Hey!  Tomorrow a new Collaborative kit is available at PrettyScrappy.com!  It's called Bunny Hop, and it is a really great kit.  It is HUGE--and you're gonna love it!!  It even has a glittery alphabet included!  I made these two layouts with it, so as you can see, it is pretty versatile, in that it doesn't HAVE to be an Easter layout to use it!!  Enjoy!

 

The first layout is Sarah of course!!  :) Isn't she just a little doll.  I can't wait to pinch her little chubby cheeks!!  The second layout is Hopie, and again, she's a doll too!!  Having grandchildren is one of the greatest blessings God has in store for people!  I'm lovin' it!                                                                                                      

Both layouts I have to share today are from a day trip my daughter Amy and her family took to the beach a couple of weeks ago.  I used the same kit with both of them--Safe Harbor from DaybreakScraps Designs.  The first layout shows Jonah standing in the water at the beach.  I found a poem from Irene Foster that just spoke to me about this photo--especially since Jonah just turned 4 this month.
The poem's title is When He's not Just Four and it says:

Now is the time to get things done . . .
Wade in the water, Sit in the sun,
Squish my toes in the mud by the door
Explore the world with a boy just four.
Now is the time to study books, Flowers, Snails,
How a cloud looks, To ponder "up,"
Where God sleeps nights,
Why mosquitoes take such big bites.
Later there'll be time To sew and clean
Paint the hall That soft new green,
To make new drapes, refinish the floor,
 Later on . . . when he's not just four.

I love it!  :)  and I love this photo!

The other layout shows the boys playing in the lines from the old ship they ventured to board!  It looks like the boys had a good time that day.

I have a few layouts to share today.  I made them all with one kit that Godigitalscrapbooking.com supplied to me for use in round four of the Supreme Team Contest.  I love this kit--it was fun to play with!

The first layout is one of Micah that Becky shot a few years ago, and has got to be one of my favorite photos of him!  He's such a cutie!!  This is the one I used to submit to the contest.  How could anybody pass up that cute little face??

The second layout is tiny photos of all 14 of the grandchildren.  I never get them close enough to each other in real life to get any photos of them together, so they will be photoshopped cousins if nothing else!!  All together, they make quite a bunch of kids!  Each one of them has such a distinct and fabulous personality!  They all share one thing though, they are all very much loved by their grandparents!!  I'm so in love with each and every one of them!!

I took the photos of Abby this past summer when she visited with Micah.  We were at Chuck's house, and I think she was just overwhelmed by the opened spaces there!  She ran and ran!!  Hannah snapped the photos with my camera. 

Thanks for looking!!

I have a couple of  layouts to share tonight!  the kit came from PrettyScrappy.com.  I used  the team collab kit called There is No Place Like Home.  It is a HUGE kit, with lots of papers and even more embellishments!!  It was fun to play with! 

The first layout is a layout of Hopie when she was just a baby.  It was a little out of my comfort zone, but I guess it's always good to stretch your abilities.  There is no journaling on this one except the title!

The second one shows the boys a couple of weekends ago.  I wanted to have one of Jacob at this age because he's growing so fast!!  He won't be a baby much longer!!  Oh why do they have to grow up so darn fast??  
Journaling says: 
The Birds spent the day touring San Pedro.  They went on a ship
in the harbor, where these photos were taken.  You can see the
ships lines behind the boys!  They always have fun on their

weekend adventures!!                                               

Well, blow me over!  I made it into round 4 in the contest.  27 people were chosen to advance to this round, and next week, the fine judges will chose their SUPREME team of 12.  These 12 people will serve for 4 months on this team!  Tomorrow we are given our new kit to use for this round!  Can't wait to see what we get to play with this round.  Wish me luck again!  :)

TODAY IS THE DAY!  We contestants in the GODIGITALSCRAPBOOKING.com current contest find out who moves into round 4!!  Participating in the contest has been a lot of fun.  We were all given wonderful kits to create with.  The current kit, Springy by FWTS and JJ Scrapping was a pleasure to play with!!  Looking at the gallery here:  http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=1113 shows the versatility of the kit!!  Every layout has it's own flavor and creativity!  It's been a stiff competition for sure!!  Here is the layout I created for the contest!  This is Abby a while back!!  She was out on the back deck, and I love how she was back-lit by the sun!  I love this photo of her.  We find out tonight at chat who goes on to round 4!  :)  Wish me luck!

Two posts in one day!!
I have to catch up a bit with some of my layouts!  I made one today with a template and a background page from a kit called Denim from Daybreak Scraps Designs.  The template was a freebie blog template from babyyacks.  It's a layout from Jonah's birthday party.  We had such a good time there.

The journaling says: Jonah’s birthday party was such a fun event!  It took place in the garage because there just wasn’t enough room in the condo for the kids to be kids.  It was a perfect place, as it turned out though.  We didn’t have to worry about spills or stuff in the way, or too little room!   Jonah would have been happy anywhere--as long as the decorated chocolate cupcakes came along!

The next layout is also about Jonah.  It is titled Jonah and the Princesses.   The journaling here reads: When Amy and Scott took the children  to Disneyland, Jonah was completely enthralled with meeting the princesses! Look at his shy little face as he meets
the pretty Princess Ariel. Princess Bell and Princess Aurora had the same effect with him!  He loves his
princesses!  I made this layout with a kit called Just Call Me a Princess by Serene by RW.  I thought it was quite appropriate for the princess page!  Jonah loves that crown I put on his head (it was in the kit!)


I made another layout about my boys
yesterday.  I used a few different kits, but

all the paper is from Amy Teets.  I guess that is all for now!  Will try and get some more caught up tomorrow!

I'm adding another CT to my list today.  I've been accepted as a ct member for Designs by Ashlee.  She designs kits that will be easy to use because they are mostly "kid friendly."  And as you all know, I have a lot of kids to scrap for!  :)  Will be back later!!

I've got a lot of catching up to do again!  :)  It has been a busy time in our lives.  You say "but you're both retired!"  Yes, we are!!  I'm actually not sure how I had time to work outside the home though!!  We are STILL busy, even though retired.  And, we thank the Lord that we ARE busy, and CAN be busy.  

Earl stays busy with yard work and repairs around the house--and of course, taking Molly for her expected walks!  I stay busy with housework (does that EVER end?)  I was under the mistaken notion that retired meant no more work--but I was so wrong!!  We still need a clean home to live in, good meals to eat, and clean clothes to wear.  We still have to shop for the things we need--or want.  All these things take time.

Besides all the mundane things that have to be taken care of each day, both of us have our hobbies also.  We also have family (and 14 grandchildren) and friends that  fill our lives with daily blessings!   We thank the Lord daily for these many blessings. 

Earl's hobbys include his model trains.  He spends more time in the few months before Christmas with his trains--planing his layout changes, and getting excited about the upcoming Holiday season, and waiting to see what Santa has in store for him and his hobby!  Another one of his hobbies is his music.  He still plays the organ for our church every Sunday, and although the church service lasts only an hour or so, it takes several times that long each week for him to prepare his part--especially if any of the songs are new to him.  He enjoys this, however, and feels fortunate to have the ability to serve the Lord in this way.  We are coming into the spring months now, and he's just biting at the bit to get out into the garden!  He is a farmer at heart.  He loves to play in the dirt.  Oh, maybe that is just another part of his "little boy" coming out come to think of it!!  Don't ALL little boys like to play in the dirt??

My hobbies include scrapbooking.  Simple and straightforward Scrapbooking.  My hobby has taken a new and VERY unexpected direction this past year.  I've gotten involved in DIGITAL scrapbooking--something I never would have imagined a few years ago!  But I've found it to be a fun escape.  I've been a paper scrapper for a LONG time.  Our home is FULL of bulging albums--chocked full of layouts of our precious memories over the many years we've been married!  They are full of adventures with our children and now our grandchildren.  The sweet memories of loved ones from the past fill some of the other albums.   Our house is small--our shelves full--so the digital scrapbooking has helped alleviate moving to a larger home to accommodate my ever increasing supply of albums!!  The move to digital has also cut down on the "messes" I make in the scrapbook room.  It has allowed me to spend more time in the same room as Grandpa because I can digi-scrap while watching tv in the evenings!  I don't have to be in the scrapbook room anymore to enjoy my hobby.

I've taken a few digi online classes in the past year and a half now, and the pages are coming easier.  I still prefer my digi pages to resemble what I'm used to in paper layouts.  I like them to look like they "could" be paper layouts--although I see that my style IS evolving a bit recently.  I've joined a few designers Creative teams, and use their kits with my photos to help them sell their products.  It is a fun adventure--one I am enjoying.  I've made a lot of online friends through the websites I frequent, and that has been a real blessing to my life!  It's fun to get to know people that share many of the same interests.  Although not all my online friends are into the "digi" part, scrapbooking in itself is one of those things that can be shared no matter how one goes about it!! 

My plans aren't to give up on paper scrapping entirely!  I still love the feel of the paper.  I love the supplies.  I love my cricut!  They are fun just to play with!!  But for this time--today--I'm a digital scrapper--there I said it.  I'm a digital scrapper.  Today.  I thank the scrappers that have given me encouragement in the past few months--the designers that have entrusted their products to me, and the encouragement I've received from people that have been enjoying my current creative adventure.  Thank you all!

It has got to be time for a catch up!  I've been scrapping, but not keeping up the posts!!  My goodness, time just gets right away from me.  Someone asked me recently how I can keep up the the Creative teams I'm on--and I just think they are so much fun!  And actually, just working with one kit at a time, and not trying to mix things up as much, has really saved a lot of time and energy!  I love all the teams I'm on.  The kits are so much fun to play with!!
So here goes:  First layout on deck is made from a kit that GoDigitalScrapbooking.com supplied to compete in a contest at their site!  Tricia Curtis allowed all of the contestants to use her kit called Sew Chic.
There were 180 kits handed out, and 107 contestants completed layouts and posted them.  Of the 107 that completed the layouts, 83 were bound over for round two of the contest!  I was lucky enough to be one of those 83!!  But here is the layout I completed with that first kit!

This is, of course, Jacob.  It is one of his newborn photos that Amy took during one of her photo shoots!  I'm thankful she shares those photos with me!!  When I'm with them, we hardly have time to transfer many photos at all.
When I see this little boy, I am so thankful that God added him to our family.  He's such a sweet little one.  He is just adorable!!

The kit for the second round was huge!  It was supplied by Dancing Princess Designs and Dynabel!  The name of the kit is Dipsy Doodles, and it was just jam-packed full of fun goodies!  I made two layouts, but we could only submit one to the contest.  I'll post both of them here though because I love them both.  I used the same photos on both of the layouts because they went so well with the papers in the kit!!

This is the layout I submitted for the contest.  I love these sweet photos of Sarah when she was a little younger than she is now.  When I close my eyes, and think of Sarah, this is how I see her in my head in fact, because this is what she looked like last time I actually saw her in person.  It's so hard to live so far away from the kids!  They grow up and change so fast!  Becky took these photos of Sarah with her super duper camera!!  I love the one of her with her profile!  Her eyelashes show up so pretty in that one!!

I love this second layout because I was able to fit in much more journaling than in the first.  And, besides that, I actually think it fits my usual style of scrapping a little better.  I love how she is looking down into the layout here!  and her beautiful eyelashes show up so pretty too.  Did you notice they are curly??

All of the remaining contestants find out next Tuesday night who are the lucky ones to move on to Round three!  I love the layouts I was able to do with the supplied kits, though, and will be really happy if I move up, but if I don't get that chance, that is ok too!!  The contest is a lot of fun, and there are some amazing scrappers taking part in the contest!!  It is so much fun to see how each of them takes the same kit and comes up with something so different from everybody else!!  Good luck ladies!!

My goodness, I was going through some of my photos of my grandchildren, and just can't get over how stinkin cute they are!!  :)  We had a good time at Jonah's 4th birthday party on Saturday.  He's getting so big!!  And he's such a sweet little guy.  I haven't downloaded my photos yet--my computer has been on the blink thanks to some genius that used his devious little mind to invent an insidious malware virus.  My dear husband, however, was finally able to isolate and KILL the offending bits of genius though.  Now my computer is behaving like it is supposed to.  If you visit Photobucket.com, though, BEWARE!!  I'm fairly certain that is where the bug attacked!! 
We had our annual Superbowl party with our neighbors yesterday.  My 10 year string of picking the winner, though, was snapped!  I chose the Colts to win--and of course, the Saints pulled it off.  Oh well, I'm still up by 9!!
Just before my computer crashed, I finished up this layout of Noah.  I made it with a darling new kit by Digi_Licious Designs called Giggle and Hoot (which just happens to be on sale this week for 2.00 at Divine Digital!).  Anyhow, it has a lot of very sweet elements in it, and beautifully designed paper to boot!  Very sweet kit!!

I love this kid!!  :)

I've been busy this week preparing for a Super Bowl party at my house!  We're hosting the annual neighborhood party this year!  One of the other neighbors is bringing the food--so that will be fun too.  I'm also getting ready to spend a week or so of my life doing my public service by "volunteering" for Jury Duty a week or so from now.  Tomorrow Dad has a doctor appointment with his cardiologist--nothing wrong--just his regular check up.

Since I've got so many plans for the next couple of days and weeks, I've also been busy working on my scrapbook layouts.  I have a couple more to share today.
The first one is my San Diego girls!  Sisters.  They are so cute together!

I did this layout with a cute kit called Denim Cuties, and since the girls are so cute, I thought they fit the bill for this kit from DayBreak Scraps!   Look at the bottom photo!  It's Ashlyn!  I couldn't believe how fast she's growing up.  What a beautiful young lady.  :)  Of course, the other girls are sweet and cute also, but Ashlyn was the one that changed the most over the past year.  Mom says she's very helpful at home too, as are the other three girls.  They have all really learned to help out at home.  They help with the laundry, the cleaning, and even the cooking!  They have two good teachers for all of those chores!  I'm thankful they are my grandchildren.  I love them so!!

My next layout is titled Winter Walk.  Scott is good at taking the boys out on Saturday mornings to teach them boy things--which ANYBODY that has raised boys knows, that if there is ANY water around, a boy is going to find a way to get into it!  No matter if it is still winter, or that the water is COLD, or that they were just sick that week!  They are going to get in that water.  Funny little boys!!

I used a template from another Creative Team member at Pretty Scrappy!  Her name is Heather Banholzer, and she donated her template for the Scrambled Seedlings template challenge at the site.  Thanks Heather!  I also used the kit called Another Winter Kit from eqrAveziur for this layout!

When we were in San Diego in October, Debbie let me download some of their photos!  I loved the sailing photos, so today I finally got a chance to whip up a layout about Dan's sailing adventure.  :)

I had the perfect digi kit to do this layout!  It is by Christine Mortimer! It is called Kindy Chaos, and is actually a "school" kit, but can be used for many different kinds of layouts! I especially love the alphabet that is included in the kit. journaling says: Dan decided he wanted to learn how to sail a boat! He signed up for sailing lessons and now enjoys sailing with the family!!

Some of the kids like it better than the others--but that is par for the course.

 

Doesn't Dan look dapper sitting behind the wheel of the boat?  And Megan is a big helper, so I'm sure she helps with all the lines and sails!  Look at how cute little Emily is!!  She doesn't actually like sailing quite as much as the other girls, but you'd never know it by her sweet face!!                                                        

February 1st and a new announcement!  I was chosen as a CT member of the Pretty Scrappy site which can be found here:  http://www.prettyscrappy.com/xcart/home.php

I'm excited for the opportunity.  I also have two new layouts to share.  They were both created with the same kit.  The kit is called Another Winter Kit by eqrAveziur.  I loved the kit!  It was so much fun to work with because it had such a great variety of elements!  And as you can see, offered a lot of versatility!

These photos of Abby in the first layout were taken in 2004, so they are a little older, but she was just so darling!!  She was so tickled with the snow.  I loved her cute expressions.  And she looked so cute in her little Christmas outfit!!  :)  Love that kid.

Jonah is the focus of the second layout.  I love the excitement that shows in his cute face!!  It really showed what a great time he was having sliding down the hill!!  

What a joy these children bring to Grandpa and I!!