Sketch N Scrap #265 - Winter Fun

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday to you! I hope that you have had a good week. It has been a busy one around here but I did manage to get a bit of scrapping done.

Today I am sharing the layout that I created for Sketch N Scrap's Sketch #265. Here is a look at the sketch:

And this is what I came up with:

For this layout, I have used my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit for January and I was even able to use some of my items from my bashket on this layout. 

These photos of Ada were taken last Februray when we had a little bit of snow still on the ground. We took our hillbilly - Clark Griswold inspired - sled down to the creek and had some fun. It wasn't a big hill by any  means but Ada still had so much fun! I haven't added any journaling yet. I still have a few photos from this day that I would like to scrap and make a companion page to this one and if I do I will add the journaling to that page. I'm afraid it would get lost in the busyness of this page!

Here are a few close-ups:

I moved my title over to the other side of the page. I really wanted to add the snow day wood piece and since it looked the best on the right side of the page, I felt like the title and it together on the same side was way too wordy and way too much for the same side! I sprinkled in a few of the snowflake buttons from my bashket, as well. 

I love this little cluster on the photo. The banner piece was included in the die cut pack and I punched out the snowflake from the back side of the light blue paper. A wood veneer piece and another snowflake button finished it off nicely.

I am so happy to get the snow-themed items and the rainbow striped photo corners used out of my bashket.

I haven't scrapped nearly as much as I would have liked to this month but there are still a few days left in it. Maybe I'll get a few more items from my kit used up.

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration. 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!

LM #634 - One Little Word

 Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend.

Today I am sharing the traveler's notebook layout that I created for this week's challenge at Lasting Memories. For January we have been focusing on the year that has passed and the new year ahead and this week's challenge is 'Word of the Year.' Many people follow Ali Edwards One Little Word and use their word to focus their intentions for the year. This week we were to choose a word and create a layout using the word as our title.

Now, before I get into my post, I just want to say that I have chosen words in the past but I have never subscribed to Ali's One Little Word Class. That does not stop me from choosing a word to focus on throughout the year.

Here is what I came up with:

This year the word that I have chosen is 'Intentional.' I thought of several words as possibilities but I just kept coming back to intentional. The definition of intentional is - done on purpose; deliberate. When you are intentional you choose to make decisions and take action on what's most important to you. This is so what I need for this year! 

I want to be more intentional with our money - more saving - less spending - and I want to be more intentional with the money that I spend on my hobbies. I want to make sure I have a purpose already in mind for what I am buying instead of buying things just because they are pretty or because everybody is buying them and I have FOMO! If I am being more deliberate with spending then that is going to help with the saving!

I want to be more intentional with my relationships - making sure to spend more time with the ones that I love and to always be present.

I want to be more intentional with my time. Less time online - more time with the ones I love and doing the things that I love. 

Lastly, I want to be more intentional with my scrapbooking and the stories that I want to tell. 

For my layout, I have used papers from an American Crafts paper pad and I managed to use a couple of the labels that I had put in my bashket for this month!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The alphabet stickers I picked up from the Studio Calico big year-end clearance sale. I wish I had gotten a few more packs of them! They are the perfect size for my traveler's notebooks and project life. I even managed to use a strip of washi tape that I got from Felicity Jane's big sale.

I based my layout on this sketch from Journals For Life:

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #234

 Hello, hello! Happy Friday to you! I hope that you have had a good week. I upgraded my phone this week, hubby and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary, and we had more pretty days than yucky days - which is saying a lot for January weather around here!

Today I am sharing the card that I created using the January 20th sketch at Sketch N Scrap. Here is the card sketch:

And this is what I came up with:

 A quick and easy card using the Simple Stories Sweet Talk collection. I just have a few scraps left of this collection and I would love to get it used up this year - so you might be seeing a few Valentine's Day cards using this collection soon. 

The cute little koala bear was punched out with a 1 3/4 inch circle punch from the 2x2 cut-apart paper. The 'love you' sentiment came from the sticker sheet. The only thing not from this collection is the blue strip of paper. It is from the Best Day Ever 6x8 pad and the only blue paper that I could find in a quick search to go with the blue on the koala bear piece. The strip is a shade darker than the circle but they do look good together.

Head on over to the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the lovely creations from the rest of the design team. I would love to see your take on this fun sketch, too!

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

LM #633 - Title Page

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

Today I am sharing my layout for this week's challenge at Lasting Memories. Our theme for January is "New Year Challenges" and this week is all about those title pages. I thought this would be the perfect time to get my title page done from my 2023 Project Life album. 

For my title page, I have used Simple Stories' So Happy Together collection. I have loved this collection since it came out and I have been holding onto the cut-apart papers just for this layout. I knew I would get around to it eventually!

Along with the cut-apart papers, I have used phrase stickers and die cuts from the same collection. For the date, I have used stickers from Bella Blvd and I used a stamp from Everyday Explorers, as well. The puffy hearts are from Sticko and have been in my stash for years! I am so glad that I was able to get a few on this page.

Here are a few close-ups:

I added each of our names and ages (as of January 1st) to labels on each of the photos.

I stamped a (half) circle label to the top of this card and added the 'just us being us' stamp to it. That stamp is from the Our World Prompts set from Everyday Explorers.

The title pages for my Project Life albums are some of my favorites to make and I am so glad to have this year's title page in the book! My photos for week one are all printed and ready to be added to the pages. I can't wait to get this album started!

How about you? Do you have any title pages that need to be made? Maybe a title page for a travel album, a school album, a baby album... Now is the time to get it done! Head on over to Lasting Memories to see the lovely layouts from the rest of the design team. 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!

 

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #233

 Hello, hello! Happy Thursday to you! I hope that you are having a good week.

Today I am sharing the card that I created for Sketch N Scrap's January 5th card sketch. Lisa has created such a fun sketch to work with - one that is great for scraps! Here is a look at the sketch:

And this is what I came up with:

I recently received a MEGA bundle of Simple Stories goodies from Anna at Piece Craft Love. I was so lucky that out of all of the almost 100 papers that I received - there were only a few papers that I already had in my stash. Everything was pretty new to me. In my bundle she had included several papers from the Emoji Love collection and the chipboard pieces from that collection. All I had of this collection was a 6x8 paper pad that I picked up at Tuesday Morning a couple of years ago and it is mostly used. I decided to create with these goodies before I added them to my stash.

I used the chipboard speech bubbles to create my sentiment - with a little help from a couple of Studio Calico alpha stickers. I didn't have much room to spell out "you're" and my sentiment block was already bigger than the sketch shows - so using U and R was the perfect solution. I was going to add some sort of embellishment - a crown, a unicorn head, or one of the emojis - but they all just looked out of place and too big for the areas, so I kept it simple with just the sentiment. 

This card is already in the mail to Miss Ada. It has been a while since I sent her one and this year I have decided to challenge myself to immediately send out the cards after I make them instead of adding them to a box for "later."

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration from the design team using this sketch. 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!

Looking Ahead - 2023 Scrappy Plans

 Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday to you! I hope that you are having a good week so far. We are only five days into the new year and yet it seems like it's been weeks! I'm not sure why it feels like that - probably because it has been a busier-than-normal week around here trying to get back into the normal routine again.

Anyway, I wanted to hurry up and get my scrappy plans posted for this new year. I went back and reread my scrappy plans for last year - and (sadly)  not much has changed. You can read that post here. I remember writing that post with every intention of achieving at least a few of my goals...and the only thing that I really achieved was "just scrapping." Now, I did make progress in some of those albums that I talked about in that post, but I did not get a single one completed. And you know what? I am totally okay with that! I am done putting pressure on myself to get these albums done. I honestly think if I go into this year without any expectations that maybe I'll surprise myself with what I do get done. We shall see!

My plan for 2023 is simple - I want to concentrate on my Project Life albums and my traveler's notebooks. That is what I want my main focus to be this year. Done, finished, finito! This post could be done right here - but I'll explain a little as to why I want this to be my focus. 

 This is where my heart is at right now.

I have been making 12x12 layouts for 25 years now and I know I said this last year, but I am running out of space for all of these 12x12 layouts and albums. I can get so many more stories told - a whole year's worth of stories and photos - in one project life album - or even in my traveler's notebooks - than I can in a traditional 12x12 album. The stories of our everyday life - the ordinary, the mundane, the stories that I want to remember but that don't need a whole 12x12 layout to be told. That is what I want to focus on this year.

When I first started scrapbooking I made sure to journal - a lot. I wanted to have down every little detail of the memory that I was scrapping. Somewhere along the way I kind of lost sight of that. Well, I didn't really lose sight of it - my focus just shifted. 

Being the mom to a child with severe autism was - and still is - hard. When Shane was little and in school, I felt like I was only known as "Shane's Mom." I don't even know if half of the people that I came into contact with even knew my name! That is not a bad thing but I just felt like I didn't even know who I was - other than "Shane's Mom." 

I started sharing my layouts online and I found my people! Y'all knew me as Lori first and Shane's Mom second! I felt like I had finally found myself. I was scrapping more as a creative outlet - just getting the basics down for journaling - than for storytelling. Some days the basics were all that I could muster.

And now I find myself, once again, in a different season in life. My kids are all grown and Miss Ada looks to be the only grandchild - at least for a while - and she just turned 9. I don't take nearly as many pictures as I used to and a lot of the pictures I do take are more fitting to a project life album than a whole layout to themselves. I want to get back to telling the stories, to go beyond just the basics and dig deep as to why I feel about things the way that I do. 

This doesn't mean that I am done with scrapping traditional 12x12 layouts but if I can keep the number of those layouts to about 3-4 per month, I will be a happy camper. I am still on the Sketch N Scrap design team - so you know I will be making two 12x12's a month for them - and I am still on the Lasting Memories design team. At Lasting Memories, I can always make traveler's notebook layouts for the challenges - which I will do whenever possible!

Lisa and I are continuing with Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash in 2023. This challenge is still near and dear to my heart and we have added a fun twist to it this year with our bashket challenge! 

I have gotten better about not buying nearly as often and buying with intention when I do. That being said, I kind of went a little crazy with the after-Christmas sales...I might have gotten a few things from Scrapbook Generation's big clearance sale, Echo Park's warehouse sale, and Studio Calico's end-of-year clearance sale, and then Felicity Jane had to send an email that everything was 75-80% off, and then Anna posted that she had Simple Stories mega bundles for sale at Piece Craft Love...I couldn't resist a Simple Stories mega bundle!

Besides the mega bundle, everything I purchased I have plans for. The majority of things that I bought at Scrapbook Generation and Echo Park were Disney items - which I have none of in my stash - and since Abby's family went to Disney this past summer and have plans on going back later this year, I know I am going to put what I bought to use. I also picked up another pack of pocket page protectors for my project life album at the EP warehouse sale. You can't beat a 50-pack of protectors for $15! 

At Studio Calico I picked up some of their Documenter's kits and Traveler's Notebook kits. Their past kits were already on sale and then they gave a code to get another 50% off of that. When I can get a kit that normally costs $30-35 for $8-10...yes, please! I figure this is a good way for me to see if I want to eventually subscribe to one of their kits or not.

And at Felicity Jane, I bought a few more traveler's notebooks and several of their journaling card packs from their different collections. 

Out of everything that I bought, I only got one pack of 12x12 paper and it was a Disney collection pack. That is a win in my book! Now it is time to tighten the old purse strings for a while!

So, my goals for 2023 are:

1 - work on my 2023 Project Life album and any other year that I feel like.

2 - play along with Paper Issue's 52 Favorites this year - in a traveler's notebook.

3 - finally get around to doing a Traveler's Notebook or 6x8 album based on Ali Edwards' - Pieces of Me, Pieces of the Past, and Pieces of Home series from last year.

4 - get caught up on Ada's school TN.

5 - work on (and hopefully finish) Ada's Favorite Photos of 2018 TN.

Those are my main focuses of the year. Anything else will just be a bonus. And notice I just said "work on" instead of "completing" on the majority of those! I'm trying to set myself up for success this year!

How about you? Have you noticed a change in your scrapping recently? I would love to hear about your goals for this year, too!

Thanks so much for sticking to the end of this post!

Have a great day!

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash - January 2023 Kit

 Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. I am starting the new year off right around here!

The new month means it is time for a new Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit reveal! Lisa and I are continuing this challenge in 2023 and we've mixed things up a bit for the new year. In addition to our kit, we are also adding a "bashket" challenge. More on that a little later in this post.

If you don't know what Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash is all about - here is how it works - On the 1st of each month, we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created using that prompt. During the month we will try to use as much of our stash kit as possible on different projects. Then, on the last day of the month (or in my case on the first of the next month!), we will do a recap post showing what stash we were able to bash! With the addition of our "bashket" challenge, I am really going to try to remember to do a separate recap post to keep track of what I have used!

This will be a just-for-fun challenge so there is no monthly prize - but isn't the real prize using up our stash?  We hope you will join us in our quest to bash our stash! If you 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. Now, on to our first kit reveal of 2023!

A big thank you to Brandi for playing along with us in December! She made so many cute layouts with her kit!

Here is our "recipe" for January:

Not much has changed with our basics - add 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and our focus item - which for January is wood veneer - and this year we have added 10 bashket items. More information on that after I show my kits.

To start off the new year I have decided to pull two mini-kits. Here is mini-kit #1:

This kit is made up of Simple Stories Pet Shoppe ad Pet Shoppe Cat papers. I only bought the papers from these collections - thinking I would be using them for non-pet pages. I did grab a couple of the cut-apart papers and I added a stamp set, so they will serve as my embellishments.

Here is a look at the papers:

I honestly bought these papers because I loved the patterns and the colors and I thought they would be good for guy pages. You may see a variety of layouts from this kit this month!

Here is a look at the b-sides:

Since there is a variety of colors in these papers, I tried to pull scraps for each color:

For my second mini-kit, I have pulled papers from PhotoPlay's Snowed In collection. We got a little bit of snow a couple of days before Christmas and I have quite a few snow pictures from last year that I need to scrap, and this collection was just begging to be used!

Here is mini-kit #2:

Here are the papers that I will be using:

Those blues, pinks, greens, and yellow are going to be fun to work with!

Here are the b-sides:

For my embellishments, I originally had just pulled the sticker sheet, ephemera pack, and one of the cut-apart papers, but then I thought of the Feeling Frosty collection from Simple Stories and I pulled a few embellishments from it in hopes of getting it all used up!

I added a couple of 6x8 paper pads, the Feeling Frosty stamp set, and the brads. Not everything matches but I'll use what I can.

Here are the scraps that I pulled for this kit:

Our focus item for January is wood veneer so I pulled out a couple of my boxes to see what I can get used this month:

There's quite the variety of wood pieces here! I have plans to use the little wood veneer words from Jillibean Soup in my journaling - but that is going to take some thought!

This year, one of my goals (my goals post is coming soon) is to use my stamps more often. I subscribe to Studio Calico's stamp kit and get a new stamp every single month. While I used a few of them as soon as they came in last year, others have not even been inked up yet, so every month I am going to pull a few stamp sets that I would like to use that month. Here is what I have pulled for January:

I have December's stamp set from Studio Calico plus a couple others from SC that I got for Christmas, an Everyday Explorers stamp set, and a few older sets from Close To My Heart. I would love to use each of these stamp sets at least once this month.

Now, about our "bashket" challenge. I have talked about the bashket challenge before here on my blog, but if you don't know what it is - here is a little bit about it. I believe the bashket challenge started in the Bash Your Stash Facebook group several years ago and the idea is to pull a set number of items - say 10 -  that you want to "bash" and put them in a basket, bin, tray, etc. and leave them within reach so you can get them used up. When you use all of those items then add 10 more items to your bashket. 

I have so many random odds and ends floating around my scrap room from past kits and I hope this challenge will help me to focus on getting them on layouts. 

Here is our bashket challenge:

Your items can be anything that you want - just pick 10 items to add to your basket. 

The items I pulled definitely influenced my kit this month. Here is a look at my 10 items:

1. a set of four frames

2. snow themed wood veneer and snowflake buttons

3. Jillibean Soup month labels

4. an arrow paper clip

5. a set of four rainbow-striped photo corners

6. I don't even know what to call this thing! It's like white-out but it lays down multi-colored arrows

7. assorted enamel dots/shapes

8. puffy stickers

9. a pack of labels and tags

10. 3 - star-shaped "tacks"

The snow-themed wood veneer and rainbow-striped photo corners will definitely be used on an upcoming layout and I already used one of the labels and a few of the enamel dots on the layout that I posted earlier today!

For this month's items, I have one of the large trays/lids from Target. I already have a basket on stand-by when I need something bigger, but this little guy is working just fine for now:

I am so excited for this new year of Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash and I can't wait to see how much stash I can use!

Head on over to Lisa's blog to see the beautiful kit that she has pulled together for this month. 

This is a just-for-fun challenge, but if you do play along and put together your own stash bash kit - add it to the linky below and we will be sure to check it out and cheer you on! 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, and link it below.

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 - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2023

 

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

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Puppy Secrets - Sketch N Scrap #264

Hello, hello! Happy Sunday and Happy New Year! I always say this, but I cannot believe that it is the first day of the new year. The older I get, the faster the years seem to go!

Let's kick the new year off right with a new sketch from Sketch N Scrap. Lisa is getting us started with a fun one-photo sketch:

And this is what I came up with:

For this first layout of the new year, I have used Simple Stories Pet Shoppe and Pet Shoppe Cat papers. When these collections came out I didn't even give them a second look. I really wasn't interested in any more pet collections - I need to use up what I already have - but then I saw them in person at Scrapbook Generation and realized that the majority of the patterns were pretty generic - and in colors that I love! I didn't buy much - just the papers that I really loved and knew that I could use easily. I loved these papers so much that when I saw Scrapbook Generation had them on their end-of-year sale I may have ordered more.

This photo is of Winnie and Willie back when Winnie was new to the family. It didn't take Willie long to warm up to her and when Abby brings her over to be a "country dog" they have the best time together. I loved this photo of the two of them sitting on the deck. In reality, Willie is probably sniffing her, but to me, it looks like he is telling her a secret.

Since I didn't have any embellishments, I just made do with some odds and ends - enamel dots, wood veneer, a label, stamps, and punched circles from one of the pattern papers. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I am making it a point to use my stamps more on my layouts this year. Ideally, I would like to do some sort of stamping on every layout, if possible. I stamped a phrase on a label for this layout:

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the sketch and the lovely layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

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