Sketch #36

This sketch reveal has to be my absolute favorite Sketchablities sketch EVER!!! Karan is amazing, isn't she?!?!? Check out her sketch below...






I will admit, in general I am a "fair weather fan" when it comes to sports. I am not one to brave the elements in order to catch a game. I would much rather sit at home, snuggled in a blanket, watching from afar if it isn't going to be a gorgeous 80 degree day! In 2008 though, when the opportunity to see the Phillies in the World Series arose, I didn't hesitate to go to the game. It was frigid AND raining...a bad, bad combination when you will be sitting still outside. But, we froze and watched as the Phillies took an early lead, sat through a rain delay, and then headed to the car when we were certain the game would be postponed (as it was). While it was exciting to see, I opted out of going to the second half of that game a few days later. I enjoyed watching the end of that game curled up in bed!

Sidenote -- see those clouds, cut those out of bandage gauze. You can seriously find a use for just about anything on a scrap page!!

Now, if you want to be eligible for the Sketchabilities giveaway -- sponsored by Technique Junkie, you need to link up a layout based on this sketch over on the Sketchablities Blog by December 12. So get scrapping!! You don't want to miss this prize pack!

Really?!?!?

It's been a while since I shared any real layouts....not for lack on me scrapping though. I just haven't gotten the chance to take pixs of the layouts and get them posted here to the blog.

This first one was inspired by Sasha Holloway's layout on the Jillibean blog . I knew I wanted to use these Jillibean Soup papers and when I saw her layout on the blog, I knew it was perfect for our "Disney Surprise" pixs of when we gave the kids a choice b/w school or Disney....bet you can't guess what that chose, LOL!


This layout was a foray into masking. I have a few of Tim Holtz's masks but rarely ever use them. I also have a TON of stamps that rarely get used. This small frame stamp is gorgeous, isn't it?!?

And then there is this "accidental layout" --- I cut the cicles out of this Cosmo paper for a different layout but fell in love with it this way with the cicles backed with black. The pictures were taken in Animal Kingdom when Noah was pulled into a show in Africa. He was so embarassed but hey, what a fun way to celebrate your birthday?!?!

Sneak Peaks

I wanted to share a couple of sneaks of the December Add-On Kit from 3 Scrappy Boys. I was a little worried about this month's assignment prior to getting the kit. As it turns out, I had little to worry about! With all of the amazing embellishments and papers in this kit, I had no problem creating with it!






If you didn't notice, I misted A LOT this month! If you haven't hit 3SB's sale, you should, and be sure to pick up some Studio Calico Mists. I used a ton of Calico White, Applejack, and Schoolhouse with this kit....I also used Lunch Tray as well!

I believe the kit goes live December 1 --- be sure to check it out!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Need a Good Laugh?

The following is an e-mail that my husband sent to me yesterday.....I couldn't help but laugh out loud!!

These really work....AMAZING and SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES:
> 1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.
> 2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.
> 3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
> 4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
> 5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
> 6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
> 7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

DAILY THOUGHT:
> SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.


Hope I was your slinkie for today. :)

3SB Sketch Challenge

This month's Guest Designer at 3 Scrappy Boys is Kristine Davidson and this month, she provided us with a Sketch Challenge. While I had a lot of ideas when I first saw the sketch, I decided to try something a little different...I tried creating a tone on tone layout. It also gave me an opporutnity to put one of my new punches to good use (this MS punch is awesome!! I am so in love with it!!).

The Sketch:



My version:



Close-up details:

Scrap Fit Challenge

In honor of 3 Scrappy Boys' Anniversary celebration, we teamed up with ScrapFit for an anniversary challenge. This challenge is a little different, it is "All About the Numbers", you must use the following supplies on a layout or project:

1 piece of cardstock
2 types of alpha's
3 different embellies
4 patterened papers
5 pictures

It sounds difficult at first but if you select your supplies first, you will be all set!! You can check out what their DT did with these restraints here.

And here is what I created:

1 Sheet of Kraft Cardstock which used to mat my photos
2 Different Alphas
3 Embellies - thead to stitch, Bird, clouds
4 Patterned papers (you can't really tell but the main background paper is from the BG basics line
5 Pixs

See that wasn't so hard!! Also, have you checked out the 3 Scrappy Boys' Sale yet? They have EVERYTHING on sale, even the brand new lines that they just go in stock. And the clearance section is up to 50% off!!!

Scrap Challenge

The design team challenges have been posted over at 3 Scrappy Boys. If you are looking to jump start your scrapping, you should click on over and check them out!

My challenge is simple in concept....You need to create a layout or project and include some journaling that is personal to you. It can be thoughts you have about your life, your children, details of an experience that you have gone through that made an impact on the person you have become....

I myself am not a big journalist on my layouts. Periodically I will include journaling about my children but never really about how I feel or about myself. Like many, I journal for my children and forget that in the years ahead, they will be inerested in the person I am/was. So, I challenged myself, as I challenge you, to create something to capture those thoughts/experiences.

My layout is titled "Faith". My dh is Jewish and I am not. When we decided to have children, we opted to convert them and have them raised with the Jewish faith. The journaling on my layout is about that decision...now my children will have something to read in the future. Maybe they will be making these same choices....

Sketch #35

November 15 -- Know what that means? Another sketch reveal from Sketchabilities!!





With the fall soccer season coming to a close, I felt the need to do one more soccer layout! This layout has a hodge podge of different scrapping supplies -- OA papers, Bella Blvd banner, Crate paper diecuts, Echo park stickers, Basic Grey brads, Jillibean corrugated alpha and stars, Studio calico mists, and a couple of random rub-ons.

Welcome to our little addition(s)...

Welcome Hide and Seek


Born: July 13, 2010
Adopted: November 13, 2010
Sex: Females
Weight: 2.5oz give or take an ounce
Length: 3 inches
Ethnicity: Chinese Dwarf Hamsters

Aptly named, Hide has already had to be rescued. She climbed halfway up to the wheel and found she was too scared to go back down. After 12 hours, it was determined she wasn't staying in that space because she was comfortable....so the rescue mission ensued. I will say, the cage was much easier to put together than it was to take apart. In the end, Hide was pulled out to safety and all appears to be fine. Seek on the other hand, hasn't stopped running around since the minute we brought her home. She really needs to lay off the caffeine.

Teaming with Bo Bunny

Sketchabilities' very own Karan Gerber was asked to create a sketch for Bo Bunny's Sketch Friday. Isn't the sketch amazing? I adore working her sketches! Here is my own take on her sketch...







I used Bo Bunny's old Tuscany line. I have been hoarding this for years now! I love the deep reds with the bits of sunflower yellow and sage green.

5 Minute Home Decor

With no sunshine during my non-working hours, great pictures are hard to come by -- but I couldn't wait to share this with you. Remember the rub-ons I mentioned buying earlier this week (yeah, the ones that match the new coffee mugs)? I quickly put them to use and created this frame. Seriously, it took less than 5 minutes!!



First, I took out the background from the frame and misted it with both Tattered Angels spritz in Graphite and Dark Calico Studio Calico ink. I then cut 3- 3 1/4 inch white squares and adhered the rub-ons. I attached the squares to a black strip of cardstock and adhered the whole piece to the now black/grey spritzed background and voila -- finished project.

Seriously, could it get any easier?!?!? Thinking this is perfect for my office!

Splurged

First of all, a disclaimer for my dh .... it is all Jing-Jing's fault!! She showed me some new Martha Stewart punches today and I just had to go check them out for myself. I meant to only get the one but 4 more jumped into my cart. What was I to do?!?!?



Then, as I was heading over to the register, I passed the $1 aisle. One can't help to at least glance through the offerings....SCORE!!! I found these awesome mugs (and matching rub-ons!! clearly they had the scrapper in mind!!)...





Seriously, for $1 a piece how could I not get them?!?! My favorite is the Write your Own Story mug but each are awesome!!

The random little bird cage in the punch picture...not sure what I am going to do with that yet but again, $1, how could I resist?!?!

How About Them Apples?

Layout #2 from my manic weekend scrap session -- again, I used the awesome November 3 Scrappy Boys kit. The only addition that I made was the tiny green alpha from Basic Grey and the 100% authentic rub-on from October Afternoon. Oh, and the piece of brown cardstock which I am sure you can grab in their store!



The journaling reads: We always have such a great time apple picking! It has become a family tradition...unfortunately, this year, Noah and dad were not able to join us b/c of baseball. Oh well, didn't stop us from finding some of the BIGGEST apples ever grown on this side of the Mississippi!! October 2010

Scrapping Maniac!!

Home just over 24 hours and I have been a scrapping fool with 5 layouts complete! I love having new pictures to work with....they keep me inspired with fresh ideas. Not only do I have all of our vacation pictures to work with, I have the fabulous new kit from 3 Scrappy Boys. It is filled with Studio Calico Elementary papers, Maya Road chipboard, and so much more. As you can see from my layout below, you certainly don't need school pictures to put these papers to good use!!



The only thing not in the 3 Scrappy Boys kit was the map from Epcot (and the itty bitty JB rubons)! I punched out a couple of bits from the Epcot map to liven up the colors of the layout and to use as layering accents. I also recreated a couple of the country flags (Italy and Morocco -- since they were the easiest LOL) using SC mists and a star stamp I had on hand.

I'm Back....

Did you even realize I was gone? I don't tend to post in advance that I will be away....seems that I shouldn't post on the web when my house will be empty, what do you think?

We spent this past week down in supposedly sunny Orlando visiting with our mouse friends. It rained a few days but luckily not until later in the day so it didn't have a huge impact on our trip. We didn't get to parts of Magic Kingdom that I woul have liked to have gone but maybe next time! We tried to wait out the storm but after an hour or so we gave up and headed back to the house. All in all, it was a FABULOUS trip. As much as I really don't care for amusement parks --- the lines, the crowds, etc. -- I love taking the kids to Disney!



We spent a lot of time riding the rides -- turns out my kids are BIG fans of the rollercoasters so it was voted that Space Mountain and the Everest Expedition were the most favorite rides -- although Soarin' was a hit as was the Test Track in Epcot. Outside of the rides, we participated in a few shows....here are Noah and Hannah dancing with the African bongo group. Not to worry, Michael and I weren't left out (at least not in the big picture -- we were drawn into the Ziti Sister's show in Italy).


We met up with a ton of our friends. The oldest two really didn't care one way or the other about the characters but Sarah (previously scared to death of characters) couldn't wait to meet them all!!


The last two days were spent touring the world in Epcot! I haven't been to Epcot since I was kid and thinking my kids were too young, I had avoided it the last couple of trips. However, this time, I figured we would spend a day....we ended up spending TWO days there! With it being the Food & Wine festival there right now, we literally ate our way around the world. We tried so so so many different things. It was fabulous! We would get a plate and everyone would take two bites, finish it off, and we were on to the next plate!! YUM!

Here the kids are in Morocco --


...in Italy ---


...in China (had to snap this particular shot for Jing-Jing aka "Panda")


...and Sarah (yep that is her under there somewhere) in Mexico



Noah also celebrated his 9th b-day at Rainforest Cafe with a huge Volcano!!! Happy B-day!!!!

873 pictures to go .... I'll save those for another time, LOL.