No More Dirty Dog

I used Sketch #70 at The Scappiest & did this cute little layout of Joseph & Daddy washing the dogs (Zo'e in the photos).  Also watch for an upcoing Frugal Friday tip using this layout on Scrap Our Stash this Friday (7/2).

Fun Sun

This sketch is from The Scrappiest and I used Fancy Pants Rusted Sun line.

Rocks in your ARRR?

June challenge at Scrap Our Stash is to use STITCHING.....

This layout tells a really funny story....click on the layout to enlarge and read it.
OMG---I just realized an error in my dates...the conversation was MARCH (not May)...  Oh....how to fix that?  Anyway....

This story is from a few months ago, but I finally got the photo I needed to document it. I had blocked (no layering) all my pieces and finished the layout and realized it just needed a little "extra umph". So I hand stitched XXX's in 2 different spots and it adds a little touch to pull all the pieces together without overwhelming the photo or story. I just punched 4 holes for the top and 4 holes for the bottom of the X's (yes, I used a tool from Timeless touches that has evenly spaced holes, but you can just use a ruler, or do it by eye) ...and used embroidery floss to make the stitches. Here's my tip when doing this...instead of making knots on the back of your layouts, I just scotch tape the end when I start and then scotch tape the end of the floss when I'm done (using that second tape to usually tape as many of the stitch backs as I can...just to keep them there!!)

Love Summer Days

So, this is not really my week to contribute at Frosted Designs  but I just love doing the challenges, but I actually considered skipping this week ... who came up with these colors anyway...orange, yellow, green & turquoise?   Yep, this week its a COLOR CHALLENGE!!!

Then as I'm staring at my WeRMemory Keepers paper, I kinda go "duh"... these match perfectly (and no one said they had to be the ONLY colors we use)!! Now, the paper line is called 72 & Sunny and honestly, that'd be cold for us!! It's 102 here in Phoenix everyday now & it was 92 the day I took that picture during the.first week of June.
So, thanks to whoever's idea these colors were for reminding me to keep my mind open and thanks to WeRMemory Keepers for having those colors on their papers. Now, I'd almost call this cheating, since I didn't really put the colors together myself. So I added the brads as the butterfly path so I felt better about that...and since I like butterfly's to have "flight paths" ...lol!!

Our All Star

I used sketch #68 from The Scrappiest for this layout.  It was also a challenge at Memorable Seasons to to an "all american" layout using Stars & Stripes.
I masked the Mar/Apr/May months on the left border strip and then misted "grey" the other months.
Also used a Tim Holtz magnifyng glass to highlight the number 6 along the bottom (Joseph is 6 and that was also his Jersey number)

1 sketch - 2 layouts!!!

I did 2 layouts this week using the sketch from Sketchy Thursdays : 

This first one is quite different for me as I don't usually do pastelly layouts.  But it was fun... I folded, crumpled and messed with strips of pp to get that pink border under my photo.  This was also done for the H - Heart challenge this week at Alphabet Challenge Blog.  I used Basic Grey Capella from my monthly Basic Grey kits.  Jillibean Soup letters that I added a little of the same paint I used on the big heart so that they would match.

This second layout is October Afternoon & Cosmo Cricket.  (my own challenge to use 2 of my newest fave paper lines that I have A LOT of and I'm getting tired of already)

You are Number 6

This month at Scrap Our Stash the challenge is to use stitching..

I had picked out this photo and was ripping pieces of yellow fabric that I was intending to use like ribbon....but when I was done ripping and looked down at my cardstock, there was this cool random design. So, how to adhere it and keep the design?? So, I layed a blank 8x10 transparancy over the fabric strips and took it to my sewing machine.... I randomly stitched on the yellow trying to be sure to get lots of places that overlapped. Then I "ripped off" the transparancy off from the stitching. I had to cut in some places to get it off, but it worked well to keep my original design. I kept the stitching yellow so it may be hard to see, but I wanted to share this example of stitching that wasn't really showing...but rather was used like an adhesive element.

I also used a sketch from The Scrappiest (#67)

Erika & I "in the spotlight"

The layout that I did last week and posted a few back - June 11th post &  called E-Erika on the sidebar ....
(or CLICK HERE  to go directly to the post...)

Anyway... this layout was highlighted on Scrapbook Circle..who's June kit was used for the layout and was also selected as a FAV for the week on Sketchy Thursday!!!  Both are huge honors for me...  Maybe I should start scrappin' pics of my friends instead of my family...lol!!!

Non-Scrapping Stuff on layouts - Frosted Designs

I'm the featured Designer this week at Frosted Designs.  Each week they are "spotlighting" a different member of the DT.

This week's challenge is to "use something from around the house" as an embellishment. Well, I jumped at this one because I'm always "upcycling". Whenever I'm "cleaning out" stuff that Joseph has "outgrown", I try to figure if I can use it somehow. Sometimes yes and sometimes I'm just hoarding...lol!! Anyway, I use old puzzle pieces, games, books, anything that my imagination can turn into something on a page.

So, I'm actually going to show a couple projects this week:

This is using an old card game called PIT... (I photo'd the CORN card next to my layout so you can see how I altered it and used it on my layout).

And my husband brought home these flyers for some event because Joseph LOVES monkeys. So, I turned one into a bookmark for him by covering it with a little pp & punched cirles w/brad accents.

And on this one I used an old Kids Puzzle (one with those HUGE pieces)

2 of my layouts featured on Nikki Silvis Blog

Well, I'm sooooo honored to have 2 of my layouts featured on the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker blog again this month!!! 
Here are 2 layouts I did with my favorite collection (an oldie but goodie...) Henry's Brilliance.  It's the perfect BOY line!!!