GETTING SKETCHY

Here's one of my favorite photos of my first son.  It became his baby modeling headshot.  He was 3 months old when it was taken.  I used the following sketch from this week's Let's Get Sketchy challenge.

The sketch:

the Layout

Thanks for looking!

SUMMER OF 51

Figured it was time to scrap this photo of me from the summer of 2010.  I used a sketch from Stuck on U Sketches which I turned upside down to accommodate the design of the paper I chose to work with.

Here's the sketch:

and here's me!

Not too bad for 51 right?  LOL!

HAPPY FIRST 4TH!

I just came across this sweet photo of my youngest son's very first Fourth of July celebration.  I used Creative Scrappers Sketch #210 flipped on it's side to do this precious layout.  Hope you enjoy it!

Almost Home Sweet Home!

In 2010 my youngest and I took a road trip from our home in New Jersey to Virginia/South Carolina/Florida and came back through Pennsylvania to visit my boyfriend.  I used Creative Scrappers Sketch #209 flipped on it's side to design this fun page.

TIMES THREE

Today I decided to do the challenge over at Made Especially for You.  The challenge was to create a card using 3 brads.  I decided that I liked the idea of three and I chose a stamp that had 3 sayings. I also wanted to play with my new TimHoltz Spring Collection Distress Inks.


Here is the result:

Hope you have enjoyed a peek into one of today's moments of creativity.

GET WELL RON

Today I needed an encouraging get well card for a man.  Sometimes I have difficulty with masculine style cards - you don't want them too frilly or flowery or too pink. I found the perfect sketch to work with at Pals Paper Arts and I set about picking some masculine style papers and an uplifting verse.

Here is the sketch:

and here is my card:

I hope that you enjoyed looking at the card and I hope that Ron will find it inspiring and get on the road to recovery.

WONDERFUL NEW COURSE!

I just finished a wonderful course with Nana Campana called 'From Ashes to Beauty'.  I am going to start her Creative Biz Tool Kit class in June and hope that you will join me on this unique creative endeavor.  Check it out here:

https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=1101327&c=ib&aff=213838&cl=213649" target="ejejcsingle 

Scrapping a not everyday miracle!

For Mother's Day this year my two sons cooked me a breakfast for dinner of eggs, sausage and pancakes.  As you can see from the photo, dinner was yummy even though the other pictures were not.  This is what happens when your sons are not in the mood for a 're-take' of occasion photos.  I used a sketch from 'Scrapping Everyday Miracles' which had a twist which was to use wood.  For my wood I used real Scrabble game tiles for the title.

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my 2012 Mother's Day!

END OF THE NATURE WALK

And here are the last two layouts from our walk last Saturday.  Michael in nature is done using Sketch Inspiration sketch #321 (turned 1/4 clockwise)

and for our photo together I used this weeks Colorful Creations Guest Designer Sketch (also rotate 1/4 turn clockwise)

ME IN NATURE

Here I am climbing to the top of a large rock formation.  Sketch is by Let's Get Sketchy.

Have a great day!

A Spot of Nature

Here's a few photos of nature from my walk in the park last weekend with Michael.  I used a sketch from The Paper Variety along with the color challenge from The Play Date Cafe of black and white with a spot of mustard.

I rotated the sketch 1/4 turn clockwise to accommodate my photos.

and here finally is my interpretation:

And here is another using a sketch from Scrapbook News and Reviews and the same color palette.

The sketch (which I rotated 1/4 turn clockwise)

and my creation:

Thanks for stopping by.  More photos from the walk will follow during the week.:

Creative Scrappers #2

Here's another sketch I chose from the Creative Scrappers Blogspot.  This is #208 and here's the sketch:

and another VBS layhout:

ANOTHER FUN SKETCH SITE

I discovered another fun sketch site called Creative Scrappers Blogspot and I decided to check out a few of their sketches.  #207 was perfect to use up a batch of VBS 2010 photos I wanted to include that did not fit onto any of the other pages.  This was the sketch:

and here is the page I put together with it:

Hope you enjoyed a peek at some of our summer fun at church!

SKETCH AND DISTRESS

Here's a quick card I put together using a sketch by 'Especially Made' which I distressed by embossing, sanding, distress inking and edge distressing for this week's challenge at 'Paper Play Challenges'.  This was the sketch I used:

and here is my destruction of it:

MISSING MY FRIEND

I recently moved from New Jersey to Delaware and I was thinking of a friend of mine that I know is going through a difficult time.  I miss her and wanted to send her something to cheer her up.  I decided a bright card might make a difference in her day.  Here is what I created:

To do this I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and some Coredinations cardstock which I lightly sanded.  Some bright printed paper and a Unity Stamp from the Vintage Scripture package.  To finish it off I added a few tiny bee on a flower appliques.

Thanks for stopping by.  

WELCOME BACK TO THE 2ND FLOOR!

For the Second Floor challenge #4 it was to be inspired by circles.  I decided to create a layout for this one using only circles.  This is a stretch for me as I don't often cut my photos into circles.  I also decided that I was going to use inks and paints as I had some great circle templates by Crafters Worshop that I planned to use.  I started with a blank page.  I took the first stencil and inked in a variety of spots.  Then I took my other stencil with the larger circles and various shades of acrylic paint and added those.  They were a little bright so I gesso'd over the whole page to tone it down a bit.  It still seemed to be missing something and I wanted to add another color so I took more ink and the small circle stencil and went to work at filling up the page.  Now I was happy.  Or so I thought.

Next I cut my photos into circles and arranged them on the page.  It was still missing something.  I moved all the photos, got the larger circle stencil back out and took a black marker and traced most of the circles.

Now it was ready for the photos!

And finally, here is my finished layout.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Hope you enjoyed your trip to the Second Floor!

IT'S CHILD'S PLAY!

Today I did a challenge from a new blog I found called Child's Play Challenges.  The challenge was to see how you were inspired by this childhood toy:

I decided that the thing that inspired me the most was the vibrant colors and I created the following layout:

Hope you enjoyed seeing how I play!

ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP AWARENESS BLOG HOP

Welcome to the Abusive Relationship Awareness Blog Hop. While this may not be your typical blog hop theme, we decided to put together this hop in order to shed light on a topic that often goes unspoken about, when the truth is many of us have either been in an abusive relationship or know of someone who has. We're here not to celebrate abusive relationships, but to bring hope to those who have been firsthand or secondhand victims and to provide awareness to help put an end to this growing problem. 


All of our projects showcased in this hop have something to do with hope, love, and encouragement. The color for domestic violence is purple, and as you'll see purple was used on many of our projects.


Abuse of any kind is absolutely unacceptable.  No one deserves to be abused for any reason or under any circumstance.  Sadly, many women, children and even some men are everyday everywhere in the world.   Please know that if you are in an abusive situation you are NOT alone.  You can get away.  There is help.

Although I now reside in Delaware, I am new to the area and not familiar with any of the local services here.  Coming from New Jersey I would like to share about a wonderful organization called Shelter Our Sisters in Bergen County.  You can also find out more about them on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ShelterOurSisters.

If you are in a bad situation don't give up hope.  There is help out there.  Reach out to Shelter Our Sisters or organizations like it in your area.  Don't spend another day or night in an unsafe abusive situation.  You don't deserve it.  No one does and never let anyone make you believe otherwise.

Here is a card of encouragement I made to share in the awareness hop:

To help promote awareness for abusive relationships, eleven sponsors have been kind enough to offer almost $200 worth of prizes to those who participate in the blog hop. Yes, you read that correctly, there will be 11 PRIZE WINNERS. Let's see what prizes are being offered...

Paper Piecings By Nikki - $15 Gift Certificate

Shelly's Images - $9 Gift Certificate

Designs on Cloud 9 - $20 Gift Certificate

Scraptastical Kreations - $20 Gift Certificate

Digital Delights - $10 Gift Certificate

The Robin's Nest - $20 Gift Certificate

Di's Digi Downloads - $10 Gift Certificate

Close To My Heart - $10 Gift Certificate

Quick Quotes - $15 Gift Certificate

Perfect Paper Crafting - $30 Gift Certificate

Erica's Craft Room - $25 Gift Certificate

Here's what you have to do to be eligible to win any of these fabulous prizes:

1.) Leave a comment on each blog in the hop

2.) Become a follower of each blog if you aren't already

Winners will be randomly chosen and announced on Made Especially For You on Friday May 20th. Comments after Thursday May 19th will NOT be eligible to win any of the prizes. 

Winners should contact Ashley at: especiallymadeblog@gmail.com

Your next stop is Jamie A - http://scrapqueen141.blogspot.com blog! Here's the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com

Pam - http://scrappinfabpam.blogspot.com

Jamie - http://thesassyprincess.blogspot.com  YOU CAME FROM HERE

Paula - http://preciouspagesbypaula.blogspot.com  YOU ARE HERE

Jamie A - http://scrapqueen141.blogspot.com  GO HERE NEXT

Tahi - http://tahisscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Miranda - http://www.nanasscrapspot.com

Jessica - www.craftinandstampin.blogspot.com

Pam L - http://mzlavr2.blogspot.com

Dena - http://missdjones.blogspot.com

Monica - http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com

Erica - http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for joining us! Be sure to check out the following links for more information on how you can help to prevent and bring awareness to abusive relationships and domestic violence. 

Center For Relationship Abuse Awareness

Love Is Respect

Teens Experiencing Abusive Relationships