celebrating our independence (MWM 49)

Here is yet another awesome Kristy Lee sketch. I love small pictures! I can't believe I used to be afraid to cut my pictures! Sometimes it just needs to be done! lol

We had such a fun 4th of July this year - it made doing this layout that much more fun! I mixed some Echo Park Metro Dots & Stripes with Piggy Tales Yankee Doodle papers, and love how well the worked together! I think I've used bakers twine on nearly every layout since I first got it - and I love it every time!

My Love (MWM 46)

I know I say this all the time, but I really love this Mid week Mojo! I ended up straying from the sketch a little more than I would have liked to, but I'm okay with how it turned out!

I used My Mind's Eye Union Square papers - which I almost passed up buying. I'm SO glad I got them! They are really gorgeous papers! I wouldn't have chosen "my LOVE" for my title if the "LOVE" wasn't already in the bottom corner - but I'm okay with that too! These papers are so pretty that I had a hard time cutting into them! But I'm so glad I did! What good are papers sitting in a big plastic envelope, after all?

Your Smile [makes me smile] - ScrapbookSteals MWM 45

It was guest sketcher week again at ScrapbookSteals! This time, the sketch was from Lisa Zubritsky, who has only been scrapbooking for about a year! All of her layouts are gorgeous! I love how different this sketch is!

These papers are technically part of a girl kit from My Mind's Eye (Delightful), but I think they're great for boys too! Sure, there is a little bit of pink, but that doesn't bother me! This picture is from 2006, and every time I see it, it brings a smile to my face! I knew I wanted to scrap it, and was so happy when I found that I already had it printed so I could get to work right away! I've been loving all of the pinwheels lately, and thought they'd be a great alternative to stars and buttons for boy layouts (since cute embellishments for boy pages are so hard to come by) - they were SO easy to make! You just cut a square (my biggest is 3x3, the medium is 2.5x2.5, and the small is 2x2), then cut from each corner diagonally toward the center (but not all the way to the center), and then fold one side of each cut in to the middle and glue the middles down! I used some of my Twinery twine, some thickers with distressing crackle paint on them, & my We R Memory Keepers heart attack distressing tool on all of the paper pieces! I really love how this layout turned out! Thanks for such a fun sketch, Lisa!

(A little late) 3rd time... a charm? - mwm 41

I can't remember now what was going on the week of mid week mojo 41 - I think maybe training for work? Anyway, I was finally able to finish this layout! The sketch was provided by fellow ScrapbookSteals friend Sheryl Kloke!

I bought these 3 bugs in a rug papers a few months ago when my local scrapbook store (Robert's) was closing, and they were on clearance. I initially thought I'd use them for some zoo pictures most likely, but I loved the colors with these pictures of my oldest getting his 3rd (and not last) set of tubes. I used thickers for the title, and added some glimmer mist to the smaller set to turn them a slightly orange color. Not sure I'm in love with how the title came out. How with so many thickers do I have a hard time finding just the right ones for a layout? Anyway, I'm happy to finally have these pictures from 2008 scrapped!

Eight is Great (MWM 44)

ScrapbookSteals' midweek mojo #44 is a two page sketch this week! I thought I'd take this opportunity to scrap some of the birthday party pictures I've been wanting to do for a while now!

I finally found a good use for my My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup (boy) collection! Plus, I got my baker's twine from a twine swap I participated in with some friends I met through ScrapbookSteals, and I was so excited to get to use it! I used some Basic Grey buttons and some thickers of my title! The "great" thickers have been in my stash for along time, and I wasn't sure I'd ever find a use for them - so glad I did! I'm happy with the finished layout!

Swing, batter batter batter... (MWM 43)

 Here is ScrapbookSteals' Midweek mojo sketch #42!

  

These pictures were taken at the Copper Hills Cal Ripkin baseball fund raiser last weekend - and they came out so well (loving my new camera!)! I could hardly wait to scrap them! I used Echo Park Little Boy papers and cut the bat, mit, and ball with my cricut, and I used Thickers for the title! This layout came together so quickly and with such little effort!

Sisters by chance, Friends by choice (mwm 42)

 I feel like my scrapbooking time has been so limited these last few weeks - I was happy to have time to scrap today! I guess starting a new job and beginning working will impact the amount of personal time one has! I'll be honest - at first, I wasn't sure how I felt about this sketch (I think I really just wasn't in the scraping mode). I am so glad I decided to use this layout to make a birthday present for my sister!

I've had these My Mind's Eye: So Sophie/Graceful papers in my collection for several weeks, and haven't really had any pictures to use them with so I was really excited when I realized this picture taken over the weekend would go perfectly with this paper collection! I took some Prima Marketing flowers and added a little bit of Cranberry Zing Glimmer Mist to make them the right color, and added some iRock studs to the centers. I also used some white fabric Thickers, and sprayed them with both Sand & Cranberry Zing colored Glimmer Mists. I like the way it turned out, and hope my sister likes it!

birthday babe (midweek mojo 40)

I can't believe midweek mojo @ ScrapbookSteals.com has been going on for 40 weeks! I'm sad I can't play for the Saphire Club - but I still consider myself a member! Here is yet another great Kristy Lee sketch:

I had these nearly two year old pictured that were calling for me to scrap them - and they matched up perfectly with Echo Park's Springtime papers! I feel like it's a little plain, but don't want to over due the embellishments, either.

Dream BIG, little boy! (midweek mojo #39)

I've been so busy training at the new job, I've hardly had time to scrapbook! But I found a few minutes today, and was anxious to tackle this sketch - midweek mojo 39! 

I seem to do so many layouts about my little girl - probably because girl pages are so much more fun - the paper selection is endless, embellishments are so easy to find, and they come together so much more easily than boy pages for me! But, I have lots of cute pictures and memories of my boys that need to be preserved, too! So I'm trying to do as many layouts featuring my boys as I do of my daughter.

I love the embossed background paper - it adds dimension, texture, and interest without having to find a bunch of embellishments!

The papers, title letters, chip board pieces, and journaling block are from KI Memories: Love, Elsie/Cody. The arrow chip board piece is from Fancy Pants Design, and I sprayed it with Chalkboard Glimmer Mist: Decadence color. After I glued down all my pictures, letters, everything, I decided to use my We R Memory Keepers Heart Attack tool to sand & distress the cardstock a little to make those embossed stars really pop... not sure I love the outcome, but it is what it is! :)

I often struggle with boy pages, but I'm happy with how this turned out!

Only a hippopotamus will do! (mwm 38)

Since I've been hired by the Steal Network, I officially can't enter the ScrapbookSteals midweek mojo drawing anymore, nor can I post my midweek mojo layouts on their facebook page (since it would post under "scrapbooksteals" instead of my name). But, I still want to complete the sketches as much as I have time for!

Here is the sketch for midweek mojo #38:

I love two page sketches/layouts! I've been doing more and more one page layouts, and have learned to REALLY love them as well (at first, I couldn't leave them at one page!), but I think I will always love a great two pager! I absolutely love the scrolls! Such a fun new element!

I started with white cardstock, and sprayed it with Creme de Chocolat & Strawberry Shortcake Glimmer Mists, and then used various papers from the American Crafts' Letterbox collection. This is one of my favorite midweek mojo sketches ever!

The journaling is about June singing "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" while playing hungry hungry hippos!

MWM 37

Midweek Mojo 37 brought another guest sketcher! Another Utah friend, Staci Jones, came up with this sketch:

My layout:

I used papers from two Echo Park collections - Sweet Summertime & A Walk In The Park! I really LOVE Echo Park! The title, journaling block, and ticket on the far left side are all also from EP AWITP.

MWM 36

The sketch:

My layout:

The paper, rub-ons, buttons, and journaling block are all from Fancy Pants' Dancing Girl collection! I admired these papers for months before breaking down and buying them, and they were perfect for this sketch! It was very different from any layout I've completed before. It was really fun, and I like how it turned out!

MWM 35

Here is the sketch:

And my layout:

The papers (just like last week's layout) are from My Mind's Eye- Dreamy 2/Brilliant collection.

MWM 34

My sketch:

The papers are My Mind's Eye- Dreamy 2/Brilliant collection. I used my cricut for the stars and the bracket layers, and thickers for the title!

MWM 33

The sketch:

My layout:

The papers are My Mind's Eye- Dreamy 2/Enchanting collection. I used thickers for the title!

MWM 32... Guest Sketcher: ME!

In early February, the fabulous Kristy Lee from ScrapbookSteals.com contacted me, asking if I would like to be a guest sketcher for them! I was SO excited. Honored. Nervous! All the guest sketchers before me had done such amazing work - not to mention Kristy's sketches every week! And then, I found out what papers I'd get to use for the sketch... Imaginisce's Enchanted collection! PERFECT for so many of my pictures of June! I was SO SO EXCITED! And, the timing couldn't have been better - this mid-week mojo came out the day before my birthday! :) It was so much fun!

Here is the sketch I came up with:

And here is the layout I created to go with my sketch, to showcase the awesome papers!:
All the die-cuts came with the collection, which made it so easy to complete this layout!

I made a few extra projects with this collection - because it is just so cute!
I made this card for my niece's birthday:

This was just another layout I made... because the theme seemed to fit!

And, I wanted to challenge myself to make a boy layout using this ultra girly paper collection:

MWM 31

The sketch:

My layout:

The papers are Fancy Pants Hot Chocolate. I cut the snowflakes with my circut, and the title is made from thickers.

MWM 30 - Ruby Club!

I have completed all thirty of the Midweek Mojo sketches! It isn't always easy getting the pages done, and they aren't always submitted on time for the weekly drawing, but it's been a lot of fun participating, and I've become friends with so many awesome women because of this hobby!

Here's the sketch:

And, my layout:

The paper is part of the Echo Park Little Boy collection, the title is Thickers, and I used some Pebbles chips for embellishments!

MWM 29

Wohoo! Another guest sketcher! This time, Brenda Smith came up the sketch! Brenda's layouts are always gorgeous! Her style is so recognizable. This was no exception!

My layout:
Paper: Fancy Pants  {That Boy} collection. I've had these papers for.e.ver! and am glad I finally found a use for them!

MWM 28

 The sketch:

My layout:

Paper: PiggyTales' Yankee Doodle Dandy collection 

Sorry about the horrible glare from the flash... that picture is a little fuzzy, and then add the flash glare - yuck!