SC153 Challenge

So here is my card for the sketch challenge over at splitcoast today. I absolutely loved this sketch. This is by far the best card I've done so far in my opinion. I just think it's fabulous :-). Well, fabulous for me anyway! I'm much better with the scrapbooking still.

The stamps are from the Oriental Trading Company Scrapbooking magazine. My mom has this habit of buying me all of the stamp sets in the catalog since I started trying out stamping! This is one that I got for my birthday and I haven't had a whole lot of time to play with it. So I pulled it out today for the challenge. The patterned papers are from the Provo Craft Holiday Stack. I colored the penguin with colored pencils and the scallop circle is hand cut. I NEED the nesties! :-) I'm hoping Santa brings them!

I am so grateful for these sketches. I would've gone nuts this afternoon without some time to play. The kids took a nap and I got my stuff out and got moving and with this, the sketch actually made it go faster! YAY!!

As promised...

I'm back this morning with my LO that I did last night. I am still not thrilled with the quality of the photo, but it's early morning and I needed to get this done in case I don't have more time later, and it kills the time before the kiddos arrive.

So the details...12x12 layout. Both photos are 4x6. Patterned Paper is by Scenic Route, Felt ric-rac by Offray, Ribbon by American Crafts. I used my sizzix machine to die cut some acetate for the letters and then used acrylic paint to give them some color. The die set was the round-about alphabet. Then the computer font is called Holy Guacamole! Brad by Making memories. The circles at the bottom were all cut using my creative memories circle punch. I had the plan for this layout all drawn out, which I very very rarely do. So last night when I started, I thought I would be done super fast. BUT as it turns out, I'm even more of a perfectionist about my pages when I have a plan drawn up. So I planned on getting more done, and ended up only getting this one done. (In my defense though, I was also watching a riveting episode of Grey's Anatomy--so glad they re-played it because I missed it the first time! And now I'm dying to see Thursdays show! Any other Grey's addicts see it??) Hopefully I'll have more time this evening to play! I might even get all my stuff together and sketch out another one.

Doesn't my girl look super super happy?? She makes the BIGGEST mess when she takes a bath. Ahh, to be young again. She is absolutely terrified of the water, unless it's in our bath tub. When we went camping, she screamed bloody murder about going in the lake. My mom tried taking both girls to the pool and Hayley would scream anytime they brought her close to the water. But she loves her tubby! Crazy!

I talked the other day about my new issue of CK, right? Well, I have been going through my scrap magazine withdrawals because my subscriptions got all messed up when we moved, so there were like 2 months that I didn't get any even though I changed all of my address info. But long story short, I devoured this issue and there was one part in particular that I've been working on this week. They talk about coming up with a mantra for your creating...I've been pondering on this. Right now I like "Experience life; embrace the memories" but it seems to change every day. So what do you all think? Anyone else have a personal creative mantra or just one for every day life? When I get mine just right, I'm going to create something I can frame in my office to inspire me.

Quickie Post

I did another scrapbook page tonight, but the photos turned out really badly. The flash was leaving a really icky glare on the pictures, so I'll post a pic of it tomorrow when I have natural light to shoot in! It's cute though...and I have some other things to share, so check back tomorrow!! G'night everyone!

SC152 Challenge

This is the card that I made today for the splitcoast sketch challenge #152. I am going to start doing these every week and hopefully also get to go back and do the old ones as well. That should give me some good practice!

The patterned papers are by Provo Craft. I used the Fun and Fast Notes set to do the stars. I used Marvy Stamping markers to outline the outside of the star for the large stars and then the smaller ones are an outline of one of the inside stars. The sentiment is Studio G (dollar bin at Michaels).

I'm getting ready to hopefully get some more cards made now. There's a football game on and I like to scrap while I watch. It keeps me from yelling at the TV too much ;-). Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Super Scrapbook Saturday #3

Even though the post is a day late, here is my scrapbook page for Saturday! It is a 12x12 LO. I don't know who the manufacturer is on the patterned paper. I bought it at least a year ago at the scrapbook store in Noblesville, IN--The Scrapbook Corner. Cardstock is Paperbilities as usual. The die cuts are by Sizzix.
These pictures were from my Christmas Card photo shoot last year. I'm gearing up for this year's shoot now. I'm not sure how I'll do them, but I know my time is running out, so I better get on it!! I just love this time of year...I can't wait to start receiving holiday greetings...I display them all until after the New Year because I love being able to see them all at a glance and remember friends and family.

I also completed this card in my new favorite color combo!! I'm addicted to it. So be prepared to see it all over the place. I was so excited to get my Jan. CK mag and the color combo was on the cover! I swear that some day I WILL decorate a room in my house using these colors. They are so soothing and homey...anyway, the info on the card...I used to Doodle This Flower from Stampin Up!, The swirl is by Autumn Leaves and the sentiment is EK Success. Inks are by Ink It Up!, and the ribbon is all Offray.
I used to be so intimidated by using orange. I love the color, but sometimes its just hard to use. Well, not anymore! I decided to take my favorite color combo for decorating my house into my creative realm as well...now I have no idea why I didn't do it sooner! Want a challenge?? Try using these colors as well. You'll get hooked too! Don't forget to share what you create!

Pay it Forward

I found this challenge on Katie's site, and decided to participate! I will send a homemade gift to the first 3 people who comment on my blog requesting to join the PIF (Pay It Forward) exchange (make sure you leave your email so I can get your addy!!). You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it!!! The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making the same promise on your blog. (If you don't have a blog, just promise somehow). I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this to your blog, and comment away! So get posting!

Finally some time to play!

After my long absence from creative thinking, I finally had some time to play today and I got caught up on making some birthday cards! Sorry to those of you who haven't gotten your cards yet--I'm so behind schedule! But they are coming!!

I haven't played with this set for a while, but I had a lot of fun using it. This was the first Stampin Up! set that I purchased and I always seem to go for the newer ones when I sit down to play. It was definitely fun to re-visit this set, though! I perused the SCS gallery for some inspiration and then started stampin! I used all of the same papers and supplies for all three designs. I'm pretty happy with the turn out. One was completely cased from SCS with small changes to the color scheme and sentiment. The other two are the same color scheme and designs that I came up with.

The set is called Seein' Spots by Stampin Up! I used inks by Color Box and Ink it Up. Papers by Paperbilities. The sentiment stamps are from Hero Arts and the circle Happy Birthday sentiment was made on the computer using WordArt because I didn't have a stamp that fit what I wanted to do!

The card with the large arrow still seems to be missing something, though I'm not quite sure what to add...I may still embellish it a little more somehow, but I absolutely LOVE the stickles...I am a major stickles fan... anything with a little glitter and I'm sooo into it! :-)