Another Page for Let's Get Sketchy

I don't know if you'll believe me when I say this, but it's freakin' SNOWING here!!!  And not just a little dusting either, it's actually amounting to something, grrrrrr!  

Here's a quick page I whipped up for Let's Get Sketchy, and I think I'm squeaking in before the deadline:

I used this month's sketch #4:

I'm quite impressed with how much I stuck to the original sketch!  And a couple of close-ups: 

You know you're old when your birthdays kind of blend together.  I had a bit of a brain fart when I put my letter stickers down - I originally put "37", and then I realized I'm 37 now, and this past birthday I spent in Vanderhoof, not Williams Lake...  Oh my, let's just chalk it up to moving around too much, and not the deterioration of my brain!

Which reminds me of a funny story!  Did you ever hear that if you hold your breath during a sneeze, you kill brain cells?  And that those brain cells don't grow back?  Well, Nolan learned about that at school one day, and the poor kid was seriously freaking out!  Like, he thought every time he coughed he was edging closer to the brink of death!  That must be an Asperger's thing, because he wasn't just a tad concerned, he was having full-on anxiety issues!  Anyway, eventually things calmed down, once I explained that people must have enough brain cells to account for coughs and sneezes, otherwise the human race would have died out a long time ago.  Yay, mom!  How's that for thinking outside the box?  But he was unusually subdued for about a week, which was kind of nice now that I think about it.

Well, that's my rambling for the night!  Hope you like this page, and I better get it posted before I miss the deadline!

Read More

This Is Me

I had a hankering to play with some new things, and this layout is the result!  Here's my boy, Nolan, almost two years ago, looking right at home in the canoe:

I wanted to use this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy, but I decided to change it up quite a bit, using the circles as inspiration for my background:

Do you love that circle background?  I cut a background piece with my Cameo, then used it as a stencil with some gesso.  If you keep the gesso thick, it almost works like modeling paste - I think... I don't have any modeling paste, so I'm not exactly sure!  

Here's a really sweet cut file I found at the Silhouette Online Store for the dragonflies!  I cut them out of cream cardstock, then sprayed the pieces with Dylusions.  Same with the feather.  I was going for a bit of an ombre effect there.  The "TODAY" tab and "THIS IS ME" arrow are also from Silhouette, but I inked those up with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.  I also used some Close to My Heart wood veneer pieces on this page - the little dragonfly, the sun, and the bird.  

Close to My Heart kraft cardstock and brads, Simple Stories patterned paper and journaling cards, WR Memory Keepers washi tape, and American Crafts twine round things up.  

All in all, I just love how this page turned out!!!

Hopefully Nolan changes his mind about camping, canoeing and fishing, because that's about all we're going to be able to do with him this summer!  Jason only gets two weeks off, and I'm not sure if I get any at all, so it's going to be mostly "staycations" this year.

Well, I need to sign off quickly here.  My little Brenna Bean has finally caught the flu bug that Nolan brought home over a week ago.  He sure suffered for a while there, but it's worse when they're little - Brenna was lying in a puddle of puke this morning, ugh!  I guess I don't need to elaborate more, any of you with kids should know what I'm talking about, but she's looking pretty flushed and tired so I better give her some Mommy snuggles!  Thanks for looking, and hopefully the rest of your weekend does not involve vomit!

Read More

Bring On The Sun

Hey, everyone, just wanted to do a quick post here and hopefully get this in on time for the Sketches in Thyme Design Team Call!  Here's a pic of my full layout:

And here's the sketch I used from Sketches in Thyme:

As you can see, I've deviated somewhat from the original sketch with the placement of my elements, but I didn't want to cover up the subtle print of the Amy Tangerine background paper.  Here's a close-up of this cool feather I cut with my Cameo:

The plain kraft looked a bit dull, so I spritzed a bit of my new Black Marble Dylusions on there.  Do you like how I used some washi tape to attach it?

Here's a closie of the title, using Echo Park stickers and another piece cut with the Cameo.  See the black there?  That's some Faber Castell gelato smudged on there:

 Let's see, what else can I tell ya?  I used a Dylusions stencil and some new Squeezed Orange Dylusions mist to add a bit of panache to the background paper.  The green photo mat and blue border were cut with the Cameo, as was this sun journaling block:   

This page will go into Nolan's album, so I tried to keep it on the more masculine side, which is hard sometimes - I kept looking at all the 3D flowers in the Silhouette store, and had to continually remind myself to look for something that would fit a 10 year-old boy.  But man, those flowers are cute!  I'll definitely be using them in the future, haha!

And now for a quick update from the homefront.  Ailis came upstairs yesterday morning at 6 a.m. to inform us that the basement (including her room) was flooded.  Ooooooh, yeah, not pretty!  Thank goodness we're only renting and getting the heck outta Dodge in less than two weeks!  Meanwhile, my poor little girl's SMASH book is falling apart, along with some kids' books and photo frames.  Grrrrrr, like I don't have enough to deal with already!!!  So I almost gave up on trying to get this layout done for the DT call, what with mopping water up and airing out books and papers and doing laundry and moving every stick of furniture out of the flood zone... Good thing Brenna had a four hour nap this afternoon!  And with every down, there is an up - uh, there's probably a better way to say that, but I'm sure you get my gist.  My point is, I think it is safe to say that Brenna is potty-trained!  Yay, I can now hold my head high at Strong Start, knowing my three year-old is no longer in diapers!  

Well, I do hope you enjoyed my little rant there, and I do hope the Sketches In Thyme Mavens love my layout!  My dear hubby, in all his wisdom, suggested that I pack up my scrapbooking supplies today.  Yeah, no, I don't THINK so!  I am an addict, and scrapping is my fix - if I don't get at least a little hit now and then, nobody, and I mean NO BODY, is going to be very happy!  Wish me luck as I fight for the right to keep my sanity in the upcoming days!!!  

Read More

Today, Here, Now

My latest layout:

 I'll try to make this post short 'n' sweet because the subject of this page should be waking up soon, and she's been a real beast lately!  Hard to tell from the photos, but yeah, we're having issues of the toileting kind - need I say more?  Prob'ly not!

This month's Seriously Creative Challenge is a great one, and easy, too:

Create a "clean" project or one that cleans out your stash, and link up by May 6 to be in our draw for a fabulous prize!  I'm happy to say that aside from the white cardstock base, everything on my layout is a scrap!  The pink paper used on the butterflies is probably 8 or 9 years old - scary, huh?  Here are some more details:

The butterflies were great fun!  I used a Martha Stewart punch given to me by my scrappy friend Alison, layered 3 butterflies of different colours and just attached them to each other with a bit of skinny Sook Wang tape.  I was planning to use the pink twine for all of the bodies, but ran out, so I dug further into my stash for some yellow fibers.  They kind of look like furry caterpillar bodies, I think!  Another close-up:

I used this fabulous sketch from Stuck?! Sketches:

Flipped 90 degrees and doctored up a bit.  And I'm also going to enter this page over at S.W.A.T. - one of their challenges is to dig deep into your stash!  What an awesome way to do some Spring Cleaning!!!

;

Read More

"My Life" for TPE

Hey all!  Wow, two layouts in three days - must be a new record!  I kept it fairly simple for this one, basically just a nice mix of patterned papers, a journaling card cut with my Cameo, and some embellishments that I forgot I had.  Here's a closie of the journaling:

Do you ever scrap a photo from years ago, and remember the real story once the journaling's finished and glued down?  That's what happened here, although the story I wrote IS true.  The real reason I took this photo was that it was Nolan's 9th birthday, and I'd been behind the camera all day.  I realized if I wanted to be in any of the photos, I'd better take one of these selfies!  

I actually had a sketch challenge from TPE in mind to complete this layout:

I deviated from the sketch more than I normally do, but that's what happens sometimes!  Anyway, kids go back to school tomorrow and I can't say I'll be sad for Spring Break to be over.  We stayed home the whole time, and even though my mom came up to help with the babysitting, we all had a heck of a time surviving these past two weeks!  

Read More