2 Amigos

Stew is always little leary about using the camera. I usually keep it set so all he has to do is turn it on. He took a few photos of Harley and Willie one day while I was at work. He thought they were just funny sitting side by side at the end of the walkway.

I knew I had to do a page with at least one of these photos. This month at Scrappin'-n-Chattin' the sketch that Ashley chose for our sketch challenge contains 3 photos.


And here is my page. I really love how it turned out. I am sooo loving the puffy flowers from KI Memories. They are a new item at my Michael's. I stitched the swirls then added the flowers afterward.


I am also going to enter this layout into this week's Number challenge at The Paper Variety. You are to use a number on your project.

In celebration of Suzanne's birthday, TPV also has a challenge going on. Just leave a message guessing her age on the challenge post. She will be choosing one lucky winner of the correct guesses to receive a special birthday pack.

It's Sketch Time

The challenge this week at Lasting Memories is my favorite kind of challenge - a sketch!!! Here is the sketch:



Again, Karen chose such a versatile sketch. I wasn't sure what photo I wanted to use for this sketch. I had thought it would be one of the dogs. But I looked over at my pile of photos, and there was Courtney on top.



I hope you will check out LM and visit the design team members blogs and take a look at what they created. You are sure to find some awesome inspiration. Can't wait to what amazing entries we get this week.

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #6

Good morning and Happy Easter!!! I hope everyone is enjoying their day. I have been so busy this week that I haven't even colored the eggs yet. They will probably get done just before the kids come over.

I did find the time to craft though. Gotta make time for what's really important, right? This week at Birthday Sundaes the challenge is not a birthday card. We were to create something you would use for a birthday party!! It could be a banner, treat box, party favor, gift packaging - anything you would use for a birthday party or gift. The design team came up with some really awesome things. Be sure to check their blogs out.

I created a gift tag and a Happy Birthday banner to put on Jenna's birthday gift in May. They match the card I made for her a couple of weeks ago. Here's the card:


And now the matching tag and banner.


I hope she likes them. She totally loves pink. I can't wait to get her gift all wrapped up.

I hope you will give our challenge a try. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Once Upon A Time

Back in February, I was searching for a photo of me, when I was a baby, to participate in a Baby Photo Layout Contest at Scrappin-n-Chattin. I posted the resulting page and the story of finding this photo, as well as a very special photo of my mom on her wedding day here.

My sister received her framed copy of the photo I had professionally done last weekend. She was very excited about it and has made the photo her profile picture on Facebook. I had a copy made for me too, but I have not framed it yet. I'm not sure where to put it when I do. I had them scan the photo so I had a digital copy right away of it. I printed a 5 x 7 that I intended to create a scrapbook page with.

I toiled over this page for a couple of months. I searched all of the stores I had access to for ideas on papers. I bought several options at Michael's and tried them out with the photo. When I decided which papers I wanted to use, I found that the corner of both sheets of the paper had been chewed. I don't know if it was Willie, or if maybe they had come that way. I tried to replace them, but I had bought the last 2 sheets. Now what.

I must have picked up 7 or 8 different kinds of flowers to coordinate with this layout, never finding the right match. This was probably the most expensive layout I have ever done.


I used no sketch for this one. And it was Stew's idea to punch around the edges. We were hoping it would hide the chewed portion, but it didn't. I think it worked out pretty well. Not exactly as elegant as I was hoping for, but I am very happy with it. I'm using the page for the 5x7 challenge at SnC.

And now I have added greatly to my stash of flowers and bling. I have to figure out a new storage solution.

Thanks for looking.

Bunny Ears

Good Sunday morning. It's been a pretty stormy weekend in many places in the US the last couple of days. I hope everyone is safe.

Easter is only a week away. Where does the time go? At Lasting Memories our challenge this week is all about Easter. We want to see your layouts inspired by Easter - it can be Easter photos, Easter/springy colors, bunnies, chicks, lambs - whatever says Easter to you.

I have never taken many photos during the holidays. And when I did, I feel the photos don't really make much sense. Easter and Thanksgiving were the hardest. When the kids would go through their baskets, I either didn't have the camera or I was too busy watching what they were doing. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what photos to use for this challenge when I remembered the Bunny Ears. My ex-mother-in-law had given my oldest two some early Easter goodies one year. Each one received a Bunny Ear visor. I remembered that someone had taken some photos of the boys wearing these hats when they were visiting their great-grandparents.

To create this layout, I used the current sketch at Sketches in Thyme. It was perfect for a 2-photo Easter page. I had to turn it to accommodate my photos.


I was pretty excited to use a border that I had just received from participating in a border swap with the scrapping group Scrappin-n-Chattin. I used a grass border that was cut by my friend Abby. The background paper is from the DCWV Nana's Kids collection that I have had for a couple of years. All of the rest of the paper and cardstock used was from my scrap collection. I was very happy with that.


The challenge this week at The Paper Variety is to use a flower or flowers on your project. I made the flowers by cutting various circles and scalloped circles, inking the edges and stacking them. They are held together with a small brad. I used my Cricut as well. The bunny is from the Create A Critter cartridge. The stems for the flowers were cut from A Walk In My Garden. The title is made with Thickers. I have gathered quite the collection of Thickers, so I am enjoying using them on a lot of my pages.


I am also going to enter this page into the current challenge at Wee Memories. The challenge is "All Things Adorable". I really think that Pete and Ben were adorable, bunny ears or not.

I hope that you will join us this week at Lasting Memories. I have enjoyed looking at all of the wonderful layouts submitted by so many talented papercrafters. Check out the other design team members' blogs to read about their Easter inspired layouts. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #5

I am so enjoying making more cards. Being a part of the Birthday Sundaes design team has been such an inspiration for me. The other dt members are so talented. And the wonderful work that has been submitted by the talented card makers has been amazing. Each week I look forward to see the huge variety of projects being submitted.

This week our challenge is Anything Goes Birthday. This challenge came at the perfect time for me. The person who I used to share an office with has a birthday coming up next weekend. I have been making cards for all of my guys for a couple of years now, so I had to make this one for George.

I know it's harder to make masculine cards than it seems to be to make a feminine one, or one for a child. Unfortunately, I have mostly men in my life. I am trying to come up with different ideas for these cards. I actually had to go out and get a clock stamp for this card. I had this idea for several days before I actually got the stamp. I think I will use it quite a bit.

I hope you will check out the great inspiration the design team has ready to provide for you. I hope you will play along with this week at Birthday Sundaes.

Holding a Miracle

Good morning again. Sunday also means it's time for a new challenge at Lasting Memories. Karen is so good at choosing challenges. This week's is a great one - journaling. Journaling was something that I didn't used to do much of. I have become much more comfortable with telling the story. I actually really enjoy it. More and more, I have been journaling in my own handwriting, but there are times that I like to use the computer. When I have a lot to say I find it easier to type it out. The most important thing is to get it into the books.

For my layout this week, I used a special photo I have of myself and a very special baby. Tanner was truly a miracle for his parents. To create this layout, I used the April sketch at Artful Delight. I also used papers and embellishments from her March kit.


I wish I remembered and knew more of the details of this story, but there were issues that prevented me from being really close to the situation. I really like how this page turned out and I'm really happy that I finally created this page.


One thing that spurred me to create this page is a challenge at Scrappin-n-Chattin this month. The challenge is called "Us". We are to create a page with ourself and someone else in the photo. It is not easy to find a photo with me in it. But I am getting more comfortable with that too.

I can't wait to see your pages with your stories. Happy creating.

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #4

Good Sunday morning everyone. I hope you are having a great weekend. The gardens are starting to turn green. It won't be long before some of the early flowers (beside the crocuses) are in bloom. Hopefully spring is popping where you are, with great color and nice warm weather.

Being Sunday, that means it's time to introduce the new challenge at Birthday Sundaes. The challenge this week is an inspiration challenge. The inspiration comes from eatdrinkchic.com.


I chose to use the pink and the ice cream for my card. I used a sketch from Page Maps. I really loved this sketch. I'm sure to use it again.


And here's my card.



I cut the scalloped squares from the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge and the ice cream cone from Stretch Your Imagination.

Thanks for looking. I look forward to see how the photo inspires you.

1st Spring Flower

In celebration of spring, Lasting Memories challenge this week is to create a layout that incorporates spring. Use springy colors, flowers, butterflies - whatever makes you think of spring. And we have a totally awesome prize this week. Leeanne at Artful Delight is offering their April kit!!

This week I saw the first flower of the year in our yard. Very exciting. Of course I took a picture of it, and then I created a page. Hopefully I will be good at documenting the gardens this year. So far, I'm doing pretty well.


I didn't use a sketch this time, weird I know. But I did follow the Negative Alpha challenge at Scrappin-n-Chattin and this week's recipe challenge at The Paper Variety. This recipe challenge is a little different, as you create your own recipe. That had me spinning my wheels for a little bit. But I finally decided what mine would be - 1-photo, 2-Buttons and 3-Brads. The brads are inside the 3 flowers. I'm also using this page as my 52 Week Challenge entry at Scrappin-n-Chattin.


I hope you will play along with Lasting Memories this week. The prize is awesome. I subscribed to Artful Delight last month and LOVE the March kit. I can't wait to get my April kit.

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #3

Good Sunday morning. It looks like this weekend is going to be a nice one in the northeast. I hope everyone is enjoying some spring-time fun. And hopefully some crafting is being done too.

It's time for the 3rd challenge at Birthday Sundaes. The challenge this week is Anything Goes Birthday. Very easy. And we have a sponsor this week. Designed 2 Delight is offering 2 awesome prizes. Check out the Birthday Sundaes for the details.


The design team was offered a digi to create our projects this week. I chose Beary Big Gift. Isn't he just adorable?


This is actually the first birthday card that I have created that doesn't have an intended recipient. I'm going to check with Jenna and Jackie to see if they have any birthdays coming up they could use it for. It was a little strange creating one without an occasion, but I like it. Now to build up my stash.

I hope you will join us this week. I look forward to seeing all the marvelous birthday cards.