A Little Bit About Me

I don't know about you, but I find it is much harder to scrapbook photos that are about me, rather than my family.  Mostly, because I hardly have any pictures of me by myself (because I'm usually the photographer) and because it is harder to put my thoughts about myself onto paper.  When I saw the Issue Challenge at Club CK last week, I thought it would be a great way to step out of my comfort zone.  The challenge was to use the article on Family Trivia in the July/August issue, as inspiration for your page.  I chose to do random facts about me...so here is my page and a closer look at my facts:

 
1.  I think Bagpipe/Celtic music is the most soothing style of music.

2.  My favorite book series is "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maude Montgomery.

3.  I was Saved in July 1987 @ the age of 12.

4.  Other than looks...I was first attracted to my hubby, because of the way he worked with children @ his job.

5.  I've never met my real dad.

6.  I made straight "A's" all the way through Elementary School.

7.  The King & I is one of my all time favorite movies.

8.  I have been a die-hard Alabama fan, since the day I was born!

9.  The most exciting places I've ever traveled to are Disney World, Mexico, & Jamaica...so far!

10.  I HATE spiders - with a passion!


11.  In 1997, I met my FAVORITE musician, Gavin Rossdale from Bush, and got to hang out with him & of course, had no camera for pics!!!!

12.  I am an outgoing, introvert.

Also, for this layout I used a sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

Products Used:

Paper:  Echo Park & Bazzill

Brads:  The Paper Studio

Thickers:  American Crafts

Stickers:  Echo Park

Pom Pom Trim:  Wrights

Pen:  Sharpie

Font:  CK Hand

Other:  Notebook Paper

A Challenge to Grow On

Each week, Club CK hosts a 1 Hour Challenge and a while back they started subsituting one week out of the month with a 2 Hour Challenge.  The challenges are through Scrapbooking from the Inside Out with Rachel Kaufman.  When the challenges first started, I thought these aren't really for me, because most of my pages center around my children.  But, with the incentive of some pretty awesome prizes for joining in the challenge, I decided to play along.  And I am so glad I did.  I feel it is important to document the events in my children's lives, but it is also important for them to be able to look back on pages that include my thoughts and the things that I have experienced.  The challenge this past Thursday, was centered on Growth, and they also ask that you use some sort of visual representation on your layout.  The suggestion for this challenge was a vine.  I decided to take some pics with each of the kids and journal about the decision to be a Stay at Home Mom.  I also used the 8.18 sketch from Sketchy Thursdays for this layout:

Products Used:

Paper, Trim, & Transparency:  Webster's Pages
Rub Ons:  Making Memories
Tags:  Recollections
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Decorative Pin:  K&Company
Pen:  Zig
Other:  Flowers, Chipboard

Let's Get Ready to Switch It Up!

 If you are looking for the August Blog Hop, click HERE.

Good Saturday Morning!  I hope you've all had a great week and that you are now getting ready for an even better weekend!  I am very excited to share my first assignment with you, as one of the new DT members at Sassy Lil' Sketches!  I am joining along with some amazing ladies in a new feature that has been added to the Blog starting this month.  Each Saturday, there will be a team working on a sketch and their assignment is to Switch It Up!  What's that mean, you might ask?  Well, we get to change the sketch up in any way, shape, or form we can think of!  FUN!  Some options are flipping or rotating the sketch, changing the number of photos that are used on the sketch, making a single pager into a double pager, etc.  That's the beauty of a sketch...you can use them, as is, if it fits your needs...or you can take some liberties with it and make it into something definitively your own.

Here's an idea that helps me when I have a sketch, that I want to switch up...start with your photos.  Don't worry about printing your photos to the exact size drawn on the sketch.  Print out standard sizes (5x7, 4x6, 3.5x5) or irregular sizes and then start your layout based on the sketch from there.  You may be able to keep the other elements on the sketch as is, or this might give you the opportunity to move things around a little.  Remember, sketches are a jumping off point and once you get going, your imagination can take you anywhere.

For the month of August, I was given this fabulous sketch:

And here is what I created based on this sketch:

As you can see I changed things first, by changing the 1 photo space to 3 photos.  I printed One 4x6 photo and Two 3x4 photos.  Instead of adding a solid piece of paper behind my photos, I chose to do a window look, with a frame cut from the Sweet Summertime kit from Echo Park (this has been one of my favorite techniques on my layouts, lately).  I also moved the journaling from the right-hand side, midway on the page to the bottom right, under my photos (journaling strip form-another of my favorites, which you will probably see on a lot of my pages)!!  :)  I hope this layout has inspired you to think outside the box...or sketch in this case...and find new and creative ways to use all of the wonderful sketches that are floating around out there in the scrappy world! 

On another note...Pinwheels have been popping up on layouts and projects everywhere these days!  I thought they would make a great embellishment to go along with this page and they are really quick and easy.  Here is a little tutorial on how I made these:

1.  Choose your paper (double sided works best) and cut a square.  The one in the following photos is a 2.5 x 2.5 and the ones I used on my page, are 2x2, 1.7 5x 1.75, and 1.25 x 1.25.

2.  Next, cut diagonal lines from the outside corners toward the center, but stop before the lines come together.

3.  Then, start with the left hand corner and fold down towards the center.

4.  Continue folding the other sides of your "triangles" in the same pattern toward the center of the square.

5.  Once you have finished all of your folds, secure the center by adding a brad, button, paper flower...etc., etc., etc.!!  :)



Now hop on over and visit Sassy Lil' Sketches and play along with us each week during the month of August for the chance to win a prize from this month's fabulous sponsors!  You have until September 5 to link up your projects to the corresponding sketch challenge.

AUGUST SPONSORS:

Paper Sponsor

Digi Sponsor

Products Used:

Paper:  Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - Echo Park & The Paper Studio

Brads:  The Paper Studio

Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel

Rick Rack:  The Paper Studio

Thickers:  American Crafts

Tiny Type:  Cosmo Cricket & Echo Park

Pen:  Zig

Font:  Big Mister C

Gettin' Sketchy with the Club CK Gals!

You guessed it...it's Blog Hop time again!!  Thanks to Amanda for spear-heading all of this scrappy fun-ness & inspiration for us to share with one another.  If you didn't come here from her blog, "hop" back over to Love.Joy.Paper and get started at the beginning for fun, inspiration, and prize give-aways, here & there!  You also have a chance to join in this go around by linking your projects!

Amanda provided us...once again...with a really awesome sketch!  I didn't make many changes to her original, as far as the design of the sketch.  Instead of adding my title in the block on the sketch, I added another photo and moved the title to the top of the page.  Each of the photos are 3.5 x 3.5.  I wanted to do a little something different with the Red, White, and Blue theme for the 4th of July on this one, since it didn't involve the typical 4th photos.  I thought using the papers from Echo Park's For the Record would add a little twist to the Independence Day color scheme.  I also wanted to create my own firework embellies, which I did by layering several different patterned papers. 

I hope you are able to find some inspiration for your own projects through this post and to make things a little more fun...I am offering a give away!  Become a new follower & leave a comment on this post letting me know you are now following.  If you are already a follower, leave a comment telling me your favorite color combo to use on your layouts or projects.  I will draw a random winner on Sunday afternoon.

To continue on, hop on over to Jennifer's blog. 

Products Used:

Paper & Stickers:  Echo Park

Corrugated Alphas:  Jillibean Soup

Thickers:  American Crafts

Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon

Trim:  Tim Holtz

Brads:  The Paper Studio

Looking Glass:  Making Memories

Pen:  Sharpie

Punch:  Marvy

Font:  CK Road Trip

Other:  Baker's Twine & Buttons



The End of an Era!

So yesterday, our not quite 2 1/2 year old decided to start climbing out of his crib.  Not good...because we didn't want him falling out on his head and because now we had to transfer him to the toddler bed, which means no more confinement!!  :)  The first night and nap today seemed to go okay.  Some crying was involved but he ended up in bed, asleep!!  We will see if it continues.  

I had been debating on what I wanted to do for the Fabulous Friday 8.12 challenge at Frosted Designs.  The challenge was to use animals and I had several things in mind, but when I took this photo of DS in the toddler bed last night, I knew this would be the one!  I found a fun tutorial for DIY monster bookmarks on Pinterest the other day and wanted to use one on this page.  I love the way it turned out and I will be making some bookmarks too!  You can check out the tutorial here.

The layout is also based on one of the sketches in the new Sassy Lil' Sketches EBook.  They are available for $8.99 and you will definitely think it is worth it.  There are approx. 70 sketches in the book and you can use it online or print it out.  Check it out and get yours here. 

Products Used:

Paper:  The Paper Studio & DCWV
Brads:  Recollections
Adhesive Borders:  Recollections
Pen:  Zig
Teeny Alphas:  Glitz Design
Thickers:  American Crafts
Ink:  Memento
Other:  Printable Journaling Card 

Crop Layouts to Share

I have some layouts to share with from the monthly crop that I attend.  We had one this past Friday, and us night owls were there until 2AM scrapping away!!!  Crazy I know, but we are dedicated!  :)  Sadly, even though I was there from 5PM til 2AM, I still only completed 3 single page layouts and 1 double page layout.  On average it takes me about 2 hours per page, and then there is socializing and eating!!

First up, is my entry for the September GDT challenge at Sketchy Thursdays.  These photos had lots of conflicting colors going on, so I decided to add a sepia filter to tone them down a little bit.  Along with the sketch challenge, the ST team asked that you have some type of reading theme on your layout.  I'm glad I decided to use these photos for this page, because I really loved the pictures and wanted them to have a great layout and I think I accomplished that goal!

Products Used:

Papers:  Crate Paper & Jillibean Soup
Brads & Arrows:  The Paper Studio
Bean Blossom:  Jillibean Soup
Thickers:  American Crafts
Button:  Basic Grey
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Pen: Zig
Tiny Type:  Cosmo Cricket

Next up, is my FAVORITE layout from the night!!  I LOVE these cute photos and the way my layout turned out, based on the Sassy Lil' Sketches 8.9 sketch.  I won some of the 100 Days of Summer papers by Simple Stories from one of the Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenges and they are amazing!  I love how they worked on this page.

 

Products Used:

Paper:  Simple Stories & Bazzill
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Bean Blossom:  Jillibean Soup
Stickers:  Simple Stories & Echo Park
Tickets:  Tim Holtz
Brad:  The Paper Studio
Pen:  Zig
Other:  Staples


The last layout has some really fun elements!!  Club CK hosted their Summer Camp last week and the challenge on Friday, was to use coffee filters on your layout.  You can create a gorgeous ruffle on your page and beautiful flowers with this technique.  If you would like to try it, check out the tutorial on the Creating Keepsakes blog.  I also did this one for the monthly Color Challenge hosted by one of the great ladies over at Club CK.  The colors chosen for this month, were Pink, Orange, & Brown...my all time favorite colors, so I really had a lot of fun with this color scheme.

Products Used:


Paper:  Bazzill & Echo Park
Brads:  Recollections
Felt Flower:  Pebbles Inc.
Punches:  Marvy & Martha Stewart
Ink:  Memento
Rhinestones:  Recollections
Pen:  Zig
Thickers:  American Crafts
Other:  Acrylic Stamps & Coffee Filters

SLS EBook Giveaway!

With the release of the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook yesterday, I have a FREE copy to giveaway!!  There are approx. 70 sketches in the book by Cherie Averill and it also includes inspiration layouts.  The book has double and single page sketches, featuring 1 photo up to multiple photos.  To enter the giveaway, become a new follower and tell me on this post.  If you are already a follower, leave a comment on the post.  For a second chance to win, share the link to this post on your Blog, Facebook, or other social media site and comment on this post letting me know.  The giveaway will remain open until mid-day Tuesday and I will draw a winner Tuesday afternoon.

Now, I would like to share with you the layout I created for the book and the sketch that it is based on.

"Water Play"

Products Used:

Paper:  Bella Blvd, Bazzill & Cosmo Cricket
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Thickers:  American Crafts
Buttons:  Close to My Heart
Mini Round Gems:  Recollections
Pen:  Sharpie
Punch:  Marvy
Other:  Chipboard

It's Been a Long Time!

In Blog time, it seems like forever since I have posted on my Blog!  I have been a busy bee with kids, getting ready for home-school, participating in CK Summer Camp, and some DT stuff here and there.  And on a side note...EXCITING news that I have yet to share on my Blog - I have been accepted to the Design Team for one of my LSS!!!  I am so excited to be a part of the DT for Sassy Lil' Sketches and now I am looking forward to a new challenge in designing for the store. 

So back to the task at hand!!  Last week, I missed out on the Sketchy Thursdays challenge, but I loved the sketch this week and I definitely wanted to join in!  And I did!  Creating Keepsakes has been hosting their annual Summer Camp this week over at Club CK and there have been some great challenges this week, so I decided to combine a few challenges with this one.  Of course, I used the 8.11 sketch from Sketchy Thursdays and the CK Summer Camp challenge was to use colored pencils on your layout.  I used my colored pencils for the circles around the flower embellies.  And speaking of the flowers...I threw a third challenge in for the Issue Challenge #6 at Club CK, to use eyelets on your layout.  My eyelets are the centers of the cute little flowers.  I am really happy with the way this one turned out, even though my picture is a little crooked!!  UGH...but sometimes you just have to go with it!  :)

Products Used:

Papers:  The Paper Studio & American Crafts
Thickers:  American Crafts
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Eyelets:  Recollections
Brads:  Recollections
Colored Pencils:  RoseArt
Paper Ribbon:  K&Company
Trim:  Recollections
Pen: Sharpie
Other:  Baker's Twine & Chipboard

Love Getting New Papers!!

I bought some cute new papers at the LSS last week...and believe it or not, I am actually using them on my pages and not hoarding them!!  :)  Some of my favorites are the adorable papers by Bella Blvd!  The ones I used for this page are from the Socialite collection, which is geared toward a New Year's theme, but I thought they would be really cute for a Summer layout also.  I based this page on the Sketch Along Tuesday sketch #20 from Frosted Designs, which was a little daunting this time, because there was a lot of layering behind the photo!!  Sometimes I find layering very challenging and it's a 50/50 chance that I like the end result, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out on this one!

I also did a technique for one of the challenges over at Club CK this week, on my title.  The Issue Challenge, was to use packaging from old letters/thickers to create your title.  I used the negative from some of my old chipboard letters to trace my title and then cut around each of the letters.  It's a really fun technique and adds a little umph to your title!!

Products Used:

Papers:  Bella Blvd

Brads:  Bazzill

Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon

Pen:  Sharpie

Transparency:  Glitz Design

Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

Punch:  Martha Stewart & Marvy

Flowers:  Recollections & Prima

Mini Round Gems:  Recollections

Tag:  K&Company

Font:  ScrapBaby



Summer Days...Now & Then

This week I worked on 2 different Summer layouts.  One of them is from our trip to the pool last week and the other is from one of my trips to the beach in 1976!  There is one thing that is constant though, even after all of those years...it is HOT!!  The first layout is for the 7.28 challenge at Sketchy Thursdays.  I finally got to play with some of the Splash papers from Echo Park and they are adorable!!  I only had one sheet of the sun ray paper and really wanted to use the yellow in the center of my layout.  So I cut an 8.5x8.5 square out of the center of the paper, then cut a 9x9 piece from kraft and used it to cover the hole in the page and added my yellow over the top.

Products Used:

Paper:  Echo Park & Bazzill
Teeny Alphas:  Glitz Design
Sparkles:  Close to My Heart
Brads:  Recollections
Adhesive Border:  K&Company
Font:  CK Curly
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Rick Rack:  The Paper Studio
Stickers:  Echo Park
Other:  Paper Clips

The second layout is one that I did for a fun, new challenge over at Club CK.  One of the ladies decided to host a weekly challenge based on the show Project Runway.  Each week, there will be a challenge that corresponds with what the designers had to do on the show.  On last week's first episode, the designers were awakened at 5AM and their challenge was to use the pajamas that they were wearing and one bed sheet to design their outfit.  Yikes!!  But I think the challenge was a little easier for us Club CK gals.  We had to use our pj's as inspiration for our layout and I chose the most comfortable pajama pants that are my favorites.  The teal, blue, and green color scheme worked great for my beach themed layout and I love the stripes, so included those also.

Products Used:

Paper:  The Paper Studio, BoBunny, Bazzill

Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

Brads:  Recollections

Rub Ons & Thickers:  American Crafts

Font:  Hypewriter

Journaling Tag:  Echo Park

Adhesive Borders:  K&Company

Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn

Ink:  Memento

Embossing:  Sizzix Big Shot

Striped Paper:  BoBunny packaging



Time to Get Schooled!

It is that time...we have a Kindergartener among us!!  We have decided to home school, and I am so glad we made this decision for our family and I am looking forward to teaching my children in our home and a Christian-based environment.  It is all a little over-whelming at the moment, since I have no clue what I am doing...but I think I will become more confident as we move forward this year. 

I will continue my scrapbooking at night or whenever I get a free moment to work on my pages...because we all know I am an addict!!  I will just lose my favorite part of the day, which is nap time!!!  NOOOO!  :)  The two younger kiddies will still nap, but our new Kindergartener will be keeping me busy with school and ballet...and Girl Scouts...and PE!

I did have some layouts I wanted to share, that I haven't had time to add to my blog lately.  Most of these are non-challenge layouts and only a couple are sketch based.  Not really adding any long details to the layout photos, but just wanted to include them in this post: