Hello Spring

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week. 

Today I am sharing a traveler's notebook layout that I created for a Mindful Monday prompt over in the From Lens to Paper Facebook group. I am way behind on these prompts but I do plan to catch up and keep up over the next few weeks. Here is a look at the prompt:

And this is what I came up with:

For this layout, I used scraps from this month's Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit. So far, I have only managed to use up one full sheet of my kit, but I have used up quite a few of the scraps that I included. 

The photos were all taken around the first day of spring and are of some of the flowers around our house and the field when it was first starting to turn green - all sure signs that spring is here.

I stamped my title using a combination of stamp sets from Studio Calico (spring) and Citrus Twist (hello). I wanted to be sure to add in some journaling, so I created a photo flip to accommodate that:

Creating the photo flip also meant that I had room for one more photo!

I love how this layout turned out and I can't wait to add a few more layouts based on the prompts to this notebook! I know that the majority of the prompts are going to have a lot more journaling with them and I may even use the prompt more than once if I have more than one story to share about it. I am so excited to work on this traveler's notebook!

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

So Thankful - Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #240

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend and that your week is off to a good start. I can't believe that it is the last Monday in April! This month has gone by so quickly for me. 

Today I am sharing the card that I created using the April 20th card sketch at Sketch N Scrap that was created by me! Here is a look at the sketch: 

For this card, I used Simple Stories - The Simple Life - 6x8 paper pad. I even die-cut a circle out of one of the cut-apart cards in the paper pad for my sentiment. I used a doily die to die-cut a mat for the sentiment to sit on. 

I changed things up a teensy bit from the sketch - making my sentiment the focal point and omitting the banner. My circle was a bit larger than the one on the sketch and didn't leave much room for anything else. 

This card came together really quickly once I decided which papers I was going to use. I love it when that happens!

Don't forget - Sketch N Scrap will be celebrating its 11th birthday throughout the month of May! Be sure to check out the blog and the private Facebook group for all of the fun!

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

Bunny Treats - Sketch N Scrap #270

Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday to you! I hope you are having a good week. It has been a while since I have posted anything and I wish I could say that I have been scrapping a lot and just haven't had time to post, but sadly, that is not the case! I wish it was, but it is not. Life has been crazy busy lately and I just haven't had the time to scrap like I would like. I can't wait for it to slow back down a bit so I can get scrappy again! 

Today I am happy to share with you the layout that I created for the April 1st sketch at Sketch N Scrap! Here is a look at the great sketch that Lisa has created for us this month:

And here is my layout:

For this layout, I used the springy papers that I included in my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit for April. The papers are from Close To My Heart's Backyard Bliss collection and I thought they were perfect for these photos of Ada and her Easter basket from last year. I wish I had a few more sheets of that floral paper! It is so pretty!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I added a vellum circle underneath my title to help it stand out from the busier background paper. I didn't want to completely cover the pretty pattern and the vellum helped to tone it down just enough so that the title did not get lost. I added a few flower stickers, a phrase sticker, and a few enamel dots to my title area.

I didn't have anything in my stash bash kit that was Easter related, so I went into my stash and found this bunny die-cut from Simple Stories to add to my layout. I didn't want my layout to not have at least a bunny on there since it was an Easter layout! A few more floral stickers (flowers are our focus item at Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash this month), the bunny die-cut, and a phrase sticker - all on top of another vellum circle - finish out this cluster. 

For my last cluster, I added another - smaller - vellum circle with more floral stickers, a phrase sticker, a chipboard piece, and more enamel dots. The phrase stickers, the banner sticker in the above cluster, and the chipboard piece were all in my bashket. I love it when I can use things that I have included in my bashket on my layouts!

Before I go today, I want to let you all know that we are gearing up for our 11th Birthday Bash at Sketch N Scrap next month!

The celebration starts on May 1st and I hope that you will join us all month long. We will have an exclusive iNSD sketch on the first Saturday of the month and then a new layout sketch every Saturday after that for our Birthday Bash. That's a total of six new layout sketches during the month of May - counting our regular sketches on the 1st and 15th. Along with the new sketches, every Tuesday and Thursday, a design team member will be picking their favorite sketch and they will be challenging you to use that sketch on a layout. There will also be prizes, so come on over and join us all month long in May!

 Here's the link to our private Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SNSmonthlychallenges - 

where all of the challenges will take place. You will also find the regular sketch challenges and the exclusive iNSD and Birthday Bash Sketches on the Sketch N Scrap blog here.

We hope you join us in celebrating Sketch N Scrap's 11th birthday!

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

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash April Kit

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday and Happy April 1st! Spring has sprung and I am lovin' it! 

The new month means that it is time for a new Lisa and Lori's Great Stash Bash kit challenge. 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! This year we have added a bashket challenge to our kit challenge. Every month we pick 10 items that we want to get used up this year in a basket. We try to use as many of those items as we can during the month. If we don't use them all then those items stay in the basket and at the beginning of the next month, 10 more items are added. The object of the challenge is to try to keep your basket from overflowing!

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. 

Here is the "recipe" for April:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and our focus item for April - which is flowers.

Don't forget to pick your 10 items for your bashket!

For April I have pulled a mix of spring and summer papers and embellishments. Here is my April kit:

I have chosen a mix of paper and embellishments from Close To My Heart and Echo Park for this month's kit. Here is a better look at the papers:

The papers on the back row are the more springy papers and the papers in the front are more summery but I will definitely be mixing and matching them for my projects this month.

Here is a better look at the "spring" papers:

The pink-striped paper and the blue diamond are from Echo Park and they match that floral paper perfectly. The darker pink paper, the wood plank paper, and the floral paper are all from the Close To My Heart "Backyard Bliss" collection, and the light blue paper is from the Close To My Heart "These Are My People" collection.

Here are the more summery papers:

The three papers on the left are from the Close To My Heart "Stitched Together" collection and the three on the right are from Echo Park's "My Favorite Summer" collection.

Here are the embellishments:

I have pulled the 12x12 sticker sheets from both collections, the sticker book, both ephemera packs, washi tape, enamel dots, and the cut-apart pieces from the My Favorite Summer collection.

 Our focus item for April is flowers and while I do have flowers on the sticker sheets and in the sticker book, I also pulled a few stamp sets that have flowers that I hope to get inked up this month:

And I can't forget my bashket items for April! Here is what I pulled:

1.)A set of six tags that I have no idea where they came from! I know they are from Simple Stories but I have no idea what collection they are from.

2.) A pack of flowers from Cocoa Vanilla's "Hello Lovely" collection that again, I have no idea where they came from. But, hey, they are flowers and they match my kit pretty well this month!

3.) The Simple Stories Life Documented chipboard pieces. I've used a few of the pieces at some point but there is still a lot left.

4.) A sticker sheet from Echo Park.

5.) The chipboard word "hello." I'm pretty sure this came in a kit from the Secret Not Secret Kit club back when I got a few of those. It's getting pretty beat up so I'd better use it soon!

 

6.) A pack of Bella Blvd buttons.

7.) An old label sticker sheet from Scenic Route. Gosh, I wish these had a date on them! I have been hoarding them since I bought them!

8.) A sheet of word phrase stickers from Simple Stories. I'm not sure what collection they are from but the phrases are very usable and I hope to use the majority of them on my projects this month.

9.) Puffy stickers from a Pebbles kit. I'm pretty sure I got these in a kit from The Scraproom since it's just a partial sheet, but I could be wrong.

10.) A collection of die-cuts that I pulled for kits when I was on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Design Team and they never made it back to where they came from. I have loved pulling die-cuts to make my own little die-cut packs for my bashket and I'm happy to say that I've already used several on my projects in the last couple of months. 

Here's hoping I can make a dent in some of these items this month!

I am also keeping the rest of the My Favorite Summer collection close at hand. I had a hard time choosing which papers I wanted to go into my kit, so I will keep this close in case I need something else:

I almost forgot my scraps - and I actually pulled quite a few this month:

Lots of pink, blue, red, yellow, and grey. I even found a piece of vellum that I added to my scraps. Hopefully, I will remember to use it!

I did okay with my kit last month. I got two layouts and a card made from it and it is still staying out close in case I want to use it for some more summer layouts. I am still struggling with the motivation to scrap. I get all excited to go scrap and then I either get side-tracked or I just feel at a loss for where to start. I am hoping to do better this month! Pulling kits always gets me excited to get back into my scrap room and work.

Now, 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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter