String Fest

This is the first year my dear daughter is taking the Viola.  She took it as an elective in 6th grade, joining the Orchestra.  Tuesday was the 40th Annual Festival of Strings, where beginner string players in the AISD middle schools.  It was so exciting to see her involved in such a fun event.  There were over 1200 students on Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses and 1 Harp.  Zilker Park Hillside, an outdoor venue, was the original plan for the festival but due to all our rain lately it had to be moved to a local high school gym.  Very crowded but the students were real troopers.  The t-shirts for the participants were bright tie-dyed.  

This is the digital page that I finished (12X12) using this month's template by Ann Martin on The Lilypad.  My photos are of my DD and I even make an appearance in one. (-:

Fall

https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Grids-3-Amy-Martin.html by Amy Martin - template 8
Font - Beyond Wonderland by Christopher Hansen
Capturing Fall by Kim Jensen - Beige Paper
Capturing Fall by Valorie Wibbens - leaf
Capturing Fall by Kaye Winiecki - leaf 1 and leaf 2
http://the-lilypad.com/store/SF-organic-elements.html by Splendid Fiins - mist
http://the-lilypad.com/store/i-am-what-i-am-patterns-and-backgrounds.html by A.Pennington - bag paper
HoppyBday by Amy Wolff - Orange Banner
DSD by J. Larsen - FALL circle
http://the-lilypad.com/store/Sprinkles-V8.html by Valorie Wibbens - tag
NewYearsEve by Sahlin Studios - 2013 button

October has come and gone and we had so much fun with festivals, costumes parties, class celebrations, and pumpkin patch excursions.

Fall has to be my favorite seasons.  I love the cooler weather and the burning colors as the leaves change.  Not to mention it is the first step towards ramping up for the two biggest holidays of the year.

Another First!!!

As a mother daughter activity, I joined my sixth grade daughter's Cross Country Club in her middle school.  Let's be blunt and honest.....I am NOT a runner, I am the frumpy, overweight mom, not the stylish, tight body mom.  It has been a real joy spending this time with the club.  My goal was to finish our end of season 5k and not come in last.  I met both goals and did so much better than I even imagined.  YEAH ME!  It not only made myself proud of me but my daughter was also very proud of her mom.  Doing something healthy for both of us, just mommy and daughter activity.  This page commemorates our accomplishment.

Completed for Polly-picks Nov. Challenge using the following:

https://the-lilypad.com/store/Born-to-Run.html by Kate Hadfield Designs


https://the-lilypad.com/store/Journaling-Doodles-by-Micheline-Martin-Designs.html by Micheline Martin


https://the-lilypad.com/store/Selfie-Wordart.html by Lynne Marie


Font - Blackadder


https://the-lilypad.com/store/SF-organic-elements.html by Splindid Fiins


Joanne Brisebois at Oscraps.com - photography frame

Quite different than most of my pages, but I still haven't found my style, I just go how the page develops.

October - at the speed of life.

I blinked and October was over!  I was puttering along and Friday someone asked me if I was ready for Halloween.  No, but I have lots of time, like weeks!  OH NO! I had less than a week and I had done NOTHING!!!  Sometime, (way too often) I get so busy living life I forget to map out and plan ahead.

Any hoo, what I have been working on is getting a few pages done, here and there.  Documenting the kiddos.  I have been salivating over 'Pocket Project' pages but I haven't tried my hand at them yet.  

I have been trying to keep up with the Lilypad and it's monthly and sometimes weekly challenges.  It really helps in getting my pages completed and working outside of my comfort zone.

Here are a few of my favorite pages I have done over the last 2 months for their challenges.

I love the minimal effect of this page.  My daughter competing in a swim meet last Summer.

My youngest enjoying what he loves best, cars! 

The pictures tell the whole story.

 I just loved the feel of the photo and wanted to convey that in the page.

My goofy kids had to pose with the Old Navy mannequins, can you pick out all three?

The best thing about working on these pages is remembering the fun when they were taken, and reliving the memories.

Uploading, but not.

Sometimes I think I am just a little dense.  I created this page for Sahlin Studio's Template Challenge.  I was inspired right away with her template.  The problem is I just cannot figure out how to upload my page onto the LilyPad site!  I guess I will have to stop

and pullover for directions.

I used Sahlin Studio's August Challenge Template and her Sweet Storytelling Collection.  This photo just jumped into the template, sweet.

Summer Bucket List

Check!

Our visit to the Blanton Art Museum

Another item checked off my Summer Bucket List, I am following The Happy Family Movement, Summer Bucket List on Facebook.


1.  Get to a museum or two.  Yesterday we got to the Blanton Art Museum (I don't think the boys were very into it) on the UT Campus, which was new to us.

My oldest son, turning 9 in September 2013.

My oldest child, she is turning 11 next week.

2. Take updated head shots of my kiddos & a little journal word to go with. 

My baby, who will be turning 5 in September 2013.

Now I just need to get a few photos of the whole family.  I do not think we have any of the five of us at all.  I love how the individual pages came out with each child highlighted.  I have stopped fretting about getting things documented and started enjoying the process.  Realisticly, I take WAY too many photos to make a page for every event.  I will just stick with the ones that inspire me. 

Hope you enjoy.
Tracy

My Beautiful Daughter

It has been a while since I have had time to sit down and do any type of scrap booking.  I even had a computer change and my old computer eat most of my digital collection, which I am now rebuilding slowly.  I just had to sit  down and churn one out after seeing FDS's template for April's Scraplift.

One usually breeds several, so I will take a little time here and there and get a few pages worked out.  Already have one in my head, ready to be worked out in PSE.

Baby Turns Four

My baby turned four this week, to mark his birthday I opened up my shutter on my camera and took frame after frame in quick succession.  I just let him do his thing with out instruction.  Pailee Press template was perfect to get my juices going.

A side note, I lost all of my previous digital library when I had to take my computer down to it's operating system.  Yes, I backed everything to disk before the reboot, but when I went to reload my digital library that (one and only one) disk was corrupted.  RRRRR!  That just means I get to start all over and fresh'n things up and buy all new stuff.  That also means all that un-zipping and reorganizing.  I will live, and I promised myself I would just pace myself.

Light of my Life

My sweet girl.  This is for FDS's December Kit Challenge (1).  I just whipped it up, it is okay.  I have been doing a lot of quilting and sewing trying to get a few UFO (or Unfinished Objects) that need to be finished by Christmas.

Got Floaties!

This layout is one of the pages I did for our 'Summer at the Pool' paper bag album.  The background is a photo I took that wasn't that great as a color shot so I converted it to a B&W and it worked wonderfully.  The template was one from Scrapgirls and to digital papers are just a whole lot from various collections but mainly from Oscraps Carnival.  But this just has to be one of my faves.

August's Free Digital Scraplift Callenge Entry.

I just love doing these challenges, really gets me inspired and working on my 'to do' list.  My digital pages, as well as my paper pages usually are multi-photo arrangements.  I am such a shutter bug and I hate to leave something sit in my folder and not scrap it, this template fits right in there with my scrapping style.

The photo is from this July.  My daughter and I attended G.A. Camp with our Church.  Hard to tell in these photos how down the lake was, due to drought, that it was 105F in the shade and full on sun.  Just another Summer in Texas.

July Chalenge

These are two pages I scrap lifted from a template for Free Digital Scrapbooking's July Challenge.  The first is just for the template the second is for the Scrap Kit Challenge.

FDS template for July Scrap Lift Challenge.  Red paper by Katheryn Estry at FDS 'Little Italy'

FDS - Reach for the Stars free kit for July Challenge

Fun versatile template, the papers and elements can be used in a number of collaborations.  

I really like this template by Taylormade at Oscraps, it is so versaitle and fun.  This simple layout was a great backdrop for the delicate & intricate butterfly in the photo.

Auntie's Tree

My aunt has one of the nicest 'rustic' gardens I know and she puts a lot of work into her landscape.  Several years ago they had a big wind storm hit her property and knock down 1/2 of the old growth trees on her 30+ wooded acres.  Here is two photos of one of those beloved trees showing the passing of the seasons.  I saw the photos and they just spoke to me....I just had to stop everything and d-scrap a page, and here it is....

Life is so beautiful, just taking moments of each cycle of time can bring such beauty and perspective to our lives.

Father's Day 2011

I have the most difficult time getting cards in the mail.  I have to start a month in advance and have the date to mail on the envelope and then carry them with me for weeks.  Well, I wasn't that organized this last month with the kids and all their activities.  So, I e-mailed this page to my Father for Father's Day.

The template is by Taylor Made Designs, from Oscraps, 'Aftermath'.
The paper is also found on Oscraps, 'Whimsy' by Vicki Stegal. 
I am not sure where I got the top flower but the second blue and corigated and the paint splatter is from Oscraps designer Ju Kneipp.  The leaf is also from Oscraps, 'Prego' by Maya de Groot.  K. Chen 'Christmas Story' swirl.  The sentiment is from DCF.

Victoria unmasked

I just had to try this mask technique.  I am sure it has been around for a long time but it is new and appealing to me.

While surfing one of my favorite sites Oscraps and one of my fave designers Biograffiti I happened across this set being offered and just spoke to me.  It was so simple and so perfect for my fearless daughter.

Brotherly Love

My two boys, what a pair.  My youngest of 3 wants to be just like his older brother in all ways.  I snapped these photos while the boys were just hanging out on our back step.  I did not have to pose them or set any of the shots up I just let them be their selves.

The Template is from Oscraps.com by designer biograffiti title 'Celebrate 5'.  I went with the Who, What, Where, When for my journalling.  Sweet and simple.

perfect 5

Five is the magic number for my photos.  I always seem to have groups of photos to put together.
It is summer time and that means Swim Team, lots of swim and pool photos.

Go Stingrays, Eat my Bubbles!

The template is from Oscraps, a Cinzia Loosemore's Design.  'STINGRAYS' spelled out in Clear Gel Letters from FDS.  The background paper is from ScrapGirls 'BMU' Zoomba Paper.  I really like the black textured paper, it has harliquin diamonds embossed in a continuous pattern which adds dimention and interest to the page.



SwimTeam

My daughter had her very first Swim Meet this past Saturday.  This was my favorite photo of the day.

The base is by Baers Garten 'Summertime' from Studio Girls Srapgraphics, the polka dot cardstock is by Paint the Moon Designs 'Carnivale' from OScraps, I got the rain spatter from KChen also at OScraps and the waves are from Scrap Girls 'Refresh'.  The bottom word art is from Ronna Penner at www.wcrapadelic.com.



1 Template 2 Pages

I was inspired by this very versatile template from Free Digital Scrapbooking, it was free for the May 11, 2011 Scraplift Challenge by Marie. 

GA Girls - Green textured background and butterfly embellishment are from Shabby Princess

Green stripe paper is from Maya de Groot's Prego Papers on Oscraps

Orange journal bubble is from Ju Kneipp at Oscraps

Paint bubbles are from KChen

My Beautiful Life - Green textured background and butterfly embellishment are from Shabby Princess

Background paper, butterflies, paint splashes are by Ju Kneipp on Oscraps

the rhinestones are from 'MissBerrySweet' by K Chen

I did not manipulate the template, that will be my next step.  This template worked wonderfully and was easy to make it look unique with different themes.