Week 5 Card

In addition to doing the 52 Week Layout Challenge at Scrappin'-n-Chattin', I joined the 52 Week Card challenge this year.

For the 1st 4 weeks, I created my cards without considering any outside challenges.  But for Week 5, I followed a sketch that a friend shared with us.  The sketch is from Fab Friday.

And here is my take on the the sketch.

As a part of the 52 Week Card Challenge, Week 5's challenge was to use a tag on the card.

I am also going to enter this card into this week's challenge at Flutterby Wednesday.  The challenge this week in an Open Challenge, but you must include a fairy or butterfly on the card.  I stamped a butterfly onto my image circle.

Thanks for stopping by.

My July Calendar Page

Last night I was able to start my calendar.  For my first page I used the Week 1 January Challenge at Let's Get Sketchy.  This was a beautiful sketch.

. 

For this page, I have photos of Harley and Tessa playing together.  Harley loves to tease Tessa, and will keep the toy she wants for himself.

I am also entering this page in the this week's Flutterby Wednesday challenge, which is an Open Challenge.  You just have to include a fairy or butterfly on your project.

I also entered the page in the monthly challenges at Scrappin'-n-Chattin' - Torn Paper Challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to get many more of my pages done this week.

My Word For 2012

I was so impressed with everyone picking their words for the year and showing their favorite projects for the year. I had started a blog post, added to it a couple of times, but then deleted it without committing

One of Scrappin'-n-Chattin's challenges this month to is create a layout using your word for 2012 as the one word title. I wasn't sure that I was going to complete this challenge. But the more I thought about it, the more comfortable I got with my chosen word. I really don't like to share resolutions - it seems to welcome failure to me. I was feeling this was going to be the same situation. But my word is versatile, and how I am using it, will bring me nothing but success.

So what is my word?? TRY. I have found that just by thinking about this word, I become more productive. And I do have some goals in mind. And this is what my layout shows.

To create the layout, of course I needed a sketch. Now I had this layout planned out and was going to get it done on Saturday, in time to enter it into the Sketch #303 challenge at Sketch Inspiration. But I had a horrible time over the weekend not being able to access my photos to edit and print them. I was never in danger of loosing the photos, but I had to clear them off of my laptop. I was running out of space. I had them in 2 places on our external hard drive and on a flash drive for good measure. I had a hard time accessing the hard drive with Picasa. But now I have it under control. Here is the sketch:
I felt the sketch was perfect for what I had in mind. So I had to use it. I used it for both pages of this layout....


(Sorry about the photos. I am also trying a new system for taking photos, and it's not quite there yet.)

Here is the Page 1 by itself:


And the Page 2.


This may look like a confusing mess, but I am starting to really like it. I took some photos of different things I am using and have developed to help keep me on track. The last set of photos on Page 2 are a set of photos of my scrap space after the hurricane. I took them just before I started to clean up after things dried out. All of my stuff was up on every single horizontal surface. So in a nutshell I want to TRY to stay organized so that I can keep track of scrapping challenges, blog hops, etc., keep track of each of the dogs' progress toward titles and awards in agility and to make sure that I sign up for any trials I want to enter, keep track of (and meet) my deadlines at work, plan meals and shopping trips so that I can save money, and to get my room in a totally organized state (as well as a few other spots in the house). The scrap room obviously is not as bad as it appears in the photos. As a matter of fact it's very close to done. I just have to finish.

In addition to the SnC Word challenge, I am entering this layout into the 52 Week Challenge there. Here are a few of the other challenges that I followed:

Frosted Designs Fabulous Fridays - Use Vellum. I made several flowers and butterflies with vellum.
ScrapFit Weekend Warm-Up #23 - Use Kraft cardstock. I made some flowers with plain kraft paper and the background paper is DCWV The Playtime Stack with is all kraft cardstock based.
Flutter By Wednesday - Open challenge, use a butterfly, fairy or angel. I made vellum butterflies.
Hotshot Craft - Flower

Well, if you made it through my post, thank you. I hope everyone has a great week.

Save the Date Card

Good Wednesday morning. I have a card to share this morning. My son Pete is getting married. He asked Jenna to marry him over the summer, and now preparations have started for the wedding. The big day will be in May next year, but there is so much to get done.

I created this Save the Date card to show her. She really liked it, so she, Jackie and I will be getting together to get them all made up.

I am going to enter this into a couple of challenges. Wee Memories Challenge #68, which is to use no patterned paper. On this card, I used a large wood stamp to create the background on the pink paper. The image is flowers and butterflies. The wedding colors are going to be pink and black and the theme will be butterflies.

Flutterby Wednesdays' challenges this month are open, you just need to include a butterfly, fairy or angel on your project. Perfect.

Thanks for looking.

You Are My Sunshine

It's time again for the new reveal at Lasting Memories. And this week's challenge is a real challenge. Karen is asking us to try a new technique, something that we have never tried before. Make sure to check out all of the wonderful pages the design team created for your inspiration and maybe even your technique.

I used a couple of different, new to me techniques. First though, I used this week's Sassy Lil' Sketches sketch for my page. Such a bright and sunny sketch. It really made me search for the right photos.


I also wanted to use this page as my off-week entry at The Paper Variety. The challenge is a color challenge:
The papers I used were a mixture of Echo Park and My Mind's Eye Lime Twist. The photo doesn't show the true colors, but they are very citrusy.

The techniques that I used were:
1. Machine stitching - I stitched green paper to the orange paper with a zig zag stitch. I have always loved seeing the stitching on all kinds of cards and layouts, but I have never been brave enough to try myself. I was always afraid of tearing the paper. I practiced a little with some scrap paper and then jumped in. I LOVE it. I will definitely be doing it again.

2. Paperclay charms - Inspired by some of DT member, Brenda's, wonderful projects, I got some Paperclay and created some charms that I wanted to include on a banner on my page. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the Paperclay is to work with. I was afraid that the charms would break or crumble when I tried to remove them from the board they were drying on or when I hung them. But they were quite tough. I sponged them with some color from ink pads. Again, something else I will have to do again.

3. Colored chipboard - I have a ton of chipboard and I really am too intimidated to try to paint or cover them. On this page, the clouds are chipboard. I used white ink as an undercoat and then used some Stickles to cover them and make them sparkly. I really like them. Next step is cover some chipboard with paper.


Thank you Karen for really challenging me to step outside of my comfort zone. This page took quite a while to create, but it felt GREAT.

I am also entering this page into the following challenges:
ScrapFIT -Workout #49 - 'Put A Banner On It'
Flutter By Wednesday - #166 - Open, must include a butterfly, fairy or angel

And don't forget, Lasting Memories is having a design team call. To be considered, all you have to do is to create a layout in each of the challenges in August. When uploading your link, be sure to include DT after your name. We have a some really talented people submit entries so far.

I hope you will try a new technique this week. I can't wait to read all about what the design team did as well as our participants.

I Love My Big Brother

I hope everyone is keeping cool during this heat wave. It seems most of the country is sweltering. I hope we all see some relieve soon.

It's time again to reveal a new challenge at Lasting Memories. The challenge is all about the title. Make the title stand out or use an unusual technique to create a memorable title. Check out the video that Karen has linked on the LM blog.

To create my page, I used the current sketch at Sassy Lil' Sketches. I loved this sketch as soon as I saw it. I took me a little bit to find the photos I wanted to use with it.


I love the banner, but I don't have any pre-made ones left, and I didn't think I had the time to cut out all of the triangles. But I was inspired by one of the design team members, Lisa Rounds. Her banner was made with circles folded over the string. That seems easier to me. So this is what I came up with.

I used a variety of alphas to create the title, and a punched heart and heart button for the word love. When we picked out Tessa, we got her from the same place we got Willie. The guy told us that they have the same parents. We hope so. Willie has been nice to her since we brought her home, but a little standoffish. This past week, he has been getting very friendly. He is constantly playing with her, letting her climb on him and pulling on him. He seems very concerned about her, always making sure that she comes back in from outside, or helping to look for her when we can't find her.

I am using this layout as my entry into Scrappin'-n-Chattin's 52 Week Challenge and this month's twine challenge. I used twine for the banner, but you can't see it. I also used twine on the heart button in the title and the buttons on the centers of the flowers.

Make sure to check out the stand out titles the design team came up with. I hope you will give it a try too.

I am also entering this layout into the following challenges:

Sketches In Thyme - Open Challenge
Crafts and Me Challenges - Add a flower
DYSU Challenge Blog - Wings
Flutters By Wednesday - Open Challenge
Paper Cutz Challenge - Anything Goes

A Fun Day

I sure am enjoying the weekend so far. I have already created 2 pages and I'm working on a 3rd. I wanted to do a blog post about the first layout I did today.

This weekend was the 24 Hour Challenge at Scrappin'-n-Chattin'. We provide the names of 3 paper collections we have and then someone chooses which one we will use along with one of three sketches. My friend Barbara made the choices of Sketch #1 which is from Creative Scrappers #146 and Echo Park's Springtime collection. Here is the sketch:


The pictures I chose for this layout are from a couple of weeks ago. I got to meet, in person, a friend that I met first at Scrappin'-n-Chattin'. Kristie Wilson and I met at Hobby Lobby and went shopping, while her husband, my boyfriend and our dogs waited outside. It was so much fun shopping with a fellow scrapper. Then we stopped to eat, then went up to the fairgrounds to Pet Palooza. This was an event that people could bring their "pets" (I only saw dogs) to. It was really cool being able to bring the dogs to an event like this. It was a beautifully, sunny day, which was totally awesome because it had rained for at least the whole week before that. We had a really great day and I am so happy we were able to spend some time together in person. I hope to go visit Kristie in Connecticut real soon.


I used this layout for 3 different challenges at SnC - 24 Hour Challenge, 52 Week Challenge and the 4 Legs challenge. I am also entering it into this week's challenge at Frosted Designs. The challenge is to create a project that celebrates friends. And into the challenge at Flutter By Wednesday, which is an open challenge that must include a butterfly, fairy or angel on your project. And one last challenge. The current challenge at Sweet Peach Crop Shop, which is to hand stitch on your page.