Mary Shirley - Paper Crafting

Beauty

2016-02-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

This is by far one of my favorite photos of our youngest daughter and I knew exactly what I wanted to use with it! I picked up all of this Cosmo Cricket at an Archivers store several years ago, more like 7 to be exact! I hadn't even opened the pack....I have a problem! 😂 I adore this page!

Whatever Works!

2016-02-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of those pages that I've done for every one of my children, so they can all be angry with me together and at least know I didn't leave anyone out! Haha!!

My boys were the most difficult to potty train. It really came down to stubbornness. The older we get I've realized it's easier to compromise with your kids, maybe that's our stubbornness!

Our youngest had just turned 3...we were desperate! He would only sit on his seat if he could read a book and have it in from of the TV with his favorite show. We gave in, it was short-lived because it worked!!

Getting Ahead of Myself

2016-02-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

I took this cute pic of my little man just the other day wearing his older brother's hand-me-down Fedora! As soon as I edited it to B&W all of these lovely Scenic Route papers popped into my head! A match made! Boy did I love me some Scenic Route...oh who's kidding, I still do.

Even though I've been trying really hard to stick with a chronological order for my youngest's scrapbook....I really wanted to jump ahead! So glad I did!!

Throwback Thursday

2016-02-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

The hardest part of this newfound journey is locating all of my photos (aka: memories). I've burned so many discs over the years and I've "burned" a couple of computers too! Ha! It's hard to imagine life without a smartphone ....how did we do it?!! Loved having these still on my iMac from a phone dump a few years ago.

And talk about throw backs....how about that Love Elsie paper and buttons?!! Paired up with a bit of Basic Grey. Perfect!

#Blessed

2016-02-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

I'm actually quite proud of myself for keeping the momentum of crafting. My heart has missed preserving memories so much!! This layout title encompasses every single feeling.

Lots of newer products here...I love this Heidi Swapp paper!

Sweet Dreams

2016-02-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

There's nothing quite as sweet as the smell of a newborn baby, the softness of their skin or watching them dream and the happiness and contentment shown on their little faces. Love.

Pulled out some Cosmo Cricket from the stash, it was perfect!

New Traditions

2016-01-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

Our family is on our 4th transfer in the last 8 years and our 12th move in nearly 17 years.... so life has been interesting. We strive to set traditions, sometimes with friends we've made, some just for our family. Some of those traditions get lost or left behind with those moves and transfers over the years. The good that can come from that is the never-ending desire to find and start new traditions for our family.

Two years ago we moved to a new area and found a Church that we have really enjoyed. Each Christmas season they put on a production, it's actually more than a production, it's an experience.

It's magical. New tradition found.

Products Used:
Basic Grey Paper
Basic Grey Stickers
Basic Grey Chipboard
Misc Buttons and Ribbon

Feeling Nostalgic

2016-01-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

I remember my first scrapbooking experience. That was somewhere around 2004. I had met several families in the Moms groups I had joined and they talked about this scrapbooking stuff. I thought, like gum wrappers, movie ticket stubs and cut-outs from your school yearbook kind of "scrapbooking"??? I was so clueless. Lucky for me, these ladies became the best of friends I had ever had. I learned so much about this craft, it became part of my life.... almost every waking moment, after all, I had many years of Mom-hood to catch up on!

One of my fondest memories of product would be Basic Grey! Hobby Lobby paper pack half-off sales, YES! It was always Basic Grey for me. They made it easy for this beginner.... stickers, alphas, coordinating papers. And after several years beginning my journey I had many layouts published in their gallery. What a dream.

And wouldn't you know, the moment I descend from my hiatus Basic Grey announces they will no longer be in the scrapbooking industry. I have no other choice than to pull it all out and reminisce.

This is for you, Basic Grey.
Thank you for all of your creative years and products!

Products Used:
Basic Grey Mellow

Basic Grey Die-cuts

American Crafts Felt Flowers

Martha Stewart Decorative Tape

Making Memories Fabric Tags

K&Company Chipboard Words

A Tasty Adventure

2015-12-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

As an Anniversary gift this year my husband and I took a little getaway trip to a somewhat local winery. This quaint little place was nestled along the winds and turns of a long country road, atop the hillsides and hollars. It was a fun trip, definitely a tasty adventure.

Products Used:

Heidi Swapp Chipboard Alphas

Heidi Swapp Journaling

Scenic Route Paper

7Gypsies Stickers

Making Memories Alpha Stickers

7Gypsies Fabric Tape

7Gypsies Rub-ons

Mary, meet Scrapbooking

2015-12-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

It's been such a long time since I've pulled out my supplies, it was an introduction as if it had never happened before.

2009.

That was my last layout. That was 3 moves ago. Everything smothered in boxes, begging to be released for years and years.

2015.

The year I decided my heart hadn't given up on paper crafting. In fact, it felt lonely without recreating past memories and putting them on paper for my family to see and relive again.

I'm excited to begin my journey again. There've been so many changes in the industry ... new products, new companies, closed companies, old techniques fossiled by technology. Eventually I'll catch up completely but until then I'll continue to craft the way I know how and hoping I can give some inspiration along the way.

❤️,

Mary

Vote For Me! :)

2009-03-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

I entered a bag design contest with the local grocery store.... lots of prizes! First, I got a free bag for just participating (yay, love reusable bags!!!). Second, I could win up to $1,000 if my bag gets the most votes. If that is the case, I'm going to donate a portion of my winnings to a Charity here in the US whose cause is to feed America... primarily helping families with Children who are hungry.

And my bag could be sold in stores... fun, fun!

So, please VOTE!!!!!And ask your friends to VOTE!!!!!

Oh, yeah... go here! :)

Scrappers Group Challenge

2009-03-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

My online yahoo scrappers group had this really cool challenge... one person would choose a sketch and create a layout based on their interpretation of the sketch. She would then email a pic of her layout to the next person and so on and so on. The "sketch" went through nearly a dozen people before everyone was finished and we all uploaded our interpretations onto the group site.

It was so fun to see just how much the sketch changed through it's course!!

Here was my layout;

It ended up looking nothing like the 6x12 layout it started out to initially be!! LOL

March Kit - The Scrappy Gourmet

2009-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

So much to update...but for now I'll just start with my new kit at The Scrappy Gourmet!

So many great colors to work with... and the products are wonderfully put together as usual!

I had a lot of fun putting this kit together... especially the chipboard album! It features a lot of my favorite things... I got a little carried away but hey, that's what scrapbooking is all about!

It also includes a 1 page layout and 2 cards.

Check out more pics here.

Finally!!

2009-02-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Over the last week I've been able to work on a few layouts.... finally!!!! I haven't even cleaned up my scrap table, I figure if everything is out then I will continue to work on something daily and so far it's working! :)

The kids went back to school today after being home for 9 days!!! Five of those were snow days! We were hit with all that nasty ice and pounded with snow.... I had some serious cabin-fever! lol

Here are some layouts;

This was just the sweetest picture of Bella on Christmas Eve. And after looking at it over and over I thought, boy that sweet face sure can be deceiving sometimes! Then I thought how she doesn't care if she's naughty or nice, she's cute... and that gets her just about anything she wants! LOL!!

This was Elisabeth this past Halloween, she's been a witch many times in her 8 years!

And this last one is another of Bella back in the Fall. I just love the Basic Grey Urban Prairie line! It worked perfect with some of my leftover MM buttons!

It's that time again... baths, bedtime stories, etc... then I'm going to finish up more layouts I've been working on. Then I'm going to dig into some Sushi that I picked up this evening ... mmm! We may be snowed in again after tomorrow.... more is headed this way! I'm so ready to go back to Florida!!!! :D

Lots to Scrap about!

2009-01-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how many times I've said to myself, "I NEED to scrapook. I NEED to log into my blog. I NEED to see how all my scrappy friends are doing!!" .... and yet finding the time the last couple of months has been almost impossible!

The holidays are over. As much as I love them, I'm glad. It's so time-consuming! There was lots of shopping, baking and traveling. What isn't over is our search for a new home. We've been in West Virginia now for just over 4 months. We've put one offer on a house... which ended up having a pending sale (it was contengient, upon a contengient, upon a contengient... get the drift?). Why a bank would do that is beyond me... needless to say that house is still "for sale". ha.

So, what's taking us so long? My husband and I have different views. He wants land. And lots of it. I just want a HOME! He wants cattle, horses, chickens... that kind of "land". I just want a HOME! lol So, you see... we're not exactly seeing eye-to-eye. With being in WV (if you've never been here) there's not much flat land. It's very 'moutainous' ... with lots of rolling hills and hollars (lol, that word cracks me up!).

Back to scrappy subjects... I am trying to finish some projects for The Scrappy G. Not much left to do, I decided to change photos so I had to take those and reorder pics. I did make some crafty things for Christmas. New ornaments, some cards... nothing fancy.

My photography is going okay... for starting over. I've had a few shoots including a wedding. I also had photos requested for the local newspaper a few weeks ago for an event my son's class attended at the Governor's Mansion... can't wait to see those!

So, it's been a busy winter.

Tomorrow is back to scrapping for me! I'm heading out in the a.m. to purchase the Storybook cartridge (yay!!), hit Michaels to majorly splurge and then to the scrapbook store to spend the ENTIRE day!!!!!!!!!

Hope to share some pics with you soon! Hope you've all had a wonderful Holiday season!!

Slacker Am I

2008-10-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

That should be a new layout title...

This has been a really rough month, hopefully November will be a fresh new start with a clean slate! I have a few projects to finish and tons to start before the Holidays!

Hope you're all doing well and getting lots done!

Another redundant post...

2008-09-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

Every time I visit my blog to make a new post I get this feeling that I'm being a tad redundant. It's the same old thing... :D

We're still trying to get settled in. It's hard without the "man of the house" to help hang large mirrors, shelves or even rods for the new window treatments. I know that's not all he's good for, but those traits certainly do come in handy during times like these!

School is going okay for the kids. I've got two drastically different teachers (than what we've had in the past) and teaching molds to deal with. On Elisabeth's end we have the middle-aged, stern and grumpy 2nd grade teacher who nit picks everything and puts frowny faces on papers. And on Landon's end we have the middle-aged, "queen of everything" teacher who seems to have it out for my kid. I don't know why.. but she will intentionally leave him out of certain activities (according to him) and makes excuses as to why they don't have time for him to retrieve his treasure from the Treasure Box. He comes home upset, which just makes me more furious... that he actually realizes what she does. So, come next week I'll have two parent-teacher meetings and hopefully get to the bottom of everything.

On to good news, my next door neighbor is a SCRAPPER!!! We've already scrapped together one day last week. What a relief! She's really sweet, has two kids that are the same age as two of mine and her husband is also a Jason. Lots of similarities! Other than that I'm still getting furniture deliveries... which has been fun. And of course to fill some of my days Bella and I have done lots of shopping! :)

Here are a couple of new layouts to share.... I LOVE the Vintage Moon by Pink Paislee... LOVE IT!!

So glad that tomorrow is Friday and only 10 more days till my DH is here with us!!!
Have a great weekend!

Hello... I AM alive!!!

2008-09-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well, after many long... LONG weeks of packing, unpacking and trying to get settled here in our new home of West Virginia, I think I'm finally getting there. Things have been really hectic and we've hit so many obstacles while here, of course that always just adds to the chaos, but I've survived (so far!! lol). I'm actually here by my lonesome while my lovely DH is still working in FL until the end of September. Does that give a little more clarity to the chaos?!?! LOL

I have been dying to scrap, it had been way too long so last night I finally got a new table out and set everything up. It felt SOOOOO good to jump back into it! And I finished two pages... YAY!!

So, here ya go;

I'm working on a third page now... just trying to catch up a little and get some mojo back! :)

Scrap-Tastic GOTM

2008-09-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

After winning the Scrap Idol Contest over at Scrap-Tastic I had the opportunity of being the Girlie of The Month (aka: Guest DT). I was sent a lovely kit called 'Cirque De Soleil'. Here are the four layouts I made with the kit;

Wedding Photos, Advertisements, etc...

2008-08-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

I did a photo shoot for a friend a couple of weekends ago. Her and her hubby renewed their vows. I think she was most excited about the new dress, the new pics... well, just getting all dolled up again, who wouldn't want to do that?! So, her pics turned out so awesome that I decided to make a new postcard advertisement with them... wanna see?!

I've had so many compliments on both the pics and the new postcard... I just LOVE it!

New Album @ The Scrappy Gourmet!!

2008-08-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have a new album up at The Scrappy Gourmet! It was a really fun kit, definitely for the one that you love the mostest! :) Here's a little sneak peek... to see the rest you'll have to go check it out on the site, hehee! :)

They're Heading to CHA!

2008-07-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Jill and Dee at The Scrappy G are heading to CHA... and they've put the ENTIRE store 40% off (excluding kits) for the next two days!!! WOWZERS!

Okay, hurry up and get shoppin'!! :D

New Layouts!!

2008-07-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a busy summer! First off... did anyone see my card in the June issue of CARDS?? I've yet to get my copies and I haven't seen any issues around here. Apparently not all of our LSS's carry those!

I went to a crop a couple of weeks ago, here are some layouts I finished;

I tried to use some of my older stash, but then I saw the Pink Paislee... YUM, I just LOVE that stuff!! And then of course I got a few sheets of the Sassafrass Lass... so colorful and fun!

This layout I finished at home over the weekend, something a little simple, actually they've all been a little simple lately... time just hasn't been on my side these days!

I need to share!

2008-06-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

I've had a few emails asking to share some of the photos I've done at recent shoots. So, here are a few of my favorites...

This was a maternity shoot out on the beach, they were all so beautiful, but this was one of my favorites.

This one was really sweet! I love capturing those unforgettable moments! This was a different shoot, she just happens to be expecting also!

And these were all from a shoot a few weeks back. I had to pull them from our
ordering site so sorry they have the watermark. All I had were very large files
still saved and I didn't want to wait forever for the upload! lol

So, there you have it! I've been so busy lately... And it doesn't look like things are going to slow down any, but that's good!! I'm so excited about this Friday morning, we're doing a shoot for a Charity benefiting an Autistic Organization and we get to shoot with and meet Jenny McCarthy!

Well, that's it. OH no wait, I did just finish a sweet little album for The Scrappy Gourmet, so I'll probably post a few little sneak peeks soon!! And to get my groove back I'm going to an all day crop on Friday! YAY!!

Hope you liked my photos!!

Neglected!!

2008-06-20T21:36:00.001-07:00

I've totally neglected my blog this past month. Nothing intentional. School's out and the kids have been computer hogs! I ordered a laptop last week (green of course!) so I'm waiting for it to arrive. Hooray!

This funk has me and I'm not sure how to get out of it. So much has hit us in the last month or so, I'm still trying to get through it all. We found out that we'll be moving soon. How soon, we don't know... my husband's company hasn't given us a specific date yet. It's confusing as to what we'll do about the kids and school. I just want to get it over with at this point.

So anyway, I've lacked in the scrapping lately. I'm really motivated when I crop with friends but apparently they're all too busy too! lol Darn summer break! ;)

Hey, I've gotten a nice little tan out of it though! lol

How has your summer break been thus far?