PageMaps Best Creations Sketch Contest

When I am in need of a great sketch...PageMaps is my favorite go-to spot!  So when I saw they were having a Best Creations contest (and offering a pretty awesome prize), I couldn't resist coming up with an entry.  I wanted to go with a sweet, girly look on this lo and my inspiration came from the Studio Calico pp on the bottom half of my lo.  I loved the colors in the paper and the banner design.  I pulled several papers from Glitz Designs, October Afternoon, Crate Paper, and Bazzill to pair with the Studio Calico page and I really like how they worked together.  I used SCAL to cut the little brown "banner" across the middle section of my page, to mimic the banner in the paper.  Here is my finished product:

Products Used:

Papers:  Glitz Designs, Studio Calico, Crate Paper, October Afternoon, Bazzill

Thickers:  American Crafts

Floral Embellishment:  Recollections

Brads:  Recollections

Pearl Embellishments:  Close to My Heart

Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn

Pen:  Zig

Other:  Ribbon, Baker's Twine

Font:  ScrapBaby

Never Get Red Cake Icing!

For our sons 2nd Birthday this year, we discovered why it's not a good idea to get red icing on the cake...it STAINS...hands, face, and carpet!  Lesson learned!  After he finished his piece of cake, he looked like the Joker!  :)  But he had a good time, so I guess that's what matters most!

I based this lo on the 6.23 sketch from Sketchy Thursdays:

Products Used:

Paper & Transparencies:  Glitz Designs
Corrugated Alphas:  Jillibean Soup
Tiny Type:  Glitz Designs
Stickers:  Glitz Designs
Rick Rack:  The Paper Studio
Brads:  Recollections
Pen:  Sharpie
Stickers:  Glitz Designs

Frosted Designs Guest Designer!

I have the privilege of being the Guest Designer this week at Frosted Designs for their Fabulous Friday Challenge!  This week's challenge is to use Black & White plus one other color for your color scheme.  That may sound like a daunting task...but it is do-able and creates a unique layout once you are finished.  I suggest choosing your color and then looking for varying shades of that color in your stash.  Then dig in and start finding embellishments in black & white, plus your third color.  You'll be surprised how easy it is.  If you feel like working with three colors doesn't work with your photos, try changing your photos to black & white or sepia.  I chose pink as my color choice for this lo.  It worked well with the color of the beach towel in my photo.   Here is my sample lo for the challenge:

Now are you ready for the fun part??  Join in this week's challenge and come back here and leave a comment with a link to your project and I will draw a random winner on Thursday, June 30!!  Can't beat that...get a lo done and possibly win a scrappy prize in the process!  Good luck and can't wait to see what you create!  Here is what I'll be giving away:

Products Used:

Paper:  Glitz Designs

Pen:  Sakura

Acrylic Stamp:  Autumn Leaves

Ink:  Stampabilities

Thickers:  American Crafts

Mini Round Gems:  Recollections

Brads:  Recollections

Punch:  Marvy

Other:  Baker's Twine & Ribbon

This One Makes Me Smile!

Our son just turned two on June 1.  When I took him to the pediatrician for his check-up, she suggested starting him in speech therapy, because he was not putting two or more words together.  Don't get me wrong, he can say a lot of words, but is completely stubborn and just doesn't want to play the "can you say..." game.  Who knows why, probably just because we want him to.  Anyways...this weekend, we went to our local Balloon Festival and his sister was singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in the backseat.  As soon as she finished, he started singing and sang the whole song all the way through.  We had no clue he knew the words to the song, much less could sing the whole thing!  So I guess speech therapy is a definite out for him!  :)  I was so glad I had my camera with me and I got a cute video of him sining and snapped some cute pics too during the song.

I based this layout on a sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches and used some Close to My Heart papers that I received in the first prize that I won from Club CK over a year ago.  These papers are great for little boy pages and I am so glad I finally got to use them on a page.

Products Used:

Papers:  Close to My Heart & Crate Paper
Canvas Stars:  Jillibean Soup
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Paper Crimper:  Fiskars
Pen:  Zig
Tag:  EK Success
Punch:  Marvy
Smooch Spritz:  Clear Snap
Quote ("Hitch your wagon to a star."):  Ralph Waldo Emerson
Other:  Buttons

Getting Those Creative Juices Flowing!

Here's a little info on getting things going when you are feeling stuck.  If I am working on a challenge and I think where do I start or where am I going with this...the easiest way for me to get things going is to decide on my color scheme.  I look at the photos I want to use and then I start searching for patterned papers that pick up some of the colors in my photos.  Preferrably I like to use coordinating papers from a kit or pack, so that I don't have to go through to much fuss putting them together.  Once I have my patterned paper picked out, then I can get my solids that match.  That is usually the hardest part for me and once I have that done, I can start deciding on embellishments that will go with the feel of my lo.  Pretty simple process, but it really works for me.

I've had this sketch from the Sketch Along Tuesday over at Frosted Designs in my mind for a while, but just couldn't get things moving on it.  But I decided to pick out my photos last night...even though I still had no clue what I wanted to do!!  I got them sized and printed and then went with my technique above and couldn't believe how fast it came together!  So next time you are stuck, try getting things started with your photos and papers.  I think you'll be surprised at the great results!

Products Used:

Paper:  American Crafts, BoBunny, Bazzill
Corrugated Alphas:  Jillibean Soup
Pearl Embellishments:  Close to My Heart
Ribbon & Trim:  American Crafts & The Paper Studio
Pen:  Zig

Thunderstruck! ST 6.16

These are some of my favorite pictures of Reese!  I couldn't wait to get them scrapped and tell the story behind them.  In the South, we are known to have some pretty severe thunderstorms pop up in the afternoons.  Well, this one decided to hit about halfway through naptime and it was pretty nasty.  Normally I wouldn't think much about it, but the lightning was horrible and it had started to hail.  So I woke everybody up from nap and we evacuated to the bathroom to wait out the storm.  The girls were none to happy about it, but Reese seemed to think it was a fun adventure.  He was being so silly and playing with his little pop up toy, but everytime he heard thunder, he would look up with a serious face and say "Uh Oh" or "Oh No" very dramatically!  I am so glad I got the photos that captured the two different emotions!

Products Used:

Paper:  Glitz Designs

Smooch Spritz:  Clear Snap

Thickers:  American Crafts

Masking Letters:  Tim Holtz

Acrylic Stamps:  Recollections

Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel

Tiny Type:  Cosmo Cricket

Embossing:  Sizzix Big Shot

Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn

Pen:  Sakura

Tag:  EK Success



CK & Me Blog Post!

A week or so ago, I submitted a lo to the CK & Me submission call.  I didn't get a response back for a spot in the magazine, but today I received an email from Megan Hoeppner letting me know that it would be one of the layouts featured on the CK & Me blog post!!  SO EXCITING!  I loved the lo by Suzy Plantamura in the March/April issue on page 71!!  It just popped off the page and I definitely knew I wanted to do a scraplift based on her lo.  I used a lot of yummy October Afternoon products on this one and I love the way it turned out!

ST 6.9 & a DIY

I had time yesterday to sit down and go ahead and get my lo for this week's challenge at Sketchy Thursdays finished.  My girls and I made chocolate chip cookies the other day, so I used some pictures from our time in the kitchen.  I pulled the colors for my papers from the background page, which is from a Cut-N-Paste pack from K&Company.  It has some fun retro papers in there and this one was great for an "in the kitchen" page. 

Here's a little DIY tip, that I picked up from one of the ladies, Steffanie (brown eyed girl), over at Club CK during the recent Sketch It To Me Blog Hop.  She did a really great page and used corrugated alphas for her title, which I assumed were from Jillibean Soup.  In reading her post, I found out she made them herself and they looked awesome!  I had to give it a try and I went out and bought a Fiskars paper crimper, which works really well!

This is how I made my letters for the word "fun":

I looked through my fonts, using The Font Thing to match the Jillibean letters as closely as possible, and found DilleniaUPC.

Then I bolded and set the shadow to .50. 

I also stretched my letters a little wider, almost 1.5 inches, because once they go through the paper crimper, it shortens the paper.

Once I had them to the measurements I wanted, I cut them out and ran them through the crimper...VOILA!  Instant corrugated alphas!!


Products Used:

Paper:  K&Company, Bazzill

Edging Scissors:  Fiskars

Paper Crimper:  Fiskars

Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon

Brads & Thickers:  The Paper Studio

Pen:  Zig

Pom Pom Trim:  Wrights

Other:  Baker's Twine

How Many Challenges...

can you fit into 1 layout??!!  Well for this layout, the answer is 4!!

1.  Frosted Designs:  lo or project about friends

2.  Scrappin Chics Challenge Blog:  use a Sun & inspirational saying

3.  Club CK:  Use fabric on your lo or project

4.  Creative Scrappers:  Sketch #159



For my fabric strip, I just cut 1x8 inch strips, folded them in half, and then knotted the closed end.  My Sun was a really fun embellie to make.  I punched about 40 little flowers with my Marvy punch and then cut out a 3 inch circle.  I started on the outside edge of the circle, placing a row of flowers all the way around and then just kept layering to the center.  Once I had all of my flowes attached, I sprayed it with adhesive and sprinkled it with Fairy Dust Glitter.  And YAY, I got a new toy yesterday...the Fiskars Paper Crimper (I'm sure corrugated alphas and embellies will be showing up on all of my lo's from now on!!).  I used it to add texture to the circles for the two flower centers and on my butterflies.

Products Used:

Paper:  Scenic Route
Glitter:  Clear Snap
Brad:  Chloe's Closet
Trim:  The Paper Studio
Mini Market Alphas:  October Afternoon
Punch:  Marvy
Paper Crimper:  Fiskars
Pen:  Zig
Font:  Ravie
Other:  Baker's Twine, Buttons, Button Kit, Fabric

WOW! I Can't Believe It's That Time Again!

It seems like I just did a lo for the GDT challenge at Sketchy Thursday, but now it is time for July's challenge!  The ladies provied a fabulous sketch (as usual) and some great inspiration photos!  I am loving that combo!  Sometimes you do a lo and you think "well not my favorite, but it's done" and then sometimes you get one and you think "oooohhhh I LOVE this one!"  This lo falls into the latter category!  It was so much fun to scrap these cute pics of my youngest daugher enjoying a Popsicle in Disney World on a VERY, VERY HOT Friday afternoon. 

For my inspiration, I chose the first two photos.  I won the Cherry-O kit from Close to My Heart last Summer at an all day crop and still had a few whole sheets and lots of scraps left, so I knew they were the exact ones I wanted to use.  I mixed in some orange Doodlebug paper to mimic my daughter's dress and the colors of the popsicle.  I LOVE having Thickers, but the "standard" letters don't last very long around here, so I have to come up with ingenious ways to get the letters I need.  "E"s are usually the first to go, so for my "e" in popsicle, I turned an "m" sideways and chopped off some of the length.  I was also missing "t"s in my white foam letters so I took a couple of "L"s and "I"s to remedy that situation!  :)  I'm not really sure how that flower is going to survive in my album, but I really love it.  It's one of the flowers that I created for Flower Fabrication Fiesta this past week at Club CK.  And of course I added some paint drips, for a fun touch of a melting ice cream!

Products Used:

Papers:  Close to My Heart & Doodlebug Design Inc.

Thickers:  American Crafts

Ribbon:  DCWV & Close to My Heart

Buttons, Brads, Waxy Flax, Acrylic Stamp:  Close to My Heart

Distress Ink:  Tim Holtz

Acylic Paint:  Apple Barrel

Pen:  Zig

Smooch Spritz:  Clear Snap

Glitter:  Stampendous

Circle Punch:  Marvy

Tag:  EK Success

Scissors:  Fiskars

Mini Market Alphas:  October Afternoon

ST 6.2 Challenge

Fun sketch this week at Sketchy Thursdays!  I had a crop Friday night so I was able to work on it and finish it up yesterday.  The tissue paper flower is one of the flowers I made for Flower Fabrication Fiesta week at Club CK. I loved the colors in the tissue paper, so I based my color scheme on the flower...and the green, white, and pink just happened to also be colors that were in my little girl's dress.  Love how the American Crafts papers coordinated with this lo and I added in some Glitz papers too!

Products Used:

Papers:  American Crafts & Glitz Design

Ribbon & Button:  Close to My Heart

Brads:  The Paper Studio

Thickers:  American Crafts

Tiny Type:  Glitz Designs

Pen:  Sakura & Zig

Other:  Baker's Twine, Fabric, Button Kit, Tissue Paper, Twine



Sketch It To Me...Get to Hopping!

I can't believe that this year is already half way over!!  Have you accomplished any of your scrappy goals this year...or still plan to accomplish some?  I have been very productive this year and have had so much fun using sketches and joining in on new challenges.  This is my first time to participate in a Blog Hop and I'm very excited.  You should have arrived here from Cassie's blog.  If you didn't arrive here from Cassie's blog, then  please go back go to the beginning at Amanda's blog and start off your journey through the hop.  Amanda provided us with a great sketch and we were challenged to use it on a layout and card.  Here is the original sketch:

I kept both of my projects fairly close to the sketch.  But because of the larger journaling tag that I used, I moved my title above the photo grid on my layout.  The stitched border was a really fun touch.  I just doodled it with a pencil and went back over it with black embroidery floss and also used stitching on my top border.  I used a mix of Jillibean Soup and October Afternoon products and the strawberries were cut on my Expression.  I added a little Stampendous glitter for the seeds on the strawberries.

I did the card using papers and embellies from Echo Park's "Walk in the Park" collection.

I hope you have enjoyed stopping by my blog.  To thank you for your visit, I will offer a giveaway.  Just leave a comment on this post and become a new follower, if you are not one yet.  I will select a random winner at 3PM (CST) on Sunday, June 5.

There is lots more fun to come, so get ready for your next stop on the hop and head over to Cynthia's blog.


If you get lost along the way, just re-visit Amanda's blog to find your spot in the hop!



Grillin' & Chillin'

We had a great cook-out with friends this past Monday, for Memorial Day!  The weather was beautiful...pretty hot though...and we grabbed some tables and chairs from the church and all got to sit outside and eat and let the kids play.  When I saw that Frosted Designs 5.29 challenge was to use a barbecue, picnic, or outdoor games theme on your project, I thought what a great time to snap some pics.  I think we grilled at least 5 different types of meat and had oven roasted potatoes, green beans, and garlic bread.  Of course, my son's favorite thing to eat was the Chef Boyardee macaroni that I heated up in the microwave for him...kids!! 

I kind of started this lo without a vision of where I was going and there were a lot of pictures I wanted to include, so I had trouble with my photo placement.  But once I got going, things fell into place and I really love the finished lo.  I used EP For the Record hybrid for my papers.  One of my FAVORITE things on the lo is my journaling tag.  It is a tag that I took off of a pair of shorts I bought several weeks ago.  When I removed the tags, I thought "hey, these will be awesome on a page!!"  So here is my first lo featuring a clothing tag...I think I still have two more from the other pairs of shorts!  :)  I gave my Cricut a workout on this one too.  I used it to cut the watermelon slices, the grill, and the cool black border at the bottom.

Products Used:

Paper:  EP Hybrids (For the Record) & The Paper Studio

Corrugated Alphas:  Jillibean Soup

Thickers:  American Crafts

Foam Numbers:  Close to My Heart

Brads:  The Paper Studio

Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn

Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel