Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #246

 Hello, hello! Happy Saturday to you! I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. We don't have any plans for the weekend and I am hoping to spend some time scrapping and stitching!

Today I am sharing the card that I created for Sketch N Scrap's July 20th card sketch, created by me! This is a simple sketch and easy to use in a variety of ways:

Since I am working on my Christmas cards and since I still had out the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes scraps from my first card, I decided to use them up on this card! 

I used the Warm Wishes stamp set for my sentiment and for that cute little birdie. I scored this stamp set at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 a while back (I am still sad that they are closed!) and I am so glad that I was able to find it! I love all of the stamps that are included and I know it will come in handy during the holiday season.

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for inspiration for all of our sketches. We would love it if you played along with us!

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

Fall Out Boy - Sketch N Scrap #277

 Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! Today I am popping on here really quickly to share the layout that I created for Sketch N Scrap's July 15th sketch.

Here is a look at the sketch that I made for this challenge:

And this is my layout:

I went a little bit old school on this one, using cardstock, making my own alpha letters, and using very few embellishments. Since I had quite a few photos that I wanted to use, I even turned it into a double-page layout. 

About the photos - Abby has been a Fall Out Boy fan since the beginning. Her bedroom walls were covered with pages from all of those Tiger Beat type magazines of the group. She always wanted to go to one of their concerts but it just never happened. Until this summer! She found out that they were coming to Maryland Heights, MO, and immediately got on and ordered tickets - even treating Matthew to a ticket since he is a big fan, too. She scored three great tickets - center stage and just a few rows back from the mosh pit - and was counting down the days from February when she ordered the tickets to June 23rd, the day of the concert. Since they had an extra ticket and since Matthew's roommate, Charlie is a big fan, they invited him to go along. They all had a great time and it made this momma's heart happy to see her adult kiddos going on an adventure together! Abby loved it so much that she came home, found a ticket for the Rogers, Arkansas show, and went again a couple of weeks later. I love that my girl is finding her way and doing a few of the things that she has always wanted to do.

Here is a look at the other page of the layout:

These photos were both taken by Abby and a couple that I found on Instagram (the group selfie and the smaller photos of Joe and Andy).

For this layout, I used my July kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. I had included a star stencil in my kit, and I did try it on my background, but ultimately I felt like it made it way too busy and I went with the plain background.  

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For my title - I knew I needed something that would stand out against the black-with-white-stars paper. I found a stamp with a design that I liked, stamped it on white cardstock, and then die-cut the letters. I die-cut the letters a total of three times to create faux chipboard. I love how they turned out and Abby said it reminded her of all of the fishnet that she saw at the concert!

I found the purple puffy alphas in my stash and luckily had enough letters to make the subtitle - which is also the tour name,

 I told Abby to write down some of her favorite lines from her favorite songs and I typed them up and scattered them around the layout. I really like how this turned out and sometimes it's just fun to not have to worry about so much embellishing!

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap to see how the design team took on this sketch. I would love to see your take on it, too!

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #245

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday to you! I hope that you are having a good week. We finally got some much needed rain yesterday. It has been so hot and dry this summer and the rain was very welcome. 

Today I am popping on here to share the card that I created using the July 5th sketch at Sketch N Scrap. This was a fun sketch to work with! Here's a look at the sketch:

I decided I'd better get a head start on my Christmas cards for this year. I haven't sent out very many Christmas cards the last few years and I would like to change that this year, so here is the first for this year!

I used Vicki Boutin's Warm Wishes for this card. I don't have very much of this collection - just a few of the 12x12 papers and the die-cut pack - and now I am really wishing that I at least had the 6x8 paper pad! I love how this card came together. The only thing that I would have liked to do differently was to stamp the sentiment in white ink or use white embossing powder on it. I think it would have looked better than the black. But, I could not find the white ink pad that I bought a while back - I need to make a note to find it - and my embossing usually ends up a hot mess, leaving me frustrated that it didn't turn out, so black ink was the solution!

The sentiment is from Crate Paper's Hey Santa collection. I either picked this up at Tuesday Morning or got it on clearance at Scrapbook.com last year, and this is the first time that I have inked it up. It has so many cute images and sentiments and it is staying out on my desk so I remember to use it this holiday season. 

I felt like the little white banner was pretty plain, so I added a punched heart to it. I also had some gold metallic thread on my desk so I tied a double bow to add to the top of the ornament.

Now I have a Christmas card all ready to go this holiday season!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration using our sketches. 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!

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash July Kit Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy July 1st to you! 2023 is halfway over! This summer is going by so quickly - and it has just started!

It is time for the July challenge for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash and I have mixed things up a bit this time around! When I was pulling my kit, I was torn as to whether to pull all 12x12 papers or whether to pull 6x8 papers and work on my traveler's notebooks this month, so I did both! I get so much more scrapping done when I have pre-planned, and I did a lot of planning the last couple of weeks! So settle in, there are lots of pictures in this post!

Before I get to my July kit, I thought I would let you know how I did with my June kit. I made two layouts and a card. Not as much as I would have liked, but better than nothing, and to be honest, I did not scrap much last month. It has been so nice having my girls here with us and I have been enjoying spending time doing things with them - even if I did neglect my scrapping! We are all settled in now, and I'm pretty sure I'll get more done this month!

Now, 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.  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 July:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and our focus item for July - which is washi tape. Don't forget to pick your 10 items for your bashket!

For July, I am going with two layout kits. Here is my first kit:

Since we are in full-on summer mode around here, I had to make a summer-themed kit! This kit is all Echo Park's Sunkissed collection, and it just makes me smile! I love the fun bright colors and patterns. I can tell already that I might "need" a couple more sheets of a few of these papers!

Here is a look at the papers:

I did add two papers from my stash - the navy paper and the reddish-pink paper. There aren't many generic, or basic, papers in this collection - and I'm okay with that! That just means that I can show some love to the papers in my stash.

I can't wait to cut into these papers! Don't you love it when just looking at papers makes you excited to scrap?! 

Here are the cut-apart papers and the 6x6 paper pad. I wish Echo Park would change to 6x8. It would make things so much easier for me!:

I do plan on making at least one pocket page layout with these papers this month.

Here are the embellishments from the collection:

I have both embellishment packs, the sticker book the enamel dots, and since our focus item is washi tape, I picked out a couple of rolls that matched the kit. 

Here are a few scraps that I pulled for this kit. Not many, but if I need any other colors, I can always pull them. 

Here is my second layout kit:

This kit isn't my usual kit - it is mostly cardstock and I had to search my stash for embellishments that would work for the layout that I have in mind. And it is the one that I am most looking forward to working on! It's always great - and easy - when you have a collection full of everything all coordinating and ready to go, but sometimes it's fun to just raid your stash and see what you can find!

Here are the papers:

I have black cardstock, white cardstock, purple cardstock, and a couple of black and white papers to mix in.

Here are the embellishments:

While I was looking for a particular star stamp set (which I forgot to find! Note to self - go find the stamp set!) I found my stash of puffy alpha stickers and some other stamps that had been put in a drawer and forgotten about. I will be using lots of stamps and die-cut stars for this layout and I plan on actually making a double-page layout! We'll see if I am able to put the stencil to use, too. 

For our focus item, I pulled an assortment of washi tapes that I hope will work with all of my kits, and I just hope I remember to use them:

Now for my bashket items. I always manage to use one or two items each month but I need to do better! I'm about to need to go up to a bigger bashket again! 

1 - puffy word stickers from Felicity Jane

2 - word stickers from Jillibean Soup

3 - two sheets of summer-themed stickers from Simple Stories

4 - rub-ons that I have no idea if they will even work

5 - a sheet of word stickers from Amy Tangerine

6 - two sticker sheets from - I think - an Amy Tangerine sticker book

7 - a phrase sticker sheet from Simple Stories

8 - and acetate piece with multi-colored hearts and a stamped 'love this' that I never used

9 - kraft frames

10 -  three random border stickers that need to be used!

Now for my 6x8 kits. I won't be going into too much detail on these, but hopefully, you'll be seeing traveler's notebook layouts with these goodies on them!

Simple Stories - Into the Wild - I have one, maybe two, layouts planned with these goodies, and one of them will not be a zoo layout!

This one is a mix of Simple Stories - My Story and Boho Sunshine. The colors in both of these collections work so well together.  To be honest, when I got the Boho Sunshine, I wasn't too crazy about it. Here's hoping I can put at least some of it to use! I have at least two layouts planned with these goodies. I also added in a few 6x6 papers for matting purposes.

Cocoa Vanilla - Happy Days collection. I added a few 6x6 papers to this one, as well, and I have two layouts planned with it. 

Simple Stories Homegrown. No embellishments with this one, so I might have to get a little creative, but I have two layouts planned with it, too.

Simple Stories Life Captured. No embellishments picked out for this one yet, either. I'm not sure if there will be anything from the collection that I will want to use, or if I'll get creative again! Nothing is planned for this one just yet, but if I have it out and ready to go, I'll be more apt to use it.

I also pulled a couple more stencils and another stamp set. I would love to show some of my older stamp sets some love this month! 

That is it! I will be happy if I get even half of what I hope to do done!

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 wonderful day!

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