Sketchabilities and Final Day Big Idea Festival

The final word for the Big Idea Festival was revealed Friday: play. Since most of my layouts involved self reflection and improvement I decided to think about what ways I need to work on play. I make it a point to make time to work on my hobbies, but I often don't make the same effort to play doing the things my kids enjoy. So my final page talks about what I need to work on.


I also completed this layout this past week using the current sketch at Sketchabilities. As you can see, I used more photos than are shown in the sketch, but otherwise I stuck pretty close to the sketch.

Big Idea Festival: Days 9-11

As we get to the end of this project, the words are getting more difficult for me. I feel like some of them overlap words that I have already done, so I need to take some time to think of a unique angle to come at it.

The word for Day 9 was "Free." I really wanted to come at this one from a biblical standpoint. I ended up just using a bible verse because I didn't feel ready to put my own thoughts into words for this one. I played a lot with layers in PSE for this one. It is pretty different from my other pages, but I like how it turned out.


Yesterday's word was "moment." I thought a lot about the moments that have really changed my life and ended up wanting to reflect on the way the births of each of my children changed my life. I wanted to say more in my journaling, but couldn't find the words and I ran out of space on my page...


Today's word is "embrace." The instructor for today's word, Nic Howard, talked about embracing things that you may not have chosen directly for your life but have become a part of your life through other choices you have made.

Sketchy Thursdays: September Calendar

I have had a little time to do some paper scrapping amidst all of my digital work the last week and a half. I completed my calendar page for September- with several days to spare!! I used this week's Sketchy Thursday sketch. I turned the sketch 90 degrees so I could have larger photos using the 8 1/2 x 11 format.

Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesday #22

We had another wonderful sketch by Karin to work with this week. I decided to do just one photo as the sketch suggests because I didn't have any sets of multiple photos that worked. This is a photo I took of Ellie when she turned 4 last December. I cut the little tags using my Cricut and Sentimentals cartridge. I wrote words that described Ellie at that time on the tags.


Unfortunately, this is my last week of being on the design team at Frosted Designs as the new team begins with the next sketch. I have had a great time working with all the wonderful people and sketches and wish the new design team the best!

Big Idea Festival: Days 7 and 8

Two more days and some more thought-provoking words. Yesterday's word was "cherish." Saturday evening into yesterday were kind of rough. Will was cranky at dinner and then was up from 10 until midnight throwing a tantrum, so I was exhausted and feeling inadequate. So the word kind of smacked me upside the head as a reminder of what I should be doing, which is where my journaling came from.


Today's word is "live" I had an easier time coming up with a page for this one. The instructor for today, Lisa Day, posed the challenge to do something you are afraid of and scrapbook about it. It took me a bit, but then I remembered my trip to visit my sister and brother-in-law a few weeks ago and I knew what I wanted to scrap!

Big Idea Festival: Days 5 and 6

Yesterday's word was "enjoy." I had all day to think about what I wanted to do. I ended up choosing this recent photo of the kids and talking about those precious moments when they are all getting along.


Today's word is "nest." I struggled a bit with this one, I knew I wanted to do something on what I do around the house to make it a "home." I had opened a few photos and two of them were of flowers so I decided to go with that angle.

Sketch Saturday: Sympathy Card

I made this card last weekend using this week's sketch at Sketch Saturday. I heat embossed the image and made the flower using this tutorial.

Big Idea Festival: Days 3 and 4

Our word yesterday was "less." I decided to do a page about my weight loss. I have been about 10-15 lbs. more than I would like to be for as long as I can remember. I've worked out fairly consistently but was never able to get rid of those last few pounds. When I signed up for TEAM Fitness, one of the requirements was to keep a food journal. I wasn't thrilled, but knew it would be good. I ended up downloading the app My Fitness Pal for my phone. It was the best thing I ever did! I enter in everything I eat and it keeps track of my calories throughout the day. If I exercise, I can enter that in and it will allow me to eat that many more calories. When I set it up, I entered my current weight, my goal weight and how quickly I wanted to lose it. It has a bar code scanner so if I eat something packages, I just scan the label using the camera on my phone. It also has the option of entering in my own recipes, so it makes keeping track of home cooked meals super easy! In case you are wondering, they also have a website, so you don't even need a smart phone to use it! (Okay, sales pitch done.)

Here's my layout:


Today's word was "give." The instructor for today, Wendy Smedley, gave us the challenge to scrapbook about giving of something non monetary. At first, I was going to talk about all of the things I do for my family, but then I started to think about giving blood and the impact that has had on my own family and that of a friend. So I ended up with this:

Big Picture Classes- Big Idea Festival

Big Picture Classes is holding a free class/festival for the next 12 days called the Big Idea Festival. I signed up last year, but didn't do any of the challenges. This year I wanted to actually participate and so I decided to work on my digital skills and make a digital page each day that I hope to make into an album at the end.

Each day we are given a word to scrap and journal about. We are also given a template that we can work from if we choose. I have decided to use it to simplify the process. Yesterday's word was "share" and today's is "wonder". I have had fun making my first two pages and it has provoked some very thoughtful journaling on my part.

Here are my first two pages:

Project 365 Week 52: COMPLETE!!!

I am here with my final 8 photos! I made it, and I only missed a few days over the course of the year. I also learned a lot about using our camera, and I think my photography skills have improved some (although I still have plenty to learn!).

8/8 All three kids getting along (if only for a moment). The girls are taking turns putting together a puzzle on my phone while Will watches.


8/9 Karen, Lily and Sara at "Book Club." We weren't actually discussing a book this week, just hanging out and celebrating completing another book!


8/10 The kids moving from one part of the park to another. No, Will is not walking yet. He is close and has taken a few steps, but not walking yet. This is a perfect illustration of why I WANT him to walk, it would be so much neater!!


8/11 Ellie's prayer banner from VBS. She did lots of fun crafts over the course of the week.


8/12 Ellie playing with the parachute during games at VBS.


8/13 Will saying "Hi!" to a chicken at the county fair. He loved all the animals, and he is not afraid of them!


8/14 This is the front yard at my in-laws. Doesn't it make you want to grab a chair and a lemonade and just relax?


8/15 Addy with our garden's bounty of vegetables from today. The girls ate quite a few of those vegetables before they even made it in the house!

Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesday #21

Another fabulous sketch has been revealed at Frosted Designs! I made a layout for my son's baby book- that makes 6 layouts and he is 13 months old!! Guess I need to get working on that...

I loved the big circle on this one, but wasn't sure what to use to make it. I decided to use the Echo Park "Little Boy" collection. I cut the car paper into the smaller circle. First I used some yellow spray ink and tried to make a masked circle, but that did not show up enough. Then I drew a large circle, but that was a little to stark. I went over the circle with my sewing machine, which helped. Finally I decided to add the buttons to fill in the circle. I am very happy with how it turned out! For the title I used my "Zooballoo" Cricut cartridge. The "welcome" is a cut on the cartridge, however it has some birds and a nest on top of it, so after I cut it out, I just clipped those off the top! For the texture in the corners I used some dry embossing folders. I clamped the folder around the corner of the paper and then rolled over it with my brayer so it left an uneven, light impression. The cardstock I used is Core' dinations so it has a colored core. After I embossed the paper, I sanded it to expose the core.

Project 365 Week 51

One week left! As I near the end of my project, I decided to try another new thing with the camera. The second part of the this past week, I shot only in RAW. This is a file type that requires work to be done on the photos in Photoshop or some other post processing program. I was astonished at how much I could improve my photos with just that change!! I think I will be using it more in the future. It also makes me a little more picky about the shots I take and keep because each one needs attention later if I want to use it.

Well, this past week was... difficult. We were at the Dr.'s office 3 days and in contact with them a 4th for various ailments Will had throughout the week. We closed out the week with both girls coming down with some sort of stomach bug. Needless to say, I am hoping the first 7 days of August are not an indication of what the rest of the month will be. In between all the illness I was able to capture some fun, including Will getting into trouble (even though he was sick, he still managed to keep up his regular shenanigans).

8/1 Here are the jellyfish the girls made last week (Addy's, then Ellie's). It took me a few days to help them get the eyes on these guys. I have since punched holes in the top, threaded some yarn through the holes and they are hanging from the curtain rod in their room.


8/2 Some cherry tomatoes in my garden. These plants have been producing very well for me this year!


8/3 Will pulling towels out of the kitchen drawer.


8/4 Ellie waiting for the bird show to start at the zoo. Looking at this picture I am struck by how grown up she looks, where does the time go??


8/5 Will emptying my wallet. This is one of his favorite things to do, probably because there are so many things to pull out!!


8/6 The girls playing outside with the sidewalk chalk.


8/7 Will trying to put on glasses. He knows where they are supposed to go, he just can't quite get them on his face yet!

Third Birthday Card

I found a new card sketch site, Mojo Monday. I have to make one card this month, here it is! It is my nephew's 3rd birthday on Tuesday, I can't believe it! (Mostly I am having trouble with this one because Addy is only a little over 2 months away from turning 3 now!) Addy helped me pick this cute robot from the "Boys Will Be Boys" Cricut cartridge. I dry embossed the orange pieces for a little extra texture. Here is the sketch and my take on it:

Practical Scrappers' 2nd Anniversary Challenges

Practical Scrappers is celebrating its second anniversary and they have been doing all kinds of fun things this week to celebrate! They had a progressive recipe challenge throughout the week, a blog hop this weekend and lots of projects celebrating 2.

I participated in the recipe challenge and had a great time! Each day they posted 2 "ingredients" to add to your layout. You can check out the ingredients for each day here. Here is my final layout:


For the blog hop, each of the members of the design team showcased a project that represented "2" somehow and many had prizes on their blogs. Brenda had a challenge to use one of the following pairs to create a layout:
1) cardstock only (no patterned paper) and ribbon or twine
2) patterned paper only (no cardstock) and buttons
3) journaling strips and two photos
4) two or more types of alphas in your title and brads somewhere on your page
5) two different sizes of photos and handwritten journaling

I chose the last option and created this layout:


Thanks for some fun challenges Practical Scrappers!!

Project 365 Week 50

Only two weeks left!! As I near the end of this journey, I have been contemplating how I want to continue this feature of my blog. I am thinking I will set a goal of taking at least 1 photo per week instead of day. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on the subject, feel free to leave a comment. :)

Looking at the photos from this week, I realized how HOT it was. The first couple of days I kind of forgot about taking a photo until the end of the day so I took some pictures of things around the house. The rest of the week was spent in or near water...

7/25 The kids are back! While the kids stayed with my parents all of the toys were put away. As soon as they returned home we started finding toys all over the place again. Here are some Barbies hanging out in the arm chair.


7/26 I love the farmers' market! Not only do they have fabulous vegetables, they have beautiful bouquets like this for just $5!!


7/27 All three of the kids playing in the sprinkler ball.


7/28 Addy checking out how one of the frogs spit water at the park.


7/29 I found this craft in the July issue of Scrapbooks Etc. The girls made jelly fish from paper bowls. Here is Addy painting hers.


7/30 My sister Clare with her first place medal from winning the 20-29 age division at the Wabasha 5k. She finished in 22:59! (I finished in 30:02.)


7/31 Ellie swimming in Grandpa and Grandma's pool.