Playing With Paper!!

Hi there...

I didn't intend to take such a long break from my blog but last week was Spring Break for my kids.  We visited my dad in Lancaster PA and the visited Hersey - loved both places.  So now it is back to reality.

I am pleased to announce that I was named Princess again over at Fresh Made Sketches with this card:

 I really love playing along with Fresh Made and you should check out some of the other cards - amazing.  I adore this rainbow die from My Favorite Things.  Wanna see another card?  

I love to use black & white with the rainbow - I think it makes the colors "pop".  

I haven't had much time to play in my office so I am hoping tonite I will get a chance to scrap and then I will share (hopefully) tomorrow.

Have a lovely Tuesday.

 

I am becoming addicted...

to challenges!

Today is the last day to enter this challenge here.  I am having a difficult time linking this for some reason so I hope it works.  The challenge is on www.thepaperplayers.com.  This is my card for the challenge:

 The patterned paper is from My Minds Eye (I found it in my scrap bin) and pretty much everything else is SU!.  I think it's pretty cute, what do you think?

 

A little shout out for me!!

I am so excited!  I just found out that I was named a Princess this week over on Fresh Made Sketches Blog!!!  This is the card I submitted:

I am so happy!  I loved this sketch (circles are my favorite) and am really honored that the ladies over at Fresh Made liked my card.  

I liked the sketch so much that over the weekend, I decided to take the sketch and use it for a scrapbook page.  I needed to create a title page for my most current album.  This is what I came up with:

The patterned paper is from SU! and I used Thickers to create the title.  I love anything with circles so I really enjoyed creating this page.  When I initially saw the challenge on Fresh Made, this patterned paper popped into my head but one of the ladies on the design team beat me to it!!  So I just decided to take the card sketch to the next level for my title page with this paper.

The new sketch is up at Fresh Made - you should check it out!!! 

I love PageMaps2...

For Christmas I got Becky Fleck's PageMaps 2 and I am so grateful I did.  I have PageMaps 1 & love it but I really love the 2nd book.  I admit, I can never get enough of sketches and this book is one on my new favorites.  I used a layout on page 11 for my inspiration.  It is a 1 page layout that I converted for my own purpose.  What do you think:

I am so addicted to circles and when I saw this layout I new I could use it.  The photos are from my son Patrick's classroom on Halloween.  The patterned paper is from The Girls' Paperie (so stinkin' cute) and the cardstock is SU!.  I look forward to using this sketch again maybe with flowers or hearts?  Very cute, no?

Another awesome sketch site...

Last week I discovered this website: www.gotsketch.blogspot.comand I love it.  On the right side, down a bit on this page is their blinkie.   This blog has tons of great layout sketches and card sketches - you will have no problem finding inspiration!

For the layout below, I used the sketch 104.  On the blog, the sketch is only one page so I needed to modify it for a 2 page spread.  This is what I came up with:

The patterned paper is from We R Memory Keepers and October Afternoon.  I made the banner with chipboard from Jenni Bowlin that I sprayed with Smooch spray and the letters are from Me & My Big Ideas.  I can't  remember who made the tree and the bats (sorry).    I am really pleased with how this layout looks...and I am thrilled to have found another awesome sketch website.  Make sure to check out gotsketch...you will be so glad you did!

A Jedi Halloween

At my weekend, one of the contest you could participate in was a picture shape challenge.  You had to cut your pictures into a shape on your layout.  I got the idea for this layout from Becky Fleck and Page Maps.  I love it and can't wait to do it again!!

The patterned paper is from the girls' paperie (toil & trouble) and the card stock is from SU!.    I love these pictures of Patrick-he was so excited to be Obi One for Halloween and it definitely shows in the pictures.  I am so happy with the way this layout turned out - I think it's adorable!!

1/2 way through the week!!

One of the many things I love out using other scrappers sketches is that they always seem to get my creative juices going.  The above layout is a perfect example of this.  The pictures are from my daughters 11th birthday...she was so happy.  The page on the right I would describe as a progression.  It starts on the top left and goes clockwise to the bottom left (does that make any sense - can you follow me?).  I matted each photo a little bit more as it flowed.  I think it looks really cool.  Pretty much everything I used on this page is from SU! except for the title and metal embellishments - they are  from Scrapworks (member them...they are really old).  I love this layout and it's all me!!

Page Maps...

Do you ever have an idea book that you really like but it tends to just sit on a shelf?  That's Page Maps by Becky Fleck for me.  I visit www.pagemaps.com all the time for inspiration but I always forget that I have the first book as well.  This weekend I was really stumped by some photos.  I just couldn't figure out what to do with them &  I couldn't come up with colors or embellishments either.  And then I looked at my bookshelf and saw Page Maps...and that's all it took.

On page 18, I saw a layout that clicked in my head and I knew immediately where I was headed.  The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket, card stock from SU!, flower embellishment was ordered from Oriental Trading and I made the title with rhinestones I ordered off of Ebay (I glued each one on-way out on a limb for me but I like it).  And I am so happy with the way this layout turned out.  It just seems so happy!!  And it came together so easily.  Thanks Becky...you continue to inspire me!

It's Friday for me!

 Tomorrow, several of my friends and I are having a Crafter's Garage Sale at my house so I need to take the day off from work!!  If you live near Randolph and are interested leave me your email address in a comment and I will get you the  info.  Should have tons of great scrapbooking and stamping supplies for sale.

Below is a layout I worked on this weekend.  I used patterned paper from Chatterbox (remember when Chatterbox was so popular & had awesome paper?  I miss them).  The pictures are from the flowers in my garden this past spring.    I love the title - it's a Thicker title and it works perfect  forthis layout.  And I should mention that I was inspired by www.pagemaps.com to create this layout.

I made this card last night...love the colors!  I am really into red, black and white lately - just love the way they look together.  All products are from SU!.  I enjoyed creating this card so much I made 8 of them!  I am sending 4 to a cousin (she loves my cards) and I am putting the rest up for sale in my Etsy store. 

 

I'll let you know how the garage sale goes...wish us luck!

Always working on catching up...

I keep all of my photos I want to scrapbook in a binder in order of date.  I have pictures printed though the end of the school year last spring and I am almost out of photos to scrap!  I never ever thought I would be this caught up in my scrapbooking.  It won't last though because I have a ton of pictures from the summer to print but that's ok with me.  I don't know what I would do it I ever got completely caught up - the idea actually frightens me!!

 
Because I keep scrapbooks for the kids and one for the family, I often get to scrap the same photos twice.  Sometimes this is a pain sometimes it's great.  The photos above are pictures I was THRILLED to scrap again.  These are from when my youngest spoke at a Board of Education meeting last spring - still so proud.  The patterned paper is a mix of paper from SU! and all card stock is from SU! too.  And I was inspired from a sketch from www.pagemaps.com - don't you just love a good sketch site?