ago Studio Calico had a challenge to use mini photos.  I knew I would never finish it on time.  HA....I thought I would never even start it, but here it is. I used my usual trick of using a while package of rub ons exactly as it is on the rubbing sheet.  Why work against what a designer already set up for you?  I guess I am the Lazy Gardener and Scrapper.  Whatever.  I probably should have included journaling, but the title says it all.  He is one of a kind.  The best kind of one of a kinds...Mine.

This layout was done for a Lift A Favorite challenge.  I lifted 12 by Jill Sprott.  I thought I was being totally original.  Well, as original you can be when lifting someone.  I thought all I could remember as I scrapped was the patchwork of pattern papers.  I had an a-ha moment and said I am going to do Nick at 13. When I went back to look at Jill's layout I had a good laugh when I saw that I had  subliminally lifted her theme as well . So much for my originality.  Oh well...I love the layout and all thanks go to Jill.

Finally, a kind of double layout.  Kind of in that my idea of a double layout is matching everything down to cardstock.  So I matched everything, but the card stock and number of photos.  This reminds me that I do not wish to do double layouts ever again.  Too taxing on my feeble brain.

 

 

So this isn't my favorite layout, but it documents what I needed it to document.  The soccer season was a hoot.  Nick and his best friends were in search of a team as the city they live in only had three players in U13. My sister searched high and low and finally found a team in Minneapolis that would gladly take them.  The Chivas.  Coached by a professional soccer player from Mexico the team consisted of twelve Spanish speaking players and three players that spoke only English - Nick and BFFs. Somehow they all knew what was going on and the team went on to win the state championship.  They so need to make a movie based on this. Kidding people.  The best part of the season was me telling Nick what chivas meant.  Yes, Nick you are a goat. Go Goats!

Well, that ends today's edition of Whine and Scrap.  Enjoy your Labor Day or join me in the whine fest.

    

Nice Pegs

No one can claim I didn't make any sort of layout during the summer of 2010.  Not that it really matters to anyone other than me.  I had to prove to myself that it wasn't time to box up the scrapping supply hoards and ship them to Goodwill.  It was a close call.  The layout above was done for the Studio Calico Sunday Sketch, which was based on Jenn Olson's layout,  My Changeling.  As usual, I finished it a day after the deadline.  That's the way I roll.

Thanks for stopping by.  :o)

No Paperkins in Use Yet.

Crazy I know.  In my mind Paperkins were always in use when I first started scrapping.  I guess they didn't come around until my second or third year of scrapping.  Little did I know when I first started what lie ahead.  Oh Paperkins how I loved you.  

A couple of weeks ago Mandie posted some of her first layouts on her blog.  I thought I would copy her and share mine.  It seems I had it going on back then.  Not.  Frances Meyers' kits were the big rage when scrapping first hit the market.  I was all about owning it all.  Archiver's didn't exist.  I know!  Imagine that world.  Scary.  Deckle scissors were totally to die for.  Mrs. Grossman controlled the world of sticker sneezes.  It was the cave man days of scrapping and we all stunk and were full of bugs.  Sorry if I offended anyone.  That's reality. 

So for me first came Nick.  He is now 13.  This is him now:

And because he will rarely allow me to take photos of him.  Here's the only other current age photo in existence:

And now his first layout:

We will call this the controlled sticker sneeze.  I have long been a supporter of using up everything out of a package.  I guess it all started with Frances Meyers' heart stickers and die cuts.  I love that I was creatively balanced back then.  I still am.  It's funny to see all the similarities from the beginning to the end.  It seems I have always been a minimalist. 

You have to love when Fiskar's first came out with their "corrugator".  It made the waves more realistic and when you placed a sticker pail in the hands of the photo baby it even got more true to life.

I was way into stamping when I first started scrapping - even had a monkey stamp to go with the monkey suit.  I was into sewing, too, much to the dread of this little boy.  There wasn't a costume I didn't make.

This kid will need therapy some day all based on enforcement of wearing costumes.  What is more cute than sewing a snowman costume and bringing the costume clad kid to Proex for a professional photo shoot?  Nothing.  Everyone that day pinched his chubby cheeks - meaning face, not behind.  I would have stopped the butt pinching.  That is just not right.  According to this layout, I have now discovered computer journaling and brass stencils. 

More costumes.  More stamping,  More Frances Meyers. More placing "fake" items in the hands.  When you find something that works it seems you stick to it.  Yikes.

Let's fast forward.  This is the layout that I discovered you can use up many photos and make a layout look super cute.  I mean....you can never get too much Nick, right?  Maybe you can.  It kind of looks like the Octo-Mom birthed multiple Nicks.  Yikes.

Honestly, I don't cringe when I see these old layouts.  I don't even want to re-do them.  They are what they are.  I do; however, get a good laugh over my techniques.  But I wasn't alone.  That is what everyone was doing and like I said we all stunk.  the most important thing that happens when I look at these layouts is good memories and smiles remembering Nick as a little dude.  When shoving him in a costume was even attemptable.  It's not going to happen now.  The kid can wrestle me to the ground.

Later I will share Jake's first layouts.  Honestly, you will not want to miss his frog costume layout complete with giant lily pad.  It is creative genius!

Vacation

I'm officially on vacation. The stay at home kind, because that is how I roll. That sounds boring and it probably is, but I like traveling places as much as I like staying home. Nothing wrong with that, especially since it saves money and allows me to work on my ever expanding to do list.  So what am I doing?  Sitting on my behind.  HA HA....because that is how I roll.  Whatever.

Other than the to do list this is what is on my list of want to dos:

 

Go back to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.  Why?  Well, you can never see or take too many photos of the Cherry Spoon Bridge.  Right? I think not.  Plus the garden is so much more than the spoon.

Taste Izzy's Ice Cream.  Yeah...I know.  Here we go again about my self-imposed ice cream-free goal.  I am on month four and I have decided to change up my restrictions.  I can do that, because honestly I am that awesome.  Gag.  The new rules...I can have ice cream, but not every day and none at home.  If I am going to break the cream-free record I have going, it will be with the finest and not Kemp's.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Kemp's...it's the cows or so they say.  However, Izzy's took on Bobby Flay in a throwdown and won.  I need to try the winner...Hot Brown Sugar.

 

A few of my friends and I are thinking of going to rodeo.  Not to see the horses.  We are all about the cowboys.  Men in chaps and spurs almost beat out cabana boys.  Almost.  I also want to go to see if I can beat my last record of cow chip throwing.  It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.  Eww.  I plan on making my friends participate in the stick pony race.  Who cares if it is for kids under ten.  We act ten at times.  That comment will get me in trouble.

Visit Larry Reid.  Don't you wish you could visit Larry?  Most people do.  Not. I have to get my Jeep fixed.  I am getting kind of wary of taking sharp right turns and having a gush of water soak my right foot.  I know...it sounds pretty wonderful, but a foot can take only so much pampering. 

There are other things on my list, like trips to Anchor Paper, Paper Source, Archiver's and the Scrapbook Shop.  Possibly a road trip to St. Cloud to see my cousin and shop at the super store of scrap supplies, Craft Direct.  Lord knows I already hold the Top Hoarders Award when it comes to scrap supplies, but I haven't filled up the garage yet.  Kidding.  It's already full.  ;o)

I need to add something creative I have done.  This is scraping the bottom of the barrel as I have done nothing paper-wise for a couple of weeks.  I made this for the 3rd of July pool party/get together.  Tried to pull off a Martha moment.  Fail.  But not an Epic Failure, which seems to be my nephew's new favorite saying.  Wouldn't you know....most people wanted blueberry.  Chopping and placing those strawberries was a pain in the as....butt.  Martha can bit mine, if I ever try something like this again. 

The result of making that dessert is that the 4th of July celebration the next day was dessert-less.  I was going to make my world famous Lemon Cream with Strawberries Trifle, but enough is enough.  No one should work this hard to put fat and calories into their body. That is for certain.

Enjoy your week.  Hopefully I will have something creative and papery to share next time.  I make no promises though.