HAPPY NEW YEAR! LET'S GET SKETCHY DT DEBUT!

Happy New Year to all of you who follow my blog.  This is my first project for the year, and my first for my new Design Team "Let's Get Sketchy."  For this team, we create a project for an easy to follow sketch.  This was my creation for the following sketch.  When I saw the sketch, I was immediately taken by the fun vibe.  I decided to feature pics of my daughter having a fun night of competitive Uno playing over the Thanksgiving holiday.  My husband and I took our girls to Kill Devils Hill, NC this past Thanksgiving, and we had a blast doing jigsaw puzzles, coloring in adult coloring books, and playing Uno that eventually involved money and incredible amounts of laughter.  I used a variety of scraps from my collection of Bella Blvd papers, my hexagon punch, and a few buttons to pull this project together.

DECEMBER MOOD BOARD PROJECTS FOR COOKING UP CREATIONS

This month at Cooking Up Creations our theme revolved around mood boards.  We were to find two different mood boards and create projects inspired by the colors, textures, objects, etc. found within the picture.  For my first project, I was inspired by the following mood board. I loved the natural colors and the greenery and thought it would be fun to recreate on a project.

And this is the project I made for the mood board.  One of our favorite family traditions is to visit The Golden Lamb restaurant in Lebanon, Ohio.  Unfortunately due to Covid, this year we had to miss our annual trip.  So in honor of all the great times we have had eating Christmas dinner there, I featured this picture of my daughter at The Golden Lamb last year using the colors, patterns, and greenery from the mood board along with the Simple Stories "Winter Farmhouse" papers and embellishments collection to create this project.

For my second project, I was inspired by the following mood board.  One of my favorite Christmas color combinations are shades of pinks and teals.  I knew immediately when I saw this mood board that I had to recreate it.

When recreating this mood board, I was inspired by the colors in the pajamas my girls are wearing in this picture.  I loved to dress them in the same clothes when they were tiny and didn't have strong opinions about clothes.  I miss those days...To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from Prima's "Sugar Cookie" collection.

SKETCHES IN THYME PROJECTS FOR DECEMBER

Back again uploading more projects I've created for design teams.  I'm the Week 3 leader at Sketches in Thyme, and one of my DT members was not able to make a project for the month, so I volunteered to two.  Below is the Week 3 sketch. For my first project, I went full on Christmas.  My dog loves his hippopotamus toys.  Both of the toys squeak, and he carries them around everywhere he goes making a cacophony of sound.  Nothing would probably make him happier than getting more hippopotamuses for Christmas!  So using the song as a guide and a variety of Doodlebug Design Christmas papers, project 1, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.." came to life.  For my second project, I was inspired by a recent trip my family & I took to Kill Devils Hill, North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  It was so nice socially distancing for Thanksgiving at the ocean.  We were in desperate need for beach therapy, and we got a wonderful dose of Vitamin Sea there.

FESTIVE

 

This was my December project for Use Your Stuff using the following mood board as a guide.  I decided the perfect subject matter for this project would be my dogs wearing their Christmas sweaters (under protest I must add).  I dipped into my stash of stuff to pull this project together using a variety of Carta Bella Christmas papers I have accumulated over the years.

NOVEMBER PROJECTS FOR COOKING UP CREATIONS

It's been a little while since I've posted to my personal blog, so I thought I would take a few minutes to highlight some of the projects that I completed during the month of November for Cooking Up Creations.  Each month at the forum, we have a theme that inspires our projects.  This month's theme was to create a project inspired by a "gathering" with a Peanuts theme.  These are my 2 inspirations...

INSPIRATION 1:  Soccer Hair Don't Care

For this project, I used Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen as my inspiration and soccer as my "gathering."  I loved my daughter's hair going crazy, messy directions in this project and thought she would be the perfect Pigpen inspiration for this project.

INSPIRATION 2:  Abbey Road    

For this project, I was inspired by a picture of Peanuts characters walking like the Beatles did down Abbey Road.  So for my project, I featured a gathering of neighborhood kids at the bus stop, & my daughter Abbey walking down the road with her sister and friend.  

BEAUTIFUL FALL

This is my latest project for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  My favorite pictures to scrapbook are fall themed ones.  So when I discovered this one that my daughter took with her BFF, I was on cloud nine.  I love everything about this picture; the colors, the corn field backdrop...PERFECT fall themed page.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers and embellishments from Prima's "Autumn Sunset" collection.

TRICK OR TREAT

Hello!  This is my latest project for Use Your Stuff where the bi-weekly challenge starting today is to create a project using stripes.  I love to create Halloween projects, and recently bought a fun Halloween themed kit from Peachy Cheap featuring Fancy Pants' "Halloween-Howl Collection."  With the adorable cut outs and the playful paper designs, I decided to dip into my Halloween picture archives and feature pictures of my daughters carving their Halloween pumpkins when they were tiny girls.  To pull this project together, I also was inspired by a sketch from my former design team 2 Broke Girls.   

OCTOBER PROJECTS 2020

The month of October was rough...My daughter broke her leg a second time and had to have surgery.  Long story short, I have not updated my blog with my October projects.  Now that she is recovering, and I have some time and brain power, I am uploading a variety of projects I made for two design teams that I am a member of.  The first layout I'm featuring is a project I made for Sketches in Thume.  My favorite projects to make are Halloween themed projects, so I had a blast creating this layout of my daughter creating a Halloween gingerbread house using the following sketch.  

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My next projects were for the design team Cooking Up Creations.  This month's challenge was to attack a paper pad in our stash and create 2 layouts and 4 cards using papers from the pad.  I used a Vicki Boutin pad I bought at Hobby Lobby to create the following projects. This pad was so versatile; I loved working with it.  Not only was I able to create a recent project of my daughter posing for a picture with our dog, but also I used a picture from when my girls were tiny operating a lemonade stand.  The papers were perfect for all age levels and themes.  These are definitely some of my favorite projects I've made this year.

        

AHOY!

This is my latest project for Use Your Stuff where we were asked to create a project with a nautical theme.  I knew exactly what picture I wanted to feature when I saw this challenge.  When my girls were tiny, they went boating with their Dad and Great Grandparents and my husband caught this shot.  My oldest was intently concentrating on fishing while my youngest was intently giving her Dad her cheesiest smile.  It's truly one of my favorite pics of my girls that fit perfectly in with a nautical themed challenge.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from P13 "Off Shore II" collection.

COOKING UP CREATIONS SEPTEMBER 2 & 7, 2020 PROJECTS

Hello everyone.  I'm running a little behind this month (even though we are only 7 days into the month) and decided to feature both of my Cooking Up Creations projects in this post.  Our theme this month is "You Spend me 'Round;" in other words, create projects that feature round themes.  For my September 2 project, I decided to feature balls, specifically baseballs, in a scrapbook layout.  My daughters were, at one point in their life, willing participants in all my picture taking endeavors.  I took these of them horsing around on baseball statues when they were tiny little baseball fans watching their uncle's team play our local minor league time.  To keep in line with the round vibe, I used a variety of baseball die cut stickers and baseball themed papers to play up the baseball mood.  For my September 7 project, my "round" theme was wheels.  This is one of my all time favorite pictures of my oldest daughter hailing a taxi cab in Chicago.  To give it a round vibe, I used travel/car themed papers and chipboard wheels to highlight the content of the picture.

HOWDY

This is my latest project for Use Your Stuff where this biweekly challenge was to create a farm themed project.  When my girls were tiny, every fall we would take them to a local farm.  Not only did they have a wonderful selection of pumpkins and other fall related items, but also they had a petting zoo that my daughter's loved to visit.  My daughter's had so much fun petting and feeding all the animals.  I loved this picture of my oldest loving on a horse.  I thought she would be the perfect subject matter for a farmed theme project.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers and die cuts from Doodlebug Design's "Down on the Farm" collection.

COACH

This is my latest project for Cooking Up Creations.  This month's challenge is to create a project using a television game show as inspiration.  For my second project, I chose to create a layout based on the 1970's game show "Sports Challenge."  Two professional athletic teams would compete against each other answering trivia questions.  Winners would receive a cash prize that would be used to purchase athletic equipment for youth athletic programs.  So for my project, I decided to feature my favorite youth athlete and her favorite soccer coach.  This coach has been a God send to my daughter.  Not only has she taught her a much about the game of soccer, but also helped navigate my daughter through her broken leg recovery.  She is the best, and I thought she would be the perfect subject matter for a "Sports Challenge" challenge.  To pull this project together, I used a sketch created by Bev Code for my former design team Creative Inspiration.

ALL PLAY ALL DAY

This is my latest project for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  For this project, I was inspired by pictures my daughter and her BFF took a few weeks ago at a local golf course.  She was having such a good time horsing, and I so rarely get her to share photos with me, that I thought she would be the perfect subject matter for this sketch.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from Crate Paper's "xxx" line.

EXPLORE

This is my latest project for Cooking up Creations.  This month's challenge is to create a project based on a classic TV game show.  For my project, I picked Hollywood Squares as my featured game show.  Since the start of the pandemic, I've been walking a local nature trail almost every day and have seen amazing creatures.  I've been taking so many pictures of cool things I see that I decided to feature 3 of my favorites using the June sketch from Sketches in Thyme as my guide.  I thought the square layout would be perfect for a Hollywood Square themed project.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of nature themed papers and earth tone colors to give the project a nature vibe.

MY BEST DAYS ARE WITH YOU

This is my latest project for Sketchy Boards Challenge using the following sketch.  This month we were to create a project inspired by gears.  The other day, my daughter took our German Shepherd out for ride in her convertible, and he was in puppy heaven!  He patiently sat in the back seat letting the wind blow back his ears while his human was his chauffeur.  My daughter snapped this pic of them together, and I thought they would be the perfect subject matter for a gear themed project.  To pull this layout together, I used a variety of papers from Kaisercraft's "Workshop" collection.

DATE NIGHT & DREAM BIG

These are two my latest projects for my new design team Cooking Up Creations.  This site is a scrapbooking forum not only with all sorts of creative inspiration but also a wonderful community of fellow crafters.  Each month features an easy to translate theme, and I have been inspired more times than I can count looking at people's submissions.  This month's challenge was to create a project primarily using white with a touch of color.  On July 15, I submitted a white and red project (see below).  Today I submitted a white and gold project.  In all the years I have been a scrapbooker, it never dawned on me how powerful a project can become when white is used as the building block and a color the accent.  If you need some inspiration or want to join a community of paper lovers, please come check out Cooking Up Creations.  You won't be disappointed!

FUN IN THE SUN

This is my latest project for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  When I saw that the layout called for the use of six different patterned squares, I decided I wanted to use a paper line that was subtle, but also contained fun prints.  Lucky for me when I was surfing around on A Cherry on Top site, I came across this gorgeous patterned paper set from Simple Stories entitled, "Coastal Collection" and thought it would be the perfect line to use for this sketch.  I selected a few of my favorite beach pictures from a trip my daughter and I took to Costa Rica last year, and this project came together in no time.

GO BUCKS

This is my latest project for Use Your Stuff that is a cross over challenge with Double Trouble Challenge Blog.  At UYS, we were asked to create a masculine themed page in honor of Father's Day in June.  For Double Trouble, not only were we to create a Father's Day project, but also a project that included circles.  For my take on both challenges, I decided to feature a picture of my oldest daughter with her Dad at his favorite place on Earth; the Horseshoe at The Ohio State University watching his beloved Buckeye's.  Last season, the Buckeye's played my alma mater and our oldest daughter's current school Miami University.  So they took a pilgrimage to Columbus, Ohio to watch their school's in action.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of football themed papers from Doodlebug Design and a variety of Ohio State/Scarlet and Grey papers and stickers that I have accumulated over the years. 

FAMILY MEMORIES

This is my latest project for Sketchy Board Challenge using the following sketch.  We were asked to create a project with a vintage vibe, and I knew exactly what pictures I wanted to feature.  My husband and I love Gettysburg National Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; the site of the deadliest American Civil War battle in 1863 and the largest battle ever fought in the western hemisphere.  On our first visit to the park in 2008, we took a picture of our youngest daughter sitting on a cannon.  Ten years later, we took  another picture of my daughter posing on the same cannon.  To give the pictures a vintage vibe, I used a black and white filter.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of vintage looking Americana themed papers from Authentique's "Liberty" collection.

LOVELY DAY

This is my latest project for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  For this project, I was inspired by the circles.  I wanted to use a picture with a circle theme, so I decided to reach into my picture archives and found this one of my youngest daughter on a Merry Go Round at Navy Pier in Chicago on a beautiful spring day.  She had a blast that day riding all the rides and exploring the area.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from American Craft's "Sparkle City" collection.

ENJOY LIFE

This is my latest project for Creative Inspiration's May Mini Crop.  My challenge was to create a project with flowers.  Being the mother of a teenage girl who loves Snapchat filters, finding a flower picture was no problem.  My daughter took this selfie a few years ago, and I love everything about the photo especially her crown of flowers.  She reminds me of a Renaissance era painting in this picture. To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from the Simple Stories "Simple Vintage Garden District" collection along with a Creative Inspiration sketch from September, 8, 2019.

CHEERS

This is my latest project for Creative Inspiration using the following sketch.  Last summer, my cousin and I did a tour of New England.  This was one of our favorite stops in Boston, Massachusetts; the bar that was the inspiration for the 1980's television show "Cheers."  We took a tour of the bar, did the obligatory photo shoot, and shopped at the bar's souvenir shop.  It really was a cool experience, and I totally thought Sam Malone was going to ask us what we wanted to drink. I wanted this layout to have a bar vibe so I used a variety of papers from Reminisce's "Craft Beer Kit" to pull this project together.  Also, to keep the "Cheers" title authentic, I used the following website for the title.

SO LOVELY

This is my latest project for Use Your Stuff using the following sketch.  This month's challenge also involved using flowers and butterflies on the project.  When I think of butterflies, I think of flowers.  And when I think of flowers, I think of pictures I took of my oldest daughter when she was a tiny girl who didn't mind me taking oodles of pictures of her.  She was a willing model posing in front of my mother in law's flower bed of daisies.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from Simple Stories "Garden District" collection along with the following sketch from my former design team 2 Broke Girls.

LOVE

This is my latest project for Sketchy Board Challenge using the following sketch.  For this month's project, we were to use dragonflies as our inspiration.  When I think of dragonflies, I think of gardens.  My favorite flower of all time are hydrangeas.  At my old house, I had the most gorgeous bed of hydrangeas.  Every summer I would have snowball sized blooms of unbelievable shades of blue and magenta sprouting from the plants.  Right before we moved, I plopped my oldest daughter down in front of the bushes and took pictures of her and the blooms.  To pull this project together, I used a variety of papers from 49 and Market's "Sweet Reflection" collection.