Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #264

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! We are slowly getting back into the old routine around here after our week off, and it's been harder for me than it has been for the boys!

Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday has a brand new sketch posted today, and our optional theme this week is "helping hands".  Here is a look at the sketch -

I used Pink Paislee's Citrus Twist 6x6 paper pad for this card. So many pretty - spring like colors in this collection!

Be sure to check out the Try Stampin' blog to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the team. As always, you have 2 weeks to enter our challenge, the theme - and stamping - are optional, and you can enter on the blog or on our Facebook page.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Pops' Girl - Scrapbook Challenges #476

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you all had a good weekend. We had a lot of fun family time, coloring eggs, hunting eggs, and watching Ada get to know her cousins a little better! Today it is back to the old routine.

Scrapbook Challenges has a new sketch challenge posted today, and of course, it is another great one!

I have so many photos of Ada from her first summer that I still need to scrap, but that is okay with me, I love going back through some of those older photos when she was so little and seeing how much she's grown! Like I said in the journaling - Mommy and Nana are all right, but when Pops is around, Ada only has eyes for him! And it has only gotten worse as she has gotten older! I think the only person that might rank higher than Pops is her Uncle Matthew!

I used papers from Doodlebug's Sweet Things collection, and the greenish paper is from Pebbles. I just the love the colors in these papers and those enamel hearts....love them! I think I should have ordered a couple more packs of them!

Be sure to check out the Scrapbook Challenges blog for lots of inspiration from the rest of the design team. I hope you have some time this week to get creative!

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

Lasting Memories #286 - And The Award Goes To...

Hello everyone! Happy Easter to you! Sadly, our spring break is almost over, but we have had so much fun just staying at home and getting recharged for these last few weeks of school.

The latest challenge is up over at Lasting Memories today, and it is the final challenge of this month. To refresh your memory, our theme this month has been "Welcome to the Oscars" and our last challenge is - "And the award goes to..." This could mean sports, trophies, school awards, etc.

I chose to scrap about my oldest son's first art show. Every spring the art department would put on an art show to show the parents what the kiddos had been working on all year. When Matthew was in kindergarten, he had three very cute pieces of artwork to show off - a clay project (which still hangs in my bathroom!), a frog picture, and a picture of a couple of cute little blue birds. His frog picture won honorable mention for his class, and he got some candy, a pencil, and his ribbon and certificate for an award. He was quite proud of himself, and so were we!

Be sure to head on over to Lasting Memories to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the team! I hope you have some time to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed day!

I Wanna Be Like Matt

Hello everyone! Happy Thursday to you! Usually I am looking forward to Thursday because it means the weekend is almost here. This week it just means that our spring break is almost over! Oh well, just a little over a month and a half and we will be out for summer vacation anyway!

I am finally getting a chance to play along with our Throwback Thursday over at Sketch N Scrap! This week our hostess is Katty, and she has chosen this sketch from August 2014 for us to work with.

This is one of my favorite sketches, too, so I was happy when Katty picked it! 

Since Abby and Matthew were both wearing neutral colors, and since it was a pretty grey day outside, I decided to go with some fun - bright papers. The background is a really light grey cardstock. I know it probably looks like white with some bad lighting - but it really is a light grey!

These photos were taken last May on Mother's Day weekend. We were getting ready to go over to my sister's house for a family party and Matthew was showing how he could grab a hold of the rim on the basketball goal on the highest setting. Abby decided she wanted to see how close she could get to the rim....yeah, not too close! She is almost a foot shorter than her little brother, so maybe we should have lowered the goal to the lowest setting for her!

When I saw these photos, all I could think of was the old Michael Jordan commercials where they would sing, "I wanna be like Mike". I figure that was probably what Abby was thinking when she was jumping - except substitute Matt for Mike!

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the layouts that the rest of the team created using this sketch. I hope you find some time to play along with us. We have one more Throwback Thursday sketch coming your way next week!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #152

Hello everyone! I am back with one more project to share with you today. I'm running a little behind on this one, but better late than never!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has posted this weeks sketch, and it is another fun one!

Since I have nothing in my scrappy tools (how could that possibly be?!) to cut a good oval, I decided to go with a circle instead! I think it works just as well for this sketch as an oval would!

I finally got a chance to ink up my Share The Love stamp set from Close To My Heart. I paired it up with Pink Paislee's Switchboard 6x6 paper pad - this stamp set and paper pad look like they were meant for each other!

If you want to check out the sketch and read the rules, be sure to stop by the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog for all of the details!

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #475

Hello again! I am back with another project to share with you!

Today is Sketch Monday over on the Scrapbook Challenges blog! We have another fun sketch for you to work with, and I know it is one that I will be using again!

This was one of those layouts that I just couldn't seem to get it to come together like I wanted. I think that if I had used a different background paper maybe I would have liked it better. But, it is done and I am going to move on! 

A little background about the picture and the title. Ada, and her Mommy and Daddy live right in the middle of town. There is nothing wrong with that, but Ada is a country girl at heart. She loves to come to Nana and Pops' house where she can run wild. Put on her tractor shirt - you can't see the front of her shirt, but is has a John Deere tractor on it - which is the reason for the yellow and green - and her sparkly boots, and she is one happy girl! When you're "on the farm", or in the case at Nana and Pops, you get to wear whatever you want, and we think shorts, and boots, and a tractor shirt is the perfect farm girl fashion!

Be sure to check out the Scrapbook Challenges blog to see the fantastic projects from the rest of the team. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Use Your Stuff #215 - Inspired By A Quote

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! We have finally made it to spring break at my house, and I couldn't be happier!

Tammy has posted the latest challenge over on the Use Your Stuff blog. She is challenging us to - "Be Inspired By A Quote". You don't have to add the quote to your project, but you need to let us know what it is.

I'm not sure if mine is considered a quote, or more of a sentiment, but I love it just the same. What better way to brighten someone's day than to tell them how much they mean to you!

I used the beautiful Simple Stories - Life In Color collection for this card. I could not wait to use one of the super cute frames. It just adds a little extra cuteness. The stamp that I used is from Honey Bee Stamps and it is called "Oh, Snap!".

Head on over to the Use Your Stuff blog to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the team. I hope that you are inspired to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I will be back soon with another project to share with you!

Lasting Memories #285

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Sketch N Scrap card reveal, please scroll down or go here.

The latest challenge is up at Lasting Memories today. Our theme for March has been "Welcome to the Oscars!", and this week our challenge is "A Famous Movie Or Actor(s) Quote". Everybody's got that one movie that they just love to quote. Now is the time to use it on a layout.

I turned to Pinterest and searched movie quotes to find something that was a little different. The first quote I found was this:

I knew I had a photo of my oldest son when he was two that would be perfect for this quote. Here is the layout that I made.

I dug out some of my hoarded "Boy Crazy" papers from My Mind's Eye, and used a sketch from PageMaps, and this layout came together pretty quickly. I didn't have any of the stickers/embellishments left from the collection, so I used my circle punch and punched out some of the stars from the papers. 

Here is a look at the sketch that I used:

Check out the Lasting Memories blog to see what movie quotes the rest of the design team used for their layouts. 

I hope you find some time to play along with us! All of our challenges for March are due on April 1st.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a fantastic day!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #70

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I am so excited because we are on spring break this week! We have no plans since Scott has to work, but that's okay with me, I'm just looking forward to a few days with no where that I have to be! I'm sure most of the days will be filled with scrapping, too.

The latest sketch is up at Sketch N Scrap today. This fun sketch was created by the uber talented, Lisa!

When I first saw the sketch, I knew that I wanted to use this piece of graph paper from American Crafts, and use my notebook style border punch to make it look like it was torn from a notebook, and I knew I wanted to make a birthday card. 

After making this birthday card, I have decided that I need to invest in a balloon die! I have a tiny balloon punch, but I really "need" a bigger balloon die!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap and see the beautiful cards from the other design team members. We would love it if you played along with us this month! You have until the 31st to enter any or all of our challenges.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I will be back soon with another project to share with you!

Sketches In Thyme # 189 - St. Patty's Day Fun

Hello everyone! Happy Friday to you!  I am so happy that you are stopping by my blog today!

Today is my day to be featured over on the Sketches In Thyme blog! We have a new sketch artist, Sara, and this is her first sketch for us!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I had to go with a St. Patrick's Day layout! I just love these fun photos of my daughter and son in law! I had been gathering up a few things (like the fun glasses) for us to use for a family photo shoot. One day Abby called me and told me that she and Shawn had found some green mustaches at Spencer's, and she thought they would be fun for our photo shoot. We all had so much fun putting on our mustaches and glasses for some dorky family photos!

I just had a couple of full pieces of the Simple Stories - A Charmed Life - collection, and then I had part of the 6x6 paper pad and the 3x4 and 4x6 cards. I had to get creative with my cutting to get all of the different patterns that I wanted!

Kim is offering up a fun prize this month - these super cute spring time embellishments!

Just make a layout based on any or all of the four sketches this month and upload it to the blog for your chance to win!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Scrapbook Challenges March Mood Board Challenge

Hello everyone! Happy hump day! Just 2 more days - after today - of school for my boys, then we are on spring break!

There is a new challenge up over at Scrapbook Challenges today, and today's challenge is a mood board challenge. Here is a look at the mood board:

I decided to make a card this time around. I was inspired by the greens and the shamrocks to make a St. Patrick's Day card.

I used Authentique's Lucky collection for this card. The panel that says Happy St. Patrick's Day was a 4x4 card on one of the cut apart papers. I just trimmed it down a little more so I could add it to the front of my card. Of course, no St. Patrick's Day card is complete without at least a little gold!

Head on over to Scrapbook Challenges  to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the team. I hope you get a chance to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day with Try Stampin On Tuesday

Good Tuesday morning! I am back again with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Feeling Sketchy reveal, please scroll down or go here.

We have another fun sketch up over on the Try Stampin - Or Not - On Tuesday blog. This week's optional theme is - St. Patrick's Day.

I just love this sketch and will be using it again, I'm sure! I chose to go with the optional theme and make a St. Patrick's Day card. It's pretty plain and simple, but that's how I like them!

Be sure to check out the Try Stampin - Or Not - On Tuesday blog to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the team. You have two weeks to enter our challenge and you can enter either on the blog or on our Facebook page here. The theme is optional and stamping on your project is optional, as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a fantastic day!

Feeling Sketchy #141

Hello everyone! We've made it to the middle of the month already! March is moving right along.

The middle of the month means that a new sketch challenge has been posted over on the Feeling Sketchy blog.

Another beautiful sketch to work with! I chose to go with some bright, springtime colors - since all the warm weather we've been having has me in the mood for spring! I used Chickaniddy Crafts 365 collection for this card. Such pretty, bright colors in this collection.

This post is a bittersweet post for me, as this will be my last card with Feeling Sketchy as a design team member. When the time came for us to decide whether to stay or go, I decided it was time form me to move on. Working with Cathy and Val has been a treat and I will always be grateful to them for asking me to be a part of the team.

Head on over to the Feeling Sketchy blog to see the creations from the rest of the team and to read more about our sponsor for this sketch - Dr. Digi's.

I'll be back soon with another project to share.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Make It Monday#56

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend. We had a nice lazy weekend around the house, and now we are counting down the days until spring break. We just have 4 more days until we get some much needed time off!

The latest sketch is up over at The Memory Nest and this sketch is courtesy of Crystal.

It's been a while since I shared a Shane layout and I thought it was time. I just love this photo of him from Easter of last year. He is always pretty good to tolerate a photo or two, but every once in a while he will actually want me to keeping taking pictures. This was one of those times. We had taken a couple of family photos, and afterwards he just kept standing there - hands in his pockets - looking like a typical teenager.

I used Simple Stories So Rad collection and I thought the 4x4 card was a perfect title piece, so I used it in place of another photo. I also included die cuts of things that Shane loves - video games, music, basketball, and soda! I will also add in some hidden journaling behind the photo.

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest  to see the layouts from the rest of the design team.

I will be back soon with another project to share with you today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lasting Memories #284 - Oh Those Chubby Cheeks

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I hope that you have had a good weekend and that you remembered to set your clocks forward for one hour last night! Good old daylight savings time!

The new challenge is up over at Lasting Memories today! The theme this month is "Welcome to the Oscars" and this week's challenge is, "A Black Tie Affair". This week we want to see your layouts of a fancy occasion - OR - we want you to use black on your layout.

I chose to do the latter and use black on my layout. In fact, the whole background is black!

I came across this photo of Ada from last January when I was working on another project, and I thought it was about time to get it scrapped! I used My Mind's Eye My Girl papers, and I love the way it turned out!

Head on over to the Lasting Memories blog and see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you find some time to play along!

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

Happy Birthday with Stick It Down

Hello everyone! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style reveal, please scroll down or go here.

Today is reveal day for the rest of the card team over on the Stick It Down blog. Here is a reminder of what the March card sketch looks like:

When I first saw this sketch I knew I wanted to do something with some cut out pieces where the hexagons were. I kept with the standard A2 card size, so that limited how many cut outs I could have.
You can't tell it too well in the photo, but I used foam tape on the top panel to give it a little dimension. I've got a niece with a birthday coming up at the end of the month, and I think this card will be perfect for her!

Stop by the Stick It Down blog to see the lovely cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you can find some time to play along with our challenges - you have until the end of the month to enter.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style Sketch #18

Hello everyone! We have made it to the weekend! I hope that if you are lucky enough to have it off that you can find something fun to do, and if you are having to work, I hope your work day goes quickly!

I am so excited to share with you the latest sketch from Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style today! It is courtesy of Crystal, and it is another sketch with lots of possibilities.

I decided to make a title card for my project this time around.

Here is the left hand side of my page:

This is the second week of 2015. It started out as a pretty eventful week, and then slowed down quite a bit. This is the week that the boys started back to school after Christmas break. That morning started out pretty bizarre as it was very cold outside and my door would not stay closed. We drove all the way on the gravel road - about 2 miles - with me trying to hold my door closed. I then realized that if I locked the door it would hold it in place. By the time we picked Ada up, it had warmed up enough to close properly. Then later that day I got a call that they were dismissing school at noon due to a water main break in front of the elementary. Now that's a great way to start back after two weeks off! The boys didn't mind a bit! Later that day we found out that Aunt Kay had fallen and dislocated her shoulder. What a wild start to the first full week of 2015! After that it slowed down into our every day routine!

I have the right hand page almost complete and will add it in a little later when I can get a good picture of it.

Be sure to stop by the Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style blog to see more inspiration using this sketch and the first sketch of the month. Remember, you don't have to use your card on a pocket page. You can use it on a traditional page or a card.

We have a pretty spring prize to one lucky winner this month, and all you have to do is join in one or more of our sketch challenges!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'll be back with another project to share a little later today!

Flashback Friday @ Scrapbook Challenges

Hello everyone! Happy Friday to you! I hope that you have had a good week. We just have one more week of school and then it's spring break for us! I am looking forward to that!

Today is Flashback Friday over on the Scrapbook Challenges blog. That is where we take an older sketch and give it a makeover and new look. Here  is this week's sketch.

These are photos from Ada's second birthday party. She got a little overwhelmed when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" to her, and she started to cry. Not to worry - Mommy and Daddy were right there, and she was smiling again in no time! They are just the cutest little family!

I stuck pretty close to the sketch once again, just adding in a few more papers behind the photos, omitting the banner, and adding in extra embellishments around the title.I used Echo Park's Birthday Wishes collection for this layout. When I bought the papers, my local scrapbook store was already out of the sticker sheet, so I had to get creative with my embellishments. I had to dig out an old balloon punch and punched out a couple of balloons, and I just love that little puffy cupcake sticker! 

Be sure to check out the Scrapbook Challenges blog  to see the original sketch, and to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a great weekend!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #150

Hi guys! I am back with my third post of the day. The latest sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has been posted, and it is another fun one.

Since I had the Simple Stories Homespun papers still out on my desk from my last project, I decided to try and use some more of it up. I love the colors in this collection, and it always makes for a fun card.

Head on over to the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog to see the sketch and read the rules on how to play along.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Use Your Stuff Challenge #213

Hello everyone! I am back with my second project to share with you today. We have a new challenge up at Use Your Stuff, and I am the hostess this week. This week I am challenging you to use ribbon, twine, lace, string, some sort of trim on your project.

For my card I used the Simple Stories Homespun collection. This is one of my most favorite collections, and I have very little left of it. I have been hanging on to every little scrap I can! I tied some string around the panel and added a tiny little bling heart to the middle of the bow.

I used this sketch from Taylored Expressions Share Joy challenge #24. I'm too late to enter it into their challenge, but I wanted to give them credit!

Be sure to stop by the Use Your Stuff blog and see all of the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team. Our new design team members were announced this morning as well, and a few of them even joined in on my challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I will be back with one more project to share with you today!

Make It Monday #55 @ The Memory Nest

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you all had a good weekend and didn't work too hard. We had another warm weekend and spent lots of time outside working on the yard.

I am here today to share the latest Make It Monday sketch with you from The Memory Nest. Katie has created another great sketch for us to work with!

I stuck pretty close to the sketch, mainly switching out the circle photo for a square. Everything else stayed pretty much the same.

I used the pretty Charlotte collection from Close To My Heart for this layout. I just love the peach, grey, and black color scheme in this collection, and it was perfect for this photo that I snapped a couple of weeks ago of Ada. I had taken several photos of her playing with her toys, and she was actually quite happy to pose for a picture or two as well. That doesn't happen too often these days!

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest blog to see how the rest of the design team interpreted this sketch. I hope that you are inspired to play along with us this month!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I have a few more projects to share with you today, so stay tuned!

Lasting Memories #283 - Future Mr and Mrs

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend. We have had a busy one around here. We kept Miss Ada over night on Friday, and my goodness, she can wear you out! Add to that the fact that it's been beautiful outside and we have been spending every spare minute out in it! I can't believe that my daffodils are already blooming - it's usually late March or April before they make an appearance.

We have a new challenge for you this week over on the Lasting Memories blog. The theme for March is "Welcome to the Oscars", and this week's challenge is anything goes with and "Oscar" theme. 

For my layout I was inspired by the gold statue - gold foil hearts, the glitter and glam - red glitter heart and bling hearts, the attire, particularly the tuxedos - black and white background, and lastly I made a little seal with an initial to represent the seal on the envelope.

This layout is of Abby and Shawn the year before they were married. It was Abby's birthday and my sister snapped this photo of them at her birthday party. They look so happy and in love in this photo.

I used this week's sketch from Sketches In Thyme. I just couldn't resist playing along with it!

I used the awesome Simple Stories new collection - Life In Color - for this layout. I am in love with this collection. I bought almost every single embellishment, along with the 12x12 collection of paper and the 6x6 paper pad, and I can already tell I am going to want more of it! The colors are so pretty and so are the patterns. Since this sketch had lots of little layers behind the photo, I used papers from the 6x6 paper pad.

Be sure to check out the sketch at Sketches In Thyme - you have until the end of the month to play along with it!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Head on over to the Lasting Memories blog to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I do hope you have some time to play along with us this month!

Have a beautiful day!

Scrapbook Challenges Flashback Friday #106

Hi guys! Happy Friday! I hope that you are all doing well. We are having another round of warm, sunny days, so all is well in my neck of the woods!

Today is Flashback Friday over on the Scrapbook Challenges blog. I am so excited to be returning for another term with the team. We have several returning members and quite a few new faces to inspire you the next several months. 

Here is this week's Flashback Friday sketch:

I love that this sketch has a larger photo and then several smaller photos. It was perfect for these cute photos of Ada at the pool this last summer. There's really no story to tell other than she looked so cute in her bathing suit, and she loved the water!

I used Echo Park's - I Love Sunshine papers for this layout. I also used my new favorite obsession - roller stamps from October Afternoon to stamp a few phrases. I just love to add these to my layouts - at least when I remember to pull them out and use them!

Head on over to the Scrapbook Challenges blog and see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the team. I hope you can find some time to play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic Friday!

Sketch N Scrap Throwback Thursday - Beach Bum

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! We are inching ever closer to the weekend, and it looks to be another nice one around here.

On March 1st we celebrated our 100th sketch over at Sketch N Scrap.We are celebrating this milestone all month long with a special Throwback Thursday! One of the design team members will be your hostess, and she will pick an older sketch for you to work with.

For this first Throwback Thursday, I am your hostess, and I have chosen sketch #17 - created by Lisa - from September 16, 2012 for you to work with.

I just loved the overall design of this sketch and thought it was a great way to showcase a special photo.

This is one of my most favorite photos of my youngest son from the summer of 2002. He has always loved the water, so trips to the lake were always fun (and they still are!) with him. I'm surprised I got a picture of him sitting down on the beach instead of being in the water. He loved the water so much and it was always a fight to get him out. I also love to see that this was his rock collecting stage. Everywhere we went he always had a hand full of rocks that he had picked up in the driveway before we left. He held on to them at all times and knew exactly how many he had.  Not only that, but he is such a cute little stinker!

Check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the layouts from the other design team members that played along with the sketch I picked. I hope you're able to play along with us all month long. Check back next week to see who our next hostess is and which sketch she has chosen for you.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Try Stampin - Or Not - On Tuesday #260 - Hello

Hello again! I am back with my third post for the day. The latest sketch from Try Stampin - Or Not - On Tuesday is posted today, and I am in love with this sketch! I can see myself using it a lot! Our optional theme is - In like a lamb or a lion?

I chose to just use the sketch for my card, and I used the We R Memory Keepers Chalkboard 6x6 paper pad. I just love the colors in this collection, they are so soft and pretty.

Head on over to the Try Stampin blog to see the beautiful inspiration from the rest of the team. You have two weeks to enter our challenges and you can enter either over on the blog, or on our Facebook page here.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!