I Did It! (Calendar Pages FINISHED!)

At least I accomplished THAT much. 7 layouts in one day in between/after church and the Denver Chalk Art Festival.  (They may not be my best work, but they are by far my fastest work!)
But I also had an epic FAIL.  I love the Lasting Memories challenge - there's always a "challenge" and a layout.This week's challenge was Fancy Folds. I thought I could do it.  I even have the Fancy Folds book.  But I am so inept sometimes.  I tried making some fancy folded leaves. Epci. Fail.  So...I just folded down a corner of my paper. That way I could participate in the challenge and direct you, my readers, over to all of the awesome creations on the challenge site :)

See that little fold  up in the corner? :)

Here's some more layouts:

The rest of the pages are here, on my facebook page.

Now that I'm done, the HH and I can happily take off for our little romantic get-away with no pressing projects awaiting me when I get home :) 

Thanks for stopping by!
Marie with a :)

Let The Calendar Pages Begin...

The goal?
12 scrap book pages in 3 days, in between a number of other activities.
I told my sister I would make another calendar for her in 2012. Hey, who says a 12 month calendar has to begin with January?  Mine's gonna begin with June. Which means it needs to be mailed withing the next couple of days!(In my defense, a month ago I ordered her a digital version from Sam's Club thinking I would wait until next year to create one.  After receiving the Sam's one, I am more certain than ever that nothing compares to a REAL scrapbook page :)  I'll send her both...I'm sure she can find a use for the second one.)
Let the calendar pages begin... The challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week is to incorporate a photo into your project. Ought to be easy enough...

A friend recently gifted me with the Close To My Heart Dotty For You paper pack which is what I used for this page. I also used some old CTMH stamps. It was a quick and easy layout. Let's hope the other 11 are equally easy and quick :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Marie with a :)

Graduation Album (and a trip down nostalgia lane)

My sister asked me "How do you get through this graduation stuff?"
I should be a pro by now.
We are on our fourth high school graduation.  Two more to go.
But I seem to get weepier with every one.

In fact, I have a confession.
I cried at the park the other day.
It was a gorgeous May afternoon so my daycare child and I started out on a stroll...and soon found ourselves at a nearby park.  One where I had spent an incalculable amount of time when my children were younger.
Memories flitted by, almost painful, as I remembered chubby cheeks and sweaty arms and squeals of delight and brown bodies swinging across the monkey bars.  Picnic lunches with Capris Suns and subs and potato chips wolfed down so the play time could continue. Two children walking by my side on the way home, talking earnestly, another lagging behind, three skipping on ahead.
Oh, there are many things I would do differently - such as fret less about a messy house and play instead that millionth game of Candy Land.  But I am so thankful that I got to be a stay-at-home mom, and I would never change the amount of time that I spent with my kids.
So yes, it's an emotional time, a nostalgic time.  But we get through it because it's what's SUPPOSED to happen.  Our kids are SUPPOSED to grow up, graduate and continue their life journeys out from under our protective wings. So we cheer them on, while inside a tiny part of us weeps.
 Here's the first page in the Scrapbook I (almost) finished creating for Matthew:

So proud of this young man and all of the awards he has won during his high school years.  The four cords for graduation are for Highest Academic Honors, National Honor Society, Forensics, and Tri-M Music Society,

And if you have an extra 2 minutes and 43 seconds, here's his graduation speech:
Matt Recites His ABC's...kinda...

Off to his grad party now.  Thanks for stopping by!
Marie with a :)
PS  More of his scrapbook pages are on my facebook page:
Isom Cre8tions on Facebook

Simple, simple graduation cards

Yikes...graduation season is here and if you are like us, you'll need a number of grad cards. These are super quick and easy ones using the Clean and Simple FTL sketch 191 and the CFC 53: Get Punchy challenges. (BTW - if you are a blog follower and not a facebook fan, check out my fb page - I recently posted more layouts for AS3's grad scrapbook :) )

 inside of cards

Thanks for stopping by!
Marie with a :)

Lasting Memories/Starting the Matt Book

I have hopes of completing a scrapbook for AS3 before he graduates in 2 weeks...not sure I'll accomplish my goal but I did manage 3 layouts for it this weekend.  This first one uses the challenge from Lasting Memories

 

Couldn't get much easier than this layout...it took only 45 minutes including deciding on paper and photos! Can you spot the "metal?"

I love these cork letters from Close To My Heart!

Yes, there's my metal...a Tim Holtz clock :)

This second layout is from Homecoming. I always have a tough time taking pictures of layouts.  Anyone got advice for improvements?

The paper is from the Roxie collection (CTMH) and the flower is from a Hero Arts wooden stamp (I, um, think...)  The stars and heart and mini envelope were created with punches.

This mini CTMH calendar continues to be one of my favorite stamps...it's so versatile.  Unfortunately, it's not available any more.

And finally: a picnic in the park layout :)

Here's a photo of the bride and groom per Sharon's request :) Check out her blog - you'll love the work and the wit.  (We don't have any of the professional photos yet :)

Bride and groom with bride's parents. Yep, that would be the HH and me.

Thanks for stopping by,
Marie with a :)

Some Wedding Crafts

LD1 wanted a simple wedding. And she wanted me to create invitations...simple invitations.

 I also created coordinating thank yous.

 (inside)

 My friend Theda and I also created the programs.

 Nut and mint cups for the tables.

 LD1 and I  talked a lot about a guest book.  In the end, we decided rather than creating a guest book, which tends to get forgotten in a box in the basement after the wedding, we would use a couple of 12 x 12 scrapbook pages. Then they could be added to the wedding scrapbook we plan on making.  In addition,  my friend and I created these little notebook pages with mini envelopes so people could leave notes for the newlyweds.  They really enjoyed reading the notes!

We used a vintage case for people to leave the notes in.

Now that the wedding is over, I need to get busy on graduation invites and a scrapbook for AS3.

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie with a :)

She's A Wonderful Friend

Six days until my daughter gets married.
Six days.
I was kind of panicky on Friday so my friend Theda came over to help on Friday afternoon and Saturday and we got  A LOT done.
She's a wonderful kind of friend.
Alyssa and I spent her last Saturday night as an Isom in the craft room, so I made this card for my friend using the Clean and Simple FTL Sketch:

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie with a :)