Taking a break...

from the blog and all things scrappy for a week.

We leave early tomorrow for Orlando and then a
Disney Cruise on Sunday. So, while I would love to
finish LOAD this month, I am being realistic. I do
not want to carry the laptop with me and I really don't
want to carry scrapbook stuff with me either. I did it
while on my Inspired trip (more about that later, of course)
and while on other family vacations (both January LOADs)
but not this time. And you know what?

I'm okay with it! If I had done this in the past 2 LOAD
challenges I would have felt like a failure because I didn't
finish out the month but I don't feel that way. Instead I
feel like I have earned a break and I am taking it.

So, I will be back with more info on Inspired, LOAD,
my first Cruise and more creative mojo June 6th. Thanks for
visiting and for understanding my need for a break.

See you then!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 26 - Barbie Fun: Then & Now

Monday was Memorial Day so the kids had the day off and were
playing, when one of them discovered one of my boxes of old
toys. It just happened to be the box of inflatable Barbie furniture
and Pool stuff. So, they asked if they could play with it and I, of
course, said 'Yes'.

As I was putting the pool together for them I noticed it had the
date on it along the edges - '1973'. I remember getting this for
Christmas from Santa Claus and it really shocked me to see that
these toys are 36 years old! I played with this stuff everyday and
it looks new. Too weird since all of the stuff the kids get these
days barely lasts a week much less a year. I loved these pieces
and I am thrilled the twins are enjoying them too.

This layout is about that. I plan to add some hidden journaling
behind the bottom left photos and I may move the "Barbie"
part of the title onto a piece of white cardstock that is shadow
cut to hi-light it, but for now, this is it. I just didn't have the
time I needed last night to do anything extra to it before uploading
to the Flickr account.

Both kids liked this layout, though and it made me feel very very
old.

See you later!
x0x0x
Csmoferret

Day 25 - Memorial Day Flag

Ever since I moved into this house I have wanted to have
a large flag to fly outside on the holder that Hubby's
Grandparents put up. Of course, I wasn't able to find
the flag that I had in mind for our yard and it sort of
got put on the back burner of my mind.

So for years I always lined the front walk with the
little flags on a stick for all of the Patriotic Holidays.
It didn't feel as good as that flag I had in mind but
it worked and it made the kids happy because they
could see the flags and help with putting them up, etc.

Well, last week I found it! The perfect flag for our
front yard flag holder! I couldn't believe it! I was
at the Ace Hardware near us for replacement hardware
for Buddy's curtain rod and turned down the wrong
aisle and there it was! Silly ? Yep. But it really made
me happy!! The flag is big enough to be seen, but not
so big it drags on the Sago Palm right below it and
the pole it is on is the perfect size for the holder that
was on the eave of the house. Needless to say, it is
up right now. Finally.

Today's LOAD is a photo of that flag out in front
of our house. I used a Karen Foster Designs 12x12
overlay, Stamping Station Americana flag patterned
paper, Heidi Grace Designs Glass Effects fireworks,
a cardstock tag from Club Scrap, a circle sticker from
Memories Complete, and my favorite Sharpie super fine
journaling pen.

I hope you like it!
See you tomorrow with Day 26.
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 24 - The Great Living Room Camp Out

While I was on my Inspired trip, Daddy allowed the Twins
to have a 'Camp Out' on the floor in the Living Room. He
took a couple of photos after they settled in and before
'lights out'.

Buddy piled up the huge floor pillows for his bed and
snuggled right in with his blue stuffed bunny. He was
comfortable for a while but after a couple of hours he
headed upstairs to his own bed.

Punkin, on the other hand, decided to camp out in the
cardboard box they had been playing with all day. She,
apparently, wasn't as comfortable. She barely made it
an hour and was upstairs and in bed before Daddy
made it out of the shower and back in to check on them
before going to bed himself.

They loved the fact they were allowed to spend the night
downstairs but they preferred their own beds to the
'camp beds'. They all shared their versions of the
events on the phone the next morning while I was
at Inspired and I got a big laugh out of their
descriptions and their reasons for moving back
to their own beds.

It's amazing to me how much they have grown
up in the past few months. This sort of thing
just brings it home.

I uploaded this late last night and didn't take the
time to post at the same time because I knew I
wanted to talk about the pictures a bit and I was
already starting to droop. So, here it is. (I did
change the O in "out" to a capital letter and
shift the 'Out' over a bit this morning - but the
layout above is what I posted on time last night.)
Now, I'm off to create my Day 25 LOAD.

See you soon!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 23

Okay, I have probably scrapped this photo before but when
I found this paper in a kit club that came while I was at
Inspired I just knew the photo I wanted to use with it.

I love this picture of the twins. It is one of the many
pre-school portraits that the photographer was willing to
allow both kids in one picture for me. (I also bought
individual portraits but he always had to reset a
camera for us - so it was always the last photo taken
while he was at the pre-school - he was such a nice
man!) The kids were 5 in the 4 year old pre-school
class in 2005-2006. Oh, they grow up so fast!

To all of my new visitors from LOAD - Welcome!
I don't write a lot but I do enjoy sharing! Please
feel free to leave comments and share
your stories with me!

Day 23 is posted and I'm going to bed.
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I know the Official flower of Memorial Day is the Red Poppy but
when I saw these Red, White and Blue roses at the grocery store
yesterday I just had to buy them. I have never seen 3 colors on
the same rose and I think these are just amazingly Patriotic.


My family is sending out prayers, best wishes and heaps of
gratitude to all of the members of the Armed Forces who
serve or have served our Country. Our freedom isn't free -
it comes with a price and that price is usually paid in blood.
We can not be free without their selfless service to protect
us.

Thank you for serving and protecting us so that we
may sleep peacefully at night knowing we are safe
and well protected.

XOXOX
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 22

I found these photos of the kids on the swing set in our backyard
on the day Daddy and Grandpa were finished building it. The
smiles on both kids faces as they were swinging in their own
backyard for the very first time really brought back the
memories as if it all just happened yesterday instead of
6 years ago.

So much has changed since these photos were taken...
the kids have grown (they are 8.5 yrs old now), the
gate was moved closer to the front of the house, the Felix
The Cat sign disappeared at about the same time (we
probably gave it to one of the guys building the fence
but neither of us can remember what happened to it), we
added a second story to the house for the kids to have their
own rooms...and that's just the stuff that instantly comes to
mind.

Good times, great memories.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 20 & Day 21...

Day 20 -

I put this together using a photo from our photo shoot at
our Church. They were working on a new directory and
set up appointments with a local photographer. I decided
to make it our Christmas photo for that year. Then I never
did anything with it. So, here it is in all it's blurry glory -
I don't know what happened when it was uploaded to
Flickr and Blogger.

This layout includes more Cosmo Cricket patterned paper,
a My Mind's Eye frame, a Heidi Swapp clear frame and
letter stickers, and a Tim Holtz word ticket.

Day 21 -


This photo is circa 1984 or 1985. It is one of a huge group of
photos one of my distant cousins took of everyone on my Mom's side
of the family. This is my Mom & Dad, my brother & I and my maternal
Grandparents. I am amazed that all of us are smiling in this photo
and it makes it that much more important.

I used Dream Street Papers "Fresh-Renew" by Amy Teets Designs as my
background patterned paper and a scalloped half sheet of Bazzill
cardstock. I also used BoBunny Chunky Charms chipboard
swirls, lace and buttons from my stash, Prima natural color paper
flowers, Creative Imagination rhinestones, brad, and layered stickers.

I didn't put any words on this layout because one of the previous
challenges has been to make a layout without words. I will
probably have to add a title and I know I will be adding everyone's
names. I just don't know how I'm going to do that just yet but it
will come to me before too long.

Either way, Day 21 is up and I'm going to bed! LOL!
I will see you tomorrow!
xoxo
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 19

As I was hurrying to get all of the kids' piano stuff ready so I
could head over to pick them up from school and then take
them to piano I decided to grab some scrapbook stuff and
take it with me.

I just grabbed a couple of bags of 'stuff' that I had set aside
to sort into my color & theme bins and a couple of pictures
that were stuffed into the "He & I" section of my Library
of Memories (LOM) All About Us drawer.

So, while one twin was doing homework and the other
was taking their lesson, I scrapbooked a bit. This is the
first time I have done this and I think I will be making
up some page kits for future Tuesday afternoons! It
was fun, easy, productive, and, oh, did I mention 'fun'?
This is the second page I made and I added it to the LOAD
Flickr group for today's layout.

I used Cosmo Cricket patterned paper and journal tag, Thickers ,
a piece of orange felt from my stash and Fancy Pants Designs
buttons, crocheted flower and pin. I also journaled on the bottom
of the page after I uploaded it. I decided I really didn't need to take
another photo, fix it and upload it separately all just for my blog. Sorry.

I didn't follow the challenge for todays LOAD so I will probably use that
for tomorrow. I really liked the idea of the UnBucket List. A list of all the
things you don't want to do anymore. Some of the layouts in the LOAD
gallery are just plain awesome!

Well, this layout is up early (for me) and I may just go back in and play
some more once the twins are in bed. : )

See you tomorrow!!
xoxo
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 18 ...

Easter Revisted!

There is a teacher at the elementary school the twins
attend that is a professional photographer and she
offers holiday photo shoots to the kids and their
families for a very small fee.

The Easter photo shoot is called "Bunny Pictures"
because there are live bunnies as part of the set.
The twins love it because they get to be in the picture
together and they get to love on the bunnies while
they are there.

This year they even wanted to surprise me with their
wardrobe choices! They did a great job of picking
clothes that were similar in color without being
told to. In fact, I didn't give any guidance at all. I
let them pick what they wanted to wear and just
let it go. Needless to say, I was very surprised (and
pleased) that they chose to match. : ) I know it
won't be long before they decide they have had
enough of the matchy look but until then it makes
me pretty happy.

This is half of a Scrap Jammies page kit that I hadn't used yet.
I love the pastel purples, blues & greens. The green fuzzy
thickers make me smile and really works together.

So, Day 18 is up and I'm beat.
Going to bed!
See you on Day 19!
xoxo
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 17 - Yes, I do Smile!

I was told a few weeks ago that I don't smile and that
really made me think. You see, I thought I did. In fact,
I was positive I do. So, off to the Library of Memories
drawers I went to do some research...

I checked the 'All about Us' drawer under 'Katherine
Personality' and 'All about Katherine' and found more
than a dozen photos of me smiling or making a goofy
face.

I checked the 'Things we do' drawer and found even
more photos of me smiling or making goofy faces.

Finally, I checked the 'Places we go' drawer and found
about 3 dozen photos of me smiling while crafting at
crops and classes, among other things.

Needless to say, I was easily able to prove this
particular person wrong, because I do, indeed, smile.
I've got the photos to prove it! LOL!!

This is the first 2 page layout I've made for the May
LOAD challenge. I used Vintage Plum patterned
paper for the background and Thickers for the title.
I also used some glittery rub-on butterflies and a plastic
coaster (from Walmart).

I noticed (after finishing these 2 layouts) that half of
the photos are from events at Crafting Memories,
a little scrapbook shop that was in Rockport, Texas.
I was a member of the frequent buyers club called
The Pink Ladies and we had a wonderful time. I can
truthfully say that core group of ladies (and you
know who you are) are my closest friends. They
make me smile all the time!LOL!

Day 17 is up and I'm going to bed.
See you tomorrow!
x0x0x
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 10 - 16...

Okay, I've been just barely keeping up
with posting my LOAD layouts to the
Flickr group and I've fallen behind posting
them here on my blog.

So, here they are ...

May 10


May 11


May 12

May 13 (my favorite layout so far)


May 14

May 15

May 16



May 17 will be up later tonight.
Leave a comment if you want to know more about
something on one of the pages...

See you later!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Happy Mother's Day!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families!

xoxo
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 9 is finished and uploaded!

Hi!
Tonight was the closing dinner and final mini-classes of
Inspired and I took a mini-class that started at 9pm
and I didn't leave the room until after 11pm! But I have an
adorable mini-album with watercoloring techniques that
were just super cool!

Being out so late made getting my layout done a bit of a
hurry hurry job. So, this layout is kind of different...
well, see for yourself...


What do you think?

I used old sheet music that was torn and crumpled, eyelet ribbon from
my stash, a notepad sheet from my stash, Bazzill cardstock, GCD
designer paper, Foam script letter stickers from EK Success, Colorbox
frost white and chestnut pigment inks, Colorbox lime chalk ink,
and Grungeboard from Ranger.

Not too bad for racing to get it put together while talking on the phone
to Hubby & Punkin & Buddy while trying to sign on to the hotel internet
so I can upload the finished photo (once I finally get done and take a
picture of it, that is!) of the completed page! At least I think so.

I hope you enjoy it!
I'm going to bed!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Ladies out there!
xoxox
Csmoferret

PS- I will post a full recap of my Inspired weekend next week
once I have had a chance to get some sleep and photograph
a few of my projects. I know, I can be such a tease...: )

LOAD Day 8 is up!

While looking at the Tourist Information Shelves at
the hotel we are staying in, I discovered Skirt Magazine.
I had never seen or heard of this magazine before and
since it is from Charlotte, North Carolina, I picked it up
and brought it back to the room along with all of the
other touristy info that I needed to see about scrapbooking!
LOL!

I really liked the magazine and loved the cover so
much I decided to add it to my trip album and what
better way to do that than to scrapbook it for my
Lay Out A Day Challenge!! So that is precisely what I did!


I just cut it up and added it to a green piece of Bazzill
cardstock from my trip stash.

The paragraph next to the painting says

" Home is pajamas straight from the dryer on the coldest
night of winter and a roof that doesn't leak during a rainstorm.
It's food in the refrigerator and heat that works and this month's
rent paid in full. It's Benjamin Moore Blue, Porch Light Yellow,
a loose-change-in-the-sofa silver lining. It's the dog who thinks
you invented Walks and someone to share your late night
thoughts. It's the evening news with a glass of
wine and a slice of moon in the window at bedtime, the shower
that washes away work and the special mirror that makes you
look taller before you leave the house. Home is the key left under
the mat, your mother's phone number, the place you drive through
the night to reach. It's where we find our Belonging."

Under the picture is this quote from Maya Angelou
"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place
where we can go as we are and not be questioned."

Pretty awesome huh? I love that it is now a part of my
Inspired Weekend Travel album!

Day 8 done.
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
-Csmoferret

LOAD Day 7 is up!

DAY 7 /LOADKWM05072009
Originally uploaded by Csmoferret

I have managed to keep up with the May LOAD
challenge so far and I'm pretty thrilled to be
scrapping the photos I have and making do with
the small assortment of papers and embellishments
I brought with me.

I know these layouts are not the best of the best
but they do tell a part of our story. They will all go
into the correct albums once I get home and get
everything put away but they probably wouldn't
have gotten made if it hadn't been for this challenge.

I used Making Memories patterned paper from the
Paperie Collection for the background, some green
lace from my stash, Scenic Route chipboard numbers,
red craft paint by Prism, Luxe-urious Labels by Luxe
Designs, eyelet lace from my stash, and a quote
sticker from 7Gypsies.

This was a super long day.
We picked up our registration packages this
morning and got to visit with Donna & Bill
Downey, Heather Bailey, Cathy Zielski,
Jennifer Stewart, Kelly Rae Roberts,
Tena Sprenger and several other wonderfully
creative people. The mini-classes started at noon
and ran until 11pm! I will do a better job describing
the classes we took once I get home and get everything
straight.

Class starts at 8am tomorrow with TeJae Floyde so
we're off to bed. See you tomorrow evening!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 3 /LOADKWM05032009

Day 3 /LOADKWM05032009
Originally uploaded by Csmoferret

This is my Day 3 layout for LOAD May 2009!

The wooden turtle embellishment is from the top
of a basket I found at Goodwill last year. I saw it
and thought it would be perfect for an Aquarium
layout and it is! LOL!

The photo is of the twins' Sea Camp experience
last year. Buddy has his arms straight up in the
air (like he's riding on a roller coaster) and
Punkin is hunched down with her hands on
her head pretending to be scared of the
CGI Shark! A very goofy picture!

The colored squares are the bottom part of
a transparency sheet and everything is
attached to a sheet of white cardstock.

The recommendation for today's LOAD was
to re-use or re-cycle something on the layout
and the turtle/raffia/paper ribbon is a perfect
fit for that!

Enjoy!
-Csmoferret

LOAD Days 4-6...

Okay, I'm a bit behind in blogging about my LOAD layouts for this month
but I have a really good excuse...

I'm in North Carolina at Donna Downey's Inspired Artist Workshop
Weekend!!!! The workshop doesn't officially start until tomorrow around
lunch but Mom & I have been here since Monday and have been spending
time checking out the area and sitting out enormous thunder storms!

It has been fun and will be even more fun beginning tomorrow!

Here are my layouts to date...

May 4

May 5

May 6
I brought very limited supplies with me on this trip and grabbed just
a few photos on the way out the door so I will be very limited with
what I can create this week. I am hoping I brought enough photos
to make it , so we will see.

I will also add more detail regarding the layouts once I get
home on Tuesday of next week.

See you tomorrow after a full day of creating!!
xoxo
Csmoferret

LOAD May 2009 Day 1 & 2....

Lay Out A Day (LOAD) for May 2009 started on May 1st and my first
layout for the month is shown below. I uploaded it on the right
day to the Flickr account but I didn't get it posted on my blog.
Hopefully, I'll be able to keep both up throughout the rest
of the month. We'll see.

I used the collage print from Buddy's 2nd grade Spring
School photo (by StrawBridge Pictures) and red cardstock
from my stash. The ledger paper is by Creative Imaginations
and the flowers, leaves and centers are from Prima, Petaloo,
MayaRoad and my stash. There is also an oval piece of a
dictionary page from my stash.



And this is Day 2... Punkin's 2nd grade Spring school picture collage...


The ribbon is from Etsy here and I purchased it a while ago. I don't
know if they still have it or not but I love it! The flowers are Maya
Road, Prima, Petaloo and from my stash. The background
paper is Basic Grey (Stella Ruby line).

Looking at these layouts it is so hard to believe my babies are 8!
Where did the time go? Wow!!

Okay, I am going to try to get today's layout up on the blog tonight
so check back.
See you soon!

xoxo

Csmoferret