Inspiration Challenge

Jena posted an inspiration challenge last night on the CTMH forum and today I played. The challenge was to use this jordache tag as inspiration. Well I did two layouts. The first one actually bears no resemblance at all to the tag. In fact you can't even really tell how it inspired this layout. With the second layout, however, the inspiration is obvious and actually lends a theme to the entire layout.

The first layout :

Colors : Cocoa, Hollyhock, Cranberry, Heavenly Blue, Chocolate, Col White

Papers : Minds Eye Valentine Pack

Stamps : Adorable, Amore Alphas

Accents : Rhinestones, Just Blooms White Daisy, Heidi Swapp flowers, Buttons (various), Chocolate Bigger Brads, Chocolate Ribbon Rounds, Hollyhock Brads

I was inspired by the red in the tag and casual feeling it gave. These pictures of Caitie are of her in one of her favorite comfy dresses. A dress she often wore with a jean jacket. And since the tag was from jordache jeans these pics came to mind. Well I started putting the layout together. After I picked these papers the ideas just seemed pop. I used a page maps layout for basic inspiration though I changed it up quite a bit. In the end this layout is far more pink than red and to me has nothing to do with the tag. But I started out with it on my mind for this layout.

The second layout :

Colors : Outdoor Denim, Cranberry, White, Buttercup, Garden Green, Heavenly Blue

Papers : Back to School, Let's Get Together

Stamps : Blue Jeans, Create-a-file, Simple Stitches, Sketcky Caps, Rustic Alpha

Accents : Just Blooms White Daisy, Red Button, Heavenly Blue Bigger Brads, Garden Green Accents, Garden Green Ribbon Rounds, Circle Window Charms, White Brads, Cranberry Grosgrain

Using Monologue from Imagine. You can really see what inspiration I pulled from the tag in this layout. I took the red from the tag as well as the jeans for the theme. I don't have any cranberry, outdoor denim, buttercup, or heavenly blue accessories so this one was a tough layout to embellish since I had to make due with what I did have. I pulled the colors from the ribbon to help with embellishing. The pocket on the right page holds a bouquet of journaling strips with little facts about Audrey like her nickname is Audrey-poo, her favorite foods are pasta and ice cream, and she loves to play pat-a-cake and the popcorn song, etc.

Color Challenge #7

Wow!! We had so many players last week for the color challenge :D Thank you ladies for playing!! I love seeing all these different ideas. On to this week, it's a bit late since I've had a crazy Monday. The colors were inspired in part by the paper on my flower bella card for the Bella Reveal Challenges and by spring in general. Color Challenge for this week is :

Buttercup
Lilac Mist
Garden Green
Bamboo

To play create a new project (card, layout, altered item, etc.) using at least 3 of the 4 colors. You can send me a link to your creation and I'll post a link to your sample on this thread. Have fun!

Sue's Layout and Card
Laurel's first two cards and her third card
Sparkle's Card
Emilee Ann's Card
Jane's Triple Challenge Card
Marcia's Card

My example :



Colors : Bamboo, Garden Green, Lilac Mist, Buttercup, Colonial White

Papers : Life Delights, Sonata, Floral Tapestry

Accents : Dimensional Elements Alpha and Ribbon Slides, Rhinestones, Buttons, Col White Grosgrain, Garden Green Accessories, Flower sequins, Just Blooms White Daisy, Bigger Blooms, Col White Brads, Sewing

I have a hard time scrapping just one photo. It didn't used to be that way. When I first started scrapping 12x12 pages I did one photo and 2 photo layouts all the time. I have five 70 page 12x12 albums of Caitlyn's FIRST year because of scrapping that way lol. Some of them had a few more pictures than that, but the majority was one photo on one page and two photos on the matching page. I'm also one of those people who has to scrap every photo. After seeing that this method was just not reasonable for as many pictures as I take I tried to include more photos on a layout. Now I usually have an average of about 7 pictures between a two page layout though the only thing I think has really changed is that I just take more pictures of the same event lol. So really I'm probably scrapping the same amount of pages, I'm just taking more pictures to fill them up with! Anyway, I decided to try sewing on this layout. The thread isn't nearly as visible as I would have liked but that's probably a good thing seeing as my sewing is anything but straight, lol. I have terrible sewing skills! I'm going to go with the idea that my crooked sewing makes the page look more whimsical ^_~

Bella Reveal Challenges

I'm glad I checked up on the bella forum today as I had totally spaced the new bella line reveal on Friday! Crazy me! So I played today for the challenges. Good thing they weren't due until Monday night ^_~

BRSC22 - Sketch challenge and slight BRIC22 accessories challenge

Colors : Lilac Mist, White Daisy, Colonial White

Paper : Unknown

Stamps : Flowahbella, From Me to You (CTMH)

Accents : Eyelets and brads in col white, ivory organdy, garden green safety pin, dried baby breath

This is the first card I did. Made for the Bella Reveal Sketch Challenge. I thought it would be fun to use some of the baby breath from my Valentine's bouquet in her flower pot. I made a slit across the top of her pot and put the stem from the baby breath through there, pulling and popping off some of the lower flower buds until I got it to where I wanted it. I secured the stem in the back with good old fashioned scotch tape.I've had this paper forever and finally just pulled it out and used it! Flowahbella's dress is also pieced with the same flower paper. Her pot is pieced from the lilca mist CS. All around a pretty easy card, the hardest part was piecing her dress.

BRBG22 - Use as much bling/glitter as you want

Colors : Kiwi, Black, White

Paper : Minds Eye, Bazzil shimmer/textured CS, CMTH CS

Stamps : Rockabella, Delightful Alpha

Accents : Rhinestones, Pink Glitter, Prisma Glitter

Made for the bella bling/glitter challenge. I glittered the background paper flowers with prisma glitter. Rockabella's guitar and hair highlights are glittered with the pink glitter. Rhinestones on the photo corners and on her guitar and shimmer CS used. A very fun card :D I really enjoyed putting this one together. Her outfit is pieced from the striped coordinating Minds Eye paper.

BRIC22 - Use an embellishment that's not a normal embellishment

Colors : Baby Pink, Black, White, Hollyhock

Papers : Stylin' (CTMH), Bazzil Shimmer/Text CS

Stamps : Dryabella, Doodle Alpha

Accents : Black brads, Black hair clips

So I thought using hair clips would be a cute idea. These were bigger than I thought they would be. I wish I had some of the baby ones or the ones my girl has a few months ago with fun flowers on the end (they don't keep clips in their hair), but I figured these would do. I tried to keep the card a little more clean since bella is just getting out of the shower ^_~

Lovely

Colors : Cranberry, Sweet Leaf, Bamboo, Black, Col White

Papers : Silhouette, Heart of Winter Campaign Scrapbook Kit ('06)

Stamps : Asian Chic? (retired), circle floral image RAK from Sue

I've had this picture forever. It's one of the handful of pictures from before I got preggers with Caitie that I hadn't scrapped. This is my cousin Cheryl (16) and me (18) in the picture. It was at a family reunion. I'm all dressed up because I had to sing on stage :P The page doesn't feel quite 'done' to me, but it's late so I'll look at it later to see if I still think it needs anything.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Colors : Baby Pink, Amethyst, Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Col White

Papers : Sugar & Spice

Stamps : Star Struck, Extreme Caps, Vroom Caps

These stars have always looked so very masculine to me. And I was thinking that they would be really cute in pale blue, orange, and green for a little boy. Well I get to making these pages and think that stars would just be so cute. But the only stars I have are from star struck. I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway and they turned out so cute! I had initially bought the stamp set for the photo corners and the arrows but I've switched. It's the stars I love now!

Snail Mail Saturday

Wow the post lady must have just been hoarding all my fun stuff until the weekend ^_~ I got three fun little packages today. The first on the left is a stamp set I ordered. Unexpectedly the shipping was cheaper (I found that out a couple days ago while checking my account) and not only that they also sent me three stamp images, and each of them were stamps I thought were really cute! The second is the pretty card from my mom (she's not crafty like me but she loves when I send her crafty stuff I make :D), a nice letter, and some moolah for me to have fun with (gotta love my mommy!) And the last is a RAK from Sue, a sweet gal who is a fellow CTMH sister. She also plays in my color challenges :D She sent me this fun card she made for the challenge, it looks so wonderful in person the picture really didn't do it justice, and all these fun images! I love the asian ones and of course the bellas! I already have superbella but have been lazy and not inked her up yet. Now I don't have too, lol! I adore tinkerbella (she's still on my wish list), and the sheep is too fun. I'll have to hide the sheep for sure because if Caitie sees them she will definitely steal them. She loves sheep and even has a cute stuffed animal of a gray wooly sheep. Anyway I'm off to play. Thank you Sue for the wonderful goodies!

Dryer Layout and Dryabella Card

Colors : Kiwi, White Daisy, Breeze (ink)

Papers : Mind's Eye, Bazzil shimmer textured CS, CTMH CS

Stamps : Legendary Moments, Serendipity

Accents : Buttons (various), White Daisy Hinges/Brads, Hollyhock Ribbon Rounds, Big Blooms, Hollyhock Brads

I've been wanting to use these papers for the past few weeks since I first got them :D They are so cute and fun! I started this layout and did everything but the title section last night. I was tired earlier than usual so I just went to bed. This morning I finished it up ^_~

A bella challenge card I made from the scraps :

Colors : Kiwi, White

Papers : Mind's Eye, Bazzil shimmer textured CS, CTMH CS

Stamps : Dryabella, Amore Alphas

Accents : Rhinestones, Prima flower, Prisma Glitter

I actually didn't notice that my layout was for the 'dryer' and my card happened to be 'dryabella' until after I started posting this! lol Anyway, this card was for the BSC16 sketch challenge. I was going to combine the color and sketch challenge for this last week but had almost the perfect sized scraps already to go. I glammed her up a bit. Her entire towel is glittered and the swirl part of her blow dryer has glitter too.

Cupcakes

So Sparkle has been making these adorable cupcake cards every Friday for her Happy Cupcake Day ^_~ And everytime I see those cute little cards I get in the mood to bake. Well I haven't made cupcakes in years and I just couldn't take it anymore!! I HAD to make some cupcakes!! So here they are. Lemon cupcakes with strawberry centers and homemade cream cheese frosting. Topped with flaked coconut :D I wanted to get some strawberries to put on top but they didn't look too good, probably because they are still out of season. I'm going to have to buy me a cupcake recipe book now!

Girl Shop Cards, Cousin Layout, and the Drama of the Month

I'm starting off with the fun stuff :D Some quickie girly cards I made today and last night. I was in a mass producing kind of mood.

Colors : Black, White, Bubblegum, Vineyard Berry

Paper : Unknown - Julie gave it to me ^_~

Stamps : But I need it (hanna stamps); Rockabella, savvyshoppabella, dryabella, mwahbella, emmybella (stamping bella); Delightful Alpha, Totally Chic, Random Thoughts (CTMH)

Accents : Pink Glitter, Mini Pink Rhinestones, Vineyard Berry Organdy

These went pretty quick and the thing that took the longest was coloring. Done with pencils as usual :D It was fun to make them all kind of matching! Two of them are of specific people. The Hanna is my SIL Beth :D and the red head is my dear friend Julie who has BEAUTIFUL curly red hair!

And the layout I did Tuesday :

Papers : Serendipity (CTMH)

Accents : Ribbon, Dimensional Elements simple alpha and ribbon slides, Bamboo bigger brads and mini brads

Using another Page Maps (Becky Fleck) layout. This was a lot of fun to make because I remembered Nick loving Audrey so much and calling her 'his baby' then wanting to take her home. Well just over a year later he got his very own baby sister! ^_~

And now for the drama. This past week has been pretty scary for us. Earlier this month we didn't receive about 1/3 of our income. Well long story short it's due to some missing forms to change his major and Paul is making calls every day for the past two weeks and just getting the run around as he tries to get all the info he needs to get this fixed. These last few days have been really scary because it was starting to look like it wasn't going happen and that would mean he wouldn't be covered at all through this semester AND he would have to change his major to something he didn't want. So he's stressed out and I'm stressed out and we both do what we do when we're stressed out. Paul is grumpy and holes himself up in the bedroom to try and get things done all the while telling me it's going to be okay. I try to keep things going as usual and when he feels like things aren't working out I tell him it's going to be okay and then both of us are just worried out of our minds while the other isn't looking. I cried. I cried a lot. I cried while he was at class, while taking Caitie to school, on the way to the grocery store, I felt like a wreck and the worst part was that there wasn't anything I could do to help. We have not had a money crisis like this since before we had the girls and I was so scared. We have money in savings, but I was still really worried. Anyway, he finally got some other info this morning and sent that off. Later today we got the email back from his VA rep that they've got enough info now and the paper work is done and approved. We both broke down with relief and I told Paul about how scared I was and all the crying I did and he felt so bad because he was trying to make sure I wouldn't worry, but I worried anyway. -insert big heavy sigh of relief here- Anyway, that was my big drama for the week. I did create a little the past few days but had been so wrapped up in this that I didn't much feel like posting.

OOYB Challenge #3

Colors : Hollyhock, Goldrush, Garden Green, Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo, Vanilla Cream

Papers : CTMH CS and Best Friends Forever PP, orange background paper unknown

Stamps : Sans Alpha

Accents : Hollyhock Ribbon Rounds, Garden green conches and brads, Hollyhock photo clips, dimensional elements simple alpha

This was such a fun layout and the best part was the mistakes that I made forced me to be more creative and the layout came out better than what I was planning. I made this layout for the Out of Your Box challenge that Pam hosts every couple weeks. The quote for the 3rd challenge is "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain." Now everytime I see the new quote I think 'Oh this will be easy, this is such a great quote! I'm sure I have some pics that will go perfect with this.' So then I start looking through my photos. And I'm looking.... and looking... and still looking.... then I find that I don't seem to have any 'perfect' photos to go with the quote. Well I can be creative right? I mean I scrapbook and all, I have to be creative! So here I am trying to think of how to use the quote in a way that will fit pictures that I do have. And I'm thinking... and thinking... and wracking my brain for ideas that just don't seem to come lol. Well to make a long story short these photos of Caitie bundled up suddenly popped in my mind as I was moving on to do something new. Caitlyn LOVES storms. I mean she will wake up in the middle of the night, sit up in bed and start gleefully yelling about how it's raining or snowing. She gets so excited, lol. I know that the quote is more inspirational but I suddenly thought it would be perfect to take it literally. And it's funny that I ended up using these pics too because they were in my 'probably never going to scrap' folder full of photos that I truthfully think will not be able to be scrapped. I had pulled them out just two days ago wondering why they were in there since they are so cute. The reason I came up with is that they are small photos from my MIL. She always gets the 3.5x5 prints which drives me nuts, lol. But for these it ended up working out just fine ^_~

Color Challenge #6

So far all my color combos have been pretty girly. This week, however I got out of my box and came us with a more masculine combo :D To play create a new project (card, layout, altered item, etc.) using at least 3 of the 4 colors. You can send me a link to your creation and I'll post a link to your sample on this thread. Have fun!

Outdoor Denim
Olive
Cranberry
Indian Corn Blue


Samples:
Kari's Layout
Sue's Card
Sparkle's Card
Nicole's Cards
Seleise's Card
Emilee's Card
Marcia's Card
Nona's Card
Mary's Layout

My example :




Colors : Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Olive, Cranberry, Col White

Papers : CTMH CS and Papers - Route 66, Rough & Tumble

Stamps : Extreme Caps, Star Struck, Precious Alpha (# sign), Legendary Moments (stitching)

This was a really fun layout to do. It was so different than what I'm used to with all the girly girl pages I make so at first it seemed like a real challenge. But after I got going it was really pretty simple. I did realize while making this though that I have no cranberry accessories!! I don't have any blue ones either and garden green just wasn't quite dark enough so there are no embellies on the pages at all, just stamping :D

Yummy!

Colors : Hollyhock, Goldrush, Bamboo, Sweet Leaf, Vanilla Cream

Papers : CTMH CS and paper - Best Friends Forever, Garden B&T (retired)

Accents : Hollyhock Ribbon Rounds, Hollyhock photo clips, Garden Green Brads, Dimensional Elements simple alpha

This was a tough layout to start. I have a hard time doing food layouts, lol. Every piece of patterned paper I took out to work with just did not go with the pictures the way I wanted it to. All the layouts I was looking at were just not making me happy. So finally I just settled on picking colors. I took the pink and orange from her shirt and decided on the paper. Then I wanted to use this ribbon so I pulled the green from the ribbon for a little more pop of color. After that it was cake! I used a Feb '08 Page Maps layout for inspiration and kept it simple :D

Catchin' up on the Bella Challenges

Paul took care of the girls while he was home for a while this morning so I got a chance to catch up on the bella challenges that I've been wanting to do. I'm still just one page behind on my scrapping. It seems I'm always at least one or two pages behind lately, lol. But I'm keeping up a lot better this month than last month. So far I've made a big dent in my 2006 pictures. Now I just need to remember to buy more page protectors and more albums lol. Anyways here's the cards I made for the challenges:



Colors : Blush, Sweet Leaf, Baby Pink, White (BCC14)

Papers : Cocoa Cafe, Cozy B&T (both retired CTMH)

Stamps : Feelabella (stamping bella), For Every Occassion

Accents : Pink staples

Colored with pencils, this 5x5 bella card was done for the BCC14 color challenge and I used the SC163 sketch challenge as well.


Colors : Black, Colonial White, Gold, Bamboo

Papers : Creative Basics Silhouette, Vintage Wedding (retired)

Stamps : Balloonabella (stamping bella), Just so Hippy by Gina K (sentiments in balloons)

Accents : Mini Rhinestones, Gold Brads, Black Organdy, Gold Glitter

My first circle for this card was actually too small. I tried to make it work then decided to just cut the bigger size I needed. I love how elegant she came out and I think I'm going to be using this card for our anniversary this year. I used the BCC15 color challenge which was to make a valentine theme card without using reds, pinks, or chocolates. And I used the BSC15 sketch for this card as well.

Enjoy the Simple Things

Paper : Minds Eye, CTMH CS

Stamps : Sans Alpha

Accents : Sassy Strands (carnival), Sunny Yellow Organdy, Dimensional Elements Alpha & Ribbon Slides, Baby Pink Safety Pins, CTMH Rub-ons

This was a pretty quick layout. I rarely do this kind of layout with my photos even though I love the effect (5 4x6 horizontal pics and a 4x6 spot for title or journaling). In fact when I scrapped the fall pics for '06 (these are Dec '06) I did the same type of layout with Audrey's first time playing in the leaves. It's a great way to display a lot of pictures that you don't want to crop plus it's quick and easy.

RAKs

It's always so much fun to get treats in the mail! Since Sparkle first RAKed me I've been trying harder to send out little somethings because it was just so much fun to receive those images that I wanted to share the love! I email a lot and get many emails myself but it just isn't the same when you get something via 'snail mail'. I just got these in the mail, it was such a treat!!

A RAK from Sparkle, she is just such a sweet heart! I know I say that everytime I talk about her but she really is an awesome gal. I admire her generosity and thoughtfulness, and aspire to be more giving in these small ways like she is.


This one is a RAK from Katie on the Bella Forums for playing in the bella challenges :D These challenges have been so much fun to play in and it was an extra treat to receive this in the mail for participating, especially since I love grumpabella, lol. I don't know why, maybe it's because she reminds me so much of myself in the mornings. I just adore all the bellas, lol :D

Anyway in posting this I'm reminded to complete the game that Kathi tagged me with. It's called a "Blog Blessing". The idea behind this tag game is different from other tag games. Rather than look inwardly, we are to look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for three blog friends. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the above image to their sidebar if they choose to do so. In addition, be sure to go to the blog of those you are blessing and leave a comment on their blog to be sure they check yours!

I'm sending a blog blessing to Kathi, for sending this to me in the first place. I found her blog through the CTMH consultant boards after some wonderful comments she left on my artwork. Her blog is always so full of fun new projects. Everytime I visit I'm inspired to get off my tushie and create! Sparkle because she has got to be the most generous person I've met online. She is so happy and optimistic. I'm so glad to have met her on the CTMH forums as well as be an SBS4 sister with her! Her small acts of kindness have helped me be more giving to not only the people I already know, but to others as well. She has the cutest cards, great layouts, and always has interesting dashes of her life in her posts. I'm also tagging Nicole who has one of the first blogs that I visited. I fell in love with her art, sadly forgot to bookmark her site and spent a while looking for her blog when she commented on my art on the CTMH board. I was so happy to see that because it gave me the link to her blog as well! She is a great lady and I feel one of my first friends in the blogging world. I love seeing her new layouts and her 31 layouts in 31 days goal for January helped me finally get motivated enough to keep up with my own goals. Without her posts I would have not been able to accomplish making even half of all the layouts I've done in the past month. In fact I feel blessed by everyone who has left a comment, all my SBS4 sisters, and all the ladies whose blogs I've visited. Now I know that we are all from different walks of life and faiths, and not everyone may share the same beliefs that I have. Just know ladies that I feel so very fortunate to have met you and have not only been inspired, but touched by your kindness as well. Thank you!

Valentine's Day

I finally did something for the inspiration challenge (Week of LOVE Challenge Day 6) and I answered Kristy's challenge by scrapping a page about me though I think this isn't what you are going to expect Kristy :D. I used the colors of the slippers for my inspiration and the way the hearts were patterned almost reminded me of diamonds. I also put in a little fuzz on the layout :D

Colors : Black, White, Watermelon, Orange, Holiday Red, Dutch Blue

Papers : Stylin', CTMH CS

Stamps : Clickabella (stamping bella), Small Pleasures, Giggle Alphas, Vroom Alphas

Accents : Sassy Strands, Silver eyelets, silver brad

Just a note, I forgot to stamp MISSING in red across the pic of the bella. I was planning to do that and got distracted. When I came back I thought I had finished it until I was making this post, lol. So just imagine MISSING stamped over her in red :D. This is a page about me hardly being in the scrapbooks :D I describe myself as MISB (Missing In ScrapBooks) due to the obsessive behavior of constantly taking pictures of my 'Girls'. I've got my alises on there, where I'm usually found and a few facts about me as well to help solve the mystery of the missing mommy. The matching page to this layout will be done with pics of me where the mystery is solved. You can expect to wait a bit for that because I still haven't gotten my pictures from Christmas printed, lol! But I've already got the paper made I'm am tentatively thinking of making the layout and planning for at least 3 4x4 pictures. I'm going to try what Nicole's friend does and print out my pictures according to the layout :D

And on to Valentines. Here's my hubby and me :

Just Kidding ^_~ I really do exist in pictures sometimes. This picture was actually taken on accident and Paul just happened to be laughing at me trying to set the timer on the camera when I set it off. Okay now here's my hubby and me :

I still look tired from being sick but I definitely look much better than I have the past few days :D We took a few pics, all the other ones had me with 'fat face' as I call it and my hubby with his eyes closed lol. Paul thought I was kidding when I said 'oh we have to take another one, I have fat face!' until I showed him. He laughed and didn't deny it, lol. Then he said,'It just looks like that because you don't have a chin in the picture.' Okay enough of that, hehehe. He also got me these pretty roses this morning! They are so lovely in real life and smell wonderful!

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!!

A Week of LOVE - Challenge Day 6 and 7

Wednesday's challenge was to use these slippers as inspiration.

I have been really sick all week and yesterday it was so bad that I literally couldn't do anything. I got on to post a couple things that morning and got the crockpot going but after that I was just zombie mom so I didn't get to play or even post what was yesterday's challenge. Luckily the girls behaved really well which is saying a lot since Caitlyn has signs of mild/moderate Autism (OT - we finally got our medical aid stuff worked out so hopefully we can schedule an appointment soon to get a referral to a neurologist and make sure that's what she has. She's already getting speech therapy and one on one lesson's as well as class time through the preschool program for children with learning disabilities so a diagnosis isn't something that's urgent at the moment, just something to have if people ask like in Sunday school and other activities where she's seems 'different' from the other kids). Anyway, Caitie's valentines from school kept both Audrey and her entertained for quite a while and then they decided to play with my hair and pretend I was a boat, lol. I basically just laid on the floor most of the day while they played. Caitie pretended to give me 'yummies' and I kept asking her if was soup since I am sick but she insisted and said "No... it's yummies." I guess she thought I needed yummies more than soup to get better because she usually always makes me pretend soup, lol. My hubby got home, we had dinner, and then he sent me straight to bed. Paul probably would have 'tried' to cook if it came down to it, but I really like what I make and he's somewhat domestically challenged in that area, lol. Thank heaven for crockpots! He's great with other things though. He took care the girls and did all the bedtime routine stuff with them. Picked up, put away dinner, and then made sure I was okay. I'm feeling loads better today, probably thanks to the 14 hours of sleep I got and then all the healthy goodies I ate yesterday (anyone else try those Naked fruit smoothies? They are delicious!!) So hopefully I'll be able to create a little bit today and finish up these Week of LOVE Challenges :D

The Challenge for Day 7 is totally simple : Treat yourself to something you LOVE!! It's Valentine's day so let's celebrate what we LOVE!! My hubby and I are going to watch some movies after the girls go to bed tonight. I'm probably going to get some scrappin' in today since it's a short day for my hubby at school (so I might even have some posts for tonight :D). It's been a heck of a week and we already went out to a movie and dinner last weekend for our Valentines. Since we've had kids our schedule for that kind of thing is basically whenever we can get a babysitter, lol. So I'm glad to say that my Valentines wasn't ruined by being sick. We technically already celebrated and tonight is just some downtime with my hubby. The girls are getting valentine my little ponies (they both love these), chocolate (what girl doesn't love chocolate), and little valentines from Mom and Dad (made by Mom of course, but Daddy pays for all Mommy's stuff ^_^). Nana is also coming later to spoil them some more, lol. We are going to have lots of fun today. I'm just so thankful that I'm feeling better now so that I can enjoy it!! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

A Week of LOVE - Challenge Day 5

*Edit* Alright so I devised a way to scrap what I wanted without a pic of me (I'm always the one behind the camera but I'm trying to learn to remedy that :D) So here's the layout I did!

Colors : Olive, Barn Red, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate

Papers : Life Delights

Stamps : Sans Alpha

Accents : Ribbon, Garden Green Accessories, Chocolate bigger brads, Primas

I won't post everything I journaled since there is so much. I wrote about my daughters being my greatest love and inspiration for scrapbooking and why on the left page and on the right I wrote about the things they do now with scrapbooking. Younger pictures on the left layout since I talked about how they are growing so fast and that I want to preserve these special memories and the right layout is current pictures to go along with the journaling of what they do now with my scrapbooks and scrapbook stuff.

So Tuesday's Challenge is actually fairly simple : What do you LOVE about scrapbookin/cardmaking?

I contemplated making a page but I really want to get a pic of me scrappin' for that. I'll have to ask my hubby to do that some time, he's still getting used to my new digi camera. So, what do I love about scrapbooking? Well aside from EVERYTHING, lol... it's my way of expressing myself artistically. I've always loved to draw and create things ever since I was little. Leave me alone with a pencil and some paper and I was set for hours from toddler age to teenager. So it's pretty natural that I love scrapbooking. I love the design element and playing with all the fun embellishments. I also love that when I scrapbook my pictures I feel so accomplished. Stamping is a newer love that started with the acrylic alphabets. I was crazy about being able to make my own titles using the colors I wanted with the alphabet stamps. After that I started small with just some flowers and little girl stamps but soon I was addicted!! Scrapbooking is my stress relief. It's what I do for enjoyment and I feel extra happy because I'm also being productive by preserving our memories! Basically, I love everything about it!

A Week of LOVE - Challenge Day 4

Monday's Week of LOVE challenge and the color challenge for the week is this :

Hollyhock, Vanilla Cream, Blush, and Chocolate!

Sue's Cards
Sparkle's Layout





Paper : More to Adore

Stamps : Delightful Alpha, Amore Alpha, Boutique Alpha, Adorable, Because I Love You, Soul Mates

Accents : Hollyhock Accessories, Baby Pink Accessories, Primas, Chocolate Ribbon Rounds, Dimensional Elements Ribbon Sliders and Simple Alpha, Bigger Brads in chocolate & baby pink, Chocolate brads

Another fun love layout. I've always loved this paper and ribbon, and it went perfectly with these daddy/daughter pics. I altered another Page Maps layout for this and did quite a bit of stamping. This is for two challenges actually. The first for my color challenge/week of love and the second for Pam Klassen's OOYB #2 challenge in which the inspiration is the quote "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." It was actually just happen stance that I used the quote on this layout. I was planning on journaling but couldn't think of what to write when the quote and challenge came to mind. It fit perfectly!



Today I helped Caitie make her first Valentines. She only needed a handful since her class is very small. The treats are mini M&M bags inside these little matchbox cards. Both she and Audrey had a blast coloring the images and helping me glue and press down the paper. Caitlyn's favorite part though was using the stapler to create the matchbox front.

A Week of LOVE - Challenge Day 3

I had finished the layout yesterday but didn't get a chance to upload, so here it is. The Challenge for Sunday was to USE WHAT YOU LOVE!!

Paper : Sugar & Spice

Stamps : Amore Alpha

Accents : Big Blooms, Just Blooms White Daisy, Primas, Spring Buttons, Brads, Bigger Brads; Dimensional Elements (various CTMH), Ribbon, Safety pin

I decided to make a layout to try and catch back up with my layout a day goal. The layout is made with many things that I love! The paper is from one of my favorite baby sets, Sugar & Spice. The second thing is the ribbon. This is my favorite spool of ribbon from the col white ribbon rounds. I actually used the last of it on this very layout! Flowers are another thing I adore!! I LOVE putting flowers on my cards and layouts! I also love embellies and the dimensional elements. Plus I love these pictures!

I also made a card ^_~ Using the Love Challenge Sketch from Saturday but flipping it horizonatally.

Colors : Cranberry, Blush, Baby Pink, White, Black

Paper : Cherish

Stamps : Mwahbella

Accents : Primas, Brads, Bigger Brads, Just Blooms white daisy, Ice Stickles Crystal, Stampendous fine pink glitter

This was a fun card. Made for Valentines and a thank you.

My Scrappy Supply Table

Alright, I'm stuck in this chair with a sleeping tot on my shoulder. Audrey is at that point where she's trying to outgrow her last nap so if we put her down she just plays or cries all through nap time but she isn't quite ready to let them go completely so she'll fall asleep wherever some days. Well she was fussing and fussing so I was rocking her and now she's out, lol. I'm a sucker so I don't put my kids down when they fall asleep on me. Besides they have been growing so fast that I need to enjoy this while I can!! I was actually a bit sad about that a couple days ago. I went to go bring a girl, who just had her first baby boy, some dinner for her and her hubby. Well that baby was SOOOO TINY!! I forget they come that small! I still call Audrey my baby all the time but she's almost 2 1/2 and she's talking so much and growing up so fast. I can't even remember Caitlyn as a baby or small toddler. Alright, bittersweet moments!! My babies are growing up!! So as I snuggle my sleeping tot I decided to post a little since it's a lot harder to craft with her in my arms than to type, lol.

In our SBS4 group we have an album to post our scrap space pictures. I've been able to put pics in the other albums but not that one for some reason. I've tried like a dozen times, lol! It just doesn't like me so I'm going to post it here for my SBS4 sistahs and anyone who's curious. This is where I keep my scrap stuff. I actually scrap on my dining table, but this table is right near it so I have everything in reach ^_~ And yes this is everything, lol. Well except my cuttlebug. That is up high on my computer armoire because my girls think it's a toy for rolling/squishing their poor stuffed animals through (like those old clothes ringers for laundry), LOL!

My supply table :

The Crop In Style houses all my CS and paper. I can also fit all my ink pads in there since the paper only takes up 2/3 of the big inside space. I got it because last year the only time I really scrapped was with one of my close friends and her family at either her house or her moms, so I wanted everything I had on the go :D I kept the inks in the holders still because Caitie will steal them and line them all up on the floor or stack them all like blocks, lol. If they are in the cases she leaves them alone ^_~

And here's the top of my computer armoire. Both of these pictures were taken last week when I was trying to upload them onto the yahoo album, so the cards up there are different now. This is where I toss all my mail/bills/recents cards/purse/etc. And yes, there is my cuttlebug trying to stay away from my girlies :D. When Caitie is really adamant about having it she'll pull a chair up to the armoire to get it down, lol.

So that's my scrap space stuff. Not much but I like what I got ^_~.