SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

I'm so appreciative to be starting another year on the design team for Sketches in Thyme!  This is my first layout based on the following sketch. As usual, I took way too many pictures on Christmas which meant this layout was perfect to feature some of my favorites from the day.  When I saw all the circles on the sketch, I instantly thought of all the Doodlebug Christmas paper I've accumulated over the years.  I'm always looking for ways to use the paper, and thought all the different shaped circles would be perfect.  And while I followed the sketch, I did decide that the left side needed to have a few circles as well.  (Not to mention, it was another excuse to keep using up my Doodlebug supply!)

PARIS

This is my latest layout for The Memory Nest using the below sketch.  First of all, doing a layout with me as the subject matter rarely happens.   In 1998, I had the opportunity to travel with a local high school to Paris, throughout the south of France, and finally to Barcelona, Spain.  In 1998, I neither scrapbooked nor took the amount of pictures I wish I had while I was there.  While on this trip, a friend of mine snapped this picture of me sitting on a bridge with the Notre Dame Cathedral behind me.  This trip was one of the greatest experiences of my life.  When the terrorist attack took place in Paris in November 2015, I used this photo as my facebook profile picture in support of the people of France.  When I saw this sketch, I thought the picture fit perfectly into the design.  I used fleur-de-lis paper to symbolize France, and a tag I found in my favorite place to find unique embellishments; the Michael's $1 bin.  Finally, I dipped into my stash of Pink Paislee "Bella Rouge" paper to create the "City of Love" feel that Paris evokes. Even though this trip happened a long time ago, I'm glad I finally scrapped my time in France.

TRAVEL MEMORIES

This is my latest creation for Let's Scrap using the following sketch.  When I saw the globe and airplane, I instantly thought of travel.  My daughter went on quite a few adventures last year in a two week time span that I decided to document in this layout.  On the left side of the layout, she is attending the Women's World Cup Send Off game at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.  On the right side is her trip to New York City the following day and Panama City Beach, Florida two weeks later.  She was quite the little jet setter last year.  I decided to take a few liberties with the sketch, namely with the lattice. While it reminded me of a french bulletin board which I thought was interesting, since the layout was travel themed, I decided to make my "lattice" into roads.  I used paper from the Scrapbook Customs "Travel Memories" collection along with Doodlebug's Daily Doodles paper to pull this project together.

DESTINATION MOUSE & CO

I can finally reveal news I've been keeping under wraps for more than a month; I made the design team at The Memory Nest!  Talk about being excited!  I've been a longtime fan of this blog, so being asked to be part of the creative team at The Memory Nest was simply a thrill!  For my first project using the sketch below, I was inspired by the placement of the pictures and the title of the sketch "Cloud Nine."  I instantly thought of the pictures I took of my oldest daughter's first trip to Disney World.  She was bouncing with excitement.  You could say, she was on "cloud nine."  So I featured pictures of her waiting at the airport, on the airplane, and watching her first fireworks show at Magic Kingdom.  When I noticed the star shapes of the fireworks above Cinderella's castle, I decided to use a large star instead of a large cloud to anchor the title.  However, the clouds are still there in the form of thought bubbles.  Overall, I was pleased with the outcome of this project and can't wait to do more for The Memory Nest this year!

CHRISTMAS PICTURES

Happy New Year!  This is my first post of 2016 for Let's Scrap using the sketch found below my layout.  Santa/husband took my not-so-subtle hint on Cyber Monday (me sending links to scrapbook.com) and bought me the Echo Park "The Story of our Christmas" collection.  I decided to use the papers to feature pictures of a photo shoot I had done with my daughters, niece, & nephew for my Mother for Christmas.  We went to a historic building/park in my hometown that happens to sit next to railroad tracks.  The girls had a blast posing for pictures; my nephew...not so much.  But we were able to get a few good ones, especially of the girls, which I featured in this layout.  I took a few liberties with the sketch, namely flipping around the picture placement on the right side.  Overall, this was a fun sketch to work with and perfect for multiple pictures.