1st Set of Wheels

Happy Halloween!  Just a quick post for you this morning of a layout I worked on last night.

I'm entering the layout in the October sketch challenge at The Scrap Room.  I used Simple Stories Happy Days papers and embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by and have a safe Halloween!

Young Crafters Unite #3

Hi there.  I'm participating in the challenge at Young Crafters Unite to create a masculine card.  I think one of the simplest ways to adapt a card from feminine to masculine is to change up the color scheme.  With that in mind, I decided to use stamps to create a background.

Using Dot Spots from Papertrey Ink and navy, hunter green and dark red ink, I created a few different patterns.  The sentiments are embossed on a little snip of banner.

I was having so much fun with the patterns, I decided to go ahead and make four cards for a variety of occasions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pumpkin Patch

Hello and Happy Saturday to you!  Ahhhhh.......today is a perfect autumn day in Central Illinois.  It's in the 60's, the sun is shining brightly, there's a little breeze, the squirrels are running around, leaves are falling and I just made a pan of Rice Krispies Treats. I did take a little time to work on a layout for a sketch contest at Page Maps.  The contest ends tomorrow so check it out while you still have time to enter.  Here's the sketch: 

And here's my layout.

As soon as I saw the layout, I knew it would be perfect for a few pics I took at Eckert's Orchard. 

Thanks for looking! 

Page Maps

Hi and happy Sunday afternoon!  I thought I'd whip up a card using the leftovers from the page I worked on yesterday.  I love the patterned papers so much I couldn't put them away! 

I used a sketch from Becky Fleck at Page Maps.  She has a variety of sketches for both cards and one and two page layouts so be sure to check it out.  The sketch is from World Cardmaking Day (I know, I'm a little behind the times!) but it was perfect for cutting a few hearts out of the patterned paper.  And the buttons....ahhhh.....the perfect finishing touch!

 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sugar & Spice

Hello....and welcome back!  What has everyone been up to this weekend?  I've been doing a little house cleaning and switching out my summer wardrobe for the long-sleeved shirts and fuzzy sweaters of fall.  Of course, I had to take a little crafty break in between all this work!

I'm still digging through pics from my childhood and thought this pic was perfect to use with Jillibean Soups Dutch Mustard collection.  I fell in love with the patterned papers the first second I saw them. 

This layout is for the challenge at Apron Strings to use a journal card (the grow tag and side bracket), metal (the stick pin) and patterned paper with the design cut out (heart banner).

Thanks for spending a little bit of your day with me!

 

Roller Girl

Hi ya!  I worked on a layout last night for Apron Strings.  The challenge was to use ribbon, naked chipboard and rhinestones.

The pics are of the family party for my 9th Birthday.  The cake for this year was a roller skate (it was the 70's, what can I say, lol!).  I used Apron Strings August 2011 kit with papers from Jillibean Soup (LOVE Jillibean).  The far left photo is mounted on a mini file folder. 

As for the challenge, I wrapped ribbon around the photo block and placed a few rhinestones in the center of my chipboard stars.  Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Thanksgiving 2009

This last layout for the week at Apron Strings was to add pen detailing to the layout. 

I used the December 2010 Apron Strings kit with papers from Cosmo Cricket's Togetherness line for this picture of Abby at MaMa Shari's house for Thanksgiving.  Abby had just turned one year old earlier in the month.

I was going for the home-spun country feel, so I pen stitched around the squares kinda like a hand-made quilt.  I also added a black pen line around the edge of the page.

Two

For Tuesday's challenge at Apron Strings  we were to layer, overlap and group at least 3 flat elements.  I used some older SEI papers and embellishments.  I was having a little trouble getting a clear photo of the layout but I think it's because the original photos are on shiny photo paper. 

   

Put On Your Dancing Shoes

Welcome to the Weekend!  I've had a pretty lazy day here.  I woke up with a terrible headache so it took a little while to get my day started.  Love autumn, dislike the pollen in the air.  Oh well, whatcha gonna do? 

I realized I never posted the layouts from Apron Strings from Monday and Tuesday.  Monday's challenge was to create a pseudo-scalloped border using at least 3 different patterned papers and top the straight edge with ribbon. 

I dug into my SEI kits from last year and used a couple pics from my first dance recital. 

Young Crafters Unite #2

Happy Monday!  I love 3 day weekends.....time to catch up on household chores, time to relax, time to cheer on the Cardinals and time to start a new project.  I also dabbled in a little stamping this afternoon.  In July, I ordered a button stamp set from The Scraproom but never inked them up until today. 

There are 13 little buttons to choose from.  I decided to use seven different buttons and stamp each in a different color ink.  To finish it off, I tied each button with coordinating bakers twine.

The challenge this month at Young Crafters Unite is to make a card and matching envelope.  Since I send most of my cards through the mail, I wanted to keep it simple and flat. 

Thanks for looking!

Trick or Treat

  OK, so I thought I was scrapped out for the day but it appears I had one more layout in me. 

Challenge #5 from Apron Strings is to layer at least three different elements (combo of ribbon, pre-cut border and trimmed pattern paper) to create a border around the outside of the page or around a focal-photo. 

 

I used Bo Bunny Whoo-ligan papers for this grade school Halloween costume.  Not sure which grade so there's still journaling to add.  All other elements are from my stash.  The little round Trick or Treat embellie is popped up on the die cut and the die cut is partially tucked under the chipboard frame.  The die cut is also layered over the orange ribbon.   

 

B*Day Bash

Challenge #4, select an Apron Strings kit (if you don't have a kit, collect your goodies from your stash) that includes embellishments that have a few flat pieces and a few dimensional pieces - a good pattern on a paper will work as well (flowers, circles, squares, characters - for hand-cut work). Make a simple grouping or border and pop up a couple of the elements.

Ugh.....I struggled with this one.  I started out with 5 pics and a two page layout.  Ended up with one page and two pics.  Sigh.

I used my last 2009 kit.  The papers are Doodlebug Designs.  I created the body of the balloon from a chipboard circle covered with patterned paper.  I covered a chipboard birds wing in patterned paper to form the tied off end of the balloon and tied it together with hot pink twine.  The balloon has a popped up paper flower, cardstock flower and gem layered on top for dimension.  

That's All Folks!

  

PaPa Leo

So far I've been pretty focused on getting the happy moments scrapped; Birthdays, Weddings, Vacations, etc.  While I'm still busy working my way through a pile of childhood pics, I'm also trying to add in a few pages about the rest of my life.  The foundation of what (or who) makes me, me.  The simple things, the everyday things, the basics.  This is one of the foundation layouts.      

This layout is also for Challenge #3 at Apron Strings.  I used My Little Shoebox's Home Tweet Home papers.  The Challenge: Start by grabbing an Apron Strings kit with at least five embellishments in it - Smaller kits will have this amount, Bigger kits will give you more choices. (If you're not using kits, collect from your stash as necessary.) Create a nice little layered grouping of three or more embellishments.  The journal tag is layered with chipboard pieces (the bird and tree limb) that were colored with copics and leaf brads. 

Up All Night

Challenge #2 is:  Using an Apron Strings kits, find one with ribbon and buttons (if you don't have an Apron Strings kit, draw from your stash), use the ribbon and buttons in a new way for you.  

I'm still working on pictures from my childhood and am currently focused on Birthday's.  For this layout, I used the July 2011 kit with Fancy Pants Beach Babe papers.  I used two polka dotted ribbons and created a ribbon frame around one photo on each page.  Then, I tied one button with twine and placed it in the center of a flower and used a few more buttons for the corners of my ribbon frame.

Just Me & My Dog

Hello and Welcome!  Talk about waiting till the last minute.......I have four layouts to post before the entry deadline at http://www.apronstringsdesigns.blogspot.com/.

Challenge #1 is to dig out an Apron Strings kit (if you don't have a kit, go dig out some papers from your stash that meet the challenge) that has green, rust and a touch of gold, a leaf pattern in the papers or, if you're lucky, both.

I found a few scraps of Cosmo Cricket's Mr Campy papers that fit the color and leaf criteria.  The papers were left over from a previous layout so I didn't have a lot to work with, but I think it turned out OK.  I also used October Afternoon Mini Market alphas, a journaling sprout from Jillibean Soup and a die cut from My Mind's Eye. 

Fall Birthday Cards

Hey folks, have you been enjoying this beautiful weekend?  The sun, the temps, a little breeze and all the signs of fall.  It just makes me happy.  Winter....not so much.  Which is probably why I was having a difficult time getting started on the October Christmas cards.  My great plan was to knock those out this weekend so I could have the rest of the month to work on other things.  Now it's late Sunday afternoon and I'm still not in the Christmas mood.  Oh well, I'll get to them sometime.

I did work on a few birthday cards that I can use for the next few months.  They're fall-ish, but still perky. 

Here's a close up. 

 
I spent yesterday afternoon at Eckert's Orchard and took lots of pumpkin pics.  Can't wait to go through them and make a couple layouts!