Welcome Autumn!

We've had some much-welcome cooler weather in Arkansas (and a little bit of rain!) for several days, and I am LOVING it!!!  I wish the cooler weather would be here to stay, but I'm afraid we may get some warmer temperatures again before fall is officially here.

I'm a moderator in the Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin', and we are currently in Week #37 of a 52-Week Card Challenge.  The aim of the challenge is to complete one card a week for the entire year.  WHEW!!!  This is the third year I've participated, and I've never made it this far.  The group member who runs the challenge gives us a prompt each Saturday, and we have until the following Friday at midnight in our time zone to complete our card following the challenge.  Each participant is given five passes for the year that you can use at any time.  If you use a pass, you have to complete TWO cards the next week--the one you used the pass for and the current one.  This week's challenge is to use fall colors on your card, so I started digging through my stuff and found some of the Bo Bunny Forever Fall collection (now retired) to create my card.

The large orange ribbon was some I found in my stash.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Scattered Straw to accent some of the swirls on the front, and I outlined the word "Autumn" with Star Dust Stickles.  The leaves on the inside are from Jolee's by You.

Challenges Entered

Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog Challenge #3--Colour Challenge  

Crafting for All Seasons Challenge #86--Colours of Autumn

Creative Moments Challenge #51--Anything Goes w/optional Fall Colours

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Wonderful Wednesday Challenge--Anything Goes
The Outlawz Challenges Twisted Thursday--Anything Goes w/Optional Twist "First Day of Fall"

Ruby's Rainbow Challenge #88--Anything Goes

Scrappin' 'n' Chattin' 52 Week Card Challenge--Week #37

Scrappin' 'n' Chattin' Monthly Card Challenge--Anything Goes
Simply Create Too Challenge #70--Fall/Autumn
Soul Scrappers Random Words 9--Fall/Autumn

Stampavie and More Challenge #220--Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy scrapping, everyone!

LiaStampz Challenge 33--Celebrations!

I am so happy that I'm FINALLY able to be crafting again!!!  It took a while, but I was finally able to get my new craft room organized enough that I can be my old crafty self again.  Today, it's time for the newest challenge at LiaStampz--celebrations!

We were given the cutest penguin image to work with, so I decided to make a birthday card:

The two background patterned papers were ones I found in my stash, but they're from last year's Bo Bunny It's My Party collection.  I colored the penguin with RoseArt colored pencils and used some silver glitter glue on the sparkler in the penguins hand.  The ribbon came from my stash, and I used pop dots on the back of the penguin for some dimension.  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was a small stamp in my stash, and I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans.

We would LOVE to see your celebration creations!  You have until January 30 to get your project linked up on the LiaStampz blog.  Be sure to stop back by this weekend for the winter blog hop!  Good luck, and happy scrapping!

It's almost fall!!!

Is anyone else as ready for the fall season to get here as I am?!?  I KNOW everyone in the South is!  This year, I was REALLY glad to be living in sunny Southern California for the summer, since the South had that HORRID heat wave!  I AM looking forward to getting back to the South, though.  I've been away WAY too long, and I need the slower pace of life back.

Have you seen Bo Bunny's new Forever Fall line?  I absolutely LOOOOOVE the colors!!!!  I hadn't seen it until my friend Suzanne (Check out her blog at Scrap with Suzy!) put it on her scrapbook Wish List in our Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin'.  My LSS, Ever After Scrapbooks, recently got this in stock, so I stopped by and picked up the 6x6 pad and a couple of 12x12 sheets to go along with it.  I picked one of the first sheets in the pad to create this card:

The base of the card was green cardstock from my stash, which I folded to make a 6x6 card, then I adhered one of the 6x6 sheets from the Bo Bunny Forever Fall pack to the front.  I stamped the flower stem on the right using Close To My Heart's Garden Green ink, and the stem is from CTMH's From Me to You stamp set (got both of these from my CTMH consultant, Heather!), both of which came in CTMH's From Me to You card kit.  The flowers and brad were from my stash, and I added Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Scattered Straw to the yellow flower for a little bling.  The sentiment along the flower stem is from the We R Memory Keepers Banner stamp set, and the brown ribbon across the top is one I picked up at my LSS.  I finished off the card by distressing the edges with Color Box Cat's Eye ink in Chestnut Roan.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

--Kaboodle Doodles

--Make It Monday

--Paper Creations Ink

--Pollycraft Challenge

Thanks for visiting!  Happy scrapping!

Sketchy Thursdays 7.28 Sketch Challenge

It's been quite a while since I played along at Sketchy Thursdays.  When I sat down at my crafting desk today, I had three layouts I wanted to complete.  Luckily, I got them all done, thanks to sketches!  One of the sketches I chose to use was the one from Sketchy Thursdays.  Here's the sketch they posted this week:

I decided to use some pictures from my first visit to Boston, Massachusetts, in February of 2010 for this layout, so here's my take:

The background paper is a piece in a Boston scrapbook kit I purchased while in Boston, as is the picture of Fanueil Hall (Did I spell that right?!?).  The other patterned paper and the embellishment on the top left came in an Americana kit I won on some blog candy a few weeks ago (Thanks, Kim!).  The journaling strips and blue border pieces were part of a border punch swap from the Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin' a few months ago, and they just seemed to fit here.  The letters are chipboard from Heidi Swapp, and I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in barn door to color them.

I'm really happy with the way this layout turned out!  Once I sat down with everything, it all came together very quickly.  I'm going to have to enter the Sketchy Thursdays sketch challenges more often!  TFL, and happy scrapping!

My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge 25

One of my friends in the Yahoo group Scrappin' 'n' Chattin' turned me on to the current challenge at the My Mind's Eye blog.  After looking at the sketch and scrounging through my stash, I found one collection of My Mind's Eye products.  Here's the sketch they're asking us to work with:

Here's the layout I came up with:

All of the papers are from the My Mind's Eye State of the Heart collection:  Valentine Stripes, Love You Lots, and Love Meter.  The heart border, journaling tag, and heart with "Always Loved" tag are from the same collection.  The grungeboard letters are from Tim Holtz, and I used Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Fired Brick to set them off.

The theme of the layout was supposed to be "Celebration," and my husband coming home from a five-month deployment to Iraq was DEFINITELY a celebration!  He missed our son's birth by two weeks and one day, but he was able to come home safely to us.  What a great day that was!

Lasting Memories weekly layout challenge--Journaling!

This week's Lasting Memories challenge centers on journaling.  Journaling is such an important part of the keeping of our memories!  The pictures and embellishments we put on our layouts only tell part of the story, so it's up to the journaling to tell the rest of it.  Here's what I came up with for this week:

My oldest son, Kennedy, and I always find a way to take self-portraits of ourselves any time we're together.  He doesn't live with us, so I treasure every moment I have with him!  I used a combination of chipboard letters/number and some random letter stickers I found in my stash to make up the title, and I used Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles in Spiced Marmalade to accent some of the orange circles in the background (AND to create the apostrophe!).

What have YOU got for us this week?!?  Anything goes on your layout for this week's Lasting Memories challenge, as long as your layout includes journaling.  Don't forget about our Design Team call, too!  All you have to do to be considered for the new Design Team is participate in all of April's challenges AND be sure to include "DT" next to your name when you link up your layout.  We're looking forward to seeing what you've got for us this week!