Lending A Hand - Sketch N Scrap #170

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday and Happy February 1st! It's going to be a busy day here on the old blog, so let's get started.

Sketch N Scrap has a fun new sketch posted today. Lisa has created a great one photo sketch to get us started in February:

For my layout, I have scrapped another older photo! One of my goals this year has been to work on getting some of those older photos scrapped and I will be doing an update post soon to keep track of how I did in January.

I used Close To My Heart's - Heart Happy - paper collection for this layout. I absolutely love this collection. The colors are just what I like to work with, and I even was able to use a couple of the manufacturer's strips on this layout. They were the perfect size for the strips at the bottom of the layout.

Here is a close-up of my journaling and embellishments - and I had to include Ada's cute little face in their:

About this photo - it took Matthew quite a while before he was comfortable picking Ada up and holding her. He became quite a big help to me on nights that Abby and Ada would stay down for supper, or on nights like this night when Ada spent the night with us. He would take care of Ada for me while I cooked - either setting her on his lap while playing video games or just playing with her in general - which is why I titled it - "Lending a hand". Of course, when I would try to get a picture of him holding her - this is what I usually got! He would hold her out and away from him. Ada didn't care - she was just happy to be getting attention from her Uncle Matthew! I just love that little smile on her face!

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. We can't wait to see your take on the sketch!

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

Well Hello There - Scrao Our Stash - Pick Your Side Challenge

Hello and Happy Friday! Are you ready for the weekend? I know I am! We will be celebrating both our boys' birthdays this weekend. The oldest is 21 and the youngest is 19...wow, I feel old!

I am up on the Scrap Our Stash blog today with my take on the new Pick Your Side Challenge. For this new challenge, we are given a double page sketch and we are to pick a side of it to base our layout off of. There is also an added challenge to go along with the sketch challenge and this month it is to add flowers to your layout. Here's a look at the sketch:

For my layout, I have used the left side of the sketch. For the flower part of the challenge, I stamped a couple of different types of flowers in the same colors as my papers and used a die to cut them out. I then clustered them together.

I used Close To My Heart's - Heart Happy - collection for this layout. I knew I was going to love this collection the minute I saw it! The flower and heart stamps are also from CTMH - Prickly Pear Scrapbooking Stamp and Thin Cuts (Z3338). The title is a mix of Elle's Studio stamps and the block alpha dies from CTMH.

Here are a couple of close ups:

A little about these photos of Ada at nine and a half months old - she had been sitting on her blanket, just playing away and looking cute. The minute I pulled my camera out she got all excited and started kicking her feet like crazy. It was hard to get a photo that wasn't blurry from all of the movement! I just love the photo that looks like she is waving.

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash for more design team inspiration. Have you played along with our new challenges yet? I would love to see your take on them!

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