Dear Scrapbook Room,

Oh how I miss you! You have been turned into a stash-anything-Christmas-or-Birthday-related MESS! I hope to unearth you soon! I have so many fun things that need me to play with them! :)

Love,

Me

Yeah, it's been way too long! I would love to post some fun creation, but I have almost literally made nothing in over a month! I say almost because I have been doing a December Daily Album that is {mostly} up to date. Once it is {really} up to date I will share some pages with you! It has been a lot of fun, and definitely a tradition I want to keep doing from year to year.

Anyway, I'll be back soon...........

JAG

halloween pics

BOO TO YOU! :)

Happy Halloween y'all!

Just had to share some cute pictures of my kiddos in their costumes,

ready for our trunk-or-treat Saturday night.

This year they chose Spiderman and a Fairy Princess.

Grace started out as a ballerina,

then moved to fairy,

but couldn't quite leave out the princess,

so we ended up combing them all!

Joshua wanted to be Spiderman from the very beginning.

I even offered to buy him the little fancier costume with the muscles,

but he wanted this one and nothing else.

Easy Peasy...all I had to do was sew a tutu,

and once the tulle and I fought it out,

it wasn't too bad! :)

I love seeing them all dressed up and excited for the holiday!

And I was glad we got some pictures before Grace biffed it while running across the yard and got dirt from her chin to her knees! :) There is always something!

Too Cute!

Hope you had a fun Halloween!

JAG

Sisters - this one is for you Maren! :)

Hello there.

I should be getting to bed, but instead here I am, with a new layout to share with you! :)

There is a challenge going on at the American Crafts blog to create a girl themed layout with at least two AC products. Well, I have been wanting to do some layouts about my siblings, and since I have been blessed with three wonderful little sisters this was the perfect inspiration to get me started on those layouts.

I created this layout about middle younger sister, Maren.

She rocks. Really. I admire her a lot.

The pictures of her are from a little Senior Pics photo shoot we had. She was kind enough to be my photography guinea pig. :) It was fun because she is a lot more cooperative of a guinea pig than my children are!

Supplies:

Patterned papers (City Park by American Crafts), Card Stock (CTMH, Georgia Pacific, and Paper Studio), Alphabet Stickers (American Crafts), Badge (Flair by American Crafts), Pearls (CTMH), punches (Martha Stewart and Fiskars).

And a little close up of the journaling, just in case any of you are like me and like to know the story behind the pictures: :)

Well I think that is it! I am excited the weekend is almost here. It is going to be a busy one, but full of lots of fun things. We have a new couch being delivered (YAY!!), a football game, a soccer game, a birthday party, and a baptism to go to! It's going to be a good one!

JAG

A little pick-me-up :)

Well it's been kinda "blaahhh" around here the last couple of days. Actually, I should rephrase that, I've been a little "blaaahh" around here. :) (Hence the lack of blogging) Everyone else seems fine like normal. I've been feeling very little motivation to do much beyond what absolutely has to be done, but I finally dug out the fall decorations and put them out, and I've given my blog a little face lift in hopes that it will inspire me to a little bit of a cheerier outlook - I think it is working! I love yellow, something about it makes me happy, so we are off to a good start I think! And when you add to that this above pictured Christmas layout that I LOVE, why I am think I am feeling down right cheery!

For this layout I used paper and stickers from Crate Paper's North Pole line. I also used letter stickers from American Crafts, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon, and Jenni Bowlin. It's an alphabet schmorgasboard! :)

Does anybody else listen to Christmas music in October? I know some people have rules...no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, etc... but I can't help myself. December is not enough time to enjoy to all the fabulous Christmas music I want to listen to! Besides, I am actually working on my Christmas cards (in hopes of avoiding the all-nighter that I have been known to pull on Dec 22nd!) so it gets me in the festive mood! :)

Oh, and I am working on a fun winter layout for a winter contest on the Cosmo Cricket blog, so you will have to check back soon!

Thanks for stopping by today!

JAG

A couple of new things

Hi y'all.

I just had to show off this 'Welcome Baby' banner that I made for my friend's baby shower we had at my house the other day. I have been loving all the banners I have seen around so I had to try my hand at it.

I used the Cricut Calligraphy cartirdge on this to cut out the triangles, scalloped triangles, circles, and the little onesie.

I kept this one pretty simple because I didn't have a ton of time, but thought it turned out so cute, I may make a fall or halloween banner next!

And here are a few quick cards.

I've made several lately, but it still seems

I've hardly made a dent in my stack of scraps! :)

I love yellow and gray together....something about it just makes me happy!
I think I may give this one to JBG's teacher.
He is loving her and kindergarten, and I am so grateful for that!

So I finally broke down and ordered some new things from this last CHA. I was trying so hard to resist, but I just couldn't. And when my dear husband wanted to indulge me......
well, I couldn't say no, now could I? :)
A little Cosmo cricket, October Afternoon (I ordered their Seaside papers...think I'm going to
L-O-V-E these!!!), My Mind's Eye, and American Crafts.

Yea, that ought to hold me for a while! :)

JAG

Happy Wednesday!

.... even if it is almost Thursday!

It's amazing how having just one child in school makes life seem so much crazier already!

I like all the new activities and things, but it does kind of cut the scrapping time short. :) We have also had Grandpa Guymon here for a couple of days, which has been lots of fun! Tonight we went out and took some awesome, very West Texas looking pictures in our brand spankin' new Harvesters gear.... I will definitely post the pictures when I get them! It's homecoming week here too, so I will hopefully have some fun 'Friday night lights' pics. I'm taking the big camera to the homecoming game this year, that way I can better capture the true essence of a West Texas Friday night high school football game. Pure craziness, really, but in a fun way! :)

Anyway, here is a layout that I made for the American Crafts Blog challenge this week. I haven't been able to participate in one for a while, but when I saw the challenge for this week I knew I wanted to give it a try. The challenge was to make a layout about yourself using two or more AC products. I rarely do layouts about myself, but I need to do them a lot more often, so this was fun. You can find all the details on the American Crafts Blog.

SUPPLIES: Patterned papers (Abode by American Crafts); Cardstock (Brown: American Crafts, Honey: CTMH, White); Journaling spots (Sprouts by Jillibean Soup); Alphas (Thickers by American Crafts); Glitter brads (American Crafts); black pen (CTMH); White paint (Delta); circle punches (Fiskars); corner punch.

And here are a few cards as well. I've been trying to shrink the massive stack of scraps that has accumulated on my scrapbook table. :) I can't ever seem to throw the paper away until it's down to the smallest scrap, unusable for anything else! All part of the obsession I guess!

This house warming card also uses the Abode collection from American Crafts. Aren't those little chipboard houses so cute?

And this one uses some American Crafts Dear Lizzy scraps, AC ribbon, one of those fabulous SRM stickers (really lovin' these for quick easy cards when I don't feel like pulling out the stamps!), and a few random buttons from the button jar.

until next time -

JAG

Have a Back to School Treat!

Oops, I forgot to share these in my last post!

This is the special Back to School treat that Grace and I made for the first day of school.

We made one for everyone since it was kind of a big day for the whole family!

I got the idea for these from the Sept./Oct. issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. * EDIT- it is in the Creating Keepsakes Magazine!* It is just a piece of yellow cardstock scored every half inch and wrapped around a tube of mini M&M's. Then I stuck a kiss at the end and made a paper eraser for the other end (I had to hot glue that one on, I used glue dots on the rest). The original idea said to use Rolos, but apparently our Walmart doesn't sell those, so we used the M&M's.

Anyway, here is JBG with his special treat!

He really liked it!

Have a great weekend!

JAG

A week in the life of a blubbery mom :)

So this week my oldest started kindergarten.

I never realized what a blubbery mom I am until now.

I feel like I have been crying since last Saturday. :)

At least on the first day of school I made it back to the car before I burst into tears.

I think that is progress!

Here he is, at his table, just coloring away, practically an old pro.

In front of the school:

In front of the house before we left:

He was so excited, and a little nervous, as he would say.

He started the morning out really excited, and the closer we got to the classroom the more you could see the nervousness on his face!

It was really hard to leave him, but some how Grace and I managed to move ourselves out of the school and to the car.

And now, it's just the norm.

Strange how quickly life can change and move forward isn't it?

And now for a quick layout:

For this layout I used October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket papers and some Prima flowers.

The pictures are of Grace the day before she turned three. She's beautiful.

See, I told you I'm a blubbery mom!

JAG

SRM Sketch challenge

Hello again!

I hope y'all are having a great weekend. I have had a wonderful Saturday, much to the credit of my wonderful husband who did pretty much everything while I took some time to rejuvenate by going to the Lubbock LDS temple.

All in all, a fabulous day!

I wanted to end the week by sharing with you a card that I made for the sketch contest going on at SRM stickers blog.

Here is the sketch by Jenyfur:

SRM featured the new Cosmo Cricket papers with their own fun new stickers on their blog this week, so I thought I would play along and use some Cosmo Cricket papers as well!

For this card I used papers from the Girl Friday collection, it is one of my favorites from Cosmo Cricket. I used SRM's Happy Birthday Sentiment Stickers - aren't those clear stickers cool? My friend Becky is on their DT and gave me a few and I've had to buy a few more because they are so fun!

Happy weekend to you!
If you are like us it is the last one before school starts, so enjoy it! :)

JAG

American Crafts stuff

Hey y'all!

We are back from SA (pictures/stories coming soon!) and things are starting to get back to normal - which I am SOOO grateful for!! - so I thought I would share with you the things I made for the American crafts DT call.

I love these projects, and that is why I like trying for these teams, sometimes it's fun to have a challenge and see what I can stretch myself to come up with!

I used a combination of AC Dear Lizzy, Abode, and Heat Wave on these projects, and everything you see is from American Crafts.

{this 'splish splash' layout is my personal favorite!}

So which one is your favorite? :)

Thanks for stopping by!

JAG

Off again!

Howdy Y'all!

I'm taking a break from packing for Vacation #2 to share a quick layout with you.

But first I have to share this picture of me kayaking. I had never tried it before and while hanging out with family in Montana last week I got my chance!

It was awesome!

It was so relaxing, if we lived by a lake I just might be asking for a kayak for Christmas!

And my husband is probably glad we don't live by a lake! :)

Anyway, enough of the random and on to some scrapping. :)

Here is a layout I made of Grace exploring the beach for the first time. I love watching babies explore all of these new textures, grass, sand, mud, etc. for the first time, they never seem to know quite what to do!

For this layout I used paper and stickers from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite line. Isn't that a great collection of papers and things? I think it is adorable, and the colors are fabulous!

I also used some Thickers from American Crafts and some tiny type alphas from Cosmo Cricket....I'm basically addicted to those!

See you again soon!

JAG

I'm back....at least for now :)

Well, we are back from summer vacation #1, just in time to to laundry, put together a primary activity, and pack up for summer vacation #2! FUN!

We had a great time seeing family and doing a little camping. It was beautiful, green, mountainous, and cool.

Coming home on a day when it was 101 degrees was...well, almost fun. :)

....................................................................

While visiting with my family we found a fabulous little photo spot.

Here are a couple of shots that I got of the kiddos:

And here is my sister, Alyssa, who just left on her mission in St. Louis for the LDS church today.

I sure am going to miss her...but I am also really proud of her!

She is going to be a wonderful missionary - she has such a strong testimony of the Savior and of the gospel!

She wanted a few pre-mission pictures before she left so we had a little photo shoot.

It was a lot of fun to take pictures of someone who sits still and cooperates! :)

Oh, and here is a picture of the quilts that I just finished for the kiddos beds. A couple of members of the fam wanted to see them, so here you go!

I got the idea from a Pottery Barn catalog. They look great from a distance, but don't look too closely....my quilt binding skills are severely lacking! :)

HAVE A GOOD ONE!

JAG

Farewell for now

Well, I'm off on a little family vacation. Lots of time relaxing with family in what I hope will be a little cooler climate! :) And maybe even some shopping....scrapbook shopping and school shopping....because JBG's off to kindergarten in a month. Only one month left. My goal is to enjoy every minute...even the ones with screaming kids! :)

Sent in my application for the American Crafts Design Team. I'm sure my chances are about as big as my little toe, but I had a lot of fun creating for this call so either way it's all good. Of course to be on their team would be completely and totally awesome........ I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Have a great week!
JAG

Summer Lovin'

What are you lovin' this summer?

We've been lovin' a lot of backyard swimming lately.

Joshua likes to turn the sprinkler on and break out the water balloons, too,

so we practically have water park going on in the backyard. :)

{Amazing the hours of fun you can buy for $25, isn't it?!}

Grace always says she wants to get in, but then she ends up sitting with me on the porch swing, just watching. I don't mind that too much, though. :) She is so cute!

And of course I had to share with you this layout that I made using the American Crafts "I Do" and "Botanique" lines. I love the color combination of I Do - lots of soft colors mixed with the charcoal gray - so pretty!

Supplies:

All patterned papers, embellishments, stickers and letters are from American Crafts.

Grey Cardstock around the outside boarder is from Prism, and the white lace is unknown.

See what I mean about the color combination? I think it is so relaxing.

So relaxing I think I just might go to sleep now. :)

GOOD NIGHT!

JAG

American Crafts+Stamping = Too Much FUN!

Every week on the American Crafts Blog they have a fun challenge, and occasionally I get to play along. Well this week's challenge was to make a card or a layout that used at least 2 AC products and stamping. Well since these are two things that I love, I couldn't pass this one up!

You can find the challenge info here, but hurry! You only have until 12 pm tonight to enter.

But don't worry, there will be another fun challenge posted tomorrow - - that is what I love about their blog! Lots o' inspiration! :)

So anyway, here is my card...simple and sweet:

Sorry it's not the best pic - it's been a rainy, rainy day out there!

All of the stamps, patterned paper (Letterbox and Dear Lizzy), and ribbon are from American Crafts. The white CS is from Paper Studio, and the ink is Cocoa ink from Close To My Heart. Oh, and I used a pink Copic marker to color in the flowers.

Side note: I need to learn how to blend/use these markers better. Anyone know of anywhere I can find a tutorial or something? I was going to take a class at my Local Scrapbook Store, but they are closing next month....SO SAD!

Thanks for stopping by!

JAG

Just a quick layout

Just wanted to share this quick layout I made of little boy JBG on Halloween a couple of years ago. He was so excited to be BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!

For this layout I used papers and die cuts from Crate Paper (aren't these aliens adorable!?), some SEI alphabet stickers, Cosmo Cricket mini alphas, and a Jillibean Soup journaling spot. Fun stuff! I loved how easily this layout went together!

I hope you are all having a good week....we are all having a little bit of a difficult time recovering from the holiday weekend, but at least the weekend was a good one! :)

JAG

A few new things and family time

Howdy y'all!!

I hope you are having a fabulous week.

Here at the homestead we are trying to cope with being by ourselves after having these fun visitors for a few days:

This is my family! They ALL came to visit for four and a half fun filled days...it was a blast! My grandparents and my uncle, aunt, and cousins joined us for a few of the days as well, so we had quite the houseful! We loved it, though, and so far the after-family-let-down hasn't even been too bad! :)

Monday night before my parents and siblings headed out of town we set up the ol' tripod and attempted some family pictures since everyone was together. It is quite the feat to get that many people all looking at the camera and smiling, but we mostly managed to do it

{as long as you don't notice that Grace has her hand stuck in her belly button :)}. KIDS.....

I will be posting more on the FAMILY BLOG in the next couple of days as I get them edited, if you want to check them out.

And here are a few new things that I've worked up recently:

I love this layout of my chubby bald little girl! I used paper and stickers from the Fly a Kite line from October Afternoon (SO STINKIN" CUTE!) and some American Crafts Thickers, love those, of course.

And a couple of cute cards

to end the day:

Until next time....
JAG

For all girls who love PINK, look what I just found out...

Today is .....

National Pink Day!!!

Have you ever heard of this? I hadn't, but I was just checking out the Paper Crafts blog and saw that it was National Pink Day! How fun! Now, I am not really a pink girl myself, but having a daughter who LOVES all things PINK has really opened my eyes to the world of PINK. I wish I had known about this sooner, we could have thrown an awesome PINK party!! Here's some information that I found online:



National Pink Day:
When : Always June 23rd
It's National Pink Day, a day where everything should be basking in pink splendor!
It's especially a day for the ladies, as pink is a girl's favorite color. Guys, you can participate in National Pink Day, too. Just get in touch with your feminine side, and display a dash of pink. Note: the girls will love you for it!

It's easy to enjoy and to participate in National Pink Day. Bring your pink elephant out of hiding. Wear pink, and show off everything you have that's pink, from clothing and shoes to other possessions. Be creative. Use food coloring to make pink meals. Pink frosting on a cake or cookies will be a big hit today.



Awesome. June 23, 2011 come to my house...we will have a PINKALICIOUS time! :)

Makin' Do

First off, I had to start out with some of my favorite pictures from the last month!

This first one is of my parents and my kiddos.

The kids love when Grandma and Grandpa come to town,

and I love this picture that I captured!

My husband was put in the bishopric in our ward of the LDS church, so my parents come down for a very quick trip to spend the special weekend with us!

We are glad they are coming back this week or we wouldn't have been able to let them go again so soon! :)

Second, I was able to go to Utah for a couple of days for my sister's High School Graduation!

(Thanks to my wonderful husband Bryan and my fabulous friend Lisa for making that one possible!)

It was a lot of fun being there for Maren's special day and it was also my dad's first graduation ceremony as principal of the good ol' MCHS...the HS we've all gone to...so it was a special day all around!

I got some fun pictures of the Gradiator all dressed up.

(that's what I called her...kinda like the gladiator...off to conquer the world, you know....okay, I know, really corny...won't be quiting my day job!)

Isn't she cute!?

Exciting times!

On to a little scrappin' goodness......kind of.
See, when I went to that retreat last month, we got this awesome pack of papers, chipboard, rubons, etc. from My Mind's Eye.
Well, I love MME, but.....
I really didn't love this paper:

And of course, my pack had 3 sheets of it! Of all the luck....
so I was determined to use at least one at the retreat and make it look good.
Turns out I ended up using it on the very first layout I made that weekend! What do you think?:


I thought it turned out pretty cute.
Anyway, it was a fun challenge...to take something I really didn't like and to turn it into something I did like!

Oh, the pictures....
They are of my little G in her favorite shirt. She loves it and every time she wears it she will tell you what it says: "Little Princess with a BIG attitude!" And she says it in a voice that tells you what the shirt says is true!
You know what they say,
If the 'shirt' fits....
:) :) :)

Happy Monday!
JAG

Weekend Retreat+112 scrapbook lovin' women = Craziness!

Here are some pics of the crazy fun we had scrappin' a couple of weeks ago!

This is my friend Lisa and I scrapbooking the day away!

This is what we saw when we walked in! We couldn't believe all of the paper, stickers, and Cricut machines everywhere! Some of these ladies were up until 6:00 AM scrapbooking - can you believe it? I don't know how they do it for two and half days when they don't sleep!? The day and a half we stayed was enough for me, and I even slept. :)

And here are a couple of the layouts that I made that weekend. Pretty simple, but I liked them.

Oh and in case you were wondering, even at an all weekend retreat I am still painfully slow at scrapbooking! In all that time I finished a whopping 8 layouts! :) Lisa made 22......I guess somethings will never change!

Have a great day!

JAG