Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #181

 Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday to you! We are inching ever closer to the weekend and I am ready for it! 

It's time for the first card sketch of the month at Sketch N Scrap today and Lisa has created a great one for us to use:

This is what I came up with:

For my card, I have used Echo Park's Dear Santa 6x6 paper pad. The traditional colors and patterns in this pad are my favorite. The Santa and reindeer sticker is one I picked up in the Christmas section at Walmart last year. There are so many cute stickers in this pack and I am sure a few of them will be finding their way to more cards and my December Daily this year.

Once again, I used one of my neglected embossing folders for my main panel. I matted each of my patterned papers with black cardstock to help them stand out a little more. I used foam tape on the Santa sticker for a little dimension and finished it all off with a couple of black gems.

I really loved working with this sketch and I know I will be using it again soon!

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see the sketch and the beautiful cards from the design team. 

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

The Great Stash Bash November Kit

Hello again! It's always a little busier here on my blog on the first day of the month! 

I am back with my November kit for The Great Stash Bash 2020. The Great Stash Bash is a challenge that my friend Lisa and I have been doing this year. We have made it our mission to try to use up as much stash as we can this year. 

Here's how it works: 

 On the 1st of each month, we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created following that prompt. During the month we will try to use as much of our stash kits as possible on different projects. Then, on the last day of the month, we will do a recap post showing what stash we were able to bash! This will be a just-for-fun challenge so no monthly prize - but isn't the real prize using up our stash? You never know - if we still have a few unused stash items after a few months, then those items may just go into a giveaway. We hope you will join us in our quest to bash some stash in 2020. If you accept the challenge to play along - link up on either my blog or Lisa's blog (or both if you choose) so that we can see who is joining us each month! 

 Here is the November graphic: 

 We will be creating a kit of 10 papers (7 papers that are 3 years or older and 3 newer papers), 5-7 scrap papers, four embellishments (3 that are 3 years or older, and 1 newer embellishment), and this month we will be concentrating on putting our embossing folders to use! 

So, I did something a little bit different for my kit this month. I have quite a few older Christmas 6x6 paper pads that I am really getting a little tired of and I am really in the mood to get my Christmas cards made for this year, so instead of pulling 7 - 12x12 older papers, I pulled 7 (okay, make that 8) older 6x6 paper pads and then I pulled 2 brand new 6x6 paper pads for my new "papers" this month. 

 Here is the kit that I have put together:

Here's a closer look at the "old" portion of my kit:

The paper pads:

Starting with the back row we have - Rustic Noel - The Paper Studio - from 2017, Noel - American Crafts - from 2014, Wish Season - Fancy Pants - from 2015, Merry and Bright - Fancy Pants - from 2016. The front row - I Love Christmas - Echo Park - from 2016, Christmas Delivery - Carta Bella - from 2016,  Merry and Bright - Carta Bella - from 2012, and a Simple Stories paper pad that has lost its cover and I can't remember the name of it. 

The Rustic Noel and Noel paper pad have never been used and the four paper pads on the front row probably don't have enough papers between them all to even make one paper pad. I did try to pick paper pads that would mix and match to try to get those mostly used ones for sure used up!

Here are my "old" embellishments:

I have the Carta Bella - Christmas Delivery - chipboard stickers, die cut packs from Echo Park's I Love Christmas, and FancyPants' Wish Season. I also plan to use some of the cut apart papers from the paper pads and maybe even do some fussy cutting for embellishments, as well.

Here is the "new" portion of my kit:

I am not really sure why I only picked 2 new paper pads, but I think I have plenty with what I've got! The paper pads are Carta Bella's Farmhouse Christmas and Echo Park's A Gingerbread Christmas. I picked both of these paper pads up a month or two ago and can't wait to put them to use. Sadly, I did not buy any of the embellishments that go with them, but I found these stickers in my stash that I think will work. And the Christmas Delivery and Farmhouse Christmas are very similar, too.

Here's a look at my scraps:

I always keep my 6x6 scraps with their paper pad so I just pulled out what I had for these paper pads.

Since we are concentrating on using our embossing folders this month, I pulled the ones that I know I will use and a couple that I haven't even opened. 

I also pulled in a few stamps to use:

Since there are paper pads instead of 12x12 papers, I have put all of these goodies in a container that will sit beside my desk this month - ready to use and easy to move around if I want to scrap while I watch tv:

Although I plan on making mostly cards this month, I have also been following along with Scrapbook Generations Sketches for 6x6 paper pads sketches class, so maybe, just maybe I will get a layout or two made, as well. I have a couple all planned out - just if I can find the time!

I can't wait to see how much of this kit I can get used up!

Now for the rules - Since this is a just for fun challenge the rules are not set in stone BUT we have them to help you focus on what really matters using your stash & to help spread the word of our fun challenge so others may join in!! You know you have at least one friend who needs to use her stash!! 

 Here are the rules: 1. Follow the challenge prompt to create a kit to work with throughout the month. You may use other items, but please concentrate on using your kit. 

 2. Create new, not previously posted projects using your stash kit. 

3. If you have a blog - please include the challenge graphic and a link to our challenge in your posts. 

 4. You may link to social media if you don't have a blog. If you share on Instagram, please make sure to use - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2020 

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see the kit that she has put together for this month. I hope you are inspired to pull out some of your stash and play along with us. If you do play along with us - be sure to link up below. We would love to see your kits and your projects. 

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

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The Studio Challenges - Hexagons

 Hello, hello! Happy Sunday and Happy November 1st! How can it possibly be November already?! The holidays are going to be here before we know it!

The Studio Challenges has a new challenge posted today. This week we are challenging you to add hexagons to your layout. You can use one big one or lots of small ones - it is up to you!

Here is what I came up with:

Since yesterday was Halloween, I decided to create a Halloween layout. These photos are of Abby, Shawn, and Ada last year when they took Ada trick or treating. They decided last year that they would all dress up together as a family, so when Ada wanted to be a witch, Abby dressed up as a witch, too, and Shawn as a wizard, and they had a lot of fun while trick or treating around town. Shawn even had someone ask if they could take a picture of him in his wizard getup.

This year Ada wanted to be a unicorn so they went as a family of unicorns. At the time I am writing this I don't know if they are actually going trick or treating, but they at least got to wear their costumes to our little family party last weekend. 

For my layout, I used Echo Park's - I Love Halloween - collection. I die cut my hexagons from the 6x6 paper scraps that I had leftover from previous projects. Since the patterned paper hexagons made my background a little busy, I kept my embellishing minimal, just adding in a few stickers and enamel shapes/dots.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Those star enamel shapes are from Jillibean Soup and I picked them up from Tuesday Morning and the price tag says 2016! And they had never even been opened! I guess I have been saving them for something special! It's about time I put a few of them to use.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team took on the challenge. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

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

Sketch N Scrap's World Card Making Day Sketch #5

 

Hello, everyone! Happy Saturday and Happy Halloween! Even though Halloween is looking a little different for everyone this year, I still hope you are able to have some fun.

Today Sketch N Scrap has posted their final exclusive World Card Making Day sketch. Here is the great sketch that Lisa has created for us:

I probably should have gone with a Halloween card since today is Halloween, but I jumped right ahead and made a Christmas card. I am determined to have my Christmas cards for this year made by the first of December!

This is what I came up with:

I used Carta Bella's Farmhouse Christmas 6x6 paper pad for my card. The sheet of cut apart cards in this pad has the perfect sentiments for cards - and that is what I went with. 

I embossed the white background with my swiss dot embossing folder to add a little interest to the plain white, and I added in a few red gems in place of the holly berries. I looked for some holly, a wreath, or something to go where there is a flower placement on the sketch, but I couldn't find anything that was the right scale or the right color, so I left it as is and I think it looks just fine.

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see how the rest of the design team took on this exclusive card sketch. I hope you can find some time to play along!

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

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #392

 Happy Tuesday! I am so happy that you have stopped by today. I hope your week is off to a good start. It has been cold and rainy for the last couple of days and that lets me know that I am not quite ready for winter yet! I mean 34 degrees for a high temperature is kinda crazy for this time of year.

Anyway, the cooler weather has me in the mood to work on my Christmas cards, and I used this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for my card today. Here's a look at the sketch:

I just have to say that I love this sketch! There are so many ways that I could go with it and it is going into my favorites folder and will be used again soon! This is what I came up with:

I think this is my favorite so far out of the Christmas cards that I have made recently! I cut my front panel about 1/8th of an inch smaller than my card base so it was just slightly smaller. I outlined that piece with a marker and then ran it through my Cuttlebug with a houndstooth embossing folder. The papers for this card are from the "Merry Little Christmas" 6x6 paper pad from Pebbles. Actually, the striped paper and the "Merry Christmas" sentiment are from the tear-away strips from the paper pad - a great way to use those up without cutting into a full sheet of paper. 

I added in 3 black gems and this card was done! I love how it turned out - and it was so quick and easy!

Be sure to check out the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog. Tomorrow will be the full design team reveal and last weeks Top 3 will be posted, as well.

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

Bewitching Beauty - Scrap Our Stash Challenge

 Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! 

Today I am sharing the layout that I created for this month's sketch challenge at Scrap Our Stash. We have a fun 3-photo sketch to work with and the added challenge to use fall or Halloween patterned papers and mixed alphas on our layout. Here's a look at the sketch:

And this is the layout that I created:

I kept the placement of the papers the same but then flipped the photo and title area to make it work with the photos.

I used Echo Park's Halloween Town collection for this layout with a few stickers and die cut from their I Love Halloween collection. The alphas that I used are from Simple Stories - these look to be more of a faded black - and EK Success. 

These photos are of Ada getting ready for our family Halloween party last year. She was excited to dress up as a witch and it was pretty fun to see her transformation into a not-so-scary witch! 

I love how this layout turned out and I can't wait to see her dressed up in her unicorn costume this year for our family party this weekend. Even if it will be just us instead of all of my family this year for the party, we are sure to have a good time!

Be sure to stop by Scrap Our Stash to see the lovely layouts from the rest of the design team. 

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #180

Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you!

It's time for a new card sketch at Sketch N Scrap today. Sketch artist Heather has created a fun sketch for us to use:

This is what I came up with:

 For my card, I have used Echo Park's Dear Santa 6x6 paper pad. I picked up this fun paper pad, and a couple of others, a few weeks ago in hopes of them inspiring me to get some Christmas cards made. I find these busier type papers are always the hardest for me to use so I have challenged myself to try and use a few of them first. And you know what? I actually really like how this card turned out!

I did change up one thing from the sketch - it shows a little tab of sorts peeking out from below the focus panel piece. I moved it up to right underneath my sentiment - I just thought that it looked better there since it was a continuation of the main sentiment. The "Ho! Ho! Ho!" sentiment is from an Elle's Studio stamp set and the "Merry Christmas" stamp is from an old Fancy Pants stamp set. 

I fussy cut one of the Santa heads from the patterned paper as a little embellishment.

 Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see how the rest of the design team took on this sketch. I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

The Paper Girls Challenge #210 - Getting Ready For Halloween

 Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope your weekend was a good one and that you are ready for the new week. 

It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Girls Challenge blog today and we are teaming up with the gals at Double Trouble!

First up is our challenge - Karrie is challenging us to show how we are getting ready for Halloween. Are you making decorations, cards, candy apples, homemade costumes? Are you getting old photos scrapped? Decorating your planner? This challenge is wide open - just show what you've got going on for this spooky season!

Now, if you choose to play along with the gals at Double Trouble here is what you will need to do:

Thing 1: Trouble Maker

says, "We again have Bats in our Belfry. Don't be afraid... Come Bat... Let's hang out! All you have to do is use at least three (3) colors, from our rainbow of Fall Bat Colors, and create a project. Colors: Purple, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red, Brown and Neutrals, Gold and Silver, are free to use.

You can stop here...

OR, you can choose to include Twisted Sister's Optional Twisted Twist below.

Thing 3: Twisted Sister

says, "Now don't go batty... our twist this time is twisted DON'T INCLUDE ANY BATS on your project, instead let's dress it up and include spooky cute Halloween images i.e. Ghosts, Witches, Skeletons, Pumpkins, just to name a few."

This is an OPTIONAL TWIST but you will be awarded an additional chance in Double Trouble's random draw if you have excluded bats from your project.

Be sure to link up over on their blog, too!

I think I have managed to do all three challenges for my Halloween card! I like to make a few Halloween cards to send out so the timing of this challenge was perfect and was just what I needed to get started!

To satisfy the Double Trouble challenges - I used at least 3 of the colors from their rainbow of fall bat colors - orange, green, black, white, and the star paper has some purple stars on it, and I did not include any bats on my project - just cute little jack-o-lanterns!

I used Echo Park's - I Love Halloween - 6x6 paper pad and sticker sheet for this card. I bought this paper pad this year because I was a little tired of the Halloween paper pads that I had in my stash. I am happy to say that I have already used almost half of this paper pad! Maybe I will get a few more cards made and get it {mostly} used up!

I based my card on Sketch N Scrap's World Card Making Day Sketch #3:

Be sure to stop by The Paper Girls Challenge Blog to see how the rest of the design team is getting ready for Halloween and be sure to stop by the Double Trouble Challenge Blog to see their beautiful creations! I hope you have some time to play along with us!

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

The Studio Challenge - Color Challenge

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

It's time for a new challenge at The Studio Challenges and this time around we have a color challenge for you! DT member Rainny has picked this beautiful color palette for us to work with:

This is what I came up with:

For my layout, I have used Amy Tangerine's - Late Afternoon - collection for this layout of Abby and Shawn getting ready to head out on their birthday date. Their birthdays are just 11 days apart. Not only that but their anniversary is just a few weeks before their birthdays, so they have a lot to celebrate in a small span of time. We always try to keep Ada overnight sometime between these two special times so that they can go out and celebrate. This photo is from 2018 when they dropped Ada off and were headed out for a fun getaway.  

I based my layout on this sketch from Sketch N Scrap from February 1, 2019:

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The date is done with the washi tape that comes in this collection. One roll is all of the months and one roll is just numbers - 1 through 31. I just cut off which pieces I needed for the date. At first glance, it looks just like a date stamp but it is indeed washi tape.

Be sure to stop by The Studio Challenges to see the beautiful layouts 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! I hope you have a great day!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge #2 - Trick or Treat

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. Mine has been very busy and very full - of all good things! I love it when I can spend some quality time with my girls, and that is just what happened yesterday. I think it was just what I was needing.

It's time for the second challenge of the month at Counterfeit Kit Challenge today. Master Forger Tracey has given us a fun "Trick or Treat" challenge. Since Halloween falls in October, you need to take three turns and pick either three tricks from the list below - something that's a little tricky to use - or three treats - something that you love to use. You can combine the tricks and the treats, but you must pick five items from the lists below and add it to your layout. Here is the list:

Tricks

hand stitching
eyelets
glitter
fringing
mixed media
doodling
rubons

Treats

flowers
enamel dots
 rainbows
stencils 
stripes
hearts
woodgrain

For my layout, I chose to go with "treats" and I used enamel dots, rainbows, stripes, and hearts.

I used the Pebbles - Live Life Happy papers that I included in my kit for this month. The only papers that weren't in my kit were the blue paper with the unicorn/rainbows/clouds on it, and the yellow paper, everything else was in my kit. 

I based my layout on this sketch that is for Day 9 of 30 Days of Sketches with Christy's Beautiful Life. You can find out more information about this on Christy's Youtube channel here.

I loved that with this sketch you can incorporate so many different patterned papers or project life cards on a layout.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I tried to add some splatters...didn't turn out like I had hoped...I should have done some stamping like I had originally planned...but it is done now and I am just going to embrace it and move on! 

Head on over to Counterfeit Kit Challenge to see how the rest of the design team took on this fun challenge. Which will you pick? I hope you play along!

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