My 2nd MSMD (Monkey See Monkey Do) Layout

This is another layout for Friends That Scrap's MSMD challenge. This time I picked someone who uses primary colors a lot, uses buttons on many layouts, and also uses Cricut cuts a lot...and she scraps boy pics a lot. How did I do Annette?
Funny, but I can see things in other's layouts, but can't for the life of me figure out what my signature might be!
This layout is of my grandson Caleb concentrating on a toy he is playing with.

Meet Trinity Jeanne' Finley

This is the first layout I have done of my new granddaughter born Jan. 27 in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa. Isn't she precious!! She weighed 2.2 kg (4.9 lbs). We arrived in Rwanda to meet her on March 2 and spent a sweet 3 weeks loving on her. We also go to spend some wonderful time playing with our 4 1/2 yr. old grandson Will.

So this layout was for a challenge on my yahoo group Friends That Scrap. We had to choose someone from the group and mimic their style. I chose Tara because I have always admired her use of dimensional flowers and ribbon on her layouts. I even had to go buy some flowers and gathered ribbon!! I once asked her how she ever fit those into her scrapbooks! And I'm not really sure I'm going to put this one into my scrapbook...it may go on the wall in a frame!! :-)  Not sure yet. But I love the way it turned out. And I have always admired her work.

I'm contemplating who my next victim will be!!! So stay tuned!

Challenge Layout and card for Week 16

I just couldn't wait to put these pictures of Todd and Cade on a scrapbook page...father (who is our son) and son (who is our grandson)!! Cade is our little guy who, at age 16 months, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after ending up in the ER with a blood sugar of 1200. Scared us to death. But that was a year ago and we have all adjusted very well. Cade has the sweetest temperament and always (almost!!) has a ready smile. He gets pricked and injected at least 8 times a day yet is so sweet natured about it all. He does better than I do!
Anyway, Todd and Cade had gone for a jog to the park. Cade was in such a playful mood when they got home. He and Todd were sitting on the couch and I caught these pics of them! Cute, huh?

This layout was for the FTSSC weekly challenge. We had to use the sketch below. We also had to use 2 of the techniques so i used stitching and tearing. Then my 3 elements were a household item (the paper clip and the Santa playing card), an animal, and chipboard.

 

This is the card that I made for the same group's weekly card challenge. I used the following sketch, used stamping and border punch as my techniques, and my 3 elements were 'brown and a second color, chipboard and lace.

I also entered the card in Shelley's Images (Anything Goes). That's all I had time to link to this time.

Thank you for looking.

Bucket Bath

This was such a fun layout. Our grandson, who lives in Rwanda, Africa, loves to bathe in a bucket outside on the patio. Granted he is only 4 and things will probably change in the near future, but for the year and a half that they have lived there, that has been Will's 'bath of choice'!! This layout fits the requirements for the following challenges:
     Friends That Scrap Quad challenge - banners, twine or chevrons
     Scrapfit - layered embellishments (the title block has a minimum of 4 layers...cardstock, letters, washi tape, flair button, stick pin with tag, and rubber duckie
     Red Carpet - Anything Goes

The card qualifies for the Quad challenge as well.

First layout and first card for 2013!

This double page layout is for the Friends That Scrap FTSSC weekly challenge. We are now on week 14 and 12 of us are still in the challenge. For this challenge, we had to use the sketch below. I used distressing and misting as my techniques. My embellishments include a metal tree charm on the tag, lace, and tags.

I entered the first half of this layout in the Colorful Creations For the Boys challenge. For this one we had to use blue, a star, bling, and 3 brads.

Last, I entered the card below in the Friends that Scrap Card Challenge. It is also week 14 in that challenge and I am 1 of 4 left in that one. The sketch we had to use is below. My one technique is 'black and white'. The 3 embellishments I used arepunches, 3+ patterned paper, and striped paper. This card is also entered in Shelley's Images' Anything Goes challenge. The card shows up with a blue tint, but it truly is black and white!!

So many things I want to do...so little time!

I would love to just sit in my craft room and scrapbook all day (and night!) if I could, but 'life' keeps getting in the way! No seriously, there are other very important things that God has placed in my life as well, so 'balance' is always my goal! This week, we have been making major room changes in our home. We've moved my hubbies' office to a different room, and moved the huge L-shaped desk out of my scrap room into his office. That has left me with lots more room, but lots less storage! So...there are still piles of things lying around on the floor waiting for me to find a place to put them! However, in the midst of all the mess, I managed to get some scrapping done!! LOL!

My Yahoo group's weekly Card and Layout Challenges have been completed, leaving me in the challenge for at least another week! Then I also made some cards to send to a group member as a snag.

My FTSSC layout challenge this week had to use the following sketch and had to incorporate (my choices) misting, flowers, butterflies (or any bug), and rubons. I actually did a two page layout, but the second half followed the challenge. The pictures are of our sweet Will and Clint (his BaBa) enjoying time together playing the instruments. Will is very musical and from a very young age exhibited rhythm and a love for singing and playing!

 

For the card challenge, I used the following sketch, stamping, twine, & 5+ patterned papers.This card was also entered in the current challenge for  Stampin' Sisters in Christ whose challenge is 'broken and put back together'

Last are a couple of the additional cards I made. The turtle card, digi from DigiScrapKits, is entered in Craft Your Passions's 'clean and simple' challenge and the skunk card, digi also from DigiScrapKits, in The Pink Elephant's 'punches or dies' challenge. 

Will's ABC Album

Our daughter, son-in-law, and 2 1/2 yr. old grandson, Will, have recently moved to Rwanda, Africa to serve as missionaries. I worked hard to  finish Will's album before they left so that he would have it to take with him.

How can it be!!?

I can't believe it has been 6+ months since I've posted to this blog! Yikes. Well, I'll get some pictures taken of my most recent projects and be sure to post them. In the meantime, here's a recent picture of Will, who is now 11 months old!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

WILL - 5 MONTHS OLD

God's Sweetest Blessings...

are grandchildren!!!!

And we've been enjoying our newest grandson for the last couple of weeks. Will is growing so fast. He's a very sweet natured, happy baby and just getting more fun every day. He's now 3 1/2 months old
!

1st Day of School

Last week was the first week of school for 3 of our grandchildren. Caleb and Kaytlyn both started Kindergarten, and Bethany is a big 2nd grader! Here are Caleb and Bethany with their new teachers and Kaytlyn ready to go!

George Willard Finley is here!!!

Baby Will was born July 15 (the day we left for England!) weighing 8 lb. 8 oz. and approx. 20" long (they don't measure length here). We went straight from the bus to the hospital and later that night brought Baby Will home. He has Tori's dark hair and blue eyes (or so it appears!) and Greg's cheeks and chin. We don't know whose long feet and toes he has!! We have spent our days traveling by Oxford City Bus back and forth to their flat from the home we're staying in across town. We are so proud of our beautiful new grandson and wanted to share some pics with you. The first two pics were taken at the hospital as both DeDe and BaBa met Will (1 day old). The next is a pic of Will having fallen asleep playing cards, just like his BaBa sometimes does!! (3 days old) And the last pic is of the happy Finley family taken in Oxford City Center on Will's first big outing and first bus ride (9 days old).
Enjoy. Tomorrow is our last day here and it will be VERY hard to leave Tues. morning. But what a blessing to share in these first two weeks of Will's life! Will has already been to the home where DeDe and BaBa are staying for an afternoon of cards, a small group fellowship, shopping at Mothercare and Tesco's, 2 bus rides and a stroll through City Center as everyone 'Oooohs and aaaahs!' Tonight he'll go to church for the first time! That's a lot for a 10 day old baby!

Will smiling at the webcam that he thinks is his DeDe! After all, it talks to him in DeDe's voice!

Easter Fun

We spent Easter with our "Denton family" - Teri, Darren, Kaytlyn & Riley. Teri's brother Tim and step-brother Royce were also with us. It was fun watching the kids hunt for their eggs. We weren't really outside long because the weather was kind of yucky.















































Then we enjoyed a yummy meal that Teri prepared for us.





After dinner, Riley went down for a nap. We played the Wei with Kaytlyn, Darren & Teri. Here BaBa and Kaytlyn are boxing (Kaytlyn won!!) and then Kaytlyn and I read and shared jelly beans. DeDe loves the black jelly beans and Kaytlyn discovered that she likes the black ones too!

ONLY IN TEXAS!!

Guess what! Last Monday morning it got up to 70 degrees, then by 8:30 Monday evening it was snowing like crazy!! We had over 3 inches of snow! Today it is back up to 70 and tomorrow there is another chance of snow! CRAZY, HUH!

What a busy month lies ahead of us! But a fun month. We'll get to spend time with all of our favorite kids!! We leave Friday to head to San Antonio. Our sweet 7 yr. old granddaughter Bethany will be baptized Sunday and we wouldn't miss getting to share in that. Then the next weekend I will head to East Texas with Teri (our Denton daughter)and a group of my 'young' friends for a weekend of scrapbooking! WooHoo!! Then the next weekend is Easter. The choir will participate in all 3 services Easter morning at church then we'll head over to Teri and Darren's to watch Kaytlyn and Riley hunt Easter eggs and have lunch with their family (including Teri's brother Tim and Darren's mom Marcia) Then the next weekend I'm off to another retreat - BSF Retreat - a wonderful weekend of worship and inspiration.

I'll have lots more to share after these fun weekends! Have a blessed Easter holiday.

LOAD - Layout a Day Challenge

I have been involved in a challenge this month on Big Picture Scrapbooking. It is to create a LO everyday for the month of January. This has definitly been a 'challenge' for me to keep up with, but so far I've done it!! I thought I'd share my layouts for the first half of the month on my blog! I'm working on my England album, trying to finish it, but I can't NOT do layouts of our sweet grandchildren so there is a mixture of both here! Thanks for looking!