Yikes it's been awhile

 Yikes, it's been a while since I last posted anything.  Life has been busy.  
The last of my children has graduated from high school.

We started a busy week off with double ceremonies 

Eric participated in a program through Lane School District and St. Vincent DePaul, (Hope Factory), where he learned trade skills specifically for building tiny homes for low-income families.

 

Above is the bedroom that he taped and textured

For the second ceremony of the night, we headed to JCHS for a senior dessert, where Eric received his cords and certificates. (Goldenrod-honor society, White-GPA 3.5+, Gold+silver-CTE "career trade education)

Spirit of a Champion and the Presidential Academic Award.

Love this guy and so proud of him.  Already has a full-time job working on Cabinetry for Marathon Coach 

After all the craziness of graduation, I escaped to the coast with my girlfriend to camp

sweet little spot in the Oregon National Sand Dunes/Siuslaw National Forest

Gourmet lunch of fire-grilled and smoked baby bells, salami, and crackers

Tami and I at Waxmyrtle Beach.

The adventures continue next week with a scout camp at Camp Baker.  After that, I plan to post regularly as I'm back on the design team with Lasting Memories, starting in July.

Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am.

 

Lasting Memories Tic- Tac Toe Board #798

 This month's challenge at Lasting Memories is Tic-Tac-Toe Boards

I recently finished a scrap-your-stash challenge with Noreen Smith, which got me to pull out this Creative Memories Boat Life paper.  It's a collection I won at a scrap event and thought I'd never use.   The B sides of the designer paper were a perfect fit as the colors worked well with my layout.  

For the tic-tac-toe, I did the diagonal (3-word title, die-cut, and 3+photos)

I layered three die cuts to create the cluster

Thanks for stopping by to take a look

lasting Memories this or that #796

  The last of April, This or That from Lasting Memories is 

THIS: Use never-before-used pieces of paper or THAT: Use all scraps except the base paper.

 This layout is made of new materials, as it was the table gift at the retreat I attended last weekend.

As an added challenge, we were given a sketch by Meggan Jacks for the December 2025 Power Hour.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll try to be more timely in the future

lasting Memories this or that #795

 I created this layout as I'm working my way through the Creative Memories virtual crops for 2026. Not sure I'll do all of them, but the February Layout #1 was perfect for my photos and the Heart theme for Lasting Memories  THIS: Use stars on your layout OR THAT: Use hearts on your layout.

I went with hearts.  I also used larger photos and pushed the hearts down

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.  I've got one more This or That to go, so stay tuned

Lasting Memories this or that #794

 I'm back again with another Lasting Memories  this or that to share. 

THIS: Use alphabet stickers for your title OR

THAT: Create your own title using die-cuts or stamps

I went with using stickers for my title.

I also use Rochell Spears' April Sketch and

 the Scrappy Friends tic tac toe diagonal ( white, triangle, die cut)

Lasting memories this or that #793

 April was This or That at Lasting Memories, and I'm just squeaking in under the deadline.  I created this layout last weekend at a scrap retreat, but have been so busy with Birthdays and Senior stuff that I'm just getting to posting now.  For challenge number 793  This: Use a sketch or That: Scraplift one of the design teams layouts.

I went with Lisa's selection of 2026 pagemaps sketch

I flipped the angled papers and added an extra photo

Cm March virtual crop

I'm almost done with scout photos for 2024.  Just have December to do and then on to the next two years before my son has his Eagle receptions.  These last few weeks have been consumed with helping with his project.  Glad that it is almost complete.

I used #CMVirtualcrop2March2026 for the Trunk or treat event that his troop hosted with the Irving Grange

I used really old CM paper that was 8x8, so I did some piecing together to make it work

 

CM crop 3 January

 I'm back with another CM virtual crop sketch from January.

I'm working my way through this year's online sketches.  In the past, I have not played along faithfully, as most of the layouts didn't suit my style. However, I've changed my attitude and outlook on sketches, using them as a starting point and inspiration.  Sometimes I stay true to the sketches, other times not so much.

For this sketch, I didn't use any slanted photo placement and actually replaced journal spots with photos.  I might go back and add journaling to the right-hand side, but for now, it's done.

 

CM Crop 2 and LM #786

February is almost over, and I'm still plugging my way through the January virtual crop photos.

Oh well, I'm happy to have another one done and in the album.

I added an additional photo, moved the journaling, and changed the cluster locations, but the foundational base is still discernible. That's what I love about using sketches.  I also like to incorporate other challenges as well.  This time, I chose to use word stickers for Lasting Memories #786 

 

Creative memoires virtual crop January

 

I'm finally back in my craft space, thanks to the long weekend and the end of swim season.  I'm playing catch-up with the CM virtual crop sketches.  I rotated the sketch to align with my photo orientation and took liberties with the placement of the embellishment cluster, as well as added journaling.

Lasting memories focus this month: the power of words.  I chose to use more than 50+ words on my layout for challenge #785