So Much Joy...

Hi, guys! I thought I would pop back in here really quickly and share another layout with you.

Libby over at Soul Scrappers has posted the new single page sketch challenge for March and I had a lot of fun playing along with it. The sketch has lots of layers behind the photo - which I am really liking to do right now.

I still had my February Doubleshot Kit from The Scraproom out and I thought the papers from PhotoPlay Paper's - Boys Rules - collection would be great for this older photo of Shane (that I may or may not have already scrapped - I can't remember!). 

I really love the blue and green papers that came in the kit, but I felt my layout needed a bit more color. Since the sticker sheet was full of yellow and orange stickers, I dug through my Echo Park stash and found some yellow and orange scraps that matched perfectly. I also pulled some stickers from Echo Park's  - A Boy's Life - collection to give me more embellishments to work with. 

I popped the banner sticker up on some foam tape to give it a little dimension.

The darker blues in the two collections are slightly different - one is more navy and the other a little brighter blue but on the actual layout, they really don't look that far off!

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

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

Pick 3 at Soul Scrappers - Young Love

Hello again! I am back with one more post today. If you are looking for my Counterfeit Kit Challenge, please go here. If you are looking for my Use Your Stuff reveal, please go here.

I have a new challenge posted today over at Soul Scrappers. I started a new challenge at the first of the year called "Pick 3", so this is the second month for me hosting it. Here are the details - I give you a list of items and you need to pick 3 items from the list to use on your layout. You can use other things, but you must use 3 items from the list.

For February my list is:

washi tape

embellishment cluster

chipboard

word/phrase stickers

tag

border punch

Simple Stories

And here is my layout using Simple Stories - Love and Adore - collection, word/phrase stickers, and a border punch.

This photo is of Abby and Shawn the summer before they got married. We were camping at Pomme de Terre Lake and I just happened to capture this moment from a distance. It is one of my favorite photos of the two of them - Abby sitting on the jungle gym bars and Shawn leaning against them - there's just something about it that I love.

Head on over and check out all of the challenges at Soul Scrappers. We would love to have you play along with us!

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

Soul Scrappers - Cards of Christmas

Hello again! This is my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Sketches In Thyme PL Style reveal, please scroll down or go here.

Over at Soul Scrappers, we are all about getting those Christmas cards done this month. All month long on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will be posting a new Christmas card challenge for you. Today is my turn to post the challenge and I am challenging you to add a Santa to your card:

This little Santa is my favorite so far for this year. He is a digi stamp from Limited Runs Digital Stamps and I know this is not the last time you'll be seeing him. I already have plans to use him for a few more projects.

I used Bella Blvd's Holly Jolly Christmas papers for this card. This is the collection that I am using for my December Daily and since I already had the papers out on my desk I put them to use for my card.

Stop by Soul Scrappers and check out the other Christmas card challenges that have been posted. I will have another challenge for you later in the month and I hope to get all caught up with the rest of the challenges, too.

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!

Hello, Girl Wonder - A Soul Scrappers Challenge

Hello, scrappy friends! I hope that you are having a good week! I am looking forward to the long holiday weekend! It's sad that we have only been back to school for two weeks and I'm already ready for a break!

Today I have a layout to share with you that I made for my Double Delight sketch challenge that I host over at Soul Scrappers. My challenge is always posted on the 30th and lasts a full month - I would love it if you joined in!

Here is the layout that I created for:

The sketch that I chose I found on Pinterest and it is by Brenda Ragsdale. It had these four great big circles in the background and I am not going to lie these circles gave me fits! Of course, it was just because I was trying to put them in an order that wasn't too pleasing to the eye. Once I finally figured that out it all fell together so easily!

Here's a closer look at each page:

I used an older collection from My Mind's Eye called "My Girl". I believe I picked up a complete kit - all of the papers, all of the stickers and chipboard, and the stamp set on Scrapbook Steals for a really good price a year or two ago.

It's kind of funny how I decided to use this collection for this layout.  I was watching a Youtube video and the person was using the boy version of this collection, "Boy Crazy". I immediately thought of some old photos of my boys playing together when they were little and I originally had planned to use those photos with the "Boy Crazy" collection. Then I found the "My Girl" in my My Mind's Eye drawer and it was a perfect fit for these photos of Ada playing ball with her cousin. I've been wanting to scrap these photos for a long time, but I just couldn't find the right papers. I'm so glad that in a very round about way I found the perfect papers to get these photos scrapped!

The story behind the photos - Ada is six months older than her cousin, Elijah, but Elijah is every bit as big as she is, if not bigger, but Ada has the speed that he lacks! These photos were taken over the Memorial Day weekend 2016, so Ada was two and a half and Elijah had just turned two. Elijah was going through the "mine" phase - everything he had was "his" and he wanted everything that Ada had. Ada was just wanting to play ball - and she thought that was what they were doing - when in reality he was just trying to keep her away from the ball! Eventually, Ada caught up to him and tackled him, well, really she fell into him and knocked him down, but she did come away with the ball! They are so fun to watch!

If you're not a member of Soul Scrappers, you should really check it out. There are a lot of different challenges each month - so something for everyone - and I would love it if you played along with my challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! It's going to be a busy day here on my blog tomorrow, so be sure to come back to see what I have to show you! I hope you have a great day!

Finding Treasures Everyday

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! Things are pretty busy around here with preparing to go back to school. I can't believe that the kids will be back in school in two weeks!

I thought I would pop in here for a bit and share my double page layout for my Double Delight challenge that is going on now over at Soul Scrappers.

The papers are from an older Close To My Heart paper pack called Chantilly. I uncovered these papers when I was going through my stash one day and I set them aside to try and get them used. I love the colors and they were perfect for these photos of Ada on one of our daily walks way back when...in 2015!

Since Ada has come along, she has really helped me to slow down and enjoy the little things even more. On our daily walks, I have had to literally slow down so she could keep up with me - now I am usually trying to keep up with her! - but being forced to slow down made me take notice of all the things around us - like a bird's nest in the cedar trees, an ordinary little clover flower that she thought was just beautiful, and an ordinary rock. On this particular day, she kept picking up rocks and handing them to me to hold on to for her. I couldn't drop a single one, either! She is something else!

Head on over to Soul Scrappers and check out our challenges. I would love to see you over there playing along!

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

You Are So Kind

Hello again! I am back with another project to share with you today!

This month over at Soul Scrappers we are honoring a former DT member, Debi Clark, with various challenges and prizes. Some of our challenges are based on things that Debi loved or things that remind us of Debi.

DT Karen challenged us to a "kindness" challenge - create a project with the word "kind or kindness" on it and then do an act of kindness.

Here is the card that I created for this challenge:

For this card I have used Echo Park's "The Story Of Our Family" 6x6 paper pad. I think I could 3 or 4 of these paper pads and never get tired of it! Love the colors in this.

The flower is from Close To My Heart's "Live Beautifully" stamp set and stamped in lagoon ink. For my sentiment I didn't have any stamps in my stash that I could use for this, so I printed one off from the computer and added it to my card.

Head on over to Soul Scrappers to check out this month's challenges. We would love to have you playing along!

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

Soul Scrappers Card Challenge

Hello, everyone!I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style reveal, please scroll down or go here.

I have a quick card to share with you this afternoon. The current card challenge at Soul Scrappers is to make a thank you card and here is what I came up with:

I have used Pebbles' - Front Porch - 6x6 paper pad for this card. The 12x12 cut apart sheet has so many sentiments that are perfect for cards - like this thank you banner piece. This card came together so quickly and I love the way that it turned out!

Head on over to Soul Scrappers and check out the challenges we have going on right now. There is a great variety and something for everyone!

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

Hello Friend - Soul Scrapper's April Card Challenge

Hi guys! Here we are at the middle of the week already. It will be the weekend before we know it. We just have three more weeks of school. Three. This school year has gone by so fast, and I am so looking forward to summer vacation and the long, lazy days to come.

I've got a card to share with you today. The card challenge at Soul Scrappers for April is to add the word "friend or friends" to your card.

Are you getting tired of this Front Porch collection by Pebbles yet? This is the third card that I have made using it, and I have at least one more to share with you using this collection tomorrow. What can I say, I love this collection, and since I just rediscovered it, I want to try to get it all used up, so you'll probably be seeing more of it over the next couple of weeks!

Once again, I used a piece from the cut apart sheet for my sentiment. The three gems are a lighter shade of the green on the sentiment, but under the light they look more white. This card came together really quickly, and I'm sure it will bring a smile to the recipient's face!

Head on over to Soul Scrappers and check out all of the fun challenges that we have going on. There's a wide variety - something for everyone!

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

I {Heart} This - Soul Scrapper's Sketch Challenge

Hello everyone! I hope that you have had a good day. Mine was definitely a "Monday" and I am ready to move on to Tuesday!

I am popping in here to share a layout that I have made for the April sketch challenge at Soul Scrappers. Libby posted a fantastic sketch for us to work with, and here is my take on it.

I love this photo of my boys! This was from about 15 years ago - no date on the picture, so it's just a guess, but I'm pretty sure it's about that old. Most days for lunch they would want to have a picnic on the living room floor and watch cartoons - probably Blues Clues if I were to guess! I love to see Matthew loving on his baby brother - back when things were so much simpler!

I have a lot to say about this photo from so long ago, and I will hide that journaling on a card behind the photo, or on the back of the layout.

I used all scraps from Echo Park - with the exception of the yellow title block, I believe it is from a Shimelle line. I die cut a few stars and added in some acrylic stars, as well. I wish the acrylic stars were about half the thickness...they are so thick! I stamped some phrases from a few different roller stamps to add to it.

Check out Soul Scrappers and play along with our challenges! They have such a great variety - you are sure to find something you like!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back soon!

Soul Scrappers Double Delight #1

Hello everyone! I hope that you are having a good day!

Today is the day that my first challenge goes live over at Soul Scrappers! I am hosting "Double Delight" - a double page sketch challenge - and I would love it if you played along!

Here's a look at my layout for the challenge:

For this layout I have used Imaginisce's "Hello Spring" collection. I also dug through some of my old stash and pulled out some old metal pieces to add to my layout of Miss Ada's first experience of coloring Easter eggs last year. She thought it was pretty cool that the eggs changed colors, and she was pretty darn good at dunking those eggs!

To see the sketch that I chose for my first "Double Delight" challenge head on over to Soul Scrappers! Be sure to read the rules while you are there!

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

Make A Wish - Soul Scrappers

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

Today I am playing along with a song lyric challenge at Soul Scrappers. The song that was chosen for this month is Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" - one of my favorite songs! When I first saw that this was the song that we were to use, I really thought I would make a love type layout, but when reading through the lyrics I found a line that said, "I'll make a wish send it to heaven", and since I have been on a birthday layout making kick here lately, I went with  "Make a wish" and made a birthday layout!

For this layout I have used a mix of papers from my stash - the teal background is from Echo Park's "Sweet Summertime" collection, the cream with pastel triangles background piece is from Crate Paper's "Poolside" collection, the teal and white piece is from Crate Paper's "Confetti" collection, and the pink dot and all of the embellishments are from Simple Stories "Carpe Diem" collection.

These are photos from Abby's 22nd birthday party. I can't believe that my girl is 22 in these photos, and I really can't believe that this was almost 5 years ago! How is it possible that she is going to be 27 in September??? Time just keeps flying by!

Come on over to Soul Scrappers and check out our challenges! We have a great variety throughout the month.

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

Soul Scrappers Card Challenge And Some News!!

Hello everyone! I hope that you have had a good day! I am just popping in here really quickly to share a card - and some exciting news - with you.

I have created this card for the February "Hugs and Kisses" card challenge over at Soul Scrappers. This card challenge ends March 14th, so there's a few more days to play along! The challenge was to use the words "hugs" and/or "kisses" in some form.

I found this older Studio G stamp set in my stash, and I had to get it inky for this challenge. I just love this little free hug coupon! I used papers from Crate Paper's "Cute Girl" 6x6 paper pad.

Now for my news - I am super excited to announce that I am now a member of the Soul Scrappers Design Team! I will be hosting a double page sketch challenge on the 30th of each month. I would love it if you came over and played along! My first challenge will be up on the 30th of this month!

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

"16"

Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! We are slapped back into the realization that it is indeed still winter around here! After having a couple of close to 70 degree days, we are back to 30's and 40s today. At least by Friday we are supposed to back to 70 and almost 80 for a few days! It's no wonder that my youngest son is home sick today with a cold!

I have a birthday card to share with you today. My niece is turning 16 on Friday, so I thought I'd better hurry and get her card in the mail! One of the Birthday Bash challenges at Soul Scrappers is to add numbers to your birthday card, and here is what I came up with:

I used Crate Paper's Cute Girl 6x6 paper pad for this card. You can't go wrong with turquoise and pink for a girly card!

Be sure to check out Soul Scrappers for a wide variety of challenges and fun!

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

7.4.16

Hello, hello! I hope you have had a good day! It was a beautiful day around here today - really makes me ready for spring. I am back to share a layout with you this evening!

I had a chance to play along with another challenge over at Soul Scrappers. This one was a "lift" challenge and they provided a layout for you to scraplift.

Here is what I came up with:

I loved the overall design of the "lift" layout, and I especially loved that they used the date for the title. I dug in my drawer of Bella Blvd goodies for this layout of Ada on the 4th of July. I love that all of their collections go so well together! I was able to use up a few scraps on this layout as well.

If you would like to see the layout that I "lifted" head on over to Soul Scrappers and check it out! I would love it if you played along!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good night!

Besties - Lasting Memories #231

Good morning! Today is the first day of a new month and that means a brand new theme and set of challenges at Lasting Memories. The theme for March is friendship and the first challenge is - Partners in Crime. My daughter and granddaughter are my partners in crime. They are always up for anything and they both are great shopping partners!





 

supplies used - Patterned Paper - Heidi Swapp September Skies, Heart die - Memory Box stitched heart die, enamel dots - Doodlebug Designs, Alphas -  Bella Blvd, Sticker - My Mind's Eye, date stamp - Becky Higgins.

 

For this layout I used a sketch from Soul Scrappers for their February sketch challenge.

I am linking this layout up over at Crash Your Stash for my 50 projects. This is #35/50. I'm getting closer!

Now head on over to the Lasting Memories blog and see what the rest of the design team has made. I hope you have some time this month to play along with our challenges.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!