MAY 23, 2008

Tuesday was Jim's last night training. He had Wednesday off and began working DAYS {on his own} yesterday!! Woo-Hoo! It's been very unnerving for him. He and I and the boys have been doing a lot of praying, and God's been getting him through! Unfortunately he has to work Memorial Day, but that's the nature of the business.

This weekend we'll assemble our new trampoline, so the boys will be busy with that all summer!! We firmly believe it's a wise investment in our homeschooled children's physical fitness!

Owen made a crown (representing King David) in Children's Church last weekend, and he wears it everywhere! I have pictures of him in the car, swinging, eating breakfast, eating lunch and just playing. It's too cute! I'll eventually get to a page!

Speaking of pages, I've been pushing myself the last couple days to complete some pages. Although it's only 3, it's (hopefully) a new beginning for me too. First I want to share a quote that I saw on a website:

The only time 'cooking' and 'cleaning' come before
'scrapbooking' is in the dictionary!

Here are the pages that I've completed:

Owen trying to whistle

I have to note that this page is brighter in real life! It was the first time I followed one of the many sketches that you can find on the internet. It's a great idea. A tip: the scalloped blue paper, I did myself with a EK Success Large Corner Rounder. It has a removable corner clip so that you can make scallops (practice on scrap paper first!) Since the paper is angled, it had to be longer than 12", so I added a piece, and the overlapping part is hidden under the Magic Mesh ribbon that decorates the page! Pretty cleaver, huh?!! It get a kick out of myself when I come up with the occasional clever idea!

Jane & Rosemary

I love this picture of my mother-in-law with her best friend. It's true, they've been friends since Kindergarten. This picture was taken at her 70th birthday dinner...you do the math! A couple notes on this picture. See the light flowers on the right side of the page? I used a flower stamp with VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad by Tsukineko. It is SUCH a cool concept -- one that I just started doing recently, although it's been around for a long time! The word 'watermark' is the key. It leaves a slight impression on the page. Also, I LOVE, LOVE LOVE the dimension of chipboard. My Sizzix die easily cut through chipboard, but occasionally, I'll purchase other alphabets that I like. I loved this large letter alphabet by Quickutz called Blossom (the same font is called Pharmacy when you download it from the internet). But Quickutz doesn't cut through chipboard very well. I found, however, that it'll cut through chipboard the thin-ness of cereal boxes. So I've been saving cereal boxes so that I can use them with my Quickutz dies and EK Success punches. I realize the chipboard is not 'photo safe', but I try not to put the die cuts directly on my photos. Anyway, I like thicker chipboard, so I've been stacking THREE letters, cut from the cereal boxes and adhering them together. Then I adhere the paper or cardstock of choice on the top. If you look at the picture below, you can see how thick the letters are. Another CLEVER idea! My only reason for telling you about my clever ideas and/or bargains is because I hope you benefit from them -- or boasting about them is pointless! I'm certain they're NOT original!

Now to the VERY COOL adhesive that I've been using lately. Although the Quickutz Blossom letters are quite large, I've been using this DUAL ACTION 2-Way Glue Pen by ZIG Memory System (EK Success). It has a chisel tip for small areas and a wider tip for larger areas. It's perfect for letters die cuts! The DUAL means that you can use it as permanent OR temporary -- very cool!. I still like using my Xyron 900, but sometimes this is just easier!






Note: the diamond shapes on the red background cardstock -- used my VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad! Again, used my Dual Action Glue Pen to adhere the foam letters to the page. Also love my DYMO label maker -- I don't believe you can get this one anymore -- with the boxier letters. I found this on Ebay several months ago.

A couple more notes: I think ALL of the underlined words are links. I did some in red -- never again! and some are in white... sorry.

Many of the links are to Scrapbooking-Warehouse because I've purchased from them before. however, most times I get my scrapbooking tools and supplies on Ebay OR at AC Moore with a coupon. The Quickutz links are to Scrap-Mart -- I've purchased a few items from them -- they have free shipping on Quickutz dies! Right now they're having a fabulous sale on BossKut alphabets -- don't know BossKut, however.

blessings, joie