Lake Tahoe

Here I have a layout from a trip to Lake Tahoe last September. DH and I went up there the weekend after Labor Day as a way to have a last hurrah of summer before he would have to start work. Going after Labor Day proved to be quite nice because it was after the rush of the holiday and everything was winding down to settle for winter. The weather was still pretty nice for us, though. We did some biking and camping...water was a bit cold for swimming, but there were some braving it. It's nice to have such a place not too far away, but here we never did make it there in the winter or since yet. Someday...

Anyway, this layout follows the sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays this week. I really liked the blocks that made up the sketch, but modified it slightly to accommodate my pictures, so my photos became 3x4's. I knew in my stash that I had the perfect letters for the title. I love these big distressed letters. It was merely a bonus to find the intricately die-cut leaves in my stash. Both were a random box of scrapbook stuff purchase from eBay a few months back. Kinda fun because some of the stuff falls into the category that I wouldn't necessarily buy it directly, but having it now, I'm finding fun uses for it. Brings me out of my comfort zone too. I'm working on trying to embellish more on my pages. :)

And finally, the twine was just a fun added thing I thought I would try. I'm really liking it! I hope you agree.

Thanks for looking!

DETAILS:
Paper - Thatched (Fancy Pants - Celebrate - Jubilate), Green Leaves (Adornit - Carolee's Creations - Forest Leaves)
Embellishments - Sticker Letters (Mustard Moon), Leaf Die-Cuts (Stash), Twine (Stash)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays

Congrats Graduates

I recently got some random events' pictures printed, including DH's graduation from June. From inspiration of the sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays for the Spring Challenge Hop and the pennant banner I had gotten for the occasion, seen in the first picture, I thought his graduation was only fitting. And while I kept the original pennants, they didn't quite work with what I wanted for this particular page.

So here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

A fellow scrapping buddy (hi, Steph!) got me the great Stanford paper pack for Christmas knowing that I would be doing pages for this event eventually. I used the 12x12 scaled down of the patterned paper and the little logos on the pennant are from a border sticker included in the set. That little banner was made by yours truly. I'm really liking how it came out!

Pictures are of DH and his Computer Science partner in crime, who was our Best Man in our wedding in July. I'm pretty proud of DH for getting in and graduating from Stanford!

Thanks for stopping by today! And thanks all that leave comments. I sure enjoy them. :)

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (Sports Solutions), Solid (Martha Stewart and DCWV)

Embellishments - Stamps (Heidi Swapp - Handwritten Alphabet), Ink (Colorbox), Stickers (Sports Solutions), Run On Letters (American Crafts), White Cord (Joanns), Photo Corners (Heidi Swapp)

Love, Honor & Cherish

A wedding layout today! I think this is probably the fastest I have ever scrapped something after it happened. Just three weeks ago I was in Peoria, Illinois, to witness two good friends of mine get married and I thought it would be the perfect subject for a few challenges. I also had the memorabilia from their ceremony and reception that I didn't want to lose, so scrapping this sooner than later was probably a good idea. :)

For the main aspect of this layout I did the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch:






I found this sketch fun to use and added a little more bling and embellishments than I usually do on my pages, but actually enjoyed it! I was very glad to find the perfect color flowers to go along with this layout theme. So, here's my take:

This layout also incorporates bling (both the scrapbook kind as in purple rhinestones and the wedding ring kind - this was from the couple's program, just cut with a Nestability Labels 1) for the challenges over at Practical Scrappers and The Cuttlebug Spot. 

I also decided a wedding layout was the perfect way to incorporate the poem inspiration at Scrap That Poetry's latest challenge. The lines "The thought of Love Immortal blends / With fond remembrances of friends;" spoke to me because this was a wedding of two good friends I met while living in Peoria.

If you're wondering why I'm targeting these specific challenge blogs, it's due to their great challenge blog hop going on this week. Be sure to check it out at each of these blogs mentioned, or specifically here.

Now I just need to work on a few more challenges for Pile It On and 365 Cards. This blog hop makes you work!
Thanks for stopping by!
DETAILS:Paper - Solid (Martha Stewart & DCWV), Patterned (Provo Craft - Lilac Basket)Embellishments - Stamp (Inkadinkadoo), Ink (Colorbox), Border Punch (Martha Stewart - Heart Lace), Flowers (Hero Arts & Prima & Stash), Brads (Recollections), Rhinestones (Studio G), Nestabilities Labels 1 (Spellbinders), Insert (Wedding Program Memorabilia)

Cheers!

Carrying on with the Peru book I finished another page today. This one features a picture of DH and I with our strawberry daiquiris the other members of our trek group got for us. It was super nice of them to chip in and help us celebrate! Once they learned of our trip also serving as our honeymoon, some wondered if I had lost my mind to want to "work" instead of relax. But I think they also were a bit jealous of having such a cool honeymoon too. Some were touched that we would want to spend it with our misfits of Sexy Llamas (what our guide eventually dubbed our tour group).

Here's the sketch:




Here's my take:

For this page I used the Sketchy Thursdays Second Chance sketch. The challenge has a great sponsor of Lawn Fawn Stamps too. These stamps are so cute! I incorporated some stamps in my page: the circle border is one from JustRite and the martini glasses are Studio G.

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart), Patterned (K&Co)
Embellishment - Thickers (American Crafts), Border Stamp (JustRite Stampers), Martini Stamp (Studio G), Border Punch (Fiskers)

Hannah

I thought I would take a break from the cleaning to get this page posted. I finished this page last night following the Sketchy Thursdays 3.11 sketch. It was a break from the Peru 12x12's that I've been doing lately and is an 8x8 page for my little furbaby Hannah's book. This is only the second finished page in her book but I have a lot of digital photos to choose from for many more in the future.

This page is about Hannah's New Digs in California. She got to come to California with me after I visited my family again in May last year. My parents were cat-sitting since the first place that I lived did not allow cats. Hannah instantly liked the vantage point from the living room windowsill. She has a complete circuit throughout the living room: run up half the stairs to the landing, go through the railing to the windowsill, run across the windowsill, pounce on the back of the couch (usually surprising anyone that is sitting with their back turned to the windowsill and not expecting a cat to come falling out of the sky). I know that when we move, she'll definitely miss that aspect of the house.

A simple page, but I got to use my new paw print punch (clearance find at Joanns) and one of the bigger flowers I've had in my stash but I thought went well with the sketch. The "mischief maker" tag is a part of my kitty stash that I've accumulated for her book.

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Patterned (K&Co), Solid (Green - Bazzil Swiss Dot, Pink - Stash)
Embellishments - Flower (Stash), Mischief Maker Tag (K&Co), Paw Print Punch (EKSuccess)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays 3.11 Sketch

80's Layout

Hot off the presses comes my entry for the Sketchy Thursday Guest Designer challenge. As it had requirements of colors (pink, black, white) and an 80's theme, I figured this would be the perfect time to scrap my cousin's 40th birthday party. It too had an 80's theme...how perfect, right? The photo in this layout is my cousin's sister, my mom, myself, and the birthday girl all decked out in 80's gear. A fun party even though it also made me feel old because I was born in the 80's!

The sketch for this challenge offered some fun elements with five circles to accent the one picture. Armed with my JustRite circle stamper, I jazzed up my circles. I'm proud of myself for using my stamps in this layout because sometimes it's hard to remember to use stamps for cards AND layouts.

DETAILS:
Paper - Patterned (Making Memories), Solids (DCWV)
Stamps - Circle Border (JustRite), Celebrate (Studio G), 40 (Autumn Leaves)
Embellishments - Ink (ColorBox), Border Punch (Fiskers), Ribbon (Target)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays

Peru: The Kids!

I finished another page last night for my Peru Honeymoon book. This page's inspiration was the cute Peruvian kids we saw along our trek across the Andes on day 2. Armed with crackers from the local market, they were always happy to see tourists along the trail. I found it interesting that they would be up there by themselves or just in small groups tending to a big flock of sheep or llamas for their family. And they always had sandals on! And here we had to bundle up in many layers...we were such wimps. (That's probably what they thought of us...haha)

I used the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch for my layout. I added in a colorful circle of Fancy Pants paper to go with the kids' colorful dress but yet went with a neutral main page color to make sure it stood out at the same time. I enjoyed showcasing the photos in this type of a sketch. I did have to add a little bit of button bling in the corner just cause. :)

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Stash - colors, Martha Stewart - off white), Patterned (Fancy Pants All Fall "In Line")
Embellishments - Alphabets (American Crafts Thickers), Buttons (Joanns), Alpaca (cut from a handmade card we got in Peru)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays 2.11 Sketch