The Studio Challenges - Selfie Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you all! I hope that you are having a great weekend. The temperatures have finally gotten above freezing, the snow is melting, and I say - bring on spring! I've had enough of winter these past two weeks and I am ready to spring.

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges! Since this is the first week that the new design team members are joining us, and so you have a chance to get to know them, this week's challenge is a selfie challenge! Just scrap a photo of yourself!

Here's my layout:

I took this selfie a few weeks ago just for this challenge. I titled it - Right Here, Right Now - mostly because Shane has been listening to Jesus Jones' song by the same name over and over and singing the chorus as he roams around the house! I guess it has sunk deep into my subconscious mind because when I was trying to come up with a title, that is all I could think of  - right here, right now - and I decided to do a "currently" list that is hidden behind the paper layers.

I used papers that I had put into my 100 patterned papers pile. I still need to do up a blog post about that... Anyway, these papers are mostly from Echo Park. The pink stripe paper is from Crate Paper and the wood grain paper from We R Memory Keepers. I managed to use up three papers and a couple of scraps on this layout.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The "right now" card is from Elle's Studio and reads - 

Loving - cross-stitching

Eating - country fried steak sandwiches (these have been my go-to lunch lately)

Reading - no time for reading!

Watching - WandaVision and Hallmark

Listening - The Maine and Luke Bryan

Creating- Lists and TN's

Date - February 19, 2021

I really need to do these types of layouts more often! I think it will be fun to look back on down the road.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful work 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 will be back a little later with another project to share.

Dear Sweet Girl - The Studio Challenges - Old and New

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. It's going by way too fast for my liking!

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today. Before I get to the challenge, I did want to let you know that we have a design team call going on now. You can find out all of the details in this post here. It is a great team to be on and we would love to have you join us!

Now on to this week's challenge - we are starting the year off with an easy one for you - Old and New - just use something old on your layout and something new and tell us what it is!

For my layout, for something old I have used a splatter stamp, doilies, a glassine bag, old alphas, and acrylic hearts. For something new I have used the Simple Stories Hip Hop Hooray papers and enamel dots and the heart die cuts are from a new metal die:

I am so glad that I remembered to pull out that splatter stamp - it's actually Close To My Heart's Ink Flair (D1660) stamp set. I can't remember when it came out exactly, but I have had it since it came out and this is the first time I inked it up. It is such a great way to make the splatters without making a mess - or smearing the splatters before they are dry! I only had white doilies and I knew they would not show up on the white background, so I went old school and inked up a piece of a sponge and covered the white doilies with Juniper ink. I think they turned out perfectly!

I added a glassine bag behind my photo for my journaling. I wrote a letter to Miss Ada about this day and had quite a bit to say, so I folded it up and added it to the bag. Here is a close-up:

This photo was taken back in 2017. It was one of the hardest times that we have had with Shane. School was hard for him - new teachers that didn't understand him, and didn't want to take the time to understand him or to listen to our ideas of what would help. He was only going to school for 2 hours in the mornings and more often than not I was turning around and picking him up before I had even had a chance to get home because they couldn't handle him. This was one of those mornings. Ada and I had dropped him off at school after I picked her up from Abby and we had just got home and they called, telling me to pick him up. He was very frustrated - as anyone who cannot express what was happening would be. Even after we'd gotten home it took him a while to calm down. I always tried to keep him and Ada separated until he calmed down, but on this day he reached out and hit her on the back as she walked by him. And dear sweet Ada - at her tender age of not quite 4 - knew that if she full out cried that it would only cause him more frustration, so there she sat, tears in her eyes, and it broke my heart. She should not have had to hold in those tears, but she did for her Uncle Shane, and to this day when I see this picture, it still breaks my heart. I just wanted her to know that I saw what she did, how brave she was - and still is. She has had to deal with a lot more than most kids should with having a special needs uncle and she always handles it like a trooper.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Layouts like this one are always hard for me to make but I think it is important to document the hard days, too. And 30 minutes after all of this took place Shane calmed down, he was in his safe place again, and all was well in the world. Oh, the roller coaster ride of the autism life! Ultimately, 2 months later in November of 2017 we and the school agreed that Shane was done with school and he graduated out early. Here we are, 3 years later, and if anyone mentions the word school he still gets upset.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges blog to see the rest of the design team members take on the old and new challenge. I would love to see what you create, too! Don't forget about the design team call!

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

LM #374 - Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend. Ours has been pretty quiet - which is really nice once in a while!

We have a new challenge for you today at Lasting Memories. Our theme for the month is "Winter/December Holiday Traditions" and this week our challenge is a tic tac toe challenge. Create a Winter/December Holiday layout and use the following tic tac toe board. Use the items in any row going up and down, across, or diagonally.

Doing a December Daily this year has really had me thinking about different stories and things that I want to be sure and get pictures of this holiday season. Ada loves to look at all of the ornaments on the tree. I'll find her at least once a day just looking at the tree and really looking at the ornaments. Every time that I ask her which ornament is her favorite, she always picks this pink lollipop that I got in our family ornament exchange in 2012. Since Ada always helps us decorate the tree, I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition of asking her which ornament is her favorite and see which one she picks each year.

I have used the last row on the tic tac toe board - sequins, stars, and wood veneer. The papers are from Doodlebug Designs "Sugarplum" collection - I just love those little ornaments and the non traditional colors on this layout! I have used acrylic stars from Elle's Studio, wood veneer from Hobby Lobby and Studio Calico, and the sequins have been in my stash for a long time!

The ornament paper and the pink striped paper were in my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge box, so that is two more papers that I got used up!

Head on over to Lasting Memories to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I know it's a busy time of year, but I do hope you find some time to play along with us!

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

Caught Red-Handed - Soul Scrappers - Random Word Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you!

I am here today to share a layout that I made for the Random Word Challenge #16 over at Soul Scrappers. The letter for this month is "R" and our list of words that can be used is:
1. relax - relaxing
2. rascal
3. rowdy
4. red-handed
5. ravishing
6. ray of sunshine

I had found this old photo of Matthew when he was two and a half and in his naughty corner. It was called his naughty corner because when he got quiet and couldn't be found - he was usually behind the rocking chair doing naughty things - like using my sewing scissors to cut up the newspaper or his Curious George shirt because he "didn't like it". On this day he was caught red-handed using my scissors to cut up a newspaper. It's a wonder he didn't cut a finger off!

I almost always start my layouts with a sketch and I found this one that I had pinned from Stick It Down from a few months ago:

I liked the messiness behind the photo that was on the sketch and thought I would try and recreate it. I watered down some white acrylic paint, dabbed some wadded up plastic wrap in it and then applied it to my background. I then used some of the watered down paint for some splatters.

Here is a close up of it with the photo on top of the area:

Head on over to Soul Scrappers and check out the challenges! We would love to have you join us!

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

LM #367 - Stamping With Something Other Than A Stamp

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you. I hope that you are enjoying your weekend. Ours has been very quiet, which is really nice once in a while!

We have a new challenge at Lasting Memories today. Our theme for October has been "Around the House" and the last challenge of the month is - Stamp with something other than a stamp.

I have used a jar lid to stamp my circles and a pencil eraser to stamp my dots.

I knew I wanted to use these photos of Shane and when I saw this sketch I thought it would be perfect for what I wanted to do.

I did add in the stamped circles to go around the title and the journaling, and my elements are more on a diagonal than up and down, but I think it works.

Here's a close up of some of the stamping. 

Since my photos were pretty neutral I wanted  to add in a few pops of color. I had these papers in my new 100 Patterned Paper Challenge box, and they are what determined the color combo of this layout. Since I only used little strips of each paper they will all go back into my box to be used again. I will have more on my new 100 Patterned Paper Challenge a little later this week.

Head on over to Lasting Memories to see the awesome inspiration from the Design Team. They have some very creative was to stamp with something other than a stamp!

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

Sketches In Thyme #219 - Little Nana

Hello! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! I've got to do a little grocery shopping this morning and then the rest of the weekend is free.

Today is my day to be featured on the Sketches In Thyme blog. This week we are working with a great sketch from Bev.

I love these photos of Ada in my reading glasses! Any time she sees them laying on the table - or anywhere within her reach - she is grabbing them up and wearing them. I love that she puts them on top of her head - just like Nana! She is so stinkin' cute!

I was able to use up another one of my papers from my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge stack on this layout. The greenish blue background was a scrap from that pile. Everything else on this layout is from Bella Blvd, with the exception of the wood veneer, enamel dots, and the scribble die.

Be sure to check out the Sketches In Thyme blog often. There is new inspiration every single day! There is also a great prize being offered this month, so be sure to get your layouts linked up for a chance to win!

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

The Memory Nest's Make It Monday #71

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! We are enjoying the last day of our long weekend, so our week is already off to a good start!

Today is Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest. We are back to our regular schedule of posting twice a month. Our first sketch of September is courtesy of Leslie.

Wow! Look how little Ada is in these photos! She wasn't quite 6 months old, and she was rockin' the shades!

I kept pretty close to the sketch on this one - only switching the title placement to the top and omitting the other layer under the left photo - I didn't want to cut up that cute XO paper! Speaking of the XO paper - it is another sheet off of my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge stack! The pink grid is the back side of it, so I got more of it used than you think!

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest to see the layouts from the rest of the team. I hope you play along with us this month!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day - I know I plan to!

Scrapbook Challenges SS '16 Sketch #13

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! How is your week going so far? We have been having gorgeous weather lately, so no complaints here!

Today over on the Scrapbook Challenges blog we have sketch #13 from our Sizzlin' Summer of Sketches.

I had so much trouble deciding how I was going to use this sketch! Use it as is with the four smaller photos, use one photo in place of the four...there are just so many possibilities with this sketch. I know I will be using it again!

In the end I decided to stick with the four smaller photos, but I used 4x3 photos in place of the 3x2's. Because the photos I used were a little bigger, I had to adapt the sketch just a bit to make it work. I really wanted to use the tags on this layout, but there just wasn't enough room to make them look right.

The blue paper on this layout is some of the oldest paper in my stash. I know I have had it since probably 2004! It also came out of my 100 Patterned Paper challenge stash, so that's one more sheet that has been used! I also used my Fiskars teeny tiny star hand punch to punch those little stars. I just love those little stars, but they are kind of a pain to work with!

These photos are of the kids from the 4th of July 2013. Shane was in a mood to take lots of pictures - thanks to the flags - so they all just had fun being silly and posing with the flags.

I am a little sad that this is our last week of Sizzlin' Summer of Sketches! Mostly sad because I didn't get as many done as I had wanted to. Hopefully I'll get a couple more made before the end of the week. Regardless, they will all be filed away for later use.

Check out the Scrapbook Challenges blog to see what the other design team members did with this sketch. You have until the end of the month to play along.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Such A Cutie - Sketches In Thyme #214

Hello everyone! Happy hump day to you! This week just seems to be flying right on by and before you know it we will be back to the weekend.

Today is my day to be featured over at Sketches In  Thyme. This week we are working with the talented Sara Mishler's sketch.

I used a couple of pieces of paper from Shimelle's Star Shine collection along with her "Shimelle" 6x6 paper pad. I just love it when collections from the same designer match so well together! All of my embellishments, with the exception of the enamel dots, came from the Star Shine collection as well. The turquoise background piece is from my 100 Patterned Paper challenge stack. It looks like it's a little brighter than the other colors, but it really does match very well.

Check out the Sketches In Thyme blog any day of the week for new inspiration. We have 3 sketches posted so far for August, and a couple more to follow. I hope you have time to play along with us. Every layout you enter gets you a chance to win this beautiful paper pack:

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

Ada Do It! - Scrapbook Challenges #494

Hello again! This is my second post of the day. If you're looking for my Christmas Cards All Year Round reveal, please scroll down or go here.

We have a brand new sketch up over at Scrapbook Challenges today. This sketch  has the space for a large photo, but it would be great for a photo collage, or it could easily be adapted to fit smaller photos as well.

I chose to use 4 - 4x5 photos on my layout. These photos are from just a few weeks ago when we went to the pool. Ada loves the water and spent all of her time "jumping" off the side, and then when Pops or her Mommy would try to hold on to her she would try to pull their hands away and say, "Ada do it!". She's not as big as she thinks she is! 

The greenish blue background paper and the yellow paper are both from my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge stack. Surely if I keep using a sheet or two on every project this pile will disappear! Then I'll have to try to do another one!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure to check out the Scrapbook Challenges blog to see the layouts from the rest of the team.

Have a great day!

Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style Sketch #38

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my PDE Linky Party reveal, please scroll down or go here.

Today is my day to be featured over on the Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style blog. This week we are working with this sketch from Kirsty.

For my card I turned the sketch on it's side.

I am back to working on Ada's first year album. It's been quite a while since I've done anything with it and I thought I'd better get back to it. Otherwise, she will be starting school and I still won't have it done! 

Here is the completed layout - just a note, I have a ton of photos from outside for her 6 month photo shoot that I still plan to include with these, so expect to see more soon!

Since it's been so long (Ada is almost 3!) since these photos were taken, I will have to find my notes for what she was doing and talk to her Mom so I can get it all right!

The papers for this layout are from my 100 Patterned Paper challenge stack. The yellow is probably some of my oldest paper, like 12 - 14 years old - old, and the blue is from a bulk pack that I picked up at Tuesday Morning last summer...or maybe it was this spring...I can't remember, but it's not nearly as old!

I'm hoping to continue working on Ada's first year album, as well as my 2015 album. Yeah, not even thinking about 2016 yet and we're already 8 months in! I'm okay with that - I have my planner and all my notes, and I enjoy working on them as I have time and because that is what I want to be working on - not because I feel like I have to do it and be caught up!

Stop by the Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style blog any day of the week for some inspiration. There are lots of different takes on the sketches. Be sure to link up with us if you play along. Kim is offering up this fun Halloween stamp set to one lucky winner. You have until August 31 to play along.

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

Sketch N Scrap #110 - Feeding The Fish

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you! The calendar has turned once again and we are around to August 1st! It's crazy to think that this is our last full week of summer vacation around here. Shane will be going back to school next Thursday!

The first of the month means a new month of sketches at Sketch N Scrap. We have a fantastic sketch - courtesy of Heather - to get us started.

The only thing that I did differently with this sketch was use bigger photos than suggested, and since that cut into my room for journaling, I added a tag behind the photos. 

All of these papers were pulled from my stack for my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge. The only one that didn't make it on the layout is the striped piece.

I just love the little fishy's on this green piece! It's hard to see in the actual layout, so here is a close up of it.

We decided to go to Bennett Springs to the pool one day on vacation. We got down there a little early, so we decided to take the kids over to feed the fish at the hatchery. Shane always loves to throw the food in the water and watch the fish go crazy for it! As it turns out, the pool was closed for repairs, so we decided to go to the lake instead! I'm so glad that we got a chance to walk around the park for a while and just enjoy it!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you are ready for a fun month of sketches!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I will be back soon!

Use Your Stuff #231 - Floral Prints

Hi guys! I am back again with another project to share. If you are looking for my reveal from The Memory Nest, please scroll down or go here.

I am hosting the challenge this week over at Use Your Stuff, and my challenge to you is to use floral prints on your project. You can use as little or as much as you want, I just want to see some flowers on there!

Floral prints are some of my favorite patterns to work with - especially on cards - which is what I have created for today.

I am loving this pink, orange, and green color combo here lately. They are just the perfect combo for a summery type card.

I also pulled the pink and green from my stack of papers for my 100 Patterned Paper challenge. I just keep plugging away at that stack!

I used an this older sketch from Your Next Stamp blog. It is long past the deadline to link up over there, but I did want to give them credit!

Be sure to stop by the Use Your Stuff blog to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the team. So much inspiration to be had! I hope you find some time to play along with us this week!

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

Make It Monday #66 At The Memory Nest

Good Monday morning! I hope you had a good weekend. It was HOT around these parts - a great weekend to stay in the air conditioning and keep cool - and scrap!

I have a few projects to share with you today, so let's get started.

It's Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest! This week is Team 2's turn to work with this sketch from Leslie:

This was a fun sketch to work with. I really liked keeping everything together, but I also struggled with wanting to add more in the area above and below! I just am not good with a lot of white space sometimes!

These photos are of Abby from the summer of 2011. This was about a month before she got married, it was the summer before her junior year of college, and she was just enjoying every minute of life! She has always been one to worry and stress about things, so it's just so fun to see her having fun!

All of the papers from this layout were pulled from my stack for my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge.

I ended up not using the two on the right hand side, but all of the others made an appearance. I am slowly working through that stack, and I am just happy that I am remembering to go to it first before I look for newer papers!

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest to see the layouts from the rest of Team 2.  Remember - we have a fun summer challenge going on through July and August. Great prizes to be had if you just play along with us!

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

Recycle It @ Scrapbook Challenges

Hello again! I am back with another project to share with you today. If you are looking for my Sketch N Scrap reveal, please scroll down or go here.

Today on the Scrapbook Challenges blog we have our July Recycle It Challenge.

Pick one of the mood boards and make a vacation layout. That's it - easy as can be! Just look at those fun colors in the mood boards! Each one just screams summertime!

We very rarely go on big family vacations. Shane does really well for a couple of days at the most, but that is about it, so we take a lot of day trips. This year for my birthday we took the family to Silver Dollar City for the day. 

It's always a gamble on how Shane will react to the crowds and the whole waiting in line for the rides thing, but once we got through the admission gates and he realized where we were, he was great! It was Season Pass Holders Appreciation Days, so as season pass holders we were able to get into the park an hour before everyone else. We were able to go on quite a few rides before it got insanely busy. But even then Shane did not mind waiting in line - in close quarters - for over an hour - for his favorite - The Lost River! We were so proud of him for being patient, and it is quite an accomplishment for him. He even told us on one of the rides "No Way!" when it was his turn to get on - which was a relief for me because it looked scary!

This was Ada's first time to an amusement park, and she was still too short to ride most of the rides, and even the ones she could ride she was a little nervous on. She and I spent most of the time spectating and taking pictures. She was a good sport through it all - even though it was so hot! She never once got cranky!

For my layout I chose the July 2016 mood board, and I dug out these papers from my stack for my 100 Patterned Paper Challenge. I also used a sketch from Scrapbook Generation's newest sketch book - The Whole Picture.

That poor striped sheet has seen better days, but there is a lot of good paper still left on it! I used the entire sheet of red, about a third of the blue. The orange piece was a scrap and it is just about all gone now. There is still over half of the yellow, green, and striped piece left, but I already have ideas for them on another layout! So happy to be working my way through this stack!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Use Your Stuff #229 - Fruits and/or Vegetables

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Memory Nest reveal, please scroll down or go here.

We have a new challenge starting today over at Use Your Stuff. This week Jana is challenging us to use a fruit and/or vegetable on our project.

I have created a thank you card using this fun watermelon stamp from Close To My Heart.

I based my card off of this sketch from Stamp Ink Paper - Challenge #55. I was too late to enter my card into their challenge, but I wanted to give them credit.

I also pulled some papers from my stack that I am trying to work through for my 100 Patterned Paper challenge to myself. These are the 3 papers that I pulled for this card. I still have a good chunk of each left, so they will go into my scrap pile for this stack to see if I can use a little more of them.

Be sure to check out the Use Your Stuff blog to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the team. I hope you find some time to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I will be back soon with another project!

Make It Monday #64

Hello, hello! Happy Monday! Our family vacation is now over, and it is time to get back into the old routine. I have a lot of projects to share with you today, so let's get started!

It's Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest, and we have a great new sketch for you this week. During July and August the design team has been split up into two teams and we have a new sketch for you every single week. I am on Team 2, so you'll be seeing my layouts on the second and fourth Monday of the month. I hope to play along with the other sketches, too.

Here is this week's sketch - courtesy of Leslie:

When I saw the stars on this sketch I knew I would be making a Fourth of July layout. I still have lots of pictures from previous years on the fourth that need to be scrapped, so it was a perfect fit.

It is tradition for us to take a family photo on the fourth, and this was the best photo of the whole family from that day. I love that the dog is even peeking out from between Shawn and Abby's legs!

For my layout I used these old papers from the stack I pulled for my 100 patterned paper challenge. They are some of my favorite from Carolee's Creations.

I die cut and punched a lot of different sized stars to fill in the space between the three larger stars. Apparently these old shaped hole punches are coming back in style. It's a good thing that I held on to mine from years ago. I won't have to be running out and buying them!

Stop by The Memory Nest to see the layouts from the rest of the team. I hope that you play along with us. There is a weekly prize and a grand prize, so get those layouts linked up!

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