Brothers Are..

Never Enough

I created this layout using this sketch from Scrapbook Steals. Collin loves spending time with his Daddy... there never seems to be enough time!

Hello Freedom

This layout started out as part of a scraplift challenge of this layout at Studio Calico. I really wanted to use this picture of Collin, and incorporated the Birds of a Feather challenge to do a layout inspired by the word freedom.

This summer, freedom means so much to us. It is an end to Collin's chemo - his scans are finally stable. He's free from being sick, from being tired. He finally has the freedom to have energy to play and explore.. and be a normal boy.

Live & Grow

Here's another layout I made last night using this sketch from the Boys Rule blog. I love these tender moments I catch between Chris and Collin...

Best of Friends

Here is a layout that I did using this sketch from Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits blog. I love this picture of the boys together. Now that Collin is not on chemo and isn't sick all the time, Liam is interacting with him more and more. I never thought I'd have to tell Liam to stop playing so rough with his brother, or to stop making annoying sounds in his ears (even though it makes Collin laugh), but now I'm glad that they are interacting like that now. That's the way it should be.

My Boys

I always find it amazing how I can get such wonderful pictures of these boys when I put them on a train! This is by far my favorite pictures of these boys!

This layout is for a sketch challenge at Creative Scrappers, using sketch #215. I also made this for the 4-play challenge at Design House Digital.

Digital supplies used:

Erica Coombs – Enroute Masks
Angie Hinksman – True Blue Solids
Gennifer Bursett – the Sprats Alpha
Karen Funk – Genuinely you digital elements

Happy Birthday Liam

My son Liam just celebrated his 5th birthday this Sunday... how fast the time goes! He wanted a baseball theme party, so I did a generic theme but since we live in New England, I used red and blue as the colors for Yankees vs. Red Sox.

I used my Cricut to make this birthday banner - I was also inspired by this challenge at The Paper Variety, to create a paper project that's not a layout or a card. I know this picture is kinda hard to see, but the white background is actually baseballs.

Chris manned the grill and made hamburgers, hot dogs and brats and the rest of the food was set up on this table. In baseball theme, we had popcorn and peanuts and bags of chips. The big winner though was the big jug of fresh strawberry lemonade - the kids all lined up and took turns pouring their drinks and got back to the end of the line. I'll share the recipe in a later post.

These were Liam's cupcakes - he loved them! I didn't go too crazy this year, just basic white cake mix and white frosting, with red gel to look like baseballs.

And of course, the birthday boy himself, with his very first 5 dollar bill!!

Basic Grey Sketch

I created this page using this sketch found on Basic Grey's blog. I loved these pictures and was inpsired to do this layout. The journalling reads: "Collin, you had so much fun this day at the Rygiel Lake House. Just sitting on the blanket listening to the water and the boats. July 4, 2011."

Flower Card

I started out making this card for a Studio Calico challenge: to be inspired by triangles. I used the exclusive hexagon stamp in the May kit to stamp the triangle pattern on the background, then I paper pieced the flower on top. A cute little any-occasion card ready to go!

Beach Boy

I created this layout for a Studio Calico challenge, to use letter stamps. I've actually become obsessed with using letter stamps lately! These particular letters I happened to have gotten on clearance at Michaels yesterday for only $2.99!!

I also used sketch #207 from Creative Scrappers to make this layout, and I used Studio Calico's Boardwalk kit.

First Day of Preschool

Here's a second layout I created with the Studio Calico May kit. I used sketch #319 from Sketch Inspiration and was inspired by the confetti challenge at Studio Calico on this layout.

Cousin Max

This is the first layout I did with the May Studio Calico kit, and the first layout of my adorable nephew Max! I made this for the Studio Calico challenge to use 5 photos.. and I used this sketch from the Delightful Inspiration blog. (side note: Liam took these pictures himself last year at 3 years old!)

Super Liam!

It's a bird? It's a plane? No, it's SUPER LIAM!

in his daddy's socks!

The last challenge for the BOAF crop is to pick something we celebrate in our scrapbooks that isn't already a challenge. In our home, with two small boys, we celebrate the silly-and if it's SUPER silly, even better! I used a sketch from DCWV and the Songbird Stack to create this layout.

I Love This Happy Boy

This layout is for the BOAF challenge "Celebration of Love".. and the word Love has to be somewhere on your layout. I also used a sketch from the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog, and the color challenge from 2peas. Nothing makes me happier than Collin's smile!

Together

This layout is for the Simple Things challenge at Birds of a Feather. I also incorporated a challenge from 2peas: make it yours (misting chipboard), and Big Picture Classes (challenge was to use phone pictures which I don't have a camera phone so they said candid shots are good too). It seems like such a simple thing that two brothers would play with each other. But with Collin's medical issues, Liam doesn't interact with him too much. So when I do manage to see them together, it's a simple thing that makes my heart happy.

A Visit From A Butterfly

This layout is for the Spring challenge at Birds of a Feather. The challenge is to use spring pictures, and flowers with a graphic pattern (I chose chevron). I am also using this sketch from Pagemaps.

Outdoor Themed Friend Card

Another challenge for the BOAF crop is to do a layout or card about the great outdoors. I found this Mary Engelbreit sticker in my stash with the following quote: "A friend is the first one to come in when the whole world has gone out". I loved it and with the outdoor scene I wanted to incorporate it into a friendship card. I used a sketch from CardPatterns  and scraps from my May kit to create this card.

The Power of Imagination

This layout is for another challenge at Birds of a Feather - it's a color challenge to use the color purple. This paper by My Mind's Eye is the only purple I could find.. add a few embellishments and this sketch from Paper Bakery Kits, and here ya go!

Best Friends

Here is another layout I created from the Birds of a Feather May kit. I started out with the sketch from Scrapbook Steals online crop, and incorporated the "Celebration of Friends" challenge. I wanted to mirror the doodling in the lower corner so I found a doodled flower stamp for the top and then took watercolors and painted around the image.

We Gotta Have Faith

For this layout I used this Pagemaps sketch and the Birds of a Feather May kit. This is for the Pagemaps sketch contest and the Birds of a Feather crop for the "Celebration of Faith" challenge. I am also submitting this for the ScrapbookSteals.com NSD Online Crop challenge #3: Sassy Springtime.

Celebration of Life

This weekend Birds of a Feather is having a crop to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. There are lots of fun challenges with the theme of "Celebration of....". Since I am the guest designer for May, I came up with this challenge... Celebration of Life.. and created the layout below.

Amy has lots of great prizes in store, so hop on over to the forums and join in the fun!

DHD April Scraplift

So I'm starting to get used to doing digital layouts... hopefully I'll be able to start producing more so I can put it all together into books for Christmas presents this year!

The inspiration layout can be seen here. And here is my layout:

supplies used:
Karen Funk-Genuinely You
Robyn Meierotto-Mellow Alpha
Robyn Meierotto-Stormy Skies
Font-Mom's Typewriter

All supplies except font are from Design House Digital.

OHC Wk 5: Recipes & Cookbooks

Nw that I'm done with the big project of organizing my basement playroom, it's way past time to get back to the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge.

Week 5's challenge is recipes and cookbooks. Now, I do have a system that mostly works for me, but I did tweak it just a little bit and it's perfect now! All of my recipes are stored on this bookcase in my dining room. I do have quite a large collection of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and extra cookbooks are stored in a box in the basement.

I also have this small box of recipes from my grandmother. There are a few spiral bound notebooks with recipes she clipped and saved, some magazines that have her notes written in it, and recipe cards with her handwriting. I have this box stored in the hutch in the dining room.

On the top of the bookcase, I have this basket. The purple box holds my coupons, I have a meal planner notepad with a grocery list, a couple of my current favorite Gooseberry Patch cookbooks, a pack of index cards to write down recipes I want to cook again, and several file folders with recipes sorted into categories to make meal planning easy. My categories are: beef, chicken, other meat, meatless mains, side dishes, desserts, and other/misc. I also keep the current grocery flyers in this basket if there is a good meat sale I want to make sure I plan for. When planning the menu, first I check to see what meats are on sale, and I'll find a recipe or two to use. Then I'll fill in with chicken and ground beef recipes. I'll usually choose one dessert and one breakfast dish too if I'm in the mood. But anyway, that process will be a different challenge... so onward to the rest of my organization system....

I love this mini clipboard - I got it a few months ago at Michael's in the dollar bin and it is just the right size to hold my recipes and my menu planning sheet. I take this with me along with the current week's recipes when I do my grocery shopping.

I have this 3 ring binder for any recipes that the family decides are keepers.. I'll take pictures of the food and make a scrapbook page. Until they make it in the scrapbook I have a recipe box I keep them in... I also have recipes that I want to tweak to make better in the recipe box too.

Lastly, I have a 4 year old who is a very picky eater and has food allergies, so he has his own recipe book. This has come in very handy during the times I have to stay in the hospital with Collin. Anyone can pick up this book and know what he can/will eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks. I used lunch paper bags for the inside pages so as I find recipes for food he will/can eat, I can easily put it on an index card and insert it into the paper bag for that section.

Collin's Chemo

This is a very important week for this little boy. This same week, two years ago, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He had surgery to try to remove a 5cm mass in the center of his head which resulted in blindness and left sided weakness.

Two years ago, before his surgery, Collin was barely eating from being so nauseaus. He was just starting to stand up with assistance. He was able to roll over and prop himself up on his arms. After the surgery he lost all of those abilities and had to start all over.

Collin still isn't eating anything by mouth, but he's able to keep down most of his food that he's fed through a tube. He is able to stand up and walk, although still with just a little assistance. He is scooting and figuring out how to find his way around without being able to see. The cancer is finally gone after 2 years of chemotherapy.

Of course, with brain cancer, he'll never be considered "in remission" or "cured". There could still be tiny cells that don't show up on scans. He'll need to continue to follow up with neurology and endocrinology and ophthalmology because of where the cancer was, to make sure he's developing properly. He'll still need speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, a vision teacher, an orientation and mobility (O&M) teacher, and he also gets music therapy which he loves so so much.

Now that he won't be nauseaus from chemo we will start to try to get him to eat again. This will be a very painful journey for me, remembering all the times before he was diagnosed I tried to get even 2 ounces of formula to stay down unsucessfully. There will still be hard days ahead. But he is strong. He has determination and is willing to work hard.

With his diagnosis, there is a very strong possibility that his cancer will come back, and when it does it could come back quickly. Or maybe he'll remain stable. All we can do is work hard to get on track with his development. Enjoying the time we have with him. Praying. Hoping. Believing.

Kitchen Keepsakes Stash Bash

Here are a few more layouts I completed this week for Kitchen Keepsakes' Stash Bash challenge... good thing I made up 3 different counterfeit kits, I'm almost done with the first one!

Fun Day

Burlap & Buttercups is having a challenge to do a layout that doesn't focus on your kids. I'm combining this with a challenge at Kitchen Keepsakes to use 12 pieces of patterned paper, 12 buttons/brads, and 2 titles. I used scraps from my counterfeit kit to make this layout using a picture of my husband actually relaxing one day!

Friends

My Mind's Eye has a challenge on their blog using the above sketch. I used the Lost & Found 2 papers from my counterfeit kit and created the page below... also by mixing patterned papers and using 5 buttons I am using this for another entry into the Kitchen Keepsakes Stash Bash challenge.

Exploration Under Way

The Paper Variety is teaming up with ScrapFIT for this challenge... The Paper Variety provided the above sketch, and ScrapFIT's challenge is to numerically list out your journalling. I created the layout below...

Oh, also Kitchen Keepsakes is having a Stash Bash challenge... come join the fun! I'm also using this layout as one of the challenges with the misting and staples.

Havin' A Good Time

The above sketch is for the DCWV March Stack-a-holic sketch challenge. I combined this challenge with the Birds of a Feather photo inspiration challenge, getting inspiration from the photo below.

I was inspired by the bright colors and circles, and decided to use the bright papers from the Songbird stack to make the layout below.

Best Buds

Pagemaps is having a sketch contest with the above sketch. I decided to combine this with the stash challenge at Birds of a Feather (to use a punch) and created the doily from the sketch with heart punches.

Tried and True - not!

I love the block style of this sketch challenge at The Paper Bakery. I combined this challenge with the color challenge at Birds of a Feather and created this layout using one of my counterfeit kits...