Creative Scrappers Sketch #177

I really liked this sketch when I saw it and I wanted to play this month over at Creative Scrappers because they have an awesome prize from a new to me scrapbook kit company named Boys Rule Scrapbook kits. I have 2 sons and 2 grandsons so I do ALOT of boy/masculine pages.  I really need to get acquainted with Boys Rule!!  And what better way to do so than to win a prize from them??? You can see more information on them HERE.

Here's the layout that I did with their sketch:

I just LOVE this picture of Jacob and Abby that I took last year.  I used a bunch of different papers from a number of different manufacturers but I like how it turned out.

I {heart} Swimming

I have often said that my husband Dave snaps 'em and I scrap 'em....awesome photos that is.  And this batch is one of my favorite set of pictures that he has taken recently.  The subject is my adorable grandson Cole in the hotel swimming pool this past September when we were in town on vacation.  I found an awesome sketch online tonight from The Paper Bakery:

The deadline was tonight so I only had a couple of hours to pull this layout together, blog about it and enter it.  I used Echo Park's Splash collection and it was easy peasy to put it all together as everything is all coordinated for me.  I was really missing my grandchildren this weekend as they were having all kinds of Halloween fun but scrapping their pictures and my memories with them has helped.

Sketchy Thursday sketch challenge

I love working with Sketchy Thursday sketches.  When I saw the sketch this week I knew I wanted to use a picture of Dave and I with a banner of hearts.  It has been a rough couple of weeks at work so I was very glad to come home one night last week and relax a little with this layout.

Scary Stuff

 I had a blast this year making Halloween projects and cards.  Here are 2 chipboard boxes that I picked up at the thrift store and altered for my grandsons.  I painted the upper rim of the boxes with Ranger paint dabbers and inked the edges.  Then I applies ribbon around the edge of the boxes and paper to the sides of them.  I filled them up with candy and goodies and of course their mummy cards that I shared last week.  I think they will like them.

I entered them over at Wee Memories Anything Goes,  Paper Issues 31 days of Halloween and my very favorite The Paper Variety which has an awesome prize this week from Burlap & Bettercups scrapbook kit club.  You have until November 1st to enter for this awesome prize:

Don't you just LOVE it?  I do!!! Oh all the wonderful things I could make with that! So c'mon, I know you have been busy on your Halloween projects so link them up and join the fun! And tell 'em Sandi sent you!

Isabelle's First Halloween card

My granddaughter Isabelle just turned 2 months old and is just now starting to smile.  Boy do I miss seeing things like first smiles.  :(  Anyway, I made her a Halloween card to celebrate her very first Halloween.  I made her big sister Abby some treats and couldn't leave little Izzy out.  I made it sweet and not too scary for the cutest little pumpkin in the midwest.

I was really inspired by the colors in this Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World:

Challenge entered:

Wee Memories Free For All Challenge #73

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger Autumn Woods

Happy Halloween

I found this awesome card sketch over at Lily Pad cards and knew I just HAD to use it to make a special card for a good online friend:

I used the little pocket to include a cute little stamp for her.  Hope she likes it.  There is still time to use this sketch to create your own card and enter it over at Lily Pad cards.  You can see all the details HERE.

Let's Scrap card sketch

 

My 3 year old granddaughter Abby wants to be a spider for Halloween this year.  So I decided to go with a spider theme for her card.  I used the 10-19 card sketch from Let's Scrap to base this card on.  It will be on it's way to Illinois on Monday along with a personailzed felt bucket for her to take trick or treating.  The pail is filled with mostly sugary goodies.  I am sure Abby will enjoy it...not so sure her folks will!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

It is my brother-in-law Aaron's birthday today!  He is inching ever nearer to the big 4-0!  This is his last year in his 30's in fact ....so enjoy them Aaron.  To celebrate I made this card.  I also decorated his package and made a matching tag to go along with it:

He lives in North Carolina....Wake Forest to be exact and should have this package hopefully by now.  I hope he enjoys playing with his new little toy and has a wonderful year!  We love you Aaron and are looking forward to our visit up there in about 6 weeks.

I am entering this card in the current challenge over at Birthday Sundaes Challenge #31 to make a long card.

I am also entering the card, package and tag in the challenge #10 (twine) over at Cher's Studio.  The twine is the lucious Marachino color from the twinery...one of my very favorite colors of theirs.

Recipe Challenge at The Paper Variety

We have an awesome prize up for grabs this week at The Paper Variety -- a $20 gift certificate to the Scraptastic Club so you can pick your own prize!  And entering couldn't be easier.  Just use this recipe for your paper project this week:

Here is my layout that I made:

This is my gorgeous grandson Jacob last year with the pumpkin he picked out when I took them to the pumpkin patch.  I soo loved being able to do that and was glad that I got some good pictures from the day.  This was my first attempt of hand stitching on a layout....boy is that a lot of work and talk about time consuming!  Whew!  But it was worth the 2 hours that is took me because I really like how this page turned out.  I definitely want a sewing machine for Christmas, though! I am entering the layout over at Scrapbook Circle's Challenge #18 -- In Stitches.

I used this sketch from My Scraps and More:

I LOVE the sketches over there and the prizes are awesome too.  This month the prize is some goodies from My Mind's Eye.  You can check them out HERE.

 

BOO!

I really like the Halloween cards that I made for my grandsons this year.  Jacob, Cole and their dad really love all things creepy, scary and spooky so I think they will like them too. I got the idea for these cards from Paper Crafts Magazine.  There was a card on the cover of the September-October issue that I copied.  I get lots of inspiration from that magazine.  I am really enjoying working on my Halloween projects this year.  There are so many awesome products and ideas out there -- I could spend my whole paycheck!

I am entering these cards in a few challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays -- no orange on a Halloween card challenge

Wee Memories -- Holiday Madness

Paper Issues -- 31 Days of Halloween

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

I love Paper Smooches stamps and although I only have one set of sentiments they are the stamps I reach for most frequently.  I also love to check out their blog for inspiration.  I decided to make a card this month to enter the Sparks Challenge.

Here is the inspiration photo:

From this photo I was inspired by the sewing and textile theme and the color red.  I decided to stamp on linen and use some burlap with a little stick pin as embellishment on the above birthday card for my father-in-law (who I adore!)

You can check out their awesome selection of stamps HERE.  But be careful....you might fall for them as hard as I have....they are VERY charming!

Frosted Designs Trim challenge

Frosted Designs Friday challenge is pretty simple this week....they want to see some fancy trim on our project.  I immediately thought of this very pretty turquoise/teal colored trim that I recently won during a blog hop.  I used it today on a birthday card for a wonderful friend of my dad's in Colorado.  I used Basic Grey's Life of the Party papers and the card base is Stampin' Up cardstock.

Red Rocks Memories

I broke out one of my older and very favorite DCWV stacks today for this layout......the DCWV 8x8 Green Stack.  DCWV is running a stack-a-holic challenge on their blog.  The challenge is to use any of their paper stacks and this template:

I thought it would work really well for these pictures from Red Rocks just outside Denver that we visited with my Dad this past May. I added a little recyled corrugated carboard for dimension and some twine.  The prize is 3 of their newest paper stacks and I REALLY have my eye on this one:

It's called the Guy Stack and with a husband, 2 sons, 2 grandsons along with 4 nephews -- this is must have collection for me.  I love that paper with the mustaches.There is plenty of time for you to enter also.  Deadline is October 29th.  Deets HERE.

I am also entering this layout over at Lasting Memories for the challenge to add dimension to a layout.

3 new cards

I am so diasappointed.  I made 3 cards last night.  One of them -- this one:

was for this Basic Grey challenge and the deadline was midnight last night.  Before I could create this blog post and enter the contest we lost first the internet and then we lost power for nearly 20 hours here.  We had a weekend of fierce rain and wind here in Florida and I guess it caught up with us.  So I couldn't enter that challenge but I also made the card with the Wee Memories Halloween card challenge in mind and I will enter it over there and at Paper Issues 31 days of Halloween. You can see the details HERE and HERE

The next card I made I used this sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

And here is my take on it:

I put a little pocket on the front of the card and tucked a couple of tea bags in there for a friend so we can have a cup of tea together across the miles.

And last but not least is a fall themed card:

I used another Sassy Lil' Sketches sketch for this card.  They just announced that they are going to be closing down the site and that makes me sad.  I got soooo much inspiration from their sketches and their design team projects.  I am trying to use all their send off sketches this month.  Maybe I will even win the book with all their sketches in it.  That would be awesome. Here is the sketch I used:

Well that is it for now....the Bears vs the Lions is about to come on and I have to go put on my Bears jersey and cheer on my team....they are going to need all the help they can get tonight against the tough, undefeated Lions.

Happiness Is....Chicago Burritos

We love Chicago food and eat plenty of it when we are visiting the Windy City.  One of Dave's favorites for burritos is El Famous Burritos.  So when we were in town last month this was one our stops for dinner.  Their football sized burritos are as good as they are large.  I opted for a smaller sized (though it was not small) version of the chili relleno burrito and it was quite possibly one of the best things I have eaten in a LONG time. (see the smile on my face??)

This 2 page layout is using the above sketch from Let's Scrap and by submitting it to them I am applying for a position on their design team.  So keep your fingers crossed for  me.  My current term on The Paper Variety design team is coming to a close in mid-December and I am looking for another team to join. If you are interested in also submitting an application to Let's Scrap you can check out the info HERE.

The right hand side of the page (see above) also followed the current recipe challenge on

Frosted Designs. I used:

1. The color yellow

2. Chipboard (the sombrero in the upper left corner and the design under my picture are all chipboard)

3.Stickers (my Thickers title, phrase Ole' and the red pepper)

4. Buttons (the centers of the flowers embellishing the journal box are Nikki Sivils burlap buttons)

I had a lot of fun yesterday watching college football and scrapping while it rained all day.  Today is looking to be rainy as well so I will be back later to share more hopefully after a day of NASCAR, football and playing with paper.