Some creative ME time...

Earlier this year I signed up for several Big Picture Classes, none of which I was able to finish (or even start in some cases) due to my hectic schedule with Girl Scouts and Work.  Now I'm slowly getting back into the groove and am having a blast.  Erica slept over at her friend's house last night and I stayed up to be creative.  This is what I did (woo hoo!).
One of the classes I took was "Embrace Imperfection."  The basis of the class is to try and teach us to get past all the things that make us say we don't have time to scrap or that holds us backing from being productive.  The bottom line is we won't ever be perfect, so get past it and document your memories.  For me, I stress over the colors being perfect and all the products coordinating or matching on the layout.  So to make this mini album, I pulled together some papers and coordinating embellishments from Basic Grey, along with my ribbons, paint, and ink.  I can't believe I finished it!  I used a great mixed media album from Fancy Pants (acrylic, chipboard, felt, mirror, cardboard,  and canvas).  Every page is decorated differently an I didn't even "lift" the layouts!  Each page also has a quote about perfection like, " No one is perfect...that's why pencils have erasers."  And there are alot of things about this album that aren't perfect (the paint is chipping off the acrylic, the chipboard shapes show thru the acrylic, the quotes aren't cut perfectly, the colors don't all match exactly, and things are crooked), but I am learning to...Remember, it is all about the MEMORIES."

 

  

I've wanted to use this album for over a year and am thrilled I got a chance to do it.

More than half way done...

So I've wanted to pull my hair out a few times, but all in all, the weekend is going well.  The girls had Mickey pancakes courtesy of Daddy this morning, rainbow mac and cheese for lunch, and they made their own pizza's tonight (thanks to the big Boboli pack from Costco).  The coolest part of the day was playing "Erica's Big Game."  You can find the coolest ideas online!  The girls wrote things like:  move 3 back, jump up and down until your next move, sing a song, skip a turn, roll again, etc.  They had so much fun we played it twice.  I don't think the die would've held up for a third game.  And now they're watching "Tangled" and will go to bed after that (I hope).
Even with all the fun, I'm really looking forward to 11am tomorrow!  From now on Erica can have only ONE friend over at a time!

Guess what day it is...

...it's the day I've officially gone insane!  What was I thinking when I suggested to Erica that she could have THREE 8-yr olds over for a TWO-night sleep over?!  I must be the biggest pigeon in the world...yup, I've taken over the title from Grandpa!
So three of Erica's friends are coming over, along with a neighbor who will come and play, but go home at night.  Erica and I have planned all kinds of fun...but I'm not gonna spoil any of the fun since we don't have pictures yet.  If I survive the weekend sober, I'll post pictures along the way.  For now, here's the cute pillow invitation I made...

A fun project...

I had an opportunity to be crafty when some friends came over this weekend.  This is a chipboard album from Bo Bunny that I altered to include pockets for each calendar month.  There's also a place to write names and dates (for birthdays and anniversaries) on each month.  I plan on putting cards in the pockets so I can actually mail out cards for friends and family.  Now I need to get busy and make some cards so I can really finish the project and be able to use it.

Trick or Treat in the Heat

This may sound funny for some folks, but not if you are in Alaska.  Eagle River participated in the Sixth Annual Ian Robbins Memorial Trick or Treat in the Heat event today.  What an awesome idea!  The best part is they raised over $7000 for the Ronald McDonald House, Make a Wish Foundation, and Hospice of Anchorage.  The fun part for the kids, of course, is getting candy TWICE this year.  And the neat part for me is I finally get to see everyone's Halloween outfit...without snow gear.

As usual, Grandma made Erica's outfit.  This year she decided to be a Cowgirl.  She and Grandma went and found some boots with rhinestones on them, so she decided to be a Rhinestone Cowgirl.  And the outfit is GREAT!  Here's a picture of Erica and Jenna before the festivities began.

Girl Scouts...Zoo Snooze

Erica is a Brownie Girl Scout, and loves it. Scouts started early this year so they could finish their "Journey" program before cookies start in January...cookies tend to be all consuming, especially for us! Erica was the top seller in her troop last year and earned a week of free camp at the resident camp grounds. She felt soooo big going away for a whole week "without mom and dad to boss her around."

The troop also did things with the money made from selling cookies. Last year's journey was the Wonders of Water and they bought two water filters for a village in need in Central America. And the fun activity they did was have a sleep over at the zoo. It was a blast! They had a behind the scenes tour of the tigers, wolves, and brown bear cub; had a scavenger hunt, searching for animals based on clues; and then watched Disney's "Brother Bear" with popcorn before they went to bed. I missed the morning activities due to a 5K run, but I understand they went to see the polar bear. The girls thought it was the best!

First Day of School pictures

My blog is one of the ways family keeps in touch with us. I did a poor job for 6-8 months keeping them updated and am trying to be better. I was having soooo much fun posting layouts and neglected to post pictures from the first day of school...sorry.

For anyone that doesn't know us well, we have a family tradition (mostly just me and Erica) of going to breakfast on the first day of school. Last year Jeff went with us because I started a new job and couldn't take the time off. This year Grandma and Grandpa were in town, so they joined us, too. Erica sure looks like a big girl, doesn't she? A 3rd grader...wow! I can hardly believe it!

Here she is looking like a big girl...even though she hunches over (more of the mama in her!).

And the standard mama and Erica picture...

And in line, waiting for school to start.

And today's holiday...

Happy Labor Day! In Alaska, it marks the last day of the State Fair. Fair season usually means rainy season in Alaska. The weather has called for rain every day, but fortunately it hasn't stormed all day, so we were able to make it out earlier this week. We like to go right after school to beat the crowds...and it was perfect. The weather was overcast. It drizzled a little, but it wasn't bad.

As usual, Erica wanted to ride all the spinning rides...and I learned this year that I'm finally too old to handle them. Fortunately she is tall enough to be able to ride by herself. She also climbed the rock wall again. The weird thing is, this time she didn't want to let go of her one hand to ring the bell...she finally did, but it took a while. And on her way down, she became proficient at repelling (I'm not sure the operators liked it much...but she sure did).

The standard big pumpkins were there. This one weighed in at 1200 pounds and another one was 1700...but it was disqualified for having a hole in the bottom.

This year they had the outback in Alaska. I'm not sure how Erica was able to do it, but she got Jeff to pay $5 for her to go into a cage with birds. They gave her some food and the birds climbed all over her and literally ate out of her hands.

And last, but not least, we got our standard family picture on the Tilt-o-whirl. Thank goodness it was a short and sweet ride...the spinning was a bit much after all the other spinning I had done. We were the only ones on the ride and the operator started it as soon as we got in, and came over to let us out as soon as it was done. He was a bit impatient, so I didn't get the pix myself, as usual. Instead, he took our picture. Not quite the same, but that's OK, I guess...

All in all, a fun time at the fair!!!

Why not see one more Holiday...

As I said, holidays are different in Alaska. This isn't so much a celebration of holidays, but it reminds me how things are a little different here. I remember having beautiful gardens around Easter before we moved to Alaska. That's definitely not the case here. We typically can't plant before Memorial Day. Sometimes there's even still snow on the ground at Easter. Fortunately this year was not the case. But, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the outdoors...and welcome the Easter Bunny to our house. That's certainly what Erica did this year. So while we don't have beautiful flowers and green grass like other places, at least we had beautiful colors on our driveway.

Since Holidays are on the brain...

...why not a Christmas layout? I'm not sure why this wouldn't scan, maybe the crooked papers messed with the scanner's brain. My linear brain has a hard time with it, sometimes.

We spent Christmas in Arkansas visiting Jeff's parents. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures, and then many of the ones I did get were really blurry. But, the memories are still the same, so I make due with what I have. I really didn't know what to journal for this layout, so I didn't. Jeff's mom is more crafty than I am (and WAAAY more talented). She decorated a few Santa hats. Erica took this one and wore it one of the days we went to Silver Dollar City. I don't recall exactly where we were, or what we were doing, but I thought she was soooo cute in the hat that I had to take her picture. I think this was the first layout I made this year...sweet and simple.