So many of you are just gonna LOVE this post! Well, those of you who don't mind SNAKES that is! You may be asking me why on earth I could allow my children to hold, touch or even WRAP snakes around their necks. Let me assure you that the snake was not a constricting snake and I would have just torn it apart to get it off of them if need be. Believe that! Without further ado....enjoy these photos!

















On a lighter note, here is another layout that I made using one of my very own sketches ;)











Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

I am so excited to report that my darling husband has finally created/installed bunk beds for the boys!!! It's hard to believe that those poor kids have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor since July 2007. You too could possess these lovely set of bunk beds for $10. We went from possibly spending $1,100 on bunk beds and a bed for Kaila, to $10. Unbelievable! We had a frame for Kaila's twin bed in the garage. Her room isn't really large enough to fit all of her furniture anyway. Check it out! Blake was nice enough to pose for me with his new crocs. He thinks they make him run faster. Too funny!


















Another one of my sketches has been posted at The Scrapping Spot for their April Sketch Challenge. It's not too late to join in on the fun. You have all month to complete the sketches.




































I did sooooo much cleaning/organizing this weekend. I have to tell you though, it felt GREAT! I'm not even close to done, but it is refreshing to be able to walk through my room without killing myself. I rearranged/vacuumed the boys' room also, so it's got a lot more room.
I'm going to try and work on the scraproom today, but I also have Ebay to do.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Holy BUSY, Batman! So much has been going on here! I know that it pales in comparison to most of your schedules, but it's definitely making my head spin here.


First, we started swim lessons Monday-Thursday for two weeks. The boys were old enough, but Kaila has to wait for the Fall session. Nick jumped from Level 1 to Level 2 the very first night. Blake followed him to Level 2 the next night. How cool is that? I was shocked. They were finally tested Wednesday night to see which level they would each be recommended for in the Fall. Nick moves to Level 3 and Blake has to stay in Level 2, which is fine. It will give him more practice. So, I'll have Blake and Kaila in Level 1/2 (5:30-6:15) and Nick in Level 3 (6:30-7:15) - something to that effect. My point is, I'll be spending a couple hours at the c0llege for two weeks straight. Gee...I can't wait.


Volleyball has ended. We didn't win anything on Thursday nights and Monday nights we lost the championship and ended up with second place. I was exhausted. I thought for sure I was going to pass out before we even started! It was fun and I was sooooo sweaty. I wish it was like that every week. Now, we'll have six months of much needed rest. Who am I kidding? I'll be ready to go again in a couple weeks.


During the midst of the last two items, we purchased a new vehicle. We traveled 1 1/2 hours one way to get it. We were there a ridiculous 4 hours! Man! Just cut to the flippin' chase already. Tell me what I want to hear and don't waste my precious time. Well, we drove home in a new 2008 Envoy 4x4. I was disgusted with the salesman - sloppy, potty-mouthed and many other bad attributes I won't mention. It's sad to say, but I think we actually got the pick of the litter of salesmen though. Pathetic!


A day after we purchased our new vehicle, I had a scrapbook supply party that went very well. It was a gorgeous day, Mary wasn't very late and she had a ton of new stuff. It was fun.


Here are a couple layouts that I've done in the last several days. I used Becky Fleck sketches for both of these.








Thanks for taking a peek!

Shawn

Don't forget! Just a little reminder to all of my friends and family that live around here regarding the Scrapbook Supply party at my house this coming Sunday from 2-4 p.m. Our email address has changed, so if you emailed me at the old one...you're out of luck getting through. If you haven't RSVP'd, please just comment here and I'll be able to see it. I hope to see all of you there!

The Scrapping Spot is currently holding a Sketch Class with a weekly sketch from either myself or Dalis. This week's sketch is one of mine and is as follows along with my interpretation:




















The boys are currently participating in swimming lessons. They started in Level One, but quickly advanced to Level Two, which just shocked me. I'm hoping they pass Level Two and will begin Level Three in the Fall. Kaila will be able to go in the Fall as well. You have to be 5 years of age to be able to enroll. I think Kaila's a tad jealous, but she gets to go play with one of her friend's, so she doesn't have to wait.

Everyone is anxiously awaiting the arrival of consistent warm weather. Blake still thinks it's Winter. Imagine that! How many days until my birthday? How many days until Spring? How many days until school is over? ---- etc. etc. He wasn't happy when I told him that it is already Spring and it's still not warm. I hear ya, Buddy!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Here's another quick update. I have to get ready for volleyball. This may be our last night. It's double elimination, but I don't have high hopes. As long as I get some exercise...I'll be happy.

First of all, the photos on this layout were taken by my awesome friend, Angelina Schwarz last year in March. She did a beautiful job "patching" Kaila's scrapes and bruises on her face. I know I'm scrapping the crap out of these photos, but I just LOVE them!

I did a layout over at The Scrapping Spot for Leah's Mixed Up Scraplift challenge. I had to scraplift a layout from Roxanne with an added twist to add some paint. Here is what I came up with. I used some paint AND a flourish stamp, one of the big foam ones. Click on the photo for a better look. Oh, and by the way, if you haven't purchsed some sort of Stickles or other comparable glitter puff paint, you need to do so and quickly! I love this stuff!


I promise a better/bigger update later. I do have to post pics of Easter and Kaila's first professional haircut ya know!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Just an update with some layouts. These are all Becky Fleck sketches from PageMaps. AND yes, I know that there is a typo in the "Hunt" layout. I'll fix it later. Thanks for peeking!

Spammers beware! I can not believe that some idiots don't have anything better to do than leave comments on my blog that say "see here" or "warning see here." Get a life already. I've since fixed the problem. It will be harder for them to leave a comment now. Morons!

As for the rest of you, I would LOVE to hear what you have to say. Wink! Wink!

I have some layout updates. The first two are layouts that I did last Friday using two of Cherie Averil's sketches at http://www.sketches-r-us.blogspot.com/ If you're in a creative slump, go take a gander at some of her sketches. Some of them have examples too.

Ready for Trouble was created for a color challenge at The Scrapping Spot last week.

Kaila's Model Behavior was completed with Cathy's "Sisters" layout as inspiration from The Scrapping Spot.

We just returned from an awesome Easter Egg Hunt over at Wayside Emmanuel Church in New Castle. The kids had a blast and are currently on the ceiling from their sugar high ;) I'll have picture soon as proof of their jubiliation.

Thanks for popping in.


Shawn

I'm goin' to a crop today!!! Yeah! This will be the last one for a while, so I'll definitely enjoy it. Although, as I mentioned before, I'll be battling some bad weather/roads. Oh, well. I told DH I'm taking the truck ;)

We're having an online crop over at The Scrapping Spot starting at 10:00 a.m. EST today. I hope to print off some of their challenges before I leave tonight.

I completed a layout for Cherie Averill for her blog. Click on her name for some other awesome sketches. Obviously,the boys' pictures are school photos taken by Lifetouch. However, Kaila's is one that I took and used one of Angelina Schwarz's photoshop actions to make it pop. Her school picture was absolutely horrible. And I'm totally disgusted with the fact that Clark Studios, out of New Castle, didn't do a better job making sure that she looked "right" before I paid so much for crap. I will not give one single one of them away...that's how bad they are. Yuck! I mean, seriously, how can a 4 year old take such a horrible photo? Disgusted, I tell ya!

The kids and I are attending an egg hunt this weekend. This will be our third year at Wayside Church. They always have crafts, stories and games for the kids. It's really a good time and the kid love it! I'm hoping the weather isn't too terribly bad.

I have to get Kaila ready for school and prepare myself for anothr workout at Charlene's.

Thanks for stopping by.

Shawn

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead this weekend. You heard me right! THIS weekend! I was surprised too. Along with surprise comes dismay...I like me some sleep! I suppose it has to be done. I'm hoping Spring catches a clue and gets here early. I know...wishful thinking.

Some layout updates for you.

I used my sketch #26 to create "frog follies" along with the Two Scoops kit from The Scrapping Spot.

"How lucky am I?" was thrown together without a sketch, but with the awesome Lucky kit from The Scrapping Spot. The photo was taken by non-other-than my very own BLAKE. Lovely, eh?

I'm not looking forward to this nasty "snow" stuff we're getting this weekend. I'll be attending another crop at Scrapbook Station and I'll be driving in this. I do have an extra spot if someone wants to brave the weather to accompany me ;)

Have a great weekend, Everyone! And thanks so much for stopping by!

Shawn

I received my kits from The Scrapping Spot and I have to tell you...they do NOT disappoint. I'm so glad I got both of them, because some of the elements ar interchangeable! I love that!

Ari and I are hosting a March Sketch Challenge with 15 sketches complete with examples at The Scrapping Spot. There are prizes involved. If you love sketches, zip on over there and sign-up TODAY!

Here's what I've created so far with the Basicgrey Two Scoops.

Thanks for taking a quick peek!

Shawn

I know...another post...finally! I generally don't post, unless I have a picture or something to share.

Since my last post, we spent the weekend at camp, muddled through President's Day and got our taxes done.

Camp - we froze the first night. For some reason we couldn't get the camp warmed up. I was in all my clothes, a sweatshirt, socks AND slippers. I slept like that and my toes were still icy. I made sure the kids were all bundled up. All I know is next time we go to camp in the winter, I MUST bring more blankets. The ones AT camp were frozen! We basically used the ones we brought. On Saturday morning, after a lovely next-to-sleepless night, Blake kept saying, "Dad!" He had to have said it 15 times. It wasn't until he added, "deer!" that Charlie hopped off of the floor (our "bed" for the night) and zipped to the big window. Apparently, there were 6 deer right below camp. It's always exciting to see wildlife. We had good food and played lots of games. It was nice. The kids can't wait to go back...hopefully in warmer weather.

President's Day - the boys had to make up a snow day, so they weren't thrilled, but that's life. I took Kaila and went to Charlene's to workout and pretty much didn't get anything else done the rest of the day. I went to volleyball that night and got a little more exercise.

Tuesday - I worked on getting our tax stuff ready allllll day. The good news is that I completed that particular task and we were able to get our taxes done without incident. In fact, this photo in the layout is from Tuesday, right before we left :) We were both excited to have a "date" night. We went to Red Lobster after we were finished with out taxes. It was sooooo good.

Anyway, here's the layout I did today using what little bits I have left from The Scrapping Spot's February Kit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

It's another day...another "snow day." Sigh. Well, at least I don't have to get ready right away and I did sleep in a tad. The kids are actually behaving themselves, so what am I doing? Scrapping - just one page though. I'm almost caught up on my Layout a Day at The Scrapping Spot.

LAD #11 - I used another one of my sketches for this one - Sketch #39 -

LAD #12 - She's got moves!

Now, I'm off to actually

do housework, baking, etc.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Just a few layouts to share with you.

This first layout has a picture taken by my wonderful friend, Angelina Schwarz.

LAD #6 - Summer

LAD #7 - Sketch #28 - Strike a Pose

LAD #8 - Sketch #27 - Bliss...

LAD #9 - Sketch #1 - Snuggles

LAD #10 - Sketch #43 - Indian Summer

Thanks for peeking!

Shawn

A couple of layouts to share...

I'm currently participating in several challenges at The Scrapping Spot, so these fit into a couple of them.

LAD Day 4: I used my sketch #21, along with TSS February Scenic Route Kit.



















LAD Day 5: I scraplifted Ange's "Holiday Fun" for Spot Tag the Third at TSS. Thanks, Ange!


















Not sure if I'll actually get to do another layout today, because my TO-DO list is FULL! I can always hope though.


Thanks for stopping by!


Shawn

Just a short update with pictures of my darling daughter. The only reason I'm even posting is to marvel at how fast kids grow. I know I say it constantly, but it's true and it totally amazes me!

Check out my 4 year old.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Semi-Lazy Day...just chillin' - mostly. I forgot to post my other layout yesterday, so it's gettin' posted today. I used another Pagemaps sketch, along with my February Kit from The Scrapping Spot. Also, the stamps are some new Basicgrey stamps. Soooo pretty! They match the new "Two Scoops" line of papers. Had to have them!



The weather is supposed to warm up a bit, which is good. I don't like all of this ice.



Anyway, back to chillin'!



Thanks for stopping by!



Shawn

Quick Update --- I created a couple of layouts with sketches that I created as my starting point. I also used The Scrapping Spot's awesome February Senic Route Kit to help in my quest.

Oh, and speaking of The Scrapping Spot...they're searching for a new Design Team. If you're interested, go to the Message Board under Announcements for further details.

Thanks for taking a peek! Now, I'm off to prepare some pizza for my guests this evening and hopefully clean a little so that they might get into the house.

See ya!

Shawn

February Pagemaps - check them out at http://www.pagemaps.com/. I was asked to do one of the roundmaps for Becky Fleck. I used The Scrapping Spot's January kit to help me out.

Yeah, Blake doesn't look so happy here, but he was minus a snowball to his face by non-other-than...Nick! He got wiped off and was running around sledding again.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Shawn