Lasting Memories weekly layout challenge--Paper Piecing

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!  This week's challenge at Lasting Memories is paper piecing.  So in honor of Memorial Day and my wonderful husband, here's my layout for this week:

My background paper is from Stamping Station, as is the paper piecing emblem in the upper right corner.  The journaling sticker is from Reminisce, and the letters are Creative Imaginations.  I believe the tank is from K & Company's military line.

When my husband was deployed to Iraq in 2008-2009, I lived for his letters, I'm sure as much as he lived for mine.  I love the fact that he was able to capture a picture of himself writing me a letter.  The top picture is the outside of his "office" at Al Taqaddum.  In the bottom picture, you can see the calendar I made for him and several pictures from home that I sent to try to keep up his morale.

What paper piecing elements do you have?  Show them off to us this week!  We'd love to see them!  You have until Saturday night, June 4, to get them linked up to the Lasting Memories website.  Good luck, and happy scrapping!

Oh, yeah . . . one more thing.  At some point during this weekend, please take a few minutes out of whatever you're doing to stop and remember all of the service men and women who have fought and died and who continue to fight so we can live in this wonderful country called America.  Remember--freedom isn't free.  God bless America!  Semper Fi!



Lasting Memories weekly layout challenge--FLOWERS!!!

Happy Sunday, everyone!  It's time for another challenge from Lasting Memories!  This week, we're asking you to include flowers SOMEWHERE on your layout.  Here's my take for this week:

These are some of my favorite pictures from my second pregnancy!  My husband was deployed to Iraq at the time, and I thought these would be a wonderful surprise for him, since he couldn't be there for the end of the pregnancy.

My background paper is a double-sided paper from K & Co.'s Marine Corps paper pack; I used a piece of cardstock found in my stash to mat the photos.  The rhinestone flowers are from Recollections and are ones I received in a package from a friend in the Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin'.  The b's are Thickers, and the rest of the letters are from some other letter stickers I found in my stash.  (I'll edit the post later with specifics.)

I hope you'll choose to join in our challenge this week!  The flowers can be ANYWHERE on your layout--background paper, embellishments, pictures, ANYTHING!!  Be sure to link up your layout post before next Saturday, May 28.  Good luck, and happy scrapping!







Lasting Memories weekly layout challenge--SKETCH TIME!

Happy Sunday, everyone!  For this week's challenge at Lasting Memories, we're asking you to use circles AND follow this sketch:

Here is where I would NORMALLY insert the picture of my layout following said sketch.  UNFORTUNATELY, my scrapping mojo has left me temporarily. :-(  I'm hoping to find it again very quickly, so please check back in a day or two, as I'll simply edit this post and insert my completed layout.

I hope you'll think about joining us this week over at Lasting Memories!  We'd LOVE to see what you've got in store this week!



Lasting Memories weekly layout challenge--photo inspiration

Hi, everyone!  I hope all of you who are mothers had a great Mother's Day!  Sorry my Lasting Memories post is late this week, but I had a little trouble finding the right inspiration.  For this week's challenge, we're asking you to use the following photo for your inspiration:

Here's what I came up with for this week:

I used Echo Park's Life is Good collection to make this layout, which also satisfies the one layer theme in the Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin's monthly challenge.  This is one of my favorite pictures from the day my youngest son, Joseph, was born.

You've still got one more day to play along!  Hop on over to Lasting Memories and get your layout linked up, then check back with us on Sunday morning to see if you made the Top Three.  Good luck, and happy scrapping!

Mother's Day cards

Happy early Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!  I look forward to Mother's Day every year, because my husband and youngest son take me to Disneyland to celebrate--just one of the many advantages to living in southern California! 

I finally made an attempt at making photo cards for Mother's Day this year.  When I was going through some pictures in a picture box, I came across a VERY old photo of my mom holding me shortly after they picked me up (I was adopted).  I made a copy of it because I didn't want to ruin the original and came up with this for my mom's card:

This card was so simple and easy to make!  Once I trimmed the photo, I put it on the card base.  I measured where I wanted my ribbon holes and marked them with a pencil very lightly; then, I used my Big Bite to punch the holes.  I affixed the piece of vellum using vellum adhesive just across the top, then used my Big Bite again to punch holes in the vellum.  I put the piece of ribbon through, tied it, and added my stamped sentiment on the front.  Voila!  All done!  I hope my mom likes it as much as I do!

My second and third Mother's Day cards are just alike, except for the names on the front.  I made these two for my mom and MIL using a picture of Joseph (my youngest son):

I'm sure they're both going to love these!

The last card is one I made for my MIL:

I started with a card base and stamped several different flowers.  Using my markers, I colored each set of flowers a different color and then added a little bling for the centers.  The "grass" is a punched border I received from my friend Abby in a border punch swap we did in our Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin'.  After stamping the sentiment, I was done!

I hope you enjoy my cards, and I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day!







TPV and a 24 Hr. Challenge

This week's challenge over at The Paper Variety is to include polka-dots in your layout.  When I completed my 24-hour Challenge layout in the Scrappin' 'n' Chattin' Yahoo group, I KNEW it was perfect for TPV this week!  Here's what I came up with:

I used the Sassafras Lass Amplify collection to complete this layout, and nothing else!  That was part of the challenge, though--someone else chooses our collection (based on three choices we give them) and our sketch, and we have twenty-four hours to complete our layout.

When someone brought it to my attention that TPV's challenge this week was for polka-dots or dots, I knew I HAD to enter!  Abby and Suzanne have a great challenge blog going over there.  Love these ladies!!!!