Growth Chart

This is the first project I had ever seen on Pinterest that I knew I wanted to re-create. Yes, life before Pinterest (LBP) was lame. Fast Forward to now having the project done and feeling happy about the results. One growth chart for our home and one for my sister's home. The trees that this wood came from stood tall on my Grandpa Kilmer's farm in Hamden, NY. Where I grew up and a place that holds a special spot in my heart. My Dad cut, planed, and sanded the wood for me. Once I got the wood in my hands it was stored for a while until I was ready to brave a large vinyl project. I stained the wood with a natural stain, because I barely wanted any color at all. But felt like I needed a little something to protect the wood. The first ruler I transferred the vinyl in one piece and second one was done in many pieces. Not the easiest or my favorite part of the project. Thankfully I had an extra set of hands for that part. I chose a matte polyurethane to seal the vinyl and added flush mount hooks to the back.
I hope these growth charts hang in our homes for a long time to come. Tracking the beautiful growth of our children on our Grandpa's wood that our Dad's hands worked so hard on. This 3 generation project makes me proud of where I came from and excited about where our son is going.

Photos.

I am not really happy with the photos of my scrapbook pages. I feel like the photos don't do them justice. I must be missing something, because I've been trying to get better pictures and I just don't feel like I am there yet. I've worked on lighting and really getting above my projects. I've also started taking them with my iphone, because my big camera is just too difficult to get the exact angle. Next week I am attending a webinar on this exact topic. I am hoping this blog has better project pictures in it's future. Stay tuned to find out.

Collection pages.

This page was created using elements mainly from one collection. It's from My Mind's Eye, Kate & Co. called Oxford Lane. I only added a few things from outside the line. I added the green cardstock that my photo and banners are mounted on, the two yellow sunshine pins, the small yellow alphas and the yellow & green dots. Staying within the collection gave this page a cohesive look, but still allowed me to mix a ton of patterns. It's a fun way to get a really trendy page without sorting through every piece of paper that you own. I like to do these pages because they usually come together pretty quickly. But it's not the only type I could do, because I enjoy picking out paper and making own mix. These colors are perfect for my boy! And I was even able to add in two floral patterns without it seeming too girly.

Fair Week Fun.

First, a little more about me....I grew up living right next to the Delaware County Fair Grounds. The best agriculture fair in New York State. As a child I entered 4-H projects in the fair and had one heck of a time. As an adult it's a way to see people I haven't seen in years and re-live my childhood through our Son. It's always held the second full week in August so be prepared for more fair related post.
This is last year's fair page. On this fair day Eli stomped around the muddy fair grounds in his rain boots and yellow wind breaker. I created the roller coaster slope myself so it's not perfect, but it's exactly what I wanted. I made the flags out of toothpicks and washi tape. And placed my photos in photo strip fashion. A Baker's Twine bow and pins hide my corner where a couple of elements came together. The bingo card is from  Simple Stories.
See you at the Fair!

Scrapbook Style.

Scrapbook style can mean so many things. Yesterday I posted a page that was created "YEARS" ago. Yup, that's right. I scrapbook in chronologically order. There is no other way for me, it's just how my brain works. I scrapbook from January to January, always starting with a cover page. Some people like to scrapbook from birthday to birthday. I kind of did that when I scrapbooked my niece's 1st year of life. It was a secret project and gift I gave her family on her 1st birthday. One of the most rewarding gifts I've ever made. But for my Son I always start a new book when the new year starts. Which means Christmas usually wraps up his' books quite nicely. Others like to do books just about a certain subject. There are the crazies that just scrap Christmas(Ugh), and those that are crazy about Halloween paper, and the travelers. I like the idea of a family vacation album.....if you vacationed at the same spot every year. My brain can almost allow that to happen. I'd love to be able to scrapbook random pictures from different times and place them in random order, but that will never happen!

Look at that face.

I hope you like! If you're hanging around here you'll see a lot of it. He is my favorite subject. This page goes back a couple of years. It's probably the first page I did and thought......Wow, I might be good at this, I am able to create something pretty cool, I might have some style, and maybe just someday I could hang with the big dogs. I also wanted to share this page to remind myself to do another list. It's always fun to look back at. Some of the things on this list are his size, what he hates(brushing his teeth), what he loves(water), that he helped Mom with the mixer for the first time, and of course the last thing is that Mommy & Daddy love you very much. This years goal is now set as another list about this handsome guy.

It's a new day.

Today was the first  morning I woke up with my Blog Badge on. Similar to a sheriff's badge, but with a little more glitter. I also woke up excited so I hope I can keep this blog updated and full of cool stuff. Instead of diving into a million new projects (just for blogging sake) I want to actually better this page. So, I'll be posting older projects I've worked on and just happened to take photos of. This will give me practice and make it easier for me to learn this stuff.

Party Pak.

Just sharing one of my favorite small projects to get this blog started off right. I made these Party Paks for our Son's birthday B-B-Q. I cut a brown paper lunch bag with my decorative scissors, stuffed it with a napkin, eating utensils, and a straw. I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the "Dig In!" tag with the print & cut features. I added colorful Baker's Twine to tie it all together. Lastly, I put them in a cute basket and placed them at the beginning of the buffet line. Everyone just had to grab their Party Pak and Dig In!

Am I a blogger?

Looks like I might be! And this page could soon be full of my creations. This is just a test...