Sketch N Scrap February Throwback Challenge

Hello, hello! It feels like it's been a while since I made a post. Let's see if I can remember how!

It's time for the February 15th Throwback Sketch Challenge with a Twist at Sketch N Scrap. Here are the sketches that we get to choose from:

The twist is an acrostic challenge using the word HEART. We are to pick a scrappy item that begins with each letter in the word heart. Like for 'h' it could be hearts or hexagons, 'e' - enamel dots, embossing folders, Echo Park, etc.

Here is my layout:

I chose sketch #200 and flipped it to make it work better with my photo and I used my February kit for Lisa and Lori's Great Stash Bash. I love this Heartstrings collection from Simple Stories. The colors are so fun and it's not over-the-top Valentine's Day themed. This is a smaller collection with only 6 papers in it and I managed to cut into almost every paper for this layout. I think I may need to pick up another collection kit because I am not done playing with these fun papers!

This photo of Ada showed up in one of my Google Photos memories from February 1, 2019. I can't believe this photo is six years old! I can remember this day just like it was yesterday. I love the look on her face - her eyes staring off into the distance, the hint of a smile - I would love to know what she was daydreaming about!

To satisfy the acrostic challenge, I used - H - hearts, E - enamel dots, A - acrylic pieces, R - red, T - tags.

Here is a close-up of all of the fun goodies:

I had a bit of empty space in the photo and decided to add my title directly to my photo. I really need to remember to leave some empty space on photos more often. It's the perfect space to add a title or fun embellishment. 

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration for this challenge. I hope you have some time to play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash February 2025 Kit Challenge

Happy Saturday and Happy February 1st! It's supposed to be a beautiful day, and week ahead, feeling more like spring than the middle of winter and I am here for it!

The start of a new month means it's time for a new Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash Challenge!

 If you don't know what this challenge is all about, here's how it works:

 On the 1st of each month, we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created using that prompt. During the month we will try to use as much of our stash kit as possible on different projects. 

This will be a just-for-fun challenge so there is no monthly prize - but isn't the real prize using up our stash?  We hope you will join us in our quest to bash our stash! If you play along - link up on either my blog or Lisa's blog (or both if you choose) so that we can see who is joining us each month. 

Here is the recipe for February:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and for February, our focus item is doilies.

I have gone a bit rogue this month and have chosen two collections to work with. I haven't had either of these collections for very long, but they are what I am excited about using right now, and I had better strike while the iron is hot!

Here is my first kit for February:

This kit is full of the Heartstrings collection from Simple Stories.

Here is a better look at the papers:

I love the fun bright colors in this collection and almost all of the papers can be used for anything. Here is a look at the other side of the papers:

I love the pop of orange in this collection!

Here are the embellishments:

I only have the foam stickers and the sticker sheet from the Heartstrings collection, and even though that would probably be plenty of embellishments, I went ahead and pulled puffy stickers, ephemera, and cut-apart papers from Simple Stories' Sweet Talk collections, ephemera, and the 6x8 paper pad from their Heart Eyes collection, and enamel dots.

I also pulled a few "tools" I would like to put to use. I feel like I have been neglecting these items, so it's time to make an effort to pull a few out and use them!

Since this kit is full of hearts and love-themed things, I have pulled a few stencils, heart metal dies, and a heart punch. I am going to challenge myself to use these things on at least one project this month.

Here is my second kit:

This is Echo Park's Chilling With My Snowmies. We had a little bit of snow in January and I have a few photos I want to get scrapped. This collection is going to be perfect for that!

Here is a look at the papers:

And the "b" sides:

There are so many great patterns in this collection!

Here are the embellishments:

I have the sticker sheet, sticker book, and chipboard pieces from the collection. I also pulled a few random bits I found from an old Counterfeit Kit I had put together a few years ago. I added in pack of enamel dots, and the tools I pulled for this kit - snowflake punches and metal dies, and a snow (dotty) stencil.

I am also adding in the cut-apart papers. They will be great for fussy cutting and using in my project life album:

I may be using some of the back sides of these papers, too:

I am also adding a few stamps and metal word dies to try to use this month:

Our focus item is doilies. I don't have a big variety but pulled a few and I also added in my doily punch and metal dies:

I am ready to dig in and put this kit to use!

Head on over to Lisa's blog - My Creative Endeavors - to see the beautiful kit she has put together.

Remember - this is a just-for-fun challenge, but if you do play along and put together your own stash bash kit - add it to the linky below and we will be sure to check it out and cheer you on! Here are the rules:

1. Follow the challenge prompt to create a kit to work with throughout the month. You may use other items, but please concentrate on using your kit, and link it below.

2. Create new, not previously posted projects using your stash kit.

3. If you have a blog - please include the challenge graphic and a link to our challenge in your posts. 

4. You may link to social media if you don't have a blog. If you share on Instagram, please make sure to use - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2025

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a wonderful day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Cutest Unicorn Cake Ever - Sketch N Scrap Mid-Month Challenge

Happy Friday! I hope your day is off to a good start! It's supposed to be super cold this weekend, which is the perfect reason to stay in and scrap and stitch!

Today I am sharing the layout I made for Sketch N Scrap's mid-month sketch challenge with a twist. Here is a look at the throwback sketches we choose from:

I chose to use the first sketch on the graphic - Sketch #48 from January 1, 2014:

The twist for this sketch challenge is to use papers over a year old, and I had the perfect papers in my January kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. All the papers I have used are from 2018 and 2019, and I'm pretty sure some of the scraps are older than that. I am happy to say that I only have four full sheets of paper left in my kit, and it's only the 17th! 

I love revisiting sketches I have already used and (maybe) changing things up a bit, like I did with this sketch. I omitted one of the photos and added an oversized cluster in its place. I also changed where the other clusters were placed because of this.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I added flowers to the bottom of the heart to mimic the flowers on the cake. I also added a "6" to the heart for Ada's age at the time. I used all of the little colored circle die-cuts and stickers I had left. To be honest, there aren't a lot of stickers left on the sticker sheet that I will use. At the end of the month, I will decide if there are any I know I will use and get rid of the rest. 

The "unicorn" piece in the title was part of a die-cut. I think it said "Ride a unicorn," and I didn't want the whole saying, so I cut off what I wanted and threw away the rest. Gotta make those supplies work the way you want them!

I dug out some Close To My Heart clear gems to add a little sparkle around the clusters.

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see which throwback sketch the design team picked for this challenge. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

Sketch N Scrap's Card Sketch #281

Happy Tuesday! I am back with a quick post for you today! It's a chilly 18 degrees out this morning and the high is only 25 for today, but the sun is shining and I am hoping it will melt some of the ice off the trees. That sun shining on all of the ice makes everything sparkle like a diamond, which is a great segue into the heart of my post!

Sketch N Scrap is changing things up this year and we have a theme for the month along with a twist to all of our sketch challenges. Our theme for January is "Out with the old, in with the new," and our twist for our first card sketch challenge is - Shiny and New - create a card using the sketch and add something "shiny" to make it look sparkly and new, such as sequins, glitter paper, bling, etc. 

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

This is a great sketch and I had fun working with it! For the twist to add something shiny, I added glitter tape and some (very neglected) bling to my card. Both the glitter tape and bling are a little lighter in person, and they really do match the pink in the paper! The sentiment is from Elle's Studio.

I have not done a great job of sending out cards in the past couple of years. I make them with the intention of sending them out, but they usually get placed in a pile and forgotten about. I am going to try really hard to change that this year. After spending a day with my sister I saw how even the smallest thing - a kind word or compliment, even just saying hello to someone you're passing by, OR sending a card to someone you care about just to say hello and let the know how much they mean to you - can affect someone and almost always bring a smile to their face. 

My sister has inspired me to do better! I am not rude when I am out and about, but I am guilty of being in my own little world when I am out shopping. That is mostly due to the fact that I have Shane, who has autism and is on the severe side of the spectrum, with me and I know any time that we are out we have a limited amount of time before he is done, so I am always focused on getting in and out. But, it doesn't take but a second to compliment someone. The same goes for sending out a card - it doesn't take very long to write, "Hi, I am thinking about you!" 

I'm just a little bit excited to get started on this! I bet you can't guess who this card is going to!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap and join in the challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

Sketch N Scrap #312 - Adorbs

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you! I hope your weekend is off to a good start. We are in the middle of a winter storm warning here and I plan on crafting all weekend long! Doing a little scrapping and a little stitching and keeping my fingers crossed we keep our electricity on!

Today I am sharing the layout I made for Sketch N Scrap's January 1st sketch. If you haven't heard, we are changing things up at Sketch N Scrap this year. We are adding "twists" to all of our sketch challenges! 

For our first challenge of the new year Lisa has created a fun 3-photo sketch for us to use with the twist of - Mix it up - use a mix of old and new by using one or more papers that are over 3 years old on your layout with an embellishment that is new (a year old or less) OR use and embellishment over 3 years old and at least one or more papers that are new (a year old or less).

Here is a look at the sketch:

This sketch is going in my favorites folder ASAP! It is definitely one I will use over and over.

Here is my layout:

I have used my January kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash for this layout. For the twist, all of my papers are over 3 years old, and for my new embellishment - my title, the pink camera sticker, and the phrase stickers are all new to my stash.

 One of my goals for this year is to get some of my older photos scrapped, and I knew if I wanted to use the unicorn stickers I have in my kit I would need to scrap some older photos of Ada. She is kind of over the unicorns these days! 

I am so happy to get these photos scrapped and some of my older stash used!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

(I did not realize this photo was so blurry! I will try to remember to take another to replace it!)

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration using this sketch.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash January 2025 Kit Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy New Year to each and every one of you! I can't believe it is 2025. The years just keep going by faster and faster!

So, it's been a while since I have posted anything. Life just got so busy at the end of November and I just needed a break. We had Thanksgiving, and Ada's birthday, and then Scott has been on vacation since the middle of December, our heat went out and it took almost two months to get a new system installed (thank goodness we got it installed the week before Christmas), and there was just so much going on that I only made one layout in December. But, even though I have not scrapped much in the last month, I have been cleaning and working on the never-ending job of reorganizing my scrap room, and I am excited to get back to scrapping here in the new year.

Let's get to it! This is the 6th year of Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash challenge and it is one of my favorite challenges ever! If you don't know what this challenge is all about, here's how it works:

 On the 1st of each month, we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created using that prompt. During the month we will try to use as much of our stash kit as possible on different projects. 

This will be a just-for-fun challenge so there is no monthly prize - but isn't the real prize using up our stash?  We hope you will join us in our quest to bash our stash! If you play along - link up on either my blog or Lisa's blog (or both if you choose) so that we can see who is joining us each month. 

Here is the recipe for January:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and for January, our focus item is cut-apart cards/Project Life style cards.

Here is my kit for January:

While cleaning my scrap room, I came across the remnants of one of my kits from over a year ago. I was going to break it down and put it back in my stash, but I only had 2 full sheets of paper left in the kit. I decided instead to add a few more pieces of paper and make it my kit for January. 

Here are the papers:

These papers are from Crate Paper's Wonder collection, Simple Stories - Oh Happy Day collection, Simple Stories - What's Cooking collection, Simple Stories - Dream Big collection, Dear Lizzy's - Lovely Day collection, Simple Stories - Color Vibe pink textured cardstock, and a few pieces of solid papers from Oh Happy Day.

Here are the embellishments:

Stickers from the Dream Big collection, a few random bits I found while picking up, the Simple Stories True Colors 6x8 paper pad, sticker book, foam stickers, and journaling bits pack.

Here are the scraps:

I had a lot of these scraps with the original kit I had made, and I pulled a few more that I came across while looking for more papers.

I have some pretty basic papers in my kit and I am hoping to use some of these scraps and get them used up!

Our focus item for January is cut-apart cards/Project Life style cards. I have a few cut-apart papers in my scraps, but I have pulled my latest kits from Elle's Studio and Ali Edwards for my focus this month:

I am hoping to get my title page done for this year's Project Life album this month and maybe another layout or two done, as well. 

I am so excited to get this new year of challenges started!

Head on over to Lisa's blog - My Creative Endeavors - to see the beautiful kit she has put together.

Remember - this is a just-for-fun challenge, but if you do play along and put together your own stash bash kit - add it to the linky below and we will be sure to check it out and cheer you on! Here are the rules:

1. Follow the challenge prompt to create a kit to work with throughout the month. You may use other items, but please concentrate on using your kit, and link it below.

2. Create new, not previously posted projects using your stash kit.

3. If you have a blog - please include the challenge graphic and a link to our challenge in your posts. 

4. You may link to social media if you don't have a blog. If you share on Instagram, please make sure to use - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2025

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Autumn Is In The Air - Sketch N Scrap #309

 Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope your week is off to a good start. 

Today I am sharing the layout I made for Sketch N Scrap's November 15th challenge. Here is a look at the sketch:

And my layout:

For this layout, I have used my November kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. The papers are from Imaginisce and they are from 2015! I only have the papers from this collection - no stickers or die-cuts, so I had to really dig into my supplies for my embellishments.

I kept my photos 4x6 instead of cropping them to 4x4 because I didn't want to cut out any of our pretty trees. I took these photos of Abby and Ada earlier this fall and it's a good thing we took them when we did because a few days later almost all of the leaves in these trees were gone!

Here are a few close-ups:

I fussy cut the title piece from a cut-apart card I happened to come across while reorganizing my scrap room closet. I'm pretty sure it was in one of my stash bash kits from last year that I never broke down and put back into my stash. I felt like it needed a little something besides just the the title, so I added in a leaf wood piece. 

This bottomo cluster is full of wood pieces! Thank goodness they are all relatively thin pieces! I love all of the different types of wood pieces and I think this may be my favorite cluster in a while!

I had so much fun digging into my stash looking for embellishments to go on my layout. It's always quick and easy when you have everything you need from a collection, but sometimes it's good to dig back into your stash and find some of the treasures you might have forgotten about!

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration for this month's sketches.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

Sketch N Scrap November Crop Challenge #5

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a good week. 

Today I am popping in to share the layout I made for Sketch N Scrap's November Crop Challenge #5. The crop challenges can be found in Sketch N Scrap's Monthly Challenges private Facebook group here. The sketch for Crop Challenge #5 is always a smaller format sketch designed for a 6x8 layout, but you can adapt it for any size you like! 

Here is the sketch:

I have made a 6x8 layout for my 2023 December Daily:

Yes, here it is getting closer to December 2024 and I am still working on my 2023 December Daily! That's really nothing new for me, but I do think I need to set aside a day or a weekend to get this thing done! This layout is for Day 4 and is all about the tragedy of losing one of our most cherished Christmas decorations - a paper angel Abby made when she was in second grade. That sweet little angel sat on the branches of our Christmas tree for 27 years! But, sadly, that all ended last year.

I had just taken photos of my favorite ornaments the day before, and I am so glad I did! I had no idea that would be the last picture this little angel would be in. After supper, I walked into the living room and found bits and pieces of paper on the floor. When I started picking them up, I quickly realized one of the dogs had found the angel and had some fun. I have no idea what caused her to fall from the top branches of the tree, maybe a gust of wind when someone walked through the door, or maybe someone walked a little too close to the tree and caused a little breeze, whatever the case she wound up on the floor, the dogs found her, and I was heartbroken. Her story was definitely worth documenting in my December Daily!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I had found this little angel on a piece of paper from Echo Park and there was also one on the sticker sheet. She was perfect for this layout!

I wanted to be sure to have plenty of room to tell the story so I made a flip-up with the photos. I stamped "This December story" and made it into a tab of sorts to lift up to reveal the journaling. I still have the bits and pieces of the angel and will add them in a little envelope on the top of the flap.

Here is the journaling:

If you haven't checked out Sketch N Scrap's November challenges - head on over and check them out!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

You're So Cool... Sketch N Scrap #308

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope your week is off to a good start! It's rainy here today with the threat of severe storms later this evening - yuck! - so I am going to keep this quick. 

Today I am sharing the layout I made using Sketch N Scrap's November 1st sketch. Here is a look at the fun sketch Lisa has created for us to use:

And here is my layout:

I had so much fun creating with this sketch and I pulled out a few supplies I haven't used in ages! I started with my everyday mini-kit in my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash November kit. Then, I pulled out my gold color shine mist and sprayed it around on the background paper. I then stamped the zigzag stitch around the entire outer edge of the cardstock. I needed a way to add my title without covering up too much of the smiley face paper, so I cut a circle from some vellum to add my title onto. To help them stand out a bit more, I inked the edges of all of the vellum pieces.

I've had a pack of rub-ons from Shimelle for ages that had a row of gold hearts on it. The package says 2014 - so I wasn't sure if they would still work- but they worked beautifully! I added them under the photo and they go so well with the gold mist.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The wood veneer pieces and phrase stickers have made a couple of appearances in my stash bash kits this year and I am so happy I was able to add a few to this layout!

I struggle with getting the "you're" centered right on the circle. I did end up pulling the stickers back up - yes, I had already glued them down - and rearranging them. They still are not perfect, but I am okay with that!

I love how this cluster turned out! It's nothing fancy but it makes me happy!

I will probably add a few lines of journaling under the photo to tell the story of the photo. Ada had gone grocery shopping with Abby and me, and we had to stop by 7 Brew for a quick pick-me-up. Ada had gotten a chiller, so it was nice and cold, and the store was super cold cause it was summer, and Ada was freezing while we were shopping. Abby took her to the clothes and she picked out a cute Mickey and Minnie hoodie and the cutest hat that was marked down super cheap. She put them on straight away and just looked so stinkin' cute hanging out in the cleaning supplies aisle!

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!