What's Moo With You?

The challenge this week at 2 Sisters is "On the Farm". I found an adorable little cow image in my MS clip art and made a little tag with the silly little pun, "what's moo with you?" Started with a daffodill CS base, stamped with a burlap background in chocolate. I then found fun scrap of bandana print paper (this is an oldie but goodie from my stash) and layered with another scrap od PP and a strip of fringe. Inked up my "moo" tag in chocolate and rust, and here you have it:

Now, mooooove on over to see the rest of the great farm-themed cards, and if you want to get in on the farm action, be sure to link up your card at 2 Sisters by August 5th! =) T

Challenges:

-2 Sisters farm

-Inspire Me Fridays anything goes

-Simply Create animals

-Aud Sentiments enjoy your day

-365 Cards 3+layers

-All Sorts free and easy

Surf's Up at Triplicate Trials Tuesday!

Time for a new challenge at Triplicate Trials Tuesday, and I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to design this challenge, so here ya go:

It's a 3-parter. First, start with colors water lily, chartreuse and burnt umber. Then add in the fun sketch I designed, and throw in the theme: Surfs up, the ocean, the beach. Mix 'em up and you'll have a fabulous project, here's what I came up with:

You can see I spread out the sketch to accompodate my photos, and I made it a 2-pager! *GASP* I hardly ever do 2-page layouts, but I think it worked well for this challenge! Want to join in? Be sure to visit Triplicate Trials Tuesday to see the rest of the DTs projects and link up your take on the Triple T Challenge! =) T

All About the Title

It's all about the title this week at Lasting Memories! Since I have 2 kiddos who have been playing soccer for 7 years now, I always have a TON of soccer layouts to do, and to be honest, I'm getting a bit bored with the same-old-same-old. For this layout, I chose to use some jumbo ABC stickers (purchased from my fabulous friend and Creative Memories consultant, Kimberly) and simply spell out "TAYSA"- the name of the soccer league they play for. This was a quick and easy way to do the title, and the bold letters are a lot of fun on the layout! =) T

Open Challenge at Sketches in Thyme!

Time for another Open Challenge at Sketches in Thyme, which means you can enter any layout as long as it's based on a sketch! Here's my contribution:

and it's based on this great sketch from Artful Delight

I'm sorry that the pic didn't come out so well, it's been so bright and sunny here, my layouts have been all washed out or to dark. In real life this layout looks a lot cuter, I promise! =)T

Challenges:

-Sketches in Thyme open challenge

-Artful Delight sketch

-Butterfly Crafts photo inspiration

-Cupcake Craftroom polka dots

-Crop Suey dirty

Do You Remember the Time?

There's a new song for us to scrap to at Scrap It With a Song, Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time". Great song to scrap to, I chose to go with the time theme and use a sweet pic of daddy and kiddos:

I trimmed my paper to 8 1/2" so that I could run it through the printed for my title. I used word art to create the title, just doing the outline of the letters, and choosing smaller font sizes for "story" and "with". I also found a great clock image to use, and set it for 8:00, which is story time in our house! Did my journaling on lable stickers, and dressed up with a few fun buttons, a "3" playing card and 3 butterfly scraps (the outside edges of some chipboard butterflies, long since used).

Now pop on over to Scrap It With a Song to view the other great "Remember the Time" projects, and be sure and link up your own take on the challenge for your chance at a $20 Michaels gift card!! =) T

Stressed Out!!

well, I'm not stressed out, it's summer here- no school, no work, just play!! But, the challenge at Lasting Memories this week is distressing, so I'm getting stressed out in the craftroom! Here's my latest layout:

Here's what I did to distress... First off I used a distressing tool to rough up the edges of my photo. Secondly, I tore the bottom edge of my vellum pattern paper to give that a rough edge. Vellum is fun to tear, it doesn't show in the photo, but it has a lovely white core when you tear into it. Thirdly, I added ink along all the edges, and I dragged two different ink pad across the white CS (I didn't have the right color to match the vellum; using both a mint green and a light blue kind of did the trick!). For my final distressing technique, I ran white paint across my chipboard shape before adding my title.

If you want more fabulous ideas for distressing your layouts, please visit the rest of the Lasting Memories Design Team, and be sure to link up your own distressed LO! =) T 

"Play by the Sea" is being entered in the following challenges:

-Lasting Memories distress

-Scrap the Boys "play" + tape

-White With 1 white+aqua+chipboard

-Paper Playtime summer

Yup, I Have Issues!!

So excited to be part of the Paper Issues Design Team, and ready to go with my first challenge, Life Is Sweet! I scrapbook out of order, just going wherever the artistic muse takes me; so for this sweet challenge I found myself using Easter photos from 2007 (wow- talk about playing catch-up, how did pics from 2007 get lost in the shuffle??). Here's what I came up with:

Few things to note about this layout... Since I had so many pics of the big Easter Egg Hunt of '07, I made a collage so that I could make sure they all fit on my one page (oh how I hate doing 2-page LOs these days!). Matted the collage on a piece of chocolate CS, and trimmed the left side into a bracket for a little fun element. used a oval scrap as my title block-it reminded me of an egg- and spelled out my "Sweet Easter Treats" title with Jenni Bowlin stickers and dressed up with 3 sweet little felt & gem butterflies. Inked up the edges of everything for good measure and the LO was done!

Do you have something sweet you'd like to share with the Paper Issues Team? Don't be shy, head on over and link up by July 30th!! I'll see you there! =) T

"Sweet Easter Treats" is being entered in the following challenges:

-Paper Issues life is sweet

-Pink Elephant felt

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Xmas???

This week's challenge at 2 Sisters is Christmas in July, and for those of you that send out a ridiculous amount of handmade holiday cards, now might be the perfect time to get started! Us Design Team girls were given two adorable images to use from our sponsor, The Crafty Pad. I chose to use the Christmas Ticket image, here's my cute little card:

Pretty simple card, would be a great deisgn to use if you needed to make massive amounts! I printed the ticket image 3x to make it look like a strip of tickets. Trimmed around the rounded edges, and added stickles to the holly leaves for a bit of bling! Layered over a scrap of red floral paper (not really xmas paper, but still looks pretty) over a chocolate base all inked up. Added a piece of black and white ribbon and my card is complete!

Now it's your turn. Show us your Christmas In July projects for a chance to win some goodies from The Crafty Pad Designs. Just make sure you link up your project at 2 Sisters by Noon on Friday, July 22nd. =) T

"Xmas Tickets" is being entered in the following challenges:
-2 Sisters xmas in July
-Rainbow Lady faux stitching
-Stamp Something xmas
-Scrapology anything but square
-Sew Many glitter
-Pile It On favorite technique- inking

Sketches in Thyme #52

Time for another sketch at Sketches in Thyme, this week the sketch is designed by Sketches In Thyme Maven Erin. I really love the simplicity of this weeks sketch, lots of room for creative interpretation!

and here's my take:

This layout was super quick to put together, had this great piece of printed paper, just added a bit of paint splattered in the corner to mess it up! Be sure and visit Sketches in Thyme to see the rest of the DTs takes on my sketch. Link up your take on any (or all) of the June challenges by July 31st to be entered in our July drawing, a $15 Gift Certificate from Freehand Scraps!! =) T

"3 Girls in Pink" is being entered in the following challenges:
-Sketches in Thyme sketch
-Lollipop Ladies cotton candy and fiber
-Scrap the Girls PINK's album cover

Time for another Triplicate Trials Tuesday!

Time for another 3-part challenge at Triplicate Trials Tuesday! I couldn't seem to find any pics that went specifically with the "marriage, dating, romance" theme- although with my 10 year wedding anniversary coming up on Thursday, maybe I should have crafted my DH a card! Anyway, I used the theme of "love" which is *slightly* off the challenge, but combined with the sketch and colors so I think I did ok.

Visit the rest of the DT at Triplicate Trials Tuesday to see all the great projects that have come from this challenge; and be sure and link up your own take too! =) T

A New Sketch at Sketches in Thyme!

Time for a new sketch at Sketches in Thyme, had lots of fun with this beauty, designed by our own Lizaveta:

It's another red,white and blue layout, which seems to be my thing lately, guess it's just 4th of July overload!! Couldn't be avoided though, look at this sweet little pic of my mother and son- they're wearing red and blue!!

If you love this sketch as much as I do, you will really enjoy putting it to good use. And when you do, be sure to link up over at Sketches in Thyme!! =) T

Total Eclipse of the Heart!

Looking for the Lasting Memories blog hop? Go HERE!

Time for a new song to get those creative juices flowing- this week the challenge song at Scrap It With a Song is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this song, and had the perfect picture of my sweet little niece, almost like I had been saving it for this very challenge!

Aren't those eyes fabulous??? I decided on the lyric, "turn around bright eyes" and printed it on a fun graph paper background with jumbo brackets. Added giant hand-drawn scallops- i love the hand-drawn slightly misshapen look! A bit of bright pink pleated fabric, a scalloped circle inked up to hold my polka-dot "Z" along with a sweet little Jenni Bowlin butterfly. Lastly I dressed up my grey cardstock with pain I smeared through a piece of punchinella to make the mesy white dots. Whole thing took less than 30 minutes, which is a challenge fo me!!

You'll have to go check out the rest of the Scrap It With a Song DT's ideas on these lyrics, such varied projects we've all created! Don't forget to share what you've created too, we'd love to see it! =) T

"Bright Eyes" challenges:

-Scrap It With a Song total eclipse of the heart

-Papercraft Star photo inspiration

-Flutter By Wednesdays butterfly

-Creative Stamp Friends dots

-Stamps R Us there was a little girl

Summer Mini Albums at Lasting Memories- a BLOG HOP with CANDY!!

This week at Lasting Memories, our challenge theme is "Summer Mini Albums". For my assignment, I decide to make a record book of all the crazy fun I have with my kiddos during Summer Vacation. By far my favorite time of the year, I am a big believer in busy kids=happy kids. I have never once heard the dreaded, "mom, I'm bored" from either of my kiddos, and really hope it stays that way! Every day we eat our breakfast, get dressed and head off to our adventure with picnic lunch in hand. Whether it's the state park for a swim, a stop at the library to pick up some new books or a hike in the woods, there is always free fun to be had! Here's what I came up with to record our memories this summer:

My mini album is made out of time cards (you can get these for a steal- $8 for a package of 150 cards, share with your friends!). I printed "time for summer" on one card, added the dates to the others, stacked and punched 2 wholes through the stack with my handy-dandy Crop-a-Dile (I LOVE how it will punch through 10 thick time cards at once!). Threaded a fun orange ribbon through to attach them all and an album was made! Here are two of my inside pages:

I added a "Summer To Do List" for us to check off our favorite activities- have to make sure we see a movie at the Drive-In, and have to pick strawberries!! I'll write in something fun we did each day, add little embellies here and there to dress it up, and I'll try and print teensie-weensie photos to add in too!

Now besides my cute little album, there are a TON of fun albums to inspire you over at Lasting Memories, so please hop on over there. There is a grand prize of delicious BLOG CANDY for one lucky person who visits ALL the DT blogs and comments on each!! 

Oh, and I mentioned candy too...I have a sample of summertime papers from the Tahiti Beach Stack, all 6.5x4.5, perfect for your own summer mini-album!! 

If you'd like a chance to win, here's what you need to do:
1-visit all the Lasting Memories DT blogs and leave a comment
2-link up your own Summer Mini Album this week at Lasting Memories
3-leave a comment HERE telling me you've completed 1 and 2

Have fun blog hopping, can't wait to see what you create!! =) T

"Time for Summer" Mini Album is for the following challenges:
-Lasting Memories summer mini album
-Secret Crafter here comes summer
-Sweet Stampin' something unusual
-Paper Play anything but a card

It's 2 Sisters Blogoversary!!

2 Sisters Challenge Blog is celebrating their 1 year Blogoversary with a week of card inspiration!! Here's one of the cards I created for the week:

As you can see, nothing too fancy here, but it was a fun card to make since I used nothing but scraps to put this together. I love to create cards with the leftovers from my layouts, and it helps clean up my craft room too! Be sure and check out all the wonderful birthday cards from the 2 Sisters DT, and check in throughout the week for more Blogoversary inspiration!! Can't wait to see your birthday creations! =) T

Challenges:

-2 Sisters birthday

-DYSU squares

-City Crafter sketch

-Lollipop Ladies chocolate brown

Birds of a Feather

A new month brings a new challenge at The Craft Garden, and this month is simply incorporate a bird into your challenge. Here's what I came up with for my DT assigment:

Oops- now that I'm looking at the photo of my layout I realized I never put a ribbon or brad in the hole of the journal tag- that will NEVER do! Imagine something lovely there, back to the craft room I go!

Since the challenge was to use a bird, I decided to use this collage my sister had made of pics from my DD, niece and friend celebrating my niece's bday. I knew I had these sweet chipboard birdies I had purchased just for this challenge, and thought the title "Birds of a Feather" would help connect the birds to the friendship photos. Be sure and fly on over the The Craft Garden to see the lovely variety of bird projects the DT has come up with, and join in the challenge too! =) T

For this layout, I also drew inspiration from these challenges:

Sketch from Once Upon A Sketch:

Photo inspiration from Get Picky: