Building a Gingerbread House

 Christmas Eve day my granddaughter got to build a Gingerbread house, well graham cracker house, but when you are 3 it counts just the same.     Mom and Dad and Elle had a lot of fun together,  Dad helped with the build the most while Mom took all the pictures but they all worked hard on the decorating.   And just maybe they ate a few of the candies first.

I'm entering this layout at   "SOUL-SCRAPPERS"  for one of their new 2021 challenges.   LCA#1

Light, Camera, Action!       I have 12 points  Black & White only, A splash or Red and a Tree

 I will provide a movie poster each month with 5 criteria in which you will create your layout (layouts only please).

1.  Black and White ONLY = 5 pts.

2.  Add a splash of RED = 4 pts.

3.  Add a tree = 3 pts.

4.  Black TITLE = 2 pts.

5.  Add houses/village = 1 pt.

Christmas in Texas

 

Like so many people we had virtual Christmas celebrations with all of our families.  via Portal and Facebook and pictures and movies from various family members.   I did screen shots from movies my son sent me of his kids opening Christmas gifts.   I had never tried that before but it worked out ok.   I'll be trying this trick to get other still pictures again.

I used the "SKETCHES IN THYME"  sketch #451 for this layout.   I haven't done any torn papers on a layout in a long time, so this was fun to do again.   I do like the look.

I will also enter this at todays new challenge at  "THE STUDIO CHALLENGES"   for handwritten journaling.     I have my journaling written with white gel pen on the green doily.

24th Jan - Handwritten Journaling

Retro

 

Every time my daughter would go to my Dads house for their weekly visit.   Dad would ask her if they needed this orange chair that was sitting in my old bedroom.    They had bought their first home and Dad wanted to make sure they had plenty of furniture.     They always said no they were fine.   But then when Dad passed last fall and we were all at the house starting to clean out his home.   Leslie was very sentimental over the chair because she new her Papa always wanted her to have it.   So they decided to take it home and at least put in storage till they had a plan.   Her husband said he really liked the other chair too.   So they took them both home and no storage was needed.   They rearranged their  living room and put them in there.   They are real happy with the retro look now and my granddaughter loves the chairs too because they remind her of her great-grandpa.

I used sketch #452 at  "SKETCHES IN THYME"  for my layout.

Baking Together

 

These two love cooking together.   They make cakes and pies, cookies, fresh pasta, you name it they want to do it together.   Here they are making donuts for breakfast.

I used the January 2021 sketch at  "SCRAP OUR STASH" Challenge.   Besides using this great sketch (which I will be saving and using again) along with the requirement to use Journaling Strips on your layout.   

Here is the sketch and prompt

2021

 

My husband was able to get his first Covid vaccine yesterday.    I wasn't able to go back with him to get his shot but I made sure to still get a picture of him later after we were home with his card.

So today I went looking for a sketch to use and decided to go with the double Scrappy Friends challenges. I used the sketch at  "THROUGH THE EYES OF ROCHELLE SPEARS"  and then combine it with the tic-tac-toe challenge at  "SCRAP WITH STACY".

"THROUGH THE EYES OF ROCHELLE SPEARS"  here is the sketch.

"SCRAP WITH STACY"  here is the tic-tac-toe board.   I decided to use the middle row across.  I  Doily, Hearts and Flowers.

Book Characters

 

These pictures of our granddaughters worked perfectly for challenge #531 at "LASTING MEMORIES".   They dressed up for school as their favorite book characters.   Avery as Nancy Drew and Dylan as Fancy Nancy.

Here is the information of this fun challenge at  "LASTING MEMORIES"

LM #531 - Best Seller

 Hello, everyone! Welcome back to Lasting Memories! We are so happy that you have stopped by today. It is time for a new challenge and it's a fun one for you!

Our theme for January has been "Inspired By Wheel of Fortune Categories" and this week our challenge is:

LM #531 - "Best Seller" - Create a layout with a connection to a book.  Examples: use a book title as the title of your layout, use a photo of you dressed as your favorite literary character, use a photo of someone reading, create a layout about your favorite author or a favorite book, etc.

Our VRBO

 

I started out with the planning to do the  "LASTING MEMORIES" Challenge  #530 - called "Going Places"    Covid-19 didn't let us take any planned vacations or trips in 2020 so I decided to go back to our trip to Hawaii with my Dad and brother back in 2014.   It was such a great trip for all of us and I knew I still had pictures I could scrap.

Next I wanted to find a sketch challenge so since I had several pictures unscrapped of the inside of the house we rented I checked out the double page sketch for January at  "STICK IT DOWN"  is was perfect because it let me pick 6 pictures to scrap.

Here are the links and info on the challenges.

"LASTING MEMORIES"

LM #530 - Going Places

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend. 

It's time for our second challenge of the new year. Our theme for January is "Inspired by Wheel of Fortune categories" and this week's challenge is:

 LM #530 - "Places" - Create a layout of a favorite place you've visited.  Perhaps it's a landmark, a city, the beach, a favorite restaurant, etc.

"STICK IT DOWN"

On my bike

 

My son-in-law is a huge biking enthusiast.    So when I saw this picture his Mom had sent him on his first bike I took a picture of the picture so I could make a layout of it for their continuing family albums.

I'll be entering this as  "SOUL-SCRAPPERS"  for challenge MBC#33

Welcome to the very last Mystery Bag challenge

and

the very last challenge for 2020!

Thanks for joining us throughout the year and making our little Soul community a

fun place to create!

What is a Mystery bag challenge?

mystery bag (plural mystery bags)

1. A bag whose contents are unknown. quotations ▼
2. A surprise package randomly picked, a lucky dip.
3. A non-specific mixed lot of a product at the supplier's choice.

In other words each month, the challenges will be different. You could get a quote, mixed media, technique, song, lift, color, vision board, product, poem etc....

The theme for December is to ...

Use Any SUMMER PHOTOS

Best of 2020

 

The January Challenge at   "SCRAP-CHALLENGE-YOURSELF"  is to make a layout about your favorite memory of 2020.     Plus as always to include a picture of yourself on your layout.

Well for most of us 2020 probably wasn't the best year we have had because of COVID-19 and the shutdowns etc. etc.    That definitely effected me.  first let down was knowing my brother and I had to cancel a two-week Route 66 Road Trip we had planned out to the last detail, even including some of the places we had planned for either lunch or dinner.    My last big public outing was in January to a boat show in St. Louis where we bought a new boat.   We had high expectations for lots of time on the lake together with just us and friends and family, till Covid hit.   But the worse part was first the isolation of not being with my grandkids, my youngest is just over an hour away and I have always had lots of time with here, my son and two other grandkids had a summer trip planned to see everyone but that had to be cancelled too.    My husbands and my road trip to NY to see his Mom and a mini vacation for us in April was cancelled due to the fact she lived in the same county where the biggest NY outbreak was.     But then in August with only 10 days apart I lost first my mother-in-law and then my Dad, who has always been my hero.   But there was a saving grace with that.  I more or less moved to Columbia in late April to my brothers where he had moved our Dad to stay and be quarantined and safer and not alone.    He had been fighting cancer for almost 4 years but doing well and then had  a short bad time and that is why we broke family quarantine and I went to help look after him.   He rebounded well, but he loved having both of his kids together so I stayed there all but a few holiday long weekends when I would come back to the lake and get to enjoy time out on the lake in our new boat and just revive my spirit.    So that is why I chose these pictures to make my layout of the best of 2020 because the freedom out on the boat and on the water was the best the year had to offer.

"SCRAP-CHALLENGE-YOURSELF"    challenge #85

Family Christmas Trees

 

The sketch challenge #216  at  "SKETCH N SCRAP"  gave me an idea of a layout to make.     Of course I had a picture of our Christmas tree and then also a picture of my two kids trees so I decided to make this layout featuring them all using the sketch.

Here is the like to  "SKETCH N SCRAP"   where you will find 2 layout sketches over the month and two card sketches.   So join in the fun.    Below is the sketch I used to start the month.

Before and After

 

We added a new deck across the back of our house tying in two small ones.   It will all get stained like the original deck on the right this coming summer but have to wait a good 6 months before staining.

I knew all along I would want to scrap these two pictures to see the change in the look of the house.        I'm so glad I hadn't taken the time to scrap them yet because when I saw the challenge this morning at                  "LASTING MEMORIES"    I knew it was time to make the layout.

Here is the challenge.........................

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2021

LM #529 - Before & After

Hello, hello! Welcome back to Lasting Memories! We are so happy that you are joining us today! We do hope that each of you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and that you are ready to start the year off with some scrappy fun!

We have a fun new theme to start off the new year, courtesy of DT member Lauren. All of our challenges this month will be inspired by Wheel of Fortune categories and our first challenge is:

 LM #529 - "Before & After" - Create a layout using a before & after photo. Some ideas: a home renovation, a haircut, a weight loss journey, an age progression (such as infant and first-year photo or you in high school and now).    

Happy Birthday Avery

 

Our granddaughter Avery's birthday that lives in Orlando was the last week of December.   Even though because of Covid they couldn't have a big party for her they celebrated at home in style.

So much inspiration for my layout came from the Mood Board at  "SOUL-SCRAPPERS" from the bright fun colors, to balloons, cake, birthday girl, group picture and the number spot.   It all covered what I wanted to use on my layout and my choice of pictures to scrap from what they posted on Facebook.

Here is the Mood Board that inspired me.

New Years Eve 2020

 

I made this layout today for the  "SCRAP OUR STASH"   first challenge for January.    I did the scrap lift of the layout Lori had made and then I used 4 different gold style alphas for my title.

We celebrated New Years Eve safely at home with a special meal and just had a nice quiet evening watching movies and later the ball drop in NYC together.