these 3 guys really love me

At Allyscraps, the DT has starting doing a "reveal" each month, where we all do a page with a common theme, technique, or challenge. For June our theme was "the men in our lives", and this is my page! The paper is from the Sassafras Lass Robotics line.

You can check out the awesome pages that my fellow DT-ers did on the Allyscraps blog! I'm so honored to be on this great team, among these extremely talented ladies!

Journaling:
I knew something was up when Ryan and Daddy were whispering. It’s my 41st birthday, and after opening my cards, I was instructed to stay in the living room while some shenanigans took place in the kitchen. A few minutes later, I was led to the kitchen with strict orders to keep my eyes closed. My three guys thought I needed a birthday treat, complete with a candle and a lovely chorus of “Happy Birthday”. It’s a good thing that I had made brownies the day before! What a sweet and thoughtful birthday treat!

so in love with this sweet face

I just love how this page turned out! I did this for a scraplift challenge at The Scrapperie. I chose this page by Ally Cope to lift: Unforgettable Love. I loved the page design, the b&w photos, the distressed but yet "soft" look to the page, the ink and stamping, the stitching, and the staples. I flipped the whole design horizontally and used one larger vertical picture in place of the two landscape ones. The "one of a kind" is a transparency and the scrolls on it are actually stamped on the Pink Paislee paper that I layered underneath it.

Journaling:

Tyler, you are such a cutie.You have such a sweet and genuine smile, so natural, and so often followed by “I love you Mommy.”I love you too, my baby.Always and forever.

dig this

I did an entry on the Allyscraps Blog about getting more mileage from sketches, and did this page to go along with it! For the June 6 sketch challenge on the forum, my friend and fellow DT member Dana was kind enough to let me create this sketch from her awesome page, Hot Summer Days.

For my page, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the left! I used the Quick Quotes "Good Times" paper line, a new one for me but I LOVE it! Also those Scenic Route chipboard alphas that I love... can I have about 5 in each color, please? ;)

Journaling:

Trucks, shovels, buckets and a table full of sand on a beautiful sunny day. You were perfectly content to dig, build and play at the sand table when we went to Uncle Ron & Aunt Natalie’s house for Nicholas’ birthday party.

that perfect smile

I just love this picture of Tyler! I did this page for a challenge that required a layout that is "inspired by a piece of art". I use this metal wall sculpture as my inspiration piece, created by John Searles:

I really liked the linear, geometric lines, and the variation in the sizes of the circles and squares, the lengths of the lines, etc. I liked how this background paper from Fancy Pants About a Boy already had the overlapping circle theme in it. I added strips and more circles, including some that are punched from the design on one of the patterns in the line.

The only real journaling is the rub-on Fancy Pants quote: Today you are you. That is truer than True. There is no one alive who is youer than you. – Dr. Seuss (And if you're familiar with that rub-on sheet, you know I was like a surgeon cutting that quote apart to make it fit they way I wanted it to! LOL!)

happiness is right at home here

The June kit from Scrapdango features this great paper line from GCD Studios! I have to confess, I had never heard of them... but I really like the paper! It's all double-sided, good weight, with great patterns.

I couldn't resist doing a layout about our home, with those cute Maya Road houses that come in the kit!

Journaling:

This is the house I came home to on our wedding day.
This is the house where, twice, I took a positive pregnancy test.
This is the house that we brought our babies home to, and the house we stood in front of to watch Ryan get on the school bus for the first time.
Other than the house I was raised in, this is the house that has been my home for longer than anywhere else I have ever lived.
This is where my happiness lives.

My sketch for this page can be found in the Sketch Gallery at Scrapdango!

41 mostly random facts

Everything except for the alpha stickers and chipboard numbers are from the June Scrapdango kit. I am trying to do more "about me" pages, and I liked how this photo turned out. I figured it was perfect for a page of just general, random facts about me right now. The journaling is hidden in an accordian-style "foldout" book under the "me".

Journaling:

1. I like flavored coffee with lots of cream and Sweet-N-Low.

2. I want to lose weight. A lot of it.

3. I just got an elliptical machine and I’m determined to use it.

4. I need to drink less coffee and more water.

5. I cantor at my church.

6. I like to cantor, but I still get nervous every single time.

7. At my 8th Grade graduation, the class sang a song co-written by myself and a classmate.

8. I love math. No, really – I do.

9. I teach math part-time.

10. My students frustrate me.

11. I often wonder what my students think about me.

12. Sometimes I think about going back to school. Yet again.

13. I prefer to sleep on my left side in bed.

14. I prefer to lay on my right side on the couch.

15. I like to have three pillows when I sleep.

16. I’m an early riser and usually can’t sleep in, even when I try to.

17. I miss my mom.

18. I wish my dad and Sandy lived closer.

19. I love a good steak.

20. I’m not a big fan of fruit.

21. I love cheese. Except for swiss. I can’t stand swiss cheese.

22. I love creamed spinach.

23. I’ve never had sushi.

24. I love Moosetracks ice cream (reduced fat).

25. I listen to a lot of talk radio in the car.

26. If I listen to music in the car, it’s usually contemporary Christian.

27. I’ve only been to 2 concerts: Amy Grant and Indigo Girls.

28. I never used to like orange, but now it’s one of my favorite colors.

29. I am honored to be a member of two fabulous design teams.

30. I still get a huge thrill every time one of my layouts is requested for publication.

31. I try not to get disappointed when my layouts get passed over for publication… but I do.

32. I’m not a very good housekeeper.

33. I wish I had a cat.

34. I would love to go on a cruise.

35. I like to curl up in bed at night and watch TV (but I usually fall asleep).

36. I would love to take a photography class.

37. I have a scar just below my right knee, from falling on a stick when I was about seven years old.

38. I cry easily.

39. My eyes are a weird shade of gray.

40. I snort when I laugh.

41. My back itches when I have a bad cough.

the newsboys

From Scrapdango's June kit! I loved how the picture of the boys outside the offices of the newspaper came out, and knew as soon as I took it that I would print it out oversized and use it as a large vertical photo.

Journaling:
For the fourth Tiger Cub achievement, we learned about how we communicate. As the Go See It activity, the Den visited the offices of The Daily News, the McKeesport region’s local newspaper. We went on a tour and saw everything: from the classified desk, to the room where they store copies of the old papers, to the printing press and the room where the papers are assembled, and even talked to the sports reporters. When the tour was over, each of the boys got a hot-off-the-presses copy of the paper. What a fun – and educational – outing!