Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #195

 Hi everybody, so glad you came back by today! I have a beautiful new card sketch from Sketch N Scrap to share with you today.  Card sketch #195 was designed by Heather Hall:

And here's my take on it:

I love the design of this sketch!  I've really been trying to use up some of the enormous mound of scraps I have for cards. So to "dress up" a plain scrap of white cardstock I decided to run it through my Sizzix with an embossing folder.  I added a little something to the woodgrain strip with a faux stitching acrylic stamp.  I was able to add a pop of color with a stamp set and Catherine Pooler inks.  I just love her ink pads, they're so juicy and the colors are beautiful!

I hope this sketch has inspired you to come join us at Sketch N Scrap and play along. Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Challenge #226

 Hi everybody, thanks for stopping by today! It's the first of the month and that means there's a new sketch up at Sketch N Scrap!  Sketch #226 was designed by Heather Hall:

And here's my take on it:

This was such a fun sketch to work with! I decided to use my Cricut to cut the star wreath for the circle element.  Full disclosure...I had fully intended to machine stitch around the circle, too....got distracted while working on this layout.....and forgot!  I'm still really happy with how it turned out, though :)

I used some Echo Park wood grain for the background and Simple Stories Say Cheese! 4 elements and patterned papers.  I've had a package of Studio Calico wood veneer tiny stars for years....and it is slowly dwindling away. I'm going to be so sad when I run out of those stars, I just love to scatter them on backgrounds of pages like this Disney layout.

Now it's your turn to show us what you can do with this sketch! Come on by the Sketch N Scrap blog and play along, hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #194

 Hi everyone! I have a new card sketch to share with you that is up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today. I love creating slimline cards and designed this sketch:

And here is my take on it:

Close To My Heart has come out with a really neat slimline die that also has a stitched border look, I love the possibilities of backing it to get a different look every time.  For this card I used some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink and my Pink & Main blending brush.  It gave it a soft blue background to build my rainbow scene. I mimicked the rainbow from the CTMH catalog with some tone on tone fun stamping to jazz it up a little.  After adding the other elements and stamping my sentiment, I finished it off with a bit of Tumbled Glass splatters.

If you enjoy creating slimline cards I hope you come by Sketch n Scrap and show us what you can do with this sketch, hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Sketch #225

 Hi there! Thanks for stopping by today, I have our mid-month sketch to share with you that is up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today:

And here's my take on it:

This sweet baby boy with the Big Smiles is 20 years old now!  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, new Mom's these days don't realize how lucky they are to be able to take such fabulous baby pics with their phone!  These were taken on 35mm film.....sent off for printing.....and received a couple weeks later LOL  A few years back I had all of my 35mm pictures professionally stored on CD's, so I'm able to edit them with software and apps to get a much better quality print.  I had never scrapped these photos, they were sitting in a pocket page because I thought they were too dark. Glad I put a little extra effort in and scrapped them!

I used CTMH's Sweet Safari line. What a super cute line with the little safari animals and colorful elements! The wood grain background is also from CTMH.

For the cluster at the top of the page I used my Tim Holtz framelits tag dies....I seriously don't think I could scrap without them!  I also used a Catherine Pooler camera stamp and die and colored it in with my Spectrum Noir Triblend markers. I love that I can create a coordinated camera element of my own:

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you hop on over to Sketch N Scrap and play along with this challenge, and the others we have running until the end of the month. Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Challenge #191

 Hey there scrappy friends! Thanks so much for stopping by today, I have a new card sketch to share with you that is up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today:

And here is my take on it:

When I designed this card sketch, I really had a whole different color palette and direction in my head to create the card.  But....you know how it is....you start playing with stuff and before you know it, different direction!  I was playing with one of my favorite CTMH stamp and die sets, Simple Florals, and some Catherine Pooler inks.  I LOVE these colors...in case you're curious, they are Juniper Mist, Samba, Sauna and Garden Party.  After I cut out the flowers I searched for some coordinating paper and chose my Simple Stories 6x8 Summer Farmhouse paper pad.  

For the sentiment I wanted to do something a little more eye-catching than just a plain stamp, so I decided to layer my sentiment over a leafy vine using the Garden Party and Juniper Mist inks:

Now it's your turn! Hop on over to the Sketch N Scrap blog and show us what you can do with this sketch, hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Sketch #222

 Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by today, I have a new sketch up on the Sketch N Scrap blog to share with you:

And here's my take on it:

I used lots of Vicki Boutin Let's Wander, and the grid background is from her Storyteller line (glad I stocked up on the grid in bulk LOL).  I also used one of the Storyteller stencils to add a little interest on the left upper corner, with a little dry art crayon and a stencil brush.

Photo taken in 2015 on a trip to Washington D.C. my son and I took together.  For the circle element on the right, I used my good old Tim Holtz Picture Wheel die, it's seen a lot of use from me over the years.  One of my fave uses for it is to use tiny pictures printed in contact sheet format. Here I chose some sight-seeing pics from our trip:

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you decide to jump on over to Sketch N Scrap and play along with this challenge! Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Challenge #221

 Thanks for stopping by today! There is an awesome new layout sketch up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today I'd like to share that is sure to inspire you. This sketch was created by Lisa Hidy:

And here is my take on it:

I can't believe these photos were taken in 2017 and I am just now scrapping them!  This was a photo shoot I did of my son when he was 16 years old.  I feel like boy moms are the forgotten customer when it comes to scrapbooking sometimes, and even "boy lines" are often juvenile and geared toward little guys.  So these pictures patiently waited until Vicki Boutin's Storyteller came along, HANDS DOWN one of my all-time favorite, if not most favorite, product line.  The colors and designs are stunning, and the embellishments are incredible.  I used Storyteller ephemera, chipboard and cardstock stickers to create this embellishment cluster:

I've really gotten into dabbling with Vicki's Art Crayons, too.  On this layout I used an exclusive stencil she created, along with a stencil brush and gray and navy art crayons:

I hope you come by Sketch N Scrap to show us what you can do with this sketch and play along, hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #189

 Hi everyone! So glad you stopped by today, I have a new sketch to share with all of you that's up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today. It's sketch #189, designed by Heather Hall:

And here is my take on it:

I thought this color combo would be a great way to brighten someone's day, I just love the sun and clouds in my CTMH Beautiful Day stamp & die set!  The hot air balloon is from the same set, they all layer together so nicely with a little 3D foam.  The patterned papers are from an older Simple Stories 6x8 paper pad I have, and the wood grain is CTMH.  I love how the neutral wood grain lets all the bright colors just pop off of the card!

I hope this sketch inspires you as much as it did me, and that you'll come play along with us at Sketch N Scrap! Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Sketch #219

 Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by today, I have a new sketch and layout to share with you that is up on the Sketch N Scrap blog. Here is the layout sketch #219 I designed:

And here is my take on it:

I used almost all Simple Stories' Bro & Co on this and a really fun pie chart cut file for the circle element.  I love cut files like this because it allows you to use lots of fun patterns without it being too much for one page.  I used 3-D foam dots to pop up one of the wedges:

I love to cluster elements on my pages, especially with a tag:

I used a grunge grid stamp from Kaisercraft to back my cluster, just to add a little something.  I keep buying more stamps and try to find ways to incorporate them onto my pages more, not just on cards.

Now, it's your turn! Come on by Sketch N Scrap and show us what you create with this sketch. Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #187

 Hey everybody!  Thanks for stopping by today, I have a sketch to share with you that I created for Sketch N Scrap. It's Card Sketch #187 and is up on the blog today:

And here is my take on it:

For those of you who know me pretty well, I'm not much for traditional Valentine colors, pinks or pastels.  So I decided to take a fun, bold approach to this sketch by using Amy Tangerine's Late Afternoon 6x8 paper pad.  I really liked the specks of foil in the orange background paper, so decided to use some embossing on the stamped hearts:

For the hearts, I used a CTMH stamp set and coordinating stitched dies.  The embossing powder is Marigold from Ranger.  I like this bold look, it can work for Valentine's or just any occasion where you want to send someone your love!

I hope you stop by Sketch N Scrap and show us your take on this sketch, too! Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Challenge #185

 Welcome back everyone, hope 2021 is off to a creative start for you all!  If you need a little inspiration, come on over to Sketch N Scrap where we have our first card sketch of 2021 up on the blog today.  I created this slim line sketch:

I'm not much of a wintery person, but I know many of you live in a cold weather climate and might like to send a snowy themed greeting to warm someone's day!  For my take on the sketch, I used the basic design and went a different direction with my elements:

I named her Blue Belle! LOL  I recently purchased some new CTMH stamp sets and combined them for this card.  The fence is from the Joyful Flower set, that cute as a button cow is from the From the Funny Farm set and the flowers are Simple Florals.  I added some of CTMH's new wood grain patterned paper for my background and Blue Bell was colored using my Spectrum Noir Triblend markers.  

I couldn't find a strip, even a scrap, of patterned paper to suit me for the narrow strip so I decided to use the same Blue Belle ink I used for the flowers and a checkerboard stencil to create my own and give it a country gingham look:

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find some inspiration in this sketch and join us at Sketch N Scrap to show us your take on it! Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Sketch #216

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I have a new layout for Sketch N Scrap to share with you! I created this Disney layout and it was so fun working with these bright, happy colors:

And here is Sketch #216 I created for Sketch N Scrap, I hope it inspires you to ring in 2021 with a creative bang!

For this layout I used lots of Simple Stories' goodness....the graph background and papers & embellies from different Say Cheese lines.  The stars are from Vicki Boutin's Lets Wander line, I stamped & die cut the larger ones to tuck in and use for layering.  The tiny stars are also from that set, and to add a bit of fun I used markers to scribble in some color and make them pop:

I added a bit more stamp & die cutting fun by using a Catherine Pooler camera stamp & die. I used Spectrum Noir markers to color it in:

Thanks for stopping by, come join us at Sketch N Scrap and show us what you can do with this sketch, too! Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #184

 Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by today, I have a fun new card sketch to share with you that is up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today.  Card sketch #184 was created by sketch artist Lisa Hidy:

And here's my take on it:

I put this card together using scraps from a Photoplay Christmas line from last year.  The Santa gnome was fussy cut from a tag.  I didn't have enough patterned paper so I decided to stamp my own plaid background using a Catherine Pooler plaid background stamp and CTMH Cranberry ink.  I think it gave it a rustic, festive look!

I hope you're inspired to use this sketch and come by Sketch N Scrap to share your work with us.  Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Sketch #215

 Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by today, I have a fun new layout sketch to share with you that's up on the Sketch N Scrap blog today.  Sketch designer Lisa Hidy created this layout sketch:

And here's my take on it:

I had SO much fun playing with this sketch, and with papers and elements I don't get to use very often!  Before I joined the team at Sketch N Scrap, I enjoyed playing along with the sketch challenges.  I was SO excited to see my name as the monthly winner one month and the prize was the Simple Stories Sub Zero collection pack.  I've used quite a bit of it for cards and Christmas tags, and always thought it would be the perfect line to scrapbook about this sweet little gift my son gave me when he was 7...a snowman votive holder he made at school.  Along with the candle holder is a sweet little poem his teacher had him write.  Since I live in Florida I  don't have beautiful pictures of snow to scrap (and I don't like to travel during winter, either LOL).  I'm so glad I finally scrapped this, and the papers and elements worked perfectly, I'm so happy with the end result.

I added some "snow" to my page using an old favorite stencil from Heidi Swapp and texture paste:

I also worked in some wood veneer hearts and alphas, and added clear gems to the centers of my snowflake stickers:

I hope you find this sketch to be as inspiring as I did! Come play along with us at Sketch N Scrap and show us what you can do with this sketch, hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch #182

 Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by today, I'm so glad you did because I have a new card sketch I've created for Sketch N Scrap that is up on the blog today:

And here is my take on it:

I know it's still November, but many of us fall into two categories: 1. you started your Christmas cards in July and they're all set to be mailed OR 2. you haven't started yet.  I'm category number 2 for sure.  While I don't make or send as many handmade Christmas cards as I used to, I often need a quick card for a gift or coworker, etc.  I designed this sketch for a quick & easy card, so easy to just grab some scraps & maybe a piece of Christmas ephemera or a cardstock sticker that's ready to go....and it's done!  The angles add a little interest while keeping the design quick & easy.  For mine I used this adorable CTMH gnome:

Some Spectrum Noir Triblend markers and a CTMH gold shimmer brush turned this little guy into quite the festive embellishment!  I hope it has inspired you to come on over to Sketch N Scrap and show us what you can do with this sketch. Hope to see you there!

Sketch N Scrap Layout Sketch #213

 Hi everybody! Thanks so much for stopping by today, I've created another sketch for Sketch N Scrap that I'd like to share with you, hope it inspires you to create today:

And here's my take on it, using the FABULOUS new Storyteller line from Vicki Boutin:

So I took a departure from my typical style and dabbled in some mixed media on this one, and boy am I hooked! (Pun intended with the fishing picture LOL).  I used Vicki Boutin art crayons to create a watercolor and used the "kissing" technique.  After that dried, I took a stencil, stencil brush and used dry art crayon to create the pattern over it.  

I think I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm trying to incorporate some stamping into my layouts, I have SO many stamp sets....yikes!  I think I'm one stamp set away from having to build an addition on to my house LOL.  You know what I noticed when taking a close look at my sets?  There are lots of sets that have these little extra images, I bet they go unnoticed quite a bit because they aren't the larger, main images.  One of my CTMH stamp sets had these little plus signs, along with flowers, leaves, sentiments, etc.  I stamped them in several places throughout my layout for a fun little something extra to my background:

I will journal in a 6x12 pocket page next to this in my album because......honestly......I was afraid of ruining this background I'd worked so hard on!  Seriously!  The pic was taken on my 48th birthday, this past August, when my husband and son took me out for a beautiful day on the boat.  What a wonderful day :)

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you decide to come join us at Sketch N Scrap and show us what you can do with this sketch, hope to see you there!