Canyon's First Day

Today was Canyon's first day of first grade. His allergies were so bad this morning that all of the pictures but this one his eyes were almost closed.

This is the first time he will be in school all day. I know it's pathetic, but I miss the little guy already. Its weird that he won't be here all day. The 2 1/2 hours of Kindergarten seemed like a break, 6 1/2 seems like f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

I have big plans on what I will get done during these long days, but we will see what happens :p

Wish I could go hang out at the scrapbook store with my buddies :(

First day of High School

Whoa! I have a kid in High School! Where did the time go? She can't believe that she STILL has to have first day of school pictures taken.

After a summer full of activities I am looking forward of not having to drive kids around between the hours of 8:30 and 2:30 every day! I also will not miss driving to and from the high school 4+ times a day, although I am sure I will be doing it again next summer. I don't expect to see much of Marissa this school year at all. With all the sports and activities she is involved in sometimes I am suprised the kid finds time to sleep.

Canyon's first day is tomorrow. I still get one day to cuddle with my little guy before he is off to Big Kid School.

12 days of Christmas

Love this!! Make sure you listen all the way thru. My favorite part is about 2 minutes in.

Santa

I used the My Mind's Eye Holly Jolly line for this layout. It was inspired by the layout of the same name by Amber Packer on the My Mind's Eye design team.

I actually added a couple rows of red stitching along the edge of that notebook punch after I took the picture. I didn't want to retake pictures, so just imagine it there. :)

In the original picture Ivy was wearing bright orange and Canyon blue. I changed the color of their clothes in Photoshop, as I am looking at it I wish I had muted down that snowy background behind Santa's head.

For some reason I didn't get the chipboard for this line, so I had to make do. I used lots of Glossy accents and glitter. The candy canes are cut from one of the pieces of paper, then pop-dotted, glossified and glittered.

I love the little tickets from the die-cut sheet. I wish I had a whole roll of these.

I added some glossy to the Holly and the leaves also.

If you like this line, you could win it! The Playground is doing a raffle with proceeds benefiting the Cornerstone Rescue Mission. Check it out HERE.

Expedition Everest

Expedition Everest is one of Marissa's favorite rides in the parks. Unfortunately, it is also one of the longest lines in the parks and one of the only rides Canyon isn't tall enough to go on.

I love this Pink Paislee line. So much color!

The layout and prayer flag (canvas banner) idea came from Susan Stringfellow, my scrapbooking idol!

Prayer Flags can be found strung all over this part of Animal Kingdom and on the mountain itself. They are inspired by Himalayan prayer flags that are said to send thought and prayers to the wind.

I cut rectangles out of pattered paper, inked the edges of them, then I used just a tiny bit of adhesive in the middle and stuck them on canvas. I cut out around them larger than I would need and frayed the ends, leaving more canvas on top to make room for the holes. Then I used the sewing machine and stitched around the edges. I used some paper to block of the canvas and stamped them using just the edges of some of my stamps. (Thinking back, I should have done this before I stitched them to the canvas!) I punched holes in the tops, strung them using some hemp and pop dotted them off the page.

These are some of the fast pass tickets from Expedition Everest. I found them in my bin of Disney memorabilia. They are actually from a different trip than the pictures. The date on them is December 2006 the pictures are from November 2009, but oh well, they worked!

Sorry the picture is blurry, but it is COLD outside and I really don't want to go out and take a new picture.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog!

Canyon's First Flight

This is another photo that I have been waiting to scrap until I found just the right layout and papers. I took a lot of inspiration from this one by Susan Stringfellow.

There is some serious shadow going on in that title, sorry about that.

I love the writing on the ticket behind the title. I just wish I had come up with it!

I actually found his ticket from that flight, can you believe it? Sometimes being a pack rat pays off! I just had to get one of the envelopes from the mini album on this page.

Awww, doesn't he look sweet?

Kendra's sewing machine did this amazing stitch. I love it!

Cherish these moments - Sylvan Lake

This is one of the layouts I finished at the retreat I went to over 10-10-10. This is an older Crate paper line that I have had sitting around for awhile. I love these pictures of my kids at Sylvan.




I used Kendra's amazing sewing machine for all the stitching. Wow! I have some serious sewing machine envy going on.

Thanks for looking!

Popsicle Pirate

Another layout from last weekends retreat. I didn't like this layout at all while I was creating it. As soon as I started adding embellishments it all started to come together and I like how it turned out.

How cute is the little easel that I picked up at Ikea for 99 cents?! I propped it up on my deck railing (ahh, I love my new deck) for the picture.

I got quite a bit done (for me) at the scrapbook retreat I went to this weekend, so I have more layouts to share later on this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pumpkin Patch

About a month ago I got an email from Jami Peterson, the editor in chief at Scrapbooking.com Magazine. She had come across one of my layouts on Two Peas and asked if I would like to submit it for publication. Of course I would!
Here is a link to the layout and article. Pumpkin Patch

Rough and Tough

I went to a retreat this weekend and finally got some scrapping done!

This is the Bella Blvd Man of the House line. So cute! I also threw on some stickers from a sticker sheet that was given to me in my retreat pack, thanks Lynn!

Here is a close up so you can see the sneer that Canyon was giving me.

I am happy to be scrapping again, although we still have lots of house projects to get done in the next month, including a new roof! I signed up for another retreat next weekend and am planning on another the beginning of November, hopefully they will keep me going.

I have also just started teaching scrapbooking classes at Michaels in Rapid City. If you are interested, shoot me an email and I will get you the info. tesslor@aol.com

Hello Mr. Turtle

For this layout I used the Bella Blvd Fall Day collection. Love all these papers. Most of the accents are from a K and Co line called Actopus to Zelephant.

Canyon is and always has been a climber. He loved all the animal statues all over Busch Gardens, and he especially loved that he could climb all over them without getting in trouble.



I finally used some of these leaf pins that I have been coveting.

Gosh, I miss that curly hair. It was so cute, especially in the Florida humidity.

Everything Is Satisfactual

This layout is a scraplift of the talented Susan Stringfellow. I love her stuff! I even used the same papers! Splash Mountain is one of our favorite rides at Disney. The middle pic is all 4 of us on the raft on our last trip in November. The bottom picture is Marissa and JT on the drop from her first trip in March of 2003.

I got a raindrop on it when I was taking a picture, darn, I hope it dries.



I just had to use the bluebird on the page also. He's in the song, you know....

Mr. Bluebirds on my shoulder
It's the truth,
It's actual,
Everything is Satisfactual.
Zip-a-dee-doh-hda, Zip-a-dee-a,
Wonderful feeling,
Wonderful day.




This is Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear from the story and the ride.

Susan had a great idea on taking the font for the word "satisfactual" from the sign at the end of the ride. I loved it and copied her idea.

I also took the autographs of the Characters and shrunk them down and printed them on this log I cut with my Cricut. I was hoping that it would look like they were carved into the log.

More to come....

Water bottle hickeys and toilet paper rolls.

I honestly can't leave this kid alone for 5 seconds! Yesterday he somehow managed to get enough suction on a water bottle on his bottom lip to give himself a hickey. This picture is from day 2 of the water bottle hickey. Hopefully it fades before he has to go back to school on Friday. I've never even heard of this happening, but you can see it on his face, plain as day just below his bottom lip. Perfectly round.

I also noticed this morning that every roll of toilet paper in my house is missing the cardboard tube in the center. (I will spare you the picture of a toilet paper roll) We keep the extra toilet paper in Canyon's bathroom. He has a big empty cupboard under his sink. The carboard tubes are gone out of those as well. E.V.E.R.Y. O.N.E.

I have no idea what he has done with these tubes. I can't find them and he isn't talking.

Oh, a boy is a joy!

First day of school

I can't believe how much Marissa has changed in the last year. I desperately miss the sweet little girl that she used to be but I am enjoying watching her blossom into a beautiful teenager.

My little buddy is a kindergartner this year. No tears from Mom this year, he actually had a longer school day last year when he was in preschool. Next year, when he goes all day I will definitely be bringing Kleenex when I take him to school on the first day.

I am taking a Pink Paislee class in a couple weeks at Archiver's in Minneapolis. I bought this specific shirt to match the layout that we will be doing in the class. I actually got to the store, and then remembered that I wanted it to match. Luckily Kendra has the internet on her cell phone and could send me a picture of the layout!!

Typical Canyon style.

Out For Publication

Maybe its good for me to take a scrapbooking hiatus! I get to use an "Out for publication" banner for the first time ever!

Here is a link to the original post . I will post a link to the pub as soon as it is up!

If this is going to be a regular occurrence for me, maybe I will have to scrap an "out for publication" banner of my very own! :P