Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

So I am finally used to the little man going to school and now he goes and turns 5! For some reason I have a tough time with the odd numbered birthdays....it has nothing to do with the fact that my baby is no longer a baby! It is amazing how much they change in 5 years - here is a pic of the cute little guy the day he was born and his school pic taken a few weeks ago


Almost makes me want another one - ALMOST! Anyways, Happy Birthday Luke!








So onto the pages I promised last week,

I like them much better than the last 2 pages. Some more summer fun from 2009! The second page still could use a title, but I am at a loss for one. I LOVED the paper on the second page too. Almost enough that I didn't want to cut into it. The hearts and striped were a 2 sided-paper. Lucky for me I had 2 sheets of it and I only had to use 5 inches:) Now I am sure the rest of it will become a collectors item in my stash of scrappy things. Those ladies at the Scrap-Room sure do know how to pick some fabulous papers in their monthly kits!!

Have a great day -

Enjoy!

Katie

As promised, pages and a new pet!

So I did promise a few scrappy things...I am posting the first 2 pages I made after a long summer hiatus of merely collecting scrapping supplies. They are definately not the most amazing pages ever that is for sure. It seems to take me awhile to get back into the swing of things after not scrapping for awhile. But I need to remind myself that a good page is a done page. Also I think I better remind myself - no more 4 month breaks (if you look really close these are summer pages, too bad it is summer of 2009!). I've got a couple more pages that I like better and will hopefully post tomorrow.














Looking back on things now, I should have made them into a 2 page layout, but that thought didn't cross my mind until AFTER the pages were done. Also one of my new favorite supplies (it's really hard to see on the pic) is printed, tape. I used it on the page on the right, below the reddish paper is some really cool blue heart tape. Oh what fun!

Onto the new pet - if you know me, you may be wondering what in the world this crazy lady needs another pet for (4 children, 5 if you count Kraig, 2 dogs, a home daycare) but Grace really thought she needed a rabbit. I was not real keen on the idea of a rabbit. I had one growing up and it wasn't the most social animal ever. I also forgot to feed it for a couple of days one winter and it was frozen solid the next time I went out to check on it. So after some careful deliberation meet....


Brauny the Guinea Pig (named after Ryan Braun). He is a pretty cute little guy. Grace and Luke are sharing the honor of being his 'owner'. Although Luke is terrified to hold him. He looks pretty ferocious, huh? The good news is he is quiet, doesn't smell and won't freeze outside this winter. He was an early birthday present for the both of them.

Anyways, hope you like the pages and the cute guinea pig. Have a great evening - Enjoy!

Katie

I'm back!

Hello all - no, I didn't abandon the world of blogging. I just got a bit lost in a busy, somewhat stressful summer. It was a great summer, don't get me wrong. Just a bit stressful with some things that are completely out of our control. I am trying to be patient with these things I have no control over...but its just not in my personality type!! Anyways, I am here now and even have found some time to scrap lately - YEAH!! I will hopefully get a page up here tomorrow.

I do have a few pictures to share with you all - my kiddos started school a few weeks ago. All 4 of them....mom was having a really tough time sending my baby off to school. Thank god he only goes for half the day. But as I went to take him that very first day it was really hard to be too upset. He cheered as I pulled into the parking lot and I could barely keep up with the little man as he RAN, yes, RAN to get to his classroom. He was quite disappointed that he didn't get to ride the bus to school that day. But at least he let me walk him to his room and then I had to beg for a hug before I left. It does make me happy that all 4 of them love school as much as they do. And with all of them gone, gives me some time to clean house (ha, ha) and scrapbook! Here's a couple pics of them all on the first day

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Hope you are all enjoying the drastic change in the weather...only in Wisconsin do we go from the air conditioning on Monday to the heat on Wednesday! Have a great day and check back soon I promise to have some scrappy things to share. Enjoy -

Katie

Baseball and Freedom

What a great weekend it has been here. We spent a very nice Memorial day today with our family. Tradition takes us to the cemetery for the Veteran's service and gun salute. We then head to Great-grandma's house for cinammon rolls - they are delicious!! We finish the day at Grandma's with a wonderful cookout (with way too much food!). It is a great day to remember the very special people who fought for our freedom and spend a day with our family.


Since it was a holiday weekend we decided a trip to Miller Park to cheer on our Brewer's was in order. I always knew that having kids was expensive, diapers for 4 was proof of that. But no one ever tells you about all the small things....finding a hotel room that allows 6 people, let alone has beds for 6 is nearly impossible. I finally did find a hotel room in Milwaukee that would work, they even had a shuttle for the game. So I called early Saturday morning to sign us up - too bad they only had room left for 5! Lucky for now our van still fits the 6 of us - although with the way the kids are growing, I'm not sure that will be true for long. Once we got to the game, we had a wonderful time. Sam got a batting practice home-run ball. Bernie Brewer was back (that made Luke's whole summer). The girls found the ice cream stand with the helmets of ice cream. And that was all before the game even started. An in the park home run hit by the Brewer's in the bottom of the first was so much fun to see. Then it was a tie ball game in the bottom of the 9th inning....Ryan Braun fouled off a ball that was headed for our section and wouldn't you know it, Kraig caught it! What are the chances? We even made it on tv! The Brewers finished off the game with a suicide squeeze bunt and scored. Best game we've been too by far!! It was a great kick-off to summer.




As for scrapping life has been busy and crazy, but I have managed to squeeze just a bit in. This is a page I had done for Sketchy Thursdays....too bad I went to post it a day late for the challenge. Oh well, at least I like how it turned out. The challenge was a sketch and a picture of some old china floral pattern coffee cups - I had just happened to get my kit that day and this paper was all I could think of - worked well:)

Enjoy!

Katie

The torch is passed

Somehow my time as the brown torchbearer is over already! I am a bit sad but am super excited to announce who is grabbing hold and running with it. Since none of my in-person scrapping friends have blogs, I went to my online gals and the very first person who came to mind was a super talented lady named Laura Kayra. I met Laura online at the Scrap Room and have been blown away by her amazing pages. Check out her work at her blog http://www.paperiini.blogspot.com/. Not only are her fabulous creations on her blog, but it is in 3 different languages so you can learn something too. I also want to give her a big congratulations on her recent engagement. Have a blast Laura - I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Here is a recap of all the projects I made for my time as torcherbearer.

I want to thank all the gals at Amber Ink for allowing me to design for them and also to all the other talented torcherbears who ran with me. It was a great month!

Have a great week - Enjoy!

Katie

This is it!

I know you all have being on the edge of your seats waiting to see my very last Amber Ink project...This one uses the very first paper that I found when shopping on their site. Loved the bright orange flowers, very spring-like. I really love how they have 3 different shades of the same color and pattern. I used the muted orange flowers for the bottom. The "dream" stamp is also an Amber stamp - they have tons of one word stamps....I just resized it and printed it out on the bottom of my cardstock. Love it! The card is really very simple, but I am a pretty simple gal - hope you enjoy it!

So life here is crazy again - baseball season has started. Not sure who enjoys it more Coach Dad or 10 year old. They won their first game Monday night, well coached game by dad. Also well played by Sam - he pitched 2 innings and struck out 6 guys. Also had a walk and a big hit! Pretty fun to watch. They play again tomorrow, hopefully things go as well as they did on Monday.

My reign as the brown torcherbear comes to end on Monday. I can't tell you who I am passing the torch onto just yet, but I will tell you she is a super talented, amazing lady! Until then have a great day - Enjoy!

Katie

#5

Here's my latest creation for the Amber Ink gals. It's a really simple card design. I used scraps of paper that I had used on other projects, punched them into squares and rounded 2 of the corners. I think I should have rounded the corners a bit more...live and learn, right?

Today is also Aloha Friday over on the Amber Ink blog - http://www.amberinklings.blogspot.com/. Head on over and check it out - and if anyone wants to clue me in on how to post a picture from the web onto the links let me know so I can play along too:)

Have a great weekend and check back next week for my last project - I'll try to make it a good one. Enjoy!

Katie

Amber Ink #4

The ladies at Amber Ink are sponsoring the Totally Papercrafts challenge for the week. My fellow torchbearer Anne is a designer for their site. The challenge was to use 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embellies. Here is what I came up with:

I thought the owl digi stamp was so cute!! Added a few paper scraps for the background, 2 brads and a metal word and done! I am loving all the cards I have been making lately, what a great way to use up the piles of paper scraps I have laying around and now I have a stash of cards again. Nothing better than that!

Hope you all have a great Mother's Day weekend. Mine will be extra special. My oldest son Sam turnes 10 on Mother's Day. I'm not sure where the time has gone - he was 5 days old on his very first Mother's Day. So Happy Birthday Sam and Happy Mother's Day to all of you mom's! Enjoy -

Katie

#3 continued

So I think the computer may be working now...let's hope I can get this card posted.

Finally - Have a great evening - Enjoy!

Katie

#3

This week I made a couple of very simple cards using some bright, cheery paper from Amber Ink. The yellow swiss dot paper brought a little sunshine into my day as the weather last weekend was cold and rainy (at least the snow that did fall didn't stay on the ground). The first card also used the spin pin deconstruct paper for the circle under the buttons. The rest of the cards were made with scraps of cardstock I had laying around. If anyone would like to give me lessons on how to sew a straight line they would be much appreciated. For some reason the lines look even more crooked when I took the picture of the card. At least you know it's homeade, right??


So, for some reason my computer is not cooperating and will only let me upload this picture and not the other one. I will keep you in suspense until later on that one - hopefully I will be able to post it later today. This one an extremely simple card and great for using up scraps of paper and embellies!

Check back tomorrow, Amber Ink is hosting a challenge with TotallyPapercrafts. I don't know any details just yet but will let you know when I do. Have a great day - Enjoy!

Katie

Happy May Day!

They say April showers bring May flowers. I am not sure what April snow brings, but it is definately not flowers! I used to love making May baskets and filling them with flowers. It is a trait that was passed onto my daughter Grace. She spends hours picking flowers. Her and I were both disappointed this year that instead of flowers we had snow on May Day! Maybe we'll have to try for June baskets this year...

Anyways, I got to spend some time scrapping yesterday. Not as much as I would have liked, the yucky weather brought the kids home sooner than anticipated and also made me rather lazy. I curled up with my flannel quilt and a good movie. But I did get a few pages finished. They are both based on sketches from Sassy Lil Sketches. I am so impressed with myself - I got 3 of their 4 April sketches done and since they aren't usually due until the 5th, there is still time to finish them all!

Check back later this week for my 3rd Amber Ink project. Enjoy -
Katie

Amber Ink #2

So I told you last time that I found this "Love bunny - flowered" stamp that I just loved. Not only is it adorable, but it is extremely vers-a-tile!! (Isn't that a fun word to say) This stamp was the inspiration for my Amber Ink #2 project, since we have pretty free reign on our projects, I had trouble deciding what to do - so I used the bunny to do it all! He made a great addition to my Easter flowers for my mom and mother-in-law, made a super fun Thank you card paired with the "Bunny, Bunny, kiss, kiss tiny blue paper" and I just don't know which is cuter on my scrapbook page, the bunny or Grace! I am finding that these digi-stamps are about the coolest thing EVER! Although after seeing my fellow torchbearers projects, I am realizing that I may need to break down and invest in some copic markers. I'm afraid that if I do then that would require taking a class to learn to use them too. Isn't that somewhat funny - grown women taking a class to learn to color. I thougt it was a bit amusing.

Anyways, onto the big reveal...

The scrapbook page is based on a sketch from Pencil Line sketches.

Check back next week for Amber Ink project number 3. I am also hoping to get some pages posted this weekend - I get to have mom time Friday night and Saturday as all the kids and dad are going to plant trees with Grandpa...hopefully the house will get cleaned on Friday so I can scrap the night and day away.

Have a great scrappy day - Enjoy!

Katie

Happy Easter...

So I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We had a nice, relaxing day at both grandma's houses. The kids now have more bubbles, sidewalk chalk, sand buckets and butterfly nets than they can carry, but life is good. The weather actually cooperated too, not to worry though we have snow in the forecast for tomorrow. It's not May yet, I guess! Summer will feel so fabulous when, if ever, it arrives. Here is a picture of my fabulous 4 yesterday. We decided to forgo the Easter dresses in favor of some clothes they may actually wear again...I was happy with the decision. Molly was not so much. I realized yesterday morning that Luke, my youngest, does not have a single new item of clothing in his dresser. He gets hand me downs from his brother and has 3 cousins who pass things onto him as well. He honestly doesn't care, but I may have to invest in at least one new shirt for the poor boy.

The picture is the not the greatest, but they are all looking at the camera so that is progress here.

On another note, my second Amber Ink project is due this week. I will give you a little sneak peek - I found this stamp and thought it was so absolutely adorable that I just had to use it....check back later this week to see what I came up with.

Welcome to my new followers too - I am so excited that I am now up to 7! Thanks for following along with me and my scrappy life!

Have a great week - Enjoy!
Katie

The secret is out!

My very exciting, very big secret is out! I have the very cool honor of being a torchbearer for Amber Ink. My friend Tammy Hellstern nominated me to design for the Amber Ink gals. Thanks for the love Tammy. I am now the brown torchbearer for the next month -
I will explain what all that means in a second, but first, check out my new badge...

Pretty cool, huh?? I sure think so. So now onto the good stuff - what is Amber Ink you might ask, I sure asked. It is an uber cool online, digital scrapping supply site along with an awesome blog. This digital scrappin' stuff is new to me, but it is so simple and so incredibly easy. Just check out the site, pick out what you like and complete your purchase. Once that is done, you get directions to download to your computer and use whenever and as much as you like. I especially love their digi stamps, I saved mine on Word and I can resize, change the color and print to my little hearts content. Give it a try, I guarantee you'll love it too!

There are a few more ladies joining me on my journey as torchbearer. They are....Cathy Weber is the new Blue torcherbearer, Michele Greenwood is rocking the Orange torch, Anne Cullen is pretty as the Pink torchbearer and Jane Matsumoto is running with the Purple torch. Check out their sites as the month rolls on to see what fabulous creations they come up with.

Now onto the really good stuff - here's the card I made for our first official assignment.

I used the "spin pin" paper in a couple of different sizes and shades. Love the pages of paper choices! I also used the cute as can be "you set my heart a flutter" stamp, just printed it right out on my cardstock - so simple, so easy, so perfectly perfect! The flower design is scraplifted from a very talented gal at the scrap-room. It is 3 circles cut out and folded into quarters. On 2 of the circles, I cut along the folds, almost to the middle, but not all the way through. The third was cut into quarters. I distressed the edges a bit and layered then I added my heart into the middle - VOILA! Here's a close up on the flower itself -

So I think that about covers it - WOW! Tomorrow on the Amber Ink blog is Aloha Friday, hope to see you there. Check back soon to see some more great assignments, until then have a great scrappy day! Enjoy -
Katie

Sketchy Thursday

Well it was a bit of a sketchy Wednesday...my husband has been gone for training all week and last night the kids thought it would be a good idea to go to the ball field to start getting ready for Pee Wee baseball season. I brought along the tee and set the 3 little kids up in the outfield hitting balls and pitched to my oldest. At this time, I thought everything was going fantastic. Then I brought them in and they got to hit while their big brother fielded the balls. My oldest darling daughter (we use words like spunky and high-strung when discussing her) got extremely upset about something, still not sure what set her off. She really wanted to hit, which she did and does very well, but only walked to the base after hitting. Then she got mad when she would get thrown out.

She really is an angel 95% of the time, it's that other 5% that is the challenge. When it was finally time to leave, she refused to get into the van. She sat in the dugout yelling that she was staying at the field! When we finally got home, she sat in the van by herself for 10 minutes before coming inside. She didn't even want to talk to her dad on the phone when he called. Then this morning she was back to her sweet, happy self. Kids are a joy, aren't they:) Here is a very simple page of her at t-ball last year that I just finished. She ends up being about the only girl who shows up.If you look at the 4th of July page of Luke, you will see it's same sketch, different paper. Kind of a boring page, but a good page is a done page, right?


As for sketchy Thursday, here is the page I did last night based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. They are looking for a guest designer for May and this was the sketch. The page feels like it needed something more, but when I start adding things just to add, I usually end up disappointed with the results. If anyone has any suggestions....



Have a great day - Enjoy!

Just one more page

This is, I promise, the last 4th of July page for awhile. At least until I get to 2010 pictures anyway. Luke was soooo cute, he was singing Happy Birthday to me (mom) and dancing away. He got so carried away that everyone else basically stopped singing to watch him. Of course I got a little teary eyed at how cute he was and couldn't take a decent, steady, picture of him singing and dancing.


The page is based on the April 7th Sassy sketch . The hand made flowers were easy peasy too - check back soon and maybe I will do a little tutorial on how to make them. Until then, have a great afternoon!

Enjoy!

My favorite things

If you've been checking out my pages lately you'll notice a few common things - Luke seems to be dominating the pages, especially him from the 4th of July. I loved the pictures of him and have scrapped 6 pages from that same day. The color red, the stars and those fabulously fun triangle banners all seem to be favorites as well. I dare you to try a banner on a page....they may become a favorite of yours too! Here's the page I finished last night - the color is a bit dull because the sun wasn't quite out when I snapped the picture. There is only one more 4th of July page sitting on my desk waiting for letters to get glued on then I promise to move onto something else.

The page is based on the Scrap-Room's blog sketch challenge.

Enjoy!

Shhhh...I have a secret

Really I do, but I can't share just yet so you'll have to keep checking back in the next few weeks! It is something new and way out of my comfort zone - so it will either give you all a great chuckle or may turn out fabulous. I guess you'll just have to wait and see....

Anyways, the scrapping bug seems to have hit lately and I have a few more pages to share with you. That scrapping bug better keep biting, the pages are both from the 4th of July - - in 2009. I am happy with both of them, but looking at them on the computer I am realizing that the one with the stars on top could have used something more on top, a little shape of some kind and the other one could have used a splash of a brighter color somewhere. Live and learn I guess!



I used a sketch from Page Maps for the "just you" LO and from Sassy sketches for the "Firework" LO.

Have a great afternoon - the sun is finally shining here. Hopefully it is sunny for you too. Enjoy -
Katie

Snow, really?

Yes really, it snowed again this morning - the 4th of April. It didn't stay on the ground long, but it didn't really matter considering we still have snow that hasn't melted yet. It is too muddy to do anything outside right now anyway. The dogs are tracking mud all over the house everytime they come in from outside....what a great time of the year!!

Here's a page I finished up last night - loved the nice green grass, I can't wait! I had to go out onto the deck to take the picture because I waited too long and didn't have enough light inside. As I was out there, one of our dogs proceeded to step (with her muddy paws) on the page. Not sure if the paw prints show up on here or not, but never fails to be easy around here. Anyways, hope you enjoy the page, it was a fun one. I used a sketch from Page Maps - love that site.
Have a great rest of your Monday!
Katie

Happy

Here's my latest page - nothing to earth shattering. I had planned to journal on the page and tell about how funny my little guy is. He had written all over himself in marker and found these cheap plastic sunglasses that he loved. He was so darn cute standing at the counter in his underwear! The printed pattern paper reads quotes like "we do not remember days, we remember moments", with paper like that who needs to journal:) But the page and the pictures definately made me smile and remember those moments.....I could use more of those moments right now. My darling 4 are currently arguing over who has picked up the most toys in the basement. My answer for that is none of them since it is still a disaster. Off to referee, I mean be mom and straighten things out. Have a great evening - Enjoy!
Katie

Happy Sunday!

Believe or not it's still cold here. Is spring ever coming? I took a walk this morning and was so cold that I came back in after about 10 minutes...as you can tell I am anxiously awaiting the warm weather that has to come soon!! It does give me more time to scrap since we are cooped up inside. Here is my latest creation - based on a sketch from Page Maps. This shows how truly far behind I am in my scrapping, it was from the winter of 2008. I SO miss having a baby in the house. The little guy in the picture is now 4 (and a half, he reminds me daily) and is so far from being a baby.

We spent alot of the weekend at basketball games - my nephew won both games - Regional champs and he plays later this week at Sectionals. They are so exciting to watch.
Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and have a great week!
Katie

Sweet & Sour

Good Friday afternoon! I have a somewhat funny story to share. I decided a few weeks ago that our family needed to broaden our horizons in the meal department. We are a family of picky eaters and I am probably the worst. So I bought all the fixings to make Sweet and Sour chicken. I tried to sell it to the kids as it is really only chicken nuggets with sweet ketchup. So our supper went like this - my oldest sat and stared at the chicken and only when bribed with a Dairy Queen treat did he choke down 2 small pieces. Molly, the next one actually ate hers up pretty quick and moved onto tomato soup that dad cooked (just in case). The littlest of them ate 4 helpings of rice and refused to taste the chicken. Not even the DQ bribe worked. The last of the kiddos, really wanted ice cream - she would take the smallest nibble and wash it down with a whole glass of milk. After 3 glasses of milk, I switched her to water. All the while explaining that your body can not hold that much liquid and she was going to get sick. Being 6 and somewhat stubborn lately she didn't listen. Just a few minutes and a few nibbles later the glasses of water came flowing back up - needless to say, no ice cream for her. Life with 4 kids is never dull! My husband did enjoy the supper - I'm not sure what we are going to try next time (it won't be sweet & sour chicken that's for sure)



So tonight we are off to watch my nephew and his basketball team in the regional playoffs. They played at the state tournament last year and have a great chance to make another run there this year. Tonight they play the team from the town where we live and that my kids go to school in - makes the decision of who to cheer for a little more difficult. Anyways, good luck tonight Kyle - Go Bears! Here's a fun picture of my kiddos from last year's state basketball tournament. I made the t-shirts and along with some other cousins they spelled out Go Kyle and they all had his number on the back.



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Have a great weekend all!
Katie

Summer fix

Good cold morning - I am so tired of this cold winter. 2 weeks ago we got a little tease of spring, it was 50 degrees and the snow was melting...today it is windy and cold and we are predicted to get another 4 inches of snow tomorrow - enough already!! Anyways, I thought I would at least put a little summer sun here, so hope you enjoy this sun-filled page as much as I do. My little Luke thought his big brother had caught the biggest fish ever - the fish is actually so small it is tough to see.

Have a great Wednesday - Enjoy!

Katie

New sketch sites and pages too!

So I found some fabulous new sketch sites recently and even used them to get scrapping done. The first one actually was having a desgin team call - Pencil Line sketches had some great sketches that I am sure I will be using in the very near future. I thought I would give their design team call a try too, here is the page I submitted




I also found another great site Sketchy Thursdays. Here is the page I created with their latest sketch.





I just have to remember to spend less time looking for sketches and more time scrapbooking! Time management isn't my strong suit...anyways, wish me luck for the design team call and hope you enjoy the latest pages!
Katie

Hello...

So it's been a little while (a very long while actually) since my last post. I haven't given up on this whole blog thing, just seemed to get lost in the shuffle of life. Anyways, I have been scrapping quite a bit lately and have some pages to share with you all - the one I am posting today is based on a sketch from the Feb. 7th Sassy sketches site. I loved how fun the red paper was with the super fun banner. I had never done a banner before, but will definately be using them again.



Winter has hit us again here so I am hoping to sneak in some more scrapping today, even though all of my kids are home from school today. Check back soon and hopefully I will have some more to share with you. Enjoy!