Floating Along

It's Terrific Tuesday!  Well, not really, but Tuesday does kinda get a bad wrap so I need to do something to liven it up! 

In addition to the stamps I was experimenting with this weekend, I finished this layout.

It was a quick snapshot of Emma's first summer in the pool.  She has a really cool floaty thing that has a shade over it to protect her from the sun.  Love the colors.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Hello Friend

Wow, Sunday night already.  The weekend has flown by, but I did find a little crafty time to participate in Papertrey Ink's blog hop today.  



{photo credit}

I found inspiration in the colors, of course, but I really like the design and corners.  Here's the result. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Cardstock and Gems from stash

Ink:  Charcoal, Hawaiian Shores, Hibiscus Burst, Melon Berry, Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink);Tuxedo (Momento)

Stamps:  Faux Ribbon, Think Big Favorites #3 (Papertrey Ink)

Mothers Make the World Go Round

Whew!  What a busy week.  Lots going on and none of it crafty.....but that's OK, I'm making up for it this weekend.  I need to make a couple of birthday cards and I have a few layouts in mind, but I really want to break out the stamps and see what I can create.  Before I dive into the ink, I whipped up this one page layout using a school picture of my Mom from her childhood.  The picture isn't dated so I'm not sure when it was taken. 

I used October Afternoon papers for a little homespun feel along with a few layered Prima flowers.

OK, now it's time to get inky! 

Summer 2010

Here's the final layout for this week's sketch challenge.  The challenge is to rotate the right side 90 degrees to the left. 

I used Social Club patterned papers from Cosmo Cricket from the June 2011 Apron Strings kit.  The tickets are from Tim Holtz, the journaling circle is Jenni Bowlin and the alpha's are October Afternoon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Beautiful

It's me again.  I have two posts for today to finish this weeks sketch challenge at Apron Strings.  Challenge #11 for Thursday is to use the weekly sketch and flip the left side upside down and use the title space for a photo. 

These pics were taken during a visit to my brother's home in Hawaii.  I used Echo Park's Splash patterned papers.  

 The little alpha's riding the wave on the left page are October Afternoon. I have their Mini Market letter sheets in a couple colors and love them. Each sheet has tons of multiple letters and also includes numbers.

One more post and then I'm inking up a few stamps to work on a few more birthday cards!

Yum!

Hello everyone, are you enjoying the weekend.  I love the fall weather....it just makes me happy!

I'm a few days behind on the sketch challenge at Apron Strings so this is challenge #10 from Wednesday.  The challenge is to use the weekly sketch and add two more photos.  I used Echo Park's Summer Days from the June 2011 kit.

My entire family LOVES ice cream.  Me, not so much.  So when my Mom and Dad came up for a few days in July, I had to take them to this diner I found that serves custard.  Lemon.  Very difficult to find and their favorite flavor.  It was a hit, hence the title of the layout.

Well, off to finish up layouts for the rest of the week.   

September Christmas Cards

Hi!  I'm stopping in today to share the Christmas cards I worked on this week.  I'm very glad I decided way back in February to make 4 Christmas cards each month instead of the 2 per month I did last year.  I have a couple that I'm not real crazy about and now I'll have a few extras. 

I used Bo Bunny's Midnight Frost patterned papers and Papertrey Ink cardstock, stamps and ink.  The little embellishment on each card is layered with a Lacy Circles die by Spellbinders, a Limitless Layers die by Papertrey Ink and a 1 3/4 circle punch.  I just cut all the pieces out and mixed and matched till I was happy with the combinations.  Four cards in about 30 minutes. 

Now, I'm off to work on a layout for the sketch challenge.   Hope to see ya back here soon!

  

Brown Eyed Girl

Welcome to Wednesday!  Not a lot going on here today, been busy catching up on a lot of little things that need to get done rather than working on things I want to do.  Making up for procrastination. 

I do have a layout for you today based on the weekly sketch at Apron Strings.  Today's challenge is to flip the sketch completely upside down. 

I used the July 2011 kit with Jenni Bowlin Be Our Guest papers.  The alphas are Basic Grey and the die cut scalloped circle is Little Yellow Bicycle. 

Big Grin

Good Tuesday Afternoon!  I've been a busy little bee the past couple days working on layouts and cards so there will be a few extra posts this week in addition to the sketch challenge layouts for Apron Strings. 

But first, have you checked out the Papertrey Ink posts this week for their September release.  OMGoodness!!  Gorgeous!!  September and October are the months they release their holiday products so customers have plenty of time to make their purchases and work on holiday projects.  Fourteen years ago, I started out as a card maker and eventually morphed into a scrapbooker, but I was never a stamper.  I stalked (but in a good way!) their website and design team blogs for about eight months before I placed my first order.  I am so glad I decided to go for it.  I have not regretted a single penny spent on their products.  If you get a chance, go to their website, www.papertreyink.com and scroll down to the bottom for Nicole's blog to see all the design team creations.  It's inspiration overload!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.  Each Monday in September, a sketch is posted at Apron Strings Designs Blog and a new challenge is issued each weekday based on the sketch.  This week's sketch is below and the challenge for Monday is to use it straight up, as is.

After last weeks sketch using 6 photos, I was hoping this weeks sketch would have a few less.  I just don't take multiple pics (or enough printable pics!)  so these layouts have been a little more of a challenge than they were probably intended.  So here's my take on the original sketch.

I used the May 2011 kit using Five and Dime papers from October Afternoon and I dug into the childhood photos again.  Here's the left side: 

And the right side:

Thanks for stopping by.

       

All Is Merry and Bright

TGIF!  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready to get this weekend started.  I'm heading out of town tomorrow morning and plan to totally enjoy the weekend.  My birthday (I'm not saying the number out loud as I'm still in a bit of denial.......haha!) is Monday so there are a few celebration plans to enjoy. 

I wanted to get this final layout for this weeks challenge at Apron Strings posted before I head out.  The challenge is to use only one side of the sketch to make a single page layout.  I chose to use the left page side of the sketch for these cute pics of Emma Kay from last Christmas . 

I used The Merry Days of Christmas papers and die cuts from My Mind's Eye that were in my goody bag from participating in the Apron Strings July challenge.

Enjoy the weekend and check back next week for a new sketch and my monthly Christmas cards for September.

Got Pumpkins?

I just have to say before I show you this layout, this is one of my very favorite layouts I've ever made.  Love the colors, love the pics, love the colors.....you get the idea.  This is the layout for today's challenge at Apron Strings.  The challenge is to use the weekly sketch and replace at least 2 smaller photos for a larger one.  I used the same number of photos, but enlarged three of them from the provided sketch size.  After I had everything glued down, I realized the challenge may have meant to have one photo take the place of two photos.  Oops.  Hope this still counts!

I used pictures from a visit to Eckert's Orchard last fall along with Boo To You papers by My Mind's Eye.  The orange polka dot paper is by Reminisce.   And here's each individual page.

Finishing this layout got me thinking about favorite color combinations.  My go-to combo is definitely orange and blue, but if I'm using three colors it's orange, green and black.  Although black, red and bright blue is a close second.  Layouts or cards using those color combos just come together so quickly for me.  Do you have a favorite color combo you turn to time and again?

Till next time...

Fort Massac

Hi again.....just stopping by to post the next addition to the 4 Sketches, 20 Days Challenge at Apron Strings.  The challenge this time is to use the weekly sketch that was introduced Monday, but rotate one half of the layout either 90 or 180 degrees.  I flipped and turned and came up with this ......

Not my favorite, but I think that has more to do with the colors of the papers than anything else.  They're really cute, but just aren't working for me.  The papers are My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary with yellow Bazzill die cut cardstock thrown in to lighten it up. 

Here's a close up of each page.

I have one more post for today and it's one of my favorites!

Fall Colors

Wow, this short work week is flying!  I could get used to four day weeks, couldn't you! 
Here's the layout I completed for the challenge at Apron Strings Designs.  We were to use the sketch that was introduced on Monday, but re-orient two photos - if they're shown as horizontal, make them vertical or vise-versa, otherwise keep the look of the sketch.

Fall is my absolute favorite season and these are a few pics I snapped last year when the colors were changing and the leaves were falling.  I used papers from Imaginisce's Apple Cider line and some older papers I found from Flair Designs Autumn Splendor along with a few die tags from Pink Paislee. 

I didn't have as many photos as the sketch called for, so I trimmed a piece of patterned paper to the corresponding photo size and added another piece of patterned paper with fall trees across the middle.
 

Thanks for checking in with me and I hope to see ya back here soon!

50th Anniversary

I seem to be on an Anniversary kick with layouts this week.  This layout is for Apron Strings 4 Sketches, 20 Days Challenge.  Here's the sketch for this week.

 

And the challenge for Monday is use the sketch just the way it is, no alterations.  Yikes!  Here's my interpretation.

 

The pictures were taken at my Aunt and Uncles 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration last summer.  I used Socialite papers from Bella Blvd and a couple sheets of paper from My Minds Eye that I couldn't find the name of. 

 

Thanks for stopping by and check out the challenge at Apron Strings if you're up for a challenge.  See ya back here soon.

44th Anniversary

Well, the long weekend is almost over.  I'm just savoring the last few hours of cool breezes and sunshine.  The weather was AMAZING yesterday and today.  It was 106 and miserable just this past Thursday and today it's sunny and in the low 70's!  Talk about a turn around.  Now it feels like fall is just around the corner.  I know Mother Nature is just teasing me and we'll have one last heat wave before it starts cooling down for good, but I Can Not Wait!!

I did sit down for a few hours this morning to finish up a few odds and ends I've been working on. 

This single page layout uses papers from Stella and Rose by My Mind's Eye.  The colors and patterns in the collection are GORGEOUS!  The pic is one I snapped last year on my parents 44th Anniversary. 

I'm also entering this layout in the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  Thanks for stopping by!

Flowers and Swirls

Hello again, are you enjoying this holiday weekend?  I was super successful on my shoe shopping trip yesterday and have been playing around with a few stamps today.  September is a huge birthday month for me as far as sending out cards.  Just next week alone, I have four family/friends with birthdays. 


Before I get started on the birthday cards, I wanted to show a little love to this Flowers and Swirls stamp by Hero Arts so I whipped up this bright little number for the Young Crafters Unite Challenge.  Be sure to check out the full details of the challenge at  http://youngcraftersunite.com/. 

Isn't it cheerful! 

The card base is Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the flowers are colored with a combination of Prismacolors and EK Success colored pencils.  To finish it off, I used a black pen to create the frame.  Thanks for stopping by to check it out!  

The Last Road Trip

Hi, it's me again.  Here to provide a little look into my crafty world.  For the month of September I'm participating in a month long challenge series on Apron Strings Designs blog called 4 Sketches, 20 Days.   

For day #2, it's time to start seeing the versatility in sketches. This sketch is great because it uses 4x6 photos; uncropped means fast. Today, replace at least one 4x6 photo with two 2x3's. Still fast, and you get more photos to the page.

And here's what I came up with....

I used Ellie's Tale papers from Sassafras from Apron Strings May 2011 kit.  In my previous life (prior to May 2010) I did a ton of traveling for my job.  I was usually on the road 3 days each week, with longer trips thrown in every 3 months or so.  Before the company was sold, my final trip was to Chicago and Minneapolis and these are a few pics from there.

 

Using the sketch for this layout went super fast.  I think the layout for day 1 took about an hour and this one came together in 20 minutes!  Here's a helpful hint: When you're working on the first layout for the sketch, write down the paper dimensions for each layer so you don't have to figure them out new each time....it was a super time saver!

  Yes, the bottom far left pic is Chicago, in May. Foggy. There's also a picture of the Sears Tower (oops, I mean the Willis Tower.....whatever, it'll always be the Sears Tower even though Sears moved to the burbs).   

 

Thanks for stopping by, now go enjoy the 3 day weekend!

Headed 2 Florida

Happy Holiday Weekend!  Don't you just LOVE three day weekends?  I have a couple posts to add today and then I'm headed out for some shoe shopping.  So, without further ado.......

Lori at Apron Strings Designs has started a new month long challenge for September called 4 sketches, 20 days.  Here's how it works, each week she posts a sketch. Each day will be a suggestion on how to reuse the same sketch.  By the end of the month, you'll have, hopefully, 20 pages. . .plus two.

Here's the first sketch, from PageMaps. All layouts will be due Saturday evenings. Weekly awards will be given, as well as one at the end of the month.

So, I'm a little leery about this challenge  I've used sketches before, just not so literally.  I usually use the basic layout, just not all the layers/photos/embellishments that are included.....basically, I make it work for me and what I have on hand.  The first layout took FOREVER!!  I was quite grumpy at the end, haha!  I had a little talk with myself before I started the second layout......an attitude adjustment you could say, and it went much smoother. 

I used The Treehouse Collection from Peebles that was in Apron Strings June 2010 kit.  The pictures were taken last October.  Four snowbirds heading to Florida for the winter.  Notice the little bird over the title?  Very appropriate!

Thanks for stopping by to see me!