Look what she made!

For Christmas, Charlotte got a little kids sewing machine.  I was trying to figure out something easy for her to make, so we decided on a pillow.  I have tons of fabric scraps, so I let her pick out the patterns she wanted, and then we used her machine!  It just does a chain stitch, so there is not bobbin thread.  If one stitch comes out, the whole thing does!!!  It was a bit of a pain, so I told her that I would just make it "stronger" on my machine so it wouldn't rip!  She stuffed it and now sleeps with it every night!  I'm so proud of her and she was proud of herself!

When I saw the cherry print of the fabric, it reminded me of the Lily Bee Sweet Shoppe collection, so that is what I used!

My page is based on today's sketch at the My Scraps & More Sketch Blog!  The new DT had their first reveal today, so check out the sketch and link up a page!!  Visit it HERE.

My page is pretty simple.  I mounted a piece of white cardstock with the edges cut at a skew onto of the grey herringbone patterned paper, and stitched around the edge with black thread.  Then I splattered the page with blue and red mists.  The triangle "banner" is actually a piece of patterned paper that I cut and then just stiched to a thin piece of paper to keep it from ripping.  I painted some Studio Calico wood stars with black paint and also used some SC star rubons that matched, too.

I used some chipboard banner pieces, flair, stickers and fabric brads from Lily Bee for the cluster as well as the plastic xoxo from Studio Calico and some twine to tie it all together.

Finally, on the chipboard speech bubble (also from Lily Bee), I stamped a subtitle and placed it over my photo.  Then some other little stars, buttons, and bits scattered around the page.

I have been on a total sketch kick lately because I have been feeling a little un-creative!  But I just love sketch results!  Hope to see you play along, too!

Stay scrappy my friends!

My Scraps & More Sketch Blog *BLOG HOP*

Welcome to the My Scraps and More Ring In the New Year Blog Hop!! There is something about the New Year that gets everyone motivated to get things done. We want to help you get your scrappy mojo going in the New Year. This is our first ever Blog Hop for the My Scraps and More Sketch Blog. Here is our special blog hop sketch.

For the sketch, I used the beautiful fall colors of the Urban Autumn line by Lily Bee!  I wanted to play up the really bright leaves in my photos.  These are the beautiful Sassafras trees at my parents house.  Every year they are the first to change color and they have the most intense colors or any kind of tree I have ever seen! There are some great hiding spots and places for "forts" in there, too!

I used my NEW Silhouette Cameo to cut the leaves on the background and then backed it with patterned paper.  Then I splattered some white and grey paint on the page.

 I layered some wood veneers from Lily Bee, too, and added some LB stickers and a die cut for my title.

I used the sketch to place my papers, and decided to keep the four squares of the sketch all the same pattern. A chipboard embellie from American Crafts, and a brad from Crate Paper!

Now hop along to each of the design teams blogs to see how they are Ringing in the New year with this fabulous sketch. Make sure to leave a comment on each Design Teams blog and then see what you can create with the sketch. Link it back to the My Scraps & More sketch blog by Thursday, January 9 at midnight EST to be eligible for this fabulous prize: The Fancy Pants "Collecting Moments" collection!

Completing this sketch will also enter you into the monthly blog drawing, too, so that is TWO chances to win! (And there will be other sketches the rest of the month that you can complete to enter, too!) 

*BONUS PRIZE*- I am giving away a $10 gift card to the My Scraps & More store, too!  To be eligible, make sure you are a blog follower and please leave a comment!  I will choose a random commentor to win the prize on Thursday night and post next Friday.

Here is the order of the hop in case you get lost along the way.

My Scraps & More SKETCH blog- http://www.myscrapsandmoresketches.blogspot.com/

Audrey - audreysreflection.blogspot.com/
Lisa - lisasscrappyhideaway.blogspot.com/
Missy - www.littlenuggetcreations.blogspot.com/
Wendi - scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/
Tracy - ascrapatatime.blogspot.com/
Tammi - www.tjsmemoriesblog.blogspot.com/

Stay scrappy my friends!

Now hop on over to Lisa's Blog! lisasscrappyhideaway.blogspot.com/

Pancake Breakfast!

Every 1st Saturday of the month, there is a pancake breakfast at a church near the cottage at the lake.  They have scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, and homemade blueberry sauce for $5!!!  You can't beat it!  And the kids just LOVE the pancakes (they are pretty tasty, I have to admit!).

When I saw this month's sketch on the Lily Bee blog, the big circles just reminded me of pancakes, so I used it for my page.

I started by die cutting the large circle from white cardstock using SCAL2 and my Cricut.  I chose brown and blue papers to go with the blueberry and pancakes theme, and then added in some yellow for contrast.

I machine stitched a frame in the middle of the page, and then just added some punched circles here and there.  I fussy cut the triangles from patterned paper and layered them with some labels and buttons, too.

You can see that I popped the brown paper off the back of the page to give it some depth.

So you might notice that my husband has his eyes closed in the photo. It was the only one I had of him, and he HATES getting his photo taken.  But I decided I needed to use it anyways!  I want my kids to know (when they look back through these pages after year go by) that daddy was there at these events, too!!  So I'm am gonna tell him that he better start smiling, because I am putting the photo on regardless!  :)

Stay scrappy my friends!

Too Rainy Today....GDT for ScrapFriends Yummy Scrap color challenge

I used to hate color combos, but now they are my favorite  type of challenge!  And I was so thrilled to stumble upon Scrap Friends a few months ago where they do a monthly color challenge and have awesome sketch challenges, too!  Plus the DT inspiration there is so incredible...the really artsy/mixed media kind of designs that I love to look at!

I was chosen as a Top 5 two months ago and therefore was asked to be a guest for this combo.

 When I saw the colors, the navy and grey remind me of a dreary day, so I used some rainy day photos.  These were taken at the beginning of the summer, when the kids were so ancy about going outside, but of course, there were a few rainy days when we couldn't go out to play.

As I was creating this page, I was thinking of rain and thunderstorms, so I tried to use things that remind me of that. I used a grey patterned paper for the background and a circle stencil with some gesso.

And the cloud paper from Lily Bee with the navy and grey clouds was perfect!  I used a strip of that with some additional clouds fussy cut out and pop dotted around the page.  I accidentally placed some grey washi on the page and saw that it looked pretty cool going along with the diagonals of the page, so there are some pieces of washi placed around and then I machine stitched over them.

So I needed to find a way to incorporate the orange into my page.  And again, by accident, a scrap of orange paper fell onto my page as I was cutting some other shapes that I was intially going to use.  I loved the way the little triangles looked, so I just cut a few and placed them around.  They remind me of lightning bolts!  :)

The word "today" is a rub on from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection, and I put it on a transparency from Maya Road.  I love that these transparencies look like the window the kids are looking through. I did my journaling underneath it.

Be sure to check out the Scrap Friends blog!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Bubble Boy

He tries.  But he just can't blow a bubble. More bubble solution is spilled and swallowed than is made into bubbles.  But ya know what?  He has a blast!  :)

Bubbles, to me, means the start of warmer weather.  It's the first thing the kids want to do when they start going outside.  And it a past-time that lasts all summer long!  I used some Lily Bee papers and stickers and such to go along with their "summertime" challenge.

I was scrapping on the go when I did this page, so I didn't have access to all my usual tools.  I wanted to do circles, though, to go with the bubble theme, so I used my trusty template and cut them all out by hand.  I placed them on the other patterned papers and decided I wanted them to pop more, so I cut out a slightly larger circle from the lower paper to give a white border to the circles.  Then I distressed the edges of the circles and popped a few off the page.

I love the way the arrows in the circles go in all different directions, just like bubble!  I bit of splattered and a few buttons and stickers, and then a bit of faux stitching cause I didn't have my sewing machine.  Voila, it's done!

Hope you are enjoying all your summer past-times!  Stay scrappy my friends!

May Lily Bee sketch- Play All Day

When I have time to scrap for "me", one of the first things I do is pick a certain collection or line of paper that I want to work with, and then go scope out that manufacturer's blog for challenges. Not only do I find some inspiration, I usually end up putting a dent in my stash, too!

The bright orange frisbee in my photo immediately reminded me of the bright orange paper of the Pinwheel collection from Lily Bee, so I worked with this month's sketch from the Lily Bee blog and a mix of their latest "Pinwheel" and "Sweet Shoppe" collections.

My dog is so photogenic!  :)  She always has her Frisbee in tow and just wants to play all day.  She would go until she passed out if she could!

I don't usually work with photos this large (or if I do, there is usually only one of them) so I kept my page fairly simple. I have to tell you that I spent about 30 minutes just picking out which patterns and colors I wanted to use on my page!  There are so many great ones in these collections!

I stuck closely to the design of the sketch, except I changed it to two larger photos (although you can see behind the photos I still stitched the four squares. I even dug into my stash and found some older Lily Bee products to use on my page, too (the journaling card and the chipboard buttons).

It feels so good to get back to the challenges and designing that I love since I have some more "me" scrappy time now!  :)

Stay scrappy my friends!

Mother's Day and Reelin'

I lost my mojo these past few weeks.  I have been so busy with other things around the house, and even outside the house now that the weather is nice!  So I  just let my slump take it course until I felt the urge to scrap again.  And there's nothin' better to get me out of a rut then a few great challenges!

First, as a huge fan of Diana's sketches, I tackled the sketch for Scrapbook Circle and Lily Bee this month!  I dug into my April and May Scrapbook Circle kits, and mixed them up a bit to scrap these photos that have been laying in my "to do" pile for almost a year!  Charlotte is going to be quite the fisherwoman....she gets it from her grandma and me!  :)

I started by giving a whitewash on the background with gesso, then using a splatter stencil and some blue mist.  The blue came out a bit too dark, so I went over again with some white gesso and I like the way it turned out!   I stuck pretty closely to the sketch, but added one more large circle on the bottom right to balance out my page.  The circles are stitched with yellow thread.

The tulle ribbon in the kit reminded me a bit of fit netting, so I used a bit of it under my photo and held it down with the Maggie Holmes washi paper.  The title alphas are some AC mistables ones from my stash that I misted in navy to match the papers.

And the sketch by Diana:

A few weeks ago I won the new "Find Your Wings and Fly" collection from MME on their blog during their release announcement.  They are VERY generous with their prizes.  While on their blog recently, I came across the sketch challenge for May with a sketch by Ronda Pallizari.  I LOVE this sketch!

These photos of Mother's Day were on my to do list, and I thought the floral prints of the papers were perfect for the theme!

We actually had Charlotte's birthday party on Mother's Day.  I had been in such a tizzy trying to get everything ready for the party, that I forgot it was even Mother's Day.  When my mom arrived, she looked at me and said "Happy Mother's Day!  But I feel so bad...I didn't get you anything!".  I said, "I MUST be your daughter, because I didn't get you anything, either!".  But she did teach me to be a great mom, and I gave her an awesome granddaughter, so we're even!

I love the grid design of the sketch, but I wanted to use two photos, so I changed it up a bit to accommodate my photos and a journaling area.

I had fun using lots of bits of paper, washi tape, chipboard elements, buttons, and enamel dots!  I added a few splatters of white paint in the background, too.

And the sketch from Ronda:

SOOO glad my mojo is back!!  I have a ton of projects to share that I haven't posted over the last month, so this blog is going to get busy the end of this month!

Stay scrappy my friends!

A new home and faces I love.

In late December, we moved into our new house.  One week before Christmas.  It was CRAZY trying to unpack and decorate and keep the 2 kiddos from getting into everything.  Although we did have some fun times with building cities of boxes!

Anyway, I snapped this photo of our house the day before we closed, and it just so exciting (we have been waiting for over 6 months to move into a new home).  So here it is!  The Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic collection had a lot of great "homey" sentiments and papers that went great with this theme.

In the background, you can see some faint stamping with a hexagon stamp, some layered papers and chipboard.  I added some wood chevrons pointing to the title.

I have been love love LOVING gold accent lately, so I used a sticker and some gold thread here.

To add some more gold sparkle, I painted a Basically Bare 'Jailer Key' with some gold Sorbet gel paint from Art Anthology.  Isn't the 'Welcome Home' chipboard piece perfect?  :)

And next I wanted to share a layout I did based on last weeks sketch at My Scraps & More sketch blog.
My brother took these photos of Charlotte on his phone.  She was trying to look at the handle of her cup, because there was something on it, and she had no idea of the funny crossed-eyed faces she was making.  We kept asking her to look again, and were laughing so hard.  :)

I recently reorganized in my new scrap room and started keeping embellies and certain papers/kits close by in bins to use at will.  This page I used items from 7 different manufacturers, which is not my norm (I tend to stick with a collection and use a few other bits here and there).  Here is a die cut from a scrapbook circle kit, and an old brad from MME.  I also dug into my rub-on stash, which I forgot how much I loved, and had fun with cutting them up here and there.

Some chipboard from Basic Grey and doilies from some Lily Bee paper.

I have been scrapping like a maniac lately.  And believe it or not, a lot of it has been for ME!  Hope you are staying scrappy, too!

He's 14 months already! Lily Bee sketch and SBC kit..

I can't believe that Kyler is 14 months already.  He is just the most adorable little guy.  He waves and says Bye Bye, says Uh-Oh, tries to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and loves to play in the dishwasher!

When I saw this sketch on the Lily Bee blog I was in love and had just gotten my Scrapbook Circle kit (which had some Persnickety in it).  I also ordered some more Persnickety from My Scraps & More.

On the background, I used my CW strips stencil with some white paint.  On the sketch, I was inspired by the little triangle banner pieces, and decided to make those a focal point, so I scattered them all on my page. My intention was to staple each one on, but alas, we are out of staples, so it is what it is.

And those numbers?? I painted them with some metallic silver paint and I love the sheen on them!  The @ symbol and the navy arrows I cut with my Cricut.

I thought it was only appropriate that I have ANOTHER post today to round out the month of September.  I think that makes 8 or 9 days in a row!  :)  It was a busy month!  Thank you for all your comments and love...it really really makes my days!  :)

Memorable Seasons DT kit ftg Lily Bee Victoria Park

I am so sad that this is my last kit with Memorable Seasons!  :(  I have been on the DT there for a year (and a member a LOT longer) and I really love the message board and the store, too!!!!  I will be sticking around for all the fun things that go on!

This month i got to play with Lily Bee Victoria Park, and this first page is a scraplift of our member of the month, Kasey.  Kasey does a lot of layering and distressing and uses a lot of doilies and flowers, so that is what I went with, too.

This is one of my favorite photos from our trip to see some Bluebonnets back in March.  Charlotte has such a tight squeeze on Kyler and I just love his expression!

The little blue flowers I actually made from the bar code strip that is on the bottom of the patterned papers.

You can't go wrong with accordion flowers.  See those leaf vines?  I cut them freehand.  I love that shade of green.

I distressed each layer of paper and I misted the doily with some light purple shimmer mist to add some more color.  I like working with purple lately!

This next page is actually based on an old sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.  

We made some smoothies with some frozen triple berries and it was REALLY dark cause we used so many.  Charlotte had the greatest smoothie mustache.  She looks like the Joker...

You know how each Lily Bee line has a sheet of stickers with the triangles on them?  Instead of using them for a banner, I used them to create these circle embellies.  But when you line all the edges up, there is a little gap  So I had to cut a snip in the paper and fold it under so you couldn't see the cardstock.  This made them make a little cone shape.  I really like the dimension they give to the page.

I added some accent stitching and a few of the hexagons fussy cut from paper.

Finally, a few weeks ago I shared a mini album of the kids which I ended up sending to my mother-in-law for Mother's Day.  I had printed doubles of the photos, so I had to make one for my mom, too.  With bright papers like these, black and white photos work great.

The cover is a little confetti pocket that I made by stitching a transparency to the cover and leaving a little opening to add some tiny punched heart shapes, and then I stitched the opening closed. I love the way the little hearts move inside!!!!

I made a simple little accordion album and put small B&W photos on each page.

Here are some of the individual page shots.  I wanted to keep embellies to a minimum because I wanted this to be something that my mom could tie up and carry in her purse without it being too bulky.

And I had to make a card to go with it, so here is one that I whipped up.  

I love the contrast of a geometric shape like a hexagon with something soft like a flower.

I found these shaped card bases at Michaels in the $1 bin!  There were a few different styles and they came with envelopes, too!   

I am so going to miss Memorable Seasons store!!!  But I will for sure be applying next time around!  :)