Hello, Sunshine - Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #328

Good Tuesday morning! Welcome back to my blog - I am so glad that you are here today!

We have a new sketch for you today at Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday. This week's sketch is courtesy of, Donna, and our optional theme is "Summer Heat".

I will admit that I struggled a bit with this sketch. I kind of felt like the banner piece was just floating around. Once I added the sentiment piece, I liked it much better.

I used Echo Park's - "Summer Party" - 6x6 paper pad for this summer type card. The sentiment is from an Elle's Studio stamp set, and I die cut the sun using a pinked circle die from Paper Smooches, and a circle die from We R Memory Keepers.

Head on over to Try Stampin' to see the cards from the rest of the design team. You have two weeks to play along and you can enter either on the blog or on our Facebook page here. I hope you get the chance to play along, I would love to see your take on this sketch!

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

Just Because...Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #218

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! Here we are at the start of a new week. The weekend seemed to fly by! Of course, they always do!

I am here to share this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge with you today. It's a fun sketch to work with and one that I know I will be using again.

This card came together so quickly and easily! I love it when they do that! 

I used Echo Park's - "The Story Of Our Family" 6x6 paper pad for this card. This is seriously my new favorite paper pad to work with right now! I love the navy and teal together, and I thought the pop of yellow added just a bit of interest.  I die cut the hearts using my Lawn Fawn heart dies, and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts stamp set. 

We will have the full design team reveal, along with last week's Top 3 picks over on the blog on Wednesday, so be sure to stop by and check it out! We hope you have some time to play along with us this week!

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

Sweet 16

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you! The sun is shining, the windows are open, the breeze is cool...it looks like it's going to be a fabulous day!

I am hosting my second challenge at Cookin' Up Creations today! Our theme for this month is "Movie Night" and the movie I have chosen for this challenge is "Sixteen Candles". I loved this movie as a teenager, and if I catch it on tv, well, I always have to watch it!

My challenge was to create a birthday layout and add some numbers and/or candles to it. If you don't have any birthday photos to scrap, then create a layout and add a number(s) to it.

I found some photos of Abby on her 16th birthday that I had never scrapped and thought now would be the perfect time to do it! I mean, she will be 27 this year, so it's about time! My original plan was to make a mini album for her, but that never happened, so now I think I will add the photos to a pocket style protector to go along with a couple of traditional 12x12 layouts. That is why I have not journaled on this layout, the journaling will go into one of the pockets on the pocket page.

I used Carta Bella's "It's A Celebration" for this layout. This collection is one of my favorite birthday collections!

Stop by Cookin' Up Creations and join the fun! We would love to have you join us!

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

You Are So Kind

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

This month over at Soul Scrappers we are honoring a former DT member, Debi Clark, with various challenges and prizes. Some of our challenges are based on things that Debi loved or things that remind us of Debi.

DT Karen challenged us to a "kindness" challenge - create a project with the word "kind or kindness" on it and then do an act of kindness.

Here is the card that I created for this challenge:

For this card I have used Echo Park's "The Story Of Our Family" 6x6 paper pad. I think I could 3 or 4 of these paper pads and never get tired of it! Love the colors in this.

The flower is from Close To My Heart's "Live Beautifully" stamp set and stamped in lagoon ink. For my sentiment I didn't have any stamps in my stash that I could use for this, so I printed one off from the computer and added it to my card.

Head on over to Soul Scrappers to check out this month's challenges. We would love to have you playing along!

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

Our Beauty And Here Beast

Happy Friday everyone! I can't believe it's the weekend already! We have a cool front coming through today and it looks like the weekend is going to be a beauty! High temps in the upper 70's to low 80's with low humidity...perfect!

This month over at Cookin' Up Creations our challenge theme is "Movie Night". All of our challenges in June are based on a movie that the hostess has chosen. I hosted a challenge on June 10th and the movie I chose was "Beauty And The Beast". My challenge was to pick one of the following choices -

Choice #1 - Beauty - use the word "beauty" or "beautiful" somewhere on your layout, use a touch of gold, and use at least one heart or flower on your layout.

Choice #2 - Beast - Create a layout about your favorite "beast". This could be a pet, your favorite animal, or who knows, maybe your kiddo is a "beast" on the ball field. Also include at least one heart on your layout.

I went with a combination of the two for my layout:

I have used the word "beauty", I have a photo of our "beast", and I used 3 tiny gold hearts.

Head on over to Cookin' Up Creations and check out our challenges - there have been a lot of really fun ones posted this month! You have until July 3rd to play along with us for a fun prize!

I am up again tomorrow with another movie night challenge, so stay tuned to see what I pick!

I will be back shortly with another project to share with you!

Summer Days

Hello again! This is my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Sketches In Thyme PL Style reveal, please scroll down or go here.

I am back to share my take on the June Tic Tac Toe challenge at Soul Scrappers. The line that I chose to use from the Tic Tac Toe board was - kraft cardstock, chevrons, and circles, three of my favorite things to use when I scrap!

I don't know why I always have a hard time photographing a layout when I have used kraft paper! I never can seem to get the true color of it to come through.

The blue chevron paper is from a paper pack that I picked up at Tuesday Morning. There was no labels on it, so I have no idea where it is from. The circles were all cut from an old My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad called "Summer Splash" - which I am happy to say that it is all used up! I just love the bright, summery colors in this collection. I'm a little sad to see it go, but happy that I now have a place for a new paper pad to take it's place!

This layout was based off of this sketch from the June 2017 PageMaps:

Head on over to Soul Scrappers and check out the fun challenges we have going on now. Soul Scrappers is a great group with tons of inspiration! We would love it if you played along with us!

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

Sketches In Thyme PL Style Sketch #75

Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! Today is the first full day of summer and it's going to feel like it around here! We are supposed to hit 90* today...sounds like a good day to spend in the pool!

Today I am sharing my take on Sketch #75 from Sketches In Thyme PL Style. Here is a look at the sketch:

I decided to make a journaling card to document some of the things going on in week 22 of 2016.

Here is the full layout:

I used Crate Paper's "Cool Kid" 6x6 paper pad for this spread, and some stamps from Elle's Studio and Gossamer Blue.

Also on this layout is the card that I made for Sketch #73 (title card) and the card that I made for Sketch #74:

It's a little hard to tell what's in the photo, but it is a killdeer, trying to draw us away from it 's nest with it's broken wing act. These birds come around every spring and always have their nest somewhere in our yard. Sometimes the nest is easy to find, other times not so much! Last summer we were lucky to find it and Scott was able to avoid it when he mowed. After a while it was really easy to know where the nest was - just look for the patch of long grass!

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

Use Your Stuff #268 - Try Something New

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

This week at Use Your Stuff, Renee is challenging us to try something new! A new technique or a new product that you haven't used before.

I decided to play around with my watercolors and see what I could create. I recently watched a project life process video and in the video the person used watercolors on one of her cards. I really liked the look of it and thought it was easy enough that I could surely do it! Here is what I came up with:

I tried out several different colors and then went through one of my die cut packs and my stamps to add some embellishments to each card.

I think this card is my favorite of the three! I love the colors and I just love the way it turned out!

I think I may go back and add some sequins or bling to this card...I'll have to see what I want to use when I use this in my album.

And I still have a few of these cards just waiting for embellishments! I am so glad that I tried out this new technique! I'm sure you'll be seeing it a little more often!

(I also used this technique on a greeting card in my previous post. Check it out here.)

Head on over to Use Your Stuff to see what new products or techniques that the rest of the design team created.

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

Stick It Down June Card Team Reveal

Hello, everyone! Good Monday morning to you! I hope you had a good weekend and are ready for the new week.

Today is the full card design team reveal at Stick It Down. Here is a reminder of the sketch that was posted on the first:

I decided to play around with some watercolors on my card. Pretty basic, pretty simple, but I love the way that this card turned out! It's always fun to try something new and have it turn out the way that you want!

After I added the watercolor, I stamped the sentiment using a stamp set from Elle's Studio and added a silver glitter heart. 

Head on over to Stick It Down to see how the rest of the design team interpreted this sketch. I hope you play along with us this month, I would love to see what you do with this sketch!

I will be back soon with another project to share with you!

Christmas Card Challenges #15

Hello, scrappy friends! Happy Sunday to you!

We have a new challenge for you today at Christmas Card Challenges!  Our only requirement is that you make a Christmas/Holiday card. We do offer an optional challenge - in case you need some extra inspiration. This week our optional challenge is an inspiration photo challenge:

I have had this wreath stamp from Close To My Heart for ages! I think it might have been one of the first sets I ever bought from them. I have used it a few times before and it is a favorite. 

I stamped the wreath in Topiary and then added red glitter glue for the berries. The papers are from Pink Paislee's Yuletide collection.

Head on over to Christmas Card Challenges to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope to see you playing along with us!

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

Sketches In Thyme Sketch #281

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday! We have made it to the weekend once again. It looks like it's going to be a rainy start this morning, but it's supposed to clear off and be a hot day.

Today is my day to be featured over at Sketches In Thyme with my take on Sketch #281. Here's a look at the sketch:

For this layout of Matthew on his graduation night, I have used papers from Bella Blvd and the black star paper is from American Crafts. I stuck with his school colors, which is black and white with an accent of red. I added in a few silver metallic stars as well.

I changed up just a couple of things from the sketch. I felt like the banners at the top right on the sketch made my layout look really heavy on that side with the title and journaling area, so I moved them to the left hand side and added in an extra banner.

I'm surprised that I actually scrapped one of his graduation photos - and it's only been a year! I still haven't scrapped Abby's college graduation photos - and that was four years ago! All in good time, I suppose!

Be sure to check out the Sketches In Thyme blog. We have new inspiration from the design team every single day, and there's a fun prize up for grabs, too!

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

LTSCB #98 - Boyz Rule

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

We have some mid-month inspiration for you today over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog.  Our challenge for June is "Boyz Rule - create a masculine project".

This month I got the pleasure to work with an image from Oddball Art Co. - they have a lot of great images, so be sure to check them out!

I worked with their Whimsical Stars image:

I really liked the doodled look of this star. I printed it off on a piece of vellum and attached that over a piece of paper that looks somewhat like a dictionary page. I thought that maybe it might look like it was doodled onto the paper. I actually printed it directly onto the paper, but I really liked that the vellum kind of muted down the print on the paper and let the star "shine".

I used papers from Crate Papers' - "Cool Kid" 6x6 paper pad - it is a great boy collection!

Head on over to LTSCB to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

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

Sketch N Scrap #131 - Big Sister Little Brother

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

I am back with the second layout sketch from Sketch N Scrap. This is a great two photo sketch and it is courtesy of Heather.

For this layout, I have used Shimelle's - Little By Little - papers, and also a paper from Pebbles' - Special Delivery - Boy - 6x6 paper pad for the embellishments. I really didn't think the stickers and die cuts from the Little By Little collection really went with the feel that I was going for, and the Pebbles paper pad was a great match, so I punched three circles from the Pebbles cut apart sheet to turn into embellishment. I added in a couple of vellum hearts and a few wooden stars, and I like the way this turned out!

These photos are of Abby and Matthew when Matthew was just 3 months old - he is now 19! Abby was not thrilled at all when we first told her she was going to be a big sister. She kept asking, "Are your sure?" I think as time went on she warmed up to the fact and by the time Matthew arrived, she was wanting to help out with everything - and she was (and still is!)  a great helper! Her favorite thing to do was to hold him and to feed him.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the wonderful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you give this sketch a try and a play along with us!

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

CCAYR - June Mid-Month Inspiration With The Christmas Belles

Hello, everyone!

It's the middle of the month and that means the Christmas Belle's are up at Christmas Cards All Year Round with the mid-month inspiration. Our challenge for June is to create a Christmas/holiday project with a house, cottage, cabin, etc. on it.

I have used Neat and Tangled's "Simple Christmas" stamp set for my card. To be honest, when I was planning this card, I had in my mind another stamp set from Neat and Tangled that I don't even own! I thought I had it, but apparently, I never ordered that particular stamp.  Anyway, I had it all planned out in my head just how I was going to make my card - with a stamp set that I don't even have! When I realized I didn't have it, it was back to the drawing board. Once I realized which stamp set I did have, this card came together really quickly!

I stamped the house and the sentiment with Versamark ink on a piece of vellum and embossed it with white embossing powder. I then outlined each circle with a white gel pen. I really like the way that this card turned out.

Head on over to CCAYR to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the Christmas Belles. I hope you get a chance to get a head start on your Christmas cards and play along with us this month!

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

Paper Play Sketches Color Challenge

Hello, everyone! We have made it to the middle of the week and the weekend will be here before we know it.

The middle of the week means we have a new challenge up at Paper Play Sketches. This week we have a color challenge for you:

I really like the colors in the challenge picture, but I struggled to find anything peach in my stash, so I had to go with more of a pink instead. 

Head on over to Paper Play Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. We hope to see you playing along with us this week!

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #216

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday reveal, please scroll down or go here.

I am back to share my take on this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Here is a look at the sketch:

I will admit when I first started working on this card, I really thought I would leave the circle and square element at the bottom off, and that would have looked fine, too, but the more I worked with all of the elements, I really liked the look, so the circle and square element stayed on!

I have used Jen Hadfield's  - DIY Home - 6x6 paper pad for this card. I just love the navy and pink together with the little touch of wood grain paper. For the square element, this paper pad has a cut apart sheet, and this "hello" was one of the squares. I could have left it as a square, but I decided to use my small tag punch and cut it into a tag shape to attach to the twine. 

Be sure to stop by the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog tomorrow to see the full design team reveal and to see the Top 3 picks from last week's sketch.

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

Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #326

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

We have a new sketch for you today at Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday. This week's sketch is courtesy of Kaylin, and our optional theme this week is "Wiggles and Waves".

This is another one of those sketches that I know I will be using again and again. It's just so versatile! I decided to use a rectangle shape instead of a circle - mostly because when I came across this piece with the balloons on it, I thought the open area would be a great place for a birthday sentiment.

I used Simple Stories' - "Posh" and "Homespun" - 6x6 paper pads for this card. I love that the colors in their collections match so well from one year to another. The sentiment is from a Sizzix stamp and die set by Lori Whitlock - "Happy Birthday To You".

Be sure to stop by the Try Stampin' blog to the beautiful creations from the rest of the design team. You have two weeks to play along and can enter on the blog or on our Facebook page here.

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

Make It Monday #90 At The Memory Nest

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you!  I hope that you had a good weekend and are ready for the new week! We had a busy one! The pool is finally up and going, so a lot of our time was spent doing that, then we had a birthday party for my great nephew who turned 6, and more time actually spent in the pool since we are having some of our hottest days yet!

Today is Make It Monday #90 over at The Memory Nest, and we have a fun sketch for you to work with! Leslie has created a great sketch with lots of possibilities!

I guess since we have been working on getting the pool ready, it got me in the mood to scrap some old pool photos of Shane! I had an old My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad called "Summer Splash" that was mostly used up, but I did have enough of it left to make this layout. I love the blues, greens, reds, and yellows in this paper pad. I'm kind of sad that it is all gone now, but I'm sure I can find something to take its place.

I cut the title out with my Lawn Fawn "Cole's ABC's" die set and used some stamps from my June Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit that I had just received in the mail. The stamp set in this month's kit was perfect for this layout.  I felt like it needed something more, so I tried sprinkling some sequins around the page, but in the end, I liked it better just plain.

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you can find some time to play along with this sketch!

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

Soul Scrappers Card Challenge

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.

I have a quick card to share with you this afternoon. The current card challenge at Soul Scrappers is to make a thank you card and here is what I came up with:

I have used Pebbles' - Front Porch - 6x6 paper pad for this card. The 12x12 cut apart sheet has so many sentiments that are perfect for cards - like this thank you banner piece. This card came together so quickly and I love the way that it turned out!

Head on over to Soul Scrappers and check out the challenges we have going on right now. There is a great variety and something for everyone!

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

Sketches In Thyme PL Style - Sketch #73

Hello hello! Good Tuesday morning to you! I hope you are having a good week so far. The weather around here is finally starting to feel like summer and for once we have all sunny days in the seven day forecast!

I am up today on the Sketches In Thyme PL Style blog today with my take on sketch #73, courtesy of Shawn. Here's a look at the sketch:

I have created a title card for my Week 22 of 2016. Yeah. 2016. And I just realized that I really should be working on my 2015 album because I actually have part of it done. Week 22 of 2016 will be the first layout that I have even made for 2016. I don't even have a title page made for 2016 yet! Oh well, the photos that I just edited, resized, ordered, and just picked up are for June and July of 2016, so that is what I will be working on over the next couple of months.

This card is a little different for me as I haven't used any pastel-y colors on it! Usually my layouts are full of Miss Ada (which means lots of pink, girly colors), but when summertime rolls around and she and her Mommy are on summer break, I don't have nearly as many girly photos to include. When I looked through my photos for this week, I thought the more primary colors were the way to go.

I've used Crate Papers "Cool Kid" 6x6 paper pad for this card. I will probably add a sticker phrase strip or some sort of stamp to the lower right corner once I have my layout put together. I hope to share the full layout next week, along with the card I made using next week's sketch!

Be sure to stop by the Sketches In Thyme PL Style blog for more inspiration.

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

Use Your Stuff #266

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

We have a new challenge posted today at Use Your Stuff. I am hosting the challenge this week and my challenge to you is to use at least 5 different patterned papers on your project.

I have created a card using exactly 5 patterned papers. The papers I have used are from an older My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad. It is the "Cut and Paste" collection - Adorbs. I love the patterns and colors in this collection. The sentiment is from an Art C stamp and cut set - "Many Thanks".

A quick and easy card that I can't wait to send out to someone special this week!

Head on over to Use Your Stuff to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the design team. We would love it if you played along with us!

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

Make It Monday #89 At The Memory Nest

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend and are ready for a new week! We had a very busy weekend filled with lots of family time.

Today is Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest. Leslie has created a great, two photo sketch for us to work with this week.

I have created a layout of Miss Ada when she was just a little thing using some papers from my stash. I think the gray background paper and pink paper are from Echo Park. The gray heart I have had cut out and on my desk for a while, and it was a perfect match for this layout. I splattered the background with a bit of white paint to add a little something to it. 

I need to double check the dates on these photos and then I will add it to the layout, as well.

Head on over to The Memory Nest to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you get a chance to play along with us this month!

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

Christmas Card Challenges #14

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

We have a new challenge up today at Christmas Card Challenges. Our only requirement is that you create a Christmas/holiday card. We do have an optional challenge - just in case you need some inspiration - and this week that is an inspiration photo:

I was inspired by the silver and red color combination and the ornaments. I've had this ornament sticker in my stash for a couple of years now - I love it when I can put things to use! I added a silver thread bow so it looks like it is hanging in the box, and I added in a little more silver with the glitter tape banners. I added in a few red sequins - mainly to cover up a mess up, but I think they add a little something to it!

Head on over to Christmas Card Challenges to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. We hope to see you playing along with us!

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

Aunt Kay - Lasting Memories #347

Hello everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. We have been busy this weekend with prepping our yard for a new pool. Lots of hard work, but it will be totally worth it!

I haven't had a chance to play along with our challenges at Lasting Memories in forever it seems. It's not that I haven't wanted to, life in May was just so incredibly busy. It seems that things might be slowing down just a bit and I'm hopeful that I will be playing along more regularly now.

For the month of June we are concentrating on June Holiday Insights. Tina has picked out a few unusual holidays in June for us to base our layout on. This week our challenge is based off of a June 4th holiday - "Old Maid's Day". Old Maid's Day is a day to bring awareness to those of us who have not yet found (and caught) our soul mate. Our challenge to you is to create a layout about a single in your life or even a layout about you when you were/are single.

I have made a layout about my Aunt Kay. She is the best aunt ever and has always been like a second mother to me. I have so many fond memories of summertime trips, sleepovers, and just fun days spent at her house growing up, and we are still making those fun memories even now! In fact, she just called yesterday asking us to come in and play board/card games with her now that the kids are out of school!

She has never been married, and as far as I know, never wanted to be! She was a teacher and then a school counselor before she retired. She loved to play tennis, loved to take photographs - and when we were younger she would turn those into slides and in the summer we would have "movie night" and watch the slide show - and  she has always been a baseball fan. She always came to the kids ballgames when they played, and is always ready and willing to help out in any way that she can.

As you can see, I am going to have a whole lot to say about my aunt! I think this may be one of those times that I make another 12x12 layout just for journaling!

For my layout I have used Maggie Holmes' Bloom collection and a sketch from Pagemaps from June 2017.

Head on over to Lasting Memories to see the beautiful and fun layouts from the rest of the design team. We have a $20 gift certificate to any online store for one lucky winner, so you better play along!

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

LTCCB #11 - June Anything Goes

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

The start of a new month means we have a new challenge at Love To Craft Challenge Blog today. Our challenges are always "Anything Goes" and any kind of craft project is welcome!

I have made a card for my project this month.

I used these Close To My Heart papers on a card earlier this week, and thought they were so pretty together that I decided to make another card using them!  Then sentiment is from a Sizzix stamp and die set. A pretty quick and easy card ready to be sent out!

Head on over to LTCCB to see the projects from the rest of the design team.

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