Sunshine State of Mind - Sketch N Scrap's 11th Birthday Bash Sketch #3

Hello, hello! Happy Saturday to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend so far! 

It is time for our 3rd exclusive Birthday Bash sketch at Sketch N Scrap today! I had the pleasure of creating this sketch and I hope you like it, too! Here is a look at the sketch:

And my layout:

This sketch features two things that I love - lots of layers and big blocks of paper! I once again used my May kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash for this layout. I was able to use up quite a few scraps from yesterday's layout on this one. I am really happy with how much of my kit I have used this month. I hope to share one more layout and a wrap-up post before the end of the month - if I can find the time in the middle of moving Abby and Ada!

I love these photos that I took of Ada two summers ago at one of our sleepovers. She was just looking so darn cute in her unicorn sunnies and 'sunshine state of mind' tank top. I remember asking Abby to send that shirt with her so I could get some photos. Ada was ready for a little photoshoot and we got a lot of fun pictures on this day.

Here are a couple of close-ups: 

I fussy cut the camera from one of the 2x2 squares from the cut-apart paper. All of the cameras that were left on the sticker sheet were too big, so I was happy to find a little smaller on one of the papers. 

I was so happy when the Heidi Swapp SunChaser collection came out - I bought the stamp set specifically for this stamp here - the 'sunshine state of mind' stamp. Not only is the stamp perfect for these photos, but the colors in this collection work really well with the Simple Stories collection. I used the clouds and label from the SunChaser sticker book. 

Another 2x2 cut-apart punched into a circle is a focal point of this last cluster. 

I love how this layout turned out and I am so happy that I got so much of my kit used up this month!

Head on over to Sketch N Scrap to see the sketch and the lovely layouts from the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

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

Hello Summer - Sketch N Scrap's 11th Birthday Bash Sketch #2

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday to you! We have made it to the long holiday weekend - the unofficial kick-off to summer! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? Today the girls - Abby, Ada, and myself - are headed to Branson for a girl's day. I will be stopping by Cecilia's Samplers to do a little cross-stitch shopping and then we are headed to WonderWorks. Ada went there for her class trip earlier this month and wanted to go back, so we are headed there today. Later this weekend we will be helping Abby and Ada move, and for the rest of the weekend, we will be resting!

Today I am sharing the layout that I created using Sketch N Scrap's 11th Birthday Bash Sketch #2. Here's a look at the sketch:

And this is what I came up with:

This was such a fun sketch to work with! I love all of the layers and it is a great sketch to showcase a special photo. I used my May kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash for this layout, and I even managed to get a couple of items from my bashket onto this layout.

The photo is of Ada and Pops two summers ago - living their best life - jumping into the pool. They always have so much fun in the pool! I will add a bit of journaling under the photo. 

The papers from this Simple Stories 'Summer Vibes' collection are so fun to work with. I did add a little stenciling to the white background paper. I felt like it was just too plain without something on it. I'm not the greatest at stenciling but I am happy with the results.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For this cluster, I punched a circle for my cluster base, added a chipboard camera with another chipboard circle on top of it, and another chipboard circle to the side. All of these chipboard pieces were in my bashket. I added three phrase stickers and a few circle stickers from the sticker sheet to finish it off.

The title came from the sticker sheet and the flags were in my bashket.  They were the perfect shade of pink and I am so happy to get two more of them on a layout!

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog and the Sketch N Scrap Monthly Challenges Facebook group for all of the fun that we have been having this month. We would love to see you playing along, too!

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

Life is Good - Sketch N Scrap iNSD 2023 Sketch

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week so far. It has been busy around our house this month - and a little quiet here on my blog the last couple of weeks because of it. I do have three or four posts to get up before the end of the month so stay tuned!

Today I am sharing the layout that I made using Sketch N Scrap's NSD 2023 sketch. This is such a great sketch to show off those pretty papers that I love and it is definitely being filed away in my - to be used again - file! Here is a look at the sketch:

And my layout:

For this layout, I have used papers from my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit for April. These papers from Echo Park's - My Favorite Summer - collection are some of my favorites. I could have multiple pieces of that floral paper and the light blue paper and never tire of them. 

The photos are of Ada on one of our springtime walks back in March. She is definitely an outdoors girl and was having fun trying to climb all the trees on our walk.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Since the collection I used was a summer-themed collection and these photos were from early spring, I had to be pretty choosy about what embellishments I used. I used a view master reel that I die-cut for my cluster base and I knew I wanted to use the tree stickers on this layout - since she is all about the trees - and I finished off my clusters with phrase stickers and enamel dots.

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap. We are having a ton of fun this month celebrating both iNSD and our 11th birthday. We would love for you to join us!

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

Have a great day!

Sketch N Scrap's 11th Birthday Bash Sketch #1

Hello, hello! Happy Saturday to you! I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. 

Today I am sharing the sketch and the layout that I created for Sketch N Scrap's 11th Birthday Bash! This is the first of three new sketches this month to celebrate eleven years of providing free sketches to our loyal readers.

Here is the sketch:

And my layout:

For this layout, I used Echo Park's Little Dreamer - Boy collection. This photo is of Shane when he was not quite two. We were at my sister's house and he was just chillin' out on their big oversized ottoman. From the looks of it, he is probably watching a video or cartoon on tv. This photo was taken about 22 years ago and it seems like it was just yesterday! My how time has flown by!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I did a bit of stamping on this layout. The white of the background paper just needed a little extra something. I die-cut several stars and fussy cut out a speech bubble for my embellishments.

I added phrase stickers to serve as journaling. The sticker book had the little star stickers in it, and I thought they would make cute little bullet points. I may go ahead and add some handwritten journaling down by the stamped stars at the bottom of the page if I feel like it needs it. 

The title piece was in the die-cut pack and I thought it was perfect for the title. I added a few more die-cut stars and called it good. I can't believe I didn't even add enamel dots on this one!

Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog to see more inspiration from the design team. We hope you play along with us!

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

Life Is Better With You

Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday to you! I hope you are having a good week. It's finally starting to warm back up around here and there is even talk of us reaching the 80s this weekend. Looks like it will be time to get the pool all ready for the summer season!

Sketch N Scrap is celebrating its 11th birthday all this month, and every Tuesday and Thursday one of the design team members will be picking a past sketch and challenging you to use it. Today is my day! I have picked Sketch #125 from March 15, 2017:

I love the big blocks of paper and the strip of photos on this sketch - and it has a great space for journaling, too!

For my layout, I have used the Pet Shoppe collections from Simple Stories. I love several of the papers in this line. A few of them are heavy on the pet theme but the majority of them can be used for anything. And the colors are right up my alley!

These photos are of Ada and our new puppy Finnegan. The minute Ada walks through the door Finnegan is attacking her with puppy kisses and he is stuck to her like glue until she goes home. Wherever she goes, he is never far behind her. They both just go, go, go all the time, and when Ada leaves, he is one tired puppy! He loves her with his whole heart and I think she is pretty smitten with him, too. 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I put my bashket to use on this layout. I managed to use the washi tape strip with the cameras, the enamel hearts that I added this month, the chipboard half circle, and the label sticker that says, "You're one in a million."    

I messed up on my journaling - omitting a word - but it was an easy fix. I just added a scrap of the same paper on top of it and wrote on top of that. You can tell it in the photo above, but in person, you really have to look at it to see it. 

I did pull a few phrase stickers from the collection and the enamel dots to add to my layout.

Be sure to head over to the Sketch N Scrap Monthly Challenges private Facebook group for all of the fun. I am offering a prize this month so head on over and check it out!

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

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash May Kit

Hello, again! I am back with my second post of the day. May is looking to be a busy month for me scrappy wise so maybe I will be posting here a little more often this month.

Today I am happy to be sharing my May kit that I put together for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. I did not have as much scrappy time last month as I would have liked, so I did not get much of my kit used. I made a 12x12 layout and a traveler's notebook layout last month, and I used up two sheets of paper. I did use up quite a few of the scraps that I included, so that is good. I didn't even touch my "summer" kit that I had put together but I do have big plans for it this month. 

Now, on to my May kit. If you don't know what Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash is all about - here is how it works - On the 1st of each month, we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created using that prompt. During the month we will try to use as much of our stash kit as possible on different projects.  This year we have added a bashket challenge to our kit challenge. Every month we pick 10 items that we want to get used up this year in a basket. We try to use as many of those items as we can during the month. If we don't use them all then those items stay in the basket and at the beginning of the next month, 10 more items are added. The object of the challenge is to try to keep your basket from overflowing!

This will be a just-for-fun challenge so there is no monthly prize - but isn't the real prize using up our stash?  We hope you will join us in our quest to bash our stash! If you 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 "recipe" for May:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and our focus item for May - which is cut-apart cards/Project Life cards.

Don't forget to pick your 10 items for your bashket!

Here is the kit that I have pulled for May:

I am still trying to use up some older summer collections, so for May I have pulled the 2015 Summer Vibes collection from Simple Stories. This was back in the day when Simple Stories had all the cut-apart papers - 3x4, 4x3, 4x4, 4x6, 6x4, 6x8, 6x12...so many cut-apart papers. I thought since our focus item for May is cut-apart cards that this would be a great collection to focus on.

Here is a look at the papers:

I just had three full sheets of non-cut-apart papers - those are the dots, bold stripes, and hello papers -so I pulled quite a few papers that would be good for backgrounds or layering papers.

Here is a look at our focus item - the cut-apart papers:

I have so many ideas for these papers, I just hope I have the time to scrap this month!

Here are my embellishments:

I went ahead and left the cut-apart papers in with my embellishments because there is a lot that I can fussy cut or use as titles if I so choose. This was also back when you got two sticker sheets - an alpha sheet and an icon sheet. I added in some metal dies that I would like to try and use this month, a heart punch, wood veneer, and enamel dots.

Here are the scraps that I added:

And my bashket items:

I tried to pull items that would work well with my kit:

1.) 3 - chipboard frames from an older Simple Stories collection

2.) A few pennant flags that matched the colors in my kit (2013)

3.) Enamel Shapes from an older Jillibean Soup collection

4.) A package of Simple Stories Snap cuts (2013)

5.) Word Stickers from My Mind's Eye in yellow

6.) 5 flair pieces that have not rusted (at least not yet!)

7.) A package of green "tacks" from Chatterbox (there is no date on these but I know they are from the early 2000s

8.) Word Stickers from My Mind's Eye in red (2012)

9.) A set of grey buttons from Studio G (2012)

10.) Chipboard alphas from Studio G (2013)

I am so stinkin' excited to get started with my kit this month - I just hope that I have the time to scrap with it!

Now, head on over to Lisa's blog to see the beautiful kit that she has pulled together for this month. 

This is a just-for-fun challenge, but if you do play along and put together your own stash bash kit - add it to the linky below and we will be sure to check it out and cheer you on! 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, and link it below.

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 - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2023

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Summer Vibes - Sketch N Scrap #272

 Hello, everyone! Happy Monday and Happy May 1st! I cannot believe that it is already May. The days are getting warmer and that makes me so happy. Bring on summer!

The first of the month means that there is a new sketch challenge at Sketch N Scrap today, and I am playing along! Here is the sketch that Lisa has created for us to use:

When I saw that row of tags, I knew I would be using one of the tag papers from a Simple Stories collection. I decided to go with the Sunkissed collection since I am trying to use up some of my older summer collections before I dive into my new ones. Here is what I came up with:

I have never scrapped these photos of Ada from the summer before she started school (2019). One of the items on her bucket list for that summer was to go to the "big" pool, so the weekend before school started, Abby took her for the afternoon. It was a beautiful, but hot, day - perfect for spending the day in the water, and Ada enjoyed every minute of it.

Besides the background paper and the tag paper, I was able to use all scraps on this layout. It always makes me happy to be able to use up scraps instead of cutting into another piece of paper.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

That cute little sunshine was one of the 2x2 squares on one of the cut-apart papers that I used a circle punch to cut into the circle. I added in a yellow brad and a few enamel dots to finish out that little cluster. 

For this cluster, I used stickers from both the sticker sheet and the sticker book, another 2x2 square punched into a circle shape, another brad, and a few more enamel dots. 

 Be sure to check out the Sketch N Scrap blog for more inspiration from the design team. 

Don't forget - Sketch N Scrap is celebrating its 11th birthday the whole month of May, so be sure to check the blog, the Sketch N Scrap Facebook page, and the Sketch N Scrap Monthly Challenges group often for all of the fun! We hope you find some time to play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I will be back soon with my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Kit post!

Hello Spring

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

Today I am sharing a traveler's notebook layout that I created for a Mindful Monday prompt over in the From Lens to Paper Facebook group. I am way behind on these prompts but I do plan to catch up and keep up over the next few weeks. Here is a look at the prompt:

And this is what I came up with:

For this layout, I used scraps from this month's Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit. So far, I have only managed to use up one full sheet of my kit, but I have used up quite a few of the scraps that I included. 

The photos were all taken around the first day of spring and are of some of the flowers around our house and the field when it was first starting to turn green - all sure signs that spring is here.

I stamped my title using a combination of stamp sets from Studio Calico (spring) and Citrus Twist (hello). I wanted to be sure to add in some journaling, so I created a photo flip to accommodate that:

Creating the photo flip also meant that I had room for one more photo!

I love how this layout turned out and I can't wait to add a few more layouts based on the prompts to this notebook! I know that the majority of the prompts are going to have a lot more journaling with them and I may even use the prompt more than once if I have more than one story to share about it. I am so excited to work on this traveler's notebook!

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

So Thankful - Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #240

Hello, hello! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you had a good weekend and that your week is off to a good start. I can't believe that it is the last Monday in April! This month has gone by so quickly for me. 

Today I am sharing the card that I created using the April 20th card sketch at Sketch N Scrap that was created by me! Here is a look at the sketch: 

For this card, I used Simple Stories - The Simple Life - 6x8 paper pad. I even die-cut a circle out of one of the cut-apart cards in the paper pad for my sentiment. I used a doily die to die-cut a mat for the sentiment to sit on. 

I changed things up a teensy bit from the sketch - making my sentiment the focal point and omitting the banner. My circle was a bit larger than the one on the sketch and didn't leave much room for anything else. 

This card came together really quickly once I decided which papers I was going to use. I love it when that happens!

Don't forget - Sketch N Scrap will be celebrating its 11th birthday throughout the month of May! Be sure to check out the blog and the private Facebook group for all of the fun!

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

Bunny Treats - Sketch N Scrap #270

Hello, everyone! Happy Thursday to you! I hope you are having a good week. It has been a while since I have posted anything and I wish I could say that I have been scrapping a lot and just haven't had time to post, but sadly, that is not the case! I wish it was, but it is not. Life has been crazy busy lately and I just haven't had the time to scrap like I would like. I can't wait for it to slow back down a bit so I can get scrappy again! 

Today I am happy to share with you the layout that I created for the April 1st sketch at Sketch N Scrap! Here is a look at the great sketch that Lisa has created for us this month:

And here is my layout:

For this layout, I used the springy papers that I included in my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash kit for April. The papers are from Close To My Heart's Backyard Bliss collection and I thought they were perfect for these photos of Ada and her Easter basket from last year. I wish I had a few more sheets of that floral paper! It is so pretty!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

I added a vellum circle underneath my title to help it stand out from the busier background paper. I didn't want to completely cover the pretty pattern and the vellum helped to tone it down just enough so that the title did not get lost. I added a few flower stickers, a phrase sticker, and a few enamel dots to my title area.

I didn't have anything in my stash bash kit that was Easter related, so I went into my stash and found this bunny die-cut from Simple Stories to add to my layout. I didn't want my layout to not have at least a bunny on there since it was an Easter layout! A few more floral stickers (flowers are our focus item at Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash this month), the bunny die-cut, and a phrase sticker - all on top of another vellum circle - finish out this cluster. 

For my last cluster, I added another - smaller - vellum circle with more floral stickers, a phrase sticker, a chipboard piece, and more enamel dots. The phrase stickers, the banner sticker in the above cluster, and the chipboard piece were all in my bashket. I love it when I can use things that I have included in my bashket on my layouts!

Before I go today, I want to let you all know that we are gearing up for our 11th Birthday Bash at Sketch N Scrap next month!

The celebration starts on May 1st and I hope that you will join us all month long. We will have an exclusive iNSD sketch on the first Saturday of the month and then a new layout sketch every Saturday after that for our Birthday Bash. That's a total of six new layout sketches during the month of May - counting our regular sketches on the 1st and 15th. Along with the new sketches, every Tuesday and Thursday, a design team member will be picking their favorite sketch and they will be challenging you to use that sketch on a layout. There will also be prizes, so come on over and join us all month long in May!

 Here's the link to our private Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SNSmonthlychallenges - 

where all of the challenges will take place. You will also find the regular sketch challenges and the exclusive iNSD and Birthday Bash Sketches on the Sketch N Scrap blog here.

We hope you join us in celebrating Sketch N Scrap's 11th birthday!

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