LOVE

This is my latest project for Use Your Stash.  This week's challenge involved using heat embossing along with gold.  I must admit...I don't heat emboss.  I love the look of embossed projects, but it's not something I typically do.  So I decided to modify the requirements to fit my needs.  I recently found this picture of my Grandparents before my Grandpa deployed to England during WWII.  I absolutely love this picture; #relationshipgoals.  During a recent trek through Michaels, I found the white arabesque lantern embossed paper that I used as the background along with the gold flecked diamond paper.  I started layering papers including a scrap piece of flowered paper from Simple Stories "Beautiful" collection. Then I found a white flower with gold flecks and the vintage letters with gold trim.  VOILA!  My own version of a heat embossed with gold project that used items in my stash.  To pull this project together, I used a sketch from my former design team, 2 Broke Girls, as inspiration.

 

FALL

There is nothing scarier than putting yourself out there.  My family has learned this lesson on more than one occasion this year.  I have always admired my daughters for their ability to try out for different competitive sports.  Sometimes it works out for them, this year it did not for my oldest daughter.  I've told my girls on multiple occasions that they are the strongest, bravest people I know for being willing to put their abilities on the line. In the spirit of my children, I decided to put myself out there again in the scrapbook world.  My former design team "The Memory Nest" is currently on a hiatus, and I knew I would miss being part of this community.  Each DT has their own personality, and The Memory Nest always pushed my creative skills to the limit.  So I decided to put my name and abilities out there again and see if I could possibly join another design team.  CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration is currently holding a DT call, & this was my submission using the following guidelines.  Since the colors required for the layout and theme indicated "fall," I decided to feature some of my favorite fall pictures I took of my brave girls at Niagara Falls, NY a few years ago.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from Carta Bella's "Autumn Collection" line.

BLACK FRIDAY

This is my latest project for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  This is going live right before one of my favorite days of the year...Black Friday!  I will admit, I'm one of the people who helps stimulate the economy on Thanksgiving night.  Perhaps it's because my husband is a firefighter/paramedic.  Holidays are special, but my girls and I have grown accustomed to making the most of days when he is gone.  So my oldest and I have started the tradition of standing in line at Target to be one of the first ones in the door for the Black Friday sales.  Is there anything we want in particular?  Not really.  We just enjoy the excitement and time together.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from PhotoPlay's "Mad 4 Plaid Christmas Collection" and Carta Bella's "Christmas Delivery"

collection.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This is my latest project for Let's Scrap using the following sketch. Being the seasonal scrapbooker that I am, I decided to say good-bye to my favorite patterned paper season by featuring pictures of my girls this past Halloween.  I have absolutely adored all the papers in the Pebbles, Inc. line this year. While I followed the sketch, rather than use all the pictures the layout called for, I decided to focus more on the papers and the embellishments.

HAPPY HALLOWTHANKSMAS

This is my latest project for Use Your Stuff.  For our challenge this week, we were asked to use five different pattern papers on our project.  As I was surfing around on Pinterest, this sketch from my former DT "2 Broke Girls" caught my eye.  This is my daughters and mine favorite time of the year.  When October 1st arrived, my oldest started watching all her favorite Halloween movies.  The first full weekend of October, I came downstairs one afternoon to this...My youngest daughter dug out all the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas decorations and decorated the mantle.  She looked at me and said, "Happy Hallowthanksmas!"  I loved it!  I'm not sure if we are going to take down decorations as each holiday passes or if we are going to keep everything up until the New Year.  But until then, we are enjoying snowmen mixed with skeletons.   When I was brainstorming this project, I wanted to use different holiday theme paper, but didn't want it to look too busy.  Doodlebug Design is my go to scrapbook paper because I love how all the different lines go together.  I liked how this sketch uses small bits of paper, and I thought Doodlebug Halloween, Fall, and Christmas paper would be perfect to accent this picture of our Happy Hallowthanksmas décor.

NO TRICKS JUST TREATS

 This is my latest (and last) project for The Memory Nest.  I have so enjoyed being a designer for this blog, but all good things must come to an end. I will miss this group and all their beautiful sketches dearly.  For my final project, I decided to feature three of my favorite pictures of my daughter and her best bud picking out and carving their Halloween pumpkins.  I liked how this sketch not only used an assortment of pictures but also papers.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers and ephemera from Pebbles "Midnight Haunting" collection.

BE MERRY!

This is my latest project for The Memory Nest using the following sketch.  It's November 6...I know.  But I love Christmas.  And I simply could not wait to scrap these pictures of my daughter and her best friend last year.  They went to a Christmas Parade that featured horses of all breeds and sizes.  It's a giant, outdoor Christmas festival.  And an added perk....my husband is the Fire Chief of the town where the parade is held which means my daughter and her buddy had the best seats in town to watch the parade!  To pull this project together, I used Authentique's "Colorful Christmas" since the patterns reminded me of the elves posing with the girls.

PLAY WITH ATTITUDE

 This is my latest project for Let's Scrap using the following throwback sketch.  I was instantly inspired by the hexagons.  My daughter finishes up her soccer season this upcoming weekend.  It has been a great experience for her.  Her teammates combined with another team, which made her initially nervous, but overall it has been a wonderful experience.  They've done 7:00 AM penalty kick shoot outs, won a tournament in their age level, and have had some terrific team bonding times.  I decided using some of my favorite pictures from the season would be the perfect subject matter for this sketch that features hexagons.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of soccer theme papers from Doodlebug Design's "Goal Collection" and Moxxie's "Soccer Star" collection.