Sketches In Thyme Sketch #356

Hi everyone! This week's sketch at Sketches In Thyme is right up my alley.....TAGS!  Yep, I love to use my Tim Holtz tag dies on nearly every layout in some way, and this awesome sketch by Brenshevia uses three:

Here's my take on it:

I challenged myself on this layout.  I wanted to do a Christmas-themed page, but I don't have any Christmas papers.  I bought this older line by Carta Bella at Expo last year called Our Family. Some of the papers looked Christmas-y to me, and the rich colors and patterns were perfect for my kitchen pics.  This page has pictures of my son and me, baking Christmas cookies together.  The first picture was taken in 2005, the second in 2016.  I had a couple wood veneer embellishments to tie in the Christmas theme.  I also used a Heidi Swapp stencil and white texture paste for the "snowflakes" falling on the page.

Hope this sketch inspires you to create as much as it inspired me, come on over to Sketches In Thyme and play along!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #137

Hi everybody! I'd like to share a fantastic card sketch with all of you card makers out there that you're sure to love!  Heather Hall designed this card sketch for Sketch N Scrap, and it's currently up on the blog:

Here's my take on the sketch:

I used some Pebbles Along the Way papers and embellishments on this card (with a random scrap of black patterned paper for the scallop).  My favorite part of Heather's sketch is the use and placement of the tag, I just love the finished product!  Hope you can join us at Sketch N Scrap to play along with this challenge and the others we have running this month. Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Challenge #168

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Hello, 2019 and hello to all of you creative crafters out there!

It's the first day of 2019, and the first day of the month always means there's a new sketch up on the Sketch N Scrap blog!

Here's sketch #168, designed by Lisa Hidy:

And here's my take on it:

I used a couple of pictures taken at the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  This is a sprawling property with restaurants, shops, a cider mill, a winery....I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting!  We enjoyed a beautiful day there with friends of my husband's who recently moved nearby.  As usual, I used a mixture of different products on this page.  Part of it is Echo Park's Celebrate Autumn from my November kit from The Scraproom.  One thing I love about Echo Park is that many of their lines are interchangeable in color and style, I mix & match Echo Park lines a lot!  The deep red and the bits of yellow are from last year's Fall Is in the Air.

I decided to use some distressing techniques on this page, for a rustic, country feel:

On the edge of the red paper I used my CTMH edge distresser.  On the edge of the woodgrain I lightly sanded with a fine grit sandpaper, just enough to give it a distressed edge.  The leaves were cut using my Cricut and a free cut file from Paper Issues.

Come play along with us this month at Sketch N Scrap with this sketch and the others that will be posted throughout the month, hope to see you there!