Scrapgal Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Scrapgal Blog Hop for April! Our manufacturer of the month is American Crafts and our theme is "Feeling Crafty"! :)We wanted to share with you our challenges for the month of April!

And just for leaving a comment on my blog today, you will be put into a drawing to win this American Crafts RAK which includes two sets of alphabet rub-on's, one Remarks alphabet sticker in white and five packages of Thickers.

I did four projects for the month of April. And since our theme is "Feeling Crafty", I decided to do a mini album on why I Love to Scrap!

It is also the technique challenge for the month. Use your ink pads for something besides stamps. I used a Maya Roads chipboard mini album and the entire cover is colored using my Color Box pigment brush pad in Glacier Ice. I also used the ink pad to ink the edges of each chipboard page after I had covered it with white paper on one side and American Crafts patterned paper on the back. The gem stone borders on the front are by Glitz. 

You can find all the challenges for the month of April on the message boards here

Just look in the monthly contest forum! And if you participate in the challenges and link your project on the challenge threads, you will be eligible for a Scrapgal gift card at the end of the month!

Each page contains one reason why I love to scrap using American Crafts label stickers and mini alphas by My Little Shoebox and Cosmo Cricket.

Then on the back of each page I went into more detail about each reason :)

Yes, one of the reasons I put down was scrap supplies. And if you are a die hard scrapper like me, you will totally understand why I chose that :)

I kept it pretty simple since the album isn't very big.

Scrapbooking has been such a fun and relaxing hobby for me that I can't imagine not being able to do it!

Thanks for coming by the blog today! In addition to a chance at winning my personal blog prize, if you visit the other girls blogs for a chance at more RAKS and finally the Scrapgal blog to leave a comment, you will be entered to win the prize pack you see above! You have until midnight April 3rd to finish the blog hop,
we will announce the winners on Monday so don't forget to check back on all the blogs!
In case you started with me, the order of the blog hop is:

Rita
Stacey
Arlene
Myself
Mette
Scrapgal Blog

See you on Monday for the winner and the rest of my April projects! :)

Ireland Calling

I can't believe it will be two years in July since Mike and I went to Ireland.
I find myself thinking about that trip a lot. Especially on days like this.When the weather is so yucky.
And I feel completely overwhelmed by to do lists.

I think there is something almost magical about Ireland at times.
Where I just can't quite get it out of my mind.
I personally found it so peaceful and beautiful there in places.
I loved all the walking we were able to do in Dublin.
I loved the countryside.
And how old places were.
I loved all the rainbows we really did see :)
And how friendly the people were.

I hope to be able to take the kids there someday.
And if not with us.
I at least hope they can make a trip on their own.
I have lots of photos sitting here from our trip that I want to scrapbook so badly.
But I'm afraid I won't do them justice :)
I've done a few layouts already.
But those were personal ones.
About my thoughts and feelings on the trip and will go in an album I am creating just for me.
But I do want to put together another album for Mike and I to share.

We'll see.
But for now. Let me just say that I miss Ireland.

Happy Weekend :)

Can I just say what a great weekend it was? :)
It's always nice to be able to say that.
My mom picked up the kids on Friday afternoon to take them overnight.
They had lots of fun watching movies and going to the circus on Saturday.
Mike and I were able to just relax and have some together alone.

Then Saturday, I went to the local scrapbook store, met Barb and Becky, and scrapbooked for nine hours.
It may seem a lot, but it went by way to fast!
I did manage to get most of my Scrapgal Design team projects done :)
So I'll be able to post those on April 1st.

Sunday was a beautiful day here!
Originally the kids were going to be at my parents still in the morning. But since we changed their over night day to Friday instead of Saturday, we were all together.
We went to a local park that has a small "lake" and a playground and had lunch.
I think it's great when we can all just relax and be together.
Not feeling rushed or crazy.
And for dinner we had grilled burgers, grilled asparagus, mac and cheese and cantaloupe.
Being able to eat outside on the patio was the best part of all.
The first day of spring actually felt like Spring. :)
I love happy weekends!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun

and find your shoulder to light on.

To bring you luck, happiness and riches

today, tomorrow and beyond

- An Irish Blessing-

And my favorite layout so far that I created using a Sunday sketch about our trip to Ireland :)

One Year Ago

1. Erin had her first visit to the dentist for a check-up. She was still two (not turning three until July 31st) And she really did a great job.

2. I don't remember what the weather was like one year ago, but today it is snowing here :-O
And here I was all ready for Spring to start. But this Thursday, St. Pat's Day, is supposed to be sunny and in the 70's. That's Midwest weather for you!

3. I weighed the exact same as I do today. But I've been making little changes since January of this year. Healthier, life changes. Exercising 4-6 times a week without fail. Adding more antioxidants to my diet. Eliminating more junk from my diet. And just watching what I eat period! Plus trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep at night as long as little ones don't wake me up : )

4. I had yet to be published in a Scrapbook magazine. A goal that I had sporadically pursued off and on over the years. I just wanted to see one of my layouts in a magazine : ) And I now one of my layouts is going to be published in Scrapbooks Etc... The October issue! Very excited about that!

And speaking of scrapbooking - Scrapgal's monthly challenges are still going on here The boards were down for a few days. Jenn has a brand new site that is still getting some tweaking, but we are back live :)
The manufacturer of the month is Basic Grey! I hosted the sketch challenge this month. But there are also challenges in for journaling, photos, altered objects and more. Come play along if you like challenges and would love a chance to win a cyber gift card to the store!

My Scrapgal Tutorial: Using Homemade Flower Stencils

*As seen over on the Scrapgal blog today :)
I actually made these flower stencils out of chipboard a few years back when I taught a class on adding a variety of flowers to your layouts. I find they come in handy quite often whenever I want to craft a floral embellishment that goes perfectly with the papers I am using on a layout.


I have three different sizes that I literally had drawn and hand cut as you see in the photo above. Sometimes I use them to layer each other or just alone. For my layout I used the middle size and smaller flowers.



I chose the patterned papers I wanted to use, flipped it over and traced my flowers. I then cut them out by hand.


Two flowers ready to be embellished.



I decided to go simple with a Sassafras Lass button embellishment already stitched on. And a regular button tied with baker's twine.



Then added them to my layout! Simple :)

March Design Team Gallery Going Up at Scrapgal!

The Manufacturer of the month for Scrapgal 
is Basic Grey. I was given the Lemonade line with a little bit of Junebug to work with. The theme they are using this month is "Back to the Basics".

 

My first project is a card. Which is pretty basic :) I actually took one of the birds from a Maya Road chipboard album and covered it with BG patterned paper. I painted the wing with some acrylic paint. I was out of pink, so I actually had to do some mixing of red and white :) The eye is a chipboard flower from the June bug line with some bling. The flower sticker is Basic Grey and the alphabet stickers are My Little Shoebox.

I loved doing this layout. A comparison of how much Erin had changed between these two photos. The bottom one taken in January of 2009 when she was 18 months old and I discovered she could climb onto my scrapbook counter :-O The top photo I will admit is staged and taken in June of 2010. Almost 18 months later, right before she turned three. She knows better than to do that now. But when we were looking through photos and saw that one of her at 18 months, I had her get up there for a photo with me right there :)
All product is Basic Grey except the letter stickers. The large vinyl ones are American Crafts. The small blue are Cosmo Cricket, and the small pink My Little Shoebox.

I am in charge of the sketch challenge for March. And let's just say, it to is very basic. This is my first time creating a sketch from scratch ever! :)

And this is the layout to go with it. Lots of Basic Grey Lemonade, except the American Crafts green tulle, and the October Afternoon letter stickers. Sorry for the uneven photo. I just couldn't get that photo on the right to look straight, but it is in real life :)

You can see the rest of the Design Team's work here in the DT manufacturer of the month album.
And the challenges for the month of March are here under Monthly Contests.
Join in if you can for some chances to win Scrapgal cyber gift cards to the store :)

~ Painting ~

Well we had a big overhaul last weekend as far as bedrooms go. Mike and I finally have the large bedroom with two closets back, and Erin is moved into the "yellow" room. The one that was originally the family/tv room before she was born. The one Mike and I took over as our bedroom for a while.

I think this is my favorite photo of her "helping" dad prime the room for a coat of paint. She really was a big help :)

And here they are together. That's my scrap porch out there. Can you see Evan's head there through the left window working on the computer. Lego club I am sure :) The reason Mike and I took over that room as our bedroom when she was younger was because of my scrap room there that you have to walk through the room to get to. So yes, I am going to walk through her bedroom to get to that porch, but I think it's ok now that she's older. Here it is 11pm at night and I am out here even though she is sleeping. The light is on it's lowest setting and I haven't bothered her at all. Although I am not sure how much scrapping I can do at night. My paper cutter is a little noisy!

Here she is trying out her new "big girl" bunk beds. Yes, she wanted bunk beds because her best friend down the street (whom she adores) has bunk beds. And we need the extra sleeping space for guests or sleepovers. We really don't have any. She slept on the top that night because we didn't have the lower mattress yet. It was coming the next day. But the rule is she sleeps on the bottom for now.
I love seeing her heart pillow, and Shaggy doll, and baby with the crazy kid haircut all snuggling in with her. She was so excited. The bottom mattress has the super cute sheets and pillows with the butterflies from PB Kids. The colors are purple, green, and yellow :)

As for Evan, his room got a paint job, too. Yes, that is orange on his walls. His favorite color and the one he chose. Isn't he lucky to have such open-minded parents :)
And yes, he is still into Legos big time. I love those display shelves Mike put up on his wall. They are perfect!
So there you have it! Lots of changes here in the month of February. And I have a feeling there will be lots more in the months ahead with all this remodeling and organizing we will be doing!