Sketch Mania 9.29

>> Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I can't believe how fast the weeks fly by - it feels like it was just the weekend yet here it is Wednesday again.  I remember when I was a child I felt that time couldn't go by fast enough, but now I would give anything to have it slow down just a bit... especially when I see how quickly my babies are growing up.

When I saw the sketch for this week's SketchMania I knew that it would be perfect for some photos I took last April of Ellie eating one of her first, and favorite, solid foods.  She absolutely adores avocados and she eats them so often (what can I say, they're easy and healthy) that my two year old is convinced that they are called Ellie-cados.

  SUPPLIES
Bazzil cardstock
Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, tags
Jillibean Soup corrugated alphas
American Crafts thickers
Karen Foster charms
Pebbles Inc ribbon
Basic Grey brads


I have a whole jar full of Karen Foster metal charms that I bought when I first started scrapbooking many moons ago. I've actually come sooooo close to getting rid of them a few times thinking I'd never use them. Funny how I *loved* them and just had to have them at the time and now I look at them and wonder what I was thinking.  But it turns out that the little knife and fork were perfect for this page so I am glad I held onto them.  Maybe the rest of the collection is safe for a little while longer.


Read more...

Get Sketchy #57

>> Friday, September 24, 2010

There is a new sketch up over at GetSketchy, and it is a fun one.  I really enjoyed working with it and the rest of the design team came up with some fantastic interpretations. 

You'll definitely want to play along this week because the prize is amazing - two sets of cling stamps from Hero Arts, including the most adorable set of sewing stamps.

SUPPLIES
October Afternoon patterned paper
Bazzil Cardstock
Basic Grey glazed brads
Pebbles Inc. ribbon
Studion G stamped sentiment



Read more...

SketchMania 9.22

>> Wednesday, September 22, 2010

As I was uploading my photo for this post, it occurred to me that I totally forgot about SketchMania last week.  Well, I didn't totally forget because I did complete my project and get it sent off to DeeDee, but I forgot to post about it on my own blog.  Opps. I will try not to let that happen again.

Anyway, here is this week's sketch and what I did with it.



and this is last week's.
















SUPPLIES (for both pages)
American Crafts paper, buttons, foam shapes,
cardstock.
Unknown ribbon.




These are pages from Ellie's baby book and are 8x8.  I must admit that I am not really enjoying working in 8x8.  It feels too small...but that is what I started with for her album so I am going to finish it. I think I might also have limited myself too much by choosing to stick to the American Crafts baby line; I loved it at first but now I am kind of getting sick of it.  I am so fickle. Again though, now that I am over halfway done the album it is a bit late to change my approach.  Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Anyway, please come check out SketchMania.  This month we are being sponsored by the lovely Rachel May and you could win a beautiful prize pack of handmade paper goods just for playing along. 


Read more...

Thank You

>> Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I just wanted to say thank-you to everyone who voted for my layout over at PapercraftStars; it was chosen as the winning project for Challenge #13. 





It has been very dreary and gloomy here lately which is totally affecting my mood, but it sure brightened my day to turn on my computer this morning and discover that I had been voted the People's Choice. So thank you to everyone who voted for me in the challenge and thank you also for all of your lovely comments and encouragement.

I hope you are all having a wonderful day, even if it is gloomy where you are.
 

Read more...

Sketchy Thursdays 9.16.10

>> Monday, September 20, 2010

I have no will power.  I told myself I was going to take a bit of a break from scrapbooking and spend some time focusing on getting my house in order.  Yeah, well that was going great until I saw this week's sketch at Sketchy Thursdays.  It didn't help either that I had just had some photos developed and I knew that these pictures of Isaac would work perfectly.  So, once again it is the end of the day and my closet is still a mess, my floor still needs to be washed and I never got around to making the beds. However, we will forever have the memory of my two year old running around outside in his underwear and yellow rubber boots.  BTW, Broekje is a slang term for underwear in Dutch.

SUPPLIES
Sassafrass patterned paper, felties, stickers
American Crafts thickers
Unknown thread


And for the record, I did not *let* him out of the house like that... he snuck out. 




Read more...

A New Challenge Blog

>> Friday, September 17, 2010

The other day, someone Regan left me the following comment on one of my posts: 

This is an adorable layout! I love how everything comes together. Love those little gears! With your talent you really should consider entering the challenges over at Papercraft Star http://www.papercraftstar.blogspot.com they are offering a lot of prizes right now too! Oh and they post all of their challenges weeks in advance to give crafters a head start!

I will admit that my first thought was "Yeah, thanks for the compliment but you're obviously just trying to promote your own blog." which arguably wasn't very gracious; but I'm like that sometimes.

Anyway, after a couple of days my curiosity got the best of me and I went over to PapercraftStar to see what was going on, and what I found was a cool challenge blog.  Every week it is something different - sometimes it's a photo inspiration, sometimes a sketch, sometimes a layout recipes. And, the best part is that they post the challenges in advance so if you are having a particularly crafty day you could potentially complete a month's worth of challenges all at once. Oh yeah, and they have lots of prizes - who doesn't like prizes?!?!

So, thanks to Regan for stopping by my blog and letting me know about Papercraft Star.

Oh, and here is my first submission for a PCS challenge - #13 which is a sketch challenge (my favorite kind, yay!)

  SUPPLIES
Echo Park patterned paper, stickers, journaling card
Recollections cardstock
Making Memories ribbon
American Crafts thickers
Sandylion dimensional butterflies



Read more...

Sketchy Thursdays October Guest Design Team Challenge


The weather here has been rather overcast lately so it has been really hard to photograph my layouts and cards since there isn't much natural light. I have a stack of projects that I need to take pictures of, hoping for some sunlight, but it has been a week now since we had any.  It wouldn't be that big of a problem except that since I am addicted to sketches, all of my projects are for challenges and have deadlines for submission. 

Here is the layout I did for the Sketchy Thursdays October Guest Design Team challenge.  This month the designers teamed up with Gauche Alchemy and the results are fantastic.  I actually wasn't going to enter the challenge (ok, I realize that I say that every month) but then I saw the inspiration photos and I was immediately struck with an idea for a page. 



SUPPLIES
Pink Paislee patterned paper
Basic Grey paper doilie, glazed brads
American Crafts thickers
K&Co. metal rod, pearl brads
Unknown ribbon, bling



Read more...

Get Sketchy #56


I can't believe that it is already Friday. It has been a busy week in our house, trying to get back into routines after moving and having the summer off from school. It is nice to get some structure back into life though, the kids seem to do so much better when they know what to expect from their days.

I really enjoyed working with this week's sketch from Get Sketchy.  In fact, I liked it so much that I made two cards... well actually I just kind of made the same card twice using different colors, but that still counts as two, right?


SUPPLIES
Recollections cardstock
K&Co. patterned paper
Unknown vintage songsheet, ribbon, coffee sleeve, 
mini glass marbles


 
SUPPLIES
Recollections cardstock
SEI patterned paper
Basic Grey brads
Unknown ribbon, coffee sleeve



It is definitely fall here; overcast and rainy, the sun hasn't been out for days.  It is the kind of weather that makes you want to break out the slow cooker and make stew for supper, so that is exactly what I am going to do. 

Read more...

His Father's Son

>> Sunday, September 12, 2010

I have been wanting to do a layout using this picture of my husband and our son for over a year but every time I sat down to scrap it I ended up getting distracted, usually by something pink and girly, and it got put aside.  This time though it finally came together using this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch and the aptly titled "Like Father, Like Son" paper kit from Fancy Pants.  And even though it doesn't have any flowers or scalloped borders on it,  I like with how it turned out.







SUPPLIES
Fancy Pants patterned paper
Recollections cardstock
Making Memories canvas trim
Tim Holtz metal game pieces, brads, tag, jump ring
L'il Davis Designs chipboard tag
American Crafts vinyl thickers
Kaiser Craft felt alphas
Unknown denim, thread
Autumn Leaves "Cleanliness" font

I am not sure how well it comes across in the photo, but there are a lot of different textures on this one - vinyl and felt alphas, canvas trim, metal accents, crumpled paper, and the photos are matted on a piece of denim fabric which I stabilized and then sewed onto the page.  I have never used fabric on a page in this way before but it was actually really easy and I love the added tactility that it brings to the layout.


Hope you're having a great weekend,

Read more...

Get Sketchy #55

>> Friday, September 10, 2010

This is not the first time I have posted about the Get Sketchy Card Challenge blog... but this is the first time I have posted about Get Sketchy as a member of the design team!  I still can hardly believe that I was chosen as one of the six new designers, but I am thrilled to part of this amazing team.


So, without further adieu, here is what I put together for this week's sketch, using an adorable image from this week's fantastic sponsor - The Greeting Farm. This little lady is supposed to be Spanish but I changed her a little bit to suit a little blond haired girl who has a birthday coming up soon.  I added ruffled ribbon to her skirt for a 3D effect, and added some embossing powder and mini glass marbles for added sparkle.

SUPPLIES
The Greeting Farm "Chibi Spain" digital image 
Recollections Cardstock
K&Company patterned paper
Prima paper flowers
Unknown ribbon
Polka Door Designs "Little Princess" birthday badge

Please head over to Get Sketchy to see this week's sketch and the rest of the design team's cards.  We'd love to have you play along for this week's awesome prize from the Greeting Farm.

Read more...

Sketch Mania 9.08

>> Wednesday, September 8, 2010

We just returned from an exhausting long weekend trip to visit family - well actually it wasn't the visit or the long weekend that was exhausting, it was the ten hours of driving each way that was the problem - so this is going to be a real quick post to show you what I made for this week's SketchMania.

I made this while I was gone using Rebecca's supplies.  It sure is nice to visit someone who has loads of great craft supplies.  Being able to scrapbook and make cards - now that is my idea of a vacation.

Ok, I'm already going on longer than I intended, so here is the sketch, and my take on it.


SUPPLIES
American Crafts cardstock
Recollections patterned paper, acrylic stamps
Chatterbox rubons



Oh, and this should be the last of the grainy iPhone photos on my blog.  No, I did not get a new D7, but my brother is getting one so he passed his Rebel XT on to me.  I am SO happy to finally have an SLR... now I just need to figure out how to use it.

Have a great day,

Read more...

Sketch Mania 9.01

>> Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Today is a sad, sad day.  I went to take pictures of my Sketch Mania layout only to discover that my camera has died.  I've known for a while that it needed to be replaced but I was really hoping it would hold out until Christmas time when it would be *reasonable* for me to ask for a new one.  But alas, it has officially bit the dust and I am not really sure what I am going to do about it.  Having just moved and bought new furniture, there isn't  room in the budget for the Canon EOS 7D I have been drooling over.  I am not sure which I would rather do - wait until I can afford the camera I really want or just buy what I can afford right now to avoid having to photograph my layouts (oh, and my kids) with my iPhone.

Well, for today anyway it is the iPhone camera to the rescue, so please forgive the poor picture quality. 

SUPPLIES
American Crafts patterned paper, cardstock
Unknown ribbon

This is an 8x8 page that I did for Ellie's 1st year album.  I decided to go with a really simple, one-page-a-month format and to keep the use of products fairly streamlined, mostly from the American Crafts Baby line. I also kept all the photos black and white to ensure a greater sense of continuity through the album.   Because the layouts are 8x8 and there isn't room for extensive journaling, I have been doing point-form journaling strips to record each month's highlights.  This is the 5th page I have done for this album so far; which means at this rate I will have it done by the time Ellie starts Kindergarten. 


To see what the rest of the design team came up with for this week's Sketch Mania, and to link up your own project, head over to the UmWowStudio Blog.  

Have a great Wednesday, 


Read more...