Feeling Sketchy #122

Hi everyone! It's hard to believe that it is June 1st! Summer break has started for us and we are enjoying some free time for a change. We are finally getting a break from all of the rain we've been having. The sunshine is a welcome sight and the grass is growing quickly!

The first day of the month means a new sketch is up over on the Feeling Sketchy blog. It's another fun sketch and one that translates well into a layout - which is what I chose to do.

 

 

I loved the tilted panel on the sketch and since I rarely tilt anything on my layouts, it was a fun change. The only thing that I added that wasn't on the sketch was a couple of strips behind the photo. I just felt like it needed a little extra color. I also really liked the  circle element, so I die cut some rings to make a frame of sorts for my photo.

 

I found some old bottle cap stickers in my stash (from 2004) and made a couple of homemade flair pieces to add to my layout. I love the way they look layered on the circles and scalloped circles.

 

 

 

Check out the Feeling Sketchy blog to see the beautiful creations from the rest of the design team. Our sponsor for this sketch is Creative Embellishments. You can read more about them and the prize on the Feeling Sketchy blog.

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

 

2015 Project 50 - Round 2 - #7/50



Lasting Memories #244 - Keeping the Faith

Good Sunday morning! I hope y'all are having a wonderful day.

There's a new theme and a new set of challenges starting today over on the Lasting Memories blog. Our theme for June is Amusing Anecdotes/inspirational photos and this week's challenge is - Faith.

supplies used: patterned paper - AC Dear Lizzy - Lucky Charm, Simple Stories - Hello Baby Collection, AC - Best of paper pad, enamel dots - Doodlebug Designs, sketch - Inspired To Scrap.

My layout is of my sweet little granddaughter back when she was born. She was three weeks early and had to spend a week in the NICU because she couldn't keep her body temperature up, they were having trouble with her blood sugar, and she was jaundiced. After she had some round the clock care and she spent some time under the bili lights, she was good to go. But, those were seven long days - not only for me, but especially for her first time parents!

My journaling says: Seven long days in the NICU. Lots of sleepless nights with lots of things to worry about - but keeping the faith and trusting God that everything will be okay.

Check out the Lasting Memories blog and see the beautiful layouts from the other design team members. I hope you have some time to play along with our challenges this month. I look forward to seeing you beautiful creations!

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

2015 Project 50 - Round 2 - #6/50

Just Saying Hello - Sketch N Scrap #49

Good morning! I am so excited that today is the last day of school for the boys - and it's just a half day! Bring on those long, lazy summer days with no schedule to worry about.

I have a card to share with you today using Sketch N Scrap's May 5th sketch by Kelly Holifield:

 

Here is my take on the sketch:

I loved the big circle element with the sentiment below. I have a couple of ideas for some more cards using this sketch...now if I can just find some more time to play!

This last week we have had a members crop over at Inspired To Scrap. I hosted a game on Thursday called Guess How Many. I posted pictures of items in my scrap room and whoever came the closest without going over would win a little prize from me. What I discovered doing this is that I have a ton of flowers, a ton of washi tape, and oh my goodness, I do not even want to admit how many 6x6 paper pads I have! I mean, come on, do I really need 109 6x6 paper pads?! How did I get so many?

Well, I have decided that this summer I am going to challenge myself to use mostly only 6x6 paper pads on my layouts and my cards. Maybe, just maybe I can put a dent in my stash, and whenever I can add some flowers or washi tape - you guessed it, they will be added, too!

So, for my card I have used the Echo Park - Jack and Jill Girl 6x6 paper pad, and a few flowers from my stash! At least it's a start! I think it will be fun to look back at what I've created over the summer and see how well I did with my own personal challenge!

Sketch N Scrap is having their 3rd Birthday Bash all month long and there have been some awesome challenges every single day! I'm hoping to get a few more done before the deadline. Be sure to check them out!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great day!

 



2015 Project 50 - Round 2 - #5/50

Lasting Memories #243 - While We Wait

Hello everyone! I hope that you are enjoying your long weekend. We are enjoying some lazy days and we are ready to get that last half day of school over with on Tuesday!

There's a new challenge up today over on the Lasting Memories blog. It's the last challenge in this series and it's an Anything Goes with Life Affirmations theme.

I chose to do another gratitude layout. I apologize for my photos being so dark. I tried everything to brighten them up and this was as good as I could get. I've got a close up of the photos and if you click the photos you should be able to see them a little better.

 

Since Ada's Mommy teaches in the same school system as the boys attend, we pick Ada up every morning before school and drop her off every afternoon after school. That means about a 20 minute wait for us in the afternoon.

I have grown to love this time and I am going to treasure it - always! You see, this is when I get to hear all about Matthew's day. I get to hear about the frustrations with a class or with fellow classmates. I get to hear the excitement of an activity coming up or something particularly funny that happened that day. I'm sure if he had a long bus ride home - or even just a car ride home - that some of the excitement/frustration would have worn off and probably be forgotten about. But having 20 minutes in the close quarters of a car, I have learned a lot. I have learned how truly awesome Matthew is  and I can see the young man that he is turning into and it makes my heart happy. I am so grateful to have this time spent with him. Next year he will be driving himself back and forth to school and I just hope we can find some way of continuing this.

Here's the close up of the photos:

He was actually acting goofy for the camera for once, so I had to keep them!

I used Simple Stories Life Documented papers and chipboard stickers on my layout. I thought the days of the week paper was quite fitting since we do this Monday - Friday and that little clock was the perfect accent!

I used the May 15 sketch from ScrapMuch?

 

 

My journaling is a little long and private, so I will stick that down behind the photos.

 

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories and see the rest of the design teams creations. I look forward to seeing your creations as well.

 

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

 

2015 Project 50 - Round 2 - #3/50

Sketches In Thyme #149 - Total Concentration

Happy Monday, everyone!

Today is my day to share with you my take on the week 3 sketch at Sketches In Thyme. Shawn created another awesome sketch for us to work with this month.

 

 

For my layout I flipped the sketch.

 

I used Fancy Pants Little Sport papers for my layout. I didn't have any of the embellishments from that line, so I just fussy cut some baseballs and pennants from the papers for my accents and a few enamel dots.

 

For the month of May the theme over at Lasting Memories is Life Affirmations. One of the challenges is Determination and once again I had a lot of pictures that I could choose from for this challenge and it was hard to narrow them down! In the end I chose this photo of Matthew playing baseball back in the summer of 2008. I absolutely love that look on his face. He is bound and determined to catch that ball! Oh, I do miss those days of him playing baseball!

 

Be sure to stop by the Sketches In Thyme blog and see all of the beautiful layouts created this month with all of the fantastic sketches.

 

 

 

Remember - to be eligible for this awesome prize from Freckled Fawn you need to play along with at least one challenge this month. The more you play the better chances you have to win! You have until May 31st to get your layouts linked up.

 

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



 

2015 50 Projects - Round 2 - #2/50 

#just play - with Sketch N Scrap

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend. Summer vacation is getting closer for us all the time. Just one more full week  and then a half day on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Bring on the lazy days of summer!

I finally got a chance to play along with one of the challenges over on the Sketch N Scrap blog. They are celebrating their 3rd birthday all month long and that means a new challenge is posted every day of the month! Be sure to check it out here.

I played along with their Throwback Thursday with a Twist challenge. Lisa is challenging us to use the following sketch by Kelly and the twist is to use photos taken outside.

 

 

I've had these photos of the boys on my desk for almost a year now and thought it was time to get them scrapped. All of my family got together over the Memorial Day weekend last year to grill hot dogs and have a picnic. It was late enough in the day that we basically had the park to ourselves. Matthew and Shane found their inner kid and played with Kelsey on the playground. No matter how old they get, I hope they always find some time to just play!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Be sure to check out the challenges over at Sketch N Scrap!

 

 

2015 Project 50 - Round 2 - #1/50

Use Your Stuff #181 - April Showers

Happy Monday! The countdown for the last day of school has officially begun in our house. Just 20 more school days and the boys will be free for the summer! We are all excited about that.

The new challenge is up over on the Use Your Stuff blog today. The challenge for this week is - April Showers - anything that has water on it.

I have made a layout about a big rain that we got several years ago. So much rain that it flooded the road below our house. That almost never happens!

Shane was in heaven! He loves water and one of his favorite pastimes has always been throwing rocks into puddles, ponds or creeks! You can just tell by the pictures that he is in awe of so much water in the road.

I used a couple of different Echo Park paper collections - A Boy's Life and That's My Boy - for my paper strips, and I used an old downloadable sketch from Scrapbook Generation.

I will be linking this up over at Crash Your Stash - round 2 of 50 Projects - #7/50.

Be sure to check out the Use Your Stuff blog and see the fun projects the rest of the team created. There are so many different interpretations of this challenge that you're sure to be inspired!

Thanks so much for stopping by - I'll be back soon!

Lasting Memories #239 - Gratitude

Good Sunday morning everyone! It's the start of a new set of challenges over at Lasting Memories  this week. The theme for May (we're getting a head start!) is Life Affirmations and this week's challenge is Gratitude - someone or something you have gratitude for.

Now it was really hard for me to pick just one thing that I am grateful for - there are so many - but in the end I chose to make a layout about my daughter and granddaughter. I am so grateful to have these two beauties in my life. They make every day just a little more special! I am planning on doing some more personal journaling and adding later.

I used the April single page sketch from Stick It Down:

 

I am also linking this up over at Crash Your Stash - Round 2 - Project #6/50.

 

Be sure to check out the Lasting Memories blog and see what the rest of the team is grateful for. I hope you have some time to play along with our challenges this time around!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and have a blessed day!



Use Your Stuff #180 - Anything Goes

Good Monday morning! It's the start of a new week and a new challenge at Use Your Stuff. Anne's challenge for this week is an easy one - anything goes!

I made a birthday card for my sister who celebrated her birthday this past weekend.

 

 

I used the April sketch from Stick It Down:

I am always a sucker for fish tail banners and this sketch has plenty of them!

I will be linking this up over at Crash Your Stash. This is Project #5/50.

Be sure to check out the Use Your Stuff blog and see what the rest of the team created for the anything goes challenge. I hope you find some time this week to play along with our challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day!

Sketches In Thyme #145

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is getting off to a great start. It's supposed to be rainy all weekend for us and that sounds like a good excuse to stay inside and scrap!

 

I am up today on the Sketches In Thyme blog with my first reveal since joining the design team. Here is the Week 3 sketch:

 

 

And my layout:

 

 

I bought this Styrofoam plane for Shane thinking he would think it was pretty cool - and he did - but I had no idea how much Matt would like it, too. All the boys - Scott included - spent almost all day outside flying this plane. We wound up stopping and getting another one later that evening.

 

I used Crate Paper's Boys Rule collection for my patterned paper. I thought the paper airplane paper worked well...Styrofoam planes - paper planes - they're kind of the same, right?!

 

 

The prize this month is a $25 gift card to Michaels and it's really easy to have a chance to win. All you have to do to win is follow the Sketches In Thyme blog and play along! Each week you enter is another chance you have at winning! You will have until April 30 to link up to all 4 of your challenges!

 

I'll be linking this up over at Crash Your Stash. This is project #4/50.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and happy scrapping!

Feeling Sketchy #119

Hello everyone and happy hump day! We are half way through the week and getting ever closer to the weekend. That's always something to look forward to around here.

It's time for a new sketch from Feeling Sketchy!

As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew I wanted to make a layout with it. In fact, I had a hard time deciding on whether to use just one big panel or the three panels like I did here. There were so many possibilities with this sketch.

Lacy Sunshine is our sponsor this time around and they provided some images for us to work with. I thought this cute little stork would be the perfect accent for a page about my granddaughter. 

Be sure to check out the Feeling Sketchy blog and see what the rest of the design team created with the sketch. I hope you find some time to play along with the sketch.

I am also linking this up at Crash Your Stash - Project 3/50 (round 2).

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

 

Use Your Stuff's Spring Is Sprung Blog Hop

 

Welcome to our Spring is Sprung Blog hop.  The birds are chirping, the sun is shining and (hopefully) the cold spell is over! The Use Your Stuff Design Team are showing their spring fever by creating some great spring themed  projects for you.

You should have arrived here from Julia's beautiful blog.  If you get lost along the way you can always go back to the Use Your Stuff blog or I have the complete list at the bottom of this post.

 Today I have created a spring themed card for you.

I used the appropriately named "Spring" 6x6 paper pad from American Crafts. I just love the colors and patterns in this paper pad. In fact, I am wishing I had picked up two of them when I bought this one!

I based my card on this sketch I found on Pinterest:

The hop runs from  Monday April 13th until Saturday April 18th, so you have lots of time to play along. Make sure you leave a comment on each blog.  As always, if you would like to follow the blog, I'm sure the DT would love that as well :)  We have 5 spring themed prizes to give away from the commenters on the blogs.  You won't know which blogs we will be choosing so make sure you comment on each one.  

International participants are welcome. 

Here is the list for the blog hop

Use Your Stuff blog

Majo  

Anne

Tammy 

Martha 

Karrie

Michelle 

Renee  

Julia  

Lori  ---You are here

Shirley 

For an extra entry use the link on the Use Your Stuff blog to show us your own spring projects!

 

I am also linking this up at Crash Your Stash for #2/50 projects - round 2.

 



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



Lasting Memories #237 - Sunny Shores

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a great weekend. I know that since we've been having warmer weather our weekends seem to go by in the blink of an eye!

 

The new challenge is up over on the Lasting Memories blog today. The month of April is a travel theme and this weeks challenge is "Sunny Shores". 

 



 

Sunny shores for us usually mean lake shores and we try to got to the lake as often as possible in the summer. The photos in this layout are from several years ago when we went camping for a few days at the lake. Shane has always loved water and he thought it was great to get to go swimming any time he wanted to - even at 6:30 in the morning!

 

When I started this layout, I intended to use Echo Park's Summer Bliss collection but I did not have enough of the colors I wanted to use, so I went in search of similar colors in my stash and found pretty close matches. And - since the word phrases in that collection weren't exactly what I wanted - I just made my own.

 

It's been a long time since I've done a double page layout, so I searched Pinterest for some 9 photo sketches and found this great sketch by Even More Scrapping.

 

With this layout I am starting round 2 of my 50 projects. I will be linking it up over at Crash Your Stash to help me keep track!

 



Thanks so much for visiting my blog today! Now head on over to Lasting Memories and see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the team. I hope you find some time to play along with our travel challenges this month!

 

See you soon!