Scraplift Tuesday at Scrapgal! :)

This month at Scrapgal  Heather, aka, "Scrappin in AK" was our guest DT memeber. Since the shop was closed for inventory and reorganizing, she has had her amazing creations featured on the blog and Facebook page! Also, in honor of her, the ScrapGal DT has finished out the month of May by picking one Heather's layouts to scraplift!

I  picked this one because I loved her amazing design!

And here is my layout!


Basically just kept everything the same with different colors and using Basic Grey :) Why mess with a good design when it was perfect already!
To see the rest of the design teams lifts of Heather's layouts, you can go to the Scrapgal Blog

And don't forget that tomorrow is the store and boards grand re-opening! Looking forward to seeing what is in the works :)

Some Pinterest Inspiration and Big News for Scrapgal!

I really love Pinterest! And I have to say that I have been pretty good about not getting addicted :) I just check in for a few minutes not even every day. But I have found some great inspiration there so far!!
Today I just wanted to share a few things from my "Signs I Love" board. It's kind of turned into a quotes I love board as well :)

I love anything vintage or retro and this sign is so cool! I love Disneyworld and I love Space Mountain! I also thought it went cool with the theme at Studio Calico this month! The June kit is called Paper Moon and the kits this month have a lot of the Rocket Age collection by October Afternoon which also has a retro look. Fun!
 

This Family Rules sign is a good reminder! And I love the paper strips effect. I think that is going to show up on a scrap page.

I love typed text on tags and I love this Swedish proverb!

I think Will Smith is brilliant! And I think this quote is going to end up on a personal scrapbook page for me :)

Amazing quote that I have found to be true. And even better with that little strip of tape. More journal ideas for scrapbook pages!

As Jenn announced on Facebook, Scrapgal is going to be back on-line June 1st no matter what!! Inventory took a lot longer than she thought, but I am just happy that the site will be back :) A crop and lots of prizes and challenges will help to kick things off in June!

So now going to prepare for Evan's last day of third grade! I can't believe it's here!! But we have some great plans for the summer with lots of relaxing down time at the pool and Six Flags. Plus a Lego stop animation camp that he is very excited about. And seeing u2 not once, but twice in July! Yes, Evan is going with us both times and is super excited :)

Erin will not be in on the concerts (to young). But don't worry, she is going to have a great summer as well :)

My Last Scrapgal Layout for the Month of May!

Remember this die-cut sheet from the My Mind's Eye "Lil' Robots" line that I used to make...

these cards?

Well I used it on this layout as well! In fact this layout uses mostly die-cuts from that sheet in addition to two sheets of patterned paper from the same line, Thickers from American Crafts and the tiny alphabet from Cosmo Cricket for the date! Very helpful in putting together a quick and easy layout!

Having trouble getting good photos lately with all the clouds and rain, but I got it! How is the weather where you are?

It Was a Big Day :)

May 1st was a pretty busy day for us! First, Erin had her mini-olympics in the morning. She was pretty excited to go :) I'm only going to post a few of the better photos since it was hard getting good shots from where we were sitting. But they actually do rotations. They had three rotations where they performed their activities for us.

Here she is coming out in the procession with one of the teacher's. You can see her looking for us :)

Something she has been working hard at this year - rope climbing! I am amazed at how these little kids are able to develop their upper body strength so quickely!

Doing her backwards roll

with a "ta da"! I love the happy smile on her teacher's face. They really have some great teachers working with the younger children.

The balance beam.

And checking out her medal at the end! We were so proud of her! And she was completely exhausted by the end of the day.
After the olympics, we headed over to the Botanical Gardens for the Treehouse Festival.
I will have photos of that experience tomorrow! That was Evan's time to shine :)

Quick and Easy Card Sets!

For my May blog post at Scrapgal (which will hopefully be up and running again soon!), I wanted to show you how to make some cards when you are in a time crunch!

It's as simple as using a die-cut sheet...

and a few matching papers. I used the Lil' Robots line by My Mind's Eye.

I cut apart a few different papers to use as backgrounds. Used several die-cuts, and fussy cut a few pieces from the patterned paper. A few "thanks" rub-on's from Pebbles Inc. and I had a hand made Thank You card set in less than 15 minutes. You could do more depending on how much time you have. I set myself a limit of 15 minutes and was able to complete four! Just think what you could do in 30 minutes or an hour :)

As for the rest of the die-cuts, you will see a few of them show up in a future layout coming soon!

Scrapgal Layout for the Month of May

That was a nice little blogging break for a week :) May is so busy for us with the end of the school year and Evan's birthday. Plus there are always a ton of family events in May for some reason.

Anyway, for my second project in May I decided to go photo free on my layout this month. I was inspired by these cute little chipboard frames by Maya Road that I received in my kit and knew I wanted to do a layout about the music that I am loving right now.

I used the white mist by Studio Calico to color each frame. Then I chose five of the most played songs on my ipod right now and gave each a home behind one of those frames. Except the frames and the mini alphabet stickers by Making Memories, most of the other product on this layout is by American Crafts. Including the patterned paper.
On the journal sticker, I listed a few of the other bands that I am listening to a lot these days as well :) The music notes were hand drawn by me!All of the fun little pink goodies (buttons and brads) that came in my kit found their way onto this layout as well.
And I was so happy to find the little cassette tape flair by AC in my stash because it worked perfectly!
What's playing on your ipod? :)

My first design team project for May is up over on the Scrapgal blog.
This month I created a mini-album using the canvas album from Maya Road.

I only used two pieces for the covers and then created my own pages for the inside.The canvas material made me think of the fun fabric paper from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy line that has clothes hanging on a tree. I cut part of it out to use for a cover on my "Sweet Baby Fashions" mini.
Two of the dresses on the cover are chipboard from the same line. Each page of the album is dedicated to a favorite outfit Erin wore when she was a baby. I embellished the album with a variety of fun pieces to coordinate - like buttons,  journal spots butterflies, bling and flowers because many of the outfits had flower designs :) Here are the pages...

Thanks for looking!

And I can't ignore the big news in our country and around the world today. This is a note I put up on Facebook.

"I am kind of in shock over the news that Bin Laden is dead. What he planned for our country was a terrible thing and so hateful. A tragedy that many families are still suffering for. Whether they lost loved ones on a plane or building that day or were in the military and have lost their life since. And seeing people cheering on tv that he is dead makes me feel sad in a way. I think it sends a message to other parts of the world. A message similar to the one that made me heartsick when 9/11 happened when there were parades and people throwing candy in the streets celebrating the deaths of so many Americans. I know he is only one man who is responsible for an unspeakable evil. And I know we lost thousands of lives on 9/11. And I'm truly not sorry he is gone. But like said I think we have to be careful what kind of message we are sending to the rest of the world."

I just want to say that I 100% support our military and the families who lost loved ones. I think this tragedy has had a resounding impact on our country and did more damage than a lot of people realize. Especially with our economy the way it is right now. I'm also hoping that maybe this will give Americans a little hope. But not in a vengeful, hateful way. Peace to all.