Tis the Season - Sketch N Scrap November 15th Throwback Sketch Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday to you! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! We have a chance at hitting 80 degrees today, which is crazy for this time of year. 

It's time for the mid-month throwback sketch challenge at Sketch N Scrap today. Here is a look at the four sketches that have been chosen for us to work with:

I chose throwback sketch #116 for my layout:

I've been working on my 2023 December Daily to try and get it completed this year, and Sketch #116 was easy to shrink down for this 6x8 layout of me caught up in the craziness of getting a Starbucks Christmas-themed cup. I mean, doesn't everyone have a little photo shoot with the cup they got because they love the design?!

For this layout, I used the Simple Stories Holly Days collection.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The puffy sticker is from a Crate Paper Christmas collection, but I can't remember which one. I definitely wanted to play up the cup theme, so I die-cut a few to-go cups from the cup that I had saved from Starbucks. I love how they turned out! I knew saving the actual cup was a good idea.

The label was also on the cup, so I fussy cut it out and added a few word phrase stickers to it. I will add my journaling to a 3x4 or 3x8 card, and it will go into the album alongside the layout. 

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog for more inspiration using this month's throwback sketches. I hope you play along with us!

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

Sketch N Scrap November Crop Challenge #3

Hello and Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a good weekend. The weather switch has flipped to winter for a couple of days here. The high temp for the next couple of days is supposed to be the upper 30s... I'm not quite ready for that kind of cold! At least it only lasts for a couple of days, and then we are back to the 60s again.

Today I am sharing the layout I made for Sketch N Scrap's November Crop Challenge #3. This challenge can be found at Sketch N Scrap's Monthly Challenges private Facebook group, and this is our small-format sketch challenge. Along with the challenge, there is an added twist. This month's twist is a 5,4,3,2,1 challenge. You need to add 5 of one item, 4 of another item, 3 of another, etc. For example, 5 patterned papers, 4 stickers, 3 enamel dots, 2 hearts, and one photo. Keep reading below to find out what I used on my layout.

Here is a look at the sketch:

I am working on my 2023 December Daily, and this sketch was perfect for one of the stories I wanted to tell. 

I know I say this every time, but I loved working with this sketch! I love that I was able to use so many different papers, and I always love it when a big circle is included! 

To satisfy the challenge, I used 5 patterned papers, 4 sticker-backed brads, 3 gift stickers, 2 hearts, and 1 photo.

This story is of the day I took Shane to pick out his wrapping paper. We have been doing this for several years, and it is one of the things he looks forward to most during the holiday season. We were later than usual this particular year, but he had no trouble picking out a couple of rolls! 

I will pair this layout with a pocket page that will hold more photos and the story.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The "I (heart) the holidays" sticker and "a (heart) full of cheer" sticker were perfect for the title. Shane loves Christmas so much and talks about it all year long!

I used the Simple Stories Make It Merry collection for this layout. I love, love, love this collection, and while it was hard to cut into some of my favorite papers, I am so happy to have them on this layout.

Here is how it looks paired with the pocket page:

Be sure to check out the private Facebook group for all of our November crop challenges. You can find it here - Sketch N Scrap's Monthly Challenges.

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

Fall Is Here - Sketch N Scrap #322

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! 

I am popping in today to share the layout I made using the November 1st sketch at Sketch N Scrap. Here is a look at the sketch:

This is a great 3-photo sketch!

Here is what I came up with:

For this layout, I used my November kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. The papers I'd included in my fall layout kit were perfect for these photos of Abby and Ada in front of our pretty maple trees. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For my title piece, I used a 3x4 cut-apart card that I cut down into a square. I was going to embellish the empty space, but nothing looked right, so I left it alone. I think it is perfect the way it is!

I had included these phrase die-cuts from Pretty Little Studio in my kit. The colors matched really well, and they served well for a bit of "journaling" on my layout. 

I had a little trouble with this last embellishment area. I was limited on embellishments from my kit, but I wanted to try to stick with what I had in my kit instead of digging into my other supplies. I finally settled on die-cutting a doily to hold the who and when, and called it good.

I find I always have trouble with embellishing when I use a patterned paper for the background. Everything I try just makes my layout feel busy, so it's another layout with minimal embellishments. That seems to be happening more often for me here lately! 

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap to see the sketch and how the design team used it for their layouts.

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

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash November Kit Challenge

 

Happy Saturday and Happy November 1st! Can you believe that it is November?! The holidays will be here before we know it. 

The start of a new month means Lisa and I have a new kit challenge for you! 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.

Here is the November recipe:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and the focus item for November - stamps.

It's that time of year when I have all the feels going on! Fall is in full swing, Halloween just happened, and Christmas is on its way. I couldn't decide which way I wanted to go. I was really leaning toward a Christmas-only kit because I want to finish my December Daily from 2023, but I had a few fall and Halloween photos I wanted to scrap, so I decided to do all three. A layout kit for fall, a layout kit for Halloween, and a mega kit for Christmas!

Here is my fall layout kit:

This is what I had left over from a Flavors of the Month kit from The ScrapRoom. I love this collection and even have the complete 12x12 collection in my supplies, but this month I am concentrating on using up what is left of this kit.

Here are the papers:

And the other side, since there is a chance I will be using both sides:

The scraps:

The embellishments:

I added in a few die-cuts and stickers from an old Pinkfresh collection, a fall sticker book, and some random fall ephemera pieces that I thought I might find something that works.

Here is my Halloween kit:

I have photos of the new Halloween decorations I got this year that I want to make a layout of. I'm just not sure if it will be 12x12 or a small format layout. I may be able to scrap some of Ada's Halloween photos, too.

Now, for my big kit - my Christmas kit:

For this kit, I pulled the Simple Stories Make it Merry collection. It will work beautifully with the Elle's Studio goodies I have been using in my 2023 December Daily.

Funny story - when I went to pull out my current December Daily I have been working on, I truly thought it was from last Christmas! As I was looking through what I had completed, I saw the page of Ada's birthday party, and it was her 10th birthday. I thought I had messed up and put the wrong age on the layout because Ada will be 12 this year, but when I got to looking, it was 2023's December Daily! I haven't even started 2024 yet! That's how fast time is going for me!  

Here is a look at the papers:

I have two of the collection kits, so this is showing the front and back of each paper, along with the sticker sheet. So much goodness right there!

Here are the embellishments:

 

Our focus item for December is stamps, and you should know how much I love my stamps, so I pulled quite a few sets to have out on my desk this month:

I added in a few stamp sets I can use for cards, and the rest will all be used in my December Daily. 

This is a big kit and will stay out through Christmas of this year, at least!

I can't wait to dive into all of these goodies!

Be sure to head over to Lisa's blog - My Creative Endeavors - to see the beautiful kit she has put together. Remember, 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 #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2025 

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

Sketch N Scrap WCMD Sketch #4

 Happy Saturday! I can't believe that this time next week it will be November 1st! October has flown by for me, and if November follows suit, then the holidays will be here in the blink of an eye!

Today is the last Saturday of October, and that means it's time for our last exclusive WCMD card sketch at Sketch N Scrap. We have been celebrating World Card Making Day all month long with a new card sketch every Saturday this month. Here is the last card sketch of the month:

Such a fun sketch to get us started!

Here is what I came up with:

I found a few scraps from an old Echo Park collection - This and That - Girl - that I had put together to make a project or two to get what was left of the collection used up. This is my first project with those scraps!

The red floral paper is one of my all-time favorite papers, and I had less than half a sheet left. It was hard to use the majority of it on this card, but I love how it turned out, and I still have a scrap big enough to use on a traveler's notebook or small-format layout. 

The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts stamp set that I use a lot! It has so many good sentiments in the set. Some of the stamps are starting to lose some of their cling, so a good cleaning of them may be in order. I hope it works!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the sketch and more inspiration from the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with us! I would love to see your take on the sketch

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

So This is Finland - Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1

Hello and Happy Sunday! 

It's time for the first challenge at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. For this first challenge, Tina is challenging us to use globes on our layouts. Here is what I came up with:

I was so happy I had included that paper with the globes on it in my kit! I also used a stamped globe as an embellishment. 

About the photo - earlier this year, my son took his first vacation abroad. When I found out he had a connecting flight in Finland, I asked him to please get a photo of Finland for me. When I was in junior high, I had a pen pal from Finland. We kept in touch all through our school years and even after we'd both gotten married and started our families. I always thought it would be so cool to see Finland and where she came from. A couple of years ago, I decided to see if I could find her on Facebook. I knew she had moved to Sweden, but that was about it. I did find her, and it has been so cool to reconnect with her after all of these years!

Not only is this photo special for that reason, but my son barely had enough time to get from one plane to the next. He still stopped long enough to get me a photo of Finland.

For this layout, I used a sketch from the October 2025 PageMaps sketches:

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I love how this layout came together!

Be sure to check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see how the design team took on 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, hello! Happy Saturday to you! It's the first Saturday of October, and that means it's World Card Making Day! We are celebrating all month long at Sketch N Scrap with a new card sketch every Saturday.

Here is the first card sketch of the month:

I love everything about this sketch and have already added it to my favorites to be used again. And again. And again!

Here is my card:

I found a few pieces and some scraps of this Garland collection from Scenic Route (oh, how I miss them!), and I knew it was time to use them! I have enough left over for a few more cards and maybe a layout or two, so you may see this paper popping up on my projects in the near future!

The background of the dotty paper is not quite white, but a very light cream, and that made it a little difficult to match. I got around that by brushing a little bit of Close To My Heart's Bamboo ink all over a piece of white cardstock, and it was the perfect color!

The sentiment stamp is one of my favorites from the Hero Arts Lower Case Greetings stamp set. The tree is from Close To My Heart's Oh, What Fun stamp set. I popped it up on foam tape for some dimension. I finished it off with a few gold gems to take up some of the empty space.

My first Christmas card for the upcoming season is done!

Be sure to stop by the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the sketch and more inspiration from the design team. I hope you find some time to play along with us. I would love to see your take on the sketch, too!

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

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash October Kit Challenge

Hello again! If you are looking for my Counterfeit Kit Challenge post, please scroll down to the next post!

I am back with my second post of the day! October is kicking off with all of the scrappy goodness around here! This time, I am back with the kit I created for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit challenge. 

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.

Here is the October recipe:

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

I really expected to go full-on fall for my kit, but I am just not feeling the fall vibes right now. Probably because we are still in the mid-80s and it's looking to stay that way for the next couple of weeks. So, I decided to pull some papers that I found when I was reorganizing my papers a couple of months ago, which I have been hoarding for years! I think it's time these old papers got put to use!

Here is my kit:

All of these papers are from Cosmo Cricket - The Early Bird Collection, The Social Club Collection, and the Garden Variety Collection. I love the beautiful colors in all of these papers!

Here's a closer look at the papers:

That floral paper on the front row is my favorite of all of these papers! I may have to fussy cut some of those flowers out if I can bring myself to do that! It's just so pretty!

Here is a look at the embellishments:

If these collections had embellishments, I must not have bought any of them because the papers are all I have in my stash. I pulled a few ephemera pieces that matched the colors and were things I thought I'd be able to use easily, but I will have to grunge some of the pieces up because some of them are stark white!

I also added in a few wood pieces, enamel dots, brads, and a few flowers.

Here are a few stamp sets I pulled to help out in the embellishing department, if I need them:

I thought a few of the flower stamps would work well.

And, here are the scraps that I pulled:

That is my kit! I just hope I can bring myself to use those pretty papers!

Be sure to head over to Lisa's blog - My Creative Endeavors - to see the beautiful kit she has put together. Remember, 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 #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2025 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Guest Designing at Counterfeit Kit Challenges!

Hello, everyone, and Happy October 1st! I can't believe it is already October. I'm pretty sure summer just started last week!

I am super excited to share that I am guest designing at Counterfeit Kit Challenges this month! A big thank you to Tina and the rest of the design team for having me back as a guest designer. 

The inspiration kit for this month is Not Just For Boys Kit Club's - Journey the World Deluxe Theme Kit. Not Just For Boys offers up beautiful kits every month, so be sure to go over and check them out! Here is a look at the inspiration kit: 

 I was a little nervous when I saw that the inspiration kit was a travel kit. We are homebodies and rarely go on more than a day trip now and then. I thought I might have to go rogue with my kit! But, I decided what better time to scrap a few of the photos from Matthew's first international trip from earlier this year, so I embraced the travel theme and went for it! 

My kit is a bit more colorful than the inspiration kit, but I do have similar patterns in my kit.

Here is a look at my kit:

I was a little surprised at how many travel collections I had in my supplies! For someone who doesn't travel, I have quite a few.

Here are the papers I picked for my kit:

I have papers from Simple Stories, Pink Paislee, and Echo Park. 

I don't have many travel embellishments aside from the sticker sheets from the collections, so I have added in quite a few cut-apart papers to help out with embellishing. I see a lot of fussy cutting this month!

Here are a few of the travel sticker sheets I found in my supplies:

Not everything will be usable, but there are quite a few stickers that can be used.

I also found a couple of roller phrase stamps and other travel-related stamps that will work, and I pulled a few wood pieces, enamel dots, and flair pieces for my kit.

I thought these cut-aparts from an old Simple Stories collection could be cut up for embellishments, or used as is:

For more about this month's inspiration kits, head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenges blog.

Here is the list of the hop participants. Be sure to check them all out!

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer -  https://loriannie670.blogspot.com ----------------You are here!
• Brandi - https://www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/
• Cindy - https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
• JoJo - https://www.instagram.com/scrappyconfessions
• Julene - https://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/
• Laurie - https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookingbits/
• Ryann - https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookjoey/
• Misty - http://www.craftysoup.com
• Tina - https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Vikki https://www.instagram.com/memoriesandmomentsscrapbooking/
• Amanda - https://youtube.com/@amandacreates1980

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