Really I am alive...

no really... hehe. It was spring break here in lovely Connecticut and the boy was home every. single. day. all. day. What am I going to do come summer? Thank goodness for his preschool's summer camp in August. ;-) Of course, we had so much fun this week, with planning the summer will be great too! I thought I would post a scrapbook page in honor of the boy today. I took this photo last year on the first day I had my camera. I got such good pictures that day, simply because I was willing to play around with the features of my camera. Hmm... maybe it's time to do that again. Anyway, here's the page. I totally love Heather Nichols' style of stamping using kraft paper and I wanted to go for that earthy feel with this page. I wanted the layout to be very simple, so I played around with elements for a while and decided on the twill tape and book turns. The leaf was fun to make. I used sponges to apply craft ink in various greens to the stamp. I stamped it on Very Vanilla. After I let it dry, I used more sponges to apply classic ink to make it really look like a fresh spring leaf. Then I trimmed it out. Easy as pie, just required a little patience. I was most surprised by the vanilla mat I used... I always grab a dark piece of cardstock to mount my photos, but after about a 15 mins of playing I knew that just wasn't working. I sat there wondering what to do (I couldn't just have an unmounted picture *gasp*) when I looked over my messy desk and saw a scrap of Very Vanilla. "It couldn't be that easy," I thought. But it was! Well, for those of you who are still looking, thanks! I'll try to be around a little more often! TFL! Stamp Sets: With Gratitude, Art by Design Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla Ink: Versamark, Garden Green, every green I own for the leaf, Garden Green marker Accessories: Twill Tape, Hodgepodge Hardware Antique Brass