Sneak Peak!!!

I recently finished a project that I can't wait to show you!!!
So, until I can post all of the pictures and description, here's a sneak peak:
Isn't it fabulous?!

Oscraps Challenge - Sunday

And last, but not least, is my layout for the Sunday challenge:

I made two versions. Naomi (my sister in the middle) like the darker one better:
I really wish our other sister could have been in the picture ... but I will not live in the past! We'll get plenty of pictures of her in the future! (Reminder to self ... scrap more about my family - especially sister who seems to always be in the background ...)

The was to scraplift one of Vicki Stegall's layouts. Fun :) I chose her Feeling Blue layout because I've been admiring the look of pictures incorporated into the background ... it also brings back memories of when I did that a lot ...

For this layout, I used my kfrederick bloghunt freebie group frame - but I had to change it. I changed the large vertical focal frame to horizontal by dividing the image into three groups - the large frame, the one above it and the two below it - and rotating the large one. I also changed the color from brown to purple by adjusting the saturation and hue.
* The background, and flowers (some are manually faded and color-changed) are from the Peaches and Regalias kit by TaylorMade Designs.
* The snapshots word art and silver photo corner is from the Photogenic kit by PaisleePress and Audrey Neal.
* The pink glitter butterfly is from the In Retrospect kit by TaylorMadeDesigns and FeiFeiStuff
* The capture word art is a bloghunt freebie from ...

Kind of wish I had a brilliant caption or word or phrase or journaling for this fun memory ... but I don't. So, I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves. I love my sisters (and Abby, I love you, too!)

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Oscraps Challenge - Saturday

I didn't do the Friday challenge. *gasp* You want to know why? Because it was to scrap about your perfect day with at least half of the page being journaling. I don't really know what my perfect day would be ... I have so many conflicting thoughts about what would be a nice day ... let alone perfect! So, it was a little daunting and I just never got around to it.

However, I did do the Saturday challenge. Here it is:
You can check out the challenge here.
The challenge was to color correct your photos so that they 'popped'. Well, they had a very lovely tutorial, but it was for Photo Shop or PS Elements, and I wasn't able to do half of what they said ... however, I did play around with the color, the hue, the saturation, the contrast, etc and this is what I've got. At least the roses pop.

I also tried to tie it in to a challenge that Tanya had over at Stampin' Scrap. You had to use only black, white and pink as well as some bling ... I think I succeeded :)

I used the Spring Breeze kit by Danielle Young available April 1st
pink stripe alpha (blog hung freebie) by Danielle Young
Black diamond paper and word art #1 from the Saturday kit download from lbeck
Bling from the Spunky Sparkle kit by Sweet Genevieve
Bling and black background graphic spray from the Oscraps XOXO collab kit
Think that's it ...

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Oscraps Challenge - Thursday Chat

This is my entry for the Oscraps Thursday PM chat:I'm not much of a chat person ... really, I'm not. But, I decided to participate in this one. You got a freebie and I love a challenge! The challenge was a scraplift ... and this was mine. Basically, the four photos are arranged in a plus sign just like the original, but that's about it.

I really do love this layout. It's about Andrew's first lollipop - at 8 months! The kids had one from our weekly trip to the chiropractor and Samantha shared her stick with Andrew with just a bit of candy on the end. Yes, ewww, the germs ... he loved it! I was shocked at how much he enjoyed that stick! So, I snapped a few photos :) You probably don't notice, but I remember the delicate way he handled the stick and his little fingers and hands working on the dexterity to turn it upside down and get it into his mouth ... oh! I love babies! I love this baby!

I used the new Danielle Young Spring Breeze kit (available April 1st) for everything but ...
Bracket frames from Danielle Young Lucky Me kit
Paint swatch, color changed to white from Photogenic kit by Paislee Press and Audrey Neal
Isn't that alpha awesome?

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Oscraps Challenge - Thursday

This is my entry for the Thursday challenge at Oscraps:


You can check out the challenge thread here. It has a freebie mini kit that I used elements of.
The challenge was to scrap something that represented THREE to you. Well, I immediately thought, "I have three kids." Yes, I know it's not incredibly original, but hey ... it works :) I went with it.

I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out! I don't know how I came up with the title, but it's perfect! Oh, I just love this one!

I used the paper, glitter circles, and 'snap' wordart from the freebie kit from Mikkel Paige.
Stars, red masking tape, photo turn, and star are from the O Boy and O Brother collab kits from Oscraps.
The stitched circle and red ribbon are from Danielle Young Zachary kit
The messy stitches are from the Photogenic kit that I always use ...

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Oscraps Challenge - Wednesday

This is my layout for the Wednesday challenge at Oscraps: Pictures of my sister Beth and her husband of 5 months ... they just celebrated their 'monthiversary' and so completely in love :)

The challenge was to use a template provided here. Of course, it was wonderful, but I can't use .psd templates ... so once again, I used it like a sketch and came up with my own thing ... I like it :)

I used the retired kit Some Kind of Wonderful by Michele Martin, formerly of Oscraps. All of the elements and papers are from it ... except for:
'i love you' clip note and pink polka alpha from Danielle Young's Game of Love kit
'sweetheart' and 'hugs and kisses' word art from the Oscraps XOXO collab kit
Font is Another Typewriter

This is one of my favorite kits ... I can't really pin point why, but the colors just appeal to me on so many levels and the elements are all pretty and yet cool at the same time ... like I said, it's hard to figure out why, but I love it!

I hope you enjoy it!

*~*~*

Oscraps Challenge - Tuesday

Here's my layout for the Tuesday challenge at Oscraps:

These are pictures of my sisters and brother-in-law ... yes, they often do this kind of fooling around, posing and just being silly. You should see it when my brother is in town :)

The challenge was to use the freebie template provided in this thread ...
Now, I can't use templates because I have Fireworks, so I used it more like a sketch and came up with something similar ...

Now, a requirement of all of the challenges is to use 100% Oscraps product. Not a problem, I have a ton! But, remembering what you've used and where you got it from after the fact is a bit harder. Sometimes I stick with one kit or just a few. This is one where I looked around in a ton of different folders for the elements I was looking for ... not good for remembering ... but here goes:
Paper, ribbon, stitch and star: And Many More kit by Danielle Young
Alpha: Crystal Clear Alpha by Danielle Young
Poloroid frame and clear mailing label frame: Photogenic collab kit by Paislee Press Audrey ONeal
Star spray: O Brother collab kit from Oscraps
Funky Swirl 'Splash': bloghunt freebie from KDeSmet at Oscraps
Font: Adler

All in all, I think the style matches the photos ...
I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Oscraps Challenge - Monday

I posted earlier that Oscraps is having a Big Birthday Bash for their third birthday ... and it's huge! 33% sales everywhere, challenges left and right and FREEBIES!!! Their doing a blog hunt and every blog has a freebie! Pick up the trail HERE...
Even if you're not a digi person, you can enjoy my digi goodness ... here's a layout I did for the Monday challenge:

The rules were this:
3 pictures
3 papers
3 elements
3 word title
3 lines of journaling
(all layouts should be posted by Monday, the 23rd)

I love the way this layout turned out! It just kind of came together! For instance, I loved this paper with the circle starbursts, but I don't know what I would have done with it. But, I already had the framed photos set up and when I dropped the paper behind it (just to see) it was so perfect!!!

The frame is a freebie (bloghunt) from Karah Fredericks (Blue Flombingo Designs).
The paper, star line and journaling block are from the O Boy collab kit at Oscraps.
The word art and staple is from the Photogenic kit from Paislee Press and Audrey Oneal.
The font is Adler.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Little Shop of Sketches Wednesday!

Another two weeks, another sketch from Little Shop of Sketches!

Sketch #33:
Be sure to check out the other lovely ladies layouts here. They're fabulous!!!
This is my take on it:
This is an old set of pictures of Justin in 2006. They were taken at a picnic (still haven't scrapped that), but they can stand by themselves.

I used the O Brother collab kit from Oscraps (33% off now!). Such great stuff and I used a lot ... I thought maybe I was throwing too much in there, but I do like the layered look and it takes me back to my roots - I used to make seriously complicated and layered graphics ...

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

On my Daddy's Shoulders

I've been working on this layout for several days only a bit at a time .... the text area was giving me a ton of problems. I finally had the idea to make some of the words really big so that they filled in the gaps ... I think it's pretty cool.

I used the Flying High kit by Misty Cato that I got in the Digi Files #2 (such a good package for only $5!). The big letters are a freebie font from Scrap 'N' Art called Paper Alpha. The font is CK_Urban.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Digi Sale

Hello All!

If you're a digi-scrapper (or looking to dabble), you don't want to miss this! There's a big birthday bash going on a Oscraps and that means SALES! There are sales throughout the site, but Danielle Young (I'm on the Creative Team) is having one as well, so stop by there first!

Check it out :)

*~*~*

I love you so much ...

Well, I do love my hubby :)
This is a more modern layout, but really cool. I love the masking ... it helps me break out of my shell where the photo has to be about where you took it. This is at a birthday party, but you'd never know :) I also like how it's about love, but the colors are so not all pink and red ...

The clipping masks are from the TaylorMadeDesigns Fallen Sun kit and the In Retrospect collab kit by TaylorMade Designs and FeiFei Designs.
The text art is from the TaylorMadeDesings Fallen Sun kit and the Fading Text is from TaylorMade Designs Fading Emotions Vol. 3.
Font is CK_Ali's_Handwriting

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Paper Bag Albums

The final installment in my paper bag album series is a bit early ... I was just so excited to share!!!

This is actually one of the first things I made in my venture into paper crafting. It's a gift for my sister and it still has a place of honor on her shelves.

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I asked her to give me some of her favorite Scripture verses. She gave me a TON because she doesn't really have a favorite - they're all so good :) I did narrow it down a bit, but there were more pages than I thought there would be at first ...


I tried printing out the Scriptures on vellum. It smeared. So, I printed them out on normal paper and the photocopied onto vellum. This seemed to work beautifully - I don't know why.

I then cut pieces of Basic Grey Sublime and Motifica paper (my first BG paper pad was a double sided slab of goodness!). The vellum went on top and each page was embellished. It was a little different because the text took up so much of the design space.






















Looking back on it, I really put a LOT of time and effort into this. I don't mess with eyelets anymore and pre-done embellishments have rather spoiled me. I did a lot of little things to make this special. This album really defines 'hand-made' for me. I put hours of work into it!

I know it's not incredibly complicated, nor does it have any ground breaking techniques. However, I did pretty well with what I had and I'm proud of it. I don't think I could have done much better if I did it again today. It would be different, but not BETTER.

I hope you enjoyed looking at it!

*~*~*

Paper Bag Albums

I used Basic Grey Fusion (which I love) and misc ribbon and flowers ... on the front is a great quote about memories, but I didn't photograph it well ...

I hope you enjoy it! Go out and make a paper bag album!!!

*~*~*

Paper Bag Albums

Digging around in my files and stumbled across pictures of some older projects that I haven't shared ... so, this will the be the week of the paper bag album!

Here's my first one - a pregnancy album made as a gift:










Some old K&Co paper and a sticker sheet that I don't remember the brand of ... I think it turned out really well :)

I hope you enjoy it!

*~*~*