Sometimes its just BLAH!

I have three more challenges (well 2 after this one) to do and they are the three that I liked the least for the crop! I was originally excited about this one because I knew I had these photos of the ocean we took last year when Hurricane Earl was passing through, but once I started working on it, it just wasn't going anywhere. The problem came in with the restraints that I had for this challenge. We were to use the below advertisement as inspiration and had to maintain the four small pictures down the side, one large photo and a lot of journaling. It didn't leave me much creativity once I accomplished all the "requirements". But---its another layout done and a memory captured and I suppose at the end of the day, that's all that's really important anyway.

Scraplift Challenge

Still plugging along at the challenges! Three done so far and its only 1pm. I have to pick the kids up at 2:30 and I'm pretty sure that my momentum will screech to a grinding halt at that point so I'm very glad I've gotten this much done already this morning. I think I only have 3 or 4 more to go to achieve my goal of completing EVERY challenge! AND I think I will complete the Scavenger Hunt. The only one that's got my a little weary is the double page layout. I used to do nothing but double pagers but the last couple years I've sort of shyed away from them. We'll see...

Anyway, this layout was done for Challenge #....I don't remember! But its a scraplift challenge. Since the original page that I lifted is not mine I am not comfortable posting it here but if you would like to see it, please check it out HERE in the ACOT gallery.

I LOVE MONDAYS!

Ok, I really don't love Mondays but I *DO* love this Monday! I took today and tomorrow off from work with no plans to do anything but scrapbook! I do have to run to the doctor to drop off a form but other than that, its ME time! I'm working on the rest of the challenges that I haven't finished from the weekend crop at ACOT. The above layout is for a challenge to create a layout based on the below image. 

 I pulled the grid-style and the pastel colors. The photos are just a couple random snapshots of my mom and they warm my heart. I'm missing her very much today. I also got another item checked off the Scavenger Hunt - use a handmade embellishment. I made the little fan in the bottom left square by pleating a paper doily and adding a pearl brad.

Let's Try This Again!

As I was getting ready to upload my page to ACOT I had to check to see what Challenge number this page was for. And its a good thing I did because I clearly did not follow instructions on the first try! The challenge is as follows:

1. Use White Background

2. Use Black/Grey

3. Use one other color.

4. Stitch or doodle around your photo.

5. Use a quote.

As you can see from the first try in the post below, I chose to ignore the last two requirements!! Once I noticed this I revamped the layout a little. I actually like this version better as I wasn't crazy about the titling on the first one! And the other good thing is while I was digging through bins for the Love Quote booklet I KNEW I had, I found a gift card to ACOT worth $5 that I have NO IDEA how old it is! I hope it didn't expire!

You Color My World

This is a fairly simple layout but I like it! The challenge was to use a white background, black or grey and ONE other accent color. The photo was taken last year when we were in Antigua. The picture is black and white except for the bright pink flowers. That's what I took my inspiration from. I also checked off another Scavenger Hunt item...to use something by BoBunny. The pink strip to the right of the black pp is BoBunny as is the chipboard flower at the edge of the ric rack and the chipboard tag at the bottom is also BoBunny but I covered it with a pink flower to match the others.

Heritage Challenge

One of the challenges for the ACOT crop is to use a photo at least 10 years old to create a "heritage" layout. The layout must also have metal (I used metal buttons and tiny metal flowers) and lace. Not long after my mom passed away my Uncle Tom posted this picture on Facebook. Its my sister, mom. dad and I at my Aunt Patty & Uncle Tom's wedding in 1984. How about that 80's hair!!! (I am the one in the middle). I also checked off a few more Scavenger Hunt items with this one....3 different colored flowers and 4 buttons.

Authentic Cuisine

Another crop challenge here! (And a few more items checked off the Scavenger Hunt). This was a recipe challenge - of sorts. Using the word SPRING you had to use something that starts with each letter in the word SPRING. Susie and Alisa were at a cheerleading competition and my friend, Yayoi - Alisa's mom, invited Matt and I to come over for dinner. She is Japanese and makes the BEST chicken Teriyaki I have ever had! I finally got a chance to scrap the photos! My recipe is as follows:

S - Stickers

P - Patterned Paper

R - Ribbon

I - Ink

N - Non Traditional Scrappy Supply (Chopsticks)

G - Green

ACOT Crop Challenge #5

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This challenge was to take inspiration from a music CD cover by Blink 182. I loved the colors and the design so I did a direct lift of the cover!! Here is the original CD cover:

I also checked off a few things on the Scavenger Hunt -

1. Use ink or paint

2. Use bling

3. No patterned papers

4. Altered Chipboard (I painted the chip blocks under the title)

5. Use 7 brads (I used 6 on a prior layout so the swirl brad on this one made 7).

What a fun layout this was! The worst was waiting for the paint to dry!!!

Scrapping ALL Weekend!

This weekend is the February Crop at A Cherry On Top, my scrapbooking home! The next several posts will probably be layouts and projects done for crop challenges. I'm also trying to get some mileage and participate in various other online challenges. For this layout I have THREE!

The first is Crop Challenge #1 at ACOT. You had to use a line from a song as your title. My song is "Never Say Never" by Justin Bieber. The timing couldn't have been better....my daughter, who has a serious case of Bieber Fever, went to see the JB movie last night and came home with these purple 3D glasses! She was pretty excited because she got the purple ones with Justin's name on them while other movie goers got plain black ones!

The second challenge was the sketch. I used Sketch 108 at The Scrappiest.

And finally over at Frosted Designs, the Fabulous Friday Challenge is to use metal on your layout. I have used 5 metal brads, a metal tag that says "dream" attached to the "always" circle and a metal heart on the journaling spot.

OK. I'm off to play some more crop games! Stop by and check it all out! Lots of fun stuff happening!

Now that I've started scrapping a little more I found myself visiting a few of the Challenge sites/blogs that I used to frequent. I wasn't going to work on anything tonight but the sketch this week at Sketch Inspirations caught my eye and I knew that I could pare it with one more February Challenge over at A Cherry On Top.

For the Countdown Challenge at ACOT the page had to be about something or someone you love. That part was easy....I LOVE these photos of John and I taken on the beach in Antigua exactly one year ago this week! The layout also had to have at least the following:

5 - Heart elements
4 - Ribbons and/or Strings
3 - Lines of Journaling
2 - Flower and/or leaf elements
1 - Template or sketch

I met all the requirements and I like the way the layout came out. It took me almost 3 hours to get this all done because I could not decide on a background. On my floor right now are white, ivory, several shades of pink, kraft, grey and red cardstocks. I finally went with the black and I think that was the better choice!

On a personal note, my daughter had her x-ray today and we were quite relieved to learn that she will NOT need surgery for her broken leg. Being the pessimist that I am, once I heard that it was a possibility I was SURE it would have to be. You know...that black cloud that perpetuall flies over my head! But not this time.....we were both very happy! 3 more weeks in a cast then 2 more in a boot cast and then 6 weeks of physical therapy. She should be good as new by Easter!

Extra, Extra Read All About Her

The monthly challenge at A Cherry On Top is called "Read All About It". The title of the page has to be something you would use as a headline of a newspaper. I googled "newspaper" and found this nifty fake article maker and wrote a news article about my daughter! The article reads as follows:

HOLLYWOOD'S NEW DARLING - As she was heading out for a day of fun in her hometown (of Absecon) we caught up with 12 year old Susie Zennario looking stunning in her fashion sunglasses and hot pink tank top. Ms. Zennario was rushing out and could not speak with is but we did catch up with her mother who told us that she is very proud of her daughter and the exceptional young woman she is becoming. "She is everything I could ever wish for in a daughter", Ms. Zennario said of her young starlet.

This was a really fun layout and came together quite quickly. Susie got a real kick out of reading the "article". I used papers from My Minds Eye and Echo Park as well as some generic bling, Thickers letters and Mrs. Grossmans typewriter key letters and Doodlebug flowers. Pink ribbon from my stash.

Yep, the only luck we have is BAD luck!

Wednesday afternoon I received a call from my daughter while I was at work. She was playing on the trampoline at a friends house and did a flip and landed wrong and "sprained my ankle really bad, mom". So thinking it was just a sprain I told her that I would pick her up on my way home from work about 2 hours later. The mother of the girl she was hanging out with never got on the phone or made any attempt to suggest that I MIGHT want to come an get her NOW! Anyway, I get to the house to get her and see her standing outside on crutches! Once again, nothing from the mom other than to let me know that I can return the crutches tomorrow. Ok. As we pull away I tell my daughter to lower her sock. O-M-G! Her ankle is as big as her calf and its already starting to bruise. So rather than go home we went straight to the emergency room. 3 hours, $50 and 1 x-ray later we left the hospital with our own crutches and her leg set in a hard splint, a copy of the x-rays and instructions to call an orthopedic doctor in the morning because she has "a break". The next morning I call the doctors recommended by the emergency room and they want no part of us after I read the report from the hospital. The break is near/in her growth plate. After two more tries with other doctors, all refusing to see her I am referred to Dupont Children's Hospital in Delaware who have a satellite office here in NJ. I get an appointment on FRIDAY. Upon the Dupont doctor looking at the x-ray I am told that she not only has "a break", but she has TWO breaks, a fracture and she chipped the corner of her tibia clear off and it is now floating very close to the growth plate. She set my daughter's leg in a hot pink cast (color by Susie's choice) and told me that we needed to come back in a week for another x-ray to determine where that bone fragment settled and that will determine whether or not she will need to have surgery to have the fragment removed and the growth plate closed. YIKES! So tomorrow is the day we will find out if she will need surgery! Please keep us in your thoughts! In the meantime, I've done a little scrapping to keep myself occupied, while tending to the princess's every need! :) I had to do this layout of her leg right away. I still, a week later, look at her and just cannot believe that she broke her leg so badly! She's been a real trooper though....other than being sick of not being able to just get up and go she really has not complained at all!

The only good thing coming out of this is that I have to leave work early every day to pick her up. She normally walks home but not on crutches! So I've got some extra free time and am glad to be scrapping a little bit again! A Cherry On Top has a crop starting this Friday and I'm trying to get ready for that. I love ACOT crops! Even took the day off on Monday and Tuesday to finish some of the challenges for the crop!

Hope everyone else has been well!! I haven't had a chance to blog hop much but I hope to get to visiting everyone soon!!  Below are a couple more layouts I have completed over the past week.  The only one I need to mention is the Summer layout which was based on this weeks sketch at Creative Sketches.

Its Been A LONG Time!

I wasn't sure, when I went to look at my blog this morning, if there would be anyone left that was still following me. Since losing my mom in October, my whole world has changed. It was not until the end of January (with the exception of a couple pre-Christmas layouts I did) that I could bring myself to spend any significant time in my scrap room. My mom is everywhere in there. Photos of her, things hanging on my walls that were my mom's from the house I grew up in, and her voice. She LOVED looking at my scrapbooks and I can hear her telling me "Oh, Susan, that is just beautiful". I didn't want to face it so my scrapdesk became the junk collector and that's how it stayed until last week. I knew there was a crop coming up at the end of February at A Cherry On Top. I had already arranged to take a couple days off work to be able to finish up crop challenges. So, I decided last weekend to get in there and clean it up to prepare for the crop. It felt good to have my space back and face my fears. And when all was said and done, I actually scrapped a page.

Having been away for so long, I feel like I'm brand new to the online scrapbooking community again. I'm not on any design teams and until this morning did not visit any of my past favorite sketch sites and just did whatever came to me. Below are what I have worked on in the past two weeks.

So, hello again....I've missed you! And I hope to be back to scrapping regularly soon! I have a couple more layouts on my desk so I may post them later today!