Back to Summer (at least in photos!)

On a very cold, overcast day I needed a bit of sunshine in my life:) I rely on my gardening expert/friend to tell little Black-Thumb me what to do with my flower gardens. After our blue hydrangea experiment failed (sob, they are my favorite flowers in the whole wide world) she suggested St. John's Wort shrubs to replace the hydrangeas. I call them my happy little flowers, heeehee. For those who don't know, St. John's wort is best known as a health supplement touted to help those with depression. Well just looking at these flowers helps make me happy:) (They are the picture clear to the right in the filmstrip.)

Plain Digital Wrapper KCS Designs "Joys of Summer"
Aneczka W flowers freebies
Angie Briggs filmstrip
Brandy Hackman daisy
A Langpap orange flowers/leaves

98 Degrees (ok, it was ONLY 97!)

My last homework assignment:) These have been too much fun! This one had to have an "extraction" (otherwise known in the paper scrapping world as "silhouette") and include statistics. I didn't exactly have any sports pictures, and like to think outside the box anyway, lol.

JWD: Academy elementary solid blended with history paper, Cowabunga bracket, Creative Fortune journaling box, Benjamin stripes (Laundry Line), offset stamp block
Rhonna Farrer frame
Cheryl Barber inked edges style
Ariadna Wiczling date stamp
Kristin Aagard rain drop
Asman font
Journaling:
12 oz. bottle sarsasparilla: delicious!
97 degrees: Way Too Hot!
1800s Living History Farms: 1 cool place
4 sweaty people having fun despite the heat
2 pieces of rock candy: YUM!

History Assignment

Well I'm kicking butt on my homework :) The assignment this time was to include 6-12 photos in chronological order and to use repeats of something like a frame, stickers, or rubons.
Initially I wanted to do a heritage layout with a timeline of photos from various periods (I love heritage), but this layout has been half-finished FOREVER, and it felt good to get it done! The photos are in chronological order right off the camera:)
JWD: Phys Ed stars paper (pin light blending mode with dark red background), canvas backpack label.
Christy Lyle "His Nursery" denim star, recolored
Heather Roselli "Keep Out" and "Backyard Boy" denim, frame, and caution sign
LivEsteban designs: red background, boy tag, bicycle, and stickers/brads
Blue Melody font
Journaling: One day in a boy's life: Spend LOTS of time outside riding on bikes; don't forget to smile REALLY huge when trying to run Daddy down because he's trying to get a great photo. Hope that he jumps aside just in time or you'll probably get in trouble. Chase your little brother, even if he's riding in a toy car. He'll love it anyway unless you actually bump into him. Swing, and swing and swing. Hug your brother. Revel in the joy of nature, of being outside, of being alive. Make sure to ask what's for dinner when you go back inside!

The Big One

Another Jen Wilson Designs assignment (geography)...had to include a panoramic-style photo (supposed to be of yourself, but I don't have any suitable unscrapped pics of me) in a favorite location, and a map or map symbols.

JWD: Academy elementary solids, Camped Out stripe, Cowabunga bracket
Nitwit Collections: titles, ribbon (one of my new favorite designers!)
Brandy Hackman: map overlay on the blue paper
green map paper: I think DH found the BWCA on the internet and downloaded it...he'll correct me if I'm wrong.
Weeds & Wildflowers compass
Journaling: 2008: The annual Borg cousins week in the BWCA seemed doomed from the start. About a week before the trip, Brian threw out his back at home and was unable to come at all, Paul hurt his ankle and was dealing with dizziness issues as well, and Dan’s work had a big computer update scheduled and it was determined they couldn’t possibly get along without him, which meant his trip was shortened. This despite his scheduling the trip 12 months prior. And Aunt Shirley was terminally ill and not expected to live more than a few more days. No one wanted to be out of contact with family back home.The Borgs, however, are resilient and masters of compromise. The trip turned out very well: Most of the people who were able to come stayed at a campground in Ely for a few days, spent one day out on Dennis’ boat (Jeff caught several huge Northern Pike!), one day in the BWCA on canoes, and one day in Duluth (pronounced Dah-lute). Jeff accidentally
forgot his camera, so all photos are compliments of Dan.

Another good one...

Yes, I have an endless supply of completely amusing pictures of my children...rarely does a day go by without at least one of them doing something wild and crazy!

I completed this one for the "chemistry assignment" at Jen Wilson Designs. Objectives were to alter at least one photo with a treatment or blending mode (the large picture is blended into the background so you can see the periodic table peeking through, and also has a gradient applied to the top portion so it blends gradually into the background) and to write the journaling as if it were a scientific procedure.
JW: Chemistry paper, sandcastle, Being collection " live out loud"
Katie Pertiet: vintage curled frame
Brandy Hackman: "it's the face that keeps me out of trouble"
Chatterbox Anex font
Journaling: Hypothesis: I bet I can get really dirty and not make Mom & Dad mad.
Experiment: Go on a nice long hike at Ledges State Park. Wade through the creek, get wet up to the shorts, drink a bunch of Kook-Aid, then roll in the sand (face and all). Wash it all off (except the KA moustache) in the waterfall at the edge of the footbridge. Head home in just a diaper.
Conclusion: Objective met, hypothesis proved. Mom & Dad laughed, no
one yelled, we all had fun! Oh yeah, and I even got hot
chocolate at home! Must, must do this again sometime.

This was a fun one! Btw, if you look close at the "bigified" (word coined and borrowed from Janet Petersma) version, you can actually see the sand demarcation lines on the sides of Michael's head, lol!!

TFL,
Cheri

Last Day of Preschool

Christopher is disappointed that tomorrow is his last day of preschool. He's going to miss going in the woods (Pammel Woods is right across the street) for nature adventures, though is somewhat pacified that I've promised to take him many times this summer with Michael (and Jeff too!) And obviously I don't know how to make bread, porridge, or rice the same way they do, and he's going to miss that too. And of course his friends and teachers! (Methinks I can get the recipes for the snacks from the teachers...)


Yes, Jeff caught him on "film" eating a rock...lol. Michael is his own person, through and through. Did it taste good? Edited to add: Why will a child willingly put a rock in his mouth and not spit it out, but balks at almost any vegetable?! (Did I mention he is his own person through and through...)



The boys are always pretending to be dogs....I think they do a fine impression! Or is Daisy doing a fine impression of a boy/child? ;)

Boundary Waters Camping Trip

Click images for larger version.


My readership may have a few more guys than usual when DH forwards this on to his cousins and uncles with whom he spends a week each August in The Boundary Waters area of Minnesota. Hi guys! Don't worry, Jeff didn't share TOO many of your secrets with me, hehehehe.

Journaling: Just remember the most important lesson of the week: “What happens in the Boundary Waters STAYS in the Boundary Waters.” And don’t forget to drive that lesson home on the way home! Mothers and wives generally don’t tolerate that kind of behavior like your fellow man. Aside from typical guy stuff, the cousins and uncles have a great trip full of canoe- ing, fishing, laughing, eating, and even loofah-ing (don’t ask, remember, it stays in the Boundary Waters). This year the weather was mild, the rains few, and at least one day, the fish were plentiful! The two biggest complaints were the swarming mosquitos and the biting black flies, as well as the in- cessant chipmunk raids conducted on the food supply...were YOU aware they could chew through a jar of peanut butter?! Me neither...(see separate page)
First layout above:
SweetShoppe hroselli Carnival cream background
LivEsteban Designs round frame & leather paper (week 1 freebies) & glitter foliage with shadow (week 2 freebie)
KPertiet curled vintage frames
mfe (?) September alpha
ScrapGirls_Thao Cosgrove Naturescapes elements
Tempus Sans ITC font
inspiration for layout from travel advertisement in 2/08 Reader's Digest (quite possibly the strangest place I've found inspiration, lol!)
Second layout:
LivEsteban designs Adventure kit pocket page (complete with all the cool text around it), background.
scrapgirls.com Thao Cosgrove sketchbook brush set (doodly circle & arrow pointing at the chipmunk damage)
AL Highlight font.
All photos on both courtesy of DH...and the couple pics OF him: courtesy of DC (dear cousin, probably Dan)
TFL!
Cheri