My Boys

These pictures were snapped while we were waiting outside the restaurant on Thanksgiving for my aunt and cousins to arrive.  Ben looks like such a hipster with his Vonnegut in his back pocket :-)

The layout is based on a sketch from Let's Scrap and was inspired by the challenge to do a layout in all brown at 2 Broke Girls.  The journaling on the side is from a Club CK download and challenge.  Love my challenges :-)

The picture of the layout isn't great -- it's on my desk/table with overhead lighting at night.  But one of the challenges is about to close...LOL

Wallop -- Cats have Staff

This is for several challenges again.  Photos my son took of our cat, Wallop.  The journaling card I pulled off of Facebook and fussy cut.  I know the middle photo is coming out horribly, but it's night time and this is as good as it gets right now.

The pp is G45 "French Country" -- I used both sides of it.  Love their papers.  Cardstock is just some I had around -- probably Coredinations.  To do the paw prints, I used a CK font "Good Dog" and cut a strip with my Cricut/SCAL and then used ink to "stamp" them  

The layout is based on a sketch from Let's Capture Our Memories.  I was also inspired by CK's 1-Hour Challenge to stamp a background and the challenge to stamp a bird cage or bird at 2 Broke Girls.  I love challenges -- they stretch me and add to my scrapping.  

Not My Circus

I found this monkey die cut (a freebie from SVG Attic) and then the quote on Pinterest  and I knew what I wanted to do with these photos.  Backstory -- we'd been to Thanksgiving Dinner (early) with my aunt and family and made our traditional stop at Downtown Disney on the way home.  We got hungry (it was an EARLY Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant, ok?  No seconds, etc.) and stopped at Rain Forest Cafe.  After eating, I got them to sit on the bench with the big monkey.  Then they got the brilliant idea that he needed one of Scott's cigarettes.  Really.  Where do they come up with this?  Must be their father's genes.  So here's my layout:

As I was working on it, I began to see the irony in it.  Thus, it's companion page was created:

My journaling: 

 "How Ironic The phrase “Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys” is a literal translation of a Polish Proverb, that more closely means “not my problem.”  Once I’d finished the layout, I realized how ironic it really was -- of course they’re “my monkeys”!  And yes, it’s “my circus”, this crazy life I lead.  And in a broader sense, the photos are from Rain Forest Café, which tries to impart to its guests the concept that the loss of the rain forest IS our problem, even if it’s not in our backyard.  I still like the layout and still will continue to try to deny ownership of some of the crazy things “my monkeys” do."

@The Park

Another layout from our spring break trip to Disney.  This one is from the hub and the other end of Main Street.  Lots of ducks and flowers and my 3 guys lazing on the bench.

The paper is Fawn Lawn -- the stuff I won from CK.  When I got it, I thought I'd be using the other sides (arrows, stripes, etc.) more than the flowers.  But I love how it works with this layout.  The cardstock is Coreinations (their Parisian pack) and the butterflies are from Studio 112/JoAnn's $1 bin.  The sketch is from Let's Scrap.

This layout is for several challenges -- The NSD #1 (book) at Let's Scrap.  And for The Lorax challenge at Child's Play Challenges.  The quote from the Lorax that I used is found in the journaling block on the far right:  "They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past; but sometimes I think progress progesses too fast."  Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and enjoy the flowers, trees and ducks.  It also is for the CK Weekly challenge to do a layout about flowers (wild or otherwise).

CA Mission Style

Photos of details from California Adventures.  For a Scrapbook Generations manufacturer's challenge (MME -- I used Lost & Found) and from a BPC sketch.

So Proud

Yet another graduation layout, yet another few challenges.  Based on a Scrapbook Generations sketch, CK's challenge to use Washi Tape, and Big Picture Classes' challenge to handwrite my journaling.

Laramie

So many challenges, so little time :-)

Today I used a Scrapbook Generations sketch, and inspiration from Child's Play  (Jump Rope) and from Big Picture Classes challenge #6 and CK's Blog (use paper scraps).  Using scraps is pretty easy for me -- I do it a lot.  All the paper except the Kraft background and the white matting are from scrap drawer.  Yay! I used "rope" (Baker's Twine -- which I hadn't used in ages) for the initial letter in the title.  I was going to use it for the whole title, but the letters were smaller than they looked and my Zip Dry glue is drying quicker than zip -- I think I need a new bottle.  Challenge number 6 at BPC is to push yourself outside of your usual techniques, supplies, etc.  I was going to stop with one border at the top, my matted photos and a title -- I am usually a pretty basic scrapper.  But I pushed myself to do more, add more, dig out some supplies I don't usually use.  So I used Washi Tape (well, Recollections tape) more than I ever have -- including making a flower.  I hadn't used my Baker's twine for a long time, so I used that on the title. I added some quotes.  And I'm so glad I did.  It's good to be challenged.