Bee Happy

CAS-ual Fridays has the best challenges to spark my creativity .  This week their challenge is "Jest for the Pun of It".  I used Echo Park's Country Drive collection and hand cut that little bee and then covered him in Glossy Accents and drew in his antennae and little flight path.  I flipped this sketch on it's side from Card Patterns:

I am also entering my card into:

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Shape it Up Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge

Authentique February card sketch

I recently bought my first two collections of Authentique papers and I must say I love them.  The paper is high quality and the designs are exquisite.  I used them on my recent pages honoring my friend Marti and today I made a card using the same collection...Genuine.  I used the lovely sketch from their blog which you can see here:

I am also entering this into Simon Says Stamp Use 3 different papers challenge.

Abby, Buzz and Grandma

It has been over a year since Abby and her parents were out here visiting and we went to the Magic Kingdom and I still am working on preserving those memories for her.  Here is another page for her Disney scrapbook.  Abby and I stood in line to see Buzz Lightyear while her mom, dad and Dave went on the Space Mountain ride.  At 2 years old Abby did NOT like standing in line so we had a challenging time with her that day.  I am sure her next trip to Disney will be much easier....LOL

I used this sketch from Our Colorful Creations:

It is a great sketch allowing for a lot of creativity and worked perfectly for my layout.  I used American Crafts papers and ribbon and the Disney ribbon slide was from my stash.

Tribute to Marti -- page 2

Here is page 2 of my tribute layout to my dear friend Marti and our friendship.  As I mentioned in my last post, Marti lost her 3 year battle with cancer last month and I lost a beloved friend.  On this page I journaled the story of our friendship which spanned over 25 years.  I have never added so much journaling on a scrapbook page before.  I used these beautiful papers from Authentique's new Genuine collection and with the lines, they were perfect for telling the story in my own handwriting.  I used this simple and lovely sketch #308 from Sketch Inspiration:

Edited 12/13/14 to add: I am linking this up to the current Paper Issues Link Party -- What The %#@&!!* which focuses on journaling.

You can see page 1 of this layout on my previous post HERE.  Here is a peek of the two pages together:

Thanks for visiting my blog

~~Sandi~~

Tribute to Marti -- page 1

I lost a dear and wonderful friend of mine last month to cancer.  And although I am glad she is no longer in pain and has gone on to her final reward I have been grieving her loss.  This week I picked up the new Authentique Genuine collection and when looking through the papers and embellishments I knew it would be perfect for a double page tribute layout that I wanted to create to honor my friend and our friendship.  This is the first page.  I used the February sketch from Authentique:

My title was inspired by the current challenge #26 Remember This over at Scrapbook Circle

Here is the complete 2 page layout together:

I will showcase page 2 in my next blog post.

Imaginisce February Sketch Challenge

I absolutely LOVED Diana Fisher's sketch for this month's Imaginisce challenge and just knew I wanted to work with it.  I used the Splash Dance collection exclusively along with a couple of cute pictures of my granddaughter Abigail last summer.  Here is Diana's sketch:

As you can see I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  I substituted loops of ribbon from the Splash Dance collection to the right of the pictures instead of journaling and changed up the banner a bit.  Here are the requirements of the challenge and how I met them:

1. Use the sketch as inspiration for your project (check)

2. You must use at least 75% Imaginisce product on your project

(Everything I used on the sketch is from Imaginisce with the exception of the letters for my title -- I even cut the pennants for my banner from the packaging for the chipboard pieces)

3. Use at least 3 patterned papers (check)

4. Use 3 types of embellishments

1. I used chipboard stickers -- the bracket to the left of the picture is a portion of a chipboard sticker and my fanfold flower is sitting on top of a chipboard sticker.  As you can tell I love to alter some of my embellishments. 

2. I used Sea Streamers (ribbon)

3. I used 7 Sticker Puffs

This was a really fun challenge and you still have time to enter your own layout....check out all the details HERE.

Flamingos!

I made a unique card today for an online friend of mine.  It has a removeable tag on it which you can see here:

I stamped a small flock of flamingos on it above my sentiment since it was coming from Florida and pink flamingos are a kitchy symbol of my state.  I used this awesome sketch from Card Positioning Systems:

Since the challenge over at CPS is sponsored by the Twinery I also used some of their awesome Blossom colored twine on the tag.  I cut the tag with my Spellbinders Nestabilities Lacey Circles and I am entering it into Die Cuttin' Divas challenge to make a card using at least 2 of the following colors: pink, white, red or black and to include buttons.

Then just to make things interesting I am also entering it into

Simon Says Stamp Tag It Challenge

and

Burlap and Buttercups Make a Card Challenge

Check out these amazing challenges and see what awesome prizes are up for grabs...there is still time to enter!

Lily

My husband's brother and his wife have the cutest little boys and recently added lil' Lily to their family.  She has to be one of the prettiest babies I have seen (with the exception of my granddaughters of course...LOL)  I loved this picture of Lily especially since she was wearing the headband a good friend of mine made for me to give her.  I knew I wanted to create a layout that I could frame and give Aaron and Cherie as a gift when they travel down here to Florida from North Carolina in a few week for Easter.  I used Simple Stories Baby Steps.  I hand stitched the two kraft tags ( I really must work on my handstitching or better yet get a user friendly sewing machine).  I also embellished my vinyl pink Thicker with little swiss dots....I love to embellish my embellishments to really make them mine.

I am entering this layout in the Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenge to use brads or eyelets.  I used a couple of brads on my double tags. 

I am also entering it in Burlap and Buttercups "What's Your Style?" challenge.  My style is usually pretty clean and simple -- I like to have my photos take center stage.  I also like to coordinate the colors of my layout to the colors in my photo.

There is plenty of time for you to enter a project in both of these challenges....I hope I have inspired you to do so and good luck.

ZOOM!

I love my new Echo Park collection "A Boy's Life" and when I saw the papers in it I knew I had several photos that would be perfect to use...this photo is one of them.  Featured are my son Adam and grandson Cole celebrating the Fourth of July last year by going really fast at the Go-Cart track.  I used this inspiring Frosted Designs sketch by Jenny Evans:

There are so many fun elements in this sketch!  My style is a bit more clean so I eliminated some of the layers and elements while keeping the sketch in tact. I used a horizontal cropped picture only and added a loose banner of stars instead of pennants.  I love the orange and blue color palette for boy pictures and added a couple of trendy flags up in the upper right portion of the page.  I am also entering this into Burlap and Buttercups orange and blue challenge.

Banner Birthday card

I absolutely LOVED this card sketch from Frosted Designs when I saw it and I can see using it over and over again.  This time I decided to make a girly girl card for a good online friend of mine for her birthday this week.  I could also see the sketch used for a fun masculine birthday card or a congratulations card.

Here is my take on it:

I am also entering it in the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Tie One On (use ribbon)

My Craft Spot Challenge #44 Girly Girl project

The Paper Variety February 15th Challenge

The Paper Variety (my favorite challenge blog) has another really fun challenge....a photo inspiration challenge.  Here is the photo to take your inspiration from:

You can be inspired by the colors, the theme, the title, the couple....so much inspiration in this photo that I decided to go with all of the above!  Here is my layout:

I went with the colors green and russet (from Amy Adams' beautiful hair color) and used the movie title for part of my title.  I used a photo with my husband and I in much the same position as the couple on the movie poster.  I enlarged a photo that I took of a caricature drawing that my hubs and I had done a couple of years ago at Universal Studios.  I really like how Dave turned out but somehow I think I ended up looking like Sally Struthers?!  Anyhoo....I used this awesome sketch from Artful Delight:

And of course there is an awesome prize for the randomly chosen winner of this challenge.  Apron Strings Designs has generously donated this prize:

They have awesome kits and you can check them out right HERE.

You have two weeks to complete this challenge and your time begins NOW!

Edited 2/3/15 to add:  I am linking this oldie blog post but one of my favorite layouts to Paper Issues current issue -- Perfect Pairings.  I am so grateful for my husband Dave....our marriage is definitely is the "perfect pairing".

Keepin' busy makin' cards.......

I have been busy trying to keep up with my online friends this weekend in our online "Crop 'Til You Drop".  I guess I am a slow crafter because I have not produced near as many projects as they have.  But I do have a coiple of cards to share and a couple of layouts and cards planned for today.  The above card was created with the current card sketch at Frosted Designs:

I love this sketch and I am slipping this one in under the wire.....the deadline is less than 3 hours from now!  I made the fanfold flower and used a Sweet Spot from Tessa's online Etsy store Precocious Paper.  I love Tessa's creations!

For my next card, I used this sketch from Card Patterns:

And here is my card:

I lightly distressed Basic Grey's Piccadilly pretty orange floral paper for the background and heat embossed the Paper Smooches sentiment.  The frame, cardstock, embroidery floss and pearls are all from my stash.

Girlfriends

I am participating in a crop until you drop online party this weekend.  Some of the gitls are amazing with the projects they are creating.  I have only created this layout and a card so far.  But I have gone grocery shopping, got new furniture delivered and accomplished a few other small tasks. 

I used this sketch from My Scraps and More for this layout:

The picture is of my two darling granddaughters...Izzy and Abby.  I used several different Bo Bunny papers and embellishments on it and included journaling and faux stitching around the edge for their weekly challenge.  The only supplies that are not Bo Bunny is the white cardstock and the pocket for the journaling (and the embellishments on the pocket).  The journaling reads:

Having a sister is a wonderful and complex thing. 

You will share your secrets and your clothes. 

You will have tea parties and birthday parties and dress up parties. 

You will never go through anything alone. 

You are lucky.

I am entering several challenges with this layout:

Scrapbook Circle Challenge #25 -- use a pocket or bag

Bo Bunny layout challenge -- use journaling and hand/machine/faux stitching

Scrapfit Workout #61 -- use white background cardstock

Cupcake Valentine for my littlest cupcake

I made this cupcake shaped card for my littlest granddaughter -- Izzy -- for her first Valentine's Day.

I am entering it over at Scrap It Girl's February challenge to use hearts, show some love or use xoxo on a project and at Frosted Designs challenge to use the word "love" on your project.  While you are over at Frosted Designs, check out their "Love is in the Air" blog hop....there are some awesome prizes up for grabs.

My first B/W project

Flashback Fridays 20.0 challenge is to share your first b/w project.  This thank you card dates back to Oct. 2010.  Pretty simple but it's ok...kind of classic, you know?

There is still time for you to join in the fun.  Link up your first black and white project at Flashback Fridays.  Check out all the details, a cool blog hop and an awesome prize HERE.

I mustache you......

I got the idea for this card from Pinterest although in that image it was a chocolate mustache on a card.  I remembered I had a temporary tattoo that came with my Echo Park Times and Seasons collection and it is the PERFECT embellishment for this Valentine card for my grandson.

I am entering it in the following challenges:

My Craft Spot -- Valentines

Scrapitgirl -- use a heart

Paper Issues -- All We Need is Love

Pumpkin Spice My Style inspired by Love-Romance-Valentines

First Day of Kindergarten

I was very lucky to be in Chicago and able to take my grandson to his first day of school EVER this past September.  Cole was sooo excited to start kindergarten and now 5 months later still says school is "AWESOME". How do you like that little framed stitchery?  I found it at my thrift store and knew it would look awesome on this page.

I clustered my photos and love that little cluster of circle embellies up at the top of the page so I decided to enter this layout into Scrapfit's Weekend Warm Up #24 to use clusters.  You can see the details HERE.

I used the January 20th sketch from Boys Rule:

This was a great sketch for these photos and I just LOVED the banners.  You still have time to join the January challenge -- just make sure you use both sketches and link them up by February 14th and you could win an awesome RAK.

Edited 8/31/15 to add: I am linking this up to the Paper Issues current issue -- You Rule the School