Baseball...you gotta love the game!

If I could turn back time, I'd rewind to yesterday morning and instead of going to Denair and be a part of their Vendors in the Park event, I would have stayed in Patterson and watched the boys' baseball game.

Derek, who's been hitting the cover off the baseball for the past couple of seasons, hit his FIRST over the fence HOME RUN and I wasn't there to see it.

When Kenny sent the text, I wanted to scream!

I saw Derek later that night and he was upset that I wasn't there to celebrate the bomb.  Dang it!  If we could only turn back time...

And, to make matters worse, Kenny didn't even attempt to take a photo of Derek running around the bases or touching home plate or anything.  Such a rookie...I thought I trained him better...oh well, D's just gonna have to hit another one.  Guess who's never going to miss another game?

This reminds me of Kevin and his high school career.  Every time he hit a home run I was never at the game.  I would either show up after or not at all.  It was sort of the inside joke between us but I was still upset not to see any.  Finally, four seasons later, on our home field, on the day they honored Seniors, I was there from the beginning and he hit one over the fence!  It was so amazing and I ran to the backstop right behind home plate waiting for him to round the bases, as the crowd was chanting his name, he looked up at me and said "mom".  Geez, I'm getting teary eyed now six years later.  It was incredible!  So Derek, keep on hitting them, and don't worry, I'll see it and I'll be right there cheering you on!

Baseball...gotta love the drama, gotta love the intensity and  

you just gotta love the game!

Simple Pleasures

I made these tags for a swap.  The rules were we had to use: metal, ribbon, lace, bling, distress and color.  I think I followed pretty well.  I laid down strips of blue scrap papers, distressed the edges and then used scrap pink paper to make the kites.  The rest you can see tied to the kite string.  Carly helped with the embossing because she's a pro at that!

She Believed She Could So She Did...

When I read this quote from Stampin' Up, I had to have it.  There are great quotes in this stamp set and I'm sure you'll see many of them soon.

I loved this simple sketch from Let's Scrap and thought it'd be perfect for this photo my mom gave me and the quote.  The lady stamp was recently gifted to me from my sister's sister-in-law.  I'm going to do a write up soon about that.

The background patterned paper is from Tim Holtz - LOVE IT!  I thought it went perfect with this photo since it was taken at the Oakland State Fair in May 24, 1956.  Almost exactly 57 years to the date I scrapped it.  I didn't even know there was a state fair in Oakland!  I started off putting the individual pearls on and they were going to go across the page, but that was a lot of work!  Those who know me, know, I'm kinda lazy :).  The two layers of lace and the distressed tickets were after thoughts. 

No More Old Potting Shed

I painted a blue and tan background on the original photo to create a water & sand look.  I also sprayed some gold and red glitter mist to add some shine and dimension.  Next I inked the background French script paper in blue on the top part and some desert sand on the bottom third.  I adhered the background paper and waves to the original photo.  At first I started laying the sea life down and then I thought, I need to just glue them as I go since I wanted it to have a layered look without actually having any 3D elements.  So, I glued the letters and then just started building.  I love how this turned out.  It's so much fun.  I'm not sure if the photos do it justice, but I used my Stampin' Up markers to make bubbles and to embellish the sea life.  I just kept going and going and adding and adding until I felt it was just right.

Here are some close ups:

Do you remember how it started?  It went from this:

And then this:

To the final product. 

I sanded and then painted the frame a combination of two bottles of pink acrylic paint and then used some crackle finish with white to finish the look.  I really thought, I'd keep the pink frame, but because I didn't have a full coverage on the frame (I didn't have a whole lot of paint between the two bottles), it didn't look right.

Let's see...products used...I used an assortment of different paper from my stash.  I tried to use as many scraps as possible.  I used stickles for a little bling; my white pen to accent a lot; acrylic paint from my stash; gold and red glitter mist; and the cricut machine.

Cricut cartridges used:
Life's A Beach for pretty much everything
Doodlecharms (seahorses)

Total cost for this project = $0
Everything came from my stash!  Not bad for a customized baby gift.

This is going to my friend's daughter and son-in-law (Nia and Leo).

The Old Potting Shed

What do you see?  A country style photo in a green frame... A thrift store find...Something in my "restore" closet for years...Another fun project? 

I can't wait to show you what it becomes!

Some hints:
1.  Baby Shower Gift
2.  Under the Sea
3.  Baby Girl

I need to complete the project by Friday - yup, in two days!  I'll be back!

My Creative Sketches Challenge

I love starting a scrapbook layout with a sketch and I found great sketches on the My Creative Sketches site.  Click on their name to go to their site and see the original sketch.

These are photos of me when I was 7 months old.  I thought the black/white photos were a nice contrast to the bright teal and pink layout. 

Here's my layout:

Here's a closer view of the photos:

Coffee Gift Card Holder Anyone?

I made some of these for Christmas but these I decorated for Mother's Day.  They are gift card holders, perfect for anyone who is giving a Starbucks gift card.

I am entering this in the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and 613 Avenue Create Challenge Blog.  Click here for more info...

This is a fun challenge site if you have a Cricut.

Cartridge used:
Art Philosophy cartridge by CTMH

I absolutely LOVE these roses and want to use them on everything!

Spring Bazaar

Here are some photos of our booth for the Sacred Heart Spring Bazaar.  Thanks to my friend Mia for hooking me up.

I love these little notebooks.  The images on the front are from the Nifty Fifties cartridge.

Adorable!

Don't you just love the double pockets on the lid of this suitcase?!  Perfect for holding cards...

Hey Carly!

The wind started picking up about an hour before we packed up and everyone was going nuts trying to hold onto their canopies.  It was actually pretty funny until ours started going places too.  We didn't sell a lot, but it's always fun hanging out with my Star, Carly and meeting new people.  We'll be at it again in a few weeks.

Happy National Scrapbook Day! and You Rock!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!  Whew, I've been busy, busy, busy making things for the Spring Bazaar tomorrow in our town.  Every night I've been pumping out new things, but today...I had to take a break and create a layout in honor of National Scrapbook Day.

I titled this layout, "You Rock".  A little spin on the title because my niece, Jori is rocking on her handmade rocking horse her grandpa made for her first birthday.  Now, those of you who know me are thinking, what isn't Jori eight now?  Yes, she is.  My sis gave me a photo envelope of photos to scrapbook and they are all from her first birthday.  Gosh, she's so adorable in her cowgirl outfit.  Don't worry, you'll see more layouts as I start putting them together.

Here's "You Rock":

I used paper by Karen Foster.  Probably an old style, but perfect for this little Cowgirl.  The embellishments are from stamps used at a friend's house.  I don't remember where the gingham paper is from.  Very simple, but very cute!

I'm entering this layout in the newest Let's Scrap sketch challenge.