The More You Read…

I have been pretty busy busting out layouts since JG deployed.  It has been two weeks and I am glad I have the distraction.  I have been working on pages late at night after the girls have gone to bed and JG and I have finished up our Skype call or late morning while the girls play and watch some preschool shows on TV.

This layout is from the Sketchy Thursdays sketch for the September Guest Design Team spot.  They mentioned doing a reading themed page and I knew immediately which pictures to use.  Last year Club CK had a back to school challenge to take a photo of your kids with their favorite books or something back to school-ish.  I stacked up their favorite books on the table and I got some great shots.  I didn’t pose the girls…Aubrey is a ham! 

Let’s talk page details!  I am so pleased with the way this layout came together.  Obviously the page sketch was fantastic and I all did was make it my own.  I had picked up the Echo Park Little Girl digi paper pack from Jessica Sprague this week when it was featured on One Buck Wednesday.  The colors are so cheery and I loooooove me some Echo Park.  So I printed a couple pages onto cardstock and then punched out the circles and inked the edges pink.  The flowers are made from pages in a book that I read and didn’t like!  I cut the pages into 1 inch strips and then used a Fiskar’s border punch and made the scalloped edges.  I also inked the edges and then folded them into a circle.  Add a pretty circle center and you have easy flowers.

The quote was a long one and I had to mix colors because I didn’t have enough t’s and e’s to use just one color.  I also had plans to stitch the words but that didn’t work out since I had limited space.  So I layered the “read” and “learn” into a scrap of patterned paper, trimmed away the excess and outlined with a black pen.   

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend.

Proud!

I have really loved all the fantastic sketch sites that are out there these days.  I find so much inspiration and actually complete layouts!  My album is filling quickly and it is nearly time to purchase some more.

The other day I was organizing my photos and came across this photo of myself from my Air Force days.  I am proud of the time I spent on active duty, the job I did and the life long friends I made.  I don’t have many photos of myself in uniform so it is important to me to use the ones I do have.

I used the Sketchy Thursdays 8/4 sketch and got to work.  The papers are My Mind’s Eye’s American Made line.  I love the traditional red, white and blue colors with the prints that they selected for this line. 

I used a star die to make the stars.  First I cut them from scrap paper and then inked up a small sponge and colored in the stars.  I went over it with a black fine point gel pen.  I used a small pair of scissors to cut around parts of the stars and then slide the patterned paper underneath.

I hand stitched the title with some floss and machine stitched around the edges of the patterned paper and the white cardstock.  I added foam squares to the back of some stars to lift them off the page and brads to the top of the banner. 

I am happy with this layout and it surprises me since I don’t like to do pages about me!  However, I scrapbook for my daughters and I did this for them.  I am our family historian and this is part of our history. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Waiting for Dad

I made cute little shirts for the girls to wear and added a few decorations around the house as we waited for James to return from his last 6 month deployment.  The plan was for us to drive to Ramstein and greet him when he arrived just after lunch time.  However his flight was delayed and we stayed home.  His co-workers dropped James off just after midnight and our girls were sleeping.  I had printed the photos though so he could see how happy they were that their daddy was finally coming home. 

Since James is deployed, again, I figured I better get these photos onto a layout and in our albums.  I recently found Sassy Lil’ Sketches from some fellow Club Creating Keepsakes peeps and decided to give it a shot.  This layout is from the July 28th Reveal and I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

I used My Mind’s Eye patterned paper and embellies for this one.  The cardstock is Bazzill as well as the brads.  Cosmo Cricket stickers and American Craft Thickers for the title.

Thanks for stopping by today!