A Sketch, some Journaling and some Challenges!

Happy Friday to all you fabulous paper crafters out there! Here is a teeny peek at my second Free for Fall project for our current Beary Scrap Challenge:




For a long time I have been wanting to make a layout with the chorus from a Trace Adkins song that I absolutely love-- it makes me tear up (yes, I'm a sappy dork!) every time I hear it, which is usually in my car full of 3 busy kids as I'm driving them from one activity to the next and the words really hit home for me:

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

And so I finally decided this was the week and I made my layout on this song and our crazy busy life. Here is my two page layout, with pictures of kids' various activities this week.


A closer look at page 1, this page has the song lyrics down the right hand side along with a picture I took in my car looking at my kids in the rear view mirrow-- I saw this idea somewhere in a scrapbook magazine once and thought what a cool picture, as I so often see my kids that way as I peek in the mirror to see what chaos may be happening in the back seat!


The first page is based on this great sketch from Sketchy Thursdays where the challenge was to "get your journal on" which I love because I love to write and believe journaling is so important for scrapbooking!



And then I had to expand to a second page because I hardly ever do one page layouts! Plus then I can just have even more journaling! Here is the second page, down the left hand side of this page is a list of all the things our days currently include (like school, homework, swim team, football practice, piano lessons, etc) and my feelings about the craziness:

I am also entering this layout in the following challenges:
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog-- Fall Colours
Do You Stack Up-- Use Your Scraps (random scrap embellishments)
One Stop Craft Challenge-- Anything Goes
Lasting Memories Scrapbook Layouts-- Tag You're It
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenges-- Inspired by a Song

Thanks for letting me share this layout with you, even if it's a little bit sappy!And if you have a project to share you have one more day to enter to our Free for Fall (0r Anything Goes!) challenge so link up your project by clicking here for your chance to win!

Brothers

We have a brand new sketch to play with over at The Beary Scrap this week:



My project using the sketch is as 12 x 12 layout using these great Windsor papers from SEI. I thought the colors perfectly complemented the sepia pictures of my boys together.



I wanted to include many of the beautiful patterns from this paper line and so I pieced together the background of my layout instead of using just one large paper. I left off the flowers in the top left hand corner as this is a boyish layout (although I do think these papers are not what you would call traditional "boy" papers-- just goes to show you can use anything!). So instead of the flowers, I used a chipboard flourish that I first inked and then spritzed with Glimmer Mist. I really love how the whole thing came together and I will definitely be using these papers again! (I'm thinking beautiful for fall wedding cards!)

I can't wait to see what you make with the sketch so get those entries coming, check out all the details of our challenge here!

Are you a . . . .

BRAVE GIRL?

Well, sometimes I am and sometimes I'm not, just depending on what it is. But I know one thing for sure, I was nowhere near as brave when I was a little girl as my 7 year old daughter is. She'll try anything and shows no fear (and yes, I definitely realize this may not always be a good thing!) She is up for adventure of any kind and I have spent many moments this summer cringing as she rides her bike down hills, does front flips off the high dive at the city pool, being pulled on a tube behind a boat on the lake and her new love-- waterskiing-- which is the subject of my layout this week.


I am pretty sure I was at least 12 years old before I attempted to waterski, but not my daughter-- she outshone her older brother and several cousins by learning this summer and her usual comment was "Go faster." What a girl!


I stuck to the basic sketch for this layout but wanted to mix it up just a little from last week and so I tilted the sketch a different direction and then added three smaller pictures to the side of my main image. I used the fabulous new collection from Echo Park called Splash-- you have got to check it out! Kimm just got it in the store this week and it is perfect for summer activities of many kinds. I just love the bright colors. I did add some hot pink in the mat for my main photo and the letter stickers to make it a little more "girly." I used Element Stickers from the Splash collection pack to accent my page instead of the flowers on the original sketch and added Stickles for a little shine to my wave.



So go on, be a brave girl and do something a little adventurous this weekend! Or just spend a little time crafting and enter your take on our sketch in our current Beary Sweet Challenge.

New Sketch at The Beary Scrap

Happy Friday to everyone out there! I hope you have enjoyed seeing the absolutely FANTASTIC creations the Beary Sweet ladies have offered up this week in conjunction with our new sketch challenge. We can't wait to see how you interpret the sketch!

My take on the sketch is a 12 x 12 layout using My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy True Blue papers. I think these papers include some of my favorite color combinations ever and they were perfect for a picture of my 4 year old celebrating his birthday.



I loved this sketch and pretty much stuck right to it, except for substituting stars for the flowers since this is a boy-ish layout. All the accents are from the same Fine & Dandy collection-- buttons, brad, and trim-- I love it when they all come matched already!

Check out all the details for our current Beary Sweet Challenge featuring this sketch here-- we hope to see your entry soon!

Beary Scrap Closet Inspiration

Just not my closet! It is our second week of "Find Inspiration in Your Closet" over at The Beary Scrap Challenge Blog. For my project this week, I decided to go a little different route with the clothing inspiration and use an article of clothing in the pictures I wanted to scrap as inspiration for my page.



I wanted to scrap my son's 4 year old portraits and so I took the shirt that he was wearing and scanned it on my scanner, printing out my own designer paper to use on my layout. This saved me a ton of time searching through my stash looking for just the right colors to match the pictures-- the paper was already perfect!



For other papers I did stick to the main colors in the plaid print and also added some buttons that look just like the ones on his shirt.



I hope you will all take the Inspiration from Your Closet Challenge and show us what you come up with . Enter your project in our current Beary Sweet Challenge by July 31 11:59 EST for you chance to win!

Challenge= Baseball + Denim

We have a brand new challenge over at The Beary Scrap Design Team and Challenge blog --it is to take a piece of our favorite clothing and use it as inspiration for a project-- well, the very first thing that came to my mind was. . . . can you guess what this is?




You got it! A pair of very comfortable jeans-- I know everyone has their favorite pair that they love to pull on and they are just as comfy as a pair of sweats or pajamas. And so using that as my inspiration, I have used denim on my baseball layout this week.


I sewed an old piece of lightweight denim right on top of my cardstock and patterned paper. I have a pile of old jeans in my basement that someday I am going to sew a quilt out of (emphasis on someday, I am sure it is going to be a long time from now!) Until that day, they are great for cutting little pieces out of for scrapbook projects. I sewed a double line with yellow thread to mimic the sewing on old a pair of jeans and then also sewed around the journaling spot circle to make it look like a baseball.

I also die cut some stars out of denim on my old Sizzix machine, it's not high tech but it works great for fabric! Other embellishments include a cardstock star, tickets(which are actually Valentines' themed but I covered up the love words!), baseball woven ribbon, yellow bakers' twine and some 3-D baseball stickers.



To make this layout I used the August Guest Designer Sketch from Sketchy Thursdays-- I LOVE their sketches! The challenge was to use the sketch, incorporate a summer theme (baseball), use red, orange and /or yellow (I used red and yellow) and have a journaling spot (my baseball)-- wish me luck! :):)



I can't wait to see what the rest of our lovely DT ladies have in store for us with this theme and to see your projects too. Make sure to enter your project in our current challenge and share some inspiration with us!

A Brand New Sketch at The Beary Scrap

Happy July everyone! I hope you all have something wonderful planned for the weekend and have a chance to do a little paper crafting too. We have a great new sketch for you to play with plus a chance to win some great Christmas in July themed candy. (Stay tuned until next Friday for my Christmas in July project using the sketch.) Click here for all the details on our current challenge and your chance to win the great Christmas candy!

My project today, though, is summer themed and looking at these pictures gets me in the mood for the holiday weekend ahead.



I used the sketch to make a double 12 x 12 layout simply by stretching it across two pages, running my scalloped border down the far side of each page and then adding 6 rectangles with bows instead of just the one shown in the sketch. Each rectangle contains one of my photos and I overlapped them a bit to get all six to fit.

I used the Summer Days collection from Echo Park for my layout-- perfect colors and accents for some fun summer pictures. Here is a littler closer look at my photos; I used seam binding for the strip behind and the bow and anchored my seam binding with staples and some decorator brads from the same Echo Park collection.

Supplies Used:

Echo Park Summer Days papers, Element Stickers and Alpha Stickers
Echo Park Summer Days brads
Seam Binding-- White and Azalea Pink
Bazzill Cardstock
Martha Steward Border Punch
Glue dots

This was a great and simple sketch to use and I can't wait to see your creations so make sure to enter them in our current challenge and have a wonderful 4th of July!

How Sweet It Is. . . .

We have a sweet sketch for you this week over at The Beary Scrap Challenge Blog and I have absolutely loved seeing the gorgeous cards my fellow DTs Patricia and Debbie have made with it so far. But I have to admit, it was a challenge for me! I really wanted to make this into a two page layout as I haven't posted one for awhile and it took a bit of thinking and rearranging to adapt it to my sweet layout.


Here is our original sketch, done by the fabulous Kimm:




Here you can see most elements of the original sketch in my layout-- I just love the triangles, big and small, across each side:



Notice how instead of centering it on one page, I stretched the sketch across my two 12 x 12 pages and then here you can see how I expanded it a little further to include more photos:




I used the Alphabet Soup Paper Girls line and the colors were perfect for my pictures! The oranges and pinks precisely matched this fun little restaurant we went to in Las Vegas where everything is bright orange and hot pink, and the ice cream sundaes cost $15 but are huge and worth every penny!


Whether your take is a card or a layout, we can't wait to see what you dream up with this sketch! Make sure to enter it in our current challenge for your chance to win a Beary Scrap store voucher.

Things with Wings at The Beary Scrap

We have a brand new Beary Sweet Challenge and I am the first DT up again and absolutely thrilled to show you my layout of "Things with Wings." Two weeks ago, we had a "girls" trip to Las Vegas, Nevada (about 10 hours from where I live). My youngest sister and her family live there and so my other sister and I took our daughters, along with my mom, to visit for Spring Break. We had a fabulous time, soaking up some much needed sun by the pool and visiting some Vegas sights (I do have a picture of daughter with some Elvis impersonators-- I'll save that for another week!).


One of the highlights was lunch at Serendipity 3- a really fun restaurant near Caesar's Palace (check out our frozen hot chocolate, yum!)- and visiting the Bellagio Conservatory which was planted with tulips, poppies and even butterflies! These were the perfect pictures for my layout this week--

I based my layout on this great two page sketch from Sketchy Thursdays:


I had so much fun making this layout and using lots of fun new goodies from the store including Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden papers (absolutely gorgeous!) and charms.


Other great stuff I used includes seam binding-- new for me but oh so much fun! I spritzed with water and crinkled it up then sprayed with Pearl Gimmer Mist and adhered to my layout with glue lines. Seam binding in many colors will be in stock soon so check the store website! I also used lace and some handmade crocheted flowers-- I must still be on that vintage kick that seems to be going on at The Beary Scrap.

I am also entering my layout in the following challenges:

Pile it On #15-- Say it in Style
ABC Challenges-- Sugar & Spice
A Spoonful of Sugar-- All creatures great and small
Lollipop Crafts-- All Girl

Thanks for looking and have a lovely weekend! Take some time to create your own project that has "Things with Wings" and enter it in our challenge for a chance to win a voucher to The Beary Scrap.

Our New Challenge Sketch

Welcome to a brand new challenge at The Beary Scrap-- I am so excited to be the first DT to show off our new sketch! Here is the sketch:


And here is my take, using some fun pictures from when my daughter lost a tooth paired with these gorgeous papers from Graphic 45. I cut some of the papers apart and then used foam tabs to pop up some of the flowers and a fairy.


A close up of my 3D embellishments, complete with lots of Stickles!

I am also entering my layout in the following challenges:

Pile it On-- #13 Cutie Patootie
Tuesday Throwdown-- Florals
The Kraft Journal-- Flowers
ABC Challenges-- R is for Flowers

We want to see your take on this sketch too, whether it be for a layout, a card or any other project you can dream up! Enter your project at our DT blog between now and April 14th at 11:59 EST for a chance to win a Beary Scrap voucher.

Happy Birthday at The Beary Scrap!

It's our Birthday at The Beary Scrap Deisgn Team and we are celebrating in a major way! We are sending out some FANTASTIC Birthday presents to 5 of you at that end of the month to celebrate. So be sure play along in our challenges during our Birthday month and join in all the Fun!

Here's my Birthday layout, based on our Sketch this week, of my daughter's 7th birthday last September. I really love the colors of these papers-- they are bright and fun, without being too overwhelming- perfect for some cute birthday pics.


A close up of the Stickles-- remember, I am in love with them again since my layout last week and so I used them on this layout too!

Materials Used:
Bazzill Cardstock-- Kimm is having a fantastic sale right now, time to STOCK UP!
Fine & Dandy Tickled Pink line from My Mind's Eye, papers and Diecut Stickers
Bo Bunny Chunky Chips Alphabet
Stickles Glitter Glue in Cotton Candy and Aqua
Fastenator Staples, twine and Glue Dots

We can't wait to see your projects based on the sketch, plus don't forget to check out our first ever challenge on Facebook! Beary Sweet Birthday Wishes to You!

Sparkly Snow and Happy Kids=

NO WINTER BLUES HERE!

It's Week 2 of our Winter Blues Challenge at The Beary Scrap and while I may be wistfully longing for the warm sand and sunshine that I showed you in my layout last week, my kids are loving the winter snow and are not the least bit blue about it! Unless you count the tips of their noses, which may truly have been a little blue after playing outside for two days last weekend at my grandparents cabin.

As I have an entire pile of pictures from last weekend and really wanted to squeeze as many onto this layout as I could-- so I used a simple layout that lines up 12 photos of about the same size. Here's a bit closer view of each page:






I made my SNOW title by using a Marvy Uchida snow pen-- this is so cool. It writes almost like a paint marker and doesn't look like much in the beginning:

Then you use a heat tool and go over the writing until it puffs up like snow!


Here's a side view to show the dimension:



Making snow letters was so fun! And just a couple of things I learned--
*thicker is better, if you write too thin to begin with, it doesn't puff enough, so pour it on
*be careful with the heat gun, you can scorch the snow and it will turn black
*if you do scorch it (yes, I did!) or if it's not thick enough, just add more & do it again
*it says to let ink dry before heating for a more uniform effect, but I got a more natural snow look by heating it when it was wet

That's it for my Winter Blues, now I really want to see yours! You have just a few more days to join our Winter Blues Challenge, it might be snowy where you are and a great weekend to stay in and create!! Plus we are still looking for some Guest Designers and would love to have you enter our Guest Designer Challenge, check out all the details here and Good Luck!

Beat Those Winter Blues!

Our theme for our new challenge at The Beary Scrap is Winter Blues-- now this can be a wintery project or reflect how to beat those blue days when winter starts to get L-O-N-G!

I have to admit, I am utterly, completely, totally sick of winter and can't wait for it to be spring so I thought I'd use my project this week to spread a little of the sunshine I found on vacation to the Bahamas earlier this month -- this layout is sending rays directly to all of you out there!

The base of my layout is a crushed velvet embossed paper. I chose to use a plain white piece but then brushed over the velvet embossing with teal blue chalk to give it just a touch of color.


I hope a little sunshine comes your way this weekend and that you have time to do your own Winter Blues project to enter in our current Beary Sweet Challenge. Remember, it can reflect winter or how you escape those winter blues-- however you want to take it! Enter your project before Feb. 28th 11:59 EST for your chance to win!