Early Morning Scrapping!

Are you like this? If something wakes me up in the middle of the night, no matter how tired I am, or how hard I try, there is no way I'm going back to sleep!

Kevin is a saint, because he knows this about me, and if one of the kids comes in to see us in the middle of the night he always takes care of them so I can get a good night's rest . . . ahhhh! I love that man!

So, . . . this little trait of mine, combined with my scrapbooking gene isn't always the best combination. I mean, if I have an idea pop into my head during the night, I can't wait until morning . . . I've gotta get up and go put it on paper! :)

This morning was one of those times . . . and so . . . I have two more layouts for you today, born this morning at approximately 5 am! ;)

(Can you tell I was in a "circle" mood?! LOL!) See ya!

House Stuff and New Layouts

At the beginning of the summer my husband and I came across this 1.5 acre lot that was a "diamond in the rough". We decided to purchase it and build our dream home on it! Fun! This is a picture of the land before we bought it. Believe it or not, there is actually an old, neglected house behind the tall bushy trees in the middle of the photo.


As part of the purchase agreement the old existing home was to be knocked down. While tearing down a cinder-block wall, the driver found an 8' snake! Thankfully, he "disposed" of it for us and hauled it off with the rubble. Whew! I hope he doesn't have any more "friends".

Here's what it looks like today after the home being torn down and the land is now levelled. Hopefully, we'll begin retention work and foundation digging next week! Just gotta get the permits from the city and we're on our way!


This week is my husband's "Birthday Week". (We like to take advantage of our birthday privileges for as long as possible around here. LOL!) He drives we nuts sometimes because he hates it when we get him gifts. All he wanted to do was go and work on the lot without any distractions. He spent all morning working in the "forest" section of our lot next to the creek clearing out dead trees and cleaning things up. It's looking really good! I can't wait for the kids to have their adventures back in there!

Camryn was such a cutie while we were visiting dad. She's almost walking, and all she wanted to do was crawl around in the dirt. It was alright with me since I was able to get some cute shots of her including her trademark squishy-nose smile!

Last week I was thrilled to find out that I had won a $25 gift certificate from sugardumplin.com from entering a challenge. Awesome, eh?! I used my certificate to buy their darling September Seasonal kit featuring lots of fun Foof-a-la papers and school-themed embellies.

I decided to redo my previous layout using these pictures. Have you ever done that before? You look at a layout and decide you just don't like it as much as when you were creating it? You can see the previous layout in a previous post here on my blog. The colors I chose were too dark for these rainy-day shots of my daughter. I decided to brighten it up a with the red, yellow, and blue color combination in the paper. I like it much better now!

I wish I could take the design credit on this one-year layout of Camryn, but it's a total scraplift from my fellow Carolee's Creations DT friend, Danielle Calhoun. Check out her gallery on Two Peas. She does some amazing work!

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/userprofile.asp?user_id=242535

Here's one I was playing around with last night. I had fun combining some different colors on this one. Along with the primary colors I added some browns, teal and olive green stitching to tone it down a bit.

October Kit @ Crop Addict

I am one of the lucky people that gets to design for Crop Addict each month. Debbie puts together some really fun kits! In October the kit will feature the new Piggy Tales Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater Collection as well as Basic Grey's Stella Ruby Collection. Below I share a few projects I made using this fun kit! Thanks for stopping by!

Lazy Sunday Afternoons

My kids excitedly ran to me saying, "Mom, Mom! Thank you! Thank you!" I responded with a confused, "What?!" (I mean when does this happen spontaneously?) "The Boomerang channel is back on the TV!"

I knew right then that this was the official start to the football season! Boomerang meant that dad had called and upped the Satellite service so that he wouldn't miss any of his precious games! LOL!

That same day I snapped this silly picture of my daughter. She looks just like a monkey, so I thought it would make a great page to record one of the nicknames my hubby calls our kids, "Monkey Brain".

This one is just a 6 X 12 I was playing around on. I LOVE doing this size! At first I wasn't so sure, but now when I am in the mood to "play" and not feel pressured to create something stunning, I'll work on this size.

This layout is a picture I took of this silly-looking rattle my daughter received as a baby. I just have always liked this little guy and thought I would snap a quick picture of him before my dog chewed him into unrecognition!

It's almost been a year since we had this family photo taken. I just couldn't find the right paper to go with it. Finally! Carolee's Creations came out with this great line called "Timeless". I really love this black and white toile and loved it for this layout.

Check back tomorrow, I'll be posting my latest creations with the Crop Addict October kit! See you then!

Real Quick!

Here are a couple of new ones I've done! Talk to you soon!

My Scrap Room

If you were to ask me what my favorite room in my house was, I would most definitely (and immediately!) answer, my Scrap Room.

I LOVE that I have my own little place to store all my goodies. I love that I can decorate it anyway I want with having to consult with my opinionated husband first. I love that it is my territory, and I can leave it as messy as I want to!

So, I thought I would share with you some pictures of my space. Most of them were taken before I set up my "Stamping Station", so that is why that one photo looks a little out of place. I know that a lot of people like to see their supplies while they are working. Well, I am the exact opposite. Seeing everything out in the open really frustrates me. I feel much better when all my clutter is behind closed doors and hidden.

My stamping station is a new favorite part of my room. It is a kitchen island that I bought at a consignment shop. I placed it on my wall underneath my magnet board and I have all my acrylic stamps stored in binders underneath on the shelves. I keep my inks in the drawer and my acrylic blocks and other goodies in baskets on the top.

Thanks for taking a peek!
Jana

Lovin' Challenges!

Recently I am really getting into scrapbook challenges. Not really for any other reason except that they are so much fun! I love that they get my creative juices flowing. I love the combinations your brain can come up with when you are working on a "punch list", so to speak. I love that it stretches me out of what I would normally do. I love that my brain has to approach the page at a different angle. They are really fun!

Right now I am participating in a Top Designer Challenge/Contest at badgirlskits.com. The first class was to use Color Theory to communicate the mood on your page. I decided to do mine on Fall. It is my favorite season and I also wanted to do a page about myself. I decided to not use any pictures and just let the colors do the talking for me. My layout is pictured above.

Spice Girl!

Last time I posted some spicey pictures of my daughter on her first day of Preschool. Well, today I scrapped them in a spicey way to go right along with them! :)

Thanks to thescrapdragons.blogspot.com for the inspiration with their fun challenge!

Gettin' Excited for FALL!

This past weekend we spent at a cabin in the mountains of Utah. It was beautiful! And can you believe it . . . the leaves are already starting to turn!
The air is cooler now and that means my favorite season is just days away! Yippee! Here is a quick Halloween card I put together just using bits and pieces I had laying around. It's a little funky, but that's what makes it so fun!

In a previous post I told you about my cute kids inventing interesting things to do to pass the days of Summer. Here's a layout I did today of another of their creative ideas. This time they decided to have a neighborhood parade. They made and passed out flyers, got their bikes and wagons ready, dressed up in their soccer uniforms, and even found candy to throw out to the by-standers. The "by-standers" completed their roles by setting out blankets and chairs to reserve their spots hours ahead of time. Too cute! I had to snap a few shots. We'll be moving in a year and I don't want my kids to ever forget the fun times they had in this neighborhood.

Crazy Month!

Wow! This month has flown by! With three kids' birthdays (and all the shopping, party planning, etc. that goes along with them), getting ready for Back-to-School, last-minute camping trips and pouring through the plans of the house were building, I've felt like I've barely had a chance to breathe! Although it was nutty, it was sure a lot of fun, too. And now . . . I have tons of pictures to scrap! Yay! Here are a few layouts I did for Carolee's Creations of the kids going back to school.






Right now, Maryn is at her first day of Preschool. She was so funny! She fought with me all morning because she wanted to wear a swimsuit cover-up, candy necklace, blue sunglasses and her pink cowboy boots as her outfit. She thought she looked quite fancy in that get-up. Unfortunately, Mom didn't agree, and so she was mad at me for making her change into something else. Being the scrappy-mommy that I am, I took some great pictures and now can document this defiant day! Hee hee hee! Here's the before and after. Can't wait to scrap this page!