Stand Up Against Bullying

So, as the name of my blog implies, there may be occasions where I use my blog to promote crafts or ideas OTHER than scrapbooking. And so the time has come. My Olivia has started doing beauty pageants and for the next one we are raising awareness against bullying. Her picture is on Facebook, and likes count as votes. If she has the most votes in her age division for the next pageant, she wins a special trophy! So, if you could, please take a minute to go like Olivia's photo. You need to click on the picture and like the actual picture on Facebook in order for your vote to count. Thank you!

The link: Olivia against bullying

and here's the picture you'll find on Facebook, so you'll know which one to vote for :)

Discover - Let's Get Sketchy challenge

Here's a layout I completed for this week's Let's Get Sketchy challenge. I used pictures from a mini vacay we took to Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas, USA) right before we moved here. This was a fabulous sketch from LGS and very versatile too.

Here's the sketch:



And here's what I created:







All papers are from Simple Stories "Take a Hike" line, except the arrows paper that I matted the smaller photo on. It's Simple STories "24/7" from their 6x6 paper pack. Buttons are from MME Lost and Found Christmas and just happened to be the perfect green color. Journal spot is Simple Stories "Sn@p" Collection. Washi from We R Memory Keepers (yellow woodgrain) and Queen & Co (green chevron, cut in half).

Thanks for taking a look! Please leave a comment and consider joining my blog!

Smile - ScrapMuch? Sketch-y Friday challenge, Pixels and PaperScraps Jan inspiration

The new sketch up at ScrapMuch? immediately inspired me to scrap, and I quickly found the perfect pictures to fit this sketch. I will probably actually use the sketch again, it's so fun and versatile!

I used all papers from Fancy Pants' "Beach Bum" or "Beach Babe" lines, and CS stickers from their "Beach Babe" line. I'm also submitting this layout for a couple challenges over at A Cherry On Top - January CHA Color Palette Challenge (pinks, yellow, orange, green) and January Manufacturer challenge - Fancy Pants. Alphas are Doodlebug.

Here's the sketch from ScrapMuch?:



And here's the layout I created:







I used a bit of distressing on the layered papers and the PP are already made with a distressed look to them. Then I used 3D adhesive squares to adhere the stickers to give them dimension.

Here's the color palette inspiration we were to follow at A Cherry on Top:



I'm also linking up to Pixels and PaperScraps blog for their January inspiration challenge - a picture of kids playing in a fountain. It reminded me of these pics of my Olivia sitting on the edge of a fountain in Branson, MO, and I was inspired to use bright, summery papers for the layout too. Linking up to Use Your Stuff challenge blog for Jan challenge - use lots of bright colors.

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment and/or consider joining my blog!

Happy Together - Sketchabilities sketch challenge

This is a layout I made following the most recent sketch challenge over at Sketchabilities. I used a picture that was taken of my husband and I the Christmas before we were married. This picture was used for our newspapers announcements. I just never had scrapped it when I did our wedding album, but this sketch was a great was to use it. Here's the sketch:



And here's the layout I made:



I used several Glitz papers in a 6x6 paper pack that I recently purchased, that also went along with some other Glitz goodies in my possession. I love the bright colors in this layout, and the big ampersand on the papers. I used some Simple Stories Sn@p alphas.

Sno Much Fun - Stuck?! Sketch challenge, ScrapMuch? color challenge

I am just finally getting around to scrapping these beautiful pictures of Olivia when she had just turned 2 and was outside playing in the snow a few years ago. I love her look of wonder and excitement and how much fun she is having with her dad playing in the snow. The sketch at Stuck?! was a great way to show off these pictures. Here's the sketch:

And here's what I came up with:




I used a variety of papers for this one and I mixed and matched a lot. But I really wanted to make the pictures stand out without them getting lost, so I used CS background and an extra layer of PP on the close up pic of her face.





I used alphas from Simple Stories' Sn@p line and then covered them with Stickles to give them shine. I added more of the same stickles to the edge of the bottom half of the LO and then dotted some here and there, to try and mimic snow. It may or may not have worked! lol. Then I added some spray mist ink for details, and some October Afternoon alphas to a piece of chipboard that I've had over 4 years.

Stuck?! also is working together with Frosted Designs, and if you use mist/ink on this sketch, you can submit it with them. My mist is the black/charcoal ink.

I'm submitting this challenge over at A Cherry on Top for the Jan Supply list challenge. Out of 10 items provided, I used: something cold, stickles, chipboard, white, and diagonal stripes.

I am also submitting this to the January color challenge over at the ScrapMuch? blog (thanks to Laura for the invite and suggestion!)

Thanks for looking and leave some love and/or join my blog!

15 Years Ago

I have been looking at the January week 1 sketch challenge over at Let's Get Sketchy for several days now and finally a layout came to me, when I was going through some picture albums. Here's the sketch: I used this sketch to help me create a layout for a music challenge over at A Cherry on Top - to use the title of a song from the 70s as a page title. Here's my layout:



It's hard to believe that it has been 15 years since I graduated high school. That was a lifetime ago!





I used some Glitz design paper I found last week, and combined it with some great neutral chevron from Fancy Pants' "Timber Grove" collection from a piece I had leftover. The blue Glitz paper came distressed already with the look of white misting, then I added some black/charcoal misting to it. For extra interest, I added some circles stamped using a bowl from my kitchen! and stamped it with some Tim Holtz distressing ink in Soot color. Then I finished off the look and tied it all together with some black flowers from Michael's and a piece of washi. I also added a strip of glittered black ribbon, and used a combination of different black Thickers for the title.

This is the title of a Conway Twitty song that was released September 1970. Conway Twitty is one of my mom's favorite singers, and I grew up listening to his music and know all the words to his songs.

Thanks for looking and please take a minute to leave some love and/or join my page!

Featured Artist!

Hello! I just learned today that I was selected as a Featured Artist over at Let's Get Sketchy! Holy smokes, how awesome!! I was selected for my "Joy Noel" page that I made last week, that was for a Bingo layout challenge at LGS.



Thanks for looking, I just had to toot my own horn! I'm SUPER excited!! :D

Back to School - Cover Girl Search

This is a layout I completed using a sketch over at Let's Get Sketchy for their Cover Girl search. I am combining it with a couple challenges over at A Cherry on Top. The first is an Old is New Again challenge to use something old/new/borrowed/blue. I used: Old star brads, new paper I bought a few months ago, borrowed the sketch from LGS, and blue PP and journaling card. The other challenge is a Bingo challenge to use a line from a bingo-type card provided with elements. I used: brads, circles, 2 pics, twine. I used a diagonal and went thru the "free" center so only had 4 elements for that challenge.





this was the sketch they provided:



Supplies list:
Echo Park Paper & Glue paper set
star brads are MME I think from forever ago from Target, and twine from my stash.


Thanks for looking and please leave some love when you stop by!

Joy Noel

This is a layout I completed for a Bingo challenge over at Let's Get Sketchy. This week there is a challenge to make a layout using one of the lines on a Bingo card that has elements you must include on your page. I used the second line across: Journal strips (on the bottom with the kids' names and date), 3 photos, flowers, buttons, punch. Since I still haven't gotten any border punches, I used a 1 inch circle punch to make 2 circles (from the black & white stars paper) up on the top left by the "JOY" tags. I cut the word "Noel" out of a piece of Little Yellow Bicycle Making Merry paper and adhered it to the green dots paper using 3D foam squares to give it some dimension. Using the two words on the page "Joy" and "Noel" seemed like an appropriate title for this page of my beautiful kiddos. These pics were taken last Christmas (2012).







I also am combining this challenge with 2 challenges over at A Cherry on Top. First, I'm using it for the Scraplift the Guest designer challenge. Lisa/ScrappyDistractions is this month's Guest Designer, and so the challenge is to lift one of her layouts. So this layout follows and is inspired by hers.



I am also combining this challenge with Lisa's Guest Designer Challenge #1 - 3x3x3 wherein you have to follow her directions of the following: at least 3 pics, at least 3 diff PP, at least 3 kinds of embellishments. Supply list:
Bazzil White card stock
Echo Park swirls red paper
Heidi Swap scraps (black/white stars)
Simple Stories sn@p 3x4 cards (green polka dot)
Queen & Co red/black/white twine
Queen & Co red chevron skinny washi
Tattered Angels Misting shimmer ink
Little Yellow Bicycle Making Merry Chalkboard paper ("NOEL" word)
My Mind's Eye chipboard buttons and "JOY" stickers
bling & flowers from Michaels, Christmas tree Brad from Hobby Lobby


Thanks for looking and please leave a comment that you visited!

Family Mini Albums

I finally got pictures of a mini album that I made for my mother and mother-in-law for Christmas. I made one for each. Both are basically the same with the exception of a few pages and a couple of inserts, showing pictures specific to each family. This is where a lot of my December scrapping time went, to finish these up for Christmas gifts. My mother could not come up for Christmas, so I'll be mailing her's out this weekend. These are paper bag albums that a swap sister had sent to me almost 3 years ago that had just been sitting in my drawer waiting to be used. Since I stopped scrapping for about 2.5 years, I never had a chance to use them, and I thought they'd be perfect for mini albums for the grandmothers for Christmas.



I found this quote online and printed it out on white cardstock, then trimmed it with decorative edged scissors and inked the edges with a black Cat's eye inkpad. I decided to cover the binding edge of the paper bag album with some card stock. I took every opportunity in the album to add inserts into the pockets and even built in some flaps as well.





here's the same insert cards as above but on the flip side

and some more, including a flip page on an insert, for Halloween pics. Probably my favorite feature in the book.



Thanks for looking! Please leave a comment if you've stopped by here to check these out, and consider following my blog!