October Calendar Page

Better late than never, right?  That seems to be my mantra these days.  I finally have my calendar layout to share.  I have had it complete for a few days, but I am just now getting it up here.  

This month I used this great sketch by Allison Davis.  I reworked the photo sizes a bit and split some spots to fit two photos.  

I used some Fancy Pants "Hopscotch".  This is considered a summer line, but by pulling the oranges and yellows, I easily made it work for this fall layout.  The banners in the sketch made me think of fairs and festivals, so I thought it worked well with our apple orchard and pumpkin patch photos.  To make the banners, I used a couple of die cuts from the collection and traced them onto patterned paper and cardstock and then cut them out by hand.  The leaves are stamped on mulberry paper (remember that stuff?!).  I liked the airy, but fibrous texture it gave.  After I stamped the leaves, I fussy cut them.  Some of the leaves I ran through my sticker maker, others I just ran a strip of adhesive down the back.  The journaling was also printed on mulberry paper.

Materials:
Cardstock- Bazill, Core'dinations
Patterned Paper, stickers, and die cuts- Fancy Pants Designs
Font- Posies, Agency
Buttons- Jesse James
Twine- Pink Paislee
Pearls- Michaels
Mulberry Paper- The Paper Company
Stamps- Stampin Up
Embossing folders- Ellison, Spellbinders
Ink- Ranger
Flowers- Prima and Michaels
Die Cutter- Provo Craft
Software- Crafter's Edge

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 10-6-13

I almost didn't post photos this week, but went through some of the photos I took this week and decided to pull it together.  I had the awesome opportunity this week of taking family photos for two families that are very dear to me, so much of my photographic time and energy was devoted to that.  

Something Colorful

On Tuesday, my boys and I went to the park where I was going to be taking photos on Saturday.  I wanted to get some ideas for locations.  This particular park has a walking path all the way around a man made lake. Along the way, we found this beautiful tree with these bright red berries.

Light
While we were walking on the path I saw these trees casting cool shadows on this wall.

You

Okay, I'm stretching a bit here, but I kind of forgot about this prompt.  I chose this photo for two reasons: 1- I'm pretty sure you can see my silhouette in his eyes (seriously, this kids eyes photograph beautifully), and 2- I see some of me in him (at least more so than my other boy!).

In Motion

This photo is from one of my photo sessions.  This little guy was a little against smiling for photos.  His dad ended up giving him rocks to throw to get him to smile.  It worked!  Here he is throwing one of the rocks.

 Afternoon
I took a ridiculous number of photos this week, but almost all of them were in the morning!  This one was taken last Sunday afternoon while my kids were playing on the deck and my husband was building his new grill.

Mojo Monday- Birthday Card

My newest sister-in-law's birthday was yesterday and I made a card for her using this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  

I used a Hero Arts stamp that I received in one of the classes I attended at Scrapfest a couple of weeks ago.  I stamped it on watercolor paper with Versamark and then used white embossing powder.  I rubbed Distress Inks over the paper to color in the flowers and background. I then sprayed it with water to blend the colors.  I dabbed off the excess water and then misted it with Pearl Glimmer Mist.  

While that was drying, I stamped the blue flowers.  To get the softer look, I spritzed the stamp with water before stamping it.  I fussy cut them and then popped them up over the ribbon strips.  For the banner, I stamped the sentiment and then colored it with the blending tool.

I Feel the Love: September

Better late than never, right?  I am getting this one in just under the wire.  It has been a busy month, but I made a card this month for the I Feel the Love Project.  The cards are going to Hope Ministries which is an organization that serves the homeless in Des Moines and Central Iowa.  

For my card this month, I used this week's Unscripted Sketch.

I love the changing leaves of fall and so I used them as my inspiration for a more masculine birthday card.  I stamped the leaf with a Stampin' Up stamp.  I started by inking it with Wild Honey Distress ink, then added some Barn Door and finally, edged it with Walnut ink.  I stamped it on the white cardstock circle and then spritzed it with water a couple of time to give it a watercolor look.  The background of my card is Core-dinations cardstock that i dry embossed, sanded and then inked around the edges.  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 9-29-13

It was a beautiful week here.  The trees are starting to turn, but we had a bit of a warm up late in the week, so we haven't completely said goodbye to summer.  We spent quite a bit of time soaking up the last bits of warm weather at a couple of local parks.

Rule of Thirds

Here is my oldest enjoying one of those glider type things at a park in our new neighborhood.  I didn't do any cropping of this one, she was actually right on the 1/3 line when I snapped the photo.  Talk about lucky timing!

Made Me Smile

How can these two not make me smile?  That is my youngest on the right and a friend's son on the left.  These two are about 6 weeks apart in age, but both VERY busy and active little boys.  They had a blast on Friday scooting around the playground equipment and trying (and sometimes succeeding :/) to eat wood chips.

Lines

My oldest again, this time on the way home from the park.  Our housing development has these white fences all the way around.  I think I will be taking more photos by these!

Alone

My youngest again.  Remember how I said he is VERY busy.  He figured out this week how to open the cabinets in our living room where we keep all the toys.  Guess he can't be left alone...

 Together
These two are interesting together.  They can get along great and then they fight like cats and dogs.  Here is a shot of them having fun together at the park.

Some Cards

We've had a few occasions for cards the last couple of weeks, so I have been busy putting these together.

First up is a birthday card for my husband.  I used a My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad for the papers.  The "Sentimentals" Cricut cartridge had that great crown that matched very well with the crowns on the papers in this line.  I added a little heat embossing in the upper left with a speckle stamp and some copper colored embossing powder.  

Next up is a baptism card from my husband's and my god daughter, Lily.  Her baptism was last weekend and I made this card for her.  I did some more heat embossing, this time in white and then used some Smooch Moonlight ink to color in the cross.  I then masked my cross and stamped the background using Versamark Dazzle ink.  

Finally, our nephew turns 14 on Monday.  I am struggling a bit to come up with appropriate card for this age.  Thank goodness he plays sports!  I ended up combining a few cuts from the "Boy's Will Be Boys" Cricut cartridge and I used some Kraft Funday collection papers.

I have a couple more cards to make in the next few days, so stay tuned!  :)

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 9-22-13

There were some trickier prompts this week (not gonna lie, I took a couple of these photos right before posting), but I have a set to share!  It was a busy week with school and other activities.  We have already been to a birthday party this weekend and we have a baptism today.

Something You Wore

I decided to play a bit with our 50mm lens and took some shots of my earrings.

Reflection

The birthday party was held at an indoor park.  The park had a toddler area that this little guy LOVED crawling and cruising around in.  Here he is, checking himself out in the mirror.

Inside Your Fridge
My refrigerator is neither interesting or inspiring.  I thought this vantage point was kind of cool though.

Daily Routine

A big part of our daily routine is getting this little lady to and from school.  This week the Mommy photography group I am in had a little back to school photo shoot.  This photo is from that.  

Morning

Most mornings the kids watch a little TV.  It gives me some time to get going since the baby is still not sleeping through the night.