Happy Birthday Dad!

Sorry I've been gone so long!!! Between beautiful weather, and visiting family, things have been too busy to stop and post. I just put my mother in law on a ferry to Valdez on Thursday and dropped my brother off at the airport last night. This is my first official day family/visitor free since June 6th!!! We have about two weeks before our next guests arrive, but it will be a quick trip for them and hopefully not throw me off my routine too bad!! I've been able to do a little crafting here and there and will catch you up on what I've been up to!

I had fun with this one, although, I'm not super thrilled with my color choices!! This is the first time I've used a card sketch from Paper Craft Planet, although, I really like their scrapbook sketches and use them often! I absolutely love the characters from A Birthday Wish stamp set and hadn't had a chance to ink up this little guy. He's so cute! I used the Serendipity kit for the B&T paper and cardstock. The balloon is from an older retired stamp set called Birthday Celebration and the embroidery floss is Making Memories. I "blinged" it up a bit with some Robin's Nest Dew Drops and Stickles.

Pedal Car

Added Note 6/14: I forgot to give credit to the Scrappy Sunday Challenge on the Paper Craft Planet website for the sketch I used. I thought it went really well with my "Sweet" page that

I posted earlier and it used the inside of one my circles, so less waste! ;O) I love their sketches!! They are pretty simple, but easy to make your own.

This is another layout that didn't turn out exactly like I wanted, but it's done, right?!! For this layout I used Animal Crackers Creative Basics, White Daisy and Cranberry Cardstock, Cranberry Ink, and Homestead Alphabet. The ribbon I picked up at JoAnns and the tools are Karen Foster's Mini Charms. Looking at this now, I wish I'd cut out the centers of the "P", "D", "A", and "R". I originally intended to run the title down the side where all the whit space is and then the white wouldn't show. But, I just couldn't make that work like I wanted. I may have to peel them up and redo the title, I'm famous for doing that! ;o)

Last Of Easter Pics

I had a goal a month or two ago, to complete every one of the Scrapbook challenges on Paper Craft Planet. At the time, they had just started the challenge, and there were around half a dozen layouts to complete. I almost caught-up when summer hit! ;o) Below are a couple of layouts I did manage to complete however, using the rest of my super cute Reminisce shimmer paper and chipboard stickers. I just absolutely love this paper and could have made a dozen more pages with it had I bought enough!! There's also a little Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf, Black, and Daisy White cardstock used for matting. I used my brand new Cricut to cut the "Egg Dyeing" title! I was trying to mimic the "Easter Egg Hunt" text pre-printed on the other page. I think it turned out pretty close.

The sketches transferred a little smaller than I had hoped, but if you'd like to see them bigger head over to Paper Craft Planet. I thought these two sketches worked really well together for a 2-page spread. The first one was posted on 4/19/09 and the second was posted on 3/22/09.

Summer is on its way...

Paper and White Ribbon-Animal Cookies Creative Basics (the Level 2 pack is even cuter!!)

Cardstock-White Daisy and Clover Meadow

Stamps-Rustic Alpha, Summer Sweetness, and Journaling Jots

Robin's Nest Dew Drops in Hydrqangia (I swear that's how its spelled) and Liquid Glass to make the seeds shiny

I had soooo much fun with this sketch from Paper Craft Planet. It's totally out of my box to use circles, let alone all of this empty space. But it was such a blast!! Susanna's sketches are typically pretty simple, but usually require me to do something I'm not used to doing. I have really enjoyed every one of them and look forward to doing more. Now, if I could only do them on time and get them loaded on the Paper Craft Planet website to prove I'm participating!!! ;O)

The Easter Bunny Was Here...

Paper-Reminisce (Easter Eggs, Easter Egg Hunt, and Spring Swirls)

Cardstock-Crystal Blue and Creme Brulee CTMH

Diecut Stickers-Reminisce

Stamps-Friendship Alpha (large and small for date) CTMH

Ink-Sweet Leaf and Hydrangea

I love taking my son in to get photos with fun backgrounds and I have started taking him to Sears for most of the shoots rather than a "real" photographer because I like that they will sell you the copyrights and hand you a cd with every photo on it. That makes it lots easier/cheaper to scrap his shoots! I especially love the candid shots that are great for scrapbook layouts, but not necessarily worth paying a photographer to print. So, the Sears deal works out perfect. I took him in this year for Easter photos and it was surprisingly a lot of fun! He was in a really good mood for the majority of it and we got some really good shots. This particular photo was more of the "classic" pose to send to family, but I will post the matching page with the rest of the photos as soon as I finish it. This was such fun paper to use and I just love the stickers! I used another one of Paper Craft Planet's Scrappy Sunday Challenge which was posted on March 1st.

Always Sisters, Always Friends

My grandmother recently gave me a stack of family pictures to scan and put into scrapbooks. She only gave me a small portion of the pictures that I know she has stashed away somewhere. But, honestly, it was a much more overwhelming task than I had anticipated. There is hours of Photoshop editing that needs to be done. But, I started with my favorite photos and even with my limited Photoshop skills, I managed to drastically improve them and eliminate the cracks and tears. So, its a very rewarding project and I enjoy getting to know some of my family a little better. This particular photo is of my grandmother and her two sisters in 1921, she's the baby-how cute is she! I just love the bows in the older girls hair! I have recently discovered the Paper Craft Planet and used the Scrappy Sunday Challenge from March 15th for this layout.

Paper-Close To My Heart-More to Adore Level 2 with Blush and Vanilla Creme Cardstock

Stamps-The Works Alpha
Ink-Versa Mark and CTMH Chocolate for distressing

Embroidery Floss-Making Memories Romance Pink

Flowers-CTMH Just Blooms Big Blooms and Shades of Chocolate Mini Medleys
Ribbon-CTMH Chocolate Organdy (Retired) CTMH White embossing powder for the title