May 27, 2011

Can't Resist a Trail




Just a quick update today before we leave for the weekend! This page uses the May Crate sketch and is all about my love of hiking. When we're camping, visiting a state park, where ever you see the little hiking man sign, I just have to follow the path. Have to know what's around the next corner and how long it'll take me to get there. Even if we're in flip flops and shorts and forgot the insect repellant. Can't resist it.

Hope your holiday is splendid!

May 24, 2011

Taking Flight - Sew Convert's Resort Top

Have you been following along with Grosgrain's free pattern month? There are so many great patterns/tutorials by some of the top DIY bloggers out there. I have several of the bookmarked for *one day* but had a chance to create The Sew Convert's Resort Top this weekend. You can get the instructions here. This is my version...




Ideally worn with slim white capris and maybe some brown platform wedges. (Have been forever searching for the perfect white pants.) This is really more loose and flowy than something I would normally wear but it'll be a perfect cover up for summer evenings and cooler days out on the boat.

Am not sure about the material. It's a kind of crumpled linen. Very lightweight. The bias trim gives it a small shot of color. This was super easy to make and doesn't require a pattern. The shape is basically a round table cloth with the neck cut out. You should totally try it out - the hardest/longest part was ironing the bias tape.

It's cloudy today and the rain has started. Think I'll go snuggle on the couch with the little ones.

PS. A huge thanks to everyone who stopped by to share congratulations on my big news from Sunday. I am still reeling with excitement! xoxoxo

May 23, 2011

Beautiful, Amazing


Here's a page I put together Saturday night using a Sketchabilities sketch + Lawn Party kit. Diane Payne had a challenge up to go outside your box; to not do the things you typically do on a layout. I skipped the stitching, the butterflies and the white border around the photo. And yes all of those things would have been perfect here but I still like the page without it.

The pics here are from a stop we made at the hedge maze in Winterset. None of the leaves were established yet so you could see through but the kids had tons of fun running through and running into dead ends anyhow.



And here is the rub-on I added at the last minute and could not for the life of me remove! I did however remove some of the paper behind it. Careful consideration next time.


Saturday day, there was a family day at the Wildwood Hills Ranch where the kids could ride horses, fish, paddle boat, ride in a covered wagon and play games. We did all of the above and a little hiking too.


Miss Rora was so excited to ride the horse but she was trying to hold it all in. You can see in this pic how hard she was trying to keep that little smile from escaping. So funny. Such a cutie.

That's all for today. I finished a beachy top last night and am hoping to get some pictures taken after the kids wake up this afternoon. Hope to share it tomorrow. bye

May 22, 2011

PS... I ♥ Clearsnap!


The official announcement has been made so I guess it's okay to share the news I've been practically bursting at the seams with for the last few days - I made the offical Clearsnap Design Team!!!! Holy cow I can hardly believe it but it is truly a dream come true!! Am looking forward to creating with their fanastic ink products and crafting with this amazing team of girls! Stop by and give them a big congrats!!

Sabrina Alery (that's me!)
Cathie Allen

Looking forward to a magical year of inspiration and stamping!

lovely Sunday

Monday through Thursday of this past week, we camped at Lake Red Rock. It was so relaxing and full of new adventures for the kids. We were outdoors for nearly 10 hours every day. The sun just has it's way of reinvigorating you, ya know?


We took the boat out everyday and it was even warm enough to put on swimsuits one of the days. The kids loved going fast and catching fish. And steering the boat. That was a BIG DEAL for our little guy.


The girls and I took a little hike around the campsite and into the woods while the boys were off doing those manly things they do. They got along so well on this trip. Usually with 3 someone's always odd man out but not this time. No screaming, fighting; just laughter and relaxation.


Have missed this face for the last couple months. Of course he won't give a straight face but the smolder was definitely the least ridiculous of all the pics.



I even got a little crafty time in after the kids went to bed each night. Still need to add photos and journaling but here's a little sneak peek.

We are heading out to hit the bike trails before big bro and sis get home. Have some more good stuff from this weekend to share including a sewing project! Stay tuned. Hope your weekend is great!

May 16, 2011

A Tuesday

Latest and greatest issue is up at Paper Issues my friends. Stop by and link up your summertime projects and all that good stuff.

This is how we spend a typical weekday afternoon when the weather is warm. Rolling around in the grass, soaking up the sun, tormenting the dogs and picking dandelions. Sketch is from October Afternoon plus lots of OA goodies.


Paint dabbered alphas. Finally installed Coffeeshop Simply Vintage action and la-huv the soft, faded look.


That's all. We're heading out right now to for camping at Red Rock and will be back Thursday. Have a great week!

May 14, 2011

BPM Crop Challenge Projects

As I mentioned a couple days ago, there is a crop going on this weekend at Back Porch Memories. I created 3 projects for the challenges, one being the Motherly Love page from yesterday (scrap a photo of yourself) and here are the other 2:

Monochromatic color scheme - I payed homage to one of our favorite books an with overdose of pink on this page. There is lots of stamping, which I'm really not so good at, but my very favorite part is the metal charm in the upper corner that orginally said 'the best thing is life is love' and now has stickers over it to claim the best thing in life is pink. Fun!


From Scrap Stash to Accessory Box - sometimes your scrap supplies are just too pretty to be tucked away between the pages of an album. I created these pretties for our girls to put them on display.


I peeled the adhesive off the back of this chipboard sticker and pierced wholes with a Crop-o-dile for the chain from an old necklace to go through. Also added a brad to the 'P.'


For this one I used the inspiration collage from Polkadot Door Designs and finally got to use up these Dear Lizzy doilies I've had for ages!


Finally, a couple hair clips. One is ribbon and one is paper; both have the lovely resin flowers from The Girl's Paperie.

And that's all for now. I hope you'll take a moment this weekend to stop over at BPM and participate in the challenges. The grand prize is a 6-month subscription!!

May 13, 2011

Motherly Love - MME sketch projects


Decided to particpate in the My Mind's Eye sketch challenge again this month and created a page with a self-timer photo we took on Mother's Day. There's a little Alphabet Soup, Fine and Dandy, Stella Rose, So Sophie and Meadowlark all mixed in there along with a few odds and ends from my stash.

I so love being this little sweetie's mom. She is so goofy/smart/lovely/creative/energetic/wonderful and I just don't think I'll ever love anything more. I am so proud to be her mom and along the way she is helping make me a better person too.



This page was so much fun to create! I took a little inspiration from some ruffle pillows I recently made and ruffled some fabric strips on the background, topped off with a spritz of mist. Also took a little inspiration in the form of the pinwheels from the monthly challenge at Polkadot Door Designs. Haven't made any since I was a kid but they are such a fun, summer element!


Also had a chance to play with the card sketch and put together this one using Alphabet Soup and Meadowlark, plus some of my vintage trim. The circle behind the title is cut out and I handstitched around it for a little extra dimension. Since my hubby has been working out of town, it gets a little lonely around here and I made this card with him in mind. It could probably double as a symphathy card as well.


And here are the sketches in case you want to play along too. Have a wonderful weekend!!

May 12, 2011

BPM May Guest Projects

This month I had the honor of working with the fantastically creative team of Back Porch Memories as guest designer and creating with their lovely coordinated Medley kit of Cosmo, Girl's Paperie and Lily Bee goodness! The DT gallery went on Tuesday but I thought I'd share my pages with you here as well.

First up is my favorite of the bunch even though it didn't turn out exactly as it looked in my head. I used the monthly sketch that you can find in the newsletter and turned the squares into a pinwheel sampler quilt. It ended up looking too flat but the pic of our dog and pig is still too cute! (The pig, btw, is now 4x bigger than he was is this pic.)


Did a little layering with the title and used some Twinery twine on the border. Haven't been able to make a layout lately without it!


And a close-up of the blocks. One day I'll make a quilt like this out of actual fabric.


Next up is a page with my sister's grandparents as a young couple. They have been married since she was a teenager and often drive one another crazy (after 50+ years how could you not!) but their long commitment to one another is a true testament of lasting love.

LOVE this shade of mustardy yellow!

I used the metal bird in the photo below to trace and stitch the birds here. You can see a more detailed tutorial in the May newsletter, which should be available on Sunday the 15th.


And one more close-up of the handmade crepe border you'll find in the kit.


Am finally kinda getting the hang of the 2 pager. All that space to fill does make me a little uncomfortable but less so than before. This page is about one of our favorite boredom busters - riding bikes on the bike trail.



Plus 2 more close-ups.


My final project is a little closeline frame meant to hold the girl's prettiest hair clips. I printed some clipart images out and traced them onto the patterned paper, then embellished.


The frame behind is one I picked up at a thrift store years ago and never could quite work into our decor. I contemplated putting paper in front of the painting but decided the subject (a lady in front of a French cafe) looked right as a background to the closeline.

And that's all of em. So far at least. :)

There is also something fun going on this weekend at Back Porch Memories...

Back Porch Memories is hosting an online crop!

Our grand prize? A six month autoship subscription to Back Porch Memories Kit Club!
When: The Main Crop Weekend is Friday, May 13 at noon EST through Sunday, May 15 at 6 p.m. EST.

During our main crop weekend, we'll have classes, challenges, games and plenty of prizes! Each challenge, game and class has its own prize.

Extra Week: Some of our challenges and classes will then have extended due dates through Midnight EST on May 21st. So if you're not able to be around during the main crop weekend, you still have a chance to play (and win!)

Where: All crop activities will be taking place on our message board, in our "Virtual Crop" forum. You can find our message board here: http://www.backporchmemories.com/mboard/

We hope you'll join us!

May 10, 2011

NSD pages

Didn't get a whole lot of time last weekend to scrap but in honor of National Scrapbooking Day, put together these 2 pages for some challenges over at SC + some manufacturer challenges.



This one was for the Crate color challenge last week, plus a scrap recipe and handstitching challenges. It's my daughter's very first legible drawing - a catfish! Her daddy was doing a lot of fishing that spring but we were pretty impressed regardless.




This one here uses the Sass sketch challenge, plus a color recipe and is also my page for the next XOXO challenge. Whenever we go to Southridge Mall (which sadly probably won't be along much longer), she wants to ride the carousel and of course chooses the biggest, scariest animal of the bunch. All the kids are really fascinated with dragons. They are pretty cool I guess.

Anyway, that's my quick update for today. More to share soon. &hearts

May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hope your day was as beautiful as you, mother. xoxoxoxo


Pics from Pella Tulip Festival