If you don't like the New England weather ....

.... just wait a minute!!! Good morning, fab followers and Happy Wednesday! This week is just flying by and the weather here in New England is doing its usual crazy dance. We have gone from snow flakes in some areas over the weekend to an expected heat wave in the 90's starting tomorrow. It sure has been extra crazy around here, too, with baby showers, graduations, birthdays, sports and just life stuff. But, we are making memories for us to scrap, so yay!

I thought I would share a few more LOAD513 layouts with you today. I am so proud of myself for keeping up with it this time. If i can make it to Friday, I will have created 31 layouts for the month! I am going to take a picture of the whole LOAD stack when I am done. Of course, don't ask me what my scrap room looks like right now! The best thing about LOAD513, besides finishing all those LOs is learning that I CAN take an hour out of the day somewhere just to be creative. I am definitely going to remember to try to do it more often for myself, once LOAD513 is over.

Here are some recent LOAD513 LOs and the prompts that inspired them:

Bubble Boy:
Prompt: the movie "PSYCHO" (I thought about the shower scene and knew I had tubby pics)

First Trip To Fenway: (my fave so far)

Prompt: CANDLESTICK(I thought - Candlestick Park>Baseball> Fenway!)

Good and Bad Pirates:

Prompt: CONFLICT

Rivercats:

Prompt: MISS SCARLET(I went with the color of the uniforms)

Tand Soo Do:
Prompt: SELF DEFENSE

This Boy Can Sleep Anywhere:(this one cracks me up!)

Prompt: WHERE

Thanks for looking and have a great rest of your week!

Happy Friday and LOAD513

It is finally Friday - hooray!! It seems like it took forever to get here this week!

I have been playing along with Lain Ehmann's LOAD513 (Layout A Day - May 2013) and thought I would share some of the LOs that I have created. I have kept up so far and the LOs are not masterpieces, but they are done! I hope I can keep it up and have 31 pages done by the end of the month!

So, the theme of this LOAD is the board game "Clue". Lain gives a prompt every morning that you can choose to follow - or not. Just getting a page done a day is the goal. I think it is fun to read the prompt in the morning and then spend my day daydreaming about what page I will create that night (when I should be working!) Here are some of the pages and the prompts that I have done so far:

WHO (as in who dunnit?)

MRS. PEACOCK (use the character or color as inspiration):

MODUS OPERANDI (what is someone's MO?):

THE WRENCH (use a tool, scrap about a tool, etc):

I am having so much fun and will share more LOs as we go along!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Gettin' Disney Done

I am back to getting some more Disney layouts done. I took soooo many pictures on our trip, that I may never be done! It is fun to go back and look at these with the kids, though, and relive the fun time that we had. I have been using some of the March Madness Challenges over at Boston Area Scrap Fanatics to get them done. Lots of fun going on over there - check it out, if you have a chance!

This first one was a sketch challenge. The sketch had a big heart in the background, but all I saw was Mickey Ears!

The next challenge was to use the title and/or words from the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". These pictures of the kids at the Spirit of Aloha Luau made me think of that song!

This challenge was to use mostly pink on something. You can't get much more pink-ish than Disney princesses!

Everything was from my "Disney stash", which became quite large when we got back from our trip in 2011. I have to start using it up, so I will be back with more Disney layouts for sure!

Have a thrilling Thursday!

Happy Friday and GO PATS!

Happy Friday, Fab Followers! We have a long weekend to look forward to! AND our New England patriots are in the AFC Championship game at home this weekend! Life is good! I thought I would share a quick page of my son to get us pumped for the game. He is almost 8 now, so he looks very little to me in this picture! I love this Bo Jackson quote and it fit perfectly with the picture of the hat that my son used to wear all the time. Everything is from my stash. I am trying really hard not to buy any new scrappy supplies and use what I have. The quote and the patterned paper are from Rusty Pickle. The Patriots decal was in my stash, too.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend and that you get to have some creative time of some sort. GO PATS!

Scrap Happy Sketch

Happy Friday, all! Kelly and Laurie are off to their weekend crop! I can't wait to see everything that they get done. I am sure they will be sharing with us when they get back.

In the meantime, my friend, Lain of Scrap Happy, had a challenge to use a sketch that I decided to try. I loved using this sketch for this picture of my family on the Expedition Everest ride. We are the four in the back of the car. Notice how tightly I am hanging on to my poor little guy - I didn't want him flying out of the seat! The little journaling flags worked great for listing out bullet points about the ride and what we thought of it. I replaced the title circles with little tags from Leaving Prints that I have had in my stash forever. (I am trying so hard to use some stuff up and not buy!) The gears were from Oriental Trading and the metal snowflake is Tim Holtz.. I even found some Making Memories rub on letters in my stash for the word "Expedition"! 

If you have a chance, check out Lain's other site, Layout A Day. She has a great event coming up in February called LOAD213 (LayOut A Day - Feb 2013). It is a no-pressure, fun month where Lain gives a prompt every morning to get you scrapping. You can use the prompt to kick off a LO or go in whatever direction you want. No pressure to actually get a LO done every day, but if you do, there are usually some fun things in store! I did part of her LOAD512 last year in May, but couldn't finish it because of a family emergency. I determined to get a boat LOAD of LOs done this time! Come join us, if you can!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Rhonda's Halloween Page Swap

Link to Rhonda's swap: http://scraphappenswithrhonda.blogspot.com/2012/08/wanna-swap-pages-for-free-mini-album.html

Dawn's pages:

We have all joined in Rhonda's Swap and we had so much fun making the pages. Unfortunately the swap is closed now.  These are Dawn's pages. Aren't they awesome!!!! We will put up Kelly and Laurie's soon.  

Disney, Disney and More Disney

Some more Disney layouts. Trying to keep them quick and simple to get this project done on time! Thank goodness there are so many pre-made Disney embellies out there! Most everything was purchased at Scrap Your Trip.

Slowly, But Surely!

Another Disney layout to add to the album. I am getting there and am determined to meet my self-imposed deadline of having the album done by this year's vacation!

For this one, I used a Jana Eubank sketch that was posted as a challenge over at Boston Area Scrap Fanatics:

I cut the circle from shiny metallic paper using this cool shape from the Silhouette online store and my Cameo. The faux stitches are rub ons. I have had that Jolee's carousel embellishment forever, waiting for *just the right* layout. The quote is also from a vellum quote stack that I have had forever. Feels good to shop your own stash!

More Disney!

I got some more Disney/SeaWorld LOs done this past weekend! I am on a mission to finish this album before July. Only like 780 pictures to go! Ha!

Life Is A Rollercoaster

One of my favorite movie quotes ever is from "Parenthood":

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

So true, Grandma! I used this quote for a layout of our family on a flume ride at Canobie Lake Park. I love all the expressions on our faces, all of us thrilled. Not every day is as thrilling, but that's OK.  Life is a ride and I like the roller coaster. :)

Wordle

Here is a fun (free!) tool that we found! Wordle allows you to type in any text and the create a word cloud from it. You can play with the cloud and use different colors, fonts and layouts. You can then print your cloud out to use on a layout or card. They even have an online gallery for inspiration! Here is a quick layout that I did using a Wordle cloud that I created. Fun! The great cowboy cuts were from Laurie's dad, "Pa", for a swap that we did a while back here on SS.

Totally Hip

Good Tuesday morning! It is feeling like summer again here in the NorthEast; 80 degrees yesterday and in the 70's today. My poor mums are so confused; they like the cool weather and don't know whether to pop open or not! You can see them in the picture that I used for a challenge over at  Use Your Stuff. This is a fun new blog that my friend, Lynne, contributes to. For this challenge, you had to use Orange, Pink, Green, Yellow and Blue all in the same layout. My DD dressed as a hippie for Halloween last year and her costume had just about every color in it! I used paper from the We R Memory Keepers Nonsense stack that was a perfect match to her costume, embossed the orange paper with the Cuttlebug Bloom Dots folder and inked it, then added a transparency flourish (I think from Fancy Pants?) and a few retro buttons from my stash. I cut the flower shape on the Silhouette by enlarging it to 10" and then used the cutting tool in the software to chop it in half before actually cutting it out. I can't wait for the 12" Silhouette to come out to be able to cut full 12" shapes! Hope everyone has a Terrific Tuesday!

Live Out Loud

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Ours was super busy and too fast, as usual. I did get some scrappy time in, so not all was lost. :) Of course, scrappy time means that there was a mess to clean up afterwards. I love cleaning the scrap room and finding things that I forgot about. Like this LO that I started in a Quick Quotes Class at CKC Manchester last spring. There was a challenge on a message board that I visit to use the word "flounce" and there is a challenge at Frosted Designs to use mixed fonts on a project. (Can you tell that I love challenges? LOL!) The end result has several different fonts on the title, the subtitle, the journaling block, plus my handwriting:

All supplies from Quick Quotes except for the letter stickers spelling out "flounce", which were in my stash.

Have a fabulous Monday!

Born This Way

Good Thursday morning!! It is a rainy morning here in New England, but still warm. I loved sleeping with the windows open last night and hearing the rain.

So, you have heard Laurie and Kel talk about "it is all about the story". I agree; journaling is very important in scrapbooking so that when future generations look at your albums, they not only know the who, what, where and when, but the why. But sometimes, just the picture tells the story. That was the case with this shot of my son at soccer practice. Anyone who knows him, knows what I am talking about. :) I made this LO for a lyrics challenge on a message board that I visit and used lyrics from Lady Gaga's "Born This Way".

I'm beautiful in my way

'Cause God makes no mistakes

I'm on the right track baby

I was born this way.

And really, that is all that needed to be said for this layout. Family and friends will know exactly what I was trying to say when they look at this picture. And they will smile.

I am also entering this layout into Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays Sketch #24 challenge. What an awesome sketch, no?

Have a fabulous Thursday!!

Back To Basics

I used to be a chronological scrapper. I had to finish May 2003 pictures before I could start June 2003 pictures, finish June 2003 before I could start July 2003, etc. But recently, I have found myself grabbing my newer pictures, inspired by the picture itself or by something I saw in a magazine or online for which I knew I had just taken the *perfect* shot. I also realize that I remember a lot more about the pictures or the event if I scrap right away. But I also have a LOT of older pictures that I want to make sure to get in albums. So, last night, I decided to work on a layout that I had put into a page kit for a crop eons ago. I already had everything cut out and ready to go, I just needed some inspiration to complete it. The cool fall weather did the trick, I guess! These pictures are from Thanksgiving 2006. I can't believe how little everyone looks and that it was just 5 short years ago. So many things have happened and changed since then. But it was fun to scrap these and think back to that Thanksgiving. It makes me all warm and mushy. I think I will grab a nice glass of apple cider, some more old pictures and settle in for more mushy scrapping soon. After all, I still need to scrap Christmas 2006! ;)

Details:
Chipboard leaves: Maya Road inked with Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Inks
Fall embellishments: Studio G
Patterned papers, bling, cardstock, chipboard circle: stash

Monday and Our Challenge Winner!

Good Monday morning! I know ... those words shouldn't be together in the same sentence. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thank you to everyone for all your wonderful comments on my layouts and projects. I have been having fun filling in for Laurie and Kel! I was so happy to see that Laurie posted this weekend. We all had a blast on Friday night!

On to our winner! Thank you to all 3 ladies that entered the New Challenge ... you all did a great job! I used random.org to pick a number between 1 and 3 and the winner was ..... #2 - Rhonda at BumbleBee Creations! Congrats, Rhonda! Please email your info to bonkdawn @ comcast . net (no spaces) and I will get the prize pack out to you. Janet and Carrie - please email your info, too! I have a little something for both of you for entering!! Thanks for playing, girls!!

I am entering into a challenge myself over at Creative Cutter Room. The challenge is to create a new project with a sports theme. I must have a million soccer and baseball pictures, so this was a goodie for me! I worked on this Friday night when the girls came over. 

Details: 

12x12 overlay: EZ Laser Designs (I got it at CKC Manchester last year!)

Soccer brads: Eyelet Outlet

Soccer Ribbon: AC Moore

Soccer stickers: stash - I think I got them in the clearance section at Michaels ages ago)

The overlay really made the page come together easily and quickly. I have another one with a baseball theme that I can't wait to try now! Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Life is what happens while your busy making other plans ...

So, I was all ready to create something new for you last night for today's post. Pictures were printed, embellishments and papers were picked out. I was just waiting for the magical hour where the children were in bed. And then my daughter caught her hand in the front door. Ugh. After an hour of ice, she still couldn't move her right index finger, so off to the ED we went for xrays. I do love the hospital that we go to; in and out of there in 2 hours, even though they were quite busy. There were no fractures, thank goodness; just some real good contusions and swelling. So, in lieu of something new, I decided to show one of my fave layouts of the little girl that is now a big girl. She does love her daddy! I did this layout so long ago that I cannot remember any manufacturer details. I do know that I used acrylic paint on the back of quote transparency so that it would stand out on the background paper. It is a very simple layout, but I wanted it to be all about them.

Kel, Laurie and Susan are coming over my house to get some scrap therapy in tonight. I am so excited! It is always many laughs when we get together!

Check out the Sports Theme challenge over at Creative Cutter Room that Carrie from DoubleClick Connections and the girls are having! This is what I was going to work on last night when life happened! I will work on it tonight with the SS girls!

Speaking of challenges, don't forget that you have till tomorrow night (Saturday 9/10) at midnight to post your entry for our New Challenge to win this Prize Pack. 

Have a great day!

More Rain and Back to School

Still raining here, but the weekend promises to be beautiful, so we will deal! Back to school for all the Serenity Scrappers Littles!. I didn't get any scrap time in last night, so, to celebrate back to school and to appease my daughter that she is getting fair blog time, I am sharing some layouts of her first days of school.

First Day of Pre-School:

First Day of  Kindergarten: (that's Laurie's 2 boys with her on the right hand page!)

First Homework: (OK - who scraps that??!?! I need help.)

First Day of 1st Grade: (Laurie's boys again .. we love living across from each other!)

I am so far behind in my scrapping that is all I have and she is now in 6th grade! This does make me think tho, how cool all these would look in one book, as opposed to the chronological books that I have now. Hmmmm .... I may need to go shopping for a School themed album!!

Don't forget that there are a couple of days left for our challenge! Hope you will join in!

Rainy Days

Good morning! Another rainy day here in New England, but that is OK; my mums are going to look fabulous! So, the second part of the Labor Day challenge from the message board that I visit was to create something showing someone "resting after laboring". These pictures of my son sleeping on Daddy after a hard day of playing fit the bill! The boy can sleep anywhere, I swear, but snuggled on mom or dad was always (and still is ♥) his favorite place.

Details:
All paper, rubons, stickers, letters and chipboard embellies: Basic Grey Archaic line
Tim Holtz journaling ticket
Dad & Me sticker: K&Co

It has been brought to my attention that I have been favoring the males of the house, so I am going to have to come up with some girly posts for my daughter. We will see what I can cook up for tomorrow.

We have a couple of entries for our New Challenge. Please check the awesome entries out and leave the ladies some lovin' on their blogs! You have till this Saturday the 10th at midnight to get your entry in!)

Marvelous Monday .. oh wait, it's Tuesday!

And that's how the rest of the week will be for me! I will not know what day it is all week. Love the extra day off, but why are short weeks always so lllloonnggg?!?! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I got to visit with Laurie, Kelly and Susan on Friday night to see Kel's new place. She is going to have an awesome area to scrap in; I can't wait to see it done. Hopefully, she will be back to blogging here soon! My family was very busy with a beach day, a Renaissance Faire day and a cookout with the grandparents. All in all, a great photo op weekend! I did manage to get a little scrappy time in to create a couple of layouts. This one was for a "show someone laboring" challenge on a message board that I frequent.

The pictures are of my son and husband putting together a pitchback that he had gotten for his birthday. He was so excited to be able to help Daddy! ♥

Details (all in my stash - go me!):

Core'dinations : Cosmo Cricket paper

Making Memories rub on letters

Chipboard letters - Heidi Swapp

Baseball stickers - Current, USA

Chipboard arrow - Junkitz

Don't forget about our "something new" challenge: New Challenge

Go forth and make it a great day!