Art Freckles Blog Hop

Don't you love blog hops? I have participated in many a blog hop but my blog has never been one of the hop stops! Well, there is a first time for everything and today I am part of Art Freckle's fall blog hop.

Thanksgiving is fun with my inlaws because not only do we get a feast but there are muliple birthdays to celebrate that weekend as well! I created this layout using Teresa Collins's new fall line -- Giving Thanks -- which you can find at the Art Freckles online store (http://www.artfreckles.com/store/catalog/). While you're there, check out what is happening on the message board (http://artfreckles.com/forum/index.php).

There is a total of 8 stops on this hop so here is a full list so you don't miss any. If you are hopping in order, Jamie is next!

1. Art Freckles - http://artfreck.blogspot.com/
2. Linda Gunther - http://lindasueanne-scraps.blogspot.com/
3. Joanne Keminen - http://usinguptheprettypaper.blogspot.com/
4. Jill Sarginson - http://jillelizabethsarginson.blogspot.com/
5. Krystle Thomas - http://hightimesinthehighdesert.blogspot.com/ [you are here]
6. Jamie Harder - http://ahappyscrappyplace.blogspot.com/
7. Kayla DuPont - http://dream-bielieve-imagine-mustangkayla.blogspot.com/
8. Shannon Wyman - http://cre8yourself.blogspot.com/

{SAS}sy News

Super-exciting news! I am going to be a guest designer for Scrap Attack Scrapbooking! They have a great message board, online store, and blog, which you can check out here: http://scrapattackscrapbooking.com/index.htm

I want to share with you the layouts that I created for my design team application. I love this first one because these pictures of Chloe using chopsticks is so adorable! I used Basic Grey's Ambrosia collection for this layout, along with some embellishments from their June Bug line, some Bazzill rhinestones, and my favorite Thickers font.

I love the pictures in this next layout too because it warms my heart to see Jesse and Rachel playing in the snow. Aren't they adorable? I used some specialty paper from The Paper Studio and The Paper Company for the background and embellished it with American Crafts Thickers and rose ribbon, Jolee's Swarovski crystals, and Liquid Pearls.

This last layout is about the highlights from our trip to Boston, especially seeing the Car Talk office (one highlight not featured here is our dinner with Matt -- sadly we forgot to take pictures of that). I used Fancy Pants notebook paper, Discount Cardstock, Bazzill rhinestones, a Jenni Bowlin button, Pink Paislee pleated ribbon, MME Lush ribbon, and a Making Memories embellishment for this layout. I even used stamps (for the title and flourish) -- something that I need to do more often!

Banner Year

A new challenge is up at the (paper) Trail Makers Challenge blog and you are challenged to add banners to your layouts! Check out the details here: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

I wanted to make a bright, fun banner for this challenge and Creative Imaginations' Piece of Cake - Balloon Animals paper was just what I was looking for. The paper has a series of diamonds that I cut in half to make triangles for my banner. To finish the page, I used a bright white cardstock to make the colors in this layout pop even more.

Recycle, Reuse, Renew

Better Scrap (http://www.betterscrap.com/) has a "Recycle, Reuse, Renew" challenge this week. I used corrugated cardboard and other unusual items in this New Mexico layout:

Duke City Half Marathon

The Duke City 1/2 marathon was today. I was shooting for under 2 hrs or better, and came out well ahead of that at 1:49:23. I'd rate that as almost miraculous, and certainly a huge, fun blessing. You can check out my splits at Garmin:

Duke City Half Marathon by jessedavidthomas at Garmin Connect - Details

Everyone else ran great as well. Dave smoked us all, Dan was just a minute or two behind me, and Sarah and Tiffany came in well under 2.

Lots of fun.

Better Scrap October Challenge #2

Better Living Through Scrapbooking has another challenge up that you can check out here: http://www.betterscrap.com/

For my challenge entry, I created a layout about Wesley crawling for the first time (at our house!) For this layout I wanted to play with white space (using Discount Cardstock's white linen paper) and a pop of bright color, which Basic Grey's Lemonade collection is perfect for!

Another fun thing about this layout is that I used shrink film for the first time to create the charms that I used to create the circular accent. It was super-fun!

The Big 3 - 0

Jesse turned 30 last week, but we didn't have a big bash because he spent almost the entire day on an airplane! (He was on his way back from Europe -- a trip that he should be blogging about soon).

I did make him an apple pie though, which was a big deal because (1) I have only made 3 pies in my life and (2) this one actually tasted good! Here is poor jet-lagged Jesse trying to smile for the camera!

Ten Things & Ten Dollars

Want to win a $10 gift certificate to the (paper) trail store? If ten people participate in this week's challenge, which is to add a list of 10 things in your layout, a participant will win one! You can enter (and find out more details) here: http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

This is the layout that I created for the challenge:

For my list of 10, I decided to list the ten people (other than me) that appear in the pictures. I am a person who is bad with names and I tend to not list people's names in journaling, thinking, oh there is no way I'll forget that person's name! Ten years later, I am trying to remember this one college friend who I have a picture of and I have no record of her name anywhere! So I am happy that this challenge prompted me to put some names on paper.

I used simple lines to create this layout because I wanted to use all five of these pictures and did not want the page to look too overwhelming. Cosmo Cricket's Earthlove patterned paper (found in the store in a 2-collection pack with Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend) was perfect for this clean and simple layout.

LAST holiDAY

We decided to spend our last day in Kauai touring the Waimea canyon (we had already checked out so we didn't want to go swimming or anything). But even the best laid plans get thrown out the window when there are waves to catch! We drove through Kapa'a on our way to the canyon and Jesse spotted a whole bunch of guys surfing. Surprisingly enough, we had not seen much surfing on our trip because the waves just weren't there that week. Jesse had hoped to try to surf while we were here but didn't get the opportunity. So when this chance presented itself, we just had to rent a board and dive in (and when I say "we" I mean "he").

Surfing involves a lot of crashing and burning (one of the surfers congratulated Jesse on his "epic" wipe out).

And whether he was in the water or out, Jesse put those baywatch boys to shame!

Despite the fact that this was only the second time he ever surfed, Jesse got up a couple times.

And fell more than a couple times!

This is the best picture that I managed to snap of Jesse surfing (yes, I basically stood there for an hour taking pictures). He is kind of on his way down but he is standing!

After the surfing detour, we had enough time to eat a lovely dinner of local fish and check out Opaekaa Falls, which was situated right off the side of the road. In this picture you can also see the beautiful earrings that Jesse got me. They are made up of coin pearls and Ni'ihau shells.

I have to show you a picture of these local chickens as well. These things are everywhere in Kauai and the roosters crow all throughout the day and night -- starting waaaay before sunrise.

We spent our final night in Honolulu at the gorgeous Hilton Prince Kuhio hotel. Jesse took this fabulous picture of our night view. Sadly we were way too tired to do anything but sleep that last night but I have to say that during our vacation I felt the most relaxed I have felt in a long time.

August and September Layouts

Between posting about our vacations, family visits, Jesse's marathon training, and my design team work, I have been delinquent in showing you my non-design team scrapbooking layouts (many inspired by Scrap Attack Scrapbooking challenges). Without further adieu . . .

This first layout is my favorite. I love the pictures of Chloe dancing around in her princess dress and Basic Grey's Kioshi line was perfect for this layout. If you click on the image, you can see that I did a ton of hand stitching!

In this layout I used the Kioshi line in a more bold and unexpected way. I hand cut the lattice pattern from a checkered pp and used it to accent sweet pictures of Chloe's first trip to the dog park.

Speaking of bold, I just love the colors in the Bayberry line by Pink Paislee. I thought that both the colors and name of the Bayberry collection worked really well with our blueberry picking pictures!

I also used the Bayberry line for these next two summery layouts. In this first one I created a couple handmade flowers using the pleated ribbon from this collection. Aren't the nightime pictures that Jesse took beautiful?

This is is a funny layout about a joke that we played on Jesse. You can click on the layout to read the journaling along the outside of the page.


Pink Paislee's Queen Bee line is the complete opposite in terms of colors and look but I love it just as much (probably more, really). This layout features pictures taken of my office, which is not that clean right now!

Last but not least I used one of Kaisercraft's older collections to put together this earthy layout, which commemorates my greatest athletic achievement to date!