Lots of Noel Mignon

The great thing about the Getaway Kit (1 left!!!) is that you can use it for more than just vacation pages. Here is a page I did of a family photo from 6 years ago. I feel like our families are the most important people in our lives and thought the "Fragile: Handle with Care" went along with that sentiment perfectly. I deliberately stamped the camera image lightly so it wouldn't compete with the photo. I love the timeworn feel it adds to the tag grouping. The flowers are punched out from the book paper from the kit. (Blue & Cream trim and mini brads are from my stash; Everything else is included in the kit) The next thing I have for you tonight are several cards. These adorable cards are available HERE, HERE and HERE. They are so cute on their own, but I decided to dress them up a little with a few embellishments leftover from my kits and stash. :)

Well, if you are a fan of Noel's kits, you should know that she has just put up another BEAUTIFUL kit as well as an Add On! I KNOW!!! WOOHOOOO! :D

Introducing the Picnic Basket Kit and Picnic Basket Add-On (Click on the links for more photos and to order)

Picnic Basket Kit

Picnic Basket Add-On

July Sweet Pea Scraps

Hello all my scrappy friends! It's Friday night and my hubby is bugging me to come get ready to go out to dinner as a family . . . so I'm making this a quick one! (I had it in my head that I NEED to get this up today! LOL!)

If you are receiving the July Kit from Sweet Pea Scraps you are in store for a bunch of Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey, Little Yellow Bicycle goodness! :D Not to mention all the fun "extras" . . . like cool ribbons, stamps, chipboard, buttons, journal blocks and more! :D :D :D



Here are my projects from this month.

These pictures are totally Jensyn! She is in this cute stage of exploring doing her own hair (thus the ponytail) and entering the preteen years. I love how confident she is now, but I can see her starting to be self-conscious about some things. It makes me nervous and I want her to not be so hard on herself and always remember the Natural Beauty she is . . . both inside and out.
Owen was so excited for Crazy Hair Day at school, but wasn't sure how his mom was going to help him out when his hair isn't that long. He wanted NOTHING to do with girly bows or anything (well, duh!) so I put his hair in spikes. Being the Star Wars fan he is, he was quite happy that he looked a little like Darth Maul. LOL!
Just a fun day at our favorite park! (Sorry, the color is a little funky-weird in this photo, but I was trying to get the clear buttons to show up. Oh, well!)
My brothers and Kevin playing basketball in front of our house . . . a yearly Spring tradition. :D
Poor Camryn, feeling sad that I wouldn't let her walk through the forest with barefeet on our family picnic. She cracks me up! She gets so mad when I won't let her do things . . . it's definitely "hard" being the youngest! :D
I wanted this layout to convey a Western feel, thus the added twine and whipstitching.

Have a great weekend!

Paper Trunk Projects

I was thrilled and completely honored to be the Trunk Designer of the Month at Paper Trunk. Thanks Carrie, for letting me play with all of Paper Trunk's yummylicious-textured paper and the fun border stamps! I had a blast!

M is my daughter with many moods and expressions. I've been wanting to create something memorializing that about her and when Paper Trunk sent me their Chipboard Wheel I immediately knew it would be PERFECT!!! I love the way it turned out. :) Owen has been waiting for FOREVAH for his first tooth to fall out. When it finally did the last week of First Grade you can imagine how excited he was to FINALLY be part of the Invisible Toothless club. LOL!

Be sure and check out the Paper Trunk Blog during July . . . they are celebrating their First Birthday and it looks like they have some great prizes, challenges, and inspiration in store! They are also looking for a Trunk Designer for July . . . details are on the blog.

See you soon!

Reluctantly Home

We had a gorgeous time up in the Uintah Mountains. It felt wonderful to get away to some peace and quiet and just be together as a family. Life is so busy lately with building the house, that this was a much-needed getaway, a chance to reconnect with each other. The kids actually cried when it was time to come home. (I almost did, too! It's too much fun to be at the cabin!) :) How sweet is that!

We were lucky enough to see some wildlife up close and personal. These two moose were literally 20 ft. away from the cabin patio. One was a little bit bigger than the other one, but didn't seem big enough to be the mom. I've seen a mom once before and I remember being terrified of her, she was so large and protective. This one didn't seem to care much about staying close to the smaller one, so I'm thinking they were both "toddlers." They grazed in the woods for almost 10 minutes before my kids startled them. It's always fun to watch such amazing creatures!

Apparently, you can't take a nature walk with out your Nintendo DS. Hmmmmm. Who knew?
Now Maryn had the right idea! Collecting pine cones and sticks . . . now THAT is what I'm talking about! ;) Alright, I have to give Owen credit . . . his main goal of this vacation was to find the perfect hiking stick. He was quite proud of this find. :)
Jensyn is at an age where she won't let me get a "normal" picture of her. It's either a mopey face or a goofy one. LOL!
I know it's hard to tell from the pictures I get of her, but Camryn actually does smile in real life. She's just not too fond of me taking pictures of her and puts on the "indifferent" act whenever I point her way.
Mmmmmmmm! I LOVE the smell of campfires!
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In honor of my little getaway, how about a layout using the Noel Mignon Getaway Kit? (How's that for a segue? LOL! I know these kits are disappearing quickly, so if you are on the fence about one, I'd act fast.) I did this one for Sketch This #55.


I'll be back tomorrow with more layouts! See you then!
Jana

In the Mountains We Forget to Count the Days

Hello, Everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I am up in the mountains at my In-laws cabin for a few days. :) It's beautiful here and we're having a great time! I'll be back midweek with some pictures and a few new projects! See you then!

Sketch This 54

The house is quiet . . . which is kind of a rare thing now that the kids are home for the summer. The kids are outside playing in the sprinklers. My scrappy self tells me that I should be out taking pictures of them, but all I want to do is chill, read some scrappy mags, and have the house to myself for a minute. Aren't I terrible?!!! :)

I thought I would hop on the computer and share with you my latest layout for Sketch This #54. Have I told you how much I LOVE Janelle's sketches! They rock! I'm so happy to be designing for her blog. It keeps my creative juices flowing week in and week out. LOVE IT!



I did this one using the Noel Mignon Cotton Candy Kit (YIKES! Only 4 left!). Gotta love those acrylic birdies! Camryn has a love affair with crocs lately. Before I bought her a bunch for herself, she would hit the family shoe shelf in the garage each morning and pirate a couple off of her big sister. I love that in this picture she is wearing two colors! LOL! I honestly think our dog, Kiki chewed up the other companion to each of them, so now this is a new matching "set". :) Camryn doesn't care! She just likes that she can put them on and off by herself. She even wears them to nap in. LOL! I gotta get a picture of her snoozing with them on sometime. She's such a hoot!

I hope you are enjoying your summer so far! "See" you again soon! ;)

The New Getaway Kit by Noel Mignon

If you have ever taken a vacation, than you *NEED* ;) (enabling, enabling) this kit!!! I am having so much fun with the new Getaway Kit by Noel Mignon! So far I have used it to scrap a bunch of vacation photos, but I could also see this baby being used for lots of everyday topics, too! I mean, just check all those gorgeous paper and embellies . . . and that ALPHA! WOW!!!! I have lots of ideas swimming in my head with this gorgeous kit! But here are the layouts I have done with it so far.

This layout was done for the latest challenge using the amazing sketch by Virginia Tillery. Be sure and check it out HERE and post your creation! (Making Memories Puffy Alphabet stickers are from my stash)Oh ya, and please ignore that my "Go" brad is upside down . . . just noticed that! OOPS!!!
( Chico's Paradise; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)
We were able to rent this lovely Villa while visiting Anguilla in January. Part of vacationing is enjoying the places we stay. Make sure to snap a few photos of the hotel or condo you stayed in. Print the photos out in a smaller size so that you can remember all of the lovely details. (Scrap of green paper from my stash)

Scrap Rooms and House Update

This post is all about houses . . . not really scrapping related . . . so I apologize ahead of time if that completely bores you. LOL!

Saturday, my hubby and I went to a Parade of Homes a few counties away from us. I took a few pictures of some scrap rooms just for you! Enjoy!

This one was crazy-cool! Black and white and elegant! It was located in a loft that had windows on both sides of the room and looked down over a family room through french doors. Really cool! Check out those cabinets! I wish I had taken my good camera with me to do this room justice, it was really pretty! My favorite part were the cabinets with glass doors. One of them had staggered dowel rods for wrapping paper. Of course, I would add bolts and bolts of ribbons. Wouldn't that be fun?!!!

This second one was right off the kitchen open to the rest of the house. I love the window seat just beckoning someone to come and chit-chat with you while you work. So fun!



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Today we had a big Open House for realtors. Which means the past few days I couldn't do any scrapping. :( Monday we had our carpets shampooed to get ready for it and then yesterday was cleaning the house top to bottom. On top of that, I had to keep the four kids from messing it up until the Open House was over. LOL! I'm glad we can be "normal" again and just eat and run around like we normally do.

Our realtor is doing such a great job! It's nice to let someone else worry about it for you. :) She sent a photographer to our house a couple of weeks ago for a home photo shoot. I've never seen my house look so good! Seriously, I don't think I've even had that many pictures taken of ME?! LOL! Here's the online tour with all the pictures, so you can see for yourself!

http://browser.3sixtyonline.com/mls_number/803197

Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that our house will sell soon! ;)

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My friend, Jenn, asked me to update what is going on with the new house. The brick is done and now the soffit is being installed. After that, the rock will go on the sections that are still plain. WOOHOOOO! Slowly but surely, it's beginning to look like a liveable home!




I included a few more pictures of the backyard so you can see the forest area (that's what made me fall in love with this lot!). On the other side of our house is a reservoir. It's actually quite peaceful feeling, but I think we need to cover up that barbed wire fence somehow. Maybe bushes, maybe another fence . . . we haven't decided yet.






Inside, the tile in all the bathrooms was finished. I don't know if you remember, but while we were on vacation in April the first tile people we had did such a cruddy job that we had to rip it all out and start over. It was sad to put so much tile to waste, but I am sooooo glad we did. The second group we hired did an impeccable job and I couldn't be happier!!!





Trim is done in the basement and almost complete on the main level. Painter's have actually started working in the basement, so that's fun to see colors starting to go up!

Master Bedroom
Living/Dining Room Arch Trim
Looking towards front door from the kitchen nook
Looking towards the Great room from the Kitchen
Owen's Bedroom Trimwork
Jensyn's Bedroom Trimwork
Looking towards hallway from Basement Family Room


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Well, thanks for putting up with so much "house" stuff! LOL! I'm excited to do some scrapping tonight, and hopefully I'll have some new projects to show you soon!