Using winter paper without winter

So you find this beautiful winter themed paper in your local scrapbook store...fabulous snow, frost, themed paper...but you don't live up north and your snowy days are limited to one or two per year. What's a girl to do? Find another use...


I fell in love with this Bo Bunny line called Midnight Frost but I did not have snow pictures. I covered up the "snowflake" portion of the paper and the blue and burgundy colors in this line were perfect for a boy-themed page about my son.

Tim Holtz Configurations Box

Another challenge for me from my LSS -- (I love how I am asked to create things that I would normally not think about--because when I finish the project, I have learned so much!)  I am a mini album/layout kind of girl...but I was asked to make a sample for our store using one of the Tim Holtz Configurations Boxes.  Yikes!!!!...BUT SO GLAD I DID.   It was SO much fun!  I used a paper I liked for a Valentines theme and the Tim Holtz gaffer tape for the box.  Then, I had a blast picking out embellishments, trinkets, stickers...all kinds of fun things (even a mini album by Maya Road) to put inside.  This is my handsome son and his sweet girlfriend -- perfect for a Valentine's Day project!!

Just for a day...

Sometimes when I am scrapbooking older photos of the boys, I wish they could be that little again just for a day. I have so many wonderful memories of their sweet hugs, adorable smiles, chubby little feet... then I remember how many great memories we have had together during all the years they were growing up and I smile again.

Scrapbooking is such a fantastic hobby for me. I get to relive all the fun over and over...like this afternoon with the sprinkler in our Collierville, TN backyard. They lived under that sprinkler with those very cool sunglasses for most of the summer.


And then there is the day we got professional photos taken. Rian's mischievous grin reminds me what a ham for the camera he used to be...and Jordy was just smiling so he could get out of there faster. Funny personalities remembered in pictures...little snippets of time captured on film...so thankful for my pictures.

New projects to share!

Here are some new things I have been working on. I have so many crazy ideas that I hope to be posting a lot over the next few days and weeks so check back often. You can also subscribe to my blog and automatically get notified via email when I post a new layout or project -- just scroll down to where it says "Subscribe via email" and enter your email address.

This is a special journal project I have been working on. I just LOVE '7 Gypsies' paper.



Here is a fun layout I did about my hubby's Warrior Dash (a very crazy, muddy race in North GA). I love Little Yellow Bicycle's 'Generation X' line -- it fit perfectly with the manly theme and came with tons of great embellishments! Anyone who knows me knows I am all about the coordinating embellishments. I used the stickers, the transparent borders and frames, and rub-ons to make this layout extra cool.





Finally, here is a layout that I did with some paper that I could not pass up at Scrapbook Expo this year. I just loved the colors. It is Pink Paislee's '365 Degrees' line. I knew I wanted to use Kristin's name for the title but when I cut it out of the blue paper (using my Silhouette) it was a little light. So, I used my Versamark Pen to go around the edges of the letters, sprinkled on clear embossing powder, and used my heat gun to melt -- voila -- instant darker edge. Fun!

Roxanne's Photo Tray

Wow, did y'all think I disappeared? Basically I did...into the migraine world temporarily and it was not fun. But the migraines are gone and I am back to creating again! I met with one of my good friends, Roxanne, yesterday to scrap and she got a lot more done than me so I decided to post her creation instead of mine (which still is not done). Not to mention that her creation is super fabulous and so worthy of posting!! Check it out...



Rox completed this 7 Gypsies photo tray with awesome family pictures and the Bo Bunny Mamarazzi line. I just LOVE it -- of course she has one of those beautiful families that photographs great too -- look at those pictures! You did a great job on this Rox...you have inspired me to make a photo tray and go get some professional family pictures taken. You always cost me money.

Too cute for teenagers!

I had to buy it...look at those cute little sea creatures! However, I knew I was going to have to dig up some very old beach pictures because this paper is way too "cute" for pictures of my teenage boys on the beach. They would kill me! So, I looked back through old beach pictures and came up with Hilton Head 1998. This paper is Imaginese and oh so very adorable. I combined it with a piece of Bo Bunny aquamarine double dot cardstock and found a great way to put seven, count them 7, pictures on a single page layout. Very happy with the result, but the best part? Jordy saw the layout and did not fuss at me for using this cute paper.

 

A layout, a cute picture, and tacos

I got home from school orientation and decided I wanted to scrapbook for a little while before dinner. It was probably about 4:30. My oldest son decided he was already hungry but once he saw me entering my scrapbook room he realized my dinner schedule and his were not in sync. Being the sweet kid he is, and the hungry guy he stays, he proposed a solution. He suggested that if I give him money, he would go to the store, buy stuff to make tacos, AND come home and make them. SCORE! I could not say yes fast enough! He gets to eat sooner and I get to scrap longer! Win-win! So, as a result of this happy arrangement, I created this layout of my sweet niece, Taylor. Although she was 5 years old in this picture (adorable!), she is 15 now. Taylor is still beautiful and I love her dearly. I have three nieces and they are always my excuse for buying really cute, pink, girly scrapbook paper. 

 

My baby's growing up!

Every mom cringes when she sees THAT picture...the one that SHOWS her that her baby does not really LOOK like a baby anymore. This is that picture for me. Rian is my youngest, my baby. (I also saw "THE picture" of Jordy, my oldest, and I did not like it one bit). THIS is THAT picture for Rian. Ri grew 6 inches last summer...how is that possible?

I hate that my sweet boys are growing up so fast. HOWEVER, I have a very good friend (and you know who you are) who reminds me that my job is to raise your kids so that one day they become really amazing adults. So true...

Right now, this is a really amazing teenager...

Bo Bunny Block Party collection

Recent Bo Bunny Designs

Good morning! I wanted to post some recent designs that I did using Bo Bunny product. The first is probably one of my favorite pages ever. The colors in the Paradise collection are so pretty and it is a tropical beach line, so I used it for my Dad and Kathy's renewal of their wedding vows on the island of St. John. I love how the blues tie in with my Dad's shirt, the sky and the ocean in the background, and the oranges go beautifully with Kathy's flowers.

The next page is one I also love because of the focal picture. I love catching the kids on film when they do not know I am there. There is something so natural and thoughtful about shots like this. Especially when you can tie the picture to a neat story for your page later, like the conversation Rian had with Hannah...so cute. I used the Bo Bunny Mama-razzi line for this page (quite appropriate actually!)

Here are two cards I made using a Bo Bunny Christmas line from last year (Tis the Season), and their recent, and very cute summer line called Sun Kissed.  For the summer "Thank you" card, I put the bike inside the card to give a fun surprise element -- so often you open a card and there is nothing fun to look at. If you look closely, the bike says 'good times'.  I made the christmas card into an invitation -- the cute Bo Bunny sticker says "Where's the Party". I added some Stardust pens and red gems to make the card shine -- can't do cute without a little sparkle!

Riding home from Charleston

Okay I just have to say that 5 hours in the car goes by very quickly when you have an internet gadget like the one my hubby got the other day. I have been riding along, between Charleston and Atlanta, passing the time very nicely on the computer. Thanks to my gadget-lovin' husband, I have been able to peruse all sorts of great scrapping sites and I have to show you a very fun post I found on Bazzill's website. Check this out for awe-inspiring creativity peeks this afternoon! Is that fun or what? It made me hungry just looking at it!

I brought my camera to Charleston. Yes, to get pictures of this fun city, but also to take pictures of scrapbook layouts that I have never uploaded to a gallery or my blog. Jack did question why a box of scrapbook layouts and albums were going on our getaway weekend, but I quickly mumbled something incoherent as I walked away to take our dogs out and he didn't ask again. A girl with a plan...but....we were running so late, and I had packed so fast, that I completely forgot to pack the camera's battery charger! So, no great pictures of Charleston and no new scrapbook pages uploaded to the blog until I get back home to a fully charged camera. I did get a couple pictures with my iPhone -- please comment here to help me decide what the title of this Charleston layout will be with JUST these two sad little pictures.