Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Happy NSD to all my scrapbooking peeps!  Were you able to celebrate with a little scrappy time today?  I sure hope so!  I was able to get crafty today, and heck, the day's still not over, so I may have another layout or two still in me!  I wanted to take a minute to pop on and share a layout I created for Week 13's challenge for the 52 week challenge over at Personalscrapper.  This challenge called Speed Racer, was to create a layout in an hour or less!  This layout took me about 40 minutes total , I used the March Personalscrapper kit which features Simple STories Yearology papers.  I did purchase the Yearology stickers separately but otherwise everything was in the kit.  Simple Stories is so "simple" to work with, you can literally create a page in minutes, if you don't have any in your stash I would encourage you to take advantage of some of the awesome specials online today for NSD and add some to your stash!  I want to mention that I did a little retail therapy as well today, Tammi at My Scraps and More is having a 40% sale PLUS FREE SHIPPING today and tomorrow in honor of NSD.  I added a bit of Bella Blvd and even some of the NEW Authentique Glory to my stash all for under $35!  We are heading to Philly this summer for vacation and I think the Glory papers will be PERFECT for my vacation photos at the Liberty Bell etc!  Another awesome tidbit to share for NSD...Sketch and Scrap has decided to extend the deadlines for the challenges from Friday to Sunday, so you still have a day and half to get your challenge in based on THIS sketch!  Hope you will spend a bit of your NSD with us at Sketch and Scrap!  Happy Scrapping!

Got Sketch 107

Howdy bloggy friends! Has anyone taken a Got Sketch class? If you haven't you need to! I have taken almost everyone of them that Valerie has offered and have never been disappointed. The current class is Got Sketch 107 and you can learn more about it HERE. This is my page based on sketch #1 from this class. I was able to use up some of my older October Afternoon Stash. This layout is a mix of Cherry Lane, Duck in a Row, Weathervane, and Thrift Store. I love the hexagons on this sketch (Valerie provides all class members with a template to make them) and it is a great way to use up a bunch of scraps! I think this template itself is worth the price of admission, some other classes out there cost a whole lot more so this class is definitely a bargain! I am working on some other assignments from the class and can't wait to share them with you. The other great thing about this class is you use your own stash, no "kit" to buy, no supplies to buy, and I am using up some older stash so far. The flower is from Basic Grey, the stickers are from October Afternoon's Ducks in a Row line and the letter stickers are by Making Memories (I got them at Target ages ago and this is my first time to use them!) All these items on this page have been in my stash over a year. The pics of course are of my sweet adorable nephew at four months old! He was such a cute chubster! Of course, he is still cute just not a chubster anymore, don't you love chubby babies? We have a busy weekend ahead so not sure I actually finish the rest of my Got Sketch projects before the end of March, but I will get them finished soon and share when I do! Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Scrapbook Bingo!

Well, I was able to get a bit more scrapping done this week with the rainy weather we had earlier in the week. I am trying to catch up on the 52 week challenges over at Personalscrapper. Hard to believe we are in week 12 already! I have done 8 of the challenges so far and am now just 4 weeks behind, hoping to narrow it done by at least one more layout before week 13 begins! This layout was from a challenge for week 8 that I created. I decided to do a little game of Scrapbook Bingo (I love bingo! Just ask my son, he will tell you I can't get enough of it!) If you haven't played scrapbook Bingo before here is how it works: you look at the bingo card provided above and decide on your "bingo" in my case I picked the second row straight down. You must use those four elements on your layout you create, however, you can add additional elements if you want, just must include at least the four elements from your "bingo" which in my case was: 1) three patterns 2) scraplift - I scraplifted this awesome layout called Winter Hats by Carrie Postma 3) twine and 4) buttons. I used the January Personalscrapper kit featuring Echo Park's Winter Park with one paper thrown in from the January 2010 Personalscrapper kit featuring Echo Park Wintertime (these two lines do coordinate nicely). The buttons are from my stash as is the little punch out saying which is from My Mind's Eye. The circle is a coaster from Paper Trunk and the letter stickers are from the kit by Echo Park. I love the simplicity of this layout, thanks Carrie for the inspiration! If you decide to try your hand at Scrapbook Bingo be sure and link back here in the comment section so we all can enjoy your creation!

Live a Full Life

Happy weekend everyone! Hope everyone is having a nice scrappy weekend so far! I have been lucky, getting to do two of my favorite things today, watch basketball and scrap! The only downer is our team (KU Jayhawks) lost the Big 12 tourney, but it was nice for Mizzou, they are a good team, so congrats to all you Mizzou fans, sad to see them leave the Big 12 after this year. Now to share some of my scrappy fun, here is a layout I did for the week 3 52 week challenge over at Personalscrapper. The challenge was to scrap something that made you happy....when I thought about that I listed so many things, that I decided to combine them all into one layout. This layout is based on a sketch by Valerie Salmon at Got Sketch (sketch #100) and it is also was inpsired by a layout by Jen Chapin. Jen did an AMAZING layout called Live a Full Life and although I didn't lift her design I did lift the idea and title from her so thank you Jen for such a great idea! Please visit Jen's blog, it is packed with amazing work, you will want to spend hours pinning all her layouts to your Pinterest board believe me! I used the March 2011 Personalscrapper kit featuring papers by My Minds Eye So Sophie line (loved that line) with letter stickers by American Crafts and some OLD OLD cork ones from an unknown source (these I got when I first started scrapping in the 90's that is how old they were!). Thanks for visiting my blog, hope to see you back again real soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day friends! Just wanted to pop in to share a Valentine's layout I created over the weekend. This layout uses the FAB Personalscrapper February kit featuring Basic Grey's Kissing Booth! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this line! Super fun to work with and the colors are divine! This is one of my all time favorite Personalscrapper kits of all time! If you hurry you may be able to lay your hands on one HERE! This my son and myself last July 4th, notice my pool hair, but hey, in 100 + degree heat who has a good hair day?! lol! I made this layout for the week six, 52 week challenge by Wendy, who challenged us to use a "new" technique. I was stumped for awhile and then decided to try to add some "zing" to my layout by matting my papers in black after seeing THIS blog post and noticing a lot layouts where the artists have done this. I decided this qualified as a technique, and I have to say I really like the result, may try it again soon. The stamped quote is from Technique Tuesday stamp set by Ali Edwards, don't you just LOVE her handwriting? (swoon) The letter stickers are Thickers by American Crafts and the rest is included in the Personalscrapper kit and is from Basic Grey...ooh, I did add some Magic Mesh (remember that from waaaaay back) to give my layout some texture...I had planned on stamping a grid, but it didn't show up well on the dark background and my vanilla ink pad was dry and I didn't have a reinker, so I was able to use up some of my magic mesh, so glad I didn't destash it last year when I was destashing! I hope everyone enjoys their Valentine's Day with those they love, we are real low key here tonight, just some yummy pizza and enoying time watching The Big Bang Theory together! We love Sheldon! Please share your Valentine's layouts/projects in the comments, I'd love to see them!

Winter remembered!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! I can't believe last February around Super Bowl time this is what our roads were looking like! Today is a bit cold (last week we had a few days in the 70's believe it or not) but it is dry and definitely NOT anything like these winter drive pics! This layout is for the Week 1 challenge over at Personalscrapper for the 52 weeks 2012 challenges! (I know I am not going in order!) I am trying to use up a some of my older kits and this layout uses all stuff from the January 2011 Personalscrapper kit featuring Echo Park Wintertime papers and letter stickers! The only thing I added from my stash were these felt snowflakes by Stampin Up! I loved this kit and am now officially down to scraps (except for one darn full sheet, I just love the snowflake pattern and am having a hard time forcing myself to cut it! lol! Are you ever like that about some really pretty papers?). I don't usually take pics of stuff like this, but this really was a record breaking snowfall here in Texas (I know you folks up North, think it looks like nothing) but I wanted to record it so I can look back a year later and think, boy, was that a mess that was! Plus I really wanted to try out the new cell phone camera too! lol! I am so thankful for the milder winter this year! Mr.Groundhog did predict another 6 weeks of winter, though, so we may get hit with some snow yet. Hope you enoy the Super Bowl today, we are split house here, I'm going for the Giants and my son is going for the Patriots, oh, well, either way one of us will win right? Enjoy cheering on your team!

Croppy fun!

The Personalscrapper Happy New Year's crop was a lot of fun and pretty productive for me! I got 5 of the challenges done. These are two of the layouts I was able to finish, the first one didn't really fit one of the crop challenges but did fit the challenge for week #2 of the 52 week challenges to scrap your family. This is my SIL, brother and nephew at the pumpkin patch last fall! I love this pic of them. I used the October Personalscrapper kit, featuring We R Memory's Autumn Splendor line. Letters are felt Thickers by American Crafts and Basic Grey minis (love these things!). Extras from my stash ( journaling spot by Paper Trunk, flower by We R Memory Keepers, Stickers by We R Memory Keepers (PS Oct. Kit) and calendar cut out by Paper Loft). Layout based on a sketch by Sketchy Thursdays. Sad to say, they are no longer going to be doing weekly sketches. I didn't have a chance to play along with them most of the time, but I always followed along and enjoy their sketches as well as the inspiration from those playing along!
The second layout was for the crop challenge : Mix 3 patterns of paper! I love these kind of challenges. I used the November Personalscrapper kit for the first time, featuring American Crafts Night Fall line. Letters included in kit are from Scenic Route (sure miss that company!). I used a lot of embellies from my stash on this one too! Ticket by Tim Holz, flower by Sassafrass Lass, calendar by Jenny Bowlin and family embelli from Rusty Pickle (this is an old one for sure)
This is a another page for my nephew's album, he just turned 2 last week! I love this picture of the 3 of them with the elk head my brother got hunting this fall.
Hope you enjoyed my scrappy crop fun folks! I'll be back in a day or two to share the rest of my 52 week challenges, can you believe we are in week 4 of 2012 already? Wow, hope 2012 doesn't blow by as fast as 2011 and hope I can complete all 52 of the challenges this year! Come join us at Personalscrapper if you would like to for the 52 week challenge, it's a great way to get those pictures in those albums and those memories in those books! Have a wonderful week friends!

Race to the finish line!

Well, the end of the year is looming and so is the end to this year's 52 week challenges over at Personalscrapper! This is a layout I quickly created tonight for the "Use stamps" challenge. This makes my 27th layout done for the 51 challenges that have been issued so far. As you can see I am lagging behind by almost 1/2 a year lol! But I still have a little over a week left, think I can do 25 more? Now that is what I would call a "pipe dream!" So since my time was limited to around 2 hours tonight to get this done before my Pilates class I decided to use some inspiration from my early Christmas gift to myself- my Scrapbook and Cards Today 2012calendar with sketches by Beck Fleck of Page Maps! This layout is based on a sketch by Becky included in the calendar and is also almost a direct lift of the sample page for this sketch, of course, I have altered it a bit to fit the supplies I had on hand, but it is definitely inspired by this AWESOME calendar! I am so glad I spent the $12 or so to get it, WELL worth it! Becky has the most awesome sketches out there in my opinion! These pictures are some of the less desirable ones from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch this last October. I decided shrinking them down this small lets me use them without the flaws being so noticeable. Papers on this layout are by Bo Bunny, Stickers from Bo Bunny, sticker letters by Basic Grey, cardstock Bazzill....and then stamps are from the set Fantastic Foliage by Stampin Up and here is the neat part, are you wondering how I get the image to look like this? Well, I stamped on the rust cardstock with BLEACH! The image bleaches out the color of the cardstock, it is so cool to see what color it will bleach too as you can never tell til it completely dries! Helpful hint: use the "gel" bleach for best results as liquid bleach is a bit to runny. Also these stamps had almost too "detailed" of an image making them look a bit "blobby", the less detailed the image the easier it will be. However, this is my only leaf stamp set, so I had to use it. If you decide to try stamping with some bleach, please link up your project in the comments section so we can all see your results! This is a fun fun technique and really simple too! Well, off to wrap up some gifts, gotta get going on that front so I won't be up all night Christmas Eve! Look for my holiday card share coming soon, I just mailed my cards yesterday, but hey, they should arrive the day or so before which isn't too bad right?

Fall is almost gone!

It is starting to feel more like winter then fall here! We had a cool front move through this weekend and it sure feels more like Winter now! Trying to stay warm has zapped my mojo somewhat, but am slowly getting back to scrapping now that the house is almost decorated and my charity obligations are almost done for the rest of the year! I was participating in the 52 week challenge over at Personalscrapper but not sure I am doing very well with that, we are currently in week 48 and I have made exactly 30 pages so I am about 18 weeks behind...not sure if I can actually pull off alll 52 challenges are not, but I am still going to try. I am jokingly telling my son I am locking myself in my room on December 30th and coming out on Jan 1st with all the challenges done! lol! I wish I was a fast scrapper like some of my friends, but the truth is, if I complete 3 pages a week that is a good week for me! Even at an all night crop I am lucky to get 4-5 layouts done! So at this rate I will complete the 52 challenges sometime around Valentine's Day! This layout uses the wonderful October kit from Personalscrapper featuring We R Memory Keepers Splendor line (with a few embellies from my stash thrown in.) I love this picture of my brother and nephew taken while walking to the hayrack ride at Vala's Pumpkin Patch in October, my nephew looks like a miniature little man doesn't he? So cute! This layout was inspired by Debbie's transparency challenge for the October LOAD and I also added some chipboard so it will fit the Chipboard challenge for week 37 of the 52 week challenges! The transparency I have had in my stash FOREVER and says "Tall oaks from little acorns grow", I thought it fit this picture perfectly! I haven't used vellum on a page in forever, so I had to dig out my vellum adhesive and then used brads to attach it to my page securely! Papers and stickers are by We R Memory Keepers - Splendor line, chipboard acorns by Basic Grey, chipboard leaves are from Target dollar bin and letters are by Paper Trunk! If you are participating in a 52 week challenge this year make sure and leave us a comment we'd love to see what challenges you have been working on!

August sketch

Can you believe it is August already? Where did our summer go? My son starts back to half days with band camp this coming week and then one more week of break and then school will start! YIKES! So with the start of a new month is the start of a new sketch challenge by me over at Personalscrapper! Here is this month' sketch, but with a twist...this month's sketch was based on an AWESOME layout by my cyber friend and fellow scrapper Lydia! I just adored her HAND IN HAND THROUGH THE SAND layout so much I just had to make it into a sketch! So glad she graciously agreed to let me do it (thanks Lydia!)

For my layout based on this sketch I used a fun photo taken of my son on the Fourth of July while swimming in my parent's neighborhood pool with his cousins. My niece wanted him to float with her Princess floatie, and as you can see it was a bit small for him! I can't believe he let himself be photographed with it! I used papers by Bo Bunny (blue and yellow- LOVE their basics and dots line!) and Jillibean Soup (stripe) as well as Bella Blvd (pink). The title was created using rub ons (thanks to Jessica for loaning me the pink ones!), I like the way it looks, I haven't used rub ons in years, I think I'm going to start using them again, they really are fun and easy to use. Embellishments are by Little Yellow Bicycle and Jillibean soup. This was another one of those layouts were I combined a bunch of different manufacturers to get the look I was wanting. Hope you enjoy the sketch as much as I did, if you use it please link up your layout in the comments section so we can get a peek! Stay cool everyone!

Mr Sandman

WOW! This summer is flying by! I can't believe the kids will be back to school in less then a month....where did the time go? I am ready for cooler weather, and I am also ready for some FOOTBALL!! But I love the lazy days of summer to, just wish they could be lazy and 80 degrees not 100+! LOL! I have been trying to keep up with our 52 week challenges over at Personalscrapper this summer so I don't end up being terribly far behind by the end of the year...and so I can meet my goal of 100 layouts for 2011. This is week 29 and this week's challenge was brought to us by Kim who gave us the challenge to do a layout with the theme "roughing it, dirty or outdoorsy". Since I don't "rough it" and my son rarely gets dirty (unless its an accident) I had to scrap a pic of my oldest nephew- who LOVES to be dirty. He has an inner radar for a pile of sand, puddle of water or mud puddle! If there is dirty nearby he will find it! This picture is from 2009 when we went to NRH20 and he dove right into the sand after getting out of the pool! I used sketch #229 by Trisha at Sketch Inspiration and the July 2011 Personalscrapper kit featuring Fancy Pants' Beach Bum line, which by the way is AWESOME! I was pleased to use one of my stamps (circle with dots) on this layout, it is an old foam stamp by Lisa Bearnson...and these I must admit are much neglected, so it was nice to use it. I'm off to get back to work on another one of the 52 week challenges (I'm eleven weeks behind YIKES! and trying to play catch up today while I have a bit of time so I can be right on top of week 30's challenge when it is posted tomorrow!) Have a wonderful week friends!

Scraptivatingly fun challenge!

You all know how much I love sketches and this one by Tina as our third Scraptivations challenge,is super awesome and I was so excited to see it as a challenge, but then there was a TWIST...the layout had to be about YOU! Gasp! I have done a bunch of layouts about me, about my likes, dislikes, job, graduation etc...so I was at a loss of what to do. I mean I am very boring, my likes haven't really changed since I scrapped them back in 2009...that is how boring I am...just a routine sort of gal, so I thought maybe that was a layout (about how boring I am lol!) But then as I normally do when stumped I move on to another project, which was the next 52 week Personalscrapper challenge and it was ANIMAL. And there is was, my AHA moment, I was like I'll do a page about how I love animals! I have since I was a wee tot, and thus, decided to use these pictures of myself from 1970 (I won't tell you how old I am in these pics but I think you can kinda estimate! LOL!) I decided to use my newest fav line Echo Park's, For the Record...LOVE LOVE LOVE this line and it is the featured line in April's Personalscrapper kit (lucky me!) I absolutely love how this layout turned out and I really like it that I have another page scrapped just for me and my personal album. I hope you will play along, don't let the YOU twist put you off, it can be interpreted in so many ways, just think outside the box if you are stumped. I do plan on using this sketch again, as it is super fun and an easy sketch to work with! Can't wait to see what you gals come up wit for this challenge! Don't forget to visit Scraptivations and link up your layout for a chance to win an awesome prize from the Paper Trail!

Disney fun with Inspired Blueprints

Here is a fun layout I created for the Personalscrapper 52 week challenge to use a large photo. This layout is based on sketch 67 from Inspired Blueprints. I haven't used on of their sketches in a while so I was glad I finally had time to play along with one of their fun sketches. I used some of my Echo Park Little Boy papers as well as some October Afternoon Night Light (this is one of my all time fav sheets of paper- I think I used like 3 sheets and am now down to scraps!) It was fun to use up some of my Disney embellies I have hoarded for a few years now. I loved this picture of my son and I taken in 2005 at Epcot Center on our Disney vacation, about time I scrapped it huh? Sticker letters are from Jillibean Soup and Cosmo Cricket. I really like how this turned out and so glad I was able to get this fun photo scrapped. I have been working steadily on several things but none that I can show you right now. This weekend I most likely won't get much scrappy time as I am on a hunt for some new living room furniture. Any places you would recommend? If so leave me a comment as I HATE shopping for major purchases and I have put this off much too long, it is time for new furniture and I am going to try and complete my mission by Sunday so I can get back to scrappin! Wish me luck!

Scraplifting fun

I had so much fun doing some "lazy" scrapping the other day. I am always blog hopping and finding layouts I would just love to lift, and yet, I never get around to actually lifting them. Well, the other day doing some late night scrappin' with my good friend and the mojo just wasn't there, so what's a girl to do but scraplift a layout. After all, I can't afford to waste the precious creative time I was able to give myself! This layout is a lift of Frances Sylvia from her blog FOREVER AND A YEAR...Frances' work is just awesome, love visiting her blog whenever I have time! For this layout I used my October 2010 PersonalScrapper kit featuring Jillibean Soup, which is fast becoming my favorite manufacturer now that Scenic Route is gone. I used this layout for my Week #7 52 week challenge over at Personalscrapper as well, which was the theme LOVE. I don't love anything more then these sweet faces...have you ever seen any cuter faces then these four???? These are my fav pics of my son, my niece and my two nephews from 2010. Just love the simplicity of this layout which allows these sweet faces to shine! Hope you all are having a good week, I'm hoping to do a bit of scrappin' tomorrow to get me over the hump, keep checking back, maybe I'll be able to actually finish one of the three layouts I have on my desk...then I've GOT to clean it off...who knows what is buried under that mess!

Sketch 105

Not sure which I like more, this sketch by Liz Chidester from The Scrappiest OR Basic Grey's Wander line...I guess its a toss up, both are pretty fantastic! I received these fun papers from my secret sister last fall Erica from Personalscrapper. I just love the colors in this line, perfect for any type of layout really. I complete this layout for one of the 52 week challenges over at Personalscrapper, the category for this challenge was MEMORIES. This picture was take of my Dad, brother and nephew on my nephew's first birthday this past January and is for his album that I am making him (slowly but surely, well, the first year will be finished by the time he's 10, so that' pretty good huh?) I love this picture, this little guy is the most photogenic baby I have ever seen, he is always smiling for the camera, unlike a 13 year old boy I know who shall remain nameless.....but his time is coming, he is due to featured on the old blogo here next week, cuz I'm currently working on a layout of him LOL! This sketch was so easy to use, and I really like the simplicity of it. I'm lagging behind though, cuz I think they are up to sketch 109 over at The Scrappiest, so hoping to play some catch up this weekend, but then again Becky did put up some really awesome sketches over at Page Maps this week too....choices, choices... well, off to play before bedtime, hope you can get sketchy soon too!

Just another Sketchy Sunday

This is sketch I created for our monthly challenge over at the Personalscrapper forum. It is so fun to see all the wonderful creations using the same sketch and yet all the layouts look so different! For my layout I used Pink Paislee Cupid papers from the February 2009 Personalscrapper kit. I also wanted to use this layout for one of our 52 week challenges, where we are given a different challenge each week to help us create 52 layouts for the year and this one was a BORDER challenge. So I used my Stampin' Up border punch to create the borders along the my vertical paper strip and then I used my decorative scissors (blast from the past) to create a border around my handcut heart...it was like being back in first grade cutting out hearts and using fancy scissors! This layout tells the story of a special gift my son made for me back in 2003....he somehow had a heart eraser he had written on the front of it "I love Mom" and then on the back he wrote "verry much"...such a treasured gift, I just had to take a picture of it and then scrap the story so even if the eraser gets lost (although I keep it right on my desk and see it everyday) I will still have the memory on paper! I hope you will be inspired by the sketch and find time to create a special page about someone you love, and if you do make sure and link up in the comments section so we can all see your lovely work!