Thinking of You - Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #362

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week so far. I thought I would pop in here really quickly and share the card I created for this week's card sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Here's a look at the sketch:

This is such a great sketch with a lot of possibilities! I know I will be using it again!

Here is the card that I created:

I found this blue floral paper in my scraps and it was just the right size for a card front. Maybe I had had plans for it once before! I embossed the white torn strip with my swiss dot embossing folder to add a little interest to the plain white cardstock. 

The sentiment is from Close To My Hearts - Card Captions (S1901) - stamp set. I stamped it in their Glacier ink, which was a really good match! I pulled out an old flower punch and punched 3 flowers and added a silver glitter gem to the center of each flower. 

Here is a close-up:

A really quick and easy card all ready to be sent out!

Be sure to stop by the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog tomorrow to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team 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! I hope you have a great day!

Sleepy Girl - The Studio Challenges - 5,4,3,2,1

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you all are doing well and staying safe - and healthy - in these wild times.

Today I am sharing my layout for this week's challenge from The Studio Challenges. We have a fun challenge this week - the 5,4,3,2,1 challenge. Create a layout using 5 of one thing, 4 of another, etc. down to 1. For example - you could use 5 flowers, 4 patterned papers, 3 buttons, 2 different alphas, and 1 photo.

For my layout I have used:

5 patterned papers

4 enamel dots

3 hearts

2 word title

1 photo

I decided to use the papers I had included in this month's Great Stash Bash kit. They are some old Basic Grey papers, mostly from the Olivia collection. I had this sweet photo of Miss Ada asleep in her car seat - the only time she would take a nap was when she was in her car seat and forced to be still!

I added a bunny sticker from an old Close To My Heart "Baby Girl" compliments pack. Since I compared Ada to the Energizer Bunny in my journaling, I thought it only fitting to add the bunny sticker. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I've had this little white doily, or lacy circle, or whatever you want to call it in my supplies for a long time! It is the only one that I had left from a pack and when I came across it while looking for embellishments, I knew it was finally going to get used. And how lucky that the bunny sticker fits perfectly inside the circle!

I always love these types of challenges because they really make me think about what I am using.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges blog to see the beautiful layouts from Helen and Michelle, too. I hope you can find some time to play along with us, too!

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

Beautiful You - Scrap Our Stash March Sketch Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Saturday! I hope that you are all doing well. 

Today I am sharing the layout that I created for the Scrap Our Stash sketch challenge for this month. Along with the sketch we are to use plaid paper and wood on our layout. Here is a look at the sketch:

And my layout:

I used Doodlebug Designs "Hello Beautiful" collection. I had received the papers and the die cuts in a Doubleshot kit from The ScrapRoom back in July of 2018. I loved the vibrant colors and knew they would be perfect for an Ada layout - I just needed to wait for the right photo. Everything on this layout came from that Doubleshot kit with the exception of the enamel dots, wood veneer, and stamps I used for the title. 

Abby sent me this photo back in November and when I saw it I got a little glimpse of Ada as a teenager! There she is - wearing those sunglasses and showing a little bit of attitude...she just looked so cute and grown up!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I am so happy to say that I used all but 4 die cuts out of the ones that were in my Doubleshot kit! That is the one thing I absolutely love about The ScrapRoom kits - you get a sampling of a collection - and I rarely have very much left over after I make a couple of layouts. It's always so satisfying to use my supplies!

I decided to stamp my title directly onto my layout. I felt like I needed a little something for separation between the title and the journaling so I added a strip of paper and a wood veneer arrow.  I also scattered a few wood veneer hearts and enamel dots around my clusters. I loved this big acetate flower piece that was in the die cuts that I received and I thought it was perfect for the area that was represented by the tag on the sketch. I just love how this layout turned out!

Be sure to stop by the Scrap Our Stash blog to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you get a chance to play along with us this month!

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

The ScrapRoom Mixing up the Kits

Hello, everyone! I hope you all are doing okay.

Today I am sharing my "Mixing up the Kits" layout using the March portion of the Shots of Life kit, the March Patterned Paper Add-on kit, and the March Embellishment kit from The ScrapRoom. Here's a look at each of the kits:

Mar/April 2020 Shots of Life Kit

March 2020 Patterned Paper Add-on Kit

March 2020 Embellishment Kit

And here is my layout:

I loved the daffodils that can be found in the Echo Park "I Love Spring" collection and I immediately thought of these photos of my granddaughter from last spring. We had been outside all day and she couldn't resist picking a flower.

For my layout, I used the Echo Park patterned paper from the patterned paper add-on kit, the chipboard stickers from the embellishment kit, and the 12x12 sticker sheet and enamel dots from the Shots of Life kit. 

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom Blog for more inspiration for the March kits. 

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #360

Hello again! I am back to share another project with you today.

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has a new sketch for this week and I am sharing my take on it with you today. If you like a lot of layers on your cards - then this sketch is for you:

And here is my take on it:

I used some 6x6 papers from Crate Paper's - Cute Girl - collection - except for the yellow and it is an Echo Park paper. That floral paper had just a touch of yellow in it and when I tried the yellow as a mat - I really liked it. 

I am so happy to say that, except for the floral paper, all the other papers were scraps that I was able to use up. It always makes me feel so good to use up the last little bit of paper!

Be sure to check out the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog tomorrow to see all of the creations from the design team. I have seen them all and you are going to be so inspired by their work! I hope you have some time to play along with us, too! I would love to see your creations!

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

Week 16/2019 The ScrapRoom Shots of Life Kit

Hello, everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! I do hope that you are having a good week.

Today I am on The ScrapRoom's blog sharing my Project Life pages that I created with the March portion of the Mar/April Shots of Life kit. This kit is perfect for documenting some springtime fun. Here is a look at the kit:

 

I am documenting my Week 16 of 2019 - which was Easter week. I have a ton of Easter photos and those photos will get their own double page spread a little later on. This spread is full of all the things leading up to Easter last year. 

I think I managed to use every one of the cut apart sheets somewhere on my spread! The colors from all the different collections just worked so well together. The only things I used that were not in the kit were some stamps, puffy heart stickers, and white cardstock.

Here's a look at my complete spread:

This week was a pretty full week for us - no really big happenings other than Ada's kindergarten screening - just the ordinary, everyday things.

Here's the left-hand side of the spread:

I loved the rainbow card that was on the Photo Play cut apart sheet and I knew I would be using it for my title card. I stamped the Week 16 using a stamp set from Elle's Studio and added a couple of puffy hearts. 

This side is filled with photos of the outdoors - our kildeer's eggs, our pear tree in bloom, and some of our flowers. Ada and I had to get ready for spring with freshly painted toes! 

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

This side of the spread focuses on Ada's kindergarten screening and a Saturday family get together. 

Abby called the morning of Ada's screening all worried because she had forgotten to practice cutting with scissors with Ada for her screening. Pops to the rescue! He helped Ada practice while Shane and I headed to do some grocery shopping. You can see her hard work in the photo in the upper left corner. Turns out Abby had nothing to worry about - Ada can use scissors like a boss AND they didn't even test her on that after all! Ada scored very well and is all ready for kindergarten!

I really wanted to use that "hanging with my gnomies" card but needed to create a flip card to also fit in the photo that goes with it. You can see that in the photo below.

I used some more stamps to create a journaling card to tell about Ada's obsession with playing one of Pops' video games - Red Dead Redemption 2. She doesn't play it the way it is meant to be played - she just rides the horse around the countryside. She does a really good job until she runs into a bear or a "bad guy" then she is ready to turn over the controls to someone else!

Another week for 2019 is in the books! I am so happy to be getting these spreads done!

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom to see all of the kits they are offering for March, and 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! I hope you have a great day!

The Paper Girls Challenge #196 - Babies

Hello, everyone! Good Monday morning to you! I hope that you are all doing well.

It is time for a new challenge at The Paper Girls Challenge Blog today. This week our challenge is "Babies"! Make your project all about the babies.

I still have a lot of Ada's baby photos that need to be scrapped. Heck, I still have quite a few of the boys that need to be scrapped! I really do need to go through my photos of Ada and see what I can get done.

Anyway, this is what I came up with for today's challenge - a photo of Ada when she came home from the hospital:

She was in the NICU for 8 days and she was finally ready to come home. She was so little that she would not fit in the standard car seat that her Mommy and Daddy had for her, so she came home in a special car seat that the hospital gave them. And she still looked so tiny in it! 

I've used a few of the papers and embellishments that I had included in my Great Stash Bash Kit for this month. I was able to use up 2 of the 12x12 sheets and a few of the scraps on this layout. I even managed to use some ric rac that I had included in my February Great Stash Bash kit, too. 

I also based my layout on the March 1st sketch from Sketch N Scrap. I loved this sketch so much, I had to use it again!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to check out The Paper Girls Challenge Blog to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

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

Expert Archer - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Challenge #1

Hello and Happy Thursday!

It's time for the first challenge of the month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and for our first challenge, I want you to pick 3 items from the list below and include them on your layout. You can use more than 3 things from the list and you can use other things, not on the list, but do include 3 items from the list.

• Stars
• Enamel dots
• Chipboard
• Florals - this can be paper or embellishments
• Stripes
• The color Pink
• Circles
• Tag(s)
• Frames(s)

Here is what I came up with:

I used a few more than 3 items. I tried to use them all, but I just couldn't quite make it, but I did use stars, chipboard, florals (paper), stripes, the color pink, and a circle on my traveler's notebook spread. And the only thing that I used that was not in my kit were the pink puffy alphabet stickers. I even managed to use up a few scraps from a layout I made earlier this month!

I just love these photos of Ada that Abby sent me last summer. We had an old plastic bow and arrow set here at the house and Uncle Matt showed her how to shoot it and she was in love! She thought it was so cool and wanted to take it home. She got really good at shooting with it - and how cute does she look - all decked out in her shorts and unicorn rainboots. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I just love the look on her face in this photo!

Head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see how the rest of the design team took on the challenge. 

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

TN Time With Lisa & Lori - March Challenge

Howdy, friends! Welcome back to my blog! I hope your week is off to a good start!

It's time for TN Time With Lisa & Lori's March 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. 

Here is March's Challenge:

(March 10th - April 9th)

In honor of St. Patty's Day next week - I want to see some green on your spread. How much green is up to you - it can be a little or a lot - just add some green!

Here is the fun sketch that Lisa has created for us:

And here is my spread:

I am still plugging away at getting my 52 Favorites of 2019 done. I need to count them, but I do think I am at least halfway there - and I have only done one week in 2020, so I'd better get crackin'! I know I have scrapped these photos of Ada in a traditional 12x12 layout, but Week 18 did not have a lot of photos and these photos of Ada were my favorite. 

I used an older sheet of paper from Close To My Heart on this layout. I think the collection was called - Some Kind of Wonderful - and I have been hoarding what I have left of it - especially this grey paper. The green is actually on the backside of the grey, so I had to be careful when cutting to make sure I had enough for this spread! 

I wanted to keep to just the grey and the green so I just pulled in a bit of black and white to finish out my spread. The puffy butterfly stickers are from Heidi Swapp and came in one of my recent kits from The ScrapRoom. I thought they were the perfect embellishment for these photos.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I stamped my title using one of the Title Builder Vol. 3 stamp sets from Elle's Studio. I LOVE these stamp sets. I only have Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 but Vol. 2 may just be coming with my next kit from there. And I think they have a Vol. 4 coming out this month, so I know it will make its way to me, too! They are perfect for adding titles to my TN pages and you get so many options with each set.

I also used another stamp from Elle's Studio for an embellishment in my cluster on the left. I added a few green puffy hearts from Feed Your Craft around my spread, too.

I took the first photo of my spread outside of my TN. It is getting so chunky and I was afraid I wouldn't get a good photo of it, but here it is inside the notebook:

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 February. Here is what you will be playing for in March - a die cut pack from Pretty Little Studio's Savannah Dreams collection, alpha stickers, and a sheet of cut aparts. Link up by April 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!

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Be Unique - Scrap Our Stash

Hello, hello! Welcome back! Today I am sharing my take on this month's "What's My Challenge" at Scrap Our Stash. Here's a look at the challenge:

Along with the color challenge, we are to use a stash item for each letter of your first name. I have used - L - labels, O - oval, R - rhinestones/roller date stamp, I - ink.

So, having to use items that begin with each letter of my first name kind of dictated how this layout turned out. I know I would have never used an oval for my title base and it's a toss-up on whether or not I would have used rhinestones - they are one item I have a hard time remembering to pull out and use - but it was fun to be pushed out of my comfort zone and use those things. 

Everything on this layout - except the oval metal die, the alphabet letter dies, and the rhinestones - came from my March Counterfeit Kit. The colors in my kit were pretty close to the colors needed for this challenge. 

I love these photos of Ada from last spring. She was being quite the little model with her new jelly shoes that she brought to show me. I think she liked them so well because she could put them on all by herself!

Be sure to check out Scrap Our Stash to see the fabulous layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you take on this fun challenge, too!

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

Hello Handsome - The Studio Challenges - Grid

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

It is time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today. This week we are challenging you to create a layout with a grid design. I don't do grid layouts very often - probably because I never seem to get things straight - but I do love the look of them. Here is what I came up with:

For my layout, I used my 3-inch square metal die to make sure I got straight cuts every time! I inked all of the edges with black soot distressing ink and then once they were glued to the paper I distressed the edges even more by running my fingernail along the edge and kind of folding them up a bit. 

I had a lot of empty space in the photo and instead of adding my title to the side of it, I decided to add it directly to my photo and I love it! 

I used the scraps that I had in my February Stash Bash kit - which you can see here. I know we are in March and I have a new stash kit just waiting to be used, but I could not resist these scraps! And hey, I love that my February kit is still inspiring me! 

Here is a close-up:

Be sure to check out The Studio Challenges blog to see the beautiful grid 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 will be back soon with another project to share with you!

Challenge YOUrself #75 - Polka Dots

Hello, hello! Happy Saturday to you! I hope you are all ready for the weekend. We're supposed to have a warm and sunny day today and I say - bring it on!

It's time for a new challenge at Challenge YOUrself today. This month our challenge is to use polka dots on your layout - and don't forget to include a photo of yourself!

I always love a pretty polka dot paper so I was excited to see this challenge this month. 

I don't think I have ever made a layout about my "happy place" which is my craft room. I was fortunate enough to get my own room when my daughter got married moved out, and I love spending time in there creating - or just looking through my supplies. I decided to snap this photo of me one day while I was sitting on the floor looking for some papers for a layout. It is ridiculous how happy it makes me to be surrounded by all the scrappy and stitchy things in my craft room!

I have used mostly the Simple Stories - Hey, Crafty Girl - collection on this layout. The polka dot paper was a scrap that I had leftover from their - Blue Skies and Sunshine - collection. It was a perfect match!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I added a tag where I will add my journaling and I may even take a photo of my scrap space and add to the back of the tag. However, it will need to be cleaned up a bit before I do that!

I was so happy to see a cross-stitch project on one of the sticker sheets in the Hey, Crafty Girl collection. Since I have gotten back into stitching the last couple of years. I felt like I had to add it to my layout!

Be sure to check out the Challenge YOUrself blog to see the amazing layouts from the rest of the design team and I hope you have a chance to play along with us this month!

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #165

Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday! It's time for the first card sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap!

Here is the great sketch that Heather has created for us:

Here is my card:

Once again, I had these scraps on my desk from a layout I will be sharing later this weekend, and I decided to use them for this card. These papers are from my March Counterfeit Kit. I just love these colors together! And I am happy to say that I do not have any more of the mint green or polka dot paper left to add to my scraps! I hope I can continue putting my scraps from a project to use instead of adding them to my scrap box!

I punched the flower and slightly rolled each petal around a paintbrush to give the petals a curved look. I also used some foam tape to the flower for a little dimension. 

This card came together so quickly! A 3x4 pocket card would be perfect for this sketch, too!

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see how the rest of the design team took on this sketch. I hope to see you playing along with us!

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

Forgeries on the Fourth With Counterfeit Kit Challenges

Hello, everyone! Today is the 4th day of the month and that means it is "Forgeries on the Fourth" at Counterfeit Kit Challenges.

Here's a reminder of the inspiration kit that I chose for March:

Citrus Twist February 2020 Scrapbook Add-On Kit

Citrus Twist February 2020 Life Crafted Kit - Possibilities

Both of these kits are full of items that are pretty easy to counterfeit - tabs, circle chipboard and flair, bows, arrows, word phrases, etc. I pulled out some stamps, punches, metal dies, and my trusty old computer and came up with these in no time at all:

I tried to pick ink colors that matched the colors I had in my kit. I then went to work stamping out labels, hearts, hearts in circles,  hexagons, arrows, and word phrases:

I had these guys stamped and mostly punched/fussy cut out in no time at all. In fact, I had them all done before the end of the movie we were watching. 

I always love to have some word phrases - like the ones that can be found on the stamp set in the Life Crafted kit. These are so easy to recreate on your computer - and you don't have to worry about messing up your project because your stamping didn't come out right!

I used the stamp sets that were released by Citrus Twist in February as my jumping-off point. There were several that I really liked and that would be easy to use. From there I thought up a few of my own - enough to fill an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. I typed them all up on my computer using a typewriter font and printed them out. Easy peasy and it took no time at all. 

After I printed out my phrases, I drew a box around a few of them to look like some of those on the stamp sets. I used a ruler on a few and even freehanded a couple for a...wonky, not-so-perfect look.

I love to add tabs to my projects - like the stamped ones above - but if you don't have a stamp, you can always use a hexagon die or punch to make your own version of them. 

I pulled out a few scraps that coordinate with my kit and a couple of hexagon metal dies.

Once they were cut out, I took them to my trimmer and cut the tips off to make the tab:

You get two tabs for each hexagon that you have - and a super-easy way to make a tab embellishment for your projects.

I've added all of these little goodies to my kit and they are all ready to be put to use. Whatever I have leftover at the end of the month can always be put in with the rest of my embellishments. 

I hope this gives you some ideas on making your own embellishments. I love that I can customize these any way I need for my projects. 

Head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see the forgeries from the rest of the design team!

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