Dreaming of Summer!

OK, it's barely gone and I am wishing for more fun lazy summer days! LOL! This layout was inspired by two different things that came together as one! (Love it when that happens!) First I used the sketch from sketchy Thursdays for this week. Second, I used a challenge at Personalscrapper (thanks Lydia!) to do a collage on your layout. I did three different collages using my Shutterfly application. The far right is a 5x7collage and the other two are 3.5 x 5 in size. I used My Mind's Eye paper and embellishments. The letters are foam Thickers. I really like how this turned out, simple but yet it captures our summer well. I wanted to do a Summer review now for the last two years and never got around to it, but now I have. I may go back and do the other years as well if I still feel so inpsired! But right now I am off to work on some more Personalscrapper challenges and use some of the new Pagemaps sketches! Happy Halloween everyone!

Friday's Featured Blogger

Today's featured blogger is another of member of Personalscrapper. Joni always has a creative and inpsirational take on any of the challenges over at Personalscrapper. I love her fun, clean style. Here is one of my most recent favs she did using her circle punches. And that stripe is not paper but material! How creative. This is another creative layout. I plan to lift it when I finish up my son's Kindergarten pages, which I am working on now.(I know I'm a bit behind!) LOL! So go see for yourself, check out Joni's fun place here!

Giving Thanks

Today's layout is based on sketch #43 at 52 weeks 52 sketches. I used some older We R Memory Keepers papers from my June 2007 Personalscrapper kit. All my embellishments are from my OLD stash too...nothing new on this layout but the Thickers and this awesome stamped journaling box made with a new stamp set from my secret sis Amy (I told you she spoiled me)! I love it when it works out that way! This is my son in Kindergarten dressed as an Indian Chief when they learned about the first Thanksgiving. Just love his smile back then! How sweet is it?!!!
I am working on doing some of my older photos even as I scrap newer ones, trying to play catch up a bit. I will be back on Friday with a new featured blogger, if you know of anyone that you think is a great scrapbooking/papercrafting blogger, please let me know so I can feature them here! Later!

Here comes the sun....

Well, FINALLY, I have some sunlight to take pics of my layout! I thought I would never see the sun again! LOL! This layout was created from sketch #42 at 52 sketches 52 weeks. I used Cosmo Cricket's Boyfriend line stickers and papers for this SIMPLE yet fun layout. I flipped the sketch as you can tell, to better accomodate my larger photos. These photos were taken in June while we were vacationing at Universal Studios. I am fast at work on sketch #43 and should have it done and ready to post tomorrow, so check back for that, and if you have time why don't you participate yourself in this week's sketch, I'd love to see it and even better you will be entered to win a FABULOUS kit by Work in Progress..it is lovely and I am keepin' my fingers crossed, I'd love to win this awesome kit! Good luck and if you enter leave a comment with a link to your layout so we can all view your wondrous work!

Scrappy Sunday

Happy Scrappy Sunday everyone! I had a VERY productive day today, not only did I get caught up on my laundry but I was able to steal some scrappy time with my dear friend Angie and we actually created TWO layouts each in the three or so hours we spend together this afternoon, not bad huh? This layout was created using this week's fab sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. I am having a ball playing with their sketches each week, you need to play along if you have time, the sketches are super easy to work with. I used the Basic Grey Marrakesch papers I received from my all time rockin' secret sis on the Personalscrapper board plus some older chipboard pieces from my stash. Thanks so much Amy, couldn't have made this page without ya sis! And another shout out to Amy, she made the DT at Scrappin' Sports Stuff, and I can't wait to see what she creates with all her new sports goodies! I will post my other layout tomorrow when I can get a better pic of it, its dark now and not enough light, although it is suppose to rain all night and tomorrow, so not sure how much light I will actually get then! LOL! See ya tomorrow peeps!

Friday's Featured Blogger

Today's featured blogger is an awesome scrapbooker and I have followed her work for quit sometime. I first fell in love with Star's work in February during an online crop at Personalscrapper. She created so many awesome layouts I wanted to lift everyone of them! My fav called UR A TOTALLY SWEET KID, can be found here. Besides creating awesome layouts she takes some darn good pictures. Her style is fun and each layout is surprise...by that I mean there are some scrappers I can just identify their layouts easily without looking at the artist's name, but Star's layouts are all so different and astounding which shows the broad reach of her style, which is why I think it will appeal to scrappers of any style, from detailed/ornate to simple and clean. So hop on over to Star's blog and show her some love. I know you will find some awesome layouts you too will want to lift!

Sketchy Thursdays!

Ok, I know it's not Thursday, but I based this layout off a sketch at Sketchy Thursday's website. I made this layout using Scenic Route's Garland line. I am SOOO sad to see them go, I loved all their products. This layout is of my nephew. One year for Christmas my son and I filled a box FULL of gum (I mean like $40+ of gum!) as one of his gifts. He loved it! I think he chewed the entire box well before Valentine's Day! LOL! If you haven't participated in any of the challenges at Sketchy Thursday's you need to, the sketches are super fun to work with! I am getting a bunch done for the Croptoberfest at Personalscrapper, and hope to post more in the next few days, so keep checkin' back...I should have more to share soon..gotta stop scrappin' for a moment and take some pics! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Friday's Featured Blogger

I am so excited to share today's featured blogger with you. Most of you have seen her AWESOME work somewhere but I didn't know she had a blog until a few weeks ago! I just love her stunning layouts! I mean you need to grab a drink and kick back for awhile, take the phone off the hook ladies, you won't want to leave Kelly's blog! Kelly Noel is an awesome designer. Her work shows beautiful detail, yet the photos are not lost in it! Here is my all time fav of hers (SILLY HATS), just LOVE this mix of patterns! I have got to lift that one for sure! And then there are THESE awesome layouts using my fav Cosmo Cricket line Early Bird and Cherry Hill from my fav paper company October Afternoon! There is SOOO much to see at Kelly's blog, so hop on over and ENJOY! Have a fun weekend everyone!

Journaling challenge

I am back from vacation and starting to get my creative groove back. It seems I have gotten lazy with having so many days to do nothing but play! I enjoyed my time off SO much, and am finding it hard to get back to getting up early and going to bed early! LOL! So it's a good thing we are having Croptoberfest over at Personalscrapper, its great inspiration and easy to get the juices flowing. The challenge for October 14th was to create a layout with a letter to someone or do some creative journaling . I choose to do journaling about all the things I have done that I really never would have without my son as the driving force/inspiration. I used the Personalscrapper August 2008 kit and framed my journaling with a Scenic Route chipboard frame that I colored with an ink pad. Journaling reads: BECAUSE OF YOU:
I rode the Green Extreme Uphill watercoaster
I overcame my fear of heights and went parasailing.
I started riding roller coasters, like the Mummy ride at Universal
I became a reluctant movie buff
I learned how to play Bakugan and trade Yugioh cards
I saw Star Wars for the second time
I stood in line for hours to see a Harry Potter movie
I came to admire the loud blaring of a clarinet played by a beginning musician
I learned how to play Guitar Hero
I have become grateful for each moment, as they pass so quickly,
I am changed, stronger, and so PROUD to call you my SON.
Thanks Christia for a wonderful challenge! Now I'm off to work on today's challenge, it should be pretty easy as it is challenging us to scrap a holiday or celebration and I know exactly what pics I am gonna use! Check back tomorrow for Friday's Featured blogger, see ya then!

sketch #40

Wow! It's week #40 over at 52 sketches this week, that means only 12 weeks left in this year! Can you believe it????? This layout uses the Personalscrapper December 2008 kit featuring Basic Grey Wassail and Making Memories Fa La La papers. These are pics from our first ever Fort Worth Christmas Parade of Lights in 2006. It was such a nice evening, not too cool, not too hot! We had a great time seeing all the lights and watching all the fun floats as well as sipping on some hot chocolate compliments of Starbucks! YUMMY! Can't wait to enjoy a hot mug again this year! Hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Monday everyone!

Snow Fun!

I wasn't kidding when I said it was gonna snow here! Look at the fun we had yesterday playing in the snow! Hope everyone is staying toasty warm! We are flying home tomorrow, we are having so much fun, it's gonna be hard to leave! We are off the the Pizza Machine this afternoon to have some indoors fun! Catch you back here tomorrow with some more scrappy stuff!

Lost in a Maze

Howdy everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying some cool crisp fall weather! We are loving it here in Nebraska! The colors are gorgeous and we have picked our annual pumpkin for this year and are ready to carve it later tonight! I will share pics when I get back. I did want to share this layout with you. This is layout using the October Afternoon Road Map papers and is from our harrowing experience in the corn maze last year at Vala's Pumpkin patch. As you can see this is a HUGE corn maze and I thought it would be fun to give it a try. No one else wanted to but I insisted. They told me "we'll never find our way out" I told them I had a wonderful sense of direction....well..forget that. I was lost within a few minutes! LOL! Good thing my wonderful SIL has a good sense of direction or we might still be there a year later! I will tell you it went much better this year and my DS was the leader this year and was able to get us through without a scratch in record time! Although we did have to text for help a few times! Isn't technology wonderful? You could actually text for directions at certain check points to get helpful hints! We had lots of fun at Vala's this is our SIXTH year to visit, so you can see we do like it! Happy Fall Y'all,we are expecting snow today, keeping our fingers crossed that we can pick a pumpkin one day and build a snowman the next!

Friday's Featured Blogger

Sorry, no eye candy on my blog today, I'm all tapped out! However, if you came here looking for inspiration I can still help you out. Today's featured blogger is Delana over at EMBELLISHED MEMORIES. Isn't that an awesome blog name? When I saw the name on a blog roll it jumped right out at me and I had to check it out, so glad I did too. I love all Delaina's awesome work. My fav is this layout which features an awesome hand cut tree, makes me want to rush right out and get some of those awesome Jillibean soup papers! Each post is brimming with creativity! You can see a few more of my favs here and here! So you know the drill....hop on over to Delaina's blog and leave her some love and be inspired! That's all folks!

Sketch #39

Another week almost come and gone! WOW! We have been super busy here getting ready to go out of town for our annual Fall trip. It is going to be a cold one this year, we may actually get to see snow folks! It's gonna feel more like winter than Fall! Before I head out I wanted to share with you my take on sketch #39 over at 52 sketches. This is a fun picture of my son and nephew at my birthday dinner last year. It was a perfect pic for the Cosmo Cricket Boyfriend line. I am loving this line, the colors and everything about it are so 80's! It is a lot of fun and I can't wait to play with it again! If you haven't already picked yourself up some, you are really missing out. This sketch was so super easy to work with, it helped me make this layout in record time. I also used this layout for my challenge over at Personalscrapper for our CROPTOBERFEST LOAD (layout a day). Each day members take turn posting challenges. SO if you are at a loss as to what to scrap for that particular day, no worries, you will have lots of inspiration to jump start those creative juices! My challenge was on October 2nd and so I did a DOUBLE challenge. For my challenge you were to use doubles somewhere on the layout(s), like the word "double" in my title, 2 boys in my picture, etc. You could do a double page layout, anything really goes. The layouts done so far for this challenge have been super and a lot of fun! Well, off to pack...my least favorite part of traveling, but I don't want to freeze, so I've got to go pull out some of my winter stuff...well, as winterish as we Texans get I might add! LOL! Check back for my Friday's featured blogger, you're gonna love it!

Friday's Featured Blogger

Today's featured blogger was one I found when checking out the sketches a few weeks back on the Got Sketch website. Cari Locken's blog Me & My Thoughts, showcased a FABOULOUS layout using Valerie Salmon's sketch #90, and I just knew I had to lift it! I actually almost copied it exactly using up some of the October Afternoon papers from my August 2008 Personalscrapper kit. I love the mix of patterns don't you? Besides this awesome layout, Cari has many other awesome layouts and cards on her blog. I just LOVE these layouts done using the new Cosmo Cricket Earth Love line! And these cards are just spectacular! Gotta lift these designs as well. So go hop on over to Cari's blog and check out all the inspiration found there! One other thing to note, over at Personalscrapper I am participating in another LOAD (layout a day) contest for the month of October. My goal is to get 31 layouts done! Keep your fingers crossed for me, I'm gonna really gun for it this year! Come join us if you want, there is a challenge everyday just in case you need a jump start to your creativity! TGIF!