Sketch N Scrap's World Card Making Day Sketch #5

 

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday and Happy Halloween! Even though Halloween is looking a little different for everyone this year, I still hope you are able to have some fun.

Today Sketch N Scrap has posted their final exclusive World Card Making Day sketch. Here is the great sketch that Lisa has created for us:

I probably should have gone with a Halloween card since today is Halloween, but I jumped right ahead and made a Christmas card. I am determined to have my Christmas cards for this year made by the first of December!

This is what I came up with:

I used Carta Bella's Farmhouse Christmas 6x6 paper pad for my card. The sheet of cut apart cards in this pad has the perfect sentiments for cards - and that is what I went with. 

I embossed the white background with my swiss dot embossing folder to add a little interest to the plain white, and I added in a few red gems in place of the holly berries. I looked for some holly, a wreath, or something to go where there is a flower placement on the sketch, but I couldn't find anything that was the right scale or the right color, so I left it as is and I think it looks just fine.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see how the rest of the design team took on this exclusive card sketch. I hope you can find some time to play along!

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #392

 Happy Tuesday! I am so happy that you have stopped by today. I hope your week is off to a good start. It has been cold and rainy for the last couple of days and that lets me know that I am not quite ready for winter yet! I mean 34 degrees for a high temperature is kinda crazy for this time of year.

Anyway, the cooler weather has me in the mood to work on my Christmas cards, and I used this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for my card today. Here's a look at the sketch:

I just have to say that I love this sketch! There are so many ways that I could go with it and it is going into my favorites folder and will be used again soon! This is what I came up with:

I think this is my favorite so far out of the Christmas cards that I have made recently! I cut my front panel about 1/8th of an inch smaller than my card base so it was just slightly smaller. I outlined that piece with a marker and then ran it through my Cuttlebug with a houndstooth embossing folder. The papers for this card are from the "Merry Little Christmas" 6x6 paper pad from Pebbles. Actually, the striped paper and the "Merry Christmas" sentiment are from the tear-away strips from the paper pad - a great way to use those up without cutting into a full sheet of paper. 

I added in 3 black gems and this card was done! I love how it turned out - and it was so quick and easy!

Be sure to check out the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog. Tomorrow will be the full design team reveal and last weeks Top 3 will be posted, as well.

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

Bewitching Beauty - Scrap Our Stash Challenge

 Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! 

Today I am sharing the layout that I created for this month's sketch challenge at Scrap Our Stash. We have a fun 3-photo sketch to work with and the added challenge to use fall or Halloween patterned papers and mixed alphas on our layout. Here's a look at the sketch:

And this is the layout that I created:

I kept the placement of the papers the same but then flipped the photo and title area to make it work with the photos.

I used Echo Park's Halloween Town collection for this layout with a few stickers and die cut from their I Love Halloween collection. The alphas that I used are from Simple Stories - these look to be more of a faded black - and EK Success. 

These photos are of Ada getting ready for our family Halloween party last year. She was excited to dress up as a witch and it was pretty fun to see her transformation into a not-so-scary witch! 

I love how this layout turned out and I can't wait to see her dressed up in her unicorn costume this year for our family party this weekend. Even if it will be just us instead of all of my family this year for the party, we are sure to have a good time!

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash to see the lovely layouts from the rest of the design team. 

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #180

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you!

It's time for a new card sketch at Sketch N Scrap today. Sketch artist Heather has created a fun sketch for us to use:

This is what I came up with:

 For my card, I have used Echo Park's Dear Santa 6x6 paper pad. I picked up this fun paper pad, and a couple of others, a few weeks ago in hopes of them inspiring me to get some Christmas cards made. I find these busier type papers are always the hardest for me to use so I have challenged myself to try and use a few of them first. And you know what? I actually really like how this card turned out!

I did change up one thing from the sketch - it shows a little tab of sorts peeking out from below the focus panel piece. I moved it up to right underneath my sentiment - I just thought that it looked better there since it was a continuation of the main sentiment. The "Ho! Ho! Ho!" sentiment is from an Elle's Studio stamp set and the "Merry Christmas" stamp is from an old Fancy Pants stamp set. 

I fussy cut one of the Santa heads from the patterned paper as a little embellishment.

 Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see how the rest of the design team took on this sketch. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

The Paper Girls Challenge #210 - Getting Ready For Halloween

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

It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Girls Challenge blog today and we are teaming up with the gals at Double Trouble!

First up is our challenge - Karrie is challenging us to show how we are getting ready for Halloween. Are you making decorations, cards, candy apples, homemade costumes? Are you getting old photos scrapped? Decorating your planner? This challenge is wide open - just show what you've got going on for this spooky season!

Now, if you choose to play along with the gals at Double Trouble here is what you will need to do:

Thing 1: Trouble Maker

says, "We again have Bats in our Belfry. Don't be afraid... Come Bat... Let's hang out! All you have to do is use at least three (3) colors, from our rainbow of Fall Bat Colors, and create a project. Colors: Purple, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red, Brown and Neutrals, Gold and Silver, are free to use.

You can stop here...

OR, you can choose to include Twisted Sister's Optional Twisted Twist below.

Thing 3: Twisted Sister

says, "Now don't go batty... our twist this time is twisted DON'T INCLUDE ANY BATS on your project, instead let's dress it up and include spooky cute Halloween images i.e. Ghosts, Witches, Skeletons, Pumpkins, just to name a few."

This is an OPTIONAL TWIST but you will be awarded an additional chance in Double Trouble's random draw if you have excluded bats from your project.

Be sure to link up over on their blog, too!

I think I have managed to do all three challenges for my Halloween card! I like to make a few Halloween cards to send out so the timing of this challenge was perfect and was just what I needed to get started!

To satisfy the Double Trouble challenges - I used at least 3 of the colors from their rainbow of fall bat colors - orange, green, black, white, and the star paper has some purple stars on it, and I did not include any bats on my project - just cute little jack-o-lanterns!

I used Echo Park's - I Love Halloween - 6x6 paper pad and sticker sheet for this card. I bought this paper pad this year because I was a little tired of the Halloween paper pads that I had in my stash. I am happy to say that I have already used almost half of this paper pad! Maybe I will get a few more cards made and get it {mostly} used up!

I based my card on Sketch N Scrap's World Card Making Day Sketch #3:

Be sure to stop by The Paper Girls Challenge Blog to see how the rest of the design team is getting ready for Halloween and be sure to stop by the Double Trouble Challenge Blog to see their beautiful creations! 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 Studio Challenge - Color Challenge

 Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Counterfeit Kit Challenge reveal, please scroll down. 

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges and this time around we have a color challenge for you! DT member Rainny has picked this beautiful color palette for us to work with:

This is what I came up with:

For my layout, I have used Amy Tangerine's - Late Afternoon - collection for this layout of Abby and Shawn getting ready to head out on their birthday date. Their birthdays are just 11 days apart. Not only that but their anniversary is just a few weeks before their birthdays, so they have a lot to celebrate in a small span of time. We always try to keep Ada overnight sometime between these two special times so that they can go out and celebrate. This photo is from 2018 when they dropped Ada off and were headed out for a fun getaway.  

I based my layout on this sketch from Sketch N Scrap from February 1, 2019:

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The date is done with the washi tape that comes in this collection. One roll is all of the months and one roll is just numbers - 1 through 31. I just cut off which pieces I needed for the date. At first glance, it looks just like a date stamp but it is indeed washi tape.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful 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 hope you have a great day!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge #2 - Trick or Treat

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. Mine has been very busy and very full - of all good things! I love it when I can spend some quality time with my girls, and that is just what happened yesterday. I think it was just what I was needing.

It's time for the second challenge of the month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge today. Master Forger Tracey has given us a fun "Trick or Treat" challenge. Since Halloween falls in October, you need to take three turns and pick either three tricks from the list below - something that's a little tricky to use - or three treats - something that you love to use. You can combine the tricks and the treats, but you must pick five items from the lists below and add it to your layout. Here is the list:

Tricks

hand stitching
eyelets
glitter
fringing
mixed media
doodling
rubons

Treats

flowers
enamel dots
 rainbows
stencils 
stripes
hearts
woodgrain

For my layout, I chose to go with "treats" and I used enamel dots, rainbows, stripes, and hearts.

I used the Pebbles - Live Life Happy papers that I included in my kit for this month. The only papers that weren't in my kit were the blue paper with the unicorn/rainbows/clouds on it, and the yellow paper, everything else was in my kit. 

I based my layout on this sketch that is for Day 9 of 30 Days of Sketches with Christy's Beautiful Life. You can find out more information about this on Christy's Youtube channel here.

I loved that with this sketch you can incorporate so many different patterned papers or project life cards on a layout.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I tried to add some splatters...didn't turn out like I had hoped...I should have done some stamping like I had originally planned...but it is done now and I am just going to embrace it and move on! 

Head on over to Counterfeit Kit Challenge to see how the rest of the design team took on this fun challenge. Which will you pick? I hope you play along!

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

TN Time With Lisa and Lori - October Challenge

 Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you all! I do hope that your weekend is off to a good start. 

It's time for the October challenge for TN Time With Lisa & Lori. 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 my challenge for October:

Add some stamping to your layout. It can be a little - like a date stamp - or a lot, it's up to you!

Here is the fun sketch that Lisa has created for this month:

Here is my layout using both my challenge to add some stamping and Lisa's sketch challenge:

This photo is of Ada on the night of her kindergarten graduation. She looked so cute and so grown up!

I used one of the Close To My Heart Stitched Together papers from my October Stash Bash Kit for this layout. The pinks that I had added to my kit were a little darker than what I wanted, but I did pull a pink stripe from one of my previous stash bash kits. 

I stamped the flowers from the Simple Florals stamp and thin cuts set from Close To My Heart (Z3724) in a few different colors and then used the metal dies to cut them out. I think they are the perfect accent for this sweet photo of Ada. 

Here are a few close-ups:

I also stamped a couple circle labels from Elle's Studio stamp set for my cluster bases and I used my date stamp to add to my tag. I did add a bit of journaling to my tag, too - just forgot to get a photo of it!

I also added some word stickers from My Mind's Eye to each cluster, too. These little guys have been in my stash for ages and I am so happy to put a dent in one of the sheets of them!

As a reminder - we will draw a winner in December for our September, October, and November in December so you have lots of time to play along with us - just add your layout to the linky below. 

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see her beautiful layout, too. 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!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #390

Hello and Happy Tuesday! I hope that you are having a great day!

Today I am sharing the card that I created for this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Here's a look at the sketch:

I needed a Halloween card and this is what I came up with:

I used Echo Parks's - I Love Halloween - 6x6 paper pad and stickers to make this card. You can't get any cuter than a witch, a ghost, and a vampire for a Halloween card, and I added a little puffy spider to the spiderweb.

After I took the photo of my card and got it here on the blog, I felt like the black background was a little plain, so I did add in some white dots with a white pen to make it look like a starry sky.

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

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

TN Time With Lisa & Lori

 Happy Saturday! I just wanted to let you all know that our October TN Time With Lisa & Lori will be delayed this month by just a week! We will be back next Saturday, October 17th with our October challenge. There will be plenty of time to play along with our challenges. The linky for September, October, and November's challenges will be open until December 9th so be sure to play along!

Check back in next week for October's sketch and challenge - you won't want to miss it! 

The Great Pumpkin Hunt - Scrap Our Stash - October What's My Challenge

 Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday to you! Today is hubby's Friday and I am ready for our weekend!

It's time for a fun mood board challenge for this month's - What's My Challenge - at Scrap Our Stash. For this challenge, you are to be inspired by the theme, colors, photos, or words of the mood board:

I was inspired by the fall theme, the colors, and the word "great" which appears in my title:

This layout is of Ada last year when her kindergarten class took a field trip to a pumpkin patch. All of the kids got to pick out a pumpkin to take home and Abby snapped these photos of Ada on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin, which turned out to be one of the littlest pumpkins in the patch!

I used a couple of different older fall collections from Echo Park on this layout - A Perfect Autumn and Fall Is In The Air. The colors in these collections were a great match to those in the mood board. 

Here are a few close-ups:

I love these alphas that I die cut using a great die from Scrapbook.com. I cut out a couple of layers of white cardstock to make my own faux chipboard alphas.

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash to see how the rest of the design team took on this challenge. I hope you have a chance to play along with us this month!

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

The Studio Challenges - Sketch Challenge

 Hello and Happy Sunday! It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges and it's one of my favorites - a sketch challenge!

Here is the fun sketch that Anna has created:

This sketch is based on this layout by DT member Helen. Helen has had to step down from the design team so this sketch is in honor of her.

This is what I came up with:

For this layout, I used the Simple Stories Kate & Ash collection - and I even managed to use washi tape! When I bought this collection I got the essentials kit that includes a roll of washi, so I decided instead of immediately throwing it in my washi basket that I would challenge myself to use it on my layout. It was perfect for the strips at the top and bottom of the layout. 

I cut the strips for my layout a little wider than is shown on the sketch and I only included 4 instead of the 5 that is on the sketch. I also changed things up a bit by including 2 - 3x4 photos instead of 1 - 4x6. 

The photos of Miss Ada are not the best quality but I couldn't resist scrapping them anyway. She always starts out with the cheesy grin and poses when I start to take her picture but if I'm patient, and just keep clicking away, I can generally get a good one! 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

This is such a fun girl collection to work with!

Head on over to The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along with us for this challenge!

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

Sketch N Scrap's WCMD Sketch #1

 Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you all! I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. 

Today is World Card Making Day and we are celebrating all month long at Sketch N Scrap! Starting today, and then every Saturday this month, we will have a new exclusive card sketch for you. Sketch artist Lisa is getting us started with this fun sketch:

This is such a versatile sketch and I know I will be using it again very soon! Here is what I came up with:

For my card, I used Jen Hadfield's - The Avenue - 6x8 paper pad. I really love this collection - it is just so pretty! The flowers are from the die-cut pack and were the perfect embellishment for the bottom of the card. 

This card came together so quickly and I love how it turned out. 

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along with us this month. 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!

The Great Stash Bash October Edition

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

I am back with my October kit for The Great Stash Bash 2020. The Great Stash Bash is a challenge that my friend Lisa and I have been doing this year. We have made it our mission to try to use up as much stash as we can this year. Here's how it 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 the October graphic:

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 12x12 sticker sheets!

Here is the kit that I have put together:

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

I picked all Echo Park papers and all but two are from 2013. I have papers from the Beautiful Life collection, the All About A Boy collection, a paper (kraft ticket paper) from That's My Boy collection (2014), and a paper (green solid) from the Birthday Wishes collection (2015).

Here's a look at my "old" embellishments:

I kind of cheated and went overboard with my embellishments...I am actually using three of the papers - the kraft ticket type paper, the cut apart sheet, and the multi-colored tickets as embellishments. I also stuck with our focus item which is the 12x12 sticker sheets and I was organizing my scrap room the other day and came across the Bella Blvd chipboard stickers. They were falling apart and I decided to throw them in my kit to see if I can get some of them used. The yellows are a pretty good match but the orange will be a little harder to work with the papers in my kit. The October Afternoon Label stickers were stuck to the back of the chipboard stickers so I threw them in there, as well.

Here is the "new" portion of my kit:

This kit is the Stitched Together paper and sticker sheet from Close To My Heart from this summer. I gotta admit that I am not too big of a fan of the sticker sheet - they are all so big - but we'll see if I can make them work. I know I will be using the hearts for sure!

I plan on using the sides of the papers that are shown above, but you may just see part of the other sides, too. Here is what they look like:

Here are the scraps that I put in:

At first glance, these scraps do not really look like they go with my kit! I have a particular layout in mind using some of the papers and I didn't have the photos in front of me when I was picking, which is why there are so many greens! I figured one of them would surely match!

We are focusing on using up our 12x12 sticker sheets this month and I have an abundance of those! Back several years ago an online store that I shopped at quite a bit went out of business. At their going out of business sale they had sticker sheets for sale. It was kind of like a grab bag where you didn't know what you were getting but I got a huge box full for cheap. We're talking pennies per sticker sheet by the time it was all figured out! When I got the box it was a big priority mail box and it was stuffed full of sticker sheets - mostly all Echo Park and Carta Bella and back when the alphas came on the sticker sheet! It had Christmas, winter, Valentine's Day, boy, girl, Halloween, family, every theme you could imagine. The only downside was that there were 2 and 3 of the same sticker sheets! But - you can never have too many alphas - so I didn't mind a bit, it is just taking me forever to use them!

By the way, there are 30 different sticker sheets in that pile and that is not nearly all that I have...I just might be a sticker hoarder!

I am so glad to have the 12x12 sticker sheets as our focus this month. They are out in a bin by my desk and I will remember to reach for them anytime I work on a layout!

I am excited to get to work with my kit and see how much of it I can use up this month!

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