More Mt Baldy

I told you I was inspired by our hike up Mt Baldy...and the Fancy Pants It's Your Day kit was perfect, too. I didn't quite have the perfect blue background, but I think this was close enough (and don't tell me if you don't agree...hee, hee). The Celebrate glitter cut was absolutely perfect! And this is a May Flaum layout from the class...easy and perfect for my pictures. Gotta love it when a plan comes together.I have to laugh...Jeff's mom emailed me after I posted the pictures from the hike and asked if Jeff's Husker shirt was the standard uniform for hiking up the mountain. I didn't notice before, but indeed, he wore that on another trip where I took pix. But then he tends to wear that shirt alot. I used to rotate his shirts by putting clean ones on the bottom of the stack, but some time over the past few years I stopped doing that.

I'm on a roll...

I have had a blast with both the Use Your Stash Class and the It's Your Day kit from Fancy Pants Designs. As I posted last time, we haven't had a party for Erica yet, but this kit is so versatile that I've made several non-party layouts.

This is another soccer layout. Can you believe I actually convinced Jeff to BUY pictures of her at soccer? I guess I don't always know what he'll say...This is a layout from the pre-work for the Use Your Stash class. As soon as I saw the wavy strip on the Fancy Pants paper with the star, I knew I was gonna use it for this layout.Stay tuned for more layouts (yeah!).

Color or Colour?

Ugh...I'm sucked in and I don't know why? I'm still trying to finish the Use Your Stash class at Big Picture Scrapbooking (oops, they changed their name to Big Picture Classes) and now I'm feeling the pull to take a class by Nic Howard called Colour! Or is it Color? I just scanned thru her blog and have tagged a few layouts for inspiration. I guess I'm just wanting to learn and learn and learn. I'm not sure why...I can lift just about anything and tweak it for my stash. I know I don't have time to try out for a design team (although I'd LOVE to eventually). I guess I just want to keep building my capabilities so one day I can try...or maybe I just need to do a little more for me as I'm feeling overwhelmed with my new job, all the Girl Scout events, and no relief on the horizon. It really seems odd to say that cuz I have scrapped more pages in the past few weeks than I have in a long time (you'll see them soon). I'm in a state of confusion and am not sure I understand what's going on in my head.

OK, I'm rambling...but I know one thing...I'm intrigued by the color class and I've registered for it. Stay tuned.

With much scrappiness...

Another Stash Layout

Well, I said I was going to use kits for my Use Your Stash class. I was hoping to use some old kits, but I had to get busy with completing the monthly layouts for my kit club, so I made some layouts with a fairly new kit from Fancy Pants Designs -- It's Your Day. I realized I hadn't ever done a birthday kit, so I thought Erica's birthday month was a great time to do that. Too bad we haven't had a party for her yet...worst parents ever, I know. She's decided she wants to have a few friends over for a slumber party. Now I just need to find a free weekend so I don't pull my hair out...ugh!

Anyway, we did manage to have a small family celebration for her birthday. We went to Chuck E Cheese's for dinner and then to Dairy Queen for dessert. She was such a hoot at Chuck E Cheese's, everyone she talked to knew it was her birthday...and check out the crown. She's so sweet that when she asked for a crown, the cashier couldn't resist and gave her one...I think they were supposed to be reserved for kids actually PAYING to have their parties at Chuck E Cheese's. Oh, well.

This layout isn't a layout from the Use Your Stash class. I actually saw it as an idea sheet at JoAnn's and thought it would be perfect for scraps. It was quick and fun!

Whew...what a day!!!

We had a wonderful weekend in Anchorage...couldn't ask for better weather in the middle of September. So we decided to take a hike up Mt Baldy (along with half of Anchorage...there was easily over 100 people on the mountain with us). Not only was the weather great, the view was, too...and Denali was out!!! For anyone out of Alaska, you need to know that this is amazing by itself. Denali is only visible from Anchorage about five times a year. It was a little hazy, but it was still awesome.

The whole trip took us just over two hours. What a great family activity. I hope next weekend is just as nice so we can get one more hike in before the snow flies. Enjoy a few pictures I took..and you'll see them scrapped soon! The hike up to the top...whew, hard work, but definitely worth it. This was one of a few times I was actually ahead of Jeff and Erica and could get a picture of them from the front.And a picture of Erica at the top...if you look closely, you can see Denali (Mt McKinley) on the far right in the distance.This is Erica and I with an overlook of the Anchorage bowl. Jeff took this so there would be proof that I actually made it to the top...

And one last picture of Denali. This overlooks the Cook Inlet with Wasilla in the background. What a day!!!

Adventures in Scrapbooking - Using My Stash

So I mentioned last week that I am taking a class online from Big Picture Scrapbooking. It's a Using Your Stash class. I told Jeff about it and he said...and I quote: "Amen Sister." Hello, my name is Michelle and I'm a hoarder of scrapbooking supplies. I love to buy stuff. When I buy it I can always see the perfect layout in my head...but I don't always have the perfect pictures. Sometimes I can convince Jeff to participate in "Staged Family Fun" so I can get pictures for the perfect layout and the perfect supplies, but not always. Plus, when I buy those pretty embellishments, I don't want to waste them...so they sit, and sit, and sit, and never get used.

Well, this class is supposed to break me of all that, or at least open my eyes to my habits. One of the first things we had to do was to go thru our supplies and put things we want to use in a box. That's supposed to me our go-to box, the stuff we try to use on every layout. So what did I put in there? My oodles and oodles of kits. I finally had to cancel my subscription to My Scrapbook Nook cuz I was getting so much stuff that I wasn't able to use it all. Add those kits onto the ones I put together every month and the ones I still have from ACBailey's kit club, and I could open a store on my own.

Well, here's my first layout from the class. I bought some Mama-Razzi stickers this past winter or spring and have used them on ONE layout. I'm not sure what I've been saving them for, so I decided to use them. They aren't so much from a kit, but I have them in a big Ziploc bag with all my other kits, so they got put in the box to be used. I had only a partial sheet of coord paper, so this layout was perfect for it. I lifted it directly from the instructor, May, but turned it into a 2-page layout. She used some dimensional glaze to frame the pictures, so I gave it a try, too...yes, I had these in my stash and have used them ONCE about a year ago. I hear they're awesome to make your own flourishes, so stay tuned, you may see that on another UYS layout.



These pictures are from the personalized tour the Brownies got in January during a Zoo Explorer's event. Erica got to join in since I had to attend as the leader. It was a dog mushing event, but this is the part from the tour...dog mushing stuff will come later. The best part about the back-stage tour is how all the predators looked at the girls like they were lunch. I captured some of that in the photos of the wolves and tigers, it just cracked me up! And I was excited to see both the polar bears out and about. We don't always get to see them when we're there, so that was a treat for me.

More Project 12 - August

I have to laugh at myself for the August Project 12 layout. I couldn't remember anything except the State Fair. Thank goodness for my photo organization (downloading and saving to folders by date). We did several very memorable activities that I can't believe I forgot at first. There was Erica's first salmon (which I wasn't really here for...the pictures are from her third or fourth trip out...hrumph!), and of course the first day of school! How could I forget those?!

You'll see more of the State Fair on another layout (soon, I hope), but I have to mention that my daughter is a dare devil. Check her out climbing the rock wall. She had no fear! And a few days later she went to the fair with some friends and rode the mechanical bull. Thank goodness she's a scrapper cuz she sent me a picture of it (yeah!).

Again, this is based on a sketch from Becky Fleck (I love sketches!!!). The papers are from Sassafras Lass and are from the Indie Girl collection. I added some BoBunny flowers and Basic Grey border papers. All the supplies came from My Scrapbook Nook's August kit.

July Summary - Project 12

Yes, It's been over a week since I blogged...and I have a few layouts I can share. Erica and I had a blast with Elizabeth and Marissa last weekend. The girls watched movies and the moms stayed up until all hours of the night gabbing and scrapping...no boys and no stress...what a night!!! My goal was to do the July and Aug Project 12 layouts. I was hoping to do more, but at least I can say I met my goal.

So here's July. Take out the rain and we had a great month. I neglected to scrap about the State Trap Shoot...oooops...don't tell Jeff!!! We had the Independence Day Celebration at the Park Strip, the Bear Paw Festival in Eagle River, TWO overnight camping trips WITHOUT MOM for Erica, and the Elmendorf Air Show with the Blue Angels. Erica also started mowing the lawn and Grandma and Grandpa came at the end of the month. And here's the layout using a Becky Fleck Sketch. How are you coming with your Project 12???The papers and stickers are all from Pink Paislee's Starlight Collection.

General Rambling

I have taken a few classes from Big Picture Scrapbooking in the past. Part of me doesn't like to spend money on stuff like that when I can just find a layout or project and "lift" it (i.e. scraplift, copy it, etc) on my own. But from time to time I get in a kick of just wanting to get out my stash of supplies and pictures and create on my own. I think I'm getting sick of "lifting" again and am wanting to "learn" to create. So I found a few classes I want to take...stay tuned for the results.

While I was checking out the classes I started looking thru the instructor's blogs. I found a really fun one I added to my list: Confessions of a Chocoholic. The name is awesome in it's own, right? When you get a chance, read thru May's blog. I love her writing, there's alot of personality in it, and I'd love to meet her in person some day. For now, I'm settling on taking her stash class.

Anyone else working on Project 12? I'm caught up thru June and am planning on doing Jul and Aug tonight. Erica and I are going to a friend's house for a fun sleepover. She'll play with Marissa and Elizabeth and I will try and scrap in between pulling our hair out with two girls running under feet. At a minimum I know we'll all have fun.

Guess that's all for now...life seems to be calming down just in time for Girl Scouts to start next week. And then I go out of town for work the following week. I'll leave you with our standard Tilt-a-Whirl family picture from the fair...ugh, is there a story that goes with this. I'll save it for later.