Playing Catch-Up!

When things are busy around here...they are BUSY!  Last week seems like a whirlwind and I am glad it's over and a new week is starting!  I didn't get to work on as many layouts last week as I usually do (and of course I've had tons of ideas swimming around in my head for pages and haven't been able to work on them), but I did get to finish up some over the last few days.  I'll be sharing the 7.14 Sketchy Thursdays lo, the August GDT layout form Sketchy Thursdays, and the Sketch Along Tuesday layout from Frosted Designs in this post.

"Hats" (Sketchy Thursdays 7.14) - A while back, my friend bought several grab bag packs of paper from Scenic Route and I have to say it was one of the best buys I've ever made!!  I love the quality and colors they use.  I love how the patterns and colors from these papers worked together and I threw in a little blue from the fun, circle border from Recollections.

"This Is Summer" (Sketchy Thursdays August GDT challenge) - If you think this one looks a little simple and home-made...then YAY, I achieved my goal!  I think Sunflowers are the epitome of country and they are my ALL-TIME favorite flower.  I wanted this lo to have a homey/cozy feel.  But it actually did take a lot of work at the same time!  Punching all of those circles and then cutting them in half and embossing them took up a lot of time, but I love the effect.  And of course I'm not the fastest sewer, so my stitching seemed to take forever!  The challenge for this month's GDT member also included using the colors Red, Yellow, and/or Orange, a Summer theme, and a journaling spot.

"Whatchoo Talkin Bout Willis" (Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesday 7.12) - Even though I started this layout with a sketch, I still had no idea where I was going with it.  I just started with my picture and the circles from the sketch and just started adding embellies here and there.  I love the way all of the Tim Holtz products work together on this one and I added in a couple of scraps from the Emma's Shoppe kit from Crate Paper.  I love the fun look of this one and struggled with what letters to use for my title and remembered these fun vinyl Thickers from American Crafts and they worked perfectly.  I also found the fun arrow brads today at Michael's for 99 cents and the Issue Challenge #2 July/August this week at Club CK was to use arrows on your lo.  I had planned to either cut out some arrows or use chipboard, but I really like these much better!