Fair Food!

Looking for a fun challenge this weekend??  Then head over to Frosted Designs and check out the 10/28/11 Fabulous Friday challenge!!  The challenge this week, is to make a card, layout or project where food or candy are the focus!  Fun and easy!!  When I saw this challenge, I knew that I wanted to do a layout about one of our favorite things during this time of the year...Fair Food!  You can't beat it!!  It's messy, greasy, and really bad for you...but it tastes soooo good and I look forward to going every year just for the chicken on a stick, pizza, corn dogs, funnel cakes, fried oreos...if you can think of it, they've probably got it!  :)  

  

Go check out the amazing project from my fellow DT members for a little inspiration and then play along with us this week for the chance to win a great prize from Designs by Diana.  Diana Fisher is offering a $10 gift certificate to her Etsy Shop!!  You have until Noon on Thursdays, November 3 to link up your project.

Products Used:

Paper:  Recollections & Glitz Designs
Button Blossoms:  Sassafras
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Thickers:  American Crafts
Font:  CarnivalMF
Tickets:  Tim Holtz
Pom Pom Trim:  Wrights
Brads:  Bazzill
Decorative Scissors:  Provo Craft

My Last One!!

Today, I have my last layout to share as the GDT at Sketchy Thursdays for the month of October.  I have had so much fun revealing each week with the talented designers!!  Even though I am a little sad that this is my last GDT layout, I am still looking forward to playing along with the fun sketch challenges each week!

The funny thing about this layout is that it was my last one for the month, but it was the first one that I decided what to do with once I got the 4 sketches from Diana!!  I knew the exact papers, embellies, and photos I wanted to use on it.  But instead of getting ahead of myself, I actually ended up doing all of them in order.  I have been holding onto this Out of Print paper from BG, because for some crazy reason I only bought 3 or 4 sheets at my LSS!!!  But I decided this cute page was worth using it!!  :)

I had a lot of fun playing with texture on this layout....tearing, plush brads, textured paper from The Paper Studio, metal tag, baker's twine, raised flowers, chipboard letter...etc!  And I was really happy with the mixed up alphas in the title on this one!


I hope you've enjoyed seeing all of my layouts at Sketchy Thursdays this month and that you'll continue to play along in the challenge each week.  Hopefully, I might even have the chance to be up for GDT sometime again in the coming months!!  :)


Products Used:


Papers:  Basic Grey, Sassafras, The Paper Studio, Close to My Heart
Tag:  EK Success
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Font:  Impact Label
Thickers:  American Crafts
Teeny Alphas:  Glitz Designs
Brads:  The Paper Studio & Bazzill
Chipboard Letter:  The Paper Studio
Pen:  Sharpie & Sakura
Other:  Ribbon

Scrapping in a Snap!

As crafters, we all get busy a lot of times and feel like we run out of time to enjoy our hobby.  Or maybe if you are new to crafting, you feel a little overwhelmed and are unsure of where to start.  Well, I have an easy solution to remedy both of these worries...MINI ALBUMS!  Mini Albums are very versatile.  They can be themed for specific events...Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Christmas, Halloween, Birthdays, Vacations...the list goes on and on.  And one of the best things about Mini Albums, is the time it takes to get it done and you have a completed project on hand within an hour or so!!  And we all love that!

An easy way to get your mini completed quickly, is to choose coordinating products.  A lot of times as a Scrapbooker, I tend to over-think my pages and I end up taking way longer to complete a page than I should.  But for a mini that you are using for a themed event, just grab some products that go together and start playing!  You can't go wrong!!

Another great aspect of the mini is, that you can do them way ahead of time.  If you know you want a mini, say for your Christmas activities, then you know that all of the Christmas goodies will be in at ScrapHappy early.  So grab some of your favorite products and go ahead and get that book DONE!  Then you can enjoy your holiday and once you have all of those awesome pictures from your families' Christmas festivities, just print them out and pop them in your book.  These pre-made mini's are also very AWESOME gifts for your family and friends!

Here is a pre-made mini that I completed at my monthly crop in less than 2 hours.  We love Fall and I thought it would be fun to have an album that just covered all of the fun things we like to do during this time of the year:

Now that you know the fun possibilities of creating a mini, stop by ScrapHappy and pick up some of the fun goodies for your next Mini Album!!


Products Used:

Chipboard Mini Album:  My Mind's Eye
Paper:  My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, Simple Stories, Bazzill
Buttons, Pom Pom Trim, & Burlap:  My Mind's Eye
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Decorative Pins, Paper Flowers, Chipboard Embellishments:  Little Yellow Bicycle


Other:
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon

Fall Fun!

This year, we went to our first official Corn Maze...rather than just a Pumpkin Patch.  It was so much fun!!  The actually had a pumpkin patch, hay ride, pig races, going through the corn maze and lots of other fun things.  Of course, the kids had a blast.  They got to run around all over the place and get dirty, which are two of their favorite things to do.  I got some adorable photos of my cute little man playing in the corn field.  He was in little boy heaven running around all over the place and playing with the corn...and sometimes even trying to eat it!!  :)

I got to use another amazing sketch from Sketchy Thursdays for my October GDT spot.  I can't believe I'm already at my third week, with just one layout to go for this month.  I thought it would be cute to use a play on words in my title since we were at the Corn Maze and corn is also referred to as "Maize", so I just combined the two for my title.

Products Used:

Paper:  Bella Blvd., Bazzill, Scenic Route, Little Yellow Bicycle, Simple Stories
Thickers:  American Crafts
Stickers:  Bella Blvd.
Embossing:  Sizzix
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Punch:  Marvy
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Paper Crimper:  Fiskars
Transparency:  Hambly Studios
Font:  Brady Bunch
Other:  Buttons

Sketches, Sketches & More Sketches!

I have been so excited to see the response that all of you have had about the sketches that I've started doing!  I am even more excited to see the layouts some of you ladies have done, based on the sketches!  So today, I would like to share a few of the layouts I've seen and the sketches they are based on!  I also have a few new sketches to add to the post today!  :)

 The first layout is from Calebsmommy from the Club CK Gallery:

I love the change of the photo orientation and the great tree she added with the cute little buttons!  A very, fun and artsy layout!!


Next up is another layout I found, that my friend Andrea whipped up!

I love how Andrea turned the 2 photo space into a 4 photo space!  Great idea!  And the layering behind her photos is amazing!


I have two layouts to share based on this sketch!  The first is from Missy Whidden and the second is from Stacia Reiger!

I love how Missy & Stacia, both stayed true to the sketch, but added their own personal touches to make the layouts their own!  Awesome job ladies!


Thanks so much for letting me share your work ladies!  I feel honored that you are enjoying my sketches!!


Here are a few new ones, that some of you may or may not have seen yet.  I hope you have fun creating with them!!!

And the Blog Hop Winner is....

CSEWY...aka CAROLYN!!!

 

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in with the Blog Hop this weekend!  Your comments always make me smile!!  :)

Carolyn, please get me your info and I'll work on getting your prize package out to you this week!!

Getting Fancy @ Frosted Designs!

If you are looking for the "Leaf"ing Memories Behind Blog Hop, please click HERE.

Welcome to Fabulous Friday this week at Frosted Designs!  Before I begin, let me just say how much I am enjoying being a part of the DT at Frosted Designs!!  These ladies are awesome to work with and they are all SO talented!  I love seeing what each and everyone of them comes up with for all of our different challenges!

So, back to why we are here...for this week's challenge, which is to use FANCY TRIM (pom pom, flowers, ribbon, lace, etc.) on your layout or project!  How fun is that??!!  We all love adding texture to our pages and this is a great way to do that without adding a lot of bulk!  I would like to share my layout with you and I also have another sketch that I created for this page, to show you today.

 

Please feel free to save and use the sketch...just please mention my name as the sketch designer and add a link back to my Blog.  

As you can see, I had some awesome Fancy Trim to use on this page!  I received some Pink Paislee pleated trim in a prize package I won a couple of weeks ago.  I knew it was perfect for this week's challenge and I loved the look of it along with the theme of my layout.  I also added some MME burlap to go along with the rustic kind of look on this page.  And, of course, the whip-stitching around my circle was totally fun!  I just used my paper piercer to make the holes and then I added some tape around the end of the twine to get it through the holes a little easier.

So get your creative juices flowing and put on your thinking cap and come join us for a really fun challenge this week!  I can't wait to see what all of you come up with!  :)

Products Used:
Paper:  My Mind's Eye & House of Three
Pleated Ribbon:  Pink Paislee
Burlap:  My Mind's Eye
Decorative Pin:  Little Yellow Bicycle
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Pen:  Sakura
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Canvas:  Recollection
Spray Mist:  Clear Snap
Decorative Scissors:  Provo Craft

"Leaf"ing Memories Behind

Well, I have to say that Autumn is my favorite time of year and I am so excited to be participating in the Leafing Memories Behind Blog Hop this weekend, with my friends from Club CK!  You should have arrived here from Shannon's BLOG.  If you did not, please go back to the beginning and get started at Amanda's BLOG, Love.Joy.Paper.  You will have the chance to be inspired along the way, win some scrappy goodies, and be able to play along with us by creating your own project and adding it to the Mr. Linky on Amanda's blog.

Even though Autumn is my favorite season, it can be a little tricky to find sometimes way down south in Alabama.  It usually just goes from hot, steamy Summers to cold, wintry days.  But, Fall does manage to sneak itself in there for just a few weeks.  I love this time of year, because of the colors...I am definitely drawn to Autumn colors (reds, browns, yellows, oranges)...and all of the great festivals that take place in our area every year.  We love going to the Fair, Heritage Festival, Shrimp Festival, Pumpkin Patch...you name it, we put it on our to do list!  :)  

Our theme for the Blog Hop was capturing leaves in our photos and I knew I wanted to find some leaves that were changing over to the Fall colors.  That is also a hard thing to do around here, since our leaves usually go from green to dead!  HA!!  :)  But, there are a small number of different trees whose leaves do change to yellow or orange and we just happened to find some that had started changing the other day.  My daughter...being the child of a scrapbooking mommy...was happy to cooperate and do a photo shoot for mommy!  I had a lot of fun creating the tree for this page and I added a small element of the Chevron pattern on my page, which has become very popular these days!

Here is the sketch I created before starting my layout.  Feel free to save it and use it for your own pages, but please mention my name and a link back to my blog would be great!!

I hop you had fun visiting my blog and I hope you were inspired by my page!  Thanks for visiting!  Now for a little giveaway!  To be entered to win:  Become a new follower and leave a comment letting me know.  If you are already a follower, just leave me a comment telling me so.  For a second chance to win, leave a comment telling me what is your favorite season and why.  Comments will remain open until 12:00PM (CST) on Sunday, October 16.  

Now, off to visit Jennifer's blog!  Have fun hopping!!

Products Used:

Papers:  Bella Blvd & MME
Brads:  The Paper Studio & Tim Holtz
Ink:  Memento
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Pen:  Zig
Other:  Bubble Wrap

Farm Fresh!

I am having so much fun as the Guest Designer this month at Sketchy Thursdays!  I am already sharing my second layout for October...so, it's hard to believe that I am halfway through my month!!  This week's sketch, had a spot for one photo, but I decided to add 3 small photos.  I have really backed off of double-page layouts lately, so I like to try and include as many photos on a single-pager, as I need to tell the story.  And here is what I did with this week's fun sketch:

 
I tend not to use a lot of stickers on my pages, because I usually just don't know what to do with them.  But October Afternoon has some amazing sticker sheets with their lines and I knew it would be a fun idea to use them for a border on this page.  The title letters are also stickers from the OA "Farm Fresh" line and I just overlapped them and then outlined for more definition.  I finished off my sticker extravaganza with the pretty flowers, to which I added some brads and a little bit of stamping! 

I hope you will play along this week at Sketchy Thursdays!  You have until Wednesday, October 19 to complete your layout and add it to Mr. Linky!

Products Used:
Paper:  October Afternoon & Jillibean Soup
Stickers:  October Afternoon
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Pen:  Zig
Ink:  Memento
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
 

Feeling "Sketchy" Anyone??

Well, I have been for some reason lately!  No...not the kind of sketchy you're thinking about!  :)  I've actually been creating my own sketches recently for the pages that I've been doing for a lot of my DT projects and the upcoming Leafing Memories Behind Blog Hop coming up on October 14-15.  It is really a lot of fun!  I have a couple of the sketches to share with you in this post.  I have created 6 so far, but I am only adding 2 of them to this post, because the layouts based on the other 4 sketches haven't been revealed yet.  I would love for you to use them for your pages and all I ask, is that you mention my name in your post and add a link back to my Blog.  And please, please come back here and leave a link if you use one of the sketches...I would really love to see what you do with it!  :)  I don't have any challenges or scrappy prize giveaways (yet), but I promise I will leave some scrappy love for your layout.

Here is one of the first sketches that I posted and the layout that I did to go along with it:

 

This sketch was a lot of fun and I used it to create a layout for one of the Premium Member challenges on Club CK.  The challenge was to use a brown background paper, to help the brighter colors on your page pop.

And I am very excited to share this next layout with you!  It was created by my friend Andrea, using the above Sketch #5.  She is the first person to use one of my sketches and I was so excited when I saw her layout in the Club CK Gallery!  Here is her awesome take on the sketch:

I LOVE everything about Andrea's layout!  Her color combo is so pretty and the way she used the twine across her page is brilliant!  I love her fun idea of the b&w photo strip with the color strip and the fun, little way she tilted her scalloped border across the page!  THANKS so much Andrea for letting me share your page and you can stop by and check out Andrea's Blog HERE.

I hope you will enjoy using my sketches and as I said, I would love to see how you use them.  Be sure to check back next weekend and I'll be sharing several more new sketches with you!

 

My Sketchy Thursdays "Debut"!! :)

I am so excited to be the Guest Designer at Sketchy Thursdays for the month of October.  I absolutely LOVE the sketches the ladies come up with each week and they offer some pretty awesome prizes from some big name sponsors each week!!  ;)  If you haven't played along with them, you should definitely check them out and I think you will love what you find!

So with all of that said, I would love to share my first layout with you and the sketch for the 10.6 challenge:

 

As you can see, I changed things up a little by flipping the sketch.  I decided to move the photo arrangement to the right side and the title to the left and a little lower, because of the long title I used.  Other than that, I stuck fairly close to the design of the sketch.  I had a little fun with the chipboard letters in the word "dock".  These are letters that I've had sitting around forever...that match nothing...and I decided to paint them a light cream color.  Then I used an old baby hairbrush and some brown acrylic paint to add a wood-grain effect to the letters.  I wanted to give them kind of a white-washed look to go along with the nautical feel of my layout.

Here are some close-ups:

 

Products Used:

Paper:  Bella Blvd, Pink Paislee, & October Afternoon
Ink:  Close to My Heart & Memento
Brads:  Bazzill & The Paper Studio
Punch:  Marvy
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Thickers:  American Crafts
Chipboard Letters:  The Paper Studio
Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel
Tiny Type:  Cosmo Cricket