sweet summertime.

I finished up the rest of my Echo Park Summer Fun collection on this page. Well, I finished up what I am going to use of it. I have quite a bit of the cardstock and chipboard stickers and the die cut pack, but I am done with the patterned papers. This effort was thanks to Sara and Khristina's Re-discover Your Stash challenge on Facebook.

Actually I was inspired by sketch 134 at Sketch N Scrap, but since my photos were odd sized (they were from Snap Chat), I decided to go with an 8.5x11 design, and then that threw me off quite a bit from the sketch. So maybe you can see my inspiration... maybe not?

Thanks for looking!

top 9 in 2016.

Every year for the past few years, there's an app that I download at the end of December to see my "top 9" liked photos on Instagram. I love seeing these top nine photos. I always do an end of year review post on NYE on Facebook too with random things like the number of books I read, miles I ran, or times I had my hair dyed. I guess I just like closure.

Anyway, I've had this 2016 top nine printed for probably eight months. Finally tonight I decided to scrap it and I was inspired by Sara and Khristina's Re-discover Your Stash challenge on Facebook. We're trying to use up our stashes - and I used 20 of these little labels/tags from Elle's Studio!

So this started with me trying to use a cut file. I have the original Cricut Expression and I was able to convert some free cut files to PNG using Silhouette Studio but I cannot get my Cricut to connect to my laptop so I can't cut them out! I literally have spent hours attempting this and I'm defeated. So I printed this heart circle and fussy cut it, but you can't really tell that it's hearts anymore at this point. Basically I decided to try to cover most of it up because it's just embarrassing now.

I layered all these die cuts and labels, added some stamping to a few of them, and called it a day! Thanks for looking :)

supplies
patterned paper, stamps, die cuts: Elle's Studio
alphabet stickers: American Crafts

Paper Wings Productions: Need a Little Pick Me Up?

Design team reveal at Paper Wings Productions! Here's a little more about the card I made.

I've had this window die for a while and I've never used it, so I came up with the idea of a window looking in at a coffee shop. I used the stamp set from Paper Wings Productions called Play With Your Coffee.

I masked off the portion of the stamp that I didn't want to use. I do this by grabbing some washi tape from my stash and covering up the bits of the stamp I don't want inked. Once the parts are covered, I ink my stamp, and then I remove the washi tape before I stamp my image.

You can see only the two middle coffee cups from the stamp are inside my window.

 For the sentiment, I used a black detail embossing powder.

Here's one last look at my card:

I'm excited to be working with Carrie at PWP again! This will be fun :) 

Thank you!

supplies 
stamp: Paper Wings Productions (Play with Your Coffee)
die: Mama Elephant (Window Watching; Landscape Trio)
embossing powder: Sparkle N Sprinkle (Copper Peddler EP264; Black Detail EP171)

lake time.

I've joined Sara and Khristina's Facebook group - Rediscover Your Stash Spending Freeze and I'm trying to get stuff done! So today I used the Amy Tangerine On a Whim collection + Echo Park Summer Dreams for this page.

This is just a photo of me on my friend's boat this summer. When I saw this acrylic piece released from Color Cast Designs recently, I had this photo in mind!

Thanks for looking! :)

supplies
patterned paper: Amy Tangerine (On a Whim)
die cuts, stickers: Echo Park (Summer Dreams); Elle's Studio
stamps: Kellie Winnell (Looks like Summer); Kelly Purkey (Cruise with Me; Endless Summer)
wood: Color Cast Design 
washi: Echo Park
puffy stickers: Studio Calico

My soulmate...

I have bits and pieces of the Rover collection from Bella Blvd that I have been saving and I also had this super special photo of me and Bentley that I'd been waiting on the perfect inspiration to scrapbook.

In November last year, Bentley got very sick. Long story short, I raced him to the emergency vet where he stayed two nights and the final bill was $3200. Unfortunately we didn't really get a lot of answers, so I am sort of walking on egg shells still to this day, but the good news is he has not had any further episodes and seems to be his old self again. Emphasis on old because he is about seven years old now - but he's always going to be my baby!

So my inspiration for this page finally came from a quote on Facebook I saw today on National Dog day. It said, "Some soulmates have wet noses." I used my typewriter to type out my own sort of interpretation of the quote to add to the page. It may be hard to see in the photo, but it says, "My soulmate has four paws and a cold nose."

Importantly, I used up quite a bit of my Bella Blvd collection! Khristina has a Facebook challenge right now involving a spending freeze + a challenge to use your scraps so that was motivation to use up one of my most favorite Bella Blvd collections!

I loosely followed the August 27 sketch at The Studio Challenges. My version of the sketch is rotated on its side and I added three little embellishment clusters.

Thanks for looking!

where the heart is.

Tonight I made a page using Sketch #135 from Sketch N Scrap. I changed my page to 8.5x11 size and added some extra embellishing.

Here's my page:

Thanks for looking!

supplies
patterned paper, die cuts: Fancy Pants (Family & Co)
acrylic: Color Cast Designs
puffy stickers: Bella Blvd
enamel shapes: Heidi Swapp
die cuts: Elle's Studio

book review: Convicted.

Thank you, Blogging for Books for allowing me to read this amazing story.

I believe there are more stories like this across the country, but what you hear most often are the racially charged stories that end badly. Especially at this tough time our nation faces, this is a must read for everyone. It's a quick read, told from the perspectives of both people involved.

The story draws you in. It reads like a typical movie we've all watched about crooked cops except that this is a true story. It is truly shocking what Andrew admits to doing over the course of his career. It really opened my eyes to the racial divide that I have no personal experience with.

I am a Christian, and a religious person, but I don't appreciate religious views from others being shoved down my throat. There is none of that in this story. It definitely touches on their journeys of finding Christ and on forgiveness but is not overwhelming or uncomfortable if you're not religious.

Abigail Grace.

Hi! Today's page is a mix of Sketch 289 from Sketches in Thyme + the grey moodboard challenge at Scrap the Girls.

The sketch appears to be 12x12 size but I only had one small photo so I wanted a smaller size for my page. Of course, shrinking the overall page design means losing some of the layers and embellishments that are in the original sketch, but I think I still accomplished plenty of layering with embellishing.

I kept with the grey monochromatic theme; grey is a great neutral for baby pages. I just added small bits of pink to emphasize that this is a layout about a baby girl.

Thanks for looking!

supplies
patterned paper: Amy Tangerine; Elle's Studio
journal card, acrylic, puffy stickers, die cuts: Elle's Studio 
alphabet stickers: SN@P!

beach vacation.

This page was inspired by this month's More Than Words challenge and the August 15 sketch at Stuck?! Sketches.

The MTW challenge word was "harmony" + use a song lyric. My song is by Joe Nichols - Sunny and 75. The lyric that I chose, which I used my typewriter and typed onto the tag, is basically the definition of harmony. I wanna stay with you forever. You and me, on a beach, peaceful, in harmony, and I wanna stay here forever.

I also tried to use as many items from Paper Issues Take 5 Tuesday challenge. I was able to use:
1orange
2yellow
3turquoise
4die cut
6 patterned paper
12sticker
13title
15summer theme

Here's my page:

My photo is from our Florida vacation from last year and I pulled out the MME Palm Beach collection that I'd forgotten I had! Thanks for looking!

hello 33.

I made this page based on the August 1sketch at Stuck?! Sketches. I realize now that I got a little excited and took the photo of my page before I added on the '33,' which completes my title and my page. But I was feeling too lazy to take a new photo tonight. So just pretend there's a pink sparkly '33' down at the bottom of the page in that embellishment cluster :)

This is a page about my birthday last month. I took a photo of my flowers from my boyfriend and one of the free cheesecake dessert I got at dinner. Because I'm a nurse and work weird schedules and my family is broken up across two states, and my boyfriend works night shift, we celebrate a little bit over many days. Which works out pretty well for me :)

Thanks for looking!

patterned paper: Elle's Studio (stripe); Pink Paislee Summer Lights (polka dot)
washi: Pink Paislee (Summer Lights)
die cuts, acrylic pieces: Elle's Studio
wood: Color Cast Designs
cork: Freckled Fawn

haul video: August Elle's Studio kit & goodies!

real life.

My brother is returning to college this year at age 29! We're super proud of him and hope he finishes this time! :)

My page is based off the August Elle's Studio sketch you can see HERE. Mostly everything I used is from their August monthly kit/release. I added some puffy stickers from July's release and a few things from the Live Laugh Love collection. Thanks for looking!

winner at Elle's Studio!

My layout was chosen for the July challenge to use stamps! I used FIVE different Elle's Studio stamp sets on this page!

Washington Park Zoo.

A few months ago we were in Michigan City and we stopped at the zoo. It's a very small zoo, but I always love going to a zoo. This page was inspired by the Paper Issues scraplift challenge + Challenge YOUrself to use a die cut + Lasting Memories challenge to use a zoo animal.

Thanks for looking!

supplies
patterned papers, die cuts, puffy stickers: Bella Blvd
die cuts: Elle's Studio
stamps: Studio Calico (Fun in the Sun); Elle's Studio

the road to my heart.

Sketch N Scrap has an End of Summer crop on Facebook through the end of the month and I want to try to get a few pages done.

This page was made with challenge #1 for Sketch N Scrap and I combined it with Lasting Memories challenge from last week to use an animal that's found in your home. I thought the diagonal papers would be really hard to work with, but it actually wasn't. The quote on the cut apart from Bella Blvd was a good play on words because my photo is of the dogs in my 4Runner. I liked the idea of using "the road" quote with a vehicle. Thanks for looking!

supplies
patterned papers: Fancy Pants (Hello Sunshine)
stamps: Studio Calico; Elle's Studio; Unity Stamp Co (May 2014 SMAK kit)
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black)
die cuts, journal cards, acrylic hearts: Elle's Studio 
embossing powder: Sparkle N Sprinkle (EP228S cherry)

sending healthy vibes.

I made this card for a family member who recently fell and is in a nursing home for rehabilitation. I used distress ink and watercolor paper and I will never get tired of that look.

I only have a couple of stamp sets that are 'get well' themed and I chose this one from Paper Smooches. I used heat embossing for the sentiment and the images, which I also added to the inside of the card.

Thanks for looking!

supplies 
stamp: Paper Smooches (First Aid Kit)
embossing powder: American Crafts Zing (grapefruit); Simon Says Stamp! (white fine detail)

enjoy the sunshine.

This morning I made a page for Rochelle and Brenda's August challenges. I followed the sketch challenge pretty closely but I took some liberty with the National Girlfriends day challenge. My photos are of my dogs and of course, they're my friends! :)

I used the Echo Park Summer Fun collection + added some mist + some puffy heart stickers.

Thanks for looking!

weekend.

I used up the rest of my Crate Paper Oasis collection on this page. I hope you can see the inspiration from Sketches in Thyme #287 in my page.

I rotated the sketch and since I only had one photo, I condensed to 8.5x11 size. Also, since I was using a smaller page size, I had to lose some of the layers. My sketch looks like this:

Thanks for looking!