All Things Scrap

I have run across several good scrappin' sites lately that I thought I would share. I do a lot of blog hopping and that seems to be how I find most of these. Some time last week I found Little Book of Sketches. I have really started using sketches a lot, so every time I find some new ones, I put them to use. This layout is using sketch #72 from their site. If you visit, leave a comment that you heard about them from me, it will put us both in a drawing for prizes!
Another great blog I found is Pub Calls. I like challenges and this blog list everything out there, or at least it seems like everything. They also list Design Team calls and Publishing calls if you're interested in that. From Pub Calls I found two other cool places. Feeling Scrappy and I Love to Create. Feeling scrappy is a new site and already has a great community and gallery. I Love to Create is hosting an online weekend crop that Telah and I are going to participate in. If you'd like to join us, come on over. I'll be participating 100% tonight and then off and on Saturday.

This weekend I've got two baby showers to go to. Yesterday I altered some letters as part of my gift. I'm running a risk here that the person receiving these will see them, but they are getting them this weekend so I just decided to go ahead and post them! The I is for a baby boy. This couple has a wonderful adoption story. Little I should be joining them in just a few months! And the A is for a baby girl. (bet you couldn't tell..LOL) Have a great weekend everyone!

Family Matters - Picture Overload!

I've been trying to complete this layout for 4 days. I stamped the flowers and cut them out, and even though there aren't that many I was so ready to be finished cutting those things out! Plus the chipboard letters were bare, so I had to cover them with paper. So this probably wins the longest time spent on a layout award.

This week we've had some family in town from Florida. My granddad's first cousin was here to conduct a gospel meeting at my home congregation. We had a mini-reunion while he was here and got together with all the cousins that could attend. Now my family really keeps up with the family tree, all the first cousins at this get together were my Great-Grandfather and his siblings kids. You put a bunch a people in a room that grew up together in the 40's and 50's and you hear some interesting and funny stories. Back before TV's, Playstations, cell phones and computers, kids had to be a lot more creative on their own. The group picture is of all the first cousins and there were several that weren't there. Good times!








Here's Natalie today playing in the boppy. She is so close to sitting up on her own.

Random Tuesday

I've been tagged by Jessi to post 7 random facts about myself. I really had to give this some thought and even as I start this post I don't have seven things in mind so we'll see where this goes.

1. I love roller coasters/thrill rides. I will get on anything. And I mean anything. The faster, the higher, the better. My theme park experience is limited to Six Flags, Universal Studios and Disney World. I would love to be able to go to different parks around the U.S. and ride some faster, taller coasters.

2.I love to travel. Up until about 3 or 4 years ago I really hadn't been all that many places. But the job I took in 2003 allowed me to travel lots of places in the U.S. A few of my favorites are Washington D.C., Seattle, and Austin, Texas. One of the most beautiful was San Luis Obispo, California. This second picture was one I took while I was there. I would love to go back when John could go with me. There are so many places I'd like to go.

3. I've always lived in Alabama. As a matter of fact, my Alabama roots go back as far as my Great-Grandparents. Maybe even further than that, but I do know that at least 4 generations have lived here in North Alabama.

4. There are 8 preachers in my extended family. There may be more than that, but I can think of 8 just right off the top of my head. They are spread out across the south in TN, GA, FL, AL, and TX.

5. My favorite season is summer. I don't like cold weather at all, and I love wearing capri's and flip flops.

6. John and I dated for 3 months before he even kissed me. I was beginning to wonder if maybe we were just friends and when I asked him what we were, his response was.."homosapiens". He had no idea what I meant by that question and he WAS a Biology major. LOL

7.My favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. Or more specifically, 31 flavors Mint Chocolate Chip. So far I haven't found any other brand that's as good as theirs.

So there you have it.. my random facts. Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but rather than doing that, I'll just say, if you'd like to participate, post away!

Drum Roll Please....

Here it is. The lucky bowl filled with all 23 comments. Thanks to every one who participated. It was fun seeing some new names, which led me to some new blogs. Thanks girls!

I let little bit do the honors. She reached right in and pulled just one piece of paper out like she knew exactly what she was doing.
And the proceeded to eat it...
And the winner is...

...
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...
...

Congrats Laura! Email me your address to johnandleah@juno.com and I'll send your goodies on their way! Thanks again everyone for playing. I'll have to do that again soon!

Some Layouts and a RAK!

Edited Sunday 4/22: I'm drawing a winner tomorrow for the RAK. If you haven't got your comment in, do it quick! :)

Got to spend some scrap time with my bestest scrap buddy today. We try to get together once or twice a month and scrap the day away. First on the agenda was completing the latest scrapjack.
The target layout is by Heidi Swapp. If you're a scrapper, chances are you know exactly who she is. For those who don't know, she is a very popular in the scrapbooking industry. She has her own line of products. I particularly love them because she is a total pink person and she has LOTS of girly stuff. So here's what I did:

The rest of these are some more Christmas layouts. I have to confess that I am so over the Christmas pictures. I'm making it a personal goal to do my Christmas layouts RIGHT after the holidays next year. It's so hard to get in a Chistmasey mood in the middle of April. The other baby in the pictures is Natalie's cousin Julia. She is about 4 months older than Natalie and such a cutie herself!



Now for the really fun stuff! I ran across an unbelievable deal on some Making Memories product. So I got enough to share. All you have to do is leave me a comment and you'll be entered in a drawing for this RAK. Come on lurkers, I'm giving away free stuff! Let me know you're out there! Here's a pic of what all you get.


My personal favorite is the pack of alpha rub-ons. Here's to happy scrappin!

Catching Up

Sometime last week sweet Cheryl nominated me on her blog for a blog award. I was then supposed to pick 5 great blogs and post about them. Thanks so much for the shout out Cheryl! So now it's my turn. First let me say that I read a LOT of blogs. I looked in my favorites to get a ballpark figure and it's over 50! I couldn't believe it was that many. So choosing 5 was not an easy task. So here goes.

1. My best friend Telah and I started blogging about the same time. She has a wonderful family with some super cute kids. I talk to her just about every day without fail, so it's not as if I don't know what's going on in her life but I just love reading her blog. She's the one that got me into scrapbooking and her pages always give me inspiration.

2. About the time we started blogging, Telah found a scrapbook room that someone had posted on their blog. She immediately shared the link and we both have been hooked to Amy M's blog ever since. This woman is the master organizer. She is so creative. She finds the coolest stuff and is nice enough to share it with her readers. If you need some organizational motivation, pay her a visit. Pay her a visit anyway because she's a great scrapper too and has so much neat stuff on her blog.

3. Joleen has an awesome scrapbook room also. She has just recently moved and it amazes me how organized and together her new house already is. She has a small store of a scrap space and it just makes me wish I was close enough to "shop" there. LOL She has 5 boys, one serving our country in Afghanistan. It has been such a joy to get to "know" her family and their crazy/busy everyday life.

4. This avenue of blogging has allowed me to connect to people all over the U.S. AND even Canada. Which brings me to Jessi. She is just a fun gal. Love her sense of humor. She too has some very cute kids and is always an inspiration because she can put together some really great layouts.

(are you sensing a pattern here? Almost all the blogs I read are scrappin gals!)

5. My 5th blogging girl is a woman that's going places. She is quickly becoming a scrapbooking celebrity. Mrs. Karla Dudley was recently featured on Scrapjacked, and her work is becoming very widely known in this arena. She is a wonderful artist. And her kids seem to always be getting into some kind of mischief, which she always seems to capture on film. Life with a little boy and twin girls has got to be crazy.

So there they are.. just 5 of the MANY blogs I read.

I'll leave you with this cute picture and a couple of layouts. On Friday we went out to eat and while John was trying to eat and hold Natalie at the same time, she decided she wanted a drink of his water. She has a pretty good grip too!


Last Friday night was our monthly scrap night with the gals. I'm currently mainly working on my Christmas pictures. I completed about 5 pages but this one was one of my faves. The pictures look so much better in person. And then the second layout is one I did tonight. I had to try out my new stamps from Michael's. I just recently discovered that they have mini packs of acrylic stamps for $1. The flower is from one of those packs.

6 Months Old

Natalie had her 6 month pictures today! We were supposed to go last week, but you know how that goes. Big huge scratch she put on her forehead the morning before our appointment. I called and rescheduled for today and wouldn't you know she scratched her nose last night! The nose scratch wasn't as obvious as the big forehead scratch so I just figured such is life and took her on anyway. I love, love, LOVE how they all turned out. She did so well and smiled so good, unlike her 3 month pics where we had the hardest time getting her to crack a smile. The girl took about 70 pictures and the great thing about Portrait Innovations is that you can get the CD with all the images as part of your package. Makes it really easy to post them and to print my own 4x6's of some of the ones we didn't order prints of. Here are just a few. And I must say again that I have the most beautiful baby in the world! :)

Weekend Recap

This past weekend we headed up to Nashville's Opryland Hotel for the Lads to Leaders youth convention. I've been a part of this program since I was about 12 years old, as a participant through college and now as a coach. Many great memories at the Opryland Hotel. If you've ever been to this hotel you know what a beautiful, huge place it is. If you haven't, it is quite a sight to behold. There are about 3000 guest rooms and 9 acres of indoor gardens. There's even a 44 foot waterfall. Natalie absolutely loved it. There was so much for her to look at. She loved the water, the fountains, and seemed to really enjoy people watching too. :) Here are just a few of the pics. On Sunday morning before we headed home, we walked around with Telah's family and took some more pictures. We all got so tickled at Andrew and his photo face and poses. Here are John and I doing the "Andrew cheese smile". And then this last one is one that John took. He always does a great job taking pictures for me and this one is one of my favorites. Glad to be home, just still trying to get caught up on housework and sleep!

Happy Easter

Have a great Easter weekend everyone! Hope the Easter Bunny is good to you!
~Love, Natalie, Daddy and Mommy

Photo Fun

Just spending some leisurely time at home with my girl the past couple of days. Got some cute pics of her. I got the laundry basket idea from Jamie, after I saw her pics on her blog. Thanks for the idea Jamie! Natalie loved the basket. :) She's such a baldy...I didn't have any hair til I was almost 2 and it's not looking very promising for her either. LOL She also just recently discovered that her foot reaches her mouth.





I'm planning on dying some eggs tomorrow and hope to have another mini-photo shoot with her and some Easter props. Then we go to Portrait Innovations on Thursday for her 6 month pictures.

I went to Wal-Mart this morning for an oil change and had to kill about an hour, so Nat and I wandered around the store. I ended up in the toy section and there are some really cute toys out there. One of my favorites that I saw is Fisher-Price's Amazing Animals series. I first saw this last week when my cousin Jan was showing me the one she has for her grandbaby. It is the cutest little train with animals. They make lots of different animals in this series and all of them are so cute! I am so gonna be a toy junkie as Natalie gets old enough to play with these things.

Six on Sunday and some Layouts

Found a cute little meme online tonight, so I thought I'd post it.

1. What was your favorite animated cartoon series when you were little?
Just one? I had several: Looney Tunes, Smurfs, Garfield and even the Transformers
2. What was your favorite "live action" children's series when you were little?
Again.. more than one..Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers
3. Who is your favorite muppet character? I like Kermit the Frog but I always thought the Swedish Chef was so funny
4. Take the quiz: What is your Sesame Street personality?

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times. You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun. How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

I don't really agree with part of this....silly songs and wild pranks aren't something I do..well maybe the silly songs now that I have a baby. LOL
5. Have you ever appeared on a locally-produced children's show, or would you have ever wanted to? Yes, when I was 4 or 5. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called..each episode featured a different group of local kids and we read stories and the "host" played an electric xylophone.

6. Cartoons like "The Flintstones," though animated, were really intended for adults. What's your favorite grown-up cartoon? I can't really think of any but I liked the Flintstones

Would love to see your answers to the questions too. If you'd like to participate, you can leave the answers in my comments or post a comment leading us to your blog for the answers. There's a kid in all of us right?

This weekend just flew right on by! Spent the first part of the weekend with Telah and we got some good scrap time in. Here are the pages I completed. This first one is for Pencil Lines. They are using Hambly product with the sketch this time. I don't own any Hambly, so this was the closest thing I could come up with.



In other scrap news, the latest scrapjacked is up. My blog buddy Karla is being scrapjacked! If you scrapbook, join in the fun, jack up her page and show her some love! Way to go Karla! I'm just so excited for you!!