Little Girl

This is the last of the cards that I made over the weekend.  It is for Challenge #2 over at the birthday celebration at Artful Delight which was a tic-tac-toe challenge.  I went straight across the top row and had to make a card with scraps and use light pink.  I even used the "Little Girl" name of the collection down at the very bottom of the paper from Echo Park.  I usually throw that away but I saved one of them for this card and I like the way it fit perfectly in the little frame I had in my stash.

Thank You So Much

I used Sassy Lil' Sketches 9/15 Sketch for this card and Stella & Rose papers by My Mind's Eye.  The sentiment is from Echo Park Little Girl and the daisy ribbon is from my stash.

Leeanne from Artful Delight is celebrating her birthday with a blog hop and this card is my entry into challenge #3 which is to create a project using the colors pink, kraft and white.  That is one of my favorite color combos and I loved what the DT team created.  You can check out the challenge HERE.  You have until September 30th to get your entries in for the challenges.

I am also entering this card in the Lily Pad Cards Bling challenge.

Good Day Sunshine

It's been a fun day of cardmaking and football today.  And although my Chicago Bears lost, I still had a good productive day and made three cards to enter a total of 6 different challenges.  First up is this card.  I used the Sassy Lil Sketches 9/8 card sketch and Basic Grey Lime Rickey paper.  I made the flower from solid color twine and topped it with a button from my stash.  The scalloped doily was from a recent kit I won from Freehand Scraps and the embossed sentiment was from my friend Suzanne (thanks sweetie!)

Challenges entered:

Sassy Lil' Sketches 9/8 sketch

Wee Memories Patterned Paper

Cas-ual Fridays Mostly Monochromatic

Who wants to win some new goodies????

Who doesn't like to win something?  Well check out THIS link for a chance at some cool Cosmo Cricket goodies or a $15 gift card. You could win this :

Sweeter than "Hockin' Andy"

This might well be the strangest title on any of my scrapbook pages. While visiting my family earlier this month we all went out to dinner at Golden Corral.  After dinner we got Abby some cotton candy.  This was the first time she had ever had any.  I showed her how to pull off pieces of it and it let it melt on her tongue.  After trying it, she smiled really big and said "Grandma, I LIKE this hockin' andy"!  We all about died laughing!  She sure is a sweetie ....sweeter than cotton candy!

I used this sketch from the Leeanne's birthday blog hop at Artful Delight:

I also used Imaginisce papers and my Martha Stewart double scallop punch.

I entered this layout also over at Sketches in Thyme Open Challenge.

My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge #27

Just a little card I made tonight with a brand new paper pad that I had not even cracked into yet....Stella & Rose by My Mind's Eye.  Love these high quality double sided papers and decided to made a friendship card for one of my online friends.  I used my new Martha Stewart double scallop paper punch and I heat embossed the sentiment stamp from Paper Smooches.  I used the sketch from My Mind's Eye and am entering it over there in their card sketch challenge #27 and also for Paper Issues Tree Hugger Theme. 

Paper Smooches Blog Hop

Who doesn't love Paper Smooches stamps?  They are my absolute favorite stamp company right now and sadly I only have just one set of their sentiments.  But I am blog hopping today and leaving comments where ever I go to try to win some of their awesome new releases.  Why not join me?  Just start HERE. But get busy .....the blog hop ends at midnight on Friday September 23rd.

Frosted Designs Card Sketch

I love that Frosted Designs now has card sketch challenges.  This is their first card sketch: 

  I used it to make the pretty card above for Tera...the mother of my beautiful godchild Shannon.  There is still time to enter your own card.  The deadline is Sunday 9/25 at noon and they are offering a sweet prize.  You can check out all the deets HERE.

I am also entering this card in the This To That Challenge #6 where the challenge is to use a 3D flower.

Swim Coach

You will be seeing a number of layouts with pictures from this fun day when we were recently in Chicago.  We had a hotel with a beautiful pool and the day the grands came over for a swim party we had the whole pool to ourselves.  It was awesome.  What was also awesome was the loving and patient way that Jacob was with his 3 year old cousin Abby.  Now everyone knows that little girls can be very annoying to 10 year old boys but Jake was so good with her.  My husband Dave captured these two pictures that showed that concern and gentle spirit that Jacob has with Abby.  I used this layout from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

I was also inspired by the Tuesday Trigger this week over at Moxie Fab World:

I love the banner along the top and the aqua bird and thread with the red flower, buttons and thread.  Aqua and red are one of my fave color combo's right now....definitely Moxie Fab! You have until Sunday October 2nd to create your own Moxie Fab paper project inspired by this trigger so go ahead and try it.

The Paper Variety Home Challenge

We have an awesome challenge this week over at The Paper Variety and an awesome prize from our sponsor Paper Lovelies.  The lucky winner of this challenge will win a 130 piece prize package! 

It's House/Home Week here!  Our challenge is to use the word "house" or "home" in your paper crafted project or make a home decor item. I chose to make a seasonal wreath for my front door.  I love the colors of fall and sadly enough we don't see many fall colors in nature here in Florida.  So I like to dress up my front door in some of fall's finest colors.

I used a combination of Thickers and I fussy cut the pumpkin and the scarecrow from Bella Blvd's "One Fall Day" -- a collection I had from last year.  I sure am glad I saved that scarecrow because I think he is adorable on this wreath.  So put your thinking caps on and come up with a home-themed project and link it up to The Paper Variety by noon onTuesday 9/27 and this prize package could be all YOURS.

I am also linking this project up at Paper Issues Tree Hugger party......go check out all the inspiration there!  You can see some awesome projects HERE

H-owl-oween

I never made an easel card and always admired them.  I was told they were easy but I had my doubts because they are sooooo striking and cool looking.  Could they really be easy to make?  YES they are!  I made this card tonight while watching football and I am pleased with how it turned out.  I can see more easel cards in my future!  I entered it in the This to That Challenge #5 to make a fall themed easel card with either an SVG cut on it or a Cricut cut.  I also entered it at Wee Memories Challenge #68 where the challenge is to use no patterned paper.  You can see the details HERE.  I also linked it up for the Paper Issues Tree Hugger theme.   I want to thank my friend Abby for all her help in creating this card.  I have the bestest friends a girl could have!

Upcoming Artful Delight Blog Hop

Ooooh...I can't wait for this blog hop and just now put it on my calendar so I won't forget!! Why don't you do the same?  The DT is SURE to provide some awesome inspiration and projects!

Dad

Over the Memorial Day weekend we went out to visit my dad who lives just outside Denver.  On Memorial Day we went to Estes Park and drove up on Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continous road in the continental US, I believe.  Due to the tremendous record snowfall the area received this past winter, the road was not open all the way to the summit and we could only go two thirds of the way.  As we traveled up the road we drove into clouds, then rain and finally snow flurries!  It was the first time these Floridians had seen snow falling in some time.  The temperature dropped about 30 degrees from the start of Trail Ridge to the highest point we could drive to.

I just had to scrap this picture of my dad taken along the way....you can tell that it was cold and blustery, can't you? I used sketch #23 from Frosted Designs, the border punch was from my friend Sue and everything else is just from my stash. I have also linked this page up to Paper Issues where their theme this time is "Tree Hugger".

Way To Go -- Basic Grey Sketch Challenge

Recently, Basic Grey {an awesome paper company} started a blog and published an great card sketch to work with.  I was able to muster up enough after work energy last night and make this card.  I used the sketch you can see on their blog HERE and the Life of the Party papers. I just love the way it looks using kraft card stock as the base. I also used my Decorative Label punch from Stampin' Up so I am going to enter this over at 2 different challenge sites where the challenge is to use punches --Frosted Designs Friday Challenge

and

Card Makin' Mamas

SRM Stickers ROCK!

Recently SRM stickers gave all of us on The Paper Variety Design Team a very generous supply of stickers. These are a couple of simple cards I made with them.  I LOVE using SRM stickers on my cards, scrapbook pages and altered items.  You can win your very own stash of these awesome stickers by playing along with our challenge over at The Paper Variety this week.

Winner!!!

We have a winner for my blog candy from the Paper Variety Blogaversary Blog Hop.

The winner is:

KIM from One Krafty Kitty Momma!!

Please email me your mailing address so I can send out your prize.  My email is :

ampressley@ cfl.rr.com

Please contact me by Sunday September 18th or I will draw another winner.

Thanks!!

3 Weeks Old

I recently bought a cool little camera from Amazon.com   It is made by Fuji and is called the Instax.  I got the mini version.  It is an instant camera and the photos are the size of a credit card....way cool, huh?  I had a lot of fun playing with it on our recent trip to see our family and friends in Illinois and Indiana.  Here is a layout I made using the 9/8 sketch from Sketchy Thursday and 3 Instax photos of my beautiful 3 week old granddaughter Isabelle.  The sketch was perfect for these photos.  I used Echo Park's Little Girl collection.  Echo Park is my favorite company...I LOVE all their collections.  So I am entering this layout in The Paper Variety's favorite paper company challenge which you can see HERE as well as Sketchy Thursday's sketch challenge.

Halloween tag

With cooler weather upon us (yes it has even cooled down the tiniest bit here in Florida) and the kids back in school, I started thinking about Halloween today and made this tag for a challenge over at Cher's Studio that my friend Suzanne told me about.  There is still time to enter and you can find the details HERE.

Staying Cool in the Pool

I just returned from a week in the midwest visiting my family.  My husband Dave is an awesome photographer and got some wonderful candid shots of the grandchildren as well as some breathtaking photos of Chicago.  I am sure over the next several weeks and months many of his photographs will be appearing on scrapbook pages so I can preserve the memories for my family.  This picture however I take the credit for and it was shot just with the camera on my phone.  We had a great hotel with an fun outdoor pool and my sons and their children came over the first full day we were there for a pool party.  Here is my son Adam and his boys Jacob and Cole....aren't they a handsome bunch?  They loved the pool and I even got in and played with them.  I used the sketch from My Scraps and More which you can see HERE and I finally broke into my Splash collection by Echo Park.

TPV Birthday Celebration Day #5 -- My Favorite Embellishment

I love twine....any color and large amounts of it.  I go through it almost as quickly as I get it.  I decided to make a little container for some smaller pieces of twine.  I used an empty Crystal Light container and wound solid colored twine around it and embellished it with a hemp flower from Jillibean Soup. I changed out the buttons on and added a tag to it....isn't it the cutest little thing?  Enter your project by noon on Tuesday September 13th using your favorite embellishment over at The Paper Variety and you can win an awesome prize pack.  Check out all the details HERE.  And don't forget today is the last day of our Blogaversary Blog Hop.  So many of my fellow DT members are offering awesome blog candy....you will want to visit all the blogs if you haven't already.

I am sooo excited that I have almost 100 followers...if you are now a follower please sign up and leave me a comment on this post that you are now following and I will enter your name in my blog candy drawing for this:

I will pick a winner when the Blog Hop is over at midnight on Sunday and post a winner Monday September 12th so be sure to check back to see if you won.

My Favorite Photo

My favorite photo....how could I choose that?  I have so many....like some of my mother who is now gone.  Then there are my sons' baby and childhood pictures and my Vegas wedding pictures and grandchildren pictures, lots of grandchildren pictures.  So I went with my favorite photo RIGHT NOW.  This picture was taken just a few days ago and features all four of my grandchildren along with my youngest son Adam.  The picture is a bit blurry, and Cole has his hands in front of his face but I love it.  It would be great if my older son, Matt was in the picture but he was behind the camera.  And his beautiful wife Amy, after having just given birth 12 days previous wasn't going anywhere near the camera!!  I used an assortment of Echo Park papers and embellishments.

Don't forget The Paper Variety Blog Hop this weekend through Sunday.  We have loads of prizes and I am offering blog candy too....just comment on this or on my September 7th post and make sure you are a follower.  I have a 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye, a package of buttons and a $10 Michael's gift card up for grabs.

That's all for now....join me on Sunday as I share my favorite embellishment.

The Paper Variety's One Year Anniversary Blog Hop

Welcome to The Paper Variety's one year anniversary celebration! This week it's all about our "favorite things"! TPV is hosting 5 daily challenges of our favorite things and awarding 5 great prizes to 5 lucky random winners. We hope you'll play along with us each day!!

We begin today with a fun blog hop and our 1st challenge which is sponsored by My Favorite Things stamps. If you've reached me from Sue's blog, you're in the right place! If not, you'll want to go back to The Paper Variety so you can begin in the right spot. Be sure to visit all 12 designers on this hop to be inspired by all their lovely creations using MFT stamps and also many of us have blog candy for you, too! .

Our first of 5 challenges is to create a paper project including stamps - clear stamps, rubber stamps, image stamps, sentiment stamps. My Favorite Things stamps is awarding a random challenge winner with a $25 gift voucher to their store!

You'll have until Tuesday noon to enter your project here for a chance at the voucher prize.

My Favorite Things also generously provided the entire TPV DT with stamps to use on our projects. Thank you, MFT!

I used their beautiful beachy stamp set in the Inspired By series which you can see HERE.

I altered a journal for a friend who has been near and dear to me recently although we are separated by many miles.  I heat enbossed the image and sentiment with my brand new heat gun, Versamark ink and opaque embossing powder.  It was only the second time I ever heat embossed and I found it easy to do with striking results.  If I can do it anyone can do it.

 Before you go on to the next hop stop, I have some blog candy to giveaway!

I will pick a random commenter when the blog hop is over at midnight Sunday the 11th and will post the winner here on Monday September 12th.  Just leave a comment on this post and become a follower if you aren't already to be eligible....how easy is that?  And you could win this little prize package:

Included is a 6x6 Lost & Found paper pad by My Mind's Eye, a package of cute vintage-looking buttons and a $10 Michael's gift card.  You needn't enter a project at TPV to win my blog candy. My giveaway is just for fun. Although I do hope you decide to join the challenge, you could win a $25 My Favorite Things stamps gift certificate!

Dont forget, there will be other challenges and prizes daily until Sunday at TPV inspiring you to use your favorite things! There's also a giveaway on the TPV facebook page  so don't miss that! Join in the fun! :)

Now hop on over to Abby's blog to see her beautiful project created with MFT stamps!