A Simple Picture Can Tell Such A Deep Story

Have you ever had a photo that tells a story that isn't really seen in the image? A type of photo that tugs at your heartstrings and takes you to another place, be it good or bad. A photo that is dark, fuzzy, and certainly not the best you've ever taken, but it says so much to you? The photo on today's layout is just that type of photo.

I have passed by this photo in my storage binder several times. When I do, my thoughts are always the same. I know I've been purposely avoiding it, but there is a story that I see in this photo that my son took of his three little girls. 

The journaling is tucked inside the envelope. I really don't want it in view for the girls now, but it is part of our life, so I wanted our feelings recorded.

Now the feelings are on paper and I won't have to view the photo every time I flip through my binder. I could have hidden it away, but there really was a reason I kept it in full view. It is an important part of our story. They are our reason for living! Good and bad!

On a happier note.....I created this layout with Shimelle's latest Starting Point. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. She inspires me to the moon!

Have a wonderful weekend! Tell a story of your own if you can! Keep scrapping!

More Sketch Work & More Camp Fun

I'm still playing around and using sketches on most of my layouts lately. Today's layout I chose this awesome sketch from Sketchabilities. 

I stayed pretty true to the sketch because I adored it so much. 

I used up quite a few of the last bits of my May kits from Scrapbook Circle. Now I need to crack open the June kit, (now that it's almost July)!

As I've mentioned before, I am participating in the fun challenge site Scrap-Friendzy. Right now they have Camp-Friendzy going on and I must say it's been a hoot so far. I am really enjoying it! This layout was also created for the challenge to earn my nature badge. You needed to us "things you would find in nature" on your layout. I chose flowers & butterflies. Easy and fun! It's not too late to join in!

You all have a great day, and keep scrapping!

Daydreams

Just a quick post today to share a layout that I created with Shimelle's latest sketch. 

Also, at Camp-Friendzy, one of our challenges was to camouflage shapes onto our layout. I recently printed out this photo of my granddaughters lying in the grass, and the idea of a cloud patterned paper popped into my head. When I read the challenge to "pop" shapes up on a layout, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. This was super fun to create! I used patterned papers from the May kit "Garden Party" from Scrapbook Circle.

Have a great day, and give this technique a try! 

Getting Around

You could say I'm getting around. I'm trying to stay crafty and get layouts completed as I find new challenge sites. I also try to stay connected to my current favorites. Connecting with other crafters is definitely a goal, but I love telling my stories, and I  love the direction and fun a challenge sites can give you. Sketch sites are always a favorite of mine! No matter what, if it keeps me scrapping and telling my stories, I'm all for it! I just need to be careful and not spread myself too thin!

This is the latest sketch at Stuck?! Sketches. I was inspired by the large butterfly and wanted to give my Studio Calico butterfly mask a try.

I stayed true to the sketch, which made this layout very fun and easy. I played around with creating the title on my die cut machine. I'm sure I'll get better as time goes on. I also had Challenge #44 in mind at Whimsical Musings when I created this layout. It's all about little girls, and I've got plenty of those around! I'm so glad my granddaughters are such characters. They make for fun photos to scrap!

This next layout is about the first time my granddaughters flew in a plane. Actually the oldest, (who was the most scared on this flight), had flown before, but she was only 15 months old and didn't remember it. What's funny about this layout, is that it started out as one that I was creating for a challenge at Scrap-Friendzy's "Camp-Friendzy". The challenge was to create a project that had: 1) Torn edges, 2) used ink or mist, and 3) used two different manufacturers. I decided to us my June kit "Field Notes" from Scrapbook Circle, so I started out laying out the photos. I used a sketch from My Little Sketch Blook for the foundation. Before I knew it, (the layout took me less than 30 minutes), my layout was done.  Then I remembered that I was making it for the Camp-Friendzy's challenge. I hadn't used mist or torn any edges. Oops, oh well. I had another quick and easy layout done!

This is the layout with all the challenge criteria that I made last night:

I used patterned papers from My Mind's Eye and Lily Bee Designs. The torn edges are the cardboard pieces to each side. And I misted in the two corners of the layout. The design and instruction for this layout was from Nic Howard's class, at Big Picture Classes called "Cluster Embellishing".  It was super fun to put together and now I can't wait for her class "Dimensional Details-The Expanded Version" that I've signed up for starting July 5th. Maybe it will put some pizzazz into my layouts!

I didn't expect to be able to scrap this weekend, but I found a few pockets of time and made good use of it! Hope you all have a wonderful week.

By the way, we went to Disney's newest movie "Brave" on Friday, and it was wonderful! Love it!!!! It's a must see for sure!!

Happy scrapping!

Using Up Older Product

Happy Sunday fellow crafters. For my layout today, I focused on using mainly older product and scraps, mixed with a hint of newer product. First I started with Sketch #80 from Sketches In Thyme. They always offer the best sketches.

And here's what I came up with:

I picked the first three photos I came across in my storage binder. Then I went to my scrap box and picked three patterned papers that had similar colors that could be found in the photos. Once I placed down the foundation of the layout, I went to my box of flower embellishments and found three die cut flowers that would work for the layout. I have had these die cut flowers forever and the colors worked, so there you go. I decided to use the rub ons to tie the outside corner items together. Older rub ons are not the easiest thing to use, but I managed to get most of the design transferred onto the cardstock. The buttons, mist, washi tape and the journal stamp are all fairly newer product, otherwise the rest were items I've had on hand for awhile. And the patterned papers were left overs from other projects. I love to mix old and new stash together to get the most from my products.

Hope your having a wonderful weekend! Take care and keep scrapping!

Color Is My Word For Today

I made some time to scrapbook today, which hasn't been easy with three girls home from school, in swim team, and participating in various other activities. But nonetheless, I was able to get one layout completed. 

My first objective for the layout today, was to find some October Afternoon product. I must admit, that I don't have much of their products on hand, but when I took a look at their website, I fell in love with some of the collections they offer.

                          October Afternoon Detour Collection

My dear blog friend Susanne at Snaps and Snippets has a monthly challenge called In Good Company, where she challenges you to use her featured company's products on your project. This month's featured company is of course, October Afternoon. The papers I used on my layout are from a collection from a year or so ago. But because of Susanne's challenge I was inspired to get them out and finally use them!  There are a couple more days to get in on the fun, so dig out those products and use them! 

Once I found these pretty patterned papers then I went in search of photos. This photo of our middle granddaughter Hannah jumped out at me because of the color and pattern of her hat. 

My next objective was to decide what I wanted to do for my title and journaling. I am also participating in Camp-Friendzy for the next couple of months, and their second camp challenge was to use  your favorite song or lyrics on your layout. One of my favorite songs of all time is True Colors by Cyndi Lauper. So I used my favorite verse from the song.

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors 
Are beautiful like a rainbow

Color(s) also happens to be the new word at Bird Is The Word. So I am killing another bird with my layout.... lol (not)!

Once I typed up the lyrics, and wrote out my journaling, it was time to embellish. Because I recently signed up for Amy Heller's class "Through the Kaleidoscope" at Two Peas in a Bucket, I wanted to use another color to my color palette of the blues and greens in the patterned paper I was using. I found some help at Color Scheme Designer. It is very user friendly and orange is the fourth color it suggested.

I would have never used orange before in the mostly blue and green layout. But I think it really works. What do you think? 

I'm not real comfortable with creating 8 1/2 X 11 layouts anymore, (it used to be my go to size), but I have both size albums for my granddaugthers, so I try to switch it up here and there. 

Since I've been taking the color class, I'm really looking into how I have my scrapbooking products organized. I do have  some products sorted into colors, but I'm thinking of taking it to a larger level. When I decide and start the process, I will share it with you. 

Have a great rest of the week, and a wonderful weekend! Keep scrapping!

I've Gone To Camp!

Well, I haven't actually gone anywhere, but thanks to my scrappy friend Alison, I have found a new site that is holding an online scrappy camp! 

Scrap-Friendzy is new site that I have joined. So far everyone is so welcoming and the challenges for the Camp-Friendzy are so fun! There is going to be a weekly challenge given each Monday until August 12. Then there will be bonus challenges on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week. Some of the challenges will have a prize giveaway. There is a gallery to share your work, camp badges to earn for each "camp" activity you complete, and a discussion forum with all kinds of inspiration and fun topics to chat about. Sound like fun??? Come and join us! It's not too late!

Here is my first layout for the first challenge of camp:

The challenge was to earn your "Archery" badge. The challenge criteria was to use one circle to represent the target, one brad or button to represent the bullseye, and an arrow to represent the archery arrow. Fun huh! This layout was created for my Heritage Album that I am working on, and it features photos of my mom when she was a young girl. I also used this sketch from Club CK's June challenge.

I'm really practicing on creating clusters on my layouts. They are getting a little bit easier for me to create. I also tried using a technique of swirling thread in the cluster that another dear scrappy friend Lisa uses on her gorgeous layouts. 

I also mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to work on my ongoing albums a bit during my class hiatus. Here's a simple layout that I created for my son's baby album.

The inspiration for this layout was from a page Ali Edward's created for her daughter's baby album. It's fun working with older photos here and there. It brings back lovely memories!

Hope all is going well for you all. Have a great weekend! Keep scrapping!

Going Down Memory Lane and Getting Scrap Fit

Since I am not partaking in any classes at this particular time, I've been doing a bit of online surfing, looking for new and fun scrappy websites. I am a big fan of Diana Fisher and her sketches, so when I saw that she is a "Creative Trainer" at ScrapFit, I had to check them out! Of course I loved the latest sketch she designed for them this month, and I gave it a try.

This is Workout Sketch #69, and here's my layout:

I created this layout for my "Heritage" album. It is an album that I am creating with the older photos I have of family members. This is my Aunt Hazel and the only photos I have of her as a young child and young woman. There is little to no journaling on these layouts, just mainly dates of birth and any other info I have for around the time period of the photos. After I am able to gather any stories about her as a child, I will tuck it away, either underneath the paper layers or behind the layout in an envelope. 

"Double Take" at Big Picture Classes officially ended this week. I didn't get to make as many double page layouts that I'd hoped to create, but I was able to work on this one for over a week, (off and on), and end it with a bang!

This was inspired by a sketch by Nic Howard created for the class. I loved that I could take little snippets of memories and include so many photos on this two page spread. 

Hope you have a great weekend. And keep yourself busy scrapping!

Our Beloved Diego

Just a quick post today sharing my layout for Scrap Our Stash. The June challenge is to create a project that has to do with a homecoming. When I heard that, I immediately thought of when our beloved dog Diego came home to live with us. It was a wonderful day for our family and a long time coming for the kids to have a dog. Here's my layout:

Wasn't he a cutie? He was the smartest dog we have ever had. Unfortunately he died at the age of almost five of canine lymphoma. It was very tough, but we so enjoyed our time with him when he was alive.

Have a great weekend! And if you get a chance, come on over to Scrap Our Stash and join in!

Summer Is Officially Here

Well we have survived our first official week of summer. We were so lucky to have had about three days last week that were absolutely gorgeous and the temps were in the low to high 80's. But now we are back to reality. It was 113 degrees yesterday, and it's only the beginning of a long, hot summer. 

The girls have been keeping busy. Our oldest granddaughter has been at her mom's for the week. We sure miss her and we are gladly going to pick her up today for the weekend. It sure isn't the same around here without her. The youngest two have been busy with swim team. It keeps our mornings busy for the most part, but it is worth it. 

So there's been a lot of this:

And a lot of this:

Our youngest has been "training" the dog. He will do anything for her as long as he gets the Cheerio's she has for him. He loves having them home!

Layout A Day is over, and I have such mixed emotions about it. I really was ready for it to be over because there were a couple of days I just didn't feel like creating anything. But then today when I didn't have to, I felt a little lost. Go figure! It was a good run and I have 31 layouts to prove it. I'm happy I did it, and will probably give it a go again in February. Here is a mix of my last few layouts:

I created some of my most favorite layouts during LOAD. Lain did an amazing job at the daily prompts. There were some days I thought she was absolutely nuts, and thought to myself that this would be the day I would just create a layout off topic and call it good. But I managed not only to follow each of the daily prompts, but to create a layout a day. I also met some of the nicest people you could ever come across on the world wide web! It was all good!

For the most part in June, I plan on working on some neglected projects I have going, (the girl's first year scrapbooks as well as their School of Life albums). I have a week left with "Double Take" at Big Picture Classes, and I plan on getting caught up with that class. 

On July 5th I am starting Nic Howard's three month long, 4 Experts class "Dimensional Details" at Big Picture Classes. I am so looking forward to this class. The layout above, (Aunt Hazel), was inspired by a little video she did for "Double Take". So she's already rubbing off on me a bit.

And then July 19th, I am signed up for Lisa Day's 2nd round of "28 Days of Sketches". I loved the first go around, so I'm sure I will enjoy this class again immensely. 

I truly hope to see you around here and there. Have a wonderful weekend and keep scrapping!