Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #258

 Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope your week is off to a good start. Ours is starting out as a day off for everyone, thanks to freezing rain and slick roads. The temperatures are starting to creep to above freezing and it's starting to melt. I am so thankful that it didn't get any worse!

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

I created this card using scraps from my last project that I shared here. I thought they would be perfect for a love/Valentine's Day card. The sentiment is a sticker from the Simple Stories Happy Hearts collection. I added a couple of white puffy heart stickers that have been out on my desk for a while.

This card came together so quickly and I love that I used things that were already out on my desk!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration for this month's sketches. 

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

You're So Cool - Sketch N Scrap's January Monthly Challenge #5

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope you are having a good week so far. The temperature is warming up today - we have hit 33 degrees! That's feeling downright warm after spending the last few days right around 0 with the wind chill in the negative 20s!

Did you know that Sketch N Scrap is offering up a smaller format sketch starting this month? It has been posted over in the Sketch N Scrap's Monthly Challenges Facebook group as Challenge #5. Lisa has created a great 6x8 double-page sketch to kick things off. Don't let the smaller size scare you! You can adapt it to any size that you would like.  Today I am sharing a traveler's notebook layout that I created using the left side of the sketch.

Here is a look at the sketch:

And here is my layout:

I used the left side of the sketch and added an extra photo and a place for my journaling. Other than that I kept to the sketch. 

The blue dot paper is one that I had included in my 100-patterned paper pile for this year. There is no information on the back and no manufacturer strip, and it is very lightweight, which means it's either from the early 2000s or from Hobby Lobby. I used less than half of it, so I won't count it as being used until I can use a little bit more of it - maybe on a card. The background paper is from the American Crafts Ready Set Go collection from 2012 and the heart paper is from Pink Paislee's Pen Pals collection and both were in my scraps. It feels so good to use up some of these older papers in my stash!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The title is from Cocoa Vanilla's No Limits collection and the stars are from Pretty Little Studio's Savannah Dreams collection. The sunglasses are from an Echo Park summer collection... I can't remember which one I pulled them from, and the camera and red circle label are stamps from Elle's Studio Here & Now stamp set.

I am so happy that I used so many manufacturers on this layout! If this isn't using up my stash, I don't know what is!

The photos are of Miss Ada showing off her new sunglasses. She found them at Target on our last girl's day shopping trip right after Christmas and spent some of her Christmas money on them. She's showing glimpses of the soon-to-be teenager that she will be before we know it. 

Here it is in the traveler's notebook:

It has been a while since I made a traveler's notebook layout and I have missed it! I am so happy to be back working in them again.

Be sure to check out the new smaller format sketch at Sketch N Scrap's Monthly Challenges Facebook group. We would love to see how you interpret the sketch!

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #257

 Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend and if it is cold where you are - I hope you are staying warm! We are currently sitting at -2 degrees, which is really cold for us, and we have a chance of snow this afternoon. Our high for today is 4. Yikes! What a good day to stay in and get creative!

Today I am sharing the card that I created using Sketch N Scrap's January 5th sketch. Here is a look at the fun sketch that Lisa has created for us:

For my card, I used one of the 6x6 paper pads that I included in my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit for January. It is the Amy Tangerine Plus One paper pad from 2013. Gosh, I wish I had another one of these paper pads in my stash! I love all the papers that are in it.

I opted to change things up a bit from the sketch because I wanted to feature that pretty floral paper. I added my sentiment in place of the embellishment and I love how this one turned out!

The hello is from a metal die word set that has been lying loose on my desk for months now. It was the perfect size for what I wanted. I also added a few puffy dots around the sentiment area.

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog and the Sketch N Scrap Facebook page for more inspiration for this month's sketches. I would love to see what you create, too!

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

Flurry Friend - Sketch N Scrap #288

Hello, hello! Happy Thursday to you! Here we are at the 4th of the month and I am getting my second post up! I am hoping I can get back to posting more often here on my blog this year.

Today I am up on the Sketch N Scrap Facebook page sharing the layout that I made using Sketch and Scrap's January 1st sketch. Here is a look at the sketch, in case you haven't seen it yet:

Isn't that a fun sketch?! Here is my layout:

On the 29th of December, we got a little bit of snow, just barely enough to cover the ground, but it was a nice wet snow and perfect for building a snowman. The first thing Ada did when she woke up was to meet Pops outside to play in it! They built a snowman, that they named Bernard, and took the sled out for a few runs down our little hill. There wasn't a lot of snow but they sure made the most of it. I loved it when Ada said, "Winter in the country is so much fun!" If the weatherman is right, we might be seeing more snow the first of next week. I am looking forward to more days filled with building snowmen, having snowball fights, sledding, and finishing it off with a cup of hot cocoa!

For this layout, I used my winter-themed mini-kit from my stash bash kit. I also used a piece of paper (the dark blue background) from my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge pile. (I'll be going into more detail about that in another post.) I managed to cut into three of the papers from my kit, and I even remembered to use a scrap on this layout! 

Here are a few close-ups:

I stuck really close to the sketch, only adding a tag to the top - mostly because I wanted to bring more red into the top of the layout. I had thought about journaling on it but decided to just add my journaling under the photos. The red puffy heart and blue puffy dot were part of the extra embellishments from last year's bashket that I added to this month's kit. 

I added foam tape to the snowman and 'stay frosty' die-cut to add a little dimension. Another stamped phrase, puffy heart, puffy dot, and snowflake stickers finished out the cluster. 

Instead of my usual black ink, I printed my journaling out in navy blue. Trying to mix things up a bit more this year, and it's just fun to use a color sometimes for your journaling. Just like using a colored pen instead of always using blue or black!

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog and the Sketch N Scrap Facebook page for more inspiration using this sketch. I hope you find some time to play along!

And just for fun - here's a photo of me and Finnegan. He was being overly dramatic because I dropped my phone on the floor right next to him. Don't tell him, but he is kind of a big weenie!

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

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash January 2024 Kit Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy New Year to you! Ah, a brand new year. A clean slate, a fresh start, a whole new world of possibilities, and I am ready for it. Let's kick things off with a new Lisa and Lori's Great Stash Bash challenge!

Can you believe this will be our 5th year doing this challenge?! It does not seem like it has been that long for me! Over the years some months I have done really well with using up my kit, and others, not so much, but I am so glad that we started this challenge. I know that I have used up more of my stash thanks to this challenge. Now if I could just quit adding more stuff to my stash, maybe I would make a dent in it!

If you don't know what this challenge is all about, here's 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 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. 

This year we have decided to drop the 10 bashket items each month. I still have my basket of items from last year that I will be pulling from every month to help supplement my kits and to try to get them used.

Here is the "recipe" for January:

 

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers. Our focus item for January is a favorite of mine - 6x8 or 6x6 paper pads.

I am starting the year off with two mini-kits. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, I like to scrap in the season we are in so I am hoping for some snow this month, or I will scrap snow photos from previous years. Two, this is generally a gloomier time of year with winter in full swing. To help me combat the wintertime blues, I have pulled a second mini-kit full of bright colors.

Here is a look at mini-kit #1:

Mini-kit #1 consists mostly of Echo Park's I Love Winter collection for those wintertime photos. Here is a look at the papers:

I did add a piece of paper from Simple Stories Feeling Frosty collection, too.

For the embellishments, I have added the two cut-apart papers and the sticker sheet from the I Love Winter collection, and then I went through my bashket items from last year and pulled what I thought I could use with this kit.

I also added a couple of snowflake punches. I have a few snowflake dies, too, if I should need them.

Here are the scraps for this mini-kit:

Here is the much brighter mini-kit #2:

I love the pretty, bright colors in the Cocoa Daisy Happy Days collection! Here is a better look at the papers:

There's a good chance I will use both sides of these papers, but I am more likely to use what is shown.

Here are the embellishments:

I included the sticker sheet, the die-cut packs, cut-apart paper, chipboard stickers, and alpha stickers from the Happy Days collection, and then I once again went through my bashket from last year and added what would match.

Here are the scraps for mini-kit #2:

Our focus item this month is 6x8 and 6x6 paper pads and here is what I pulled out:

The Happy Days 6x8 paper pad, Simple Stories Let's Get Crafty 6x8 paper pad (2022), Amy Tangerine's Plus One 6x6 paper pad (2013), and the 6x6 and 8x8 Document Life papers (2019) from Pretty Little Studio. All of these paper pads match mini-kit #2 really well.

While going through my bashket, I went ahead and pulled whatever would match my kits this month. I am more apt to use it if I have it out and ready to go:

This year I will be adding a few stamp sets to each of my kits. I love my stamps, and I love to use them, but I don't use them nearly enough. So, every month I will add a few sets that I think I can use with my kit that month and challenge myself to stamp on (hopefully) every layout.

Here are my choices for January:

I have all of my stamps and extra embellishments in this little bin and it will stay on the edge of my desk all month long.

I am ready to get this month started and I hope that it is a very productive scrappy 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 - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2024

I hope to have a blog post up sometime this week going over my scrappy plans for 2024.

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog - My Creative Endeavors - to see her beautiful kit for January.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

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