Never too old for Santa

We have a Winter/Snow/Christmas theme this week on the Use Your Stuff Blog this week.  While looking through photos to scrap I came across this one from 2013.  I was actually pregnant with our youngest...and our teenagers were being extremely crabby and definitely headed straight for the Naughty List that day (I remember it well!)...so we opted to take a picture with Santa on our own because you are never to old to believe in Santa!  In our house, you have to "Believe to Receive" ;)

      

Check out the rest of the Design Team here.

Happy December and Happy Scrapping!

A little game of Tic Tac Toe

We are playing a little game of Tic Tac Toe this week over at the Use Your Stuff Blog...

Seems great minds think alike and much like the majority of the design team, I opted to go right down the left side of the board.  I did a scrapbook layout, using a sketch and incorporated circles.  Although my circles are buttons.

I did a simple LO using a photo of my now 19 y.o. daughter when she was 2.  I remember the day this photo was taken.  We were at a playdate with a few other kids and she was just not feeling it and simply wanted to be held.  I kind of miss those days!

I used this sketch that I found on Pinterest...

If you haven't already, be sure and check out what the rest of the Design Team came up with.

Happy Scrapping!

 

Happy Fall!

 Living in Florida, we don't really get much in the way of Fall...that is the one thing I truly miss about living here.  With Fall, come Halloween...and Halloween is my favorite holiday (maybe even more than Christmas, but for now I guess we can call it a tie!)...so with the Design Team challenged to create a project inspired by Fall/Autumn, I decided to use the opportunity to scrapbook photos from my favorite moment at last year's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

I am a big fan of The Haunted Mansion and so I was super stoked to be able to do a meet and greet with a couple of the Gravediggers...they were so creepy and so cool!  A little too creepy as it turns out for my daughter and my little guy slept through the whole thing...but he loves to see the pictures...especially the one where they are staring so intently at him..LOL!

Sadly there is no MNSSHP this year, but if you ever get the chance to go in the future, I highly recommend it!  Very fun night with lots of candy and a parade lead by The Headless Horseman himself!  My little guys says that was his favorite part of the night!

The Design Team is full of lots of Fall/Autumn inspiration so be sure to check them out!

Happy Scrapping!

From his first...to his last...

The Design Team was challenged with a SPORTS theme this week.  I was looking through all the years of photos from my oldest playing soccer and came across a photo from his very first game and it immediately reminded me of one I had taken at his last game...talk about bittersweet.  

Of course there was no question after that what my LO would be about!  I tried to keep things simple and let the focus be on the photos themselves.  I have quite a stash of sports stuff since I have not done a very good job of scrapbooking all his sports photos over the years but now seems as good a time as any to get working on them!

You can see what the rest of the Design Team did HERE.

Happy Scrapping!

Another Mood Board Challenge

 The Design Team was given another mood board challenge...

The first thing that caught my eye was the water and I was reminded of the cruise that we took to Cozumel back in 2008.  Since I have yet to finish that album, I was inspired to go back and work on a few more pages. 

I completed this 2 page LO from our visit to the Celarain Lighthouse in Punta Sur.  We climbed the 127 stairs to the top and took a few pictures of the views...they were absolutely breathtaking and the water was gorgeous.  I think one of my favorite pictures is the one I took of the window inside the lighthouse.

My album so far has all be done using the SEI Black Orchid collection and I added a few Elle's Studios goodies...even finally used a couple of the stamps I have been hoarding!

You can see what the rest of the DT did HERE

Happy Scrapping!

Family Fun

This week the challenge for the Use Your Stuff Design Team was a little different in that our inspiration was a word prompt...FAMILY FUN! 

I happened to have these photos from 2016 sitting on my desk taken at the zoo.  What screams "family fun" more than that?!  All the paper is from DCWV Animal Crackers and then I just added a few embellishments from Elle's Studio and puffy hearts from Amy Tangerine...was even able to use up some older alphas.Since the patterns are so busy, I opted the keep the embellies to a minimum.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Design Team HERE

Happy Scrapping!

It's all about the boys!

This week Use Your Stuff is combining forces with the ladies over at Double Trouble!

The theme is Masculine or Father's Day and you can combine it with any of the challenges that Double Trouble has and enter both of our challenges!  They offer a great prize so definitely stop by and see.

I have had this photo sitting on my desk for awhile now...it is absolutely one of my most favorite photos of my oldest son.  The photo was taken in November 2016 when he was 17 years old and a senior in high school.  He couldn't wait to head off to college and experience life on his own.  He will be turning 21 this month! I can hardly believe it.  I miss the days when he would be glued to my side...nowadays he is so busy with school and working that I hardly hear from him, but I am super proud of this kid.

I used up some old stash on this one...Dream Street Papers - Urban Ink collection, a Daisy D's rub on, Elle's Studio and Doodlebug alphas.

Happy Scrapping!

Have you met Shimelle?

So....have you met Shimelle?

Okay, well, I haven't actually MET her but I have been a fan and a follower for years.  I love her scrapbooking classes and the live videos she posts on her Facebook page.  While my style may not be exactly the same as hers, I have found so much inspiration and I am able to get more pages done. 

When I first started scrapbooking it would take me FORever to get through a single layout and I was constantly worried about it being perfect and wanted to make sure I used just the right paper...but not necessarily that piece of paper that "might" be perfect for something else (we all know the struggle!)...but after watching Shimelle and taking more than a few of her online classes,  I kind of feel like she gave me "permission" to just let go and get a layout done without overthinking it...and while they won't all be my favorite, at least it will be in my albums and my family can enjoy them.

A lot of times when I start a layout my jumping point is from a sketch.  So Shimelle's recent Start With A Sketch class has been perfect for me...not to mention it is helping me try and keep a little sanity in this time of "quarantine"...trying to work 40 hours a week and keep a kindergartener up on his school work as he consistently reminds me that I am in fact NOT his teacher can be a challenge, to say the least!  And since we can't really go anywhere, squeezing in a little scrapbooking (and a little wine) can make all the difference after a rough day!

That being said, I am really enjoying this particular class and it might actually be my favorite of her classes...right up there with the One Magical Scrapbook class (Disney and scrapbooking...what could be better?!)  I have actually gotten quite a few pages done and am looking forward to more of the sketches and inspiration. 

Just thought I would share a few of the layouts I have done so far...and still keeping with my challenge to scrapbook the photos that I already have printed and sitting on my desk...

Based on Sketch 1.1...my little man's first day of school...he was so excited!  Used the Echo Park Back to School collection...

This one is based on Sketch 2.1...used up an old piece of Paper Pizazz as well as some goodies from the Reminisce Fairy Tales collection...and a few bits and pieces from Shimelle's sticker book. Photos are from April 2012...both of those kiddos are now in college!

Pics of our littlest guy shortly after he was born in 2014.  I had already had them printed in the 3x4 size so they worked perfectly for Sketch 4.1. Used up some pretty old and random stash for this one.

Sketch 5.3 ended up being perfect for these photos of my oldest 2...photos are from a day at the zoo in March 2016. I used mostly Shimelle's Little By Little collection along with some Elle's Studio pieces.  I just love these two photos...so perfectly reflects their personalities...especially when mom just wants to take a "nice" picture!  LOL!

These photos are actually taken the same day as the previous layout and not really based on one the sketches from the class but the photos were sitting there after I finished the "Happy Moments" layout...and I had some time, so I just went with it. My girl can be pretty reserved most of the time so I love that I was able to get these pics of her just letting loose and having fun! Most of the elements on this layout came from DCWV Tag Stack and Diecut Shapes pads.

Thanks for letting me share :)

Hope you are staying healthy...and sane!

Happy  Scrapping!

A Magical Monday

Recently, I have been challenging myself to scrapbook the photos that I already have printed and use up older stash (I mean, how else can I make room for new stuff?!)  Over at DisneyScrappers, there was a Leap Day Crop and one of the challenges was to scrap those photos of the friends from the Hundred Acre Woods. It took a little bit of time but I finally finished up scrapbooking the photos from our lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh Bear and a few of his friends back in 2012...

I used a piece of polka dotted paper on each layout, old Sandylion stickers and the pack of Jolee's Boutique Pooh and Friends stickers as well.  Kept everything pretty simple but I am happy with how they turned out and that is 4 more layouts in the scrapbook!

Wishing you a Magical Monday!

Spring is in the air!

Spring is in the air!  Our challenge with the UYS Blog was to creative a project with a Spring theme in mind...and nobody does Spring like Disney with all their amazing and magical topiaries at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival. 

The pictures in my layout are from 2012.

Be sure and stop over at the Use Your Stuff blog to see what the rest of the Design Team did and maybe share a project or two of your own.

Happy Scrapping and Stay Healthy :)

Circle Time

It is all about circles over at Use Your Stuff this week.  Super simple LO using the Echo Park Magical collections. 

My daughter and I went over to Animal Kingdom last week and Mickey was really loving my shirt!

You can check out the rest of the Design Team HERE!