In Like A Lion...

Out like a lamb? I wonder if the old adage will hold true for us, as march has definitely come in like a lion, with the snow and ice last week, and the rain that is pouring down outside now!  Although I do think it is hard to get motivated to exercise or clean when the weather is bad outside, I do feel motivated to scrap! I started in to my March Counterfeit kit, and here is my first page:

I was inspired by this sketch from Stuck Sketches (I just rotated it to suit me):

It is not a page that requires a title or journaling, just pretty pictures from the beach that I wanted to include in my album. I used some of the cork pieces, some die cuts, some off cuts from the 6x6 pad, wood veneer that I colored by scribbling on them with the orange Gelato, then blended it/rubbed it in with my finger, a handful of the sequins, one of the doilies, and one of the flair badges.

A closer look at the details:

What are you working on today?

Supplies used:

Sketchy Fun

As you may or may not have noticed, I love sketches!! It takes alot of the "work" and thinking out of scrapping for me, and just allows me to focus on the pictures, the memories,and having fun!  Here are a few more layouts that I made this week using sketches:

Sketch 173 for Creative Scrappers:

My Layout, "Take Time To Smell The Daisies":



Supplies Used (mostly from September Counterfeit Kit):
DCWV yellow grid print from Lemon Flower Stack, scrap of kraft cardstock, Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Border Strips, Sassafrass Lass star sticker,American Crafts Thickers, Cosmo Cricker Tiny Type Letter Stickers

Sketch from Stuck Sketches:

My Layout, "Treasures Of The Heart":

 Close Up Of My Embellishment Cluster:

Supplies Used:
Fores green cardstock, hand punched peach paper lace, Colorbok rose print paper, brown crochet lace ribon, peachy pink Prima flowers, Bazzill button blooms, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, die cut kraft swirl, K&Co rub on

Journaling reads:
"It's hard to believe it's been two years that she's been gone now- and I still miss just calling her with a question, or seeing the way her face lit up when she saw her "Precious", Evan. Photos-September 2010, journaled September 2011."

Sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

My Layout, "Signs Of Spring"

Close Up of the flower cluster:

Supplies Used:
Pink Paislee Vintage Moon patterned cardstock, yellow polka dot leftover scrap from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack, scrap of Teresa Collins black damask, Lily Bee stickers and banner, "Registered" label from Counterfeit Digi Kit (Echo Park For The Record), American Crafts Thickers, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type, yellow Primas

A Sketch And Inspiration from Stuck On You Sketches (use die cut flowers-the 2 bigger flowers were die cut, the smaller ones were Primas that I layered):

 My Layout, "Blue Eyed Beauty"

Die Cut Flowers:

 Primas:

Supplies Used:
Teresa Collins black and cream damask print, Lily Bee This & That "Milk Bottle"-reverse side, cream shimmer cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, cream Primas, Making Memories rhinestone brad, Echo Park little letter stickers, patterned paper flower, black felt and tulle glittered flower, a tag for journaling tucked away behind the photo, tied with black and white baker's twine, and fastened with a Making Memories vintage brad.

If you made it this far, I commend you!!  Thanks for visiting me today!

Remember This...

One of the layouts that I made the other day is based on this FANTASTIC sketch by Becky Fleck, for this month's Express The Moments Contest:

My Layout:

A Close Up Peek at The Embellies:

Supplies I used:
Cream DCWV cardstock, Basic Grey Origins Patterned papers, kraft cardstock, my coffee filter flower (faux "Bella Bloom"), a decorated fall doily that I recieved in a swap, part of a Colorbok bling circle, American Crafts clear/brown journaling sticker attached to cream cardstock, black AC Thickers, Cosmo Cricket cream and black Tiny Type alpha stickers, tiny green Making Memories painted brads. I cut the title block and mat out with my Cricut and Once Upon A Princess cartridge.

The journaling reads:
"Moments like these are what makes life special! Thank you for this precious memory of my two handsome men! I love to see the love and trust as Evan holds Eric's hand.  St Louis 7/21/2007"

More Challenges!

While I'm at it, I'll post a couple more layouts I  made for The Paper Variety in the past couple of days.

The first layout is for the challenge: "Use your favorite embellishment (mine is flowers)":

Supplies I used:
DCWV pink cardstock, Making Memories Love Notes "Lace Love Notes",punchout title, word, jornaling spot, and border from Colorbok's Flea market Punch out pad, wooden dowel rod, star shaped Grungeboard that I painted with Picket Fence Crackle Paint, flowers,stick-on pearl, and sheer pink ribbon.

The journaling reads: "Natalie, you made the prettiest Barbie Fairy Princess around!With a sparkling crown that I made just for you, and a wand that lit up, you were all set to grant wishes!"

The second layout is one I did just for me, with some of my favorite photos from my honeymoon:

 Close-Ups:

Supplies I used:
Light green cardstock, Teresa Collins Noel "Sheet Music", Basic Grey Porcelain "Arabella", Making Memories border sticker and small journaling spot, American Crafts Thickers (letters, swirl, scalloped circle) and a Vinyl Music note from AC also, ruched green ribbon, journaling spot from the Colorbok punchout pad, a white paper doily, and a die cut piano from th Stamping Station that I have been saving forever (like 8+ years).

The journaling reads: "A Real Piano Man: Every time I hear the song, "Piano Man", I am reminded of this night on our honeymoon, and ending up here, at Silky O'Sullivans. We sat and listened to music, I drank my first hurricane,and we even had a brush with celebrity, seeing John Mcnamara, and a woman named Suzanne who was in charge of ESPN for the area. One of my favorite honeymoon memories!"

Time for some Scrappy Fun!

I finally got to play with some more of those awesome goodies from August's kit, and I participated in some of the fun challenges I have seen out and aound on the web! Here is the layout that I made, using this week's sketch from My Creative Sketches (a fantastic new sketch blog!). I was also inspired by The Paper Variety's Favorite Things Challenge, "Use Your Favorite Photo" (I love, love, love this photo of my son, it captures his personality so perfectly!).
The Sketch:

My layout, "Special Son":

 A Close Up of One of my Embellishent Clusters:

Suplies I used for this page:
Pink Paislee Butterfly Gardens "Dew Drops", a white paper Doily (Wiltons), punch out borders, journaling card, letters (brown), and word "Special" from the Colorbok Flea Market punch out pad, a Prima flower, a Spare Parts Antique Flower brad, a brown button and Bazzill brown corduroy button Flower from my September kit, and the remainder of a brown ZVA crystal flourish.

The journaling reads:
"Evan- I just love this photo that Nicole took of you the day before Mother's Day. You eyes are windows to your sweet spirit. Love you!   May 2011"

Thank you for visiting!

Twin Sisters

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a twin, or having twins when I grew up. I read and reread The Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High series, and wanted so much to be like Elizabeth and Jessica, two blue-eyed blonde girls with opposite personalities. So, it is a little amusing to me that I "grew up" to have blue-eyed blonde twins myself. It's not all fun and games, but I love my little girls more than life itself! So, this page is to honor that special relationship that they have, but aren't quite aware of how lucky they are yet to have it.

Here is the sketch I used, from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

 

I also took inspiration from another of My Scrapbook Nook's challenges:

Shakespeare once wrote, “What a deformed thief this fashion is”. Here is your challenge: Steal inspiration from Elizabethian fashion, frocks made for men or for women. Think corsets, ruffled collars, doublets, leather belts, braided fabric, and more.

Inspiration photo:

And here is my layout:

I was inspired by the pattern on the top middle photo's collar-this background paper was reminiscent of it, and also added the brown bling, and the ruffled flowers remind me of the ruffles on the collars.

Close up of the embellishments:

 The supplies I used (all from my August CKCB kits):

SEI Chocolat "Nougat" paper (reverse side), Pink Paislee Butterfly Gardens "Botanical Gardens", 2 pink Prima fabric flowers, 2 Brenda Walton for K&CO layered butterfly stickers, bits I trimmed from a brown/amber ZVA Flourish for the butterfly trails, brown letter stickers from the Echo Park Walk In The Park collection, pink Making Memories Chipboard letter stickers, pink rick rack border and "Laughter" punch out die cuts from the Colorbok Flea Market pad.

Thanks for visiting with me this morning, be sure to drop back in on the 27th (Saturday) for my Counterfeit Kit Design Team Blog Hop post!

4 in a row?

Wow, I am on a roll, if I do say so myself, lol! I have another layout to share with you from my scrappy weekend! I enjoyed the "Turn It On Its Ear Challenge" from CKCB so much that I just could not stop, and I made another page for it!

Here Is the sketch I used from our fabulous sponsor at Sketch Support:

And here is my layout, "My Adorable Natalie":

A Close Up of my Embellishment Squares:

The journaling reads: "Natalie, you have always been my little poser-when you see a camera, you tilt your head and flash that smile! Love it!"

Supplies I used (all from my August CKCB kit, except for the teal and yellow cardstock scraps): Background paper is Crate Paper Portrait Collection, the word "Adorable" and the journaling spot are from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch out pad,Green letter stickers are from Echo Park's Walk In The Park collection, the smaller ribbon flowers and the tiny tan ribbon with white dots are from Offray, the larger flower is Prima, I used my small Martha Stewart Scalloped Circle punch, and  I inked the edges of everything with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and Martha Stewart Pigment ink in Stem Green.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think, and drop back in tomorrow for another page from this past weekend's scrappy fun!

CKCB Challenge

A few days ago, the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog gave us this challenge:

Challenge # 3: Turn it on it's ear: Pick any of the sketches from Sketch Support and rotate it before you use it for a card or layout. You will get a fresh new look this way, but still have the ease of the sketch giving you the blueprints of what to do. So awesome!

I took this sketch from Sketch Support:

And turned it sideways to come up with this page:

I also used a challenge from My Scrapbook Nook's Virtual Crop this past weekend, "#2-This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath-pick 7 different flowers for your layout", and here is a close up of the flowers:

The journaling reads, "It is always so hard to get the four of you together and smiling for a photo.Out of lots of shots, this one was the best Nicole was able to get. Crazy kids!"

Products I used:

The background paper was Pink Paislee Vintage Moon, and the back side of one of the Echo Park Walk In The Park papers, sheer aqua ribbon, the brown border was from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch Out Pad, the title was one of the K&Co rub-ons from the booklet I included in my August kits, The flowers are Primas, Making Memories, and The Paper Studio. All supplies used are from my August Counterfeit Kits (which you can see HERE).

Hope You Are Having a Wonderful, Scrappy Weekend Like Me!

I should have several layouts to share with you this week! Yay! I got a little time to myself this weekend, a faster internet connection, and that equals more sharing!!I decided to follow along with The Scrapbook Nook's Virtual Crop this weekend, A Midsummer's Night Dream, and used a lot of their challenges for inspiration. This layout is based on the challenge #8, To Thine Own Self Be True-Create a layout about yourself, with a photo and at least one fact about yourself.
The Sketch I Used (from The Scrappiest, #131):



My Layout, "Fear":

 Close Ups of my Embellishment Clusters(I love flowers, and use them on almost everything)-so this qualifies for Shimelle's Signature Accent Challenge

The journaling says:

"Although you can't really tell by the smile-if you look at how tightly I am gripping the pole...I was terrified to be so high in the air! Taken on the air tram over Mud Island on honeymoon."

Heights are probably my greatest fear-but I do try to face my fears!

The patterned background paper is My Mind's Eye  Lost&Found, and I also used both side of the SEI Lady's Boudoir "Juliette", a paper doily, a ZVA crystal flourish that I cut apart, and punch out frame, border, circle accent, scalloped square accent, journaling spot,and letters (All from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch Out Pad), and one flower was a Prima flower, and the fabric flower was from a kit that I won from Artful Delight (handmade, I think)- All from my kit that I made myself for August!!

A few more pages from my June Counterfeit Kit...

Since it is almost time for our July kit reveal, I wanted to post a few more pages that I have completed with my June kit. Here they are:

"You Are My Sunshine" Layout:

For this layout, I started with a white cardstock base, then used the sheet of Colorbok Bella Pink Flowers, which I trimmed a bit, and used bits of yelllow textured cardstock and a strip of the Basic Grey Lemonade border strips paper, and added one of the pink Prima roses from my June kit. For the title, I used a stick on tag from the K& Co. Brenda Walton stickers, and added a painted brad.

 Close up look at the embellies:

 "My Silly Girls" Layout:

 For this layout, I used my hot pink cardstock from my kit, Basic Grey Lemonade border strips, light blue pompom trim, my homemade bloomers and vellum butterflies, mounted on scalloped circles punched from paper scraps, yellow ric rac trim that I stapled to the page, brown Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type letters,  and cream Making Memories printed letter stickers
Close up look at my Homemade "Bloomers":

Thanks for stopping by-don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE, you only have one more week to enter!