Spencer's Tree

Spencer has always had his own mini tree in his room with a few ornaments. But this year, he upgraded to a 5' artifical tree. He was quick to steal all the cool ornaments - the ones he's made. His tree also includes the ornaments he's picked out himself over the years, as well as the special ones Matt & I buy him each year - the "son" ornament from Hallmark and one ornament that represents his year. He was very proud and excited to have this tree in his room.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went to Matt’s parents’ for lunch. His brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece (and her boyfriend) were also there. It was great to see his niece again – our first time since she left for her freshman year at of college. We enjoyed some great food, a few games of pool and quality family time.

1st picture: Spencer, me & Matt

2nd picture: Spencer & his two cousins (I was playing around and felt like changing this one to sepia - might do them both that way when I actually scrap them)

Rio's Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving, Spencer asked if it was OK to give Rio some Frosty Paws ice cream. Of course I said it was fine. Besides, it was Thanksgiving. If we get to enjoy good food, shouldn’t Rio too? He made a mess, but definitely enjoyed the treat and was adorable with bits of ice cream on his nose.

Bragging Rights are ours again...

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post this...

Saturday was the "big game" in the state of South Carolina. University of South Carolina Gamecocks (good team) and Clemson University Tigers (bad team) battle it out in the last game of the regular football season for one purpose - state bragging rights.

After four years of losses and heads hanging in shame, the Gamecocks pulled off a WIN!!! The game was an awesome nailbiter with the win coming down to the very last few seconds, a tied game and a missed field goal by Clemson that cost them the game.

My sister sent me this picture that she got in an email. I wasn't at the game but it's nice to have this photo.

GO COCKS!!!!

November Book Project

Spencer has finished up his November Book Project. He had to cut out pictures from a magazine to represent each year of his life. Then he had to write a paragraph about his life and put them all in a paper bag. Here he is working on it and then the finished project.

Christmas Planning Folder

I made this Christmas Planning Folder for myself. I glued together 3 plain file folders. Then I covered them in cardstock and patterned paper, added embellishments and tabs. I also used patterned paper to make smaller pockets in each section. It's all held together with a ribbon so my goodies don't fall out.

The three sections are decorations, gifts, and entertaining. I keep my lists, recipes, ad clippings, etc all in here. Lovin' it! I'm organized but it's cute too!

Halloween Cards

OK, a little out of season but these are two cute Halloween cards that my mom had sent to us and Spencer.

In Spencer's Words

This was done for a challenge to use someone else's handwriting. This is for my Christmas album and is from 2004. The first handwriting sample is what Spencer wrote about his Christmas that year (for school). Bottom left is Spencer's letter to Santa. Bottom right is Santa's letter to Spencer (yes, he writes back!). The small newspaper clipping is from a l0cal paper that prints what the local students write to Santa. (I'd like to point out that the 2 letters from Santa are totally different!).

The title was done with fabric paint on a trandsparency. I printed the title in a child like font and then traced over it with the paint.



Supplies:
Patterned Paper - Basic Grey
Punctuation stamps - Heidi Swap
Ink - Staz On
"Santa" - Kaleidoscope
"Ho Ho Ho" - ?

Bradley

This was for a challenge to do a layout about a life-long love...and I chose my teddy bear, Bradley. The layout shows a picture of me when I was 10 and I got the bear on Christmas morning. Then about 7 years later, posing with the bear in one of my senior portraits (at my mom's request). He still sits with me daily in my scrapbook room :)

The visible journal is the basic story of Bradley. Then there is hidden journaling that is actually a paper I wrote about the bear in high school for a Creative Writing class assignment. I will tuck the original paper behind the layout.

Supplies:
Patterned paper - Kaleidoscope
Chipboard letter - Making Memories
Inks - Ink It Up
Ribbon - ?
Bracket stamp - Heidi Swapp

?

I did this for a challenge to do a layout with the theme of waiting (from Elsie's book). I know it's pretty boring, but the big question mark opens up to reveal journaling about whether Matt & I are going to have children of our own.

Supplies:
Papers - Kaleidoscope
Pinking shears
Clay heart made by my mom
*I printed the question mark backwards on the back of my patterned paper and then cut it out.

Game Shows?

I find it interesting that there are a ton of new game shows on primetime TV all at once. I know it's November sweeps, so I guess they get good ratings. Anyway, I fell in love with 1 vs. 100 which started several weeks ago. Now I'm watching Show Me The Money, which I thought might be stupid. However, I must admit that I'm enjoying it. I think William Shatner is a hoot (love him on Boston Legal). Plus they've done a good job of getting contestants with a lot of personality. I love most game shows so I'm fine with the new lineup. I still enjoy a good episode of Wheel of Fortune.

Lazy 5 Ranch - last ones!

These are the last ones, I promise :)

Here is the zebra and a random photo I took of the horseshoes. I want to enlarge one and print it for framing in my scrapbooking room (western theme). I LOVE IT!

Lazy 5 Ranch - even more...

And yet some more...

Spencer feeding a llama. The pond and barn area - very pretty. A very tired looking rhino.

Lazy 5 Ranch - more

Here are some more shots. Look at the precious mom and baby! The pig - not so precious. And then another unidentifiable creature...

Lazy 5 Ranch

Saturday we took Spencer to the Lazy 5 Ranch which is super cool. You drive through in your car with a bucket of food and feed all the animals that are just wandering the property. They come right up to your car and are not shy. They stick their heads way in your car to get the food or just to check you out. I just had to share some of the cool pictures. I must confess that there are several animals that I can't even identify. The emus were particularly creepy. But I really liked the llamas and some other horned animal (last photo - gazelle, maybe?). The deer were beautiful but a bit shy. The giraffe were in a fenced area but they were so gorgeous!

Two more pictures...

Here are a couple more pictures...
One is of Spencer in his (creepy) Halloween costume. The other is of Spencer's class when they did the book presentations (also on Halloween).

I voted...

I voted...did you?

Movies

I recently watched two movies. The first is kind of embarrasing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was The Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray (even more embarrasing is the fact that I knew both of their names without reading the movie's credits or consulting a website). I love cheesy teeny-bopper romantic comedies like this. This one was very good, but 10 Things I Hate About You still takes the cake.

The other movie was Under the Tuscan Sun, starring Dianne Lane - a little more grown-up. This was a pretty good one and definitely made me want to visit Italy even more than I already did.

I love DVRing (is that a word?) movies like this and watching them when Matt's not around!

Layout - Art

This layout was created for me by Melissa at Scrappin' Fun. It, too, is for Spencer's school album.

Layout - Thanksgiving

This layout was created for me by Melissa at Scrappin' Fun. This is for Spencer's school album - Thanksgiving in Kindergarten.

Swap Layouts - 8.5x11 Kraft

These are my layouts for the 8.5"x11" Kraft Swap at Scrappin' Fun. I still have time for adjustments so if anyone wants changes, please let me know!

Amanda:




















Melissa:




















Jill, Lynnise & Dianne - your layouts are all similar to this:




















Carrie - I didn't have much direction with yours and this was my 2nd try at it. I didn't like the first. please let me know if you want me to change it.

Layout - Kindergarten Teachers

I scraplifted this layout from one I saw at 2Peas. This is for Spencer's school album - his Kindergarten teachers.

Supplies:
Title sticker - Reminisce
Patterned Paper - Doodlebug (black stripe); Pebbles, Inc (letters & white stripe)
Red snaps
Black Staz On ink pad

Layout - Front Street

This layout was created for me by Tammy in a swap at Scrappin' Fun. This is the house I grew up in. I added some hidden journaling behind the photo (top piece of ribbon acts as a "pull"). It was a tight squeeze but I was able to get all my memories tucked back there!

Layout - King of the Yard (PageMaps)

This is a layout for Rio's 8"x8" album. It was created based on one of the new "minimaps" at PageMaps. It is also featured on their website- here.

Supplies:
Patterned paper & diecut - My Minds Eye
Title Sticker - Sticko, EK Success
Ribbon - unknown
Font - SP My First Kiss

Layout - Festive for Fall (PageMaps)

This is a layout about my fall decorations. It was created based on one of the new "MiniMaps" at PageMaps. It is also featured on their website - here.


Supplies:
Patterned paper - unknown
Sticker - Karen Foster
Ribbon - unknown
Rubon letters - Heidi Swapp

Layout - Christmas Cousins

This layout was created for me by Tammy in a swap at Scrappin' Fun. This is Spencer with his two cousins (on Matt's side) on Christmas Day last year.

Layout - Christmas Brothers

Jill, at Scrappin' Fun, was nice enough to pass on this unneeded layout. She knew my Christmas album was this size and thought I might be able to use it. I chose this picture of Matt and his brother from last Christmas. I'm thinking of adding the word "Brothers" under Christmas...

Layout - Christmas

This layout was created for me by Jill in a swap at Scrappin' Fun. This is just a random picture of Spencer on Christmas Day last year. I probably wouldn't have scrapped it but when I saw this layout, I knew it was a perfect fit!

Layout - Melissa Stacks

This layout was created for me by Dianne in a swap at Scrappin' Fun. This is for my "Book of Me". This layout is about one of my close friends from college. The hidden journaling talks about how we met, our friendship, etc. Purple is her favorite color so this is the perfect layout for her.

Layout - The Ugly Years

This layout was done for me by Dianne in a swap at Scrappin' Fun. This is basically a recap of middle school. This was the only school photo I could find. I consider these three years "The Ugly Years" by far. The hidden journaling basically talks about middle school - teachers, friends, etc. Because my picture was an odd size, I added the large white flower accent to fill up some of the extra space.

Layout - King of the Day

This layout was done for me by Jill in a swap at Scrappin' Fun. It's for Spencer's school album. This is when he was "King of the Day" at the beginning of his Kindergarten year. We took the larger picture at home with his "crown" and the smaller one is from school. It wasn't very good quality so I just printed it small and tucked it in the border.

Layout - Back to School

This is a layout of Spencer's first day of school (First Grade). I think everything is pretty self-explanatory here...

Supplies:
Title stickers - Daisy D's
Definition sticker - Lil Davis Designs
Font - AL Hairbrained