Kids and Sports... memories in the making...

Hello There,...Well, volleyball season for Jr. High is coming to a close with the last game today, it has been a great season for the team, and this is Rebecca's last year to play in Jr. High, she moves up to high school next year.  I wanted to share some of the things that make me soo HAPPY TO SCRAP....I made each of the girls their own ball with their names, jersey number, paw print stickers, and of course a little bling...The Junior High in black I made last year and it still looks great...This is displayed in their main gym...and I made them a different one to display on their lockers...but I can't find my pictures of them...I think I will go visit their lockers this week and take another photo or two...:)

I wish I had the locker volleyballs to show you too...

This is a close-up of one of the volleyballs so you can see the name, jersey number, paw print stickers and the bling....I used the sports mania cartridge with my Cricut and backed it in black...their uniforms are black and white... wait till you see next years....oh it's gonna be AWESOME...

I made this poster for their den (the place they hide out in between games in the tournaments, they go pow-wow with the coaches, rest, tape up injuries and have snacks and water breaks.  LSCS puts on three tournaments for volleyball a year and they are amazing...)  The ribbon at the top is part of the ribbon that Rebecca used for her hair in this season...and again I used my Cricut with the sports mania cartridge for the dimensional's you see...the girls signed it in Blue...school colors...I used volleyball brads on this as well, they look like white buttons in this photo...and you can't see it but I blinged the hands on the net with tiny rhinestones for rings and bracelets...

 I decided to make something special for Rebecca's last volleyball game day in Jr. High...
So now that it's October and chocolate is running amuck down practically every aisle it seemed perfect...and who doesn't love chocolate...

Here is a closer view...I think they turned out adorable...I found a few you tube videos and learned how to make a fun conversation piece...and I know I will be using this idea a lot now that the holidays are close at hand...

These are made out of pink cardstock, some purple volleyball girl paper (really fun to work with), and a volleyball brad as an added dimensional, there is a slight glare on the photos, but the brads do add a lot to the overall look, I stamped and inked the two dimensionals and used pop dots to bring out the 3D effect....(did I mention that I love pop dots)...

The shorter version has a Kit Kat bar in white chocolate, that I made especially for one of the girls that did not like chocolate...all the other treat pulls have a normal Hershey bar in them...Well, when Rebecca saw them she loved them, but informed me that ALL the girls like chocolate...SOOOO I remade hers to be exactly like the others....and gave the white chocolate Kit Kat to my husband...

On the back of the purple belly band I attached a small paw print for their school spirit....they are the LIONS and there are paw prints on all the school spirit gear....

Each pull has ribbon that is looped around the Hershey bar  , and all you do is untie the bow, or  untwist the wired ribbon and pull the candy out that is hiding in secret behind the cute-ness...I loved this idea and I hope they love it too...Rebecca was well pleased...

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did and feel free to copy anything you see for your own kids and teams...Oh the joy of a chocolate filled day....

The Wind

Hello There...Wow, well, can you say windy......my wind chimes were gently singing their songs this beautiful fall season, until, until yesterday, and then they exploded with loud, painful clanging noises ( I swear they were screaming for help) I was wondering, for a while, if I was hearing their farewell songs....but, they have survived and are gently singing their songs once again today...it is now officially fall at our house...last night around 7:00 p.m. I went to fall softball practice, with the wind....How windy was it you ask?  Let's just say, I spit out my gum about an hour into practice...it was getting way too crunchy for me (basically, full of dirt)...and I could have used a pair of goggles too... the ear plugs and hoodie zipped and tied did not suffice...but I survived and now I remember why they call it fall ball...it happens in the fall, in the wind, and.. in the cold, and... sometimes in the rain...but mostly in the wind...the girls didn't seem to mind at all..."it's not cold..."they said.  Well, from my perspective, sitting in my olive green portable chair, that I schlep to every practice... game... and tournament it was very cold and windy....but hey, that's just me. I carried my daughter's hoodie and some earplugs to the field because she said she did not need them and I knew she would....she put the hoodie on, about five minutes after we got there "I'm freezing" she said.  "Put the ear plugs in and pull your hoodie up" I say.  "I'm OK" she replies over her shoulder as she runs across the field to line up for a drill....and the wind blew, and blew, and blew... My daughter came out of her hoodie, fifteen minutes into practice..."I'm hot..." she says...and the wind blew, and blew, and blew....balls were hit, runners were tagged, throws were made, balls were caught and balls were chased over and over and over... I think the wind had as much fun playing wiht the softballs as the girls did (giggle, giggle...) and the wind blew, and blew, and blew.  An hour and a half later, we are trekking back to the car, she beats me back to the car and loads up her catchers bag ( this thing is ginormous and heavy, but, praise God it has wheels) I hand her my chair and tell her she beat me back to the car, she replies "I know mom, because you're a turtle"...I climb into the car and start the engine... and take out my ear plugs.  "What are those?"  Rebecca asks.  "They are the ear plugs I tried to get you to wear" I say.  She replies "When did you tell me about those?"  "When I told you to put your hoodie on" I answer.  "I didn't hear you tell me you had ear plugs, I could have used them tonight" she says.  Oh well, it must have been the wind...

Meet Gracie

Hello There,

This is Gracie, sometimes crazy but mostly amazing... we love her and I wanted to share her with you. She has been flabbergasted with all the commotion these strangers are stirring up by invading her yard lately.  We have some contractors helping outside and its about to drive her crazy....she jumps and whines and wiggles all over the floor...then she collapses on the couch to catch her breath...never mind they have been here about a week...she still goes nuts...

Now she has moved to another couch...and is "listening" to the Salsa music playing outside (the workers are happy, quietly laughing and singing)...she looks stressed...she is very quiet almost contemplating....I can hear her thinking "IF only they would let me outside those guys would have so much more fun IF  I was out there doing the salsa with them, IF, IF, IF,,,," it's a very sad time for her she is under the impression that everyone is her BEST BEST BEST FRIEND and needs her to give them lots of attention...by pouncing on them over and over and over it can be quite overwhelming for some people others just roll with it....she is small but very strong and her pounces or HUGS, as she seems to think are very much needed, like you are her BEST BEST BEST FRIEND and she hasn't seen you in ages, never mind that you just went to the mailbox for like 2 minutes...she will greet you with lots of HUGS or pounces and sounds...no she does not bark she whistles and gurgles and makes all kinds of sounds but I would not call it a bark....Any-who this is our Grace...a very affectionate little fireball...I hope you have a wonderful day...I'm scrapping tomorrow...thanks for stopping by...

Sports Layouts

Here are some softball lay-outs I have done I used the team color purple for  the background and backed the photos in black, added some 3D embellishments and softball stickers as well as a black silhouette..the side border is a piece of purple card-stock with some velveteen raised purple polka dots that just went perfectly for this lay-out...

This is another softball layout with the purple team color as the background, I used black and purple borders for the pictures, and another piece of the purple raised velveteen polka dots for a side border...I used the sports mania Cricut cartridge for the silhouettes and some softball stickers to finish it out...there are some purple rhinestones on the letters and hidden journaling tags behind the photos...

I trimmed out the letters in gold, but I think I need to redo them with black...I like to fussy cut some of my images of Rebecca in her uniforms and pop them out the effect is eye-catching...The silhouette of her about to throw down to second base is emphasized by placing her in a corner of the page with the words "GOIN DOWN"....oh I love this page....

I also like to add some things like cartoons that go with my sports themed pages when I can find them they add more to the story...and are very appealing to the page...Rebecca plays catcher and this fit perfectly with the memories of her first season with the pitchers shaking off her signals and refusing to throw the pitches the coaches were telling her to call...


The weather is so beautiful now, it's the beginning of fall and it's fabulous.  I was able to take in a saturday crop and it was so much fun.  I feel refreshed and energized and ready to tackle some more layouts...I spent the day working on a new mini I will post some pictures soon.  I hope everyone has a chance to take in the beauty of the day...it's amazing how a change in the weather makes you feel sooo much better...Be thankful in the little things as well as the big...life is full of countless little blessings...open your eyes and see them....