Design Team Layout

I'm not sure I ever formally announced it but I actually made a DESIGN TEAM. Thank you to Jill at The Scrapaholic for accepting me to her sketch team. I missed the first sketch because of vacation (and the playground) but I did get the layout finished up last night.


Here is the sketch she gave us to work with.....




I don't know about you guys but I've never started with a sketch and had the layout coming out looking like the sketch but I LOVE using them as a starting point. I flipped this sketch since it fit my pictures better and instead of using all the ribbon, I went with leaves since it fit the subject in my pictures better but stayed with the overall layout in the sketch.



The journaling hasn't been finished yet because I want to sit down with Jake about what he wants it to say. These are pictures taken when the class went to the home of a class member who was killed in a tractor accident and planted a tree for the family. I really feel like he needs to give me input on what to journal on this page.

If you like the sketch and want to join in on the fun, Jill is sponsoring a challenge on her blog that you can participate in. Join us at www.thescrapoholic.blogspot.com starting Saturday, July 23rd and share your layout with us.

I'm adding to my resume

I'm going to add playground designer to my resume.LOL

The last few weeks all my spare time has been consumed by either vacation (can I go back?) or working at my daughter's new home helping her get everything in order for a state daycare license. The playground has taken forever but I think it is finally getting there.

We started with a fence I found on Craigslist......quite by accident! Then an idea that has been brewing for a loooooong time started taking shape. A tire tunnel.


it started out looking like this........both my brothers, my nephew and a friend of ours all pitched in one night to help Joni/Marcus/Larry/Jake and I put the fence up and bury the tires. We were quite the crew!!

Then Joni and I made a trip to Lowe's and Sutherland's and found some outdoor primer that was a mistint for CHEAP. We primed all the tires and went at them with cans of brightly colored spray paint. I would recommend painting before you bury if anyone else tries this at home!

Then we made some teepee style frames for the big swings. She also put up a smaller frame for toddler swings that is to the left of where I am standing to take the picture. We put the braces and swings on this the next day.

and for the grand finale...................

Larry and I disassebled the old telephone pole swingset and slide we had in our backyard from when our 3 kids were little. We salvaged all the 1x's we could to make platforms and cut the slide down. Add some more paint, a few 2 x 4's, lots of screws, and some pvc pipe to make railing and voila......you have a tire tunnel the whole neighborhood is talking about LOL. The kids can go over, under and around. There is another slide and wall on the back side to match. We have the rock holds ordered to add to the walls to make rock climbing walls for the kids. We will add some graffiti to the walls once those are in place. The kids love it.......even my 16 year old, football playing, girl chasing son has been caught going over and through the tunnels! We will add mats in this weekend once we get them cleaned up, painted and cut but the kids don't seem to mind crawling around in the dirt......Joni does mind having to clean all them up to go back in the house though.

So there you have it. My creative bug led me to the biggest project I have ever tried to accomplish. I must say........this is the first time that a project in my head actually worked out as good in real life as I could see it on the screen in my head. Thanks goodness........I think Joni and I would have both cried had it not worked out.

Hopefully this week I'll get back to some scrappin' also. It is entirely to hot to do anything outside and if I get my scraproom cleaned up so I can find my counter, I plan on kicking out a layout or two!

And life just gets crazier....

and here I thought I was going to have so much time to create in June.

Actually, I have been creating, just not in my scraproom. We have spent most of this week helping Joni get moved in and settled in her new home. Lots of organizing to do with all the kids toys and then there is the playground! I never thought I would ever put playground designer on my resume, but I do believe I am going to add it. I will post some pictures after this weekend of some of the fun stuff we are doing. She says the kids will fight over swings so we are making sure to put a big swing set in with 4 seats plus a toddler set of swings so the little guys aren't mixed in with the bigger rough and tumble kids. I am also designing and building a tire tunnel and gym. It is actually coming out pretty cool. We are getting ready to wash all the tires down and do the painting on those...hopefully this weekend. If all goes well, then Monday I am going to disassemble the old "gallows" swingset at my house (it was made out of telephone poles so a friend dubbed it the gallows). I will be using the wood from that to build the platforms and slide on the tire gym......I promise to post pictures if I can get it all done.

We are also going to spend next week getting our horse trailer/living quarters cleaned out and ready for the family float trip...we leave the 9th for a full week. I haven't done one thing to get ready for it this year...not one. We will probably be packing at 10 p.m. on the 8th. I know I will forget something....hopefully it won't be to tell the neighbors we are leaving so they will keep an eye on the house and water the critters LOL.

Well, lunch house is about over so it is back to work for me! Everybody enjoy the long weekend and remember the real reason for the 4th of July holiday and thank a veteran!!