Scrap Our Stash Christmas Blog Hop Winner

So sorry for the delay in getting my post up about my Scrap Our Stash Christmas Blog Hop Winner!

Congrats to...

BETTY!

Thank you to all that stopped by on the hop! I hope to see you participate in the Scrap Our Stash challenges!

Betty, please send me your address so I can send you my blog candy.

St. Pete Beach

(If you are looking for the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop post, please visit here.)

Another layout from our trip to Florida. This was us heading to the beach in the morning for a little relaxing swim before the busy part of the day of attending a wedding on that same beach in the afternoon. A simple page but it's always good to have a few complicated pages and then a few not so when they will be next to each other in the book, right? I followed the sketch over at Creative Scrappers and the prompt over at Creative Prompts 4 U.

Here's the sketch:

Here's my take:

I wanted that blue sky to pop so I went with a neutral background. I found the tropical paper in my scraps and cut two strips. I tried putting more but it then looked cluttered, so I stuck with two. Found the little bottle cap embellishment in my stash so thought it would be fun to use. The chipboard is from my stash too.

Challenges:
Creative Scrappers #112
Creative Prompts 4 U #22 (paradise in a picture)

The Everglades Layout

(If you are looking for my Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop post, please visit here.)

Hot off my craft table is this layout about the recent trip we took to Florida and the Everglades. The photos lent themselves pretty easily to the sketch that I had in mind to use. That sketch was the latest Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge WMSC6. I know, I know, these are card sketches, but after doing WMSC4 as a layout I wanted the added challenge to try and make the sketch a layout once again. Add on that making sure to use Waltzingmouse Stamps and it turns into a pretty good challenge! The perk, of course, is that I get more layouts completed, which my DH reminds me regularly on how behind I am.

So anyway, here's the sketch and color inspiration (As I must have had the last Friend of WMS blog hop on the brain cause I stuck to green and blue, which works for this week's Color Throwdown #102!) :

And here's my take:

I first drew my quarter circle on some scratch paper and then figured out how the photos were going to be placed. I knew I wanted the one big 4x6 and then went from there. These photos worked well because with different cropping aspects I could get interesting environment pictures (ie. the warning sign and the tram) and then smaller parts of a bigger picture could be easily cropped out and showcased (ie. the bird and alligator small pictures). I did cheat by gluing down all my photos on the green cardstock, cutting the perimeter of the arc, and then cutting and attaching strips of the remaining sheet to look like I had spaced out the photos perfectly for a grid-like feel. Do you like?

A busy photo collage means I wanted to go less so for the background. I used Waltzingmouse Stamps Off Beat Backgrounds for the grid and zig zag embellishment to my page. I'm thinking I might need to add in some Free Spirit stamps here soon cause my layouts tend to be more masculine than flowery anyway, but for now Off Beat Backgrounds is just the perfect set. I love how the stamps are big to cover a 12x12 with only two across and maybe about eight down! They are so big that I use my cutting mat from my cuttlebug right now as my block! It works!

So, another layout complete. This one was fun to make. Now maybe you'll consider to take on the WMSC challenge? As a layout?

 I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Challenges:
WMSC6
Color Throwdown #102

DETAILS:
Paper - Solid (Martha Stewart)
Stamps - Off Beat Backgrounds (Waltzingmouse Stamps), Ink (Colorbox, Studio G)
Embellishment - Thickers (American Crafts)

A Christmas in July Blog Hop!

Scrap Our Stash: Christmas In July Blog Hop July 22-25


Hello! Today is the start of the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop. The design team and guest design team members of the Scrap Our Stash Challenge Blog are in a Christmas mood and sharing holiday-related projects. I'm the last stop on our blog hop so if you've come from Stephanie's blog you're in the right place. If you happened to have just stumbled upon this post, be sure to start at the beginning at Scrap Our Stash so you don't miss anything!

My Christmas-inspired project today is a layout about last Christmas up at my in-laws in Montana. When you find yourself in a small town in the middle of nowhere, you have to get creative! My DH and I had the thought to make up massive batches of gingerbread dough for four different pairs of the family to work on their masterpiece gingerbread house. It was a 3-day affair to make all the dough, cut out the pieces, and assemble. My layout features some of the pictures throughout the process, including the Marmon Tower!

I used DCWV papers for my main base to my layout. Accents were added with Making Memories cut-outs on chipboard for some dimension and Making Memories felt letters for my title. Click the image to view it blown up. :)

A little about Scrap Our Stash...
At Scrap Our Stash the challenges are all about getting you to use your current stash of scrapbooking supplies to create layouts and cards. Each month two challenges are set forth for readers: one to use a particular item or technique in their project and one based on a sketch. Readers then submit their entries directly for chances to win guest design team spots or prizes! Consider taking on one of the monthly challenges yourself!


And for getting this far in this long post....there's a chance for some blog candy! Just leave a comment on this post telling me what type of gingerbread house you would make. I'll pick one lucky winner to receive this:

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to head back to Scrap Our Stash to find out how to enter for the grand prize of our blog hop! Oh, and your secret word from my blog is "FRIENDS." Remember, you have until 8PM Central on Sunday to get your entry in!

Another Altered Project

I tried my hand at another altered project yesterday with just a few finishing touches (ie. putting it back together) today. Maybe you remember that I started off with one of these the last time I did an altered project...

Well, I had bought two at the time so I did the other one now. I tried to match my patterned paper to the original painted piece rather than paint it and then cover it. I think this paper worked great and is fun too. What do you think? The paper is We R Memory Keepers.

This little project is heading on to Iowa now for a slightly late bday present. I hope she likes it!

Remember to stop by tomorrow for the Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop!

Scrap Our Stash Christmas Blog Hop July 22-25

Who doesn't love Christmas? But once Thanksgiving comes - so does all the hectic preparations for Christmas. Who has time for Scrapbooking in December?

Scrap Our Stash will be sponsoring a Christmas in July Blog Hop! It will be from July 22nd - July 25th. Many of the Design Team and Guest Design Team members are preparing a special "Christmas" type post for you to visit on their personal blogs, and many of the blogs will also be offering blog candy for comments and/or following. There will also be a prize awarded for the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop Contest.

This will be a fun filled weekend you won't want to miss. Mark your calendars now - and watch Scrap Our Stash for further information.

Tuesday Morning Sketches Celebration Week 3

Over at Tuesday Morning Sketches a celebration is going on. A year anniversary is happening with challenges that let you pick your own sketch (one of the 52 from the year) to participate. This week's sponsor is Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. They have very cute images over there so be sure to take a peek. And in order to win, be sure to head over to the challenge blog, find a sketch that speaks to you, and create!

Back in February I was a guest designer for Tuesday Morning Sketches. I was just tickled to be asked to design! It was my very first "gig." Now, as a means of celebrating the year previous guest designers were asked to help with each week of the July month by creating a card from their favorite sketch.

Using three images from the Birds & Branches set from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, the sketch that spoke to me was Sketch #44.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

I decided to fussy cut around the entire image and set it upon some blue Bazzill swiss dot paper. Then, as the theme this week is "thinking of summer," I used some fun patterned paper. I made the card base and my mat to match my coloring of one of the bird houses in the image. The images are super simple to color and even easy to cut out. Thank you, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, for being this week's sponsor!

Remember, you have until Sunday to get your entry in! Be sure to check out what the other designers did with the summer theme here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Color Throwdown Inspiration

Over at the Color Throwdown they are celebrating their 100th challenge! I have been following this challenge blog for some time and I think I might have entered once or twice, but I do know that each week I've been inspired by the color choices and the DT's cards. This week I made a point to be sure to participate...

As I hopped along all the DT and Guest DT blogs today I noticed a theme: Basic Grey patterned paper. When I sat down to do my own card I turned to my own small BG stash, and behold! the Euphoria paper instantly caught my eye. Going with this as my base I decided to pull out one of my DRS Designs stamps. I'm always in need for birthday cards, July being no exception!

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you might consider taking the challenge too.

DETAILS:
Paper - Solid (Stash), Patterned (Basic Grey Euphoria)
Stamp - Celebrate Cake Silhouette (DRS Designs), Ink (Colorbox Chalk Ink)
Embellishments - Chipboard Flower (Making Memories), Border Punch (Fiskers), Ribbon (Martha Stewart)
Techniques - Fussy Cutting, Sewing

CAS Fun

Today just called for a cute and simple (CAS) type of card today. I thought I would finally get to the Swapping Sistahs kit Ren-Yi sent us for June too. Yes, the kit was supposed to be for June, and here it is July! (Sorry Ren-Yi!) Once I dug into it though, and with some inspiration from the latest Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch, this card came together quite easily. Unfortunately I started right away and didn't take a picture of the papers that were sent....oops! I did use three of the four provided and supplemented with some green that went with my focal image, which was part of a patterned paper of birds and birdcages...very cute!

So here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

Enjoy! And be sure to check out the other ladies in our little swap, including 2010 Gallery Idol winner Belinda! Yea, that's right, I know a paper-crafting celebrity...lol!