88 Layouts!

I'm so close to the 100 mark! 12 away! However, I won't be having much time to do any crafts for...oh, the next 6 weeks! I checked the calendar yesterday, and we have something going on every single weekend until the 4th of July!! Luckily, one of those weekends is a planned crop with my girlfriends, so that helps a bit, right?!

These are some layouts I finished last weekend, but never got around to posting here because of our crazy busy week and weekend this past week. We are off to Colorado for a little mini vacation on Wednesday, visiting family over the Memorial Day weekend. I'm going to take some scrapbook stuff and see if I can sneak some time in to craft with my Aunt while we are there! Wish me luck! ;)

Ok, here are the layouts (after some rambling!), doubles of each page for each kids books...so 6 layouts total. This was last summer at the Animal Planet Expo. I found this pack of paper and coordinating elements at Michaels. It is the Safari Kids pack, so I got the paper slab, the brads, and I got two packs of the Safari Boy chipboard. I broke everything up into sets of coordinating paper and embellishments. This set, I knew I wanted to go with the Animal Planet stuff because it matched the little tattoo things I picked up that day. I love all of those greens together! It matched great and I love them!

Just a fun note on this one, I made that large scallop circle using my corner rounder!

Running Total: 82 pages
Completed last weekend: 6
YTD: 88 pages

Now I know, I'm still really behind on my 365 goal. I was thinking about this yesterday and realized that if I want to be completely caught up by June 30th, I would need to (starting on May 26th since we'll be gone this weekend) complete 2.65 pages PER DAY. That's just to be caught up by the end of June, mind you! So I told my husband this wonderful news and his reply was, "So that means I won't ever see you at night anymore?" Hmmm, time to rethink that! At this point, almost halfway through the year, I'm not sure if I'll meet my goal, but I'll still keep trying! However, there is still 6 whole months, and I'm thinking if I put in one hour per night (from 9-10 pm) then it might help get me caught up a little. I guess I will just have to see!

Coasters

I have one thing to share today! Well, scrapbook pages, but they can wait another weekend when I have more to share! Didn't get much craftin time in this weekend. Now that my Mom has these for Mother's Day, I'm ok showing the pictures here!

These are the coasters I made for her. All you do is buy tiles at Lowes or Home Depot (these were only 32 cents each!) and then you need the Stazon ink. Stazon is made for wood or tile surfaces so it "stays on" and won't smear or bleed. I tied them all together and thought about putting a little tag or seashells on it. I figured the tag or whatever I put on might get ruined in shipping, so it just has some twill tape and hemp to tie it all together!

Challenging Myself

Inspired by a 1 to 10 challenge I participated in for scrapbooking, this is scaled down to a card size. Here were the requirements I set myself for this card!

Have at least the number specified, but you can use multiples. You have to have at least one (or two, three, etc.) of the required element.

1 Stamped Image (can substitute for a rub-on, a die cut, etc.)
2 Patterned papers
3 Colors Cardstock (can be 2 colors and 1 neutral, or 3 colors and a neutral like white, black or cream)
4 Brads or Eyelets
5 inches of ribbon or fiber

Think it can't be done? It can I promise! For this card I used white, green, yellow and blue for my base cardstock. On the punched out flowers I used two different kinds of patterned paper, and then the four flowers provided spots for the eyelets. The stamped greeting at the bottom for my one stamped image, and then the ribbon tied around the center put it all together. See...easy peasy! The picture doesn't quite show it, but to add a little depth to the card I crinkled the main square, the little squares and the flowers and then smoothed them out a little.

82 Layouts YTD

For those that might not know, yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day! I went to a crop with my friend Steph (we missed you Mel!) at our local scrapbook store. We cropped from 5-11pm, had pizza there, and got quite a few pages done! It was a blast! I'm still realllly behind on my 365 goal, (oh like 50 pages haha) but goals are meant to make you work. I think its still an attainable goal, but not without more work on my part. That's the purpose of a goal right?!

Well, here is what I got done this weekend, but there is a page I'm not posting tonight as the rest of the pages that go with it aren't completed yet.

First, I have to gush a little bit about this first page. I'd had this idea in my head for awhile now. It didn't turn out exactly how I pictured or wanted it to, but close enough that I was happy with it. I wasn't able to fit the whole quote on there, but what I did worked. I tore the paper, peeled it back and then stitched with embroidery floss around the edges. I brushed the edges with a red ink pad. It looks a little gruesome, but Brady LOVED it! He freaked out when he saw it. He asked, "How did you know I would want a Scarred page for my scrapbook?!!" He also loved the little "stitches" I added inbetween the words.

And a little close up of the torn paper and the stitching.

While working on stuff for Brady this weekend I realized how hard it is to do stuff for boys! With Gwynie's pages I can just throw on some flowers, or cutesy gems and bling. Not so much with his! Often times when I do layouts that are the same for them I use "gender neutral" themes and supplies so I've never really encountered this problem before. So basically, I'm just prepping these next few layouts because they were just so plain in some places. I couldn't find that perfect pairing of elements, so I decided simpler was better in his case.

I did want to point out the journaling on this layout though. Right after Brady's first wrestling match I came home and wrote it down. I knew I'd want to remember those emotions and feelings for when I came back to scrapbook it. I think the picture of him standing by himself fit so perfect for how the journaling ends.

Journaling:

I can't tell you how nervous I was before Brady's little wrestling match. Sure, this is just for fun, its not for medals, or anything like that...but STILL! My stomach was in knots, and I kept taking big gulps from my water bottle to try and dislodge the sick lump that had settled in my throat. It would finally go down, down, down...to where it would sit in the pit of my stomach. With the butterflies, and the knots. Those butterflies would then send that lump back up in my throat to lodge there, once more, and I would have to repeat the process. I know Jake was just as nervous as I was. His hands were shaking as he helped Brady put on his wrestling shoes and run through drills.

I know, I know, we had nothing to worry about, no reason to feel this way. As Jake said, "Wow, now I know what my parents went through!" I guess I really can't even begin to describe the emotions that were coursing through me. It was never like that with T-Ball or Basketball, or when Gwynie had her dance recitals or soccer games. This my friends, is a whole new Monster. This feeling...it...it blew me away. Never before have I ran this crazy, crash-course of emotions. Never before have I felt the elation of a proud Momma in one instant, and then was on the verge of tears watching my "baby" get ready to take down his opponent. I'm still not quite sure I understand it all. I honestly can't put it into words.

I was so relieved when Jake's family showed up. His Dad, Mom, and older brother Dustin came to cheer Brady on. I love hearing the stories from when Jake and Dustin wrestled as kids. The stories would get even better as the boys got older. I've heard a few times before that people around Deb would say, "Don't watch the match, watch that Mom, now that's where the show is!" She would get worked up, screaming, yelling, cheering, and cussing the refs. I guess that's what I get to look forward to.

I think I finally have it figured out though...thanks to my wise husband. He just said, "Yes, it's a whole new Monster. It's different than T-ball because that was a team sport. This is Brady, all alone out there, standing up and proving himself."

And the other side of the layout. Very plain, but it works.

I don't have much to say about the rest of these though! They are more of Brady's sports pages that I'm trying to get done!

This layout is my least favorite because it just didn't feel right. Oh well, they can't all be perfect! I just had to get "Wrestling" paper though so this is some of the few papers I could find.

I'll have Jake add his thoughts on Brady wrestling on this layout. The title "Fly 45" would be his weight class if they still had official names for them.

Haha, on this one all I did was add the Thickers letters and photo corners. Nothing much again here.

Running Total: 72 pages

Completed this weekend: 10

YTD: 82 pages