Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style Sketch #34

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you are having a good start to the week.

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

My card is actually for the second part of week 7 for 2015, and focuses on Valentine's Day. I took the colors from Ada's Valentine's Day outfit for my card.

The boys were out of school on Friday the 13th, but Abby still had to work, so we had Ada with us all day Friday. Saturday we got up and headed to Springfield for some shopping. The boys were all good sports and let me go to a lot of scrappy stores. Matthew had been sick during the week, and he didn't even mind me stopping a lot! Although we did have to stop at Target and pick him up some cold medicine.

For lunch we stopped by Fazzoli's - which is usually a favorite for all of us. Little did we know that Shane was more in the mood for tacos! We had ordered him spaghetti, but he told us "NO!" When we asked what he wanted he said, "12" which means 12 tacos. No he does not eat 12 tacos, but once upon a time we ordered a to go box that had 12 tacos in it, so he thinks they always come in 12! He sat quietly (which is a first for him) while we finished our meal, then we headed to Taco Bell to get him his tacos!

Here is a close up of each card:

Be sure to stop by Sketches In Thyme Project Life Style for inspiration every single day. Kim is offering up a great stamp set that would be perfect for all of your paper crafting projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! 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!

Lasting Memories 300th Challenge Blog Hop Winner

Hello everyone! First off I want to say thank you to everyone that took the time to leave me a comment! I greatly appreciate each and every comment!

The winner of the Elle's Studio goodies is:

Nikki C

Nikki - please email me your address at loristroup@yahoo.com. I will get your prize out to you later this week.

Thanks again and have a great day!

Lasting Memories #301 - Block Tower Expert

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you have had a good weekend.

We have a new challenge up over at Lasting Memories today. Our theme for July is "Childhood Games" and this week is all about Snakes and Ladders. I have to admit - I have never played snakes and ladders. Chutes and ladders - yes, but not snakes and ladders.

Here is your inspiration photo:

For my layout, I was inspired by the squares and primary colors.

This is a layout about Shane when he was about 7 years old. He went through a phase of building these big block towers on the corner of the kitchen table - usually right before supper! Sometimes he would tear them down by himself, other times we would have to try and carefully move them. He knew exactly which block went where, and we'd better not mess them up. He always worked so diligently building these towers.

I used Echo Park's Little Man collection. That block paper was the whole reason I bought this collection - and knowing I still had these photos to scrap! I also used another sketch from Scrapbook Generation's The Whole Picture sketch book. I actually based it off of two of the sketches in the book - one just a little more than the other!

Check out the Lasting Memories blog to see what the rest of the design team created using the inspiration photo/game. You have until July 29th to link up for a chance to win a fun prize donated by Sandy, and a chance to be a future guest design team member.

I will post the winner of my blog hop prize a little later today, so stay tuned!

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

100 Patterned Paper Challenge

Hello everyone! Happy Thursday! Our week of family vacation is almost over - and I am so sad about that! We don't ever go far, but I'm going to miss sleeping in and having no schedule! We are headed to the pool today - if the weather cooperates. Right now we have storm warnings out - so we will see...

As some of you may know I am always looking for ways to keep myself motivated to use up my stash. I have this enormous amount of patterned paper, and I just keep adding to it. Just last week I bought four 12x12 paper pads at Tuesday Morning (who can pass up that $6.99 price?!) and I "may" have ordered two more paper pads that should be here some time this week. I readily admit that I am addicted to patterned paper, but I do want to get in and get some of my older stuff used up.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking through my paper stash for a certain piece of paper. Of course I got side tracked by all the pretty papers that I had forgotten I even had! So, I started pulling out a few papers - "this" paper would be cute for "this" layout, here is red, white, and blue papers - it's almost the fourth, "this" paper could be used for "those" photos, more red, white, and blue...well, you get the idea. This is what my floor looked like:

Some papers were pulled with the purpose of using them for project life style cards, some were pulled with a specific layout in mind, but my soul purpose was to pull these old papers and pair them up with some new papers to get them used up - maybe make some of my own kits along the way.

Then I came across a post in a Facebook group that I am in, where one of the members was challenging themselves to use up 100 patterned papers - or get rid of them. I thought, "I can do that - I just pulled a whole stack of old papers!" Just a little more incentive for me to get my stash used up!

Now my stack is more than 100 sheets. I counted out 100 sheets to "measure' my stack, and it's more like 4 -500 sheets, but they are now sitting in my scrap room, and I have already been using on them!

Some of the red, white, and blue papers that I pulled.

Old American Crafts collections.

Some solids - I have lots and lots of solids!

Old Chatterbox - Scrapbook Walls collections - does anyone even remember them? It's a good thing they have solid colors on the back side - maybe I'll get them used up!

Here is the stack - all ready to be used up:

I've not set a time limit yet for trying to work through this stack. I hope to see a big difference in the size by the end of summer, but I am a slow scrapper, so I know it might take a while! When I measured this stack it was 5 inches tall...maybe by the end of the year it will look a little smaller!

I am going to try to remember to take photos of the papers I pull before I start on a project to help me keep track of what I am getting used up.

I am excited on getting started with this challenge to myself, and heck, sometimes that is half the battle!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fantastic day!

Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #278

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day!

We have a new sketch up over at Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday.  This sketch is courtesy of Kaylin, and the optional theme for this week is blue and white.

Here's the sketch:

I tried to stick to the blue and white theme, but there is just a touch of pink on my card. I had this 6x6 paper pad from Little Yellow Bicycle that had a border strip page in it, and I thought this strip that said, "Just Be You" would be perfect for this sketch. The only thing I changed about the sketch was not adding in the sentiment since it was not needed. I chose to add in a flower in that spot instead. 

Be sure to stop by the Try Stampin' blog to see what the rest of the team did with this sketch. You have 2 weeks to play along with this sketch, and you can link up on the blog or on our Facebook page.

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #77

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope all of those that celebrated Independence Day here in the US had a good, long weekend! I know we enjoyed it!

We have the first card sketch of the month up today over at Sketch N Scrap for you. This fun sketch is courtesy of Mandy.

I decided to turn the sketch for my card to accommodate the stamp set that I wanted to use. This is one of those sketches that I am sure I will be using again! I also think it would make a great project life style card as well!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. You have all month long to play along with our sketches. I can't wait to see what you create!

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

Lasting Memories 300th Challenge Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Welcome to Lasting Memories 300th challenge blog hop!

Several of our design team members are playing along and offering up some blog candy, so be sure to stop by each of their blogs. You should have arrived here by way of Michele's blog. If you get lost along the way, or just want to start from the beginning, you can find the complete list on the Lasting Memories blog.

Our theme for July is "Childhood Games". Each week you will make your layout based on the photo/game provided. Our first challenge is "Marbles". Here is your inspiration photo:

For my layout I was inspired by the circles and the bright colors. I still need to add my journaling in above the photos on the right hand side of the layout. I just need to figure out how I can fit all that I want to say in that little space!

Here is a closer look at each page:

This layout is about a fund raiser that our little elementary school has that is near and dear to my heart. Every year, for the past six years, they hold a fun walk/run called "Conway Bears Step Up For Autism". The students get donations or pledges, then they get to spend one afternoon out on the track, running or walking a mile, and then cooling off with a treat.

This year it was held on May 11th. Since Abby is the Special Education teacher for K-4th graders, she got to walk with us, and even Matthew came along for it since he was already out of school. Even though it was pretty hot that day, and all Ada wanted to do was play at the "park" (playground) - we still had a lot of fun!

I based my layout on a sketch from the brand new sketch book by Scrapbook Generation called, The Whole Picture. I just picked this book up on Thursday, and I seriously love it! I am pretty sure that I will be using every single sketch in that book!

I do have some blog candy to give away here on my blog! All you have to do for a chance to win these goodies from Elle's Studio, is leave a comment on this post by next Saturday, July 9th. Of course I would love it if you would become a follower, but it's not necessary to win my blog candy, just leave me a comment. I will draw a winner next Sunday, July 10th.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up on the hop is Haven.

Here is the order of the hop in case you get lost along the way!

Lauren

Michele

Lori ----- You Are Here

Haven

Tina

Sandy

Barbara

Lasting Memories

Sketch N Scrap #108 - Recharging

Hello everyone! Happy Friday and Happy July 1st! Can you believe that we are already half way through 2016?! This year is going by fast! We are headed into the big holiday weekend, and my husband is officially on vacation, so hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can go do some fun things!

The first of the month means a new sketch is up over at Sketch N Scrap. This fun sketch is courtesy of Lisa!

A couple of weeks ago I was going through some of my {really} old papers looking for a particular sheet. I came across this old collection from Sweetwater -does anyone even remember them?!- and I had this photo of Shane when he was little guy - it's probably as old as the paper! - and I thought - what a perfect pairing! A great way to get some old stash used up and a sweet older photo of Shane scrapped!

Once again I used some blue and green paint splatters on my background paper to give it a little extra something. I added in some wood veneer stars and enamel dots to finish it off. I feel like my title says everything there is to say about this photo. Shane is definitely "recharging" here - getting ready for - or recovering from a fun day!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the team. I am offering up the prize for July. Play along with any or all of our sketches and link up by the end of the month for your chance to win this:

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