Thursday, March 31, 2016

Together



One last layout to make for this month.    I used sketch #475 at   "SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES"
for this layout.    This is my daughter and son-in-law on a long weekend trip back to DC for a visit with friends.    They were there for the height of cherry blossoms.

I love this picture,  it is actually a horizontal picture that I cropped to go with the sketch and my 4x6 card I used for a title.      I'm going to print the original picture and send it to my Dad as he loves getting new pictures of his grandkids and great grandkids.

Here is the sketch I used.


Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Week 13 PL title card



I just finished my week 12 Project Life pages so I went ahead and got the title paid for this week.

There is really NOTHING going on here this week, so not sure what I'll fill 2 pages with but still had
to get the title page made.

I used the latest sketch at   "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"  its sketch #20.    I just rotated
 it to fit the pages I'm using for this week.

Still a few days to enter the challenge and try for the great prize in March.


Happy 'bird' day to you

'

I used the sketch #4 at   "PAPER PLAY SKETCHES"      it was a different sketch to work with.
I had the background card stock and patterned paper already on my desk from my scrap stash
I then found the other pieces in my stash of die-cuts and using the bird was perfect for my sentiment stamp which says Happy bird day to you.   Still 6 days to get your entry in so give it a try.


Celebrate card



My desk is covered and I know somewhere with all my stamps I have a congratulations stamp but
the celebrate stamp was handy and I really didn't have room to search through anything on this desk top so I'm going with  this.   :)     I hope I'm not a jinx but I'm making this card for my daughter who
just had a job interview yesterday for a full time job at the University where she had had several temp jobs since she moved back to the ares.    This is in a dept where she has temped before and she feels the interview went very well and they told here they were so pleased that she had applied for the full time position.      So I'm hoping she hears soon that she got it and she will have a reason to
"celebrate" and I will send this card to her at that time.    Wish her luck.

I went right to work on the card first thing this morning when I was checking out challenge blogs and saw this sketch #230  posted today at "FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES"    Check it out and play along this week.


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Take A Hike


Here is my take on the Sketchy-Friday sketch from March 18th at "SCRAP MUCH ?"

I altered it a little bit and used 3 pictures to show the progression of my grandkids,  Kai and
Mylan out exploring  a new area they found with their Dad this last weekend.    I haven't gotten
any new pictures of them in a few weeks but I did get a variety sent to me on Sunday so I was all
excited to start scrapping some of them.      I've had these hiking embellishments forever from a swap
so I mixed them up a bit and used them here.  

So check out all the details at   "SCRAP MUCH?" still a few hours left to enter all challenges this month.   Nothing like me taking it down to the wire on the ones I wanted to finish up.   But whew, I made it.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Aquarium Trip



I had saved the March sketch from  "THE SCRAPROOM BLOG"  to use when I found the right 3 pictures.   Well.......I found 6 pictures that were right so I made a double page layout with this sketch, just mirroring the images.

This is my great nephew Silas on a trip to the Sydney Aquarium on his 1st birthday.    It looks like
he was having a lot of fun and taking in all the sights.

Check out the sketch below you still have time enter the challenge at "THE SCRAPROOM BLOG"


Saturday, March 26, 2016

Dream Time



I just love these sleeping pictures of Silas.    This was after their trip to the Aquarium on his 1st birthday and he was exhausted when they got home .

I really had a lot of fun picking out the papers for this layout.   I wanted to stay with black and brown, to go with the sheet he was sleeping on and the tan and brown in his clothes.    I got really lucky with finding what I needed in two new stacks of paper I bought recently    Both are DCWV,   the Jet Black stack and the Luxe Lodge.   I actually found background paper that matches the sheet he is laying on, but oops maybe I should have turned it and let  run the same direction, but oh well.   It also had the absolute perfect PL card in it that I got to use for my title.  I just trimmed it down a tiny bit and matted it.  Everything is either mated in browns or black.

This layout was used with the great sketch at  "SCRAP MUCH ?!"   it was perfect for the layout of my picture.    Its been hard lately to find sketches using horizontal pictures.

Check out the challenge at  "SCRAP MUCH ?!"  and here is the the sketch.


Easter 2016



First pictures in forever that I've gotten of Avery and Dylan and lucky me they happened to be Easter pictures so I get to make an Easter layout.   Now it the other kids come through I'll have more to scrap after this weekend.   I did call my son earlier and asked him to be sure and send me pictures
of their Easter egg hunt.

For this layout I used the Throwback challenge #4 at "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"    There was a banner in the sketch and I replaced that with my Easter egg and chick embellishments.  
I've loved working with all the sketches this month at "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"  so check them out before the month is over.


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Masculine Birthday Card



I had to make a masculine card this week for a yahoo scrapping group I am in and I decided to make a birthday card.   My son-in-laws b'day is next month so I thought this would work for him.

I used the  card sketch # 708 by Lisa  at  "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"      A great sketch so check it out and play along.


Breakfast & a View


It's probably hard to read my journaling in this picture, but its about having breakfast on my own
while my husband was in a conference during our stay at this Disney World Resort and how it was fin alone because I had my favorite breakfast of lox, bagel and capers and then went just outside the restaurant to sit with my Kindle and enjoy this view.

I dug deep into my paper stash for this and used up the tale end of an old collection.
My Minds Eye - Stella Rose.

I used the sketch #101 at   "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"    I  did a little different picture configuration than the sketch had but it still worked out great with everything else.

Check out the details here at   "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Off To Work


This layout went together with yardstick and a single piece of paper Jellybean Soups - Cool as a Cucumber.   To coordinate with the patterned paper I tried to pull colors from it for all my matting, the double on the pictures, around the patterned paper and then on my border punch piece.

I embellished my layout with wood veneer pieces and then tied it all together with a handmade burlap bow I got in a swap.   Thank you Lisa.

Now for the inspiration for this layout from a trip way back in 2010 for work and pleasure.
I used the sketch from March 15th at   "STUCK ?! SKETCHES"   I obviously only used 2 pictures instead of 3 and turned them but the sketch layout was my inspiration.    Check out the challenge yourself =, there is still a week to play along.




A House full of Cats


We have 6 cats that are kind enough to share the house with us.    Most of the day I can find at least one of them in my office / craft room with me.     The top picture is Reggie on the right and Abby on the left, Abby is one of our newest additions to the family and she became quite tight with Reggie and follows him everywhere, including into this basket of swap items on my window shelf.

Then the desk picture is Baby who's eyes are closed and resting in front of the monitor.   The day I took this picture she was polite enough to sit off to the side.   It is rare she is this polite, she usually sits square in front of the monitor and I'm having to look around her or trying to get her to move so I can see the icons I need at the bottom of the screen.

I chose the Week 3 sketch at "LET'S GET SKETCHY"    I rotate the sketch to make my horizontal pictures work out.   I had the collection MEOW from Echo Park that I finally pulled out to
make this  layout.  So now that I've opened the collection I'll have to be making more cat layouts for sure with all the fun papers.


Monday, March 21, 2016

You & Me



I got this new stack of paper recently   DCWV - Jet Black Stack.      It worked out perfectly for these picture of my son and granddaughter at the Father and Daughter Boots and Bling dance at school.  
The paper with the You and Me on it was perfect and works for my layout title.

I am entering this layout in two different challenges.    First off I used the sketch #56 at
"THE MEMORY NEST"     But at the same time I was thinking of the  challenge #284
at "LASTING MEMORIES"  Black Tie Affair.   That is why I picked this paper stack.

Here is the sketch and click on each link above to check out both challenges.


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Mackinaw Island hotel



This was a first for me.   I used two totally different sketch challenges and put them together to make a double page layout.    I knew I wanted to scrap all these pictures but wanted to be able to enter challenges too and not just make my own design for a double.
So I started looking thru the sketches I had printed to work on for challenges this month and came up with these two that would work out for the layout of the picture I had.   Even though the two sketches didn't have the same type of elements to them.    I used matching background paper and then matching patterned paper and card stock mat colors to tie it all together.

We had an awesome huge waterfront room when we stayed in Mackinaw Island for 3 nights so wanted to get these pictures saved on layouts.

For the page on the left with the interior room pictures.   I used the Flashback Friday sketch #197
at   "SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES'     then for the right side page and two exterior pictures I used
the Sketchy Friday sketch from 3-11-16 at   "SCRAP MUCH?"

Check out "SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES"

snd check out   "SCRAP MUCH ?"

A Special Day


When I first saw this Throwback Thursday Sketch #2  at   "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"   I really liked it and knew it would be fun to work with.    But I held it back and didn't use it immediately.

Then a few days later I was shopping at Michaels when they had all their paper stacks on sale
at 50% off and bout the Mambi collection - I love the Life we Live.      When I got home and
really got to look at every sheet I saw that there were a lot that had half the page covered in
words.    Since I work a lot with sketches I always find it hard to use those papers   BUT......
I thought about this throwback Thursday sketch and the look of two half pages of paper as the
background design.      I decided to go for it with this layout.   For the words on this paper I knew
the perfect pictures to use were from my daughters engagement.    It was 3 years ago last month,
in Puerto Rico the day before they left there on a cruise.    I'm sure I've already scrapped most of
the pictures from that trip but I didn't see any reason not to do these two again.    Actually just now
when I finished this layout, I sent here this picture in a text and she wrote back immediately that
she loves it.     By the way, the left side paper was not from the collection but I thought the colors went together well  and then I also cut out the flags from the same paper using the B side and then matting with the other side.

I had to get out my exacto knife to cut around the "T" so it would overlap the picture.    I really like
how that turned out.

I'm also playing along with the Paper Issues online crop this weekend and one of the challenges is
to use, and I quote  "a big ass title"   so I would say this works for that too.  :)

So checke out all the challenges for the month at "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"   and join in all the fun and
extra challenges as they celebrate posting their 100th sketch this month.


Friday, March 18, 2016

Growing Inside and Out



I really really find it hard making a layout with a lot of white space but I decided to try it when making my layout using the sketch at    "MY CREATIVE SKETCHES"    
For some reason looking at this sketch I decided I could just use the white card stock as my background.   But I will say that until I matted everything in black, it wasn't working for me at all.
So glad I decided to stay with the white space and that the matting made it work.

This is a collage of pictures my niece made of her standing on the same are rug while she was still pregnant and the of Silax on that rug laying under one of his toys,  first so little the toy dwarfs him, and then growing and growing and then big enough to really play with it all he time.   I love this
picture collage that she posted on Facebook.

Check out the sketch below and give it a chance.   You have all the may till midnight
April 14th to enter this challenge.


My last Easter card



I think this will be the last Easter card that I need to make for this year.

I used sketch #PPA292  at   "PALS PAPER ARTS"     This was a fun sketch to work with.
It also worked well to use for a monthly card challenge in a yahoo group to use green, white and one other color, so my extra color is yellow.
Plus today I am also working on the challenge at the Paper Issues Spring online crop and they have a challenge to make any type of card so this will be my entry there also.

You have until midnight Tuesday to enter the 'PALS PAPER ARTS" challenge, here is the sketch below.


Sweet and Precious



I was up showered and dressed and creating by 7 am today.   I probably should have waited till it
was a little lighter outside to take the picture of my first layout of the day.   But its done and posted now.

With all the layouts I've been making of my great nephew this is the first one I've done of the newborn pictures of him.    He was beautiful from day one.   But this is just the opinion of a proud great aunt.   :)

For this layout I used the throwback Thursday sketch #3 at    "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"
This throwback challenge is only going on in March to celebrate that "Sketch-N-Scrap"
posted its 100th sketch at the first of the month.


Thursday, March 17, 2016

A Day in KC


Since December we have been talking about going to see the DaVinci exhibit at Union Station.
Finally last week we got there to see it just weeks before it closes.   I guess better late than never.
It was really a fascinating exhibit.   DaVinci had this expansive mind and so creative in all thoughts and designs.
I took so many pictures at the exhibit of all the displays, but then I couldn't resist this one photo-op
with a picture of myself.    I'm glad I did because I can use this layout in not one but two challenges.

First there is the pattern challenge, which is Chevrons  at  "SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES"
and secondly is Chevron challenge at "CHALLENGE YOURSELF",  use chevrons and scrap yourself.



Wednesday, March 16, 2016

A bushel and a Peck



Thats how much I love you.    I did my own take for this card at "PAPER PLAY SKETCHES"
It's sketch #3 for this new challenge blog and you have one week left to play along.
Each challenge lasts 2 weeks.    Here is the sketch and click on the blog name above for more
details and inspirations.


Love you card


I wanted to use the sketch posted today at "FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES" #228.   I really liked it and saw what I could do.   Mostly because I had some doilies out on my desk and I could see that working with the sketch.  I actually ended up using 2 different doilies and layered them on top of each other.     I also decided to try something different by using washi tape on the edges of my patterned paper too.


An Easter Card



I used the    "MOJO MONDAY"    sketch #439 to make this  Easter card.   With Easter coming
early this year need to get busy with all that I have to make.


Bath Time


Look at that little face.  I think he is loving bath time.   I had to crop these pictures to make them work for this sketch but I think they worked out perfectly.  
The sketch is from  "SCRAP OUR STASH"     The challenge is to use the sketch and also to pick at least one thing from each of three lists.     So here is what I did with this challenge
Obviously I used the sketch.      From List 1, I used 2 from the list.   I used the color gold, ( the stripes in the back ground paper are a shiny gold and the ribbon on my ducky tag is gold, also my letter stickers for the title, the letters are gold.   Also, although hard to tell here, the circle alpha stickers, the background is a graphic paper.
From List 2 I used Hearts,   I have 4 wood veneer hearts on this layout.
From List 3 I used two things,  Ink and Ivory.   I inked the edges of my tag and my banner off to the left of the picture.   Then I used ivory card stock to mat my pictures and and the 3 patterned papers.
I took the picture of my layout outside but it is overcast so colors aren't real true as I see the matting on the papers do look more white than ivory but it is ivory.



Riding


Silas might be doing this a little backwards with standing in the wagon and not pulling it, but he
is still having a lot of fun.

I first saw this little wagon card on a sheet of papers with journal boxes and other things, including the journal box at the top that i have the date of the picture on it.    The paper had been set out to at
sometime cut all the cards out separately and just have ready to use.   Then I saw this picture on
Facebook and new it was perfect to use this one card.    When I saw sketch #474 yesterday
"SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES"   I knew it would work perfectly.

You could use the sketch with two pictures of course as I'm sure many do but I thought this card with
the wagon was perfect instead of a 2nd smaller picture.







Tuesday, March 15, 2016

1st PL Page from last week


Once again I am using this weeks PL sketch from "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"
This is my title page for last week.    The Spring is Near card  in the center bottom row
Is the card I made using last weeks sketch.



I'm on the Design Team at "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE" and enjoy trying the
sketches even on the weeks that I don't  have a reveal.  

I hope a lot more of you that read my blog will also give some of the sketches a try.
There is always a great monthly prize and I would love to have one of my readers
win a prize here and enjoy the challenges that come out every week.

Here is the sketch and check it all out right   HERE.