A Fun Fall page...

I needed a break from all the Winter pictures, so pulled out these fun photos of my cousin's family. This was also a Christmas card with smaller photos along with a larger family photo.

I used this card for this week's sketch at Sketchy Thursdays.

The larger yellow leaves are actually doilies. I used some scraps of kraft paper for the photo mats and I tore the edges instead of cutting them.

I am getting ready to cook the lobster ravioli for New Year's dinner....YUM!!!!!

Jellies!!

During the summer we took a family trip downtown to the Shedd Aquarium to see the Jellyfish exhibit. It was soo much fun!!! They are such fascinating little creatures.

These two pictures were perfect for this color scheme from Scrap Whispers #113.

And this is using Sketch Along Tuesdays #31 from Frosted Designs.
Lots of pretty trims that were laying around not doing anything added some fun elements. And since I bought lots of fun new colors of Stickles, I added quite a bit of sparkle.

More Echo Park Winter Fun!!

Since I had my Echo Park collections scattered all over, I thought I would do another fun winter page.

I used sketch #64 from Sketches in Thyme, which was this fun 2-pager.

I broke out a few punches and made a couple of fun borders and punches lots of snowflakes. At first I thought I was adding too many...but then I remembered that page was all about a blizzard! So there had to be many many snowflakes!!

Time for New Year's Eve lunch!! Then I'll be back to scrapping!!

Echo Park Christmas!

I love that Echo Park's Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings collections work so well together!

A little mix and match and a fun Santa photo and I have my first layout of my Scrappy New Year's eve party. :)

This sketch is from Once Upon a Sketch. I did my journaling on a sheet of vellum and adhered it to a pretty inked doily.

I used quite a few stickers from both collections and some pop dots to make a few different clusters for challenge #112 from Scrap Whispers.

I am so happy that all my housework is done, so I can spend the whole day in my jammies!!

Have a great day!!!

Paper Lovin' Gals #12- Happy New Year!!!

I cannot believe this year is coming to a close already. I flew by so fast, it's almost depressing!

But I am looking forward to a new year of fun!!

Here is inspirational photo challenge #12 from Paper Lovin' Gals. Aren't these rosettes so pretty!!??

I just love my new score board, so I waste no time in pulling out some scraps and making more rosettes. I punched some circles from metallic paper and added some bling-y snowflakes.

Come see what the Paper Lovin' Gals design team has created!! Bet they can get your mojo started for the new year!!

Day after Christmas lull...

I thought I would avoid the after Christmas rush to the mall for the big sales. I decided to have a jammie day and do some organizing, scrapping and online ordering. :)

I just ordered the January kit from Artful Delight. So excited! Lots of kraft goodies! I'll be stalking the mailman all week...lol.

Here is my page for sketch #62 at Sketches in Thyme. I love these older pictures of my oldest daughter. I had so many of them, I thought putting a few on the same page would be cool. Then she can see how she has grown over the years. And Santa was always the same old guy!

I thought I would give a sketch from Basic Grey a try. I used some bits and pieces from the Marjolaine collection. These colors are so pretty!!

My title is also going to be my "Word of the Year" for ScrapFit #57.

I have so many issues that I have been dealing with, with my family, I vow to make 2012 a much better year.

More Echo Park

Oh well....the daylight is diminishing quickly....last picture for today.

More Echo Park Winter and Wintertime papers!! Love these two collections! And they work so well together. And they are perfect for the Blue, Red, and White challenge for Show Us Your Stuff. :)

This page was made with the sketch inspiration from Scrap Whispers #111.

I"m really missing snow this year. Usually by now we have a few inches. We have NOTHING! So unusual for Chicago....keeping my fingers crossed for just ONE day of good, fun snow pictures......

Seasonal Greetings with Echo Park

Isn't it great when you get so many awesome photo cards to play with!

I have so many goodies from Echo Park collections and the color combo challenge from Scrap Whispers was just calling for these papers. I also added some silver mist to the background paper.

ScrapFit challenge #58 was to use mini pictures. I happen to have a whole wall filled with beautiful family photo cards!

I used these week's sketch from Stuck on U Sketches.

Off to oogle more fun pictures and cards!

Merry Christmas pages!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had an amazing weekend my family and took tons of pictures!

I also was lucky enough to receive some awesome gift cards for more scrappy stuff. And I had some really cool tools under the tree. :)

I went to bed early last night due to exhaustion and relief that the holiday went off without a hitch. So of course, I was up early playing with my pictures. :)

Sketch #61 from Sketchabilities was full of circles. Since I always recycle Christmas cards that I have received, I scanned the wall o' cards and found this fun one with these whimsical stockings. Perfect for just a few more Grinch pictures.

Here is a Christmas photo card from last year of my nieces. These papers from K&Company are so gorgeous! And I have a new obsession....liquid pearls!! OMG! These are so fun and they dry beautifully!! The sketches from Let's Capture These Sketches are so gorgeous and classy, the papers are perfect! Here is sketch #113.
And a card from my best friend from this year. Her kids are so cute together. I found a piece of dark blue corrugated paper that I swiped with some white ink. The chipboard snowflake pieces are from Bo Bunny. Sketch #6o from Sketchabilities was just the right one for these size photos. This is my favorite page of the day, so I'm submitting this to Scrap Whispers for the Anything Goes challenge #110. :)
I am so happy to have a wonderful family that understand my scrapping obsession. I am also glad that they stayed up late and are sleeping in so I get some quiet time to scrap. :)

I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Lots to do today, so I wanted to post this before I get started!!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! I hope Santa is good to everyone, because everyone has been good....right??!!! Of course we have!!!

Amazingly, we have had no snow for this Christmas. It's a little bit disappointing, but I know it's coming. It is Chicago after all. It just might get here in April.

This is for sketch #63 for Sketches in Thyme. I hand cut the snowflake from an older template and used some inks. The background paper was misted with some darker purple Glimmer Mist. My favorite part is the pink snowflakes cut from the trim. :)

And here is my page for Sketchy Thursdays. Fun sketch, lots of fun photos and a cute tree! I used a border punch to make "garland" on my tree. And a fun wooden star accent on top. I am in love with these papers from We R Memory Keepers.
That's it for today!

Have a wonderful holiday and a very Merry Christmas!!!

Paper Lovin' Gals #11 - Merry Christmas!!!

I'm a little late...again. This has been a crazy week getting ready for Christmas! If you haven't been running around taking care of last minute details...God Bless You! lol

I even had to run out at 7am this morning because I forgot a few ingredients for the dip!

I managed to squeeze out a page for challenge #11 from Paper Lovin' Gals. I don't know where they find these inspirational photos, but this is just gorgeous!!!

I found these pretty papers from a Recollections paper pad. I love the gold snowflakes! I added some really shiny paper to my paper strips.

I chose to use sketch #251 from Sketch Inspiration. The sketch showed some really neat stitching around the circle. I usually don't sew on my pages, but I was watching a Christmas movie and decided I could kick back and stitch while watching tv. I guess that's why I had to run around this morning! I thought I had everything under control! lol

My only uncertainty was adding the ribbon. It's a little too white for me, but the gold Christmas trees were really cool.

Stop by the Paper Lovin' Gals blog and see the rest of the projects by the design team! And don't forget to have a Merry Christmas!!! And don't forget the chips for the dip....

Imaginisce color challenge

Is it becoming obvious that I do not want to do any housework today?

This is the color challenge for December from Imaginisce. It was really nice to break away from red and green for a while. :)

I started out with sketch #187 from Creative Scrappers.

The background paper is solid dark blue and I spritzed it with some silver Shimmer Mist.

The striped paper is from the Imaginisce Twitterpated collection.

The clouds were cut from patterned paper from the same collection and I used a darker blue ink on the edges.

The red paper is from the Apple Cider collection, and I used kraft paper for the photo mats.

The title is a die cut from the Santa's Little Helper collection.

The little letters are from My Little Shoebox.

I also added some pop dots to the big title and the little snowflakes for a little bit of dimension.

I guess I can't put off the housework any longer....have a great day!!!!

2 layouts...and no laundry done yet...

I saw this challenge from Scrapping Everyday Miracles, which was to scrap something you are thankful for. My treasured item is this awesome picture of the last time my siblings and I were all together with our kids.

This picture actually kind of makes me sad, seeing as that it was taken so long ago and we haven't been together since. :(

But it was nice to finally make a page for it. Now I'm happy that I had it at all. I so need to make more effort to take more like this.

I used sketch #186 from Creative Scrappers. I love the different strips of papers. I used some Maya Road chipboard butterflies that I inked and make little markings on them.
So is it a bad thing that I didn't do any laundry yet?? Nope! Because I got another fun page done! :)

Avoiding Housework....

I so don't want to do much today but play in my scrap corner. Sigh....

These pictures of my kids with the Grinch always crack me up. He sure was a lot of fun and more than happy to sit through lots of pictures. See,...he's not so bad after all. :)

I pulled out the mulberry paper and tore the edges. Then I tried to ink it in green and it wasn't showing up too well. Then I used a green marker and didn't like the way it looked. So I gave up and from a distance, I sprayed some Glimmer Mist on it. I was finally happy with the end result.

The wooden accent pieces are from Michael's.

I used this cool sketch from Stuck?! Sketches. Once I saw that distressed center piece, I knew I had to do a fuzzy Grinch page. :)
I think I might pull out more pictures to work on .....but the laundry is calling me...more like screaming, but I just turn the music up louder. :)

Lasting Memories #69 - Holiday Cheer and A Giveaway !

Good Morning!!! Is everyone finished with their Christmas shopping yet? I still have just a few small things to pick up today. And the rest of the day will be baking, baking and maybe even a little baking.

I hope you will have some time to play along with Lasting Memories this week! Because, there is another fun giveaway!

This week's challenge is all about Holiday Cheer. We would like to see what inspires you from the adorable photo above. Is it the colors, the decorations, just the spirit of the season?

And as an added inspiration, feel free to use this fun sketch!

I used lots of pieces from the We R Memory Keepers Christmas collection. My new score board sure came in handy for that bottom strip! And this was such a great sketch to work with.

So have you seen anything that has inspired you to join us this week? The Design Team has many incredible creations to help you! Be sure to stop by and share some Holiday Cheer with them also!

And if you still don't have enough incentive, how about a giveaway??

I will be giving away this collection of Winter goodies by Heidi Grace. This includes patterned papers, rub ons, satin ribbons, and lots of chipboard accent pieces!

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories to share some love for our Design Team. Then link up your layout for chance to win!

Have a great day!!

Paper Lovin' Gals #10 - Sweets and Treats

Aren't these the yummiest treats ever??!! I cannot wait till the Christmas cookies are baking and I get to munch all day!

Photo Inspiration #10 from Paper Lovin' Gals looked so good! I love that little penguin!

I love this color scheme too. It seems like aqua and deep red are becoming more popular and I can see why.

Here is my take on the photo. I stuck with the color scheme and added some fun penguins and snowmen. I even brought out the score board and made a base for the penguin and snowman with some scraps of paper to match the cupcake holders.

I love that I kept all the photo cards from last year and can put them to use instead of them sitting in a box forever. These are photos from 4 different happy families! I can't wait till they see how I preserved their cards!

Stop by and see what other yummy surprises the Paper Lovin' Gal's Design Team came up with!

I'm sure you will find lots more inspiration!

Have a great day!!

Best way to distract from a cold...

Work on some Christmas pages!!

I used a Christmas photo card from last year for the sketch at Sketchy Thursdays.

Lots of buttons and a silver doily for Frosted Designs sketch a long Tuesdays.
I used a border punch on some strips to put together my Christmas tree. I used eyelets for the ornaments. I used sketch #113 from Let's Capture These Sketches.
And some fun photos from the Tow Trucks for Tots parade. Love this annual parade!! This is sketch #250 from Sketch Inspiration. :)
These were all made using the 12 Days of Christmas challenges at My Scraps and More. I finally finished all the chalenges!! Now I can take more cold meds and take a nap.

Enjoy your day!!

A layout just for fun!

If you know me, you know how addicted to sketches I am. So this was way out of the box for me.

The outer piece is from a Colorbok Chipboard set that I painted a light pink. The bottom of the page was covered in some white mulberry paper and them some white glitter was added to the whole strip.

I was lucky enough to win a Sew Easy tool from We R Memory Keepers, so I thought I would take a little more time to play with it. This design reminded me so much of snowflakes, I decided to sew a few onto my page. I still need a little more practice with the tool, but it still turned out pretty good for a first -timer. :)

Pink Paislee offered some free downloads this week, so I took advantage of a few of them. I had them printed out and fussy cut them all. It took a little longer than the sewing did...lol. But they were really cute and I wanted to work them into a page somehow. This title was mounted on mulberry paper and then I sprinkled some white glitter on it.
More Pink Paislee pieces! Aren't these snow-people adorable?!! I used a few pop dots on them too.
So there! It is possible for me to create a page without the guidance of a sketch! LOL!

Have a great Sunday!!

Lasting Memories #68 - Winter and Snowflakes

I think the only real thing I like about the snow is all the fun pictures I get of the kids playing outside. lol.

They have a blast and I remember when I did too....before I had to shovel, snowblow, drive in it, .....ick.

But it is really pretty after the fresh snowfall. I usually run right out to the nature center and take lots of pictures of the snow covered evergreens. Hopefully, ( and I say this while rolling my eyes), I will be able to get more nice pictures and not have the big hassle. Last year we had a huge blizzard and I was snowed in for two days.

So this week, Lasting Memories wants to see your snowflakes and Winter Wonderland projects. You really have to see the Design Team projects! When I think snow, I think lots of white. These girls used so many different colors and ideas! I feel like a whole new world of ideas has opened up for me! Gotta think outside the box....

Even though I had plenty of snow pics of my kids, I wanted to work on sketch #110 from Let's Capture These Sketches. It was really hard to find smaller pictures, but luckily, I saved all my photo cards from the family from last Christmas. These are my cousins kids on vacation at the beach. What a fun and "warming" Christmas card! For the background I used older Heidi Grace flocked snowflake paper. I added a few foam snowflakes and some bling to the centers. The larger snowflakes were made with my border punch and rolled up with foam flakes in the center. The tag is a chipboard piece from Heidi Grace and I saved the bottom part of the card with the kids names and date on it.

Be sure to stop by Lasting Memories and show us what colors and designs you come up with for snowflakes

Oh wait...one more thing...we have a giveaway!! Michele is sponsoring us this week!!!! Two 6 x 6 "Mini Decks" of Fun Wintery and Christmasy (Is that a word? YES!!) patterened paper from Cosmo Cricket and My Minds Eye.

So be sure to stop by and see our Design Team projects and don't forget to play along!

Super Saturday! More pages!

I was lucky again and had lots of time to play. I am so happy to be working on Christmas pages! It really gets me in the spirit!

I had to post these now, because today is decorating day. Our tree has been up for 2 weeks with no decorations. So today we are doing the inside of the house and tomorrow will be the outside. Thankfully, it will be close to 20 degrees warmer too!

I"m still working with this fun collection from We R Memory Keepers. I did some fussy cutting on some patterned scraps and cut out some holly leaves. Then I creased them so they popped off the page. This sketch is #112 from Let's Capture These Sketches. :)

Show Us Your Stuff was another fun sketch! I used up some Echo Park papers from the Merry Christmas collection. The reindeer stickers are from Jolee's. And I made a cute little shaker box with a little bit of reindeer food. The poem is something we use every year when we put this together. The kids have a blast spreading this out every Christmas Eve and my yard sparkles for days!
I love this fun collection from Jillibean! The added pinks and the little penguins are so cute! I used sketch #3 from My Creative Sketches. I am sllooowwwly getting into hand stitching on my pages. It's getting easier. And I used the same embroidery floss to add little bows to the little gift packages also. :)
I played along with challenge #8 from My Scraps and More which was to use 8 snowflakes. I used just a few more than that...lol. This is my adorable little snowman from last year. I sure hope we get to make a bigger one this year! These are all glitter foam snowflakes from Michael's. This bigger one is a wooden accent piece. And I love the felt trim! So pretty and later on I am going to experiment with inking or misting it. :)

Creative Scrappers #185 was such a pretty sketch with the flowers, but I wanted to stick with a winter theme. :)
And finally, a sketch from Stuck?! Sketches. I played with my border punch and lots of misting and inking. And i used a new gold ink pad on the Thickers letters. :)
Off to decorate the Christmas tree! Have a great weekend!!!

FA-lalalala...Lots of layouts!

Yay for more time off! I am so glad to be able to stay home, not drive in the snow and get some pages done!

My Scraps and More is having a 12 days of Christmas challenge. Everyday a new challenge is posted counting down the 12 days of Christmas. We are up to day 9 and it's getting harder and harder!

I found this awesome stack of paper and embellishments from We R Memory Keepers! I am having so much fun with it!

Challenge #6: Use 6 different patterned papers. The photo was triple matted and the title box was double matted. The background paper makes 6! I had this fun garland from a gift from last year and knew I kept it for a reason. :)

I used the December sketch from Artful Delight.

Challenge #3: Use 3 different ribbons or trims. I used 2 different ribbons and this fun dingle ball trim. For some extra touches, I added some random eyelets and snaps to the trims. This was from Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays #29.
Challenge #4: Use 4 different colors. I went with this fun set from My Mind's Eye. Pink, Blue, Green and Red! THey are so fun and bright together. This is also the December sketch from My Scraps and More.
Challenge #5: Use 5 circles to represent 5 golden rings. I cut out a few circles from a sheet of patterned paper. Some of them are popped up with foam dots. This is the newest sketch from Stuck On U Sketches.

I'm hoping to get a few more pages done today! Have a great Friday!!