A Project and a Page

Lucas loves to play chess with his friends at school; so, I decided to make him a chess/checker board using some of the paper from the store. I painted a canvas with "Shopping Bag" paint and then distressed it with Tim Holtz ink and then sprayed it with water. After it dried, I sprayed it with webbing spray and again let it dry. I covered the board with paper as I wanted it to look and then used bottle caps for the chess/checker pieces. I sprayed webbing on the tops of the caps in two different colors for checkers and then filled the insides with the appropriate chess pieces and then filled them with Glossy Accents. Again, waiting for it all to dry. Since I enjoyed the webbing so much, I did a page of Sky with it and added some "Stickles" lines and dots around the circle. It's nice to do something different once in a while. Now, I'm off to do Lucas' 10th Birthday Album. I think it will take an entire album.

Surprise

This was the first, big, real SURPRISE party Lucas has ever experienced in his ten-years. Faith got him to the backyard gate exactly on time and all fifteen or so of his friends from school were ready and poised for attack. The waterguns and waterballoons were empty within minutes which gave Lucas some time to regroup, get his nintendo gear out of the way and get his watergun which was strategically placed just inside the gate. You can see the waterguns spraying him in the picture. He loved his party so much and has already asked to have another one next year. Except he wants to know about this one. The shock was a lot for him. We had about 20 kids in the backyard for the day until around 7 or 8pm and then some for a sleepover. I think the last guest left the next evening around supper time. Lucas didn't want it to end.

Beach Mutant

Even the Big Boys enjoyed the waterfight. While I was taking pictures out in the front yard, Cal ran out from the backyard, did a somersalt, jumped up and sprayed Dean the next-door-neighbor (he looked like a commando dude). The fight elevated and within minutes the 10-year olds were on Dean like flies. Cal came in and dried off . . . then the doorbell rang and he went to answer it. It was Dean with Josh in front of him like a shield. When the guns ran out of water, Cal let Dean in. Cal asked where Josh was. Dean replied: "Hey man, it's every man for himself, he's on his own." I asked if he was enjoying himself and he said, "Ya, until I started losing." I guess the funny part about it is that Dean is a Saskatoon Police Officer. That says alot for 10-year old boys.

Round One

Once Lucas got into the yard and on the deck, he got attacked and attacked over and over again. Finally, I got some of his friends to be on his side. Here you can see his best friend since kindergarden, Reed (with the glasses) helping Lucas out. After talking to Lucas since the party, he said he had never been so scared or surprised in his life. He wasn't sure how to react. Since Faith couldn't get his Nintendo case out of his hands, Lucas was scared his games were ruined. They weren't though, his plastic case saved them from all wetness.

The Ammunition

It took a few hours the night before to load all of this ammunition. This is approximately 500 water balloons (a few broke while filling them). We strategically placed the buckets around the yard so they could be used throughout the fight. Some buckets weren't found until later which was nice because it only takes minutes to throw 500. We still have to pick up the broken balloons off of the lawn . . . fun job. We also had about 20 water blaster guns. I had bought 16 and some kids brought their own. Each guest got to take home a watergun . . . which was also a hit.

Jade and Nathan

Jade and Nathan spent the majority of the waterfight in the house peeking out. Nathan said, "Those kids are insane!" He played some Nintendo with them later when they came into the house. Then later Jade and Nathan had their own waterfight while the 10-year olds were eating supper, cake and unwrapping gifts.

Just a Note

It seems like such a long time since I have been able to blog. I have been working on a birthday present for my son and it has taken me quite some time. I finished today and will have some pictures here for you soon...can't ruin the surprise. My Spud is turning 10 tomorrow...which is both wonderful and sad for me too. My baby is a "two digit" age. I just hope he never gets tired of sitting on my lap or chatting with me as he does so often. He has such a wonderful soul...so sweet...yet so boyish...love it...love him. My Jaderoo turned 15 yesterday; she is so beautiful, she has the heart of an angel and the bedroom of the tazmanian devil. Can't wait for them to get home tomorrow so we can celebrate their birthdays. Hope to get some good pictures. I'll let you see soon. Hopefully everyone has had a great long weekend.

Beautiful, Stubborn, Sassy, Random . . . GIRLS

Man, I've been trying to use this new line of paper since we got it in; but my girls don't really wear these colors. I grabbed my favorite picture of my girls and made it work. I love this photo because it really shows what they are like at any given time. Faith usually is making some kind of a face because her sisters are being "stupid", Sky is usually acting "silly" and Jade is "somewhere else" in her own thoughts. Eventhough I finally managed a good picture of them all looking and smiling; I prefer this one because it captures "THEM". I doodled around the "GIRLS", the flowers, the photo, the corners etc., I really enjoyed creating this layout. Might put some bling on the scallops.

Full of Wonder

We got this wonderful beach paper at JSI that looks 3-D. I really wanted to use it; but we never got anywhere near the beach . . . so when I found this picture of Lucas when we were at Lake Dieffenbaker and thought I might be able to use it. I used an older blue patterned paper for the background and cut out some of the bottom part of the shells. Ralna thought I had lost my mind when I picked up a fancy pair of scissors and held it up to my paper. I did use it and it worked well around some of the scalloped shell edges. See, still using some of the "old" stuff. Then I cut up a rub-on and scattered it on the page where I wanted it. While most of my pages show everyday life, occasionally I do a more artsy page that I just like the look of. As you can tell, I don't have a lot of portrait, set-up photos, they are daily life snapshots. I like to intersperse an array of heritage, girly, portrait, daily life etc., when I scrapbook so I don't get into a rut.

Using Up the Old Stuff

So, any of you have any older patterned paper that you "had" to buy because it was new and you loved it . . . and now it is sitting with your scrapbooking stuff . . . piling up . . . getting deeper and deeper until you have forgotten you have it? Well, I have decided to use some of it. So, if you see some of my pages in the next while that don't maybe look "today", it is because I am attempting the impossible . . . actually using it on a layout. Some have turned out okay; some, which you may not see, don't look so hot; but they are done! I must admit, I feel a sense of accomplishment both using older pictures, older paper and previously purchased paper and embellishments. I am just using them in a more current way.

Cousins

Cal was given his childhood photos last month, so . . . If any of you have done pictures taken in the 60's and 70's, you can sympathize with me. The colors are difficult to work with and as it seems . . . there was only one photo taken of each event and from a distance. So, I'm trying to group them by subject while taking into account the colors. I am a firm believer of using the original photos -- it is what we are trying to preserve. With this layout, I had both small and large photos given to me so I used both.

Just Talk . . .

Hey, been working lots lately which is GOOD! Haven't had much time to blog...been scrapin' more and have lots to post; however, haven't made it home to get on MY computer to upload photos. Did a fun page of my three girls...luvd it. Hopefully tuesday will give me some time to update this puppy. Hope everyone is enjoying the sun (just remember Nov. - Feb COLD!!!!) Rather have the 35 c than the -35c anyday!

New Hairdo!

My fabulous hairdresser Sheryl Schmidt cut me a new do. I need some feedback . . . does it stay or go? I poofed it a bit more, following my Jaderoo's suggestions. Trying to get rid of the 80's look.

Nature

I took these photos while on a walk with a Grade 5 class. We went around Arbour Creek. Like any other scrapbooker, I was taking pictures of everything: the sky, the ground, flowers, weeds . . . you guys know. The students were whispering: "Look what she's taking pictures of now! HeeHeeHee! I explained to them that I was a scrapbooker and did what I did for the love of nature, memories and the craft of scrapbooking. I developed the pictures in wallet size and did a single page out of them using Heidi Swapp Ghost letters, Mini Flowers and of course, my acrylic stamps. Just my way of preserving my days!

Recipe Project

For some reason this project has not wanted to download . . but this morning waalaa, it worked. I again, used the Zutter machine and made it so that it would stand. I put my favorite recipes in it so that I would always have them very handy. We continue to get "food" paper and embellishments in at JSI. I only used a few on this project so we could keep them in the store. It is in the store for those that want to see it in person.

Girls Rock

I found this picture while I was cleaning under Faith's bed. The colors were very difficult to match. While the page was about a girl playing an electric guitar, she is also wearing a pretty dress . . . oh, what to do? Flowers, metal, hearts, wings, skulls . . . it works I think!?!

This is the project that Julie and I did together. I love the colors and think that it would be a very pretty present to give to a mother or grandmother. I painted the inside of the box with acrylic paint and covered the rest with paper, sanded the edges, inked the edges and attached embellishments.

Wild Thing

Cal decided to put his pool table on his deck . . . so we have all learned to play pool. We have jumped from the coolness of the pool to the deck to play pool, had some snacks and refreshments and done it all over again. What REDNECKS! My little Spud loves it and we all enjoy playing it together.

Dan Brown

Just another one of those things. I really enjoyed watching the DaVinci Code movie so I decided to read the prequil to it: Angels and Demons. I loved it. So, I read the novel DaVinci Code (which really gives much more detail). . . then I watched the movie again. Now I am beginning one of his other novels Deception Point which also looks to be a great novel. So, in keeping with me trying to do some pages about myself for my children down the road, I thought I would do a page on these novels since I enjoyed them so much. I put numbers on it that only mean something to me and symbols from the book. I doodled and added stuff until I thought "any more and this is going to be a gong show". I must admit: reading again is such a relaxing thing . . . one that I enjoyed before I had children and am now again since they can sit and read or amuse themselves while I get back into it. Lovin' it!