February pages for Simple Scrapper

Last week I finished my February pages for Simple Scrapper, and these pages are two of my all-time favorites. Here they are:

First is the new story starter and an old sketch. The theme is celebration, and I celebrated a sort of low point when it came to homework: my youngest learned his lesson too late that putting off big homework assignments won't help. I enjoyed digging out the school supply products for this page!

The ruler sticker wasn't actually 12", so I cut it underneath the embellishment cluster and placed it so that it would span the whole page.

That school-themed sticker by Webster's Pages with the word "Celebrate" on it was a prize find in my stash.

Next is a page using a new sketch with an old story starter. My son turned 14 last year, and the sketch had a number on it, so I used the design itself as inspiration. I started making a list of my son's 14 favorites right now, and he finished it. The photos are ones my mother took on his birthday.

These wood veneer sequins are perhaps some of my favorite embellishments of all time. They're from Chic Tags.

Miracle of God, I still had enough R's, A's, and N's to spell his name in veneer.

Mad props to my son for listing nature as a favorite.

Thank you for checking out my pages! I hope they inspire you to go check out Simple Scrapper to see all that the membership has to offer.

Happy birthday, Padawan

We celebrated the birthday of my eldest yesterday. It was his 11th, so we joke that alas, he is a muggle since he didn't get his owl for Hogwarts (bonus geek points to you if you get that!). We plenty of geeky things in place of the owl, including our traditional birthday outing to Space Aliens for dinner.

Here is a recent layout I did celebrating my eldest:

A few years ago I bought Star Wars Crafts on Black Friday at the Mall of America. Since then I've made crafts for both boys, but Rowan is particular is obsessed with them, especially the stuffed animals. I made a tooka doll, and my mom made him a washcloth wampa. Later he asked for a bantha; I needed a model so he built one out of cardboard for me. I put this page together to remember this phase in his life, just in case he outgrows his love of all things cuddly Star Wars.

Here's some details:

Amazingly, when I planned this page, I forgot to  print a picture of the FIRST Star Wars craft. I had already made the page when I realized this, so I printed it small and tucked it under one of the two. I numbered the photos to assist the story, since the photos are out of order.

The title I cut on my Cameo using Baronesse font, I think. It's a little retro, which is nice for Star Wars. And stitching through the middle of chevron? Love it.

I was near the end of my Studio Calico August kit with this page, so I cobbled together a title with all the alphas I had left. It looks a little crafty as a result, which I liked.

The journaling I added as strips, inking the edges a bit in blue.

Thank you for checking out my page! This past week was busy with birthday planning for us, so next week will see more blog updates. And in the next couple weeks I plan a giveaway!

Happy Birthday, Dad

My dad celebrated his birthday this week. Since we live half a country away, we celebrate via phone, photos, and mailed presents, but I hear he had a good day. We're planning future fishing with him and the boys. Here's the card I sent him:

I used Fancy Pants Swagger line, scraps from a page I recently made. Here's the full supplies:

Swagger Button Set / Swagger Success Paper /  Swagger Powerful Paper / Swagger Humorous Paper / Swagger Sticker Fundamentals / Etcetera 6x6 pad

I know male cards and layouts are hard for many people. For me, since I have all boys, I tend to make these the most, so I love this orange/grey/green combo. And I hate to say it, but with males, they don't really need a fancy card. Anything homemade, and they appreciate. Perfect for my simple style.

Happy Birthday, Dominic

Dominic had been in a little funk lately, asking why kids have it so hard, why do they have to go to school for so long? He suggested they only go for half a year, and he wasn't happy when I pointed out that he does: 365 days a year, 180 day school calendar. To help, I told him sometimes the hard stuff is worth it in the end. Case in point: It took 7 hours to give birth to him, and it was worth it. That made him smile.

Today Dominic turned 8. We spent the morning at the Mall at Lego club, Nickelodeon Universe, and The Rainforest Cafe:

 

  

Then later for dinner, we ate a fave, cheese pizza, had cake, then opened presents.

Right now he is utterly happy, juiced from chocolate cake, his favorite, and very excited about not needing a booster seat anymore. Another example of the hard stuff (getting ready for the day) being worth it in the end. That may be my six word memoir: It's worth it in the end.

Busy week and a big day

Man, has this been a busy week! Preparing for my mom to fly out from Maine, my son's yearly IEP meeting, grading like a maniac, working on pages for upcoming articles and blog posts...whew! Thank goodness for four-day weekends. I can now get caught up.

First, you should head over to Sketch Support to check out this week's page. Here it is:



The details of how I did the heart as well as the original sketch are on Sketch Support.

And the big day? Well, 7 years ago this guy was born:


He is such a funny guy. He could barely sleep last night in excitement for today, then he woke up super early this morning. He asked me, "What's special about being 7?" I told him 7 is a magical number, there are 7 days in the week, and it means he's in first grade. Then I asked him what he thought was special about it, and he said, "The other numbers are scared of it." I asked him why and he said, "Because 7-8-9." (Say it out loud.) What a card.

This past year has been up and down, not uncommon for first graders but complicated due to his autism. I dreaded the IEP, but it was a positive experience, focusing very much on problem solving, rather than what he can't do. That warmed my heart. His biggest challenge is developing flexibility in routines and the ability to take other perspectives.

About a week ago, I was sharing with a teacher colleague at the high school some of my anxieties about his challenging year. She is a communication teacher who works with students with autism, and her words reassured me. She drew a series of circle in the air with her finger that moved gradually upward and said, "This is how kids with autism progress. It's not a straight line." Her words reassured me and inspired this page:




I used the Studio Calico January kit Who's Who for this page. The journaling is basic: Two steps forward and one step back is still Progress. I debated journaling more extensively, detailing what's happened this year, but I didn't want to right now. Today I wanted to focus on his progress, so there it is.

Happy Birthday, Dominic.

One year older

Thank you for your kind comments about my last post. Dominic has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we're hoping for the best.

I just got back from my mini-vacation to Vegas with Derick (thanks, Mom and Dad for babysitting!). What happened in Vegas will not stay in Vegas. I just have to download the camera.

The important news in our world today was my oldest, Rowan, turned 8. He's three inches short of retiring the booster seat. Which at his growth rate he should accomplish in a month.

We celebrated by going to Space Aliens, winning fun prizes (nerf blow gun and a hacky sack), and opening awesome gifts (including Legos, of course). And a bonus present for him--he earned 100% on his last spelling quiz. Hard work paired with nagging by Mom pays off.

Happy Birthday

Today Dominic turns 6. He's been planning his birthday since last summer. Today we are going here to his favorite restaurant. This weekend we'll go here for his friends party. "Atwitter" definitely describes him right now. (I should mention, the paper thing behind him is an iPhone he made for me.)

Happy birthday, dude.

Other creative ventures

I've been scrapping, but I have a couple pages that require computer journaling sitting around--you know how that makes me feel--so I took a break from scrapping to take on other creative ventures.

• I finished Audition, Barbara Walters' book. Pretty good. Quite dishy.
• Rowan was his first grade class' Star student this week, so I helped him make a poster for it. We used leftover photos that had never been scrapped. I also let him play with my scraps and my punches, to his delight. And to the best of my ability, I resisted the urge to organize those punched stars in a visual triangle. He put them on in any order he pleased.
• I visited with some college friends over the weekend and enjoyed talking with them. I also enjoyed learning we have Saturday afternoons free and may be able to make those conversations a habit.
• I went sledding with the boys. Wow, did they have fun. Now that I scrapped.
• I celebrated my not-yet-fortieth birthday and enjoyed dinner at Buca's, some scrappy goodness from the fam*, and a lovely Hobbit teapot from my MIL. Now I just need to learn how to brew tea the old-fashioned way.

Especially since I finished the book, which was due at the library today (guiltguiltguilt), I now feel energized enough to go back and do some scrapping, particularly finishing the computer journaling.

*My big guilt involves those scrappy birthday gifts. I didn't buy them, so I haven't really borken my New-year's res to make 100 layouts before buying new supplies. Still, should I hold off on using them until I make the remaining layouts? Decisions...

This is a test

My mother's birthday is coming up--Thanksgiving actually. I make a scrapbook page for my parents at every momentous day and send it out to them in Maine.

I used the July Scarlet Lime kit. I hadn't been too fond of it, so I hadn't made many pages. Here's a couple I did make with it:





After I scrapped some summer photos, I had two wonderful pictures of the boys left, so I used more of the kit to make this page for my mom:


Here's the test: I don't know if she reads my blog. She says she intends to but...you know, she's busy. Plus she has dial up. Things get in the way. So if my mom knows before next Wednesday what's coming her way, either she or my dad reads the blog.

Finally.

Happy Birthday

Rowan turns 7 today. 7 years ago, after 47 hours of labor (no lie), he finally came into the world. Though he didn't seem to want to get away from me at the time, I think he's been on the run ever since--running, jumping playing, climbing, building, exploring...my boy is a verb.

Here's one of my favorite pictures of him, 2 months after he was born (ignore my hair):


Yep, he played the baby Jesus in our church's Christmas program. He wasn't yet on the move; in fact, people thought he'd been drugged, he slept so calmly in the manger. (He wasn't drugged, BTW.)

I think I'm going to print the photo I took of him this morning and scrap a LO about him. Maybe about him being a verb...