Your Memories Here design team!

Thrilled that Kristina asked me to be a part of this team!You can see the announcement HERE.

old time photo.

When we were in Branson we saw several old time photo places & I've been dying to do one of these. Two friends & I did one at the state fair a few years ago & it was so fun. The photo is awesome too - I just love it. I thought it would be fun if TJ's whole family got in on it but it was too expensive. I ended up paying $100 for the disc of all the photos because they were closing soon & I didn't know which ones we would want because I had no plans for them yet. [Now we're working on a photo gallery wall & I want to use one & I also had one printed on canvas so I'm glad I just got the photo CD. It has the most options:)] 

 

I used the county fair & so cal kits on this for the Sunday sketch.

 

Joy's Life blog hop winner

 Random number generator picked number 9.

Blogger Raine said... I'm about to become a follower. What a great way to jazz up your.....gift/jar/glass. Heck I'm not sure what it is but I'm loving it. 
  
so Raine you are the winner. Unfortunately I have no way to get a hold of you so I hope you see this & can email me your mailing address so I can get you your prize!

 

swatch book.

Today I have a swatch book to share. It's kind of more like a mini album. I used the photos from our Christmas card photo shoot last November & made a fall little swatch book. Can you tell I'm in the mood for fall? Except I'm really not - I'd love this weather 24/7/365. 

This is a close up of the cover. It's heart shaped (a Maya Road chipboard album) & I used the It's all Fall puns stamp set.

another cover shot

the corrugated shapes are Jillibean Soup

 

I'm not including all the photos of the album - it's a little repetitive. But I used the same papers & embellishments throughout. This was made using my August Citrus Twist kit (except the Jillibean shapes are mine).

With this post, I'm sad to say I wrap up my term with Joy's Life. It has been SO much fun & I want to say THANK YOU to Joy & the rest of the team for welcoming me & guiding me over the past three months. It has been great & I wish I was able to stay longer but I'm afraid I'll have too many time constraints in the coming months. Maybe I can be part of this great team again in the future ;)

days like these make me smile.

Since this football season will be here shortly (we've already attended one preseason game) I figured it was time to scrap last year's game. 

This is from the Colts/Bengals game last year.

The papers are American Crafts: orange paper is from Campy Trails & the grey is from Peachy Keene. The stamp is Technique Tuesday Favorite Memories. I misted in the right upper corner with some chipboard stars using Mister Huey's Sorbet. The washi tapes are Pink Paislee & American Crafts. The star rub ons at the bottom are Studio Calico.

August Joy's Life/Cri-Kits blog hop!

I really wanted to use the newly released stamp set, "It's all fall puns"which you can view here. & I also wanted to work some more with my August Citrus Twist kit.

I reallyreallyreally loved the summer stamp set & I am really loving this fall set. Even though I'm not a huge fan of fall (because next comes winter & that's the worst!), I think this stamp set will get a lot of use. 

We're also featuring the Cri kits gel pens with this blog hop. They're so much fun to work with! You can see a layout I did using the pens here.

Anyway. We all know how addictive Pinterest is & how we often pin more than we do. Well, I found a cute fall project & decided it would be my Pinterest Project. Here was my inspiration piece.

I got this at TJ's mom's family reunion that we attended on my birthday. Yeah, pretend like that won't be held over his head for therestofhislife. They do an auction to raise money for cemetery/gravestone maintenance and/or if families are struggling throughout the year, they will take money from the fund to help them out. So this auction - everyone brings an item wrapped. Some were nice, some homemade, some re-gifted items, some sort of white elephant type gifts. But they're wrapped so you have no idea what it is. Some are labeled girl, boy, adult, etc. Bids are super low, but there are tons of items so they end up raising a few hundred dollars. It's a really great idea. TJ's dad kept bidding on items & giving them to me as "birthday gifts." There were a lot of random things, let me tell you.

So this is one of the things I got & everyone was like what in the world?! but I was thinking this could be made into something cool.

All items are from the Citrus Twist kit. The two stamps are from It's all Fall puns. I used the metallic & the glitter Cri-kit pens. As a side note, I was thinking the whole time that it would be nice if there was just a plain black or brown pen. At the end, I found out there was a black one - it's in the regular/neon colors. But I ended up not using it anyway. For the orange fleurish I used a metallic grey pen & on the kraft fleurish I used a yellow glitter.

close up of the stamp & Cri-kits pens, although the glitter didn't photograph well.

The Cricut Stretch your Imagination cartridge is what I used for everything. The fleurishes were 4 inches (orange) & 3 1/2 inches (kraft). The pumpkin was cut at 3 1/4 inches (I think). I used my circle punch on the "give thanks" sentiment. I attached the ribbon at the top with my hot glue gun.

Your next stop on the hop is Cyndy! Go check out her project.

*If you're not already a follower, become one now & leave me a comment on this post. I'll pick a random winner on Monday August 27 for a prize package!

book sale.

When we were in Michigan a few weekends ago, we drove through a small town & saw a book sale sign posted in front of their library. We're huge fans of library book sales. We went to our city library book sale last fall & even became members of "Friends of the Library" ($5 fee each) so that we could get into the book sale on the first day. If you've never been to one, it is literally tables & tables piled with boxes & stacks of books on top of books. It's a dream for someone who reads a lot, like me.

Anyway, we were passing by this library book sale & decided to run in & check it out. It was supposed to close in 20 mins but there were a few others milling around so they stayed open longer. We left with two big bags full of books for $5 per bag. We made out like bandits!

the photo was taken with Instagram so it's not the best quality

This is my second project I've posted with my August Citrus Twist kit. It's based off their August sketch challenge.

mantle update.

So a few months ago I shared my mantle update. Mom & I had sanded it, painted it, & "hung" it on the wall. I was still deciding what to do with the inside of it. 

mantle before

mantle now

Mom painted a brick design on some wood & we mounted it inside the mantle. I also got TJ to get rid of that hideous painting that was hanging there & I replaced it with a mirror.

Easter 1989 (featuring Crikits!)

I had to photograph this week instead of scanning because the scanner was overexposing the layout & everything looked white! Grr

We had the opportunity to work with Cri-Kits gel pens this month! These are a lot of fun.  We got the metallic, pastel, regular & neon, & glitter. For this layout, I used the pastel pens. [I have to say, most of the "pastel" colors weren't really pastel.] I used Cricut Easter 2010 cartridge for the doily & the eggs. 

I used the "egg-specially" stamp from Joy's Life Yummy Puns stamp set. The papers are Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden, the Easter decorations on the right egg are Pink Paislee chipboard pops from Vintage Vogue.

you are here [August Citrus Twist kit].

Remember when I won the sketch contest at Citrus Twist? Well, my prize was the August Citrus Twist kit "tropical heat."I got it earlier this week but haven't had time to play with it until today. I've been excited to dig in. Loving the Heidi Swapp papers, the Amy Tan sheet is so cute, & the My Mind's Eye Indie Chic was gorgeous. Cannot get enough. & the layouts the design team has posted are awesome. So here's my first layout:

I used Mister Huey's sorbet on the stars & stamped with the chalk ink on the circles, which are punched from the Heidi Swapp paper. LOVE the washi tape that was included & the heart border was actually the label strip (that always gets thrown away) from the Amy Tan paper. I just love those hearts.

(You can read more about my Super Bowl experience here.)

real life.

Thanks for joining us on our August sketch challenge! 

As always, I altered the sketch a little bit.With this month being the one year anniversary of the collapse of the stage at the Sugarland concert at the Indiana state fair, I wanted to document about my/our experience there as kind of a tribute to the people who were killed & injured.

Here is our sketch (chosen from Page Maps), which I rotated on its side:

August sketch challenge

& here is my layout:

sorry it scanned light again. I think I need to check my settings.

The first photo is one I took with the camera on my phone before we left the bleachers. It seemed to happen in slow motion, like time just stood still for a few seconds. I talked about it after it happened last year but we all knew some bad storms were coming. Right before I started to say that we should probably go find shelter, the stage started to sway, people started screaming, & it just fell. In slow motion. I think I screamed. Lots of people screamed. Then there was just pure craziness. People running everywhere. People curled in in balls on the floors of the bleachers. Sirens. & then I think I snapped out of it & was like let's get the F out of here.

The bottom photo is one I snapped of my laptop screen (Yahoo homepage) the following morning. 

The papers are from Studio Calico Take Note collection. I also used AE Technique Tuesday Real Life stamp, (Mist) a bles by Pink Paislee & a couple stickers in the upper right corner by Pink Paislee Fetching.

*In case you haven't yet heard, Christine is now selling via the Facebook group Scrapbook Deals. Request to be a member of the group & you'll see everything she formerly had posted in the store. It's cheaper for her to list this way & therefore saves you money too!

**Your sketches are due by the end of the month, August 31. As per my usual, I will be doing a random drawing for a winner from the participants who post a link to their project in the comments section of this post by August 31. (I ordered a box from the recent Pink Paislee warehouse sale so expect some goodies from that!) Winner will be chosen September 1.

Here's the nitty gritty:
 (1) Submit your creation to the Crafting Family blog using the Link It up tab at the top right sidebar of our blog or on our Facebook site  (2) become a fan of the Facebook page (if you aren't already) (3) become a follower of the Crafting Family blog (if you aren't already). 

Deadline to enter is August 31, 2012 & the design team will choose two winners by September 5, 2012.

 

Here is the prize from Christine:

Joy's oldies but goodies.

This week we're using one of the older Joy's Life stamp sets because they're still goodies. For me, that doesn't leave a lot of options since I'm newer to Joy's Life stamps. I chose a stamp from the everyday occasions set: appreciation. 

 

This scanned super light for some reason. The background is actually a creamy light tan color. Anyhow, this photo is of our oldest nephew at his basketball senior night earlier this year with his parents. They were really a tight knit team & they loved their coach so this night was as much senior appreciation as it was coach appreciation. That's kind of nice to see.

I also used The Echo Park For the Record line: Borders, Noteworthy, & Newsprint, as well as the sticker sheets. The ink is (my new favorite) Stampin' Up poppy parade.

carefree moments.

I created a layout tonight for the August sketch challenge for Lily Bee. Here is the sketch: 

& here is mine:

I used papers from Vintage Poppy, Audrey (Classy), & Happily Lost (Stroll) & the "carefree moments" laugh rub ons are so, so old. I just have always loved them so I use them sparingly. I also have a few die cut pieces from French Couture.

Also used a Maya Road rub on, Scenic Route cardstock label sticker, Studio18 rhinestones, & some chipboard from Pebbles Inc (the large star is chipboard covered in Tim Holtz washi tape). Oh, & a Mist a ble from Pink Paislee misted with olive vine glimmer mist.

The photos are from when we went to Indy to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday this past April.

#tebowtime.

I'm not a Jets fan. But when I saw they were coming to Cinci to play the Bengals pre-season I had to find some tickets so I could see Timmy. 

 

You can watch the highlights here.

love across the miles.

I've had my eye on this stamp set from the Sweet Stamp Shop for a while & when Nicole had a recent coupon code, I couldn't resist ordering it. It is adorable & there are so many uses for it.

Immediately this layout came to mind...

Sort of inspired by Kelly Purkey's map layout that I thought was (& still think it is) amazing. I used Studio Calico Hey Day & a little bit of Abroad. You'll have to see if Christina has any left because she's been selling like crazzzy. She is actually selling now via a Facebook site, Scrapbook Deals. See if this link works. I think you'll have to request to join. Anyway, it saves her money to sell there (instead of ebay - no ebay fees!) which in turn saves YOU money.

Jenni Bowlin butterfly, Prima Marketing flower, & MME button. Ink is Stampin' Up poppy parade.

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Bic Soleil Savvy review.

 

Bic sent me their new razor to review. It's a disposable razor with refillable cartridges. There are four cartridges per package. (I love the pretty pink color!) It features an easy grip rubber handle with flexible blades, a pivoting head, & strips lubricated with vitamin E. It sells for $7.49 & I have coupons for $3 off so if you're interested in trying it, let me know!

I currently use Bic Soleil Bella disposable razors that have four blades (but definitely lack the flexibility & pivoting features of the Bic Savvy). I love these; they give a really close shave. I believe they retail for about the same price as the Bic Soleil Savvy but I only buy them on sale & usually they're around $4.79. With all of that sad, I will not be switching to the Savvy. I like the razor, the results are fine, but I've never been one to use the refillable cartridges & I just prefer the four blade razor.