Getting Closer

I realized yesterday that after finishing Ava's first birthday layout a couple of weeks ago, I had forgotten to post it to my blog.  Well, here it is.....love this paper from K & Co called Confetti.  The perfect paper for Ava's birthday photos! 

I love to scrap two pagers with lots of photos.....and, there were more that I could have scrapped but decided to save them for later.  

The bright colors of the  K & Co paper made it easy to add the bright title and border.  The title was cut using the Cuttin' Up font from Cricut....still haven't been brave enough to hook up my Cameo Silhouette!!!  I fussy cut the slits in the green circle under the 1st banner, love how it turned out!  

I have actually finished Ava's first Christmas, two more two page layouts, and will post them as soon as I take the photos.  Also, finished my first kit from Scrapbook Generations....such fun colors in the kit with easy to follow instructions.  I bought five kits and am looking forward to finding photos to scrap the other four.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!  

Wild & Scrappy Weekend!

This past Friday, Saturday, & Sunday I attended my second Crop*A*Ganza with the ladies from Scrap Funattic of Andover, Kansas.  They hold the Crop*A*Ganza twice a year, spring & fall, at the Best Western in Park City, Kansas.  

I left at 6:00 am Thursday on the bus, arriving in Wichita at 11:00 MT, 12:00 CT.  The time changes at the county line and was announced by the driver to anyone listening.  I do believe most everyone was asleep when the driver made this announcement and the numerous other announcements that followed during the five hour bus drive.  I don't really mind riding the bus to Wichita for an extra long weekend.  It sure makes it easy to ride down on the bus and then Ron will come down the next day.  My son-in-law, Heath, was waiting at the bus terminal when I arrived.....so sweet of him.  

The theme for the Crop*A*Ganza this year was Duck Dynasty.  The registration table, photo booth, name decals, etc were decorated with ducks & camo and the girls were wearing their Redneck gear, painted faces, and were in need of clean shave.  Here is a photo of two of the Redneck ladies that was sent out prior to the event.

I had the opportunity to meet a lot of wonderful scrappers, finish several layouts, play games, take classes, eat great food that was provided through out the three day event.....and, I was the winner of the Grand Prize drawing!!!  I am now the proud owner of a Silhouette Cameo!!!  I have been debating about buying one, I can now mark it off my list of wanted scrap supplies.  Along with winning the Cameo, I will be given a free lesson on using my newest play toy!  

A big Thank You to the ladies from Scrap Funattic!  I need to get busy and make a few finishing touches on my layouts and get them posted......I am now officially finished with Ava's First Year Albums!  

Precious Memories

Ron & I spent Labor Day weekend visiting Raegen, Heath, Ava, and Rachelle.....so special to be able to spend time with our family.  

Since we had the day off on Friday, we drove down Thursday after work.  We arrived too late to play with Ava, she was already in bed.   Grandpa wanted to take Ava to the zoo early Friday before it was too hot....it was still very hot!  This was actually only the second time that Grandpa had been to the zoo with Ava, the first time was at the Topeka Zoo when she was only 6 1/2 months old.  Grandpa & Daddy have been busy golfing during our previous visits to the Sedgwick County Zoo the last couple of years, silly boys!  Ava loves her Grandpa and was happy that he was taking her to one of her favorite places!  She definitely has her favorite animals that she likes to visit and those that she doesn't care to see....didn't like it when Grandpa wanted to see the penguins!  She likes to feed the sheep and goats, as long as they don't get to close.

Getting too close for comfort! 

Grandpa saved the day!

Adorable photo!  Feeling safe with Grandpa.

Painting the barn....with water!

It didn't take long before the heat was getting to all three of us so we stopped for a drink and snack before continuing with our tour.  It was fun to discover that Ava likes to visit the reptile exhibit, maybe because it is cool inside and a nice relief from the heat.  We also visited the tigers and viewed the new baby tiger & his mother through a video that had been set up in the vet nursery.    

Grandpa offered to take us to lunch at the mall.  A great place to cool off, eat lunch, and let Ava play in the children's play area and ride the assortment of rides.  

Riding in the back with the honey bear!

Little Reader

I decided to play along with a sketch challenge from The Paper Bakery for my latest layout of Ava.  I love scrapping with circles and knew I wanted to use the sketch after seeing it on one of my favorite "go to" blogs...Ashley Horton.  I know I will find great inspiration any day of the week!   Thank you, Ashley!

Although I don't scrap single layouts very often, I decided to go ahead since I only had two photos of Ava trying to "read" one evening while visiting in Topeka.  I used the Twinkle Twinkle Little Girl collection from My Mind's Eye.  I purchased it to use for layouts of Ava and still have plenty left....love the pink & brown.  

Thank you to The Paper Bakery for the wonderful sketch this month.  

Adding more layouts to Ava's First Year Album

I have been very busy trying to catch up on my darling granddaughter's first year album.....getting closer! One thing that has helped is the fact that I purchased a better printer to be able to print my photos at home....yes, I know it is costing me more money, but this is how I like to scrap!  Pick out my photos, find a sketch, print photos to size, then scrap!  I have scrapped more since purchasing the printer than in the precious 6 months!  

In the first layout, my son in law, Heath, had taken a serious of 20-25 photos Raegen feeding Ava her first pickle while her Aunt Rachelle held her and watched Ava go back for more!  She really didn't seem to mind the taste of the pickles.  I decided to only scrap 8 of the photos and love how it turned out!  

 

My second layout was scrapped using a sketch from Allison Davis, a free download during the month of May of 2013.  It is my turn this month to host the Sketch Challenge and I decided to use a sketch by Allison, which happen to be some of my favorite sketches.  Also, love the layouts of her sweet boys.

I liked the sketch so well, I decided to scrap another layout using the same sketch.  I changed it a little and didn't add the banner across the top, instead I added tags under the left photo and added a button banner.  

My newest layout is of my son in law, Heath, and Ava playing one evening after work.  The photos aren't the best, but still very special.  This is probably one of the fastest layouts that I have finished for a long time.....trying to get faster as I go along!  Before long, actually in a little over 5 1/2 months, I will have another grandchild to scrap layouts for.....so excited.  We are heading down this weekend to find out what the sonogram revealed, a boy, or, a girl!  

I am almost finished with Ava's first year, I just need to add her first Christmas and first birthday....then add more to her second year, which is close!  

Wishing everyone a blessed weekend!  

Catching Up.....a little!

 I thought it would be a good idea to decide which of the many photos of Ava I need to get scrapped before the new baby comes in January.  I have had some extra time off at the dental office due to the doctor having eye surgery, decided this would be a good time to get get caught up on my scrapping. 

One of the layouts that I finished this past week was scrapped with photos taken at a baby shower in September 2010, Ava was seven months old at the time.  I had previously scrapped photos that were taken of Ava in the motel room the night before the shower and wanted to scrap photos of the baby shower to go on the opposite page.  For those of you that have followed my scrapping, know that I like my layouts to match, not necessarily everything, but at least the colors.  I will also scrap with the same paper, or coordinating paper on the opposing layout.   

The sketch for this layout came from Allison Davis.  I changed it a little and added another photo to my layout.  Be sure and stop by her blog for more inspiration & ideas!  You will have to scroll down to the June layout to see this sketch.

Ava & her mommy & daddy spent part of her first summer with us....we loved having them with us!  Heath had taken a job working at the elevator and we couldn't turn them down when Raegen ask if we would mind having them stay with us for a couple of months!  Of course not....how soon are you coming?   It was great going to work every day knowing that I would get to spend the evening playing with Ava, such a fun time!

Grandpa & Rachelle were just as happy about our summer visitors.  Although the time went fast that summer, we loved having them with us! 

My second layout was scrapped using another creative sketch by Allison Davis.....love her sketches.  We have visited friends in Cheyenne, Wyoming every summer since helping them move to Cheyenne in July of 1993.  Raegen has always enjoyed our visits to Cheyenne and was thrilled when we invited them to go along.   Although we didn't take Ava to see all of the activities offered during Cheyenne Frontier Days, she did attend her first free pancake feed, first parade, and toured Frontier Park.  

A good week of scrapping for me.....I finished a third layout!  This layout was scrapped for a Summer Camp Challenge to use weaving on a layout.  

The title for this layout came from the front of Ava's T shirt.....My Little Black Dress!  Love the weaving and colors!  

Have a great week and thanks for looking!  

New Printer

I have been wanting a new printer for some time and ordered one back in December.  I kept putting off hooking it up for fear of doing something wrong.  Well, last week I decided to go for it and have now scrapped the my first photos printed with my Epson R2880.....love it!  I realize that it is more expensive to print at home, but, for me, it is worth it!  To be able to print photos of any size, and, at any time I feel like printing is totally worth the extra price.

The photos on the layout were taken in September 2010 at the Topeka Zoo and scrapped for a July Color Challenge to use teal, tan & white.  Most of the paper on this layout is from MME's Stella Rose Collection with other scraps that I had leftover from other projects.  The adorable elephants and buttons were from a RAK that I won from a friend, Susan...they were the perfect element for this layout. 

This was Ava's first trip to the zoo.  I'm sure the adults were more excited that it was her first zoo trip than she was......guess she just didn't realize it was such a big event. 

Ava is now 3 1/2 years old and one of her favorite things to do is visit the zoo.  She loves the animals and would go to the zoo daily if mommy would oblige her wishes.   

Wishing everyone a great weekend.  Thanks for looking.