New "Brenda's Challenges" over at Sketches for You!

Have you joined the Sketches for You community yet?  I have a group over there were I present challenges, and you have a chance to win a prize!  Here's my challenge for the month of September ~

As you can see, I've reversed the sketch. I've only used a couple of things on this layout - Fancy Pants Like Father, Like Son paper and stickers and star rub-ons from Stampin' Up. I love scrapping my handsome son!


Here is your challenge along with the requirements: 

1. Use the Page Maps sketch (interpret any way you want as long as Becky's sketch is evident) 
2. Use one photo of yourself or someone in your family 
3. Use 10 journaling words that start with the first letter of your subject's name (my son's name is Shane, so I've used 10 "s" words to describe him) 
4. You cannot combine this with any other challenge - sorry! The benefit is that you'll get another page done that focuses on this challenge. 
5. Post your challenge in the gallery as "Brenda10."

 Use all 5 requirements to be eligible for the RAK. The prize this month is a $10 gift certificate to the the marvelous online store - The Cutting Cafe. Whether you are a card maker or scrapper, you will love Regina's images and templates!

  

Hop on over to Sketches for You and join in the fun!  I can't wait to see what you do with this challenge!! 

Also here's some fun news!!  This month Sketches for You is having a Sketch-a-Thon.  There will be sketches starting on September 8th that go all the way through the month.  Nikki Sivils and Cherie from Sassy Lil Sketches will be special guests during the Sketch-a-Thon.  If you participate, you are going to have a chance to win prizes and RAKs.  I hope to see you there!!

 

 

 

What a Lovely Weekend!

It has been a lovely weekend in our house!  On Saturday, we spent a part of the day at Jerry's mother's house.  We brought up boxes and looked through pictures.  I have been wanting to scrap some of Jerry's little boy years, so I was on a mission!  I found treasure after treasure in those bins of pictures.  I made copies of some of the things and hope to spend another day looking through some more.  Bins of pictures can be daunting, so I am trying to do it piece by piece.

Today was another wonderful day!  My niece and nephews had a surprise 25th anniversary party for my sister and her husband.  Oh was it nice!!  It was so nice to spend time with ALL of my sisters and my mother.  I thought I'd share a couple of pictures from the day.  Look at my sister's beautiful family and see just what 25 years brought them!

These sisters of mine will never know just how much they hold a piece of my heart.  It must have been wonderful for my mother to have all of us together...

I took pictures of each of my sisters and my mom individually with me, so you will see those in layouts in the near future.  Here's a really sweet picture of Jerry and me:

And I have to share this last one.  These are my god-parents.  I just never think to take out my camera when I see them, and I am so glad I did today!  (In the days to come, you'll also see a layout with a picture of me and my god-son.)

Now that I've shared some of my weekend, I wanted to ask you if you are a subsciber to the "Here's the truth..." daily thoughts from the Brave Girls Club.  These are daily inspirations written by Melody Ross (GCD Studios).  I love getting this in my e-mailbox every day!  Go HERE if you want to check it out and sign up.  For me, they seem to say the right thing at just the right time.  I wanted to share one of them with you.  First my thoughts to go along with this one.  I am a goal setter, and I have always liked having "the next step" in mind - whether it was to move on toward a long-term goal, finish something, or just plain start a new goal.  I think we can all agree that this is a good thing in life!  I don't know about you, but sometimes I get so caught up in THE goal  - and sometimes getting discouraged along the way - that I forget to look back and remember what I have done or been through in life.  Well, read for yourself - this is a good reminder.  And I hope you find as much inspiration in this as I did.

Dear Incredible, Beautiful, Courageous Girl,

You have been through a lot...and you always pulled through. You are a champ at pulling through! Sure, there were some things that you may have done differently given the chance, but all in all, you made it through every storm, every fire...and up every mountain.

When is the last time you sat down to REALLLLY think about how far you have come? When is the last time you listed all of the things you have learned, all of the weaknesses you have overcome and all of the times you chose to see the good stuff even though the bad stuff seemed to outweigh it?

Sometimes you just need to tally it all up. We all forget how far we have come and we only focus on how far we still have to go. Imagine having to run a marathon and never knowing how many miles you have run....you would probably feel like it would never end!

You are so much further along that you think you are. You are so much stronger than you think you are. You have done so much more in the world than you think you have. Sit down today and really think about the long path that has brought you to now...and pat yourself on the back a little...you did a great job!!!

And you will continue to do a great job.

Thanks for being so brave. You inspire more people than you will ever know!

It's Sunday - Better Living Through Scrapbooking Reveal Day!

These aren’t colorful pictures done on vintage paper. These are just bad photos! They were left in one of those old magnetic albums too long, and this is what happens to them after time. So if you have any photos still in magnetic pages, you might consider taking them out as soon as you can!!

I could never let go of these pictures, though, because they are the only ones I have of my great-grandmother who we called Moo Moo. She didn’t speak English (or maybe she did but just loved her native language of Finnish). I don’t remember much about her because I was just a little girl when she passed on, but I do remember how very nice she was – and that I loved the times we did visit her!

And that is what the challenge at Better Living through Scrapbooking is all about this week – scrapping those bad photos! Maybe you have old ones like this. Or maybe you’ve got a recent one that you love, but it’s just not the best quality. Scrap them anyway!! You can do marvelous things with them, and you will never regret having them in your memory book!  You'll need to use at least two of these options on your layout:

Create a layout using a photo or photos that you would normally have discarded.

Chose at least 2 of the following:

1. Use rub-ons or stickers directly on your photo(s). 
2. Use paint on your page in a messy or unusual way.
3. Use a die-cut or pre-purchased journaling “spot” on which to write your journaling.
4. Use the following sketch as design inspiration for your page: http://www.betterscrap.com/images/sketch2.jpg 
5. Make a handmade flower using Katie’s technique in our August 1st reveal, and use the flower on your layout.

I’ve done a few different things on this layout, so I’ll tell you first about the four challenge options I used:
 
1.  Rub-ons directly on my photos
2.  Painted edges of my photos with gold and sandal ranger paints
3.  Angela had a great sketch for us to use this week, so I gladly used that!
4.  Journaling spot was diecut with vellum and cardstock

There are a couple of other techniques you’ll see on this layout:

1.Stitching using a Bazzill template and floss
2.Crackle paint and glimmer mist on the flowers

Now take out those bad pictures and see what you can do! Be sure to go over to Better Living Through Scrapbooking to see what the rest of the marvelous design team did!!  We’d love to have you join us!!  Play along all month for your chance to win one of the prizes on my right sidebar.  WOW - there are three amazing prizes!!

Items from Discount Cardstock:

  

Midnight Black Cardstock

Cream Vellum

Bazzill In Stitch’z Granny Stitches Template

Bazzill In Stitch’z Pebbles Floss

Bazzill Raven Paper Flowers

  

Graphic 45 Papers:

Communique

Hallowe’en in Wonderland

Le’Romantique 

Other items: K&Company – crocheted ribbon; May Arts velvet ribbon; Tim Holtz Filmstrip; Prima flowers; Imaginisce gems; Tattered Angels wheatfields glimmer mist; Ranger gold, sandal, and clear rock candy paints; 7Gypsies rub-ons; Close To My Heart edge anchors, paper clip and charm; Slice Vintage Findings Design Card

Are you a Better Living Through Scrapbooking fan on Facebook? We are holding a Labor Day giveaway on our Facebook page, and it’s so easy to win! 

Just visit our Facebook page (if you’re not already a fan, just click the “like” button at the top of the page, and you’ll be signed in!) and look for the Labor Day giveaway post. Just leave a comment to that post, tell us your favorite inspirational quote, and you’re entered to win! 

Once lucky recipient chosen at random from the eligible participants will win a Punky Sprouts album from their new Summer CHA release, along with a pack of My Little Shoebox alphabet stickers to help you decorate the album!

Woohoo!!

I was so surprised when I was blog reading and found that I was Top 3 at Keep it Simple!!  I have to thank my friend Laurel because she was the one that suggested it - thanks Laurel - you are always inspiring me!!

Altered Tin Challenge!

I just posted a new challenge over at Sketches for You, and I'd love if you played along!  The challenge this month is to alter a tin.  You can purchase a tin at your local craft store or (and this is my favorite way to get a tin), you can wash any empty tin that had food, mints - whatever - in it and alter that!  Here's the first tin I want to show you:

I don't remember what this round tin was from, but it was in my "recycle" box! I inked it up with alcohol ink - wild plum and lettuce. I stamped the top with one of my favorite Melody Ross stamps. (If you stamp on alcohol ink, I've found Staz-On to work best.) I added some flowers, ribbon, and a hat pin - and it's done! Easy peasy and finished in less than 30 minutes.

Here's another example:

This is an empty Starbuck's mocha powder tin. It was just too perfect to throw away! I covered it with beautiful paper from Nepal. A little ribbon and a charm - another easy project in less than 30 minutes!

I challenge you to work with your supplies and cover a tin. I'll tell you a little bit about adhesives. I usually use super tape (red roll) to adhere paper. Then I cover with some sort of decoupage medium. I think Martha Stewart has a great decoupage and sealer and I use it often. However I also like paper Mod Podge. It's nice to finish off your projects with a sealer so that they are protected.

I'd like you to load your projects right in the post on Sketches for You, so that I have easy access to them. I am really excited about this prize for this challenge!!

I am going to randomly select a winner to receive a $10 gift certificate to The Cutting Cafe. The Cutting Cafe has amazing images and templates that work for cards, scrapbook pages and altered items. The winner will be able to select what they want - and $10 will go very far!!

This challenge runs through the whole month of September. you must have your project loaded by September 30th at 11:59 pm CST. I can't wait to see what you'll come up with!!

Sassy Lil' Sketches- Last August Challenge

(Be sure to scroll down for the Sketches in Thyme reveal!)

The August 28th reveal for Sassy Lil' Sketches (look for that post here) is such a fun sketch!  I jsut couldn't resist - I had to play along!

This sketch was perfect to scrap a couple photos of some friends that mean a lot to me!  How could anyone resist these smiles!!

Items used:  Bo Bunny Mama-Razzi paper and stickers; Jenni Bowlin letters; May Arts ribbon; Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die; Making Memories silver brads (embossed with CTMH black embossing powder); Imaginisce crystal gems and i-rock tool; Fiskars upper crest border punch

Now use the link and hop on over to play along, too!  There are some great prizes from The Cutting Cafe and ScrapFreak!

Sketches in Thyme Reveal Day!

Over at Sketches in Thyme, we are using a wonderful sketch from Helen Croft this week.  I am absolutely loving working with her sketches - they are fabulous!!  Be sure to head over to the Sketches in Thyme blog to see what the other design team members have done!

Here is my take on the sketch:

This is a lovely photo of the gals that I worked with at Archiver's.  It's so fun to have this memory!!  The dimensional flowers are fussy cut from a piece of paper.  I set my gems with the Imaginisce i-rock tool.

Items used: Bo Bunny Jazmyne paper, sticker, and brads; Bazzill flower; Imaginisce gems

Winners, Winners!!

First of all, I want to thank all of you for coming to visit!!  I hope you have been enjoying my blog and taking some inspiration with you!!  I truly enjoy reading each and every one of your comments - and I have been going through all your blogs.  There is a lot of talent out there, and I will be visiting often!!

Now, I bet you want to know who the winners are!  I had three names to randomly draw, so here goes!

First, the winner for the Sassy Lil' sketches blog hop and the Elle's Studio tag package:

• scrapweaver said... Wow thanks for adding the candy to the hop! That is awesome!

Okay, now I've got two winners for my Blog Candy:

• Winner of the BIG Blog Candy package - BoxerBrats said... Wow, what a great prize! I added you to my side-bar ~ http://theoriginalboxerbrat.blogspot.com. I am most excited about the Rolodex ~LOL~ Thanks for the chance to win. PS I am a new follower, too :)  

• Winner of the Surprise package for reaching 200 followers - Ukka said... Your candy just awesome! Thanks and thanks for the chance to win! I really want to be the lucky winner. Linked candy on my sidebar and I'm your follower.

Ladies, send me your address at girlygirlrose43@msn.com .  I'll get that blog candy right out to you!!  If I don't hear from the winners by Tuesday, September 7th, I will be drawing new winners.

Let's Scrap Reveal Day!

Another great sketch from Cheri over at Let's Scrap!  Have you played along yet?

I decided to use the right side of the layout to complete this challenge:

I wanted to show you the flowers close up:

I used Tim Holtz' Tattered Florals die to make these.  That die is amazing - cutting four different flowers at once.  Once I cut them, I painted them with Ranger clear rock candy distress paint.  Not only does this make them a little shiny, but it makes them easy to bend and shape.  I threw in a couple of epoxy stickers and some ribbons for centers.

Items used: TPC Studios Heartfelt Travel paper, ribbon, and epoxy stickers; Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals Die; Creative Imaginations Transparency; Ranger Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint

Fall Page

I had created this page a couple weeks ago for a contest.  I am able to show it to you now, so here's some fall inspiration for you!

This is one of my very favorite pictures of Jerry.  We love the autumn season, and the day was just perfect!  I fussy cut the leaves from LYB Autumn Bliss, and the tree was fussy cut from Imaginisce's Apple Cider.  I had to turn this page, so it is no longer mine, but at least I have this photo of it!!

Items used: LYB Autun Bliss; Imaginisce Apple Cider; Slice card Word & Expressions - Thinking of You; May Arts hemp

Christmas in August

I stopped at an independent stamping store yesterday, and I found some beautiful Penny Black Christmas stamps.  I sat down to play with them right away, and here is what I came up with.

Isn't that embossing powder pretty?  There is not much to this card, but the stamps are so pretty!!  I used Fancy Pants Christmas Magic paper; Judikins White Diamond embossing powder; Penny Black stamps

Click on the image if you want to see a little more sparkle! 

EDIT:  Now my blogging friend Laurel (go visit - she is amazing and has been a tremendous source of inspiration for me!) let me know that this card fits some challenges, so I am going to enter it into Keep it Simple!, Paper Sundaes, and Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge.  I am so glad she tells me about these places because I am always looking for new challenge sites!!  Yippee!!