[old school]

Talk about old school! I can't believe this EK Success Paperkin has made it through the various purges I have had over the past 10 years!   When they came out in the year 2000, I had 2 young boys. These dolls were so cute and they came in a variety of adorable outfits.  Back then cute boy embellies were hard to come by, so I bought a lot of these.  Must be why I still have a couple hiding in the dark recesses of my stash. 

Anyway, Scarlett over at My Sketch World has a cute "Play Dress Up Challenge" card challenge this month and the challenge over at Party Time Tuesdays is to use red, white and blue so this little guy covers all the bases, pardon the pun.  *laugh*

Happy Sunday, friends!

Got Challenges?

I {adore} challenges. I do some of my best work with a little prompt from a challenge. I can't even tell you my favorite type of challenge. I guess it depends on the day, how I'm feeling, if my scrap room is clean and what sparks my interest. Yesterday, I found a couple that I liked. One is from a blog I've never been to so I don't know how long they have been around. The other is from a brand new blog that I just love.

Here is the first. The blog is Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings and the challenge was to create a border using ribbon. Anyone who knows me knows I love me a little ribbon.  :)  I tried to think of something a little out of the box for a border and here is what I came up with:

Will be in the 2011 issue of CARDS!

The second challenge I did was for a new blog, Cartwheels In My Mind.  It is a very cool, kinda artsy, sprinkled with some beautiful photography kind of place.  Loads of eye candy.  You've been warned!  :)  Theirs was a "Hello. Nice to meet you" challenge.  One of the prompts for this challenge was if you had a personal greeting.  I do. It is "Hi friend".  If you are standing anywhere near me when I say this you will probably get a hug too.  I use it a lot in my emails too.  I made a simple card with my greeting.

Let me know your favorite challenge blogs! 

Happy Monday, friends!

Goodbye School, Hello Summer!

Today was the last day of school for all three boys!  They all had a half day. It is blazing hot and we have already been to the Splash Pad.  Soccer in the yard with friends and video games have been played.  For my oldest there will be roller skating tonight. Toy Story 3 is on the agenda for this weekend. That has me almost as excited as not having to set the alarm for 6:00 for a couple months!

Brian goes to a great Elementary School.  The teachers and staff are the best. I like to do a little something for his teacher, the principal and the gals who work in the office, just to let them know how much we appreciate everything they do day in and day out!  Everybody got a GC this year except Brian's teacher.

Brian and I made this for Mr. Centers. 

Brian chose the words he wanted and I put it together.  I have made these for about 10 years and they are a big hit with the teachers.  Some have had them framed in shadow boxes and they look great!

Happy Friday, friends! Thanks for stopping by!

Banners & Butterflies!

Here is my Happy Happy Day card I made with Lucy's new June card sketch.  I made it for my sister's birthday at the end of the month.  I will be posting it over at Party Time Tuesdays for their new challenge this week.

I love being able to mix new and old product!  Those little bottle cap letters are old.  They almost didn't make it in my last purge, but am so happy I saved them!  The Jenni Bowlin papers are fairly new and I just adore the colors & patterns. Check out the My Sketch World blog to see the sketches and the lovely layouts and cards that the Design Team made. 

Friday is the last day of school for my boys.  The parents in Brian's class donated money and bought a nice GC for Mr Centers.  I was lucky enough to make the card.  I used this tutorial by Jennifer McGuire. 

Happy Tuesday, friends!

A Little Peek

The new sketches, both a card and a layout, will be up at My Sketch World tomorrow, Tuesday, June 15th.

Here's a little peek at my card:

Loves me a little Jenni Bowlin goodness!  Check back tomorrow for the full reveal!

Happy Monday, friends!

Hers and Mine

I've long considered myself a card making scrapper.  :)  I started making cards so I could play with all the lovely girlie paper and embellies that are available.  Having 3 boys does not lend oneself to using a lot of flowers and pretty things. Card making lets me!  Ah, sweet freedom! *laugh*

Here is a card I made just yesterday.  Have any of you been following Paper Craft's Gallery Idol?

This is a lift of the lovely Shanna Vineyard's card that she made to get herself in the top 15.  I absolutely loved it and wanted to make one.  :)  I change up the flower a bit, hand stitched a little and added that cute snail, but the overall design is hers.

As much as I enjoy card making, scrapping still brings me great joy! In the last year I have switched from the 12x12 format to 8.5x11 and have been much happier with my layouts.  I still do the occasional 12x12, usually for a sketch challenge, but am much happier with the smaller format.  Here is a layout I did for Kim's

Color Challenge at My Sketch World. 

For those of you who live in Michigan, I am aware that I spelled Ocqueoc wrong, but I couldn't get the letters up once I stuck them on the paper so I'm choosing to overlook it.  *laugh*  I didn't have much new product with these colors so this was made with scraps!  Love that.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Sunday, friends!

{Sweet}

A quick post tonight.  Party Time Tuesdays new challenge is to use a number(s) on a card. 

Here is my card:

Can you see that little 16?  I love the new banner trend.  Instead of a few little ones, I decided on one big one.  Isn't that owl a hoot?  Pardon the pun!  *laugh*   I've had it for a long time and was happy to use it on this card.  If you need to build up your stash of birthday cards and like a good challenge, check Party Time Tuesdays out! 

Happy Wednesday, friends! 

I Wish, I Wish

Our fair city, home of many fabulous parks, just opened it's first Splash Pad.  Brian and I went with Juli and her girls.  The kids had a blast!  Apparently, not too many people knew it was open because it wasn't too crowded, but I'm sure that will change.  They could use for some sod around the edges as the grass seed they planted didn't all come up and it turned into a big mud pit.  Also, a few benches for the grown ups would be appreciated.  But hey, it's not about us, right?  {it never is, but I digress...}  

Here is a layout of Brian looking oh so cool while water sprays his tushie.  :)

I'm a new member over at Scrapdango and am participating in their LOAD challenge this month.  This layout was done from a posted sketch and it also met the requirements for Wendi's Summer Splash challenge over at My Sketch World.   Lot's of fun things going on in the scrappy world!

Here are a few new places I'm enjoying right now:

Cartwheels in my Mind

Party Time Tuesdays

For your non-scrappy pleasure, this is a cool blog.  Matt is walking from New York to Oregon and is posting photos and little stories along the way.

I'm Just Walkin'

Happy Tuesday, friends!

White on White

Is this an old trend or a new trend?  White on white, color on color or even pattern on pattern.  I love the overall look of it.  It makes you look twice to make sure there is really something there, know what I mean?  Anyway, those photos are of my lovely peony bush.  They are so pretty, I only wish they lasted longer. 

Here is a close-up of my stacked butterflies, with a bit of yummy Strano ribbon to keep them happy:

This layout is based on Lucy's June 1st sketch over at MSW:

Happy Sunday, friends!  Thanks for stopping by!

{happy} birthday.

Brian had a birthday party to go to today.  A pool party no less!  It was for the sweet little girl that sits next to him in his class.  We went to Target and picked out a cute Barbie doll, (who just happened to be in a bathing suit!) a second outfit and a little bit of $ on a giftcard.  To balance out the girlie stuff, Brian had some money from the tooth fairy and bought himself some macho army guys complete with tank and plane.

Here is the card I made for her:

I managed to get 2 challenges done with this card too!  The first is for Cheryl's Circle Card Challenge over at My Sketch World.  The new card and layout challenges went up for June today so be sure to stop by and check them out!  The first of the month's sketches are up too!

 The second challenge is for a new challenge blog, Party Time Tuesdays.  It is all about birthday cards all the time!  Just think, you'll never have to buy another birthday card again if you play along each week!

Happy Saturday, friends!