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!



April Fool's Blog Hop!

Welcome to It's A Joy 2 Scrap's April Fool's Day Blog Hop! I hope everyone is having a fantastic Friday! If you came here from Amy's blog, you are in the right place. However, if you happened upon my blog, please head over to It's A Joy 2 Scrap's blog so you don't miss any of the fun.

For this hop, we were asked to create a project that “tricks the eye.” I really struggled in coming up with something, so April gave me some ideas.  As soon as I saw the words "explosion purse," I knew EXACTLY what I was going to make!!!  I've really been into the pink-and-green stage lately, but I decided to do something different with this one, so I went with a Marine Corps theme.  (For those of you who are new to my blog, my husband is active-duty Marine Corps.  OOH RAH!!!)  I did an internet search for "explosion purse" and found directions on Qbee's Quest's blog, which you can visit here.  And so, without further ado, here's my explosion purse:

I found a piece of navy blue cardstock in my stash, so I used it for the base.  The patterned paper is "Marine Emblem" from Stamping Station, the emblem on the front is a self-adhesive metal medallion from Pioneer Photo Albums, and the U.S.A. ribbon was some I had in my stash.  The patterned paper on the inside was ALSO in my military stash (I guess it's good that I used up some stuff!), although I don't remember what company it's from.  All in all, this explosion purse was SUPER easy to make!  I spent more time on the topper/flap than I did anything else!  I'm sure there's an easier way to make the top, so I'll have to experiment a little later. 
Next in line is JANICE from CRICUTOLOGY.  She has some AWESOME projects on her blog AND she includes video tutorials with almost all of her posts, so be sure to hop on over there and check it out!

If you get lost along the way, here is the line up of my fellow crafters:

ELAINE

VICKI

DARLENE

LINDSEY

TAMMY

KARA

AMY

ASHLEY (That's me!!!)

JANICE

TONIA

KIM

JANICE

JILLIAN

WENDY

KAYLA

JENNY

PATTY

TIFFANY

CARLENE

KRYSTAL

JENNY

MICHELLE

LINETTE

KATIE

DEBI

Sorry I don't have a picture of my blog candy, but I WILL have something to offer!  I'd LOVE it if you'd become a follower, but it's not required.  All you have to do to be eligible for my blog candy is leave a comment telling me what first comes to your mind when you hear the words "United States Marine Corps."  That's it!  I'll use random.org to choose a winner and will post the winner on Monday, so be sure to check back.  You'll have three days to get in contact with me once I announce the winner, or I'll choose someone else.

Don't forget! If you leave a comment on all the blogs by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. CST. You have a chance to win some fabulous prizes.  Enjoy!