"Camping" Projects :)

So, no, we are not really camping while staying here in Amarillo, but in a way I kind of feel like I am! The apartment is old, but plenty nice enough, so that is not it. It is just really weird to try and do the normal things with out all of the normal supplies, you know? It reminds me of when my family used to take three week road trips when I was a kid. We'd stay in the trailer the whole time, and there wasn't a lot of storage space for us to pack things, so we just took the basic necessities and made do with what we had.

That is what I feel like now. I have very few cooking utensils and only the most basic of ingredients, so that is an adventure. Yesterday I made chocolate chip cookies from a mix, because it was cheaper to buy the mix than all of the ingredients, and baked them on a pizza pan because it is the only pan I have!! Last night Bryan made pizza, but about died when he had to cut it with a knife!! They claimed the kitchen was fully equipped, but I'm not so sure I would agree!

Anyway, it's the same with my scrapbooking. Although I was able to bring quite a bit of my supplies in my rolling tote (a fabulous invention!! I've really never used it much until now, but boy am I glad I have it!) it is still not the same as having EVERYTHING out on the table in front of me or on the shelf behind me, like I am used to. I still managed to complete a few layouts this week though! So here are my "camping layouts:"

The story behind the overalls layout is that I bought them years ago when I found them on clearance at the Gap. They were too cute to pass up, even though Bryan and I were still a LONG ways from dating and I didn't have a little girl to put in them. But now I am glad I bought them and held on to them for all these years - they look soooo cute on Grace and are one of my favorite outfits she has!!

This layout was for a challenge using only cardstock, no pattern papers, and at least three different stamps. I love stamps, so I had fun with this one! I think I ended up using seven different stamps!

I have had a lot of fun with this latest batch of projects!! I've been breaking in to some new techniques I haven't tried before and some supplies I have had forever, but haven't used, and it has been a lot of fun!!

These cards were for the card challenge at AC Bailey. I had to make three cards that matched but were not the same. I used up some of the Making Memories printed cardstock that I had had for a couple of years and never used, so that was good (Yes, I am very talented at hoarding scrapbook supplies, and I admit it!). I also did a little distressing with white paint around the edges, which was a new technique for me. I loved it so much, I did it again on this next layout!

These two layouts were for the digital hybrid layout challenge. The idea was to create a layout that had both digital aspects and traditional paper scrapbooking aspects to it. I had never done anything more digital than print out journaling for a page, so this was a new one for me, but it was sooo fun! I had to do two pages to experiment with it. I used our Photoshop Elements program to 'dress up' my photos. For the first one I added a sepia torn paper frame to the photo and then added the star graphics in the corner.

On the second page I adjusted the color of the picture so that it was black and white around the edges and color in the middle where her eyes are, since they were the focus of my page. Then I added the flower graphics around the edge of the picture.

I have also finished a super cute fabulous Mother's Day gift, but since it's not Mother's Day yet, I'll have to post it later. Don't want to give away our secret!! It was something I hadn't done before and was a bit of an experiment, but I am sooo happy with how it turned out, so You'll have to watch for that one next week ;)

And this is just a favorite recent picture of me and my adorable kids that are my favorite subjects to scrapbook!! I really wouldn't have much of a hobby with out them because I can't imagine there is anything that is as fun to scrapbook as cute, silly kids! We had spent all morning at the Ranching Heritage Center for their Ranching Day, which was a lot of fun but exhausting, so we came home and crashed on the couch!