More blog slacking...and catchup

Whew....what a week I've had, and I don't see it letting up any time soon. I have a crop tonight and I'm all by myself at home finding it hard to get it all done. I feel like I have the past few days at work. Oh, I can finally say it (see how late I am, I could say it before, but I've been such a slacker I haven't been online to say anything)...I quit my job and am starting a new job next week. I had been frantically working day and night (literally) to get it all done before I left for good yesterday...and it didn't get all done. So here I am again, trying to get everything ready for the crop and I'm afraid it's not gonna get done.

Oh, so the other part of being all by myself. Of course, Jeff is shooting, that's a given. But Erica went to a weekend troop camp...WITHOUT ME! I'm a troop co-leader and REALLY wanted to go, but had my crop scheduled, so I couldn't (sniff, sniff). I'm sure it's good for her, but I'm not so sure it's good for me. Thank goodness for the crop. UGH...but now I am remembering what I still need to do.

OK, OK...so let me give you a scrappy layout before I sign off. This is some fun new Sassafras Indie Girl. It's my monthly kit I put together. I wanted to do it for Aug, but am still waiting for some Pink Paislee Starlight supplies. So I swapped Jul and Aug kit plans (sneaky, huh?). I just love the papers. They're so girlie, but can even be used for non-girlie stuff. I think this layout is such a sweet layout...with Bella and Erica. They really are Best Buds!!!

Project 12 - May...finally

Well, it took me a while to finish the May layout for Project 12. I just wasn't inspired by the sketch...until I had company to scrap with this past weekend (thanks, Tanya!). I think the big circle in the middle turned me off a bit. But then I dug into one of the kits from My Scrapbook Nook, and saw a big die cut circle from My Minds Eye, and was able to make it work.

May was busy, mostly because of our vacation to Arkansas. I could have filled an entire layout with pictures and stories from Arkansas...I had such a hard time keeping the pictures down to three. There's a big space on the second page cuz I'm saving it for a picture of Erica bridging to Brownies. In addition to the vacation, May included other activities like a field trip to release salmon fry, the last day of school, and a Mad Science party with her girl scout troop (those parties are AWESOME, by the way).

I hope I'm not the only one reading this blog that's participating in Project 12. Click on the blinkie in my side bar for more info. It's soooo easy and very gratifying to complete. I'm finally caught up and looking forward to July 20 when I can download the next 2-pg sketch.

Another fun evening of scrappin'

I always love it when I have a chance to scrap with friends...and I had just such a chance this past weekend (yeah!). And the best part was I finally had some inspiration to finish the May Project 12 layout (sort of...I'm missing one picture and need a friend to send it to me). I'll post that layout another time.

The other inspiration I had this weekend was to scrap the layout of Erica mowing...she mowed again Friday night (hee, hee). Jeff says he'll pay her allowance when she gets better at it. That resulted in a conversation about how good she was...and sounded kinda like this: "Am too..." "Are not..." "Am too..." "Are not..." Have I told you how much fun it is to have two 6-yr olds in the house???

So here's the layout. I used more My Minds Eye papers from one of My Scrapbook Nook's kits (April, I think...I'm getting alot of mileage out of that kit), plus some Basic Grey Stickers from the Feb kit and My Minds Eye alphas from my stash. And the layout is lifted from my favorite Design Team member at the Nook (Becky June). I get alot of inspiration from her!!!

June 2010 - Project 12

Have you been keeping up with Project 12? Do you remember me mentioning it earlier this year? Basically you do a 2-page spread summarizing your activities for each month of the year. They provide you a sketch to get your started. Click on the Project 12 logo in the margin to learn more.

So here's my layout for the month of June (yes, I skipped May...I'm not inspired by the sketch yet), with the June sketch at the bottom. June was a pretty slow month for us...except for Girl Scouts. I think we needed the slow month after all the craziness we've had so far. We came home from vacation and the next week Erica went to Girl Scout Day Camp with her friend, Bella. She ended the week with a sleep over with Bella (go figure). At the end of the month her troop took a day trip to Seward to take a class on Marine Mammal Adaptations from the Sealife Center. After that, they went to the Kenai Fjords National Park and completed the requirements to become Junior Rangers while learning about Exit Glacier and the local wild life. We didn't get to take the long hike up to the glacier because a black bear and cub had been seen two days in a row on the trail. But with such a great day, how could we not go on the short loop around. I got a really cute picture of Erica and Paige...you'll see that on a layout one of these days. These papers are from the Scrapbook Nook's May kit (again, October Afternoon). I added some alphas from the March kit and cut out the flower border and "Friend of Nature" with the Give a Hoot Cricut Cartridge.

Camp skills...color blocking

Whew...this is the last camp layout. I had a great time scrapping the pictures, but I'm sure glad I'm done. I'm not a chronological scrapper, but for some reason I felt I had to scrap ALL these pictures before I did anything else...I'm not sure why.

So this is the last layout. I combined the edible campfire with learning to tie knots. Both activities were at the same time and they were both about learning camp skills, so I made it work. And I found a great one-page sketch that I altered into two pages for a color blocking technique...I sure like color blocking!!!

First, the girls learned how to make a camp fire and practiced with edible supplies like marshmallows for bricks, shredded coconut for kindling, and two sizes of pretzel sticks for graduated sizes of sticks/logs. The most important lesson, though, was that an adult is supposed to make the fire. And the most fun part was eating it when they were done...too bad they forgot the cinnamon candies for fire.

Then they learned how to make a few knots. The lesson was good, but I wish they had spent a few minutes explaining when each knot was used. I have to admit that I've already forgotten all the knots except the square knot. Of course, maybe it's because I was paying more attention to taking Erica's picture than to helping Erica and learning the knots myself. Thank goodness Miss Kim was there to help...hee, hee.
This layout uses supplies from My Scrapbook Nook's Monthly kit (I'm glad I finally found time to use these...they've been piling up). The papers are My Mind's Eye. I had a little problem scanning the layouts and had to piece them together...sorry.

Off kilter...ugh, that's hard

Do you remember me posting about being a linear person and not liking things off kilter? Well, I found this layout by a Scrapbook Nook Design Team member using a monthly kit. When I saw it I knew I had use it for these pictures. The problem is, it's on an angle. I usually don't like to scrap that way, but decided to step out of my comfort zone and do it.

So here it is. This is another layout I finished this weekend using My Scrapbook Nook's June Kit (more October Afternoon papers). The girls had some fun playing cooperative sports in the gym. First they formed a tight circle and each sat on the lap of the person behind them. It took a few tries, but they got it to work without falling down. Then they played some kind of keep away and finally formed a circle, passing a hula hoop around without breaking their grip...pretty neat. Sorry the scan cut off the layout...I really need to work on taking good pictures instead of scanning.

A fun crafty weekend...and more camping pictures

The Independence Day weekend gave me some inspiration to be crafty...maybe it was the relaxing weekend, maybe it was a clean dining room table calling me. Either way, I was happy to make a mess and be productive (although Jeff didn't care for the mess).

I'm still feeling like I have to finish all the pictures from the Girl Scout Camping trip in April. This layout is of the girls making a scrapbook mini album...and it wasn't even my idea!!!
This layout is made from My Scrapbook Nook's June kit. The papers are October Afternoon, Alphas are American Crafts Thickers and Basic Grey, the flowers are Doodlebug and Prima, and the journaling card is from Sassafras Lass.

Happy Independence Day

Happy Birthday, America!!! I hope you are all having a wonderful Independence Day. We've had a blast. We started the day by attending the Eagle River Fireworks at midnight, July 3rd. That was the first time we did that. Erica took pictures with her camera. This morning we went to the Anchorage Park Strip to watch the Parade and the activities at the Park Strip. Erica took $7...it was fun watching her decide what to spend her money on. In the end, she decided not to do any of the big slide (at $3 a ride) or the bucking bull (at $5 a ride). She went on the bounce house obstacle course (for $1) and got an ice cream cone (for $5).
We came home and relaxed the rest of the day...sort of. Jeff mowed the lawn and Erica decided she was big enough to help. Parts of the lawn were mowed 4 and 5 times (around one side of the tree), but she did a good job. And of course, that was my perfect excuse to get some scrapping done (actually, I had been scrapping before that...but it gave me more of an excuse to keep going).

More camping pix...

Wow...I have been such a slacker on my blog this summer, I'm sorry. I will try to do better. But I have an excuse (not sure it's good...but I have one). I'll have to share in a week or so once I know a little more. Life has been hectic this summer, that's for sure!

As I mentioned, I did some scrapping last Friday. This is the last page I did and forgot to upload. Erica and Bonnie went off and sat by the lake during the camp fire at Camp Carlquist. It was soooo cute to see them sitting there. I sure wish I knew what they were talking about.These are papers and embellies from My Scrapbook Nook's March Kit. The papers are My Minds Eye (one of my favorites). And I lifted the layout from one I saw in Scrapbook Trends.