Wow, it's been a month since I last put up a scrapbook page! Well, it's because I've been getting ready for Christmas: writing the Christmas letter, putting the cards together (which I should post, too, come to think of it), buying and wrapping gifts. I'm one of those who likes to get it done and out of the way, so the other half of the ping pong table (the first half is my scrap space) is stacked with wrapped presents, just waiting.
This layout uses pictures from the middle of September. We had a warm early autumn, and the kids were outside playing together so nicely. Aaron had a thing about sticking his head out the holes of the slide, but I had to ask him to stay still for a moment so I could get a good picture. Julia stopped playing for a moment to say hi to Tucker (he is so patient and good with them, even when they were little and learning to crawl over him).
The second page is a layout from pagemaps.com. For the first page, I copied some elements to match, but it is my own idea. The patterned paper is Winter Ribbon Stripe from Doodlebug Design. The blue and gray cardstock are from my stash. The gray circles are stamped with CTMH's Background Basics set (retired) in Grey Flannel. The blue cardstock strips are stamped with CTMH's Groovy set (to retire at the end of the year, I think) in White Daisy (pigment), VersaMark and Outdoor Denim. (The five-petaled asterisk-like stamps worked well with the ones in the paper.) The title is stamped in Grey Wool using Boutique (F) and the appropriate individual Solos sets.
Okay, so I know this isn't a scrapbooking project, but it does fall under the category of "being creative." Aaron had his preschool Christmas party on Tuesday, and when I saw the sign-up sheet the week before, there was actually room under the "sweet treats" listing! (This has never happened before in one-and-a- half years of preschool parties.) I was glad because I had seen some single marshmallow-on-a- stick treats in a magazine for Halloween and had always wanted to make those, so I quickly thought up "snowman-on-a-stick" using three marshmallows. Additionally, it would allow me to use those icing tips I'd bought years ago but rarely used (as it shows--I'm still the amateur when it comes to decorating with frosting).
Anyway, I spent Sunday afternoon sticking together large marshmallows with shish-kebab skewers and making icing. The scarf is red icing piped with the basketweave tip (texture side up). The eyes and buttons are just dabs of black (really dark gray) with the #5 tip. The carrot nose is a long dab of orange with the #3 tip (you can see it best in the background of the second picture on the right), but I think I'd use the #5 if I did it again. The hats are a small marshmallow with black/gray frosting piped with the basketweave tip (flat side) around, on top and a brim. The arms are half sticks of pretzels. Then I frosted a half-sphere floral foam piece and sprinkled granulated sugar on it (for sparkle), and at school poked all the snowmen in it. All the parents were in awe and the kids couldn't wait to devour them.
One mom, from another classroom so she didn't know me, saw me carrying them in from the car. At first she was talking with another parent as I passed her, then I heard something about a "Martha Stewart wannabe" and realized she had immediately turned her conversation to me, no pause in between so I didn't realize it at first. She admired the snowmen, then turned to go back to her car and called back, "Now you'll be known to me as the marshmallow lady!" I replied, "As long as it's not because I look like a marshmallow!" (The next morning she asked for my name and introduced herself properly.)
The top page is my own sketch challenge for November. The layout sketch is from pagemaps.com, although I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to accommodate a horizontal 5x7 photo. For the second page, I used paper from the same pack and more pictures.
The colorful paper is from a Rob and Bob Studio paper paper pack (by ProvoCraft from a couple years ago). The flourish and the "arrow" stamps are from Hero Arts (Fantastic Flourishes and Fancy Scrolls, respectively) and the title letters are Spunky alphabet ( from CTMH), all stamped in CTMH's Moonstruck. The title box is sponged with Crystal Blue and the journaling box is sponged with Petal (both CTMH).
This picture was taken at a friend's birthday party in June (photo by said friend's mother). It was Julia's first time in a swimming pool. The water was about 2-1/2 feet deep, about up to her armpits, but with the help of water wings and the froggie ring, she managed it quite well. "I swimming!" she would proudly announce. After a while she got brave enough to lean on the froggie ring and lift both her legs off the ground, into a pike position. The bigger kids splashing and making waves only added to her fun. The only words that would get her to come out were "lunchtime" and "time for cake."
