Life's Trivialities

#1 Layout / Pebbles Americana

I know it's no where near the Fourth of July or summer and that we are only now enjoying a late onset of Spring. I know that red, white and blue are not the colors but spring. But they are when your children swim in a championship meet and the team colors are red and blue!

I repurposed the patriotic for a sporting layout of, of course, Nikolas swimming. I am still (STILL) trying to figure out indoor fast action shooting without the flash and in manual mode without raising the ISO to a million... Still... This is pretty good as the rest of my pics go but it's still not up to par.

The die cut bunting and banners are perfect for the stroke flags that adorn either end of the pool. Lucky for me, they are our team colors too! I resisted putting some twine to anchor the flags, can you believe it?! I just didn't want the tails dangling and distracting from the rest of the layout. Though I suppose it could be perceived as drawing attention to the picture... Hmm... Will have to ponder that...

Though, yes, he is made in the USA, that wasn't particularly relavent to my theme here. And I really liked the circle for a journaling spot. Hence I opted to layer some circles and create a journaling spot. The wave of stamp cancellation made the perfect pool waves to write on top of.

I like the layout on a bit of an angle with the stripes of paper! Quite uncharacteristic of me but it suits Nikolas quite well me thinks! And what better way to show the celebration of a good swim than with sequins and stars? Perfect. I think this collection was subtly designed for my kids' swimming accomplishments. In fact, the same meet for the younger age groups, Mia rocked the 100 butterfly for the first time. I think I might need to do a similar layout for her major accomplishment.

Have you used themed paper for another purpose lately? I'd love to see it if you have! Link me up!

Spring Soccer Double

Last Saturday was Mia's first game of the 2013 soccer season! And her last game for a few weeks... (more on that in a bit.) She has been playing with Coach Mike for a few years now... I am not quite sure how many, a few. Many of the girls have moved up through the ranks together too. Once again, they are the Asteroids, as they were last season. They are the green shirt wearing gals this year.

Later that same day, Mia fell in the backyard. Despite her Physical Therapist Mum's lessons on falling without putting your arm out (a hard lesson to teach or learn), the arm went out to brace her fall. I got a text from Michael, they went to the on call doctor and sure enough, broken! Third broken bone in just under a year. Fortunately, this one is not at the growth plate. Unfortunately, it's her right hand. Fortunately, it's a short arm cast and not above her elbow as last time. Fortunately, it's only three weeks. Fortunately, we paid for the waterproof cast again.

Back to the soccer. Michael took some fantastic pictures at my request. I couldn't narrow them down and really loved the action shots bigger. Thus resulting in the necessity for a two page layout. Something I don't do on a regular basis. Despite being a bit rusty, it came together lickity split by pretty much sticking to one collection from one manufacturer.

I love this new collection from Jillibean Soup called Chilled Cucumber!! It is right up my alley! Just the right colors to make the vibrant green of the soccer pitch pop! I love that it's a soccer layout without being a soccer layout. What I mean by that is, it's feminine and girly with fun embellishments. The topic is soccer but the page isn't dominated by the sport. Get my drift?

The support players in this layout are stamps. I used a stamp set from My Favorite things and Elle's Studio. I even used a tag from Elle's Studio. The placement of the stamps really took the boxiness of the layout down a notch, something that always irks me about 2 pagers.

I created a watermark for my layouts. I love the arrow as it stays true to the "theme" of my blog. I don't know how I feel about the whole watermark thing... Actually, I do know how I feel about it: I have mixed feelings. I don't want to use it as it adds yet another step to the blogging process. I feel like it's my signature on my craft. I am torn. What are your opinions? Would love to know.

I hope you are having a great weekend! Mia and I went to the neighborhood Spring Carnival yesterday. It was beautiful outside. Perfect. Just me and my girl and lots of our neighbors, known, famliar and unknown. The pictures will look perfect on the Ruby Rock-It Carnival Queen line that I won over at CK this past week! Can't wait!

Of Things Nikolas

It's been a big week for Nikolas! 4th graders are allowed to ride their bikes to school, a big milestone in a grade schooler's life! And though school has been in session for almost a month, time hasn't allowed for the practice. Practice riding a bike with a backpack on, practice using the yet to be purchased bike lock, purchasing said lock, etc.. This week we finally got organized. The lock was purchased (thank you Target), the empty backpack was stuffed with make shift school "weight", and off Michael and Nikolas went on the dummy run! It went off without a hitch, Nikolas was deemed ready and eager!

Monday was his first ride to and from school. Dad saw him on his way while I greeted him at the corner of our neighborhood, yes, with camera in hand. He met the neighborhood kids at the pre-arranged meeting spot and waited. He had instruction that if nobody was there by a certain time, he was to ride on. Arriving late to school is not acceptable! Meet them he did, and he was on his merry way! Success!! Unfrotunately, the ride home wasn't so... He went around a dirt corner and gravity got the better of him. Nikolas meet pavement, pavement meet Nikolas! Can't have been too bad, he was smiling as I greeted him!

Friday he was at it again. I drove Mia to school under the guise of wanting to see Nikolas and his croney's on their bikes. The other kids our much more proficient riders, leaving Nikolas in the dust. He's rather like Kermit on a bike, only he's not green. Just green from lack of experience! Didn't seem to phase him, he smiled as I honked at him (he managed to stay upright on his wheels!) and yelled out a greeting. I, however, had a tear in my eye. My little fellow, not so little anymore... Still thin as a rail but growing up!

Again, I was at my corner, armed with my trusty workhorse of a camera! Greeting all the kids but not seeing Nikolas in my viewfinder. Until!! Here he is!! Smiling again!

I made my own storyboard for PS6. I like the ability to put a sequence of pictures side by side to tell an action story. Such as this handsome fellow riding his bike home! Feel free to download and use for your own personal use.  Download 3 Horizontal Storyboard by SSL

This morning was the Short Pump Mile. Our third year participating in this event: Nikolas' third mile run and Mia's first. She had been too young in years past to run the mile, rather, running the 400 yard. I was up at the crack of dawn, before the sun in fact, for my volunteer stint at the microchip station. Three other women and I handed out the chips with instructions to put them on their right ankles. Amazing how many children don't know their right from their left...

Nikolas ran alternately ran/walked first. He was smart, unplanned, and wore a bright blue shirt, making him easier to spot in amongst the masses. Once again, as was the case last year, he was situated beside a fellow swimmer, at the start of the race. At the back of the mob where things were less chaotic - smart boy! Timid as he is, battling the crowd is not his thing and I don't blame him. When Mia and I caught up to him, he was walking. We had to encourage him to pick up the pace! He finished in 9 minutes 29 sec, an improvement from the 9 minutes 47 seconds of last year.

Another storyboard! Can't share this one, it's not mine. Sorry.

Mia was more difficult to locate, she had on the same race provided shirt that all the other 7 and under girl runners had on. We have been inconsistently training for this, preparing her for the increased distance. Some walking was involved but she managed to shave a minute from the time Michael last clocked her at having completed on a training run. No pictures of the Midget running. Michael had the camera and things are a bit blurry...

Hope your weekend was as active as ours!

Our MVP

Now, before you go saying "hmmm, that looks familiar, where have I seen that before", I will freely admit, I scraplifted it. I lifted myself!! With some variation, of course. Using the oh so awesome Game Day Chili collection from Jillibean Soup. (Enabler - If you like it and want some, everything is 40% off this weekend at the shop with the code 4birthday. Run, don't walk!)

I did a fair amount of die cutting and fussy cutting. There's some misting and stamping there too. Punches. A little bit of everything in amongst a whole lot of circles!

The picture is of Mia at her first soccer game last weekend, the picture might look familiar. The journaling reads; "A new season; 8 & U girls. A new team; Asteroid's. Old coach: Coach Mike. Some old and some new teammates. Same love for soccer."

I fussy cut a banner from the title strips and adhered it to a pin stick to create my own game day penant. Top it off with some twine and it looks very festive! It's the small details like that that make a page, don't you think?

I'm off to spend the day cropping with my gals! It's been a whole month since we were together last but it seems less. It's amazing to me that we have kept this crop going since the store closed back in December of 2010. 2010? I think... Have a great weekend!

This, That and The Next Thing

Busy busy bee's. That's what we were today. Buzzing here, buzzing there. A well balanced day overall. Not too much buzzing, sufficient down time to recover from the humidity that zaps the life out of you.

First things first! A tale of watermelons. Nikolas has this curiosity about the world that is envious. He gets this almost obsessive desire to need to do certain things. One of those things, for who knows what reason, was to grow watermelons. It may have something to do with Grandpa, I'm not entirely sure, it's a hunch. Starter seedlings were purchased and put into the ground with a mound carefully constructed. They were watered and watched. Cared for and tended to lovingly. And, not unlike the pumpkins he had to grow a few years prior, the vines creeped and crawled and took over! He harvested the remaining two of his three total watermelons yesterday evening. This morning we took turns guessing their weight, girth and length. The "winner" was 22 inches long, 27 inches in diameter and weighed in at 30 pounds. A Jubilee melon not only in variety but in Nikolas' pride!

We then buzzed on over to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens: Eden on earth. Every time you go, there is a different experience awaiting you. No two visits are the same. The familiar landmarks and regions of the garden seldom, if ever, vary. They remain that bit of familiar comfort that coax you on. It's the little details that ebb and flow: the shade of green in the sunlight, a web of dew drops... Hmmm... Love it there. The butterfly exhibit is still in the conservatory and thriving. I was amazed at the number of butterflies and how active they were. There were even catepillars and chrysallisis to be found!

Filled with enthusiasm from the wings of flight, there was some energy that needed an outlet. What better place to run around than Meadowmorhposis, the stick house. The kids love playing hide and seek in the nooks and cranny's of the sculpture!

After a delicious lunch in the cafeteria, it was time to push on. We had some Lands End returns to do at Sears before heading to Mia's first soccer game of the season. The kids are both so incredibly tall and skinny that finding the length in pants with waists that fit is next to impossible. Lands End online catalog is one of very slim slim pickin's for these two. Usually. With the added benefit of being able to do returns in the stores and not having to ship things back.

Next stop; the soccer pitch. Mia stuck with some of the girls and the coach that she has been on a team with for the past 3 seasons of soccer and moved over to the girls only league. We were initially a bit concerned as these girls had been playing 6 and under and were moving into an 8 and under age category. Thoughts were that it was much more competitive and "skilled" than the level the girls were accustomed to. They have done just fine! They won their game today! Moving to a larger field and 5 on 5 versus the 3 on 3 that they played previously didn't seem to phase them. Mia likes to play defense and did a great job saving a shot that was about to score a goal! We need to work on her dribbling skills. In true Mia fashion, she doesn't do anything "little", she likes big and dramatic. There is no dribbling of the ball but the giant kick of the ball that has no clear recipient.

And after all that, it was time for some R&R! I worked on a few more minor touch ups on my new space here. You like it? Do you approve? I would like that top navigation bar to be more personal but I really don't think my html skills (or lack thereof!) are up to such a challenge. And, I really have spent a ton of time on the project and just would like to go back to paper and scissors.

Oh, did I mention that all the pictures I took today were in manual mode?! Yipppeee for me!! I shy away from manual and use either apeture or shutter priority because the thought of having a whole SD card full on unusable pictures and nothing to scrapbook is terrifying. Some people fear heights or spiders or other local fears. Not me, I fear having a card full of horrible, blurry, wrong color pictures! I am proud to say that most of today's pictures were usable!

Anyhoo, hope you like the new look!

Team Shoot

My last night of a quiet house before the gang return... It's been nice, in a way. Sort of... But it's definitely been oddly quiet save for the beep of the microwave or the washing machine (Sunday's are laundry days). I haven't done much. I had these grand (de)illusions that I would scrap to my hearts content. I was gravely mistaken... I need to learn to say no to FaceBook, Pinterest and all those other complete time sucking activities that I get swept into. I have nobody to blame but myself, this I know. I have a problem...

I digress, you are not here to share (or commiserate) in my woes of being left alone without my family! A layout I have to share, yes indeed! This one is based on sketch #221 from Creative Scrappers and can be found HERE for your viewing pleasure.

I saw that stamp set from Glitz and HAD to borrow Kyla's Epiphany crafts tool to make the epoxy which fit PERFECTLY in the award ribbon. I stamped on the black patterened paper to cut the top "tails" of the ribbon which I overlapped on the matching white as the circle. A paper-pieced, dimensional "Jolee's" of my very own making.

It never ceases to amaze me how a sketch can result in SUCH different layouts. Each of adds our little personalization that works with the theme or the papers we've chosen. I love visiting sketch sites and seeing how no one layout looks that same.

Lots of fun little bits and pieces to look at; hand stitching, distressing, machine stitching, stamping, distressing. Did you spot the basketball's? They're there, look closely!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Soccer

My second layout as Guest Designer for Scrappin Sports n More is up on the blog today. Check it out over HERE.

I combined several lines in creating this layout. And, though it's a soccer layout, there is actually paper from several sports too! That's one of the wonderful things about the Scrappin Sports n More papers; though one sport is on the front side, there is a more generic multipurpose pattern on the backside. Check out that giant soccer ball sticker too! Isn't it fantastic?!

I zig zag stitched around the outer rim of the green soccer paper for a rugged touch. The stars have faux stitching around them. The "S" from the title is fussy cut from one line of paper with the remainder of the word coming from another line.

In this close up you can see that the blue with white stars is on the reverse side of the gymnastics paper! The little bit that is there is difficult to pick up if you don't have this giant blown up close up!! LOL!!

I am honored to have been invited to guest design for Scrappin' Sports & More! They have some fantastic new lines out. If you haven't already seen them, be sure to visit the blog and see what the design team has done with them.

Guest Designing!

Good morning (or after or evening, depending upon the time of day you read this)! I was fortunate to have received a very generous supply of goodies from Scrappin' Sports & More and be featured as their guest designer for the month of July. My first layout is up on their blog this morning. Be sure to stop over HERE and check it out!

The versatility of the papers available from Scrappin Sports & More is fantastic!! You would never know that over half of the papers I used on this layout weren't baseball related.

What's the fourth without a little bling and pizzazz? I used one of the new(er) American Crafts do it yourself alphas and put some of their longer glittery stuff on the 4 while the blue star (from My Minds Eye - forever old, at that) has blue glitter to light up the page. The title is fussy cut from a piece of paper. If you are ever looking for sports stickers, Scrappin' Sports & More is the place to get them from!! They look so realistic and are durable. Highly recommended!!

Be sure to check back later in the month for more layouts featuring this sporty manufacturer!

And So It Begins!

First swim meet of the summer swim season was (semi was?) tonight!!

Mia's first ever swim meet. Into the big leagues for this young gal! She skipped over the mini meets and just went head long into the big leagues!! LOL!! Cast came off Monday and she's diving from the blocks with her splint today... Can't say those were Mum's recommendations. She felt she could handle it, nobody said she had too. She swam two events in the 6 and under age category; 25 yard back then 25 yard free. She finished first in her heat in both events thus earning herself two lollipops!

Nikolas got to swim two of his four events before the meet got called due to "lightening" being spotted... He didn't have times in any of his events so also swam well and has two lollipops sitting in his swim bag, awaiting consumption! His 100 free and 50 back looked great! There are some kids right on his heels though... Better watch out Budz!!

The remaining events will be swum on Saturday on the rain date... Ought to be interesting as there are a fair number of kids (Nikolas included) going out of town for a long course swim meet. Meaning they won't be finishing out this meet... Our top swimmers will be out of town for the relays. Ah well!! Way to go Tidal Waves; great start to the season!!

Basketball

I immediately knew when I saw the latest sketch over at Sketch Inspiration what I was going to do with it! Those circles screemed sports and that horizontal just had to be the basketball hoop and net. Well,... making that net was not as simple... It took 3 prototypes before settling upon the end product. Several different types of rope, string, and floss later with many a mumble under my breath as knot came untied, this is what I ended up with! LOVE it! Nope, I don't foresee a future in net production!!

The sketch;

And my interpretation; I flipped the sketch 180 degrees.

I have plenty more pictures where these came from so don't be surprised if you see more basketball in the future! This was an exciting game, their final game of the season. More importantly (for me), it was in a gym with some decent lighting. Decent being a relative term... MUCH better than where the bulk of the games were played.

Back up to my old tricks and hand stitching again!

It was amazing to see these boys evolve!! I didn't go to every practice and game, but I went to my share. And they really pulled it together, learned a lot but had fun. You may not have won the playoff's Spiders but you each won individually! Way to go Spiders!!