Orchard Park

Fun with a few of our friends last year at Orchard Park in Durham: Supplies: PMP #41 template by Miss Mint; In Bloom kit by Karen Funk; Wooded Whimsy solids by Audrey Neal; Detour kit by Ellie Lash; Maybe v6 papers by Deena Rutter; Notions - Pink by Jen Allyson; Enjoy the Little Things collaboration kit from Sweet Shoppe Designs; Adobe Caslon Pro fo...

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[almost] Wordless Wednesday: Hummingbird

We regularly have visits from hummingbirds in our yard. Amazingly, this one was determined to enjoy our honeysuckle even with Dylan & me close by. Still need some practice on photographing those quick little guys - but glad I did "catch" him with my 55-200mm lens even if the focus was off...

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Dino Garden

During a visit to Virginia last week, my mom was showing me her new succulent planter on her front porch (note to self: photograph it on next visit - so pretty!) when she suggested we help Dylan create his own. After a shopping trip to get a small, clear plastic container and digging into the toy bag in my car for a small dinosaur - we were ready to visit our friends, Karen & George, at Morningside Farm and Nursery. With instruction (and...

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Memorial Day

US Flag outside our local library branc...

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Friday Freebie: SuperWords paper

Needing (wanting) one more paper for my Superhero layout last week, I made my own with a mix of fun comic style action words. It's 12x12 with black outlined words on a white background - perfect to coordinate with any design. Free for personal use only. Click here to download SuperWords paper freebie Enjoy! Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't...

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Railhawks Game

A friend invited us to join him for a Carolina Railhawks soccer game last Saturday. It was a first for all 3 of us. Dylan loved it! He was even kicking his own foot while watching the players kick the ball. Thanks, Kevin, for an awesome evening! Supplies: 52 Thursday Templates Template No 19 & Dinos papers by Tiffany Tillman; scan of tick...

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Wordless Wednesday: Rim Time

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Handprint Flag Plaque

Dylan & I made this plaque last year just before July 4th but it seemed fitting to share now a few days before Memorial Day. With Memorial Day, Flag Day (June 14th) and July 4th - it will be hanging on our wall for the next few months! The handprint, stripes and blue canton were all done with paint. The stars were stamped on. Then I sketched the flag outline using a Sharpie marker and added the words with rub-on letters from my stash. Finally,...

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Touch A Truck 2011

Backing up to Dylan's 2nd year album again ... I wanted to include a local fundraiser event we attended called "Touch a Truck." It's a fun opportunity for kids to get close to all sorts of vehicles (trucks, cars, helicopters, buses, etc) and literally touch & climb into them. Dylan loved it. I wanted to include a lot of photos to show some of the different vehicles we saw so I used a template that helped me quickly arrange 8 of my favorites....

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exploring

Completing challenges is helping me get back into my scrapping groove. This one for the Two Peas Color Challenge: Grin to use earthy tones on a layout. The colors worked perfectly with photos I took on Wednesday during a nature class we attended. Supplies: DHD Blueprint 4 template and Favorite Things alpha by Gennifer Bursett; Happy Camper kit by Sara Schmutz; Roar kit by Jen Martakis; Georgia f...

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my Superhero

Loved this cute photo I snapped of Dylan with my iPhone last month at the park. He agreed to a picture (somedays that takes a lot of begging!), picked the spot and posed. When I saw the May blueprint challenge at DHD and Robyn Meierotto's new Super elements, I was instantly inspired to scrap it. Supplies: DHD May Blueprint template by Celeste Smith; School is In papers, and Nursery Rhymes & Recollect kits by Sara Schmutz; Rocketman kit by...

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Wordless Wed: Mother's Day at the Arboretum

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Marble Painting

My friend, Allison, shared the idea of marble painting and I quickly bookmarked it to try with Dylan. As it happened, his neighborhood buddy was over recently so I tried it with both boys. I was impressed with how easily they grasped the concept (you never can be sure at this age) and how much time they spent on it. Supplies paper paint marble(s) small cardboard tray We did our painting outdoors simply because it was perfect weather - too nice...

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Week in the Life: Photo Book

My Week in the Life photo book arrived on Saturday! I was very excited to find it on my doorstep especially since as of Friday, the estimated arrival was Monday. If you follow me on Instagram, you already know there was a small crushed spot on the bottom edge. This is the first time an item I've ordered from Shutterfly has arrived damaged. I'll be calling customer service today to get it replaced. Regardless, we've had a great time looking...

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Farm Animal Days

Each spring, NC State offers Farm Animal Days to give local children a chance to see farm animals up close and even pet a few. This year was the first time Dylan & I went. We met a few of his friends there. The boys had the best time seeing all the animals, climbing into tractors, holding baby chicks and, of course, eating the free Howling Cow ice cream. Supplies: Of the Essence add on kit by Fei Fei's Stuff; Tears Set 1 by Tiffany Tillman;...

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Fat Quarter Bag

We have a birthday party for a 5 year old girl this weekend. I liked the Fat Quarter Bags I made at Christmas so much, I decided to make one for her gift. I used the same tutorial, but changed up the bottom a bit to give it a more rounded look vs boxed. Supplies: Heather Bailey (outside) & JoAnn fabrics; Coats & Clark thread; grosgrain ribb...

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[almost] Wordless Wednesday: Baseball Buddies

That's Dylan on the left and his new friend, Dustyn. We had the good fortune of meeting up for dinner and park fun with Sarah Halstead & family on Monday night...

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Primary Day in NC

I've gone round and round. I don't usually voice my political opinion very loudly and typically not here. But, I do feel strongly about today and hope that all NC voters who haven't voted early will get to the polls. If passed, Amendment One could do a lot of harm especially to women and children. Learn the facts. Vote. Let's show the world that North Carolina is better than this and crush Amendment O...

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Week in the Life 2012: Complete

My Week in the Life 2012 album is complete! I ordered it as an 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly last night. Title Page I decided to keep each of my days to 2 pages -  a main photo with the banner title on the first page and a photo collage with journaling on the second page. Honestly, I had six of the seven main photos selected before I realized Dylan was in every one which helped me picked the final one (Tuesday - not a lot of good &...

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Week in the Life 2012: Putting it Together

I have completed all the "day" pages for my Week in the Life album as well as a title page and ending page in Photoshop. I wanted to focus on the photos & text so I've pretty much stuck strictly to the templates with almost no embellishment. I've started arranging the pages into a Shutterfly photo book. Next I need to create my cover. I'm thinking something similar to this (also still considering her idea of 3 years in one album as I would...

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Superhero Pillowcases

This was a fun order - superhero pillowcases for a special little guy. He told his mom he was "big boy" now. :) Spiderman pillowcase Superman pillowcase I hope these fill his "big boy" reque...

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Wordless Wednesday: Poolside

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Week in the Life 2012: In Progress

The last two years I've taken photos & notes for Week in the Life. I haven't completed a single album though! Hoping third time's the charm. Last week, I started again. I took photos daily using all 3 cameras (DSLR, point & shoot and iPhone) depending on the moment & convenience (not to mention, that is real life - I use all 3) and took notes using the printouts by Ali Edwards. I averaged 100 photos per day. That by no means equals 100...

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