5 on Friday

WooHoo it's Friday! My kids have a half day, it's supposed to be 90+ degrees and even with the hot temps and my kids home early, life is good. This weekend will prove to be chaos, but even that should be fun. As much as life feels like it revolves around soccer at times, I do enjoy watching my boys play. And I'll have plenty of opportunity this weekend, with seven games in two days. Sort of sounds like one of those mad-paced European vacations - "See 12 countries in 3 days!" Those are just the scheduled games, if they do well, we could have as many as three more. PLUS, the super bonus - this means Spring soccer is over! :) I'm sure you're just chompin' at the bit to get your final challenge for this week. I know I am. I was IM'n with Melanie and she wondered if I was going to do a red, white & blue thing. I hadn't thought about it, but it is Memorial Weekend - the official non-calendar start to Summer. So here is your 5 on Friday:

• 1 sheet cardstock in navy or red
• 1 sheet patterned paper
• 1 set metallic embellishments
• 1 set of stars
• 1 set of buttons

Now, remember, nothing but the above listed ingredients, except journaling and a title. The layout DOES NOT have to be patriotic themed (I'll save that for another time), but does need to have the listed items. Have this challenge and the other two from this week uploaded by Saturday evening.

One last thing - Jennifer H. has the most adorable Pink Poodle invites for her daughter's birthday party posted on her blog. She traced the outline of the dog, but all the pen work is free-hand! They are the cutest things. So if you have a little girl and are looking for an idea, check these out. Even if you downloaded the clipart and just added the glitter - totally cute!

Okie doke, ya'll have a great holiday weekend!

Sketches on Wednesday

An ode to "The Magic Treehouse" books it's Sketches on Wednesday.

Drawing a blank on your year-end teacher gifts and feeling the pressure? Check out (our very own) Jennifer H.s' blog. While you might not have the time to put together the album (make a mental note for next year), the picture and frames are super easy and make a meaningful gift.

After you grab and idea or two from Jennifer, wander over to Melanie's blog to take part in her blog hop (where AS is a sponsor) and maybe you could win a little goodie.

Okay, so remember to link up your layouts to the individual challenges by Saturday evening to be eligible for the treat.

After a coffe with Jennifer (yep, same one) it looks to be a fairly quiet day - just one soccer practice and that's it. Maybe I'll get some cleaning done. Or laundry. Or AS work. Or scrapbooking? Only the day unfolding will tell.

Winners

Nice and quick so you can enjoy your Tuesday. Winner from the challenges during the week of May 10th: Deanna! Winner from the challenges during the week of May 17th: Melissa! I'll be sending goodies with the June shipping, you know in case you win again. ;)

Monday's Challenge

It was an odd weekend here - DH was in Kansas City for our nephew's graduation, or rather his graduation party. With the actual graduation on Sunday night he couldn't stay for that, but he went and celebrated. Then there were no sports - none whatsoever. A very odd thing for me, because since mid-February we've been dealing with soccer, and a little later, volleyball. But, as predicted, this weekend's tournaments are all conflicts, all the time! We'll have to divide and conquer so that DH and I can both enjoy the boys' separate games, separately. Today, more wind. Ick. Of all the weather, it's wind I hate the most. But there's also this week's first challenge (I will try to get the winners of the last two weeks challenges posted later today), so at least there's something to do inside, if your weather is less than perfect. Today, using the sketch below from 52 Sketches 52 Weeks, create a layout that incorporates a nice apple green and alter the sketch to include more than the one photo shown, or make your layout a 2-pager.

Back to chores and work and maybe time to get some lunch. Have a wonderful Monday.

5 on Friday

I didn't forget, well I kinda did, but I remembered today that I needed to post a challenge. That of course is when I realized I totally missed Wednesday's. In my defense, I was up to my elbows in catalogs searching out July goodies! So, to make up for the missing challenge, today's will be two fold; 1 layout and 1 card from the scraps. :) Here are your ingredients:

• 1 sheet cardstock
• 1 sheet patterned paper
• 1 set chipboard accents
• 1 set blossoms
• 1 length of ribbon

Remember, besides a title and journaling no extra items can be used. If you need more cardstock to create your card, that is the exception. This and Monday's challenge are due up Saturday evening.

It'll be a quiet weekend here - temps in the 80's, which after our cool temps might be a bit too hot, but at least it isn't snow. We have a birthday party and a cooking show and that's it! I don't know what to do with myself if I'm not running like a mad woman to one sporting event or another. DH is out of town until late Sunday, so it's me, the kids and a puppy we are puppy-sitting.

Hope your weekend is super! Just not super crazy.

Kick-off the week Monday Challenge

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Here, we had gorgeous weather, well on Sunday anyway. Saturday we enjoyed clouds and cool weather and rain that held off until after the soccer game. My 9 y.o.'s last regular season game was a 3-0 win! Hurray! Now we continue to have practices until the Memorial Day tournaments begin. We only have one bracket set, so it should be fun to see how the other schedule fits in and what kind of chaos will be created.

My daughter's volleyball team had their championship game up in Longmont (45 minutes north of us) where they fought hard, but ultimately took 2nd place in the City, with the closest games they played all season, loosing by only a couple points on both their matches. The photo below shows smiling faces and red, watery eyes.

I also enjoyed a Saturday night of scrapbooking where I completed seven, yes SEVEN, pages! They didn't photo graph well, and then they didn't edit well, but you'll get the idea. I must have had my camera settings off from taking photos at the volleyball game. I also tried to get the Slide function to work, but no go on that too - it must be Monday!

So, on to the first challenge of the week. Bessie's gonna take a break while she deals with the icky effects of early pregnancy and an upcoming move to Florida. She's had great Monday challenges (which I will miss) and I'm sure mine will pale in comparison, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Today, create a layout using your most recent photos with your most recent kit/purchase. Your sketch of the day is from Nuts About Sketches and when I saved it I already had one by this name, but not sure if I actually used it - if I did, well, you're getting it again. :)

Challenges for this week are due, linked up, by Saturday evening.

Hope your day and week is off to a great start!

Just a couple shout outs. . .

One is for Gloria, the card kit designer for May. She's got her examples up on her blog, you can see them HERE. Make sure you wander around her blog - she's has amazing cards. Teacher-gift season is in full swing, and if you need some cute ideas for teachers or PTO thank you's check out what Melanie has going on HERE. Plus be sure to check out her blog starting on the 19th. If you forget, I'll remind you. :)