Be Mine - The Studio Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Sunday to you all. I hope that you are having a good weekend. It's been a good weekend around here so far. Today is supposed to be rainy all day, so it looks like I will be spending some time in my scrappy room.

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today. This week the challenge is to create a layout using a scrappy item for each letter in the word "HEART" - and you get bonus points if you use more than one item for each letter!

Here is what I came up with:

For the word "HEART" I have used - H - hearts, E - enamel dots and an embossing folder (for the white hearts), A - Arrows and alphas, R - red, and T - tab.

I still had a 6x6 paper pad out on my desk, and since Abby had sent me these photos of Ada with her Valentine box, I thought it would be a great time to make a page! I cut a couple of different sizes of hearts in a few different patterns and layered them down the side of my layout. I pulled out an embossing folder and ran the white hearts through it to give them a little interest. I just love the little extra oomph it gives to the plain white hearts. I need to remember to do this more often!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I am so glad that I was able to use these white arrows on this layout! They were the last of the white arrows in this pack and I think I only have a couple of black arrows and a couple of turquoise arrows left until I can say I used the whole pack up! They are out on my desk in hopes I can get the rest of them used up soon.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see how the rest of the design team took on the challenge. 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 great day!

So Lovely - Scrap Our Stash February Sketch Challenge

Hello and Happy Friday! We have made it to the weekend once again. My oldest son is coming home for a day or two when he gets off of work today and I am ready to spend some time with him.

Today I am sharing my take on the February sketch challenge at Scrap Our Stash. Along with the sketch challenge we are also challenged to use polka dot patterned paper and washi tape. Here's a look at the sketch:

For this layout, I started out by looking for my polka dot paper. Once I started pulling polka dot papers, I couldn't stop, so all of my papers - except the blue stripe is a dot of some sort.  Even one of my washi tapes is a polka dot! I added the dark pink washi tape on the edges of the pink polka dot paper and then the mint polka dot paper is added to my bottom cluster.

I can't believe it's been almost two years since I took these photos of Ada. Time just goes so unbelievably fast anymore. She was looking so cute this day - but then again she always looks cute - and she was in the mood to take photos, so I took advantage of it!

I added a few paint splatters across my layout and it's no surprise that I smudged one. Luckily it was in a place that I could cover easily cover with an embellishment. Here are a few close-ups:

I just love these little tiny enamel hearts! I think I need to get a few more packs of them to have on hand!

Be sure to check out the Scrap Our Stash blog to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. I would love to see your take on it, too!

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

The ScrapRoom - Mixing up the Kits

Hello, hello!

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

February Patterned Paper Add-on Kit

February Embellishment Add-On Kit

Here is what I came up with:

The Echo Park - It's Your Birthday - papers and embellishments that are included in this month's kits were perfect for scrapping a few more photos of Ada's birthday this year. There was even a sticker on the sticker sheet that looked just like Ada's cake!

Making her cake was a group effort with her Mom, Dad, and even Ada getting in on the cake decorating action. Abby was getting stressed about getting cake crumbs in the icing, so Shawn took over and iced the cake for her. Then Abby took back over putting the decorations on and Ada helped with the flowers and the sprinkles - because no unicorn cake is complete without sprinkles! It turned out so cute and was so delicious, too!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For my layout, I used the Patterned Paper Add-on Kit- EP Birthday Girl Words and Party Animals, Embellishment Add-on Kit - EP ephemera pack and Pink Paislee puffy heart sticker, Shots of Life Kit - EP sticker sheet. From my stash - white and pink cardstock, alphas.

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom Blog for more inspiration using this month's kits. 

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #356

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has another great sketch posted over on their blog and today I am sharing my take on it. Here is a look at the sketch:

And here is my card:

I used an old 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye - Now & Then - Mildred for this card. This is one of my favorite patterns in this collection.  Those cute little flowers just make me happy! I stamped the sentiment using a Hero Arts stamp set and added three fabric flowers.

This card was so quick and easy. I have been in a bit of a card making slump lately, so jumping back in with a quick and easy card sketch was just what I was needing to get those creative juices flowing!

Here is a close-up:

Be sure to check out the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog tomorrow for more design team inspiration and last week's Top 3. 

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

Cute As Can Bee - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Challenge #2 - Bees

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

It is time for Challenge #2 at Counterfeit Kit Challenge and this challenge is all about bees! 

"One of the inclusions in the inspiration kit was bees, so today I'd like for you to be inspired by bees. If you have a bee photo, scrap it. Maybe you have a honey recipe you can scrap about. Has someone been stung by a bee?"

That's it - be inspired by bees!

I don't have any bee photos and the only "sting" I have a photo of was of my oldest son when he was little and was stung by a wasp...so I decided to do a play on the word "bee".

Everything on this layout was included in my February kit, with the exception of the navy cardstock and the letter dies for my title. I managed to use 2 full sheets of paper, although I did cut the middle out of the floral background paper for later use, and I only have a small scrap of that mulberry colored polka dot paper. My goal is to use as much of each paper so I don't have a ton of scraps left in my kit. 

I used the bee die and 6x6 papers that I had included in my kit to make that cute little bee that finishes off my title. I just think he is so cute!

Here are a couple of close-ups: 

I even discovered that one of the brads in the brad pack in my kit had a bee on it, so it got included, too. 

This photo is of Ada one Wednesday after school. She was just so cute that day. I love that even though she is in school now, that she and Abby still come over for supper every Wednesday. It gives us all something to look forward to in the middle of the week. She always has a smile on her face and is ready to get to whatever it is that she wants to do when she gets here - which on this particular day it was to color. She is getting so big, so fast!

Be sure to stop by the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. 

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

Week 7/2019 - The ScrapRoom - February Shots of Life Kit

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend.

Today I am up on The ScrapRoom blog sharing my pocket pages using the February portion of the Shots of Life Kit. I truly love getting this kit every other month. There is always a great variety of supplies to work with. Since the February portion of the kit was heavy on the Valentine's Day vibe, I decided to get my Week 7 from 2019 documented. Even though the Valentine's Day cut apart sheets weren't necessarily the same style - the Simple Stories is more vintage/shabby chic and the Photo Play cut apart sheet is more playful - when spread across the two pages they work well together.

Here is a look at the kit:

Here's a look at my complete spread:

This week was fairly busy but most of my photos were for Valentine's Day. Instead of making an insert just for Valentine's Day, I decided to just dedicate the right side to that day. 

Here's the left side of the spread:

This week when Abby and Ada stayed over for supper we had waffles - which just might have been Ada's favorite meal at the time. She kept telling us at supper how much she loved Pops and waffles, and she kept saying "this is the best day ever!" so I created my own 3x4 card. The pink really does match better with the other pinks than what it looks like in the photos. 

Here is the right side of the spread - all about Valentine's Day:

Shawn and Abby took Ada to the circus for the first time on Valentine's Day - which is the top left photos. Ada got to ride a pony and get her face painted before the circus started and then once it did, Abby said Ada sat on the edge of her seat the whole time, clapping, and loving every minute of it. 

The pictures in the middle row are of Ada's Valentine's Day present. Things had been crazy with Kim's funeral and I hadn't had the chance to get her anything for Valentine's Day, so that morning we went to town and I let her pick something out. She picked out this Scruff-A-Luv pet. She was so excited to get it home and give it a bath and get it to look like a nice, fluffy pet. She worked hard on cleaning it up, drying its hair - or fur - and brushing it out. As hard as she, and I tried, we could not get it to look like what was on tv. She was a little disappointed - as you can see in the last photo in the row! 

The photo on the bottom row is my Valentine from Scott. I made a TN spread about this photo here so I didn't need to go into to much detail here. I just said - "who needs flowers or candy when you get your very own - picked out & personalized just for you - taco sauce packs?!"

I am slowly working my way through 2019 - skipping around quite a bit - but I will have it completed in no time!

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

LM #485 - Once Loved, Now Forgotten - Die Cuts

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning! I hope you are having a good weekend. It's been a nice and quiet weekend around here.

I finally had the chance to play along with today's challenge at Lasting Memories! The theme for February is "Once loved, now forgotten" and this week we are focusing on die cuts. Mainly die cuts that are made by you with a machine - Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Cameo, or Cricut - but if you don't have one of those you can use premade die cuts from a collection.

I pulled out some of my metal dies and put my Cuttlebug to use for a few different die cuts for my layout:

I am finally getting started on my 52 Favorites for 2020 Travelers Notebook. I have skipped right over Week 1 and made Week 2 - but hey, you go with what is inspiring you at the time, right?! I do plan to work some more in my TN's this week so I will be sure to get Week 1 done.

About this spread - it is very rare that Matthew and I ever get one on one time together - just the two of us - especially now that he is out on his own. A lot of times we are with the whole family or with Abby and Ada, so when he told me he needed to get some new clothes for his internship and asked if I would go shopping with him, I jumped at the chance! We had so much fun hanging out together and I will be making it a point to do this more often.

For this layout, I have used this month's sketch from TN Time With Lisa and Lori and I also used a tag, label, and heart for the Pick 3 part of my challenge. I didn't really intend to, it just worked out that way! Here's a look at the sketch:

I have used papers from my February Great Stash Bash kit which you can see here. That makes three layouts so far this month and we are barely halfway through! For the die cuts - I have used an arrow, star, tag, and speech bubble metal dies. I have not used these particular dies in a long time! Here are a couple of close-ups:

The only things not in my February Great Stash Bash kit were my alphas, the enamel stars, a label, and a camera sticker. Hopefully, you will be seeing a couple more projects with items from this kit this month.

Head on over to Lasting Memories to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. 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 great day!

Sketch N Scrap #195

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you! Are you ready for the weekend because it is finally here! We don't have any plans at all and that means that I have a lot of time to scrap and stitch!

It is already the middle of February - spring will be here before we know it and I cannot wait! It also means we have a new sketch for you today at Sketch N Scrap. Here is the super fun sketch that Heather has created for us:

I just love that border that goes down the side of the layout - so many possibilities! Here is the layout that I created:

This photo of Ada has been floating around my desk for a long time! She looks so sweet sleeping in her car seat! My first thought was to use the photo and a couple of 3x4 cards in place of the smaller photos, but the ones I wanted to use looked a little too big and could not be cut down smaller and still look right, so I just went with the one photo and from there just did my own thing. I created a pretty big cluster under the photo and added an embellishment to the top right of the photo. 

I also flipped the sketch to work with my photo and the paper that I used. The patterned paper had the little cluster at the bottom already printed on it and I thought it would be perfect to serve as my title. I die cut several hearts in different sizes and layered them on top of one another for my border. 

 I used Simple Stories "Hello Baby" for this layout. I bought a good deal of it after Ada was born and hadn't used very much of it. The sticker sheet only had a couple of stickers missing so I used quite a few different stickers on this layout. 

Here are a couple of close-ups

This little prize ribbon piece was on one of the 3x4 cards that I was originally going to use. I fussy cut it out and used it as an embellishment.

I added foam tape to all of the smaller hearts that are layered on top of the larger ones for a bit of dimension. I finished it off by scattering some enamel hearts down my border and adding them to the cluster and ribbon embellishment, too. 

Now, head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of 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!

TN Time With Lisa & Lori - February Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a good weekend and are all ready for the new week. We had a very full weekend with a sleepover and a family birthday party. It was so much fun getting to spend time with the family.

It's time for TN Time With Lisa & Lori's February Challenge today.  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 and I since it's been a while since I posted them in the post, I will add the rules at the bottom of this post, as well.

Here is February's Challenge:

(February 10th - March 9th)

Here is the list of items. Pick 3 from the list to use on your layout. You can use more than 3 and you can use other items on your spread, but you must have 3 items from the list on your spread.

The color pink
The color red
Hearts
Flowers
Tag(s)
Label(s)
Washi tape
Gold
Striped patterned paper

Here is the sketch that Lisa has created for us to use:

Isn't that a great sketch?! Here is my TN spread based on my challenge and Lisa's sketch:

I changed up a few things on the sketch - mostly out of necessity. I had a lot of journaling and it took up more space on the left side than I had planned, so instead of adding an embellishment directly below the journaling, I moved it to the bottom right side of the page. 

I am really trying to keep my traveler's notebooks thinner this year, and it was hard for me to not add more paper to the right side of the spread! I kind of like the minimal look on the right side, though.

UGH is right! Ada woke up last week with her right eye stuck shut and once Abby got it opened up it was really red. She suspected pink eye but wasn't sure because as the morning went on, and they got ready for school, the redness seemed to go away a bit. She took Ada to the nurse's office as soon as they got to school but the nurse didn't think it was pink eye and sent Ada on to her class. Around 11 Ada's teacher called down to Abby's classroom and told her she thought Ada had pink eye and had sent her to the nurse's office. That time the nurse did think it was pink eye and that Ada needed to go home. Abby called and asked if I could pick her up for the afternoon. Abby called Ada's doctor and she called her in an eye drop prescription. After a days worth of eye drops, Ada's eye was looking and feeling much better!

For my part of the challenge, I used the color pink, gold, washi tape, hearts, a label, and striped paper. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I hope you have some time to play along with us this month! I would love to see your take on the challenges.

A big thank you to Sandi for playing along with us last month! We did not have the 3 required participants so there will be no prize draw for January. Here is what you will be playing for in February - a die cut pack from Pretty Little Studio's Savannah Dreams collection. Link up by March 9th for your chance to win.

Make sure you stop by Lisa's blog to see her take on this month's challenge. I hope you find some time to play along with us this month!

As promised - here are the rules:

1. Create a TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK, PLANNER, OR BULLET JOURNAL spread based on the CHALLENGE THEME and our sketch. 
2. You must be a follower of my blog.
3. Create a new, not previously posted project.
4. You are welcome to combine with other challenges.
5. If you have a blog please include the challenge graphic & a link to our challenge in your post.
6. You can link to social media if you don't have a blog. If you show your project on IG, please make sure to use #TNtimewithLisaandLori.
7. You can submit multiple projects but they must be posted to Mister Linky or social media separately.
8. If there are fewer than 3 players for our challenge, no winners will be chosen.
9. We ship only in the USA but our challenge is open to everyone so feel free to join us if you are an international player! 
10. Most importantly have FUN!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Happy Birthday - The Studio Challenges Sketch Challenge

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. Mine seems to be going way too fast, but they always seem to do that.

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges. This week we have one of my favorite challenges - a sketch challenge! This sketch is based on a layout created by Helen and you can see her layout here, Here is the sketch that Anna has created from it:

You know I am gonna love it when a sketch includes circles! Here is what I came up with:

I stuck closely to the sketch - I just changed up a couple of things. I used only a single photo, made my circles a bit bigger, and added in the embellishments to the top right corner. I did move my title and journaling more directly under my photo than to the right side of it. 

I used the Pebbles -  'Happy Cake Day' collection that came in my January kits from The ScrapRoom for this layout. I have used so many of those puffy dots on a couple of layouts now and I still have over half of the pack left! If you like enamel dots - or puffy dots - you need to find a pack of these. You definitely get your money's worth!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

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

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

Sisters - Scrap Our Stash - What's My Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you! I hope your weekend is off to a good start. We have had a busy one already with a sleepover with Miss Ada last night and today we are going to a family birthday party. Gotta love that family time!

Today I am sharing the layout that I created for the "What's My Challenge" challenge at Scrap Our Stash. This month's challenge is to "Celebrate a Spunky Old Broad" and create a layout about you or another woman you know that is 50 or over, who believes it's never too late to live a dream, be who she wants to be, or create and do whatever she wants to do. AND you must include the following slogan somewhere on your layout - "Like fine wine, women get better with age".

I am not quite 50 (but I'm getting closer all the time) so I decided to create a layout of my sisters - and I am in there, too. 

Both of my sisters fit the description of this challenge to a "T"! They are both fun-loving and always up for an adventure. When you get us all together you know that fun is going to be had! I am so lucky to have these two in my life.

Everything on this layout - except for the alphas, tiny alphas, enamel dots, and doily were in my February Great Stash Bash kit - which you can see here. I am making good progress so far this month with this kit! The flowers were fussy cut out of the floral paper that I had left over and I even got some ric rac used on this layout!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. We can't wait to see what you create, too!

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

My Hero - Challenge YOUrself #74

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.

It's time for a new challenge at Challenge YOUrself today. February's challenge is to be inspired by the song "Hero" by Mariah Carey. Here is a link to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IA3ZvCkRkQ&fbclid=IwAR3eGXANFDKc4y6y4pet7s0z52404shTxOtV2mxJr4580krFNug475GzPAE

This is a beautiful song and I had so many ideas for different layouts, but I decided to make a layout of me and Shane. Having severe autism is hard and some days are a struggle not only for Shane but for his loved ones that are around him. He has overcome so much and I am sure there will be more obstacles for him in the future, but all of us together will get through them all. 

I snapped this photo of us before we went to town to do some shopping. He really looks forward to and enjoys our trips - as long as he can get his regular things!

Almost everything on this layout, except for the enamel dots, phrase stickers, and alpha stickers, was in my February Great Stash Bash kit, which you can read about here. I do plan to journal directly on my layout but I need to get my thoughts in order and figure out exactly what I want to say.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I did add some grey paint splatters around my layout, too.

Be sure to stop by Challenge YOUrself to see the wonderful layouts from the rest of the team. I would love to see your take on the challenge, too.

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