I created a LOT of layouts during a local 'play date' with my crafty friends!

I took my Anthology products to a local crop hosted by scrappy friends about 10 days ago. The layout above was one of my first ANTHOLOGY projects which I completed a few weeks ago, and along with the layouts below, make up the AUGUST LAYOUT KIT.  The following layouts were created during the crafting play date.  They are all available here:             
               http://www.myanthology.com/monthly-kits/august-kits/august-layout-kit.html
  Each kit comes with a 'Recipe Card', to guide us to completing a beautiful project, and tips that help us complete them (as Lisa says) "whether we have NO time, SOME time or CREATIVE time" to scrapbook.  Here are the AUGUST Layout Kit Recipe Cards: 

     This kit contains all the materials necessary to create EIGHT 2-page layouts, or 16 individual pages.  Our kits even include foam adhesive squares for giving your elements a pop of dimension.
        

I often want to use more photos, photos of differing orientations, or larger photos than those in the Recipe Cards.  I made this Family Time layout a focus on the fall play & chores that Wesley has taken part of over many, many years. As soon as I looked at the layout kit I knew I wanted to create something that involved our fall colors.  I love creating layouts or mini albums that show progression, growth, and evolution of our family members.

When I was in high school, I adopted the Halloween option of dressing as members of KISS, partly due to the fact that the makeup was fairly simple and easy to recreate. I think I adopted the idea from my brother, seen here.

While trying to decide which event, time or people to document with the Simple & Happy Days, I remembered photos of our family members and friends working with the Gladiolas we used to grow and sell.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find some specific photos I was excited to use with this kit, but was able to once again document things that I have done with my brother.

     Our funny, goofy, adorable son, now nearly 12 years old, has provided me with TREMENDOUS numbers of photo opportunities over the years!  These photos make me laugh and/or just plain smile and appreciate him all the more.

More memories from my trip to Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina

     I not only got to meet Lisa Bearnson, after speaking with her on the phone a few times, and having a live webinar with her a while ago, but I also met our Team Lisa Trainer, Wendy McGee and SO many other amazing people during my trip to Summit.
     I was lucky enough to be able to room with Carol Parker & Jana Darrington, two Team Lisa members, plus Julie Zwart, an amazing woman who has inspired so many of us by sharing her health story on our Wellness Warriorz pages.

Carol, Wendy & I during the Memory Keeping Event

                                      

  Yet another sweet new friend, Elaine G. Urban, during the Memory Keeping Event.

                 I LOVE Elaine's Heritage Makers bags, especially the smaller one!  They may be discontinuing them, so if you would like one, order quickly!   
      Simply go to http://www.heritagemakers.com/scrapstreams then go to PHOTO GIFTS,
and look for the BITTY BRAG BAG.  We also have FREE PHOTO STORAGE on our Heritage Makers website.  Get yours by creating an account, then look for PHOTO STORAGE on your 'my account' page.

 Carol Parker & Jana Darrington, during our Rank Recognitions

Lunch with several new Youngevity friends, in the Meridian's restaurant.

                     

Sanjeev Javia, Coach of the Healthy Body Challenge, paid us a surprise visit during lunch.  Easy on the eyes, isn't he!

Myself with Julie Zwart & Jana Darrington

                                              
     If YOU would like to go to these events and work with so many amazing people, simply go to www.scrapstreams.youngevity.com and click JOIN in the upper right corner of the page!  I have a LOT more to share with you.

So many blessings.... attending Youngevity Summit & meeting Team Lisa members

     What a whirlwind this past week has been!  After two very uncomfortable flights on very small planes (aka "puddle jumpers"), I learned so much and met SO many wonderful, caring people.
     My first day was spent at the Memory Keeping Event, with presentations and make and take projects from Anthology by Lisa Bearnson, Heritage Makers and Our Memories For Life.

    

      I had the wonderful experience of meeting Lisa as well as Wendy McGee, with presentations also done by Stacy Croninger.  Unfortunately, Rhonda Anderson was unable to attend due to illness.
     

  During Lisa's make and take, she also showed us the many items which make up the Anthology CEO kit, the 3 August kits, and the 3 September kits, including the "Hangin' Around" card kit, which is simply adorable.

 

BeaUtiful samples of one of the many 2 page layout kits... I LOVE the colors and variety of layouts.

   During part of the Memory Keeping Event, Wendy McGee, our Team Lisa Trainer, sat with my roommate Carol Parker (left) and I, and later invited us to have lunch with her.... uh, YES, please!  We went to a local restaurant, with wonderful food and great prices as well!  I was only able to eat 1/4 of my chicken pot pie, seen in the above photo.  That is the best chicken I've eaten in years.

TBT... some earlier kits presented by Lisa Bearnson

     This is one of my first attempts at a TBT (Throw Back Thursday) post.  And yes, I'm still learning cyber abbreviations lol.  I thought that I would share some of my previous layouts that I created utilizing kits that Lisa Bearnson presented on HSN over the past couple of years.
 
      I love how this black and white layout works so well with most of the colors in these two pages, especially Dakota's thick, beautiful black, gray and white coat, as well as some of the winter wear and sleds used during the sledding part!  On the left page and the lower right page,  I dry embossed some swirls/flourishes to help carry out the snowy weather theme.

       

       The top of these two photos is the page kit as it came.  I've been mixing and matching a lot over the past several years.  Above,  I replaced the light blue with darker blue cardstock as the base, to match some of the colors in my photos, specifically the birthday boy's winter coat... I also left out the striped borders as well. 

     This layout is somewhat a mirror/upside down reflection of the suggested layout.  The 3 photo frames are on my lower right page, theirs are on the upper left, and so on.  Again, the colors of this layout kit went well with the photos, as we had a Star Wars themed party this year!    
     The 3 layouts above documented the long and fun packed day of Wesley's sledding birthday party.  Yes, Dakota enjoyed it as well!

      When I saw the colors in this kit, along with the layout suggested, I knew it would work really well these photos!  Again, the black, gray and white draw attention to Dakota's coat, but Wesley wears a LOT of blue, which until this past year, was his favorite color.  In this case, he was wearing black, gray and red, but his mini dirt bike is blue...  I love to scrap not only by theme, but by color! 
     I love to document how Wesley & I (and yes, Dakota too) spend our summers together.  On weekends, Wesley has a lot of what I used to call "Daddy dates", and now refer to as "Guy time".  Michael works a lot of hours, especially spring through summer, including 5-6 hours on Saturdays, because it is his busy season at work.  Once he gets home on Saturday, if the weather is right, they usually take off to the State Park or other local spot for MAJOR bike rides (which I can't do lol), fly kites next to Lake Michigan, etc.  Therefore, I have several "me and my dad" and "me and my mom" mini albums.  These 12" pages will have to go into a different album.

      You will see bits and pieces of this 3 Birds "All About Fall" kit in the 2 page layout below, again mixed with another Top Pages kit!  Both kits even have chipboard.

     These are some of the pages that I completed or started during one of our local Crop For A Cure, a 12 hour crop that we have twice a year in one of our local churches.  I apologize for the glare on some of the photos above.   Hurrying to get things photographed while trying to catch up on household chores is not a good thing lol.

      This kit ended up being used on TWO different layouts already!  Immediately below you will see a two page spread that I tried to complete, covering two different days and topics, because of the colors. Ultimately, the mint green still called out to be only used on the ice cream layout because of my mint chocolate chip blizzard, and the pink/purple ended up on the separate layout about my studio pellet stove.

     

      I ended up converting my photos to b/w because of Wesley's sweater, but still wanted to use the mint embellishments.  I NEEDED (lol) to include that adorable photo of Dakota enjoying our trip to Dairy Queen, therefore it became part of a second page of that layout. 

          Wow, those covered a fair amount of time, both in the events, and the time period over which they were scrapped.  I think I may be doing this on a regular basis.  Have a wonderful TBT!

Creating more layouts by utilizing Top Page Layout kits by Inspired Inc: Part 2

     Hello friends and family.  This will take a while for me complete, but I am working diligently to play 'catch up' on postings of my projects from 2014-2015.
     Below are 2 pages completed with one of the Inspired Inc Top Page layout kits, followed by a companion page that I created in order to include more of the fun photos from an afternoon of family play time in our home town.  The colors of this kit fit really well with the colors of our clothing as well as the BEAUTIFUL blooming tree which is part of the mini golf course.  I used part of another Top Page Layout kit, specifically the rainbow portions, to pull the colors from the prior two pages into the companion page.

     As you can see, I had to alter the layout suggested to fit my photo orientations, number and sizes, but the colors really helped to pull the pages together.
          

       Wesley joined Cub Scouts this year, and their only fund raiser is their annual popcorn sale which takes place in front of the local hardware store where the scout leader works...brilliant!  When combined with the fees each cub scout pays annually, this fund raiser covers the expenses of some of their activities.   Our favorite popcorn that they sold is the dark and white chocolate popcorn which Wesley is holding in one of the photos... a very popular seller.

    This layout kit featured brown tones along with orange and green accents, which worked well with our annual outdoor chores or activities.  Wesley has been learning to drive our lawn mower on his own, actually enjoying some of the outdoor chores since he's been allowed to drive.  Sometimes Michael lets him just zoom around the yard for fun.... typical kid at this age range.

 

Completing lots of layouts by utilizing Inspired Inc Top Page Layout Kits: Part 1

     It will take several postings in order for me to catch up on posting my many projects which I have attempted to post since last year's struggles with my blog, but please be patient with me.
     One of the topics that I have been trying to cover were the MANY pages that I was able to complete by utilizing the TOP PAGE LAYOUT kits, presented on HSN by Lisa Bearnson, who has created this line by working with several different product companies/manufacturers, and offering them under the name of Inspired Inc.
     I have been using kits for YEARS, especially after discovering 3 Birds on HSN.  They are one of the many companies that Lisa Bearnson (cofounder of Creating Keepsakes Magazine) has partnered with in order to create and offer some great products for us.
     Wesley's 10th birthday party last winter was one of the events/topics that I was able to document utilizing the many kits available through Inspired Inc., either through single shipments or autoship.  I opted for the Autoship program, thus I received 3 more deliveries of 10-12 two-page layout kits every few months.  The original kit was offered in the spring/summer of 2014, with the other shipments coming in June or July, September and November.
     Each follow up shipment was organized by a theme, such as Holiday Happenings which was shipped out in November.
     Some or all of these images may have appeared in earlier postings (actually begun months ago but unable to post them until later dates due to blog problems), but I want to cover the fact that I was able to complete so many projects by taking advantage of these kits    
     I don't usually go sledding with the guys, but not only did Dakota get to go (meaning additional opportunities to document her joy in participating in a snowy play date), but it was Wesley's birthday party, which I ALWAYS document.

    

     

 

     I was also able to scrap some of the activities that Dakota and I did with Wesley, either school related, Spring Break entertainment and treats, or how we spent some of our lazy, summer days together.

  Wesley's 'spring break' saw unusually cold, snowy weather, but there's ALWAYS justification for ice cream! When I saw the mint and black in this kit, I knew it would work for my photos, being the colors of my mint chocolate chip ice cream, but the other colors in the photos didn't work so well, so I simply turned my photos to b/w and wow... what a great improvement!  I used some of the stickers from another Inspired Inc kit to record the "Who, What, Where & When" in the upper right hand corner. 

     Wesley is outgrowing his battery powered dirt bike, but it still provides the occasional fun adventure!  When Wesley accompanies Dakota and I on our walks in the neighboring cemetery, I often ask him if he wants to practice his soccer dribbling and other skills, or ride his bike or dirt bike rather than just walking with us.  He often entertains himself in a manner common among kids or particularly boys, by finding a 'walking stick' or other natural items to distract himself from the fact that we are getting some fresh air and exercise.
      The 'All Hallows Eve' kit was all I needed for this year's family Halloween portraits!

Our family dressed up as Star Wars characters this year; I didn't get to go trick or treating because I had to set up for the Crop For A Cure the following day.

 For the layout below , I used the "Thankful" kit plus I added the "autumn" & leaf borders and a few individual pieces from the 3 Birds Best of Fall kit seen below.

     Rather than using this kit for a traditional Thanksgiving event, I used it to document how thankful we were to be able to borrow a neighbor's GOLF CART to pull our leaf rake, since our lawn mower is on the fritz.  Again, my photos are not all the same size, orientations or numbers, but it worked really well!