First up...Sassy Lil Sketches

First off I just want to say how much I miss all my blog friends!! The second half of this Summer has just not been on my side. Between kids activities, ongoing health issues with my mom, busy times at work, my blog has been the easiest thing to forget for a while. I do think about my friends here often though....and here is a special shout out to Debbie, Barb, Wendy, Denise, Brenda and Kim....my most favorite bloggers! I have been doing some scrapping though!! So the next couple of posts I hope to catch you all up on what I've been doing. I know many of you are praying for my mom and I ask for your continued prayers. She is still hospitalized and is doing well DESPITE the ridiculous care being given at the hospital. Long story short is her IV came out sometime during the night on Saturday and she nearly bled to death because no nurses entered her room for HOURS. She had to have 2 units of blood transfused....she lost THAT much. And nobody seems to care that she could have died. Its disgusting the way they treat the elderly. And their only excuse is that they were busy that night! WTF!!! Anyway, continued prayers would be appreciated. I don't want to be a downer here on the blog so I will move on to happier things like scrapping!!

The above layout is based on a sketch over at Sassy Lil Sketches this week. I used Sassafrass Lass papers and letters. I love the photo. Its Susie and Matt with their cousin BJ giving the thumbs up at a Water Dancing Show at the mall. This is the first challenge I've completed in a while but look out....there's more to come next post!!

All That I Am

Phew, what a scorcher of a day. My boss let us out of work 1/2 hour early and I was soooo happy. I knew that I was coming home to some new scrapping goodies from ACOT! When I opened it I remembered I ordered the new Echo Park summer papers!! I LOVE them!! And as luck would have it, just minutes before I was starting this layout, Fia over at Sketches for You posted a color challenge that went PERFECTLY with these papers and the photo I chose of my mom, sister, brother and I circa 1976! All papers and embellies are Echo Park except the red letters which are Basic Grey Junebug. I also used the weekly sketch at Sketch Inspirations because you know I'm not happy if I don't get some mileage out of my layouts! I just couldn't figure out a way to get Mickey Mouse on here for Practical Scrappers! LOL!!

I got some great news today too!! I won the $70 gift certificate to CSN stores from the Sassy Lil Sketches contest!!!! See my original post with the layout HERE. How exciting!!! I can't wait to get it and spend it!!!!!!

OK, its only 8:30!! I think I will go shower and then work on another layout!! Both kids are out and John is snoring on the couch!!

Prep 2010

Ok, I lied! While I did have two layout ideas written out in my scrap notebook, and I DID intend to get them both done tonight, I only finished one! At the last minute my daughter decided that she wants to do Crew this summer and sign ups were TONIGHT! So off we ran to Ventnor to get her signed up. I stopped at Peebles on the way back and lucked into a really great sale....I got a tank top that is work-appropriate for $4 and a really pretty new bathing suit tankini top (I always get tops that will match my black bottoms) for $12. Susie got two pairs of funky shorts and at the register, the cashier scanned an extra 20% off coupon that wasn't really supposed to start until tomorrow. On the way out of the store I got a phone call that I had left my checkbook at the Rowing Club so we had to trek all the way back there. Got home, ate dinner (John made BBQ chicken!!) and then I just didn't feel like doing anything! I was going to call it a night when I decided I just had to see how the idea in my head would translate onto paper for this layout.

The sketch is from Sassy Lil Sketches but this week there was a twist! You had to go to this website, http://www.csnstores.com/ and find something that inspired you, and do your layout around that item. Well I looked at all the wall hangings, some living rooms, even some bathroom themes and decided to try rugs. I darned near squealed with delight when I saw this rug:

I used the rug (in case you wonder, its $39!) as my inspiration for what I think is a NEAT baseball layout! And I am now entered into a drawing to win a $70 gift certificate to CSN Stores which would be neat....they have TONS of stuff!

Having two boys who have played baseball consecutively for the past 15 years, I have no shortage of baseball pictures and am always looking for unique ways to do a layout. When I saw the circles on the sketch then found the baseball rug, the rest just fell into place! I wasn't sure what I had in the way of red or navy patterned papers which I thought would be a problem (our colors are Red, White & Blue) until I started to dig through some kits that had piled up from the various kit clubs I subscribed to last year. I'm pretty sure these papers were from a Memory Works kit probably around this time last year. The papers are all Scenic Route Liberty collection and they worked PERFECT with this layout! And now that I remember that I have them, there is still PLENTY in the kit left over to do 4th of July pictures (from last year AND this coming year!)   I'm off tomorrow and heat is supposed to be killer again, so more scrappy things to come!

Sassy Little Sketches & Frosted Designs

I didn't clean up after my last layout ("Already Twelve"...see post below) so after returning home from grocery shopping, watching the end of the Nascar race and getting the lasagna for tonight's dinner prepared and in the oven, I sat back down. While watching the race I was also blog hopping and came across this sketch at Sassy Lil' Sketches:

I had already printed this photo of Susie and our cat, Cloudy as I was going to use this one for the layout I did earlier but changed my mind. I grabbed the photo, looked around at the mess on my desk and thought "I can do something with this". Everything on this layout is leftovers from the earlier layout with the exception of the title letters (you can't tell but they are glitter) which I picked up on Friday at Target on the 99c rack! The only other items I had to dig out were the buttons and the doily. All the papers are scraps from My Minds Eye. I got an assortment pack about a month ago at a great deal from CraftySteals and boy have I gotten a lot of use out of it. The patterns are so nice and work well with so many themes. The butterfly brads as well as the center of the two larger flowers are from CreativeCharms Deal of the Month from May. I have also gotten a ton of layouts out of that assortment pack! The felt butterfly is leftover Heidi Swapp that I coated with crystal glitter (gotta get that glitter in for Frosted Designs. The tiny flower is glitter Petaloo Dazzlers. The doily is by Wilton and the pearls under the flower on the doily that you can barely see in the picture are by Wrights.

Now I really must clean up my desk a little. I'm about tired of pink and greenish-blue!

Mom's Star

I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! I haven't had much time in my scraproom, even though I was off work yesterday. My daughter's birthday is tomorrow and I was running all over creation on Friday making sure my baby got the gifts that she asked for! All she really asked for was a digital camera. I got her a small Polaroid Point & Shoot on sale at Target for $50! As a surprise, I bought her a hoodie and 5 t-shirts from Hollister (off the clearance rack of course!) for under $50 so mom was THRILLED! Hollister, for those that don't know, is VERY expensive in my opinion. $25+ for a t-shirt branded with their name all over it! A pair of shorts that wouldn't cover much behind were $29! YIKES! My daughter is only turning 12 yet a lot of her friends have Hollister clothing and I could never justify it. But I wanted her to be surprised so I checked the clearance racks. I was so happy when I got to the store to find out that they were offering an additional 30% off their clearance prices and there was TONS to choose from! One of the t-shirts I got her ended up being a little over $3 yet the tag says $24.50! Now that's what I call a great deal....mom is happy with the price and daughter will be beyond happy with the shirt! We are about to get ready to go out for her birthday dinner to Famous Daves. Yummy BBQ! She is bringing her BFF, Alisa, and I let her open her camera so she can take pictures at her b-day dinner!!

1. Sketch Inspirations - Sketch
2. Pink Elephant - Use a black and white photo
3. Frosted Designs - Use glitter (title)
4. Stuck on You Sketches - Embossing (I embossed the two larger stars)

 5. Scrap Fit - Use a machine - used Cricut and Cuttlebug