Your Scrabook Stash Sketch...

I worked with another one of the 2011 sketches from over at Your Scrapbook Stash last night...this layout came together really quickly and I love how it fits my son.  The sketch from Alyssa was perfect for my photos - minus the cute little butterflies (wink).  I had to grunge it up for my teenager and had the perfect collection of embellies that I've been storing up (hoarding) for just such an occasion.  Here's the final product...



Supplies used: Brad - Creative Imaginations; Cardstock - American Crafts; Doilie paper - SEI; Ink - ColorBox Fluid Chalk ink in Charcoal; Patterned paper - Basic Grey & Creative Imaginations; Photo corner - Colorbok; Ribbon - Die Cuts With a View; Rubons - Die Cuts With a View and Narratives by Karen Russell;  Stickers - American Traditional Designs and Creative Imaginations

Teenagers can be so moody sometimes (almost all the time) and I love catching mine with a genuine smile on his face...not always an easy thing to do.  He was truly happy to have this new cabinet to go with the vintage Marshall head we already had in the basement.  I love this quote I found on a sticker in my stash - I really wanted to use it on the layout but it didn't fit in so I'll just share the quote and leave it at that.

"Don't look at your feet to see if you're doing it right, just dance!" ~ author unknown

Sweet Peach Crop Shop Sketch...

Liz has another wonderful sketch up over at the Sweet Peach Crop Shop Blog and I had a great time working with it and turning her "flowery" sketch into a boy appropriate layout.  Here's the sketch...

And here's my take on it...



Supplies used: Alphabet stickers - Bo Bunny (green) and Doodlebug Designs (brown); Banner sticker - Sassafras; Brad - Basic Grey; Cardstock - The Paper Co.; Patterned paper - Bo Bunny; Rub-ons - Bo Bunny (green flourish) and K & Co. (all others); Stickers - Bo Bunny, Creative Imaginations & Sandylion; Vintage tag - Glitz Designs

I love, love, love the bold, bright colors of this Bo Bunny paper and these photographs of my silly boys were perfect with them.  How cool is that vintage tag???  I found it in a lovely pack over at Archiver's the other day and the colors and whimsical images work so well with this layout I just couldn't resist.  I haven't been real crazy about the super vintage-y layouts but I do love a touch here and there on my projects.  I think I'm slowly converting - better late than never right?

Scrapbook & Cards Today!!!

After a very fun afternoon at the roller rink with my family, I opened my mailbox to wonderful happy mail yesterday. It doesn't get much better than that! My copies of Scrapbook & Cards Today with my VERY FIRST physical magazine publication had arrived along with some wonderful goodies they sent me. Please check it out...my layout is highlighted on page 45 of this wonderful free publication. These ladies have done such a beautiful job with this magazine and as of today, they are celebrating their 5th birthday. Hop on over to their blog and see what all they are doing to celebrate. You won't be disappointed.

Today is my first day off in NINE days and the kids are still on spring break and my hubby is off fishing with his friend. The sun is shining but the wind is blowing like crazy out there - I love how my wind chimes sound but boy oh boy, I don't like being out in those gusts. I'm thinking a trip to the library with the boys and maybe ramping up to a movie night with pizza to cap off their spring break will be fun and relaxing. I really want to craft today so hopefully, they'll give me a little time to hide out in my craft room and play with some pretty paper!

Here is one more card that I haven't shared yet...



Supplies used: Alphabet stickers - Fancy Pants; Brad - Making Memories; Button - Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock - craft supplies; Flower - Prima (large) and craft supplies (small); Ink - VersaMagic in Sahara Sand; Patterned Paper - Fancy pants; Ribbon - Dear Lizzy by American Crafts; Washi tape - craft supplies



Sending you all hugs - I hope you all know how grateful I am for the wonderful comments you leave - they make my day!

And we're off...

Another busy day planned with my boys who are on Spring break.  We're headed to the Western Museum of Mining and Industry and meeting up with a friend and her boys.  Looks like fun right???  They are wearing me out and it's only Wednesday...tomorrow is roller skating with the boys and hubby - woohoo!!!  Before I go I have another card to share with you.



Supplies used: Border punche - Fiskars; Cardstock - craft supplies (white) and Bazzill (red); Ink - VersaMagic in Sahara Sand; Patterned papre - October Afternoon; Stickers - Echo Park Paper Co. ("note") and October Afternoon (small alphas); Twine - Fiskars

I haven't had any time for crafty thing this week which makes me sad...and I don't see anywhere in the schedule where I'm going to fit it in this week.  I've got to fix that!

Have a blessed day!!!

Simple Thank You...

Here's another card I submitted that did not get picked up by the magazine.  I really like the simplicity of it - I think it adds elegance.



Supplies used: Alpha Chipboard - Recollections; Cardstock - The Paper Co.; Glitter - Distress Stickles by Ranger; Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Charcoal; Patterned paper - Basic Grey and Echo Park Paper Co.; Ribbon - Offray; Sticker - Echo Park paper Co.



So that's it, in all it's simplicity.  I'm off and running...it's Spring break around here and besides work, I'm working at keeping my two youngest entertained.  It's a busy week!

A Card to Share

Papercrafts magazine calls went out yesterday and I didn't hear from them which makes me a little sad but then again, it means I can share my fun cards with you sooner.  I submitted a few cards based on the sketches they provided.  I love how they turned out and can't wait to send them off to lucky recipients since I don't have to send them in to the magazine.  Here's the first one (which will be saved for my upcoming anniversary)...



Supplies used:  Alphabet stickers - Cosmo Cricket; Brads - Sassafras (silhouettes) and Basic Grey (all others); Border sticker - Echo Park Paper Co.; Cardstock - Craft supplies; Ink - StazOn in Blazing Red and Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Charcoal; Patterned paper - Cosmo Cricket; Punches - Fiskars and EK Success; Stamp - Hero Arts



I made the flowers using several different size scalloped circle punches.  I inked the edges, spritzed them slightly with water then crinkled them up.  Then I flattened them out a bit, stacked them and inserted the brads.  For the red polka-dot background, I masked off my paper and stamped the image.  The border sticker was originally continuous circles that I cut in half length-wise to get the look I wanted (plus I only used half the border sticker that way wink). 

I'll share the other cards with you at another time...for now, I'm off to help out at the kids' school and then work tonight.  Happy Friday to you all!

Kindie Countdown...

I haven't posted much recently but I have been busily crafting.  My son's kindergarten teacher asked if I would put together a 30-day countdown to summer vacation for the class.  I immediately thought of doing a banner and my Sassafras Apple Jack paper pack hanging in my closet.  Such fun colors and patterns for a kindie project.  This photo shows most of the banner.  The rest of the photos show more details.



Supplies used: Border stickers - Sassafras; Cardstock - The Paper Co.; Chipboard - Making Memories; Die cuts - Making Memories; Flowers - Making Memories, Prima, Sassafras and craft supplies; Ink - Copic Markers, Memento, Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink, and VersaMagic; Patterned paper - Sassafras, American Crafts, and Echo Park Paper Co.; Stamp - Inkadinkado number set; Stickers - Echo Park Paper Co., Karen Foster Design, EK Success, and Me & My Big Ideas

The numbers are stamped in Memento ink then colored with Copic sketch markers.  This gave me a chance to practice my shading more (without worrying too much about the outcome since I don't really think the kindergartner's are going to pay much attention to that).  Following are detail shots of some of the pennants.

 My hot glue gun got a serious workout on this project and it had me wishing I had one of those i-Bond cordless glue guns that Imaginisce put out recently...have to add that to my list of tools to buy someday.  I love how the project turned out and can't wait to see it hanging in their classroom when we reach the 30-day mark.  I did bring it to his teacher today and she loved it which makes me happy.  Our teachers have so much on their plates these days that I'm more than happy to use my time and resources to help brighten their days.

Sympathy with Skipping Stones Designs

I have a very special friend who lost a very special someone in her life recently.  I knew I had to acknowledge her loss and send her something to cheer her a bit at the same time.  I'm not good with sympathy cards - loss is just so sad and it's hard to put that on paper...especially when it has to travel thousands of miles when really I'd rather just give her a huge hug and tell her that I love her and hope she can find some peace in all this.  Heidi's card sketch over at Skipping Stones Design did inspire me a bit though and I love how the card turned out - elegant and full of love.



Supplies used: Cardstock - craft supplies; Die cuts - The Girls Paperie; Ink - VersaMagic in Sahara Sand; Patterned paper - 7Gypsies; Punch - EK Success; Ribbon - Dear Lizzy American Crafts; Stickers - K & Co.

The sentiment on the front reads "In Heaven, there is no fairer thing than love..."  I hope it brings her peace knowing that her special someone is surrounded by love and watching over her from Heaven.

Joy...

My daily email from Girlfriends in God yesterday referenced joy.  I hate to admit it but I actually had to step away from my computer because I couldn't finish reading it.  See, my boys were downstairs fighting over the TV (of all things), they weren't getting dressed for school (like I'd asked them to) and I was in a rush to check my email before getting dressed for work myself.  I wasn't feeling joy and I was getting more and more frustrated with myself as I read further into the email.  So...I stepped away, took my shower and spent some time in prayer asking God to bring that joy into my heart so that I could carry-on with my day the way He wanted me to.  I went back to the email before heading out the door and I was inspired and filled with His joy.  Amazing how simply asking for God's help changes everything.  He is so good!

So let's face it, we don't all walk around feeling joy every moment of every day.  Things happen that throw us into a tailspin of negativity and cause our frustration levels to rise.   God doesn't want that for us, he wants us to experience peace and joy.  It is during those time we need to turn to God, ask for His help and allow Him to move in our hearts to change the ugly into the beautiful - the joy that only He can provide.  Live with joy today my wonderful friends!

Your Scrapbook Stash Explore!

I played along with Jessy's sketch over at Your Scrapbook Stash this week.  It was an easy sketch for me to work with and I love that it used multiple photos.  My layouts usually contain photos from one event but this one is from several hikes/camping trips we took in the same month.  I love the banner craze that's been in fashion for some time now.  I've taken to making my own banners so they match my layout/card exactly as I want them to.  It's so simple...I cut a triangle template from some old packaging (heavy-weight chipboard) and I simply trace and cut, ink the edges to make the banner pieces more substantial and there you have it.  I often attach the triangles to my project with dimensional adhesive - gotta have dimension on my layouts and why not make my hand-made creation stand out?  If you haven't checked out the Your Scrapbook Stash store, they have a wonderful selection of products - stop by and check them out.  Anyhow...on with the show.

The sketch can be found at the YSS link (it won't let me share the image here for some reason) and here's my interpretation...

Supplies used:  Border stickers - Doodlebug Design Inc.; Brads - Basic Grey; Cardstock - The Paper Co.; Die cut butterfly - Making Memories; Epoxy chipboard circles - Colorbok; Flowers - Prima Marketing; Ink - StazOn in Timber Brown and Smooch Spritz in Emerald Sprinkle; Journaling tag - craft supplies; Patterned paper - Bo Bunny; Title - K & Co.

I used supplies from several different manufacturers and several different eras once again.  I'm loving my new approach to simply pull the patterned paper I want to work with and then bringing out any and all embellishments that match.  I don't use them all but it puts everything I could possibly use right at my fingertips.  I'm using up lots of odds and ends that I had forgotten I even had and I'm truly enjoying the results.

Skipping Stones Sketch Challenge #66

I decided to play along with the Skipping Stones Design sketch challenge this week.  I used a bit of creative freedom on this one but I really like how the card turned out.  There are a lot of men in our family so I have the pleasure of making LOTS of masculine cards for birthdays and such.  I recently recieved the Echo Park Paper Co. For The Record collection and I love the color combinations and elements so much.  I thought they'd be perfect for this birthday card for my brother-in-law.  I mixed in a smidge of Cosmo Cricket Material Girl...seems weird on a masculine card but the red check works great with the colors of For The Record and gives the card a little "pop".

I'm off to help out with the kindies at my son's school today - always such fun to spend time in their classroom.  Be blessed!