Rush to the End of the Month

It is the last day of August and I have a few more projects to share before all the new September challenges are posted.  Let's start with a layout I made using the fantastic sketch challenge at My Scraps & More Sketches.  This yummy sketch is by Audrey Yeager.  I decided to turn it on it's side since I wanted to use horizontal photos.

In July my mother and  I were lucky enough to take some classes taught by Dina Wakley.  They were a blast!!  We learned a ton of fun techniques.

 I used one of the painting techniques that Dina taught to make the red and blue paper strips on this layout.  I shared this process on a previous post HERE. I also took a photo of the paints I used and fussy cut them out to use as an embellie on this layout.  FUN!  Here it is:

I set myself a goal this month of entering all the challenges at Sketches4all.  Here are the last few stragglers! ha  This first card is for Fia's Sketch challenge.

Here is a card for Fia's Inspiration challenge.  You are required to choose something from the inspiration board and let it inspire your project.  I was inspired by the look of the bright watercolors with black inking on top.  

The stamp didn't stamp perfectly on the textured watercolor paper but I still liked how it looked so I went with it! ha  

Next I have a card for Fia's color challenge.  Here are the colors:

I was lucky to find a sheet of paper that was perfect because it had all the colors on it!  My plan was to make a perfectly flat card by die cutting the star out of two pieces of paper and then inserting the star from one paper into the die cut space on the other paper.  But I didn't really like the look so I changed it up and ended up making two cards with my die cut papers. (you will see what I mean if you keep reading)  I used the sketch challenge from Clean and Simple Stamping to inspire me.

Here is my card:

I decided to take my second die cut paper and make a birthday card for the Guest Designer, Monique's Birthday challenge at Sketches4all.

I think I like this card the best of all of them.  It is just so clean and simple and I like the pops of color with the enamel dots.  What do you think?  Which is your favorite?

Okay, enough for today.  I'm glad you had a chance to stop by and look today.  I hope you are all having an awesome weekend!!  Until next time...happy scrapping!!

Stacy

2nd Post Today!!!

Can you believe that I am writing my second post for today?!  That never happens! ha  I guess I'm still feeling scrappy because I knocked out another layout today.  It is for a sketch challenge at Stuck? Sketches.  Here is the cool sketch by Laura Whitaker:

As you can notice, I turned the sketch on it's side to better work with my photos.  I'm going to enter this in Giorgia's "Rub On" challenge at Sketches4all too.  

If you haven't seen my other post today be sure and scroll down and check out 4 more layouts and a card!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!  Until next time...happy scrapping!!

Stacy

Tons to Share!

I have a lot to share with you today so let's just jump right in and get started!  lol  Yesterday my friend, Rochelle, came over to scrap (Yipee!!) and I finally managed to finish up 5 (yes, count them...5) layouts!! (you will only get to see 4 of them today....the other one is for a DT assignment for September.  I'm so happy that school is back in session and we can have our scrap days together again!! ha

Here is the first one to show you.  This one started with the August 1st sketch challenge at Sketch N Scrap.  The gorgeous sketch is from Lisa Hidy.

 I love this collection from Simple Stories.  GORGEOUSNESS!  I'm also entering this challenge in Pat's OLW (one little word) "Sunshine" challenge at Sketches4all.

My next layout is for the August 1st challenge at Paper Secrets.  You are required to use the sketch (this one is by Kelly Holifield and is beautiful!)

and use product that spells out the word SWIM.  I used S-Sticker, sequins, W - wood, washi  I - ink, M - misting.  The photos are from our anniversary vacation to St. Barth in the French West Indies.  I'm obsessing over wooden embellishments so expect to see them on everything! lol  I'm entering it in Pat's OLW challenge too!!

My next layout is for 3 different challenges - the Scrappy Friends Challenges.  The first a sketch challenge by Brenda Ragsdale at  GrandDiva's Creative Corner.

The second is Rochelle's Tic Tac Toe challenge at Through the Eyes of Rochelle Spears 

and the 3rd is Kelly's color challenge at Creating with Paper and More.

Here is my layout.  I used a first day of school photo on it and did some hand stitching.  I'm entering it in Rachelle's Somewhere Over the Rainbow Challenge at Sketches4all.

This next layout is one I made while on vacation in St. Barths.  (I actually scrapped two layouts while I was there.)  I am entering it in Cheryl's Fabric challenge at Sketches4all.  I trimmed out two hearts from some satin and added them to the layout.

The last thing to share is a card that I made literally from stuff I picked up from my scrap room floor!!  I was picking up stuff that had fallen onto the floor and layering in one hand while picking up with the other and noticed that the patterned paper, stamped flower, sequins, ribbon and the button all seemed to go together and when the next thing I picked up was a stamp I decided it was kismet!  lol  I immediately stopped cleaning and threw together this card because it just made me laugh that all the pieces were off the floor.

Monday was the first day of school for my 5 kids.  I now have 2 in elementary school (a 1st grader and a 3rd grader), 1 in middle school (7th grader) and two in high school (two 9th graders - where has the time gone!?!).  We are getting up this year at 5:30am to get the older boys to marching band by 6:40am.  It is kind of crazy around here in the morning but it is working for us so far! ha

Thanks for stopping by and looking at all my projects today!!  Until next time...happy scrapping!

Stacy

Scrapping My Old Stash

Happy Saturday!

This last week has been kind of busy.  My two oldest boys have been in Band Camp for the last two week. They have been at camp for at least 4-5 hours a day everyday except Sunday and 11 hours last Friday!!  They did their first "marching" performance for us parents last night on the football field of their school.  Here is a photo of them in their new uniforms.  Don't they look handsome!?

We have been doing deep house cleaning this week too.  And there have been dentist appointments and eye doctor appointments etc etc.  And lots of other things to do to get ready for school to start on Monday the 25th.

Thursday I was in the mood, the mood to scrap but I spent most of the day cleaning.  But my bff, suggested I take a break in the evening and scrap so guess what?  I did!

While my boys were at band camp, I worked on a layout for Scrap Our Stash while I watched a couple of episodes of The Killing.  (I'm kind of obsessed with this show!  It isn't a very happy show but it is a good one)

Anyway,  I basically just got out a paper pack that I have had in my stash for a couple of years from Nikki Sivils - Get Well Soon.  I got it in a Mystery box sale and it has just be languishing in my scraproom ever since.  But I was inspired by the challenge at Scrap Our Stash to use up some old supplies.  Their challenge is to use this cool sketch by Brenda Ragsdale and to use at least 75% "Old Stash".  Literally everything on this layout is OLD!

The beauty of making this layout is that I really didn't have photos in mind when I started putting the layout together.  I just did the basics and after I picked up my boys from band camp I had a photo epiphany!!

My son, Quinn came home hungry and immediately noticed that there was brussel sprouts in the trash.  He complained that they were thrown away.  I apologized and told him that there were some more in the fridge prepped and ready to be cooked.  He got super excited and got them out and started cooking them!  Seriously....my kids love brussel sprouts!   So I took a photo of him cooking and of his yummy brussel sprouts.  Perfect photo opportunity!!  I went back in my scrap room, uploaded the photos, printed them and finished up my layout!

I also made another card using the painted background that I made with acrylic paints and stencils.  I made it a few days ago but waited to share it since I didn't want the recipient (my bff) to see it before it got to her house! ha

Here is the outside.

Here is the inside.

I have 3 or 4 more layouts to share.  You will see them next week.  Two are "back to school" layouts that are just waiting for photos.  Actually they all need photos but I printed out a stack of photos yesterday and just need to add them.

And this week Rochelle is coming over on Thursday to get our weekly scrap date started again!!  I CAN'T wait!  Woot!

Thanks for stopping and looking!  Until next time...happy scrapping!

Sketch N Scrap Guest Designer - Take Two

Welcome!  I'm back to share my second card as a Guest Designer for Sketch N Scrap!  (Squeal!) There is a fun new sketch challenge that you will have to go and see as soon as you are finished here.  First let me show you my card:

I've been having fun lately with paint and stencils so I decided to design some paper to use on my card.  I wanted to make something bright and happy so I chose lemon yellow and turquoise acrylic paint from Dina Wakley Media.  This paint is luscious and the colors are gorgeous!

First I grabbed a piece of Ranger Distress Watercolor paper from my stash and covered it in a thin coat of gesso using my palette knife. This is an important step for this technique so don't skip this part.

After it dried, I squeezed out a dime size drop of each color of paint and then scrapped it randomly onto the card again using my palette knife.

While the paint was still wet I laid a stencil on top.  I grabbed a baby wipe and wiped off the paint from the holes in the stencil leaving a reverse stencil pattern.

Next after the paint dried I got another stencil and my Dylusions White Linen ink spray.  I laid the stencil on the painted paper and spritzed on the ink spray.  Then I let it all dry.  I would suggest letting it air dry to avoid paper warping.  It dries pretty quickly if you use thin coats of paint like I did.

I die cut three shapes from some white paper and used pop dots to adhere the die cut white paper over a strip of the paper that I made allowing the painted paper to show through the holes.  I also used a bit of my painted paper to make some banner shapes to add to the card front too.

Finally, I stamped out my sentiment using stamps from my new stamp set from My Favorite Things - Simply Fabulous Saying.  I like how it all came together!

I hope you get a chance to play with paint soon too!  It is a ton of fun to get your fingers dirty!! lol

Now you need to pop over to Sketch N Scrap and check out the fun sketch!  Leave a little love and if you get a chance - join in the challenge too!!

Until next time...happy scrapping!!

Stacy

Sketch N Scrap Guest Designer

Hello everyone!  I'm so happy to tell you that I am the guest card designer for August at Sketch N Scrap!!  I love taking part in their challenges and was so thrilled that they chose me as their guest designer for August!  I would love it if you would go over and leave some love!  And see the fab new sketch challenge that just went up.

Without further ado here is my first card for the month:

What do you think?  I love that little owl!  He is just so stinking cute!  I fussy cut him out and adhered him with pop dots to give the card more dimension.

Do you ever find awesome scrappy goodies at garage sales or thrift stores like I do?  There was an estate sale in my neighborhood last weekend and I got an extremely large (think gallon zip lock) bag of sequins for $1!!!  Of course I had to get a few on this card!  lol. So my owl has sequins for eyes.  You can never have too much sparkle right!?

I hope you have a chance to join in on the challenge at Sketch N Scrap!  Thanks for stopping by and looking today.  Until next time...happy scrapping!

Stacy