I am old enough to have a 16 year old...

"Do you remember...the 21st night of September..." blah blah blah...the song is called Dancing in September by Earth Wind and Fire and I love it so much I use it a Zumba warm-up song. Anyhow, instead of the old "sweet sixteen" SB title, I decided to go a little more creative. I still can't believe my boy is 16 years old. Where, oh where has my little boy gone??? Don't ya love Anthony's smile :-)

My first attempt at Hybrid scrappin'

This is one of my favorite shots of Nina! During one gorgeous summer morning the girls went outside on the backyard deck and started spraying each other with spray bottles...sadly it was the closest they came to water most of the summer! I guess you can get really creative when money's tight...anyhow, Nina got cold and put on her winter jacket - I thought it was definitely a "kodak moment"!

This is also my first digital LO (used Picasa 3)- which I didn't do much except add text to the picture and blew it up to 8 x 10. I noticed it didn't need much to complement it - so I used the challenge to use an old tool with a new tool; my new tool was my Bazzill In-Stitches templates and the old tool was my Dell printer (which I discovered it prints pretty dang good pictures after having it for 4 years now...).

Zumba anyone?

I saw this paper and I thought it'd be perfect for my picture from the Toledo Press article on Zumba. I'm just getting used to doing LO's on myself - it still feels kind of weird?

This challenge was to use one embellishment and mine was, of course, a couple of Primas :-)

This is a shot of my favorite flower, the Orange Lily...I know it's not much of a layout - but that's the joy of it all...simplicity. This picture was taken from the gardens at the Toledo Z0o (a favorite place of mine). The SB challenge was to create a layout of one of my favorite things...well, here's one of 'em!

Anthony and his "groupies"...

Here are the beautiful Campbell girls, Stephanie and Jessica, from Cranberry Township, PA. They are some of Anthony's greatest friends. Anthony had a wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of his summer with them at EFY (Especically For Youth) in Grandville, OH and then he went to their Youth Stake Conference in Pittsburgh. I used to visit teach the girls' mom, Susan - she is a wonderful, strong lady and a great mom to her girls. Stephanie and Jessica are close in age like my girls, Kyra and Nina and I hope they have a close relationship always just like the Campbell Girls.

The challenge for this was to scraplift a sketch that was posted on the gettinsketchy blog. The swirls in the upper left are a stamp and I cut them out. The titles I've used on my pages so far are mostly from my Cricut (thanks Arlene!) my most beloved scrapbooking possesion - right alongside my Prima's of course :-)

My Darling Little Baby, Nina!

This was Nina's first day of preschool at the YMCA. She loves it! Her classes are:
-Kids in the Kitchen
-Playtime Theater
-Preschool Picasso.
It helps that I get a 50% discount there so it's affordable. The joy in this is that I can study while she's in class. Bliss, I tell ya!
The scrap challenge for this was to have a border on all sides and embellish it. The paper came like it - it was an expensive, but worth it. I can't imagine messing with Stickles and a template for that look! I bought a Bazzill In-Stitches Alphabet sewing template at Archivers and used it for title Nina. I think that embroidery stuff on paper is just the coolest look! I 'm currently obsessing on getting some more my next visit to Archivers (love that store!).

Aunt Ven

This is my sweet sister-in-law, Vanetta. Ven is busy renovating their new house...ugh, I can't imagine the work they're doing, but I know it'll look great when they're all done. These pictures are from 2005 when we lived in Pennsylvannia. We just love her and miss her, Uncle Tim and the boys.

*Side note: the background to my title was a coaster from my Marriot Hotel bathroom in Columbus, OH that we stayed at for our 14th anniversary...I will have a smile on my face every time I look at this layout :)