Mojave Mustangs 1999

Happy Fabulous Friday to you!

I thought I would share with you the layouts we are doing this month for our monthly scrapbooking workshop. I have attempted quite a few times to do these layouts of my DS Kevin, and nothing seemed to come together. Have you ever had troubles like this? But when CTMH introduced their paper pack of "Game On," my troubles were over and prayers had been answered. I love the fact that most of the B&T papers are so neutral, you can add almost any color. Luckily enough, Mojave High's school colors are red and gray. It just really ties the whole layout together. Kevin only ran track for just one year...his junior year. I asked him why he didn't go out for track in his senior year, his reply was, "I couldn't go out and there and give it my all without Corey being there!" Corey was a good friend of Kevin's. We lost Corey in the fall of their senior year in an automobile accident. The loss of just a terrific athelete and friend to so many was felt that whole school year.

I am including both pages here separately so you can see each one a bit more closely. It was so much fun doing these pages for Kevin. As I was working on them, Kevin and I spent alot of time remembering those years he spent at Mojave High School. Go Mustangs!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'!!

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

I can see clearly now!

Greetings once again from the Rubber Room!

Well, not this time! This time we are coming to you from the kitchen/dining room! DH and I talked about this for quite some time. I had asked him a while ago...what do you think of taking down that cupboard above the sink. Its always in the way. My children complain about bumping their heads on it. Its awkward to do the dishes with there. So, I threw the idea out to him. His come back was something I hadn't thought all the way through. What do we do with the items in the cupboard. It holds all my crystal and silver pieces. Its nice from the diningroom perspective, to see all the pretty crystal and silver, but not from the kitchen. The only useful thing about that cupboard was it held some medication there and kept out of the reach of the little ones. Well, I was able to find a new home for the meds. So, I thought and thought and thought (similar to Winnie the Pooh and his "Think, Think, Think") and I came up with a solution. It took some reorganizing on our part, but that didn't take too long. So, one Saturday afternoon, once the twins went down for a nap. The doors came off on both sides and with DS Kevin, and myself holding onto this big oak cabinet, DH unscrewed each of the 8 six inch screws holding the cupboard in place. I thought my arms were going to fall off, but it came down successfully and without incident. So this is the beginning of our kitchen remodel. It may take up forever to complete, but I am so happy to have such an open area. I can look out to the diningroom and feel like I can be part of what's going on and not always stuck in the kitchen. I have taken a couple of before and after pictures that I'll share.

This picture was taken from the kitchen looking out into the diningroom, before the cupboard was taken down.

This picture was taken from the diningroom looking into the kitchen before we took the cupboard down.

So, now that the cupboard is all emptied out and everything is either on the counter or on the diningroom table...this is what it looks like without the cupboard there.

Here's another photo from a different perspective. This is looking out from the kitchen to the diningroom. Don't worry, my windows don't always have towels on them. I just ordered some new curtains to put up there.

Here's looking out from the kitchen to the diningroom/livingroom area.

Well, that's about it. Our time here is just about up! Thank you so much for stopping by! I enjoyed having you visit. Please feel free to leave a comment, I just love reading them.

So, until next time,

Happy Scrappin'

Inky Hugs and Smiles!

Leanne

Gotcha!!!!

The year was 1971, I was a sophmore at William Woods College, in Fulton, Missouri. I had come home on for spring break. This picture to the right was taken at Christmas a few month's earlier. I thought it would be fun to play this game with my brothers. You know how fun it is to tease and make fun of them...it was always a blast to get into their heads! I had two younger brothers, Skip and Jeff. Jeff is the one in the front. Don't you just love his fashion sense? :) Skip is the third one back, standing behind our mother.
I apologize for the poor picture quality, I had taken this picture out of our father's picture album (the magnetic sheet kind) and I did my best to restore it.

Anyhow, sorry, I keep getting side tracked. So, when I came home, I told my brothers I had this game. But if I explained the game and the rules, they had to agree to play it. There was to be no cheating, no fighting about it. Oh BTW, this two were great at fighting...if one even looked at the other the wrong way, they were in a knock down drag em out fight. I had their solemn oath, that no fighting, cheating or anything else would go on. They were to conduct themselves in good sportsmanship manner. LOL Yeah right and if you believe that...I have some land in Florida to sell, called the Everglades! LOL

Ok...back to my story...so here's the game:

One participant was to form an "O" with their fingers. Kinda like the sign "A Ok"! The other participant was to try to stick their index finger into the center of the finger forming "O". The finger forming "O" had to be below the waist. It could be on your knee, on your leg, over your eyes, if you were laying down on the floor. It just had to be below the waist. I could see the wheels turning in my brothers' heads and them thinking...Oh good another way to pummel that little &^#$ *^(^#$. They thought that game sounded like so much fun. They both heartily agreed to participate in the game. So, every time I would come home, the game started up. Little did I know, to me it was starting up, to them, it was one continuous game...it never ceased. To my understanding, they (my brothers) drove our mother practically to the brink. She would trip over them as she tried to get dinner one night and they were sprawled out all over the floor. Turn around and there they were playing this game.

So, every time I would go home, (to me) the game would start up. We would try to get so creative in how we presented our fingers. Even though our mother didn't like tripping over the boys in her kitchen or almost falling down the stairs because of this game...as soon as the game started up, she would laugh and laugh and laugh. I think we continued the game just to keep her entertained! LOL

As we (or should I say I) got older, we (I) would continue to think of more creative ways to get the boys to look at my fingers shaped "O". One year, my husband and I would at the county fair. There was a booth that did hand cravings. I can't remember all that went on to make it, but it was plastic and your choice of red, green, blue, or yellow. You had to stick your hand into a vat and pull it out or something like that. Well, I did it and you guessed it...my hand dipped into this plastic vat with my hand and fingers in the shape of an "O." I did two of them...one I sent to Jeff and the other I sent to Skip. I also made coffee cups with the fingers shaped "O" on it for both of them. Unfortunately, one of the cups was broken in one of our moves, so there is only one now in existence. That's it, picture above.

We have had so much fun playing this game over the years. I've taught it to my husband (he doesn't play it right!), to my children, to coworkers, to friends. As my brothers have taught it to their loved ones and their coworkers and their friends. Can you imagine? A construction site with a bunch of guys trying to get the others to look at the finger shaped "O" fingers. Or even trying to stick their index finger in the finger shaped "O?" I can't wait to try teaching it to my grandchildren!!!

Now, now, quit scratching your head trying to figure out why I decided to tell this story today of all days? Well, this weekend, my older younger brother Skip, decided to go pay my younger younger brother Jeff a visit. They did some touring around the area. And low and behold...look
what they decided to send me!!!

Gotta Love Em!!!! After all, they're family!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So until next time!!

Gotcha!! :)

Happy Scrappin"!!

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

The Creative Process Continues...

Greetings once again from the Rubber Room!

After all the writing I did yesterday, that "mother's" voice kept whispering in my ear. So, I decided to shut the old girl up, I started tidying up the rubber room. I also promised my daughter Kelli, I would watch the children for the afternoon. I was focused on getting things cleaned up in here and getting the dining room table cleared, I really didn't want anymore distractions. But afterall, a promise is a promise! Right?

So, I did what any Gamma would do...made a game out of cleaning up Gamma's room. I had paper flowers that needed to sorted, I had a bowl full of buttons that had to be separated, papers to files, and patterned paper to sorted and pulled. I had Deborah go through the bowl of buttons and sort them in a small plastic tray, putting like colors together. I thought that would be an easy job for a 6 year old. Then I had Matthew, sort through the paper flowers and put same colors together. There wasn't much to do there and he did an outstanding job. He was done before Deborah was, so I had him take the little silk flowers off the stems and put into a small plastic container and throw the stems away. The total amount of time on this project took us about 2 hours. How wonderful, two hours of children getting along, being happy and just being kids. I got my papers sorted and filed. We got a lot accomplished in that tiny bit of time. We rewarded ourselves with watching a couple of episodes of "Dora!"

Then it was time to go home. Their mother came by to pick up the children, and they were just so excited about all the fun things they did that day. Of course, Kelli said, probably the same thing all mothers say..."Why can't you do that at home?" I can answer that dear! Its more fun at Gamma's!!! LOL

So now with the rubber room all neat and tidy, and the dining room table all cleaned off...I just may start on a new project. Unfortunately, the laundry is now whispering in my ear. But I do the laundry and play at the same time! I don't do well with multi-tasking, but this I can do. The twins will be here later on this evening after church...and I'll be ready for them!! LOL

Thanks so much for permitting me into your busy day and letting me ramble on a wee bit more.
Until next time,
Happy Scrappin'!!!
Inky Hugs
Leanne

The Creative Process

Greetings once again from the Rubber Room!

Let me ask you something...how do you plan out your pages? Do you go through that whole roll of film and assigned papers and embellishments to it? Or do you purchase papers first and then look to see what photos will go nicely with them? Where do you normally find your inspiration? How do you determine which photos to scrap and which ones you don't?

Have you sat back and wondered why you do some of the things you do? Oh, I question it all the time! I tried planning out pages for the photos I had, but I change my mind too many times. So, my biggest rule of thumb for me is....go with your instincts. Go with the first thought that pops into your head. I'll be at my LSS and looking at all the papers, and if something or some photos I know I have, pops immediately into my head, I'll usually purchase those papers. Same thing goes when I am browsing the internet.

But then, here is where it gets messy!!

I have my papers! I have my photos!! Now...what stamps coordinate with these papers? What stickers, what ribbons, what embellishments, what rub-ons do I have that I can use? At this point, I am on a mission, seek out and destroy!! Seek out all things possible to use on this page and destroy the rubber room doing so. If I don't destroy it before, its the clean up that's the killer.

Now, with all that said, I have destroyed the rubber room and the dining room table. In case you don't know, I have to share my rubber room with my twin grandsons. They usually arrive here on Thursday and leave on Sunday to go back to their mother. I do my best to keep this room as neat and tidy as possible, just to keep little sticky fingers out of things they shouldn't be messing with. But even that has fallen by the wayside this past couple of weeks.

Now, you're probably are saying to yourself, it can't be all that bad. Believe me when I say its bad...its just that BAD! Then you're probably saying, then clean it up Gamma! YUCK!!! I love a clean house, but hate to clean...I love to organize, but it never stays that way! Have you ever said this to yourself?

I am just pumped at wanting to keep on with creating more scrapbook pages, that I don't want to be bothered, tidying up. But, that "mother's" voice is going off in my head. Do it now...get it done and then you can play.

So, if you've read everything to this point...thanks!

Let me share my latest page. Its going to be the intro page to my granddaughter's first year album. Its her ultra sound photo, telling her parents to expect a little girl! Papers are from a slab from Colorbok, "Dena's Closet." Stamps are from Close To My Heart, Quilt Sampler (retired) and It's a Girl (retired). These are both wood mounted stamps...it was strange using woodies after using the acrylics for so long. Most of the embellishments either came from my stash or was included in the paper slab.

Thanks so much for letting me just ramble on and for stopping by. Don't forget to leave a comment of two about the artwork you see here. I love hearing from all of you!
So, till next time....
Happy Scrappin'!!
Inky Hugs
Leanne