Old fashion fun

In a desperate attempt to get my kids off of their video games, computers, cell phones and other mind numbing devices, we have started looking for fun things we can do as a family. Jacob absolutely loved bowling. Catie didn't actually bowl, but she was there. What can I say, at 16 years old I was just happy that she was there and entertained by our great bowling skills, lol! We have also gone rollerskating, or uhm.....rollerblading. I just think that four wheels is the safer way to go. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Just my opinion.

Mood Art

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Have you ever noticed that your artwork is a reflection of the mood you are in?? When I am completely happy and over the moon, I find myself using bright cheery colors and when it is cold and snowing outside, I head straight for the warmer colors. Well, this layout is a result of a mood I was in not to long ago. Sometimes I just put too much on my plate and I start to feel over whelmed. I started thinking that even though I am not perfect and by no means ever will be, life is good. My intentions are always in the right place. I have so much to be thankful for, take off your pity party hat!

A little while later I came across this layout by Jennifer McGuire. WOW, that is amazing! Even she has the same feelings of inadequacy every now and then. So I headed to my table for some self-therapy. That was exactly what I needed and this layout came together so easy. I don't keep a journal or a diary, but with this layout I discovered that scrapbooking is my way of "writing" my feelings down.

Sunflower Harvest

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These are the sunflowers in the garden from last year. I took pictures of them and forgot all about them until I started planting this years garden. I found some seeds that I had saved from last years harvest and I thought it would be fun to do a layout and preserve those memories.

Jacob looks forward to planting season every year. We do a pretty good size garden with lots of different stuff. The one thing I hope my kids take away from me is that you can never take more from this earth than you give back. Nothing goes to waste! We try to use as much as possible, everything from the chicken manure, egg shells, veggie trimmings and the plants themselves go into the composter and in return it gives us black gold that goes right back into the garden.

My hope is that many years from now when my kids have kids and their kids have kids, they will enjoy looking at these memories that I have captured of our life. And it would be really cool if they could take something from it, like those sunflower seeds and plant them and grow their own memories.

2 Be With You

I was recently online "just looking" over at A Page 4 All Seasons when I saw the French Flea Market collection by My Minds Eye. I just melted and HAD to have it!!!It is amazingly beautiful.

This layout was inspired by a layout done by Jennifer Johnson and posted on Inspired Blueprints. She used the scallop border punch on her page and I thought it was a brilliant idea.
I normally don't convert my pictures to black & white, but the colors in this picture were just to harsh. I am really happy with this layout................it never hurts to have beautiful paper!

Cardstock: Cocoa, White Daisy and My Minds Eye; French Flea Market collection

Ink: Cocoa

Misc.: Big Pinks flower, scallop punch, doodlebug pearls, sparkles, CTMH rubons and computer journaling