2paws Designs

Friday Freebie: SuperWords paper

2012-05-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Needing (wanting) one more paper for my Superhero layout last week, I made my own with a mix of fun comic style action words. It's 12x12 with black outlined words on a white background - perfect to coordinate with any design. Free for personal use only.

Click here to download SuperWords paper freebie

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

Railhawks Game

2012-05-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

A friend invited us to join him for a Carolina Railhawks soccer game last Saturday. It was a first for all 3 of us. Dylan loved it! He was even kicking his own foot while watching the players kick the ball. Thanks, Kevin, for an awesome evening!

Supplies: 52 Thursday Templates #19 & Dinos papers by Tiffany Tillman; scan of ticket.

Wordless Wednesday: Rim Time

2012-05-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

Handprint Flag Plaque

2012-05-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Dylan & I made this plaque last year just before July 4th but it seemed fitting to share now a few days before Memorial Day. With Memorial Day, Flag Day (June 14th) and July 4th - it will be hanging on our wall for the next few months!

The handprint, stripes and blue canton were all done with paint. The stars were stamped on. Then I sketched the flag outline using a Sharpie marker and added the words with rub-on letters from my stash. Finally, I sealed it using Mod Podge and added a picture hanger to the back.

Supplies: wooden plaque; acrylic paint; brushes; star stamp; Stampin' Up! Whisper White ink pad; black Sharpie marker; Making Memories rub-ons; Mod Podge; picture hanger.

Touch A Truck 2011

2012-05-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

Backing up to Dylan's 2nd year album again ... I wanted to include a local fundraiser event we attended called "Touch a Truck." It's a fun opportunity for kids to get close to all sorts of vehicles (trucks, cars, helicopters, buses, etc) and literally touch & climb into them. Dylan loved it.

I wanted to include a lot of photos to show some of the different vehicles we saw so I used a template that helped me quickly arrange 8 of my favorites. Then I left the rest of the design a bit more simple so the focus would be on the photos.

Supplies: Just the Photos 5: Edges template by Kate Teague; Sweet Life papers by Karen Funk; Traffic Jam elements by Miss Mint; Celebration brushes by Rhonna Farrer; Nursery Rhymes elements by Sara Schmutz; Digi Esssentials 8 by Karla Dudley; Just the Way You Are and Arial fonts.

exploring

2012-05-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Completing challenges is helping me get back into my scrapping groove. This one for the Two Peas Color Challenge: Grin to use earthy tones on a layout. The colors worked perfectly with photos I took on Wednesday during a nature class we attended.

Supplies: DHD Blueprint 4 template and Favorite Things alpha by Gennifer Bursett; Happy Camper kit by Sara Schmutz; Roar kit by Jen Martakis; Georgia font

my Superhero

2012-05-17T08:00:00.001-04:00

Loved this cute photo I snapped of Dylan with my iPhone last month at the park. He agreed to a picture (somedays that takes a lot of begging!), picked the spot and posed. When I saw the May blueprint challenge at DHD and Robyn Meierotto's new Super elements, I was instantly inspired to scrap it.

Supplies: DHD May Blueprint template by Celeste Smith; School is In papers, and Nursery Rhymes & Recollect kits by Sara Schmutz; Rocketman kit by Deena Rutter; Super elements and Oceanside papers by Robyn Meierotto; Favorite Things 2 pattern papers by Gennifer Bursett; Cherish kit by Kitty Designs; Felis brushes and Digi Essentials 9 by Karla Dudley; Detour kit by Ellie Lash; SuperWords paper by 2pawsDesigns; Myriad Pro font (date).

Wordless Wed: Mother's Day at the Arboretum

2012-05-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

Marble Painting

2012-05-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

My friend, Allison, shared the idea of marble painting and I quickly bookmarked it to try with Dylan. As it happened, his neighborhood buddy was over recently so I tried it with both boys. I was impressed with how easily they grasped the concept (you never can be sure at this age) and how much time they spent on it.

Supplies

paper
paint
marble(s)
small cardboard tray

We did our painting outdoors simply because it was perfect weather - too nice to be inside. They really made little mess beyond their fingers. I gave each boy a small cardboard tray with a sheet of paper cut to size and a marble. Then they shared a small tray of paint (less for me to clean up!).

Then they dipped their marble into the paint, placed on the paper and tilted their tray to send the marble rolling around the paper. This was fun to watch. Dylan was very serious about it (notice the concentration in the above photo). His friend was a little more relaxed and even did a bit of finger painting.

Both boys ended up with beautiful works of art. And since Dylan enjoyed it so much, we repeated the process a few days later to create Mother's Day cards for his grandmothers.

Week in the Life: Photo Book

2012-05-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

My Week in the Life photo book arrived on Saturday! I was very excited to find it on my doorstep especially since as of Friday, the estimated arrival was Monday.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know there was a small crushed spot on the bottom edge. This is the first time an item I've ordered from Shutterfly has arrived damaged. I'll be calling customer service today to get it replaced.

Regardless, we've had a great time looking at it - especially Dylan. He loves to flip the pages and point at photos naming faces and places.

** Our replacement book from Shutterfly arrived on May 17th and was in perfect condition. **

Farm Animal Days

2012-05-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

Each spring, NC State offers Farm Animal Days to give local children a chance to see farm animals up close and even pet a few. This year was the first time Dylan & I went. We met a few of his friends there. The boys had the best time seeing all the animals, climbing into tractors, holding baby chicks and, of course, eating the free Howling Cow ice cream.

Supplies: Of the Essence add on kit by Fei Fei's Stuff; Tears Set 1 by Tiffany Tillman; Picket Fences kit by Jen Allyson; Digi Essentials 8 by Karla Dudley; 2peas Old Type, Century Gothic, and Another Typewriter fonts.

Fat Quarter Bag

2012-05-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

We have a birthday party for a 5 year old girl this weekend. I liked the Fat Quarter Bags I made at Christmas so much, I decided to make one for her gift. I used the same tutorial, but changed up the bottom a bit to give it a more rounded look vs boxed.

Supplies: Heather Bailey (outside) & JoAnn fabrics; Coats & Clark thread; grosgrain ribbon.

[almost] Wordless Wednesday: Baseball Buddies

2012-05-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

That's Dylan on the left and his new friend, Dustyn. We had the good fortune of meeting up for dinner and park fun with Sarah Halstead & family on Monday night.

Primary Day in NC

2012-05-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

I've gone round and round. I don't usually voice my political opinion very loudly and typically not here. But, I do feel strongly about today and hope that all NC voters who haven't voted early will get to the polls. If passed, Amendment One could do a lot of harm especially to women and children.

Learn the facts. Vote. Let's show the world that North Carolina is better than this and crush Amendment One.

Week in the Life 2012: Complete

2012-05-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

My Week in the Life 2012 album is complete! I ordered it as an 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly last night.

Title Page

I decided to keep each of my days to 2 pages - a main photo with the banner title on the first page and a photo collage with journaling on the second page. Honestly, I had six of the seven main photos selected before I realized Dylan was in every one which helped me picked the final one (Tuesday - not a lot of good & good quality photos that day). He might as well be in them all. :)

Monday, April 23rd

Tuesday, April 24th

Wednesday, April 25th

Thursday, April 26th

Friday, April 27th

The photo of the fire engines was taken by Dylan using my point & shoot camera. I altered the template text box to note that. It was important to me to include a bit from his view of the week.

Saturday, April 28th

Sunday, April 29th

Following the "day pages" - I took inspiration from a Week in the Life closing page shared by Kristen W on Flickr. I liked the idea of a count of various parts of the week. Ours includes our ages; Dylan's stats (weight, height & clothing sizes); amount spent on groceries, gas, movies; number of miles walked; temperature fluctuations; etc. Across from it, I created a page with corresponding photos.

Overview: By the Numbers

Finally, since our week was unusual in several respects, I decided to finish the album with a spread documenting a "typical" weekday in our home right now since I'm sure by the next time we do this, it will have changed.

Weekday: Typical Schedule

Supplies: Week in the Life 12x12 Vol. 4 Layered Template Album and December Daily Layered Template Package Vol. 3 by Ali Edwards; Instagram app; Digi Essentials by Karla Dudley; Tweet, Tweet collaboration kit from oscraps.com; Arial, Arial Bold & Just the Way You Are fonts.

Week in the Life 2012: Putting it Together

2012-05-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

I have completed all the "day" pages for my Week in the Life album as well as a title page and ending page in Photoshop. I wanted to focus on the photos & text so I've pretty much stuck strictly to the templates with almost no embellishment.

I've started arranging the pages into a Shutterfly photo book. Next I need to create my cover. I'm thinking something similar to this (also still considering her idea of 3 years in one album as I would like to get pages for the previous 2 years completed).

Supplies: Week in the Life 12x12 Vol. 4 Layered Template Album by Ali Edwards; Instagram app; Digi Essentials by Karla Dudley; Tweet, Tweet collaboration kit from oscraps.com.

Superhero Pillowcases

2012-05-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

This was a fun order - superhero pillowcases for a special little guy. He told his mom he was "big boy" now. :)

Spiderman pillowcase

Superman pillowcase

I hope these fill his "big boy" request!

Wordless Wednesday: Poolside

2012-05-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

Week in the Life 2012: In Progress

2012-05-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

The last two years I've taken photos & notes for Week in the Life. I haven't completed a single album though! Hoping third time's the charm. Last week, I started again. I took photos daily using all 3 cameras (DSLR, point & shoot and iPhone) depending on the moment & convenience (not to mention, that is real life - I use all 3) and took notes using the printouts by Ali Edwards.

I averaged 100 photos per day. That by no means equals 100 good shots. There were bad shots and repeats. I sorted them all by day into folders and then have been going through ruthlessly deleting.

I started on my album on Saturday because I wanted to and felt inspired. I really, really want to get this one completed! :)

My initial plan was to use Ali's Week in the Life volume 4 templates and create it all digitally. As I started adding photos, I looked back at her completed album from last year and lifted the idea of adding times and notes on top of photos. I like how that helps define the day while letting me place photos randomly (vs in chronological order) and write my journaling in a more relaxed format.

I'm still working on adding photos and text to the main "day" pages. I currently have two pages per day - a title page with large photo & banner title and an adjacent page with smaller photos & journaling. I'm undecided still on embellishments. I want to keep the design simple with the focus on the photos so, whatever I do, I expect it will be minimal. I'm also thinking of adding a few extra pages that detail a few current things in our lives that might not have been picked up in during the past week. That's perhaps a little vague, but keep in mind, I'm still working out my plan on that myself! Focusing on finishing the day pages first.

Infant Car Seat Covers

2012-04-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

During the past week, I've been busy sewing custom orders including infant car seat covers. The recipients of both of these covers are expecting girls which sent me in search of pink fabrics.

The first has a beautiful floral print on the outside with a complimentary solid pink on the inside.

The second cover has an elegant brown damask print on light pink background. The inside is solid brown.

Halfway through I discovered a flaw in the fabric print. It affects only a small area just behind the handle. Enough that I didn't want to send it as custom, but also small enough that you almost wouldn't see it. Thus, I finished it and am listing in my Etsy shop at a discounted price.

Thankfully, I had enough of the print fabric remaining (and I've checked it carefully!) to make a second cover and complete the order. Sewing that is next on my "to do" list.

Friday Freebie: Mini Golf 2 page

2012-04-27T08:00:00.022-04:00

This month, I'm sharing a 2 page 12x12 template based on the layout in yesterday's post. It features 16 layers including photo & paper masks with shadows. It's free for personal use only.

Click here to download the Mini Golf template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

mini golf

2012-04-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the new Fore mini kit from Pink Trike Designs, I made this 2 page layout of our mini golf fun while on our beach vacation with friends last fall. So funny watching three 2 year old boys "play". ;)

Supplies: Fore mini kit by Robyn Meierotto; Favorite Things alpha (recolored) by Gennifer Bursett; Easter Fun elements by Agnes Biro; Celebration kit by Rhonna Farrer; Century Gothic font.

Wordless Wednesday: Life Imitating Art

2012-04-25T08:00:00.006-04:00

5k, the layout

2012-04-24T08:00:00.014-04:00

While the memories are still fresh, I decided to scrap the race. This is the first "me" page I've made in a very long time! :)

I loved finally playing with Karla Dudley's protectors. Almost like paper scrapping again as I "tucked" things into the pockets. The photostrip I created by putting together a few shots from Instagram. Behind it is a partial list of the official times.

In the last 24 hours Allison & I have lightly touched on the subject of doing another 5k (just when I said I was done!), but ... on a flat course in the fall. So, we'll see.

Supplies: Neutral Cardstocks by Audrey Neal; DHD's Digital Scrapbooking Day 2011 collaboration kit; Design 365 starter kit by Deena Rutter; Right Now papers & elements and Protectors Set 1 by Karla Dudley; I Love Boys elements by Robyn Meierotto; Just the Way You Are and Teletype fonts; Instagram photos - Earlybird filter.

Briar Chapel 5k

2012-04-23T08:00:00.087-04:00

I confess, as pumped as I was Friday night about the race - I was equally nervous Saturday morning. The nerves seemed to disappear once we arrived at Briar Chapel. I left Trent & Dylan as I searched out registration. I joked with Allison that this is the first "modern technology" race I've ever been to. My dad ran for years and, back in those days, the race officials pulled the bottom part of your bib off after you crossed the line. This time, I had to figure out how to attach a chip to my shoe so the computer would automatically grab my time as I crossed the finish line.

With my Mom in Chapel Hill blogging friends, Allison & Katie, before the race

After everything was settled, I gave another "see you in a bit!" to Trent & Dylan who were hanging out with Allison's husband & sons as well as our blogging partner, Katie, cheering us on. Then Allison and I joined the group of runners assembled at the starting line. We were about midway back, chatting and listening to the starting info then suddenly, the entire group began to move forward. It was interesting watching the sea of motion around us as some runners started fast and others (myself included!) a bit slower.

Allison & I are all smiles starting out!

Determined to keep our pace and retain energy to carry us through, we started off slowly and chuckled a bit as some of the runners pushing little ones in jogging strollers passed us! Kudos to those folks. It was hard enough pushing Dylan during my training, but no way on the hills in that race course.

Just before mile marker 1, Allison picked up speed and got ahead. I felt like I had a good pace going where I was and my asthma was giving me a little trouble so I stayed back. I kept moving though. The sun came out just after this which was a disappointment. Although a fairly cool morning, the temperature difference when the sun hits you after running a mile and you're moving uphill - not pleasant! I was wishing for more clouds! :)

Our 3 "littlest" boys waiting to cheer us as we crossed the finish line!

The toughest parts of the race were definitely the hills. Allison put it best afterward when she said it wasn't so much that they were steep, but that they were long and just kept going. My training had been outdoors on a greenway. It's not flat, but definitely did not have inclines comparable to the course. These proved tricky for me and my lungs so I slowed it down.

At the finish line.

As I rounded the final turn and saw the finish line ahead, my family and heard the cheering - my old high school running days hit me and I kicked up my speed. I pushed myself with all the energy I had left to make it to that line. My official time 32:57. I was a little disappointed hoping to come in closer to 30 minutes, but at the same time, proud of my accomplishment. I spent 16 weeks training to get to this point. At the start of which, I could only run for a few minutes at a time. The hills got the best of me, but truthfully, not that bad. I did it. I achieved my goal - completing a 5k.

Post race - we did it!

I haven't officially decided what's next. I do feel like the last few weeks have shown me that I'm not a runner anymore. My joints, especially the knee I had operated on, just aren't the same and it's clear that my asthma is definitely a factor. I do plan to continue working out. I may even continue to use the Ease into 5K app. I like the earlier weeks with the interval training. Beyond that, I'm undecided. Whatever it is, I'm confident now that if I approach it like I did this challenge, I'll conquer it as well.