FCCB Challenge # 174--Summer Camp!

 Good morning, Campers!!!  Is everyone ready for a new Fantabulous Cricut Challenge?  This week the theme is Summer Camp.  Make a project having to do with summer camp and using at least ONE Cricut cut.  Please join us!  Visit FCCB for more inspiration.

Being the mom of a Boy Scout, I have LOTS of camping photos.  So I decided to make a layout, something I need to do a lot more of!  These pix are from my son's trip to Philmont Scout Ranch last summer.  This is THE premier scouting experience.  Brad went too.  They backpack through the mountains of New Mexico.

This is a 12 x 12, two-page spread.  I used CTMH Artbooking, Outdoor Man, and Campin' Critters cartridges.  The sort of chevron BG is from Artbooking and cut at 11" in Garden Green.  I think this is my fave BG--it's just too cool, and I have been wanting to use it ever since I saw it on the cover of the CTMH catalog.  I also cut 4 different colored squares at 5.5", laid them on my mat, butting the edges together, and cut it again, so I would have some different colored pieces to fill in places in the lattice.

All the photo mats are cut from Artbooking also, out of Real Red.  I wound up cutting these with Real Dial Size on, to make them closer to the size I wanted.

The letters are cut at 1.75" from Outdoor Man.  

I backed the arrows in the photo mats with some K & Co. DP from their BSA pad and also filled in some of the chevrons with it.  

What says Boy Scouts to most people?  Why, badges, of course!  And Campin' Critters has a nifty badge feature, which I used for some embellishments.  These are not official BSA badges of course, but I felt like they conveyed the general idea.  They are cut at 1.5".

The base of the pages is Creamy Caramel; other colors used are Summer Sun and Night of Navy.

I really had fun with the Summer Camp challenge this week, and I hope it will get me back on track with my scrapbooking.  What are some of your favorite summer camp memories?  Hiking, swimming, s'mores?  Whatever it may be, make a project celebrating it and link it up to FCCB!  Thanks for dropping by today--have a great one!

Eagle Scout Ceremony

My nephew Tommy had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor on October 9 in Milford KS. He will be graduating this year and aging out of Boy Scouts very shortly. He has been accepted at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, SC, where his father and two of his uncles went to school. I don't know if non-Scouters know what a huge deal becoming an Eagle Scout is. You have to complete many specific merit badges and plan and execute a service project before your 18th birthday in order to get it. It is a very high honor and a great responsibility, and I'm very proud of Tommy for achieving it. Here he is with his mom and dad (my brother Richard and his wife Lori). It's almost as much work (or more) for the parents of an Eagle Scout, and the ceremony is about honoring them as well.

Here are the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa: Bobby, Tommy's brother, Matt, Emily, Dad, Mom, and Tommy.

And here I am with Richard and Thomas, one of my other brothers. Thomas just retired from the army, hence the handlebar mustache and beard!

Here is the card I made for Tommy. I used the double Z-fold technique which may be found HERE.

The patterned paper I used is some Boy Scout paper with all the ranks listed on it. On the inside I printed the Boy Scout Oath on my computer and stamped congratulations (retired SU). The eagle on the front is from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I tied it closed with ribbon and used star brads on the corners.

I wish Tommy all the best in the next several years--he's got a lot of new experiences ahead of him! Thanks for looking!

Arrow of Light Ceremony

Here I am with my son, Matt

and my daughter, Emily,

at the pack meeting

after the Arrow of Light ceremony.

On Tuesday night I found out I was supposed to decorate an arrow for the Arrow of Light ceremony for Matt's Webelos den. On Wed. I found out it was supposed to be done by Thurs. night which was the night of the ceremony! Wed. night I met with one of the den leaders who showed me how to wrap colored embroidery floss around the point end, then I was supposed to personalize the arrow. Since I was pressed for time I resized photos on the computer, printed them out, laminated them, punched a hole and tied them to the arrow. I also scanned a Harry Potter book cover, some scrapbook pages, and a Nintendo DS game cover for Clone Wars (one of Matt's faves). I tied a Pikachu and some Legos on as well, as those are passions of Matt's (though I think he is about to outgrow Pokemon--finally!) and stamped a soccer ball and music staff and tied those on as well. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, and the other moms were kind of impressed. The moms were supposed to present the arrow they made for their son at the ceremony. Next month he crosses over to be a Boy Scout--I can hardly believe it.

The different colors of floss stand for the different levels--Tigers, Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelo and finally yellow for Arrow of Light. I have pix of Matt with his sis, his best friend Hunter back in NC,

Matt with me and his dad at the Pinewood Derby District race in Wilmington, NC, Matt with our dog, Lyle, Matt in a field of sunflowers here in KS, as a Webelo, with his friend Nate here in KS, the Harry Potter and Clone Wars things,

the soccer, music, legos, and Pokemon.

Matt is all those things and so much more! I think he's the best boy in the world. I teared up a bit at the ceremony. I have to say I think Scouting has been such a great thing for Matt and our whole family. We have met so many great parents and kids through Scouts. Tomorrow is the Pinewood Derby, so we will be there tomorrow night racing Matt's car. This will be his last one--they don't do it in Boy Scouts. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a great weekend!