More From Atlanta & Tallahassee

In the workshops I took, I made several page layouts. Now that I am home again, I am filling them up with pictures and embellishments.

 I really love this one. We cut strips of paper and wove them together.

 

 This layout I bought already put together for $1.50.  Pretty cute huh?
James and I spent 5 days in Tallahassee with Adam, Brooke, Jack and Chelsea. We certainly had a good time. Adam & Brooke went out for their 3rd wedding anniversary and James and I got to be Jack's first babysitters. We got to feed him, bath him, play with him and put him to bed. It was great fun.
 Jack gave us these great pictures and frames. I can't wait to take mine to school.

Speaking of Jack, here are some cute pictures of him.

 A lady in Wal-Mart told us he has "Happy Hair." I think that is a great description.
He loves his Sophie the Giraffe toy Frances sent him. He is 6 months old and has 4 teeth already. He has really been chewing on poor Sophie. We went with him on his 6 month photo shoot. It was great fun. The photographer took pictures of him in a hay field and in a pecan orchard. The photos are beautiful. I will have to watch my wallet when I order some.

The Atlanta Scrapbooking Adventure

Oh boy, we really had a great time in Atlanta. Lynn drove and we picked up Sally's sister, Sue, in Lake City. Our first stop was Marietta, Georgia and the Rubber Stamp Fantasy store. This is a really great stamp store. I bought my Christmas card stamp that I used last year here last summer and the baby bib stamp I used for the announcements I made for Frances for Francois's birth. We all bought several cute stamps there this year. Then it was off to the Marietta Diner for dinner.

That place is something else. It is impossible to finish all the food they give you. First thing, they give you a piece of spinach pie. Then you get your choice of soup. Next comes your salad, and then your main dish with two sides. There is definitely no room for dessert. Did I mention the 12 inch high cakes that are at least 15 inches in diameter. They are the first thing you see as you come in. They have 3 huge display cases right at the door.
After rolling ourselves out to the car, we drove to Deluth, Ga. to our hotel. Lynn and &  I had adjoining rooms with Sue and Sally. The hotel was great and only 2 miles from the convention center.
The Expo was wonderful. We all took lots of workshops-I took 6.

We did make and takes and shopped, shopped, and shopped at the booths for 2 days.

Lynn has been tooting the values copic markers to me for over a year now, so I finially had to break down and buy some. Actually I bought a lot of them. I also bought a bunch of page kits. I made a lot of pages in the workshops too, so now I need to fill them up with pictures.
Friday night we ate a fabulous local Italian restaurnt. Then we went to Archievers to shop some more.

We did some make and takes at some of the booths too.. We did a really cute owl card. In one of the workshops we made this card. It still needs words on it to finish it up.

I wll post more later. James and I are in Tallahassee and we are getting ready for dinner.

Two More Workshops in One Day

I left Tallahassee about 8:30 am on Thursday and drove to Tampa. I stopped by the house briefly and then on to school to delete some teachers from our school email and active directory since they will no longer be at Folsom. Then it was on to Lakeland for card class. Lynn, Sally and I go the first Thursday of every month to card class. Linda is the instructor and she is such a nice and helpful person. We always have a good time. Usually we go to the 5 o'clock class and then go out to eat but this month we went to the 3:00 o'clock class because I had another workshop to go to. Here are the two cards we made.

It was really funny when we started doing the second card. It is the same technique Lynn and I learned at Karen's a week ago using white ink, colored pencils and a white gen pen.
After we left Lakeland, I drove to St. Petersburg for another workshop. This is one I have been trying to get into for a year but I always had conflicts-Conference night, daytime class, etc.- so I was really happy to get into this one. We made a picture frame using scrapbook paper, embellishments, and melted extra thick embossing powder. It is really fun to make and I love how it turned out.

Of course, I had to put a picture in it of my favorite little guy, Jack.
Today is July 4th and the twins are coming over. Hopefully it will stop raining so they can go swimming. Darla says they love the water and will go under and swim to the side. Hailey, her niece from Iowa, is coming and her mother-in-law and Dale, Lynn and Jerry, so we will have a house full for sure. We are having ribs-mmm, mmm, good.

4th of July Cards & a Visit to Tallahassee

Well, my 4th of July cards are in the mail and people should be receiving them today, hopefully. I evidently didn't buy a 4th of July stamp from Judith to go with my tree that I have been using, so I had to go a different route. I used my newest stamp set from Close To My Heart. I really like the stars. In fact, I like them so much I did a page with Jack's cute face.

Jack is really doing well learning to sit up. He knows how to catch himself with his hands and even picks up toys while he is sitting.He also has gotten his first teeth, the two bottom ones, and is working hard at getting the two top ones. It should be any day now.

Look close and you can see my teeth!

Grandma is having a great time with Jack. He is such a happy baby. He laughs and plays all the time. He also makes a great scrapbooking topic!  Grandma & Grandpa will be back next month to babysit so mommy and daddy can celebrate their wedding anniversary. We can't wait!

Two Workshops In One Day-WOW!

Saturday, Lynn and I went to two workshops in one day-that's a first for us. In the morning we went to Karen's to continue the technique's classes she is teaching. Today, all the cards were with different methods of using glitter. This one we stamped with white ink first, colored it with colored pencils, then outlined it with a white gel pen and applied glitter with glue to the centers of the flowers.

This one is really cute. The circle is removed from the pink circle and packing tape is put over the hole. Glitter is sprinkled on the tape and then the elephant is mounted behind the glitter. I haven't decided what to stamp on the white oval yet.

On this one we used an embossing folder to do the flowers. We stamped one and used heat and stick to set the glitter. Then we cut it out and pop-dotted it. I love the saying she had for us to use.
In the afternoon we went to Violettes to make a baby album with our favorite instructor, Florence.
Lynn did a girl album for her newest grandchild and first girl, Addison, and I did a boy album for Jack.

This page is for journaling. There are 6 clear inserts for pictures. I think it is really cute.

Monthly Photo Frame pages

Well, it is that time again. Jack is now 5 months old and cutting his first tooth. It should be in any day now. Francois is 7 months. Both boys love to eat their baby food so that was the inspiration for these pages.

I did my page on Jack's first swim in our pool. He really loves the water. Both his parents are super good swimmers and used to be on swim teams so I guess he comes by it naturally.

I made a card today for my friend, Sharron, who was just appointed to an Assistant Principal position. She was our reading coach and her office has been in a room in my media center for 6 years. It is kind of like sending a daughter off to college-you want them to go but you also want them to stay. I wish her well, but will really miss her.

I used my new stamp set from Stampin' Up.

I also made Father's Day cards for James and Adam. I got these stamps at the Scrapbook Expo last year in Atlanta and have been waiting almost a year to use them. I also used some of this stuff that looks like sand. It is so cool and comes in lots of different colors. I bought it in Sarasota during the Pirate Treasure Hunt this year. The color I used is called Tahiti Beach and it is by Mud Puddles. It dries hard and doesn't flake off.  It gives a lot of texture to your card or scrapbook page.

I am working on my 4th of July cards now. I should have them finished in a day or two and then I will post them.
Here are a few more pictures of Jack and Francois, and of course, Sasha. They are the best scrapbooking material a grandma could have!

Jack at the restaurant.

Jack and Grandpa.

Jack just hanging out at Grandma's.

Francois

Sasha-she is growing up so fast.

Sasha and Francois

Twins

Well, Darla and the twins, Emma and Lily, came by school Friday. I can't believe how much they have grown. James and I saw them 3 months ago at their 1st birthday party and they were still babies. Now they are walking, I mean running, all over the place and have so much hair. I can finally tell them apart. Lily is the one with all the curls-like her mom, and Emma looks so much like her daddy, Dale.

They wouldn't sit still so these are the best pictures I could get. The dresses were a Christmas gift from Grandma & Grandpa Spicer. They do look so cute in red! In July, when Darla's niece comes from Iowa, they are all going to come over and go swimming one day. I told two other teachers from school, Tiffany and Rebecca, that they would have to come over too with their little girls. Tiffany's little girl is about 3 months older than the twins and Rebecca's little girl is under a year, so it would be a wild day for sure.

I don't know how Darla and Dale have the energy for these two little cuties.