Cowboy Up!

I'm a sucker for a little boy cowboy. So when my soon to be 5 year old son let me pick cowboy for his 5th birthday party, I was super excited. I made a banner, fun name tags for all the food, wanted posters of each child guest, cupcake picks. We even created from large appliance boxes a "bad-guy jail" and an "okay dokey horse corral" for the hobby horses. The party was a blast. My favorite thing being the hobby horse race.




I finally got around to scrapping it. I had so many great pictures I had to make an interactive page with lots of fold out books to house all the pics.

This opens down the center to reveal a 24"x12" layout inside

On the inside, all the photos are accordion folded with tabs to pull out to reveal even more photos!

For my sister

My oldest sister got me into scrapping back in 1994!
She was a Creative Memories consultant before they were CM. Once called "Shoebox to Showcase."
For my high school graduation, she gave me an album with "stuff" and I scrapped my high school years in one album over the summer before heading off to college. I loved it!

Since then, she has raised and home-schooled 4 children, had a grand-baby, went back to college and now works as an OB nurse. Oh, and her and her husband just bought a ranch they are fixing up. So I guess she might be just a bit busy.

My 3 sisters and I try to get together once a year to scrapbook & spa together. This year, she brought me some pics and asked me to work my magic. I took only a few so I could really focus on them. Here are 2 pages I created for her.

My sister and her hubby as Disneyland.

Created for the PaperSecrets July Color Challenge of Red, White and Blue
Used up scraps here!

My Sister's MIL's 2nd wedding

Used lots of products I won from Scrapbook.com on National Scrapbook Day! So this page was basically free to make.

Sun kissed

My hubby and I celebrated 13 years of married life by taking the kids to the beach and boat harbor and having lunch in an outdoor cafe.

Done for the Paper Secrets Manufacturer challenge
Manufacturer BoBunny "Paradise" paper and chipboard stickers
Added some netting and cardboard (for sand).

All 4 me- dizzy ride

The other day, we were downtown so Logan and I stopped by a park that has a carousel. Lucky us, it was the one day a month the carousel is free! So he wanted to ride it over and over on a new animal each time. Unfortunately, the carousel manager insisted parents stand next to their kids even though there are seat belts. I was so dizzy and getting motion sickness. A good mom would have kept riding to make her baby happy. But me, I kept riding because I thought- wow, this is going to make a great scrapbook page with all these great animals! Ok, I have a problem.

Logan loved having the carousel all to himself, able to ride any animal he wanted and trade each time!
The photos were blurry (taken with my old cell phone) so I had to keep them small.


Made for the Paper Secrets Manufacturer Challenge - American Crafts for July.
Used American Crafts "City Park Collection" papers and Delights "Swing" Paper Flowers.
Also entered into the cropstop.blogspot.com Celebrate Summer challenge for 3D effects

Sisters, Friends

I am blessed to have sisters who are also friends.
This page was based off a sketch from Paper Secrets.
It's an older pic (I was in college) but it was time to scrap it.



Used Glitz papers
Pink Paislee - Flip Notes
Stickles -- Cinnamon

Also entered into http://cropstop.blogspot.com/2011/06/celebrate-summer-blog-hop_19.html for Michelle's Nature (used a bird) challenge

So Campy

As a child, the one vacation I could count on was camping with my family. It was cheap and offered good times in nature. My father loved to sail so we were often next to water. My sister would play her guitar as we sand songs around the campfire, my favorite being "It only takes a spark". We'd play board games on a picnic table and mom would cook a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. Cleaning wasn't fun there, but where is it fun? We'd sleep in a tent cuddled warm into a sleeping back. We'd sit around the campfire in folding chairs and just talk, relax and hang out. The only enemy- mosquitos!

Well time has passed and we all have our own kids now but tradition lives on.
We try to have an annual campout with the whole family once a year. It is a challenge and some times one family or family member can't make it, but I hope these are the memories my children take with them and connect them to their cousins, their aunts and uncles and to nature.

Sunshine, Funshine- a day at the beach

The energy of the beach - vibrant, excited, fun, joyful!
Oh come play with me!

Beachy Keen

Today the boys and I went to the beach. The sun was shining and the water was crisp and cool.
To commemorate, here are some pages from beach trips of the past.

Beach Bums

Living in California, summer isn't complete with a trip to the beach or 10 trips!
I love the chaos and joy of the rides and junk food at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the education of the tide pools at Natural Bridges, the laid back easiness of Capitola. And all are just a short drive from home. I adore the colors of the cool blue sky against the white waters mixing with the warmth of the sandy beige beach. It somehow soothes my soul.

Water, water everywhere

Oh summer, I love thee.
With your water fun flowing over me!