FOOTBALL

This is my latest layout for Sketches in Thyme using the sketch below as a guide.  I am a lifelong resident of Ohio who married an Ohio State Alumni.  Needless to say, this household contains die hard Buckeye fans.  My children were taught to bleed scarlet and grey from the minute they could talk.   While both of my children adore their Bucks, my youngest daughter is as fanatical about the team as her Dad.  Earlier in the football season, my daughter had a soccer game in Columbus when the Buckeyes were playing Northern Illinois.  My husband was able to score some tickets and my daughter got to experience her first Ohio State Football game.  She had a blast, and enjoyed every second of the game including a victory.  During my latest trip to my local scrapbooking store, I "scored" all sorts of treasures myself.  First, Doodlebug's Touchdown collection finally arrived along with beautiful red and grey plaid and striped papers that reminded me of Ohio State's colors.   As a result, this page was born.  And hopefully the Bucks will get one more win against Notre Dame during the Fiesta Bowl in January!

SOCCER GAME TIME

This is my latest double page layout for Let's Scrap.  Typically, I'm a seasonal scrapbooker.  However, when I went into my local scrapbook store The Paper Cottage, I was literally jumping with joy when I saw the Doodlebug Goal Collection had finally arrived.  So rather than being inspired by the season this time around, I was inspired by the paper.  My daughter recently finished her first season on a select soccer team, and she loved every second of it.  My husband got a new camera for Christmas last year, and he loved every second of sitting on the sidelines and taking pictures.  Long story short, I had a large array of pictures to choose from when creating this layout.  I decided to tweak the sketch a bit using four pictures instead of six in the middle, but overall, I was pleased with the results.  And I realized it is possible for me to be motivated to scrap by something other than the season at hand!

THE MEMORY NEST DT CALL PROJECT

Two weeks ago, my daughter tried out for a select volleyball team.  It took a lot of courage for her to put herself out there to be evaluated by others.  I think one of the toughest, most character building things someone can do is try out for a team.  My daughter's determination inspired me to put myself out there again in the scrapbooking world.  One of my favorite blogs to visit is The Memory Nest.  I've been waiting for The Memory Nest to do a design team call for the past several months.  As fate would have it, the design team call was announced the day my daughter was told she made the team!  A coincidence?  Maybe.  But this was my cue that I had to try.  And this is what I designed using the sketch below.  In my true seasonal scrapbooking form, I chose to feature pictures of my girls receiving their top two favorite gifts from their grandparents last Christmas. Since the sketch called for two pictures, I decided these pictures would be perfect to highlight using Echo Park's "Christmas Cheer" collection.  As I'm typing this, I still don't know whether or not I made the design team, but I am happy with the results of the sketch.  Life is about taking risks.  I'm proud that my daughter isn't afraid to put herself out there, and I'm glad that her courage inspired me to try once again for a spot on a design team.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

This is my latest creation for Let's Scrap.  I'm a little late in getting my write up done because last night, right in time for Cyber Monday, the internet decided to crash in my state putting a major kink in my write up plans...Anyway, this is my take on the sketch found below.  I decided to go full out Christmas for this project.  After a trip to my local scrapbook store, I came home with Doodlebug's "Sugarplum" line that I thought fit perfectly with this sketch.  What took the longest in putting this project together was the "lacing."  (Which courtesy of a fight I got into with a potato peeler on Thanksgiving made fishing the eyelets & baker's twine into the paper a bit challenging...)  Other than that, this was a very easy sketch to replicate and perfect for multiple pictures of an event like Christmas.

THANKFUL

This is the latest page that I created for Sketches in Thyme.  For this layout, our design team was given paper from our wonderful DT coordinator Kim Branham Sparks who is a consultant for Close to My Heart.  When I saw the jewel shades of the papers, I thought of the leaves changing colors on the trees where I live.  And when I think of the colors of Fall, I think of Thanksgiving, & the cutest little sous chefs I know; my girls.  This picture seems like a lifetime ago...My oldest had not turned vegetarian yet.  My youngest was still sporting her bob haircut courtesy of a mishap she had involving a pair of scissors and her hands that made her do it.  (Her words, not mine).  Anyway, These are my two favorite pictures from this Thanksgiving, and they fit the sketch perfectly.  I took a few liberties with the placements of the colored papers, mostly because I wanted to show off the chevrons which were my favorite. With this layout, I was reminded how thankful I am for the two little girls I've been blessed with.  In addition, I'm also thankful for the wonderful design team & generosity of Kim.  Sketches in Thyme is truly a fantastic place to be!

MY PUMPKINS

 This is my latest double page creation for Let's Scrap featuring the below layout.  My initial thought on what to create when I saw the sketch involved sunshine and pool pictures because of the "rays.".  However, being a seasonal scrapper, that wasn't going to work for me especially when I saw the Doodlebug "Fall Friends" collection.  I decided to hit up my picture archives and feature snapshots of my girls during our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  This was one of there favorite activities to do in the fall not only because the girls got to pick out their Halloween pumpkins, but also they got to feed the animals in the farm's petting zoo.  I took a few liberties with the design (by adding two pictures instead of two tags on the far right.  I also rearranged where I placed the title.  I was quite happy with the results of my fall "rays" despite the fact my geometry skills were getting a major review session while I was creating this layout!

MY COWGIRL

This is my latest project for Let's Scrap using the sketch below.  When I saw the laces on the sketch, I thought of a doll. The cutest little rag doll I know is "Jessie" from Toy Story.  A few years back, my husband & I took our girls to the Disney World "Not So Scary" Halloween Party.  That particular year, my youngest went as Jessie.  You can imagine her happiness when she got to meet and hug the real Jessie during the party.  Since Jessie is a cowgirl, I decided to use western themed paper to pull the layout together.  I created a similar pocket earlier in the year for a project for "Frosted Designs."  I was looking for a way to recreate the pocket for a scrapbook layout, and decided that the picture of my girls with the aliens from "the claw" machine on Toy Story would be the perfect addition to this pocket.

TRICK OR TREAT

This is my latest layout for Sketches in Thyme.  In my true seasonal scrapbook form, I decided to go Halloween for my October 20th reveal.  I'm a pushover for Halloween paper, especially anything Doodlebug.  I liked how this sketch allowed for different types of patterned paper to be used.  For me, this was PERFECT since I have accumulated quite a bit of Doodlebug Halloween paper over the years.  I decided to feature pictures of my daughters, what feels like many moons ago, getting ready for Trick or Treat.  I blinked and one became a high schooler and the other became entrenched in "tweenhood."  Overall, I was pleased at how this sketch layout came together, Although these pictures sure did tug at my heartstrings....I sure do miss my little witch and Corpse Bride...

HOMECOMING 2015

This is my latest project for "Let's Scrap" using the design found below.  My daughter recently attended her first semi-formal dance proving to her Mom and Dad that time is marching a little too quick for our liking!  Instead of going with dates, my daughter and her friends decided to go together as a group.  And despite going dateless, the lead up to the dance didn't go without hitches...First was the "I hate my dress" mishap.  (That was until her Dad bought her what she called "Kardashian" heels, and then the dress was fine!)  And of course, the day of the dance, Mother Nature decided to drop the temperature and rain an annoying cold, constant rain the majority of the day.  (Thank goodness for the gallon of hairspray we applied!)  As for the sketch, I decided to go with muted, natural colors to make the pictures the centerpiece.  I followed the left side of the sketch as it was presented, but decided to take some liberties with the right.  I loved the "Polaroid" pictures in the original sketch, however, what I had on hand from the dance did not fit this.  So I decided to make my vertical stretch of pictures showing my daughter getting ready for the dance in "Polaroid" form; notice the white space along the bottom of the picture?  And instead of using hot air balloons, I used gold, sparkly flowers I recently found in my favorite $1 section of Michael's.  Overall, I was pleased with how this sketch came together; I just am not pleased that my baby is growing up so fast!

HAPPY

This is my latest creation for Let's Scrap based on the sketch below.  The month of September has been a blur.  This layout is half the reason why; volleyball!  My older daughter has played volleyball for five years.  She absolutely loves the sport.  Last year was her first year on the school team.  This year, she has been a starter for her Freshman team since the beginning of the season.  She has transformed from a timid back line hitter to an all around utility player with one heck of a serve.  Not to mention, her team is absolutely fabulous!  Each girl seems to know subconsciously what the other girls are going to do therefore they play beautifully together.  It has been a joy watching them grow this season.  So when I saw the stars on this layout, I thought of my daughter's volleyball team and decided they would be a perfect subject matter for this layout since they have all had a stellar season.  In addition, I used Teresa Collins' "Urban Market" collection not only because many of the papers are my daughter's school colors, but the circle glitter paper reminded me of volleyballs.

SOCCER

This is my latest creation for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  My husband and I are in the depths of soccer season right now with our youngest daughter.  As a result, I saw the circle on this sketch and thought "soccer ball." She has been completely obsessed this past summer with the Women's World Cup Soccer team.  She can tell you every player's name, jersey number, birthday...She's a little obsessed.  Over the course of three months, she has traveled to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to see the women play.  This past trip she got to see the actual trophy the women won in Canada over the summer; she said it was worth the hour wait to get her picture with the trophy. I'm sure this won't be the last soccer layout I do for a DT this year...but for this particular sketch, I thought the pictures of my daughter in soccer heaven fit the bill perfectly!

SENOIA

 This is my latest double page sketch for Let's Scrap based on the design below.  I'm in seasonal scrapbook mode again.  This past weekend a chill was in the air, sweatshirts were being worn...The calendar may say it's still summer, but it definitely felt like fall.  So I decided to dip into some of my favorite fall pictures I took two years ago in Senoia, Georgia where AMC films my favorite TV show The Walking Dead.  My older daughter and I took a tour with Atlanta Movie Tours and went to several places featured in Season 3 of the show; namely "Woodbury." "Woodbury" is actually the town of Senoia, Georgia.  This town truly is one of the loveliest, most picturesque places I've ever seen.  So much in fact that LOTS of movies have been filmed here.  The day of our tour was an absolutely perfect fall day; not a cloud in the sky.  To accent these fall pictures, I used paper from Carta Bella's "Fall Blessings" line, namely the "Arrows" which I purposefully used as a shout out to my favorite crossbowmen Daryl Dixon.  :)  The Walking Dead fans will know what I'm talking about...

NEW YORK CITY

This is my latest double page spread for Let's Scrap.  This particular layout was also used for our most recent DT call.  When I saw all the various shapes for pictures for this sketch, I immediately thought of pictures my husband took while in New York City with my daughter.  One day they spent watching the Women's World Cup Soccer team play in New Jersey.  The next day they checked out New York City.  My husband is a firefighter/paramedic who I swear knows every firefighter between here and the Atlantic Ocean. He had acquaintances who died on 9/11 therefore he really wanted to see the new World Trade Center and the memorial for those who died during the attack.  After paying their respects at the World Trade Center, my daughter insisted that her Dad take her to Dash.  (She loves the Kardashians, and really wanted to see their store).  Once she left Dash, it was off to Chanel, and then Starbucks.  And along the way, he took tons of pictures that I positioned into the sketch.  I took a few liberties with the design, but overall was pleased with my interpretation of it.  I chose to use various shades of grey, black, and white to resemble the colors of the skyscrapers and signs along with a "dash" of red to symbolize "The Big Apple."

JOY TO THE WORLD

This is my latest creation for Sketches in Thyme based on the sketch found below.  What struck me when I initially looked at the sketch were the triangles.  And despite being the first of August when I created this project, I instantly thought of Christmas Trees when I saw this sketch.  I decided to rotate some of the triangles to make colored paper Christmas Trees throughout this layout.  The pictures I chose were simply fun shots I took this past Christmas morning.  My husband and I love to do funny things on Christmas such as posing the Elf on the Shelf on a gift we think the girls will like best or putting little hints on the tags on what is inside the package.  This past Christmas, we adopted a puppy who thoroughly enjoyed the mess on Christmas morning.  And I kept finding her in strange spots such as between a pizza and hamburger pillow with an ornament on her head. Across the top of the layout is a quote from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas that reads, "Maybe Christmas, he thought...doesn't come from a store.  Maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more!"  As much as my children do enjoy opening presents, I certainly hope it will be moments like these that are the most memorable to them about Christmases when they were little.

SUMMER ADVENTURE

 This is my latest double page sketch for Let's Scrap.  If you have recently been on a vacation & have lots of "extras" like brochures, postcards, etc. that you want to include on a layout but aren't sure how, this sketch is perfect!  Placing a pocket on a layout is super easy with a little bit of paper and some fasteners.  For this layout, I continued to use favorite pictures I took during a recent trip to Florida.  I used paper from October Afternoon's "Treasure Island" collection and cardstock stickers from Echo Park's "Summer Adventure" line.  And once I'm officially done scrapping my vacation pictures, I will put those extra snapshots I didn't use in this layout's pocket!

WORK HARD PLAY HARD

This is my latest double page spread for Let's Scrap. Typically when I think of hexagons like the ones featured in this sketch, I think of soccer balls.  But instead of using a soccer theme this time around, I decided to think outside the box and use pictures I took of my girls playing and having fun in Panama City Beach, Florida. I chose to use Echo Park's Anything Goes collection specifically the "Happy Hexagons" double sided paper to pull this layout together.  I must admit, I was having such a good time cutting out hexagons that I decided to use a few more than the the layout called for...Using shapes such as this on a layout is way out of my comfort zone.  But overall, I liked the fun effect it had featuring the pictures I chose from my vacation.

PENNY

This is my latest creation for Sketches in Thyme based on the design below.  For this layout, I decided to feature my newest addition to my pack of dogs "Penny."  She's named after "Penny" on The Big Bang Theory.  However, upon seeing Jurassic World, thinking we should rename her "Blue" after the Raptor that Chris Pratt trains; she sort of looks like a Raptor with fur...Anyway, last month, my daughter decided to tan on top of the hot tub.  I keep hearing her yell, "Mom!" I go outside, and there's Penny sunning herself as well.  She is still going through the "awkward" phase of growing up; her legs are gangly; her body is very long.  But there she was with her sister snuggling up and "tanning."  The other is a picture of her when she was a puppy playing in the snow.  I used paper from the Kaisercraft "Furry Friends" collection to design this layout.  I liked how this sketch allowed for the use of a variety of papers without taking the emphasis away from the pictures.

WE DO NOT REMEMBER THE DAYS...

This is my latest double page layout for Let's Scrap.  When I saw the sketch below, the circles reminded me of pictures I recently took of my daughter and nephew blowing bubbles at their Grandma's house.  They were having so much fun getting sticky and chasing bubbles around the yard.  And I had so much fun cutting circles for this layout!  (Although I think my arthritis was in a full blown flair afterwards...)  But what can I say...I'm a sucker for circles!  My favorite part of the layout is the phrase I placed across the top of the pictures.  The phrase was actually at the bottom of the paper meant to be thrown away.  It says, "We do not remember the days we remember moments."  Isn't that the truth?  I think that will be the case for my daughter when she thinks back to all the fun she's had with her cousins at her Grandma's house.

SUMMER TIME

This is my latest double page layout for Let's Scrap.  As I predicted, I went on vacation and snapped too many pictures to count!  These are a few of my favorites from this year's trip to Panama City Beach, Florida.  To accent the pictures, I used a variety of papers and stickers from a variety Doodlebug lines.

WORLD CUP

 This is my latest design for Stick it Down based on the sketch below.  Last month, my daughter and husband went on a road trip to New Jersey to watch the Women's World Cup Soccer team play South Korea in Harrison, NJ.  As I was going through the pictures my husband took of the game, I realized my five favorite shots fit this layout perfectly! Because the pictures were USA themed, I decided to dip into my ever growing stash of Doodlebug paper and used this year's Patriotic Picnic and also last year's Patriotic Parade collection to design this layout.

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

This is my latest creation for Let's Scrap. When I go on vacation, I tend to take WAY too many pictures...Last year was no exception.  I decided to make a collage using the software at Walgreens and then picked two of my favorites of my daughter on an adventure we took to an isolated island filled with sea shells.  The paper is from Carta Bella'a "Ahoy There" line and the embellishments are from the $1.00 bin at Michael's (one of my favorite places to shop for unique accessories).  I'm actually typing this up as we are packing up the car to leave for vacation again...I suspect this layout will be used in the future with my tendency to be a shutterbug! ;)

MY FAVORITE IDOL

This is my latest creation for Let's Scrap where the inspiration was the sketch found below, specifically the left side.  When I saw the stars, I instantly thought of a recent encounter my daughter had with a her favorite American Idol star.  Two weeks ago, Alexis Gomez who made it to the Top 8 girls of American Idol, performed a free concert in our hometown.  Alexis is a local girl, and my daughter was rooting for her from Day 1 of Idol.  She cried when she made it into the Top 8.  So she was absolutely beside herself when she got Alexis's autograph and a picture with her.  Because Alexis and my daughter are such cheerful people, I decided to use bright colors throughout this layout to play up their personalities.  And being a country music singer, it was necessary to include some bling on this layout as well!

OH SNAP

This is my latest layout for Sketches in Thyme using the template found below.  Since it featured one picture, I decided to showcase a selfie my oldest daughter took of herself that I dearly loved.  As I scoured through my ever growing stash of paper, I found this horizontal camera print that I thought went well with my "selfie" theme. After this discovery, the layout came together remarkably quick.  Rather than do a traditional journal like the sketch called for, I decided to cut out thought bubbles that resembled text messages. Finally, to pull it all together and to match the sketch, I added flower bling and stickers.  In summary, I was hoping to achieve a teenage theme with this layout, and through the help of the sketch, I think I achieved my goal.

MY TREE

This is my latest creation for Let's Scrap.  When I looked at this sketch and saw the tree, I was a bit perplexed on how to attack this layout.  And then it came to me...a family tree!  I found a chipboard tree designed by Leaky Shed on scrapbook.com that inspired me to create the tree on the left side of the page.  Both the "leaves" & "hearts" were punched from Creative Memories die cuts.   I used an assortment of papers on this project, primarily Basic Grey, but also other fall colored scraps to punch the circles and hearts. And the final touch, pictures of my daughter with her immediate family members. She is very fortunate to be growing up with her grandparents close.  I hope someday she looks back on this layout with fond memories of her family.

SOCCER STAR

This is my latest double page creation for Let's Scrap.  I was inspired by the hexagon shapes, but not necessarily using the template found below.  When I looked at this sketch, I instantly thought of a soccer ball. But rather than cut/punch out hexagon shapes, I decided to go literal and use and entire sheet of soccer ball paper with all sorts of hexagons to feature pictures of my daughter playing soccer this past fall.  Soccer is her passion.  She loves to kick the ball, knee dribble, watch soccer on TV.  The only thing she does NOT like about soccer is playing goalkeeper... So I used some of my favorite pics of her this past season playing the game.  As for paper, I used We R Memory Keepers "Game Day" collection along with a sheet of soccer quotes from Kaisercraft to pull this project together.