Blog Hop Winner!

Thanks so much to everyone who came by my blog this weekend.  I hope you had fun and finished with a bit of inspiration.  The winner of a RAK prize is #13 - Lady of the Lake!  I will send you a message on Club CK to get your snail mail addy.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Sketch Blog Hop

Welcome!  If you are following along with the blog hop you should have arrived here from Adele’s blog.  If you are just stopping by you want to join in on all the fun and inspiration from 22 more creative friends you can go to Amanda’s blog and start at the beginning.

Here is the sketch that we all used:


And here is my layout based on the sketch:



I changed up the orientation of the photos and moved the title but I stuck to the basic design as far as the placement of the papers and embellies.  This is the second layout I have made with the My Minds Eye American Made line they released a few months ago.  I don’t have many photos of myself in uniform so I do cherish the ones that I do have and wanted to get these put away.

I used some pretty ribbons to soften the page and some black Rainboots Thickers (my most favorite font of all the Thickers) for the title.  The flower is punched circles from tissue paper and I used a little bit of Stickles to help define the edges.



How about a prize for making it halfway through the blog hop?  Just become a follower if you are not already and leave a comment on this post.  I will select a winner early Monday morning and post the winner in a new post.  If you are a Club CKer leave your board name and I will convo you if you are the winner. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Your next stop on the blog hop is the talented Heather.  If you like the sketch and want to play along you can link up your own project on Amanda's blog for a chance to win another prize!

Beach Layout

I am always amazed at how fast life is passing me by.  These photos of Aubrey are from 3 years ago.  We went to Ocean Shores,WA one last time before we moved overseas.  I loved going to that beach even if it wasn’t the kind where you dip  your toes into the water because it is just too cold.  Within minutes Aubrey was wet and muddy and having fun. 

I used the 8/4 Sketchy Thursday sketch to finally get these photos scrapped.  I sorted some of my photos last week and this sketch was just perfect for them.  I also added this layout to the Club CK Summer Camp challenge of the day which was to use colored pencils or paint on a layout.  I colored the circles with watercolor pencils, inked the edges and added a bit of Stickles to mimic the bubbles on the patterned paper.

I just love the Cosmo Cricket Salt Air line.  The colors are perfect and the embellies are adorable.  I cannot get enough of Cosmo Cricket.  I used my Cricut and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut the title. 

This page came together quickly for me and I am always happy to get our stories told. 

Have a great day!

The More You Read…

I have been pretty busy busting out layouts since JG deployed.  It has been two weeks and I am glad I have the distraction.  I have been working on pages late at night after the girls have gone to bed and JG and I have finished up our Skype call or late morning while the girls play and watch some preschool shows on TV.

This layout is from the Sketchy Thursdays sketch for the September Guest Design Team spot.  They mentioned doing a reading themed page and I knew immediately which pictures to use.  Last year Club CK had a back to school challenge to take a photo of your kids with their favorite books or something back to school-ish.  I stacked up their favorite books on the table and I got some great shots.  I didn’t pose the girls…Aubrey is a ham! 

Let’s talk page details!  I am so pleased with the way this layout came together.  Obviously the page sketch was fantastic and I all did was make it my own.  I had picked up the Echo Park Little Girl digi paper pack from Jessica Sprague this week when it was featured on One Buck Wednesday.  The colors are so cheery and I loooooove me some Echo Park.  So I printed a couple pages onto cardstock and then punched out the circles and inked the edges pink.  The flowers are made from pages in a book that I read and didn’t like!  I cut the pages into 1 inch strips and then used a Fiskar’s border punch and made the scalloped edges.  I also inked the edges and then folded them into a circle.  Add a pretty circle center and you have easy flowers.

The quote was a long one and I had to mix colors because I didn’t have enough t’s and e’s to use just one color.  I also had plans to stitch the words but that didn’t work out since I had limited space.  So I layered the “read” and “learn” into a scrap of patterned paper, trimmed away the excess and outlined with a black pen.   

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend.

Rovinj, Croatia

Rovinj (roh-veen) is a small city that sits on a peninsula in the Istrian region of Croatia, about 40 minutes from Pula.  Rovinj has an Italian feel and was part of the Republic of Venice for 5 centuries but the city prospered under the Austrians during the 1800’s.  Today, you can walk the streets that all seem to climb up to the Church of St. Euphemia and beautiful views of the Adriatic Sea and the harbor. 

Rovinj has so much charm!  We walked up to the Church of St. Euphemia and enjoyed the view, the old world feeling and people watching.  Along the way as I was taking the photo of Aubrey and the grapes a nice local woman was chatting with James and Lolo.  The lady was smitten by Lolo and give her a bracelet and when she saw Aub and I she gave another one to Aub.  It was so generous and thoughtful of her to do that and the girls just loved feeling so special.  We tried to offer her some money but she didn’t want it.

As we walked back down the hill we came across the adorable little kitten who was sweet, fairly friendly and not camera shy.  We bid him adieu and made our way down to the farmer’s market where vendors were busy trying to sell  us truffle oil, olive oil and many different fruits and vegetables but we didn’t get anything even though it was tempting.  Right across the street from the market is the Communist-Era Monument which stands out in contrast to the old feeling of the city.

I really loved Rovinj and it is a fantastic day trip from Pula.  The cities are so different from each other and it is an easy way to experience more culture.  Pula is industrial where Rovinj is more traditional.  Honestly, I loved Croatia!  Even though the trip is still fresh I smile when I think about this lovely country and the amazing time we had on vacation.  I still have many more photos to share so thanks to those who have stuck around to see them. 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend.

Proud!

I have really loved all the fantastic sketch sites that are out there these days.  I find so much inspiration and actually complete layouts!  My album is filling quickly and it is nearly time to purchase some more.

The other day I was organizing my photos and came across this photo of myself from my Air Force days.  I am proud of the time I spent on active duty, the job I did and the life long friends I made.  I don’t have many photos of myself in uniform so it is important to me to use the ones I do have.

I used the Sketchy Thursdays 8/4 sketch and got to work.  The papers are My Mind’s Eye’s American Made line.  I love the traditional red, white and blue colors with the prints that they selected for this line. 

I used a star die to make the stars.  First I cut them from scrap paper and then inked up a small sponge and colored in the stars.  I went over it with a black fine point gel pen.  I used a small pair of scissors to cut around parts of the stars and then slide the patterned paper underneath.

I hand stitched the title with some floss and machine stitched around the edges of the patterned paper and the white cardstock.  I added foam squares to the back of some stars to lift them off the page and brads to the top of the banner. 

I am happy with this layout and it surprises me since I don’t like to do pages about me!  However, I scrapbook for my daughters and I did this for them.  I am our family historian and this is part of our history. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Waiting for Dad

I made cute little shirts for the girls to wear and added a few decorations around the house as we waited for James to return from his last 6 month deployment.  The plan was for us to drive to Ramstein and greet him when he arrived just after lunch time.  However his flight was delayed and we stayed home.  His co-workers dropped James off just after midnight and our girls were sleeping.  I had printed the photos though so he could see how happy they were that their daddy was finally coming home. 

Since James is deployed, again, I figured I better get these photos onto a layout and in our albums.  I recently found Sassy Lil’ Sketches from some fellow Club Creating Keepsakes peeps and decided to give it a shot.  This layout is from the July 28th Reveal and I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

I used My Mind’s Eye patterned paper and embellies for this one.  The cardstock is Bazzill as well as the brads.  Cosmo Cricket stickers and American Craft Thickers for the title.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Making A Splash!

 

I finally got around to the 7/28 sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.  Nothing like waiting until the last day to get it started.  True procrastinator here!  And since I waited so long to finish the photo is less than stellar since I had to take it with the very last bit of natural light I could get.  My sister in law looks fuzzy and my husband looks like darkened him up.  Lesson learned…it does not pay to put things off. 

Anyways, I used all Cosmo Cricket’s Salt Air minus the orange glitter stickers and they are from Sass A Frass.  I used a mix of yellow and orange floss and added a bit of stitching at the corners.

Thanks for checking this out today.  Maybe I will get a better photo in the morning.