Pumpkin Patch Day

Yesterday was pumpkin patch day! My sister-in-law invited us to join her MOPS group at the pumpkin farm several weeks ago. I made the mistake to bringing it up to my children to see if it was something they would want to do. WHAT was I thinking? They hounded me that day and EVERY day since then about going. ("What time are we going? Are we going today?") I finally put it on our big family calendar so they could see what day we were going and we have counted down the days to it. I guess that is preschool math at its best, huh?

I took my middle three children. Even Anna at 10 years old was excited about it. I warned her that it was going to be geared toward preschoolers and she didn't care. We all had fun and I was able to get some fun photos because I wasn't hauling a baby with me. Elizabeth had no real desire to go and stayed home to babysit Rachel.

I really had the bug to scrapbook so I spent a little time in the afternoon yesterday with a couple of these photos. This top page features my oldest nephew. This photo was just begging me to scrap it. He is just the perfect picture of the pumpkin patch with his smile showing how proud he is of the pumpkin he picked himself and his bright orange sweatshirt. I used Doris Castle's My Heart's Delight kit and full credits can be found here.



This second layout is of my Anna showing off her pumpkin pick in front of the hay wagons that took us out to the pumpkin patch. She spent a lot of time picking and had difficultly making a decision. I created this using the Cottage Arts Naturals 4 Paper Pak and Scrap.Edges 6 Brushes and Overlays. These textures are just wonderful. I created that pumpkin using some simple clip are as a guide and cutting out paper pieces. Then I used the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to give it some shades and highlights.

Since the fall is my favorite season, I am sure you will be seeing more pages like this in the near future.

2 More Scrapbook Pages

I just wanted to share a couple more pages I completed in the last couple of days. Don't stop me now, I'm on a roll. I am scrappin' like crazy and having so much fun. Perhaps I am just making up for lost time this year because I have gotten so far behind.
This top page has photos from a couple of weeks ago of my baby girl. She has been acting so big and not at all like a little baby. Credits for this can be found here.

This second one is from back in June. I don't know why, but my kids are crazy about romping around in the pouring rain. Here they are soaked to the skin. Credits for this one can be found here.

I'm off to a birthday party - have a great day!

Scrappin'!

I had a burning desire to do a little scrappin' today. I truly have many other things I should be doing (laundry), but this went super fast with the help of a fun template. Everything here is from Katie Mann. Full credits may be found here.

This is my photogenic little Abi. She rarely takes a bad photo.

Journaling for this reads:

Abi - I wonder what “hats” you will wear in your future. Here you are practicing to be a firefighter at your cousin Simon’s birthday party. Remember you can be anything if you follow God’s leading.9-2-07

I have to dedicate this page to my mom. Let's just say she is not a fan of the whole red hat movement. This also proves that you can do a "Red Hat" page for someone under the age of 50!

Happy Times

I just wanted to pop in and share this scrapbook page I did the other day. It was one of those pages where I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it. So I used a little of this and a little of that an kept messing with it. Finally I just had to say, "Enough is enough!" and consider it done. Everything here is by Doris Castle and full credits can be found here.

This is a photo of my littlest taken at a family reunion last month. She does this funny little crawl on her feet instead of her knees. I should really get more pictures of this because I know it won't be long and she will be walking and this will be gone. Her first birthday is in 6 days. Where did that year go? Didn't I just bring her home last month? Time may be flying, but I really love this age. She is so much fun!

Tonight, my book club is meeting and we are going to get to actually chat with the author of the book we read. Isn't that exciting? I am off to get dinner going so I am not late.

CD Case Calendar

I created this CD case calendar for my mom for her birthday. (Happy Birthday, Mom!) It was really fun and easy using these templates from Cottage Arts. I used all 16 months that were included in the set. After I created all these pages and printed them, I got out an empty CD case and realized that I didn't know how one of these was supposed to be put together. Perhaps it was a blond moment [sigh]. In case anyone else is as clueless as I was, here is a great site with picture directions. Just what I needed.

Must-See Video

This video is well worth watching!

Gratuitous Giftie: Old-Fashioned Calling Cards

I thought I would have some fun this morning and pass along another gratuitous giftie for all y'all. These little cards have an antique flavor and remind me of the little calling or visiting cards that were used during the Victorian era. One would leave one with their name imprinted on it at a home where they had visited. Instead, I think these would make great little journaling cards on your scrapbook layouts.

The cards may be downloaded here.

Enjoy!

Serious Scrapbooking

TWO pages in one day. That IS serious, don't ya' think? I don't know how I did it, but I managed to squeeze in a second scrapbook page this afternoon. I kinda cheated because this one is a quickpage. I just inserted the photos and added a title and journaling.

In case you are interested, the journaling reads:
It is not everyday that one of the giant tortoises at the zoo comes right up to the rail to say hello to its visitors, but we were lucky enough to see this slow-moving creature up close and personal. The kids were thrilled to get a chance to touch him. Abi was happy to see the tortoise, but unhappy with me for making her step back so I could snap a photo .

Credits for the page can be found here.

Scrapped a Page

and it feels so good! I have really gotten away from my scrapbooking this year. This is not by choice, but just because of busy-ness. Now that I am not spending any time designing, I am hoping to find a little time for scrappin' like I did this afternoon.

I snapped this photo of my son at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. I was thrilled to find paper that matched the colors in the picture so well and had a hint of flowers without being too girly. My little man prefers things manly! Being the only boy among five siblings, he tries to distinguish himself by choosing things that fit his definition of masculine. On the day this was taken he was focusing on getting a picture all to himself and not the fact that he is sitting among the flowers. ;-)

Credits for the page can be found here.

Gratuitous Giftie

Well, it's official. I am no longer a Scrap Outside the Box designer. I'm retired. But just because I am retired from there, doesn't mean I am completely retiring from designing. It is in my blood. I don't think I can stop my creating any more than I can stop my breathing. So, I am planning on using this blog as an outlet for that creativity by sharing little gifts from time to time. I have one today that includes a September 2007 calendar in PNG form along with a coordinating digital background. Hope you enjoy it. Download it here.