Whole Bunches & Bunches of stuff...

It's been a super busy week, hasn't it?

Annde's class went on another field trip Friday. At first, I wasn't going to send her - they were going to see Hotel for Dogs. Each of the times we've taken Annde to the theater, she's wanted to leave after about 20 minutes. I didn't want the teachers to have to deal with that. They said that was okay and when Gabriella showed up to go, I knew that I needed to send Annde or it would be a very bad day. Gabi and Annde are pretty much inseperable at school... She went (2nd school bus trip) and she had a blast! She didn't really understand the movie too well but her and Gabi had a good time hanging out together. Next week, when she's back in school, she's going to be bored after all these fun field trips!

Friday night, I hosted a scrapbook night for the Women's group at our church. It was fantasticly fun! I was kinda worried - I had 5 people cancel throughout the day due to sickness. (That NASTY flu that's going around just seems to be a bear!!!) So, I was worried no one would show. I got there, set up 10 sets of make-n-take cards and tables and held my breath... And, then the women started to show! We had 9 women other than myself doing everything from making bracelets to scrapbooking to knitting to crafting with fabric. We listened to music, pigged out on Sandi's AWESOME chocolate fondue... mmmm...., and chatted. It was a pretty relaxed group and everyone had a blast making the cards. Surprisingly, I did 2 layouts in under 3 hours! One of them was for Pink Sketches - the sneak is here but it will be posted sometime on Sunday (link to site on left)... Yep, you guessed it... there's those scarf pictures from earlier this week!

The other was for So Sketchy and I have to say... it was truly an awesome page for me... I will post a sneak later this week. :) Obviously, Ally gets to have the fun of the reveal first!

I've also been participating in the Crowned Competition over at Scrapdango. This is week 3 of 4...

For this week, we were challenged to use only 2 patterned papers, 1 type of letters for the title, and 2 types of embellishment (unlimited ink, adhesive and cardstock). I chose brads and stitching. It was hard for me because you guys know my love of embellishing... especially with stickles and chalk, which weren't allowed. So, I did the next best thing. I grabbed this sheet of paper with an Owl on it from Sassafras.

This current trend to using deer and owls and such is not for me.... My BFF Tracy laughs at me everytime I win something with an owl or deer on it because I won't use it. In this case, I was generously given a Sassafras paper pack from Jamie for naming the January Kits at Coordinates Collections. I just don't particularly see the point of using them for "Whooo's the cutest" or "Whooo's turning five?"... They just don't do anything for me, creatively. So, in my quest to save money and use what I own, I figured this was a good opportunity to think outside the box and get rid of this owl paper.

So, first I cut the owl and tree out of the paper. Then I cut a large block and mounted it behind the paper, layered with a piece of cardstock that I distressed with a brown pen. Then I hand drew some brackets out of 2 more of the patterns on the paper and cut those out, also using the brown pen to edge them. Then, I cut out the stitching down the side of the paper to create stitched sections that I glued on and around the pictures. I added some stitching and a few brads and I was ready to get started with, in true scientist fashion, dissecting the owl:
His eyes became the flowers in the flowers in the corners.
His heart tummy became a heart.
His wings became another heart.
His feet became rays coming out of the date circle.
His stitched body became the arrow.
Then I used the flowers and leaves on the tree to decorate around the page. When I didn't have enough, I made some more out of the branch.

Here's the finished layout...
Here's a few closeups... By the way, it's really hard to write clearly on textured cardstock... So, I grabbed some correction stickers from CTMH and made it a little bit easier...


I have more stuff to post but it can wait until later this week. Better to not overload the system.

I hope you all are having a great weekend. And, Aiden - I hope you are feeling better! I missed your mommy at Scrapbooking Friday night!