Intentional Design

I recently finished a class over at Scrapgirls.com called Intentional Design by Anna Mansfield.
The class was awesome; I would highly recommend it for anyone trying to take their scrapbooking to the next level. Or if you are impatient, lol, buy the book since I don't know when she'll offer the class next: Intention Design ebook I believe if you buy the book now, but later want to take the class for the interactive element (and comments/help from the teacher), they will subtract the cost of the book (as it is partly what Anna teaches from.) Anna comments on each and every homework assignment for everyone, and all class members can see everyone's comments...so not only do you learn from the comments on your own, but you can learn from the comments posted on other members' layouts as well.
The next four layouts are my homework from class:

The mood I am hoping to achieve is peacefulness. soft, cool colors, gentle curves, cursive font...
Journaling: I am so glad that at least you are so peaceful. Daddy was horribly sick with strep throat for your first week of life, Christopher was home from school a lot due to cancellations from the snow & bitter cold weather, and Christopher and Michael predictably fought. You, on the other hand, fussed only when hungry, slept reasonably well, and charmed us all. Grandma helped hold everything together with her tender loving care.
Anna Mansfield Intentional Design Class
Erica Hite Chic Embroidery and Chic Embroidery 2
Valerie Randall 2 Health
Brandy Murry Peaceful
Thao Cosgrove Haven
Thao Cosgrove Dynamic Brush Drawing 5701
Erica Hite Fabric 5401 Patterns (used to make the yellow paper look just like baby's blankie)
Keri Schueller Vintage Nursery Collection Biggie


Mood: This is one of those "everyday" type photos...no particular story attached, just a nice relationship/family photo. Perhaps contentment would be an actual mood to describe this?
Angie Briggs Dress Up
Angie Briggs His N Hers
The white paper was 12 x 12...I just didn't think it looked finished, so I clicked on the top layer, held shift down, and clicked on the bottom layer to highlight them all, then with the move tool, I held down shift AND alt (holding alt down while resizing makes the center of the object stay stationary) and dragged down just a little. Then I placed the super busy, otherwise overwhelming paper behind the white...POP:) I really liked the look; you can bet I'll be doing it more and more!


I had fun on the mats for this one...25 pixel inner stroke on the photos, created new layer with just the stroke on it, used Amanda Sok's icicle style on that and added a drop shadow.
Thao Cosgrove Having Hope (brackets and "SNOWMAN")
Amanda Sok Icicle 6401 Styles (photo mats and on the snowball circular element)
Amanda McGee Jolly Elf (snowman)
Keri Schueller Beautiful Winter (background paper)
Jan Hicks Coin Folder Chip Styles (on the brackets)
Amanda McGee Sketchy Outline font
Sarah Batdorf Basic Shadows styles
Katie Pertiet Winter Wonder Brushes (circular snowball fight)



I hope the silly and short-lived nickname on the page doesn't offend...I didn't think William was protected enough from the sun with just his hat, so used his enormous tea-towel burp cloth underneath his hat to shield his neck and sides of his face better. DH apparently thought he looked like an Arab, thus the name:) I've mentioned before, DH is much better at coming up with good SB page titles than me! ;)
Mood: I was going for "maternal care and concern"...though the nickname is silly, I didn't really want a goofy page for this one. William's eyes are so sparkly and blue in the picture that I wanted a little more of a serious look than I first thought of when contemplating the title. I hope it works...let me know what you think!
Journaling: Since we spent quite a lot of time hiking in South Dakota, Mommy had the creative idea to use your burp cloth to keep the sun off. Daddy came up with the funny nickname.
Valerie Randall Batik (wax alpha)
Melissa Renfro Inspired and AYO Inspired
Keri Schueller Zipper Flowers
Sarah Batdorf Basic Shadows

Long Time No See

Yikes it's been a long time here. Hope somebody still has me in their feed after all this time! Otherwise I'm posting to thin air. Well I hope this was worth the wait. I'm posting a bunch of paper pages (and 1 related digi page) that I've completed in the last few months. I really have been on a scrapping roll, and that means less posting here I guess.

Family news: Christopher (7) lost his first tooth 2 days ago, and his second tooth came out yesterday...yes, two days in a row! Poor busy Tooth Fairy! This week is Vacation Bible School and I am one of the tribe leaders. The theme is Jerusalem Marketplace and it's a lot of fun. Today among other things we washed real sheep's wool and tomorrow we actually get to meet the sheep! The boys were thrilled they got to make a wooden hammer (mallet) in the carpenter's shop, and tomorrow they make a flower box...with their hammer. They also used the hammer in the leather shop to make a bracelet with punched designs.

William is hanging out in the nursery this week. He is finally expanding his vocabulary and starting to grow a teeny bit more hair (cute little bald guy). His favorite words are still THIS and THAT and Dada (I am Dada as well as Jeff), but he is in fact capable of saying Mama too:) Today he said a 2-syllable something that could pass for thank you when a man gave him a sucker (lucky boy). Christopher got his hair cut and they ALL got suckers...great scam;) He loves to say CHOO CHOO whenever he sees or hears a train, and he said NANA when he got home (banana).

One of my favorite sets of photos with Daisy:)

Labor Day at our neighbors house. They are grandparents and have some rather cool toys our boys don't, so guess who LOVES to play at Kathy and Kevin's house?! Heehee. Here's Hulk Michael jumping on their trampoline, having a blast.

This one was done for an informal challenge at Scrapgirls to post a layout about how much we love their site...since I agree, and had the perfect photo, I posted this one. I'm posting it here to show I like Kathy and Kevin's place too, lol...yeppers, that's me jumping on their trampoline. I was quite the gymnast in my younger days, lol.
I am jumping for joy that I found Scrap Girls! A digiscrapper’s paradise!
Ariadna Wiczling Fleeting Moments
Ariadna Wiczling Herbal alpha
Ariadna Wiczling Freehand Coloring style
Theresa Kavouras Patch it Up paper templates
Valerie Randall Batik alpha
Sarah Batdorf Basic Shadows (color match)
LD Perpetual, papyrus, and the king and I fonts

This one is for my friend Amy. "Bigify" (tm Janet) it to read the sticker and the caption in the lower right. Her son Gray:)

I completed this one way back at our retreat in February. Gina had an awesome challenge where you had to put the entire alphabet and/or the numbers to 10 (I think I remember this correctly, but not swearing to it) on your page, and I think it added to the fun. I circled the ages of C & M and added the title, MUD, around the corners of the collage. I like how it turned out! They were FILTHY after playing in the mud pit, otherwise known as the swing set next door, after a hard rain.

A page of my dear friend Kris, who along with Jeff was my labor support person for both Michael and William's births. And curiously enough, as the journaling points out...Michael and William share a birthday with each other AND with Kris' dad. Kris and her brother have the same birthday. Things that make you go HMMMMMMmmmm....:)

Full Swing

I hope my scrapbooking is back in full swing, however, I can't always count on the little boys to nap together. Plus, Michael is 4 now and doesn't always take a nap. I was proud of myself to head downstairs today, even in the cold basement to do some paper scrapping. I finished off a few pages that just needed journaling. I had started them at the annual crop I attended earlier this month with some girlfriends in Des Moines.

Well before show-and-tell, how about a little family update? :) We'll start with the littlest guy...William is 13 months old and is trying to figure out how to RUN already. He has the walking thing down pat now. Oh, and as of today he can climb up on the couch. (Please say it isn't so!!) He figured out how to get on the coffee table last week. Once up, he dances around and generally gives us a heart attack. So far he's only fallen off once, when neither Jeff nor I was in the room. He wasn't hurt, thank goodness. He seems bound and determined to do everything at an earlier age than his brothers (except grow hair).

Michael is fighting a cold and cough this week. The preschool teacher wondered if I could pinpoint what activities we'd done the night before or how we'd done our morning routine b/c he was so calm, serene, and grounded on Wednesday....yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...he was just getting ill:( (Mental note; Michael behaves better when subdued by illness) He's getting more interested in Legos but is constantly forced out of the room for inadvertently (well usually inadvertently) breaking creations Christopher made.

Christopher is apparently a perfect angel at school and is doing very well in his studies, especially reading. Yeah, I'd like to see the perfect angel a bit more frequently at home;) He just turned 7 last Friday. The weather and Jeff's bronchitis curbed our party plans a little. Due to some GOOD cold meds, Jeff was able to do the friend party at Perfect Games here in town. I stayed home with the little boys while Christopher and friends whooped it up on pop and cake, bowling, air bouncing, and gaming to their heart's content.


Summer 2008 trip to the Des Moines Science Center
I am VERY near to being totally done with 2008!


The first and only time I've seen a praying mantis in the wild. Daisy was acting very peculiar in the backyard so we went out to investigate and found this!

More bug stuff from 2008. I actually did all these paper pages while getting ready for and packing for the retreat a few weeks ago. I still need to upload the pages I did at the retreat itself! :) It's been a papery sort of month!

Jessica Sprague's Pen Tablet class

I tend to take most of Jessica Sprague's digital classes...haven't hit one yet I didn't absolutely love! This one is no exception. Although I was already quite adept (if I do say so myself) at using my Wacom tablet as a mouse substitute, there have been several things I either didn't know how to do, didn't know existed, or thought I didn't want to do that I have now done and liked the results. One of those was to use my own handwriting on the tablet. I thought I didn't want to do that, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I might even actually do it again after class, lol. One thing I didn't know existed was pop-up menus...let's just say that if you own a tablet or are thinking of owning one, once you have it, you NEED to take Jessica's class:)

Here's the week 1 layout:

Created completely with class materials and a Google map. This is the infamous marching band trip from July 1988:) We won 3rd place in the 4th of July parade in Washington DC...even in the next-larger class than we should have been in. ALL of my pictures from this trip totally suck you-know-what! Most of my decent mementos from this trip are post cards.

Week 2:

Made during Jessica Sprague's Wacom tablet class.
Includes handwritten journaling, handwritten doodles, leaf overlay made with various brush techniques made easier using the tablet, chipboard swirl (IRL) traced using the tablet, and bird traced from artwork paper using the tablet
Jessica Sprague papers, etc
Crystal Wilkerson circle tag
Misty Cato Farmer's Market wooden frame
lstock artwork...extracted the bird from a paper
Katie Pertiet photo frame on right
leaf overlay made my little 'ol me, using instructions from Jessica Sprague's class
stereofidelic, outlaw and AL Serenade fonts
Journaling around frame is my handwriting (using the tablet, of course)

Week 3 was photo editing using the tablet. This was an awesome lesson (no corresponding layout). We were given 2 photos from Jessica to work on with the video lessons. I learned some editing techniques and new tools with this lesson; totally worthwhile. I wouldn't normally put this much effort in to all photos...these are special techniques to really make a good portrait great.

Week 4: Just finished this one up today. The final layout from class:

Week 4 layout template from Jessica Sprague Tablet Fun class
Jessica Sprague: brown paper, swirls and stitching
Dani Mogstad Frosted Flakes circle paper
Bittbox watercolor brushes
Clementine sketch font
Heather Roselli Big Top striped paper (somewhat recolored)
Cheryl Barber Stitching and Holes styles from Scrapgirls.com (soon to be retired:( )
Rhonna Farrer Perfect Pets embellishments
Chatterbox Phonebook and CK_Ali's Handwriting fonts
I usually tend to do the class layouts fairly closely to the original. For this one, though, the photos I wanted to use didn't go at all with the paper selections Jessica used. So I picked different ones except for the solid brown. She also had us do a really cool extraction with some flower photos, but that didn't fit my theme either. The Rhonna Farrer dog freebies really worked well though, whether I needed the tablet to use them or not:)
This one really has a cool photo masking technique using the watercolor brushes...love this look and will definitely use it again!

Ah...class is winding down this week...always bittersweet. :)

Local Peeps...shameless plug for my child's school!

Bigify this if you want to see the details. The cost of the card is $10...if you go to Hy-Vee grocery store more than 10 times in a year, you've already "made back" the $10, as you get $1 off any total more than $25. There are some really good deals at restaurants and Great Clips too, just to name a couple.

If you want to purchase a card, contact me or go through your child's school instead:)

Bat-Party and Bug Party (all in one!)

The boys had a super fun time at their party:) Both sets of grandparents, their only aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins, and "our friends with the 5 kids" were there.

Michael really wanted a bat-shaped cake for Batman. I took a simplified bat (the actual logo would have been way too difficult) and cut it out of paper. I cheated and used a cake mix, froze the cake, and cut it using the paper pattern (sprayed with Pam so it wouldn't stick to the cake) while the cake was still frozen. The frosting was more difficult as this was a super crumbly cake, so I finally had to resort to using a pastry bag and frosting tip (which I have no idea how to use professionally, lol). Anyway I thought it turned out fine, and Michael certainly thought it was cool and that's what counts:)

William's cake is my signature made-from-scratch carrot cake, but baked in small Bundt pans instead of one big cake. I'm not sure if it was Christopher or Michael who insisted on the second candle for William's cake. I know to pick my battles and it didn't bother me at all. One of the grandmas thought it was funny/weird and that we would later wonder why there were 2 candles at his first birthday, lol.

Little Boys' Birthday

These are from the actual day, January 12. We started out the day with Michael at preschool. In the Waldorf tradition, birthdays are very special. So Jeff and I spent most of the preschool day with him (and William too:) Michael wore the special birthday crown and cape, and kept waving a cute, shy little wave at us from across the room. Then he crossed the bridge and sat with us to listen to the rest of the birthday story and open his nature-based gifts from his preschool friends. One example (which I need to photograph) is a little walnut boat with a straw mast and paper sail.

At the end of the preschool morning, they spend about 30-45 minutes outdoors. William had his first sledding experience with me and tried to walk in snow for the first time. Unfortunately his snowsuit is just fleece and not waterproof so I couldn't let him down for too long. Michael adores the tire swing and took turns riding and pushing/twirling it with his friends. Christopher was a little disappointed that he missed out on the preschool activities. He went to Prairie Flower also and misses it.

In the evening, my in-laws came up and took us out to eat at Hickory Park. Michael loved the wooden Indian (and his gun, lol) there. :)

Little Boys Birthday

My baby turned one and Michael turned 4 yesterday! Where has the time gone?!
William is a champion walker already and adores reading books with us.
Michael loves anything superhero and has an ornery streak matched only by his cute cuddly streak.
Here are the invitations I made to their party this weekend. Pictures to follow after the big day!

FINALLY!

I tend to be a procrastinator when it comes to non-scrapbooking craft projects. The last 2 days have been snow/cold days off school here, and miraculously the two little boys coordinated their naps BOTH days, woohoo! Christopher and I embarked on a craft/art project both days. Yesterday we finished our gigantic 6 foot wreath so we can hang it on the peak of the garage next year. Well, it still needs some silver tinsel garland (or ribbon), but unless I can find that in the clearance bins tomorrow, it'll have to wait for the stores to get their supplies next fall.

Today our project was something I've had the materials for since 2004. (did I mention I tend to procrastinate?) My sister-in-law found this on Martha Stewart's website (LINK) way back when and she and my brother-in-law made the candle holders at my in-law's house on Christmas Eve while my mother-in-law cooked and/or we all sat around visiting and watching 1 1/2 year old Christopher. Somehow I never got around to starting or finishing our candle holders when I finally found all the pieces we needed. Disclaimer: The photo is actually my in-law's, as we don't have candles for ours yet:) Anyway, Christopher and I made the patterns fit, glued, and glittered today and even Christopher remarked this evening that they look really good!

Our other snow day project was candy cane cookies. It doesn't bother me at all that we do some of our Christmas baking AFTER Christmas most years;) Not only do these cookies look pretty, but they are some of the best tasting cookies. I've been making them since my early 4-H years. I have no idea where I/Mom found the recipe originally, but it's in my photocopied 4-H Christmas cookie book. The scrapbooked version of it was from a Scrapgirls.com recipe swap in December.

Project 52: Final Pages!

Project 52 lasted through 43 weeks over at Jen Wilson Designs. Chrissy and I were disappointed it didn't finish out, but I'm glad it lasted as long as it did! I have 43 layouts that more than likely I either wouldn't have at all or at least would have been vastly different without the challenges. Here are the the last few I haven't uploaded here yet...(our anniversary one is my favorite!)


Week 43 was to scrap something in general for which we are thankful.
JWD Dried Leaves
JWD Fall in Love Little Autumn Bits
Syndee Nuckles French Market
Syndee Nuckles Cinnamon Suede
Brandy Hackman Blossoms & Blooms Fall
Shalae Tippetts Promise
Shalae Tippetts Aged Frames
Paula Wright Thankful Collection
Amanda Sok Alluring Autumn
Shalae Tippetts Hearth
Kim's Scrappin' Turkey Time


Week #42: Lesson Learned (1 of Jeff's most excellent photos from the 2009 trip to the Boundary Waters)
Scraplifted from a layout by Thao Cosgrove at Scrapgirls.com
JWD Mango Sunrise
JWD Down Home Fourth of July
JWD Fluttering Finishes
Thao Cosgrove Tucked Photos Embellishment Templates
Michelle Coleman quote
Imagine by Fran: Lady in Purple (purple flowers & leaves)
Anita Stergiou Ray of Light (brads)
Sarah Batdorf Deep Shadow action
Candara font


Week #41: Home ...the challenge was to scrapbook at least 5 things we were thankful for regarding our home (address changed for privacy purposes)
JWD Sunburst paper
JWD Halloween holiday flower with Jan Hicks Coin Folder Chip style applied
Leora Sanford Rainbow Glitz alpha
Shabby Princess Olivia (home word art)
Brandy Murry From the Desk Of journaling spot/paint/etc.
Erica Hite Chic Embroidery (home sign)
Valerie Randall Batik (circular home sign)
JWD Buttoned and Looped Blooms flower
JWD Sandcastle eyelet/ribbon
JWD Journaling Card


Week #40: 10th Anniversary (Yep, Jeff and I celebrated our 10th this past November!)
I am so thankful to have found you, my true love. The reasons I love you have deepened over the years. You still have the same wonderful sense of humor, are considerate and loving, and are handsome and sexy. To a busy mommy with 3 boys, there is nothing sexier than all that PLUS you not only work hard at work but help at home with boys and the household. We may not have the quietest or most well-behaved household,but I’m quite sure we have the most fun and share lots of love. For this and much more, I am so very grateful. To the next 10 years and beyond!!
Cynthia Gullett Photography
JWD Laundry Line Tyler
JWD Titled Journal Cards
JWD Grunge Edges
Erica Hite Up at the Villa
Brandy Murry Mossy (love word art)
Thao Cosgrove All About Marriage
Sarah Batdorf Deep Shadow actions
Brandie Valenzuela Grungelle brush set
Cinzia Loosemore That's Amore freebie ("I love you")
Anita Stergiou A Brand New Day alpha
Font: VT Portable Remington


Week #39: God's Art (William in the leaves this fall)
JWD 24/7 Cards
JWD Caring paper (blended with photo)
JWD Fancy Edges
I really liked how the background photo turned out...I put it over a subtle painted background, changed the blending mode, and got something interesting!

Christmas

Winter break has passed us by in a blur! Barring cancellation of school tomorrow for the expected bitter cold, it is back to the usual schedule in the morning (thank goodness; as of today the big boys had officially had enough of each other, and SO HAD I!)

We celebrated with Jeff's immediate family the weekend before Christmas, with our own little boy-filled family on Christmas, with the larger Borg (my mother-in-law's) family the 27th, and finally with my parents January 1. They intended to stay over on Christmas Eve as usual, but the weather in SW Iowa didn't cooperate and they were snowed in before they could get off work and leave for here.

We had a more wooden or old-fashioned Christmas than usual. I am very tired of commercialized, media-related plastic crap. Now that's not to say the boys don't love it, or that we don't allow it, just that I wanted more durable, meaningful, less violent things to abound this year. I purchased a lot of things from A Toy Garden and was very happy with it all. I also purchased from Three Sisters Toys, also a great store. Both have Waldorf roots, so very nature-based and non-violent. Ah!

Christopher actually had asked for a drum for Christmas, and received a very nice wooden one from Santa. Michael's main gift was a set of wooden castle/tower/knights blocks, and William got a wooden cash register. The big boys both wanted a Batman cave (essentially a doll house for Batman, lol) and BOTH received them from grandparents:)

Bokeh (look it up!) is apparently very popular in photography right now. The angel/nativity below is a new decoration I couldn't resist this year. I thought the photo turned out very nice with the tree in the background. Santa is also a new purchase this year.

We spent New Year's Eve at a friend's house, marred only by a huge fight between the big boys (and a mama-sized blowup in reply) right before we went over. It didn't help that Christopher had just had a private sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa's house and had had a taste of being an "only child" for about 24 hours. He apparently thought the universe still revolved around him when he got back and was in for a rude awakening.

We allowed BOTH big boys to stay up until midnight...and they MADE IT! Yikes! None of that next year, lol. We stayed up late watching "Up"...all but Jeff had already seen it, though I think there were a few scenes I hadn't yet seen. And mercifully they slept in until 8:30ish on the first!