Teresa Collins Versatility!

I seem to be on a Teresa Collins Designs kick today, but alas, I've used up the last of what I had! I really loved her sports and girly lines this year and hope she continues with more great papers! This first layout is using a sketch from Lets Capture Those Sketches. The color scheme/patterns are themed after my daughter's bedroom which is hot pink and Zebra striped. I added some acetate shapes by Making Memories that I have had for a very long time...but not nearly as long as the "girl" clothing tag. I've had that floating in my pink bin for years and its finally found a home on a layout! I snagged the photo from my daughter's facebook! Love that!

This layout is using Theresa Collins All Star line. I didn't have much left (except of ONE paper that I somehow accidentally ordered 12 of so have LOTS of that one left!). I again raided my OLD OLD OLD stash and finally used the Jolees Yankees stickers and the laser cut baseball border I've had for YEARS! I'm really glad to be using up some old stash. This page was a scraplift of Christy's page below for her May Scrapping the Boys Challenge at Challenge Masters.

Laugh

Well thought I was done for the night but as I was blog hopping, I saw that Liz Chidester posted a new sketch for the Sweet Peach Crop Shop. I love Liz's sketches and enjoy participating in her challenges and those at sites she designs for. Sweet Peach Crop Shop is a monthly kit club and I think that once some of my current subscriptions are up, I may give them a try. I have 3-4 that I like and will have to narrow that down to two as I can't afford everything that I want!

I am posting this at the Paper Variety as well, where the challenge is to use Stars on your layout. And finally. Challenge #17 at Punky Scraps is to use the word Laugh or Laughter on your layout. As soon as I saw the challenge I knew the photo I wanted to use! My poor son is being tickled by his sister and cousin!

All papers are Moxxie "Chillin Out". I cut the stars from the back side of one of the papers, made the flower rosettes from my Tim Holtz die.

Whoo Wants Cake

I bet you most of you who visit my blog often think I have just two kids!! I've actually got three! My oldest son, John, lives about an hour and a half away with his dad. It was closer to where he was originally attending college. Of course, he made some poor choices and left a 4-year college in favor of a Community College but I'm mom (AND I work at a 4 year State college) so what do I know! Add in the girlfriend who lives up there and it led to a more permanent arrangement than I would like. My firstborn will be 21 in just 2 1/2 months. I cannot believe it. I can close my eyes and be right back to the minute he was born. I'm very proud of him (even with the dumb decisions) as he has grown into quite a nice young man. He's a towering 6'2" tall and 200lbs which amazes me as neither his father or I are very blessed in the stature department!

This layout features a photo of my oldest (actually all three are in the photo) on his 19th birthday. He wanted a Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Icing so that's what I made. Yuck! He was the only one who enjoyed his birthday cake that year! LOL!

I used the sketch #82 at Lets Capture These Sketches and Jillibean Soup Owl Soup papers. I did fussy cutting to get the owls where I wanted them and a ton of pop dots. You can't really tell from the photo but the area with the photo on it is completely rasied up, as are a couple of the owls! I added a Tim Holtz rosette and a banner cut with a Cheery Lynn Designs die. I combined this with the Trend Watch Challege at Challenge Masters which was to use corrugated alphas. I LOVE Jillibean Corrugated alphas and have several packs in every color. My favorite are the white, as you can ink or mist them to match whatever you are working on, as I did here.

Well, I have to run now....have to ge the kids to their school dance and finish up some laundry. Its just started to rain here so that means no light to photograph any more layouts tonight! I do have one that I didn't post yet that I may blog later, but if not, have a great night and talk to you all tomorrow, my friends!

Happy Go Lucky!

It's been a little while since I used a sketch from Creative Scrappers as inspiration. And in fact, I was going to skip this one because it was very similar to one I had done earlier this month using Lily Bee papers. But then it just sort of fell into place! I was browsing the May challenges over at Challenge Masters and saw that the Stash Challenge is to use at least 4 different patterned papers. I can't believe that I used EIGHT! This photo of Matt has been sitting on my desk for weeks just waiting to be scrapped. I was originally going to do a layout about his obsession with video games, but as I was cleaning up some papers on my floor, I found this Best Creations page kit that I won which was filled with green papers. Most were in small pieces as it was a pre-cut page kit. so that's how I decided to go with this sketch! I'm not one to use a page kit "as is" so this was perfect! Lots of little bits of paper! I matted everything on black cardstock. Let me tell you, this is one heavy layout! So many layers! I added a Horseshoe and a gold coin with a shamrock on it as "lucky" embellishments. The title fits my son to a tee. Nothing bugs this kid....he's truly Happy Go Lucky! I just hope he stays that way!!

Sei Bella

I did this layout a couple nights ago but forgot to blog it! I was trying to participate in the Virtual Crop at MyScrapbook Nook but after days of trying to register without success, then finally getting registered and starting on the challenges, for whatever reason none of my posts would show up in the forums. So while there were really a lot of fun and interesting challenges there, I gave up. It was stressing me out!! But I got a couple layouts done anyway...so all was not lost. The challenge for this one was to use 10 or more pieces of chipboard on one layout which must be your own design...no sketches allowed! Yikes....I LOVE my sketches! The chipboard was easy once I decided to use the K&Co flowers and butterflies! I used Lily Bee Stationery papers, a Colorbok glitter chipboard journal spot, SCWV glitter chipboard letters, October Afternoon mini letters and my Martha Stewart Garden Gate border punch. The rest of the embellishments are K&Co.

I Love These Kids

 NOTE:  I will replace the photo tomorrow in the daylight.  The flash left a funky look!!

After two days of trying to register at My Scrapbook Nook, I am finally set and able to play along with their Virtual Crop that started yesterday and runs through the weekend. The first challenge I decided to play with was Challenge #10 - Go Wild With White Space. I coupled this with the Countdown Challenge at A Cherry On Top:

5 - Flowers; 4 - Blue Things (can be paper, elements, anything you like); 3 - Papers; 2 - Pictures; 1 - Frame

I used papers from Lily Bee, Pink Paislee and Fancy Pants. The chipboard foil rimmed letters are by Cloud 9 and the mini letters are October Afternoon. Flowers are Prima and Recollections. Wood Veneer heart bu Studio Calico (inked it to match) and all the buttons from my stash. I inked with blue then blended with white ink around the edges of the page and finished it off with red stitching. This was a fun layout....I don't usually leave so much white space.

Relax in Old San Juan

What a great day today was. The weather was perfect, it was my first Friday off (I have off Fridays from now until September) and I decided to pick the kids up early from school (just an hour) JUST BECAUSE! Way to rack up "Mom Points". My daughter has a friend sleeping over and they just left for a walk to Dairy Queen, we had a yummy Tostado dinner and the evening is still young which means I can keep scrapping! I've already done three layouts today and have already finished the laundry for the weekend, cleaned up the house last night and this morning and have very little to do the rest of the weekend except relax (and hopefully find a rental home to move to!)

This layout is John hanging out in the harbor in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico while we were on our family cruise back in 09. Seems like just yesterday! I used Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage papers for this page. Who would have thought they could work for this theme but the colors are so soothing. The letters for the title are also Pink Paislee. On the tag they are My Minds Eye and Glitz. The flowers I got in a baggie at Joanns and the muslin yo yo flower I just whipped up for this layout. As usual, I was trying to get more than one challenge in one a layout! This one is for the Supply List Challenge at A Cherry On Top - Sewing (faux or real), Fabric and Shipping Tag. I used the new sketch at Stuck On You Sketches. I really like this sketch and will probably use it again for a different theme!

12th Birthday Dinner

I could not get a straight photo of this to save my life. I promise, IRL it is STRAIGHT!

This layout is my daughter and one of her BFF's at Famous Dave's for my daughter's 12th birthday dinner. I used papers from the DCWV Stack Mango Frost. Letters are Jillibean Soup and the flowers are Prima. Rick rack from my stash. I used a sketch by Susan Stringfellow.

Mothers Day Blooms

I am going to attempt this post and hope that Blogger has their issues resolved! I am going through Blog Withdrawl!

This layout was done for the Mfr. Challenge at A Cherry On Top which is Martha Stewart Crafts. The photos are my Mother's Day flowers from 2010 and 2011. Every year John gets me these HUGE hanging baskets and they flower straight through till October! I usually throw them away about the time I start to put Halloween decorations up!

I used a sketch by Susan Stringfellow and only one lonely piece of patterned paper which is OLD I tell ya! Its from Prima's Stone Rose collection which has to be 6 years old already! The rest is just plain old cardstock which was strange for me but I couldn't match the colors up without having patterns that didn't fit the theme of the page! I used Martha Stewart Garden Gate border punch at the bottom. I LOVE this punch! Its so elegant to me! Letters are Making Memories and Pink Paislee foam letters that I colored to match the pink, orange and purples in the flowers. Flowers are Petaloo leftover from this month's Swirlydoos kit. A purple ribbon and bow from my stash and a journaling spot from American Crafts and it's complete!

You Color My World

National Scrapbooking Day/Weekend is winding down! How do I know? Well. This layout only qualifies for TWO challenges and one of them is not even related to NSD! LOL! I think I record was 6 during the heat of the weekend!!

Challenge #19 at A Cherry On Top is to scrap a page using one of your favorite paper brands. I love me some Lily Bee! They aren't my FAVORITE....that honor lies firmly with My Minds Eye....but I do love their colorful and happy prints!

And in conjunction with this, at Lets Capture Our Memories there is a sketch challenge to create a layout based on the sketch using only Lily Bee papers. Easy peasy!!

I used papers from the Hello Sunshine, Happily Lost, Domestic Bliss and French Couture collections on this page! I also used my new die from Cherry Lynn Designs for the banner! LOVE IT!!

Oh The Places We Would Go!

Did you ever wake up from a sound sleep with an idea for a layout in your head? That's what happened to me this morning. As I drifted off to sleep last night I was looking at the Studio Calico blog for some more challenges I could work on today. I found this sketch and bookmarked it for further perusal today.

 I've had Challenge #1 at A Cherry On Top on my mind since the crop started on Friday. We were to scrap a page about what we would do if we hit "The Big One" lottery! I actually wasn't going to do this one because frankly I have too many pictures to scrap about something that has very little chance of happening. Then I thought well.....it is a dream of mine....in fact, seeing Venice and Tuscany are number one on my "bucket list". So why not include this in my scrapbooks. Maybe someday I will actually get there and be able to look at this page and say I've done it!

Anywho, as I walked out of the bathroom this morning I saw this lottery ticket sitting on John's end table. It was a loser of course but *light-bulb moment* I can put it on my layout for Challenge #1. As I was still wiping the sleep from my eyes I opened my laptop, Googled a few pictures, called up the sketch, went immediately to my Basic Grey folder and found that the papers in the Curio line were just what I had in mind! And the layout was born! Just as quick as that!

It didn't go together as quickly but that is only because I fussy cut the flowers, and then fussy cut some more for just the insides and popped them up on foam dots. You really can't see it but the dimension is nice in real life. Then it was just a matter of lettering. I've had two different types of letters already on here for the "Oh, the places we would go" phrase and I still am not happy with it. I may take that off and just add some more flowers there.

The letters I used for "Italy" and the metal butterfly are from Recollections (Michaels) and the small letters are Basic Grey Life of th Party. Everything else on this page is Basic Grey Curio.

I have about 2 hours left in my NSD LONG weekend. I have an appointment to have my hair colored (I'm thinking of doing something funky too!) at 1pm then Matt has a game at 7 so that's it for me! Its back to work tomorrow and the start of Summer hours which means LONG days however, in return for those long days I will have off every Friday from now until September! I love that part of it but 10 hour days Monday-Thursday kick my butt for the first couple weeks!

Rock Stars!

Last one for me today! I can hardly believe I am saying this, but I actually think I am all scrapped out! I may get one or two more done tomorrow morning but to be honest, if I don't I am ok with that! What started out as a lousy day, has been quite productive scrappy wise.

This layout is once again for several challenges!

1. I used the new sketch at The Scrappiest! I was checking there periodically today as Liz usually posts new sketches on Mondays but with all the events of the weekend I wasn't sure if there would be one this week! Much to my happiness she posted it and it was an absolute perfect fit for what I was hoping to work on next! So much so its an almost exact replica of the sketch!

2. Frosted Designs challenge to use three basic shapes - I used a circle, rectangle and star.

3. Challenge #17 at A Cherry On Top - "Scrap anything about a musical show. You could scrap a concert, a piano recital, marching band practice, a talent show, or even someone playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero!" As you can see, I chose the latter...my son's playing RockBand 2! I know there was another challenge I had in mind with this one but it escapes me at the moment!

4.  The final challenge for this page is the Color Inspiration challenge at Studio Calico. Its not SPOT on but definitely in the right zone!!  The kraft threw me a little but its there in the guitars and the ticket is a light kraft color.

I used My Minds Eye Good Day Sunshine for the majority of this layout except the Gold rectangle on the left is Stella Rose and the lime green circle is Echo Park A Walk In The Park. I added a journaling tag from October Afternoon, a "Party Like A Rock Star" sticker from Bella Blvd., a guitar from Jolees leftover from my Bon Jovi layout from this weekend, letters by Scrapworks, numbers by Recollections and the star was a Sizzix diecut and believe it or not, I broke the stinking die when cutting it out! Ticked me off! I know it was one that I got on clearance at AC Moore last year and probably only paid $3-$4 for it but STILL....I bet I've only made 5-6 cuts with it and the darned thing cracked in half!

That's it folks....I'm going to sign off the laptop, bring the iPad to bed and do a little blog surfing to see what you have all been up to this NSD weekend/week!! :)

Beautiful In Any Color

I seem to be on a yellow kick!! Between challenge requirements and some recent photos of Susie wearing different shades of yellow I am pretty much fresh out of everything yellow!! Its not one of my favorite colors to work with so I probably didn't have as much as I do in say, pinks!!

Once again, this layout fulfills several challenges:

1. Not an NSD challenge this time, but for the May Color Challenge at A Cherry On Top your layout must be 50 percent yellow.
2.  Studio Calico - Use wood/wood veneer on your layout.  I used the Studio Calico hearts.

3. Frosted Designs NSD Challenge from Debbie to use flowers on your layout;

4. Challenge Masters NSD "Sundae Challenge". We selected ingredients for a sundae in advance of the crop. My recipe was to use Sewing, Glitter, Ribbon and Flowers. I was going to machine stitch but my needle came unthreaded, I couldn't find the needle threader and I am blind as a bat and my kids are out!! It stinks getting old!
5.  Studio Calico - Stitch on your layout.

Oh, I actually have six challenges for this one! I used the weekly Sketch #19 at Sketch Inspirations!!

Now about the page itself....papers are October Afternoon Thrift Shop. I used a Fancy Pants floral glitter cut as well. The yellow metal flowers are Sassafrass Lass, the glitter flower is Petaloo Dazzlers and the braided cord flower is Creative Charms. I used 3 wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico, ribbon from Target, letters from Crate Paper Portrait and Jillibean Soup. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch. The buttons are from my stash!

Antigua Zip Lining

This page didn't turn out exactly how I was hoping! The banner just didn't do what I was wanting it too but I was being lazy and had my hot glue gun in front of me so there was no taking it off once I realized I didn't like the placement!

I did this layout for several challenges....I am on a roll: 

Punky Scraps Challenge 15 is to use these 5 techniques on your page:

NO Cardstock - my page feels flimsy without it as the background paper is very thin!!

Twine - I used it to string my banner.

Stitching - I did a zig zag in the lower left corner and a straight stitch across one of the strips at the top.

Stamping - I stamped the turquoise dots under the right photo with bubble wrap.

Paint - I used turquoise paint on the bubble wrap to use as a stamp.

The second is Challenge 18 at A Cherry On Top - Use something from each letter in the word ROCK:

R - Red floss tied around the "Z"

O - Orange Banner

C - Chipboard Letters

K - KRAZY people! But if that won't work I also used a K&Co Sticker that says Journey.

The third is a challenge at Frosted Designs to sew on your layout.   Again,  I did a zig zag in the lower left corner and a straight stitch across one of the strips at the top.

Finally at Scrap Whispers, challenge #6 was to use "leftovers".  Everything I used is from different lines, just bits and pieces from each!!  

The background paper is by MAMBI and I used all sorts of scraps and doo dads from Echo Park, Crate Paper, Bella Blvd. The chipboard letters are Pink Paislee and the small letters are Bella Blvd.

Time for lunch! I'm famished!

Life Doesn't Get Sweeter

OK, another cup of coffee in me and I feel a little better. I decided to just say the heck with it and will do what I can, if it inspires me. Stressing over scrapping challenges does NOT make for a happy scrapper or good pages!

This layout came together quick once I saw Challenge #14 at Scrap Whispers to scrap CHOCOLATE! I had to dig pretty deep but I finally found this photo of the kids posing with a Giant Hershey bar at Hershey park way back 10 years ago!! I combined this with Challenge #6 Sketch at A Cherry On Top , the challenge at Frosted Designs to use a Border Punch on your layout and finally the Buttons and Bows challenge at the Kraft Journal.

Papers are all My Minds Eye. Letters are Bella Blvd. and Glitz. Rosette made with my Tim Holtz die. Bakers Twine, a button, two brads and an EK Success scallop punch and this one's in the books!! I think I will hit the shower now!!

Such A Goof!

I woke up this morning, knowing I had the day off to work on challenges from NSD, with this feeling of being disappointed. And I kinda am. I had planned out this weekend for months....arranged to have Monday and Tuesday off, registered for 2 online crops with plans to participate in lots of blog activities as well. For the entire weekend....spanning from 4pm on Friday when I got home from work, till now I completed THREE layouts. I can do that in an evening. Why THIS weekend? I realize I had a lot of other things going on that came up AFTER I had made my grand plans, but THREE layouts? My scrap space is a complete disaster...so much so to the point that I don't even know where to start or even if I want to! I am moving in 2 months, may as well leave the mess and deal with it when I am packing! I don't know...I am just so disappointed. MY big weekend was nothing but a big BUST! Sorry for whining....I think I just need some more coffee! LOL!

I tried to finish this page last night but it just refused to come together for me. So I went to bed and this morning, finished it in 15 minutes. All I had done was the basic layout which is using one of Debbie's sketches for the Tuesday Sketch Challenge at Frosted Designs. The rest came together rather fast this morning which is what I am used to! I did this layou for the 10-10-10 Challenge in the BPS Crop. You had to have 10 words, 10 products and 10 techniques on one page. The words and products were no problem, but 10 techniques got tricky on this page. Some pages I use WAY more than 10 but this was a cleaner page. My techniques were: Sanding (the letters in GOOF), distressing, inking (edges), stapling (yep, she said that's a technique!), die cutting (circle), punching (strip on right), clustering, layering and misting (butterfly) and adding dimension with pop dots (google eyes). The words and products you can clearly see.

At Frosted Designs, Debbie has a challenge to use Butterflies. I added a big Kaisercraft butterfly with a little mist on it to add a bit of whimsy to this layout.

And for the final challenge out of this layout, at A Cherry On Top Challenge #5 is to have your title in ALL CAPS.

You Are My Sunshine

Boy I'm sure a slow scrapper this weekend! I rarely spend more than an hour on a page from start to finish, including finding papers, photos and embellishments. I've only completed three layouts all weekend long and each one took hours to complete! This one should not have taken so long until I realized that I just don't have a lot of yellow in my stash!!!

This page is again for several NSD Challenges:

1. Frosted Designs - Use circles on your layout.

2. Challenge #14 at ACOT - Monochromatic layout.

3. Big Picture Classes - Use wood on your layout (the fence and the star are wood)

4. Sketch and "Sunshine" for the May 8 challenge at Bird is The Word.

Sorry to have made this short and sweet but my family has cooked dinner and its ready!! BBQ ribs, corn on the cob and fries and I didn't have to do a thing!

What Does YOUR Desk Look like?

I admit that I did not try to clean up before NSD events started, but what was the point! Well....one of the NSD challenges at Challenge Masters is to post a picture of what your desk looks like right now. Here's mine.....its a DISASTER! And I'm just a bit embarrassed but what the heck!!! In the next couple months I am moving and will have a brand new space to decorate, organize and make pretty again. Until then....this is it!!!

Dream Come True

See that ticket stub there on my layout? That's MINE! There were others....199 others to be exact! Yep, this particular Bon Jovi concert was no arena show. It was an intimate "private" concert for the taping of a Bon Jovi HBO special and on the weekend of my 37th birthday John, who I had only been dating just over a month, managed to get tickets to the concert through a friend of his who worked at the Borgato Hotel and Casino, where the concert was held. It was AWESOME, INCREDIBLE and something I will never ever forget. Jon and Richie both touched my hands while they sang...I was 5 feet from them for 2 glorious hours! Of course, cameras were not allowed so I couldn't take any photos, but I have my ticket stub!!! Its been hanging on my bulletin board for almost 7 years now! I was finally inspired to scrap it thanks to the events of this years NSD!

This layout is for FOUR NSD challenges at various sites I am playing with:

1. The ACOT Rock Around The Clock Crop Challenge #3 was to use one of the Crop Hostess's avatars as inspiration. One of them was Bon Jovi and since they are one of my favorite bands, I knew I wanted to do a layout about it. Then it dawned on me that I had this ticket stub! I was off and running!

2. I am participating in the NSD Crop at Big Picture Classes this year. Challenge #7 issued by Suzy Plantamura is to add a banner to your page. I LOVE Banners and it just so happens that I got this fantastic banner die from Cheery Lynn Designs last week!! I love how it just adds a little extra oomph to the layout!

2. Frosted Designs also had a crop this weekend and Lori posted a challenge to use Hidden Journaling on your layout. I was glad to see this because my "story" about the concert, how we came about getting tickets, and the fact that I had just started to date John and it was my 37th birthday weekend were just too long to get on the layout so hiding it was PERFECT!

4. Last but CERTAINLY not least is the NSD Crop at Challenge Masters! This was Sally's sketch challenge with a twist. The twist was to keep it clean and simple....I'm not sure what everyone defines that as but for me, THIS is clean. ONE flower? And speaking of the flower...the other twist was to use a handmade embellishment. I made the flower using white crepe paper circles that I inked and then sprayed with Faded Denim Glimmer Mist and then crumpled the layers and built them up on a blue pearl brad.

I used papers from Teresa Collins On The Edge collection, letters by Recollections, flower by me, guitars by Jolees and ribbon from my stash.

Repurposing!!

I sure didn't have any time to scrap today but fortunately Matt's game went quickly and I got home around 10:30pm. I was going to call it a night and started browsing blogs and then checked in on the challenges I had not seen yet at the Big Picture Classes NSD Crop. One of the challenges is to organize something in your scraproom. I decided to use this altered drink holder from a NSD class at the ACOT online crop and make a holder for the tools that I use most often! Its small enough to be on my desk, closer than my other tool carousel. I will use this to hold my most often used tools. I think it came out cute, don't you?

More than Words

K...going to be quick and to the point with posts today! I have a few things to do and all I want to do is scrap! This layout is for two challenges:

1. Sketch by Lets Capture These Sketches
2. Challenge 2 at the A Cherry On Top Crop - use a song title and a line from the lyrics on your page.
3.  Sweet Peach Crop Shop - Use a song title for your page.

Used Prima Madeline, K&Co and Echo Park for the brown background, Petaloo and Recollections flowers, Glitz and Recollections letters

Happy NSD!!

And we're off!! Its National Scrapbooking Weekend! YIPPPEEEE! I look forward to this weekend every year for the BIG Crop at ACOT and all the other sites and blogs I visit all year long. Unfortunately, this year it also falls on the same weekend that I have to work (just a few hours on Saturday morning) AND Mother's Day AND a baseball game for my son AND a birthday party my daughter has been invited to! ACK!! So I have to make the most of my time if I want to get all this done!! I did take off Monday and Tuesday to finish up some challenges for the ACOT crop as I do with every crop. Loking forward to a nice 4 day weekend (less the few hours I have to work graduation on Saturday). I work at a college and commencement is tomorrow. As much as I don't want to work, we get to know a lot of the students very well and its bittersweet to say goodbye and send them off into the big, scary real world, degree in hand!

Anyway, the crop at ACOT is well underway but on between some games I stopped over at Your Scrapbook Stash to see the happenings over there. This layout is based on the Sketch Friday sketch. Its my daughter 7 years ago doing the hula at her "luau" birthday party! She was too cute!! I used KI Memories papers, Tim Holtz On the Edge Die, a wooden palm tree from Michaels, Glitz and Thickers letters.