National Scrapbook Day Sketch Contest

Check out this fun new sketch over at Sketch-abilities.com. Link your layout to the web-site and you could win some goodies. The contest is over Sunday at mid-night. Can't wait to see all the layouts.

Happy Day!

I have been so happy today as I found out I am going to be a member of the Design Team of Sketch-abilities. There were some amazing entries, so I was extremely proud to be picked. For those of you who know me, I am a big sketch fan. These are not your ordinary sketches, but fresh, funky and fun. There will be two new sketches each month. I can't wait to receive the email with our first official sketch. Check out the site and play with us as the site grows.
http://sketchabilities.wordpress.com/

SSM Design Team Work

Here are my latest projects for the SSM design team. I am still working on the mini school books (3x3) and need to decorate the box that they fit into, but hoping to finish that up later today. Since my kiddos aren't that old, the bottom six books are empty. They were harder to do that I thought, because you can't use anything but paper, stickers & rub-ons or they don't close. Hope you like them. Okay, back to work :)

Wonderful Weekend & Toot Toot

Victoria and I spent the weekend in Hudson, OH at her first travel soccer tournament. We went up on Friday night, so Mom could spend the night by herself while Victoria ran with her friends... Is she that old already? The good news: her team won all 4 games, outscored their opponents 24-2, she scored her first goal of the season, got a trophy....and best of all, she has finally gotten her confidence to play her game. Her coach even commented on the change in her game. The final game was actually against the Findlay B team so Findlay took 1st & 2nd place. The picture was her shooting in her goal. Very proud :)

Toot Toot....Once we got home, I signed onto my email and found out that Scrapbooking.com magazine wants 4 of my SSM layouts and 1 SSM card to be published in their June and July issues. Doin' the happy dance :) I almost missed the call and was submitting layouts on Friday right before I headed out of town. So all in all, even though I look like a lobster, forgot to pack the suncream, I had a fabulous weekend and hope you all did too :)

Never Enough Time

Another week has flown by again...the good news, the weather has been wonderful :) Of course, that is suppose to change this weekend, just in time for soccer. Tomorrow, Victoria and I are heading off to her tournament. I thought it would be a good time to bond, but she is bringing a teammate along with us. Oh well, just me and the "girls". We're hoping to stop and shop on our way to the hotel, taking the GPS along, so chances are good we'll find something. Of course, I'm thinking scrapbook store and they are thinking clothes.

I've been struggling a bit to get projects done this week. I know what I want to do, but just don't seem to be into scrapbooking this week. I did these two cards a couple of weeks ago for SSM and can't decide if they're "done" or not. I guess I just need to move on :)

Full Swing Soccer

Wow another week has flown by again. We are now into soccer full swing. We have 6 practices during the week and 6 games this weekend. Madalyn had a great game today and scored two goals :) I haven't been able to see Alex play yet, as his games have been at the same time as Maddie's, but Mark said he played great today. He has been playing defense the whole game, so not much opportunity to score. Victoria is just getting her feet wet with travel soccer. She is still a little timid....I know she is just as good as the other girls, she just needs to believe herself. She did much better today over last weekend. Hopefully, tomorrow she will play like I know she can. Need to get a good picture of her to finish up my latest project for Scrappin Sports. I went "out of the box" on this project, so I can't wait to get it finished and posted.

Head Up in the Clouds

I got the best news today. I am going to have 3 layouts in the 3rd Quarter issue of Stamping, Stationery & Scrapbooking Magazine. They had over 500 submissions for the issue, so I'm beaming from ear to ear. They are all layouts done with the amazing new releases from Scrappin' Sports & More. I am so blessed to be working for them.

First Layout Since Vacation

I found just the inspiration I needed today to create my first layout since arriving home from vacation. I found this great sketch at sketchabilities. The pictures are of Madalyn & Grandma Shand playing dress up 4 years ago. I really wish they lived closer. It's hard on everyone only getting to see them every other year. Grandma is so good about playing for hours and hours....the kids enjoy it so much. Hope you like the sketch.

Playing Catch Up

Burghley House
Victorian Swing with Alex...his favorite ride
Really neat man was carving us a wooden wine glass.
Shugborough

Jousting Tournament at Royal Armouries
Cousins

Belvoir Castle

I can't believe that we have been home for 5 days now. I did get caught up on laundry, but that is all I can say. When we got home Sunday at 7, after traveling for 17 hours, we had a message that Mark was suppose to be the coach for Alex's team....first game, Saturday. So, we scrambled to get all the parents called on Monday, once we were given a practice time and place. They only got one practice in, so tomorrow's game should be interesting! It's been really warm, most of the week, today it is going to be 71, but rain. Tomorrow, however, a whoppin 43 for the high. Those 9:00 games are going to be cold and wet, tis the way for Spring Soccer. Victoria is excited, as she has her first travel soccer game tomorrow. She missed the first two practices, but hopefully they will play her.

For those asking about our trip....some highlights of what we did/saw:

Belvoir Castle: Beautiful house, still occupied today by the family, we saw the little ones running around the house during the tour.

Lincoln Cathedral: Beautiful stained glass, amazing choir area, LOVE walking around

Woolsthrope Manor: House of Sir Isaac Newton, famous apple tree is still standing

Royal Armouries: Alex was in heaven, we saw the final in the jousting tournament..Fabulous

Ironbridge-Blists Hill Victorian Town: One of the favorites for the kids. You first visit the bank to exhange money for Victorian Money, then you visit all the shops, including the candy shop. They also had Victorian rides and games. We had our picture taken in Victorian clothes..FUN

Burghley House: Beautiful Stately Home

Tales of Robinhood: dissappointing, they need to put more money into this

Shugborough Estate: working farm & visit to house & gardens, not my favorite, but okay

Derby Soccer Game: Highlight for Victoria

Heanor Antique Mall: Highlight for Mom :)

We had a wonderful trip. Maddie's highlights centered around her cousin Natalie. The two of them had a blast. Too bad they don't live closer together.

Nottingham

Today we spent the day in Nottingham. Maddie stayed behind to play with Natalie, since she has school this week. It was a great day, blue sky, sunshine and warm...around 55F. I found my favorite craft store over here, which I will be visiting next time :) The best part is that it is a chain store, so they are all over the UK. Spent way too much money, but such is vacation. We also went to the Tales of Robin Hood, then Mark and Alex went to the caves of Nottingham. Victoria and I choose to spend the rest of the day shopping. Mark did find Alex a Corgi Spitfire, just like he had as a boy. We have been searching for one the last couple of trips. It was a nice family day, minus one child.

Vacation Update

It's hard to believe that we have been away for 9 days already. Our vacation is flying by so fast. The weather has not been really great, but let's face it, this is England :) We have already visited a couple of stately homes, a castle, Lincoln Cathedral (amazing), Sir Issac Newton's home and Magna Science Center. We made a stop to our favorite antique shop & searched out the closest craft shops. Today, we went to see Derby play Fullum. It was a cold, wet, rainy day, but luckily the stadium was under cover. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, but it was exciting to see. The kids heard a few words that don't normally hear, but I guess that is just part of England Soccer.

Procrastination

That one word sums me up today. What should I be doing today? If you said laundry, packing, finishing taxes, wrapping up Girl Scout Cookies, etc......you would be correct. What did I do today? I played with Madalyn a lot! I went to see College Road Trip at the movies with Madalyn. We had family movie night and I watched Nancy Drew. And also I made a layout and card for SSM. Guess my list did not get any shorter today :)

Boy Scouts

Alex's car...Goldrunner

I am so glad that Mark decided to step up and be Alex's den leader. The past couple of years, the boys rarely met outside the pack meeting, which aren't always the best part of being a scout. This past month, Mark's den was together at least 4 times, plus Blue & Gold banquet and yesterday Pine Wood Derby races. So much more fun for the boys. We have a couple of other Dad's in the den that have really stepped up to help out as well. So, yesterday was a good day for Alex. After last years disappointing race, he came in 3rd for his den. He doesn't qualify to go on to the next level, but he was very happy winning his trophy this year. Amazing what those things can do for a young boys mood. The layout above is from Boy Scout camp this past summer. Alex couldn't wait to shoot BB Guns. Mark bought them both Airsoft Guns and they practice in the basement all the time. I noticed the other day, one of my candles had been used as target practice. Boys!!! or is it Men???

Another Level 3 Snow Storm

March is definitely coming in like a LION. I am soooo ready for summer!!! The cub scout pinewood derby for today had to be post-poned until tomorrow due to the level 3 road alert. We will have 8-12 inches when it finally stops. Ugh...I am not a snow person at all. It has also made us miss out on dinner with friends also tonight. On the bright side, I guess that leaves more time to scrapbook. Here is my latest layout for Scrappin Sports & More. Pictures were taken 6 years ago!!! Isn't she cute :)

A Couple Of New SSM layouts

I was able to work on a couple of layouts for SSM last night. I tried to use up my scraps on the Disney layout with the heart. I am pleased on how it came out. The other layout is from the same trip to Florida/Disney we took last February. Clearwater Beach was fantastic. It really felt like you were walking in powdered sugar. Amazing! I sure wish we were there now....I'm am so ready for summer :)

We just received the info concerning travel soccer. We have a tournament in South Bend, IN Memorial Day weekend and another in Aurora, OH the end of April. It looks like we will be spending those two weekends in hotels. It's going to be a costly season. We have 10-12 games plus the tournaments. We pay $225 to join, then we have to buy uniforms, ball bag, new shoes, hotel room....Hope she really, really likes it :) Still proud of her.

Hope your all having a great weekend.