October 2011 Pages

Apparently, we were busy last October.

inspiration from a couple of Kelly's layouts: this one and this one

Inspiration from this sketch

inspiration from this sketch, which was found here.
scissors graphic from The Graphics Fairy

I'm not sure about the Halloween spread.  Are the fairies too much?  And I'm thinking it needs some more color...  I'll play with it more later, but I was hoping for some feed back.

Edit: Updated version of the Halloween page:

Another Batch: August and September

The latest batch of digi-scrap pages, because I just can't seem to stop. I made Kaylie's rolling over page using Elora's page as a template.  I think it's appropriate that they match, since they learned to roll over almost exactly 2 years apart!

And then a bit of randomness...

Make sure to view this one larger, or you'll miss the bubbles!

inspiration from this template at busy crafting mommy

Our one-and-only trip to the beach last summer...

inspiration from this sketch

We need to get our act together this year, and head out to the beach now, instead of waiting until summer's last gasp, like we did last year.
Ok, and one more:

inspiration from this sketch

More Pages for My 2011 Book

Page Re-Do

I wasn't really satisfied with my Mother's Day Weekend page, so I re-did it. 

What do you think, is this an improvement?

A Few New Pages

I think I've accepted that I'm never going to get completely caught up on my digi scrapping.  Not without going on a scrapping binge, during which I ignore my chores, my family, and bodily necessities.  Yeah, not happening.  So I fit page in here, and another in there.  At this point, I'm in to June, 2011.

I am anxious, though, to get the 2011 book done, so I can get copies published for the grandparents. (For myself too, but I still haven't gotten around to printing a 2010 book for myself.)

Valentine's Day & Another Page

 I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day yesterday!  Ours was wonderful.  My husband came home from work with his arms full of flowers (peach roses, my favorite!) and chocolates (Lindt truffles), two bottles of white wine and the sweetest card:

 It almost made me cry.

The girls and I had fun getting things ready for him. We went in the morning and picked up a couple bottles of wine and a new variety of beer for him to try with dinner.  Then we went to the library and found a few books for Brandon, a few for Elora, and one for me.  Elora and I both made cards for him while Kaylie was napping. Then I cleaned off his desk, and set out his books and cards where he would be sure to see them.  And in the evening, I tried out a yummy new recipe for dinner. 

There were no fancy restaurants, neither of us spent a whole lot of money, and we had to trade off holding Kaylie during dinner so we could eat, but it was a nice, relaxed evening spent enjoying one anothers' company, and it was perfect.  It was exactly the kind of Valentine's Day I was hoping for, and I wouldn't change a thing!

I finally got around to finishing another scrapbook page.

I had a hard time with this one, too.  I got the lay out done pretty easily, but I just couldn't choose a background or elements.  I actually had to just put it away and ignore it for a few weeks, but when I came back to it last night, it came together for me.

Toy Story Birthday Invitations

Since the girls' birthdays are only about 2 weeks apart, we'll be doing double birthday parties for them until they get old enough to want their own.  This first time around though, I going to have a few of the "1st birthday" things for Kaylie, like chocolate cupcakes in addition to a carrot cake for Elora and set up a special spot for her with the appropriate decorations.  But for all practical purposes, this year's party will be Toy Story themed. Elora loves Toy Story. 

found here

No, you don't understand.  Elora loves Toy Story.  If I let her, she would watch all three movies, in reverse order, every day.  (When she was sick over Christmas, and we let her vege in front of the TV?  Yeah.  All 3 movies.  And the time that she was sick before that?  You get the idea.)

found here

It's hard to say which character she likes best, but I picked Jessie as the central theme for her invitations.  I'm no Jessica, (you really should go look at hers, she designed those from nothing!) but I decided to design and print my own, rather than buying them pre-made. I found this image online, and downloaded it. Now I have to wait for the ink I ordered to get here so I can print them out.

I had a hard time choosing between doing a flat card or folded card, but in the end went with the flat one for the invitation,

 
and made the thank you cards folded.  Now, where is that ink??

'City View Park' Page

http://52sketches52weeks.com/

This time, instead of trying to make 2 sketches work together for a double page LO, I chose one and expanded it; and instead of using the sketch as a blueprint, I used it as more of a guideline.  It came together much easier.

At least until it came to doing the title.  I think I spent as much time trying to do that as I did on the rest of the page combined.

'Picture Perfect' Page

I started with these, for inspiration:

http://52sketches52weeks.com/

And came up with this:

I don't believe I've worked from a "sketch" before, and I'm not sure that I liked it.  I'm also not sure that I'm done playing with this one, but it is time and past that I went to bed.

Edit, 1/23: I had to mess with it again this morning.  Which one do you like better, yesterday's (above) or today's (below)? 

So, about that toilet paper...

Remember the other day, when Kara posted about Silas playing with toilet paper?  And remember how I said in my comment that when Elora tries to play with the TP, that "I take it away from her before she can make a mess with it"?  Well, within 30 minutes of typing that comment, this is what I found in my hallway.

I still haven't done any sewing, but I did finish another LO.  Slow but sure, I'm catching up!

I've also got  tri-strand black and gold necklace in the works, and I've been commissioned to do another bridal set! I so love doing wedding jewelry, and I love it even more when the bride wants something interesting.  The supplies for that are on order, I'm really excited about getting my hands on the stuff and getting to work. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Recently...

Elora loves it when I brush her teeth.

She likes to "help" me with the laundry.  She actually managed to restart the washer before I could get the clean clothes out and into the dryer.  Since it locks itself once a cycle starts, all I could do was change it to "rinse and spin" and let it go.

Pictures from playing outside on Tuesday, when the weather was still being agreeable.

My newest Elora Book spread.  I went really simple this time.  I'm trying to escape the patterns I keep going to in my LO's.