My Mothers Influence.. and a little bit from Dad Too...

I am the youngest of 6 children, ranging in age from 59 down to me at 41..
(shh.. don't tell anyone)

My mother has been a great inspiration to my crafting. Although she is not a paper crafter she has always been a crafter. Mostly quilting. I can remember as a child watching her sew and I believe it is those early memories that have made me want to sew on my pages more often. Kind of like combining our two worlds.

She has always loved the smaller patterns and although I joke with her that they are "Pajama" patterns, I tend to find some to be very fitting for certain projects.
I don't usually use pattern paper in my layouts, but lately I have been walking on the side of using them to add interest to my works.  This layout was so fitting of both the sewing and the pattern paper.

I think working with elements or colors out of the norm is good for a change... but I do prefer to use the more "Boyish" colors usually...

 I am off to sew something more my "boys" style....

Since I started Crafting, most of the things I have created have been focused around my boys and the area in which we live.  Below is a page I created with their hobbies in mind...

This little guy reminds me of my boys.. there for a while, especially during the summer fishin' was all they could think about. This little guy fit the bill perfectly. With his little bucket of fish, he turned out a lot cuter than I had anticipated. I stuck with good reliable colors for this.. browns and green.

Neutral tones seem to work well when you have boys.

Again with the stitching... Just love the added interest it brings to the page.

These are actual Fly Fishing Flies.. I pinched the barb as to not snag the page protector and to protect me from getting a hook stuck in my finger.. ( I am kind of accident prone lately)  I little out of the "norm "for a scrapbook page element, but anyone who knows me knows that when I build pages there are no limits to the stuff I will put on a page.. If It works.... IT WORKS!


In the end it not about what is or isn't on the page.. it is the picture right? The next time I have some photos of my boys fishing I will have a page all ready to go to celebrate them spending time together doing what they love to do.

I used to joke with my father that "Fishing is, a Jerk on One end, waiting for a Jerk on the other"... I guess I can't say that anymore.