Happy Scrappy Weekend

I had a chance to take a breath, so to speak, this weekend and do a little bit of scrapbooking just for me, and let me tell you - It.Felt.Wonderful! The first thing I did was work with a wonderful sketch that my scrapbooking friends, AUDREY YEAGER and HEATHER LEOPARD have featured on their blogs. It was created for a month-log blog hop by many of the Sketch Thursdays alumni. And me being me, well...I waited until the very last minute to play with it. But I got it done, and that's got to count for something, right? Right!!! I used Echo Park's Note to Self collection, which I love, love, love! I got the idea for my arrows from Heather's layout. The bottom arrows are stickers that I machine-stitched over, and the top ones are cut from one of the borders. I love the sense of movement they create, and I love the effect layering gave them.

Speaking of layering? How could I NOT layer with all the wonderful goodies in the Note to Self collection!

That's it for today, but be sure to check back tomorrow as I decided to challenge myself with Practical Scrappers. I love a good challenge, don't you?

It's That Time over at LCOM

It's that time again over at the Let's Capture Our Memories SKETCH BLOG - another Friday, which means a brand new sketch and a new team reveal! I used a picture on my layout that I recenty took of my daughter and her guy sharing a moment right before family photos were taken. I am so glad I snapped this pic - their playfullness and obvious love they have for each other warms my heart. They were obviously in their own little world, which was the reason behind the title. I used gorgeous Theresa Collins papers and embellishments. I kept everything pretty clean and simple, choosing a few objects and word phrases to symbolize this young couple's relationship with each other and their life together.

I loved the typewriter in the corner. I could imagine it just typing out their story together (can you tell I am feeing a litte sentimental today?). The only problem was that I wanted it coming off the page just a little - not enough to take away the focus from the picture but - a little. Or maybe I just couldn't resist fussy cutting SOMETHING from those beautiful papers (fussy cutting relaxes me, what can I say?). So, I did exactly that. I fussy cut the typewriter from a second piece of paper and glued it on top of the image on the paper.

That's it for me. Please head on over to the LCOM SITE to check out the wonderful new sketch, and have a fun and crafty weekend!

It's a Dog's Life

Okay, I may not be ready for grandchildren yet, but I am more than ready for a grand-puppy. And like any proud grandparent, I am convinced that MY grandpuppy is about the best there is! He's very smart (gets that from my side of the family for sure), extremely good-natured, and (you can't deny it) he IS devilishly handsome!!! So I thought he deserved his own layout. The picture of Ty was taken on Easter afternoon. Lindsey and Chris brought him over, and he was wearing his brightly-colored bandana, which worked much better than an Easter bonnet for him. He sat and posed quite patiently while I took his picture, unlike his mother, who (I am pretty sure) rolled her eyes at me when I said it was photo time. Ha! I used October Afternoon papers, but my embellishments consist of pretty much anything I could get my grubby little paws on. And I doodled on just about everything, from my Pink Paislee clouds...

...to my rub on banner

I added a couple of stick pins with little banners as a finishing touch.

A couple more picture before I go - Ty with his mommy and daddy. Aren't they a sweet-looking family?!?!

And, look! Ty even smiles for the camera! He is the perfect grand-puppy!

A "Scrap" Book Layout at Practical Scrappers

Happy Thursday morning to you! Today, my layout is being featured over at Practical Scrappers - how exciting is that?!! Want to see close-ups and read all about it? Well, then, click HERE!

Lori Whitlock Spring Blog Hop

Happy Hump Day everyone, and welcome to the Lori Whitlock Spring Blog Hop!

What better way to get you over the middle-of-the-week hump than by having a little blog hop?! My fellow Design Team members and I have all been having so much fun putting together projects with Lori's new cutting files, and we are extremely excited to be sharing them with you today!

Now, you should have arrived here from JOY'S BLOG.

But if you are just joining in and want to start from the very beginning (that's a very good place to start), then hop on over to Lori's site HERE. And while you are there, don't forget to pick up...

Now, as you know, Easter is next weekend. And Mother's Day is right around the corner after Easter. With those holidays in mind, many of us have been making gifts and cards for our loved ones. And, you know, I was going to do just that for this hop. I really was. I had my Echo Park Dots and Stripes papers out, and I had plans (really) of making Lori's CHEST-OF-DRAWERS and filling it up with some Easter candies to show you. It would have been very pretty and pastel and perfect for Easter. But...I pulled out the last few pieces of my This & That papers from the Graceful collection, and I decided...
...
...
...gifts can wait, I want to make something for me!!! And that is exactly what I proceeded to do.

I decided to make Lori's Chest-of-Drawers for my scrap table. Even though it is made of paper, don't let it fool you. It is sturdy, and the drawers are nice and deep.

The drawers are the perfect size for holding buttons, brads and little bits and pieces of random things that I like to keep next to me when I am working on projects.

I kept my decorations and embellishments to a minimum, but there is certainly room on the sides and the top of this wonderful 3-D piece to let your imagination take charge.

Now, your next stop is NATALIE'S BLOG. But wait! Before you go, become a follower (if you aren't one already) and leave a comment. Why? Because you could win (by random drawing on Thursday night)...

That's right - Join. Comment. And you are automatically in the drawing for a chance to win. It's easy as pie.

(P.S. If you are looking for my Practical Scrappers project using bakers twine, it is the post right before this one.)

Practical Scrappers - Bakers Twine

Good morning everyone! Our challenge today over at Practical Scrappers was to use Bakers Twine on a layout, but...we were asked to come up with something that wasn't the norm.

Now, I did use my bakers twine for my banner, which is about as normal as you can get for baker's twine on a scrapbook layout. But in addition to that, I decided to use my baker's twine to make stars. How did I do it? I simply used a star shaped piece of paper (cut with one of my punches) as a template. I traced around my template with a pencil and then covered the pencil outline with a thin line of glue. After that, I lay my twine along the line of glue and...Voila! Bakers twine stars.

Now for those of you who are thinking my banner looks a little familiar, you are absolutely correct.

Did I use this exact same banner in my last Practical Scrappers LAYOUT? Yes, I did. Did I love the way the banner looked so much I just couldn't help myself and HAD to use it again? You betcha! Do I care that I have two layouts practically in a row using the same thing? Not one little bit! *smile*

The teeny tiny letters from the center of my banner were also put to use in my little cluster around my picture, see?

And the paper star by the bottom corner of my picture? That's my template for my baker's twine stars.

Now it's your turn. Pull out some twine or floss or string and challenge yourself to do something a little out of the ordinary with it on your next project. I double dog dare you!!!

Sketch 126 Reveal at LCOM

Over on the sketch blog at LETS CAPTURE OUR MEMORIES, it is once again time for the new SKETCH REVEAL! Sketch #126 was created by the fabulous JJ Sobey, and the other team members takes on it really show how versatile and fun the newest sketch can be!

I knew I wanted my layout to have a collage feel to it, and the Simple Stories papers from the FABULOUS collection were perfect for that. And the pictures? Well...they just prove that my grandmama was absolutely right when she said you had to be careful when you made ugly faces because your fase could FREEZE LIKE THAT! And, it's true!!! Of course, it took a camera and a scrapbook layout to make it happen, but who got the last laugh when the Huntress tried to keep me from getting a good shot by making funny faces? Mama did!!!

I love how my embellishments blend right in with the ones printed on the page!

This journaling was so easy and fun to do. I think it helped add to the light-hearted tone of my layout.

Be sure to stay tuned. It's going to be a busy week for me! I have a Practical Scrappers layout that I'm dying to share with you, a layout for the LCOM Scrapping with the Stars Contest and more Lori Whitlock fun ahead! Sometimes, I really suffer for my art. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-HA-HA-HA!!! Sorry. I couldn't even TYPE that with a straight face! I hope you have a crafty, wonderful week ahead of you, too!