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

Before and After

Greetings from the Rubber Room!

When I first started scrapbooking way back in the day, I started with 8.5"x 11". I was comfortable with that size. I'd work with that size for years when I was in Graphics with the military. All my friends and scrapbooking buddies were all doing 12"x12" and I sat in awe of all the gorgeous things they were doing. I didn't have room on my rectangular page, but remain true to my convictions...until I through my convictions to the wind and stepped out of my comfort zone. It was about the same time (I think) that CTMH stepped out of their comfort zone and converted all their wood mounted stamps to acrylics. Since then, I have slowly but surely converting my 8.5x11 pages to 12x12.

So here is the original page in the 8.5x11 format. It was one of the first pages I had ever scrapped.

Here is the page I just completed. This is in a 12x12 format. Same pictures, almost the same colors, but this time, I didn't hold back. I had so much fun creating this page. Papers and cardstock are from CTMH and paper flowers are from CTMH as well. Most of the other embellishments, I got from http://www.just4funcrafts.com/.

Jenn there at just4funcrafts is a gem to work with and so very very knowledgeable when it comes to any kind of paper crafting.

Thanks so much 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

Scrappin' Time

Hi again and welcome back to the Rubber Room!

Sundays have always been my solitude time. Once I get my son Kevin and his boys up, out the door and on their way to church by 9am, I need some sort of quiet time. This past Sunday was no different. I love it when the twins come on Thurdays and hate to see them go on Sundays...but Gamma needs her quiet time. KWIM?

This past Sunday was no different. I've been playing around with an idea in my head for the past few days. Sometimes, that drives me absolutely bonkers, till I can get it down on a layout. I don't do sketches very well and besides it doesn't help. Not until I take the time to pull papers out and the embellishments and ribbon and sit quietly and let the juices flow. Its not always that easy, but it sure beats the constant thinking about the layout. Once I get the idea of what I want to do with the layout...the rest just comes naturally.

So with all that said...here is the latest layout I just completed this past Sunday. Now the papers are CTMH and have been retired for a couple of years as well as some of the old B&T papers. But who cares how old the papers are, as long as the layout is done and into the album.

Now its time to do all those chores I have been putting off...

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time......

Happy Scrappin'!!

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

Workshop for July...

Happy Wednesday to you! Welcome back to the Rubber Room.

I thought I would share with you the layouts I just completed for this month's workshop. We're using CTMH's Blue Ribbon paper pack. The pictures are of my grandchildren, Deborah and Matthew.

Now when I have more than one child in a layout...I usually end up making the same layout for their book. So this is the case with these pictures. But on Matthew's layouts, I changed them up a bit. Instead of using a flower on his page...I used a star. And instead of using ric rac I used some star satin ribbon, I got from http://www.reasonableribbon.com/leribbon.com/. Now the flower I used on Deborah's second page, I got from my good friend JennD at http://www.just4funcrafts.com/. Now the little red flower in the middle of the sunflower circle came from Wal-Mart. I've had it in my stash just waiting to use it for something. I made chipboard buttons for the center of the big white flower.

The first two layouts are for Deborah's book. The second set is for Matthew's book. I'm not sure if I said that before.

Its a really simple design...had a blast putting it together.

So, until next time!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!
Inky Hugs,

Leanne

A Gift for a friend's birthday

Greetings once again from the Rubber Room!

As promised in my last post, I would share with you what I made my good friend for her birthday. It seemed my friend and I could never get together for about three weeks. Either she was too busy, or I had the twins. But it just didn't seem to want to work out. Well, one morning we were talking on the phone and telling each other what we had planned for the day. My friend mentioned she had so much to do around the house that she wasn't planning on going anywhere. I took that opportunity and thought to myself, this is the time to go for a visit. So about an hour later, I climbed into the truck and went for a visit to my friend's home. She was flabbergasted when she saw the gift. She absolutely loved it. That does the heart good!! So, now I can share with the rest of you, the gift I made my friend. I liked it so much, I am thinking on making one for myself and possibly making one for each of my kids for Christmas. If that is the case...I better get busy now!!

Not only was I able to get this gift over to my friend (even if it was past her birthday!!) I've been creating a couple of scrapbook pages. I've also been busy creating some cards. I just purchased a couple of Cuttlebug folders. I don't have the machine yet...but I thought I would try using the folders with my red original Sizzix machine and converter. I do have to say...I think the bug has bitten me. So, here are a couple of cards I've made in the past couple of days.

These are the two cards I created with my new Cuttlebug folders and current papers from the summer catalog for Close To My Heart.

So, until next time!

Happy Scrappin'!

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

Time Flies between Posts

Greetings once again from the Rubber Room!!

I do have to apologize for not posting sooner. This past month (June) just flew by. I've been busy creating, which I'll share here shortly. We also celebrated my grandchildren, Deborah's and Matthew's birthday this month. Deborah turned six and Matty turned four. Oh my how time does fly by!! My husband also celebrated his birthday this month as well. So, we had one big celebration one Saturday to celebrate everyone's birthday at once. I also had two really good friends celebrate their birthday too. So, you can see, with all the birthday's this month, I've been quite busy.

When I heard a surprise party was planned for my good friend, Jennifer...I wanted to make something I thought she might enjoy having. What do you give to someone who probably has everything and could probably make it if she didn't have it? I haven't made one of these in forever, but I thought she might like to have one. Jenn mentioned she LOVES CTMH's Boom Di Ada papers, so with that in mind...this is what I made for her.

Here are the two cards I made for Deborah and Matthew. As they were leaving that night we celebrated their birthday, giving hugs and kisses to all, Deborah yells out..."Wait, I need my card!!" and the copy cat Matthew is...he blurts out the same. Made Gamma feel might special they loved their cards so much.

Matthew's Card

Deborah's Card

Then we had a few graduations this year. My niece, Amy is graduating, DH's niece, Alyssa is graduating from High School and my great niece, Tarrin is graduating from high school as well.

This is the card I made for all of them. Now, just to get them in the mail.

That's not all what I did last month. As you all know, I have a monthly workshop here in my home, the last Tuesday of the month. In the month of June, we did a two page layout using CTMH's Boom Di Ada Papers. The pictures I used were of all four of my grandchildren. But when I take pictures of all four of them together...you know what that means don't you? I have to do a 2 page layout for each of their albums. So, I did two of the 2 page layouts using the Boom Di Ada papers and two of the 2 page layouts using the Magic Moments kit that CTMH had as a special for National Scrapbook Month. I used the same pictures for all the layouts and even used the same sketch for "Imagine." It was strange doing the Magic Moments layouts. I am use to cutting and gluing paper down before putting photos down on the layout. These preprinted layout pages are so easy to work with. I thoroughly enjoyed doing these pages for the twins. I may have to try doing more of these preprinted page or Level 1 kits more often.

Without further ado...here are the layouts for the month of June 2008.

These are for Deborah's book.



These are for Matthew's book. Notice how I changed it a bit. I took out the flowers and added stars and buttons instead.




These are the Magic Moments preprinted layouts. This two page layout will go into Jaden's 2008 album.




These pages are for Benny's 2008 album.



Well, as you can see, I've been quite busy. I have one more piece of artwork to share, but until my friend receives it, I won't be able to share till she does.



Thanks for stopping by. Please take a moment and add a comment or two. I'd like to know what you think.



Until next time,

Inky Hugs,

Leanne