STICK IT DOWN SKETCHES

I got some good news over the weekend!  I found out I'm part of a brand new design team called "Stick it Down."  I love sketch design teams; they are so helpful in getting pages done quickly.  And this sketch team not only makes designs for one page scrapbook layouts, but also cards and double page layouts!  I'm actually part of the double page layout team.  If you are following my blog, please go check out Stick It Down; it's going to be awesome!

CHILD'S PLAY BLOG HOP! A GIRL AND HER DOLL

Hello everyone!  This is Stephanie from Child's Play.  If you just left Colleen's page, you're in the right place!  As you know, Child's Play is doing a shout out to our favorite toys for this blog hop.  I was a Barbieaholic growing up.  You name it, I owned it....all except the Dream House.  So I desperately wanted girls when I grew up to continue my love of all things Barbie.  Well....I got something better.  Not only did I get 2 little girls to play with, but also a new toy that fulfilled my love of dress up and hair to brush; the American Girl Doll. I hate to admit it, but I'm pretty sure my husband and I could have bought a used car for the amount of money we've spent on American Girl dolls, clothes, accessories, trips to the store.....This picture is of my daughter getting her doll Kaya for Christmas a few years back.  I wish she didn't take out Kaya's braids, but she has had a blast playing beauty shop with her brushing her long black hair.  They may be pricey, but American Girl has truly been a joy for my children! Once again, thank you for visiting my blog.  As a thank you, I have a little "Christmas Cheer" to spread.  If you leave a message on my blog, a random winner wil be selected.  Your next stop on this blog hop is Adele at dleebug.wordpress.com/ so make sure to check out her wonderful design!  Thanks for checking out my blog, and I sure would love it if you started following me!  Have a wonderful holiday season and thanks for playing along with Child's Play Challenge!

THE NUTCRACKER

This week's RCS challenge was based on the Christmas classic "The Nutcracker."  We were asked to include ribbon and lace on the layout in some way.  Well....I took the challenge literally.  About five years ago, my husband & I took our girls to Chicago a few days before Christmas to visit the American Girl store.  Santa had come early and given my oldest daughter the American Girl Doll Felicity.  She had a blast picking out clothes for her doll and exploring the store.  And at our hotel, there were giant nutcrackers all over the place.  Me being the shutterbug I am, had to take a picture of her with her doll in front of one of the giant nutcrackers.  I used doodlebug paper, embellishments, and a fun doodlebug ribbon kit I found at Archiver's.

PARTY TIME

For this RCS challenge, rather than being inspired by a movie, we were inspired by the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving television special.  In other words, use food in some way on the layout.  I have to be honest....I'm so busy cooking and planning my Black Friday game plan on Thanksgiving Day, I very rarely take pictures.  Although I try very hard to remember to....So for this layout, I used pics of a Halloween Party I had for my neighbors after Trick or Treat.  I used a combo of papers from Doodlebug and Imaginisce to create this layout.  I hope all of you who are following my blog have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families!

TRICK OR TREAT

This week's RCS inspiration was the Disney movie "Hocus Pocus."  I love this movie....One of the places on my bucket list to visit is Salem, Massachusetts.  I find the Salem Witch Trials so incredibly fascinating yet saddening....(That's the history teacher in me coming out).  Two years ago, my daughter went as a witch for Halloween.  I adored her costume.  Everything about it was what I envision a good witch wearing.  So when I saw the theme was "Hocus Pocus," I knew exactly what picture I was going to use for this project!  The paper is from Doodlebug's "Halloween Parade" line. Everything about this paper line screamed this picture of my daughter.

SOCCER STAR

This is my latest layout for Child's Play Challenge. Our inspiration this week was wood stringing beads. I know beads come in different shapes, but to me, beads are circles.  And right now, when I think of circles, I think of soccer balls.  My daughter just played her last soccer game of the season last week, and I wanted to do a layout with her kicking the ball down the field.  So I felt that this paper, these embellishments, and my pictures fit the bill for a wood stringing bead challenge!

PANAMA CITY

This is my latest design for 2 Broke Girls Scrap.  I can't tell you enough how awesome this blog is!  If you haven't checked out their webpage, I highly recommend heading over there!  The sketches are so beautiful and easy to recreate.  This is my interpretation of Sketch 24.  My husband took this picture of my daughter and I at our favorite restaurant in Panama City, Florida on the last day of our trip.  You can't see it in this picture, but we are sitting right on the Gulf of Mexico watching the surf roll in eating dinner.  I think it captured the moment perfectly...We are happy.  And sketch 24's design allowed for this picture to be displayed exactly as I envisioned it!