How to make a page kit

Page kits are just a way to put together a bit of this and a bit of that and know it will work together, which also makes it possible to work more quickly at a crop because you’ve already made those decisions of what to scrap and with what supplies.

I start off with what pictures I plan on using and add things from there.

 I look for pattern paper I want to use or an idea of what I want the layout to look like. In this case I started with paper.

 I then found a page (map, template, photo from a magazine) layout I wanted to use.

 Using the page map as a guide I gathered embellishments, ink and ribbon.

 I then put everything into a 2 gallon plastic bag. The whole process for me took maybe 5 minutes. And now I will not be hunting through my crop bag looking for an embellishment. I know exactly where to start. I would recommend making about 10 to 15 of these if you are a fast scrapbooker maybe more. You may or may not get through them all but they already to go for the next crop.

 

 Here are a few websites to get page layout ideas from:

http://www.pagemaps.com/jpegarchives.htm

http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/layouts/

http://inspiredblueprints.typepad.com/

Contest LO

I made this LO using a sketch from Carrie On Crafts. Carrie always has great Lo's to take inspiration from so make sure you stop by often to check them out.....

Last Weekend

I am posting again in the same week!!! Can you believe it? So Last weekend our little family took a jaunt to a roadside museum, called Applegate Trail Interpretive Center. During the summer Kyler and I went to Coos Bay and on the way home Kyler needed to use a restroom. We were only 16 miles from home but when you gotta go you gotta go. We stopped in Sunny Valley to use the restroom facilities and I saw a for  the Applegate Trail Interpretive Center. I told Kyler that we should check it out sometime.


Here is there website:
http://www.rogueweb.com/interpretive/

We were all very impressed by how well done the place was for being off the beaten path in a small little town like Sunny Valley. Kyler was free and Dan and I were 6.00 dollars each. They had a ton of displays and a 3 screen movie room with a movie that was filmed on the property. We really enjoyed ourselves.

We also walked down to the covered bridge at nearby Grave Creek. Grave Creek was named after Martha Leland Crowley, 16 years old died of typhoid fever during an 1846 encampment and was buried 150 feet north of the creek.

 

It was a fun little 2 hour excursion. And Kyler got to pick out 2 rocks from the gift shop and the tour guide gave him a buffalo nickle what could be more exciting to a 7 year old boy?!?

One more thing.....

Tonight for dinner we are having my most favorite Pot Roast. I love LOVE love this recipe the only thing I change is that I use canned diced tomatoes instead of plum because I always have canned on hand:

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 (4-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
• 2 cups coarsely chopped onion
• 2 cups low-salt beef broth
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup chopped plum tomato
• 1 1/4 pounds small red potatoes
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan, browning on all sides (about 8 minutes). Remove from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until browned. Return roast to pan. Combine broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire; pour over roast. Add tomato; bring to a simmer.
• Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until tender. Add potatoes and carrots; cover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in lemon juice. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Long time....

I know, I know, I know but I just can't seem to blog these days. Today however I am home with no little boy or darling husband around and I just feel like posting some of my layouts from the past year that I haven't shared.

I know I have made more but (like my blog) I haven't scanned all of them. Maybe I'll have more for you in another 6 month! :)

Yes I Made it! and a giveaway!

I made it on the design team at Sketches 2 Scrapbook... More about that soon. But since I am feeling pretty lucky these days. I am going to try for this giveaway at Mel's for some fun chipboard check it out.

http://melodysmagicalmoments.blogspot.com/2011/04/and-my-blog-sponsor-is.html#comments

Trying out for a design team. More details to come...

Its difficult..

 To keep up with this blog and facebook. And now that I have Elements 9 I can post photos right to facebook well that just makes it too easy to forget you little bloggy blog. Here are a few pictures from the month of December. We had a busy month with the holidays and photo shoots and a new baby great niece Emma.

I will try to be a better blogger but really I am not sure if that will happen...

Where oh where has Mary gone...

I have been a busy bee, I have had a steady flow of photography jobs and was working full time for the first part of November. One of the photography jobs was from Make a Wish see the link here... http://www.orwish.org/make-a-wish/foundation/of_oregon/C166/ then I have had a few senior picture sessions, a few family sessions and I think that is all.

I have also been busy working on scrapbook stuff to sell at a local bazaar...

Dan and I have also been busy with the scrapbook room. We have finished putting all the seams and screw heads and primer-ed the walls, the next step is to texture the walls which I think we will be doing this weekend. Then we have painting the walls, lighting, flooring and trim. Then of course the moving in...

And Kyler he is doing great... he is learning to read which is really exciting and he enjoys listening to me read every night. He has a Christmas program next week that's Hawaiian Christmas themed.

 Last week we got our Christmas decorations out....

Halloween

We won't at all talk about how much of a bad blogger I am or that the pictures I am about to post are already on facebook. Not at all! 

So here is my handsome boy helping me carve our one pumpkin this year. I love living out in our little patch of woods here but the one bad part is that no one ever trick or treats us. And I for some reason like handing out candy and decorating. But those pumpkins are lot of work for just use to enjoy. So this year we only got one and it was wonderful! I let Kyler pick out the design. 

He chose a shadow one.

With rats on the front a cat on the back.

Yesterday we went to the down town trick or treating with Kirra. Kyler dressed up as Ghostbuster this year and got lots of comments from parents. Some kids did know what he was but all of the parents did. I went as the Statue of Liberty I don't know that many people got the Ghostbuster's Statue of Liberty reference.

Brithday

Kyler turned 6th in September and the presents just keep coming.
He celebrated with a Tom and Jerry Birthday party. The weather could not decide whether or not to cooperate so we had the party inside, it was tight quarters but I think everyone still had a good time.