Crusin is Made for Love

Late post, but here is my layout for the August 1st sketch and scrap layout challenge. There is still time to join in at www.sketchnscrap.blogspot.com!

A little Sketchy

I know that I always talk about better time management but if only you knew how much it stresses me out trying to find time to do everything that I want to do. That is the nice thing about scrapping, it is an escape for me, basically my chance to feel accomplished with something I truly love to do. This month I have focused on participating in a couple of challenges including our own Sketch~n~Scrap challenge. We would love to have you stop by and participate with us. Each month there are prizes and you could be our next Featured Scrapper! Here is what I have been working on lately -

Sketch~n~Scrap Aug 15th reveal #39 - You ever have those Perfectly Imperfect photos that you want to scrap. I could not get these photos super clear but I just love the spontaneous way they capture my niece playing at the sprayground. I wanted this layout to be just as playful with bright fun colors.

This layout is for Brenda Ragsdale's monthly sketch challenge. I really enjoyed working with this sketch and was able to pull this layout together just as I envisioned it. I used one of my crafter's workshop templates for the dashed circles and a border stamp for the other row of dots. I used Basic Grey's Hey Boy collection, it is a versatile and fun collection to work with, trust me you will see it again soon, lol.



This layout makes me laugh because I have been scrapping these photos for years. I did a photo shoot of my daughters a few years ago and I am still not finished with them. I do think that I have scrapped some of them twice but who is counting right? This layout was done using Brenshevia's sketch from the Let's get Sketchy blog. I was so excited to use Echo Park's Here and Now collection, the colors are just fantastic!

I still have more to show you so I will be back soon!

Cropping Escape and a Secret

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I went to an all day crop Saturday and it was awesome. It has been sooo long since I have taken time for myself. In fact the hostess' business name is Escape Scrapbooking, how appropriate right! There was good food (I have a Greek Pasta salad recipe that I must try now) and lots of prizes and great deals. While there I got the chance to work on a layout for the Paper Secrets July 15th Sketch Challenge with Twist! The challenge was to use a sketch and a Project Life card. While I am not a Project Lifer I did enjoy working the Echo Park Photo Freedom Volume 1 collection from my ScrapRoom kit.
The pics are of my girls right before going out to dinner together in happier times. Right now they are not speaking to each other so I am getting phone calls at work all day telling on each other, lol.  I try to remain neutral but honestly they just make me laugh. this will last for a day or two at the most, then back to all smiles!

Sketch~n~Scrap Reveal day!

Summer is in full swing and today is reveal day over at Sketch~n~Scrap and what a great reveal it is!  Even though I have stacks on stacks of older photos to scrap, I just had to scrap these recent photos on my oldest daughter. The sketch came together so easily, I just love the placement of the stars and wanted to duplicate that somewhat. I used my Lifestlye crafts nested stars and the star stickers that came with the collection. The Simple Stories 24/7 collection worked so well for me and wow! the colors are just fantastic! Be sure to jump in with us this month at Sketch~n~Scrap for a chance to win an awesome prize from Paper Secrets.

Word Art Find!

Every year my family and I attend the breast cancer walk and we talk about customizing shirts but then we wait until the last minute and run out of time to get a project done. So being proactive I created this image for my family using this program http://www.imagechef.com/ic/poem/. (I hope you can tell that it is in the shape of a sneaker), it is made up of all of our names. It is fitting because we call ourselves "Marie's Legacies". I am going to print it on some heat transfer paper this weekend to start my prototype for family approval. I am going to have to wait a few months for the final version because we have a new family member on his way but at least I have started the ball rolling.     

Is it Friday yet?

Just having one of those kind of days!

A.D.C - Another Diaper Creation

Here is my other passion! More of my work is on my website: www.uniquelymade4u.com

More layouts

Over the weekend I decided to dip into my "To-be"  pile and finish up a couple of layouts. This first one is of my youngest daughter who is my favorite person to hangout with. When we go out to eat no matter how strange something is, she will always at least try it, the stranger the better, lol. I thought it would be fun to use actually chopsticks as an embellishment with Studio Calico papers.

This next one is of my three nieces. For the most part they are like little sisters instead of nieces and I am soo proud of the women they have become. This has been sitting because I really want to journal it but I just don't know what I want to say so for now I am going to call it complete and hope to come back to it later. I used my Cricut graphically speaking cartridge for the die cuts, that is still one of all time favorite cartridges.

  

Four days later..........

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday. It was pretty low key for me but I managed to get a little scrapping done. I have more layouts to share but I didn't want to send anyone into shock, lol.

Echo Park Brother's collection - I actually did this layout for a challenge a couple months ago but I ummm (clearing my throat) missed the deadline. I love these guys and I think that I have scrapped this photo more than once, lol.  Oh well it is a favorite.

This is my favorite layout of the weekend. Simple Stories is quickly climbing the charts as on e of  my top five manufacturers. This Vintage Bliss collection has such fun and easy to use colors and this layout is even more gorgeous in person. How can I be so confident? It has my daughter's seal of approval, lol!

SNS Sketch #36 Reveal Day! - D.C. Go-Go

This heat has really slowed me down among other things so I have made a pledge to try to do better in the month of July. Did I just say July? Omgoodness it is almost time to start thinking about Christmas gifts! Good Grief!

So without further ado I would like to share my July 1st layout for Sketch-n-Scrap. My husband and I spent a long weekend in DC in April just to change things up. We went to the aquarium, some historical spots, some great places for dinner and to the Zoo. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of animals out and we were kind of disappointed but we made the best of it and enjoyed our weekend anyway. Make sure you stop by the blog HERE and check out what the rest of our fantastic design team did with the sketch. Also make sure your upload your take on the sketch for your chance to win an awesome prize from Paper Secrets!

 

Weather Delay

You really can't fool with Mother Nature. My family and I were scheduled to have dinner aboard the Spirit of Philadelphia dinner cruiseline but our area is being hit with heavy rains and severe thunderstorms so it looks like we might be rescheduling. I was looking forward to hanging out with all of our children at the same time. Oh well hopefully the sun will be shining bright on our rescheduled date.

Time to start planning for the weekend! I downloaded a cool app called Ego Timer that helps you track your tasks, attach a picture or notes to your tasks and even set a timer while you are doing something to track the amount of time you want to spend on a task. This is seemingly great for meeting my scrap goals but my week has been so hectic that all it is doing right now is reminding of what I still haven't done, lol.

I was able to participate in the My Scrap and More Got Talent challenge this week. You can check it out here, there is plenty of time to jump in. This week the challenge was to produce a layout without using pattern paper. I was stumped at first so I looked through my stash and re-discovered my large Bingo cards and let the layout take shape. I like the end results but I would still rather have my patterned paper, lol!!!!



Winner Time!!!!!!!!!!

Did you have fun with my challenge? I would like to thank everyone who participated, you ladies made some really great guesses, shoot if I didn't make up the game myself I know there are a couple that would have stumped me too! So unfortunately there was no one who got them all correct so by random integer (who thought of that site, it is great!) the winner is  Lisa! Congratulations Lisa please email me at tmikmik@yahoo.com with your snail mail information and I will get your prize right out to you.

But wait since I really appreciate everyone who submitted a guess taking the time out their busy schedules to support me, Sketch~n~Scrap and  of course to win a prize I have this special additional prize for the person with the most correct guesses and that is Elizabeth.

Elizabeth got 7 out of 10 correct! Congrats Elizabeth, please email me at tmikmik@yahoo.com with your snail mail information and I will get your prize right out to you too.

Thanks everyone for participating and stayed tuned and connected for more to come from all of us at Sketch~n~Scrap! Here are the full size photos and names of each manufacturer from the contest so you can see the correct responses.  

1. Webster pages

2. Glitz Designs

3. Teresa Collins

4. Jillbean Soup (almost everyone got this one)

5. Basic Grey (and this one)



6. Pink Paislee



7. American Crafts/Pebbles (I accepted either answer)

8. Crate Paper (This was the toughie!)



9. Fancy Pants

10. Bo Bunny

Seen and Noted

Love at first sight! That is how I felt when I saw this collection by Pebbles.  The colors are vibrant and fun to work with even though I hated cutting my papers, lol. I loved mixing teal with red and yellow and a touch of gray.

Using the Sketch~n~Scrap June 1st sketch I incorporated some sillhouette cuts, washi tape and wooden butterflies and fussy cut the qoute bubbles from one sided of the patterned papers. And you know what else was cool, that strip at the bottom the says "My Perfect Day" is actually the excess barcoded strip that you usually cut off and throw away, so a special thanks to American Crafts for making it usable since we scrappers don't like to waste a thing!

Be sure to stop by and check out all our card and layout sketches on the Sketch~n~Scrap blog this month as we have a lot in store for you. And don't forget, tomorrow is the last day of my Manufacturer's Challenge. I appreciate everyone who has entered so far  and especially those who made a guess, you all rock! Have a scraptastic day!

The Ultimate Party Game for Scrapbookers!

Name that Manufacturer!

You didn't know we have so much fun over at Sketch~n~Scrap did you? I hope you have had the chance to participate in all of the challenges this month celebrating our first birthday. There is still time to enter most of the challenges so make sure you check them out if you haven't already here.
For my Birthday Party Guessing Game Here are the rules -
1. Just leave a comment on this post for one entry into the challenge.
2. Then simply let me know what ten manufacturers are represented in the photo MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE ALL TEN PAPERS (you can post it here in your comment, send me a link to your blog or email me at tmikmik@yahoo.com)  and each correct response will receive an additional  FIVE (5) chances to win.[one correct entry per person]
3. And since we are only a few people away from 200 followers, I will give anyone who becomes a new follower of the Sketch~n~Scrap blog ONE additonal bonus entry! Just let me know you have become a follower.

This Contest will end June 5th, 2013 and the winner will be announced on June 6th, 2013.



THE PRIZE!

A full Miss Caroline's kit by MME, including twine and rubber stamps, all packed up waiting for the winner!
  

Good luck everyone and have fun with it! And thank you for being a part of our 1st birthday party!

May 15th Sketch #33

I hope that you have been keeping  up with the Sketch~n~Scrap Birthday Bash. there have been prizes and contests almost every day from our fantastic designers. Be sure to pop on over and see what prizes you could win,  it is not too late to join in on the fun most of the challenges run for several days. While you are there be sure to follow us on Pinterest and like us on Facebook. Today is May 15th and you know what that means...............another fantastic Sketch~n~Scrap sketch! I used this sketch to do a layout of my grandson and some of his first words. He loves to say Yo! with my husband and since we are from Philly and that is considered local slang, I couldn't resist making that my title. I used the Fancy Pants Swagger collection, which I loved working with! Be sure to stay tuned as we have lots more prizes and fun challenges coming your way! Happy Birthday Sketch~n~Scrap!

National Scrapbook Day Hangover!

There were sooo many great events going on I did not know where to begin. I would have liked to participate in more challenges than I did but there are only so many hours in the day right? I especially lucked up because my husband and some friends went bike riding and my daughters were hanging out down South Street so I was able to spend some time alone in the house, well the dogs were still there but my little baby Oreo just lays at my feet while I scrap, lol. I did finish four layouts but now I am exhausted and I still have mother's day cards to attempt! I think this is shaping up to be a Red Bull kind of week.

 

For my first layout I used this month's sketch from the Stuck?! Sketches challenge blog . This is my oldest daughter when she was five. I used my August 2012 Scrap Room kit featuring October afternoon's Woodland Park. 



Me and my baby niece using my March 2013 Scrap Room kit featuring American Crafts Lucky Charm.



 My youngest daughter a few year back using my March 2011 Scrap Room kit featuring Basic Grey's Hopscotch Collection.



My silliest of all nephews hamming it up for me wearing his comic book art jacket. I had been wanting to scrap these photos for a while but finding the right papers seemed impossible until I found the Paper Loft's  Dude collection. The papers were super fun to use.



Sketch~n~Scrap Reveal day and a New Position!

Did you hear that there is snow today in the midwest! Oh for my scrappy friends there please stay safe and I am sending some Philly sunshine your way. Today is reveal day at Sketch~N~Scrap and yesterday it was announced that I am now a Senior Design team member on the blog. So that means even more Sketch~n~Scrap goodness to share with you every month! Today is reveal day on the site and we have a great multi-photo sketch for you to try.

And in honor of our sponsor this month - the Scrap-Room - I will be featuring layouts using my Scrap-Room kits every week and definitely for the sketches. For today's sketch I used Pink Paislee's Portfolio from the January 2013 kit. This is my niece and her brother, just as sweet as can be! Be sure to join us this month to win a  $25 gift certificate to Scrap-Room!

Simon Says Card Kits

Oh yes, I even used some of my Simon Says Card Kits over the weekend. I love the stamps!

Pick-a-card, pick-a-card, any card..................

Hey there crafters! I hope everyone had a productive weekend. Today marks the first day of my nine hour shifts at work so that I can have every other Friday off. It is usually a good deal but it makes for some really long days sometimes, oh well we will see how it goes. I did some crafty things this weekend but of course not all that I wanted to do, but I am proud that I at least made a dent in my list of To-Dos. I am going to a wedding in May and wanted to have a jump start on at least making the cards. I made two different styles and now I have to choose which one to give the newlyweds.

First I did a kind of whimsical card. I cut the car image using my Slice and the Tie the Knot cartridge (I wish they (the people at Slice) would get back into the paper business although I have enough design cards to get me through for a while). I pieced the image, added stickles to the hearts, rhinestones for the tail lights and a little glossy accents over the license plate just for effect.I used an image from My Time Made Easy for the sentiment.

The second card is more elegant with silver embossing on the sentiment that was stamped with a wood block stamp that I have had for a while. I embossed the yellow background  with a Cuttlebug folder and cut the hearts and flower image using my Slice Tie the Knot cartridge again. I embossed the flowers with another cuttlebug folder and added stickles to the hearts. then to top it all off I added ribbon and some bling.Since this is a kind of formal wedding I am leaning towards this card, but my friend that is getting married is very good natured and he may like the other card better. I think I will just flip a coin, lol.

May-Tastic News!!!!

I am so excited. Not only is National Scrapbooking day in the month of May but there are some fun-tastic events coming up too.

The Scrap-room is going to have their annual NSD sale and Tammy always does it big. I really hope you get a chance to check out the store and grab some great deals. I love being a member of the Scrap-rooom kit club and so do my friends so make sure you stop by, you won't be disappointed! 

-and-

Sketch~n~Scrap will have their first Birthday Bash!!!! And trust me this is going to be a SUPER party with a variety prizes through out the entire month! Can you believe that? Mark your calendars and be sure to visit the Sketch~n~Scrap blog every day, or better yet just become a follower and receive daily updates.

And it is not too late to submit your layout for this month Sketch~n~Scrap sketch challenges. You can do either sketch or both sketches to have your name entered to win this super cute set of flairs from A Flair for buttons. Entries are due by April 30th.