Sketchbook Project Fun Journal: Spread 23

Fun Journal 23

Boy, how the time seems to be flying these past few months. It’s honestly all I can do to keep my head above water these days! Finding little snippets of time to just sit back and relax is my latest challenge. How about you?

So I'm catching up on journal pages …. Benny went out of town for a football game Labor Day weekend, so the girlies and I had the house to ourselves all weekend. Friday night we stayed up late watching that great 80’s classic Adventures in Babysitting. I don’t think I’ve seen it since the 80’s! And of course, my girls had never seen it, but they were completely entertained. At one point—and I can’t even remember what started it, but I think it might have been Sarah letting out a good old snort—the three of us went into one of those uncontrollable fits of laughter. You know the kind where you just absolutely can’t stop laughing, and then you are laughing so hard that you actually start crying? Yep, we had one of those that lasted a good 30 minutes. When Livvie looked at me and saw my “laughter tears,” she said, “Mama! You’re crying and laughing at the same time!” and then she burst out laughing again.

Totally uncontrollable laughter. That’s what memories, and this journal page, are made of. I've written "adventures in babysitting" down the left side of the spread and "uncontrollable fits of laughter" down the right. Special memory, and one I hope will stick with my girls till old age. I know it will stick with me. What's one of your favorite "uncontrollable fits of laughter" moments?

You can see other pages in this journal is this Flickr set.

Time for September Free Bling!

Blue Cinderella Earrings
Time for my monthly Free Bling Friday giveaway! Random.org picked comment number 35 as the winner of my August Free Bling, so congratulations to Ally from Pennsylvania!
How about some pretty blues for September sapphire girls?  These are blue crystal briolettes topped with aqua Swarovski crystals, all accented with sterling silver.  To be eligible to win, simply visit either of my Etsy shops (here for jewelry and here for photography) and leave a comment in the comment box below with the link to your favorite piece, your location, and a way to reach you by midnight October 11, 2012. Want more entries? Tweet, blog or Facebook this giveaway and leave another comment with the link. The next winner will be drawn via random.org Friday, October 12.

Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email updates or subscribe in the reader of your choice over there in the right column. And be sure to like my Facebook page for specials. Thanks for stopping in! Giveaway open to US and Canadian residents only.

Furry Face of the Week: Meet Chuck!

Chuck, American Bulldog /American Staffordshire Terrier mix

Seriously, how can you resist that face? This is Chuck. He's an American Bulldog mix. I actually had already photographed him the week prior to me taking this shot. Sandy had him outside when I arrived last week, so I just sat down in the chair next to this one and started getting my gear out. When I did, Chuck hopped up in the chair next to me and looked at me like he was saying, "You're back! That must mean you've come back for me!" I'm heading back in to the shelter tomorrow morning for another photo shoot, so I'm hoping someone has adopted Chuck. When I showed Benny this picture, even HE admitted Chuck looks like a keeper!
 
Chuck, American Bulldog/American Staffordshire Terrier mix

Sketchbook Project Fun Journal: Spread 22

Fun Journal 22

Here's spread 22 in the old Sketchbook Project Fun Journal. This is one of those, "if you don't like it, just cover it up" pages. I use deli papers under my journal to capture stray spray paint and inks, and I save those because some of them make great little works of art themselves! This page initially started with one of those deli sheets. It had the most beautiful blend of blues, purples, grays and greens. And then I promptly went overboard and screwed it up! I had cut out various circle shapes and glued them all over the page, doodling dots and lines around them, and then all of the sudden....I hated it! It was just too much! (Not that I have any sense of subtlety in me whatsoever anyway...).

So I started trying to pull up the circles without pulling up the deli wrap, but alas, Mod Podge is some strong stuff. So in the background of this, you see remnants of the circles I painted over. Then I was somewhat happy with just the painted over circles when I went butterfly crazy. Oh well! Here you have it! Butterfly, fly...fly, fly away... Crazy thing is this page has gotten more views on Flickr than anything I've uploaded in a while! Oh course, they could be taking a closer look because they wanted to see what sort of train wreck occured here, but I'll choose to think they liked it. :-)

You can see other pages in this journal is this Flickr set.

Hanging on to Summer

Trio jump

Labor Day weekend traditionally symbolizes the end of summer and the beginning of Fall in the States. However, here in Florida, Summer easily extends way into October and often even November! We spend much of our free time on the dock and playing in the river, so I thought I'd end Labor Day weekend with a few shots of our playtime. Across the river from us is Blount Island. One end of Blount Island is Jacksonville's main shipping port. The other end, closest to us, is a Marine base. Thanks to the Marines, we have a nice clean shoreline across from us!
Hanging on to Summer

Ever played Monkey Dock? Picture your good old-fashioned monkey bars, but then imagine they are the wood slats of a dock and you are underneath the dock, racing to see who can get to the end, and then swim back around to the ladder on the floating dock first. That, my friends, is how you play Monkey Dock. It's quite the workout, I might add!

swimming girls
And what's a little play in the water without mermaids? Make the best of the last days of your summer.