I think many of us have discovered Pinterest by now. I think it is a great place to find and organize inspiration!

At this time I have 45 boards and 566 pins, but I really do not spend large amounts of time on there.
I might check in once a day to see what my friends have pinned, but that takes about five minutes.
So for me, I try to limit the amount of time I spend there, and I rarely do searches to look for items so I don't get sucked in that way either.

I have pinned ideas on what to wear, recipes, house decorating tips, ideas for future classrooms, things I think my kids will enjoy, photography, music and even a board on Lego love.
But my top two boards that have the most pins (with over 100 each) are Scrapbook Inspiration and Words of Wisdom.

So today, I thought I would share a few layouts by fellow scrapbookers that I have pinned which deal with family and parenting!

You never know. You just might see something that will inspire you! :)

Look at this amazing layout by Briana Johnson! First I love that she used an enlarged, fun family portrait across the bottom of her page. But then those tags at the top! I have those tags, and know exactly how I am going to use a few of them now :) Such great tag inspiration.

And this beautiful layout by Patricia Roebuck! Such a sweet photo and heartfelt journaling to go with it. In fact, I noticed I had quite a few "mommy wisdom" layouts pinned.
Like this one from my friend Marie Taylor...

Look at those gorgeous photos of her kids! But what caught me most about this layout was her journaling. So nice to know as a mom myself that I am not the only one who feels that way. And has learned that despite all the hardships of parenting, above all else I am grateful!!

This layout by Kelly Noel, struck a chord with me because of her title. And she references it to parenting, which isn't how I thought of it at first. But her journaling really tells the story. On top of that, such a great design!

And lastly, this one by Amy Soto. So much about this one I love. That sweet photo that makes me sigh. The great song she used for her title. And such an amazing design. This just isn't something I could recreate because to me it is perfect just like this. But it still inspires me in so many ways!

If you would like to see more from my Scrapbook Inspiration board, you can find it here.

Are you a pinner? Would love to know about some of your favorite scrapbook pins :)

* Star Wars Mini *

Back in December of 2009 :-O, I took Evan to a Star Wars night at the Blues Hockey game and they encouraged fans to come dressed in costume. So Evan dressed in his clone trooper costume and the two of us headed down there.
He was seven. He is now nine, turning ten next month. We had a great time and I got fun, cute photos like this one...

and this one...

and this one...

complete with guy making lame face in the background. But still it's with Darth Vader! I mean I wasn't expecting anything of this magnitude as far as photo opps :)

And now finally! Two years later, his mini album is done! I bought the album from www.twopeasinabucket.com probably not too long after that night. I am not usually into themed albums, but I thought it would be fun for him. And it's something we have been working on together the last few months. He did that cover :)

We did this title page together.

I did this one including a typed account of the night :)

Another page with one of our favorite photos done together.

And this last page he did by himself is the sweetest. That is my dad. His Paw Paw. For a while, my dad worked security at the Blues games. He was down there that night and Evan couldn't wait to see him and show him his costume. But what I love the most is that when Evan did this page, he chose the hero sticker for this photo of him and his Paw Paw. Still gets me a little choked up.

So that is just a few pages from the mini.
And it's done!
So you see, it's never too late to scrapbook precious photos :)

Right Now!

So on Monday I promised a layout based on my "Currently Listening To," music post from a few weeks back.

After that post, I kept thinking that I really needed to turn it into a layout because music is such a big part of my life!
The basic design is actually inspired by Julie Kirk's layout I saw in Prompt #2 of Shimelle Laine's Pretty Paper Party class. I signed up for the class because it looked like so much fun. It is definitely fun, but there are still quite a few prompts I haven't checked out yet.

Anyway, this layout combines challenges from Prompt #1 and #2 - mix paper strips and use a patterned paper background instead of cardstock.
I chose a patterned paper from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line as my base
And I decided to do my own take the paper strip challenge by using a bunch of Dear Lizzy Neapolitan cut off strips you see on the bottom of each piece of paper.Like this one...

You can see several pieces of that little strip of hearts on my layout. Each paper in the Neapolitan collection has one of those little strips at the bottom and I also used a stripe and number one.
The tag I used for my journaling is an older one from my stash that Erin actually picked out and I went with it :)

I have a feeling I will be doing this more. Turning blog posts into layouts! It was a lot of fun putting this layout together.
Are you ever inspired to create layouts from your blog posts?

First Instagram Photo (color challenge)

One of my favorite scrapbookers, Shimelle Laine, had a fun scrapbook challenge weekend on her blog two weekends ago. Since everyone had a week to work on the challenges, I figured I could still fit one in this weekend!
I chose Challenge #4 - Color Adventure which was to scrapbook with yellow, gray and one other color.
Since I wanted to do a layout using my first Instagram photo that had purple and yellow flowers, I chose purple as my third color.

Another reason I decided to join in the challenge, was this fun, yellow chevron patterned paper from the new Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection by American Crafts. I got it with this particular photo in mind, and then thought of the challenge. So it worked out well :)

You can see touches of purple with the mist droplets, purple and white star flair, Making Memories mini stickers using the purple letters, purple ink around the edges of my tag and the purple butterfly. I love purple, but don't scrap with it to often. Or yellow for that matter. But have to say, I am enjoying those two colors more and more. And gray is becoming one of my favorite neutrals.

So now I have another fun layout to go in my personal "All About Me" album. Along with this older one...

Little quirky things my kids might find interesting someday. You never know :)
I'll be back with another layout on Wednesday.
It's based on this blog post from not too long ago.
See you then!

Published! :)

My June 2012 issue of Scrapbooks Etc... came on Wednesday. And then I remembered I had not one, but two layouts in it this time around :) If you have a copy, you can find my layouts on pages 28 (1973) and 36 (She's a Toddler) And how fun that they had also had my 1973 layout on page 4, the contents page! I am really excited about this issue. Flipping through it, I saw tons of great layouts and can't wait to sit down and really look at it :)

In basement remodel news...

for those who have been in our basement, they know it used to look like this. A big open space. Well, except the floor which is new. That was a huge ordeal. We had a new concrete floor poured that is now stained and polished. And since this photo was taken, Mike has framed out rooms (a family room, laundry room, FULL bath (love that!) and a workshop/storage space for him. Drywall is up, it is insulated, and plaster is going up. I really need to take a photo of the after picture as it is divided into rooms.
We finally got around to picking out a few paint colors, and I am happy to say the laundry room is going to be this nice pretty blue I love...

Of course it is not going to have the chandelier. (Thanks to Pinterest for the photo and the idea) But it will have a series of white cabinets, appliances and shelves. I am really looking forward to the end of the basement remodel. But we still have a little bit of a way to go!
Anyway, I will try to share a few more photos as we progress. But frankly, I am just excited for it to be done!

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Making My Day a Little Brighter

Want to write this down, so I don't forget :)
Yesterday was one of those days. Just feeling a little down and couldn't seem to shake it off.

But I have to say, thanks to a chat with a friend and my little Erin you see in the photo above, things turned around.
A walk to get Evan from school with her on such a beautiful day weather wise was great!
Then when we arrived home she started planning a "surprise" birthday party for our neighbor, whom she loves.
Now it's not even this neighbor's birthday, but that's ok, right?
When I went outside, she was in Allison's backyard getting everything ready. So sweet.

Then she asked for a snack. A pudding.
Ok, I said.
She came in and I started to hand her the pudding, but then said to her.
"First you need to give me a _____" "Kiss" she says.
"You know me so well." I say.
"I know all your secrets." she says with a smile.
I'm sure you do, Erin :)

She is so, so sweet and I am so, so lucky to have her!

And on a final note...Let's Go Blues!!! They won game three against the Sharks last night. I only made it to the end of the second period because it was so late here. Almost 11pm. So happy to see the final score this morning :)

The Two of Us!

Evan and I do not get a lot of one on one time these days. Usually Erin is around and she seems to need a lot of attention at times. But Erin had school Tuesday morning while Evan was still on Easter break. So I took advantage of that time for Evan and I to hang out and do something he wanted to do!

First stop, an early lunch at Bread Company in downtown Clayton. (photo taken using my phone) As we were sitting there, he just wanted to talk. We planned what he wanted to do for his birthday party this year. And it was kind of nice to talk without interruptions :)

Then we decided to just walk around downtown and look at the tall buildings. As I'm sure you all know by now, Evan is really into architecture and skyscrapers these days. So we walked down to the Plaza...

He really likes the tall building to the left...

It is a pretty cool building. I can see why it's his favorite :)

 We also liked this one. It's a newer building across on the opposite corner from the Plaza.

He loved this color shaded walkway that connected it with the garage next door. I have to admit it was cool! :)

Thanks for the great time together, Evan. I love that I learn so much from you. That you help me see the world in a whole new perspective. Because of you, I notice things I might not take the time to notice in my busy, adult days! You know I will be scrapping this for us! :)

I don't remember sharing this layout yet, but I have had it for a while. It's a partial scraplift of Stephanie Wheeler's layout example for the Kelly Purkey Sketchbook 2 class. The photo is from a trip to the art museum summer of 2010, and made me realize last night how far back Evan's interest in architecture has gone already! Almost two years! I can't believe it has been that long. He really loved this piece because it reminded him of a tall skyscraper. I can't wait to see where his interests are two years from now! :)

A Few Cards :)

Hope everyone that celebrates had a Happy Easter! We really did have a pretty relaxing day. I need to go through the pictures before posting any though :) Maybe Wednesday.

Mike also took the kids on a short over night road trip to Indianapolis for fun on Friday. Since Evan and I started taking our little "Evan and Mom" back to school trips right after Erin was born, Evan has been wanting Mike to do something similar. So they drove to Indiana for one night with Erin along as well :) And they had a blast!
Me. I stayed home and cleaned house. But it wasn't all drudgery. I met a friend to exercise on Friday and another friend for a movie that night - The Hunger Games :)
I did take some time for myself to relax as well.

In scrapbooking, I've been using a lot of My Mind's Eye lately on my layouts. So had a ton of scraps laying around and decided to make a few cards.
Here are two of them :)

Just cut a few butterflies from one of the papers, one strip of paper to put the butterflies on, one strip cut with my scallop punch, a stamped sentiment and done!

For this one, just a few more strips of patterned paper I cut with ribbon ends, a sentiment sticker by My Mind's Eye, plus a little punched butterfly with bling. Also simple.
As you can see, I am a simple card kind of girl :)

I'm in the process of working on a layout for a challenge right now, but have a busy week ahead! Hope to be back Wednesday with a photo of my layout and some photos from Easter :)

Ireland to Me

The trip Mike and I took to Ireland in 2009 had a big impact on me. It is something I will never, ever forget!
Of course we took tons of photos. And I plan on doing an album for the two of us. Plus one with just U2 concert photos.
But I am also in the process of making an 8 1/2 x 11 album of just my memories. My favorite sights, photos, and memories. Basically what Ireland and that trip means to me.

This is my title page...

A photo out of the airplane on the ride over.
journaling:
"On Wednesday, July 22nd 2009, Mike and I boarded a plane at 7pm and headed to Chicago. From there we flew a direct 8 hour flight to Ireland, not arriving until 8 am the next morning their time.

Leading up to this trip, I was so excited. It was a dream trip I had been wanting to take for years. We were going to Ireland. To see U2!

I thought I would be anxious. Leaving the kids. Flying across the ocean! But it wasn't as bad as I feared. Yes, I really missed the kids. But I knew I might never have this chance again and felt so surprisingly calm. So happy!"

And it's only the beginning. Looking forward to reliving a lot of happy memories :)

For the Family:

This is a photo of Erin who came with my parents to pick us up from the airport after our trip. She was so little! Just getting ready to turn two. With her short curly hair. Makes my heart melt. She was so happy to see us! And I could not wait to scoop her up and hold her!
Evan on the other hand refused to come to the airport. He was a little mad at us for being gone so long, so he stayed back at the house with his Mimi. But let me tell you. It didn't last long when we arrived home. I think he was just as happy to see us as we were him!

WOYWW

It's Wednesday, and this is my second week to participate in Julia's What's on Your Workspace Wednesday :) I had lots of fun last week, checking out a few of the other blog posts and seeing work spaces from all over. Chatted with some really, really nice women! So I am joining in again this week.

I am back to working on my mother-in-law's Ireland trip album. So lot's of product for it scattered around :)
If you are new to my blog and want to know more about what I am talking about, I have a post here with the title page and here with a few more completed pages.
I had to take a little break because I find working straight through on one project to be a little overwhelming at times. I just can't wait to give her the finished book though :)

For the Family

Evan is entering a Lego City vehicle challenge and this is his creation. Built from scratch. He took the photo, too :)

Sharing a Two Pager Today :)

First off, just want to say - April, already? Really?

Moving on! :) I don't do them very often, but I do make two page layouts. Or maybe I don't share them as much because I find them harder to photograph. They always look a little wonky and off balance to me :) But I do like working with a bigger space sometimes when I have lots of photos I want to scrap and I just don't want to make it a mini album.

 I actually did a series of two page layouts two summers ago when Evan and I had "Field Trip Mondays". Erin went to a Mom's Day Out program one day a week. So on that day I decided to take Evan places that weren't as easy to go with Erin in tow. That way he was able to focus on more age appropriate areas and we also had some special one on one time together.
For the first Monday, he wanted to go to the Art Museum. But silly me forgot that it wasn't open on Mondays :)
Thankfully the Science Center is in the same park, so we headed there instead.

(you can click on page to make it larger)
It was a fun trip and we saw so many things. I think he spent at least 45 minutes alone at the erosion table. Something we definitely could not have done if Erin was there. I used the Orbit line by Crate Paper for this layout and I think it worked pretty well.

Looking at this layout just makes me smile because the trip was a really good memory for both of us :) And finding it hard to believe that it has been almost two years already since that summer. If I didn't scrapbook, I think a lot would be lost for me. I can barely remember some days what I had for lunch the day before (lol) Let alone what we did two years ago! :)

Look for more two pagers in the upcoming weeks. I think I'm ready to show a few more of the ;)

For the Family

And yet another photo from my phone at the grocery store yesterday. Erin wanted to have her photo taken with the Easter Bunny, but then didn't seem to sure when she got up there :) I have to admit, I probably would have been the same way. I've never been a fan of the big Easter Bunnies. Erin sat as far away as she could on the bench. And when I said, "why don't you scoot over a bit." the Easter Bunny shifted over closer to her. I don't think she liked that (lol)

I know the last few photos have been of Erin, but I find myself spending more time with her these days. With Evan at school full time or doing things with Mike, I don't have to many photo opps. But at least he is the main focus of the layout today! And truthfully, I have just not been taking that many photos with the big camera lately. Mostly using my phone to snap photos :)

I'm sure with Easter coming up and all the fun Spring activities we do, that will change soon though :)