Sweet Girl - Scrap Our Stash Saturday Cartoon Sketch Challenge

Hello and Happy Friday! I hope that you have had a good week and are ready for the weekend. We're getting another taste of winter yesterday and today before it warms up for the weekend. Thank goodness we get to have a couple warmer days before the next cold blast (and maybe even a bit of snow) sets in on Monday. 

Today the second half of the design team at Scrap Our Stash is up on the blog with our take for this month's Saturday Cartoon Sketch Challenge. Along with the sketch, we are to use a fruit embellishment. Here's a look at the graphic:

I loved Strawberry Shortcake when I was a kid and I guess I had strawberries on the brain because that is the fruit that I decided to go with. I also knew I had pictures of Ada in a sleeper with strawberries on it - and I know I didn't have to go so literal with the challenge - but this is what I came up with - Ada wearing a strawberry sleeper, strawberry paper, and a couple of fussy cut strawberries for embellishments:

All of the papers that I used are from various Bella Blvd collections, with the exception of the darker pink polka dot and I believe it is from a Shimelle collection. I had the "sweet" rubber word on my desk and am so glad that I was able to make it work on this layout. 

I actually pulled out my sewing machine and stitched around all of the edges of the papers. After they were attached to the background, I distressed all of the edges. I also used some messy thread in my clusters. Here are a couple of close-ups:

Head on over to Scrap Our Stash to see the rest of the design team's take on this challenge. I would love to see what you create, too. 

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #157

Hello, hello! Good Tuesday morning to you! I hope your week is off to a good start. This time change is always hard on me! Trying to get used to it getting dark so early takes some time for me. 

It's time for our first card sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap today. Sketch Artist Heather has created a fun sketch to get us started:

Since it's November I figured I'd better get serious about making a few Christmas cards and this is what I came up with:

I feel like I struggle with making Christmas cards in non-traditional colors - I love my reds and greens - but I have this 6x6 paper pad from Fancy Pants, and I really do love the patterns and colors, I just find that they are a little harder for me to work with. I am going to try and see just how much of this paper pad I can get used up this year.

To add a little more interest to the plain pink piece of paper, I use a snowflake embossing folder on it. I also added a couple of die cut trees to my card. As it turns out, I really like how this card turned out!

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I would love to see your take on the sketch, too!

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

Forgery on the Fourth - Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you are ready to get this new week started.

It is the 4th of November and that means it is time for Forgery on the Fourth at Counterfeit Kit Challenges.  Today I am sharing a few quick and easy forgeries that I made based on a few of the items I saw in the inspiration kit. These did not take long at all to make - maybe about a half an hour - and I now have a few little embellishments ready to go when I sit down to scrap.

Here's a reminder of our beautiful inspiration kit:

All that I used for these forgeries were my computer and a few dies, but most of the items I created can easily be made with just a trimmer or scissors:

One of the items in the inspiration kit that caught my eye was a sheet of word/phrase stickers in a variety of colors. I found a font that I liked and that I thought resembled the one on the stickers and printed out a sheet of my own. I also really liked the circle embellishments with the single word on them that is in the inspiration kit. I haven't added a mat to mine yet, I figured that I could match it to my layout when I was ready to use them. Here is a close-up of the words and phrases:

I used two of the banner dies, the tag die, and the coffee cup die that I included in my kit to make a few more embellishments. The banners and tags could easily be made with a trimmer and some scissors. 

A few quick and easy embellishments all ready to go! 

Head on over to Counterfeit Kit Challenges to see the fabulous forgeries from the rest of the design team. 

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

The Studio Challenges - Autumn Mood Board

Hello, everyone! Good Sunday morning to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend. It's been pretty quiet around here and I have enjoyed some scrappy time. 

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges. Today we have a beautiful Autumn mood board to draw your inspiration from:

Isn't that a beautiful mood board? So many things to choose from here! Since we had just taken some family photos in front of our beautiful trees last weekend, I decided to go with the fall theme to create my layout.

I have used a variety of fall papers from Echo Park for this layout. I fussy cut the flowers from the backside of the cut apart paper for my embellishments and scattered a few gold and orange glitter dots around my layout. I based my layout on this sketch from Sketch Savvy that I have on one of my Pinterest boards.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. I would love to see your take on the mood board, too!

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

Counterfeit Kit Challenge November Kit Reveal and Blog Hop

Hello, everyone! Happy November to you all! I can't believe that we are already so close to the end of the year. I thought as I grew older - and my kids grew older - that time would seem to slow down, but I think, if anything, it is going even faster!

It is time for our final inspiration kit reveals of 2019 at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. Master Forger Lisa has chosen our inspiration kit and it is a fun one! She has chosen a kit from a Dutch online shop called Scrapdelight Scrapbookwinkel. She was inspired by the beautiful colors and paper designs - which seem to be wintry and seasonal without being all about snow and Christmas. Here's a look at the kit:

Pocket Page Kit:

Documenter Scrapbook Winter Kit:

Here is my kit - Wishing For Winter and More:

Now, when I first saw the inspiration kit I fell in love with the colors - pink, gold, grey - or maybe it's a blue - it depends on which computer - my desktop or my laptop - that I am looking at! When I saw the snowflake die cuts and the cute little coffee cup it made me think of the Snow and Cocoa collection from Crate Paper. I knew I had the 6x6 paper pad and that is where my kit started. Once I pulled the Snow and Cocoa paper pad I didn't really look at the inspiration kit again - I just went my own way! My kit turned out a little brighter and with a little more minty/aqua/teal greens in it, but I think you can see how the inspiration kit inspired me!

Since I only had the 6x6 paper pad to start with, I knew I needed to check out my 12x12 papers to see what would match it. I found the Simple Stories Freezin' Season collection in my stash that I had only used a couple of sheets from. It was the same color palette as Snow and Cocoa so it was definitely going in my kit! Here are my 12x12 papers:

I know I will not be wanting to scrap all snow pages - for one thing - I don't have that many snow photos left to scrap - so I pulled some basic patterns to round out my kit. I have papers from Echo Park, Fancy Pants, Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Pink Paislee, American Crafts, and The Paper Studio here.

Here is what I have from Snow and Cocoa:

Simple Stories "Freezin' Season" stickers, cut aparts, and scraps:

 I don't really know what I want to scrap over the next couple of months so I went a little crazy in the embellishments department and pulled a little bit of everything in gold, pinks, mint greens, grey, etc. that I could find:

I also pulled a couple of sticker sheets and my sticker books. Not everything will match but it's giving me a great variety with what will!

Lately, I have been adding at least one stamp set to my kit, mostly to remind me to use them, so I not only added a couple of sets from Elle's Studio for the labels and phrases but I also pulled an old set from Close To My Heart. The little half-circle stamps on it match a paper in the Snow and Cocoa paper pad perfectly. I also added in a few dies to maybe "forge" a couple of items:

I didn't pull a lot of alphas but I think these will work nicely with my papers:

And my die-cut boxes are making an appearance again, as well! There are lots of pinks and greens in here so surely I can get some of them used up!

Last, but not least, is my paper add-on. I've already pulled them, I might as well leave them out for a while! 

Plenty of pretty paper to keep me busy until we have a new inspiration kit in the new year!

And, that is my kit to finish out the year! Be sure to hop along with us and visit all of the design team's blogs to see their beautiful kits. Here is the complete blog hop list:

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Guest Designer Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com

Cindy:- http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/

Julene:- http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com//

Leslie:- http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/

Lisa:- http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com 

Lori:- http://loriannie670.blogspot.com/<<<<<

Tina:- http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

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

Some Exciting News...

Hello, everyone! Happy Halloween to you! It is a very cold Halloween here - highs only in the 30's today and the wind is terrible. We even had a few snow flurries last night!

I am super excited to let you all know that I am now a part of The ScrapRoom Design Team! I will be sharing my pocket page spreads that I have created with the Shots of Life Kit each month. I will mostly be sharing my weekly pocket page spreads each month, but on occasion, I may share a themed spread with you, too. 

I love working in my Project Life albums but I have not given them priority like I should. I am hoping that with designing with the Shots of Life kit each month that I will change this and be able to share even more of my albums and maybe, dare I say, make a little progress on catching up on them!

I will be sharing my first layout around the middle of November so be on the lookout!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a Happy Halloween!

Storytime With Grandma - Scrap Our Stash Pick Your Side October Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope your week is off to a good start. 

It's time to share my take on this month's Pick A Side Sketch Challenge at Scrap Our Stash! Here's a look at the sketch that we had to choose from:

Along with picking either the left or right side of the sketch, we are also required to include twine, at least one tag, and one tab on our layout. Here is what I came up with:

I used one of my October Counterfeit Kit add-on kits along with one of the papers in my main kit for this layout. 

I came across these photos of my mom reading a story to Matthew when he was maybe 2 years old. My mom has been gone for 6 years now and I still find it a little hard to scrap photos of her, but it is getting easier. She loved spending time with all of her grandkids and a quiet moment like this one was always her favorite.

I used the left side of the sketch for my layout. I added a tag with twine behind the photo. I left the tag blank for now. I think I will journal just the basics on the tag and then write more detailed journaling on the back of the layout. I also included a tab on the right side of the photos.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash to see how the rest of the design team took on this fun challenge. I hope you have some time to play along with us this month!

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

Fabulous - The Studio Challenges - One Patterned Paper

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my Sketch N Scrap reveal, please scroll on down.

We have a new challenge at The Studio Challenges today. This week we are challenging you to use one piece of patterned paper on your layout. It sounds hard but your paper can be double-sided - so it's like you're using two pieces! You can cut it up, change it up somehow, it's up to you as long as you only use one piece of paper. 

I was afraid this challenge might be a little, well, challenging! But really the hardest part was deciding which pretty patterned paper to pick! Here is the one I chose from Simple Stories "Oh Happy Day" collection:

And here is my layout:

Of course, I had to go with a "happy horizontal" for this one! I pulled out the stickers, die-cuts, and enamel dots that I had left with this collection and challenged myself to use only those to finish out my layout. 

The title and little banner piece at the top of the photos are from the sticker sheet and all of the flowers are from the die-cut pack. I love how this turned out! I was pretty limited on what enamel dots I used because the pack was mostly gone, but I was able to make it work.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

This was such a fun challenge and one that I think I will try again!

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges blog to see how Helen and Michelle took on the challenge, too.

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #156

Happy Sunday! I hope that you are having a good weekend.

It's time for a new card sketch at Sketch N Scrap today. Sketch Artist Lisa has created a great sketch for us to play with:

I have created a 'thankful' card. Anytime is a good time to send a card like this but I think this time of year makes it be at the forefront of my mind.

I found a fall-themed 6x6 paper pad in my stash that I had picked up at Target a few years ago (and then found it again at Tuesday Morning last year...I think) and I knew it would be perfect for my card. There is no manufacturer's name on the pad but it has the prettiest papers and colors in it - and when you can get it for $1.49 - well, that makes it well worth it.

I stayed true to the sketch only using my sentiment for my focal piece. I tried to add some die-cut leaves around it but I just liked the simplicity of the card without them. 

This is another great sketch that I can see myself using again and again.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see how the rest of the design team used this sketch.

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

Just Saying Hello - Sketch N Scrap Monthly Facebook Challenge #2

Hello, everyone and Happy Sunday to you! I do hope you are having a good weekend. 

I thought I would pop in here really quickly to share a card that I made for Sketch N Scrap's Monthly Facebook Challenges group. You'll have to head on over and join the group to see which sketch I picked for the challenge and to see the optional twist.

For my card, I have used Echo Park's 'Just Be You' 6x6 paper pad and my go-to Hero Arts sentiment stamp set. Matting each of the layers with a solid color helped to give a little separation so the card wasn't quite so busy.

Be sure to join in our monthly Facebook challenges group! We would love to see you over there!