Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #318

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend. It was a nice long weekend for us and now I feel like I am a little behind. It's hard to keep the days straight when everyone is at home and you don't have a schedule to stick to for a few days!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has a new sketch posted this week. Here's a look at the sketch that Michelle has created for us:

I am still working on using up my May Counterfeit Kit (you can read all about it here) and I had these two scraps that I thought paired up nicely for this sketch.

I stamped a few flowers from the Prickly Pear (Z3338) stamp set from Close To My Heart and die cut them out to add to my card. This is a stamp set that I really hadn't planned on getting when it came out but I picked it up when it was on clearance. I want to say I got the stamp set and the dies both for under $10 and I have used this stamp set more than a lot of the others that I have!  

The sentiment is also from Close To My Heart (M1185) and I have definitely gotten my $2.95 out of it! I cut my sentiment into a rectangle instead of the oval that is shown on the sketch. I need to seriously think about getting a few more oval dies so I have a better variety to choose from!

I added in a few gems around my card for a little sparkle and to finish it off. They are a little hard to see in the photo but they are there!

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge tomorrow for the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I hope you find some time to play along with us this week!

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

Life Is Better...Scrap Our Stash May Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge

Hello and Happy Saturday! We have made it to the weekend and it's a holiday weekend at that! 

Today is my day to share my take on the Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge at Scrap Our Stash. Along with the sketch, we have an additional challenge to add a tag to our layout.

I chose the left-hand side of the sketch for my layout:

I've used Simple Stories - Sunshine and Blue Skies - collection for my layout of Shane playing on the slip n slide way back in 2005. The colors in this collection are perfect for these fun photos.

I do have a tag on my layout - tucked behind the left photo and sun.

I have a few more photos from this day so I may go ahead and use the right-hand side of the sketch for those.

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash for more design team inspiration. I would love to see your take on the challenge, too!

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

Tuesday Morning Sketches #504

Good Tuesday morning! Are you ready for a new sketch challenge from Tuesday Morning Sketches? We have a fun one for you today - created by Melissa:

Here is the card that I created:

I've had this chipboard frame on my desk for a while just begging to be used and this sketch was perfect for it. I did have to separate some of the layers of chipboard so it wasn't so bulky. I found the 2x2 square featuring that cute phone and thought it paired nicely with the frame. 

I loved the scalloped piece at the bottom of the sketch and I added a piece of washi tape on top of it. I finished off my card with a few puffy mint green hearts. 

This card came together so quickly and I can't wait to brighten someone's day with it.

Head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you have some time to play along with us this week.

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

Use Your Stuff #359 - For the Moms

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! Are you ready for the new week? This is my daughter's last few days of work before summer break, which means I only have a few more days of having Miss Ada with me. She will be a big school girl in the fall...

Use Your Stuff has a new challenge this week and it is all about the Moms! Show us those projects all about Mom, for Mom, etc.

Abby had Shawn take a picture of her and Ada on Mother's Day for me and sent it to me. They were both all decked out in lilac and looking pretty!

I pulled out my Elle's Studio goodies since they have quite a few purples in their papers, and went to work. I kept with the purples and greys for my layout. I also used a few purple and grey acetate hearts. The purple heart by the photo was a little hard to see so I backed it with one of the patterned papers to help it stand out a bit more. I don't use a lot of purple enamel dots so I went a little crazy with them on this layout.

I've based my layout off of an older Sketch N Scrap sketch (#166).

Be sure to stop by Use Your Stuff to see the "Mom" projects from the rest of the design team. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

LM #447 - Stamp Your Stash - Sentiment Stamps

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 down. 

It's time for a new challenge at Lasting Memories! Our theme for May has been "Stamp Your Stash" and we have been using stamps on our layouts all month long. This week's challenge is to use those sentiment stamps. 

When I saw this challenge I knew I would be using a birthday set to create my layout. Here's a look at my traveler's notebook spread that I created:

Here is the stamp set that I used - Close To My Heart's - Birthday Time (S1803). I used a few of the stamps in this set for my embellishments, too. 

These are photos of Ada's birthday last year and this spread will go into my 2018 52 Favorites traveler's notebook.

I had an extra photo and I want to do some journaling about the day, so I created a hidden element (perfect for my TN Time With Lisa & Lori May Challenge going on now!) by creating a fold-out flap:

This was one of those days that we had looked forward to, but when you have a child with autism, sometimes special days can be hard! We had told Shane that we were going to Ada's birthday party that day, but we changed things at the last minute by going to pick Matthew up for the party - something we did not prepare - or warn - Shane that we would be doing. He wound up having a major meltdown, Matthew didn't even come home with us, and we got to stay at Ada's party maybe 10 minutes before we had to leave because he was headed for another meltdown - and those are never fun, but even worse when you are in a house full of people.

Luckily, my sister was there and took lots of photos for me so at least I didn't miss out on those. 

I don't want to dwell too much on that aspect of Ada's special day, but I do want to let her know that we were there in spirit.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories to see the beautiful layouts from the design team. I hope you have a chance to pull out those stamps and play along with us!

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

The Studio Challenges - Color of the Year - Coral

Hello, hello! Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a good weekend!

The Studio Challenges has a new challenge up today.  This week our challenge is to use the Pantone Color of the Year - coral - on our layouts. Here is what I came up with:

I love the color coral but don't have a lot of it in my supplies. I did find this sheet from the Simple Stories - Reset Girl - collection and knew it would be just right for this challenge. The other side of this paper has beautiful flowers all over it so I fussy cut several of those for my embellishments. I also added a few coral gems and puffy hearts, along with a few wood veneer hearts. 

I based this layout on a Sketch N Scrap sketch from 2014 - Sketch #50.

Here are a few close-ups:

These photos of Abby and Ada were taken right before we went to my niece's baby shower. I can't believe that has been 5 years ago! Ada looked so cute in her coral and white polka dot pants with that cute little bow on her head!

Head on over to The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful coral layouts from the rest of the design team. 

I would love to see your take on the sketch, too! I hope you find some time to play along with us.

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

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Challenge #2 - Dream On

Hello, everyone! Good Saturday morning to you! I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. It's looking like it may be a little on the rainy side around here today...I guess we will see.

It's time for the second challenge of the month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge.
Here's a reminder of the inspiration kit for May:

And here's a reminder of my kit:

Challenge #2 is "Dream On" and Leslie provided us the following image and quote for inspiration:

Dreams are the seeds of change.

Nothing ever grows without a seed,

and nothing ever changes without a dream. - Debby Boone

When I saw the image I knew immediately which photos I wanted to use. I have had these photos of Ada - picking dandelions and making wishes - for two years now, and have been waiting to find the perfect time to scrap them. When I saw the above photo it gave me the push I needed to get it done.

Here is what I came up with:

This dandelion stamp set was the one that had gone missing when I made my kit and luckily I uncovered it when I cleaned my scrap room! It was perfect for these photos. Here's an up-close look at the stamping:

Abby had posted these photos of Ada on Facebook with the caption "Picking dandelions and making wishes"...it just doesn't get any better than that! Ada has always thought that dandelions are a pretty flower and she loves when they start popping up each spring. In fact, I got a few more photos of her this spring making those dandelion wishes!

Here's another close-up:

One of the main reasons that I think I haven't scrapped these photos before was because I couldn't find the "perfect" papers to scrap them with. That's the great thing about working from a kit - you work with you have in the kit and that eliminates a lot of indecision!

 Since Ada thinks dandelions are beautiful flowers, I thought this floral paper from my kit was perfect to pair up with the dandelion stamp. Everything on my layout came from my kit. I did have to stamp a red label because all of the blue labels I added to my kit were the wrong color of blue. That always helps speed up my process - when I have everything right there together.

Be sure to check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see how the rest of the design team was inspired by photo/quote. 

We would love to see your kits and your projects that you make with your kits - so be sure to share with us over on the blog.

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

Sketches In Thyme #373

Hello, hello! Happy Friday to you! I hope you have had a good week and are ready for the weekend. We have had so much going on the last couple of weeks and I hope we can have a nice quiet weekend at home!

Today is my day to be featured over on the Sketches In Thyme blog with my take on this week's sketch. Sketch #373 is courtesy of Brenshevia and I can see myself using it again.

Here's the sketch:

I finally dug into my new Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Happiness - collection. I feel in love with this collection the first time I saw it and had to get it. It was so hard to cut into that pretty paper but I am so glad that I did! The colors in the paper are perfect for this photo of me and Ada from last November.

It's been a while since I used twine on a layout and when I saw the bow element on the sketch I pulled out some navy twine and added it to my layout.

Here's a close-up of the embellishments:

Head on over to Sketches In Thyme for more inspiration every single day of the week! I would love to see what you create with the sketch!

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

Sketch N Scrap #177

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! We have made it to the middle of the week and are headed fast for the weekend!

It's the middle of the month and that means we have a great new sketch for you at Sketch N Scrap. Heather has created a fun 2-photo sketch for us:

I was going through some older photos this past weekend and came across these photos of Ada at 9 months and thought it was about time to get them scrapped!

Every month since she was born, we made sure to have a little photo shoot. I do believe that besides her 1-year photos that I have scrapped all of the other months - I'll have to double check. I think I was putting off scrapping these because the photos I took specifically for her 9 months photos were not that great! If memory serves me right she was teething and not feeling so great in the afternoon. I had snapped these photos of her earlier that morning when she was playing and looking so sweet, so I decided to use them instead!

I left my journaling for now - until I can get with Abby to get all of the specifics. I know her weight, height, she was starting to pull up to things, had 2 bottom teeth, etc. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything before I put it on there. 

For my layout, I have used Close To My Heart's - Gimme Some Sugar - papers. The pink in the patterned papers is so pale that it was hard to get a photo that showed the true colors. One of the papers has these cute white flowers all over it, so I mimicked that with some die cut flowers for my layout. I inked the edges to help them stand out a little more from the background, and I punched a few black dots for the centers. I love the way they turned out!

I don't do this very often, but I used the date for my title. I could have easily used "9 Months" for my title, but I picked up these number stamps from Illustrated Faith from Tuesday Morning a while back and was looking for an excuse to use them! I just wish they had the alphabet stamps in the same font!

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

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #316

Hello, everyone! I am coming to you with a "late" night post! That's something that doesn't happen too often, but the busyness of May has put me behind on a few things!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has a new sketch posted this week and I would love to see your take on it, too! I have a feeling I will be using this one again.

For my card, I have used papers from my May Counterfeit Kit Challenge Kit. You can read all about it here. That cute flowered paper is actually the other side of the red paper with the pink scallops in my kit.

I must admit that when I made my card I didn't have the sketch directly in front of me - I was going more by memory - which explains why I didn't actually use the cute banner piece for my sentiment. I think it looks just as good without the banner piece on there, too, but I will be making another card with the banner piece soon.

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge to see the full design team reveal tomorrow and last week's Top 3! I can't wait to see what you create with the sketch!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a good night! 

Tuesday Morning Sketches #503

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope that your week is off to a good start. I'm so excited to have my oldest son coming home from college this week. He will be moving to his own apartment with his friends in a few weeks so I am going to enjoy the next few weeks to the fullest!

We have a new sketch for you today at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week's sketch is courtesy of Andrea:

This is what I came up with:

I recently got the Joyeux Noel (B1623) stamp set from Close To My Heart for just $3.75 and these cute little trees were part of that set. I couldn't wait to ink them up! I stamped the two bigger trees directly on the scalloped circle and the small tree I stamped and cut it out and added foam tape to the back of it. 

I found the tree washi tape in my stash and thought the red background was a nice contrast.

Head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

Be Brave - Scrap Our Stash Saturday Cartoon Sketch Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday! It's supposed to be another rainy day - I am so tired of the rain - but at least it's the weekend and I get to spend the day with my two favorite girls today!

I am up on the Scrap Our Stash blog today with my take on the May Saturday Cartoon Sketch Challenge. Along with the sketch we are to include a rainbow or rainbow colors on our layout.

This is what I came up with:

I used a rainbow-striped paper and I even added a rainbow chipboard sticker on my layout. The papers are some of my favorite from Close To My Heart. I had to be sure and order an extra paper pack before they were all gone so I would have it, I liked it so much!

I stuck with the sketch - opting for a full circle instead of the outline and since I added a fishtail banner to the top left side, I left off the cluster on that side of the circle. 

Here is a close-up:

The story behind this layout - Ada was getting ready to go to the doctor to get her shots for school. She wasn't too nervous, but I made her a "Be Brave" card for the occasion anyway! Abby said that when she gave it to her before they left and read to her what it said, that Ada had to give it a little hug. It must have worked because Abby said she was a very brave girl through it all - and I'm sure the money inside the card for a little treat afterward helped, too!

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash any day of the week for more design team inspiration! I would love to see your take on the challenge, too!

TN Time With Lisa & Lori May Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Friday to you! I am so glad that we have made it to the weekend. I don't know why but this has seemed like a long week!

It's time for the May Challenge at TN Time With Lisa and Lori! Here's how it works - Lisa will be providing a TN sketch on her blog for us to work with. I will be providing a random challenge here on my blog for you to use in your 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. You can read all of the rules here.

Here is my challenge for May:
(Challenge open May 10th - June 9th at midnight)

My challenge for May is to include a hidden element on your spread. This can be hidden journaling, extra photos, in a pocket of tucked behind the photo - it's all up to you!

Here is the sketch that Lisa has created for us:

Here is my TN spread based on the sketch and my challenge:

I've skipped around in my current 52 Favorites so I have decided to go back and fill in a few of the missing weeks. This is my spread for Week 5 - back when we were getting Ada the "Disney Doorables" every single time that we went to town. We were down to her needing just a couple to complete the set and she was really wanting to get Hei Hei from Moana before they were all gone. 

For my spread, I have used my May Counterfeit Kit - which you can read about here. That floral fabric tape that goes across the center of my spread has been in my stash for several years. I believe I got it in a RAK. I had put it in my Counterfeit Kit to try and use this month and I am so glad that it worked with my spread! I had just enough for it.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I did quite a bit of stamping using stamps from Close To My Heart and Elle's Studio for this challenge. The hearts are from Close To My Heart - S1903 - This Happened - and the label is from Elle's Studio - The Details- stamp set.

I stamped my title using a mix of Elle's Studio - Title Builder Alphabet Stamp Set and Close To My Hearts - D1729 - Colorblock alpha. This alphabet stamp set is seriously one of my all-time favorites. I don't know why I don't use it more often!

For my hidden element, I created a pocket for my journaling to go into. I need to figure out what all I want to say and will add it to the card. I also have one of the little checklist papers from the Disney Doorables and I think I will see about slipping it into the pocket, as well. I think it would be fun for Ada to look at down the road when she has forgotten all about the Disney Doorables!

Now for my April winner. I used random.org and my winner is:

#1 - Anna!

Congrats, Anna! Email me at loristroup@yahoo.com with your address and I will get your prize out to you!

Here is May's prize:

I would love it if you played along with my challenge! Just link up your project below by June 9th at midnight! Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see her take on the challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping! Have a wonderful day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Tuesday Morning Sketches #502

Good Tuesday morning! I hope that your week is off to a good start. 

It is time for a new sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches. Debbie has created a great sketch for us to work with this week:

I've been trying to work through my scraps box to get some of them used up and when I came across the grey/green/white dot paper, I thought I would go with a bit of a masculine feel for my card. 

I stamped the party hats on a scrap of green paper and die cut them for the trio of embellishments shown on the sketch. I added the sentiment in place of the twine. This card came together so quickly!

Head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the design team. I hope you find some time to create with us this week!

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

Use Your Stuff #357- Tags Or Frames

Hello, hello! Good Monday morning to you! It is the start of a brand new week - are you ready for it? 

We have a new challenge posted at Use Your Stuff today. This week we are challenging you to use tags or frames on your projects. I have used two tags on a birthday card:

I found a few scraps of pink paper in my scrap box and decided to create a girly birthday card. I embossed a piece of white cardstock with my swiss dot embossing folder and added some pink splatters with my Heidi Swapp color shine. I die cut the tags and stamped a balloon on each one. I added the sentiment to the banner piece in front. 

I am also entering this card into Cathy's challenge at Sketch N Scrap's 7th Birthday Bingo Bash. Head on over and check out all the challenges going on this month. You can find it here.

Head on over to Use Your Stuff to see the wonderful projects from the design team using tags or frames. We would love it if you played along with us!

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #145

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you enjoyed National Scrapbooking Day yesterday, and maybe you are lucky to be scrapping again today! I know I hope to get a few things done. 

It's time for the first card sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap. Heather has created a great sketch to get us started:

You know I can't resist a sketch with banners! Here is what I came up with:

I've used Carta Bella's - Flower Market - 6x6 paper pad for my card. I am in love with the pretty florals in this collection. The sentiment is from a new-to-me stamp set - Kelly Creates - Bouncy Celebration. I can tell already that I am going to get a lot of use out of this stamp set. 

Don't forget about Sketch N Scrap's Birthday Bash Bingo going on all month long over on Facebook. You should come and join the fun! You can find the closed group here.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. We can't wait to see what you create with the sketch!

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