Swap Layout

I just finished creating this layout for a swap. The scan does not bring much reality to the colors. For some reason, they just look funky to me! The photos are digitally placed on top of the layout so they don't look nearly as good as they will in real life.

Come See Me

Come See Me is a 10-day festival in our city. It is, by far, one of my favorite things about the city of Rock Hill. I love it and look forward to it every year! Unfortunately, due to some poor weather on the "main" day of the festival, we didn't do nearly as much with it as we normally do.

However, Matt & I did attend the Beach Bash which is a big street party type thing downtown, with a band playing beach music (no pictures from this). This is the big "kick off" event every year. Then, the big event that closes out the event, is tailgating and fireworks. We took Spencer to this, as you can see in the pictures. We grilled hamburgers, hung out with friends, the boys played some football, and eventually, after dark there were great fireworks. Earlier on, Matt and Spencer threw the football a lot but Spencer finally worked up the nerve to play with other kids.





This is our friend Scott, wrestling with Spencer.

Rio

This is the one member of our family that doesn't get enough attention on my blog. I was just snapping some shots of Rio the other day for no particular reason. How about that big 'ole tongue???

My nephew's confirmation

Last Sunday, my 13-year-old nephew, Bo was confirmed. Here is a picture of him with his mom (my sister), and his dad. Spencer & I went to their church to see the service. Sorry, the picture is a little blurry.

To Serve & Protect

These are some photos from the day Matt was sworn in as an official officer for the Rock Hill Police Department (about two weeks ago). Spencer and I were both so proud of him! We had a little crowd there - me, Spencer, both of Matt's parents and my sister. It was done in the mayor's office at City Hall. I know it was hard for Matt to leave Probation/Parole after almost 10 years of service so I'm very proud of him!


This is Matt being sworn in by the Mayor and the Chief of Police.











As you can see, Spencer got some royal treatment while in the Mayor's office. He let Spencer sit at his desk, use the phone and all. It was too cute!!!









Here is the family after the ceremony.

Easter Sunday

Our Easter began with Spencer finding what the Easter Bunny had brought him - a basket full of candy and a few toys (and a clock - random, I know - but he loved it).










Next, we headed to church and then had lunch at Matt's parent's house - where we had his mom take a picture of us. Yes, Matt's head is a little chopped off, but trust me - this is high quality photography considering who took it. You should have seen her first try :)






After we got home, Spencer dyed Easter Eggs - which is always tons of fun!

Cousins

This layout was done as part of a Survivor challenge where certain items are sent to you and you have to use them. These things included:
flowers (2)
gems (10)
tags (small purple, larger patterned)
ribbon
tongue depresser
scrap of lime green paper

When I opened the package and saw what I had to work with, my immediate thought was "uh oh". I do not like the color purple, plus there were so many girly things like flowers and gems.

However, I love a good challenge. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself thoroughly enjoying the process of creating this page as things started to come together.

This picture of Spencer with my niece and nephew is almost a year old. I stepped out of my comfort zone by only using ONE photo when I had several. I converted it to B&W and sanded and inked the edges.

The scrap of lime green paper was SO bright. So, I layered vellum over it to better match my patterned paper (which I bought a long time ago because I loved it but had NO idea what I'd ever do with it).

The oval tags pull out to reveal journaling hidden behind the photo. It reads:
When the Moores are in town, a family gathering of some sort usually develops at Sherry's house. This weekend was no different. We celebrated Maggie's birthday and enjoyed each other's company. I really love when these casual evenings coincide with our weekends with Spencer so that he can play with his cousins in the wide open spaces available at Sherry's. On this particular evening, I wandered into the front yard to make sure all three kids were still alive and I found them playing on this rock (and Teddy hanging from a tree). And of course, my being the scrapbooker-at-heart, took this as the perfect photo opportunity. Only slightly annoyed, the kids obliged as I snapped several photos - mostly silly with a few attempts at serious. Though none of them turned out to be photo studio perfect, they are all perfect to me, showcasing their wonderful personalities and capturing the fun they were having that evening. Friday, May 13, 2005

One Last Hurrah (Waverly)

This layout was done as a sketch challenge. It was designed for 3 photos but I adapted it for 4 by cropping two horizontal shots to fit in the spot of one vertical. This was a "night out" with coworkers at my old job. I liked that the sketch incorporated a flower because I used to always joke that Waverly wasn't a good place for me to work because I don't care much for flowers in my home decor - and they use them on everything! This layout will go in my work album.


Journaling reads:
At the end of October, we got the disturbing news that our division of the company (Waverly), was being sold and we'd most likely lose our jobs. Surprisingly, my boss Ralph got me to organize a night out with some coworkers. It's unfortunate that it took this news to bring us together outside of the office, but better late than never, I suppose. It was a fun evening where we were able to enjoy each other's company and not focus on what the future might hold for each of us.

The little card behind the journaling pulls out and has the place, date, and list of people who were there.

Cards

After completing a layout yesterday, I made three cards out of the leftover supplies. I've only scanned 2 of them so far.

Two Layouts

I'm in an 8.5"x11" swap. I have only done two layouts so far. This first one if for myself. Journaling reads: "On New Years Eve, we had a mini Christmas celebration so we could exchange gifts with Dad, Cynthia, Michelle, Marion and Maggie. It was another fun holiday gathering. Dad & Cynthia got us all several cute Christmas ornaments, and also Dad gave his three daughters a great picture of our great grandmother and some copies of old family recipes. As you can see, Matt got a funny gift that now graces the garage entry to our house."

















This layout is for one of the swap participants, therefore no pictures. It looks a little crooked in the scan, but isn't in real life.

Dancin'...Shaggin' on the Boulevard

Matt and I have wrapped up our six weeks of beginner's shag lessons. We still have SO far to go but it was a ton of fun and I'm super glad we did it! I tell ya...dance lessons can be the death of a marriage if you aren't careful - ha ha! I'd love to take intermediate lessons at some point but we'll have to wait and see how Matt's schedule works out. We had one of the instructors snap these photos at the last class.

Pieces of my house...

As we have gone through the building and moving process, many folks have asked to see pictures of our new house. I am slowly getting around to it and here are a few more. Please keep in mind that things are still much more bland than I prefer, but we've only been here three months.

These first two photos are of our den, which is a sunken room. You can't see the two steps in these pictures, but you can see the little balcony which divides the room with the breakfast nook. We haven't really bought much furniture since moving so the sofas, chair, armoire, etc. are all existing stuff from the last house. However, it all seems much smaller in this house than it did before!

The picture over the fireplace in the first photo is old - my dad gave it to me as a college graduation gift. In the 2nd photo, you see three pictures. The far left and far right are both brand new. The middle one is an old picture that we had reframed to match the new ones. All four pictures are Charleston prints.

The walls of this room will be "latte" after the painter comes (a medium brown - kind of khaki). I do regret "committing" to a color with our sofas (green). Next time, I'll get something more neutral. Obviously we need window treatments too but I have NO idea what to get yet.

















This is the very bare guest room. The bed was the bottom bunk of Spencer's bed in the old house. Now he is just using the twin bed from the top bunk. A painting by my grandmother (deceased) is the inspiration for this room. I plan on painting the walls a color similar to the bedding (a teal/aqua blue). I will get a nicer comforter in dark brown and use those 2 colors throughout the room - which is the scheme of that picture (which is in bad shape and has to be rematted and framed). There is also a rocking chair in this room that you can't see. Obviously we have a long way to go in here. We did not have a guest room in the old house so we started from scratch 100% here.
















This is the tub in my master bath. It might seem boring but had to share a picture of it because it has become my little retreat. I used to NEVER take baths. I hated them and was always too wound to enjoy the attempt at relaxation. However, since moving I have learned to really love taking bubble baths. Usually, at least once a week, I will light all those candles (my favorite part), fill the bath with hot water and lots of bubbles, and climb in with a good book. I still can't enjoy it unless I'm doing something, like reading, but I really love this "me time" now. I do plan to paint the bathroom a gray color (seems odd, but saw a room online that I loved).















The last three pictures are all of Spencer's room. His room is definitely full. We had it painted in gamecock red (color of the comforter) in the last house but not sure what we'll do this time. The bedding is actually new - it was blue in the old room. His room used to just be a generic sports theme. Since moving, we turned it into a more focused Gamecocks room. The penants are ones I've collected for him along the way. Some are from local teams or events we've attended but many I've picked up on my travels with work. A lot of the gamecock stuff was Matt's when he was a little boy (the collage of stuff on the wall and some of the pillows on his bed).

When we moved we wanted Spencer to forfeit his bunk beds for 2 reasons. One, so he'd have more room (bottom bunk was a full size). Two, we could use the bottom bunk as a guest bed, as you saw above. The "deal" was that we'd get him a Gamecock comforter and Rio would get his own bed in Spencer's room -which you can see he has.

Here you see Spencer's desk (which he treasures), piled high with junk. Over that are shelves that contain all his trophies and awards (this is only 1/2 because many are at his mom's too). Then his TV armoire with pictures and things he's made on top. The rack on the right holds sports balls and equipments.

It's not much, but it's a peek into our house. We have SO far to go, it's scary at times. But I know that houses are not made into homes overnight! I will just take my time and enjoy the process of it all. Regardless of whether we have painted walls or dining room furniture, it's great to have a nice home that is large enough to have people over - and be proud of it. Thanks for taking the time to take a peek :)

Carolina Cup

Last weekend, Matt & I went down to Camden for the Carolina Cup (horse races). We've been in the past but not in the last few years. We had wonderful weather, which was great. I did bet some small money on the horses, but didn't win a dime!

These are the horses obviously... the people we go with have a great spot on the outer rail. I love that we actually can see the races!















These are some of the guys. The one in red is my husband, Matt. The one in yellow (on the bottom) is the guy who invited us to go them.
























This is me and Matt :)