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.