I'm Back and Ready to Share! School Layouts & DCWV Sketch Challenge!

Hello my long lost blogger friends!  I've been away from the blogging world for quite a bit, with my crazy life, overpacked schedule, and the hectic holidays - I had so many other priorities to tend to and something had to give, so I've been unable to post.  But I'm Back and wanting to get back in the swing of things.  Although I haven't been posting, I have been creating quite a bit, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to post a bunch of my projects throughout this week and next week (but it is my little boy's birthday on Thursday and I'm going out of town this weekend, so bear with me!).

I have to first post this super cute layout of my little boy's first day of Kindergarten.  I had previously posted the layout of my daughter's 1st day of Pre-K in my last post, so this is the follow up...

This year he had his very first country project.  He was assigned Spain and told to include the title, flag, type of money and write two sentences.  I'm always one to go above and beyond and I pass that on to my kids, so we started brainstorming things we could do with this.  The teacher in me uses any and all opportunities to learn, so we researched and I taught him about the colors of the flag, the map and major cities, bull fighting, the "Euro", etc.  We created the title from napkins, rolling them into little balls and glueing them on the cricut letters (which he cut out himself :), we made the flag with beads and he wrote five sentences within another flag that we made.  When the project came back home, I took off all of the elements that we had created and used them on this layout with the pictures of him holding the project and the fully completed project.  This way I "saved it" without the clutter of the actual poster board around my house.  I see it as a win-win!  Check out the layout below...

Next I wanted to share a layout I made from this month's sketch challenge at the DCWV blog.  This was the sketch, which I loved...

I had just found this great DCWV travel stack and I used it to create a page opener for our Road Trip to Kennedy Space Center.  Take a look...

I will have another Kennedy Space Center layout to share tomorrow, I just realized I haven't uploaded those photos, yet! 

Finally, I have to share with you my fabulous surprise Christmas gift from my hubby - a Silhouette Cameo!

For those of you who have no idea what it is, it is similar to the Cricut (it's competition, actually), but instead of a cartridge system, it connects to your computer and can be used to cut your computer fonts, create your own shapes and also purchase images from their online store.  There's some things I love about it and also some things that I have issues with, but I'm hoping to post my very own review about my thoughts on it after I've given it another week or so to really test it out.  This does not in any way mean I'm abandoning my Cricut - it is still my love, but I'm hoping to expand my capabilities even further with this new machine.  We'll see how that goes!  Be on the look out for a future post about my experiences with the Cameo.  

Well my friends, that's all I have time for today.  I'm glad to be back and hope you'll be joining me again on these crafting adventures.  I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this, especially since I've been away so long, but if you are - please let me know...leave a COMMENT!  

Come back soon and

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Cutie Layout using Hello Kitty Font

Hello everyone!  I won't be around all of next week but I wanted to share one more layout before I go.  There was one more layout at Sassy Lil' Sketches that I wanted to try and I had two great pictures of Sofi laying around my scrap table so tonight when a couple friends came over to scrapbook, I decided to get the layout done.  I went into a really old DCWV Spring Stack and it had a great paper that worked great with the photos.  I especially love how bright and cheery the colors were.  Now in the sketch it had the title somewhere else, but I don't deal well with blank spaces so I decided to fill it up and put the title there instead.  I used the Hello Kitty Font cartridge to create the title using shadow, silhouette and both types of font on there.  I also alternated the colors in the title.  The Hello Kitty embellishments are from another old chipboard pack I had that I hadn't used and what better time than this!  I've also been dying to try the paper rosette technique and I did on this layout (at the bottom where I put the Hello Kitty).  I love how it all came together.  Take a look...

Here is the sketch I followed...

Some close ups...

Title is of course scrapped, stickled and popped! LOL!

The cutest part about this is that when my daughter saw the page, she ran and found the Hello Kitty and came riding her little car with the Hello Kitty in the front and said "Look Mama, like the picture!".  She is just the cutest!

I hope you like the layout!

Thanks for stopping by!

Splish Splash Layout for Sketch Challenges

As promised, I have more to share today.  It all started with one sketch that I really liked, so I started looking for pictures that would work for it and then I happened to find more than three, so I combined two other sketches to create the other side of the layout.  I'm really happy with the results and even happier that another memory is now preserved :)  As for the title, I decided to use part of the patterned paper and then combined it with my new favorite font from Baby Steps (which kind of looks just like the patterned paper one).

Here is one of the layouts...

I used glossy accents on the title and the drops that make them look "wet"...

Here are the two sketches that I used for inspiration, this one from Sassy Lil' Sketches...

and this one from Stuck On U Sketches, turned on its side...

This is the other layout which goes with another sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches...

Here is the combined layout...

I hope you like them!  As always, thanks for stopping by!!

Have a great start to your week!

Family Layouts for Sketch Challenge

Sometimes sketches are the way to go when you want to get started on a scrapbook page.  I have a couple blogs that I use for inspiration as well as a large folder on my desktop where I've put lots of great sketches I've found that I like.  Recently, I came across another new blog called Sassy Lil' Sketches that had some very inspiring sketches and this particular one caught my attention.  I love that you have the whole month to submit them and they give a new sketch every 7th, 14th and 21st of the month.  I found this paper at JoAnns this week that I've seen in a kit before and it always caught my eye, but this was the first time I saw the paper by itself so I bought it and thought it worked great with this sketch.  I had two great pics from my mom's birthday this year and it came together nicely, take a look...

This is the sketch:

Also this week at Sketches in Thyme, they have an open sketch challenge that I'm also linking this up to.

Since I had left over paper, I decided to make another page rather than store it away (and who knows when I'd come across it again).  I added pics from this past Thanksgiving that I hadn't scrapped yet of our traditional family pictures.  Here is the final product...

I've been working on another layout from more sketches at Sassy Lil' Sketches, but you'll have to check back tomorrow to see it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Mommy & Baby Layout

Hello everyone.  I've been m.i.a. lately, I know, sooooo much going on and no time or mojo to scrap, really.  But yesterday I had a little energy and a little time and I wanted to create.  I decided to look to a sketch I had on my desktop and it developed into a super cute page of my little Sofi.  I had these two adorable pictures of her with her baby doll.  She LOVES playing with babies and I love that she's so cute and girly, that way.  So I wanted to make a page that was just as cute and girly as her.  I grabbed the paper from my flower paper stash (who knows how old it is) and it just worked with the pictures.  I even got to use a bunch of flowers.  I added buttons to the center and used some scrapper's floss for the centers.  I welded the title on my gypsy (of course, lol!) and added doodlebug glitter to make it sparkle.  The pics are not the best, but I'm having a huge problem with my computer - it's full (of pictures, that is - didn't know it was possible to do that, but I have!)  Here's the layout, take a look...

I hope to be able to create some more this weekend, I'm on vacation - hooray!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Cowgirl Up!

Last night I created this super cute layout that I want to share.  I have the most adorable picture of my little cowgirl, Sofi and I had recently found two great papers at Michael's for this layout.  I was also super excited to use my new "Old West" cartridge that I got for $9.99 on clearance.  So in getting caught up with a bunch of blogs that I follow yesterday, I came across this super great sketch at Stuck on U Sketches and I took out the picture and papers immediately to create right away.  I love when a sketch can do that!  So here is my layout along with the sketch...

For my title, I really wanted it to pop, so I shadowed it, and it really brought the whole page together.  In celebration of groundhog's day, Cooking with Cricut is having a "shadow" challenge this week, so I'm entering it in that challenge as well.  I cut a hat to match my daughter's and I just finished it up with the lasso  to bring it all together.  

I also just got my Distrezz-It-All yesterday and I was dying to use it on this page because the two just go together.  Here is another angle so you can see the distressing on the papers/mats.  I'm so loving my new little machine!

Finally, I came across another new challenge blog over at Melissa and Amanda's blog called "Scrappy Saturdays with the Bug" and they are having their very first challenge this week.  I love it because it focuses only on scrapbooking and the cricut - it's what I'm all about!  So I'm excited to join in on their challenge, too.  If you're a scrapbooker, be sure to check them out!

So I hope you've enjoyed my page!

You must stop by again tomorrow for our 

I have a great project to share with you all and I hope you join in on the fun!

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!