Reds vs Cubs.

This is my first post for the Your Memories Here design team! Excited to share a layout about the Cubs/Reds game we went to a few weekends ago in Cincinnati. We had so much fun, despite a late start, a horrible traffic jam on the interstate, a detour through back country roads, a minor parking dilemma, & sitting in a loud section three rows off the field. Yes. Our seats were third row back, along the third baseline. Perfection.

Since Pink Paislee is one of my most favorite manufacturers, I thought their Declaration line would look great with a Cubs/Reds page. I was worried this line may be too patriotic for me to use, but I am liking it so far:) 

I also used Unity stamp set throughout all generations.

destination...

This is my last layout using the Citrus Twist August kit. This one I made using the September sketch. 

winners x 2.

Andrea was the random winner chosen from the entries I had on my blog post for the August sketch challenge. Please email me your mailing address & I'll get your prize on the way!

& in other news...
I won the August sketch challenge at Citrus Twist! Yes, that's two months in a row!:) But I've been assured it's not just me playing. Ha! I was beginning to wonder. So the September kit will be on it's way & that's very exciting!

love life [Pink Paislee Nantucket].

My project this week features Pink Paislee's Nantucket line which I just love. The colors are so pretty & go together so well. You don't need to feel obligated to use it only on beachy themed layouts either. This layout is from my bff's bachelorette party last spring. 

based on a sketch found here

Christine is selling on Facebook Scrapbook Deals so send a request to join the group & get you some scrappy stuff!

I also used a Sass bloom, pearls from Basic Grey, some of the invisibles chipboard by Heidi Swapp, & Technique Tuesday stamps (Life in Pictures & Love always Wins) with InkaDoo ink (hot pink).

August running stats.

Run Distance: 1.75 miles 

Run Time: 18:47 min 

Total Time: 18:47 min

 

Your Memories Here design team!

Thrilled that Kristina asked me to be a part of this team!You can see the announcement HERE.

old time photo.

When we were in Branson we saw several old time photo places & I've been dying to do one of these. Two friends & I did one at the state fair a few years ago & it was so fun. The photo is awesome too - I just love it. I thought it would be fun if TJ's whole family got in on it but it was too expensive. I ended up paying $100 for the disc of all the photos because they were closing soon & I didn't know which ones we would want because I had no plans for them yet. [Now we're working on a photo gallery wall & I want to use one & I also had one printed on canvas so I'm glad I just got the photo CD. It has the most options:)] 

 

I used the county fair & so cal kits on this for the Sunday sketch.

 

Joy's Life blog hop winner

 Random number generator picked number 9.

Blogger Raine said... I'm about to become a follower. What a great way to jazz up your.....gift/jar/glass. Heck I'm not sure what it is but I'm loving it. 
  
so Raine you are the winner. Unfortunately I have no way to get a hold of you so I hope you see this & can email me your mailing address so I can get you your prize!

 

swatch book.

Today I have a swatch book to share. It's kind of more like a mini album. I used the photos from our Christmas card photo shoot last November & made a fall little swatch book. Can you tell I'm in the mood for fall? Except I'm really not - I'd love this weather 24/7/365. 

This is a close up of the cover. It's heart shaped (a Maya Road chipboard album) & I used the It's all Fall puns stamp set.

another cover shot

the corrugated shapes are Jillibean Soup

 

I'm not including all the photos of the album - it's a little repetitive. But I used the same papers & embellishments throughout. This was made using my August Citrus Twist kit (except the Jillibean shapes are mine).

With this post, I'm sad to say I wrap up my term with Joy's Life. It has been SO much fun & I want to say THANK YOU to Joy & the rest of the team for welcoming me & guiding me over the past three months. It has been great & I wish I was able to stay longer but I'm afraid I'll have too many time constraints in the coming months. Maybe I can be part of this great team again in the future ;)

days like these make me smile.

Since this football season will be here shortly (we've already attended one preseason game) I figured it was time to scrap last year's game. 

This is from the Colts/Bengals game last year.

The papers are American Crafts: orange paper is from Campy Trails & the grey is from Peachy Keene. The stamp is Technique Tuesday Favorite Memories. I misted in the right upper corner with some chipboard stars using Mister Huey's Sorbet. The washi tapes are Pink Paislee & American Crafts. The star rub ons at the bottom are Studio Calico.

August Joy's Life/Cri-Kits blog hop!

I really wanted to use the newly released stamp set, "It's all fall puns"which you can view here. & I also wanted to work some more with my August Citrus Twist kit.

I reallyreallyreally loved the summer stamp set & I am really loving this fall set. Even though I'm not a huge fan of fall (because next comes winter & that's the worst!), I think this stamp set will get a lot of use. 

We're also featuring the Cri kits gel pens with this blog hop. They're so much fun to work with! You can see a layout I did using the pens here.

Anyway. We all know how addictive Pinterest is & how we often pin more than we do. Well, I found a cute fall project & decided it would be my Pinterest Project. Here was my inspiration piece.

I got this at TJ's mom's family reunion that we attended on my birthday. Yeah, pretend like that won't be held over his head for therestofhislife. They do an auction to raise money for cemetery/gravestone maintenance and/or if families are struggling throughout the year, they will take money from the fund to help them out. So this auction - everyone brings an item wrapped. Some were nice, some homemade, some re-gifted items, some sort of white elephant type gifts. But they're wrapped so you have no idea what it is. Some are labeled girl, boy, adult, etc. Bids are super low, but there are tons of items so they end up raising a few hundred dollars. It's a really great idea. TJ's dad kept bidding on items & giving them to me as "birthday gifts." There were a lot of random things, let me tell you.

So this is one of the things I got & everyone was like what in the world?! but I was thinking this could be made into something cool.

All items are from the Citrus Twist kit. The two stamps are from It's all Fall puns. I used the metallic & the glitter Cri-kit pens. As a side note, I was thinking the whole time that it would be nice if there was just a plain black or brown pen. At the end, I found out there was a black one - it's in the regular/neon colors. But I ended up not using it anyway. For the orange fleurish I used a metallic grey pen & on the kraft fleurish I used a yellow glitter.

close up of the stamp & Cri-kits pens, although the glitter didn't photograph well.

The Cricut Stretch your Imagination cartridge is what I used for everything. The fleurishes were 4 inches (orange) & 3 1/2 inches (kraft). The pumpkin was cut at 3 1/4 inches (I think). I used my circle punch on the "give thanks" sentiment. I attached the ribbon at the top with my hot glue gun.

Your next stop on the hop is Cyndy! Go check out her project.

*If you're not already a follower, become one now & leave me a comment on this post. I'll pick a random winner on Monday August 27 for a prize package!

book sale.

When we were in Michigan a few weekends ago, we drove through a small town & saw a book sale sign posted in front of their library. We're huge fans of library book sales. We went to our city library book sale last fall & even became members of "Friends of the Library" ($5 fee each) so that we could get into the book sale on the first day. If you've never been to one, it is literally tables & tables piled with boxes & stacks of books on top of books. It's a dream for someone who reads a lot, like me.

Anyway, we were passing by this library book sale & decided to run in & check it out. It was supposed to close in 20 mins but there were a few others milling around so they stayed open longer. We left with two big bags full of books for $5 per bag. We made out like bandits!

the photo was taken with Instagram so it's not the best quality

This is my second project I've posted with my August Citrus Twist kit. It's based off their August sketch challenge.

mantle update.

So a few months ago I shared my mantle update. Mom & I had sanded it, painted it, & "hung" it on the wall. I was still deciding what to do with the inside of it. 

mantle before

mantle now

Mom painted a brick design on some wood & we mounted it inside the mantle. I also got TJ to get rid of that hideous painting that was hanging there & I replaced it with a mirror.

Easter 1989 (featuring Crikits!)

I had to photograph this week instead of scanning because the scanner was overexposing the layout & everything looked white! Grr

We had the opportunity to work with Cri-Kits gel pens this month! These are a lot of fun.  We got the metallic, pastel, regular & neon, & glitter. For this layout, I used the pastel pens. [I have to say, most of the "pastel" colors weren't really pastel.] I used Cricut Easter 2010 cartridge for the doily & the eggs. 

I used the "egg-specially" stamp from Joy's Life Yummy Puns stamp set. The papers are Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden, the Easter decorations on the right egg are Pink Paislee chipboard pops from Vintage Vogue.

you are here [August Citrus Twist kit].

Remember when I won the sketch contest at Citrus Twist? Well, my prize was the August Citrus Twist kit "tropical heat."I got it earlier this week but haven't had time to play with it until today. I've been excited to dig in. Loving the Heidi Swapp papers, the Amy Tan sheet is so cute, & the My Mind's Eye Indie Chic was gorgeous. Cannot get enough. & the layouts the design team has posted are awesome. So here's my first layout:

I used Mister Huey's sorbet on the stars & stamped with the chalk ink on the circles, which are punched from the Heidi Swapp paper. LOVE the washi tape that was included & the heart border was actually the label strip (that always gets thrown away) from the Amy Tan paper. I just love those hearts.

(You can read more about my Super Bowl experience here.)