A Family Smile

I made this layout using the "SCRAP OUR STASH" May sketch and word challenge.
Create a layout using the sketch and add a stash item for each letter in the word: MOTHER

I had so much fun doing this challenge.   I first went to my closet and picked up my stack of single pages, the stack of single sheets I have bought or the one or two full page left overs from my collections.    I really put a lot of things together in this one.    Here is how I used the letters.

M = My Minds Eye - the patterned paper I cut out in a scallop shape behind my picture plus another
        M is the double Matting I did on my picture.
O = October Afternoon - the two pieced of Green floral paper behind center and right side.
T = Tim Holtz inks - I used 4 different colors plus T for Twine.
H = Heidi Swapp - the full sheet of background paper is Heidi Swaps plus I also have 2 Hearts for
       more for the letter H
E = Echo Park  - the pale green lattice paper that is in middle of layout.
R = Recollections - the heart paper flags are that paper, plus for more R I used Red ink and the color
       Red in the paper.

Here is the sketch and the link for this challenge.   Just a few more hours to enter.  Oops just updated this because I thought it said 11 hour left to enter, but it said linky closed 11 hours ago.  Oh well, I still had fun making the layout.
"SCRAP OUR STASH"

 

Summer season has begun

The whole family plus friends were together over  Memorial Day weekend and our treat on Saturday evening was a stop at Andy's Custard, a favorite of our families.   My Dad would eat ice cream/custard every day so he is always ready to go to Andy's when we are all together.

I made this layout with the idea of the summer time blog hop going on at  "USE YOUR STUFF"
There are still a few days to join in.

Big Fish !!!

I've had these pictures of my granddaughter for a couple of months but hadn't found a sketch to use with them.    But today I saw the sketch at  "ELLE'S STUDIO"    It's perfect for two pictures.  
I just had to rotate it to go with my vertical pictures.   But I think it worked fine that way.
My background paper is from Elle's - Little Moment Collection  and the center green graph paper is
from Elle's - Penelope collection.  The strip with the arrows and hearts is the tear strip from the
green paper.   I love it when I can make that extra strip work on a layout.   No waste there.

Here is the sketch and the link to  "ELLE'S STUDIO"

Sketch N Scrap Card

I'm determined this month to make all of the  May challenges at   "SKETCH-N-SCRAP"
along with the challenges for their Birthday Bash.   So far I'm keeping up.

This card was for their card sketch #98 that was revealed on the 20th.  You have till the end of the month to enter.

I like the simplicity of this card and stamped image so decided to keep my card base white and not to add a sentiment.   Just some light inking on all the edges and on top of the pale green card stock I used to the left of the image.    I did rotate the sketch to work with my image.

Here is the sketch and link to all the challenges at  "SKETCH - N - SCRAP"

Another May PL page

I had a lot of my PL page made, just a few pockets to fill, including the 4x6 top pocket.
I was just waiting till today for the new sketch to come out at  "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"   I was hoping to be able to incorporate it on this page.   It worked out perfect because I
already had the Clematis and Wisteria pictures printed for my page, so just went with more perennial pictures like my roses and then printed two other perennial flower pictures to use on my 4x6 pocket card using this weeks sketch.   It just turned out to be the perfect sketch for me this week.
Here is my complete PL page too.

Here is the sketch #72  and also the link to   "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"

Love My Big Brother

Here is my layout for the challenge at  "USE YOUR STUFF"

Challenge # 265 Bohemian Rhapsody

Now is the time to make something rich and ornamental: mix up patterns, use many colors and loads of embellishments and create a piece (card, layout, atc) with lots of visual interest. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' refers to no style but rather to the use of many different elements. Think along the lines 'more is more'.  Heap it up! Have fun!

I used a lot of different patterns (four)  and also several different colors, grey, green, yellow, blue white, black and pink.   Then I have 3 different alphas in different colors and also several different things and colors on my embellishments.   Lots of things to look at.

Here is the link to  "USE YOUR STUFF"

FYI......My all time favorite song ever is "Bohemian Rhapsody"    :)

Four Generations

I've been wanting to scrap this picture for a long time.   Today it finally went together just the way I wanted it.   I wanted an old vintage feel to it and I thought I could make the May 15th sketch at
"STUCK ?! SKETCHES"  work for it buy using doilies with the sketch.   But then I got really lucky when I started looking through a stack on single sheets of paper from individual buys or odds and ends from collections.   I really was looking for something to work for the piece behind my picture and I found this hounds tooth piece and right below it was the single sheet of this vintage look paper with the circle.  I knew I could make it work with the sketch and have it all come out.

I'm guessing I was maybe 3 in this picture which would make it 1954 and I'm with my Mom, her Dad and his Mom.   Making it 4 generations.   I'm so happy I have this picture and finally made a layout with it.   I'm pleased with them both.

Here is the sketch and the link to  "STUCK ?! SKETCHES"

"Beach Bum"

More old vacation pictures to scrap.   This is my husband (now ex) and my Dad ready to hit the beach and take on the day.     I still had out an old collection Making Memories-Great Escape on my desk from the layout I made earlier today so just used more of it for this layout.   They didn't try surfing but I thought the paper was perfect for beach pictures.

I used the May 15th sketch,  Sketch #129 at   "SKETCH N SCRAP"    for this layout.  
Click above to go to the challenge and see what the design team did and here is the sketch below.

A Beach Kind of Day

Still working on old Cancun vacation pictures I found from 1995 and having so much fun.
This layout was a total creation on my own using the prompts from two challenge blogs.   I blended them together and came up with this layout.

"LASTING MEMORIES"  challenge #334 "Use Strips of Paper (or Washi) In A Big Way"

Next the Recipe Challenge #128 at "THE PAPER GIRLS"

I have seven strips of paper 5 vertical and 2 horizontal for the prompt at  "LASTING MEMORIES"
and at "THE PAPER GIRLS"  I have the four patterned papers, 3 different ones in my stripes and my background paper,  3 wooden elements, the 2 colored inks are shown in the inking of all the edges of my papers.  I used blue ink around background paper edges and the surf board paper,   then I used green ink on the edges of the two different floral papers and also on the edges of my blue card stock mat of the pictures.   Then came the hard part.  One stamp.   I rarely, like all but never, use stamps on my layouts.   I wanted to push myself and not wimp out with just a date stamp or something that simple.   So I started looking through my stamp sets and found this sentiment that I thought worked out great to use as my title.

Here are the links for both of these great challenges.   Have fun.

"LASTING MEMORIES'

"THE PAPER GIRLS"

Love My Dad

When I saw this latest sketch #277 at  "SKETCHES IN THYME"  I knew I wanted to use it for my next layout.    But I was looking through other challenges and decided to combine it with the challenge at "COLORFUL CREATIONS"     I could combine this great single picture sketch with the challenge of What Inspires You.   Easy peasy for me.  That is my Dad and always has been.   Dad will be 94 years old next month and lives on his own, just last summer when he was diagnosed with cancer did he stop doing his own lawn mowing.  But other than that he cooks all his own meals and still maintains the house he has lived in for 65 years now.    We have taken lots of road trips and other vacations together over the years plus he is an awesome grandfather and great-grandfather so it is rare that he is not included in the layouts I make.  He is my inspiration in scrapping my memories and in life itself.

Here is the sketch and link to  "SKETCHES IN THYME"

And here is the link to the challenge at   "COLORFUL CREATIONS"

Mothers Day PL page

Here is my latest PL page.  Mostly about Mothers Day.   But then it's me, so that means there are food pictures too.   Our dinner Monday night and we had our main meal at noon today.   Taco Tuesday.
So with that picture and a little journaling I could finish this one PL page.
For my Mothers day card on my page I used the latest sketch at "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"   It's sketch #70.   I just had to rotate it to work for my pockets.   Here is the full PL page
and the sketch and link to  "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"

Elle by the Week

I'm having so much fun making the layouts out of the weekly "birthday" pictures my daughter posts on their baby Elle.     She posts each weekly picture to Facebook and then also writes a paragraph about the week as if Elle is telling the weeks story.   I  LOVE it.   So I decided to share here on my blog how I am documenting those pictures.   I started off by doing a double page when I decided to make the layouts so that is how I am continuing.    You will see that as my last page is waiting for the next 3 weeks of pictures.   Week #16 will be this Thursday.    I really look forward to Thursdays now.

Here are my layouts so far.   Week 1 through 5

Week 6 through 12

Week 13 through 15 and then the page where the next 3 weeks will go.

Then a couple of pages of the baby photo album I bought and this is where  I'm keeping the weekly pictures plus retyping what the Facebook post is each week.    The album is big enough also after all the weekly pictures will go in.  I started doing the monthly pictures.    They will continue the weekly pics on the nursery area rug with the stuffed chimps and the monthly pictures are all being taken "sitting" in the chair in the nursery.    This way they can also see how she grows week to week and month to month.     I had bought this stickers while my daughter was pregnant to use in monthly pictures, but since they got an app to write on the actual pictures each month, she gave the stickers back to me to use on layouts.   Worked out great for this.

You might have picked up that I'm a bit crazy about my newest grand-daughter,  my son's 2 kids are in Texas so don't get to see them nearly enough plus they will be 9 and 11 this year.   Elle is just 2 hours away and I was in the delivery room with her Mom and Dad when she was born so that just bonded us a little more.  Mom had to go back to work after 3 months so I babysat Elle the first two days of work Thursday and Friday before they started her in daycare that Monday.   It made the adjustment for Mom a bit easier knowing that I was with her the first couple of days of her away.

Easter 2017

First trip to see the Easter Bunny.   Elle doesn't look to thrilled.   I think she could have cared less.
Mom and Dad had to be in the picture, for safety sake, they said she was  to young for the Easter
Bunny to hold.   LOL

This is my layout using the newest challenge sketch at   "THE MEMORY NEST"       I used papers from the DCWV - Watercolorist stack.    I think it worked out great for easter colors.   I combined a couple of different alpha and numbers from Thickers for my title - Easter 2017.    Then I just hit up
my stash of handmade Easter ATC's and such that I have been hoarding from different swaps I've been in over the years.    I think the combo of the three, with the different colors worked well together.

Here is the link to "THE MEMORY NEST"  and the sketch.   Hope to see a lot of entries with this sketch, so many different ways you can go with it.

May week 2 PL page

This is the PL card I made for this weeks page.   It seems the majority of this weeks page was about what all we had to eat so I thought this design for my card was perfect.     I used Sketch #70 at
"SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE"   At  first glance this week I wasn't sure if or how I would use it but I'm sure glad I gave it a try because I really like the outcome.

Here is the sketch and the link to  "SKETCHES IN THYME PL STYLE" and then my full PL page.

2017 Soccer Team

I have been shuffling these papers and this picture for a month on my desk.   Finally I scrapped it.

I used the NSD challenge at  "LET'S SCRAP"    It was a tic-tac-toe challenge.     I chose the diagonal.
Banner - where I have my title    The color Gold - my gold star washi tape that I used to make a photo frame and 2 different patterned papers.   My soccer ball paper and my grass paper.   You might not be able to tell well in the picture but I cut little slices at the top of my grass paper to make it look even more like blades of grass.

Here is the link to "LET'S SCRAP"  and the tic-tac-toe board.   You have thru the 20th to enter.

Sketch - N- Scrap card

Today seems to be card making day for me.    I made this thinking of me card using the card sketch #97 at  "SKETCH - N - SCRAP"    I LOVED the look of it with the scalloped edge on the strip of paper, so I got out one of my favorite border punches and made this card.   The floral paper was from a stack of DCWV Tahiti beach 5x7 stack.   I think I've used only 2 other pieces of that stack in the last several years, not sure why I bought it, but I loved this pattern and went great for my card, since I had already pulled out the blue flower.    I stamped the sentiment on plain white paper, matted it in the same yellow background paper after inking the edges and then little putting blue ink all over the white.  Usually this is when I make a big mess and don't like the outcome but this time I didn't over do it on the ink.

Here is the sketch and the link to  "SKETCH-N-SCRAP" 

CAS(E) card

Got up and had my coffee, started my laundry ( a lot to do today) and then I was ready to scrap
with the card from today Sketch #221 at  "CAS(E) THIS SKETCH"
Easy clean and fun way to start my scapping today.

Here is the sketch so you can join in the fun at  "CAS(E) THIS SKETCH"

Explore KC

While I had out all of my  Elle's Studio collections I thought I would make one more challenge for
the NSD challenges at Elle's.    This is my take on challenge #10 - to create with an embellished grid.

My background paper is from Elle's I'm really not sure what collection, it was a single sheet left.
My four strips of paper for small bits of journaling, above and below my grid are from 3 different Elle's collections,   Little Moments, Let's Eat and Sycamore Lane.  They all worked great to tell more of the story of the pictures in my layout.  

Here is the link to the NSD challenges at "ELLE'S STUDIO"

2 Days of Music

My son and his girlfriend went to the 2 days Off The Rails concert this last weekend and shared these selfies they took on Facebook.   So I thought it would be fun to make a layout for them.

I will enter it at "ELLE'S STUDIO"  for challenge #1  for their NSD challenges.   Challenge #1
was to used mixed media on your challenge and to be sure and use at least 2 of Elle's products.
All my paper, 5 different patterns are all from the Elle's Studio - Everyday Moments collection.
For my mixed media I used water color for the green streaks across the background paper just to give the grey word paper  a little color.

Here is the link to the NSD challenges.  You have until Midnight (PST) on Friday May 12th to enter the challenges at   "ELLE'S STUDIO"

Have a sweet birthday

I've been hoarding my last paper pieced ice cream cone for a few years now.   But when I saw
challenge #343 at  "THE PAPER PLAYERS"  I knew it was time to use it and make another card.

The challenge is .................

Here is the link to the challenge at  "THE PAPER PLAYERS"  You have until none (PST) on
May 12th to enter.

Cancun 1995

While visiting my Dad a couple of weeks ago I went through a few of his pictures and found some from a family vacation we all took back in 1995 to Cancun.    It was my Mom and Dad, my hubby and I and our two kids and one friend of our sons.       So I'm enjoying making layouts of this  trip so long ago.     I'm entering this layout at "SCRAP CHALLENGE YOURSELF".     Challenge #41 is called Spring Break and is a mood board challenge.   You just have to be sure and include a picture of yourself on the layout.     The top picture is me with my husband and daughter (who is now a Mom herself) time flies.     I was inspired by the beach theme in the pictures and all the shade of blue, plus the color palette under the star fish picture, so I have some golds and yellows in my layout.
Here is the mood board and this is the link to the challenge #41 at   CHALLENGE YOURSELF"   You have until June 4th to enter.

Dylan

Sorry about the crooked picture,  I think I must be getting tired, took 3 pictures and they were all at an angle.     I kept this picture simple because I just wanted to showcase this cute picture of our granddaughter Dylan,   her Mom always gets the best pictures of the girls.

I am entering this layout at   "ELLE'S STUDIO"  NSD  Challenge #2 - Decorate on a Diagonal.
You also had to use at least two Elle's products.   I used all papers from the Shine collection.   The colors were perfect for the picture.   I even used one of the tear strips on one of the pieces.   That is my diagonal blue strip on the layout.   I used 2 small flowers and one glittery one on the diagonal to qualify for this challenge.

Here is the link to   "ELLE'S STUDIO"   NSD fun you have till Midnight (PST) Friday  May 12th to enter any of the challenges.

Wonderful Dad card

I made this card today for one of the NSD challenges at  "ELLE'S STUDIO"
It's challenge #3 to create a card for Mom or Dad.    I've made all my Mothers day cards for this year already and it's a little early for a Fathers day card so I think I'll just send this card to my Dad, just because I think he does deserve the Wonderful Dad award.   He will be 94 next month and I'm sure a surprise card in the mail would be nice to get when he isn't expecting anything.

I used 3 pieces of patterned paper from Elle's Studio Thankful collection.   This just leaves me 2 1/2 sheets of paper left in the collection.   It's been a great collection to use.

Here is the link to the NSD challenges at   "ELLE'S STUDIO"

Now thats a Burger

This layout should really be called "Eat and Scrap"   Arthur grilled hamburgers for us for lunch today as tonight its left over smoked chicken from last night.     I had a simple cheeseburger with pickles but he created a mega burger.    I told him I had to take pictures before he started eating because I knew I was going to come in and make a layout.    I had in mind one of the challenges  at
"ELLE'S STUDIO"  for NSD.   Challenge #7 was to document a favorite food and be sure you use at least two of Elle's Studio products    I got all my papers from Elle's  Let's Eat collection  and also the journal card that I cut into a banner.   Only alphas and wood veneers aren't from Elle's.

Next I had to look for a sketch challenge I might be able to use with my pictures.   Per my usual scrapping mind while taking pictures I took both vertical and horizontal pictures not knowing what might be needed.    Does anyone else do that?       Well I found the perfect sketch to use two
pictures with the May 1st sketch at   "LET'S GET SKETCHY"   I thought it would show off my pictures just great and I could journal on one of the banners.

In case you can't read my journaling,  He started with his burger and added blue cheese crumbles to melt before he took it off the grill, then he added a slice of a fresh tomato,  some Vidalia onions that
he grilled also and a single piece of bacon.   But that is not all, while the burgers were cooking he asked me if I would slice off some of the meat from one of BBQ ribs we had left from Friday nights dinner.   That is what you see on top.   Of course for him he always has to have a pretzel bun for his burgers and then he found an unopened jar of maple-onion-bacon jam that he thought he would try as his condiment.    He loved it so that is all that matters.  I like my plain cheeseburger with ketchup and pickles and a regular white bun too.   So we were both happy.

Here is the sketch.   The links work above for the challenges.