Spring Beauty - The Studio Challenges

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. We have been celebrating both of our sons' birthdays this weekend. Matt's birthday was on Friday and Shane's is today and we have been enjoying some good family time this weekend.

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today. This week's challenge is "half" - make a layout that starts with a half a piece of patterned paper on the background, the rest is up to you.

Here is what I came up with:

I started with half a piece of floral patterned paper on my background and I added a punched border strip to it. Everything on this layout was in this month's Great Stash Bash kit that you can read all about here. I was able to use up a few more of my scraps in this kit and I remembered to use a couple of the punches that I had put in my kit. I also added in a couple of stickers and a few more brads on this layout.

A couple of things to note - the blue paper behind the photo has since been straightened - I didn't even notice it was a bit off until I got the photo on here, and in the close-up photo below you will see a blue heart on top of the pink heart. I had to take multiple photos and somehow lost the heart! It has since been found and reattached!

I love the Martha Stewart doily punch that I added to my kit - it makes such a cute little embellishment - not only does it look like a doily, but it also looks like a flower, too.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges blog to see the layouts from the rest of the team.

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

Birthday Princess -The ScrapRoom - Mixing up the Kits

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Scrap Our Stash reveal, please scroll on down to the next post. 

Today I am on The ScrapRoom's blog sharing the layout that I created for the Mixing up the Kits segment. The ScrapRoom offers so many great add-on kits each month that coordinate with their main kits. The layout that I am sharing with you today features products from the Jan/Feb Shots of Life Kit, the patterned paper add-on kit, and the embellishment kit which you can see below:

Jan/Feb Shots of Life Kit

Jan. Embellishment Add-on Kit

Jan. Patterned Paper Add-on Kit

For my project, I have created a traditional 12x12 mixed with a pocket page layout of Ada's 5th birthday. This is a great way to include more photos of an event. Here's a look at both pages together:

I used the Pebbles Cake Day cut apart sheet and sticker sheet from the Shots of Life kit, the Pebbles Balloon Bouquet and Birth-Yay papers and the Simple Stories DIY Queen and 2x2 elements paper from the patterned paper add-on kit, and the Pebbles puffy dots and Simple Stories sticker sheet from the embellishment add-on kit on my layout.

The colors in the Pebbles collection and the Simple Stories collection were so similar that I paired them together for this spread. I did pull a couple of things from my stash - gold metallic paper, a star die, string, and gold spray.

Here's a look at the left-hand side of the spread:

The tags are just for show on this layout. All of my journaling will be hidden under one of the photos on the pocket page - more out of necessity than wanting to keep things hidden! I needed a way to add a couple more photos and have my journaling on there, so I created a flip-up for the bottom right-hand pocket. Here's a better look at the pocket page:

And a couple of close-ups:

I still haven't added my journaling to this spread yet. I have been going back and forth on what I want to include. This is a bittersweet memory for me, for sure. It was a day that I had looked forward to - celebrating Ada's 5th birthday with her and the rest of the family - but Shane was not in the celebrating mood. We ended up having to leave about 10 minutes after we got to the party because Shane had a major meltdown. It's hard sometimes being the mo

m of a special needs child and having to make the hard decision to leave an event for the safety of your child and everyone around you, and knowing that you will be missing out on a special occasion for another loved one. Thankfully, Abby and my sister took lots of photos for me and I was there in spirit! I think I will just keep the journaling on this layout all about Ada and her party and maybe just include the story of why weren't able to stay in my weekly Project Life album. What would you do?

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom blog for more inspiration using the January kits.

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

What An Artist - Scrap Our Stash Sketch Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that your week is off to a good start! We got a tiny bit of snow yesterday and have more wintery weather in the forecast for the end of the week. It looks like winter is really here.

Today I am sharing my take on the Scrap Our Stash sketch challenge for this month. Along with the awesome sketch, we are also challenged to use chevron patterned paper and something gold. Here is a look at the sketch:

And here is my layout:

The chevron pattern has always been a favorite of mine but I have noticed that it hasn't been in a lot of the newer collections. I guess I'd better enjoy what I've got stashed away until it comes back in style! I found this chevron piece in an old collection (2013) from Pebbles - From Me To You - and thought it paired well with these photos of Ada. I loved the bright, cheerful colors in the chevron paper and the greens went pretty well with Ada's Oogie Boogie creation.

I'm not generally a fan of adding my title straight on top of a busy patterned paper like this - I feel it kind of gets lost on there - and when I see this photo it makes me think I need to go do something different with it, but when looking at it in person, it really shows up better than it appears in the photos so I am letting go and leaving it alone!

About the photos - Ada loves to draw. She is constantly asking for paper and getting her markers and crayons and drawing a picture or two every time she is at our house. Over the summer she started watching "how to draw" videos on Youtube and would follow along with them. On this day she decided to draw Oogie Boogie from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" - maybe because he is in the Kingdom Hearts video games and she likes to watch Uncle Matt play those when he comes down. Maybe they had watched "The Nightmare Before Christmas"...who knows, but he was the chosen one on this day. I could not believe how well she had done! I think he's pretty much the cutest villain I have ever seen!

I did add my journaling to the tag that is tucked in behind the photos on the upper left side. It says - Ada had been watching "how to draw" videos & drawing along with them. She is becoming quite the artist & has drawn some really cute pictures. I think this drawing of Oogie Boogie is pretty much perfect! I hope she continues to draw because the girl's got talent! Oct. 14, 2019.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I picked the "From Me To You" paper pad up at Tuesday Morning a few years ago and I did not have any embellishments that go with it. I'm not much of a themed scrapper - at least when it comes to things like art supplies or being crafty - I generally just tend to embellish with generic - go-with-everything embellishments, so my options were pretty limited for this page. I did find this watercolor set and the colored pencils in my Amy Tangerine sticker book, and #1 - I needed to add some gold to my layout, and #2 - I really don't know when I would really use these stickers again, so I went with them. I also added in a few puffy gold hearts. 

Head on over to Scrap Our Stash for more inspiration from the design team.

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

The ScrapRoom - January/February Shots Of Life Kits

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

Today I am sharing the layouts I created using the January portion of the Jan/Dec Shots of Life Kit from The ScrapRoom. Here's a look at the kit:

The January portion of this kit consists of Carta Bella's Snow Much Fun 4x6 journaling cards and 12x12 sticker sheet, Photo Play Family - Our Story and a half pack of enamel dots, Pebbles Happy Cake Day - Cake Day and sticker sheet, and Simple Stories - Crafty Girl 3x4 elements and bits and pieces.

When I saw the PhotoPlay Family cut apart cards I knew they would be perfect for the title page in my 2020 Project Life album. Here is what I came  up with:

I used 2 of the cards from the cut apart sheet and pulled a piece of mint green paper from my stash to fit in the one 3x4 pocket and to mat my photos on. It really does match better to the green in the bottom card than what the photo shows! I pulled a few puffy hearts from my stash to add around my spread. 

I am so happy to have the intro page to my 2020 all ready complete! Now to start on my weekly spreads!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For my second spread, I used the cut aparts and sticker sheet from Carta Bella's Snow Much Fun to make a layout of Ada enjoying the first snow of the season. The colors in this collection were a great match to Ada's coat and hat.

Everything on this spread is from the kit, with the exception of the pink polka dot paper, a label stamp, and a snowflake die. Here are a couple of close-ups:

I loved that the sticker sheet has so many snowflake stickers on it. I was able to add them in several places around my spread to help pull it all together.

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom Blog for inspiration using all of the January kits. 

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #162

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

I can't believe that it is already time for our last sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap. January is going by pretty fast for me. Of course, we've had some really nice weather this month, so that helps. 

Here's a look at the fun sketch that Lisa has created for us to use:

And here is my card:

My hubby and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary yesterday and when I saw this sketch, I knew it would be perfect for that. I used an older American Crafts 6x6 paper pad - I think it was called "Valentine" - and tried to keep with the not-so-frilly and pink papers. Not only is this card perfect for our anniversary, but it would also be good for Valentine's Day, which is right around the corner.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards 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! I hope you have a great day!

You & Me - The Studio Challenges - Color Challenge

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you.

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today. This week we have a color challenge for you:

This is what I came up with:

The colors that I chose for my layout are a bit brighter than those in the graphic, but I love the way they all look together. I used a dark wood grain matted on a piece of kraft cardstock for my background. I had watched a process video earlier in the week that had rows of hearts on the background and that is where I got the inspiration for this layout. My hubby and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary next week and I thought this design would be great for a layout about us!

With all of the different colored hearts on this layout, I kept my embellishing to a minimum. I added in a few enamel dots and typed up a couple of phrases that I felt was fitting and that was it. I did try a few other things but I just felt like it made my layout look too cluttered - at least for my liking. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Head on over to The Studio Challenges to see the wonderful layouts from Helen and Michelle. I would love to see your take on the color challenge, too!

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

TN Time With Lisa & Lori - January Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Friday! I hope you have had a good week. We are all settling back into the routine around here and it's not been so bad.

It's time for a new TN Time With Lisa and Lori challenge! A new year, a new challenge, a new notebook...I am so excited to be continuing with this challenge this year. I love working in my TN and these challenges keep me excited to do so.

If you're not familiar with our challenge, here's how it works - this is a monthly challenge that starts on the 10th of each month and ends on the 9th of the following month at midnight CST. If you complete my random challenge for the month - link your TN, bullet journal, or planner spread below. If you combine my challenge with Lisa's sketch challenge - link up here and on Lisa's blog  - My Creative Endeavors - and you will have two chances to win a prize. You can find the full list of rules here.

Now for the January challenge:

(January 10th - February 9th)

For my first challenge of the new year, I want you to use something old (at least a year old) and something new on your layout

Here is the sketch that Lisa has created for us:

Here is my layout:

For my TN spread, I flipped the sketch to make it work with my photos. For my challenge, the "something new" that I used is a new-to-me paper collection - Echo Park's Go See Explore, the navy paper, and the stickers all came from this collection, and I used new photos! I had already planned on using some photos for Ada's bucket list TN but when I took these this week I wanted to go with them instead. 

For the "something old" part of the challenge - I used scraps from old Echo Park collections, alphas that have been hanging out for years, and my circle and tab punches. 

It was so pretty on Tuesday. I mean when you're talking 60 degrees and sunshine in early January around here, well, you take advantage of it. Shane and I took Willie for a walk and stopped at the creek. There was just enough water for Shane to throw some rocks in it for a while, and that always makes him happy! I love spending time at the creek. It is always so quiet and peaceful and I feel like I step into another world when I walk down the creek bank. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

When I got this collection in a warehouse box sale a few months ago, I didn't know if I would ever be able to use any of it. Most of the paper's "B" sides were usable, like this navy paper, but the majority of the stickers are ones that I won't be able to use since we don't have the opportunity to travel. I did pick out the ones that would work for an adventure and used those on my spread. 

I hope you find some time to play along with us this month.  I would love to see your take on our challenges! Link up below by February 9th for your chance to win this:

Coming Soon!

A big thank you to Sandi and Becca for playing along with us last month. We did not have the required 3 participants in December, so no prize drawing for last month. Hopefully this month!

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see her take on the challenges!

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrap Our Stash - What's My Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Hump Day! I hope you are having a good week. It's been a pretty good one around here. The weather is great - who can complain about 50's and sunshine in January? I will take every warm day in the winter that I can get!

Today I am sharing my layout for Scrap Our Stash's new challenge - What's My Challenge. We are mixing things up this year and the first challenge each month will be a different type of challenge. For January we have a bingo challenge:

Just pick any row, column, or diagonal line and use the selected stash items on your layout. 

For my layout, I chose the 4th row across - 4+ patterned paper, brad, stamp, doily, and to use a punch. This is what I came up with:

I have used 4 patterned papers - the pink gingham background, turquoise arrow, pink polka dot, and multi-colored dots paper. I also used a piece of solid turquoise paper for one of my tags. I used 3 brads - 2 that are on the doily and 1 heart brad on the tabs. (It really does match the papers better in real life than what it shows here!) For my stamping - I stamped the date and a couple of word phrases, and I used a tab punch and a loopy border punch.

The title actually reads - Who could resist...that sweet face - and the journaling says - "It's no secret - every time Ada and I go shopping - she comes home with something new. Toys, candy, clothes - it's always something! I just can't resist that sweet face!"

Here are a couple of close-ups:

This is my first layout using my stash bash kit! Here is what I used for this layout:

I was able to use up one full sheet (for the background), all of turquoise arrow scrap paper, and most of the pink polka dot paper. I also used 3 brads out of the pack and one of my favorite - but rarely used - border punch! I can't wait to see how much more of this kit that I can use up this month!

Head on over to Scrap Our Stash to see how the rest of the design team took on the bingo challenge this month. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

Challenge YOUrself #73 - One Little Word

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you all! 

I am so excited to be sharing my first DT layout for Challenge YOUrself with you today! Here's a look at this month's challenge - Challenge #73:

One little word - I have never participated in Ali Edwards' One Little Word workshop, but I have tried to choose a word to focus on for the last several years. This year the word that I have chosen is 'focus':

I played around with several words - even taking the quiz on Ali's website to see what was recommended - but I just kept coming back to focus. 

This year I need to put the focus back on myself and what is important to me - my health, my family, and our finances. I also want to focus on areas of my crafty life, as well, but there will be more about that later. It is time for me to focus and get things done this year. And maybe I can focus on giving an update every month or two on how I am doing!

For my layout, I have used Cocoa Vanilla's beautiful 'Happiness' collection. This could easily be one of those collections that I hoard and not use because it is so pretty, but I am making a point to use the pretties and not just keep them hanging around forever. There will always be another pretty to take its place.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I just love those pretty flowers that came in the die cut pack. I could easily have 3 or 4 packs of them and not get tired of them. 

 What about you? Do you choose a word each year to concentrate on? I would love to see your take on the challenge if you are so inclined!

Be sure to check out the Challenge YOUrself blog today to see the gorgeous layouts from the rest of the design team.

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

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Mini (?) Kit Reveal

Hello everyone! Good Monday morning to you! I hope that you had a good weekend and are all ready for the new week. I'm hoping maybe now I will get back on track after the holidays! Hubby was home for 17 days and we lost all track of time!

I was on mini-kit duty this month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge and today is reveal day! Here's a look at the gorgeous inspiration kit from Citrus Twist Kits for January:

Holy moly is that a gorgeous Christmas kit or what! My mini kit is pretty mega for a mini, BUT...I do plan on working on my December Daily/Document December/whatever I'm going to call my December album this year! And I need to work in my 52 Favorites TN for holidays, so I needed a little more than a paper or two! And compared to most December Daily kits that I've seen...well, this is a mini kit!

Here's a look at my kit:

My kit is full of Elle's Studio Christmas goodies from 2018. I didn't buy anything new for a December Daily this year because I knew I had this collection and hadn't even touched it. So here's to getting it used up this month!

I pulled what 6x8 papers that I had - a total of 7, a few of the 6x6 papers, alphas, stickers and die cuts, puffy stickers, wood veneer, tags, 4x6 and 3x4 journaling cards, and a couple of stamp sets. I also added in 3 - 12x12 papers and some gold trim.

I'm still not completely sure if I will do a TN size for my Documenting December or if I'll keep with 6x8 pocket pages...I love my TN size, but there is just something about the pocket pages that I love for this project. Maybe I'll do a mix of both...stay tuned this month to see what I come up with!

Here's my first project from my kit - a spread for my 52 Favorites TN for Week 50 of the ornaments that Abby and Ada made for us this year:

Aren't those ornaments just the cutest?! Abby said Ada did all of the painting on the clothespin snowmen and I think she did a fantastic job on them! These ornaments are, by far, my favorites that were added to our tree this year!

Here are a couple of close-up photos:

I was afraid that I might need a bit more to finish out my complete project so I made up an add-on kit. This add-on is made up of some scraps, more alpha stickers, more 6x6 papers, and more stamps. This will surely get me through my Documenting December album!

Even though it looks like a mega kit - it all fits in this 9x12 box nicely - with the exception of the 12x12 papers, of course!

Scrapping this much Christmas in January will be something new for me, I'm usually over scrapping Christmas when January rolls around, but this kit has me excited to get my December memories scrapped while they are still (relatively) fresh in my mind!

Head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see the mini-kit and project that Clair has put together this month. Stay tuned throughout the month to see how much I can get done!

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