Pizza !!

We are home from Thanksgiving at my son's home in Dallas so its time to start scrapping some of the pictures I took.   On Wednesday night we made homemade pizzas.    They have an attachment for making wood-fired pizza that goes on their webber grill.   We went to the store and got all kinds of ingredients and made our own dough.   Then everyone made their own pizza with the toppings they wanted.    It didn't take long at all for them to cook on the grill and Jason was the master chef.
We had everything from mac n cheese topped pizza for Kai, and Mylan wanted mixed cheese only on hers but shaped it into a heart.    We had these toppings to choose from, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, fresh mushrooms,  red onions, black olives, fresh basil, pepperoni, italian sausage and even left over steak from the night before.

I was glad when I saw the double page sketch at "Stick it Down" as it would work great for a variety of the pictures of the pizza making event.   It's a great sketch you can see below.

I'll also enter this layout in the new challenge "Lasting Memories" which is a DT Call - What's Your Style.     This layout shows my style as I like to have layers of patterns and I also like to make the papers and all my pictures.  On this layout I even having matting on some of my embellie stickers and on my journaling strips.

You can see all the details by clicking each link below.

"Stick It Down"

"Lasting Memories"

Mr. and Mrs.

When I saw the sketch assignment for the DT reveal for Nov.28th sketch challenge at "Scrap Much"
I immediately thought how great it would be to do a collage of my daughters wedding pictures.
Plus I got this great chipboard Mr. & Mrs. just a couple of weeks before in a RAK from one of my online scrappy friends and I knew it would work perfect for this layout.   I just kept the chipboard look to it and did a little bit of charcoal black inking on some of the edges.    Then just used white, silver and black colors on the layout papers   Added a few white dove embellies, some bling behind my journal circle and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

I'm sorry I didn't get my blog post up on time for the reveal going live but I was out of town for the holidays and honestly just forgot to do it early.    I do hope to see a lot of you joining in the challenge as I really think there is so many things you can do with this double page sketch.    I have the sketch below and check out all the detail for the challenge at "Scrap Much?"   HERE.

Soccer

Jason was the coach of Kai's soccer team this year so he got his picture taken with Kai along with the traditional individual players pictures.     Oh this so brings back memories of when Jason was this young and his Dad was the coach.   Hopefully this will be the family tradition and when Kai is grown up and a father he too will have a son and coach his teams.
I used the sketch at  "Colorful Creations" to make this sketch.   I have a picture of the sketch I used below and you can read about all the details of the challenge  HERE.

PL week 46

I was all caught up on my PL pages when the challenge came out at "Stuck on U Sketches".  
Their latest PL challenge (and sadly the last PL challenge) is to use woodgrain on your pages.
So I went to work on getting started on this weeks pages and I finished page one and I used woodgrain on all of it.   Every card and background behind pictures has woodgrain except for the November card that I added a flower to.

Check out the challenge  HERE  and enter one last time for PL challenges at "Stuck on U Sketches"

Gone Fishing

Still scrapping some pics of the when the kids came for a long weekend.   One day we went to the
Deanna Rose Childrens Farmstead.    There was so much to do there and the last thing for the day was about an hour the kids spent fishing.   You just picked up a cane pole there to use and bought some worms and fished.      I think everyone caught a little fish or two.  

For this layout I used the latest sketch challenge #135 at  "Sketches in Thyme"    I had some fishing paper I used and fishing embellies to tie make pictures together.      I hope you will join in  and make a layout from the sketch too.   It's a fun sketch to work with.   You can get the details   HERE.

A Spin on the John Deere

The St. Louis grandkids and parents were here for a 3 day weekend last month.    

We had a lot of fun away from the house and out and about too.    But on the last day they were here, Bryce was in the garage with his granddad and saw the riding lawn mower.   He really wanted to

go out for a ride on it.    So Grandpa started it and let him ride around on it on in the street in front of the house.    We live on a cul-de-sac so Bryce spent a lot of timing going around in circles.

Of course I was out there too with camera in hand to take picture.    So when I saw this sketch at 

"Boys Rule" and that I could use 3 pictures I knew this would be the sketch I would use for some

of these pictures.    I really like how it turned out and all the bright yellows and and greens to go with the color of the John Deere.     I have the sketch below and you can find all the details 

for the challenge  HERE.    You have till the end of the month to enter too.  Hope you do.

Fun & Truffles

WOO-HOO, I love it when I make a layout that will work for multiple challenges.    This one will be entered into 4 challenges.     Insert my happy face here.    :)

I started out with the sketch  #98 from "Let's Capture Our Memories"    It's a great sketch to use a grouping of pictures.   So I started looking thru some recent pictures I've taken and came up with these from last week when we were working in St. Louis and went over to see the kids at their house one evening and Nikki had been making truffles for an event they were going to the next night.
Gibson decided he wanted to help so I was able to get these pictures of him.   Luckily Nikki had also taken a picture of all the ingredients out on the counter and posted to FB about what she was doing that day so that became my picture #4.    
Then I remembered that "Red Carpet Studios" had their Julie and Julia challenge going on which was to make a project inspired by food.   Perfecto, this would do it for sure.    So I looked in my cooking paper and embellie drawer to see what I could come up with.    I found this perfect baking background paper.   The strip under the pictures is coffee bean papers, but I'm going with that its cocoa bean paper since this was about chocolate truffles.   It works,  right?
 I got the layout all made and was trying to decide how to do the title.   I had one gemstone on the center of the 4 pictures and nothing else.  Thats when I remembered that  challenge #30 at "Scrapping 4 Fun" was an anything goes with bling challenge.    So I started looking for some bigger bling items other than just a single gem.    Thats when I found the "&" sign made from bling.   I remember when I got it in a prize package wondering what I would do with it.
Luckily I hadn't done my title yet which I was thinking it would only be "Truffles" so I decided to make it "Fun & Truffles"  I used my & bling and them added a few more gems to put some more bling on the layout.   Last but not least is one of the monthly challenges at a yahoo group "Scrappin-n-Chattin" I'm in was to use journaling strips on a layout and thats just what I did.

Here is the sketch that started it all below and then I'll have links to all the challenges.

"Let's Capture Our Memories"

"Red Carpet Studios"

"Scrapping 4 Fun"

FUN

I've had so much fun this year making Halloween layouts.   Even though these pictures were taken a few weeks before Halloween, they were from our fun day at Deanna Rose Children's Homestead which was all decorated for Halloween so I got some great regular pics of the kids there plus some Halloween themed ones so I could dig into the stash of all my Halloween papers and embellies.

I used the Sketch #282 from "Creative Scrappers"    As soon as I saw this sketch I thought I would be able to use an assortment of my Halloween papers when I made it and I was right.   4 different patterns and then I cut out some of the circles from some scrapes of Halloween papers.    A win win situation for me while having fun scrapping.    :)

You have till the end of November to make your layout using the sketch.   HERE are the details.

Hiding

I use to never miss a challenge at "My Scraps and More", its my favorite online scrapping store and I love their challenges and sketches.   The last few I made but got them done to late to enter so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss the deadline for the sketch #93 with an end of Nov. deadline.

This is a new picture I just pulled off of Facebook a couple of days ago of Addisyn and Gibson, my St. Louis grandkids.   They just moved into a new home a couple of months ago so the little ones are still exploring and in this picture it looks like they found some new hiding places in the cabinets under the wet bar.

I used papers from an old collection that I've always liked.   Bo Bunny - Etc. collection.

So join in the fun and make a layout using this sketch.   You can get all the details  HERE.

Zoo Day

I've been working on an album (other than wedding) for my daughter and her new husband.    Special pictures of them and things they do.   So when I saw these 2 pictures posted on Facebook of when his parents visited them in DC and they went to the National Zoo I decided to print the pictures and make a layout of them for their album.   I loved getting out my stash of zoo papers and embellies to make the layout.   I got really lucky because I had the panda diecut I got in a swap saved and it you look closely in the back ground of the first picture you can see the panda at the zoo behind them.

I decided to use Sketch #69 at "Sketch-N-Scrap",  I really like the sketch plus I could use a variety of my papers.   I even found a piece of washi tape to use as the top of my banner that I thought the colors would work.    I just cut the washi tape strip in half lengthwise so it wouldn't be to thick.

Below is the sketch and you have until Nov. 30th to enter.   They have a great sponsor this month, its
a $20GC from "Rainbows and Scrapbooks" easy shop.    Check out the "Sketch-N-Scrap"  blog
HERE.

Good Looking Bryce

I thought this was such a great looking picture of Bryce so I didn't want to detract from it with a lot of color or papers.   When I saw the Make it Monday Sketch #29 at  "The Memory Nest"  I knew this sketch was just what I was looking for.   I used a piece of paper from Authentique Genuine collection and some scraps I had left from it and made my layout.  I also had a sticker page from the collection that I had hardly touched so I used a bigger one for the title like embellie in the center and then just a few small ones for accents.    You have 2 weeks left to enter so check out the details   HERE.

A Fun Day at Deanna Rose Farmstead

I had only made one layout from David, Nikki, Bryce, Gibson and Addison's trip to KC last month so I wanted to get some more made.   I looked at "Let's Scrap" on Wednesday to see their challenge as I can usually find great 2 page sketches and sure enough.   I found this week they had this great sketch where I could use 3 different pictures from our fun day at the childrens' homestead.    I got some great pictures so still more layouts to make but so glad I got this finished.    

I'm also going to enter this layout at "Stuck On U Sketches" for their diecut challenge.    Our trip was on a beautiful fall Saturday so I decided to used fall diecuts for my embellisments and that means it would be perfect for the diecut challenge which is 'fall colors'   you don't have to use diecuts of fall items, even though I did,  just use fall colors on your diecut.   I have a diecut folded tag with green leaf that I put some hidden journaling in and then my fall tree, with browns, greens, golds and oranges.

You can see the sketch below and then the details for each challenge.

LET'S SCRAP

STUCK ON U SKETCHES

2 weeks of PL pages

I stayed up late last night and finished two weeks of PL pages.      In fact I worked on this week and it is finished too all but one picture.     I like staying caught up because I'm afraid I won't remember any highlights of the week I might want to include.     Week 42 was a combo week of work out of town and also company over the weekend.    The big news in KC is that we were the American League champions and going to the World Series for the first time in 29 years so I had to include a picture of the stadium.    Page two covered Friday thru Saturday when David, Nikki and family came in from St. Louis and we had a day of shopping and a day of fun activities and the last day of packing up a U-Haul of furniture we weren't using anymore and would go great in their new house.

Week 43 was Halloween week and really not a lot going on here at home so I just filled my pages with family pics of the family in their costumes.   The top left picture is of Kai, Mylan and Koda opening the Halloween treat box I sent them and then the text message I was getting from Susan telling me what they were saying while opening.   We had tried a FaceTime call but it wasn't working so I thought it would be fun to get a screen shot of the text message.    Page two is more about our Royals, we lost the World Series in game 7 but it was still a fantastic season for KC.   I also got a picture of Arthur putting up our outdoor Christmas lights on Saturday while we still had good weather.   In my humble opinion no reason waiting to try and do it when its cold outside.    Then the bottom right is a pic of  double page layout I had made several weeks back but the Friday of this week it was reveal day at Scrap Much? where I had my first reveal on my new DT assignment.

Thanks for taking a little pic of two weeks in my life.

Thanksgiving Card

"S.W.A.T - Scrap Warriors Advanced Training" has Drill #43 which is a Cozy Fall Mood Board.
So this challenge I made this Thanksgiving card.    I used some scrap fall papers.   A thankful card that I got in a swap and then a leaf and purple brad to hold the leaf to the card.     I was inspired by the colors on the board, the leaves in the pictures and that Thanksgiving is my favorite Fall holiday.
I've been experimenting with different card folds and I really like the simplicity of S fold cards.
They are simple to make but give a unique look to your card, so that design worked out perfectly for all I wanted to showcase in this card.

HERE is all the details for the challenge so you can enter something too.

Mom

Challenge #216 at "Lasting Memories"  is 'Remembering Someone Special'
It's been 9 1/2 years since I lost my Mom but it is the holidays that has me missing her the most no matter how long it has been.    I was looking through old holiday pictures trying to find some new ones to scrap and fill in my Christmas albums and I found this one from Christmas 1999.   I had just read the details on the challenge at "Lasting Memories" and I pulled out this picture to make this layout and not make it a Christmas layout, just one of Mom.
You can read about this challenge   HERE.

Another challenge at ScrapMuch blog

I've been out of town all week and almost forgot to post my layout.   This is my take on the latest sketch a "Scrap Much?"    This is the week for Design Team A.   I just loved this sketch and had so
many pictures I could have used but decided to use these of my granddaughter when she was here in KC and we all went out for ribs for dinner.   She really did a number on this rib and chewed and chewed on it.     I hope you will all try out this sketch.   I would love to see what you will make.
This is actually the 3rd sketch challenge of the month as the first was announced on Oct. 31.   Plus there is a color challenge every month.   You have until Nov. 29th to enter one or all of the challenges.     Click   HERE    for info on this challenge and also see the sketch below.

Trick or Treat --- Give me some Bacon to Eat

I just love these costumes.    That is my daughter-in-law 2nd from right.   All the girls in their group of friends on their street dressed up as strips on bacon for Halloween.   What an awesome idea,  I mean who doesn't like bacon?????

The challenge at Frosted Designs is "Use One Picture"  some people might find that hard but I do a lot of layouts with just one picture,  in fact I had 3 Halloween layouts from this year that would have qualified but I chose this one.   I just loved this piece of paper and didn't want to over do it with anything, so I just multi layered the matting on the picture,  put a little decorative strip of paper behind the pic and add one big embellishment and let the rest of the paper speak for itself.

Be sure and check out the challenge at Frosted Designs and join in the fun, you have till the end on the month to join this challenge and then the other 3 for the month too.    HERE are the details for this one.

Scary

I had a whole series of pictures of Scary Kai getting ready to go out in the neighborhood this Halloween.   I looked through some challenges and found this sketch for week 1 at
"Let's Get Sketchy" and picked out my 3 favorite 'poses' to make into this layout.
I think I used papers from 3 possible 4 different Halloween collections.   I hope to really use a lot on all the pictures I got this year and maybe next year I can buy some new papers.
You have all month to enter the weekly challenges at "Let's Get Sketchy" so check out the details
HERE and join in the fun.

White Space Card - Frosted Design challenge

White Space challenges are usually ones that scare me off, but I looked at the Design Team entries for the White Space challenge  at  "Frosted Designs"  and was inspired by what they made and decide to try it for myself with a card.   No sentiment, just a simple card for any occasion.   I guess I would have had more white space if I hadn't put the butterfly on the dry embossed square but I thought it gave it a little more punch so viola here is my entry for the challenge.   You can get all the details    HERE   this is still a good 10 days to enter.

Peace and Joy

I know Halloween is just over and its not Thanksgiving yet but I'm thinking about my favorite holiday.....Christmas.     I'm trying to fill in every year since 1951 (the year I was born) with layouts.  So far I have 4 3-ring albums full.   I've decided to take them all with me this Christmas when we are all together and my Dad and brother, and nephew and 2 kids and 2 grandkids can all look through the years.   The majority of those years we were all together so will be fun too look through as a family.
Anyway I decided to look thru some old pictures and find some I hadn't scrapped yet and just fill in some spots in the albums.     This double page layout is from Christmas 2000 when about 8 days before Christmas my husbands family all came to our house for a celebration.   All but one of his brothers were there, even had some of their kids and grandkids so it was an great time.   I had some pictures scrapped but not all so this will be a great addition.

The challenge going on now at "Scrapping 4 Fun Challenges" is Challenge #29 - Christmas so lucky me I will get to enter this layout there.    For the challenge you can do a layout or a card or any Christmas project.   There are still 5 days left to enter so check out all the details HERE.    Admit it, you are ready to start doing something for Christmas too.   :)

BOO

This year I actually got a lot of Halloween pictures to scrap, besides all the grandkids, I got pictures of all the big kids dressed up too.     In fact this layout shows the "2 Faces of Jason"    I started out with the mask but was scareing some of the younger kids that came to trick or treat so he ended up wearing this wig.    Thank you Jason for remembering your Mom wanted to Halloween pics to scrap and sending both of them to me.   :)

When I saw the sketch challenge at "Stuck on U Sketches"  for some reason it just screamed Halloween to me and I immediately visualized this solid orange strip down the middle from the sketch.     I'm sure there are many ways to go with this sketch so I'm sure I'll be using it again for something other than Halloween.    Check out the details   HERE   and the sketch is below.