Frosted Designs...

Hi Everyone!  Its Friday again and Frosted Designs has another great Fabulous Friday challenge.  This time its "BBQ/Picnic/Outdoor Games".  I had some favorite photos of some of our outdoor adventures so I decided to use them to make a mini album.  You may remember about a month ago when I said I had a great blue jean project to share with you.  Well, this is the time!  :)  I have to say I'm really proud of this project and will be making others like it.

I have been saving jean pockets from my boy's outgrown jeans for quite some time.  I just love them and knew that some day I'd have just the perfect project for them.  Well, that day is now!  I started by glueing two pockets (from the same pair) together with fabric glue.  I used different sizes of pockets for this project.  Next I punched a hole in them with my Crop-a-dile for my rings to hold it together.  I looked through my chipboard stickers and found a few random sheets that I decided to use for this project.  I glued them on with fabric glue so they wouldn't be falling off as its handled.

Each pocket holds a photo of an outdoor activity.  I have journaled on the back of each one about where it was, what we were doing, or why I love it.  If my boys were younger and looking at it, I would figure out a way that they could stay attached to the pocket and not get lost.  My boys are old enough to know to put it back after looking so all the pictures just slip in and out.

Here are all of the pictures I used for this album.

And some details...

I really liked that some of the pockets had embroidered parts from the jean company or a tag on them.  I wanted to make sure that part still showed.  I also used a loop from a pair of carpenter jeans for an added detail.

I hope you'll play along with us at Frosted Designs this week.  I can't wait to see what you make.  Now...off to find some jeans that are wearing out!  I have some pockets to cut off.  :)

Sketchy Thursdays...

I really thought this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch was an interesting one.  I had a thought immediately upon seeing it.  It was getting that thought down on paper that became the tricky thing.  :)  But I am fairly happy with the end result.

I love this picture of this sunflower.  There was a field of them about 45 minutes outside of Dunedin.  We were traveling back from Christchurch when we first saw them.  I am so thankful to have a husband that will pull over so I can get out and take some photos.  I could have spend so much time in this field.  They were just beautiful.  I also love this photo because it reminds me of my best friend Kim.  She loves sunflowers.  I love and miss her very much.  This one is for you Kim!

Dream come true...

Ian has been interested in guitars for a very long time now and its something we've wanted to continue to grow in him.  This kid has so many guitar shirts its crazy!  One day I'm going to make a quilt out of all those shirts.  Anyway....for his birthday he had been asking for a guitar or money to put toward one.  We came up with a plan to make that happen.  After my WW meeting, I got Ian out of school for the rest of the day.  You should have seen the look of suprise on his face when I showed up.  I told him we wanted to take him to lunch.  A shake from Burger King was a good start to celebrating a birthday.  And it was even the BIG one!

After doing a couple of errand things, we said we had one more stop to make.  Little did Ian know that it was at a music store called the Rock Shop.  As we walked in and told the guy behind the counter that we were there to look at guitars, Ian's eyes kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.  As did his smile.  :)

This is the face of a boy who has just realized that he is getting a guitar for his 10th birthday.  He couldn't stop smiling.  And frankly, neither could I.  :)  We showed Ian his options....and the $3999 electric base WASN'T one.....and it took him all of 3 seconds to chose his guitar.  He knew that it was the right one.

So for this birthday, we chose to make an investment.  An investment in Ian's future as a great guitarist.  One that we know he can fulfill.  He already spends time in his room practicing the cords he's learning.  (guitar lessons provided by a friend of ours)  I'm so proud of him.

One of my favorite moments of the day was when Ian said to me...."Mom......(yes, he slipped back into MOM)....you made my dream come true.  Thank you."  You're welcome Ian.  Thank YOU for making my dream come true.  I love you!

How did we get to 10 already???

Today my middle baby turned 10.  How in the world has he been with us for 10 years already???  It just doesn't seem like it could be.  I'm sure the next 10 will fly by just as fast.  But let's not talk about that today...  A couple weeks ago I took some pictures of Ian.  Here are some of my favorites.   And yes, I can't wait to scrap them.  :)

Happy Birthday, Ian!  I am so blessed to have you in my life.  I love you!

Scrapbookers Anonymous...

Have you been over to Scrapbookers Anonymous lately?  There is still time to get your entry in for this month's challenge.....stamping!  Use your stamps to make patterned paper and 3 embellishments.  Then use your scraps to make a card.  Here is my card.  Make sure you link your's up so I can check out your creation!  

Off to celebrate Ian's 10th birthday.  I'll be back later with a birthday post.  Wow...how did he get to be 10 already???  

Frosted Designs...

Happy Friday Everyone!!  Frosted Designs has a new challenge up for their Fabulous Friday challenge.  This time around its to make a project/layout/card with the theme "Armed forces/Patriotic".  When I saw this challenge I had to put my thinking cap on.  Since moving to New Zealand, we haven't celebrated Armed Forces Day (May 21) or Memorial Day (May 30).  I thought back to last 4th of July, our first American holiday here and decided to make a layout with those pictures and a little American twist.

 
Here it was just another day.  There were no parades, no fireworks, no warm weather, and no BBQs.  Actually it was a little depressing knowing our friends and family back "home" were celebrating American's freedom.  So we did something we have never done on the 4th of July.  We went to snow.  Yep.  Snow!!  We drove about 45 minutes to an hour and found snow.  It was so cold!  As it should be with snow and winter.  :)  I'm really glad I captured our first different 4th of July.  This year, we are planning another trip to the snow!

So, whether you celebrate Memorial Day, 4th of July or not, I hope you can join us in our "Armed forces/Patriotic" challenge.  Head on over to Frosted Designs and check out the amazing projects made by my teammates.  They are stunning!  Make sure you link up your project so I can check it out!  Thanks for stopping by.  And Happy TODAY!!!  :)

Getting back to normal...

Since my parents left on Monday....was that just 3 days ago????......I've been trying to get back to nomal daily life.  Its been a bit of a challenge since I've felt like a balloon that just lost all its air.  Having my parents here was wonderful, seeing them leave was painful, and not knowing when we'll be togehter again is just plain hard.

The easy part of getting back to normal life was getting the boys to school each day, caring for them when they came home, doing the laundry and house cleaning.  The hard part was going to the grocery store where I had just been with my Mom before they left, wishing they were here for tea, and the quiet of the house.  Not like they are noisy people but having extras in the house just makes for more noise, more converstation.  It was really hard for me to sit at my scrap table and not have my Mom across from me.  Even as I write this, I miss having her here.

So this first layout was a "just get it done" and move on.  I had been thinking on the sketch for Sketchy Thursdays and had pictures in mind but not really a plan.  So this is what I ended up with.

It all started simple enough.  "Mum....can I make some biscuits and use your sifter?"  And then he turned into the mad baker!  I mean, look at that face!  I love these photos.  And this is so Aron!  This page is a little flat from what I've been playing with but I'm glad to have it finished.

This next layout came together a little easier.  I'm actually going to enter it into 3 different challenges.  I usually don't like to do that but I'm running a little behind on my scrapping this month.  Over at Scrap Jacked the challenge this time around is to scrap lift one of their designers.  I've not played along with this site before but thought it would be fun to give it a go.  So I chose Mandy's layout to scrap lift.

I'm also going to enter this into These are a few of my Favorite Things challenge to use your favorite photos.  Our 9 year old son Ian took these pictures.  When he gets the camera, he becomes a little paparazzi snapping away as fast as he can before I take it back.  He is a boy after my own heart!  :)  The last challenge I'm entering this one in is for ScrapFit's "stand by your man" challenge.  I could use just about any page for this challenge as its to incorporate a man in your life.  I have plenty of pages with my "men" in them.  :)  Overall, I was pretty happy with the way this one turned out.  I thought it fitting to make my grey "flowers" out of scraps from one of Bryce's t-shirt.  And yes, he knew I had cut it up.  :)

My last layout for today is going to be entered into White With 1's challenge for this month.  This time around it was orange and scallops.  I just love this picture of Ian.  When we visited the Botanical Gardens in Christchurch, he said he would help point out pretty flowers for me to take photographs of.  Of all the photos I took that day, this one is my favorite.  I totally would not have scrapped this picture this way so I'm glad to have found this challenge.

Well, that's all for today.  I'm glad to have gotten my scrapping mojo back.  Time for a bit of a clean up and then start another project.  And Mom.....when you read this, I totally wish you were sitting across from me.  Love you.  :)

Have a happy day Everyone!