sketch challenge, field day and birthday....

Yes I have been quite busy, but in a totally great way. Below is a sketch we were given to use in my sketch challenge group on FB. It is pretty neat and think it will be used again in the future. I can also see where I would add extra pictures!! I love taking pictures.

And here is my layout inspired by the above sketch. After I took the picture and loaded it to the computer, I realized I did not put the date on the layout so that has now been done. This was Christmas Eve 2008. Kira looks so tiny!! She got to make reindeer food in her class and then another teacher gave her the small bag of food. We had some very happy reindeer that Christmas!

Field Day for the kids was on Friday. The day started overcast and not looking too great. By the time they did the roll call of nations/ classes... the sun was out and stayed out all day. Which was a great thing since the school had rented two bounce slides and turned them into water slides!! The kids LOVED it. Even Alex who hates to have water on his face.

Each class was a different nation and they designed puppets and made flags from their nations. The theme this year was the Olympics. All the kindergartners were Ireland. You can see Alex in the front by the white of the Irish flag. And his amazing teacher in the red shorts on the left.

Kira's class was doing Fiji. Here's a picture of my little lady with her puppet which she made into a tree kangaroo and her flag. She did such an amazing job on her puppet! I love it.

And a friend of ours, took mine and Dave's picture after the ceremony. Something that doesn't happen often since one of us is always holding the camera! Aren't we cute?? I then went into the school and helped with Alex's class while they did their events.

Then it was Saturday and a special Saturday it was. My little baby girl turned 11! I mean seriously. How does one lose eleven years?? I swear she was just being born and look at her! Heading into sixth grade and looking oh so beautiful. I'm afraid to blink since she'll be in college then!

For her day, she wanted me to make her a Piplup cake. ummm sure. I can do that. I found this image on the web and posted it to Pinterest since I am like that. Dave printed it out and off to town we went. This was my first time making a layer cake and learned a few lessons. One... you don't need a ton of frosting in between the layers (but I do like frosting) Two... make sure to level them so the cake doesn't wobble. Three... if you are going to decorate with additional frosting... you don't need as much of the base frosting. We are getting on quite the sugar high eating this cake. Totally not complaining... just explaining.

The black gel we used, was fighting us a bit and running when we didn't want it to. Hence poor Piplup's lazy eye and his crooked beak. But the cool thing is that the gel was glitter gel so Kira didn't mind these imperfections and was quite excited to see it after her bath.

Tomorrow begins our last week of school. Not sure how much learning will be happening, but it will be the end. Alex will find out his teacher for next year on Friday and they are having a step up day. I do believe I will have to be there taking some pictures!!

actual scrapbook pages

I know so totally amazing! Not that I have done them over the past couple weeks. These were done and then lost in the piles of stuff that collected on my desk. Finally got them photographed and uploaded. Nothing slow about me! LOL

This is Kira's fourth grade class picture. I swirled the kids in the class since I don't have permission to post them. Very simple layout but it works. And I finally had a chance to use those metal letters that have been in my stash FOREVER!!

This one is of our very own Elf on a Shelf, Scout. We adopted him last year. He got himself into some pretty fun spots around the house. He was also a bit of trouble maker. One night he rearranged the tins on the Advent Calendar, another one he 'helped' put the candy canes on our tree by using them as a ladder to the top of the tree! On this particular night, he grabbed my point and shoot camera and had himself some fun around the house! The kids loved it and can't wait for him to come back this year to do it again!! Scout left the kids a letter on Christmas Eve since he was going back to the North Pole with Santa.

Easter Morning in our house this year. My 'enamel' embellishments didn't come out too good. I didn't adhere them very well before adding the glossy accents. Oh well... still like how this came out. Used a pagemap for this one. I don't remember which one though- sorry.

Alex at his family birthday party in Syracuse. He put on a bit of a dancing show for us before the party. So many cute shots I couldn't choose one or two. I used the Picasa collage feature to create the 8X10.

Another birthday layout with another collage. Love them. They make scrapping in a hurry much easier. This is my first banner. Not sure if I like it or not, but I did it. Cross that off my list of things to try.

Another wonderful collage. I didn't get very great pictures of Kira during her concert so it was good to be able to edit them into useful pictures for the collage. Love the big one of her with her BFF Michaela.

Here are a couple things I did do yesterday. Love them. I found the idea on Scrapbook.com from a scrapper named 3peaspress. So simple and fun to do. I bought different sizes of the glass ornaments to make up some photo ones and to have Kira make some for her friends. Thinking of all the fun things she can do with hers!!

Here's a close up. I used glitter number stickers to add the year. I also put a bit of glitter in the bottom of the ornament before I started rolling the paper strips. On a few of them, I would add a bit of glue to both ends and a small bit to the side before putting it in the ornament. Then I shook it so the glitter would stick to the paper. It's a little bit of bling and looks neat. The rolling of the paper is such a stress reliever. I did pack my ornaments pretty full as the rolls will unravel if left on their own and with space to grow. I liked the fuller look better for mine.

So those are two teacher gifts. I have to make another one for a helper in Alex's class and then Kira's Girl Scout leaders. I need more ornaments. Guess I should grab them while they are on sale at Michaels this week. That's where I am heading tomorrow!! And maybe some more ribbon. It's on sale too. ;)


I have figured out how to give them, I need to do it and make sure it works. Keep your eyes peeled for that!