Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #248

Hello, hello! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you are having a good weekend. We are finally getting a break from the terribly hot weather and I am enjoying sitting with the windows open and the nice cool breeze.

Today I am sharing the card that I created using the August 20th card sketch at Sketch N Scrap. Here is a look at the sketch:

And this is what I created:

I used scraps from my Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash August kit for this card. The cake sticker is from a Crate Paper sticker sheet and the sentiment is from an older Close To My Heart stamp set - S1901 - Card Captions, and I stamped it in sapphire ink from CTMH. I popped the sentiment up on foam tape to give a little interest to the card. 

I truly meant to emboss the white portion of my background but got too busy sticking things down before I remembered to run it through my Cuttlebug! 

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap to see more inspiration using our August sketches. The deadline to enter our August challenges is just a few days away, so get your projects linked up soon!

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

Face Off - Sketch N Scrap #278

 Hello, hello! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope that you all are having a good week! 

I wanted to pop in today and share the layout that I created for the August 1st sketch challenge at Sketch N Scrap. Lisa started the month off with a great sketch for us to try and I had so much fun with it! Here's a look at the sketch:

And here is my layout:

I stuck pretty closely to the sketch. The only things that I changed were the title/bottom cluster area and I added a double border piece along the side - making the top piece a little wonky. Since I moved my title piece down a bit - mostly so it wouldn't cover up too much of Miss Ada - I felt like having the bottom cluster below it just didn't look right. Combining the two areas worked out great!

I used my August kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash for this layout. I used most of a full sheet of patterned paper and almost all of two of the scrap papers that I included. If nothing else, I have done a good job of using my scraps over the last couple of months!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Since I didn't include a lot of embellishments for this mini-kit, I made use of some of my bashket items that I have been collecting. The cameras have been in my bashket for a while now and the puffy arrows were included this month. It kind of bothers me that the arrows are turning yellow, but not enough to not use them!

I also used the alphas that I included in this month's kit! That's a win for me already - actually using my focus item! I was a bit stuck on embellishing for this layout, so I just did what Janet from RTS Scrapbooking always says - look at what you did in one cluster and repeat it in the others - so cameras, enamel dots, and phrase stickers all around!

That is it for today! Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration for their sketches. I hope you have a chance to play along with us this month!

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

August Counterfeit Kit Challenge

 Hello, hello! Happy Thursday to you! I hope that you are having a good week! I am popping in today to share the kit that I put together for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge August challenge.

I fell in love with their inspiration kit and had to play along! Here is a look at the inspiration kit that Lisa chose:

This kit is from a new European kit club called Pink and Paper and you can read more about it over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. 

I have the Cocoa Vanilla Happy Days collection that is included in the kit, but I am just not quite ready to use it, so I searched my stash and pulled a kit together and I am so excited to work with it! Here is my kit:

Here is a close-up of the papers:

I was really drawn to the teal-green papers in the inspiration kit. I knew I wanted to find something that was a close match to it, and even though I didn't have a floral paper, I did manage to get a few in my kit. I substituted a pink with red dot for the strawberry paper, a navy dot paper for the navy floral paper, plant paper in place of the floral stems paper, and hearts for the butterflies, and I added in a couple more black and white papers. 

 My papers tend to be a little more on the primary color side, but I think you can see the inspiration kit in there! 

While I was pulling papers I came across the My Mind's Eye Happy Days collection and the navy and teal colors really pulled me in! I went ahead and added it to my kit, as well.

If you've visited my blog at all this year, then you know that my friend Lisa and I have had a bashket challenge going on with our Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash challenge. Every month since January we have been pulling 10 items from our stash to try to use. It's a progressive challenge, meaning every month we pull 10 items regardless of how many we used the previous month. By the end of the year, we will have pulled 120 stash items, and the goal is to try to keep our bashket from overflowing. As you can see in the above photo, my bashket is getting really full!

This is another reason I decided to play along with the gals at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. To try to get a few more of these items used up!

Here is a look at a few of the items in my bashket:

I love that Lisa and I are doing this bashket challenge! I am pulling things out of my stash that I have forgotten I even had and if I am going through my stash and pulling things - refreshing my memory - then they have a better chance at getting used up!

Life has been so busy this summer and I have not scrapped nearly as much as I would have liked, but I think things are starting to slow down, so hopefully, I will put this kit to use soon!

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

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash August Kit Challenge

Hello, hello! How can it possibly be the first day of August?! Summer is in full swing and we are definitely feeling it around here in the middle of the US. We've been having quite a few close-to-100-or-100-degree days and that's a little hot even for me! 

The new month means that it is time for a new Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash Kit Challenge! As for my July kit - I did get two layouts made from my kit but that was it. Once again, I did not do a lot of scrapping last month. I'm in a bit of a scrappy slump as of late. I want to scrap. I even pull papers and photos to scrap, and then when I sit down to scrap, I struggle. I cannot seem to find my scrappy mojo! Even though I haven't been scrapping much, I have been planning out layouts - making notes about what I want to do and I am hoping this kit will help to jumpstart my creativity.

Let's get to it! 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 August:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and our focus item for August is alphas. Don't forget to pick your 10 items for your bashket!

For August I am going with two mini-kits once again and here is my first mini-kit:

I came across the paper with the "Singing in the Rain" words all over it when I was trying to decide what to scrap this month. I remembered I have quite a few photos of Ada playing in the rain, plus we got caught in a rain shower on one of our walks last week, and I decided now is a good time to get those photos scrapped!

Here is a look at the papers - all from Echo Park's Sunny Days Ahead collection from 2015:

And here are the "B" sides:

Both sides of these papers have a good chance of being used this month!

Here are the embellishments:

I have pulled a couple of stamp sets, some random stickers with the rainy day theme, wood veneer, and enamel dots/shapes. Lots of rainy-day options here!

I pulled just a couple of scraps for this kit - two of which are the same papers from the collection and the hot pink is a Shimelle paper scrap:

Here is my second mini-kit:

The papers from this kit are from Echo Park's I Am Mom collection from 2018:

And the "B" sides:

I am sure I will be using both sides of the papers from this mini-kit! I love them all!

Here are the embellishments:

I pulled the 12x12 sticker sheet, a few wood veneer pieces, a few stamp sets, and enamel dots.

Here are the scraps:

A lot of these scraps will work with my first min-kit, as well, and I can definitely see myself using only the scraps for a layout all on their own.

I had a hard time weeding out these last few papers from the collection - especially the solids - so I am adding them to my kit as a paper add-on!

Our focus item for August is alphas. I tend to use my metal die alphas more for my layouts here lately, so I pulled these smaller alphas to use this month in my traveler's notebooks and in my Project Life albums. And you ever know, they may show up on a layout, too! 

Both of the Studio Calico alpha sets have been hanging above my desk so I will remember to use them, and I somehow still forget about them! Here's hoping I will be successful at using my focus item this month!

I am also making it a point to pull out a few stamps each month and put them to work. Here are the ones I have chosen to get inky with this month:

I NEED to start using my stamps more! I have so many stamp sets that never get used. I am hoping with pulling these and leaving them on my desk that I will get in the habit of reaching for them more often.

Here are my ten bashket items for August:

1. Simple Stories Summer Farmhouse Sn@p Cards pack. I'm pretty sure I somehow wound up with two of these. I am opening the package this month and sorting them out to use on a Project Life layout!

2. A small alpha sheet that I think is from an Authentique sticker sheet.

3. Stickers from a Shimelle - only two have been used.

4. A label sticker sheet from Crate paper - I think!

5. Puffy stickers from an old Gossamer Blue kit. These need to be used up!

6. Painted Wood pieces from Gossamer Blue.

7. Glitter enamel shapes from Shimelle.

8. Four flair pieces from Sweetwater - does anyone remember that company?

9. Bloom acrylic piece. I can't remember where it's from - maybe Gossamer Blue.

10. Puffy shapes from a Paige Evans collection. I received these in a ScrapRoom kit when I was on the design team. Here's hoping I can get them used up!

That is it! I am feeling pretty darned excited about using my kit this month. Here's hoping it has brought my mojo back and that it will kickstart my creativity!

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see the beautiful kit that she has created 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 wonderful day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #246

 Hello, hello! Happy Saturday to you! I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. We don't have any plans for the weekend and I am hoping to spend some time scrapping and stitching!

Today I am sharing the card that I created for Sketch N Scrap's July 20th card sketch, created by me! This is a simple sketch and easy to use in a variety of ways:

Since I am working on my Christmas cards and since I still had out the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes scraps from my first card, I decided to use them up on this card! 

I used the Warm Wishes stamp set for my sentiment and for that cute little birdie. I scored this stamp set at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 a while back (I am still sad that they are closed!) and I am so glad that I was able to find it! I love all of the stamps that are included and I know it will come in handy during the holiday season.

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap for inspiration for all of our sketches. We would love it if you played along with us!

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

Fall Out Boy - Sketch N Scrap #277

 Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! Today I am popping on here really quickly to share the layout that I created for Sketch N Scrap's July 15th sketch.

Here is a look at the sketch that I made for this challenge:

And this is my layout:

I went a little bit old school on this one, using cardstock, making my own alpha letters, and using very few embellishments. Since I had quite a few photos that I wanted to use, I even turned it into a double-page layout. 

About the photos - Abby has been a Fall Out Boy fan since the beginning. Her bedroom walls were covered with pages from all of those Tiger Beat type magazines of the group. She always wanted to go to one of their concerts but it just never happened. Until this summer! She found out that they were coming to Maryland Heights, MO, and immediately got on and ordered tickets - even treating Matthew to a ticket since he is a big fan, too. She scored three great tickets - center stage and just a few rows back from the mosh pit - and was counting down the days from February when she ordered the tickets to June 23rd, the day of the concert. Since they had an extra ticket and since Matthew's roommate, Charlie is a big fan, they invited him to go along. They all had a great time and it made this momma's heart happy to see her adult kiddos going on an adventure together! Abby loved it so much that she came home, found a ticket for the Rogers, Arkansas show, and went again a couple of weeks later. I love that my girl is finding her way and doing a few of the things that she has always wanted to do.

Here is a look at the other page of the layout:

These photos were both taken by Abby and a couple that I found on Instagram (the group selfie and the smaller photos of Joe and Andy).

For this layout, I used my July kit for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. I had included a star stencil in my kit, and I did try it on my background, but ultimately I felt like it made it way too busy and I went with the plain background.  

Here are a couple of close-ups:

For my title - I knew I needed something that would stand out against the black-with-white-stars paper. I found a stamp with a design that I liked, stamped it on white cardstock, and then die-cut the letters. I die-cut the letters a total of three times to create faux chipboard. I love how they turned out and Abby said it reminded her of all of the fishnet that she saw at the concert!

I found the purple puffy alphas in my stash and luckily had enough letters to make the subtitle - which is also the tour name,

 I told Abby to write down some of her favorite lines from her favorite songs and I typed them up and scattered them around the layout. I really like how this turned out and sometimes it's just fun to not have to worry about so much embellishing!

Be sure to check out Sketch N Scrap to see how the design team took on this sketch. I would love to see your take on it, too!

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

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #245

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday to you! I hope that you are having a good week. We finally got some much needed rain yesterday. It has been so hot and dry this summer and the rain was very welcome. 

Today I am popping on here to share the card that I created using the July 5th sketch at Sketch N Scrap. This was a fun sketch to work with! Here's a look at the sketch:

I decided I'd better get a head start on my Christmas cards for this year. I haven't sent out very many Christmas cards the last few years and I would like to change that this year, so here is the first for this year!

I used Vicki Boutin's Warm Wishes for this card. I don't have very much of this collection - just a few of the 12x12 papers and the die-cut pack - and now I am really wishing that I at least had the 6x8 paper pad! I love how this card came together. The only thing that I would have liked to do differently was to stamp the sentiment in white ink or use white embossing powder on it. I think it would have looked better than the black. But, I could not find the white ink pad that I bought a while back - I need to make a note to find it - and my embossing usually ends up a hot mess, leaving me frustrated that it didn't turn out, so black ink was the solution!

The sentiment is from Crate Paper's Hey Santa collection. I either picked this up at Tuesday Morning or got it on clearance at Scrapbook.com last year, and this is the first time that I have inked it up. It has so many cute images and sentiments and it is staying out on my desk so I remember to use it this holiday season. 

I felt like the little white banner was pretty plain, so I added a punched heart to it. I also had some gold metallic thread on my desk so I tied a double bow to add to the top of the ornament.

Now I have a Christmas card all ready to go this holiday season!

Be sure to stop by Sketch N Scrap for more inspiration using our sketches. 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!

Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash July Kit Challenge

Hello, hello! Happy July 1st to you! 2023 is halfway over! This summer is going by so quickly - and it has just started!

It is time for the July challenge for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash and I have mixed things up a bit this time around! When I was pulling my kit, I was torn as to whether to pull all 12x12 papers or whether to pull 6x8 papers and work on my traveler's notebooks this month, so I did both! I get so much more scrapping done when I have pre-planned, and I did a lot of planning the last couple of weeks! So settle in, there are lots of pictures in this post!

Before I get to my July kit, I thought I would let you know how I did with my June kit. I made two layouts and a card. Not as much as I would have liked, but better than nothing, and to be honest, I did not scrap much last month. It has been so nice having my girls here with us and I have been enjoying spending time doing things with them - even if I did neglect my scrapping! We are all settled in now, and I'm pretty sure I'll get more done this month!

Now, 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 July:

To create your kit, pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, 5-7 scrap papers, and our focus item for July - which is washi tape. Don't forget to pick your 10 items for your bashket!

For July, I am going with two layout kits. Here is my first kit:

Since we are in full-on summer mode around here, I had to make a summer-themed kit! This kit is all Echo Park's Sunkissed collection, and it just makes me smile! I love the fun bright colors and patterns. I can tell already that I might "need" a couple more sheets of a few of these papers!

Here is a look at the papers:

I did add two papers from my stash - the navy paper and the reddish-pink paper. There aren't many generic, or basic, papers in this collection - and I'm okay with that! That just means that I can show some love to the papers in my stash.

I can't wait to cut into these papers! Don't you love it when just looking at papers makes you excited to scrap?! 

Here are the cut-apart papers and the 6x6 paper pad. I wish Echo Park would change to 6x8. It would make things so much easier for me!:

I do plan on making at least one pocket page layout with these papers this month.

Here are the embellishments from the collection:

I have both embellishment packs, the sticker book the enamel dots, and since our focus item is washi tape, I picked out a couple of rolls that matched the kit. 

Here are a few scraps that I pulled for this kit. Not many, but if I need any other colors, I can always pull them. 

Here is my second layout kit:

This kit isn't my usual kit - it is mostly cardstock and I had to search my stash for embellishments that would work for the layout that I have in mind. And it is the one that I am most looking forward to working on! It's always great - and easy - when you have a collection full of everything all coordinating and ready to go, but sometimes it's fun to just raid your stash and see what you can find!

Here are the papers:

I have black cardstock, white cardstock, purple cardstock, and a couple of black and white papers to mix in.

Here are the embellishments:

While I was looking for a particular star stamp set (which I forgot to find! Note to self - go find the stamp set!) I found my stash of puffy alpha stickers and some other stamps that had been put in a drawer and forgotten about. I will be using lots of stamps and die-cut stars for this layout and I plan on actually making a double-page layout! We'll see if I am able to put the stencil to use, too. 

For our focus item, I pulled an assortment of washi tapes that I hope will work with all of my kits, and I just hope I remember to use them:

Now for my bashket items. I always manage to use one or two items each month but I need to do better! I'm about to need to go up to a bigger bashket again! 

1 - puffy word stickers from Felicity Jane

2 - word stickers from Jillibean Soup

3 - two sheets of summer-themed stickers from Simple Stories

4 - rub-ons that I have no idea if they will even work

5 - a sheet of word stickers from Amy Tangerine

6 - two sticker sheets from - I think - an Amy Tangerine sticker book

7 - a phrase sticker sheet from Simple Stories

8 - and acetate piece with multi-colored hearts and a stamped 'love this' that I never used

9 - kraft frames

10 -  three random border stickers that need to be used!

Now for my 6x8 kits. I won't be going into too much detail on these, but hopefully, you'll be seeing traveler's notebook layouts with these goodies on them!

Simple Stories - Into the Wild - I have one, maybe two, layouts planned with these goodies, and one of them will not be a zoo layout!

This one is a mix of Simple Stories - My Story and Boho Sunshine. The colors in both of these collections work so well together.  To be honest, when I got the Boho Sunshine, I wasn't too crazy about it. Here's hoping I can put at least some of it to use! I have at least two layouts planned with these goodies. I also added in a few 6x6 papers for matting purposes.

Cocoa Vanilla - Happy Days collection. I added a few 6x6 papers to this one, as well, and I have two layouts planned with it. 

Simple Stories Homegrown. No embellishments with this one, so I might have to get a little creative, but I have two layouts planned with it, too.

Simple Stories Life Captured. No embellishments picked out for this one yet, either. I'm not sure if there will be anything from the collection that I will want to use, or if I'll get creative again! Nothing is planned for this one just yet, but if I have it out and ready to go, I'll be more apt to use it.

I also pulled a couple more stencils and another stamp set. I would love to show some of my older stamp sets some love this month! 

That is it! I will be happy if I get even half of what I hope to do done!

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 wonderful day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter