Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #166 & A Design Team Call

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you are having a good start to your week.

There's a new sketch up over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, and I am sharing my card with you today.

Here's a look at the sketch:

I used Fancy Pants - Life Is Beautiful - 6x6 paper pad. This collection has so many beautiful papers in it. I fussy cut the flowers from another piece of Fancy Pants paper from a different collection (Summer Sun). They were a perfect match to the flowers in this new collection. For my sentiment I used Close To My Hearts - Share the love stamp set (CC1060).

Be sure to stop by the Atlantic Hearts blog for another look at the sketch. We also have a Design Team call going on right now. If you would like to be a part of this awesome design team, please go here to read all about it!

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

Scrapbook Challenges #488

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you had a great weekend! This is my third reveal of the day, so if you are looking for my Stick It Down card reveal, please scroll down or go here. If you are looking for my Use Your Stuff reveal, scroll down or go here.

We have a new sketch up over at Scrapbook Challenges today. It's another fun one to work with.

I kept my embellishing to a minimum on this layout. The different patterned papers were already pretty busy for me, and I wanted to keep the focus on my sweet Ada! She is growing up so fast! I included some hidden journaling on a tag behind the photo.

I snapped this picture of her when we went to Silver Dollar City a couple of weeks ago. She wasn't quite tall enough for most of the rides, so we hung out together most of the day. She never complained about how hot it was, or how long we had to wait for the others to get done on the rides, she was just happy and content to hang out with me!

Stop by Scrapbook Challenges to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. There are a lot of beautiful layouts to be seen!

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

Use Your Stuff #227 - Problem Solver

Hello again! I am back again with my second project of the day. If you are looking for my Stick It Down card reveal, please scroll down or go here.

We have a new challenge up today over at Use Your Stuff. This week Karrie's challenge is - "Good things in 3's".  You must use the following:

3 photos (or 3 phrases if you are a card maker)
3 colors (black and white are free colors)
3 embellishments (use as many of each that you want, but there needs to be 3 different types of embellishments on your project).

I used the three photos, red, blue, and yellow for my colors, star die cuts, star wood veneer, and enamel dots as my embellishments. I may have inadvertently cheated just a bit here. I do have a tag on there for my hidden journaling. It was kind of an after thought, but I didn't want to write directly on my layout this time.

Our youngest son loved to explore all of the nooks and crannies of our house when we first moved in. He especially loved to crawl through the kitchen cabinets and just lay in there. Sometimes he would forget the easy way to get back out, but he always figured it out pretty quickly (and maybe after a few tears!)

I used an older sketch from Scrap the Boys that I had pinned on my Pinterest board. It was perfect for these photos.

Be sure to check out the Use Your Stuff blog to see how the rest of the design team interpreted this challenge. I hope you play along with us this week. I would love to see your creations!

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

Let Freedom Ring with Stick It Down

Hello everyone!

Today is your lucky day! The July sketches at Stick It Down are being posted a little early! I am the featured card designer for July, so I get to share my card with you today as well!

July's sketch is courtesy of the talented Laura Rumble. I absolutely love this sketch and can see myself using it again!

Since it is so close to the 4th of July I had to go with a patriotic card! I splattered the background with some red paint, got a little crazy with the navy, red, and silver messy thread, and I had to add in some sparkle with the red, silver, and blue sequins. 

Be sure to stop by Stick It Down to see the reveal of the single and double page sketches as well. I hope that you join in our challenges for July!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I will be back soon with another reveal!

Lasting Memories #299 - #buddies

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend! Our weekend seems to be going by way too fast!

We have a new challenge up today at Lasting Memories. This is the last challenge for our "All About Me" theme this month, and it is "I Love To...". This can be about absolutely anything that you love to do.

One of my favorite things to do is spend time with my granddaughter. Let me tell you, this summer has been hard on this Nana! I'm used to seeing my girly every day during the week, and now I only see her a couple of times a week. I miss her! So, of course my layout is about spending time with her!

I used the - oh so pretty - Simple Stories Carpe Diem papers and embellishments for this layout. I had a really light grey card stock that matched the background to the dot paper perfectly, so I used that instead of plain white.

I based my layout on the June - Week 1 sketch from Let's Get Sketchy. Here's a look at that sketch:

Be sure to stop by the Lasting Memories blog to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you've enjoyed our challenges this month! You have until July 1 to enter any or all of our June challenges.

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

Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #276

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! After a couple of days of not-so-hot-and-humid days, it looks like heat and humidity is returning this week. A good excuse to stay inside in the air conditioning and scrap!

We have a new sketch posted over on the Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday blog today. Today's sketch is courtesy of Kaylin and our optional theme for this week is "polka dots".

I made a couple of versions of this card, and in the end this one won out. I'm not entirely happy with it - I feel the inside of the frame needs a little something else - but when I added in some balloons I just didn't like, so I chose to leave it plain. Does that ever happen to you? You have an idea that just doesn't work! Oh well... 

I did use the theme of polka dots this week. Polka dots are one of my favorite patterns, so of course I had to use them!

Be sure to stop by the Try Stampin' blog to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I do hope you find some time to play along with our challenges!

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

Scrapbook Challenges #487

Hello again! I am back to share another layout with you today.

We have a brand new sketch up over at Scrapbook Challenges today! It is one of my favorites, and I am sure I will be using it again! It has a lot of possibilities - you can really add in a lot of embellishments, or you can strip it down, like I did, and use just a few.

Here's a look at the sketch:

I kept my layout pretty simple for this sketch. I used a couple of different (watered down) purple paints for my background splatter. I am really liking this look now that I am trying it! (I know, I am a little late to this trend!) I also added in an extra strip of pattered paper behind my photo - just to add a little more color and a little bit of interest. 

Stop by Scrapbook Challenges to see the layouts from the other design team members. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

Use Your Stuff Blog Hop Winner

Hello everyone!

I am popping in really quick to announce the winner of my prize for the Use Your Stuff Blog Hop! Thank you all so much for the comments - I always love to read them - and to my new followers - welcome to my blog!

The winner by random draw is:

Lisa in Texas

Lisa - email me at loristroup@yahoo.com with your address and I will get your prize out to you this week!

Thanks again everyone for hopping along with us!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #76

Hello everyone! I hope that you have had a good weekend! We are already back around to Monday again, and that means a busy day here on the old blog!

Today is the last sketch for June over at Sketch N Scrap. This card sketch is courtesy of Heather.

Since Independence Day is right around the corner here is the US, and it is one of my favorite holidays, I thought I would go with a red, white, and blue card. 

The red and navy cardstock were scraps that I had on my desk, and I embossed the white panel with a tiny stars embossing folder. I had the blue and the white stars already die cut from another project that didn't get used, so I just die cut a red star, used some washi tape that I bought last year and never got around to using, and this card came together very quickly.  

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the lovely cards from the rest of the design team. You have until the 30th to play along with any or all of our sketches. Hope to see your creations soon!

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

Story Time - Sketches In Thyme #204

Hi, guys! Happy Friday! I can't believe it's the weekend already!

It's my day to be featured over on the Sketches In Thyme blog with my layout for sketch #204. This sketch is brought to us by the super talented, Brenshevia. I have been a fan of Brenshevia's sketches for a long time, so I was excited to get to work with this sketch.

supplies used - Patterned Papers and Cardstock - Close To My Heart, ink - Close To My Heart - sorbet and slate, Puffy stickers - pink hearts - Close To My Heart, white heart - EK Success, wood veneer pieces - Studio Calico, Stamps - "love this' - Kaisercraft - Shine Bright, Phrase stamps - "this moment" - Amy Tangerine roller stamp - Sealed, date/love, love, love - Amy Tangerine roller stamp - Today, Alphas - Thickers - Fun & Games.

I changed things up a bit with this sketch, but you can still see the basic design in my layout. The biggest change was using one photo instead of two, and making all of the layers behind the photo bigger.

I used the - oh so pretty - Zoe collection from Close To My Heart. I love these papers and hated to cut into them, but I am really trying to use the things I love instead of letting them sit in my stash forever.

I "smooshed" the background paper with Close To My Heart's sorbet ink, and used a doily in place of the messy circles in the upper left of the sketch. The "smooshing" warped my background paper just a bit, so I trimmed it down and matted it on another piece of cardstock.

This is one of my favorite photos of Abby and Ada. Abby had just gotten off of work and this was back when she still stayed with us one or two nights a week to cut down on her commute back and forth to work. Before they went to bed Abby would read  Ada a book. This was one of her favorites at the time - a Disney princess story book - Ada loved the pages that had Ariel on them, and I am pretty sure that Ariel is still her favorite princess a year and a half later!

Stop by Sketches In Thyme any day of the week to find more inspiration. This month Kim is offering up this prize for one lucky winner:

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

World's Greatest Dad - Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #164

Hello everyone! How is your week going? It is HOT around here! We've been in the 90's for a while now, and it looks like it's going to stay that way for a while! We're not usually this hot, this early in the summer.

I have a Father's Day card to share with you today using this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  Here is the sketch - created by Michelle and digitized by Brandi:

I used Pink Paislee's Atlas 6x6 paper pad for this card. I had picked up the paper pad on sale, even though we are not big travelers. It had quite a few generic prints in it and the colors were just what I like! When I was looking for papers for a Father's Day card, I saw this paper with the globes on it and remembered that I had a stamp from Close To My Heart (C1542 - Perfect Fit - Dad) that had a "World's Greatest Dad" sentiment, and I knew they would work perfectly together!

The full design team reveal will be up tomorrow on the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog. Be sure to stop by and see how the rest of the team interpreted this sketch. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you find some time to get creative this week! Have a great day!

Use Your Stuff "Sizzle into Summer" Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to Use Your Stuff's "Sizzle Into Summer" blog hop!

It's time for sunshine, ice cream, shorts, and smiles! It's time for fun! The design team is celebrating summer and are highlighting a bunch of amazing projects with a summer theme, and we want you to join us!

Down below we have listed all the DT members that have created some inspiration for you. Follow the links and head over to their blogs. You are going to want to visit each one because some of them are offering some blog candy for this hop and you want the chance to win as much as you can! Stop by and say hello!

The hop is going to run from Monday, June 13 until Saturday, June 18th, so you have a whole week to hop and play along with us. You also have a chance to win a prize from the UYS blog by linking up your own fun summer project! We will draw a random winner on Sunday, June 19th. We hope you enjoy the fun summer scrappy treats we have for you this week!

Hello and welcome to my blog! You should have arrived here by way of Sarah's blog.

I have a summery layout of my granddaughter to share with you today!

When my granddaughter comes to visit she loves to go outside with her bubble "gun" and blow bubbles - the perfect warm weather activity for this little girl.

I used a sketch from a Facebook group called Home and Scrapped that I am in. For this layout I decided to go through my scrap box and pull enough scraps for this layout. I pulled way too many, but I did get a few bits and pieces used up!

I actually pulled out my old sewing machine and stitched down the middle of the circles, too. I don't know why I don't do this more often - too much of a hassle, I guess - but I really do love the look it gives.

I also punched and die cut a few vellum circles to go along with my bubble theme.

I am offering up some blog candy for this hop. In order to be eligible to win my prize, just leave me a comment on this blog post. I would love it if you became a follower as well! Here is my prize:

I will draw a winner from all of the comments on Sunday, June 19th.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Your next stop on the hop is Beth. Head on over to her beautiful blog to see what she has made for you!

Here is the order of the hop in case you get lost!

Sarah

Lori >>>You are here!

Beth

Jenna

Majo

Martha Lucia

Tammy L

Khristina

Tammy C

Renee

Gail

Tina

Julia

Karrie

Make It Monday #62 @ The Memory Nest

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! It's the start of a brand new week and it's going to be a hot one! It seems summertime has officially arrived!

It's going to be a busy day around the old blog today, so let's get started.

Today is Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest, and there is a great new sketch, courtesy of Katie, for us to work with.

I tweaked the sketch just a bit to work with the photo I chose. I flipped the sketch and made everything a bit bigger to accommodate my larger photo of Shane from the summer of 2007. He seemed to live in the pool! He wanted to go out first thing in the morning and we would have to make him come in at night. I mean, the date on the back of the photo says 3/13/2007, and we never got the pool up and going until at least Memorial Day. Look how tan he is in just a couple of weeks - sun kissed for sure!

I used up a few more scraps from Echo Park's Splash collection. I am down to just a few full sheets, and to be honest, a couple of those I don't even know if I will ever use. It feels good to have another collection almost used up instead of "hoarding" it!

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest to see the layouts from the rest of the design team.Lots of inspiration to be shared!

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

Lasting Memories #297 - "Let Me Take A Selfie"

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

We have another fun challenge over at Lasting Memories for you today. In keeping with the "All About Me" theme for this month, our challenge for you today is - "Let Me Take A Selfie".  That's right, this week we want to see your selfies on a layout.

I am not much of a selfie taker, and on the random chance that I do, I usually have someone (mostly my granddaughter) in the photo with me. Let's face it - that's about the only time I will get my photo taken unless I just ask someone to take one of me - and then I usually hear moaning and groaning about them having to take a picture! My selfies may not be the best, but at least I'm getting me in some of my albums!

For my layout I used the June 1st sketch from Stuck?! Sketches:

I used papers from the Maggie Holmes Open Book collection. Such pretty papers in this collection! I also was able to use some older product from my stash - the flowers were from a RAK that I received several years ago (yeah, not much of a flower person here!) and the charms/brads I have had for at least 4 or 5 years. This was a half used package, so I just about got them all used up!

Head on over to the Lasting Memories blog to see the layouts from the other design team members for this week. I hope that you have a chance to play along with us!

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

Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style Sketch #30

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday to you! Today is a very special day for me because it is my birthday! We have had a very busy few days filled with a trip to Silver Dollar City, some shopping, and a birthday party for my great nephew. A great way to spend my birthday weekend!

Today is my day to be featured over on the Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style blog, showing my take on sketch #30. This sketch was created by one of our new sketch artists, Kirsty. Here's a look at the sketch:

For my card I used a 4x6 card from Simple Stories birthday snap pack that I cut in half for the striped area. The stripes had a couple of pinkish red stripes and really didn't go with what I was wanting for my son's birthday layout, so I used a couple of different washi strips from the So Rad collection to cover them up. 

This layout of Matthew's birthday from 2015 will actually be an insert between week 4 and 5. His birthday is the 24th of January and his brother's is the 26th, and that means a lot of  photos to go along with the other happenings of the week. So, Matthew's birthday will be featured on the front side and Shane's will be on the back side. 

We have a great prize up for grabs this month. If you play along with any of our sketches and link up by the end of the month, you have a chance to win this fun stamp set - perfect for your summertime photos!

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

Stick It Down Blog Hop Winner!!!

Hello everyone! Happy Thursday to you! We have almost made it to the weekend once again!

I am back to announce the winner of my prize for the Stick It Down blog hop, but first I want to say thank you for all of your sweet comments, and to my new followers - welcome to my blog!

I did my drawing the good old fashion way of writing down the names, putting them in a bowl, and letting my son pick one out! The winner of the Echo Park paper pack is:

Tina - shoot me an email at loristroup@yahoo.com with you address and I will get your prize out to you!

Thanks so much to everyone that participated in our blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Hello Sunshine - Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #274

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! We have had a couple of really pretty days here lately - upper 70's to 80 for a high with not a lot of humidity...I would love it if it stayed like this all summer, but they are calling for 90's with high humidity by the end of the week. I'll just enjoy it while I can!

We have a new sketch up over at Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday today, and this weeks sketch is courtesy of Kaylin. Our optional theme this week is - YELLOW!

Here's the sketch:

 

Yellow is one of my favorite colors, so of course I had to play along with the optional theme. For my card I opted to use one large strip instead of three smaller strips. I also embossed the white panel with my new favorite triangle embossing folder. I am hoping this card will bring a little extra sunshine to someone special!

 

 

Be sure to stop by Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. As always, the theme is optional, stamping is optional, you have two full weeks to play along with our challenges, and you can enter on the blog or on our Facebook page here.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fantastic day! 

Use Your Stuff #225 - Color Challenge

Hello again! I am back with my second post for the day. If you are looking for my Memory Nest reveal, please scroll down or go here.

Last week the design team at Use Your Stuff had the week off, but today we are back with a new challenge for you. This week Heather has a beautiful color challenge for us. Use these colors on your project:

Once again I was reminded that I don't have a lot of purple in my stash! I definitely need to look into buying some purple papers/embellishments.

I found this sketch on Pinterest, from Anabelle O'Malley and knew it would be perfect for what I wanted to do. Here is a look at the sketch:

The circles reminded of my favorite handmade flowers - lollipop flowers. Since I don't have a lot, well, lets be real, since I don't have any purple embellishments, I decided to make my own lollipop flowers for my card. I added in a cluster of pearls for the centers. I love the way this card turned out!

My oldest sister has been in the hospital and I thought I would send this card to her to let her know that I am thinking about her, and hopefully brighten her day.

Check out the Use Your Stuff blog to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the team.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope that you have a wonderful day!

Make It Monday # 61 - That Darn Cat

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! I've got a lot to share with you throughout today, so lets get started!

Today is Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest, and this week we are working with a great sketch from Leslie.

Isn't that large title area fun?! I love it! Here is my take on the sketch:

This was also another great sketch to get some scraps used up! Everything - with the exception of the kraft background - is from my scrap drawer. I love it when I can use from my scraps first! And look at me - using paint splatters on another layout! I may get the hang of mists/paints yet!

I've had this photo of Shane ready to scrap for a while, and this sketch seemed perfect for it. The whole title of my layout says - "that darn cat - you never know where he will turn up".

This cat is Matthew's from a long time ago when we took the kids to Build A Bear. As I say in my journaling - I'm not sure if this poor cat ever had a proper name, but he is a favorite around our house. Ada loves to carry him around and has even tried to take him home. On this day, Shane had stayed home from school because he wasn't feeling well, and I'm sure the cat had found his way into the living room thanks to Ada. The next time I walked through I was surprised to see the cat sitting on Shane's shoulder while he took a nap! You just never know where this darn cat will turn up, but he always finds his way back to Matthew's room!

Here is a look at the hidden journaling:

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope that you will play along with us! I would love to see your take on the sketch!

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

Stick It Down June Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to Stick It Down's June blog hop! 

Several of our design team members have created projects to share with you using any of our past SID sketches. If you've never participated in a blog hop before, you'll "hop" from blog to blog to visit each designer's page and project. You'll leave a comment at each stop along the hop. The hop will end right back here where you started, where you can comment to let us know you've completed the hop and you're entered to win the grand prize. You have until Monday, June 6 at 11:59 pm to complete the hop. The winner will be announced on or before June 9.

We have several prize packages and one grand prize lined up! Paper Wings Productions is generously sponsoring our blog hop and is offering a gift certificate to the online store!

Paper Wings Productions is owned by Carrie Edelmann Avery. All of the PWP stamps are produced in the USA and are made using the highest quality of materials. You can check out the PWP online store to see the red rubber cling stamps and the clear photopolymer stamps!

In addition to the grand prize, many of our design team members are offering prizes on their blog and we also have a few other prizes lined up. We've also made it possible to earn additional entries for prizes by following the SID blog, our Facebook page, the PWP blog, and the PWP Facebook page.

Are you ready to get started? Here we go!

Hello everyone! I am so glad that you are here! You should have arrived here from Hanne's  blog. 

For my project I have made a card for you. I chose this sketch from January 14, 2014.

As you can see, I stuck close to this great classic sketch. The only thing that I added was the three little hearts in the bottom right hand corner. I used Pink Paislee's Pen Pal's 6x6 paper pad for my card, and the stamp set is from Close To My Heart called Share the Love. 

I am offering up a little prize to one lucky person here on my blog. All you have to do to win my prize is to become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment telling me you are a new follower or that you already follow me. I will pick a winner on June 9th. Here is what you will win:




Thanks so much for stopping by today. Your next stop on the hop is Angelika's blog. Remember to comment on each blog in order to be entered into the grand prize drawing. 

 Here is the order of the hop in case you get lost:

Evelyn

Sharon

Jess K

Grace
Shanna
Hanne 

Lori 

Angelika

Tina

Jessica S

Ali 

Alison

Loreto
Colleen

Stick It Down

Sketch N Scrap #106 - These Two Make Me Smile

Hello, hello! Happy Hump Day and Happy June 1st - my most favorite month of the year because it is my birthday month!

The first of the month means a fabulous new sketch is posted today at Sketch n Scrap. June's sketch is courtesy of Heather.

I know I say this every time, but I really do love this sketch! I know I will be using it again for sure!

Since the sketch showed areas for some stenciling, I decided to try and make my background a little less boring and a little more messy. I didn't have any mists in a color that would work, so I watered down some paint and splattered away. I'm pretty happy with the end result. It gives that plain white card stock a little life!

I used some scraps from my Bella Blvd stash. A couple of pieces from the Kiss Me collection, and the blue stars is from Lucky Stars. Bella Blvd is definitely one of my favorites!

I stamped part of my title with a stamp from Kaisercraft - Shine Bright - and the "love this" stamp is from the same set. I just love that little medallion piece that I made. You can't tell it in these photos, but each layer of it is popped up with some foam tape.

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the team. I hope you find the time to play along with us in June!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a great day!