Lake Mead

Finally, after having this background paper for probably 5 years or maybe even more I got it out to use on this layout.   The 5 matted squares I cut into 1 1/2" squares from a 6x6 piece of fishing theme papers.     The sketch #66 at  "THE MEMORY NEST"  was perfect to use these papers.

When my stepson and daughter-in-law went to Las Vegas the first of the month to see her parents, after their stay.  Bryce stayed on with his Grandpa and Grandma and they have been out and about and then will see more on their RV trip back to St. Louis in about a week.

Here is the sketch and check out the details at   "THE MEMORY NEST"   you have the rest of the
summer till the end of August to use this sketches and the other sketch #63, 64, 65 and now 66.

A challenge blog returns "PICTURE THIS"

I was so excited when I saw this.      This blog is "re-opening" with challenges on August 1st.

Be sure and check it out.

                                 http://picturethischallenges.blogspot.com

A Night Out

The Greenberg kids got together in Las Vegas.   David and family came from St. Louis and Barbara and family came from Orlando.    I've already scrapped some pictures of the grandkid cousins getting together while there but then I had these pictures of the grown-ups getting a night out without the kids.    I made this layout for Nikki and David since I had the picture of just them.   The picture of the four of them together I will do again for Barbara's album later.

July's week #4 sketch at  "LET'S GET SKETCHY"  was perfect for these pictures.  
I used a variety of papers from 3 different collections and more.    CraftSmith-Indigo Gold,
DCWV-Gilded Grey and  Pink Paisley-Memorandum and black yardstick for the matting from Recollections.   American Craft-Thickers and the flower from Michaels I picked up in the $1 bin.    So that was putting a lot tougher but I think it all worked out.

Check out the sketch below and go to  "LET'S GET SKETCHY"  to check out the details of
the challenge.   You have till July 30th to enter this or any of the sketches from July.

I adore my granddaughter cousins.

My two granddaughters, one from Orlando and one from St. Louis, got to spend time together when both families were on vacation in Las Vegas at the same time.   These cousins have so much fun
together and even look a lot like twins.

I got to use my favorite embellishments on this layout, large flowers and wood veneer.   Especially love it when I use one of my wood veneer words for a title.

I used the sketch #210 at "Sketches in Thyme" made by Sara Mishear  as start on my layout.      Then I am also using the July challenge at  "Scrapbook Circle"  the prompt is 'On Deck' to use wood look paper and/or wood embellishments.    I used the wood embellishments with my title and then the special banner and two hearts.

Here is the sketch and check out the details at    "SKETCHES IN THYME"   and  then also at
"SCRAPBOOK CIRCLE"

Cotton Candy for everyone

It looks like everyone was enjoying the cotton candy while Nikki and Barbara had the kids out and about while on vacation together in Las Vegas.

For this challenge I used sketch #490 at   "SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES'    I always love the challenges here but have just gotten behind this month so need to play catch up while there are
still days left in July to enter.

Here is the sketch and click on the link above for all the monthly challenges here.

Old Post Office in DC

I  was going through a basket of pictures I had printed out in the past and had yet to scrap.   I found these from one of my trips to Washington DC.    I've been there  3 times before I ever went inside of
the old Post Office.   So glad I finally got there and went up to the top to see all the views around
360 degrees.    It was awesome.     I didn't realize that a couple of years after I took these pictures that
the post office was becoming a  Trump hotel in DC.  and suppose to be finished this year.   I hope
they left the access to the top to get these awesome views.

So here is my double page layout and I'm entering it in two challenges and neither of them are a sketch challenge.       And don't worry the background paper is not a mistake.  I meant to have one
page go vertical and the other horizontal.    :)

First off I'm entering this at   "THE PAPER GIRLS CHALLENGE"   they have a challenge going
on now to with the prompt   Vacation/Trips/Travel.    You can enter up to 3 projects and this makes
my 2nd entry.

The 2nd challenge is the new challenge #303 at   "LASTING MEMORIES"  the prompt there is
the game "Scrabble"   my take on that sketch is my title tiles.    I'm taking this as a new look
to scrabble tiles.   They are wooden letters so that at least is scrabble like.

Check out the challenges and play along.

At the Game

This is my 2nd layout this month using the July sketch at   "MY CREATIVE SKETCHES"   it's the
perfect sketch to use 3 full 4x6 pictures.  I just trimmed a bit of the end pictures so that you could
also see some more of the baseball paper that I used to cut the circle for the layout.
This was my grandsons first time at a Rangers game since they moved to Texas.

Here is the sketch and you have until Midnight EST on August 14th to enter your layout.
Go to    "MY CREATIVE SKETCHES"   to check out all the details.

Camping Fun !

I've been able to make lots of layouts from this camping trip.   This one is for my son's and grandkids album and others I have made were for my daughter and her husbands album as they were the ones that planned the camping trip for everyone.

I used the July 15th sketch at  "STUCK ?! SKETCHES"   to make this layout and just combined 3 of the different pictures I got from their trip.   I think they all worked out and showed a variety of the trip.

Here is the sketch and click on  "STUCK ?! SKETCHES"  for details.    There are two  awesome
prizes this month too.

Happy Campers

Here are three happy campers.  My son Jason and grandkids Kai and Mylan.   They joined some other family members in Arkansas for a 4 night camping trip in June.   They had hoped to do a lot of fishing also and have fresh fish for dinner but it was too hot for the fish to bite at all.   But they still went on boat rides and out in the kayaks they had, plus just swimming in the lake that was just steps from their campsite.    The consensus was that it was camping success.

For this layout I used the sketch and plus 3 challenge at   "SCRAP OUR STASH"

     
      From List #1 -  I used all Simple Stories papers.
      The background paper was from the Claus & Co.
      collection and the other papers are from the Say
      Cheese II collection.

      From List #2 -  I used Twine.   I have 4 pieces of
      twine across my layout,  black & white, red &
      white and green & white.

       From  List #3 -  I used two Uniball Pens.    A
       white uniball gel pen for my date on the tab
       and a black uniball pen for my journaling on
       the tent die cut.

       Click  HERE for details on the challenge and to see    
       what the design team has made.

Pool Time

Nothing says summer time than the family hanging out at the pool.    My stepson David and his family got to do just that while on vacation in Las Vegas at Nikki's parents.    Pool right out the back door so the kids and everyone else got to jump right in anytime they wanted.

I'm going to enter this layout in two different challenges.    First off I used the sketch by Brenshevia for week 3 at  "LET'S GET SKETCHY"     And then at  "THE STUDIO CHALLENGES"  the challenge is Summer.   And as I said above summer to mean means time to go swimming.

Here is the sketch and check out the details at    "LET'S GET SKETCHY"   and also for the
challenge at   "THE STUDIO CHALLENGES"

Memories of Cousins at Play

The cousins were together with parents for a vacation in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago and had lots of time together playing at different places that were perfect for kids.    It's crazy how much the two girls, Avery and Addisyn look alike.  No they aren't sisters just cousins.

These three pictures went together great on the latest Make it Monday #65 sketch at
"THE MEMORY NEST"    This challenge and each weekly sketch is open till the end of August
so you have plenty of time to enter.    But there is also a weekly prize if you link your layout within the first week of each new sketch.  

Check out the sketch below and all the details here at   "THE MEMORY NEST"

Rockin' the Shades

I've been saving this single picture of Silas to scrap and never got to it.   Then I got this picture of Silas and Cec and printed it out to scrap together.   I'm glad I waited because the July Jump Start
Sketch Challenge at  "THE SCRAP ROOM BLOG"  was perfect for putting these pictures together.

Here is the sketch and be sure to check out all the details   HERE.

Together in Chicago

I love when there is a new sketch at  "ELLE'S STUDIO"  and this last one didn't disappoint.

I combined papers from two different Elle's Studio collections.   I used papers from the Thankful collection and the Little Moments collection.    They worked out fantastic together and all the colors went together perfectly.

Here is the sketch and check out   "ELLE'S STUDIO"   for all the details on the challenge  and get out your Elle's collections and have fun creating.

First trip to the Zoo

I've been saving these pictures of Silas to scrap.   This was his first trip to the Sydney Zoo.   They didn't post any pictures with animals so i was trying to decide how to get the zoo theme to work with them.    When I saw the new sketch at   "MY CREATIVE SKETCHES"   I decided to use it and just pull out my zoo/safari themed papers and go for it.   Have the banner on the sketch let me some papers that had some little pics of zoo animals so it all worked together.

Here is the sketch and check out the details at   "MY CREATIVE SKETCHES"  you have until
August 14th at midnight to enter and can enter as many creations as you like.   I will most likely be using this sketch again.    Plus  Pam always has a great prize for each challenge.

A Santa card for CIJ

It's Christmas in July for a lot of scrapbooking groups including a couple online yahoo groups I am in.    One of the prompts for this week is to have a Santa on your card.   I used this die-cut and
I thought the perfect sketch for it was the one at   "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"
Just went into my scrap drawer of Christmas papers and had the perfect scraps to use without cutting any big pieces.  Of course I seem to collect Christmas papers so cutting into full sheets wouldn't have been a problem.   I just love Christmas papers.

Here is the sketch #77 and check out all the details for challenges in July here at
"SKETCH-N-SCRAP"

Feed the Ducks

Besides having fun with just camping and swimming and boating and time with family looks like  Kai and Mylan also found some ducks to feed on their 4 day camping trip in Arkansas in June.
I beat those ducks didn't go hungry with these two around to feed them.

I used Sketch #109 at  "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"  for this layout.   It  was perfect for these 3 pictures.

Here is the sketch and you can check out the details here at  "SKETCH-N-SCRAP".   The prize for July is an Echo Park  collection called The Story of Our Family from DT member Lori.

Splish Splash Summer Fun

These weeks challenge at LASTING MEMORIES stays with childhood games and this week the prompt is the all time kid favorite game   Candy Land.   I don't know how many times I've played this game, myself when I was little, with both of my kids and then with my grandkids.  LOVE the game.

I couldn't find any pictures of my kids or grands playing games so I went with all the different colors on the game board, I used, yellow, red, blue green, pink and a touch of both purple and orange.

Check out all this weeks details at  LASTING MEMORIES  and see what the other design team members share every day this week.

Days to Remember

I am entering this in three challenges.    "CHALLENGE YOURSELF"  and  "ANOTHER FREAKIN SCRAPPY CHALLENGE"  and   "THE PAPER GIRLS CHALLENGE"

I used the  "CHALLENGE YOURSELF"  latest sketch.    Along with using the sketch the prompt was to do a summer theme and of course be sure you are included in the picture.    I had to go back to our family summer road trip last summer.    We drove from central Missouri, through, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.   With just lots of mini sightseeing trips along the way, somedays 2 stops other days 6 stops.   We saw a lot of fun places & some out of the way out of the way oddities too.

This picture is from our one stop in the Wisconsin Dells.   The entrance to Witches Gulch was off the beaten path and on a gravel road.  We almost gave up but then saw a little entrance sign.   I'm so glad we saw it because the walk was so beautiful with the bluffs over the walkways and little running water in the creek beds being fed from the Wisconsin River.

I had this wood veneer title for awhile now and I decided it was the right layout to use it on.   I used a green ink pad that I had also used to ink edges of some of my papers, to 'dab' on the wood and give it a little green mossy look to it to go with the moss that was growing all over the bluffs we walked
through.   I did the same thing with my cut out green flower just added more ink on top of the
card stock and then used red ink on the wood veneer center I used.  And I inked the outer edges of
my background paper also.

Then to add more embellishments, I added several various patterned paper punched butterflies
as there were always butterflies flying around the bluffs and walkway so we saw Lots of them
while we walking through Witches Gulch.     Because of that this was the prompt to use
at "ANOTHER FREAKIN SCRAPPY CHALLENGE"   to use Butterflies in your work.

Challenge #108 at  "THE PAPER GIRLS CHALLENGE" is Vacation/Trip/Travel.   Pretty much
my favorite thing to scrap.   We haven't taken a road trip this year.    Which is how we usually take
our vacations.   So I went back to last years trip to make this layout.    I thought I had pretty well made all he layouts I would fro that trip but can always do another.   This was a great vacation.

Check out the details at  "ANOTHER FREAKIN SCRAPPY CHALLENGE" 
you have till the end of the month to enter.

Check out the details at  "CHALLENGE YOURSELF"  you still have until August 4th to enter.

Check out the details at  "THE PAPER GIRLS CHALLENGE" you can enter up to 3 times. I know I will.

Graduation

I just got some more graduation pictures of Mylan from her Kindergarten graduation this May.
So I had to use them all and the July 1st sketch at "STUCK ?! SKETCHES" was perfect as I
had four pictures to scrap.    Dad brought her flowers and big brother Kai looks pretty proud of
his little sister.   I've been saving this little graduation owl for awhile now and I think it goes great
on this layout.

Check out the sketch below and go to  "STUCK ?! SKETCHES"  to get all the detail.   DCWV is
the prize sponsor this month.

Chicago

Another layout made from my daughter and son-in-laws trip last weekend to meet up with friends formerly from DC with them but have now moved to Hawaii.    So they did the 6 hr drive to see them in Chicago and do some sightseeing.    From the pictures they posted on Facebook it looks like they had some great times.

For this layout I used the 2nd weeks sketch at  "LET'S GET SKETCHY"    I used papers from the Craft Smith Sea Glass collection.

Fun In Chi-Town

My daughter and son-in-law drove from their home in mid Missouri to Chicago for a long weekend visiting with old friends they had in Washington DC before they both moved.   To Missouri for my daughter and to Hawaii for their friends.   But when they were coming to the mainland for a wedding Chicago they decided to go see them again.
They have a great back story.  My daughter Leslie and Eileen met in Africa while on a 2 week trip with other college students for research.    Eileen was living in DC for work a year later and soon after that my daughter moved to DC for work so they got together again there.   Eileen rented a room in a boarding house and wanted Leslie to meet a friend of hers that she new from college in upstate NY and also had a room where she did.   They all got together and 2 weeks later Leslie and Jason were dating and then 2 years later they got married in DC and of course Eileen was a big part of the wedding since she introduced them.    So they have been friends all over the US and out of the country.    So where ever they go to be together they have a great time.

I am entering this at the "SCRAP OUR STASH" challenge blog.   with the book inspired challenge.
"Oh the Places We Will Go"   pretty well describes Leslie and that she drove 6 hours to meet an old friend for 3 days.   Along with the book title theme you needed to use 5 different patterned papers and at least one round embellishment.  I have 5 different paper patterns and 2 round flair buttons.

Check it out and get your layout in.   "SCRAP OUR STASH"

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Rangers Game

When my son sent me this picture yesterday afternoon I was so excited because just a few hours earlier I had printed out the Make It Monday Sketch #64 at   "THE MEMORY NEST"  
I knew this would be the picture I would use with the sketch.   It couldn't be anymore perfect, my handsome grandson standing in front of a star for one of the players with the Texas Rangers outside the stadium after he and his Dad went together to Kai's first professional baseball game.

The yahoo scrapping group I'm in also has a challenge this month to have  Red, White & Blue as the prominent colors on your layout.   So I just had to find the papers to use, dark blue in the background and light blue on one of the stars and then two different patterned papers in red for the other two stars.   I inked them in opposite colors of red and blue and then matted them in white card stock and also matted the picture in white.   Red thickers for the title and red candi minis on the corners and my layout was complete.

"THE MEMORY NEST"  has sketch challenges all month, the more you enter the more times your name is put in for the grand prize at the end of the month of a $25 GC from The Memory Nest.
Plus there is going to be weekly prizes too.

ROCK CLIMBING

My stepson and family went on vacation for a week to visit his inlaws in Las Vegas for a week so they posted lots of pictures of Facebook so I'll have plenty to work on to have ready to take to them next time we visit.

For these two pictures the Week 1 sketch at   "LET'S GET SKETCHY"   was perfect of them.
I really mixed up the papers and collections for this one.  I used papers and embellies from
Bo Bunny Trail Mix,   Fancy Pants Swagger  and  Echo Park Wild Life  collections.
But they all seemed to work well together.

Check out this sketch at   "LET'S GET SKETCHY"  and then every sketch they post every Monday during the month.

One More Layout of the Clydesdale Tour

I decided to make another layout with pictures from our trip to Warm Springs Ranch to see the Budweiser Clydesdale.   This one I will give to my daughter for album.     She got me started in
scrapbooking and now I make everything for her too.   She just hands over pictures.    What a
deal for us both.

I am going to enter this in the Scrappy Friends challenge as I was able to use both the This and That challenge from  ROCHELLE SPEARS BLOG  and  then the sketch at  GRAND DIVAS SCRAPPY PLACE.

Check out both blogs for the details

  "THROUGH THE EYES OF ROCHELLE SPEARS"
always has the monthly  This and That challenge.
For July it was to use  a Paper Clip or a Stick Pin.  
I glued a wood veneer camera onto a large paper clip and
clipped it to the edge of the picture.
Rochelle has a great prize of 3 sheets of Elle's Studio papers,
2 sheets of Pink Fresh papers, 2 pieces of white card stock,
Fancy Pants Puffy stickers, Flowers, Wood Veneers and Twine.

The  "GRAND DIVAS SCRAPPY PLACE"
always has a great sketch and this month
Brenda didn't disappoint with this great sketch.
Brenda is also offering a great prize for her sketch challenge and it is a $10 GC to The
Cut Shoppe

Then if you make a layout like I did and combine
both challenges you are also in the drawing for the bonus prize of a $15 GC for any online scrapping store of your choice.

Clydesdales So Much Fun

Here I am again with another layout of our trip to Warm Springs Ranch to see the Clydesdales.
We weren't there but probably 2 1/2 hours but I got tons of pictures  and we all had a blast.
These animals are so calm and friendly,  I could have stood there and petted them for hours.
Some came up to us at the fence where we drove in, see the picture bottom left.   These are the Clydesdales that have been retired from either breeding or from the hitch team.   Then there was Duke that stood there for probably 40 minutes or more while everyone on the tour took multiple pictures and patted and spoke to him.  So beautiful and regal.   I know our family took many pictures
of all of us with Duke.

I used the single page sketch at   "STICK IT DOWN"      I just had my two full size pictures were horizontal so I just switched that around and and I had this frame with fun words that described our time there so decided to use it around my journaling.   There than my alphas for the title, everything came from Cosmo Cricket Wanted collection.

Check out this sketch and the other July challenges at   "STICK IT DOWN"

Let's Scrap challenge

Here is what my desk looked like early today as I was working on the latest sketch at "LET'S SCRAP"    It's actually a little cleaner than sometimes.   Since this was a double page sketch I didn't have two layouts started at once.

Then here is my finished layout for the latest double page sketch.    We went to the Clydesdales Ranch in central Missouri over the 4th of July and I took tons of pictures and this sketch let me use a lot of them all together.    I'll probably still do one more single page, but this one covered a lot of my pictures.    I used the October Afternoon Wanted collection for this because of the muted colors but I used 2 matching star papers from Recollections for the background.  

There is also a great Summer Blog Hop going on through the 14th.   So check that out also.   The picture of your scrappy area is part of the blog hop.

Here is my layout from the July 1st sketch at   "LET'S SCRAP"   Check out all the details.