I love May!

I really do, especially now that I've made it through dance recital craziness and the end of school is in sight.  Yes, I have many dance pictures to share, but its gonna take me some time to wade through them all - so be patient :)

This month we finally found a puppy for Brodyn and its been chaos and fun ever since.  Her name is Lily, and in true baby fashion, she rules the roost!!  

We've had some great new kits being released at DHD, so I've had the mojo going and been able to preserve a few memories.  Hope you enjoy, it definitely makes me feel good to be a part of the creative process.  Plus I love looking at my pictures and finding the story about our life that needs to be told.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Retrospect Blog Hop

This weekend is [inter] National Scrapbook Day, and as part of the celebration at Design House Digital, the designers have an awesome collaboration kit called Retrospect:

Here’s the kicker - Its free!  FREE!  And, to make it even easier, you don’t have to download pieces at a bunch of different blogs!  It’s all right in the shop at DHD.  All you have to do is follow along on the blog hop to grab the letters that make up the coupon code, and then download the kit at your convenience. 

My letter for the code is:

Here is the layout I made using the fabulous Retrospect kit . . .

Then I made it into a quick page for you to download - Hope you enjoy!!

I will also be randomly choosing a name from those who comment on this post and they will receive a $10 gift certificate to DHD!!!

If you are participating in the layout challenge, my challenge is to use the burn tool somewhere on your layout.  To be entered into the drawing for the digital photo frame, you need to use all 26 of the challenges on one layout and submit it by Tuesday, May 8th.

I use the burn tool on almost all of my layouts.  Its simple, but very effective.  I was really glad I had that option with my “Big Branch” layout.  

The chevron paper pieces looked very flat, but I could only add a drop shadow to the bottom piece, or it looked crazy.  Burn tool to the rescue!  The burn tool looks like a hand, after selecting it you can choose your brush size in the drop down menu at the top.

I was able to add a small amount of color and dimension, and it still looked like the papers were stitched down to the page.  Try it on a layout soon - you’ll love it!!

Next in the blog hop is Erica Coombs.  If you run into problems along the way, head back to the DHD blog post.

Don’t forget to grab your letter for the code to get the amazing Retrospect kit for free and have fun scrapping this weekend!!!

See credits here.

See credits here.

See credits here.

Here are a few of my recent pages.  It seems like I can't keep up with all the stories that I want to tell!

Competition Solo

We're off to another competition this weekend and this time Ainsli's trio will be competing. I'm glad I was able to document how I felt last weekend watching Aubrei do a solo for the first time. I wanted the photos to be the focus, but I wanted to share the story too. I'm so proud of her and thankful that I get to be a part of these experiences.

To see credits of the kits I used go here.

We have a winner!

Congrats to idahorhodes for winning the gift certificate!

Thanks to everyone for the neat comments!

Mad March Memories Blog Hop

Hey everybody! Its time again for a DHD blog hop, our excuse this time is Mad March Memories!

Today I've made a template for you out of one of my favorite layouts. Its simple, but I still love it! It incorporates masking, which I use on almost every layout I do. Most of you know what I'm referring to, especially if you've used templates before.

For those of you who don't, masking is taking a shape or element and clipping a paper, photo, etc. to it. In the case of this layout I used one of Robyn Meierotto's tags and created clipping masks for my photos.

Here is my layout:

And the template I made for you:

Click HERE to download it. I hope you enjoy!!

If you are on your way to get the collaboration, you will need my letter, which is E.

Your next stop on the hop will be Mary Rogers or back to DHD if you've gotten sidetracked along the way! Here is a peek at what you'll be getting . . .

If you would be so kind as to leave a comment or become a follower of my blog, I'll be drawing a winner for a $5 gift certificate on March 15th. Enjoy the great collaboration the designers have created for you and good luck with all the drawings!

6 months later . . .

I've finally scrapped Ainsli's 8th birthday. Yes, its 6 months late, but I've always found birthday layouts to be a pain. When Jen and Celeste designed the Sweet Bea collab I thought immediately of Ainsli. The colors were adorable and Ainsli LOVES pink. It was a birthday theme, but not in an obnoxious way. So I decided to try a birthday layout again. I did one page, liked it so well that I had to make it into a two-pager. So, maybe now I won't shy away from all those birthday pics I've been avoiding!

Today I got to help Ainsli's Activity Day group with making pillowcases. We had a really fun time, and I got the sewing bug again. Too bad that my machine started smelling like burning rubber as we were finishing! I guess we'll be looking for a repairman before I start anymore projects. Thanks to Amy and all the ladies that helped her - the girls really enjoyed it. Ainsli is very proud of her new pillowcase and is even letting her Daddy use it to take a "late" nap right now. :)