Thinking of the Sunshine!

Even though 4th of July has passed, I am really enjoying working with these colors. I am combining two challenges with this friendship card. The first is the Cuttlebug Be Inspired challenge. The challenge was to use red, white, and blue with buttons and the Swiss Dots folder.

Then I looked over the challenge for Stamping 411, and the pattern. It was so nice to work with this pattern and combine the lovely red, white, and blue papers. Here's what I used:

• Outdoor Denim Textured Cardstock
• Creative Imaginations Sugar-Coated Paper
• Outdoor Denim CTMH Accessories
• Bazzill Flowers
• Memories Complete Overlay

I do suppose I should have stamped on this card, but this overlay was perfect for the card I want to send in the next couple of days. Oh how lovely the Swiss Dots folder is on the sugar-coated paper. I just wishes it was easier to photograph! I used Cuttlebug metal dies to make the 3 scalloped squares.

Creative Scrappers Wacky Wednesday

I had fun with this sketch! It is from Creative Scrappers Wacky Wednesday challenge. The recipe was 1 title, 2 photos, 3 embellishments (boy was that tough for me!), and 4 different papers.

I want to keep scrapping in my cruise book, so I grabbed a couple pictures of the ship. I used Key To My Heart paper, Friendship Upper and Lower alphabet, some buttons, and a couple flowers.

I love the colors in this paper!

Altered Rolodex

This is a rotary file that made for my niece for her birthday. She graduated high school this year and is moving away from home. I wanted her to have a place to store all of her numbers and addresses, but that would look pretty on her desk as well. It was so easy to complete!

I used the Silhoutte Creative Basics packet, cranberry grosgrain, black designer ribbon, and colonial white grosgrain. The stamps used are Typewriter Keys and Soul Mate word puzzle.

So much fun to give to her!

If you need one of the empty rolodexes to design yourself, let me know! I can offer you my remainders at a very good cost!

From our Backyard to Yours!

Happy, Happy 4th of July!

How blessed are we to live in the land of the free? What an amazing thing to drive down the streets and see beautiful stars and stripes waving proudly in the breeze!

From the Presidential Prayer Team:

The Presidential Prayer Team urges you to take time to appreciate the extraordinary freedoms and liberties we enjoy in this country as you celebrate the 4th of July. Remind those you love of the value of our freedom. And pray for our nation and her leaders. There are few things you can do that will be a better celebration of Independence Day…for that freedom to pray and worship when and how you wish is what makes the United States of America truly the best nation on Earth! May we never forget the men and women who have, and who are, laying down their lives for us.

Creative Scrappers Sketch #58

I thought this was a really fun sketch! Something I'm not used to doing is leaving a lot of space on my pages. Gosh, my books are already so big! But I like challenges because they make me think about different kinds of scrapbooking, and so often the result is something we may never have thought of!
I wanted to pull out some pictures of my Dad for this sketch. He passed away in 1993, so every once in awhile it's really nice to pull out a bundle of pictures that revolve around him that I have never scrapped.
I remember this day. Dad had decided to build a huge bonfire. and it was hot! So funny!! You'll see in the bottom picture Jerry was laying on the ground to toast a hot dog! I used all CTMH products for this layout. The paper is Back Country.

The round letters are It's a Guy Thing, and colored Dimensional Elements are matching to the Back Country paper. I've done a close up for you of the fire. I achieved that look by putting Liquid Glass on the fire. Isn't it great? It gives the fire dimension, and I made it crack a little to give that crackling look to the fire. Enjoy these pictures!!

Yippee! I Won a Prize!

I clicked over to Creative Scrappers today, and I found out that I won the prize drawing for Michelle's color challenge! Yippee!!!!!! The layout I entered can be found here. Michelle had given us a set of challenging colors to work with (at least for me!)- yellow, dark blue, light blue, and red. I am used to scrapping in warm colors. But I was so happy to pull out pictures from 19 years ago on the 4th of July, and finally get them scrapped. What fun, and what a blessing!!

Now I have to tell you, you just must click over Creative Scrappers. Not only do they have wonderful sketches to enjoy, but they have fun challenges. Be sure to hook up to their forum because you'll learn a lot of valuable things! Also, I have to mention Michelle again. Her blog is so much fun! Thanks again, Michelle, for the prize. You made my day!!

Just Give Me Tuscany...

I have been spending the last coupling of days working on our Mediterranean Cruise album. After two albums and so many pages, I am about 10 pages away from completely it. Yippee! I wanted to share this double layout with you from our day in Tuscany. I have to give credit to some wonderful friends for taking some pictures of us. On the right layout, we didn't even know we were having our picture taken. Jenny-May shot that picture and sent it a couple months after the cruise. Oh, Jenny-May, what a gift! The left layout pictures are thanks to Sara. She grabbed the camera and took pictures of us. Thank you so much, Sara! These pictures mean the world to us!

For paper and ribbon, I used Cosmo Cricket from the Fleuriste line. The letters and metal accessory are CTMH. The loads of flowers are from Prima Naturals and Bazzill. You can click on the layout to make it larger.

This was our favorite port. We dreamed of going to Tuscany, and here it was for us to take in. Let me tell you the journaling on the page, and you will know what this day meant to us. "Tuscany was a dream come true for us. We always wanted to walk 'under the Tuscan sun.' the vineyards were amazing to see. Villa Maionchi was so green and beautiful. This truly was a day dropped from God. From lunch in the vineyard to our kiss in the courtyard, the day was perfect in every way."

Inspirational Card Sketch #22

This week's card challenge at Inspirational Card Sketches is a window card. How fun is that! I decided to put together a "thinking of you" card. Sweet leaf is one of my favorite CTMH colors, and I wanted that color to be the focus of the card. The other color in the card is Petal. To match, I've used Sweet Leaf craft buttons, designer ribbon, and cordouroy brads. I ran the piece of Sweet Leaf through the Stylized Flower cuttlebug folder. It matches well with the stamps from Come Unto Me and He is Risen from CTMH.

Michelle's Color Challenge

Over at Creative Scrappers, one of the designers, Michelle, is having a color challenge. Her son picked out 4 markers in the colors he wanted us to work with. These are pictures from a long time ago that I had not scrapped yet. (See, even an avid scrapper isn't necessarily "caught up.") This is my Shane at just 14 months old in 1990. Isn't he adorable?

I used paper from a few CTMH paper packets. The Sunflower is from Animal Cookies, the Dutch Blue is from Stardust, the Tulip is from Perfect Day, and the Outdoor Denim is cardstock. I take no credit for the idea of mixing! My good friend Karen has been teaching me through her artwork that you can mix it all to gain your look. (Check out her work!)

The ghost letters are from SEI, the ribbon and brads are from CTMH, and the clear buttons are from Buttons Galore & More. I used Liguid Glass to adhere paper to the back of the clear buttons to help them match the layout and give them a more interesting look.

We're liking this layout in our house - even Shane! I hope you pick up a technique or two by looking! As always, click on the layout to make it larger.

Cuttlebug Countdown to CHA Celebration!

Do you love your Cuttlebug? I havesome exciting news for you! Head on over to the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog for your chance to win incredible prizes!! Beginning today, there are going to be awesome previews of the new folders not yet released. Head on over and see what amazing products are in store for us!!