Sweet Little Guy - Let's Get Sketchy

Hello again! If you are looking for my Sketch N Scrap reveal or the Counterfeit Kit Challenge reveal and blog hop, please scroll on down. 

It's time for a new sketch at Let's Get Sketchy today. This post is a little bittersweet as it will be my last reveal with Let's Get Sketchy. My life has gotten a little busier lately and I am having to lighten my design team load a bit. I have so enjoyed my time on the team and I know I will continue to play along with the sketches as time allows. 

Here is the June sketch:

And here is my layout based off of the sketch:

I've used Photo Play's Snuggle Up Boy collection. I had picked up a few sheets of the girl collection to use on some of Ada's baby photos and I loved it so much that I got the boy collection, too. I still have photos of the boys from when they were babies/toddlers to scrap and a new collection really helps to motivate me to scrap!

This photo is of me and Shane getting in a little snuggle time at my grandma's 90th birthday party back in 2001. He was about a year and a half old and now he is heading on 20!

I stayed true to the sketch - only leaving off the big doilies/circles behind the photo and adding another banner piece in the upper left-hand corner.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to check out the sketch and the design team's beautiful creations at Let's Get Sketchy. 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 wonderful day!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge June Kit Reveal and Blog Hop

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

The start of a new month means we have a new inspiration kit at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I am the host for June and I have chosen the May 2019 Hip Kit Club kit for us to counterfeit. Here's a look at the kit:

You can get all of the details about this kit here. I loved the colors and patterns in this kit.

Here is what I put together for my kit which I am calling "June Splendor":

When I saw the pink flowers on the blue background it reminded me of the blue floral paper in the Dear Lizzy collection - Lucky Charm - and that is the paper I picked for my inspiration piece for my kit. In fact, my kit is full of the Lucky Charm collection and a few miscellaneous pieces from the Dear Lizzy Neopolitan, and Pink Paislee's - Whimsical - collection.

My kit started out as pretty manageable but quickly turned into a mega kit! I decided to keep close to the same number of papers as are in the kit. The kit includes 11 papers and with the "B" sides that was 22 papers I could pull.

Here are the papers that  I started with - 18 papers all with a somewhat resemblance to those in the inspiration kit. These are the papers I plan to focus on using this month:

I have a few Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm" papers, Dear Lizzy "Neopolitan", Shimelle's "Little By Little", Pink Paislee "Whimsical", and the strawberry paper is from an American Crafts collection, but I'm not sure which one since it came out of a "Best Of" paper pad.

I couldn't stop there because I need choices when I scrap! I pulled another 21 papers - all but 3 are from the Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm". I have a blue gingham paper from Jillibean Soup, a pink grid from Dear Lizzy "Neopolitan", and a mint with silver dot paper from Amy Tangerine that I pulled for my "specialty" paper. This is what I am calling my paper add -on:

As you can see, I have a lot of the Lucky Charm collection in my supplies. I love this collection but have used hardly any of it. Along with having several single sheets - and multiples of those - I also have the American Crafts "Best Of" paper pad that included several of the papers from this collection, so there are some papers that I have 3 or 4 of. It's time to see if I can get some - hopefully, most - of these papers used!

I also pulled a few cut apart papers and papers with an all-over design to maybe do some fussy cutting with. I thought the cut aparts from the Shimelle "Little By Little" collection were similar to the polaroid paper in the inspiration kit and could be used as embellishments:

I also pulled a couple of scraps - from the same Jillibean Soup collection and the "Little By Little"  6x6 paper pad:

For my embellishments...where do I start! I pulled the Simple Stories "Oh Happy Day chipboard stickers and 4x6 sticker book - which are featured in the Hip Kit Pocket Life kit. I also pulled die cuts that have been floating from kit to kit the last few months:

I also found this 4x6 box of die cuts from several different companies, so I pulled those to see if I can put some of them to use:

Here is a sampling of what's inside:

I didn't take all of them out of the box because there are a lot of die cuts in there!

I pulled the sticker sheet and die cuts from the Jillibean Soup "Healthy Hello" collection - the same collection as the papers above, and a few alphas from Pink Fresh and Elle's Studio that match the colors in the papers:

I also included a few stamps sets again this month. Hopefully, I'll get some use out of them this month!

I also pulled a couple of punches that I plan to leave on my desk for the month to remind me to use them:

As an afterthought - meaning I forgot to get a picture of it - I also pulled the Dear Lizzy sticker book to use.

So, my manageable kit is now a mega kit and I can't wait to get started! I am planning on getting back to my Project Life albums and continuing to work on my Traveler's Notebooks along with my regular scrapping. I know this kit is going to help me get a lot done!

Here's the list for the blog hop. Be sure to hop along and see the beautiful kits from the design team.

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

Guest Designer - Kathy Feigl - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC89lApHWcee6yADLOLLBREw/videos

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

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

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

Lori - https://loriannie670.blogspot.com/

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

Laura - https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! If you create a kit I would love to see it so be sure to share!

I'll be back soon with another project to share with you. I hope you have a great day!

Such A Tomboy - Sketch N Scrap #178

Hello, everyone and Happy June 1st! I can't believe that it is already June. I guess since our weather has been so rainy, and cool for the most part, that it still feels like early spring instead of (almost) summer. I am ready for the warm sunny days for sure!

It's time for the first sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap today and Lisa is starting us off with a great one! I know this one will go into my favorites to be used again.

Here is what I came up with:

Miss Ada is a tomboy through and through! I guess since she has always been mostly around boys that it was inevitable. She will take playing in the dirt over playing dress up and playing with dolls any day! Now, don't get me wrong, she does love to play dress up, she loves playing with her dolls and dollhouses, but if she was given the choice, playing in the dirt would probably win out and I wouldn't have it any other way!

On this day, Abby could not get Ada in the car to go home for her playing around in the dirt or maybe I should say dust because it was so powdery! She would dig in it with her shovel and then pick it up by the handfuls and dump it on her legs and feet - much to her Mom's dismay! She even left dust prints on her car seat when Abby finally got her in the car!

I've used Simple Stories - Little Princess - collection. I picked this collection #1 - the colors in the collection are perfect for the photos and #2 - I kind of liked the contrast of it being a girly collection and being used on a layout about her being a tomboy.

 I changed up a couple of things on my layout compared to the sketch. I used 3 photos instead of the 2 on the sketch and I left off the embellishment on the right side of the photos.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For the alphas, I have used the purple Elle's Studio puffy alphas. I love these little alphas - they are perfect for so many things. The turquoise alphas are from The Paper Studio.

I will add my journaling when I get it condensed down to the area I've got for it.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the sketch and the design team layouts. I can't wait to see what you create with the sketch!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I will be right back with my June Counterfeit Kit Challenge to share with you!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #318

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend. It was a nice long weekend for us and now I feel like I am a little behind. It's hard to keep the days straight when everyone is at home and you don't have a schedule to stick to for a few days!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has a new sketch posted this week. Here's a look at the sketch that Michelle has created for us:

I am still working on using up my May Counterfeit Kit (you can read all about it here) and I had these two scraps that I thought paired up nicely for this sketch.

I stamped a few flowers from the Prickly Pear (Z3338) stamp set from Close To My Heart and die cut them out to add to my card. This is a stamp set that I really hadn't planned on getting when it came out but I picked it up when it was on clearance. I want to say I got the stamp set and the dies both for under $10 and I have used this stamp set more than a lot of the others that I have!  

The sentiment is also from Close To My Heart (M1185) and I have definitely gotten my $2.95 out of it! I cut my sentiment into a rectangle instead of the oval that is shown on the sketch. I need to seriously think about getting a few more oval dies so I have a better variety to choose from!

I added in a few gems around my card for a little sparkle and to finish it off. They are a little hard to see in the photo but they are there!

Be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge tomorrow for the full design team reveal and last week's Top 3. I hope you find some time to play along with us this week!

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

Life Is Better...Scrap Our Stash May Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge

Hello and Happy Saturday! We have made it to the weekend and it's a holiday weekend at that! 

Today is my day to share my take on the Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge at Scrap Our Stash. Along with the sketch, we have an additional challenge to add a tag to our layout.

I chose the left-hand side of the sketch for my layout:

I've used Simple Stories - Sunshine and Blue Skies - collection for my layout of Shane playing on the slip n slide way back in 2005. The colors in this collection are perfect for these fun photos.

I do have a tag on my layout - tucked behind the left photo and sun.

I have a few more photos from this day so I may go ahead and use the right-hand side of the sketch for those.

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash for more design team inspiration. I would love to see your take on the challenge, too!

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

Tuesday Morning Sketches #504

Good Tuesday morning! Are you ready for a new sketch challenge from Tuesday Morning Sketches? We have a fun one for you today - created by Melissa:

Here is the card that I created:

I've had this chipboard frame on my desk for a while just begging to be used and this sketch was perfect for it. I did have to separate some of the layers of chipboard so it wasn't so bulky. I found the 2x2 square featuring that cute phone and thought it paired nicely with the frame. 

I loved the scalloped piece at the bottom of the sketch and I added a piece of washi tape on top of it. I finished off my card with a few puffy mint green hearts. 

This card came together so quickly and I can't wait to brighten someone's day with it.

Head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the beautiful cards from the rest of the design team. I hope you have some time to play along with us this week.

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

Use Your Stuff #359 - For the Moms

Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! Are you ready for the new week? This is my daughter's last few days of work before summer break, which means I only have a few more days of having Miss Ada with me. She will be a big school girl in the fall...

Use Your Stuff has a new challenge this week and it is all about the Moms! Show us those projects all about Mom, for Mom, etc.

Abby had Shawn take a picture of her and Ada on Mother's Day for me and sent it to me. They were both all decked out in lilac and looking pretty!

I pulled out my Elle's Studio goodies since they have quite a few purples in their papers, and went to work. I kept with the purples and greys for my layout. I also used a few purple and grey acetate hearts. The purple heart by the photo was a little hard to see so I backed it with one of the patterned papers to help it stand out a bit more. I don't use a lot of purple enamel dots so I went a little crazy with them on this layout.

I've based my layout off of an older Sketch N Scrap sketch (#166).

Be sure to stop by Use Your Stuff to see the "Mom" projects from the rest of the design team. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

LM #447 - Stamp Your Stash - Sentiment Stamps

Hello again! I am back with my second post of the day. If you are looking for my reveal for The Studio Challenges, please scroll down. 

It's time for a new challenge at Lasting Memories! Our theme for May has been "Stamp Your Stash" and we have been using stamps on our layouts all month long. This week's challenge is to use those sentiment stamps. 

When I saw this challenge I knew I would be using a birthday set to create my layout. Here's a look at my traveler's notebook spread that I created:

Here is the stamp set that I used - Close To My Heart's - Birthday Time (S1803). I used a few of the stamps in this set for my embellishments, too. 

These are photos of Ada's birthday last year and this spread will go into my 2018 52 Favorites traveler's notebook.

I had an extra photo and I want to do some journaling about the day, so I created a hidden element (perfect for my TN Time With Lisa & Lori May Challenge going on now!) by creating a fold-out flap:

This was one of those days that we had looked forward to, but when you have a child with autism, sometimes special days can be hard! We had told Shane that we were going to Ada's birthday party that day, but we changed things at the last minute by going to pick Matthew up for the party - something we did not prepare - or warn - Shane that we would be doing. He wound up having a major meltdown, Matthew didn't even come home with us, and we got to stay at Ada's party maybe 10 minutes before we had to leave because he was headed for another meltdown - and those are never fun, but even worse when you are in a house full of people.

Luckily, my sister was there and took lots of photos for me so at least I didn't miss out on those. 

I don't want to dwell too much on that aspect of Ada's special day, but I do want to let her know that we were there in spirit.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories to see the beautiful layouts from the design team. I hope you have a chance to pull out those stamps and play along with us!

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

The Studio Challenges - Color of the Year - Coral

Hello, hello! Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a good weekend!

The Studio Challenges has a new challenge up today.  This week our challenge is to use the Pantone Color of the Year - coral - on our layouts. Here is what I came up with:

I love the color coral but don't have a lot of it in my supplies. I did find this sheet from the Simple Stories - Reset Girl - collection and knew it would be just right for this challenge. The other side of this paper has beautiful flowers all over it so I fussy cut several of those for my embellishments. I also added a few coral gems and puffy hearts, along with a few wood veneer hearts. 

I based this layout on a Sketch N Scrap sketch from 2014 - Sketch #50.

Here are a few close-ups:

These photos of Abby and Ada were taken right before we went to my niece's baby shower. I can't believe that has been 5 years ago! Ada looked so cute in her coral and white polka dot pants with that cute little bow on her head!

Head on over to The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful coral layouts from the rest of the design team. 

I would love to see your take on the sketch, too! I hope you find some time to play along with us.

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

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Challenge #2 - Dream On

Hello, everyone! Good Saturday morning to you! I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. It's looking like it may be a little on the rainy side around here today...I guess we will see.

It's time for the second challenge of the month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge.
Here's a reminder of the inspiration kit for May:

And here's a reminder of my kit:

Challenge #2 is "Dream On" and Leslie provided us the following image and quote for inspiration:

Dreams are the seeds of change.

Nothing ever grows without a seed,

and nothing ever changes without a dream. - Debby Boone

When I saw the image I knew immediately which photos I wanted to use. I have had these photos of Ada - picking dandelions and making wishes - for two years now, and have been waiting to find the perfect time to scrap them. When I saw the above photo it gave me the push I needed to get it done.

Here is what I came up with:

This dandelion stamp set was the one that had gone missing when I made my kit and luckily I uncovered it when I cleaned my scrap room! It was perfect for these photos. Here's an up-close look at the stamping:

Abby had posted these photos of Ada on Facebook with the caption "Picking dandelions and making wishes"...it just doesn't get any better than that! Ada has always thought that dandelions are a pretty flower and she loves when they start popping up each spring. In fact, I got a few more photos of her this spring making those dandelion wishes!

Here's another close-up:

One of the main reasons that I think I haven't scrapped these photos before was because I couldn't find the "perfect" papers to scrap them with. That's the great thing about working from a kit - you work with you have in the kit and that eliminates a lot of indecision!

 Since Ada thinks dandelions are beautiful flowers, I thought this floral paper from my kit was perfect to pair up with the dandelion stamp. Everything on my layout came from my kit. I did have to stamp a red label because all of the blue labels I added to my kit were the wrong color of blue. That always helps speed up my process - when I have everything right there together.

Be sure to check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see how the rest of the design team was inspired by photo/quote. 

We would love to see your kits and your projects that you make with your kits - so be sure to share with us over on the blog.

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