SOCCER

This is my latest creation for Sketches in Thyme using the following sketch.  My husband and I are in the depths of soccer season right now with our youngest daughter.  As a result, I saw the circle on this sketch and thought "soccer ball." She has been completely obsessed this past summer with the Women's World Cup Soccer team.  She can tell you every player's name, jersey number, birthday...She's a little obsessed.  Over the course of three months, she has traveled to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to see the women play.  This past trip she got to see the actual trophy the women won in Canada over the summer; she said it was worth the hour wait to get her picture with the trophy. I'm sure this won't be the last soccer layout I do for a DT this year...but for this particular sketch, I thought the pictures of my daughter in soccer heaven fit the bill perfectly!

SENOIA

 This is my latest double page sketch for Let's Scrap based on the design below.  I'm in seasonal scrapbook mode again.  This past weekend a chill was in the air, sweatshirts were being worn...The calendar may say it's still summer, but it definitely felt like fall.  So I decided to dip into some of my favorite fall pictures I took two years ago in Senoia, Georgia where AMC films my favorite TV show The Walking Dead.  My older daughter and I took a tour with Atlanta Movie Tours and went to several places featured in Season 3 of the show; namely "Woodbury." "Woodbury" is actually the town of Senoia, Georgia.  This town truly is one of the loveliest, most picturesque places I've ever seen.  So much in fact that LOTS of movies have been filmed here.  The day of our tour was an absolutely perfect fall day; not a cloud in the sky.  To accent these fall pictures, I used paper from Carta Bella's "Fall Blessings" line, namely the "Arrows" which I purposefully used as a shout out to my favorite crossbowmen Daryl Dixon.  :)  The Walking Dead fans will know what I'm talking about...

NEW YORK CITY

This is my latest double page spread for Let's Scrap.  This particular layout was also used for our most recent DT call.  When I saw all the various shapes for pictures for this sketch, I immediately thought of pictures my husband took while in New York City with my daughter.  One day they spent watching the Women's World Cup Soccer team play in New Jersey.  The next day they checked out New York City.  My husband is a firefighter/paramedic who I swear knows every firefighter between here and the Atlantic Ocean. He had acquaintances who died on 9/11 therefore he really wanted to see the new World Trade Center and the memorial for those who died during the attack.  After paying their respects at the World Trade Center, my daughter insisted that her Dad take her to Dash.  (She loves the Kardashians, and really wanted to see their store).  Once she left Dash, it was off to Chanel, and then Starbucks.  And along the way, he took tons of pictures that I positioned into the sketch.  I took a few liberties with the design, but overall was pleased with my interpretation of it.  I chose to use various shades of grey, black, and white to resemble the colors of the skyscrapers and signs along with a "dash" of red to symbolize "The Big Apple."

JOY TO THE WORLD

This is my latest creation for Sketches in Thyme based on the sketch found below.  What struck me when I initially looked at the sketch were the triangles.  And despite being the first of August when I created this project, I instantly thought of Christmas Trees when I saw this sketch.  I decided to rotate some of the triangles to make colored paper Christmas Trees throughout this layout.  The pictures I chose were simply fun shots I took this past Christmas morning.  My husband and I love to do funny things on Christmas such as posing the Elf on the Shelf on a gift we think the girls will like best or putting little hints on the tags on what is inside the package.  This past Christmas, we adopted a puppy who thoroughly enjoyed the mess on Christmas morning.  And I kept finding her in strange spots such as between a pizza and hamburger pillow with an ornament on her head. Across the top of the layout is a quote from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas that reads, "Maybe Christmas, he thought...doesn't come from a store.  Maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more!"  As much as my children do enjoy opening presents, I certainly hope it will be moments like these that are the most memorable to them about Christmases when they were little.

SUMMER ADVENTURE

 This is my latest double page sketch for Let's Scrap.  If you have recently been on a vacation & have lots of "extras" like brochures, postcards, etc. that you want to include on a layout but aren't sure how, this sketch is perfect!  Placing a pocket on a layout is super easy with a little bit of paper and some fasteners.  For this layout, I continued to use favorite pictures I took during a recent trip to Florida.  I used paper from October Afternoon's "Treasure Island" collection and cardstock stickers from Echo Park's "Summer Adventure" line.  And once I'm officially done scrapping my vacation pictures, I will put those extra snapshots I didn't use in this layout's pocket!

WORK HARD PLAY HARD

This is my latest double page spread for Let's Scrap. Typically when I think of hexagons like the ones featured in this sketch, I think of soccer balls.  But instead of using a soccer theme this time around, I decided to think outside the box and use pictures I took of my girls playing and having fun in Panama City Beach, Florida. I chose to use Echo Park's Anything Goes collection specifically the "Happy Hexagons" double sided paper to pull this layout together.  I must admit, I was having such a good time cutting out hexagons that I decided to use a few more than the the layout called for...Using shapes such as this on a layout is way out of my comfort zone.  But overall, I liked the fun effect it had featuring the pictures I chose from my vacation.

PENNY

This is my latest creation for Sketches in Thyme based on the design below.  For this layout, I decided to feature my newest addition to my pack of dogs "Penny."  She's named after "Penny" on The Big Bang Theory.  However, upon seeing Jurassic World, thinking we should rename her "Blue" after the Raptor that Chris Pratt trains; she sort of looks like a Raptor with fur...Anyway, last month, my daughter decided to tan on top of the hot tub.  I keep hearing her yell, "Mom!" I go outside, and there's Penny sunning herself as well.  She is still going through the "awkward" phase of growing up; her legs are gangly; her body is very long.  But there she was with her sister snuggling up and "tanning."  The other is a picture of her when she was a puppy playing in the snow.  I used paper from the Kaisercraft "Furry Friends" collection to design this layout.  I liked how this sketch allowed for the use of a variety of papers without taking the emphasis away from the pictures.