Crate Paper June Sketch Challenge

I've been having a difficult time coming up with ideas for layouts the last few weeks.  Actually, I've come up with lots of ideas, but they all involved my Slice which has been at the Slice hospital for the last few weeks.  It never made it home - died in surgery - but a new one arrived at my door this Thursday.  Yay!  In the mean time, I thought I'd try out the June Sketch Challenge from Crate Paper to help my creativity.  Here is the sketch:

I loved the sketch - it was very easy to work with.  The only thing I really did to it was to turn it on its side.   I used papers from the Pink Plum Collection and from my most used line ever, Restoration.  

I used my new Slice for the leaves and for the word "autumn" and the letters "V" and "T."  I ended up cutting the letters out and then using the cut out as a mask to mist the letters.  That wasn't what I had planned, but my new Slice did not like the thickness of the Crate paper, so I had to do what I could.  Here's a close up of the stitching:

In Killington,Vermont they decorate hay bales in the fall.  There are pigs and panda bears and caterpillars, etc.  The center photo is of hay bales decorated as an owl.  It was the best creation that we saw last fall.

Have a great week everyone!

My Toes - In the South of France

When I was on vacation last week in France, I took pictures of my toes.  I was in Paris in the Luxembourg Gardens, waiting for my husband to return from using the restroom and took the pictures.  I didn't notice the cigarette butts surrounding my feet until I looked at the pictures later.  So I took pictures of my toes again.  This time on a beach in Southern France, without the butts. (Unless you count the nude woman next to us - tee hee!)

This is my fourth layout from the April 2011 Studio Calico kit, Singin' in the Rain.  I think that is the second most used kit ever for me!  My first kit, Whodunnit, was the most used so far - I just finished a layout with it last week!  I also used washi tape on this layout - something I usually have a hard time using.  I think it looks adorable on this layout though.

Have a great day everyone!

Back from visiting these three

Anton

Paul

Elisabeth

My husband's brother lives in Southern France and we are lucky enough to be able to visit him, his wife, and his three kids just about every year.  These photos were taken from our visit last July.  I wanted to create a layout of each of our nephews and our niece - I want to see how they change from year to year.  We just got back from our trip this year, and I plan on doing the same.  

The first two layouts were both created from Studio Calico kits.  I still have to do the journaling down the center of the layout of Anton.  I better do that soon before I forget what I want to write about!  Paul's layout was from my very first kit ever, Whodunnit. (The first is always so special!)  The layout of Elisabeth was the first layout I ever submitted and it appeared in the March 2011 issue of Scrapbook Trends.  She was thrilled to see her face in a magazine!

Back to work tomorrow.  Have a great day everyone!

Passport Photos

I wanted to document how our procrastination of renewing our passports led to these horrible pictures that will be on our passports for the next 10 years.  The only place in our house that has a white wall is our downstairs bathroom, so we took the photos there.  Craig was wearing his pajama top and wouldn't change for the photo.  I had planned on re-doing them, but we suddenly realized that the only time we could go to France was going to be in five weeks.  We paid $60 extra each for the expedited service, sent in the photos, and got our passports back in plenty of time.

I used Studio Calico's April 2011 kit for this layout except for the three clock faces, which were from a previous kit.  I thought I'd share my initial sketch of the layout:

I sometimes sketch out my initial vision of a layout and work from there.  Most of the time, by the time the layout is done, it doesn't look anything like the sketch.  I also write down ideas as they come to me so that I don't forget them.  Some of the things that I wrote down for this layout were:

- stitch across clouds

-journaling on tag (typed!)

-yellow gingham on sun

-arrow sticker

-bits of red

-button in middle

You can see that some of the ideas made it to the final page and some of them didn't.  That is usually the way it ends up with me.

We will be using those passports this Thursday (yay!)  We are flying to Nice, France and picking up our nephew Paul and bringing him to Paris for four days.  Then we will head back to Southern France and visit my husband's brother, his wife and three kids for another six days.  I can't wait!  

Well, I have packing to do!  Have a great Sunday everyone!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I hope you are enjoying you day, whatever you may be doing - especially if you are having fun with National Scrapbooking Day!  I really hadn't planned on joining in, but Studio Calico had so many fun things going on that I had to join in.  I actually combined two challenges and came up with a layout that I love - and in less than 24 hours!  I am generally a super slow scrapper.  I started with this challenge from Waleska - "outside inspiration."

The challenge was to use this magazine advertisement as inspiration for a scrapbook page using the theme, the list, the design, the colors or whatever inspired you.  I was inspired by the colors, especially the charcoal, the pinks and the yellow.  I pulled out my latest Studio Calico kit and found pretty much everything I needed.  I wanted to combine this challenge with a sketch challenge, so I looked through the choices and found the one that worked best with the photo I had chosen.  It just happened to be from Waleska also.

Here is my finished layout:

I used patterned paper from Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket and The Girl's Paperie.  I used my Slice to cut out the flowers that replaced the circles from the sketch and I also cut the butterfly out from it.  I added a little stitching and a few buttons to finish off the page.  The photo is my niece, Elisabeth who lives in France.  I am excited that I get to go visit her in two weeks, so that is what made me think of creating a layout of her.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Cosmo Cricket/Cards Magazine Sketch Challenge

 I thought I'd give this challenge over at the Cosmo Cricket blog a try.  I think that trying to decide what line to use is the hardest part!  I recently added the entire Circa 1934, Upcycle, and Social Club lines to my Cosmo Cricket collection so I had a lot to choose from.  This is the sketch that I got to play with:

I ended up using mostly Upcycle with a chipboard butterfly from the Earth Love line.  Here is my take on the sketch:

The solid background color is "elephant" and the patterned paper is "repeat."  I cut a tag from the elements sheet, scalloped the top edge with my Fiskar's edge punch and then added some cardstock stickers (the alphabet across the bottom of the label and then the gold above 'happy birthday.")  The Happy Birthday rub-on is from Pebbles.  I took my sewing machine out for the finishing touches.  Love the way it came out!

Thank you Cosmo Cricket and Cards Magazine for another great sketch challenge!

Have a great Friday night everyone!

Easter Cards

I made a few Easter cards with some of the scraps from my layout last week.

I'm kind of excited about Easter this year because it falls after tax season ends and I will actually have time to plan for a great meal and enjoy taking the time to cook.  I asked my husband what he wanted to do for the day and he said that he had just signed up that morning at church to deliver Easter dinner to the elderly.  Love him. Seriously love him.

Have a great Sunday everyone!