Five.

My not-so-little-anymore baby is five today. Five. F-I-V-E.

Sigh. Five.

Is it mean of me to wish that he wasn't five just yet? Can't I have just one more year of four, of him and me chilling at home together? I just know I'm going to blink and he's going to be 18.

We've got sprinkles for birthday pancakes, a big Mickey Mouse birthday bash ready to go, and a fast go kart for him to unwrap. I have a feeling turning five is going to be exciting for Mr. Jackson!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Jackson! I wish it to be the most wonderful 5th birthday ever!

I promise to only sulk when he can't see me. Five. (Shakes head in disbelief.)

National Scrapbook Day with SG!

If you're looking for some NSD fun today and tomorrow head over to the Scrapbook Generation blog to see what we have going on.

Online chats, challenges, prizes and sales...

We're thrilled to have four fantastic hostesses to help us with our two-day online festivities -- a first-time project for SG. We'll be adding a chat feature here on the blog, and these four will be keeping the online party hopping.

These ladies are talented, for sure. They are real-life scrapbookers who have become well-known in the online world for their knowledge of products, techniques, and trends. They're also full of personality and the love of papercrafting and people. They'll be bursting with inspiration, encouragement, and best of all, they'll have tons of prizes to give away both days!

Live chat schedule (all times are CST):
• Friday, May 3
10 am - noon -- hostess Janet (cherrypicker) from the East Coast, plus SG's Stacey Atchley, designer of Sketches for Cardmaking
1 pm - 3 pm -- hostesses Janet (cherrypicker) and Mari (mebarnet) from Florida
4 pm - 6 pm -- hostesses Janet (cherrypicker) and Katrina (cardipaws) from SG-land
7 pm - 9 pm -- hostesses Janet (cherrypicker) and Penny (pennyscraps) from Texas, plus SG's Allison Davis, designer of 11 volumes of Sketches for Scrapbooking, and Sketch Fusion.

• Saturday, May 4
10 am - noon -- hostess Penny (pennyscraps), plus SG's Stacey Atchley
1 pm - 3 pm -- hostess Mari (mebarnet), plus SG's Debbie Sanders, author of nine volumes of Sketches for Scrapbooking, Sketch Fusion, and One on One
4 pm - 6 pm -- hostesses Penny (pennyscraps) and Katrina (cardipaws), plus SG's Allison Davis
7pm - 9pm -- hostesses Janet (cherrypicker) and Mari (mebarnet)

Challenge schedule (all times are CST):
• Friday, May 3
• Star Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves creating handmade embellishments
Exact details posted at 10 am
Prize: assortment of star themed products

• Project Life Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves a Project Life-type theme
Exact details posted at noon
Prize: assortment of Project Life themed products

• One-page Sketch Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves using an SG sketch
Exact details posted at 2 pm
Prize: SG sketch books

• Journaling Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves using a journaling prompt
Exact details posted at 4 pm
Prize: assortment of journaling products

• Saturday, May 4
• Two-page Sketch Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves downloading a special (free) sketch
Exact details posted at 10 am
Prize: SG sketch books

• Product Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves using specific products
Exact details posted at noon
Prize: assortment of challenge products

• Color Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves designing with color 
Exact details posted at 2 pm
Prize: assortment of colorful products

• Manufacturer Challenge
Layout Challenge: Involves showcasing a favorite manufacturer
Exact details posted at 4 pm
Prize: assortment of My Mind’s Eye products

Online sale at scrapbookgeneration.com 
• starts Friday and continues through midnight Sunday, May 5
• 20% off all (non-club) page and card kits
• 20% off all downloads (excluding new releases Sketch Fusion and One on One)
• 20-50% off select collections by My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, American Crafts, Little Yellow Bicycle, Carta Bella, We R Memory Keepers, and Simple Stories
• free set of Thickers alphas with any $10 purchase that requires shipping (one per customer)
• special shipping discount available for those participating in the live chats listed above
• each $25 in purchases earns one ticket for the drawing for one of five $100 gift baskets,
one each sponsored by My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, Echo Park, Fancy Pants, and
Simple Stories


I'm looking forward to spending the the next two days cropping with lots of fun scrapbookers! It's going to be a fantastic weekend and NSD! :)
 

Jackson: Soccer Superstar

I think I should probably clarify that title. I don't know if Jackson would really be classified as a soccer superstar by the common observer. I, however, being his mom, think he's a superstar at everything, including soccer.

While being a professional soccer player may not be in his future he is great at jumping in mud puddles.

No matter how much he tried (who am I kidding, he didn't try) he could not resist the puddle.

Last night he carried a flower with him for half the game that he had picked for me in the center of the field. We finally got him to bring it over to me so he could concentrate on the game. The attention on the ball was short lived when he discovered another flower. It was hilarious and incredibly sweet that he just had to pick me those flowers. 

We've also learned that you can't yell "Go Jackson!" or "Kick the ball Jackson!" because he will stop what he is doing and look at you. Seriously. Mid-kick he will stop and look at you like "What!?!"

While most of the season has been comical he has had some good kicks and is really making an effort. He might be easily distracted but he is getting better and better each game.

I'll be sad to see the season end. Each game is always filled with laughter and fun! The good thing is that a few of the other players on his team have bigger brothers who all play baseball together with Drew. The older brothers have been cheering on their little siblings for a few months and starting next week the little ones will get to cheer on their older brothers at the baseball games. I'm looking forward to it!

More Sketch Week Layouts

I'm not sure how but I completely missed a few links to some layouts based on the free April Sketch from last week. I'm blaming an exhausting weekend!

You won't want to miss the layouts from these two:

The first layout from Julie at juliesjournaloflife.blogspot.com is absolutely beautiful. The colors, the flowers, the details...you just need to go see it for yourself.

The second layout from Jennifer at thecowanlife.blogspot.com converts the 12 x 12" sketch into an fun, colorful 8-1/2 x 11" layout.

Thank you to both Julie and Jennifer for sharing your layouts! I always enjoy seeing how others use the sketches.

Sketch Week Recap and Winner

I don't know about you but Sketch Week is barely over and I'm ready for the next one! Not only is it fun to make and share the layouts but it also gives me an opportunity to get some real, non-kit pages done. I'm always up for that!

Be sure to check out Michelle's blog at where she has shared two fun Disney layouts based on both the March and April free sketch.

Here's a look at the April free sketch and the three layouts that I made based on that sketch. I always love to see them all together with the different variations.

Scrapbook Generation's April Free Sketch

* you can download by clicking here

"Hanging With Jeremy"

"Popsicle Smiles"

"Learning to Ride"

It's amazing how many uses you can get out of one sketch and still end up with layouts that all look different. Have I ever told you that I love sketches? :)

Thank you so much to everyone who participated and left a comment! The winner of the downloads giveaway is:

hrk_md said...
Love the conversion of the one page sketch to a two page layout. As always great ideas. 

You can email me at allison@scrapbookgeneration.com and let me know which download you would like and I'll get it to you.

Sketch Week, Day 3

If you haven't yet be sure to visit the Scrapbook Generation online store to grab the free sketch for April! It the same sketch that I've been using as a starting point for my layouts this week.

Scrapbook Generation's April Free Sketch

* you can download by clicking here

 

 

"Learning To Ride"

 

 

Supplies - Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, Imaginisce, and BoBunny; Chipboard alphabet: American Crafts; Alphabet stickers: My Mind's Eye; Star punch: EK Success; Tire track stickers: EK Success; Paint: Ranger; Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink; Embroidery floss: DMC

I really changed a lot on the sketch to make this layout but, you can still see where the sketch played it's part in inspiring the ideas. 

Variation #1 - Just like yesterday, I stretched the sketch to a two-page layout. 

Variation #2 - I wanted to include more pictures and several of the pictures I wanted to use didn't allow for much cropping. I decided to go ahead and stretch the photos all the way to the top and bottom of the page instead of the 9" height of the photos (combined) on the sketch. Since there is nothing above or below the photo block I didn't have to adjust anything with the added height. 

Variation #3 - Instead of using a 2 x 2" photo on the right I used a full wallet size (2-1/2 x 3-1/2). If I would have cropped it down I would have been either cutting off his feet or his head. There was plenty of space to allow for a larger photo so I just left it as is.

Variation #4 - I always love trying to find unique ways to alter the papers and background on a sketch. One of my favorites is to convert the background to shapes, like the stars I used on my layout. This is an easy way to add a very different spin on the sketch. Other shapes would work too like squares, circles, or hearts.

I used three large stars as the base and then accented with several smaller stars. I also added in some tire track stickers to fit the theme of the layout. The cluster of stars going across the page fills just about the same space that the background on the sketch does.

Variation #5 - I hope you guys aren't tired of journaling strips just yet! Journaling strips were perfect for this design because you can form the strips to a specific design. I arranged mine so that they fit, mostly, within the star. With a journaling block it might have covered up too much of the star but with journaling strips you see enough of the star peeking out and it doesn't lose it's shape. 

 

 

Be sure to check back Monday to see who won the download giveaway! And, if you create a layout based on the sketch from this week leave a link in the comments and then on Monday I'll post all the links so everyone can go check them out.  

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Sketch Week, Day 2

Yesterday was Download Day so we added a bunch of new sketches to the Scrapbook Generation online store. You'll definitely want to go get the free April sketch. The free sketch is the same sketch that I am using as a starting point for all my layouts this week. Check out post from yesterday to see the other sketches that were added to the online store.

Scrapbook Generation's April Free Sketch

* you can download by clicking here

"Popsicle Smiles"

Supplies - Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper: Echo Park; Alphabet Stickers: Echo Park; Stickers: Echo Park; Chipboard: Echo Park; Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink; Embroidery floss: DMC

Variation #1 - I love turning one-page sketches into two-page layouts. Mostly because I'm a two-page girl but also because it makes me feel like I'm getting extra mileage out of a sketch. For the most part everything stayed the same, I just stretched it to fit onto two pages.

Variation #2 - I also flipped the sketch. The photo I wanted to use for the 2 x 2" photo had Jackson looking off the page but a simple flip of the sketch fixed that. I do this all the time to accommodate the direction of pictures.

Variation #3 - I didn't want to crop my photos any smaller than 4 x 4" (except for the 2 x 2" photo near the title) so I had to come up with a solution to work that into the sketch. I decided to keep the photo block height of 9" but used a different combination of photos than suggested on the sketch. I used a 4 x 5" photo and a 4 x 4" photo to reach the 9" height instead of the 4 x 4", 2 x 2", and 4 x 3". Then, I repeated the same photo combination two more times to stretch across the two pages.

Variation #4 - I changed up the embellishments to fit not just my theme but also the larger page. On the left page I created a popsicle to fit the theme of my layout. It's quite a bit larger than the embellishment on the sketch but I had more space to fill.

I love creating custom embellishments for my pages and this one was especially fun. I tried to copy, as close as I could, the popsicle in the pictures.

On the right page I combined strips of patterned paper and a chipboard star. Just like the left page, I had more space so I went with a larger embellishment.

Variation #5 - I used journaling strips instead of journaling directly on the background. Journaling strips are always my "go to".

Be sure to check back on Friday to see the last layout of Sketch Week!