a shameless plug...

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i don't know that i could pick a fav set, but if i had to, it would be these:

or these

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head on over to their blog & check out all the new stuff from cha & enter to win one of the giveaways yourself. :) 

some hipstamatic prints along the way...

i have a million photos from our trip. (maybe NOT a million per se, but about 20GB of pics.  eek!)  i want to do something artsy with the pics i took on the oregon coast & the redwoods.  so, until i get that finished (& it may be a bit.  we have company coming in today), i thought i'd share some of the hipstamtic prints i took on my iphone! :)

Avenue of the Giants, the Redwood Nat'l Forest

our campsite at jedediah smith state park in the redwoods

a stop along the oregon coast

beverly beach, oregon

Home!

no matter how fabulous the trip... it's always good to be back home!  will hopefully have pics in the next few days!  (the one above is a hipstamatic from my iphone of mt. shasta.)

first continental layout!

love this kit!

(as i looked at these photos, i realized one of the crystals must have slipped.  oops.  guess i need to break out the glue dots!)

it's continental!

my july studio calico kit came yesterday!  yay!  it's so, so fun!  can't wait to really dig in!  i believe the main kit is still available.  this is what was in my box this month; so, look for layouts with this fun stuff up here soon!  (i had bits of other add-ons too!)

m

Continental

LaSalle

Lewis & Clark

gettin in the numbers game

i made this layout last week for the numbers challenge over at studio calico.  :)  and i used up some stuff i had in my stash for awhile (gotta love that!)  the background & dot are fancy pants.  The multi colored dot is american crafts.  the tags are the label punch from ek success & the fabulous letter stickers are from echo park.  tfl!

this one's for you, danielle

so...i've been promising my dear, sweet (newbie-ish scrapper) cousin that i would post some of my old layouts & that she would get a laugh out of them.  so, i finally got around to digging out old albums and took pictures of some of my favorites (at the time favs anyway) thru 2002.  (i'll pull the others out another day & finish the progression.)  so, without further ado, here is the evolution of this scrapbooker...

i've been keeping photos & cards & such in albums since high school, but this was the first album that i glued things down in & wrote in.

1998

this is one of the first pages in claire's first scrapbook.  i made this is october or november of 1999.  (i went back & scrapped older pics after this, but this is where i started.)  please note the fabulous hand drawn letters filler in with colors & the thought bubbles.  fabulous!

here you can see, i quickly progressed to pattern papers & deco edge scissors.  oh, the deckle edge scissors.   sooo cool!

what do zebra stripes & noah's ark animals have to do with these adorable photos of my girl?  i'm not sure, but i LOVED this layout!

nothing says, "easter!" like a bright purple gingham print.... paired with deckle scissors.  i would also like you to note the awesome dotted handwriting.  it was my signature!  lol.

ooooh... more deckle edges paired with hand drawn titles. (& gingham!  woooo!)

oh.  i was so proud of this one.  that seashell paper in the back isn't too busy, is it?  lol

hmmm....nice.  well.  at least all of the themed crap is the right theme!

oh, when i started using the computer to journal.  isn't that font snazzy?  well.  at least only the mats are deckle edge!

well... this is just to show off my double page prowess & because you asked for the layouts, danielle.  it only seemed fair that you were in a couple.  ;)

oh.  the advent of the local scrapbook store & not just micheal's!  please note how i used BOTH a paperkin AND a me & my big ideas person. (i can't remember what those were called but i probably owned every one!)  also used excessive die cuts!

does anyone else remember when tags & eyelets were all the rage?

oh, i loved this one!  oh how i loved those bows in claire's hair!  do you think she'd let me put one in now?  she's 11.

last, but certainly not least... i adored this layout.  i thought i was so clever using my pen to draw on the eyelet bound letters.  i loved the progression photos.  this would be about the time when i started taking photos with scrapbooking in mind.  

another day, i'll whip out the albums with pages from 2003 on.  :)  

have you ever tried these?

super yum!  i bought some at costco on a whim for the boys' birthday party.  (there was a coupon & the bottles were pretty...) they are good!  the bottle makes me want to scrap.  love that fruit image on there.  anyhoo... so that's just what i did.  the banner is from an older (ie couple of years older) american crafts orange pattern paper that i have been hoarding.