THE BIG DAY!!!!!

***CONTEST CLOSED***

see winner here

Happy blogoversary to me!!!!  I can't believe that 3 years ago today, I started this blog as a place to document all my layouts I created to be able to share with family and friends near and far.  Since then, I have built a community of friends around me who all inspire each other and push us to our creative best!!  It has been a fantastic few years and I can't wait to celebrate many many more!  

As a thank you to everyone who has stuck by me in this journey and for those who jump aboard for the next year, I am offering up a goodie to one lucky reader.  There are several ways to enter.  You will get one entry for sharing this on your own blog, one entry for completing the challenge detailed below.  Please comment below leaving the link that you posted the giveaway.  Also comment leaving the link to your take on the challenge (these can be the same post on your blog and also they can be left in the same comment).  I will enter your name once for each task you complete.  This giveaway is only open to followers of my blog (current or new).  

The challenge should you choose to accept it, is to create a project with a celebration theme.  It can be a card, layout, altered project...just make sure it has a celebration theme to it!  Think birthday, wedding, showers, anniversary, anything you can imagine would be cause for a big party!  It also needs to be a new project, no backlinking prior to July 22nd.  The prize to go to one lucky participant will be a collection of 50 Prima flowers.  A huge assortment of styles and colors to help you finish off many projects in the future!!!  As an added bonus, I will be picking favorites as they are posted and featuring them here on the blog with a link back to the creator to show off your hard work!!  

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me by clicking the 'about me' page at the top.  The deadline to enter is July 31st.

My favorite color combo!!

The color challenge this week at Just Us Girls is one of my very favorite color combos.  Pinks and grey.  I also left a little green in there since there is a touch in the inspiration photo posted.  :)  The paper is all Basic Grey - Olivia line and the letters 'I AM' are Basic Grey chipboard as well.

Perfect Day

I just loved scrapbooking the pictures of my cousin's wedding.  I used All My Minds Eye- "Lime Twist" paper to create the page.  The sketch I followed for this is by Sketchabilities.

Daytona Beach.....at the pool

This layout is rather plain because of the big open blue space, but I kind of like it that way so I decided to not over embellish.  Anyone have any tips for 'gussying up' areas like that without adding any extra embellishments ... please share.  I followed the Stuck?!July 1st sketch.

The Cardstock is Coordinations.  The patterned paper is from the 'Hit the Beach' collection by Flair Designs (I think that's the brand).  I cut the waves from a sheet of patterned paper called 'Ride the Waves' by Around the Block.  I popped up the layer of waves just below the photo and I love the little extra that adds.  The cloud, coral and starfish are cut from my Create-a-Critter Cricut cart.  The AWESOME sun is actually an embellished diecut I got from my friend Cathie.  She has an Etsy store where she has THE most amazing, detailed and quality diecuts.  This sun is flocked in the center and the rays are glittered.  The title is from a sheet of Karen Foster stickers called 'Beach Phrases'.  The fish is a leftover little guy from a sheet of Sticko Vellum stickers.  

Flower Child

I cannot even believe I am still awake scrapbooking at this hour.  I had no idea what time is was until I heard my husbands alarm go off.  Granted he wakes up in the middle of the night, but still....YIKES!  I was in the zone, but I better get this posted and crash before my kiddos wake up!!

One of the good things about scrapping in the middle of the night is that I catch all the challenges early as they tend to post at midnight on their scheduled day.  This layout was created for the latest Color Throwdown color palette.  They were inspired by a particular paper line that I happen to own so I thought I'd sit down and knock it out before I turned in.  Then I stumbled across these leftover patterned papers from an Easter layout I did a while back.  They fit even more perfect than the ones I'd planned to use.

That paper is all by JilliBean Soup.  The title was created from two different sets of white glitter Thickers that were Glimmer Misted with Starfish and Turquoise.  Some of the flowers are Prima and some Recollections.  The glittery butterfly is a button from my stash....I have quite the button stash!!  The polka dotted flower at the bottom was made from a piece of satin ribbon.  It's so ridiculously simple that even *I* was able to not screw it up LOL!  I'll have to share the instructions if I remember, but I found them online lots of places.

Digging deep in my stash

The challenge over at Shopping Our Stash, if I choose to accept it (of course I did!!!) is to dig deep into our hoards of stash and pull out something that's been needing to find a home on a scrappy project.  Well I decided to look no farther than my ziploc of scrap patterned papers that I had stashed away never to see the light of day again.  My scraps of cardstock always find love with my cricut when I'm cutting out pieces, but the patterned paper just keeps growing out of control.  So, I pulled this out and found some leftover stickers in my pile that I was going to get rid of because I'd already used off it what I'd intended to and created this entire layout from just scraps!!!  Go me!

Happy Chef!

I won't lie.  As soon as I saw this Echo Park 'Life is Good' line I fell in love and bought the whole thing.  I liked some of the patterned papers more than others, but there wasn't a single item that I can't imagine using.  The little houses are so fun and I thought they went perfectly for my daughter playing 'house' and making me a delicious plastic cheeseburger!  The only thing not Echo Park that I used for this layout is the adhesive (including the pop dots I used to pop up the house and double pop up the heart) and the gemstones that came in a $1 package at Joanns.

I followed the sketch posted at Pencillines with a little stretching.  Instead of the banner I used a scalloped cardstock sticker and gemstones to add some interest at the top and instead of the fence I used layered cardstock stickers.  I did draw inspiration from the fence.  It led me to the 'playing house' photo!!  I also had to alter it to fit the 8½x11 that I am trying to work on at the moment so I could only get one landscape 4x6 photo instead of 3 square photos.  I promise that I looked at that sketch the whole time LOL!!!

Sketchy Thursdays ...on a Sunday?

Boy oh boy am I a sucker for sketches.  I don't always end up a carbon copy of the template, but they help keep me on track!!  The August GDT sketch at Sketchy Thursdays was posted and it inspired me to pull out a layout I'd been avoiding.  I bought some Dora supplies at Michael's a few months ago because I thought they'd work well with a photo of my daughter riding her new Dora bike.  Only problem...they are all bright colors and busy prints and that is NOT something I usually feel comfortable with.  Not to mention struggling to fit all of that into an 8½x11 layout because that happened to be the size I was working on for this album.  This was more than a stretch from my comfort zone...I jumped right out of it and took off running the other way!

I had to stretch the sketch slightly because I am using a smaller page size than intended.  So I used a single photo and used the other photo spots for embellishment elements.  I also had to move my title to the top because it wasn't fitting anywhere else.  The circle is slightly higher too because I was trying to give the look of the sun in the scene (with ribbon rays).

Beyond following a sketch the other requirements were that you needed to use a summer theme; Riding a bike is very summery right?  Incorporate the colors red, orange or yellow; I used all three.  Lastly you needed to include a journaling spot; I used journaling strips to document who gave her the bike and just how much she loved it!

Just Kate

Why is it that when I start off following a sketch it always seems to take me forever to finish and be happy with a layout?  Maybe because it points out all the places an element is missing so I have to find just the right 'something' to go in each spot.  I always do end up liking the finished product 1000times better, so there is definitely something to it LOL!  Today's layout was inpired by the Stuck On U Sketch for this week.  I saw it and immediately knew I would be using it...probably many times.  It incorporated all of my very favorite elements.  I love using large circle elements, I love love love swirlies and a layout is never complete in my eyes without a littering of flowers (much to my son's dismay).

The solid cardstock is my very last piece of this gorgeous jewel tone red by Recollections.  I'm definitely going to have to make a trip to Michael's soon!!  The circle is cut from Sandylion-Poinsettia Swirl Foil, and the dotted paper is The Paper Comany-Deco White w/ gold dots.  The gold swirls are cut from the Sizzix die-Flourish out of metallic open stock 8x8 paper found at Joanns.  The flowers are all Prima.  The gems and pearls are all from the $1 section at Joanns.   The photo corners are by ScrapbookAdhesives and come in white...nothing a little Glimmer Mist in Starfish can't fix!!  Of course you need to let them TOTALLY dry before removing them from the backing or they shred into oblivion.  No need for all of us to learn that the hard way...hee hee.  The title is a mix of scraps.  The 'ME' is an epoxy sticker from a Mother's Day sheet by EK Success that I had leftover.  The 'Just' is cut from the Create-a-Critter cartridge on my cricut.  The sentiment actually says 'Just Chilllin' and goes with the penguin, but a little magic from my trust old scissors fixed it just perfect!

Once Upon A (Birthday) Sketch

I absolutely adore the sketches posted over at Once Upon a Sketch.  They always inspire me to sit and create at in my scrappy space!!  The current sketch is no exception.  There is one small catch (isn't there always LOL) you have a journaling prompt to follow in addition to the sketch.  I included 2 (or more) sentences detailing something about the birthday girl that I was scrapping.

The striped patterned paper is DCWV pink stripe.  The dotted and the floral paper is a double sided sheet by Bo Bunny called Crazy Love Fudge & Flowers.  The 3D FABULOUS cupcake embellie is by The Paper Studio brand La Petites, Valentines Day Cupcakes.  Flowers are all prima.  The title is cut from the Hannah Montana cart.  That is THE best cart I've purchased.  There are only a few Hannah designs.  Most are cool girly cuts and several awesome fonts.  The buttons are just from my stash.