MLS RAK and The 1st Day of my 40's...

WOOOO HOOOO!  HOLY COW what a weekend!  I have been through the whole My Little Shoebox Blog Hop and there was a TON of yummy stuff in there!  I can hardly wait to get into my studio and get SCRAPPING!!! 

This weekend was Homecoming, which I will post about shortly... football, dance, family in from out of town... WOO HOOO! 

And, today is a rather big day for me... my 40th birthday!  No, I don't feel any older... and, no, I don't feel any different.  I have been a reflecting over the past few days... looking back on my 20's...and my 30's... and looking ahead to what I wish for my 40's.  What I know for sure is that God has blessed me with the most wonderful and loving parents, family that will stand with me in the best of times and will carry me during the worst of times, a husband that is my best friend, the one that makes me laugh and the one that knows how to softly kiss me and make my toes curl... ;-)... my kids who make me proud and amazed and crazy and who I love with every part of my being... and friends... those from my school days through today...  that I know were each hand picked by God and placed in my life for one reason or another... I know that I am blessed... and this is EXACTLY where I want to be in my 40's!

Alright, now that I've been all sentimental, it is time to announce the winner of my MLS RAK! (chosen by random.org.  It goes to #58...

Nitasha (who) said...

SuperCute Mini! I'm following your blog and I adore mini albums so can't wait to see your future minis too!  September 17, 2010 6:20 PM

Nitasha, email me at traceylocher@cox.net with your address so I can mail that RAK to you! 

THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by, left comments and decided to hook up here and join me on this crazy journey of family, love, and creative design!  Here are a few cards that I recently made that I hope you will enjoy!  Both very easy and very quick and very MLS!  Make it a GREAT day!

My Little Shoebox BLOG HOP and RAK ALERT!

Welcome to the Land of Wooooo Hooooo!  My own private Idaho where I post about my family with Project 365, I share my design work and other random things that strike my fancy.  Today is all about MY LITTLE SHOEBOX and the BLOG HOP!  If you are hopping along, you just came from the talented Pamela Young's blog... I know, I know... she's a ROCK STAR!  If you just happened upon this post, you will want to get in on the action since there is a GREAT RAK (prize) opportunity at the end of the Hop!!!

Today I have a fun mini album to share with you called, "The Three Amigos."  Mini albums can come in so many different shapes and sizes and do not have to be a scary scrap project!  My first mini album took me 9 months to complete... yes, I said MINI album... and I was so scared to tackle each page that I hesitated, scrapped, hesitated some more... I didn't trust myself and it became a real labor of love (yes, pun intended!).  If you are new to scrapping or break out in hives when it comes to mini albums, here is one of my favorite design tips... Go simple and use ONE line of paper.  Don't worry about matching this embellishment to this tag to that paper... choose a line of product that was designed together... it will all match beautifully and make your job MUCH easier!

For this project, I chose to work with the "Sunday Market" line by My Little Shoebox.  As with all the recent releases from MLS, this line comes with 9 different papers, tags, stamps, stickers and alphas... plenty of yummy stuff to help you create one AWESOME project!

I have another design tip that will help you get your mini done in no time!  Design your first two page spread, then use that design throughout the book.  In this mini, I created each spread with the same design... one page has a photo and the adjacent page has a journaling block.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!!  So, I had my line of product... I had my photo/journaling block design... and very shortly I had a completed mini!!!

A few other notes, I used 3-D foam adhesive to make the photos "pop." I also distressed and inked almost everything... I know... it's an addiction...

Here, I wanted to put a photo on each page of the spread, but I needed a journaling block, so I hid one!  The photo of Anna walking with Robbie is on the top of the left side of this journaling block.  It is held together with a simple hole punch and ribbon.  Open the ribbon and you see the hidden journaling. 

So, there you go... a fun mini album about three of my favorite little kids... and their fun little relationship.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will pull up your comfy chair and stay awhile!  I would love to have you as one of my "followers"... the link is over there on the right if you would like to keep up with my designs and creative fun! 

AND... IF YOU BECOME ONE OF MY FOLLOWERS (or are already one), you will be entered into the random drawing FOR A RAK OF A SET OF THE STICKER SHEETS FROM THE NEW MLS LINES... 6 lines... 6 pages of stickers for a lucky follower!!!  Leave a comment on this post letting me know your follower status and your thoughts on mini albums... have you tried them... do you love them... let me know!!!

Next stop, the UBER TALENTED BECKIE DREYER!  For those of you that have been with me for awhile, you may notice that you are in the middle of a My Little Shoebox, RUSTY PICKLE reunion... this block of designers... Pamela Young, Beckie Dreyer and I were all previously Rusty Pickle Chefs!  ((...waving to my Pickle Sisters!!! Love you guys!!)) 

Thanks for coming by and make it a WOOOOO HOOOOO kinda weekend!! ;-)

Project 365 - HOLY COW... Player of the Game, Athlete of the Week for NCTimes & Union Tribune... AND UNCLE PAUL!!! WOW!

WHAT A WEEK!  This story starts last Friday, September 10th with the GRAND OPENING of the new OGHS football stadium and our first football game on the new field!  The Patriots played Crawford and what a home opener it was!  51-0... Patriots!  Chris had an AMAZING game... making 3 touchdowns in the first 3 minutes of the game (2 of them were called back, but the 3rd one stuck!)  He ended up with 3 touchdowns (that counted) and 208 yards on 10 plays. 

The game-end celebration started with our boys rushing from the field to the front of the stands... singing the Alma Mater at the top of their lungs... to the parents... and we were all cheering right along with them!  After a team meeting, Chris was interviewed on camera in the middle of the field... then led up to the skybox to do an interview for new online football broadcasting service, KBCsports.com. See his interview HERE!  I have to say, we've watched the players before Chris... Andy Early and Dana Walker, most recently... we've cheered and jumped around and been so proud of our Patriot boys, but there is something that just wells up when it is your son...the pride... the love... the excitement... I'm sure it is because it is his senior year, but I see him out there and I can almost see a dual movie screen in my vision... him playing the game and him as a toddler... Where in the heck did the past 18 years go?  I can tell that this is going to be one emotional year... Lord help us!

On an exciting side note, the media actually noticed Orange Glen and both the North County Times and the Union Tribune named Chris as one of their Athletes of the Week!  

On an even MORE exciting side note, Jeff's Dad and Uncle Paul were here for the game!!!  We only get to see Uncle Paul every other year (he lives in Michigan) and he was here for the whole weekend, so it was really something special!

On Saturday, (911) we decided to drive down to San Diego and visit the Midway (we love the self guided tour!).  This incredible warship, commissioned 10 days after the end of WWII, was the location of several tributes for 911.  We happened to be there after the morning event ended and before the afternoon event started.  This photo is of the flag bearers going through a rehearsal... lots of security around... and lots of veterans, too.

We enjoyed tours of the Bridge and Captain's Quarters.  A quick visit and then off to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack... YUMMMMM!!!  The weekend with Uncle Paul was full of laughter, long conversations, teasing, good food and better company... oh, and lots of football! Thanks for the visit, Uncle Buck... I mean, Uncle Paul ;-)... and don't take so long to come back out for your next visit!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

(Uncle Paul is such a kick in the pants! 

He let Anna wet and comb his hair... could you just kiss that lovable guy!?)

Project 365 - OGHS/Pt. Loma and Anna/Cat...

THAT'S IT!  I obviously can't keep up to date with Project 365... and, HECK NO, I'm not giving up on this year, because I am 2/3 of the way there... I'm just finished trying to post on time!  I have all the photos!  I have all the comments!  Life just gets in the way of posting on time... and that is alright!  Life is meant to be lived... photos can be posted a week or so later! ;-)

So.... I'm posting for last weekend... the first game of the season for Chris and his OGHS Patriots... vs. Point Loma.  I'm still scratching my head about how we were set up to play Point Loma, but our boys came out fighting!  Chris played a new position, half-back, and did very well scoring a touchdown and racking up 110 yards. 

One thing that always cracks me up about Chris is how strong he is on the field... let me clarify.  Not funny about his strength, because he works out HARD!  It is funny because he is moving down the field... the defense is trying to tackle him...and they have to hold on for a ride because it usually takes several guys, being dragged along the field, before Chris comes down.  Look at this shot... 6 POINT LOMA PLAYERS are holding onto Chris and he is still moving forward with the ball...this photo is funny to me... looks like our O-line is standing there saying, "Chris has this one handled... hands off, boys!" 

This weekend, we were also lucky to have our Goddaughter and Anna's best friend, Catalina, come for an overnight visit!  The girls had SO MUCH FUN!!!  Slumber party... hike at Dixon Lake and art project... swim at the Shedd's house... and of course, a fashion show!  The girls LOVED their Camelbacks... they could drink their water whenever they wanted!  Now we just have to teach them how to DRESS appropriatly for a hike...

I have been taking photos of these girls for so long, that I am starting to "re-create" some of my favorite pictures... just several years later.  That is the case with these two photos... the girls sitting there waiting for me to get ready for their shoot... LOVE it!  Almost exactly 3 years seperate these photos...

I have also been keeping busy training for my upcoming triathlon, school volunteer stuff and scrapping like crazy!  I'll share more of all this soon!  Make it a GREAT day!