This week's projects

Sketchy Thursdays
For the December GDT Challenge at Sketchy Thursdays I took the very minimalist sketch and added to it to create this layout focusing a wonderful weekend spent creating tons of baked goodies with the kids, myself and grandma and how Thankful I am for this special time.

This layout is a mix and match layout, as I usually stick with one manufacturer not so on this one. I started with a cardstock base which I spritzed with some Glimmer Mist color Sand. I pulled out an old Scrapdango kit which featured the Lily Bee Catching Fall papers and Maya Road tag. Then I added the canvas border which is from Pink Paislee Sweetness line. The Pinwheel flower is Crate Paper, the Farmhouse collection I believe, the title is American Crafts Amy Tangerine line, the ribbon I have had for YEARS and I have stickers from My Mind's Eye, Crate Paper and the Family Traditions sticker is Lily Bee. The last detail for this layout was inking and distressing of all the papers.

A closeup/detail shot of the title.

Sketch Inspiration Sketch #246
This was a fun sketch to play with I pulled out some pics of my son at the Orchard that we visit in the fall. Then I choose the playful Bella Blvd One Fall Day Collection with its great bright colors and patterns. I fussy cut the acorns, the pumpkins, the sign and the leaves at the top. I also completed this layout for the Recipe challenge over at Memorable Seasons. The recipe was
* a scalloped edge
* 2 photos
* at least 3 leaves - they can be any kind
* a banner
* a pinch of sewing/stitching

So after fussy cutting the leaves I strung them on the Baker's twine to create a banner. I added stitching onto the leaves of the acorns.

A closeup/detail shot of the fussy cut pumpkins and sign.

Creative Scrappers
So happy to have finally tackled another wedding layout, I think I'm up to 6 completed wedding layouts now and I've been married over 12 years. When I saw the Creative Scrappers sketch #182 it just screamed to me make a wedding layout with all the flowers, bling, and the big doily in the sketch. So that's what I created. I pulled out my papers that I have saved to create my wedding album which is Basic Grey's retired Bittersweet collection. I added lots of Prima flowers, mixed with a Webster's Pages Pinwheel Florettes and Maya Road Fabric Flower with the large bling center (Ornate Botanical Blooms). The bling is a mix of Zva Creative and KaiserCraft and I topped the "O" in limo with a shimmering heart from Making Memories.

A closeup/detail shot of all the fabulous flowers and bling.

A number of new projects

GCD Studios WIN!!!!
I recently received my long ago won 2nd prize from GCD Studios but wow this box was stuffed full of goodies. I got the ENTIRE collection of goodies from the Homespun Chic Collection plus 5 dies from the Chipart Tools.

XOXO Challenge
I picked a winner from the XOXO BLOG HOP. Sorry it took so long but the winner of my RAK was Darlene S. Congrats Darlene!!!
Another XOXO Blog Challenge is up. This month's challenge was BLACK and how that inspired the DT to create something. Since its around Halloween when I think of Black it reminds me of Trick or Treating in the dark so I decided to pull out some Halloween papers and Embellies. I decided on Bella Blvd's Too Cute to Spook Collection. I used lots of Black accents including a Black Title, accents and topped it off with Charcoal colored Chalkboard Glimmer Mist.

I created the pumpkin face banner by punching the images out of the Jacks-A-Glow paper with a pinking circle punch from Martha Stewart. I put the punched images on top of another sheet of punched scalloped circles for my handmade banner.

On this layout I decided to play with the October Afternoon Sidewalks Collection for these older pics of my youngest. I just loved the playful images of this collection. I heart banners and love the mix and match banners in the chipboard pieces.

This is a closeup shot of the title and topped with one of the Little Flyers. The flags are such a fun touch and so popular right now.

I enjoyed playing with the October Afternoon Sidewalks Collection in the above layout so I decided to create another layout with this collection. I pulled out some more older pics of the kids enjoying an afternoon watching a Professional Women's Basketball Game. I also added a couple pieces from the 5 & Dime collection. This layout was inspired by the Creative Scrappers Sketch #180. I loved that this sketch combined both a vertical and horizonal photo in the sketch.

A couple closeup/detail shots of the layout.

Two TaDa Creative Studios projects in one post

If your here for the XOXO blog hop check out the post below.

For this layout I pulled out the TaDa Creative Studios BFF Collection and didn’t know what I was going to do with it when I first sat down to scrap. After pulling out the papers and looking at them I had an idea and I ran with it.

I started with the Oooh La La Layers Petal Pals in Tank Green it was the perfect way to showcase pieces from all of the papers in the collection.

To make it easy to fit the patterned papers in the petals I traced a petal onto vellum and used that as a template. I used the majority of the Petal Pals, but I did cut it a bit so there was some empty space for my photo to rest on. Underneath the photo I cut a strip from the backside of the Pink Paisley paper, used a decorative edge punch and then folded some of it to act a little more like ribbon than paper.

When folding the paper like this it does add some bulk under the picture so I add a piece of cardboard from packaging just slightly smaller than the photo to keep the photo from shifting in any way. I then added the title and a couple Stickies from the BFF collection and done.

Items used from the BFF Collection
-Paisley Palooza (front and back)
-Pink Paisley (front and back)
-Word Play (front and back)
-Flower Friend-zy (front and back)
-Snippets & Clippets
-Oooh La La Layers Petal Pals in Tank Green
-BFF Stickies


Sketches in Thyme is having a DT Call right now. To be considered for the team you need to create a layout based on the sketch.

So I pulled out some American Crafts Amy Tangerine papers, Fabric Stickers & Thickers, Studio Calico Fabrips, mixed with some misc embellies from Sassafras, Maya Road, Authentique, Crate Paper and Kaiser Crafts crocheted flower.

Creative Scrappers
This week over at Creative Scrappers they featured sketch #177. Its a great sketch and worked well with this photo of my DD and DH which I recently had printed. We were at a Cowboy themed party and were supposed to dress up. I remembered about this great TaDa Creative Studios Collection - Goody Two Shoes. The plaid paper reminded me of the cowboy shirts and a couple of the papers which I cut to use more as an embellishment featured cowboy boots and hats, how perfect!! I distressed all the papers and added a touch of twine to the photo and title block to add the final down on the farm cowboy touch.

Close up of the fussy cut circles featuring the Cowboy boots and hat.

Sassy Lil' Sketches
While watching the baseball game, and our team LOSING badly I decided to scrap and created this card based on a Sassy Lil' Sketches card sketch #8. I'm very sad that October is the last month that Sassy Lil' Sketches will be open. I used a SRM Sticker and an older Bo Bunny Collection -Sophie which I LOVE and only have tiny scraps left of (I'm very sad).

XOXO Blog hop, Authentique and RAK available

XOXO BLOG HOP starts Oct 13 and ends Oct 20
If you just stumbled upon this blog hop and want to start at the beginning go to True XoXo blog

If you want a chance to be a guest design team member (with all its glorious perks) you need to
1) visit and comment on every single blog in the hop. One blog will bring you to the next, but the master list is available here, in case you get lost.
2) post back on the true xoxo blog when you're done visiting all the other blogs to let us know you're done.

That's it! One random winner will be announced in the end of October.

Completing challenges is optional. Some team members will be giving away their own prizes.

Ya know? I'll tell ya what. For every layout or project that you do based on one of the challenges or inspired by one of the projects of a team member, comment back on the XOXO blog and I'll throw ANOTHER name of yours into the hat for the gdt drawing. You could have as many as 15 entries in the drawing!

Ready? Set! GO!

I was challenged by Lindsey to use Sushi as inspiration, what a beautiful inspiration photo.

Well I don't eat Sushi so I wasn't sure how I was going to have Sushi inspire me, but when I think about Sushi I think of how they are rolled up, so I chose to roll some of my papers. They almost look like scrolls. In the inspiration photo some of the Sushi is made to look like flowers inside, so I also included some fussy cut flowers too. I used Authentique's Blissful Collection for this layout.

I challenged Michelle, she's the last blog so your almost done.

I also will be giving away a RAK, not quite sure what it will be right now, but everyone who comments on this post will be entered into the RAK. Want another entry into the RAK scraplift my layout (any way you choose) and make sure you come back here and leave me another comment with a link to your project. Want a third entry into the RAK then become a follower and leave me another comment letting me know your a follower. If your already a follower leave a second comment telling me that too.

Sassy Lil' Sketches I'm sad to report that Sassy Lil' Sketches is closing. Oct is the last month and they are doing a blow out with lots of layout and card sketches throughout the month. The deadline for participating is Oct 23. So the last sketch I got to play with over there is Sketch #5.

For each sketch we will be giving away one prize of the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook.

Did you know Authentique has a Sketch Challenge?
Well they do and I used the Authentique Sketch Challenge to create the Helping Dad layout. I used the Authentique Journey Collection and the products used from that collection are Jaunt (back), Itinerary, Voyage, Itinerary (back), Stroll (back), Explore, Ticket from Icons and Petite Type Circle.

I used Creative Scrappers sketch #175 for this layout. My layout turned out a bit different than the sketch but that's ok. I used Bo Bunny's Cambridge Collection. I'm happy that I finally cut into and used these papers I have had them for quite a while. These papers just called out to me to add lots of distressing. The small Prima flowers were a little more beige and were fading into the background a little too much so I added some Glimmer Glaze in Mellow Yellow and it was the perfect addition to add just a touch of color to the flowers.

Closeup shot of flowers and shield/pocket that is holding them.

Another Closeup- I loved the banner and wings it was the perfect place for me to add the tiny alphabet letters.

Apparently when creating this layout I really wanted to use some stick pins, considering I used one when creating part of the title and two more as accents on the picture. I used the Sept 29 sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays for this layout, I liked the clean design of the sketch, I also made it for the Paper Variety blog challenge which was to use a Nautical theme. The papers are from Bella Blvd's All Inclusive line the papers worked nicely for this photo from Puerto Rico, when creating a part of the title I took a Jenni Bowlin banner added some small round alphas from Authentique used some foam tape and attached it to a stick pin.

I added a closeup of the jounaling in case you were interested in reading it.

The Oct Challenge over at XOXO was posted. So this month's challenge is Instagr.am! Some of our girls prefer Hipstamatic, and that's fine, too!! Point is, the "app for that" generation is easily putting photo editing into the hands of ... well ... everyone! My Instagram layout is the ROAST layout in the post below.

Looks like I have been really scrappy lately

I loved getting several challenges out of one layout. I started by doing the open challenge at Sketches in Thyme. The challenge was to pick a sketch from anywhere and upload it. When looking thru what the DT picked I just loved all the white space in the sketch that Tiffany used from Once upon a Sketch.
I ended up filling up a lot of the white space compared to the sketch but there is still plenty of white space. I also was able to complete this layout for a challenge at Scrapdango which was to use the colors blue and white and NOT scrap winter photos. Plus I used it for Cindy's challenge at My Sketch World which was to use a photo at least 5 years old, so I picked this photo of my DH at age 4 over 30 years ago.

I used a combination of Bella Blvd papers and embellishments for this layout. I just love how the different collections all coordinate together.

Creative Scrappers #169


This photo was taken AT the dentist office. They take photos of all the kids who have NO cavities. They let me have it at his last appointment when they took a new picture of him when he still had no cavities.

I just loved the smiley robots in this My Mind's Eye Paper Collection, plus the maroon color matched his shirt.


The Scrappiest #131

I think I need to take a closeup of this photo because you can't see the funny expression on his little face, and all his hair sticking up. That's why I created the title because it was definitely more than just a trip down the slide.

I used Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line for the papers and embellies on this one.


OK, I just had to take a closeup of the pic. At least now you can see his eyes and his hair sticking up, LOL!



Memorable Seasons

I loved the mix of buttons and flags on this sketch so I got to work on this right away.


I also completed this layout for the challenge at Paper Variety which was create a travel or transportation project. This layout was from a Spring Weekend Getaway, this resort in Ohio features a HUGE indoor water park.

I used an older kit from Scrapdango it featured papers from Lily Bee and We R Memory Keepers. I picked the orangy/yellow Thickers for the title because they match the color in the photo on the hotel.

Several challenges in one

I was able to tackle a sketch plus two other challenges in this layout. The sketch is from Creative Scrappers #166

I also tackled a challenge from The Crop Stop - Use lace. So I included a lace doiley that is just peeking out from under the paper. I also was able to squeeze in a challenge from the Paper Variety blog, their's was a tic tac toe challenge. I choose the bottom row use pink - there are pink in the papers and a button, use a banner - I *heart* banners so this one was easy for me and 1 photo.

I used this adorable photo of my DH and DS out on the boat, so using the Simple Stories 100 days of summer line was a perfect choice. I'm so happy to have finally opened up this pack of paper. I'm really happy with how this one turned out.


This one was a sketch from the Scrappiest blog #129 when I saw all these circles I was intrigued. I decided to play with some Sass Paper Crush papers on this one. The title on this one was super easy as this is what my little guy calls Winnie the Pooh.

Scrappiest Blog, Creative Scrappers, Crop Stop

I used another sketch from The Scrappiest Blog #124. I ended up turning it into a 2pager. Not sure why I was inspired to scrap christmas pics but I was. I used an older Pink Paislee christmas line along with Webster's Pages paper. This layout is about how many pictures does it take to take ONE nice picture of three kids, the answer on this day 12.


Creative Scrappers

I saw sketch #161 over at Creative Scrappers and just loved all the blocks on the sketch. I used this sketch for a challenge over at Memorable Seasons as well as a color challenge for the Crop Stop also. The papers I used are from Jillibean Soup.


Crop Stop is having a Blog challenge thru the end of the month and I also made this Berry card for the - Use LOTS of pink challenge

My Sketch World June Sketch plus several other challenges

XOXO starting back up!!
The xoxo blog had a rough couple months but with the start of this month we are BACK!! On the 7th a new DT is being unveiled along with the DT projects for you to scraplift. I'm very pleased and excited to announce that I'm remaining on the DT and still a lipstick chick (which I'm very excited about)! Hope to see you over at XOXO and can't wait to see what you decide to lift.

My Sketch World June Card Sketch
Lucy from My Sketch World created a terrific card sketch this month, as usual!! Isn't it Great!!


Here is my take on the sketch using the adorable TaDa Creative Studios - Sizzlin' Summer Collection. I cut the rainbow from the Sizzlin' Summer Mini Mes paper, made the background from the Hello Sunshine paper and created a Butterfly with a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch from the plaid side of the Hello Sunshine paper. The squares and flower were also from the Mini Mes paper.



Scrappiest blog #122


I pulled out an older paper line on this one but its such a great line, Pebbles Inc Lil Buddy line. I probably only have enough scraps to squeeze out one more layout from these papers and I will be sad when I no longer have any of these papers left, they are sooo terrific. The robot is sooo cute I couldn't resist adding it to the layout!


Detail -closeup



Creative Scrappers Sketch #158
When I first looked at this sketch I must admit I was a little confused, but then I scrolled down a little more and checked out what the DT did with it and I was DEFINITELY inspired!!!!!


So when I started to pley with this sketch I decided to combine it with a color challenge over at My Scraps and More.

I started with the cloud paper & mixed and matched papers from My Mind's Eye. I also used lots of inking, distressing, and sanding on this layout. I love the tag from the breaking free collection. I also added misc brads, cork pieces, other embellies, the mini letters, and I just adore the texture from the fabrips from Studio Calico.


Detail of tag with mix of embellies.


Another detail shot Watching the Kiteboarders.


Just Imagine Crafts/Kreaxions Punches June Challenge
The June challenge is to use this sketch plus 2 punches on your layout.


I decided to use October Afternoon's Schoolhouse Collection to go with this pic of my DS on the first day of 1st grade. Thanks for such a great sketch Bev. I'm super happy with how this layout turned out. I used a border punch on the ledger paper under the picture, a notebook punch on the red paper and a corner rounder on a couple other papers.