Play Hard (Getting things together)

So, it's been a while. Ok, that's enough Staind quoting. I've been recovering from bronchitis over the past month. A friggin' month. That's just what I get for ignoring a cold and my lungs being tight for how long before? You can see how many times I've mentioned not feeling well. But, did see doc earlier and she got me antibiotics and a new inhaler. I'm slowly getting back to normal. The girls have been here 24/7 since the start of March. They are not impressed. School has been an issue still for one because of her anxiety. Yes, they have been doing school online the past two weeks. The youngest has had 4-H meetings over Zoom in the evenings. State contest for Band was cancelled. I'm still working. This month I got another (not) Just for Boys kit. It's fun to get these and play with them.

 So, this came mostly out of stuff from the March kit I received. Yes, this layout is from the end of March. Reread above with bronchitis to explain why it took me so long to get this done. But this is from when the girls went with their high school band to BW the week before large group contest. The older is a percussionist while the youngest is a flutist. I chose the two papers for the college colors. I also added scraps using paper from Michael's along the bottom of the brown. The cutout came from the kit (I'd ordered a second cutout for future use because I knew I wanted this specifically for this story) and the papers that were used to fill it in came from a 6x6 Echo Park pad I got from the kit in February. The fabric chipboard BW and period came from one of the kits, along with the green and gold splatters, foil frame, and doily framing the picture of both girls. The music notes and treble clef came from a Walmart sticker set. The phrase under the play hard was the bottom portion of a tag from the April kit.

Stick It Down

First, I'm submitting this to Stick It Down for the single page layout. Yes, I flipped it upside down. I didn't like how the title looked when it was on top. It drew away from the pictures, which are the highlight. But, it still is a cool title. I also planned on putting the paper on the top to make the other ripple look, but I lost the scissors. Hey, the girls are here 24/7 now. It's mayhem with two teens and a college student. And I had fun using my new splattery mists for this. I did both spray them and tap after taking out the nozzle. I missed doing these.

#FF0056

I'm also submitting this to Festive Friday. This is another I've missed doing. They add a fun challenge to any of the sketches that I'm inspired by. I was so sure I was going to do one set, but ended up doing this result instead. I have the book with the one for the books phrase on the title. There is the foil frame around my one girl. The fabric is the BW letters and the period. Of course, the yellow is in the papers and some of the mysic notes. One of BW's colors is yellow.

I have so many pages to get together still. The issue is if I will run out of tape/glue/scissors. Or will the rest of the pictures be able to be printed since this last batch had to be done through CVS because the oldest moved the printer and now it can't be used! Mind you, the girls are using the computers usually so getting them ready to be printed is an issue too. Wait for that layout. I'll explain the dramas then. But, hope everyone enjoys this. Comments are welcome.

Spirit Day- grandma's book

One last one to squeeze in before the end of the month. Yes, there is one more day technically. I'm glad for it too. But, it still left little time. I am adjusting finally though. Should be less issues getting more pages in.

So, this layout mostly used paper. I used my scallop scissors to do the sides. The paper came from both the (not) just for boys kit and my paper pads. That's also how I got the scraps for triangles and the border for the photo. I considered cutting it, but decided against in the end. As you saw from the title, this is a grandma photo album pic. We would get extra credit for dressing to the themes in my Government class. Early morning and I posed how they wanted. The rare no middle finger photo. Lastly, the washi was from the kit and Walmart. 

Let' Get Sketchy

I'm submitting this to Let's Get Sketchy. I saw it and thought it helped to have something with just one photo. I flupped it because of how much space my photo needed. Yes, there is no title. I just can't think of a proper one. Shrug. At least I'm content with it. If you can think of a title, add it to the comments.

Bowling tournament

I got my first kit. I spent time picking all these black star pieces that I first thought spilled from the sequin package. Nope. Pulled the entire bag up and found more under the bag. It was hard to get in (I still had some static leftover from the job I had dine at work) and still got them in. I have fancy things to play with. I have unknown future plans for a few pieces, but one piece of paper serendipitiously (did I use it right?) was in there for the layout here. I was thinking of printing out another image for a lane. Gee, another bowling layout? Well, the season is over now. They ended at Sectionals on President's Day. Next up are drama show, band contests, banquet, and she still has to bowl for a chance at a scholarship. Then, both girls still have their birthdays and summer stuff. Nobody here really stops.

So, I made a double page layout. Yes, these were taken with them in their protectors. This was a few pictures that, minus the Snapchat one from her, I took at the bowling tournament. She and some of the others were complaining about how early they had to be up on a Sunday. They did get pizza and soda on break. And we both had coffee when we got there. Hilarious is that mine was charged as a senior coffee. I didn't find out until I got the receipt. Just because I don't color my hair.... And the grey is mostly at the temples. 

This is the right side of the layout. I used as the main paper what I got from Target. The bottom piece is from Carta Bella, from the kit. My journaling and title were printed on the compeuter. The word stickers, pizza slice, and big emoji face came from Walmart stickers. The remaining stickers came from my Dollar Tree stuff. The cut out stuff, minus the coffee that came from a Biggby flyer, all came from my paper pads from Michael's. The washi filmstrip came from my bought kit. The ticket was the actual admit ticket fot the tournament!

This side is the left side. Yes, I tried to make it look like a bowling ball rolling down the lane. The papers are the same.  The butterfly came from the same Walmart sticker set. I traced in black the roll lines with colored pencil. Using Aleene's Tacky Glue, I added quite a few of the small stars from the kit. Yes, there are still many left, but I made an effort already at using them up. And, for those interested, I DID draw the glue lines with the intention of them showing. I hand cut the rounded corners on the pictures.  

Stick It Down Double Page Layout

I am submitting this to Stick It Down. I had fun with the page. Yes, I changed the heart. The part the girl will say was a fail is that I didn't make the holes with the plugs. She has gotten annoyed that all bowling ball images have just the black holes and none have a white ring, which would be the plugs. But, my thought is that they are being covered by the pics. Maybe next year's layouts can get one done that way. 

Happy 21st Birthday

I got a kid alive to 21!?! Yeah, we BOTH deserve a drink for that. But, it also is making for a change in birthday celebrations in general. Not mine, of course. Mine is the day nobody remembers or remembers other family member who has it and always brings it up. That tradition will be permanent. But, the change with the kids is that now it is having dinner at a restaurant that that person chooses. It must be on that day also. Helps that none of my kids are big cake eaters. We would do thecake per child and what slice wasn't eaten that day would go bad. They also never liked getting a single dezsert with a candle for that day either. So, this seems the best to do. I'm curious where the younger two will pick.

This layout is for the boy's first drink. Of course, I rarely get pictures of him because he doesn't like them being taken. He goes out of his way to look bad in them. Can you believe there was a time where he LIKED to have pictures taken? I miss those days.

In the layout, I used background paper only from my Brewtiful Day paper pad. I took quite a few stickers from the Sticko stickers I got from Walmart. The square stickers came from Cobble Creek which I got at Marc's. I added a few green, red, gold, and blue sequins that I got on clearance from Dollar General. The journal square was from another Michael's paper pad. The bottle cap was interesting to get on. I ended up layering my foam in it to make it secure and tacked it on the page. Melt image is the particular restaurant he chose. We had a great waitress (Ashley). My receipt faded too much to add. Lastly, the gems at the top also came from Walmart because the photo got a spot where the ink didn't take and I needed it covered.

#FF0053

I'm submitting this to Festive Friday's latest challenge. I'm chuckling over the tidbit that this is not even a girl as a subject with the holiday being about girl scouts even though he has been mistaken as a girl from behind in the past. So, his favorite girl scout cookie is Thin Mints. Or is it the Chocolate peanut butter ones? I used to get both for him. But, how I encorporated the list was the brown background paper, green and blue in multiple places on the page, both the title and bottom sticker giving birthday sentiments, gold splashes, and the candle on the cupcake for the one sticker.
So, that's another layout down. The laundry piles ever higher and keeps feeling more depressing. I'm off to eat. Comment away.

Brilliant: arm painting

I'm working my way back to a regular scrapbooking schedule. But, I got three pages finished tonight. One just needed the pictures glued on. The other two were put together quite quickly. The one came out just like I imagined, though this one, took quite the change. It was a bit of a challenge for me. The other one the olfer girl said came out good. She's pickier when she is the subject of a page.
I got some new toys for scrapbooking. I am waiting for a kit and more I ordered from the (not) Just for Boys kit club.  This will be the first time I have played with more expensive items. All I got from Michael's was on clearance or big sale and the rest was mostly Dollar stores. I'm not saying they are bad quality, because I love using this. This kit, though, is my attempt at putting my toes on the "luxury" items. Speaking of what I got, though, includes a trip to Walmart. I got some gems, washi tapes, new scissors (my little ones needed replaced), and some stickers. Bigger news is that I had the youngest pick out her scrapbook album. She picked a white marble print one. The book is already half full from the pages of her. I have more to make of pictures printed or ready to print (Thanksgiving still has been avoided), so I bought extra page protectors to add on the book.

This layout is from the Toledo Auto Show. Last minute, the older girl ended up going with us. I was taking the oldest as a birthday gift. She was excited to hear there would ne balloon art. Of course, that was all she wanted to do. We got there and there was a line for him, but the face painter was empty. She asked her if she wanted something and came up with the design. My girl decided that I should get a picture of it for asking others in the future. Then, the balloon artist was available and she asked for a spider. They decided on a happy spider and she carried it around the rest of the day. Two weeks later, this spider is still inflated.

Sketches in Thyme

So, this layout is going as a submission to Sketches in Thyme. I used papers from my Michael's pads and my new Fiskers scallop scissors. My washi tape came from Walmart, which includes the flowers made from washi petal tape. I added some gems in their centers along with putting the one in the middle of the tag. Instead of journaling, I added the third photo. My middle photo was popped up with fun foam. I even used a new sheet due to the size. I got one rub-on in by using the spider. The stickers all came from Dollar Tree. Lastly, my journaling was written around the outside of the page.

I hope all is good with everyone. Comment away. I need to get back to business with these pages.

Valentine Flowers

So, I'm kind of still running a fever. Yuck. Drinking water and decaf. Another good thing: I have three meals for the week ready from what I made tonight. Roasted a sweet potato also along with a squash to stuff tomorrow when I make the quinoa and barley stuffing. The dinner from tonight was ehh, but hoping the addition of veggies and mushrooms will help during the week. Otherwise, I'm screwed on meals already in containers. Yes, I have frozen dinners I bought, but I would rather eat from the container stuff. I do know one will most likely get frozen because I just don't like having too many days of the same thing in a week. Hence the squash and sweet potato. I'm also planning a tofu salad sandwich or on spinach. Only time I can repeat meals is breakfast and still do variety there. I blame school and us always having a two week schedule of different meals. Maybe I should make pizza burgers next time.

#FF0052

So, below is the scrapbook page I mentioned in the last post about getting done. I am submitting it to Festive Friday for the current challenge. A way to get rid of more foil papers! Yes, there were multiple papers used with it. But, I got them to stick and hold. I wasn't sure to count the one as sequins or ribbob, but it is the sequined ribbon from the Heidi Swapp pack I got at Goodwill. He letters are the glitter. They were labelled as Glitter Foam letters. Then, I also have the interactive part of the pocket with the journaling to hold the tags from the flowers.

So, this layout is from Valentine's Day. The youngest bought herself a flower expecting not to get one. She did from a friend and then gave the one she bought to her sister. When I saw them after work, I asked to get pictures of them with their flower. The youngest posed first, then the older did the same pose without knowing it was already done! This certainly needed documented. So, I used papers from my paper pads from Michael's. I deliberately left the border on the one to put the date on. At the bottom, I folded the one scrap paper (part was used as a part of the frame for an image on one of the pages for the 18 birthday cake page) to make both a pocket for the tags and to do journaling on. I used glitter foam letters from dollar general for the title, then decided to add the navking papers to repeat the title on the opposite side. I used a blue permanent marker on them to add the stripes. I cut two hearts out from leftover napkin from the doily experiment. I also cut the white from the stickers I have on the page. They were from Dollar Tree still. If you look closely, I also drew a couple flowers above the foil love flag next to the sequin ribbon. As a last subtle item, I added some number rub ons from Tim Holtz on the page. I popped the pictures with foam behind them.
The older girl called the page fancy. So, it must be approved by her. I have the car show stuff coming up soon.

Starting work

So, I've started a new job. I have been adapting to the change in sleep schedules. It took until this weekend to be awake enough to do and page building. I have one completed minus adding the pictures. Another needs the pictures added and the ephemera then added. I just didn't have the energy to print anything up the past two weeks. Also, I ran out of some of my adhesives, which added the damper. So, there is a current challenge ready and one that is from a previous challenge. I have the pictures for a couple more challenge layouts; just need to get the layouts made up. It appears that I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time.
I have started haunting another store for scrapbooking: Target. I got some letter stickers and a set of papers that were on clearance. The paper is cut from 12x24 to 12x12 to use for a specific double layout. I have it being pressed because it was in a roll and I need it flat obviously. I am comfortable with the idea on the one layout, though I may do something to strengthen the paper. I will be looking forward to using the scraps.
Just thought I would give an update on what was going on. I now see why so many people get backlogged on scrapbook pages and books. I still need to buy a couple more albums for the pages. I know one is going to be pretty much one child because she lets me take pictures of her AND she takes so many selfies and snaps. Shrugs.