Mean Scrapbook Mommy and Bad Band Mommy

There are times Kat just doesn't want to pose for the camera on demand. Her 18th birthday was one of those times, but we did it anyway. These were taken at the railroad tracks in downtown Abilene. The band pictures were taken all throughout the marching season. I didn't take all of these, in fact, I didn't take most of them. There were taken by various band parents who were kind enough to share with me. First the 18th birthday layout. This one uses Bazzil cardstock, and scraps including Basic Grey Phoebe, ProvoCraft Euro Vintage, DCWV, Me and My Big Ideas and Fancy Pants. Lots of ribbon scraps too. The sketch I used is the first one in this month's Page Maps.

The band LO uses DCWV's Music Stack (getting lots of good mileage out of that one!) and some Paper Studio paper along with Offray ribbon and some Sticko cardstock music stickers. I can't remember the brand of the letters, but they came from Hobby Lobby. The sketch is based on one I found at everything-about-scrapbooking.com This lady has some great sketches.

More Senior Album

This layout is a repeat of this one that I did for Gizzy's circle journal. We had so much fun photographing those outfits that we decided to add some of Kat's newer clothes too. And then I went to town with the embellishments. The pp is from the ablum kit we got at Hobby Lobby for her senior scrapbook. She loves these colors and fleur de lis desgins. It's K&Company, I believe. I kept some of the pre-designed pages to use and others to cut up and use, because, you know, I just can't handle following someone else's plan exactly. :)

The tags on the side we saved from clothes and accessories. Look closely at the two necklaces. Kat made those. The turquoise, brown and cream beaded one has an old earring of my mother's as the charm. The other one Kat coiled copper wire and attached it to a stone she had. I think both are beautiful.

The other stickers and jewels are K&Company and DCWV. The title is cut using the Paisley Cricut cartridge.

I think I may have come up with a complete, if unorthodox, solution for my stitching issues. I downloaded ArcSoft Scan-n-Stitch Deluxe and scanned and stitched each page. I couldn't get a satisfactory joint between the pages, so for that I went back to the Paint method. It worked. I'm sure there's an easier way, but I haven't found it yet.

Back to the Senior Album

I decided I'd better get busy and finish up Kat's senior album, so this week I'm going to try to do several layouts for it. This one is about her work at church with our Wednesday night children's program. She was the pre-school teacher this year. The kids adored her. She came up with some very good lessons, kept their interest (and discipline!) and was always quick to lead them during their music time. She started out getting community service hours for her goverment class, but ended up doing it all year and loving it.

For this layout I used paper from DCWV's Music Stack, borders and letters from Marcela by K and stickers from Sticko. Sorry for the strange stitching job, I don't have the hang of putting together larger layouts yet.

Circle Journal

This is Nena's Truth or Dare Journal. She had us take a truth and a dare. The truth I choose was to tell about an embarassing kitchen moment. The dare was to use lots and lots of texture on the page.

This layout recalls a day during the summer in HS when my dad asked me to fry some frozen french fries for lunch. I didn't turn off the stove correctly and the skillet caught fire. I did try to use a fire extingusher, but hit the fire in the wrong spot and it jumped up to the vent-a-hood above. There was plastic on the hood since it was not drawing air, but blowing and that started to melt. I finally got the fire out with baking soda, but there was some damage. Since we lived in a parsonage, the church had to know. Boy did I get teased for years afterward about cooking fries.

For this LO I used lots of scraps as well as some yummy metallic pp that Nancyroo gave me (thanks Nancy!) Lots of torn and curled edges a little ribbon, some thickers and ink all add texture. The pictures are from the internet and I cut the boring white background away from the fire extingusher and sanded the edges of the others to add another layer of texture. So this CJ goes in the box and to the PO tomorrow. Headed your way, Cheri!

Circle Journal: a Big Dare

For this Truth or Dare challenge journal I had to take a photo of a compelete stranger in some public place and then make up a life story for them. So at my nephew's graduation, I snapped several of what my daughter calls "stalker" pictures and chose this one. So here let me introduce you to the fictional "James Marshall". I used a single page sketch from scrapbooking at about.com and arranged it to be a 2 pager. Then I raided my scrap pile and found enough scraps to get this done. Oh and I found a great article on how to use Microsoft Paint to stitch scans, so I'm back in the stitching business. For those who were interested in stitching as well, http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art7487.asp

Antique Senior Window

Hmmm...that sounds like the senior is antique, not the window, but you get the idea. This is a window we found at an antique store a long time ago. We had to replace glass in 5 of the panes, but it was worth it. I tooks some of the lovely photos of Kat taken by Christa Holland (see link to the right for more of her fabulousness) and made a layout with each. Then I put them on some cardboard (no, not acid, free, but neither is an antique window.) Oh and Lori, two of the cardboard pieces have your mailing address, from our last CJ. LOL. This is the second window like this I've done. The other is here:  http://www.scrapjazz.com/myjazz/index.php?mod=galleries&u=20907&m=view&id=415311&start=160&page=1.

 

Each pane has it's own theme, but they're all on vintage style papers. This will be hanging above my sofa. I have another window to fill for Arch in two years. I'm looking forward to that.

                                                                    The top row up close.

The bottom row up close.

And now to finish rearranging all the stuff in the living room so this fits....

Inspiration

I know sermons are SUPPOSED to inspire us, but this morning's sermon had a secondary inspiration: a layout. I took these pictures (and more) at an old cemetary near here that was covered with bluebonnets, irises and other flowers recently. I just haven't had time to do anything with the pictures yet. So when I opened my Bible and read this morning's scripture, my mind started going. Yes, I paid attention to the sermon as well. It was very good. I flipped over the outline of the sermon that was in the bulletin and sketched out this layout. Then this afternoon, I put it all together. The scripture quoted is excerpted from Colossians 3:15-24. It says: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him...Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord...

I'm hoping to get several LO's done the next couple of weeks, so check back often, I might just get something done!