Sharp Dressed Man!

Who out there does not just LOVE Basic Grey? I know it was one of the first manufacturers I LOVED when I first started scrapping! I have liked almost every line they have come out with. At first I really wasn't sure of this Out of Print line, I liked it but thought it might be a bit "girly" for boy pages...but since I just really liked the colors and prints I went ahead and got some...and boy do I LOVE it! I think it was perfect for this layout! This layout is boyish, yet kind of formal, just the look I wanted for this picture of my son in his concert band outfit before his big performance at Bass Hall this last spring! Isn't he handsome? This layout is a lift from a lift challenge at Personalscrapper of my cyber and IRL friend Kelly, you can see her awesome layout HERE. All papers are by Basic Grey, stickers by Basic Grey, journaling spot by Janna Wilson, letters by Cosmo Cricket and I used the cricut to cut out my giant bracket (note to self: USE CRICUT MORE!) Hope everyone has their shopping done! I hope to finish up my Christmas cards this week and get a few more last minute items (going to order at Amazon as I am THROUGH with shopping at the mall for the rest of the year!) and then if all goes as scheduled have some scrappy time to myself this weekend! Have a nice week everyone!

Fall is almost gone!

It is starting to feel more like winter then fall here! We had a cool front move through this weekend and it sure feels more like Winter now! Trying to stay warm has zapped my mojo somewhat, but am slowly getting back to scrapping now that the house is almost decorated and my charity obligations are almost done for the rest of the year! I was participating in the 52 week challenge over at Personalscrapper but not sure I am doing very well with that, we are currently in week 48 and I have made exactly 30 pages so I am about 18 weeks behind...not sure if I can actually pull off alll 52 challenges are not, but I am still going to try. I am jokingly telling my son I am locking myself in my room on December 30th and coming out on Jan 1st with all the challenges done! lol! I wish I was a fast scrapper like some of my friends, but the truth is, if I complete 3 pages a week that is a good week for me! Even at an all night crop I am lucky to get 4-5 layouts done! So at this rate I will complete the 52 challenges sometime around Valentine's Day! This layout uses the wonderful October kit from Personalscrapper featuring We R Memory Keepers Splendor line (with a few embellies from my stash thrown in.) I love this picture of my brother and nephew taken while walking to the hayrack ride at Vala's Pumpkin Patch in October, my nephew looks like a miniature little man doesn't he? So cute! This layout was inspired by Debbie's transparency challenge for the October LOAD and I also added some chipboard so it will fit the Chipboard challenge for week 37 of the 52 week challenges! The transparency I have had in my stash FOREVER and says "Tall oaks from little acorns grow", I thought it fit this picture perfectly! I haven't used vellum on a page in forever, so I had to dig out my vellum adhesive and then used brads to attach it to my page securely! Papers and stickers are by We R Memory Keepers - Splendor line, chipboard acorns by Basic Grey, chipboard leaves are from Target dollar bin and letters are by Paper Trunk! If you are participating in a 52 week challenge this year make sure and leave us a comment we'd love to see what challenges you have been working on!

Hello my name is Derf!

Well, we had a nice time at Trunk or Treat last night, our church sponsors a trunk or treat each year for the local kids, we went and passed out candy at my parent's trunk this year. My son is now officially to "Old" for Halloween! Bummer huh? So I have no funny pics to post this year of his costume, but luckily I get to scrapbook my nieces and nephews, so I can't wait to get my hands on their pics and scrapbook them! I recently created this layout for one of the Personalscrapper challenges and thought I would share. This is my son last year on Halloween when he went to our Youth Group costume party as DERF the Nerd and actually won one of the prizes for best costume! He did look pretty funny I'll tell you. I won this Jillibean Atomic Soup line as a crop prize from Personalscrapper awhile back and was saving it for a science fair pic, but then I realized it was perfect for this page! So I used it vs actual Halloween themed papers/embellies and I really like the way it turned out! Corrugated alpha by Jillibean Soup and foam letters by American Crafts. We still have this week to work on our Croptoberfest layouts so I am trying to complete at least 5 more challenges to get me to 10, although I think I already completed about 10 layouts total for October, but 5 of them weren't for Croptoberfest challenges. So if your mojo needs a jumpstart please come join us, you have until Sunday to participate and don't have to be a member to do so! I'd love to see you there!

Grow

Another Croptoberfest layout completed today! This one completes the Fall tradition challenge for one of the 31 October challenges as well as week 16 of the 52 week challenges over at Personalscrapper! Every year for about 8 years now we have gone to Vala's Pumpkin Patch each fall, and I was stunned when looking back over last year's photos of how much my son has grown in just one short year! He is now pushing 6 feet! Wow! What a difference a year makes! I thought it was a fun layout to show the comparison next to the Vala's growth chart! Can't wait to see what next year will bring! This layout is based on a sketch by Valerie Salmon for her Got Sketch Express 2 class I just finished up! Valerie's classes are great, if you haven't taken one you should, in fact I think you can still sign up for Got Sketch Express 2 HERE! I will most likely be using the rest of the sketches in week's to come. All papers I used here are from Bella Blvd's One Fall Day line from last year. I loved that line, I think I can eek out another layout or two from the papers I have left, will be sad to see it go, these colors are awesome! Off to get some more scrappy time in before I have to go to bed, this layout I am working on now is just not coming together like I want...ARGHHHHH...hate it when that happens! I may just have to change gears if I can't get the mojo flowing soon and be back later in the week to share!

Croptoberfest fun!

Many of you have heard me talk about all the fun we have with Croptoberfest over at the Personalscrapper boards each October, and this year is no different! I was able to create a challenge for Erica's die cut + 3 pictures challenge a few days ago using none other then my AWESOME October Personalscrapper kit featuring We R Memory Keepers' Autumn Splendor line! It is a great line and I really like the fact that we got one but TWO sheets of die cut paper in this kit! I just love this kit! These pics were taken on our vacation to Nebraska last week and are of my cute little nephew at Vala's Pumpkin patch enjoying one of the climbing areas. He just loves to climb! I am hoping to get some more scrappy time in this weekend and catch up on some of the 52 week challenges (I'm about 20 weeks behind-ughhh) as well as do one or two of the GREAT Croptoberfest challenges that the members are posting! Why don't you come join us? You don't have to be a member to participate and I promise it is LOADS of fun, plus FREE inspiration and LOTS of encouragement, an all around fun place to visit! See you there!

Fall family fun!

We had a great extended weekend this last weekend visiting my brother and his family in Nebraska! We had perfect weather, good fun, good laughs and most of all good company! Just an all around great time! We had a a lot of fun visiting Vala's Pumpkin patch for the 7th straight year in a row! Fun to see it through the eyes of my little nephew, he had a blast, especially on the tractor! We carved pumpkins and I tried my hand at Keno (which is apparently legal here) and sadly I lost all the money I bet :o( We also had a marathon 2 hour gaming session at the Amazing Pizza Machine! We won over 6,000 tickets this year in just 2 hours between the three of us! In years past we have won about that many tickets in 4 years! HA! We should have bought a lottery ticket, we were scoring big wins, just not for real money! Since we are not going to be together for Christmas this year, we decided to go ahead and celebrate while we were together, to enjoy seeing each other open our gifts. Everyone loved their gifts and we enjoyed a delicious corn fed Nebraska ribeye for dinner! YUM! Can't wait to scrap all my pictures, here are just a few of the 270 I took! Guess I better start scrappin' tonight!

Puppy and Sketch love!

So excited to be back to blogging, I have been busy busy behind the scenes creating, working and cleaning and now am ready to get back to weekly blog posts in my newly organized space! Here is the October sketch I created for Personalscrapper as well as my take on the sketch using the September Personalscrapper kit which is PACKED with the newest Jillibean Soup goodness! I love how versatile these papers are and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors! This is my littlest nephew with his "fake" dog, he loves to play with it and carry it around with him when he is out front. I think it's because this "fake" dog, doesn't mind being picked up and carried around by an almost 2 year old like the real one does! We are having a Croptoberfest over on the Personalscrapper message board, come join us as we try and create a LAYOUT A DAY in October! I know I plan to go for 31 layouts! Won't you join us? You don't have to be a member to join us their on the boards, hope to see you there real soon!