... just Laura

Through Their Lens

Lately, I have been turning to my girls for photos. I admit to being really, really lazy with my camera for the last year or so. I just don't take photos like I used too. I would give anything for a cool iPhone, or any cell phone that takes good photos on it, so that I could snap pictures at any given moment, no matter where I was. Instead of lugging out the huge camera, with the heavy lens.

Luckily, the girls have their iPod Touch's (4th Generation, which has the camera). They may not have the best quality images, but they're not half bad either. I'm constantly checking out their Instagram's, and telling them "Hey, email me THIS picture", and "Hey, email me THAT picture".

I have a few of these photos already printed out and am working them onto some layouts. They even captured their day at Great America last week on their iPod Touch's, and those photos filled up a two page layout that I'll be sharing soon. Alyssa is also doing the Photo-A-Day challenges, and posts her picture every night on Instagram. Lovin' it!

Sarah's Turning Thirteen

Someone is turning THIRTEEN years old today!!! That's right. My little Sarah Bear isn't so little anymore. She has magically turned into a full-grown, just-about-taller-than-her-mom-and-dad, teenager.

I thought it would be fun to take a peek at her through the years. I wish I would have thought about this earlier, so that I could have dug out photos from the few missing years in this group. I can't exactly pull out old albums at 1:00am, to take photos of older pics taken before the digital days.

{2001 - 2 years old}

{2003 - 4 years old}

{2004 - 5 years old}

{2005 - 6 years old}

{2006 - 7 years old}

{2007 - 8 years old}

{2008 - 9 years old}

{2009 - 10 years old}

{2010 - 11 years old}

{2011 - 12 years old, taken from sarah's camera}

{2012 - 13 years old}

Happy, happy birthday Sarah Bear! I feel like you've already been in "teenager" mode for a while now. You might have accidently skipped right over "tween", and went straight to teen. LOL. You are so much like me, it's scary. Which is why we end up butting heads on a daily basis. But we are also both wildly funny and have a great sense of humor. We fight hard, but we love and laugh even more. Our dad and I cannot be prouder of you, and we love you to pieces!

Two Families

The last few weekends have been filled with family. My family and Joe's family. Our families got together for completely different reasons.

For my family, it was a visit from my sister, who lives out-of-state. She doesn't make it out here that often, so it's always nice when we get to see her. We spent two full days hanging out, BBQ'ing, swimming, catching up, and even golfing (I'm the only member of the family that hasn't been sucked into this "golfing" craze!).

For Joe's family, it was a family loss that brought us all together this past weekend. Sadly, and very tragically, we lost Joe's middle brother and also his uncle, within weeks of each other. Family and friends, near and far, came together to celebrate the lives of those we lost, and to re-live the memories and stories we have about them. While there was lots of tears and sadness this weekend, there was also lots of laughter and love at the same time.

Two weekends. Two different reasons to get together. Two weekends that will be remembered and not forgotten. Two amazing families that we are all so grateful to have in our lives.

crab and shrimp boil - a layout share

as promised, here is another layout share, from that family get-together that i shared on tuesday's layout.

this layout is about the food we ate that day. yummy, yummy crab and shrimp! my brother and his wife do an annual crab and shrimp boil every year. since my sister was out to visit, they decided to do it for our family get-together. there's nothing better than when they dump out that huge pot of food on the table, and pour TONS of butter over everything. it's so good!

i started with another digital template from janet phillips, but this time i choose a one page template. this one holds 9 photos, but i knew i only had 6-7 photos to use.

i started by taking off the scalloped border, title, grey behind the photos (for paper), and the staples.

i was ok with having a few empty spots in the collage. i knew this would print fairly large, and take up a good amount of my page. so i figured i would use the empty spaces in the collage to hold my title and journaling.

i cropped around the collage, leaving a bit of white space around the edges since i wanted a white border after trimming this down. you'll notice that i left the black boxes on the collage to print. i left them there, so that i could measure out the area for adding my papers. looking back, i'm thinking this might have used up a decent amount of ink to print all that black. lol! maybe i should delete those out next time ;)

this collage looked pretty square to me, but it turned out that one side was longer than the other. so i flipped my collage on it's side, to add it to my 8.5"x11" canvas. when i first copied my collage over, it was a lot bigger then the canvas. because this was a one page layout, all i had to do was shrink down the collage to fit the page. what you see here, is how i printed it out. if this had been a two page layout, and my collages were both the same size, i would have wanted to make sure i was shrinking them to the same exact size.

when i started putting this collage together, i had no idea i might trim it into two pieces. it was something i thought about later, once i started to assemble the page. i liked how the digital template had the scalloped border going across those bottom 2 photos. and there was a scalloped border on one of the pattern papers, that i thought would be fun to use. but it would have covered up a lot of the photos. so i simply cut across the collage, and put the border in between them.

since this layout goes right along with the one i shared yesterday, i wanted to use the same papers to tie them together. so i pulled out the wave searcher collection, from fancy pants again. this layout is pretty much paper and stickers. very simple.

i trimmed some graph paper to cover up the empty spots in the collage. i covered up two of the black boxes, with one piece of paper, for my title piece. i used some smaller alpha stickers from october afternoon for my title. they small size worked great, since i didn't have a lot of room to work with.

i must have adhered and un-adhered (is that a word?) this piece of graph paper at least 4 times. which is why it looks all curled up on the sides. too small at first, tried to make it appear bigger, was going to hand journal, then decided to print onto the paper. i should really plan ahead more before adhering things.

summer 2010 - a layout share

i think this is going to be a good week on the blog, my friends! i actually have layouts/cards to share every day this week. including saturday. should make up a little bit for the last few slow weeks over here ;)

{click to see larger}

lately, i've really been wanting to scrap a few events, get-togethers, birthdays, and things like that. these are all layouts where i know that i have TONS of photos to choose from, and i want to make sure and get as many as i can onto my layouts.

this is where i get hung up though. i have been struggling to figure out exactly how i want to go about scrapping these photos. do i want to use divided page protectors, and keep it pretty simple? do i come up with a page design, and then size all my photos accordingly, print them out, and trim them up? do i just do a quick print at costco, trim them all myself, and just do my best to fit them on the page? do i create digital layouts? do i create photo collages and print as one large photo? i can't tell you how many times i have debated back and forth on these ideas. on a whim this weekend, i went with the last idea, for the photos from this family get-together from a while back.

i have a TON of digital templates from janet phillips, thanks to an amazing black friday sale i came across last thanksgiving. i love that she has so many two page templates. sure, you can take one or two collages, and use them together for a two page layout. but for some reason, that's not always as easy as it sounds, to make them look cohesive. i love that these are designed with the two pages in mind, so that they flow together so nicely. i started with this template here, which holds 23 photos.

here's how my template looked, once i got all of my photos dropped in. for a few minutes, i debated actually making this a digital layout. but i had some papers picked out already, and really wanted to do a real paper layout. so i figured i would just print out the photo part of this design. it was late at night, and i didn't want to wait to upload and order this from costco, which would be my first way of printing something like this. so i decided to play with this, and see if i could print it myself.

i started by taking off all of the other elements in this digital design. i deleted the side papers, the bracket, and the title. so i was left with what you see here. just the photos, all pretty in their collage.

these templates are set up as a 24"x12" image. so i knew i had to break this into two pages, in order to print. i simply cropped the two pages out seperately, both at 12"x12". here is the first page of the spread.

and here is the second page of the spread. the next thing i did was to resize this down to an 11"x11" image. i knew i was printing this out at home, and i can only print 8.5"x11" on my photo printer. i wasn't sure what the final dimensions would be on the actual photo part of the page, but figured i could easily take off an inch to help bring the size down a bit for starters.

then i cropped out JUST the photo part of the page, leaving a bit of a border around the edges. i copied and pasted that onto an 8.5"x11" canvas, and the photo collage fit perfectly on there. what you see here, is what i printed out. i did the same thing for the first page. if the collage had been too big, i would have just adjusted it to fit the page. {i did this same trick for another layout that i'll share tomorrow, and i'll explain how i had to resize it even more before i was able to print}

and here is how they look on my layout. the first page.

and the second page.

a reminder of what the pages look like together. i love how the photo collage flows so nicely on the two pages. fancy pants is a generous sponsor of the CK dream team, and i just love getting their boxes with the new collections. last week, one showed up on my doorstep, and it included the new wave searcher collection, which is what i used for this layout.

one thing that i love about doing these layouts just for fun, and not to meet any design team or magazine requirements, is that i can include some older products here and there. remember these plastic letters from heidi swapp? from years and years ago? i have a TON of these, and used to hoard them, claiming they were "too special" to use. goofy, i know.

fiskars is another super generous sponsor of the CK dream team, and just sent over a box of new punches last week. i used the groovy rainbow interchangeable punch, which works with the interchangeable punch starter set, on some of the brown distressed pattern paper. i love that these punches take up so much less space, and the interchangeable pieces stack up so nicely together. you just snap in the one you want to use, and you're ready to go. so easy.

here, i combined two of my favorite embellishments that fancy pants has in their collections. the chipboard banner stickers and the buttons. i'm a huge fan of both of these.

overall, it's a pretty basic layout. the photo collages take up a lot of the space on the pages, so there's not a lot of room left that you have to fill up. but i find that for layouts based on holidays, events, vacations, etc ... anything where you have TONS of photos ... photo collages are the way to go. at least, for me they are. i absolutely love that i fit 23 photos on this layout! i had a small handful of photos that didn't make the cut for this layout. but they were all about the food we ate that day. i decided to make that a page of it's own, and i'll be sharing that tomorrow ;)  change of plans: will share that layout on friday.

fun & games - a creating keepsakes layout

i have a layout share today from scrapbooking ides for every season, a special issue from creating keepsakes.

As seen in the Scrapbooking Ideas For Every Season special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

for this assignment, i was asked to create a layout with a gameboard inspired background. and it was supposed to be winter themed. this threw me a bit. after all, we don't have "winter" here where we live in california. so we certainly don't have many winter themed moments. then there was the "gameboard inspired background". what could i do with that?

after much thinking, i came up the perfect board game to use as inspiration for my layout. scene it! it's one of our favorite games to play, here in this house. we have a wide variety of scene it games. a few disney channel versions, disney movie version, nickelodeon channel version, twilight versions, etc.

i started by taking out one of the game boards, to use as a template for my layout. i knew i was doing a two page spread. and it turned out, that the game board was the PERFECT fit! i set two sheets of blue cardstock side by side, lined up the board on top, and then traced the board onto my cardstock. i cut those out, and then adhered them to my pages.

i used a white grid pattern paper for the base of my pages. i wanted a clean background, to let everything else stand out. the grid just adds a bit more interest, than plan white cardstock. i also added a few strips of black/white pattern paper, and a embossed red cardstock, along the tops and bottoms of my pages.

then i got to work finding photos to add to my "gameboard". since the girls (and admittedly, both joe and i as well) are huge disney channel and nickelodeon channels fans, i set out to find our favorite shows and stars. google images was my friend for this. i typed in what i was looking for, and then searched for the best photo i could find, in a size that would copy well for printing. for our favorite tv shows, i looked for great cast photos whenever i could.

i then pulled up each photo in photoshop, and resized them all to 1 inch x 1 inch. when i placed each photo onto my full sheet to print, i copied each one several times. i think i printed each photo 4-5 times, just to be sure i would have enough photos to go around the gameboard. after they printed out, i used a 1 inch square punch to punch out each photo.

i then set out to arrange the photos around the board. i spent forever on this part, trying to get them all lined up perfectly. i adhered each and every piece, using pop dots, for extra dimension. my "fun & games" title was cut with my silhouette, from black cardstock. i simply centered it across the two pages, and cut it where the pages meet, before adhering it.

i also cut some circles from a few different shades of blue cardstock, using a circle cutter. those mimic the circles on the actual scene it gameboard. the arrows were cut from the same red embossed cardstock that i used across the top and bottom of the pages. i simply dug up an old chipboard arrow, and traced it on the backside of the red cardstock, and then cut them out.

two things i have to point out about this layout, just because i thought they were kind of funny. this was supposed to be a "winter themed" layout. i was told that playing boardgames could be a winter activity that we do, which still makes this a winter themed layout. except that, after i had send this in, it dawned on me that the girls are wearing tank tops/tshirts in their photos. kind of a giveaway that i took these photos during the summer.

and when i sent this layout in, i was asked if i would be able to provide photo releases for all of the people in my photos. i had to laugh when i emailed back and said that they were all actors and actresses, and that i found all of their photos on google. i did NOT laugh when i was asked to provide links to all of the places where i had found these photos, which led me to google search them all over again. lol! i think it's also a great way to tell who has kids and can name all of these stars and shows, and who does not have kids (or your kids aren't quite old enough yet for some of these) and has no clue who the people in these photos are :)

around the house

i wasn't going to post tonight. or today, since it's 1:45am on friday, as i type this. but i hated the idea of not having anything new to look at on here.

the girls are still off school this week. they don't go back until next tuesday. it's been nice to not have to wake up super early (except for daycare kids), or rush around to school and activities. but this also means they've been staying up really late, and sleeping in more. we just don't have much structure to our days, when they're off school.

both the girls have gotten together with friends a few times. had some soccer practices, and sarah's been out golfing with my mom a few times. alyssa's been catching up on some shows, and doing some christmas break homework (darn AP biology class). i've taken them out shopping a few times, to use up some christmas gift cards. random stuff.

i love my crazy girls, and just hanging out around the house, everyone doing their things ... that's perfect for us.

did i mention they're crazy?!?! lol!

i'm busy, busy with CHA work this week and all weekend. but i can quarantee you that i will have a few brand new layouts to share next week. and maybe i'll share these fabric flowers that i created for some gifts i made for christmas. and i have some hair related stuff i want to share too. i know, that all sorted kind of random. lol! we'll see how it turns out next week ;)

friday night football

thought i'd share a taste of how we spend a lot of our friday night's, this time of the year. on the high school football field.

the band getting ready to take the field for the national anthem, to start the game. see that little building, right behind the "manteca football" sign? that's the band's snack bar, where i do my share to help out, every now and then.

last week just happened to be homecoming. and the first time i have taken my camera to a game.

the manteca buffaloes, taking the field.

because it was homecoming, and they were announcing the queen's and princess's during half time, the band didn't do their usual half time performance. but it was cool to see everyone out on the field, during the announcments.

that's alyssa in the back. they were all really excited to wear the hats last week. NOT. they don't like the hats. or the uniforms, for that matter. they're really hot, and it was really hot last week.

of course there are cheerleaders. lots of them in fact.

and there was football.

i think my favorite part from the band, is at the end of the games, when they play. they do the school song, and then they play "R-E-S-P-E-C-T". and then they go into a bunch of other songs, and just have lots of fun with it.

sarah and a few of her BFF's, tawny and natalia. they spend more time running to the snack bar and the bathroom, than they spent actually watching the game.

and it's always a good night, when we have a scoreboard like this. with a buffalo win!

CK - 100 photos in a night

the creating keepsakes september 2011 issue, has an article called "scrapbooking 100 photos in an evening", written by deena wuest. i remember when they asked us for some brainstorming ideas, on taking on the idea of scrapping 100 photos in one evening. is it do-able? i didn't even have to think about it. YES, it's totally do-able! so when i was asked to contribute to the article, i already had a plan of what i wanted to do, design wise. 

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

now, what would the theme of my pages be? i wanted to do some sort of "year in review" type album. but not the normal month-by-month set-up. i thought it would be fun, to break down the year, into themes. 10 photos on a layout (2 page spread). 10 layouts total. that equals 100 photos. easy.  

my first theme was "favorite school moments". instead of doing individual layouts, for different types of school moments (band, projects, friends, graduation), why not combine some of your favorite moments onto one layout? it's a great way to sum up the entire school year, and touch on all the highlights of the year.

 

my design plan, was to choose 10 photos for each spread. one of those photos would be my focal photo. a favorite photo from the bunch, or one that was special for a particular reason. for my "favorite school moments" layout, i choose this photo of alyssa, from her 8th grade graduation. it was a very big night for her, and a very proud moment for us, as her parents. along with the one larger photo, i would include my journaling, a title block, and the rest of the page would be made up of patterned paper.

 

my plan for the other 9 photos, was to create a digital template in photoshop, and print them all as one 12x12 collage. i went with a simple grid, 3 across and 3 up and down, for my first template.

 

and then i used that template to create the second  page of my spread. i pulled up all 9 of my photos, and dropped them into the collage, cropping each photo to fit the space. once i was done, i uploaded my finished collage to costco, and had it printed as a 12x12 photo. that's all this page is. 9 photos, just like that!

 

i used my silhouette to cut out my title. i LOVE the "moments" title piece, and how it has the thin outlined piece that goes on top of the regular title piece. since my themes, for the 10 layouts, all revolve around moments, i could easily cut "moments" over and over. it's not like using letter stickers, where eventually, you're going to run out of letters. and if you're planning ahead, you could even cut out "moments" ten times at once, to save some time. i also cut out "school" with my silhouette, and added the "2010 favorite" with tiny alpha stickers.

 

i knew i would need a lot of room for my journaling, since i was summing up the entire school year's highlights. once i knew how much space i had for my journaling, i made a text box in my word processing program, and typed up my journaling to fit the space. i printed it out onto some white graph patterned paper, and added it to the page.

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i also created a summer themed layout. "favorite family fun moments". a little inside secret, is that my title was originally "summer moments". i think someone else had a title similar to that, so i was asked to change it. that's how "family fun moments" came to be. 

 

for this layout, i choose a favorite photo of alyssa and sarah, in the swimming pool. this was at my brother's house, at a family get-together. i went with fun, bright colors for my papers. this time, i printed my photo as a 5x7, and went with a horizontal photo. just like on the first layout, i decided where i wanted my photo and my journaling, and then built the title piece and patterned papers to fill up the page.

 

i created a second photo collage in photoshop, for this layout. i still went with a grid design, but i varied the sizes of the photos, to add some interest.

 

and here's how my other 9 photos for the layout looked in the collage. printed as a single 12x12 photo, which completes the second page of the spread.

 

keeping the design simple, and minimizing the thought that goes into being original on every page, i cut my title once again with my silhouette. i originally had "summer" cut with the silhouette, but when i changed it to "family fun", i choose to just use some letter stickers.

 

i did add a very simple embellishment to this layout. i used a template to create a whimsical sun, from my coordinating pattern papers. and i added three pre-threaded buttons to the center.

 

journaling printed on yellow pattern paper. we didn't do a whole lot during the summer of 2010. so i choose to journal about some of the girls favorite things to do during the summer, which goes along with the photos i choose.

some of the other ideas i had for this type of themed "year in review", were favorite sports moments, favorite work moments, favorite birthday moments, favorite holiday moments, and favorite everyday moments. i actually had my list of 10 themes, that would make up 100 photos, and now i can't remember what else was on my list.

and for your scrapping convenience, the two digital templates that i created are available on the creating keepsakes website, for you to download. you can find them HERE. how easy would that be, to take these 2 templates, and print up 10 collages. with 9 photos on each, you'd have 90 photos printed in a matter of minutes. half the work would be done :)

a few of my fellow CK dream teamers have shared their takes on this article in the past few days. visit nichol harper's blog to see her mini album sized "year in review album". i love the 8x8 size that she choose to use. and visit piradee talvanna's blog to see her super fun CHA photos, that she scrapped using divided page protectors. you might even see me on a few of her photos ;)

life is good - a layout share

i have a brand spankin' new layout to share today. i created this last week for something, and it didn't work out. which is kind of a bummer for me. but the nice thing, is that i don't have to wait six months to share it with you. lol! silver lining, right ;)

"life is good in a house of girls". i'm sure joe has lots of complaints about living with three girls. in fact, i know he does. lol! but at the same time, i think he secretly loves it.

for whatever reason, i havn't used stamps on my layouts in ages. so i was determined to stamp on this layout. after digging through my stash, i found this restroom dude stamp. i'm sure that's not the actual name of it, but it's a good description, right? lol! i thought it would be a good representation of joe. and the row of house stamp is one that i have been wanting to use for ages. so, i figured i would work it in some way.

i decided to make just one of the houses green, and the others all pink. sort of like one dude house, in a row of girl houses. i don't have a huge selection of ink colors. so i thought i would try using markers on my stamps, which i have never tried before. i did use a small ink pad on for the green house, and then colored all the other houses with a pink marker.

i used my silhouette to cut out my title. once from brown pattern paper. and then once from green cardstock. i wanted just the "good" to be in green, and then offset it just a tad over the brown. i also used some tiny pink letter stickers, from cosmo cricket, for the sub-title.

i think you all know me by now. and that i always add my journaling last. it was a last minute decision to add some yellow onto the layout. once i had printed my journaling onto some yellow cardstock, i used some yellow buttons to add more yellow to the page.

and speaking of the silhouette. that's something that i'm going to be using a lot in the next few days. can't wait to share :)

family get-together

it's been a while since i've shared some family photos, hasn't it? we had a little get-together, with my family, about two weeks ago. we managed to squeeze a lot of celebrations into one night.

 

we had my mom's birthday, my birthday, and sarah's birthday. all within an eleven day period. we also added in my dad's birthday, which was in the middle of may. and we w0rked in father's day for my dad and joe, since it was a few days away. btw. aren't my girls just the most adorable things ;)

 

joe and sarah.

 

me and alyssa.

 

how cute does her hair look? she just had about seven inches cut off, for a fresh summer look.

 

alyssa could not even be paying any attention to me. but as soon as she catches sight of my camera, she automatically goes into "smile" mode. lol!

 

i think sarah was trying to get into "smile" mode, but didn't quite make it in time. and alyssa then went into her "peace sign" mode.

 

this is how sarah looks the majority of the time. ipod touch in hand, and seriously focused on either free texting, free apps and games, and occasionally, some music ;)

 

we always write our names on our cups, so that we can keep track of them. sarah usually writes not only her name, but lots of other random things.

 

like i said. random stuff. lol! we don't even question what she does anymore ;)

 

me and sarah. two of the birthday girls.

 

i'm blurry, but joe looks fine. i'm thinking i havn't taught alyssa my focusing tricks yet. will work on that with her.

 

i failed to get too many photos of everyone else in the family. well, i DID get some shots. but they were when we were eating, and they weren't very flattering pics. lol! luckily, sarah was on picture duty too. she had gone around and took self portraits, with each of us.

 

sarah and grammie (aka, my mom).

 

sarah and papa (aka, my dad).

 

sarah and uncle scott (aka, my brother).

 

sarah and aunt kathy (aka, my sister-in-law).

we ate good food. we caught up with each other. we sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather that finally found it's way to california. the girls thought about going swimming in uncle scott and aunt kathy's pool. but they had already gone in grammy and papa's pool earlier that day, so they decided against it. we  had cake and ice cream, and opened gifts and cards. a great night with family.

slow down & enjoy the moment - a creating keepsakes layout

exactly one year ago today, alyssa graduated from the 8th grade. so it seems fitting to share this layout that i created for creating keepsakes with you today. it is featured in the may/june issue, that is out in stores right now.

 
as seen in the May/June 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i created this layout for an article about scrapping less-than-perfect photos. i was asked to use a blurry photo on my layout. the photos from this night came to mind right away, since i knew i had plenty of blurry shots. i don't usually keep blurry shots, but these captured a moment and i'm so glad i didn't hit the "delete" button.

 

like this one, with her friend idalis.

or this one, with her friend alyssa.

 

i decided to tie in the blurry shots, with my journaling and what i was feeling when i took these photos. how most of the photos that i took after graduation, were blurry. which sort of represented how much of a blur the school year had been. it just flew by so fast.

 

i remember when i was making this layout, i had just gotten a bunch of goodie boxes from some manufactures. and i was picking and choosing products, right from the boxes. those fabric american craft thicker, are one of my favorite thickers to use. love them. i extended the title onto the canvas tag, using some tiny alpha stickers. 

 

i half created these photo collages in photoshop. usually, i do the math and make the photos all similiar sizes, to fit the space i have. but this time, i tried something a little different. i randomly cropped and sized each photo, so that i had an interesting mix of sizes. i created two canvases in photoshop, and arranged the photos as i wanted them on the layout. just to get a feel for how they were going to look, and what spaces i would need to fill.

after i printed the photos, i did end up trimming each one and adhering them to a piece of white cardstock. then i just trimmed pattern papers to fill in the rest of the collages, and adding a few embellishments and journaling tags to some of them. i used a clear making memories clock embellishment on the first page, and a jenni bowlin chipboard clock (and some buttons) on the second page. they represent time, and how quickly it passed that year.

  

i think my journaling pretty much summed up that evening. for the both of us. and the crazy thing is. i thought her 8th grade year went by so fast. turns out, her freshman year went by even faster. lol!

and with that, another school year is almost over. we don't have a graduate this year. although sarah is finishing the 6th grade, and heading into junior high school. that's a milestone! tonight, another 8th grade class is graduating and moving on to high school. both my girls will be there, playing in the band for the ceremony. the 6th and 7th grade band members play for graduation. but alyssa, and a few of her freshman bandmates that went to our school last year, are coming back to help out tonight. i think it's cool that they are going back to where band all started for them, and helping out the band teacher that they all loved. and since we live right across the street from the school, i should be able to hear the band playing from here :)

a fun award for my girl

a certain 14 year old in this house picked up some awards at school this week. if you guessed alyssa, you'd be right. partly, because she's the only 14 year old in the house. lol! the high school band had a concert on monday evening, and afterwards they had an awards ceremony. they handed out the participation awards, and then moved on to a few special ones. she picked up one of the two "director's awards" for the freshman band members.

then, on wednesday evening, they had the academic awards at the school. she snagged three awards. a honor certificate, for a GPA of 3.0 and higher for the year. a honor pin, for a GPA of 4.0 or higher (her's was higher ;)) for the year. and a baby buff scholar award (their school mascot is the buffalo) for freshman earning a GPA of 3.5 or higher for the year. we could not be more proud of her, and how well she has done in high school.

 

i think maybe a certain someone deserves a little something from her family. something fun, to let her know we think she's pretty cool. and do you know what she thinks is pretty cool? oreo cookies! she's not big on candy or junk food. but she is all about the cookies. it's an easy way to make her smile.

 

have you seen the new bravissimo collection by making memories? it's a fun reward and recognition collection, that can be personalized to fit your occasion. they are perfect for all the big occasions, like birthdays, graduations, and weddings. but they're also perfect for all the little occasions in between. just like giving alyssa her own little award from us, in recognition for all the awards she got at school this week.

the bravissimo collection can be found in michaels stores. they come in a variety of styles and sizes. you can pick out all your own pieces, and assemble them from start to finish. you can find semi-finished ones, that you just add your sentiments too. you can find finished ones, that are ready to go right out of the package. there are extra add-on pieces to really personalize the awards. there are even wands, medals, and shadow boxes. so much to choose from.

 

the semi-finished bravissimos can be customized with the perfect sentiment to fit your occasion. i chose this red and white semi-finished piece. there are 4 pack sentiment sets, that have 3 sentiments and one metal piece to adhere it too. i chose this fun "you are awesome" sentiment. all the pieces come with little adhesive dots as well. so it really is super simple to assemble these. i added my sentiment to the metal piece, and adhered that to my bravissimo piece. and i was done. 

 

i found an empty jar, and filled it with almost an entire package of oreos. i added my bravissimo ribbon to the front of the jar, and used some coordinating ribbons to decorate the lid of the jar. super simple. but sometimes, simple is all it takes to let someone special know how proud you are of them. i wanted to get a photo of her with her fun little jar of oreos. but the poor thing is so sick right now with allergies. so i'll have to snap a photo of her later.

for more fun ideas, check out the bravissimo blog. it's called a daily dose of happy. how fun is that! and if you're on facebook, make sure and become a fan of the bravissimo facebook page, to keep up with ideas, news, and giveaways.

happy mother's day

just stopping in to wish all of you mother's out there, a very happy mother's day! we're having a quiet day here. joe's gone for about 7 hours, umpiring two games, since baseball apparently does not rest, even for mother's day. lol! he did clean the entire house for me yesterday, and he will appreciate me giving him props for that on the blog. the girls and i will be hanging out at home, and heading to my brother's house for dinner later.

 

this is an older layout, that i made in 2008. these photos were from when alyssa was just 11 years old, and sarah was just 8 years old. it seems like so long ago. and yet just like yesterday. all at the same time. kind of crazy how that works.

sarah came down with her laptop last night, to show me some old video's that she was looking at. turns out, quite a while ago, she had taken a few of the video's, and put them together into a little movie. she even had an intro and credits. which i think is pretty cool, since i have NO clue how to do that sort of thing. no idea how she learned to do that. these were also from back in 2008. i love looking back at how silly and goofy they both were. the good news, is that they are STILL that silly and goofy.

 

did you catch the part when sarah talks about how they had this "special talent", and she makes the super scrunched up, huge smile? that's because the girls used to give me those smiles ALL the time, when i had my camera out. want more proof?

 

here's a layout i did a few years ago, after finding a bunch of those photos. actually, i made this in 2008. i'm not saying that, because i can remember when i made it. that's what the file info on this image tells me. lol! so i made this layout with old pics, the same year that the girls made those video's.

 

and another older, simple layout. photos from 2009. two girls that are still silly and goofy. i think i'll make it my goal to get another photo of them today, showing the same thing :)

alyssa's 14th birthday - 5 months later

thought i would finally share some photos from alyssa's 14th birthday party. which was over 5 months ago. lol! alyssa's dad took all the photos that day, and i think he ended up having about 300 to choose from. it took me forever to go through and narrow them down. which is why i havn't gotten around to sharing them.

 

alyssa decided to have her party at boomers. it's got miniature golf, go-karts, rock climbing, water boats, and an arcade. she invited 8 of her closest friends from school. it's a good group of kids, and they've all been best friends for years. we started out with pizza, which the kids all ate in record time. i think they were just anxious to get out and have fun. sarah had invited her friend natalia, to keep her company. and so that she didn't bug alyssa and her friends. sarah and natalia were the only ones that ended up playing miniature golf. and they were also no where to be found for pictures. lol!

 

they started out with go-karts. i should add that alyssa had a soccer game that morning, before the party. her left thigh had been bothering her a bit that week. well, she went in for a powerful shot on goal, and she went down hard. she was in a ton of pain, and was having a hard time walking. not the best thing on the day of your birthday party. the poor thing had to really use that leg in the go-karts, because she's on the shorter side. her poor legs were stretched out as far as she could get them, just to reach the peddals. lol! on the bright side, she was tall enough to ride them ;)  

 

kassidy. she had this focused and determined look on her face in every photo.

 

abe. you can tell he's taller, since his knees are all bent up. lol!

 

ruby. this was one of the only photos that alyssa's dad took of ruby. i guess the plaid shirt threw him off, and he forgot she was part of our group. no idea why, but i thought it was funny.

 

another alyssa. this photo cracks me up. we found a lot of photos like this of her, on the go-karts and the rock climbing wall. just a tad dramatic, right :)

 

jasmine. i felt bad, because she somehow missed getting on the track at the same time as everyone else. she must have been the cut off person, for how many could get let in. she had to run the track on her own.

 

telling stories from the racetrack :)

 

a few of them decided to try the rock climbing wall. alyssa only made it a short ways up, because her leg hurt too much. and this was right after the go-karts, so she was already feeling sore. this is alyssa and kassidy. kassidy made it all the way to the top.

 

mikey also made it all the way up. and he was really fast at it.

 

it does totally look like kassidy is ready to throw a punch at ruby. but i promise, nothing happened. just some very dramatic story telling.

 

on to the water boats. i think this might have been the big favorite that day. it was pretty hot out, even though it was october (her bday is september, but the party was in october). so the water boats were refreshing.

 

it was really just their group out there together. except for one little boy and his mom. i told alyssa later that i felt bad for the little boy. he was probably scared of all these teenagers, acting crazy and being loud. but she said that he was loving it, and kept laughing. lol!

 

mikey.

 

phunam. i really hope i just spelled her name right. if not, i know she'll forgive me. i give her a ride home after school all the time, and she's so funny.

 

andres.

 

 

after the water boats, they played arcade games, went on the go-karts again, and just had tons of fun. i think we were there for about 5 hours. then we took everyone back to our house, where we BBQ'd some hot dogs, and had cake and ice cream. then the all hung out for a few hours.

 

and we were left with one very happy 14 year old birthday girl, who said she loved every minute of her party :)

let's go bowling

sometime last month, the girls had a day off from school. i didn't have any daycare kids that day, and was trying to think of something simple that i could do with the girls. bowling had come to mind. or maybe the movies. then my friend dina called, and said that tawny wanted to see if sarah could go bowling later that afternoon. great minds think alike, right?

 

so i offered to take the girls bowling. from left to right, we have alyssa, danielle, sarah, and tawny. alyssa and danielle are at the same high school. and sarah and tawny have been BFF's since before kindergarten.

i took my camera along, but had a total brain fart once we got in the bowling alley. our bowling alley is really bright and lit-up. but i kept messing around with settings and modes on the camera, and honestly didn't know what was semi-working and what wasn't working. so, here are a few of my blurry and wonky colored photos.

 

alyssa

 

 

danielle

 

 

sarah

 

 

tawny

 

 

had to get a photo of the shoes. personally, i think bowling shoes are kind of cool. i like the ones with the green.

 

i forgot to get a picture of the scoreboard from their first game. but did remember to get the second game, before it went off the screen.

and amazingly enough, these photos are all on a two page layout already. not quite finished. but should be ready to share it very soon.

vonhof christmas 2010

i figured since christmas was almost three weeks ago, i should maybe post a few photos. we celebrated with my family on christmas day, at my parent's house. and then with joe's family, the following day, at our house. these photos are all from my family's celebration.

 

two things that i have to mention about these photos. i know i shared a few christmas layouts, in the weeks before the holiday. and i know i mentioned a few times, about people wearing colors that don't coordinate, or aren't christmas colors. which then causes me to use black and white photos on my layouts. well, i'm not sure if some of the family happen to read my little blog. but most everyone wore christmas colors. although sarah's wearing her blue hoodie up there, she did have on the proper colors underneath. i know, that was random.

the other thing, is that my photos look a heck of a lot sharper and have a richer color on my computer. typepad is messing with them on here, and i'm too lazy to figure it out. just imagine them with a little more "pop" :) onto the quick recap.

 

my cousin brad and his wife issa. who are parents to the adorable zachary, who we're lucky enough to have in our daycare. we all adore him.

 

alyssa, giving me her trademark "cheesy" smile, as we call it. anytime i turn the camera on her, this is what she does.

 

oh wait. i think sarah's smile is even cheesier. lol! and she always wears the santa hat, when we're passing out gifts.

 

my aunt sandy, who is zachary's grandma. and seriously? how cute does he look here? the way he has his hands folded together, and his feet crossed. precious.

 

alyssa and my mom. her grandma. although i'm sure you put that one together.

 

my dad. that's a total "flash" photo. sorry, dad. lol!

 

this little dude did so great all day. just wandered all over the place, picking up things to carry around until he found something better.

 

sarah and joe. i have to mention that he got this sweater on christmas morning. when he saw the green, he said "is this my new christmas sweater?". then he opened up a brown long sleeved shirt, and said "this must be my thanksgiving shirt". he says things like that, because i always pick out his shirts for holidays. lol!

 

my aunt vicky. she was a little miffed when she got coffee for the pick-a-gift game. but once she swiped some candy from someone else, all was good again :)

 

i'm pretty sure these slippers were one of alyssa's favorite gifts. along with the matching pajama pants. the girls both got a few sets, and wear them as soon as they get home from school.

 

my brother scott, and his wife kathy. kathy's mom was also with us that day, but i can't find a photo of her.

 

my parents got this good electric toothbrush set for the girls. the first night they used it, sarah put the toothpaste on and started it up. and the toothpaste flew right off the brush. it was pretty funny. always turn it on IN your mouth.

 

can't forget my parents cocker spaniel, jenny. sadly, alyssa is super allergic to dogs. so she usually has a hard time at my parents, no matter how much we love jenny.

 

but she tried taking some new allergy medicine, and it seemed to work pretty well. only downside, is that she was super, duper tired all day. just wasn't herself. so she spent a lot of time reading.

 

 zachary loved the dessert.

 

he also loves his mommy :)

 

no idea what this was about. but it cracks me up. lol!

 

and our last minute attempt at a familiy photo, before we left. none of them were fully in focus. sorry sarah, but you're a little blurry here.

that's about all i have photo-wise. it was a lovely christmas. there was great food, yummy desserts, gifts galore, and good conversation. what more could we ask for.

09' vegas christmas - a pebbles layout

it's whip-it-up wednesday, over on the pebbles blog. this is when you whip up a project, in 30 minutes or less. i decided to do a layout for my turn. not every layout has to take hours to create. i actually find it quite easy to do a layout in a short period of time. it's all about keeping it clean and simple.

 

i decided to create a christmas layout for my assignment. i havn't made a layout with joe's family in years. that sounds pretty bad, i know. lol! it wasn't intentional. we just never seem to have photo opps, when we finally do get together with them. last christmas, i made a point to get some photos before everyone left after our christmas dinner. not a lot. but a few photos, that show most of the family.

i was only working with five photos. so i just printed four of them at 3" x 4.5", and then our family photo at about 3.5" x 4.5". rough estimates, since i honestly don't remember what i printed them at. i suppose i could go measure the photos. but i'm so efficient, that the layout is already put in an album. lol! anyways. i lined up the four photos down one side of the white cardstock background, and the family shot off to the right side. adhered them right down. then i cut my pattern papers to fit around the photos. just built my layout around the photos.

 

now, pebbles doesn't have an actual christmas collection. but that didn't stop me. i used the pattern papers from the cats & dogs collection. that's what i really love about pebbles papers. the patterns are neutral enough (especially the B side of the papers), that you can really use them for anything. 

 

i wanted to use the striped pattern paper, to tie in the colors from all the other elements on the layout. but this striped paper also had orange rows of color on it. so i did a little pleating with my paper strip, to hide the orange. all the spots you see a little folded area? there is orange in those folds. i used tiny glue dots, to hold the folded areas down.

 

then i added some letter stickers for my title, a strip of dotted ribbon, a green glittered chipboard flourish, and a few glittered candy dots. easy peasy. and seriously, this took less than 30 minutes. i should add that the journaling did take me an extra 10 minutes. lol! i would have hand journaled on a 30 minute page, but i didn't think it would stand out enough on the red pattern paper. i was well within my time limit, but when i went to print, the printer wasn't working and then it closed the program out and lost my journaling. ugh. had to retype it, and remember what i said and how i made it fit in that area. lol!

together in one spot: a CK/MM layout

i was asked to create a layout for making memories a while back, that was to be featured in an upcoming creating keepsakes publication.

 
as seen in 101+ Creative Ways To Use Your Scrapbook Supplies, by Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

another two pager. yes, i do create a LOT of two pagers for CK. i used some favorite photos from our christmas 2008 get together with my family. i know, at first glance, this isn't necessarily a christmas layout. these photos were all taken on christmas, so i guess it kind of takes the place of one for this particular year. and want to know a secret? i NEVER scrap christmas photos. maybe one or two, for a sample layout here or there. but i never take the time to scrap our christmas holidays. i have years and years worth of christmas photos, just waiting to be scrapped.

 

sometimes, i honestly have no clue how i come up with my titles. lol! usually, it's partially decided by how much room i have left myself to put my title. since it's one of the last things i do. sometimes, it's decided by what letters i have to work with. i came up with the "one spot", and then later worked in the "together in", which i think made for a cute title.

 

i was asked to focus my layout around their new metal embellishments. just about ALL the metal embellishments on here, except the photo turns, were from a new release at the time i created this. one of my favorite things were the pagemarks. i went back and forth on how i was going to work them onto my layout. then i had the idea to make flaps for extra photos, and to use the ribbon pagemarks as the "handle" to lift up the flap.

 

my photos underneath the flap, take up the same space as the photos on the top. to make the flap, i adhered my photos to a piece of cardstock. then i trimmed it down, so that i had an extra 3/4 an inch on both ends. on that extra cardstock right beneath the photos, i adhered my ribbon pagemark.

 

on the other end, i scored the cardstock right above the photos, and then folded it over, and adhered that behind the photos on the layout. you notice the photo turns there on the left side of the photos? i added those, with some rhinestone brads, to hold the flap shut.

 

i did the same thing on the second page of the spread. 

 

the only difference, is that i flip-flopped my flap. say that ten times fast. lol! i used the pagemark at the top, and had it open downward.

making a flap, is a great way to get additional photos on your layout. sure, i could have used these inside photos right on the pages. but one reason i wanted to hide a few, is so that i didn't have to worry about the colors matching. or the santa hat that sarah's wearing look out of place with these papers and products. or the blurry photos, that didn't turn out great. i just tucked all those photos inside, and worked the favorites onto the main part of the page.

want to know another secret? i actually scrapped our 2007 christmas this weekend. and because of all the color issues, i changed everything to black and white. you'll see it on friday ;)

thankful album update

exactly a year ago, i shared this post on my blog. it was the day before thanksgiving, and it was a last minute share. i even talked about how last minute i am. and guess what? nothing much has changed since then. lol! here it is, the day before thanksgiving again. and here i am, sharing the same project. and it's still looking about the same as it did last year. i'm sort of recycling this project idea, to share again today. because i love the idea of it. and maybe you will too, and want to make one of your own.

 

you can read more details about what i was doing and planning, over on THIS POST. but the main idea was to make an album, that featured every family member and what they were thankful for. i mentioned last year that i was going to take a photo of everyone on thanksgiving day. and i did. i pulled each person aside, and took a great shot of them. i also mentioned that i was going to have everyone fill out a journaling page, listing what they were thankful for. and i did that too. some famil members were a little hesitant on the idea, and didn't know what to write. i gave free reign. they could be serious, funny, sentimental. whatever they were thankful for, i wanted them to write. and they all did.

 

and this was my plan for what i would do with the photo and journaling page for each family member, when i got back home. 9x9 page. white cardstock page base. a pattern paper strip, and some coordinating colored cardstock. some ribbon, or maybe a few simple embellishments. and their name, which would be die cut with my slice. easy peasy.   

i had the photos all printed, right after thanksgiving. i had planned on doing them all in black and white, to keep the album cohesive. but i had some photos that were perfect in color. some family members just had the right color clothes on. lol! so i have a mix of black and white, and color photos. so, one would think that this album would be done. and complete. and ready to set out tomorrow, on the thanksgiving table.

 

well, it's not. lol! story of my life. for every one thing i DO accomplished, i have 5 things that did NOT get accomplished. i did remember to pull these out yesterday though. so i have all the photos matched up with the journaling page for each family member. i have papers cut. it's all ready to assemble. so hopefully, i can get this done tonight.

 

just wanted to give you a peek at a few of the family's pages. this is alyssa's. i like all the little drawings she added to her journaling page.

 

this is sarah's. i love that she wrote "thankful" down the side of her paper, and then listed things that started with that same letter.

 

and my grandma. we can't read a lot of what she wrote. but it's her handwriting, and her words. and it's special, because she passed away about 6 months after this. i am so happy that i made everyone take a photo. because this photo of my grandma captured her, right before she got sick. i'm thankful we have this smiling photo to remember her by.

i want to tell you that i'll come back on friday, and post some of the other pages of the album. the finished project. but if i promise that, i most likely will NOT come back and share. lol! it's the twisted way my creative mind works. so no promises from me today. maybe you'll see the finished project, maybe you won't. just have to wait and see :)

 

update at 2:30pm. just had to come back and show you that i AM making progress. in between life, work, and all that other stuff ;)

all girl mini golf - a creating keepsakes layout

after another weekend on the soccer field, i'm still trying to catch up on life. that was our last weekend. for now, at least. lol! i need to do some soccer posts, about the girls seasons. it's on my mental list of "things to do". we'll see how long it takes me to actually do it ;)

 
as seen in the Paper Palooza issue of Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

somehow, i missed sharing this layout from months ago. these were some photos of the girls from last summer, mini golfing with two of their friends. i thought the pattern papers, by crate paper, were a perfect match. and i love the texture on their papers. if i could change one thing on this layout, it would be the title. i've mentioned that the title is usually one of the last things i add to a layout, next to the journaling. well, this was definately a last minute addition. and i didn't love it. but it's done, and that's all that matters, right? and i do believe that i added a few more butterflies to the pocket, before sending it to the magazine. must not have taken a new photo, after making my changes.

 

the idea here, was to make pockets with the layers of pattern paper, so that you could tuck things inside. i cut strips of pattern paper all the same length, but in varying heights. i started at the top, and worked my way down, only putting adhesive on the bottom and the sides of each strip of paper. then i added lots of rhinestone brads to the ends, to secure them. since i don't have adhesive on the top of each strip, it forms small pockets. this is where i slipped in the tags, with each of the girls names. i'll be honest with you. i don't have anything written on them. lol! if they had kept score for their mini golf game, i would have written that on there. but they didn't, so i just left them blank.

supplies: pattern paper (Crate Paper), chipboard title (Making Memories), rhinestone brads (Making Memories), butterfly embellishments (Making Memories), glitter letter stickers & tiny alpha stickers (Making Memories)

cal high school band day 2010

a little over a week ago, alyssa went on a band field trip with her high school. it was high school band day, at UC berkeley, and 34 high school bands from all over northern california participated in this event. during half time at the football game, they got to play with the UC berkeley marching band. we found this video on youtube, and i wanted to stick it up here on my blog for future reference. it's a longer one, so i don't expect you all to listen to the whole thing. lol! but it IS really good :)

 

what's that? you want to know exactly where alyssa is in this video? i'll do my best to explain. the cal band comes out to play first. at the end of their song, they all march towards the front center of the field. when they stop playing, is when all the high schools run out onto the field. if you look directly to the left of the cal band, at the bottom of the screen, you'll see a group of kids, wearing black tshirts. this is alyssa's school. keep your eye on that group. she's in the front right corner. so if you look at the back left corner person in the cal band, she's directly to the left of that person.

and just a little tidbit. that first song they do, is one of my favorites that the high school band plays at the varsity football games. except that they play it a lot faster at the games. "heeeeyyyyy! heeeyyy, baby! i wanna know-oooow. if you'll be my girl!" that tune gets it your head, and will stay there for days.  lol!

it was an all day field trip. they met at the school at 5:00am, and boarded the bus for the trip. and they got home at 7:00pm. it rained that day. so they were all soaked, cold, and tired. but alyssa said they had a great time, and it was quite an experience.

updated look at our school albums

i have been working on updating the girls school albums this past weekend. i started out taking photos of all the pages, so that i could show you what i've been adding to them since i originally shared the albums (HERE). then it crossed my mind that a video might be nice, to sort of walk you through the album. just a few things before you watch this. excuse the shake. i'm NOT a videographer, and had to steal one of the girls small video camera's to shoot this. and i talk with my hands all the time. so when the camera is shaking, i'm more than likely talking to you with my hands, even though you can't see them. i say "actually" a lot. and apparently, "eventually" is a term i use for when i will finish things that i havn't gotten around to doing. it cut me off at the very end, because the memory card was full. but i was pretty much done, and i'm not good an ending things anyways ;)

i think i covered the set-up of alyssa's album in pretty good detail in the video, so i won't show you pictures of all of her pages in her album. but i did want to point out one of the new things i added to their albums recently.

i added in some 6x12 page protectors. i have a few different brands, so anything will work. i cut some sheets of kraft cardstock in half, so that they were 6x12 in size. i had a lot of band concert programs and play programs, that i've collected over the years. i had been slipping them into the large pocket page. but i thought it would be fun to include them in their own page protector, so that they were more visible.

i used the same idea for both the band concerts programs and the play programs. i simply stapled the second page to the kraft cardstock, so that you can still flip the program open to read inside. and you can also flip the program up, so that you can read the backside. for the concert programs, i stapled two onto each side of the kraft cardstock. i just did the bottom one first, and then layered the top one slightly overlapping it. for the play program, i also adhered some of our tickets from when we went to see the performances.

and i happen to have some newspaper clippings, with photos of the play from the local newspaper. so i stapled those to the backside of the play program. just a really simple way to add these things into the albums.

i can't just show you alyssa's album, since that would NOT be fair. that's how it works here in this house, anyways. lol! here is a look at sarah's 5th grade year, from last school year. this is her pocket page, with a sampling of her work. an additional thing that i added to her pocket, was her medal that she received for perfect attendance. for the record, alyssa got perfect attendance too, but their grade didn't get a medal. bummer.

some of sarah's work that i pulled out, to save. sampling of her work, spelling tests, math sheet, a few journal's, some artwork, reports, etc.

this is something extra i added to sarah's album. it's a CD envelope, that came from the becky higgins baby kit, from a few years back. i just checked the creating keepsakes site, and it actually looks like they still have these in the store, HERE.

a few of the 5th grade classes, did a "thriller" performance at the beginning of the year. it wasn't a special tribute to michael jackson or anything, since these teachers have been doing this for years with their students. but they practiced for 6 weeks, and put on a great show for us. i had gotten a CD of the performance, and wanted to include it in her album. and this little CD envelope was a perfect way to do that.

her class photo, in an 8.5x11 page protector.

report card on the backside of the class photo. and then a few page protectors, to hold awards that she received during the school year.

i also include the report that shows how she did on her STAR testing, which is the california state testing that all students do here, every year.

then i added a 6x12 page protector, with her band concert programs.

next up, is her school photo. this page comes just like you see it, with the grade printed down the side. and i just added an 8x10 photo. 

then the last page is where we'll write down things from the year that she wants to remember. we just havn't gotten to that yet. not sure why, but i don't have a first day of school layout for her. i have one of the girls together, but not of just sarah. when i get around to that, i'll add that after this page. and i want to do a layout with the photos from their thriller performance. and then i'll add in some divided page protectors, to hold any additional photos from the year.

i get asked a lot about these school albums all the time. and everyone wants to know if they can still get the becky higgins school kit. nope, they're not available anymore. those were from a few years ago. well, i take that back. you can occasionally find them on ebay. i searched for them tonight, and found about 4 listed, that have about a day left on their bidding time. so you could check that out. BUT. i do know that she has a new school kit in the works. not because i have any insider info, because i dont. lol! but because i read her blog everyday. i hope she doesn't mind, but i copied this info directly from her blog for you:

Q: Please tell us about the new school kit. When is it coming?

A: Yes, we are developing a kick-bootie school kit. A lot of thought is going into the organization and system and design and everything. It’s going to be very fool-proof, user-friendly, perfect for the non-scrapbooker, and will cover all school years, from preschool through high school, in one kit. Plus, it’ll be versatile enough for homeschool use and even students outside the U.S. The next round of Project Life kits (yes, that’s plural) should be available in time for the holidays this year. Since that has been a priority, the school kit will be come out after Project Life. The plan is early 2011. You know this is the place to come for all the latest scoop.

great america day trip

i'm doing this post more for myself than anything. there have been some events, activities, and get-togethers that i never shared or talked about. and since i use my blog as a journal of sorts, i like to get those photos on here at some point. i love going back to my blog, and saying "oh look, THAT is when we did that". or "oh look, THAT really did happen and here are the photos to prove it". lol! so i think i'll post these "catch up" photo days once a week until i get everything on the blog.

first up is a day trip we took to great america. this was about a week or so before school started back up. so around the beginning of august. we didn't end up with that many chances to go anywhere this summer. and we squeezed this day in at the very end. we made the hour drive, and got there shortly after the park opened.

we hit most of the major roller coasters. although this one doesn't actually look familiar to me, so it must be one that we skipped. nice that i have a photo of it, anyways. lol!

the girls waiting in line for the crazy boat ride. this is the large boat that goes back and forth. and then really high, back and forth. and then suspends you at the top, and goes all the way around. and around. and around. and then suspends you back at the top, and then back and forth. and back and forth some more. it's a crazy ride.

and yes, i ride the crazy rides. here's the proof. and how goofy is sarah? in the middle of this crazy ride, and she's still posing for the camera. lol! that lady sitting next to me? she was convinced she was going to die on this ride, and she let all of us know. over and over. lol!

i think the girls ended up riding this boat ride about 4 times.

here's me and the girls, waiting in line for the survivor ride. i'm actually quite surprised and proud that joe thought to take the camera out and snap this.

the survivor ride doesn't look that crazy. it's this huge round platform, where everyone sits around the edge, on these scooter-type things. i have to admit, this was sort of a crazy ride. and yes, alyssa is next to sarah. you just can't see her.

and joe? well, he's not really into roller coasters or anything crazy and scary. so he usually sits them out and holds the backpack. but we managed to get him on a few rides. one of which was the demon, a great roller coaster. and even guilted him into going on one of the newer roller coasters, in which you stand up. he was convinced that you should never have to stand up on a roller coaster. lol! but in the end, he said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

yes, they always pose for me.

even in the middle of a ride that's tossing them all over the place, and spinning out of control.

yes, they're goofy and crazy. and i love them for it :)

this is part of the water area of the park. i  seriously can't get over how much water stuff is back there now. i grew up going to great america, and i actually can't even remember what used to be there. the girls had brought their swimsuits. we went back to the car to eat our lunch (for once, we packed lunches and saved a ton of money), and then they changed in the car.

then they went on some of the water rides. we all went on the log ride, since you cannot go to great america and NOT ride it. they went on a few of the water slides. hung out in the wave pool. played in the water playground. just had fun getting wet and cooling off.

and i'm guessing there was something big with snoopy at the park this summer. i kept saying we had to go see the "snoopy on ice", or whatever the show was that they had going on. but we kept missing the start time. or we'd be all the way across the park. so we missed the show. but we did see snoopy.

 

we were at the park until closing. afterwards, joe went straight to work the night shift at the store. he was exhausted the next day. and the girls and i crashed hard when we got home, and slept in the next day. and we all paid the price for riding so many of the crazy roller coasters, and walking the park so much. i think we were all sore for a few days. but it was well worth it :)

back to school time

this past monday was the girls first day of the school. back to the paper and the books. back to the backpacks thrown on the floor. back to making lunches every morning. back to homework and tests. school makes life hectic and busy. but school also gives us a routine and some structure to our days. and that has been much needed around here. usually, i take the girls "first day of school" photos AFTER school. the lighting is better, we're more relaxed, and we have more time. and i'm sure i'll re-stage the "first day of school" photos again in the next week or so, so i can get additional ones. but it was kind of nice to take out the camera, and snap a photo of each of them as they walked out the door.  

alyssa is in high school now! her first day as a freshman. last week, they had some activities that helped prepare them for the start of school. she's in the band (that's her clarinet case she's holding), so she went to a mini-band camp. they had a round-up day, where they turned in forms, ordered PE uniforms and yearbooks, got their schedules and locker assignments. then last friday, they had a 4 hour freshman orientation. i think it really helped to get to learn the campus a bit, and see where their classes were ahead of time. made the first day a little less nerve-wracking. she's got friends from last year in most of her classes. she's got a pretty heavy schedule, with some tough classes. but i know she'll do great. because she's in band, she's actually taking one extra class. so she's in school for 8 full hours. and we're doing some car-pooling with one of her good friends, which really helps since we have to drive them to and from school.

and sarah's in the 6th grade now. her last year, before junior high. when i say it that way, i almost feel like she'll be off at high school before i know it. lol! this is also the first time that her older sister isn't at school with her. so she's walking on her own in the morning. it's right across the street, so it's not far. but makes her look so much more grown up, when she walks out the door. we were kind of bummed that she didn't get a class with any of her best friends. but she doesn't seem to worried about it. she hasn't had any homework yet, but i'm sure it'll kick in next week.

and while i'm really glad to be back on a schedule and have more of a routine around here, i really do miss them while they're at school. they were so great over the summer, helping me with the daycare kids and entertaining them. and now i'm on my own again. i'm the sole entertainment around here, and i'm with kids that really can't hold a conversation with me. lol! so i'm adjusting still to that. and we're adjusting to being crazy busy again. awana's at the church starts next week. and while we've been having soccer practice for a few weeks, games officially start up this weekend. but we welcome the craziness :)

family - a tips & tricks layout

i thought i would share one of my layouts with you today, from the last scrapbooking tips & tricks issue. this was created for the paper palooza issue, which was all about pattern paper. my technique idea was to take small torn pieces of pattern paper, and use them to cover chipboard shapes.

as seen in Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks: Paper Palooza issue, by Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

the layout in the magazine looks slightly different than what you see here. i forgot to get a picture of the final version. in the magazine, my layout has all color photos. this shows a few black and white photos. in all honestly, this layout went through three changes, before making final approval. i don't always get it right the first time out. lol!

 

 

this was my first attempt. the photos here aren't the best, and a tad bit dark. but i loved this layout, and the colors and papers. but the very smart and all-knowing editors at CK, thought that we needed bolder pattern paper choices. i fought it a little. but in the end, they really do know what they're talking about. i still love my first version, but the third one fits the technique and the article much better.

 

back to the layout. these are all photos of my family that i took on thanksgiving in 2009. i hardly ever take pictures on thanksgiving. but this past year, i was putting together a "what we're thankful" mini album, and i wanted to be sure and have a photo of everyone that was there. the reason i added some black and white pics on this version, was because i had a lot of color going in people's clothing choices. in the end, they asked for all color photos. yes, i did a lot of photo printing for this assignment. lol! on this page: my brother scott and his wife kathy, my dad john and my mom kathie, and my sister wendy, and of course our family, joe, me, alyssa, and sarah. 

 

for the hearts, i just choose a few different pattern papers and tore a bunch of little pieces off. then i covered my chipboard hearts with adhesive, and started layering the torn pieces onto the heart, overlapping them as i went. i ran short on one of the hearts (since i did two totally different layouts). so i traced the heart onto a piece of cardstock, and used that to layer the torn pieces of pattern paper onto. then i sanded down the edges of all the hearts to finish them off. on this page: my cousin brad and his wife issa (who's carrying baby zachary, born 4 weeks later), my cousin stephanie and her husband dustin, my grandma hildred, my aunt vicky, my grandpa frank, and my aunt sandy.

and the two layouts came in handy in the end. the original layout is tucked in my family album. and the final layout (all color photos) is hanging up on my parents wall :)

sarah's favor to me

i had to ask a huge favor of sarah this weekend. i'm getting ready to do some senior pictures for my neice, and i wanted to check out one of my favorite spots to take pictures. i was really just wanting to make sure the time of day i was planning on, would really work with the lighting and all. at first she wasn't thrilled. she was waiting for her friend to come over, to go swimming at my parents house. but she went and got dressed and ready for me. and once we were there, she got into it. and even though i was mainly wanting to test out the area, i ended up with 130 shots! here are a few of my favorites. i have to add my disclaimer. some of the colors on a few of these are looking a little wonky on this here blog. but they look great on my computer, and printed out perfectly. if you click on them, they look better. but i don't expect you to click on each one. lol! so i won't stress over it ;)

  

 

this one is my favorite of the night. i want to enlarge it. too bad all my hugely large frames go vertical on my walls. lol! a friend of mine asked if i tell my girls how to pose for me, or if they just know what to do after all these years of me putting them through these photo shoots. and it's mostly them. my idea of direction is saying "don't just stand there, do something". yeah, i'm not so great with posing ideas. lol! but luckily, they're pretty good at knowing what to do for me. and they know when to smile, and when not to smile. because i like a little of both. and when alyssa got back from her dad's and saw these, she actually said that she wants me to take new ones of her too. love that they occasionally enjoy doing these favors for me :)

it's someone's birthday

we just want to wish joe a very happy 41st birthday today!

he is the best husband and father that we could ask for, and we appreciate all that he does for our family. he's only a few hours into his special day today. and already he has dropped alyssa off to the church for her planning meeting, picked up breakfast for sarah and me (he ate his there), went and got me starbucks, went back to pick up alyssa from the church, and went back to the store (which he was just in 20 minutes ago getting me starbucks) to get me chips for the appetizer i'm making today. that's the kind of guy he is. he'll put us and our needs ahead of his, and never complains about doing those things for us. we love him for it. happy birthday babe!!!

sarah's 11th birthday party

i'm back-tracking a bit to a few things i never got around to posting last month. one of those things was sarah's 11th birthday party. we had her party a few weeks before her actual birthday. with school, soccer, and church activites all ending around the same time, we wanted to do the party while everyone was still in touch.

she invited some of her best friends over for a swimming party. grammy and papa are always gracious enough to let us use their backyard and their pool for our parties.

there was lots and lots of swimming.

a few of the school friends.

alyssa watched everyone swim, until her friend got there. 

there were pool games. this was something about guessing colors, and trying to catch each other.

 

sarah's soccer friends spend a lot of time on this tube.

we BBQ'd. actually, joe and his brother johnny BBQ'd, just like they always do.

the grown-ups ate, in the shade.

the kids ate, in the sun.

more swimming. and alyssa was happy that her friend made it there to help keep her company.

there were some you-know-what fights. eta: i'm re-phrasing what i had typed, since i'm not getting all sorts of weird google search engine hits coming up on my blog. how crazy is that?

which sarah and her BFF, tawny, won.

 

there were some games. the beanbag toss and some limbo.

and lastly, the best part of any party. presents, cake and ice cream. which was then followed by more swimming. they could have swam all day and all night. but, most of the girls were picked up for the day. and then 4 of sarah's best friends from school stayed for a sleepover. a perfect birthday party for our special 11 yr old :)

got books - a jillibean soup layout

time for another jillibean soup layout. this one went up on the jillibean soup blog today.

 

these photos were taken on alyssa's first day of junior high. so that was 7th grade. and these are all the books she came home with that day. and carried too and from school, every day, all year. and then another year after that. you can read more about that day HERE. so glad i finally got around to scrapping these photos and the story to go along with it :)

just a fun detail shot. layouts are always sooooo much better in person, when you can see all the dimension and texture and details. but since you can't be here in person, a detail shot is as good as it's going to get. lol! all products on this layout are from jillibean soup, with the exception of the button and the charm. and don't ask me where i got that schoolhouse charm, because i've had it forever. but it's a good thing i saved it for this long. because it was truely meant to be paired up with the schoolhouse pattern paper ;)