My new obsession!

I don't know who first mentioned this new obsession of mine, but if I could remember I would most definitely have to thank them (or is it curse them?!!!) I have joined all the pinheads over at Pinterest and I must say it is SUPER fun, inspirational, and can become addicting quickly! If you don't know what I am referring to you can visit my boards HERE but BEWARE you won't be able to stop pinning....I have got so many GREAT ideas from my friends pins (thanks Addie for the scrapping organzination tips) that I am spending this weekend sprucing up and reorganizing my scrap space (and maybe squeezing in a bit of cropping to)! I have also already got so many ideas for Christmas gifts that I might actually be able to finish up my Christmas shopping before Dec 24th this year! Well, gotta go, I'm off to pin a bit more before supper, hope to see you following me at Pinterest soon!

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!

Summer Sketch fun!

I have been enjoying the Summer Camp over at Personalscrapper this summer! The bonus challenge for last week was to create a layout with a song title. I had a hard time at first coming up with a title (well, actually I had several fun titles in mind but no pics to go with! lol!) Then as I was getting ready for bed one night the song "UR my Sunshine" came on a commercial and I immediately thought of this sketch I had made last September for Personalscrapper but NEVER used to make a layout....thus this page was born :o) I am also entering this in Practical Scrappers weekly challenge which is to use woodgrain on your layout. I LOVE the woodgrain look! This layout combines MANY different manufacturers using scraps I had left over from various kits etc. The manufacturers on this page include: Basic Grey (stripe), Fancy Pants (sun body), We R Memory Keepers (sun rays), Cosmo Cricket (background woodgrain), My Mind's Eye (larger dotted strip) and Bella Blvd (smaller dotted strip). A total of SIX manufacturers papers! The bigger letters are from October Afternoon and ae woodgrain as well. Smaller letters are from the Paper Loft and the journaling circle is from Jillibean Soup. This makes a total of NINE manufacturers products on this page! I NEVER mix it up like this, I tend to use all stuff from a line at once, but it was nice that I was able to use up scraps and things fell together so easily. These pictures are from our Washington, DC trip last August and are ones I took while we were waiting for the boat to pick us up from Mount Vernon after we had spent the day there. It was an awesome trip! I hope you can use this sketch, it would work great for your summer pics, if you use it don't forget to link it up in the comments section! Have a great weekend everyone!

Another Scraptivations sketch!

I was honored to provide another sketch for our Scraptivations challenge this week! I am loving the tag trend lately and wanted to include it on one of my sketches. Go check out what the other ladies did using the sketch HERE! For my layout I used pictures of my nephew on his four wheeler he got for his first birthday! This boy is going to be a race car driver when he grows up, he is a natural! Papers are by Echo Park Little boy collection with white foam Thickers for the letters. Embellishments are from K and company (interstate sticker), Echo Park (boys will be boys) and journal spot that I mounted the interstate sticker on is from Jillibean Soup. Hope you will find time to use the sketch, and if you do, don't forget to link it up on the Scraptivations blog so you can be entered into this month's prize drawing for an awesome prize from Punky Sprouts!!

Second one hour challenge!

I'm back with my second one hour challenge, this time using a Page Maps sketch by Becky Fleck (love her sketches!), and this time around I actually didn't cheat at all! Yay me!!! I was able to finish in one hour without any difficulty this time, having the sketch to guide me really helped. I used the new Jillibean Soup line called Watermelon Gazpacho which I received in my June Personalscrapper kit. All supplies are Jillibean Soup except for the big star brad by Queen and company. I picked up a lot of fun embellies from the Queen and Company booth during the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington this year! I love their embellishments, so versatile! This picture you might recognize from our annual Memorial Day trip to NRH2O waterpark...with our first time to take my niece who is 3! We had a great time as usual and really this was my only good picture of the whole day, so had to scrap it right away! Have a happy fourth everyone and take lots of pictures!

One hour challenge!

We are having a summer camp over at Personalscrapper this summer! This was our first week of camp and it is my week to be camp counselor! So being a good camp counselor I had to find way to entertain the campers and what better way then some fun campfire games? Last night we gathered around the campfire and had ourselves a fun one hour layout challenge. You basically get one hour to create a layout...now for me that is a challenge! You can gather your supplies ahead of time, but you must create your layout in the hour time frame. Well, I did it, but it was a tough struggle...and I hate to admit it, but as I was getting this layout ready to photograph, I decided to add a few more things...so I cheated by about 3 minutes...I had forgotten my journaling, which I quickly added and then I also added the cameo and quote up in the top right square..and now I am happy with my layout, so this one is the "almost" an hour layout lol! We are having another one hour challenge around the campfire tonight too...and I promise not to cheat tonight (lol!)! Ok, deets on my layout...all papers by Crate Paper (Potrait line)...embellies a mix of Crate Paper (cameo), KI memories (remember sticker), Queen and company (pearls and rhinestone), Pink Paislee (cork elements) and butterfly is unknown...I got it a long time ago in a kit and don't know who makes it. Letter stickers are from the Echo Park For The Record line. This layout was based on a sketch by Allison Davis from her blog called SKETCH SUPPORT. This picture was taken at the Arlington Great American Scrapbook Convention this June, where I was lucky enough to get to meet two of my online Personalscrapper friends IRL! Both Debbie and Kelly were a lot of fun to shop with and are as sweet as can be in person. I hope to get to crop with one or both of them someday soon! It is so fun to actually get to meet your online friends in the flesh! Ok, I'm off to prepare for tonights one hour challenge..wish me luck and I promise not to cheat this time *wink*!