gobble, gobble

now how about that for some cute thanksgiving holiday art....

and the little artist is only three years old!

hope everyone has a happy, happy thanksgiving!!

the blog grab, edition 1

one of the reasons i started a blog was to help me organize and stay up-to-date with my scrapbooking and journaling. when i have something to scrapbook but can't seem to find the time to sit down amongst my supplies and put together a layout, i can post some photos and more importantly capture the details and emotions that i want to remember here. i can write the story while it's fresh in my mind and then come back to it when i'm ready to scrap. and many times i have the photos and the story but i am not quite sure how i want to put them together on a layout - so i'll document what i can here on the blog and then let the idea percolate for awhile. once i've gotten my idea together, then i can begin the page knowing that all the details have already been documented here.

so what is the blog grab? a blog grab is when you take photos and words that you've posted on your blog and then "grab" those details and make them into a scrapbook page. i've been working on these two blog grabs lately and wanted to share now that they are completed....

the photos and journaling on this layout was taken from this post here....



and the photos and journaling for this layout were first posted here....

the shark project

so this project actually started out as bribery. my six-year old ended up having to make a trip with me to my local scrapbooking store. certainly not his favorite place to visit (no toys) and not a place i like to have to take either of my boys when i go....but sometimes when you're out of school for veteran's day and your mom has errands to run you end up going to places that aren't your favorite. anyway, to entice him to behave and not to complain too much i told him they had some really cool stickers in this store and if he was good and let me look around without incident he could pick out any sticker he wanted. he was good and one of his favorite things right now is sharks. so he picked out some shark stickers.

on the way home he decided that he would create an ocean scene and put the shark stickers "in the water along with some fish for them to eat". i thought it sounded like a great idea. when we got home he immediately started on his project. in the end the picture turned out great and he was very proud of it. we added some chipboard letters from my stash to spell "shark" and matted it on some light blue cardstock. i found an old frame that fit perfectly! instant art that is now waiting to be hung up in his room after its trip to school to show all his friends and his teacher.

we started with this....



and ended up with this....



and here are some of the close up details....





an excellent way to use some scrapbook stickers if i do say so myself!!

ten things i'm "fankful" for right now

next week brings thanksgiving – a time to reflect on all the things that we are grateful for and to appreciate all the blessings in our lives. i was watching sprout with my littlest one last night and the topic was thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful. so i asked him what he was thankful for and without hesitation he said “my fankful for me (pointing to himself) and my fankful for dinner”. he’s three so i’m not quite sure if he really gets the whole thankful thing, but i thought those were some pretty good answers!! so for this weeks ten things thursday, i’m going to list ten things that i’m especially "fankful" for right now….

1. my two little ones. even when they are fighting with each other, arguing with each other, wrestling with each other, fussing about having to do homework, talking back and even yelling for me from across the house. so very thankful that they are happy and healthy.

2. my hubby. even though he yells for me from across the house too.

3. that i am an american!

4. the men and women in our military - past and present - who make such an amazing sacrifice for our freedom every day.

5. our home. even though the only time it is ever quiet is late at night when everyone is asleep.

6. my job and all the good people i work with every day.

7. the amazing strength and courage of my dear friend who is battling leukemia. she's working so hard to kick the @$%& out of all those cancer cells.

8. having the opportunity to spend quality time with my parents and watch them be grandparents to my little guys.

9. the rest of my extended family, all of which i know are only a phone call away if needed.

10. the fact that i'm happy and content and feeling like i'm right where i'm suposed to be right now.

so many blessings!!

getting ready for christmas, part 2

welcome back! today's post will be the second half of my december daily album that i originally wrote about here. in case you missed it you can read that post for more details on my overall plan.

the left side of this photo shows another manilla folder that i cut down and covered with patterned paper. the right side is actually a baseball card page protector that i cut down to fit my album. so i have two pockets to place goodies if needed....



this photo shows another manilla folder cut and covered with patterned paper and a transparent overlay adhered to another sheet of dark green patterned paper. i really like the look and texture of these on top of each other....



this is just a piece of patterned paper cut down and adhered to a piece of heavier-weight red card stock. i used the apron-laced border punch from fiskers on the edge. love that punch!!





to mix things up a bit i also included an off white envelope. another place to store some goodies - a letter from santa perhaps??



i really like how this page turned out. i cut this from a sheet of patterned paper that i picked up at my local scrapbooking store and adhered it to card stock. i love that santa!





....just some more trying to mix it up a bit....



that's all i have for now. as i indicated yesterday, i'll be posting my completed pages as i get them done throughout december. in the meantime, the album is sitting in a basket beside my desk just waiting to be filled!!

getting ready for christmas, part 1

my big project this weekend (between caring for a house full of sickies and washing clothes) was preparing the bones for my december daily album. this is an album that will record all of our activities from december 1st through december 25th. i've watched ali edwards do this project for the last couple of years and have decided to jump on board for 2009. the key to the success of this project is getting everything set up in advance so that during the busy holiday season all you have to worry about is pictures and journaling - which i pretty much do anyway. because this is my first year doing this project i decided to leave some of my page decisions until i know what kind of photos i will have for each particular day. i also have made the decision to not place numbers on my pages just yet and i'm actually not even committing to a page order just yet either. i like the idea of having some flexibility once i have the photos and journaling details nailed down.

so below are some photos of what i have put together so far - at least the first set. i'll post the rest tomorrow. i'm really excited about the outcome and am even more excited to see how it all comes together. and i do plan to share my completed pages here once december starts. an unexpected plus of this project is that now i'm definitely in the holiday spirit and am already looking forward to the holiday season!!

i decided to use 6 x 6 chipboard squares for my album. this is what it looked like before i started. i used cardstock and patterned paper to cover the chipboard.



this picture shows some of the numbers i plan to use to indicate the day. again, not putting those in the album just yet....



....and here is a little stack of embellishments i plan to use throughout, but again waiting for the pictures and journaling to take shape first....



the title page....twenty five days until christmas, 2009....



....these two pages are just covered with cardstock. at this point i don't know if they will contain photos or journaling or both....





i plan to place a big photo over the bare chipboard on this page....



....and this is a baseball card sheet protector cut to fit the size i'm working with. this is actually two pockets that can end up holding something fun. the "a" is for altman - our surname.



just trying to mix things up a bit here....



....and this is the back of the page shown above....



and i plan to cover this bare chipboard with photos also....



this is actually a manilla folder that i cut down and covered with patterned paper. the back will be covered with a photo....





this is a fancy transparent overlay that i found at my local scrapbooking store. it was actually a 12 x 12 overlay and i cut it down to fit the album....





that's all for now, but check back tomorrow to see the rest of the album. and if you've started your december daily album leave me a comment and a link to your blog....i'd love to see it!

ten things i'd tell my high school sophomore self

happy thursday! this week's ten things thursday post actually comes from an assignment i was given in an online scrapbooking class about documenting stories that celebrate growth, change and evolution. for the layout i decided to write a letter (of sorts) to my high school sophmore self. and then decided that this would make a perfect ten things thursday post.

so this is my official picture from my sophomore year in high school. i was 16 years old.

and if i could, i've love the opportunity to be able to look this young lady in the eye and tell her a thing or two. if given the chance, i'd tell her that....

1. you already know it’s important to keep studying hard. just don’t stress too much about the bad grade you are going to get in advanced algebra, because in the long run that one D will not mean anything. i know you cannot believe it now, but yes, you will get one D on your high school transcript.

2. all those cliques and popularity “contests” you're worrying about don’t mean anything in the real world. so don’t stress about not being in “the group” or wonder why you’re not “in”. don’t doubt yourself and wonder why you’re not good enough. because i know for a fact that “miss likely to succeed” will end up selling cell phones in a booth at a mall and that that title will not make her any better or any more successful than you.

3. your life will not end because you have to ride the school bus to/from school even though it feels like you are going to die of embarrassment.

4. your parents really do know what they are doing when they give you an early curfew and have to be all in your business. and believe it or not you will be thankful for their rules one day because you will understand where they are coming from and you will realize that they are keeping you out of trouble.

5. when you get to college stay away from credit cards. far, far away.

6. falling in love does not mean that you have to fall sooo far in love that you loose yourself and who you are. you’ll learn this one the hard way and it will take you awhile, but you’ll eventually figure it out.

7. you would probably be better off taking spanish instead of french.

8. the two jobs that you will hate the most will also be the ones in which you learn your biggest life lessons – a waitress job at a seafood restaurant during college and a high school teaching job right out of college.

9. when you get out of college and in your 20s don’t be in such a rush to figure everything out and get to the next stage of your life. lighten up and enjoy the journey.

10. you should not take art history in college. this will be the one D on your college transcript.

boys and their grandpas

my boys and i paid a visit to my parents this weekend. they live about 2.5 hours away so we just went for one night - a quick visit but the boys and the grandparents had fun. good family time.

sometime on saturday after our arrival i snapped this photo of blake sitting in his grandpa's lap. i love how blake has his head on my dad's shoulder and is just so comfortable sitting right where he is. they are discussing the wonders of a recent hot wheels purchase and grandpa is trying to fix a piece that snapped off. an innocent moment captured because i happened to have my camara beside me and decided to pick it up.

then when i saw the image on my computer last night the first thing that popped into my head was a picture i have of my dad and his grandfather. another innocent, everyday moment between a boy and his grandfather captured with a camera. and now a special connection to my past perfectly linked to my present.....

ten things i'm working on right now

another thursday so another ten things thursday post. this week i thought i'd list all of the "projects" i have ongoing at the minute. yes you can call me the queen of unfinished projects. it's horrible to say, but i have all the following at various stages of completion. oh i have my reasons for not having finished each one and a couple of them are current and truly ongoing in the sense that they are up-to-date. i'm hoping that posting them all here will motivate me to get the ball rolling and actually get them completed. after all, there are many more projects that i'd like to start.

1. disney album from our may 2008 trip to disney world. no...its not a typo...that is may 2008! this album is almost done except for the last day that we spent at epcot. i love disney as much as the next person, but honestly there is only so much disney magic one can take in one sitting....

2. twleve album for 2008. this was a project that i completed last year taking 12 photos on the 12th day of every month in 2008. i have the 12 photos for each month printed out and i even have the journaling for each picture done. i just need to put the last four months pages together.

3. three generations album i just started and posted about here. this one is almost complete too. just really need to wrap it up!

4. my grandfather's world war 2 album. i got a pretty good start on this one but then i ran into some technical difficulties with the story and some of the photos. since i've stopped i've pretty much decided i'm ready to go at this another way so will probably start back at square one.

5. my project 365 album for 2009. this is my photo a day project for this year and i'm actually up to date on my photos. i'm just a little behind on the journaling. i'm using becky higgin's project 365 kit for this one and its pretty easy to stay up to date. obviously this project will not be completed until the end of the year, but i'm pretty much caught up and current.

6. blake's month by month album from his first year. at the time i didn't like how it was progressing so i put it aside to think on it for a bit. but since getting it out to snap a photo for this post i think i've decided that i actually do like it. so perhaps this will be a quick wrap up!

7. i am taking ali edwards' yesterday and today class via big picture scrapbooking. i am really loving this class! we are on week six and i am proud to say that i am up to date on all the layouts we have been assigned to create. so technically this one really is a work in progress since the class doesn't end until the end of the year. yeah for me!

8. i also took cathy zielske's class via big picture scrapbooking called me: the abridged edition. the journaling is what is really holding me up on this one. that and the fact that the class described in #7 above started before this one ended. but its a really cool album that i definitely want to finish before the end of the year.

9. my favorite photographs album. it is dedicated to all my photos that i think are technically my best. my portfolio if you will. in terms of an album it is really a very simple design - 8x10 prints of the photos mounted on 12x12 black cardstock with details of title, date taken and location. it doesn't get much simplier than that so i'm not quite sure why it's not up to date. the photos are all printed and mounted on the cardstock i just need to catch up on the details.

10. one of my very best friends has been battling leukemia since the birth of her second child earlier this year. i've started a scrapbook for her with all the photos taken during her hospital stays, her online journal entries and her online guestbook pages. it's actually coming along quite nicely but it is still a work in progress too.

too cute too spook

there was much excitement around here on saturday - it was october 31st after all. halloween. trick or treating. the little ones couldn't wait to put on their costumes and hit the streets. we had a swamp monster and a little pirate getting ready at our house...

the swamp monster, with his scary face...

...and his hugh, crazy feet...

...and the pirate...

...with his big hat and his own little mustache...

favorite quote of the night from the swamp monster (while passing out candy at our house)..."man i cannot wait to see something sooo scary that it blows my mind!"

and favorite quote of the night from the little pirate after the first couple of house visits..."mommy, this trick-or-treat stuff is my favorite and my like it!"

good times! it was a happy halloween!

aunt kathy's ten things list

so my family has been keeping up with my blog since i've started it and last friday my favorite aunt - aunt kathy - sent me an e-mail after she had read my ten things thursday post. her e-mail was titled kathy's ten things that i like about this friday and when i read it i knew i just had to share it here. she is just too funny and i hope she doesn't mind that i'm posting her list. number 2 is my personal favorite (because i happen to fall down a lot myself)! i love you aunt kathy! and i hope you keep sending me e-mails ;-)

kathy's ten things that i like about this friday

1. i didn't step in dog poopie today. (murray leaves me a love offering somewhere on the floor that kinda is off the beaten trail or should i say tail.)

2. i slipped on wet leaves and acorns outside today and no one saw me fall and i didn't break anything.

3. i get to take mckenna and walker to their school's halloween carnival tonight by myself.

4. i have watched every finneus and ferb cartoon ever written.

5. the battery operated flashing tealights in my halloween graveyard are still flashing after 3 days.

6. my cell phone hasn't rung all day!!!

7. soccer practice is over for the year.

8. i really can see better with my new glasses (i even read a book today.)

9. i have finally caught up on the washing.

10. the week-end will soon be here!!!