happy memorial day weekend!

I hope you have fun times (or relaxing ones) planned with your family and friends. We are headed off for a one night camping trip again. Faith just told us her tummy hurts, so hopefully that isn't a sign of things to come . . . She says she still wants to go camping. I'll leave you with a recent layout I did for Green Tangerines Kit Club. I used an Allison Davis sketch.

Thank you to those that serve our country! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

love you card

Have you heard of CPS Sketches? (Stands for card positioning systems) They provide some great weekly sketches for card makers. I used this weeks sketch to make the card below:

I used my April/May Green Tangerines kit of the month to put together this card. The letter stickers are from a past kit and are by October Afternoon. The body of the butterflies are little glass raindrops from the kit. I also added a little Stickles glitter to the edges of each butterfly. The ribbon is simply bunched up along a strip of tacky tape.

Have a great holiday weekend!

a mini album

I do not make too many mini-albums. I have plenty of ideas and things I'd like to do in the mini-album category, but I just never seem to get around to them. I'm too busy making cards or keeping up with my 12x12 albums. I'm trying to change that trend of mine . . . this one was inspired by something I saw recently in a Stampin' Up! magazine. A few favorite pictures from Seth's first six months.

Most of the products are from Jillibean Soup with the exception of the twill from Stampin' Up! and the mini letters from Making Memories. I put glossy accents on the little cars to give them a little more dimension. The letter S is a chipboard letter I've had forever (don't remember who it's by) and I used modge podge to cover it with paper, then I sanded the edges. All of the circles I cut from the thin pieces of cardboard that Costco puts in with your enlarged pictures. I then used modge podge on both sides to glue the patterned paper on. I sanded these as well. I think I need to do more mini's, they are quick and easy! Have a great day!

a frog birthday

Yesterday, my oldest turned six. Time flies. She wanted a frog party for her birthday . . . don't ask me why.

 I started a tradition this year of decorating the door while they sleep . . . Paige woke up to this.

We started a tradition last year of going to IHOP on the morning of their REAL birthday (daddy takes work off if it's a week day). This year Paige's real birthday happened to be the same day as her party. We go here for the free sundae of course. As we drove away after spending $28 on not-so-great food, my husband said he thinks we need to find a new tradition for the next birthday . . . hhmmm . . . any good breakfast suggestions that also serve you free ice cream? I guess we could just pay for a sundae somewhere else. : ) My girls don't even like pancakes . . . they always order the smiley face one and eat the yogurt tube and bananas that come with it. They eat about two bites of pancake and they don't want anymore.

The annual birthday sign. The frog dress that my mom made for the party.

Since Safeway and Wal-mart don't carry a frog cake, I ended up making the cake. I'll never win any cake decorating awards, but my daughter was pretty impressed. That's all that matters, right? And yes, those are frog Jello Jigglers in the background . . . we also had frog punch and fly dip (black bean dip and chips).

Paige has two friends that have frogs. We asked them both to bring their frogs to the party. The kids all loved this and most of them were brave enough to hold one . . . not me! Gross! Paige's friend Maddie, bought her two mini frogs. They come enclosed in their own little ecosystem, complete with a snail to clean the algae, a plant for oxygen and a few holes to drop the food through. So long as I don't have to do any cleaning or smell anything, I am okay with this. They are pretty cute.

What frog party would be complete without a frog hop race?

She is so excited to turn six!

We let Cottontail run around during the party. He loves a good back rub. The kids got to see the baby ducks as well. They are growing so fast and are enjoying their new mud hole in what was formerly the chicken coop. I'll try and take pictures soon.

Last but not least, Seth turned 10 months on the 20th. I tried my teddy bear picture, but didn't have much luck this time. I've been trying again for the past couple of days and the pictures have only gotten worse. So, I'll leave you with the best one . . . he's trying to jump off the sofa.

Have a great night!

pagemaps card

Two posts/cards in one day! I had a little time to myself today and am stocking up my card stash so that I'll have cards when the need arises. I made another birthday card using the PageMaps sketch. I love Becky Fleck's sketches. She has multiple sizes of sketches for the scrapbooker (which I use frequently) and sketches for cards as well. Here is another birthday card I put together today using my Green Tangerines April/May kit club goodies.

I used some dimensionals under the the journaling card from October Afternoon and underneath the cute little bird as well. I love to add some dimension! We are off to Saturday night service at church . . . have a great evening!

american crafts challenge

American Crafts is having a Spring themed challenge this week. I quickly put together this "Celebrate" card for an upcoming birthday this Spring.

All of the supplies are from American Crafts with the exception of the button (Cosmo Cricket), ribbon and thread. Oh, and I also threw in some Stickles from Ranger to add a little sparkle to my card. What's a birthday card without a little sparkle?

Hope you have a fabulous day!

rollerskating

Back in the day, rollerskating was THE thing to do . . . I remember getting all dolled up with my side ponytail, bangs 4 inches tall, leg warmers and hot pink shirt--I thought I was HOT! (I was with those darn leg warmers on.) Thank goodness times have changed.

Every Friday afternoon, our local rollerskating rink has a homeschool skate day. It's only $3 and they play Christian music the entire time. They also have a few games which are fun to participate in. Today, we were supposed to go camping . . . we woke up to freezing weather and the prediction of rain tonight. I wanted to brave the elements, but my husband talked me out of it. So, we had to think of something really fun to do so the girls wouldn't be too disappointed. We called up one of their homeschool buddies and off we went to the rink. Here are a few more pictures:

We started with the regular roller skates, but then we paid a little extra to get the rollerblades--someone told us they were a little easier to learn on--they were.

Paige stayed very focused the whole time. If you asked her to turn and smile for a picture, she lost her concentration and would fall. She was SO sweaty by the end. Apparently rollerskating is a work out.

I hung out with this little guy the entire time. He stayed in the stroller for about half the time and then wanted to explore all the arcade games . . . he had a good time.

Since we weren't by the campfire tonight, we made s'mores in the microwave. The girls thought this was really cool. Hope you have a great weekend!

a thank you card

I recently made this card for Kimber who mailed me a copy of the latest Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine. I was a lucky winner on her blog. I made this card out of all Jillibean Soup product which they put up on their blog today. Kinda fun! Thanks again Kimber!

Have a good night!

my mind's eye challenge #11

My Mind's Eye has a challenge each month and I thought I'd play along again. There was no particular theme this time, just anything goes and we were to use the sketch below. I tweaked it a bit . . .

All the products are from MME with the exception of the tiny letter stickers which are from Making Memories. The words on the orange circles are cut from patterned paper from MME that is completely covered in boy words. Love that line! (Star Bright That's My Boy). You still have time to join in the fun . . . the challenge ends tomorrow at midnight (MST).

And now for totally non-scrapbooking related stuff . . . We recently changed churches. We switched for a variety of reasons . . . closer to our house, our kids LOVE the children's ministry, snacks and social time after the service (our kids love this too!) and we love the Bible teaching here. We love our old church too and the majority of my friends go there, this is just a better fit for us in our lifestage right now. They too, have a homeschooling group which I checked out last night for the first time. Each month the moms meet to encourage each other and talk homeschooling stuff. Last night was the last meeting of the school year and they had a "social." They played Bunco. I had never played Bunco before and I won! I got a $25 gift card to a local restaurant. Yeah for future date night! Anyway, I had a really great time and met some other gals that were also newer to homeschooling. I came away very encouraged.

Hope you are having a fabulous week!

our weekend and a layout

We had a fun and relaxing weekend. First up . . . a one-year-old birthday party for our friend Emilee. She's in the adorable pink tu-tu. The girl next to her, Emma, had her actual birthday on Saturday as well, thus the birthday girl tee. All of these babies were born within a few months of each other. Our little guy is on the left.

In other news, Seth started walking on Friday. He'll take about six steps and then start crawling again. Hopefully he will get the hang of it soon so that when we are outside he isn't always on the ground trying to put rocks in his mouth.

We had a family day on Sunday and we went to a local park with water features. This is the first year the girls have really gotten into the water. Last year they skirted around the edge the entire time. We'll be making more trips here! Sunday night Tim and I went out for date night--we went out for dinner and to IKEA to purchase some bookshelves for our school room. We hadn't been to IKEA to purchase anything since we first got married. We still have that dreadful pine kitchen table . . . We won't be getting a new kitchen table until we are officially through the "little kid" phase.   

And last, but not least, since we started with the birthday theme, I'll leave you with a layout from Faith's birthday party in March:

I used the April/May Green Tangerines Kit that was recently released. The rest of the design team will be turning in their layouts soon, so I'll give you the link to the gallery as soon as it starts filling up! Have a great day!

all about weather

This month we are studying about weather. On Monday morning, I let the girls open a "weather kit" that I had purchased at our local homeschool store. I hadn't even had a chance to read anything and they were busy trying their best to figure out what everything did. I noticed the sky was very gray and looked like it was about to rain. We quickly grabbed the rain gauge and the weather vane and ran outside to the backyard. We got them set up right before it began to pour! I'm sure you are wondering how much it rained in our area on Monday (not really, I know) . . . it rained almost 2cm. The girls watched the weather vane all day as the wind gusts came and went. We read books about weather and watched some cool storms on UTube. It was a fun morning.

These are our pictures at the end of the day. Such fun!

Have a great weekend!

april month in review

It's almost Friday! Do you have big plans for the weekend? We plan to relax, go to a good friend's birthday party and get ready for camping the following weekend! We learned a few things our first time out and this time is going to be even better. Can't wait! As some of you know, I design the month-in-review for Green Tangerines Kit Club. I love to do it and I love capturing what we did that month all in one spot! Usually I can only show a peak at what I am doing since they match up with the kit being sold that month. But this month I can show the entire thing because the owner had to skip doing a kit for the month of April so there is no kit associated with this product. See below:

I used We R Memory Keepers "72 and Sunny" line--I love this line! It was so fun to work with and I know I will be using more of it for some summer layouts! If you are a Kit Club subscriber and want to add this on to your May kit, it is $11.99. Email kitclub at mygreentangerines dot com to order or email me if you have questions at brjohnston1 at juno dot com.

Stay tuned for some layouts from the May kit! Have a great day!

quack, quack

Remember our farm in suburbia? This past weekend we gave away the three bunnies to a friend who has three kids--they each got one. The mom rabbit we set free in a "forest" and she was very happy--she was not a friendly rabbit. The dad rabbit we still have, he is very tame and we will probably keep him for awhile.

But let me tell you what my husband surprised us all with last night. If you can't guess by the title of my post, let me show you . . .

The girls named their baby ducks Tootsie, Pinky and Buttercup. Aren't they cute?

I think I forgot to mention that we no longer have the chickens. They turned six months old about a month ago and we noticed that all of a sudden the combs on their heads grew huge. Then our next door neighbor called us and told us they'd slept with their windows open and awakened early to a not so fun sound . . . our "chickens" had turned into roosters! It happened overnight. Up till that point Cody and Sarah had made no noise. So, we had to get rid of them. Once the baby ducks are past the heat lamp stage, they will make their new home in the former chicken coop. Our farm lives on . . .

you've got style

Head on over to Write.Click.Scrapbook. where they are having a "rainbow" challenge. Simply enter anything with all the colors in the rainbow! I thought I would throw in this layout I recently stumbled across. I used a sketch I had seen in a magazine a couple of years ago . . . can't remember which one. I sewed directly onto the photo and around the cardstock mat. Adds just an extra touch that I love!

This is a layout I created last year for Green Tangerines Kit Club. The papers are from Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket. The large flower is from Sassafrass. Everything else I would have to dig through my stash to look up the vendor. My daughter had done her own hair . . . oh, so pretty! She was so proud!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

the mother's day cards

I love receiving cards . . . especially the handmade kind. I have shared some of my husband's cards here before . . . he started making me cards shortly after we were first married. I think it started as a way to save money, he didn't like the idea of spending $4 on a card and didn't like how cheesy most of them were. He now makes me cards for every occassion. I think it has turned into a challenge or a game for him . . . he likes to see if he can top his last card. And just in case you were wondering, my husband has no feminine qualities about him, he is very much a guys guy. I'm not sure how he pulled this next one off . . . he promises me he didn't see it anywhere and came up with the idea all by himself. Here is the card . . .

I have done these ribbon flowers before, but I don't think he's seen them. And he certainly has never picked up one of my card magazines. I think he did pretty good. I especially love the doodling he did around the entire outside of the card. He said it took him awhile to color match the ribbons . . . apparently I have too many to choose from.

And now for the girls cards . . .

Faith loves to stamp.

Paige's card. I love the pictures of she and I with hearts on our dresses. So cute!

For Mother's Day, we went to lunch at Whole Foods, did a little shopping and then walked around at The Fountains for a bit. It was cold! (for CA) Although Paige thought it would warm up, so she had to wear shorts. We came home and Faith wanted to have a fire in the fireplace and play a game. It was a relaxing afternoon. I love my family. Hope you had a great Mother's Day too!

american crafts brad challenge

I had a little time to myself today and I decided to participate in the American Crafts brad challenge. This is a card I did for one of my classes back in January. I just added two more flowers and brads to it for this challenge. I taught the ladies in my class how to sew on paper . . . most of them had never done it and it was fun to see all of their faces light up! It's sew easy and fun!

The paper, letter stickers and brads are from American Crafts. The flowers came in a cute little jar with no tag on it, so I 'm not sure who they are by.

Thanks for looking and have a great Mother's Day!

p.s. TO LEXI IN COLORADO--if you still read my blog . . . I just saw your comment from when you posted back in March on a February post. I responded there, but I couldn't figure out from your profile how to email you. I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you! I'd love to chat regarding your question, so feel free to email me at brjohnston1 at juno dot com.

happy mother's day!

Happy Mother's Day to two of the best mom's I know!

My fabulous MIL on the left and my wonderful mom on the right. These pictures were both taken this past year when Seth was born. It was so nice to have you both here!

has this happened to you?

Two days after Faith turned 3 years old, she cut her bangs off to the scalp . . . it was more than just her bangs, more like half the top of her head. This also took place 3 days before her scheduled 3-year-old pictures. I promptly cancelled that appointment. You can read the journaling below to get the full story.

I made this layout a year ago for the store when some new Basic Grey product needed a sample. Looking back, the roses don't really go with the hair-cutting theme, but oh well, they were cute!

I machine stitched on several elements of this layout. I love the texture sewing adds to a layout!

The story.

Have a great weekend!