Sunday, June 30, 2019

His Name is Snugglefest - The Studio Challenges

Hello, everyone! I hope you're having a good weekend. I think summer has finally arrived! We have had a stretch of 90 degree days and lots of pool time!

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today! This week we are challenging you with one of my favorite challenges - Tic Tac Toe! Choose a row from the board below and use those items on your layout. Here's the board:


And my layout:


I used the top row across - mini alphas, blue, and enamel dots. I also used polka dots, striped patterned paper, 3 photos, and a few of the hearts are fussy cut, too.

I used a lot of scraps from a couple of different Bella Blvd collections. I kind of wish I would have laid the strips out in a different order - I'm not too crazy with the pink letters on the green dot paper...I may have to go back and change it out - but then again, the layout is done!

I used a free sketch from Alison Davis' Sketch Week 2 from Scrapbook Generation which you can find here. I love this sketch and can see myself using it again and again.

Here are a couple of close-ups:


I busted out a little piece of ribbon and my roller phrase stamps for this layout. I loved die cutting the majority of the hearts and layering them down the side.






I even tore the edges of the bottom of the photo mats - although that's hard to see here!

I do still need to add some journaling - which will probably go in the space on the right side of the layout by the photos. A little bit about the photos - Abby and Shawn took Ada to a festival in their town last summer. Ada found this cute little crocheted puppy and fell in love! When Ada was asked what its name was she said - his name is Snugglefest - yeah, she went through a spell there where her names were a little...different!

Head on over to The Studio Challenges to see the wonderful layouts from the rest of the design team. We hope you have a chance to play along!

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

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Goggles Girl - Scrap Our Stash June Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge

Hello, hello!  Good Tuesday morning to you! I think summer has finally arrived here in the middle of the US and it looks like we are finally going to be able to get into the pool this week. Between all of the rain and the cooler weather we've been having...well, I'm ready for some summer!

Today is my day to be featured over on the Scrap Our Stash blog with my take on the June Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge. Here's a look at the sketch that we are to use one side or the other of:


Along with the sketch challenge, there is an additional challenge to use polka dot patterned paper and numbers on our layout. Here is what I came up with:


I chose the left-hand side of the sketch for my layout. I used pink polka dot patterned paper and for my numbers, I added the year to the bottom cluster. The polka dotted paper I found in my scraps box and all the other papers are scraps from the "Little Princess" collection from Simple Stories. 

I loved the look of the title within the journaling so I made sure to work it around to where my title was actually part of my journaling. I had a bit of an accident with my paint splatters, but it was an easy fix, I just cut another piece of white cardstock to fit in the space where my journaling and title was to go and then added it all on top of the piece of cardstock. At first glance, you don't even notice it - you have to be looking really closely to see that there is an extra piece of cardstock there.

Here are a couple of close-ups:



Instead of outlining my layout with a pen, like I tend to do, I used the same navy paint that I used for my splatters to go around the edges of my cardstock.

Be sure to stop by the Scrap Our Stash blog for more inspiration from 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!

Monday, June 24, 2019

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #322

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend and are ready for this new week. We are having a beautiful day today before the heat kicks in tomorrow. Any day that I can go with the windows open in the house is a day that I enjoy! I love to hear the breeze blowing and the birds chirping.

It's time for a new sketch challenge over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge today and I am sharing the card that I created with the sketch. I decided to make a Christmas card again this week - that will be 2 Christmas cards made this month!

Here's a look at the sketch:


The strips on the sketch is a perfect way to use up some scraps and that is just what I did! I pulled out what's left of my Doodlebug Designs - Here Comes Santa Claus - 6x6 paper pads and created this card:


I'm slowly working on using up all that I have left of these paper pads. I just need to sit down one afternoon and make cards with what scraps I have left and be done with it! Hopefully, I will like Doodlebug's Christmas collection this year so I can buy some new!

I'm not usually a fan of cutting my paper into strips to add to my cards - mostly because I am challenged at cutting them straight and then putting them on the card front straight - but with a little help from my craft knife, I was able to get these fairly straight/even.

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge to see the sketch and Wednesday will be the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I would love to see your take on the sketch, too!

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

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Sweet Moment - The Studio Challenge - Bows and Tassels

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you. I hope you are having a good weekend. 

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges. This week our challenge is - Bows and Tassels. We want to see some bows and tassels on your layouts. These can be ribbon, fabric or paper bows, tassels, and fringing, etc. And you get extra points if you make them yourself!

I have used a tassel bow with a gold glitter paper bow layered on top!


The title of my layout is "Sweet Moment" and this photo is from one of the many sweet moments that Ada and I have shared. I am going to miss our daily conversations on the couch and getting her 5-year-old perspective! She never ceases to amaze with all that she knows.

I put together a "mini" kit this month to play along with the Mini Kit Monday gang - you can find their Facebook group here - this layout was created using some of the goodies that I included in my mini kit.

I based my layout off of this sketch from December 2017 from Let's Get Sketchy:



Here is a close up of my bows:


Be sure to check out The Studio Challenges to see the wonderful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

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

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Good Little Groomer - Sketch N Scrap #179

Hello, hello! Good Saturday morning to you! We have made it to the weekend. It's looking like it might be a rainy one which means lots of scrappy time for me!

It is already the midway point of the month and that means we have a new sketch for you today at Sketch N Scrap. Heather has created a great 3-photo sketch but it can easily be adapted to fit your needs. Here's a look at the sketch:


Here is the layout that I created using the sketch:


These pictures are of Ada back in March. She had helped me give Willie a bath and then she decided she needed to groom him, so she got her doctor's bag and a doll comb and went to work. Willie was good to lay still and let her work her magic!

I've used the Simple Stories  "Oh Happy Day"  collection and the purple background is from the "Little Princess" collection. 

I added in a couple of more embellishment clusters to my layout than what was shown on the sketch. I will add my journaling either under the title area or maybe add a tag for some hidden journaling.

Here are a few close-ups:




The purple letters actually match better in real life - editing does not show their true color!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I would love to see your take on the sketch, as well. I hope you find some time to play along with us this month!

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

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

You Make Me Smile - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Challenge #1

Hello and Happy Wednesday! 

It's time for the first challenge of the month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. Here is a reminder of the inspiration kit that I chose for June:


Since June is my birthday month - in fact, today is my birthday - we are going to be using some of my favorite things on our projects. For the first challenge, I want to see scallops on your projects.

Here is what I came up with:


I have been going through older photos of my kids with good intentions of getting them organized, but I keep getting sidetracked with photos I want to scrap. So instead of putting them in a pile on my desk, to surely be forgotten again, I have decided to try to scrap them immediately. This is one of those photos. I know this picture was taken on one of Abby's birthdays - I just need to do a little more digging to find which one! 

I've used some of my favorite papers from my kit for this layout and that little 4x6 plastic box full of goodies that I included...it has been so much fun going through it and finding all sorts of things to add to my projects!

I've added two rows of scalloped borders to my layout. I kind of wish I had reversed them and put the darker pink on the bottom, but it's too late now! I even made a few more foam backed hearts to match. These little guys are my favorite embellishment to make right now!

Here are a couple of close-ups:


I will add my journaling onto the lined banner piece once I know for sure which birthday this is.


These chipboard frames have been floating around in my supplies for ages, so it was so nice to get them on a layout!

Now, head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see the projects from the rest of the design team. Be sure to follow the link to our guest designers Youtube channel to see her project, too!

I would love to see your kit and your creations that you make using it, so be sure to link up over the blog!

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

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #320

Hello, everyone! I am back with another quick post today. 

This time I am sharing my card using this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Here's a look at the sketch:



I thought it was about time to create a Christmas card. I keep meaning to make more than one a month but I've not done a very good job at it! It's still early in the month so maybe I'll get another one - or two - made!

For my card, I have used Close To My Heart's - C1746 - Oh What Fun - stamp set. I picked this set up when it was on sale - in fact, I think it came in a set of two when Close To My Heart was getting ready to retire them. I think this Santa is so cute! The papers were all from my scrap box. 

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge tomorrow to see the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I know that the summertime can be busy but I hope you find some time to play along this week.

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

Scrap Our Stash Saturday Cartoon Inspired Sketch Challenge

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

Today is my day to share my layout for the Scrap Our Stash Saturday Cartoon Inspired Sketch Challenge. The cartoon for June is Spongebob - one that I know well! All of my kids watched Spongebob when they were growing up. 

Along with the cartoon inspiration and sketch we have an added challenge to use yellow and square embellishments on our layout.

Here's the June graphic:




I have created another slip n slide layout - this time featuring my oldest son. I'm pretty sure this was the first slip n slide that we got and it was probably 2004...I really wish I had done better about writing the dates on the back of my photos!

The yellow sun paper is from Simple Stories - Hello Summer - collection. I gutted the paper so I could use it both as a frame for my layout and for the main paper panel. All of the rest of the papers came out of my scraps bin.

I used the square stickers from the Simple Stories - Sunshine and Blue Skies - collection for my square embellishments. They were more rectangular shaped so I just trimmed a little off of the top and bottom to make them more square. I also added in a few phrase stickers and enamel dots to finish it off. 

Here are a few close-ups:




The journaling says - It took a couple of tries at the slip n slide for Matthew to get the hang of it, but once he did he thought it was a lot of fun and pretty awesome! He just kept going, and going, and going!

I have really been enjoying going through older photos of the kids and getting them scrapped. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them as "littles" for a while as I have quite a few left to scrap.

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash for more design team inspiration. I hope you have some time to play along with us this month!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I'll be back later with another project to share with you!

Monday, June 10, 2019

TN Time With Lisa & Lori June Edition

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to my blog - I am so happy that you are here today! It's time for the TN Time With Lisa & Lori June Challenge - are your ready?


HERE IS HOW OUR CHALLENGE WORKS: This is a monthly challenge that launches on the 10th of each month  You will have until the 9th at midnight CDT to link up your entries. If you complete my challenge link your spread below. If you complete Lisa's sketch challenge link your spread on her blog - My Creative Endeavors. If you combine my challenge with Lisa's challenge link up your spread here on my blog AND on Lisa's blog. You will then have a chance to win my prize as well as Lisa's prize!  That's a chance to win TWO times with ONE layout!!

You can always find the rules to our challenge under the TN Challenge Rules tab at the top of the page.

Now, let's get started - here is my challenge for June:
(Challenge open June 10th - July 9th at midnight)

Create a TN, Bullet Journal, or Planner spread and include items on your spread for each letter in the word "HOT". Need some ideas? Think not only of certain types of items but themes and manufacturers names, as well:

H - hearts, hexagons, Heidi Swapp, home, Halloween, etc.
O - orange, oval, owl, overlay, outdoors (as in photos taken outdoors), etc.
T - tag, tab, Thickers, travel photos, photos of teens, etc.

Be sure to tell me what the items are that you used!

Here is the sketch that Lisa has created for us:


Here is my TN spread based on the sketch and my challenge - I used hearts, outdoor photo, and a tab:


I am back to working in my 52 Favorites TN. It is getting so fat that it is almost impossible to take a good photo with the pages actually in it. I will definitely be keeping that in mind when I start my next TN! I will with either use more of the pages in the notebook and be more careful about what can be seen through the papers to the other side - or maybe skip a page now and then to help keep it from getting so bulky!

This layout is my Week13 favorite. I had a lot of favorites from this week and it's always hard to choose just one, but I do know that those other favorite photos will go in my Project Life album and a few may get their own traditional layout. This photo is of Ada showing off her new jelly shoes. She couldn't wait to pull them out of her bag and put them on and model them for me!

Here are a couple of close-ups:


Everything for my spread came from my June Counterfeit Kit. You can read all about my kit here and you can see how I made the foam backed hearts on my layout in this post here

I felt like my journaling strips got a little lost on the background, so I outlined each strip with my black marker and I liked it so much better!



How about a winner for May? I had 3 beautiful entries and I loved seeing every one of them! My winner is:



Congrats, Sandi! You are the winner of the alphabet stickers and die cut pack! I still have your address and will get your goodies mailed out later this week!

June's prize has not arrived yet, but I can tell you that it is some goodies from Freckled Fawn! I will get a photo added when they arrive later this week!

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

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



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #147

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a good week. Today is the day that my oldest son is leaving the nest and moving into his first apartment. He and his college roommates decided to get an apartment together and today is the day. They have known each other since kindergarten so I am pretty sure they won't have any trouble getting along! I am so excited for him - and for all of them - on this new chapter of their lives. 

It's time for the first card sketch at Sketch  N Scrap today and Heather has created a great one for us to work with.



I stayed true to the sketch only changing the sentiment to the focal point and then adding a couple of banners in place of the sentiment on the sketch.

I pulled out an old My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad - Now & Then 'Mildred'. I have a few of these paper pads that are about half used that I need to get out work through. It wouldn't take much to get them all used.

The sentiment is from an older Close To My Heart stamp set - Joyful Birthday (B1419). 

One of the things that bug me with collections like this one is that the background of some of the papers is not a true white or a true cream and when you try to match it up, well, it generally sticks out like a sore thumb! So to remedy that problem, I took some Bamboo ink from Close To My Heart and swiped the ink pad across a piece of white cardstock to get the color a little closer to the background and I liked it so much better!

It's hard to tell in the photo but I added foam tape to the back of the scalloped circle to add some dimension.

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful creations from the design team. 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!

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Counterfeit Kit Challenges Forgeries on the Fourth


Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! It's time for Forgeries on the Fourth at Counterfeit Kit Challenges and I have a couple of quick ones for you!

Here's a reminder of our June inspiration kit - Hip Kit Club's May 2019 scrapbook kit:


The inspiration for my first forgery actually came from the May 2019 Hip Kit Club Pocket Life Scrapbook Kit. I really liked the foam backed silver glitter hearts that were included in the kit. I really didn't want to make silver glitter hearts, so I used some scraps and papers from the 6x6 paper pad that I included in my kit to make my version of the foam backed hearts. 

Here's a look at the supplies I used:


I die cut several different sizes of hearts out of the fun foam and again out of the paper I wanted to use:


Here they are all put together. The hearts in the Pocket Life kit looked to be really thick. I don't like too much dimension, so I just kept to one layer of fun foam, but you could easily add more layers to get the thickness you want


And a close-up:


Next, I really liked the rainbow-colored plus sign paper in the inspiration and I knew I had a small background stamp of a plus sign. I pulled out my inks -in rainbow order and went to work:




Is it perfect? Not even close, but that doesn't matter to me! This paper will either be used in my Traveler's Notebook, or as a layering piece, or even cut up for embellishments.

Be sure to stop by the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see the forgeries from the rest of the design team. We hope that you are inspired to make your own forgeries this month!

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Me See? The Studio Challenge Sketch Challenge

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. Ours has been pretty busy and that always makes them go by fast!

The Studio Challenges has a new challenge this week and it's one of my favorites - a sketch challenge. Here is the fabulous sketch:


This is my layout based on the sketch:


I've got to be quite honest - I may have scrapped this photo before...I think I need to get a handle on my photo organization! I have duplicates of a lot of my photos - a copy for traditional pages and a copy for my project life pages...I'm terrible about pulling a photo out of my photo box for a certain year and then if I don't scrap it right away it gets put in a pile instead of going back in the box it came from. I really need to stop doing that!

Anyway, I can't remember if I actually scrapped it or had it in my pile to be scrapped. Regardless, it's scrapped now and if it's a duplicate - Ada will get her choice of which one she likes better!

I used Close To My Heart's "Little Dreamer" collection for this layout. The purples and teals matched Ada's jammies just perfectly. I also had the compliments that went along with this collection. I honestly didn't know if I would ever use the glitter chipboard pieces but the majority of them made it on this page!

Here are a couple of close-ups:



I just love this little trio of flowers! They are just too cute!

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see how the rest of the design team interpreted the sketch. I hope you have some time to play along with us this month!

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