I can finally share my first layout in print :) If you have the July 2011 Scrapbook Trends, it's on page 97.

This is very exciting for me because 1) it is my first layout picked up by a major publication, and 2) this layout is one I made just for the call. I knew right away what I wanted to do and put it together. It's totally my style.

Thanks for letting me share with you.

Miranda and I are busy-busy getting ready for girls' camp next week.  (What have I gotten myself into?)

Have a fantastic weekend. :)

For the past ten days, we have been on the road. My dad's side of the family had a reunion is Eastern Idaho. DH had to be in LA for work last week, so the kids and I took three days to make the drive. The first night we stayed in Spokane at a friend's house. Then we headed to Bozeman, MT, on Tuesday. Paige's family welcomed us into their home. It was a really nice visit and fun for the kids since they had buddies to play with during our stay. Before heading to Idaho on Wednesday, we visited Paige's gravesite. She has a beautiful view:
After leaving Bozeman, we headed south and ended up with a gorgeous drive through Yellowstone. I didn't realize we would actually be driving through part of the the park. We arrived at the family reunion and set up camp--well, actually I started setting up camp and then my parents and sister Tiffany finished it up for me. Thanks!

The reunion lasted until Saturday. So much fun! Family Olympics, relay races, skits, songs, good food, cricket, sandbox, and just visiting with everyone is my favorite. DH joined us on Thursday. I have tons of photos but haven't downloaded any yet.

Saturday we drove down to Provo, UT to show the kids BYU campus. DH enjoyed showing them the pool where he swam in college. We had dinner at Brick Oven pizza and then went to the Creamery on 9th for ice cream. We stayed in Salt Lake City for the next two nights, visiting the LDS Conference Center, Temple Square, Park City, the Utah Olympics Museum, and swimming at the hotel pool.

Monday DH had to fly to Denver for work so the kids I packed up and headed to my Aunt Dianne's for lunch. We enjoyed visiting with her and my cousin, Kirsti. We fed their chickens and picked apricots from her tree. I helped them stamp and label some of Kirsti's wedding invites. Then we drove up to my cousin, Shelley's, house. We stayed there then next two nights. She has five kids as well . . . and it was a perfect place to hang out until DH came back from Denver. Lots of wii games, air hockey, playing in the fountains at Gateway, and visiting.

We probably would have done a bit more while we were in Utah but on the first day at the family reunion Krish rolled his ankle coming out of the tube slide. DH took him to the urgent care the next day and he had injured some ligaments, putting Krish on crutches for the rest of the trip.

Wednesday we drove all the way home from Salt Lake. 14-1/2 hours. It actually was an uneventful trip, until we had dinner at Olive Garden in Yakima. On our way out, Krish emptied his stomach on the sidewalk. Poor guy! He hadn't been feeling well at lunch--I think all the traveling had caught up with him. I'm really glad he threw up outside--not in the restaurant or in the car. He was fine the final 2 hours home. The kids all slept in this morning.

While we were on our trip, the weather was HOT. We had several day in the upper 90's. Looking out my kitchen window right now, it is raining and in the 60's.

Now I'm off to do a TON of laundry and go to the grocery store. Have a wonderful day :)

I realized I hadn't shared the rest of my Scarlet Lime July kit projects with you . . . what a great way to begin the week :)

Last Monday I shared my canvas made with the main kit . . .
 I also made this layout with the main kit:
The glitz stickers were probably my favorite product in the main kit this month.

Then with the Frugal FAB kit, I created a layout and two cards.


Lots of product packed into the Frugal FAB this month. Love the all the STAR patterns . . . perfect for July.

SRM revealed their new line of stickers last week on the blog . . . and for the rest of the month several projects will be highlighted on the blog using the new stickers. Hooray!

One of my projects is up today on the SRM blog . . . the NEW mini-tube with the NEW Boo! Quick Card set.

 I had some Piggy Tales "barn doors" from a product package that I received from Scrapbook Trends when they returned my calendar mini album. This purple square one fit perfectly on the Jillibean Soup corrugated scalloped square. So I used that for my base and then put the Boo! sentiment inside:
The Mini Tube is filled with orange tic-tacs. I added in some green sequins from my stash.

The SRM blog has my project plus another fun Halloween project today. Check them out--it might just get you in the mood to make something SPOOKY! :)

Enjoy your day!

ps--Happy Birthday to my sweet niece, Sarianne. She is 8 years old today . . . we are excited to get to celebrate her special day with her. :)

Be sure to check out the SRM blog today. I have a tutorial posted on how to make these simple banners for your projects.

I use these banners all the time to highlight the sentiment on a card or the title of a page. Fun, festive, and--best of all--EASY!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Thought I'd share my June Hip 2-b Square kit cards with you today.

I really like making cards. I think I could just make cards and be happy.

But you know, it's funny . . . I have a huge stash of cards, but when I need a card, I tend to make a new one.

Anywhoo . . . enjoy!

Love the Maya Road stamps for sentiments. And butterflies . . . sigh.

Something happened on my stitching tension  here . . . but I like the funky look. And the butterfly ;)

Looking at this card . . . it needs something more. Something behind the flowers. Maybe if I make the design again, I'll add that in. Oh, look, another butterfly!

And this butterfly is front and center.

Have a terrific Tuesday! :)

Ok . . . really . . . I wasn't planning on doing any art on canvas. In fact, when Christy at Scarlet Lime starting introducing mixed media I told her it wasn't my thing. She said I could stick with layouts and cards. Whew!

But then the rose trim in the July Scarlet Lime kit stuck out and I just couldn't put it on a page and squish it between page protectors. So . . . I had a leftover 9x12 canvas from Lina's birthday party . . . and this adorable photo of Lina with her BFF, Hope.

And, I made a hanging for Lina to put in her bedroom.


It really wasn't that hard. I colored the canvas with mists and blended them with my finger. The hardest part was waiting for the mists to dry and then finding an adhesive that would stick to the canvas (glue dots worked great). I think the whole waiting-for-product-to-dry and the mess it all makes deters me from making more projects like this.

Lina was thrilled with the project! And, I really like how it turned out as well. I treated it like a page . . . just one that was a bit more dimensional :)

Check out my post on the Scarlet Lime blog today. Leave me a comment letting me know if you have tried something out of your comfort zone, or if you would like to. I'd love to cheer you on.

Have a marvelous Monday!

ps--It's 7/11 today . . . go get a Slurpee to celebrate :)  Not that we even have a 7/11 near us . . . or that I could drink a Slurpee (hello brain freeze) . . . but just sayin', it might be a fun thing to do . . .

Hello! How is your weekend going? We had a beautiful day here yesterday . . . unfortunately, we were inside all day because little Merek is running a fever. All he wants to do is cuddle with mom. I know he is sick because he has no interest in running around and playing with the other kids. :(

This week SRM is sponsoring Sketch Inspirations. Have you heard of SI before? They have wonderful sketches and I was really excited to work with the one for this week.

  I've had these pictures of Bird from last fall for awhile, wanting to get them on a page. This sketch was perfect to highlight the 4x6 photo. Then I added in the wallet photo under the title because it was too cute to leave off the page :)
I used SRM stickers #39052 Fun in the Sun, along with a variety of manufacturers' papers--Echo Park, Bazzill, and Basic Grey. Instead of adding the row of small circles in the center of the design, I opted to leave it as it was so nothing distracted from the main photo.  
Because I liked the sketch so much, I also made a card inspired from the design.
 

Be sure to try out the sketch. Let me know if you do--I'd love to see your take on it :)

Enjoy your Sunday!

I really enjoyed using the Maya Road stamp set that was an add-on this month. Perfect for titles and cards.

It is hard to believe the weekend is already upon us! We had beautiful weather at the beginning of the week and now the skies have turned cloudy and gray. Though I'm not complaining since our air-conditioning isn't working! Frustrating since we just had a new system installed last fall. Oh well . . . I guess our energy bill will be lower next month :)

This morning I went in for a long-overdue hair appointment. My last time in the salon was early-December. The stylist I had gone to before was unavailable until the end of July and I didn't want to wait that long. So I booked an appt. with Marika, who cut Bird's hair the other day. A little hesitant about going to someone new . . . but I'm so happy! 1) The color looks great and perfect for summer, and 2) she trimmed my hair JUST LIKE I ASKED HER TO. I haven't had a trim like this for years . . . stylists always give me too many layers and texturize my hair too much. So I'm very excited and will definitely be going back to her.

Funny how small things like that can make one so happy.

Be sure to check out the SRM blog today--it's the last day of NEW release reveals. And leave a comment on each of the this week's post. They are drawing a name this weekend from all of the comments to win the whole new line of stickers. Cool!

Enjoy your weekend . . . oh, and please stop by on Sunday for a fun sketch reveal and projects ;)

I added an SRM sentiment to this one, and the next one.

This design is based on a Card Map from June 2011.

For the pennant banner, I cut the tips off the plaid star on the Sassafrass sticker sheet.

Today we are busy busy preparing for a certain 5-year-old's 6th birthday tomorrow. Fun, fun! Have a fabulous day :)

ps--Be sure to check out the SRM blog all this week. Reveals of their new sticker sheets coming out this month. Leave comments--they are picking a winner from each day's post to receive NEW stickers!

This layout is based on a June 2011 PageMaps design.