I'm Back!

...from the Creating Keepsakes Convention, that is and I've been feverishly working to finish up the projects from five (yes, five!) wonderful classes including the very latest (and I mean hot off the CHA press latest) from Basic Grey for a total of 12 layouts and five cards. It was the best CKC to date. While I work on finishing up my projects and getting pictures, I have some layouts from the beginning of the summer to share.

When Mark received his Four Sport Award at the Sports Awards Ceremony in June, it drove home the fact that I had not scrapped a single team picture or portrait from his middle school years. So I set about changing that. Here are the four layouts:

7th Grade/Fall:

7th Grade/Spring:

8th Grade/Fall:

8th Grade/Spring:

Okay, so before I tell you about these pages, can I just say that I can not get over the remarkable transformation Mark underwent in only 18 months!

Now, back to scrapbooking. I bought these papers at last year's CKC (I think Hartford) and back then, I bought two or three of every piece of pattern paper. My style has evolved since then and now I find myself truly using scraps. In one recent layout, I only used a 1-inch by 12-inch piece of patterned paper. Therefore, I had more than enough paper to complete all four layouts even with the wood grain pattern being the B side of the track paper.

Other common elements included the journaling. For each page, I used kraft card stock and Ali Edwards stamps to give "the details." The journaling is simple -- Mark's location in the team picture (as you never know who will be looking at these books years from now) and his best time for that season.

I used two of my favorite border punches -- Upper Crest by Fiskars (seen above) and Spiral by Stampin' Up! (seen below).

Finally, I bought so much of this paper (what was I thinking!) that I had enough left over to make a card for Mark to give to his godfather, another running enthusiast. Here's the card:

Layout Ingredients: American Crafts card stock; Rusty Pickle patterned paper and stickers (Run It Game Time); Technique Tuesday stamps (Today You Journaling Frames) Fiskars border punch (Upper Crest) and Stampin' Up! border punch (Spiral); EZ Laser designs and Sticko embellishments; Color Box chalk ink.

Card Ingredients: Stampin' Up! card stock; Rusty Pickle patterned paper and stickers (Run It Game Time); Technique Tuesday stamp(Simple Sentiments ); Versa Mark ink; Ranger embossing powder (black); Maya Road Micro Chips (Neutrals); twine from stash.