Hello?

As promised, the challenges for the So You Think You Can Scrap challenge over at Colorful Creations are getting harder each week - at least for me! This week we were to use this sketch, we had to have tearing, distressing, and a recycled item on our layout.

I struggled with what to use for my recycled item - that was definitely the hardest part for me this time. I found these old pictures of Shane in a pile on my desk and it finally clicked that I could use the page out of an old phone book for my recycled item. Once again these are old photos - I think from 2004 - I'll have to check and make sure. I can barely remember Shane being this little! To see him standing on that stool and to know that now he is almost 6 feet tall and towering over me...Wow!

supplies used: Patterned Paper - Echo Park, Jillibean Soup, Provo Craft, Cardstock - Bazzill, stamps - B1416 Keyboard Uppercase, grid stamp - Studio Calico, Alpha stickers - Doodlebug Simply Sweet, tab - Quickutz, Speech bubbles - Cricut George cartridge

The colors match a lot better in real life - not sure why they are looking so off in this photo!
I distressed the edges of my circle with my edge distresser, tore one side of the yellow paper (you can barely see it) and the light blue paper at the bottom, then used the page from the phone book on the circle underneath the title and on the speech bubbles. I was so excited to use my new alpha stamps from Close To My Heart on this page. I love those little square letters, and to know that I can make them whatever color I want is heaven!  I'm sure you'll be seeing them on more pages! I added a little potty person boy to the speech bubble at the top - just because I like him! This is one of my favorite layouts - mostly because of the photos and I am happy to say that it was a featured layout in the gallery at Colorful Creations!

Everyday is an adventure...

I signed up to host one of the challenges this month over at Inspired to Scrap . Since February is the month of love I want you to:
scrap about someone or something that you love
it needs to have 4 squares - these can be paper or photos or both
3 round embellishments
at least 2 mixed alphas
at least 1 heart somewhere on the layout, and
paper strips - these can be journaling strips or strips of paper.
Here is what I came up with:

supplies used: Love Note 6x6 paper pad - Fancy Pants, cardstock - CTMH, stamps - D1548 Whoo's Your Valentine, D1472 Simple Memories, D1495 You & Me, It's Your Day CC1020 - CTMH. scalloped border punch - EK Success, alpha stickers - October Afternoon

 

In January, Scott and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary. Gosh, I can't believe it's been that long! A lot of things have happened in those 23 years which makes the title oh so true - Every day is an adventure with you!
I found this sketch from Heather over at Scrappy Sketches. I used the Love Note 6x6 paper pad from Fancy Pants for the squares, stamped some hearts and that cute little owl on some circles for my round embellishments, my title is a mix of a stamp and some letter stickers, and my strips are my journaling strips.  If you have time and want to play along, come on over to Inspired to Scrap and check it out. There's always something fun going on!

Going UP

Another quick post before I have to pick the boys up from school. It looks like our spring like 70+ degree days are over for awhile. The cold front is moving in with lots of rain and storms. I hope it lets up a bit while I'm out getting the boys!

This layout was made for Deborah's Fast and Fabulous challenge over at Inspired to Scrap. She has done all of the hard work for us this month with giving measurements and even a sample to follow. I pulled out some really old My Mind's Eye papers to use on this and even though they are old, they still make a cute layout. I also pulled out some old photos of Matthew from 2007...before he had glasses, before he was a teenager...where has the time gone? I can remember this day like it was yesterday!
Thanks, Deborah, for helping me to get another layout done!

So You Think You Can Scrap #4

This week's So You Think You Can Scrap challenge over at Colorful Creations was just that for me. A challenge. We had to use the color combo and the sketch below. Along with that, our layout had to include a die cut paper like the one on the sketch - it could be handmade or bought, 3 photos and then our choice of one thing - masking, bling, brads, flowers or stars.

The beautiful Country Boutique papers from Fancy Pants were the perfect colors for the challenge. I am so glad that I got them for Christmas! I made my own diecut paper using a plate for a circle template and my Martha Stewart border punch for the "ruffle" around the edge of it. The picture is not the greatest - it's a cloudy day out today - but I used grey for my background, black and grey dot for my diecut papers, cream for the ruffle and black and cream paper strips, and I mounted my photos on white. I cut out my title using my cricut and the Storybook cartridge and I used bling (the sparkle flourishes from CTMH) as my other item. The photos are from Abby and Shawn's wedding in 2011. I think the hardest part of this layout was figuring out what papers to use where!

The one thing that I absolutely love about this challenge is that it pushes me to use things I might not normally use or think of to use. I'm looking forward to the next challenge!

Week 4 Card Challenge

 

Here is my week 4 card for the 52 week card challenge over at Scrappin'-N-Chattin'. The challenge this week was to use red, white and pink and make a Valentine card. I used Crate Paper's Fourteen 6x6 pad for the base(love, love, love this paper), embossed a piece of white cardstock with Doodle Hearts embossing folder from The Paper Studio and matted it on a piece of red cardstock, stamped the sentiment with D1548 - Whoo's Your Valentine from CTMH, wrapped a ribbon around the front and it was done. Seriously didn't take longer than 15 minutes once I figured out which piece of paper I was going to use for the base. I love it when that happens!

Snow Day!

Not really! We have been really...lucky so far this winter. The kids haven't missed a single day of school due to snow and what little bit of snow we've had has been no more than a dusting and gone in no time at all. Part of me would really like a little bit of snow. I mean if it's gonna be cold we might as well have some white stuff, but I know I would get tired of it really fast, too. It is only January, so there's still time. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I was going through some older photos last week and came across these of Matthew and Shane from 2008.

supplies used - cardstock - CTMH, Patterned Paper - Merry by My Mind's Eye , Stamps -CTMH -E1014 Posterboard Alpahbet, D1480 Snowflakes, bling - Studio G.

Lu had posted a fun challenge over at Inspired to Scrap this month called, "A Sketch and A Six Pack". You were to use the sketch provided and 6x6 papers on your layout. I had found this paper pad from My Minds Eye back before Christmas at Michael's and knew it would work great for these photos and this challenge. I stamped my title and a few snowflakes, added a little bling to the snowflakes and journaled directly on my layout. That is something I don't do often because I am always afraid I'll make a mistake and have to redo the whole thing! The journaling says, " Matthew loves it when it snows. He could play out in it for hours if we let him. Shane is not a fan of the cold. He'll "tolerate" it for a few minutes, then he's ready to go back inside where it's warm. One thing they both love is a snow day. No school = 2 happy boys! photos - Jan. 2008"
Until next time...

This is my favorite photo

This is my second post in one day! I cannot believe it! This is my layout for the second week of the So You Think You Can Scrap challenge over at Colorful Creations. I really do love this photo of Matthew from 2007. It is one of those photos that's been sitting on my desk just waiting to be scrapped since the day that I got it almost 6 years ago, and I just never could scrap it. I wanted everything about the layout to be perfect. I finally decided it was time to get this photo on a layout and the challenge this week was perfect for it. Matthew loved playing baseball. He looked forward to his games every week and when he stepped out on that field, he was all business. He took his game play very seriously and he was a very good player. Sadly, as he got older he decided he didn't want to play ball anymore and I've gotta say, I really kinda miss going to his games every week. But, it's still fun to look back at his pictures and we still play ball out in the yard every spring and summer.

So long summer

supplies used - Patterned paper and alphabet stickers - Basic Grey, Cardstock and ink - CTMH. border punch - EK Success, Stamps -  Autumn Leaves

In December I signed up for the So You Think You Can Scrap challenge over at Colorful Creations. I thought that it sounded like fun, and if nothing else I would get at least one layout a week done. Starting on the 4th of January they post a sketch and a challenge and then you have a week to get your layout completed and uploaded to their site. In order for you to move on each week your layout has to be uploaded by the due date and all the requirements met. This is my layout for the first week. Luckily I met the requirements and got it posted before the due date and moved on to the second week. I'm a pretty plain and simple scrapper, so I really love these challenges that make me use things that I normally might not put on a layout.

Wintery weather

We have been really lucky so far this winter with our weather. Yes, we've had plenty of cold days and even a few snow flurries that didn't amount to more than a light dusting and was gone in no time. Saturday night we got a little bit of freezing rain. Our electricity went out about 3:15 a.m. and memories of the bad ice storm that we had a few years ago where our electricity was out for a week came rushing back. Lucky for us it came back on around 7:30 a.m. 4 hours with no heat got the house pretty cold, but at least it happened while Shane was still  sleeping. No power + Shane not understanding why can be a recipe for long day!

The sun did peek out a time or two during the day and pictures could not even capture the beauty of it all. Hopefully this is all of the ice we will get this winter...yeah, right, but at least the next time that we get some winter weather, maybe it will actually be some snow!

Playing catch up

I cannot believe it has been a month since I have made a blog post. December and the first half of January

has flown by and I don't even know how that happened. I felt like all of December was a blur with time being spent running errands, Christmas shopping, parties, etc. I thought surely by the time the boys went back to school after the first of the year that things would slow down. Not quite. Finally - a week and a half later - I think the slow down is ready to begin and I am more than ready for it! 

Abby starts her student teaching tomorrow and I just have to say that I think she is going to be the best special education teacher ever! Good luck to her and I cannot wait to hear how her first day went!

supplies - Cardstock - CTMH, Patterned Paper - WeR Memory Keepers and Paper Studio, Sticker - Echo Park, Sketch - Scrapbook Generation

This is the first layout that I made in December - yeah, it was a busy month! I did work on my December Daily album during the month, but it was 6x6 and I was ready for a change. I loved this picture of Abby and Shawn the minute that I  saw it and couldn't wait to scrap it. I used a sketch from Scrapbook Generation's December downloads (I love their sketches!) and I really like the way that it turned out. 

I've got a few more layouts and some cards to share over the next couple of days. Now that all of the kids are back to school and I am slowly settling into a routine, maybe, just maybe, I'll be posting more often.