Layout of the Week - Blazer Game

This layout celebrates Delaney's First Portland Trailblazer basketball game. A friend gave Dave his tickets for this game. Delaney had really been wanting to see a game in person, so this was perfect timing. The two of them had a great Daddy-Daughter night out. And we're only slightly worried that sitting in the club level section, with its endless free food, has spoiled Delaney for future games! We can't wait to answer, "Yes, those specks are the players!" and "No, you can't have all the candy you want, we have to PAY for it in these seats!"

But seriously, they both had a wonderful time and can't wait to do a Daddy-Daughter Blazer game again soon!

As for me, I had a great time with this layout. I started by cutting rectangles of varying sizes & laying them down in different ways until I was happy with the left side of the layout. Then I cut shapes to match for the right side. It helps if you write the sizes of your first pieces on their reverse sides for future reference.
I love symmetry, but wanted something a little different. So I laid out the right side exactly like the left and rotated it 180 degrees, ending up with the top right corner of my double page spread the same as the bottom left.

Next, I cropped my photos the same for each side and put them down in a semi-symmetrical design.
I inked the large rectangles and photo mats with red and black inks. My final touches on this layout were ribbon and a journal box stamped with the date of the game and an index card for journaling. Lastly, I added a trophy charm accented with ribbon to the box, adhered with a Glue Dot.
As far as journaling & titles go, sometimes it's nice to skip the large title and just go with a special memory of your event. Here's what I wrote in my box: Delaney's 1st Blazer game! In the long souvenir line...Delaney, "Dad Look!" Dad, "Yes, it's a nice Christmas tree..." Delaney, "No Dad! Look up there at the TV, the game just started, we'd better get back to our seats!" DADDY'S PROUDEST MOMENT!!!

Supply List

Red & Black Textured Cardstock
White Cardstock
Scrappin' Sports Custom Paper, Blazer Basketball from Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio
Misc. Red, Black & White Ribbons
Karen Foster Mini Charm - Talents (I used the #1 trophy)
Autumn Leaves Doodle Tagged Stamp Set, True Story
Date Stamp from Joann's
Colorbox Inks Black & Scarlet
Creative Memories 1 1/2" square punch

When the snow began...

Now that the snow in Portland has been gone for a couple weeks, it's almost impossible to believe these pictures are for real. We woke up on a Sunday morning to discover it was snowing hard. It continued to snow all day long. We drove to our friends' house to pick Delaney up from a sleep over with her best friend and watched the kids sled down the street. After we returned home, we went sledding in the church driveway across the street. Delaney went all over the front yard making snow angels and Dave walked across the street to take this picture of our house. Look closely, you can see how hard it's snowing! We were very surprised when the weather forecast said the snow would be with us for a while. Our schools ended up being canceled all week, which made for a 3 week long Christmas break. It's nice that Dave is working at home now, so the four of us hung out at home together.


Just a few days into the "Arctic Blast," as the news people called it, the sun came out. Delaney & I headed into our backyard to build snowmen. It was so cold and dry, that the snow wouldn't stick together enough for snowmen. So we decided to go back across the street to sled. I took this picture at the end of our yard. The pond was a bit frozen and got more frozen as the cold lingered on for 10 more days after this. I'm sure everyone who lives where it snows and ponds freeze over every year think this is no big deal. But in the Portland area, we NEVER see anything like the storm we had in December. It cracked us up to look out at the Canadian Geese who winter in our pond and see them walking through drifts of snow on top of the pond.

During the time we were "snowed in," Jake got 4 teeth in one week! It was a tough week for him, but it was nice that we were more or less trapped. We did chain up our SUV and were able to get out to check out movies from the store up the street. But in our area, the roads aren't plowed or sanded until you get to the main roads, so it's better to stay at home than end up in a crash with someone who doesn't think they need chains. I do think we're weather wimps around here, but as long as I have the option to stay home, it's fine with me! Maybe next year Santa will bring more plows to Portland and then we'll have to join all those other places where snow doesn't close down whole cities. But until then, we'll hang out at home sledding and making hot chocolate!