A Few Favorites

Still playing catch-up and wanted to quickly share these layouts - all made with MY SCRAPS AND MORE SKETCHES.  Tammi makes some sketches that, apparently, really work well with my way of scrapping because each layout came together effortlessly and quickly, and I love the results!  I used CRATE PAPER'S STYLEBOARD COLLECTION to create this first layout, which features a photo of the Huntress who is just full of all kinds of attitude but still just as sweet as she can be.

My next layout:

I used an oldy but goody FANCY PANTS collection - Trendsetter - which coordinated perfectly with this photo of Little Lula who, at age 4, is already a little trendsetter with her own style and buckets of personality!

Finally, another of Lula and one of her Lala Loopsy dolls going beddy-bye:

I used my February PAPER BAKERY KIT and some random bits and pieces sitting out on my work table to create this fun layout.

That's it for me today.  Hope your Saturday is full of happiness and spent doing the things you enjoy doing most!  Until next time...

Today Was Golden - My Scraps and More Sketches

Today we are playing along with a new sketch over at MY SCRAPS AND MORE SKETCHES.  Head over to blog to see what other design team members have done with Sketch #76, then play along and link up your take on it!

This is what Sketch 76 looks like:

And here are a couple of close-ups of my layout:

This was an Instagram picture that I took of the Golden Gate Bridge during a recent trip with the Hubster to San Francisco.  We were walking along trails around the Presidio and there were several spots, such as this one, that provided the perfect vantage point to take pictures of the iconic bridge.  I loved the way it turned out and knew I wanted to use it in a layout.  I used a mixture of BELLA BLVD papers from the Snapshots and Freestyle Sophisticates Collections.  I always love it when different collections "play nice" with each other!  I haven't used Bella Blvd in quite a while, but these papers seemed to work perfectly for my layout.

I had a LOT of fun creating the title for this layout.  Often, my title is an afterthought for me, but not this time!

That's it for me today.  Be sure to stop by tomorrow as I continue my catch-up and post a few more layouts that I think you are really going to like.  I know I do! (snicker-snort)

GIVING BACK SOME LOVE

This morning I wanted to quickly share a layout I worked on, off and on (well, more off than on) over the weekend.  I used Elle's Studio Love You More Collection that I got during a recent fantastic sale at the My Scraps and More Online STORE.  I also used a gold doily and a heart punch to make my gold hearts that are scattered across my layout.  Now, I gotta tell you, I am new to the Elle's Studio party.  My interest was piqued when I saw my friend HEATHER playing with this very line at our last ever Archiver's crop (still crying over the loss of that store).  But, in playing with these papers and all the coordinating journaling cards and strips that I can fussy cut to my heart's content and then use however I want - well, call me a fish because I am hooked!  This Elle's Studio collection is some awfully sweet bait, though!!!

Can you tell I had a lot of fun layering?  Repeat after me: layers are our friends...

Now, you are probably saying, "Yes yes your layout is pretty but who won the sweet Pretty Little Studio gift certificate?"  Using my fabulous random method of asking my youngest daughter to pick a number between 1-18, THE WINNER OF THE GIFT CERTIFICATE IS SUE DOWNEY!  Sue, I will order your gift certificate today and email the code to you once I receive it!

Thank you to everyone who played along and who left some love and kind words, not only for me but for others!  Words of kindness leave such an incredibly large impact on our lives.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you have a happy crafty week ahead of you.  And if YOU have created something you would like for ME to see and comment on, leave a link in the comment section.  I would love to leave YOU some love, too!!!

MY SCRAPS AND MORE SKETCHES - 2.14 REVEAL

Happy Day of Loooovvveee (typed in my very best Barry White voice).  This is turning out to be quite a busy day for me since I have not one, not two - but THREE projects all due today.  BUT - I absolutely loooovvvee crafting so I am definitely in my happy zone right now.  If you are joining in for the PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS SCRAP YOUR STASH BLOG HOP, click HERE.  If you want to see five darling, adorable notecards I made for PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO, then click HERE.  Of course, I would love it if you would scroll down and check out this post, too!

This is my first take on a My Scraps and More sketch as an official design team member.  I am a sketch-a-holic so being part of this sketch design team pretty much has me in sketchy heaven!  To see the sketch, you are going to have to go to the blog, but that is super easy since all you have to do is click on the link HERE.

This is also the first time I have ever used ELLE'S STUDIO papers, and I've got to say, I really love them!  I am a sucker for simple graphic patterns.  They make layering, which I love to do, a piece of cake!  Of course, I purchased them at the My Scraps and More STORE, which just happens to be having a sale...hmmm....looks like it might be time to buy myself a little Valentine's present...just to show me how much I love...well, ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not always a journaling tag girl.  In fact, I often cut up my journaling tags and use them for something else on my layout.  But, this one was so cute that I couldn't resist!  I love the way it looks like it has a couple of layers of little tags added to it.

The top of my layout includes a mix of "real" layering on top of "faux layering" already on the paper.  Can you tell what is real and what isn't?

I also had fun fussy cutting these arrows and machine-stitching them over the outlines in the patterned paper:

That's it for me.  How do you think I did?  Now, it's YOUR turn to play along!  Make sure you link up your layout on the BLOG!

Farewell Archivers - I Will Miss You

I first discovered Archivers back in 2009, shortly after I started scrapbooking.  The Hubster and I were trying to find a local store that carried a newfangled thing called a Silhouette - it was going to be my birthday present if I liked it - and after checking online, we found out that Archivers carried them.  I remember walking into the store for the first time and thinking I could spend hours, literally hours, just looking at and touching everything.  Sadly, the Hubster wasn't on board with that idea at all!  We found the Silhouette, made our purchase, and left.  But I vowed to go back, and go back I did - frequently - over the next four-and-a-half years.  

I knew nothing - less than nothing - about scrapbooking when I started (despite purchasing a Silhouette), but the sales ladies at Archivers were always there and always willing to answer even my dumbest questions, without once laughing or even batting an eye.  They demonstrated everything from the most basic, "What are brads used for?  How do you put them through paper?" to the more complex questions about stamping and embossing.  They oohed and aahed over my layouts when I went to crops - just like any encouraging mentor would.  They always listened with a smile on their faces as I gushed over the newest collection coming out.  I loved that store; I loved those employees.  So when I heard they were going to close their doors forever, I wanted to cry.  And I knew I had to go to one last crop there.  I spent the weekend with two fabulous ladies who love scrapbooking as much as I do:  Heather Leopard and Majken Pullin.  Before we left, I snapped this picture.  Yep, that's my big ole head taking up most of the pic (due to the short stubby arms I was genetically gifted with which were not able to hold my cell camera further away), but you can see we were having the best time, bittersweet as it was.  I love that picture and I love the memories it brings back - not just of that particular weekend, but of it all.

To create this layout, I started with a fabulous sketch that caught my eye over at MY SCRAPS AND MORE SKETCHES.  I used leftover scraps of LILY BEE papers and other random bits and pieces that were orphaned on my desk after I cleaned up from my last couple of projects.  I changed things around a little.  I only used one photo instead of 3 as shown in the sketch.  And, I used the bottom left space as a journaling spot instead of placing patterned paper there.  To make my layout look a little more like the sketch, I added a "faux photo" spot next to my one and only picture.  

I loved this "Happy" hexagon shape that I found, but it was the only hexagon shape sitting out on my desk.  No problem!  I simply used my shape as a template to trace and cut out a few more from my patterned papers.  I layered my handmade hexagons with flair and wood shapes and called them done!

I think it was quite fitting to pay tribute to my favorite scrapbooking store in a layout, don't you?  I know, I don't actually say anything about the store in my layout.  But I will always be able to look at this and remember how being there made me feel.  And that is really what is important.