Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! We are enjoying a couple of days of springlike weather around here. We heard the peepers Saturday night so spring is right around the corner, right?! I am currently ignoring the fact that there we have freezing rain and much colder temps in the forecast for later this week!
It's time for Tuesday Morning Sketches new challenge. This week we are revisiting Patti's favorite sketch of 2018. Here's the sketch:
And here is what I came up with:
I created a birthday card using Echo Park's - Anything Goes - 6x6 paper pad and stamps from Close To My Heart - B1417 (the sentiment and the hooray image) and The Ink Road Stamps - Zinia (squiggly lines). I thought the squiggly lines looked like party streamers.
Head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!
Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope you are all ready for the new week.
Today is my day to be featured at Scrap Our Stash with my take on this month's Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge. Here's a look at this month's double page sketch:
For this challenge, you need to pick either the left side or the right side of the sketch to base your layout on. Along with the sketch challenge, you also must use striped pattern paper and mixed alphas.
For my layout, I used the left-hand side of the sketch and I stuck closely to the sketch. I used a striped pattern paper for my main block behind the photos. Here is what I came up with:
I've had these photos of Ada out on my desk pretty much since the day that I took them in January! I've been trying to keep up with printing my photos so I will have them ready and waiting for me when I am able to sit down and work on my 52 Favorites or my Project Life. I knew I also wanted to use these photos on a traditional layout, so there's a good chance you'll be seeing these photos again in some form or another soon!
There's really no story behind these photos, we were playing Candy Land and she just started acting silly - making faces and talking in funny voices. I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.
I've used Echo Parks - I am Mom - collection for my striped paper. I love the colors and those little hearts scattered about...well, I could have multiple pieces of that paper and not get tired of it! The rest of the papers and stickers are from Close To My Heart with the exception of the "love" sticker and the blue floral sticker, they are from a partial sticker sheet from a past kit from The Scrap Room.
The multiple shades of pink...kind of bother me...but I am trying to not let it! I am trying to embrace it! In person they don't look as far off as they do in the photos.
Here are a couple of close-ups:
Now, head on over to Scrap Our Stash for more design team inspiration. I hope you have some time to play along with our challenge - I would love to see your take on it!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my reveal for The Studio Challenges, please scroll on down.
It's time for a new challenge at Lasting Memories today. Our theme for February is Black +White + one other color and this week that color is Lilac! Create a layout using only these three colors.
Here is my layout - I have created a traveler's notebook spread using the three colors:
I have decided that I am going to make a traveler's notebook of my favorite photos of Ada. Since I am going to just be scrapping these photos whenever I come across them, I am going to make my own traveler's notebook with loose pages so I can rearrange them as needed. I haven't decided if I am going to buy a wood cover for it or make my own out of chipboard. When I decide I will be sure to share it with you.
Here are a couple of close-ups of the embellishments on my spread:
I can't believe that this photo of Ada was taken almost three years ago! She has grown up so much, and changed so much, in these last three years.
I have used all Elle's Studio products on this spread, with the exception of the die cuts that I used for the title, they are from Pretty Little Studio, and the enamel dots are some I have had in my stash and the packaging is long gone!
This is also a reminder that our second challenge for TN Time With Lisa and Lori is still going on! My challenge for February is to create a spread about someone or something that you love and you must include at least one heart - which I have done with this spread about Ada! Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see the sketch for this month. We would love to see you playing along with us! You have until March 9th to join us!
Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I can't wait to see what you create using only black, white, and lilac!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I hope you have a great day!
Hello, hello! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend! We finally saw some sunshine yesterday afternoon and I am hoping to see more of it today!
It's time for a new challenge today at The Studio Challenges and this time it is a sketch challenge! Anna has created a great sketch for us to use this week:
Here is what I came up with using the sketch:
This is one of my favorite photos of Ada from last year. Shawn and Abby had taken her to the McDonald's play place and she had a ball! The look on her face in this photo is priceless - you can tell she is having so much fun!
I stayed true to the sketch, only switching out the heart for a doily. I also added a cluster to the top right corner. Here are a couple of close-ups:
Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see how the rest of the design team interpreted the sketch. I would love to see your take on the sketch, too!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I will be back soon with another project to share with you!
Hello and Happy Wednesday! We have made it halfway through the week and the weekend will be here before we know it!
It's time for the last card sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap today. Lisa has created a fun sketch for us to work with:
Looking back at the last three cards I have made, I have included at least one circle, matted on top of a scalloped circle on each one of them! Most - okay, all but one of them - have foam tape between at least one of the layers, and today's card is no different! It features a circle, matted on top of a scalloped circle, matted on top of a circle, matted on top of a scalloped circle with foam tape in
between.
I have used Echo Park's - Just Be You - 6x6 paper scraps on this card. I just love the colors in this collection - they are nice and bright which is just what I need on this dreary, snowy, icy day!
The sentiment is from Close To My Heart - S1802 Sunny Thoughts.
Here's a look at the layers of my sentiment piece:
Since I used my sentiment as the focal point on my card, I added in a few pink dots both above and below my strips.
This is such a fun sketch and one I am sure I will use again!
Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I can't wait to see what you create using this sketch!
Don't forget - our Queen of Hearts Crop is still going on until the end of the month. Be sure to stop by and check it out! You can find it here.
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
It's time for a new challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week we are using Melissa's favorite sketch of 2018:
I have created a birthday card - switching out the flowers for some party hats!
For this card, I have used papers from Dear Lizzy's - Stay Colorful - 6x6 paper pad. The sentiment is from Close To My Heart (B1419 - Joyful Birthday) and the party hats are from a Sizzix Framelits with Stamps set - Celebrate. I picked a couple of Close To My Heart inks (Emerald and Raspberry) that matched the papers for the sentiment and hats. I also added 3 pink dots to the upper right corner. They weren't called for in the sketch, but I thought my card needed a little something else.
Head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with us. I would love to see your take on this sketch!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. Have a great day!
Hello again! I am back this evening with another card to share with you.
Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has a new sketch posted today and it's a fun one! I will definitely be trying it again soon! Here's a look at the sketch:
Here is what I came up with:
I decided to use a few banner pieces under my sentiment piece and what a sentiment piece it is! I made several layers and added foam tape between each layer...this card is going to require some extra postage!
I used Carta Bella's - Flora No. 2 - 6x6 paper pad for this card. Most of the pieces were scraps, with the exception of the background panel. I fussy cut the sentiment from one of the cut apart sheets.
Be sure to check out Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge on Wednesday to see the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I can't wait to see what you create with this sketch!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog tonight! Have a good night!
Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a good weekend. Ours went way too fast even though it was too cold and icy to get out and do anything!
It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a new challenge at Use Your Stuff! This week we are teaming up with Double Trouble Challenges for another great challenge. This challenge will run from February 18th to March 3rd - so you get an extra week to enter!
Here's a bit about Double Trouble:
Welcome to Double Trouble - We're two retired ladies bringing you a new challenge blog where we hope you find fun and inspiration! We're not affiliated with any companies and welcome all participants. Our challenge will include Thing 1-Trouble Maker the Basic Challenge, Thing 2-Double Dare being a surprise element in which you may or may not decide to participate and Thing 3-Twisted Sister, will appear with an optional twist to the Challenge. Now, on to our challenge. Our challenge this week at Use Your Stuff is - Do You Believe In Magic? We want to see projects that have a magical feel to them - a place that is magical to you, a magical item, a magical being...whatever says magic to you! Since we are teaming up with Double Trouble, I thought I would give their challenges a whirl as well! Here are their challenges for this week:
THING 1: Trouble Maker - says "Let's play TicTacToe - first pick a row, column or diagonal and let us know in your post which you have chosen." If you want to add additional elements the choice is yours.
Be sure to visit Twisted Sister...she has some great ideas for images.
Song: "Do You Believe in Magic?"
THING 3: Twisted Sister says, "Show us a little magic! Don't just stop with pulling a rabbit out of a hat! Ride a unicorn into the sunset, dust off your fairy wings, and shimmer like a mermaid... "
This is an OPTIONAL TWIST but you will be awarded an additional chance in Double Trouble's random prize draw if you include something magical, and you will also be eligible for entry in Double Dare's Dare.
THING 2: Double Dare - says "If you have included a little magic in your project then you are eligible to link your project at Use Your Stuff."
You will receive an additional chance at the Double Trouble Random Draw.
I also used the sketch from Challenge #2 at Sketch N Scrap's Queen of Hearts Crop that is going on now. Along with the sketch, there is an added challenge to use scraps. I knew for the "magical" theme that I wanted to use Simple Stories - Dream Big - collection since it is filled with fairies, unicorns, caticorns, and mermaids. I pulled all of the scraps from that collection to work on my card. Here is a look at the scraps:
Here is the card that I created:
From the Tic Tac Toe board provided by Thing 1, I used the first row down - silver/gold, sentiment, die/punch. I also used Thing 3's suggestion of a fairy - for both that challenge and to satisfy our challenge at Use Your Stuff!
I gave this cute little fairy die cut lots of dimension by popping her up on foam tape and then popping the sentiment up as well. Here's a close-up of the dimension and a better look at the silver scalloped border:
I love the way this card turned out and I can't wait to send it off to someone very special!
Now, head on over to Use Your Stuff to see the magical projects from the rest of the design team. Then, be sure to check out Double Trouble Challenges and join in the fun over there. While you're at it - check out the Sketch N Scrap Queen of Hearts Crop. There are lots of great challenges to play along with there, as well!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend. We got a little sleet and freezing rain on Friday and it is still sticking around today. Our dirt roads are pretty slick!
Today is my day to be up on the Sketches In Thyme blog with my take on Sketch #361. This week's sketch is courtesy of Bev Code:
Here is what I came up with:
When I saw the sketch I fully intended to use a 4x6 photo with a circle element behind it - I just am not that big of a fan of photos cut into circles - but when I decided to scrap this old photo of Matthew, I realized that it would actually look better cut into a circle - all that I was cutting off was a little more of the 90's couch that my Mom and Dad had! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
I used Echo Park's - Bundle of Joy - papers for this layout, along with a couple of 6x6 papers from Bo Bunny's - Little Wonders - collection. The one thing I might have done differently was to move the photo over a little more to the left, but I tried my hand at texture paste and a stencil, and let's just say...the photo needed to be placed where it's at! Not that it was anything major, it just fit in that area better.
I roughed up the edges of my patterned paper and splattered the background with some navy paint splatters. I die cut lots of stars from several different papers and added them around the side of the photo and a few places around the layout. I also added in a few wood veneer stars.
Here are a couple of close-ups:
I have had this photo of Matthew when he was about 7 weeks old on my desk to be scrapped and I am happy to finally have it on a layout! That is one of my resolutions this year - to get my older photos scrapped. I need to go back and see just how many I have scrapped since the first of the year. Maybe I'll do an update post at the end of the month about it.
Head on over to Sketches In Thyme for more design team inspiration every day of the week! I would love to see your take on the sketch, too.
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
Hello, everyone! Happy Friday to you! I hope that you have had a good week and are all ready for the weekend. I know I am! We have snow/sleet/freezing rain in the forecast for today...the last few winter weather forecasts have not been right so we will see what we get today...regardless of if we see any snow or not, it looks like it's going to be a good day to stay inside and get creative!
It's time for a new challenge at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog today! Challenge #74 is to use 3 or more layers on your projects. Here is what I came up with:
We have had a run of gloomy days around here. We've had so much rain that everything is just a muddy, yucky mess, so I wanted to make a bright - springy card to help brighten my own spirits!
I used #F 74 Spring Bird (Free) - he is my own little version of the bluebird of happiness and hopefully, he will brighten the day for the recipient!
I colored this cute little guy with colored pencils and then used a circle die to cut him out. I matted him on a nice bright yellow scalloped circle and popped him up with some foam tape. I went through my paper scraps and pulled out a few spring colors to make my banner pieces. Actually, all of the papers on this card were from my scrap box and it was great to get a couple more scraps out of the box and used up!
Head on over to Scribbles Designs to see the projects from the rest of the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with our 3 or more layers challenge! We also had an announcement yesterday about our birthday celebration being extended, so be sure to read all the details about that!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
It's time for a new sketch challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches! This week we are using my favorite sketch from 2018! It was hard to pick just one favorite, but here is the one that I chose:
I decided to make one more Valentine's Day cards with this fun sketch:
I just think that little owl is the cutest! He is from an older Close To My Heart stamp set - Whoo's Your Valentine. I also stamped the background piece that he is on from the same stamp set. I decided to add a few more hearts and a white outline around the background panel because all of the empty space on that plain black background was just too plain for me.
Be sure to stop by Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I would love to see your take on my favorite sketch from 2018, too!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! Are you ready for the new week? I don't know if I am, but it's here regardless!
Today is my day to share my take on the Saturday Morning Cartoons challenge at Scrap Our Stash. For February, the Saturday morning cartoon image we are to get inspiration from is Popeye and you must use heart patterned paper and/or 3 or more hearts and be inspired by the sketch:
Here is what I came up with:
Since Popeye has his main squeeze - Olive Oyl - in the image, I started with a photo of me and my main squeeze! I also tried to stick to the same colors by using grey, pink, and green - even though my green is more mint than in the image. The grey background paper is an older paper - I think from Echo Park - and the rest of the patterned papers are from Close To My Heart's - I Heart Us - paper pack. It's hard to tell because they are so tiny, but the white and black paper actually has hearts all over it.
All of the chipboard stickers are also from the I Heart Us collection and they are just so cute! I just love that typewriter! I found a pink doily and some pink sequins in my stash that matched and added those as well. Since I didn't use the big heart element from the sketch, I felt like I needed a little something more above the photo. I also moved the banners to the other side to help balance everything out.
Here are a couple of close-ups:
Head on over to Scrap Our Stash for more inspiration from the design team. I would love to see your take on the sketch, so I hope to see you playing along with us!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!
Hello again! I am back with my second project of the day. If you are looking for my reveal for The Studio Challenge, please scroll down.
It's time for our February TN TIme with Lisa & Lori challenges! Here's how it works - Lisa will be providing a TN sketch on her blog for us to work with this month. Use the sketch to create a TN, planner, or bullet journal spread. I will be providing a random challenge here on my blog for you to use in TN, planner, or bullet journal spread.
You can complete the challenges together or separately - it's your choice. If you complete my random challenge - link up below in this post. If you combine my challenge with Lisa's Sketch Challenge - link up your layout both here on my blog and on Lisa's blog. If you just complete the sketch challenge, then just link up on Lisa's blog. You will have a chance to win a prize from me and a prize from Lisa.
Here's a look at my challenge for February:
Since February is the month of love, I challenge you to scrap about someone OR something that you love and you must include at least one heart on your spread!
Here is the sketch that Lisa has created for us to use:
And here is my TN spread:
I am really loving the 52 Favorites challenge! I must admit that I find it hard to narrow my photos down to just one favorite a week, but that is keeping me motivated to get the other photos scrapped. Whether that is in my Project Life album, a traditional scrapbook layout, or another TN spread. And I can't believe how much I am enjoying the TN size! Sometimes it takes me a while to decide if I like something new - like this new size - but I have really liked scrapping in my TN!
Now about my spread - you had to know since my challenge was to scrap about someone or something that you love that my spread would more than likely include Miss Ada. Although, I did have a pretty fun picture of me and Shane...see why it's so hard for me to narrow it down to just one photo!! This is Week 3 in my 52 Favorites TN. Ada has been slightly obsessed with the Disney Doorables since her Aunt Amy got her some for Christmas. If you have no idea what these are - they are like little grab bags that you have no idea what you are getting until you open it. The ones that Ada have been getting have 5, 6, or 7 little boxes that look like doors that you open to reveal the grab bag.
Ada is also slightly obsessed with Tangled right now and the characters from Tangled are some of the ones that can be found in the Disney Doorables. Once again, Aunt Amy brought Ada over some more Doorables. Ada had already gotten Flynn and Rapunzel and she was really wanting the horse, Maximus. As luck would have it, she opened one of the bags and got Maximus! She was one happy girl! He is a pretty cute little guy!
For my spread, I used some scraps from Pink Paislee's - Hello Sunshine - collection. I always check my scraps first to see if I can get some used up on my spreads. The colors in this collection were just what I was looking for - and I was able to get a few out of my scrap pile!
I took a cue from the name of the toy for my title - I mean how a-doorable is that photo of Ada, and Maximus, too!
I used some stamps from Elle's Studio and Gossamer Blue on my spread. Stamps can be the perfect filler or embellishments for these spreads. I also used some puffy alphas from Pinkfresh and a few puffy hearts from Feed Your Craft.
Here are a couple of close-ups:
I would love it if you played along with our challenge this month. The deadline to enter your TN, planner, or bullet journal spreads is March 9th at midnight, so you have all month to play along. You can find all of the rules at the top of my blog under the tab - TN Challenge Rules. Remember, you must be a follower of my blog to have a chance at winning my prize.
Speaking of a prize...here is what you will be playing for this month from me:
These little die cuts from Pretty Little Studio are the perfect size for TN's!
Since last month was our very first challenge, we have decided to go ahead and have a drawing even though we only had 2 participants - the rules are we need to have 3 participants to give away the prize. This will be the only time we give away the prize with only 2 participants.
The winner of my challenge is:
Becca
Congrats, Becca! Send me an email at loristroup@yahoo.com with your address and I will get your prize out to you asap!
Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see her take on the challenge.
Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend!
I am so excited to be sharing my first layout as a member of the design team for The Studio Challenges with you today! Our challenge this week is a scraplift challenge. We are to scraplift a design team member's layout that they have made for one of the past challenges on The Studio Challenges blog.
I chose this layout that Lisa-Marie created for the October 23, 2018 challenge:
I really love Lisa-Marie's style - all of the layers that she puts behind her photos, not necessarily having a big title on her layouts, and they always have such a fun feel to them, so I couldn't wait to give it a try.
Here is what I came up with:
Lisa-Marie's layout has a stenciled background...I love the look of this, but me and mixed media just do not go together too well! I did, however, do the "smooshing" technique on my background paper and then started building my layers to go behind my photo.
I even took inspiration from the colors that Lisa-Marie used - they are my favorites to work with! I used Elle's Studio 6x6 papers from various collections for my layers. I then started adding circles and die cuts between those layers - which I really had never thought of doing before this scraplift!
Here is a close-up of all of the layers with the goodies tucked in here and there:
This is one of my favorite photos of Ada this year. I had told her that it had been a while since I had taken a picture of her and she just looked too cute when I snapped this picture! No story behind it, just a super cute photo of my cute girly!
Head on over to The Studio Challenges to see the scraplifts from the rest of the design team. I hope to see you playing along with us. There are a lot of great layouts to scraplift!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I will be back soon with another project to share with you!
