Remember to Always Laugh!

Words of Wisdom from me! How does the saying go again...You can't control what happens, but you can control how you react to what happens...I say the best remedy is to never forget to laugh at yourself and in life...I hope my kids always remember to laugh!

Now I've been a little MIA this week...been fighting a brutal cold/flu and I'm only just today feeling like my head isn't going to explode! I threw this layout together in less than an hour because it's this weeks sketch at Scrapbook Challenges and seeing as I've been sick...could only muster up that much to get it done!

I've been hangin onto these papers from Studio Calico for a while and even though I've used two busy papers here, I like them together...I love the road map and the globes...it kinda supports where my daughter is right now in her life...

Have I mentioned that I love to buy the matching sticker sheets to papers before? I'm sure I have several times :) here's a perfect example of why they make a layout come together quick and easy!

Our Close To My Heart Cork alphabets are the 'bomb' as they say! I love them, texture, colour and size...perfect for titles!

Check out the Gallery Gems I chose this week over at SC Blog too! I love it when I can recognize some fellow crafty peeps and their awesome work! 

triple JUMP'ing with Scrapbook Challenges!

Good Morning! 

Just playing with more sketches from Scrapbook Challenges, this one worked great for my son's Triple Jump photos!

I've used two pieces of Kraft cardstock and strips of scrap paper...some pre-done Bazzil borders and assorted die-cuts and left over bits and pieces from my CTMH stash of corrugated shapes and canvas accessories!

Super fast and easy layout with lots of detail and interest!

As you can see, I've mirrored this sketch as I preferred the photos going the opposite way...

 Now if you love this sketch as a double like I did, have fun! and as usual I've also got the single page layout sketch here too! 

Remember to stop by Scrapbook Challenges and see what some of the other Design Team ladies have created with this great sketch!

Hexagons rock!

Good Morning!

I wanted to share with you todays card sketch from Let's Scrap...except when I saw it I knew I had just the paper and it had to be a layout!

Here's the sketch:

and this is what I did!

This paper by My Mind's Eye is fantastic, great colours, great papers and great accessories!

The chipboard sheet and button package that coordinates makes really short work of putting a cute layouts together quickly! Especially when you have a great sketch! and some twine!!!

I hope you have a great Wednesday and thanks for stopping by today!!!

Sizzling Summer of Sketches - sketch 9

Good Morning! I hope you've been enjoying August so far, and all these super Sizzlin' sketches from Scrapbook Challenges!!! 

This is sketch 9:

and here's how I've used it:

Now I'm sure you've noticed that I didn't stray very far from this sketch...the stars were the perfect embellishment for this picture and I just so happened to have these banner pieces on the sheet of patterned paper!

I really wish that when I photograph these layouts the colours would be perfect...whether it's a bright day or even a rainy one (like when I took this photo) it never seems to be 'just right'...these stars are red, not pinky...in case you were wondering! 

I love my sewing machine! and my new Saddle ink from Close To My Heart...great colour for distressing!

So glad you stopped by today!

We've done it again!!!!

Well, we've done it again...it's National Stamping Month once again this year and Close To My Heart has created another fantastic DOUBLE stamp set this year!

If you've arrived here from Lisa's Stamp Happy Blog, then you are on the right track!

Doesn't this example from our team at Close To My Heart remind you of the Project Life pages...try this technique using our Horizontal and Vertical Photo Storage Pages for a fun alternative to telling your story!

When you place a minumum $35.00 order from our CTMH catalogs, from August 15th - September 30th you can purchase this stamp set for only $5.00!!!

I've used Goldrush ink to stamp this solid butterfly and as you can see, all of the background strips have been stamped with this fantastic set!

I've simply layered my butterfly stamped images and used my trusty sewing machine to attach them to my layout...this stamp set is AWESOME!!!

I used the polka dot stamp to stamp the backside of the butterfly...and this 'hello life' circle makes the perfect title...they don't always need to be HUGE to be the perfect choice :)

Now here's the final layout, my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge circle, cut in the 'layer' mode framed these photos beautifully...this will be a perfect 'page 2' for my daughters' Sweet Sixteen birthday layouts...stay tuned for more artwork from me with this great set, but in the meantime, head on over to Jody's Cre8n' Memories Blog to see what greatness she's created with this set!!!

Great deal!

Good Morning!

Do you love Close To My Hearts' products? Would you love to shop and get a discount?

Well this is a great time to join my team! For the month of August not only can you join CTMH for $49.00, but you can also get this fantastic exclusive bag for FREE!

and check out what you get in your new Consultant kit for $49.00 :

Now remember you are welcome to join even if you are only going to be shopping for yourself and perhaps your friends...maybe you are looking to get some additional income and want to start your own small business...or maybe you want to earn free trips and build your own team...CTMH is a fantastic place to be if you fall under any of those categories so contact me if you want more information or check out THIS LINK for more details :)

Here to Cheer!

Hi there!

So glad to stopped in today because I've got a fun sketch from Scrapbook Challenges that'll have you playing with paper layers on a single page or even a double page for those of you that don't stray from your doubles :)

I've used some My Mind's Eye papers and coordinating chipboard embellishments

...these natural wooden buttons from Close To My Heart are great and go really nicely with our Kraft card stock!

If you love double pagers, here's the sketch:

Enjoy and have a great week!

catching up on my Sizzling Summer of Sketches

Good Morning! I have a few sketches for you this morning that were featured at the beginning of August but I didn't have time to work on them. 

This is the first sketch from Scrapbook Challenges Sizzlin' Summer of Sketches!

and this is what I did:

This is an older photo of Marissa giving Gigi a smooch...Gigi is Ukrainian for Grandpa.

I die cut a sheet of cork, teal cardstock and a page from an old book with my Tim Holtz 'tattered flowers' and 'daisy flowers' Sizzix dies to make these flowers.

I also found some bits of chipboard buttons from Jenni Bowlin and calendar tags. I looked at that Tim Holtz film strip embellishment at the store for quite some time before I purchased it, thinking to myself, 'I LOVE it but am I actually going to use it?'...well to answer that, I'm almost out of it!

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you have a chance to play with paper and glue today!

Sizzling Summer of Sketches - sketch 6

Alrighty then...here's another Sizzlin' Sketch for you!

and here's what I did:

I wanted to 'see' the definition around my photos and sanding the edges was just the effect to do that...

I've created three pages so far from the four sheets of Jillibean patterned paper I bought to use for some of Matthew's sporty pages...and I love my kraft cardstock so this layout even though it has multiple patterns on it, seems not as busy because I've stayed within a 'kraft' tone.

You might have noticed that my 'E' looks a little funny? That's because while using up my alphabets I often run out of common and often used letters...so this number 3 rotated worked well enough...just getting it done and trying not to fuss too much for perfection!

Turning over a new leaf! Thanks for stopping in, see you next time!

Sizzling Summer of Sketches - sketch 5

Welcome to another great Sizzlin' Summer of Sketches over at Scrapbook Challenges!!! I hope you've been enjoying the variety of sketches from my two favourite sketch sites this week!

I've been playing with four sheets of Jillibean Soup for Matthew's Rugby from this year at school...I wanted to get these pictures done before we start another school year in a couple weeks and I'm so glad that I have more sketches than time to scrap...because I'm actually powering through these photos :) Yeah!!!

and here's my adaptation of this sketch:

Now I didn't want to mat these photos but I did want them to stand out a bit better and I've been addicted to sanding these days...

I really love seeing the focus and determination on Matthew's face in these photos...he really enjoyed playing rugby this season!

Thanks for stopping in today and I hope you have a chance to play with some of these great sketches sometime soon!

3..2..1...go!

OK, this one is great...nice and easy if you are a single pager or in the mood for a single pager...also a great sketch this week if you have a stash of paper left over...

I opened my Disney Album, which I might add is a work in progress...I get bored easily and like to scrap what moves me...I found these pics printed out already and luckily printed in a 3X4 format so it was easy to crop them down to the 3X2 in this sketch...mind you I only had three mini pics printed so I used them...

I had two sheets of patterned paper in the sleeve in my album with these photos...obviously I bought them with the intention to scrap these photos, so it made short work to throw this layout together with this perfect sketch!

The reverse of the red PP was filled with these road signs...so they came in perfectly to fussy cut and create the embellishments with!

 Here's the double page sketch for this week...another great one for those photos you just can't leave behind...9 photos! Wow!!!

Have fun with this one...use up those scraps and left over bits...