Picnics, Fieldtrips and Concerts — Oh My!

Wow, where did the week go? It's Thursday already. Summer is quickly approaching and I'm trying to figure out things for the kids to do.

There is an art club in town, aptly named "Greensburg Art Club" and I'm going to sign my son up for acrylic painting, my daughter for photography, where they'll make a pin-hole camera and they both will do the ceramics class, where they throw pots and make coil pots. Fun.

I decided to do the adult drawing class and also the adult painting class. I bought a new set of water colors the other day. I haven't painted for quite a while, so we'll see how that goes.

Our summer certainly is looking promising! I really can't wait. I wrote down on my calendar all the fun free things you can do in Pittsburgh, so many concerts and outdoor stuff to do. I can't wait.

My friend and I are also planning a trip to New York City via the MegaBus. What a great find! We'll leave Friday night at 11:55 pm, sleep on the bus, arrive in NYC at 7 am, eat, shop, then see a Broadway show, then back on the bus by 11:15 or so and sleep on the bus, wake up back home 7 on Sunday... all for $75! Seriously!! I did see some $10 and $15 bus rides, but the dates we need are $30 to go and $45 to come back, or vise versa, I can't remember, but how fun will that be???

And, drumroll please... this I am most excited about... most ExCiTeD!!

U2 baby!!! This will be their last stop of the 360° Tour. I'm SO excited!

OK, now on to some scrappy goodness!



I did this for a challenge on 2 Peas. I never have won a challenge, but it really gets me motivated to scrap.

Couple close ups, I actually stamped on a scrapbook page, haven't done that in like forever:


Some more stamping:


This was a total lift of Nichol Magouirk, I just love how she'll just use a little strip of patterned paper and it just makes the whole layout pop.

That's about it, it's been crazy busy end of year stuff, school picnics, field trips, lots of weed pulling! oi vay, good exercise for your buns. I have my front flower bed and the back one yet to tackle. Probably this weekend.

Have a happy safe Memorial Day Weekend for all the USA peeps, and everyone else have a great weekend!!

Cruisin' Right Along... and a Freebie

Here's a layout that I did a few weeks ago and totally forgot to share!

I really love how this turned out. It was a challenge on 2 Peas to use a sketch. It came together so nicely. I just love this paper, too, by Bella Boulevard. I have tons left, so I think I will do more cruise photos.

My inlaws took us on a cruise in 2004. Look how little my son is and so cute in his "tuxedo". He was in love with that suit, he wanted to wear it all the time. Ethan was only 6 and Emma was 8. That's my nephew Bobby, and he was only 10! He's driving now!

Don't you wish you could shrink your kids and have them be little again... sigh... I miss so those days, and look how skinny I am! DANG! lol!

Anyway, here's the layout:



I used my Silhouette to cut out the bracket shape and my title. I did a shadow on the bracket to give it more dimension, plus I used some pop dots for even more. I cut the word cruise out, same size, in  2 different colors, then just offset it a bit to give it some pop.



In the squares, I used a word sticker and some flowers in each. Got to use up some stickers. Lord knows I have enough stickers to encircle my house 3 times!





And, because I love you guys so much and I also like to share, would you like the bracket shape?

I have 2 sizes, I used the bigger of the two:


Here's the LINK to the bracket download. I'll also put it on my freebies page to find it easier later on. The files are jpeg, png and svg for cutting.

Enjoy! Have a scrappy day!!

Rain, rain, go away....

It's soggy and wet and cold. What happened to spring???

Well, the only good thing about the rain, besides the fact that my weeds are growing in my garden, is that I had a chance to scrap this past weekend! Finally.

I jump all over the place with my scrapbooking. I don't scrap chronologically. Case in point, here is a Disney layout. We went in 2008.



And a couple of closeups:


I love using vintage buttons:




And here, I made a folded flower, then attached a fabric covered brad:


Fun layout.

I'm working on a layout from last summer, titled Summertime in the City. When I opened the June 2010 folder on my computer, I only had 4 pictures from the event, which was the Arts Festival in Pittsburgh. I was so sad. I had a few on facebook from the Project 365 last year, but I knew I had gotten some really cool shots. I was just sick that I was missing a huge block of photos from June.

Well, I put my card into my husbands computer (the new iMacs have a card reader which I LOVE!) and found that the trash can was full. I crossed my fingers and opened the trash can. Yippeee!! The missing photos (all 520 of them) were in the trash can.

I made a folder on the card, and pulled the pictures out of the trash.

I remember this happening. I was getting the photos off, and my computer was being weird, so I remember thinking I'd better not empty trash. Well, that was last year and I had forgotten all about doing that.

I'm just so happy that I found my photos.

Now I need to buy a new external drive where I can keep my photos. My other external is full.

Tomorrow I have to go to the hospital at 10:30 to get a procedure. I'm a little nervous. I asked if it hurt. The nurse said it's like going to the dentist. Well, I don't think so, the dentist doesn't usually slice open my skin with a scalpel, leaving an inch long incision. UGH. I hope they put me to sleep, I don't need to here all the icky stuff surgeons do.

So, if you think of it, say a little prayer for me. Thanks.

Wishing you a creative day. :)

Smash Book Tutorial Part 2

I've finally finished my tutorial. I hope you enjoy it, and are encouraged to make your own, if you are interested.



I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I had a nice one, and, BONUS, it was actually warm! Great day.

Check back, I have lots of projects to share... the only problem is my camera decided to stop talking to my computer, so I have to use my husbands to get my photos off and uploaded. It's a real pain in the behind.

I didn't get much done on National Scrapbooking Day, but I have one layout almost done, and photos for another, so I plan on getting scrappy soon.

Sorry for such a short update... hopefully, it's short and sweet! I've got errands to run, food to buy, and work to do.

Hope you all have a scrappy day!!!

Blog Hop Winner!

Drum roll please......



Congrats Kelly!

I wanted to also say THANKS to all of you that followed me! I'm greatly appreciative to have gained some new friends.



Have you seen the latest on artist journals from Fancy Pants and EK Success? They're both very cool, but also very pricey. The EK Success one even has a cool pen attached. It's a pen and a glue stick... very clever.

However, like I said, it's very pricy. I really can't see plopping down 20 bucks for basically a blank journal with a pen, no matter how cool.

Soooo, I decided to make my very own smash book. It was pretty easy, and I didn't need to buy a thing. I used all materials that I had on hand. I even sewed a ribbon to the back page to hold a pen. I did purchase some 8 1/2 x 11 craft paper, but I can use that for cards and layouts.

Here's a tutorial video, 1 of 2, that I made on how I put together my smash book.



In the video there is a link to download some pages that I created for use in my smash book. You are more than welcome to use any or all of the pages. It's a pdf and you can simply print them out on your printer. The size is 8 1/2 by 11.

The finished size of my smash book is 6x9,  and the inside pages are 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. I borrowed a friends Cinch to bind it. If you don't have access to a Cinch or Bind-It-All, you can either use rings or go to a local print shop and see if they can bind it together for you.

I'm editing part 2. The problem with editing is, I can't do it on my computer, so I need to use my husbands... it's hard to get on his because he's always using it for work!

I hope to have part 2 up by end of week.

Hope you enjoy part 1, have a great day!