Hot Chocolate

This was a fun page to put together using a HUGE Christmas kit.

Holiday Hoopla Mega Kit

Lapeer Days

This is the first in about three pages from Lapeer Days. I normally have a hard time with parade-type pages, but I'm pleased with how this page turned out. I used four different kits but only one element or paper from each kit.

Credits:
Beach Bliss Kit by Christina Smith
Subtle Memories by Christina Smith
Post Me Strips Months by Christina Smith
Go! Go! Go! Kit by Christina Smith

Birthday

I saw a layout on Creative Inspiration Blog and told a friend of mine over the phone that I really liked the layout (I didn't tell her which one) but wasn't sure if I had just one picture that would be good to use. Today I checked her blog and she saw the same layout and made a page. Ha! Today I took some pictures of Titus as it's his fifth birthday today. There are many to choose from but this is one of my favorites. And I love the snowflakes in the picture. I was happy to use the snowflake elements on this page. I was a little worried it would look too "Christmas" but I think it's great. Snowflakes mean winter - not just Christmas. Plus, we had our first real snow today - on his birthday! :)

This day has been wonderful. Titus is an amazing blessing. My heart swells with the love I have for him. Upon his request, we're having pizza tonight. I'm making it. I bought root beer in glass bottles to have with it. So fun! We also plan to make cookies and have hot chocolate and watch a movie as a family...but that's after he opens his gifts from us. A cake will come for his birthday party this Saturday. I love my little man!

Credits:
Go! Go! Go! Kit by Christina Smith
Snowscape Snowflakes by Christina Smith
(Green paper is from Creativity by Crystal)

Cows

I had been really wanting to scrap these pictures and wanting to use Christina's new boy kit, so I sat down and decided to make it work. But it was really easy! Even though it's a "boy" kit, it's very versatile! I wanted to add more but wasn't sure what to add. I changed my layout quite a bit and then decided to clip some paper to flourishes. I've always liked doing that! And then I used the dotted lines for the buzzing effect of flies (hopefully people catch on to that, haha!). It's simple but I like it.

Credits:
Go! Go! Go! by Christina Smith

Mom's Birthday

I kind of struggled with this layout and the colors. I felt it needed more than grey and pink, but never found what "that" was. For now, I'll leave it as it is.

Credits:
Love Hearts Kit by Christina Smith

Circle Your Date by Christina Smith

Parenting

I totally scraplifted this idea and layout from Creative Inspiration Blog. There was so much I wanted to or could say, but I lacked space. There will be more pages.

I really like this paper pack that I bought this week from Jessica Sprague's site. It was only $1. Love that!

To go along with the parenting theme...Yesterday Leah called someone "stupid" - something we do NOT endorse. I quickly corrected the situation and asked her to apologize to her friend for saying "stupid". Leah said, "I'm sorry that you're stupid." I did all I could not to laugh. I know she did not mean that nor knows what calling someone "stupid" means. Oh, the joys of parenting!

Hawk Island, Part II

This is the second page to my Hawk Island day. It's completely different than the first page, but the colors go. I really like these pictures! As simply as it was, it was fun putting the circles around the two pictures to accentuate them. And of course, I love stitching!

It's such a gorgeous day today! Sun shining and blue skies. We've been under wind warnings the past two days and it's still very windy. I'll be heading out for a walk soon and will totally enjoy it. God's creation is amazing! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Apple Sauce

Meijer has their Michigan apples on sale for 69 cents per pound. We've just been buying them to eat, but I've also been wanting to make apple sauce. I bought two pags full of mixed variety apples and decided to make apple sauce today. My favorite way of making apple sauce is using a Victorio Strainer. That's what we used when we made it as kids with my mom. I'm going to have her bring it so my next batches could be made with the strainer. One fun thing about using the strainer is this: you cook the apples with the skin on so it makes the apple flesh turn pink. Once the apples go through the strainer, the skin and seeds are separated from the flesh. You get a nice, light pink apple sauce. It's just pretty.

So I chose different varieties. Next time, I'll probably stick more to Ida Red's. Plus, their flesh can be pink as well. I skinned, cored and chopped up the apples. I put a little bit of water in thI didn't cook my first batch long enough so when I mashed it, it was more chunky than I wanted. I then decided to try using my blender, but one blender batch turned out like baby food (not pictured) - a whole lot more fine than I wanted.

The next batch of apples cooked longer so that when I just used a masher, it came out pretty good. I also didn't drain the water from the apples. I left it in so it wouldn't be dry. Once it cooled down a little, I transferred the apple sauce into zip bags to be put in the freezer. You could add your honey, cinnamon or whatever you like in your apple sauce before putting it in the bag, but we've just always added it as we used each thawed bag.

I saved a little in the pan and added honey and cinnamon and the kids ate it for lunch. They seemed to like it! They like apple sauce, but sometimes you wonder if they'll like the texture of homemade. My next batches will be made with a strainer so the texture will be more like what you buy in the store. But this version is easy and if you had apples to use up, you could make a "quick" batch for that evenings dinner. Homemade food is best and my favorite!

(Picture taken from Amazon.com) This is a Victorio Strainer. It's really amazing how it works! You can use it for making tomato sauce (shown in picture) or other fruits.

Hawk Island

If you look at where I've "left off" in scrap booking, it's Augst 2009. However, I have done a lot of scrapping booking from more recent dates. Hopefully one day I'll close in the gap. :)

For this page, I used the Beach Bliss Kit. I changed the hugh/saturation of the flourishes from blue to green. I love blue and green together! This page is super simple - not a whole lot going on. But I have a lot of pictures and they are the main focus anyhow. :) I actually have more pictures from being there and plan to do a second page since it's at a different location at the park. I'm glad I didn't try cramming them all on the same page because then I end up sacrificing certain pictures I really like. Digital scrap booking allows so many options!

Tonight we're going to some friend's house to watch The Biggest Loser. I have to make dinner tonight (as I do every night), but I'm leaning towards eggs or cereal. Haha! My lungs have been real heavy lately so I haven't had much energy. Please be praying for me if you think of me.

"Out of my distress I called upon the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is my strength, I will not fear." Ps. 118:5-6

"He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction." - Ps. 107:20

"My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh." Prov. 4:20-22

Fall

With being in the fall mood, this page came about. I felt bad for putting a picture of apples in the biggest square rather than a picture with people, but actually, I think it looks good that way.

I used a Travel Along Template and edited a couple of things.

Credits: Travel Along Templates, Forest Explorer Kit, and Subtle Memories Kit.

Fall of '89

I was thinking about fall and remembered this picture. Such fun memories! (Remember: you can click on any page to read the journal.)

Credits: Happy Fall Mini-Kit and Forest Explorer.

Friends

I had been wanting to scrap these pictures and even bought some paper from Basic Grey, but it just wasn't coming together. I tried it again today and really like how it came out. I "scraplifted" the layout from Creative Inspiration Blog and added a few of my own touches.

Credits: Love Hearts Kit (bubble wrap, paper), Subtle Memories (paper, ribbon), Travel Along (flower, flourish), and Beach Bliss (rhinestone) by Greener Grass Designs.

School Pictures

Just today I figured out how to get PSE actions working. It was fun playing around with them! I used an antique action for these two pictures. I love it! I was excited to use these different elements like the ruler, apple, owl (for being wise), etc. I enjoyed doing my first school themed page. It was fun! And more will be following shortly.

Credits:

Forest Explorer Kit
(owl, apple, paper)

Subtle Memories Kit
(word art, paper)

Love Hearts Kit
(ruler)

Travel Along Kit
(flourish)

Yarning

For a number of years now, I've wanted to learn to either knit or crochet. My mom tried teaching me a time or two, but it never worked out. We tried the whole sitting in front of the right handed person thing, but that can't work. It can't. If I followed what I saw, I would still be doing things wrong.

When I was at my parents last weekend, I told my mom and Lydia that I really wanted to learn. We went to the store and I picked out some yarn and later that night, we tried it again. In the past, I've been really good at making fun or knitting or crocheting because it just didn't make sense. How do you make a scarf by twirling the yarn and pulling it through? Needless to say, we had a few laughs and they were teaching me. Anyhow, they told me that crocheting would be easier for me with just starting out. They were able to teach me the chain stitch row and then I had to go to bed. So I went home only knowing how to chain stitch. Later on in the week, I wanted to crochet but couldn't for lack of knowledge. So I went online and found some directions with pictures for left handers. I was able to learn the single crochet stitch and then found a video online for continuing on through the rows. Now I can crochet!

Once I first got the hang of it, I wasn't counting my stitches like my mom said I should. So one side was straight and the other was wavy. Not cool. I wanted it to look practically perfect, and I wasn't near that. So, what do you do? Tear it all out. That's what that big pile is on my lap. After that, I started counting my stitches and lo and behold, my rows were straight! After many rows, I got the idea and didn't need to count every single stitch. I still look them over and count every now and then to make sure I'm still on track.

Proof that crochet hooks have more than one purpose. Ok, ok, just kidding, just kidding. ;)

A few completed rows.

It was the perfect day! COOL weather, the kickoff of college football (both MSU and Michigan won!), sweatpants and a hoodie, Indian tea, my husband telling me the plays, etc. The kids have seen me crochet a little bit. But when they woke up from their nap, Leah asked what I was doing. Titus said, "She's yarning." Haha! I love that! Yarning!My goal is to make each of us a scarf. So far I'm about 1/3 done with the first one. I'll keep working on it each day and they will be done in a short amount of time. I enjoy crocheting. It's relaxing and I can see that I'm accomplishing something. I even woke up the next day with crocheting going on in my mind. It was funny!

Puddles

I had a *lot* of pictures from this day that I wanted to scrap and I didn't want to do a two-page spread. I'm happy I was able to fit 12 pictures on this page. I chuckle over how many pictures I try to get on a page. I don't think this is too crowded...

I really like the colors! Blues, green, the grey of the mud, and the pop of pink!

Credits:

Travel Along Kit by Christina Smith
- blue and green papers
- word art
- flourish

Love Hearts Kit by Christina Smith
- grey paper

Port Huron Double

Here is the Port Huron double page spread. You'll notice that I changed the layout of the second page. Once I combined them together and saw what it would look like, it needed to be changed. Ha! And this time, I added a seagull. For two page spreads, I think it's really important to put them side by side in Photoshop so you'll know what they will look like in a book. *making mental note*

Port Huron

I am happy to be part of Christina Smith's creative team in which I get to use her products as a way to advertise for her digital scrapbooking store at Little Dreamer. For these two pages, I used her Beach Bliss Kit.

I tried scrapping these pictures last week, but it just wasn't coming together. Today I was flipping through a 2008 Creative Keepsakes magazine to try to get some idea for all the pictures I want to use. Despite how easy these layouts are, I did get the layout from the CK magazine. When I first scrapped with these pictures, I had 2x2 squares and it just wasn't working or looking good. This time I did 2x3 rectangles and I like it tons better. After all, most of my pictures were vertical. It's funny that I needed inspiration for that idea, but hey, I'll take it where I can get it! :)

Smith Reunion

Look at me doing all of this scrapping out of order! ;) Some of the recent things we've done I have *really* been wanting to scrap and so I have! Originally, I was only going to do a two page spread, but I had too many pictures I wanted to use, lots of journals, and a poem. I finally decided I would need three pages in order to fit everything nicely. Even though I have three pages of pictures, there are still pictures I wish I would have taken of people that were there. I will have to try better next time, but for now, I think I've captured a lot from that really fun weekend!

The flowers, rhinestones and flourish (pg. 2) are from the Travel Along Kit by Christina Smith. I just love those flowers! I used flowers like that when I scrapped traditionally and, again, I love being able to use them digitally!

I wanted to keep things fairly simple and pretty much the same elements on each page so that the focus is on the pictures and journals.

7 Years

I created this page using the Love Hearts Kit and Love Hearts Quotes by Greener Grass Designs.

It's 12:34am (I love it when the numbers go together...1,2,3,4, haha)! I am rarely on the computer this "late" and even more rarely am I scrapping at this time. However, I really wanted to scrap these pictures and my husband was watching a movie I didn't really want to watch. So really, the timing was perfect. I had my headphones plugged in and was listening to music the whole time. I really enjoyed it!

Pedal It

For this page, I used two kits by Greener Grass Designs: Summertime (papers, bike, clouds) and Love Hearts (bubble wrap and staples). When I used to scrap traditionally, I really liked using bubble wrap and paint so I'm super happy to be able to still use it while creating with digital supplies!

Flower Pom Poms

I have had a few people ask me how I made the pom poms that we used to Leah's birthday that are now in her room. This only shows five, but there are actually 10 hanging in there! I know it's not the best picture, but it at least shows some hanging.

I found this link on Martha Stewart's website and followed that. I also found another site at the time but now I can't find it. In this picture, the turquoise and purple flowers have pointed ends and the white and green have rounded ends. I totally forgot to do anything with the ends on that one pink flower and if you click the picture to view closer, you'll notice it doesn't look as pretty as the others. So always make sure you trim your ends!

Etsy has a few vendors who sell these pom poms and offer a LOT of really pretty colors. It was tempting not to order them only because there were so many colors to choose from compared to any store around here.

Here are a few tips from what I learned while making them:

• It says to use craft tissue paper because it's heavier. No need. I bought the regular Meijer tissue paper for gifts. They have some real pretty colors - like the turquoise, lime green, purple and pinks.
• It says to use 8 sheets of tissue paper per flower. I used 10 - the whole pack from Meijer. It made them more full and I really believe it was needed.
• Make sure you do something to the ends. You will either want to make the ends pointed or rounded. I think rounded is my favorite even though the pointed are cool. It seems like the pointed ends like to not stay straight, so that's the only reason. I did both rounded and pointed so they wouldn't all be the same. The rounded ends just look more clean.
• A whole pack of tissue paper makes one big flower. You can cut the whole pack in half lengthwise (once opened) to make two smaller ones. It's nice having the two different sizes.
• I bought really thin silver floral wire. You need that for securing the center and having something to tie the monofilament to - like the directions say.
• You'll want monofilament or something along the lines of fishing line for hanging because it makes it less visible and gives the "floating" effect.
• I used clear push pins for hanging them on the ceiling and they stay just fine.