Cocoa Beach 2002

I found these older pictures of a quick trip we took to Cocoa Beach years ago. The "baby" in the pictures is now 9 years old! Holy cow does time fly!

I really wanted to work on a beach page today. While I was digging through the drawers yesterday, I ran across a few little ziplock bags of sand and beaches that we had collected from our vacation trips.

Sketchy Thursdays had this great sketch this week with a multi photo sketch. Love all the blocking and this paper I found was perfect!

The background paper is from Wild Asparagus. I love these papers and I am so glad I ran across a whole stack of them! The center paper is a solid piece of off white cardstock that was distressed and inked up. The seashell blocks were cut from a very cool sheet of patterned paper from Creative Imaginations. The colors on this sheet were just gorgeous!

For a few other embellishments, I added some Magic Mesh and a few seashells. In the center of the real shells, I added the one lonely seashell charm I had left. I threaded some aqua fibers to the charm for a pop of color to the corner.

I'm trying to ignore this headache that is trying to sneak in today....wish me luck!!

Giddy Up!! It's Sunday Morning!

Good Morning Friends!!

I was afraid to step outside this morning because of all the humidity we have been dealing with. I went out to take a picture of my layout and now I wish I could move my scrap desk out there! It is absolutely gorgeous outside! Low humidity, lower temps, and all I can hear are the birds singing....and those incredibly loud cicadas.

I may have to forego my "do nothing but scrap day" today to get out and do something fun. It's been so hard to do anything fun with these miserable temperatures. The kids don't even want to play in the pool. The water actually got too warm to be refreshing. :(

I woke up to this fun sketch from Creative Scrappers #167. It's so hard to find smaller pictures to fit some of the sketches, but I'm learning that cropping out a lot of the scenery isn't such a bad thing. I use the larger scraps from pictures as elements on future layouts. :)

All of these papers came from a Cowboy kit from The Paper Studio. I used a border punch on all of the pieces. ScrapFit Weekend Warmup #10 was to use border punches. I have a very limited supply of border punches but I was able to have some fun with it. :) To frame the pictures, I added some jute. I wrapped a bunch of jute together to make the lasso. Some fun stickers from We R Memory Keepers and I was done!

Now....do I wake everyone up? Or keep scrapping? hmm......

Successful Saturday!!!

Well, what was supposed to a fun day with the family at a cousin's baby shower, turned into a full day of cleaning, organizing and scrapbooking. I can't complain too much...I got a LOT done today! All of my sitters had to work today. Even the hubby who was supposed to be home. But I know he will be surprised when he gets home and sees how much we did.

I met someone that is kinda new to scrapbooking and I was more than happy to purge my stash to help get her started. I love that I was able to part with a lot of stuff, but it's kinda sad to see how much I had that I would never use. I wish I could curb my spending....not gonna happen!

In between cleaning and purging, I would work on a page and complete some fun challenges. :)

My first page is a sketch from Sketch Inspiration #230. I used up all the bits and pieces from a page kit I was hanging onto. It was either use it, or it was going in the box to be donated. I love all the bright colors! And some of the elements are on pop dots. I even used a slide mount for the word Groovy! It's amazing what you can find while cleaning!

This was a gorgeous sketch from Let's Capture These Sketches #93. I was able to use 3 different sized doilies for this one. 3 different colors of ink on each. For the title, I used some older letter stickers on a piece of vellum. I also broke out the decorative scissors for the photo mat. While I was organizing my flowers by color, I ran across these beautiful yellow blossoms from Prima. I added a few others too. And because I love showing off my doilies, I'm using this for the circle challenge at Frosted Designs. :)

This sketch really gave me a hard time. I had so many ideas in my head, but I didn't have the pictures that would work for it. It has been driving me nuts for over a week! Here is my take on sketch #92 from Let's Capture These sketches. I used dark blue Glimmer Mist on a light blue background. I am so glad I have a super stash of doilies! These were inked and sprayed also. The metallic flowers are from Prima and the paper flowers are from Michael's. I also added some bling from Prima. The patterned papers are from the Linen Stack from Die Cuts With a View. My biggest accomplishment was finally convincing myself to mix up different fonts for my titles. I don't know why that is so hard for me...

And finally....Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays. This was another page completed with a page kit full of leftovers. This kit was from Colorbok. I love that the kits come with a full sheet of die cut frames. I colored this one with Tombow Markers. A few of the elements are on pop dots and the flowers are from the now organized drawer. :)

So I managed to complete 4 pages, clean out the corner, purge my stash, find lots of "new" goodies, clean and organize the kids room, and 3 loads of laundry. NOW I am TIRED!

Oh...and the saddest part about cleaning out the scrap stash....I have a running shopping list of things I need.....It's a neverending cycle....but I love it!! :)

Our Little Lady

I was able to squeeze this one out last night but I was too tired to post. Everytime I see stars on a sketch I usually go right to a school theme. I don't know why....

But this time the pics I have just weren't working for me. My Little Lady LOVES to pose for pictures all the time. This is from our Spring Photo Shoot. We drive around town and get lots of pics with all the pretty flowers. I wish someone would put out a great line that incorporates tulips.....

Here is sketch #166 from The Creative Scrappers. I raided the older stash for this one. The paper almost made it to the kids' craft box a few times. It's been around so long, but I just knew one day I would use it. The doily was sprayed with Glimmer Mist (different shades of green are definitely on my wishlist!). The chipboard circles are from Colorbok. I used markers on them and then sprayed them with Sparkle Mist. The flower cluster is a mix of flowers from Michael's and chipboard buttons. I decided at the last minute to add the cute little ladybugs. Those are from K&Company. And the title and the journaled card are from Kaliedoscope. I don't think they are in business anymore. But since I have a bunch of these cards, might as well use them! And they worked perfectly for the layout. :)

Off to see the reptiles at the library (??). They host special events to keep the kids coming back. After tonight, I'll be breaking out some animal and zoo layouts!

Have a nice evening!

Guest Designer at The Paper Variety :)

Thank you so much to The Paper Variety for choosing me at their Guest Designer this week! I was so excited and happy to play along and be featured!

This week's challenge was favorite game of Tic Tac Toe. Just choose the row you want to work with a put together a layout or a project incorporating the elements in that row.

I went straight down the middle - Multi photo - water theme - and a banner.

This layout also has some beach charms attached with some embroidery floss. I used quite a few elements from My Mind's Eye chipboard set Fine and Dandy. I love this banner and the colors were perfect!! This also works for the banner challenge at The Trail Makers!

The photos were matted in scraps and then I distressed all the edges.

The title came as a surprise. A few days ago, I was rummaging through one of the many embellishment drawers and ran across a few booklets of vellum titles and quotes. I couldn't believe I had forgotten I had them! So I was pretty excited to finally use one. I tore the edges and used some ink and then adhered it to a piece of Magic Mesh. Then a few more charms were added. :)

This was quite a fun challenge and I can't wait to see what The Paper Variety comes up with next!!

Thanks for following along! :)

Oh my....busy busy....

For something that started out as a simple page, it got busy very quickly! Here is my crazy take on Sketch #52 from Sketches in Thyme. I used lots of chipboard flowers that were Stickled to death. And the title, oy....more (oversized) chipboard that was Stickled and then sprayed with Sparkle Mist. But I did love these papers from Target. And I also added eyelash fiber to the border strips to go with the feathers on my daughter's boa....although I think they got lost in translation....

I wasn't going to post this, but I figured so much work went into it, I had to make the effort to post. I put the Stickles away and I promise not to abuse them anytime soon. :)

Last one for the day...

...so I had to make it a good one!

This sketch is from Stuck On U Sketches. So glad I already had circles cut out from previous projects. I love when I find a use for leftovers. :)

I decided to throw my hat in the ring again at Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenge. I used LOTS of buttons! And I had just enough glue dots to finish this up. My shopping list is growing...

At the Paper Variety the challenge was to use a grid pattern or use every color of the rainbow on your project. I know I have seen this button rainbow before on other projects and I always loved it. I knew one day I would make one of my own. :)

The clouds were cut from flocked paper and inked in 2 shades of blue. And I broke out the DCWV Metallic Stack for the gold paper used for the pot 'o gold. I also added a bit of Stickles to the top of the pot to look like more gold. The stickers are from Michael's. And luckily, I had just enough letters from Thickers to make the title. :)

The kiddies are home, so quiet time is over. :(

Hubby is wiped out, so our date was postponed.

Winding down...

I love taking pictures of butterflies! And I am even happier that they love to have their picture taken. The zoo has a butterfly haven that is just wonderful. And every year I make it a point to get to the butterfly festival at our local nature preserve.

This was a great sketch from The Studio Challenges. I love all the little butterflies and decided to stick with the theme of the sketch. These pictures are from last year's festival.

I used some scraps of mulberry paper for the photo mats. The flower die cuts and the large butterfly are from fabulous die cut packets from K&Company.

The butterflies are also for the re-run challenge at The Trail Makers blog. I had to use butterflies, bees and birds. If you look closely, there is a little bee by the flower die cuts. I thought adding a bird somewhere would be pushing my luck...lol.

I wanted to try splattering some paint on the page and give my glimmer mists a break, but I have very limited colors. :(

I dug through the bling drawer and used different sizes and colors to make the butterfly trails.

And the title is from Marcella by K. I found this die cut packet at Target. This was hidden in the drawer of Fall goodies. I don't know what made me look there, but I am so glad I did. I'm thinking I should just spend a whole day and just look through everything to remind myself of what is in the stash.

Well, the hubby called a little bit ago to warn me that he and the kiddies are on their way home. So my fun is almost over. I can't get this silly smile off my face...lol. I am so happy with everything I accomplished today. I'm not giving up yet...I think I might be able to start one more page. Hubby and I are having a dinner date tonight. :)

He starts his new job tomorrow and needs to shop at Kohl's for new work clothes.

Think I can convince him to let me run into Archivers?? Hmmm....

A Walk in the Park

YAY! I finally broke into the Echo Park "Walk in the Park" kit!! I pull it out all the time and my pictures just never seem to work with the kit. Which to me is a sign that I need to take more pictures. :)

The flowers in the pictures went so well with this paper. Even the kids clothes matched pretty well!

A few of the stickers from the kit were popped up with foam squares. I used solid cardstock for the grass along the bottom. I actually broke out some decorative scissors that I could never part with. I used a little bit of ink so it didn't look so boring.

The sketch I used is a PageMaps sketch from The Trail Makers blog. It's the 3rd sketch I have used today from them! I had fun and they had some great sketches to work with.

Still Having Fun...

See what happens when the hubby takes the kids out for the day...and the rain won't stop....I get to scrap a LOT!

Here is another fun sketch from The Trail Makers blog. This is my take on the DT sketch Rerun.

This came together using a pretty old kit from 3 Bugs in a Rug. I love these huge letters! I just have to remember to use them and not hoard them....

Lots of other goodies from the stash included:

Some ribbon scraps

Metal embellishments from Joann's Scrap Essentials

Pastel brads from DCWV

Pastel brads from K&Company

Chipboard ribbon slides from Colorbok

I still have a few more hours till the kids get back....hee hee!! Am I enjoying this alone time too much??

Sketchy Re-runs

The Trail Makers Challenge blog is a fun new site I discovered through a friend. This month they are hosting challenges based on past challenges. It's called Summer Re-runs and they look like fun!

Here is my first page I did for one of their sketchy reruns. I started out with Amarily's sketch. Just gorgeous!!

The background paper is from an Echo Park kit. The doily was glimmer misted with green (which was toooo bright) and Black Magic (to tone it down a bit).

The strips across the bottom are a few different strips of ribbon and a strand of bright pink fiber.

I love that I am really putting an extra effort into using the thousands of flowers I have collected. I really want to buy new ones.....

The gorgeous pebbles in the centers of some of the flowers are from Prima. I absolutely love these and need to find them in different colors!.

The title was made from a few pieces from My Mind's Eye. I have a whole bunch of these fun titles and I love when they finally work for my pages.

I'm also entering this for the Sketches in Thyme Open Sketch Challenge. :)

Off to work on a few more of their fun challenges!! :)

Creative Scrappers #165 and buttons!

I have to admit (again) that buttons are my FAVORITE embellishment! Needless to say I was very happy to see the Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs. I chose to add lots of fun buttons on this page to act as water drops at the end of the splashes. I love that I had a bunch that were solid and some were clear to give them all a different look. The splashes are fun glitter pieces from Jolee's.

I loved sketch #165 from Creative Scrappers. I was able to play with my new glimmer mist! I actually used two different colors of mist on a pale blue background. The title started out as just a rub on from Karen Foster. I added some chipboard letters colored with markers to give the title dimension.

ON a roll and feeling good....and it's still raining.... :(

Creative Scrappers #164

It's a yucky, rainy day here. I guess I will have to just stay home and scrap all day....darn!

Here is my take on sketch #164 from Creative Scrappers. I used a fun kit from Crate Paper. I love all this chipboard! The outer border was made by using a decorative edge ruler and Tombow markers. I think I like this technique! I used the same marker on some Thicker letters for the title.

I wish I could get outside to get some good pictures today. :(

Off to work on the next sketch! Have a great day!

It's Raining....

...well, not really. I kinda wish it was. I went outside to take a picture of my layout and had to wait until the camera became acclimated to the humidity. It is so miserable out there.

Here is my take on Frosted Designs - Sketch along Tuesdays. More circles! I cut up a few different sizes and used markers and inks on them. The background paper was stamped with a light blue ink pad from Cat's Eye. I found these fun raindrops at Hobby Lobby. I'm glad I found them because I lost my raindrop punch. :(

This adorable little turtle, the title and the clouds are all from Nikki Sivils - It's Raining, It's Pouring cut out sheet. I love this little guy! :)

I used some pop dots on all of these pieces.

To finish off the page, I outlined and doodled around all the pieces.

Time for lunch! Who's cooking???

It's too hot!!!!

I am soooo glad I decided to take today off! I only wish I had tomorrow too...It's going to be around 100 degrees out today and with this miserable humidity, it's going to feel like close to 115! CRAZY!!!

We are heading to Navy Pier tonight to see the new Harry Potter movie in the IMAX. I wanted to spend the day at the beach too, but not with this heat. I don't think we want to stay in the sun too long....

So we are going to have to stay home and enjoy the pool...darn!! It wouldn't be so bad, but with these crazy temps, the pool water is pretty warm...it's almost like swimming in bath water...not very refreshing at all.

Oh well....as long as I have popsicles, it's all good!

Here is my page for Sketchy Thursdays. The background is core paper from Coredinations. I lightly sanded it to make it look like...well, sand paper...lol. The patterned paper is from the Splash collection by Imaginisce. I also added a few leftover scraps of the core paper from previous projects. My adorable little sandcastle is a wooden accent piece from Joann's. And then lots of buttons were added.

Time to get moving and get in the pool!! Stay cool!!!

Put a Bird on it!

Here is a fun page I made for ScrapFit challenge #48 - Put a Bird on it! And we also had to add a wise quote. This was what I came up with for this page. :)

I started with sketch #91 from Let's Capture These Sketches. I cut out a scalloped circle from solid cardstock. Then I inked up a scalloped chipboard circle to add to the middle of the larger circle. The background paper is from Basic Grey. The journal spot is by K&Company and I added some rubons for the lettering. The larger alpha is from Pink Paislee. I am seriously running out of chipboard alphas! NOT good! The adorable little owls are from Recollections from Michael's. I love these little guys! And the acorns are by Jolee's. They are hanging from a faux branch I pulled off of some flowers from the flower drawer.

I love how this page turned out!

Time to jump back in the pool! :)

Frosted Finds!

How fun is it when you see a challenge that really makes you dig through your stash and you find lots of treasures you forgot you had??!!

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenge was to use a quote on your project. I have been seriously neglecting a whole drawer full of vellum quotes that I have "collected" over the years. Tons of different subjects to choose from, too! I am leaving these on my desk so I remember to actually use them! I don't know if I'm excited that I found this "hidden" stash or mad at myself for not remembering that I had them all....

So this quote came from a little booklet of vellum pieces from Joann's Scrap Essentials. It's from Hans Christian Anderson....in case you can't read it...

"Just living is not enough...One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

Since there are PLENTY of flowers on this page, I thought it worked perfectly. :)

This sketch is from Let's Capture These Sketches. Love all the different circles! I used some doilies that I inked and misted. The centers of the doilies are cut circles from random pieces of scrap paper. All of the flowers came from the Big Drawer of Flowers. I still can't believe how many I use and the drawer is still stuffed! Apparently, I need to use more....not a problem!! I still have most of my Spring pictures to work with! :)
Bright and early Sunday morning, 2 loads of laundry done, grocery shopping done, and a layout finished! Now I can play in the pool...guilt free!!

Have a great Sunday!!!

More Dr. Seuss...

The Paper Variety has a photo inspiration challenge this week. My kids LOVE to read so I knew I had some pictures laying around somewhere. Here is one from the Dr Seuss Birthday Party at Target. They had story time for all the kids and afterwards I hung around to get some pictures with the backdrop.

Here is the inspiration photo from The Paper Variety:
And I chose to work with this fun sketch from Stuck On U Sketches. :)
I used a few scraps from the box of goodies. The large doily was inked in black and everything else was inked around the edges in black. All of the fun Dr. Seuss stickers are from Michael's.

Off to a good start....

I had to get up early anyway to drive my daughter to work. So I decided to be a little productive and play along with sketch #228 from Sketch Inspiration.

I used an ooooollllld kit I had in the stash. I think it was a Miss Elizabeth kit. I had some bits and pieces laying around so I decided to finally use it up...I still have more bits leftover. The background was solid creme and I misted it with my newest Glimmer Mist - Jack Frost. I love the trim down the side! It matched the coral and was calling me from the drawer! The pearls were leftover trim from another kit. The swirls and the die cuts are from Studio 112 from Joann's. I also added some pearl stick pins. The fish and the seahorse stickers are from the Jolee's bling collection.

Not sure what the plans are for today. It's so nice outside and it's going to get hot. I think we were talking about going to a Wolf Ranch near my house. If not, then I will be "forced" to spend the whole day in the pool....darn....

:)

Happy Spring!

I wish I could get a better picture of this page.

Here is my take on the sketch challenge at Sketches in Thyme Thursday Takes #51.

I used a lot of different elements from K&Company. The border stickers, some of the flowers and the butterflies are all from some of their lines.

I added quite a few purple flowers from my stash to add to the bulk of purple in the picture.

The photo mat was inked in green and dotted in purple inks and markers.

We still have no power at work, so we were sent home early. I am so glad that I had an unexpected day off so I could scrap today! :)

Is it wrong to hope that there is still no power tomorrow??

When the lights go out....

...run to the scrap corner! What else is there to do??

We were "lucky" and got out of work early due to no power. Of course, we sat there for 4 hours before they finally decided to let us go.

Let's Capture These Sketches has some gorgeous sketches! I am so happy all my Spring pictures are in and I can try to take a chunk out of them. Here is my take on sketch #89. My pictures were a little bit bigger than I planned.

The background paper was solid and I kinda dabbed my ink pad around randomly. The mats and accent pieces were all from the scrap box.

The title box is from K&Company and I tried to dress it up a bit with a cluster of flowers. The flowers were cut up to try to get them to resemble tulips. The greenery was cut from a sheet of patterned paper from The Wild Side from Joann's. I cut the leaves and then scored them down the middle and crumpled them up a bit. This idea came from ScrapFit's Weekend Warmup Challenge #9. We were challenged to make embellishments from patterned papers. I'm so glad I found this sheet in the stash. I also used some tiny flower ribbon to give it all a final touch.

Well, halfway through the page, the power came back on! I don't what I'm happier about....having my computer back, or the air conditioning.....

Baseball Diamonds

Gotta love a Girls Night Out at a baseball game!

I chose this for the challenge at The Studio Challenges. How do you spend your lazy days of summer? Me, I could spend them at the beach, the pool or the baseball park.

I saw sketch #162 from Creative Scrappers and new it was the right one. The diamonds on the sketch were my inspiration for the title.

I use some fun customized papers for the Chicago White Sox that I bought from my lss. I also had some bits and pieces that I found at our Joann's too. The "ribbon" across the bottom of the picture is actually a shoelace that one of the kid's had from their fan club kit....sshhh....!!!!

The title is a mix of Thickers inked in black and some tiny type letters from Cosmo Cricket.

And to top it all off, I added a few pieces of bling to represent diamonds. The word "diamonds" always needs to be accompanied by some bling. :)