Paper Play Sketches Ch #14

Hello, hello! Happy Hump Day! I can't believe we are already to the middle of the week. Usually the week before a long weekend just seems to drag on by! I am so happy that is not the case this time around!

I am so excited to let you all know that Paper Play Sketches is back up and running after summer break and I am also excited to be a part of the team! I love the sketches that Janis creates and I do hope you will play along with us! The sketches are posted every other Wednesday, so mark it down on your calendar!

Here is this week's sketch:

I used Simple Stories Cozy Christmas for this card. I actually think the dark red piece is from Echo Park, but it didn't have the branding strip, so I'm not certain. For the focal point of my card, I die cut a 3x4 cut apart card into a 3 inch circle. 

I hope you stop by the Paper Play Sketches blog and say "hi", and I hope you find some time to play along with this sketch. I would love to see what you create with it.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope that your Wednesday is wonderful!

Hello card

Hello again! I am popping in with a quick card to share with you.

I found a challenge on Dani Cloutier - Close To My Heart Independent Consultant's Facebook page and thought I would give it a try. You really should check out her page. She posts challenges at the beginning of the month and she also posts weekly card and layout sketches.

Here is the card sketch that she posted for the week of August 21:

I used all Fancy Pants Park Bench collection for this card.

I am also linking this up over at Sunny Day Crafting - Ch #12 - where it's always anything goes!

If you get a chance stop by Dani's Facebook page and check out her challenges!

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

Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday #286

Hello everyone! I hope that you had a good weekend and that your week is starting off on a good note.

Try Stampin' - Or Not - On Tuesday has a new sketch for you today! Our optional theme this week is "Holiday Blessings".

I think this is such a fun sketch! It would work so well for any special occasion or holiday, and I know I will be using it again!

I really wanted to use the banner on my card, but there was just no way without covering up too much of the tree, so I just added a piece of twine to the top left corner. I really intended to round the bottom corners of the panel like the sketch showed, but I forgot. I think it looks just fine being square! The image is from a Simple Stories 3x4 pocket card. I had extras of this card, and I thought that it would make a cute Christmas card. 

I hope you have some time to play along with this sketch! You have 2 weeks to get your card linked up - either on the blog here or on our Facebook page here. 

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

This Is The Life - Lasting Memories #308

Hello, hello! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend. I know that for me this weekend seemed to just fly by!

We have our fifth and final challenge for the month up over at Lasting Memories today. Our theme for August has been "The Adult Coloring Trend", and this week our challenge is a photo color inspiration challenge. Use the photo below for color inspiration on your layout.

I love the pretty colors in that inspiration photo! The pinks, the oranges, and the greens...just so pretty. I was having trouble finding any photos that I thought went with this color scheme, so I decided to pick my papers first, then see what photos I could find to match the papers. I pulled papers from a variety of manufacturers - Dear Lizzy, Crate Paper, Amy Tangerine, and Chickaniddy Crafts.

This is not my normal process. I almost always start with my photos and then pick my papers. It was really fun to change things up this time around. I probably would have never pulled these papers if I had picked my photos first, but I kinda really like the way this layout turned out!

I searched my Pinterest boards for a two photo sketch and decided to go with this older sketch from PageMaps. I flipped the sketch to work with my photos a little better, and I moved the title to under the photos. I will add a little bit of journaling, maybe around the banner piece, or hidden behind the photos on a tag. I had taken a lot of photos from this day, so not sure which story I want these photos to tell just yet. I just know that this was a beautiful summer day spent with my family, and life can't get much better than that!

Be sure to stop by the Lasting Memories blog to see the beautiful layouts from the rest of the design team. You have until September 2nd to play along!

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

PDE Linky Party Challenge #135

Hello everyone! Happy Friday!

We have a new challenge up over on the PDE Linky Party blog today! This week's challenge is:

Ch #135 - Bold, Bright Colors

When I saw the theme for this week I immediately thought of the Simple Stories DIY Boutique. I knew I had just a few pieces of the 6x6 paper pad left, so I went in search of it in my stash. I just love those bright colors! They are sure to brighten anyone's day!

I based my card on this month's card sketch from Paper Issues:

Be sure to stop by the PDE Linky Party blog  to see the projects from the rest of the team! I hope to see you playing along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Scrapbook Challenges SS '16 Sketch #13

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! How is your week going so far? We have been having gorgeous weather lately, so no complaints here!

Today over on the Scrapbook Challenges blog we have sketch #13 from our Sizzlin' Summer of Sketches.

I had so much trouble deciding how I was going to use this sketch! Use it as is with the four smaller photos, use one photo in place of the four...there are just so many possibilities with this sketch. I know I will be using it again!

In the end I decided to stick with the four smaller photos, but I used 4x3 photos in place of the 3x2's. Because the photos I used were a little bigger, I had to adapt the sketch just a bit to make it work. I really wanted to use the tags on this layout, but there just wasn't enough room to make them look right.

The blue paper on this layout is some of the oldest paper in my stash. I know I have had it since probably 2004! It also came out of my 100 Patterned Paper challenge stash, so that's one more sheet that has been used! I also used my Fiskars teeny tiny star hand punch to punch those little stars. I just love those little stars, but they are kind of a pain to work with!

These photos are of the kids from the 4th of July 2013. Shane was in a mood to take lots of pictures - thanks to the flags - so they all just had fun being silly and posing with the flags.

I am a little sad that this is our last week of Sizzlin' Summer of Sketches! Mostly sad because I didn't get as many done as I had wanted to. Hopefully I'll get a couple more made before the end of the week. Regardless, they will all be filed away for later use.

Check out the Scrapbook Challenges blog to see what the other design team members did with this sketch. You have until the end of the month to play along.

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #174

Hello, hello! I am back with a quick post this evening. We have a brand new sketch posted over on the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog today. This is another great sketch with lots of possibilities. I can definitely see myself turning it and using it for a project life style card.

I always seem to be in need of birthday cards, so I dug out my balloon dies and went to work! I used my favorite birthday paper once again! I just think it makes for a fun birthday card!

I am also linking this card up at Sunny Day Crafting. Their challenges are always anything goes with an optional theme. This past week's theme was carnival or balloons. They'll have a brand new challenge up tomorrow, so I'd better hurry and get this linked up today!

Be sure to stop by the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog to see the sketch and read up on the rules. The design team reveal and the top 3 will be posted on Wednesday. We do hope that you find some time to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a good night!

Make It Monday #70 @ The Memory Nest

Hello, hello! Here we are back around to Monday again! I hope that you all had a good weekend. It was a hard weekend for us as we moved our oldest son to college. This is going to take some getting used to!

We have a new sketch up over at The Memory Nest, and this fun sketch is courtesy of Katie Lamb.

As I mentioned above, we moved Matthew to MSU this past weekend, so I guess I was feeling a little...lonesome...maybe a little sad...whatever the case, it made me not miss him quite so much working on a layout about him. Even though we still have Shane at home with us, it still feels like we are experiencing an empty nest. We know that Shane will more than likely be with us always, so Matthew is like the last of the kids that will leave the nest!

I used an older Echo Park collection - Note To Self - for this layout. I have been hanging onto it for a long time, and since I went and bought more paper when we took Matthew to college (hey, it made me feel a tiny bit better!) I figured I better use up some older stuff! This one will have hidden journaling on it - probably on the back since I have so much to say - I just don't think a tag behind the photo will cut it this time!

Be sure to stop by The Memory Nest to see the layouts from the rest of the design team. This is the last sketch in our weekly summer sketch series. There's still time to play along with all of the sketches from July and August, so get those layouts linked up for a chance at the grand prize!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope that you have a fantastic start to the week!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #80

Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! We are still having some really nice weather, so I'm hoping to get out and enjoy some of it this weekend.

We have a new card sketch up at Sketch N Scrap today! This fabulous sketch is courtesy of Heather.

I just love everything about this sketch, and I know I will be using it again and again! When I first saw it I wanted to do a Christmas card, but when I was looking for papers I came across this Crate Paper Bundled Up paper pad and decided to go for a winter time card instead. The colors in this collection are just so pretty and just a little different than the normal blues for winter. To finish off my card I added in a few die cut and punched snowflakes with a little pink bling.

Check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the fun cards from the rest of the team. You have until the end of the month to link up to any or all of our sketches. I hope to see you playing along!

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

PDE Linky Party Ch #134 - Tags

Hello everyone! Happy Friday to you! We have a new challenge for you over on the PDE Linky Party blog today.  This week's challenge is:

Ch# 134 - Tags

 I love homemade tags, but I rarely make them. At least not "fancy" tags! I cut tags for my layouts all the time, but they are usually tucked behind a layer and a lot of it is not even seen, so it was fun to make a pretty tag!

I made this tag to attach to some goodies for my daughter on her first day of school. I also took a picture of her when I picked up Ada, because hey, you normally don't get a chance to take a photo of your (almost) 26 year old daughter on her first day of school! With being a special education teacher her first few days are filled with not a lot of students, but a lot of scheduling and trying to figure out when those students are going to be in her classroom. I thought she might need a little pick me up to help get her through!

Stop by the PDE Linky Party blog to see the beautiful tags from the rest of the design team. I hope you play along with this fun challenge! I can't wait to see what you create!

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