First Video Game - Scrap Our Stash August Sketch Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Friday to you! We have made it to the weekend and I am ready for it! It's been a busy week with having my granddaughter and hubby having to work overtime so I am sure we will be enjoying a nice quiet weekend.

Today I am sharing my take on this month's sketch challenge at Scrap Our Stash. The sketch this month is a fun 3 photo sketch and the added challenge is to use striped paper and to add paint or ink to your layout. Here's a look at the sketch:

And here is my layout:

I can't believe that I have never scrapped these photos of Matthew with the first video game that he bought with his own money. I think it's pretty safe to say that we knew way back then that he was going to be a gamer! I love the photo of him holding his little piggy bank and the game - a Teletubbies game! 

I stayed true to the sketch and added a striped paper for my background and paint splatters for the added challenge. 

Here is a close-up:

I am so happy that I finally got these photos scrapped - it just took me 20 years to get it done!

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #382

Hello, everyone! Tonight I am popping on here to share my take on this week's sketch challenge at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. This week's sketch is such a great one and I am sure I will be using it again. Here's a look at the fun sketch:

When I saw the sketch I knew I would be trying my hand at one of the sunburst type cards. I've made a few of these over the last couple of years and I always struggle with them being cut perfectly. This time around I decided to embrace the imperfections and just roll with it!

Once again, my cuts did not want to meet up perfectly, so instead of recutting my papers, I distressed the edges of my paper pieces to give them an intended messy look!

For this card, I have used scraps from my Simple Stories - Summer Farmhouse - 6x8 paper pad. The sentiment stamp (S2005 Time To Celebrate) and flowers (CC5202 Beautiful day) are both from Close To My Heart. I then matted the front panel onto a piece of red cardstock.

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge tomorrow to see the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

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

The Paper Girls Challenge #206 - Emboss Like a Boss

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a good weekend and are ready to tackle a new week! It looks like it could be a busy week for me - filled with lots of Ada and Nana time - and I can't wait!

There is a new challenge posted over at The Paper Girls Challenge and this week Brittany is challenging us to "emboss like a boss". I love to use my embossing folders on cards, and you know I had to pull out my favorite - swiss dot - embossing folder for the card I made for today!

Besides my swiss dot embossing folder, I used Simple Stories' Summer Farmhouse collection for my card. I did not emboss about an inch on the bottom of the front panel so my washi tape would lay flat. It looked a little plain with just the washi so I added a couple of stripes of the gingham paper above and below the washi strip. The sentiment is from Close To My Heart - For My Beautiful Friend (S2007) - and I stamped it in sapphire ink from CTMH. I added in a few flower stickers and enamel dots to finish off my card.

Here is a close-up of the embossed card front:

Be sure to stop by The Paper Girls Challenge blog to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

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

Ready For School - LM #511 - Back To School, Halloween, or Thanksgiving

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I do hope that you are having a good weekend. Ours has been pretty quiet - which is how I like them! Abby starts back to work this week for teacher workdays so I will have Miss Ada most of the week, then she will start first grade on the 24th. Everything is so up in the air right now and I am a bit nervous about them - and Matthew - all heading back to school and college.

Today I am sharing my take on this week's challenge at Lasting Memories. Our theme for August is - scrapping special events - and this week's challenge is Back to School, Halloween, or Thanksgiving. I still have quite a few photos from all of these events that need to be scrapped, but since the start of school is upon us, I went with that.

This photo is of Ada last year after they had bought all of the school supplies that she needed. Oh, how different things are this year! I will not have a photo like this one for this year - a few local churches went together and bought all of the school supplies that all of the kids need and the supplies will be ready and waiting for them on the first day of school. What a kind and generous thing for them to do!

For my layout, I used an older kit from The ScrapRoom from a year or two ago. The papers are from Echo Park's Back to School collection and the embellishments are from Doodlebug Designs School Days collection. 

Here are a few close-ups:

I just love these cute little die cuts! 

Be sure to stop by the Lasting Memories blog to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along, too!

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

TN Time with Lisa & Lori - August Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I do hope your week is off to a good start. Today we are kicking off the August edition of TN Time With Lisa & Lori.

Here's a little refresher on how this challenge 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 my challenge for August:

(August 10th - September 9th)

Just use at least 3 different patterned papers on your spread!

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

And here is my spread - using both challenges:

I used my August kit that I created for The Great Stash Bash. So far I have made one card and now two traveler's notebook layouts using my kit this month. Hopefully, I will be able to get a couple more projects done with this kit before the end of the month!

To meet my challenge of using at least 3 patterned papers - I have the background paper, a navy paper, the hearts paper, and the yellow dot paper. The "so very lovely" paper behind the photo and the quote square that I used were both from the cut apart cards.

This photo of Ada is one of my favorites that Abby sent me when they went to the little nature park not far from their house at the beginning of May. Ada just looks so cute in it! She definitely makes us all happy when skies are grey!

This spread is definitely on the busy side for me! I think that is why I love working in my TN's. I feel a little freer with what I do in them - and if I want to mix papers I wouldn't normally mix on a full 12x12 - then so be it!

Here are a few close-ups of my layout:

I had this little sun die-cut still on my desk that I had cut out for another layout and then didn't use. I thought it was perfect to go with my "My Sunshine" subtitle that I added along the side of the photo.

I felt like the quote card got lost on amongst the other papers so I just outlined it to help it stand out. 

Thanks so much to Anna and Sandi for playing along with us last month! Remember - Lisa and I have decided that we are going to be giving away a prize after 3 months so all of our June and July entries will be added to our August entries and a winner will be announced on September 10th.

Be sure to check out Lisa's blog to see her beautiful spread for August. I hope that you are able to play along with us this month, too!

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Keepin' Cool - Scrap Our Stash - What's My Challenge

Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! It's starting out a little rainy this morning but the sun is supposed to be shining by noontime. 

Today I am sharing the layout that I created for the "What's My Challenge" challenge over at Scrap Our Stash! This month's challenge is to create a layout documenting a summer activity where you or someone else is trying to keep cool. For a little extra challenge, you are to include a sun embellishment and/or sun patterned paper. Here is the graphic for August:

I spent way too long looking for a sun patterned paper! I know I have a scrap of a Simple Stories paper with suns all over it, but I searched high and low and could not find it. Maybe I already used it - probably for the "backside" of the paper! I finally settled on just using a sun embellishment on my layout:

I came across these photos of Shane and Matthew playing in the little wading pools the first full summer we lived at our new place. We weren't quite ready for a big pool with the boys still being so little, so kiddie - or wading - pools for them! Abby wasn't too thrilled with that idea but she had fun with them anyway. I have photos of all of the kids playing in the pools but decided to make a layout of Shane first. He's just so cute in his baggy Lil' Swimmers pull up and I do think his favorite thing was getting in - and out - of the pool!

Here is a close-up of my sun embellishment - a Lawn Fawn metal die:

This is a pretty simple layout but I do love how it turned out!

Be sure to stop by the Scrap Our Stash blog to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. I hope you get a chance to play along, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a super Saturday!

Challenge YOUrself #80 - Vacation Mode

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday to you all! After enjoying a week of beautiful - cool weather for the first week of August - it is back to summer this weekend with temps in the 90's. That's all right with me. There's still a lot of summer left and the cooler temps will be here before we know it. 

It's time for this month's challenge at Challenge YOUrself today. The challenge is - Vacation Mode - and you must include a photo of "you" on your layout.

This one was hard for me seeing as how the last real vacation where we were gone for a week, left the state to visit a beach, was back in 2006. Sure we've gone camping for a couple of days here and there, and we've done day trips, but to be honest, the hard part was finding a photo that I was actually that I haven't already scrapped! So, I took it in another direction and scrapped about why we don't do vacations anymore and this is what I came up with:

I have used Simple Stories Sunshine and Blue Skies collection for my layout. It was fun to use the tropical flowers and have a beachy theme for a layout that is not about going to the beach - although I would love to do that again!

My journaling is a bit long but the gist of it is that we haven't been on a real vacation in a long time. Things were much easier when Shane was little and we could easily handle a meltdown - redirect - and get back on track. As he has gotten older - and bigger - well, it's not nearly as easy to pick up and go. We've done camping trips and still do an occasional day trip, but big crowds and strange places that are not his home when it comes to bedtime have gotten harder for him to handle. So, we bought a pool and our vacations now are spent in our own backyard with all of us enjoying the comforts of home. Sure we would love to travel and have new experiences, but for right now it is just not worth the stress and anxiety that it causes Shane. I am all right with spending another day in paradise - in our own backyard!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I hope you have a chance to play along with us this month! I would love to see your vacation layouts!

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

Counterfeit Kit Challenge August Mini Kit Reveal

Hello, hello! Happy Thursday to you! I do hope that you are having a good day!

Today I am here to share my Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini kit for August. And, you won't believe it, but I actually made a mini kit for once! Before we get to my kit, looks take a look at the inspiration kit that Master Forger Tina has picked for August - Hip Kit Club's August 2019 Main Kit:

This kit is filled with a lot of goodness but one paper really stuck out for me - and it's not one I would normally gravitate to when making a kit - so I thought I would run with it while the inspiration had hit. That paper is the house paper. Here is my page kit:

I knew I had a few different house papers in my stash and this one from Dear Lizzy's Lovely Day collection was the first one that I came across and it is the one I went with! I pulled three more papers, a stamp set, stickers, and enamel dots to complete my kit. Here's a closer look at the papers:

From left to right - navy paper - One Canoe Two Goldenrod - dark coral chevron - Pink Paislee's - Whimsical by Paige Evans, lt. coral - Crate Paper Willow Lane. Not a single paper from the same collection but they all coordinate very well.

From there I pulled my embellishments:

I started with the stamp set from Close To My Heart (The Great Indoors - CC5217) because I knew the story that I wanted to document has to do with the current situation with the pandemic. Then I pulled the sticker sheets from the Dear Lizzy sticker book that coordinated with the Lovely Day paper. I also pulled a few word phrase stickers, some puffy stickers, and a lot of enamel dots - mostly because I wasn't sure what colors I wanted. I added a couple of border stickers but ended up not using those. Everything else, I am happy to say, had something show up on my layout!

Here is my layout using my page kit:

I've been wanting to start documenting these crazy times and I have kept putting it off and putting it off but when I saw that house paper, I knew I wanted to use it to tell the story of how we've been affected by the pandemic - which at the time of these photos it was April 5th and we were two and a half weeks in, but really,  not a lot had changed for us - we are homebodies at heart and other than our weekly trips to town becoming fewer - it was pretty much business as usual. One thing that did change for all of us - Shane included -  was going out for a daily walk. We are lucky to live on almost 10 acres so it is pretty easy for us to get outside and still not be close to anyone else. I think we were all grateful to get outside of the house, even if it was for a small amount of time.

I managed to use all four papers on my layout and have enough scraps left over to make another layout or maybe a couple of cards. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The phrase stickers actually were labels but the colors didn't really match my layout so I cut the phrase portion out to use as just a phrase sticker.

I added a washi tape strip to the top of my journal box and layered another phrase sticker on top of it. The last word of my journaling also serves as my title at first glance and is stamped in outdoor denim ink from Close To My Heart. I then added a heart sticker in the middle of the "o".

I really love how this layout turned out and I am so glad that I am finally getting started documenting about this time in our lives. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Be sure to stop by the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see the mini kit and project that Clair has put together this month.

Have a great day!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #175

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week. We have been having gorgeous weather for the last few days and I am really enjoying it! It's kind of getting me in the mood for fall!

It's time for the first card sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap today, and Lisa has a great sketch to get the month started. It is one I can see myself using again!

I am really trying to make an effort to use my Great Stash Bash kit for this month. Since I had included the 6x6 paper pad, I thought I would use it for my card today. This is what I came up with:

These papers are from an older Simple Stories collection - A Charmed Life. I really love the green/blue/yellow color combo in this collection. When I cut one of the papers, the backside had one of the cut apart cards still intact, so I thought I would use it for my top layer. The lines aren't necessarily running the intended direction, and I covered up what was printed on the card with my flowers, but I think it looks okay!

I stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts) with Outdoor Denim ink from Close To My Heart and matted it on a lighter blue paper. The yellows are showing up a bit more orangy/gold than what they are in person...I just couldn't get it to show true. I am so ready for my camera cord to get here...

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards 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! Have a great day!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #380

Hello, everyone! I thought I would pop on here really quickly tonight and share my card for this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

Here is the sketch:

I really love all of the layers on this sketch and I know I will be using it again soon. Here is my card for this week's sketch:

I used all scraps on my card today. My scraps folder is getting pretty full so I thought it was time I went through it and get a few scraps used up. All of the small scraps are from Echo Park's - I am Mom - collection and the mint green dot is from one of the Echo Park baby collections. The sentiment is an older stamp from Close To My Heart.

Once I decided which scrap was going to go where this card came together quickly. 

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge tomorrow to see the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I hope you can find some time to play along with us this week. I would love to see your take on the sketch.

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

Happy Birthday - LM #509 - Birthday, Anniversary, or Graduation

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. The weather has cooled off a bit and I am enjoying sitting here with the windows open and the breeze blowing in!

It's time for a new theme and a new challenge at Lasting Memories today. This month is all about those special events in our lives and this week's challenge is - Birthdays, Anniversary, or Graduation. Here is what I came up with:

I chose to scrap my boys' birthdays from this year. I can't believe that we no longer have any teenagers in our house! All of my kiddos are in their twenties now. Wow!

I am trying to get back to my 52 Favorites of 2020 traveler's notebook. It has definitely been neglected and I would love to catch up a bit in it. This spread is for Week 4 of this year. 

I have used my August kit that I put together for The Great Stash Bash. I am so happy to get a little bit of it used already this month! Since this Simple Stories line is in no way a birthday line, I stamped a few party hats to use as embellishments. Looking at it now, I realize I meant to stamp one more hat and add it to the top right corner of the top photo on the right page!

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories to see the beautiful layouts from our design team. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

The Great Stash Bash - August

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. 

It's time for the August edition of The Great Stash Bash kit! I am a little embarrassed to say that I used part of the "new" portion of my July Stash Bash Kit but did not touch the rest of it. I have been working on a commissioned scrapbook for a friend and it is taking up a lot of my extra scrappy time. I do still have my July kit all together and ready to go when I do get a chance to scrap with it, and I have big plans for it, too, but I will get more into that a little later this month - if I have the time!

Here is how The Great Stash Bash Challenge works:

On the 1st of each month we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created following that prompt. During the month we will try to use as much of our stash kits as possible on different projects. Then, on the last day of the month, we will do a recap post showing what stash we were able to bash!

This will be a just-for-fun challenge so no monthly prize - but isn't the real prize using up our stash? You never know - if we still have a few unused stash items after a few months, then those items may just go into a giveaway. We hope you will join us in our quest to bash some stash in 2020. If you accept the challenge to play along - link up on either my blog or Lisa's blog (or both if you choose) so that we can see who is joining us each month!

Here is August's challenge:

We will be creating a kit of 10 papers (7 papers that are 3 years or older and 3 newer papers), 5-7 scrap papers, four embellishments (3 that are 3 years or older, and 1 newer embellishment), and this month we will be concentrating on using up our wood veneer pieces. Here's a look at my kit:

Once again, my old papers in no way coordinate with my new papers! Let's break my kit down.

Here is a look at the "older" portion of my kit:

I have chosen Simple Stories Happy.Go.Lucky collection - or what I have left of it. This is one of my favorite collections of theirs and after seeing Janet at RTS Scrapbooking use it for her most recent 4 for 4 series, I had to pull what I had left for my kit. 

Here's a look at my papers:

This is really the preferred side of the papers for me, but the other sides are just as pretty! Here is a look at the back side of the above papers:

The one thing that I kept under control this month in my kit is the scraps that I included. Usually, I pull a lot more than the recommended 5-7 - this month I only pulled 4 scrap papers for the older portion of my kit:

I also had al of the cut apart sheets left for this collection, so I added them to my kit. There are a lot of great images that could be fussy cut and I am excited to see if I can get a few of these papers used up! I also added what was left of the 6x6 paper pad, the snap collection of cards (4x6, 3x4, 4x4, 3x3, and 2x2)

For my 3 (or slightly more) older embellishments - it looks like I forgot to take a photo of the 4x6 overlays, but I included those some green enamel shapes, enamel dots, brads, puffy butterflies, washi tape, and a few alphas. Not all of the enamel dots match but I can definitely use the ones that do! I have also included my box of wood veneer pieces in the photo below. This is not all that I have but with having it in my kit it will remind me to grab for what I need.

Here is the new portion of my kit:

I thought I had taken photos of my "new" kit bit by bit but if I did I must have deleted the photos because I cannot find any but this one and I have already used this kit for a layout which was posted earlier today. Here is what I included - 5 patterned papers from Doodlebug Designs Bundle of Joy collection. I added the 6x6 paper pad - mostly for an added embellishment option and for the option of having more solid papers. For my embellishments, I picked out a few die cuts from the die cut pack for layouts that I know I would like to get scrapped and I added the enamel dots. Once again I kept my scraps to a minimum since I had a few extra papers.

A few of these papers and embellishments have already been used and I have plans for two more layouts with these papers - I just need to find the photos and the time to get them done!

 Now for the rules - Since this is a just for fun challenge the rules are not set in stone BUT we have them to help you focus on what really matters using your stash & to help spread the word of our fun challenge so others may join in!!  You know you have at least one friend who needs to use her stash!! 

Here are the rules: 

1. Follow the challenge prompt to create a kit to work with throughout the month. You may use other items, but please concentrate on using your kit. 

2. Create new, not previously posted projects using your stash kit.

3. If you have a blog - please include the challenge graphic and a link to our challenge in your posts. 

4. You may link to social media if you don't have a blog. If you share on Instagram, please make sure to use - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2020

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see the kit that I put together for her. I hope you are inspired to pull out some of your stash and play along with us this month. If you do play along with us - be sure to link up below. We would love to see your kits and your projects.

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

First Taste - Sketch N Scrap #206

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you all! I hope that you are ready for the weekend. 

Today is the first day of August and we have a new sketch for you at Sketch N Scrap. Sketch Artist Lisa is getting us started with a fun 2-photo sketch:

And this is what I came up with:

I can't believe I have never scrapped Ada's - first taste of cereal - photos! I will add a bit of journaling once I talk with Abby about a few of the details. Depending on how much I have to say - I will either add it above the title by way of strips - or in the lower right hand corner of the layout.

The idea for this layout is all thanks to a Youtube video that I watched of someone's haul that had this cute Doodlebug Designs baby collection in it. I knew I didn't have anything in my stash that had to do with baby food and these little die cuts won me over! I had to go and order a few pieces of the paper and the die cuts so I could finally get these photos scrapped.

Here is a closer look:

I added doilies for the base of my embellishment clusters. For this cluster, I found this little image of a baby with "Yum Yum!" in the 6x6 paper pad. I thought it would be fun to mark out the "yum yum" and add "Yuck!"  instead. She definitely did not care for cereal the first time she tried it. She never really was a fan of it, but she did get to where she ate it pretty well, although I think she liked it best if it had a little bit of some sort of fruit mixed in with it!

I love going back and getting a few of these older photos of Ada scrapped!

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

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