Happy Birthday Let's Get Sketchy!

Let’s Get Sketchy is turning ONE and to celebrate we are having a Birthday Bash Blog hop.  As you make your way along our hop to visit each of our DT blogs you will find lots of birthday inspired projects.   If you have arrived here from Tracy's blog welcome to the LGS blog hop!! If you have stumbled across this by chance and want to play along then you can head back to the Let's Get Sketchy site to start at the beginning and to start collecting your Birthday challenge words. These words should be bolded on each DT member’s pages.

I thought it would be fitting to create a post showing you how I created this page in celebration of my daughter's 10th Birthday.

First, I gathered any product I had that seemed fun, and celebratory. Including Create Paper's Pretty Party Collection, and Evalicious flair badges.

Then I made a 3x3 micro mini album to attach to my layout, to house additional photos from the party

Cut 2 - 3x12" strips of card stock.  Accordion fold each one, and attach with double sided tape

Add photos and patterned paper

Add a 4x4" cover created from chipboard, covered with patterned paper, and decorated to co-ordinate with your 12x12 layout.

 Attach micro-mini album to your already created layout using double sided tape

Here is HOW my completed layout with micro-mini album attached looks

Thanks for hopping by, your next stop on the hop will be Marit's blog.  

In case you get lost along the way here is the hopping order. Don't forget to collect your secret words along the way to enter for a chance at a little some extra birthday goodies.

• Line up:

  Let's Get Sketchy

  Brenshevia

  Debbie

  Stacia

  Laurie

  Carla

  Michelle

  Lynn

  Alison

  Melinda

  Tracy

  MY BLOG

  Marit

  Lanette

  Bev

  Stephanie

  Stacey

  LGS
  
  
  

  And what's a Birthday Celebration without gifts right. The fabulous Andrea from Cre8tive Cre8tions has provided me with some extra flair badges to offer up to one of my lucky readers, just for this celebration.  

  

  Leave me a comment telling me you'd be interested, and I will choose one lucky winner from among those comments to receive a fabulous assortment of flair badges and announce on Monday, March 4th. Please make sure to leave me your email address, so I can contact you directly!

  
  

  Happy Hopping, hope you feel inspired to link up for your chance at a boat load of goodies to be handed out all month long.

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Kiwi Lane Designs Blog Hop

Good morning friends, and welcome to my first ever Kiwi Lane Designs blog hop.

If you've arrived here from Kristy's blog, then you're on the right track.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, and want to get in on the fun, then I suggest you maximize your daily does of scrapbooking inspiration and start here, at the Kiwi Lane blog.

As a scrapper who likes to use a lot of bits and pieces, and add a lot of dimension to my layouts I was unsure if Kiwi Lane Designer templates would be for me.  When I received my package of goodies, however, I knew these little gems would be easy to assimilate into my scrapbooking.

I worked with the Tiny Accent package for this hop.

I chose the star template to take centre stage on my layout.  I really wanted to give it a work out and chose to create my own patterned paper by tracing and cutting out the shape all over the bottom half of the page, and backing the holes with co-ordinating patterned papers.

This is what I ended up with.

I love masking, and decided to give you a peek of what it would look like if I used the template to do that too.  I decided to keep my template clean (you'll see why later), so I traced out some shapes on scrap paper, and used them instead.

Here is what the masking looked like after adding the alphabet title.

Once I had everything all together I decided that the stars needed just a tad more definition.  To achieve the look I was after, I used my sewing machine to stitch around each star with dark grey thread.

My completed layout. Featuring our family Poodle Wilson, two of the Tiny Accent shapes, My Mind's Eye papers, and a variety of embellishments from my stash.

Here is your complete hop line up

Kiwi Lane 

Cathryn Hanson

Staci Jones

Rebecca Keppel

Melissa Dehne

Jessica Arrant

Charissa Miller

Sherri Thompson

Kristy MacKeen

Sherri Funk <--- You are here

Roselyn Riley

Lisa Anderson

Leslie Prinkki

Visiting, and commenting on each blog will leave you with loads of inspiration.  These ladies really knocked it out of the park for you this hop.  You may also find some great give aways along the way, and one lucky participant among all the blogs will win a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane store.  I also have a little something to offer one of my lucky readers today.  You could win yourself your very own Tiny Accessories set.  Simple become my newest follower, and leave a comment here telling me you've done so, and this great little set could be on it's way to you very soon.  In the spirit of "the month of love" I'll even throw in some brand new Chic Tags goodness for you.  The fabulous Love Notes collection boasts some super cute tags for all your Valentine's Day scrapbook needs.
You have until Sunday at 11:59 MST to leave your comments and be entered into the draw here and on the Kiwi Lane Designs blog.  The Kiwi Lane winner will be announced on their blog on Wednesday.  My winner will be announced right here on my blog the same day.  Good luck!

Thanks for hopping with me today.  Your next stop will be Roselyn.

Have a wonderful day! Pin It

Warm It Up

Today at Use It Tuesday that's exactly what we are challenging you to use.  Using your hoarded stash, we are challenging you to create a project that uses red, and/or yellow, and/or orange.

Here is the layout I created using our little Wilson as inspiration.

Mask is The Crafter's workshop

The Crate Paper Story Teller papers, and embellishments, the red trim, and this gorgeous Evalicious flair badge that I've had forever were my hoarded items used on this layout.

You can see what the rest of the DT did to warm up their projects, and link up your own creation here. You never know, doing so may just get you into our Guest DT role somewhere down the road.

Enjoy your day friends, and thanks so much for stopping by! Pin It

I'm Not Perfect

Just in case any of you were thinking it, ha ha.

I realized the other day, that I never shared this layout I created for the Lily Bee design team call a few weeks ago.  I thought it was a fun, eye-catching, and a creative way to share a little bit of my personality and my scrappy style all at the same time.  It obviously wasn't enough to make an impression on them, but I still love it nonetheless.

Double Dutch collection

I had this quote from Pinterest in mind for the longest time to use on a layout, and it seemed to fit great with the style and design of this one.  Not to mention...it's 100% true, if I do say so myself.  It's a little difficult to read, but it says "I may not be perfect, but parts of me are pretty awesome."

Thanks for popping in today, and especially for not taking me too seriously. Pin It

Let's Capture These Sketches Reveal

Sketch #149 in now live on Let's Capture These Sketches. 

Here is Natalie's sketch

Check out all the white space and the cluster.  So up my ally.  The flowers kind of threw me for a loop at first because I don't actually own many flowers anymore, and definitely none that large.  I decided to just look at it as a cluster rather than 3 flowers.  Then things came together very quickly.

I realize it's hard to see the outline.  Consider this  caption centered on the bottom, and that should make things a little easier to see.

Once again I combined a mix of manufactures on this page including: Jillibean Soup, My Mind's Eye, Prima, Evalicious, October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin, and Studio Calico.

These photos are of Théa, and Eden are from the day my girlfriend gave us a mini tour of the local radio station she works at.  The girls met their favorite DJ, and were introduced to a bunch of the staff.  Two sweet guys in particular totally made their day by suiting them up in a cowbow hat, and lanyard.  Such a small gesture of kindness totally made their day.

A simple, yet eye catching design.  Works for me.  You should see what the rest of the design team created. Curious?  Click  here.

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

♥ S. Pin It

Let's Hear It For The Boy

For Challenge #20, Einat has brought us a new kind of challenge this month at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  The challenge is to focus on a special male in our life.  She reminds us about the covenant that God made with Abraham the day a lamb was sent to be sacrificed in place of Abraham's son Issac.

When I read her challenge I immediately thought of my nephew Jayden.  My brother and his wife have the cutest brown boy I've ever seen.  The kid is such a character.  He loves to tease, and play around, and climb all over my hubby.  He's quite the dancer, loves anything Spiderman, and is a little jokester to boot.  He's one of the most loving little boys I know.  When he leaves his day care, he cannot walk out the door without personally saying goodbye and delivering a hug to each child there.

Then men in my family have not done much to leave a stellar legacy for future generations.  Ephesians 6:4 reads "Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master."  Whether it was because they, themselves have always had poor role models, or because they just had no idea how and where to start, or simply because they just didn't care, I do not know.  All I know is that Ephesians 6:4 did not ring true within the walls of my home.  My brother and I were subjected to awful rants by my father, often accompanied by a swift and rough hand to the behind.

It is only by the grace of God, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, that my brother and I are the people we are today.  My brother especially.  He grew into a kind, loving, gentle man, who leads his son with a kind, loving, and gentle hand.  He is raising Jayden in a way that affirms this little boy's value in Christ.  Jayden will have a hard time questioning his worth as a person, a chosen, and wonderfully created child of God, gifted to his parents.  With that kind of knowledge this young man will have the power to break this generational curse of ours.  He will have the strength and the wisdom, and the humility to rise up and re-write the pages of the Wesley book for future generations.  

Written on this hidden journaling card is Malachi 4:6 "He (Elijah) will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents."

I am honoured to be his Aunt.  I cherish the gift that I have, to come alongside him, and his parents as a reminder of what a gift he is to all of us, and of God's great and amazing, all encompassing, never failing love for all mankind.  A love that He demonstrated so boldly in giving up His son Jesus to die for each one of us.  Rather than a life doomed to eternal loss, we have been giving the opportunity to live in eternity with our Heavenly Father.  There is no denying the presence of God for me.  No denying the power of the Holy Spirit when I look at myself in the mirror, or when I look at my brother, and especially when I consider the possibility of restoration that Jayden could bring to the Wesley name for future generations.

To see what men the rest of the DT chose to lift up please pop over to Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  There, you will also see the scrap twist for the month, as well as get the details on our gracious sponsor and the prize up for grabs.

Have a wonderful Monday friends,

♥ S.

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LCTS Sketch #145

Natalie is our sketch designer this week over at Let's Capture These Sketches.  Here is the sketch we had to work with.

This one was a little tricky at first for me, until I realized I could group everything just a little closer together creating a layout that still followed the sketch, but reflected my true style.

Here is my take on it.

One of the best things to me about being part of a sketch team, is that I get the opportunity to dig into my stash and pull out older items that I've let sit idle for too long.  Because the focus is on the sketch and not the product, I'm free to mix and match to my heart's content.  Here I've used some new Evalicious: journal card, badge, and tag, some really old Crate Paper: the punched yellow strip (Random Collection), some Studio Calico washi tape, some Amy Tan leaves, and Ormolu tag, an old Prima sculpture flower, a really old stamp (I think it's Maya Road), and the start chip board again is really old (I think maybe Jenni Bowlin?!), along with some Studio Calico mist, Jillibean soup alphas and some Maya Raod trim.  Love 'using it all up'.  If you'd like to get your hands on those Evalicious goodies, or even the Ormolu tags they are available in the LCOM store.

A couple detail shots:

Made the flower with a Gluber and some May Arts trim

A little Studio Calico washi tape

 To see what the rest of the DT created and link up your own take on Sketch #145 hop on over here.

Thanks for popping in today friends.  Hope you're in the middle of a great weekend!

♥ S.


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{Pretty} Homework

Can you believe it's been a month since the days of school homework?  If you're like me you have to stop yourself from thinking "It's only one more month until we're back into homework".  As a little bit of a control freak, planner, I struggle with living in the moment, a lot.  But that's another story for another time.

It's my turn over at the Let's Capture These Memories blog today.  I have a super simple design with lots of straight lines, and as usual a few layers to share with you.  I'm still working with Crate Paper Pretty Party Collection, and still finding lots of variety to go with pretty much any photo.

These photos of my girls doing homework in the back of the van are nothing special really.  If you look through my scrapbooks you'll see other similar photos of routine/mundane activities.  I've tried hard to make a point of incorporating the 'everyday' into my scrapbooks.  I think that is something that many of us struggle with (unless of course you  keep up with Project Life).  It's easy to get caught up in the events, vacations,and other milestones.  There are, however, so many other day-to-day occurrences, that make up our lives,  I believe it is just as much fun to look back and remember, celebrate, and appreciate them as we would birthdays, or first day of school 

 type events.

I've outlined the alphas from the collection with a Tim Holtz Distress marker

This layout is in remembrance of this past year where my younger two girls and I would wait for 25 minutes outside the school of my oldest.  We would use that time to get caught up on home reading, spelling practice, and math homework.  It was a great use of time, and even a nice way to wind down just a bit after school, but before Dance Class and supper took over.  I know the days are not far off, where they will no longer want me to pick them up from school, choosing rather to walk or take public transportation with their friends.  I'm sure there will come a day way down the road, when my girls are grown, and gone, and I'll stumble upon this page and long for 'the days of homework in the back of the van' once more. 

How about you, are you in the habit of recording the 'every day'?  Have you ever considered that it may be neat to one day look back at the way you spent your days during this chapter of your life?  Perhaps today is a good day to start? 

Tanya has been a busy lady.  You should see all the new stuff in the store already.  American Crafts, Carta Bella, and Basic Grey are already in stock, just to name a few.  I strongly suggest you head on over to the store and check it out for yourself.

In other news...my friend Patricia kindly hooked me up with an Instagram photo of my layout as it appears in the August issue of Scrapbook Trends!  So I can say I've seen a photo of the photo, but I can't wait to see the real deal as soon as the magazine shows up in The Scrapbook Cottage where I work!
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July Sketch Challenge

It's that time of the month again.  Cara is up this month at Scrapping Everyday Miracles, and she's brought us a Pagemaps Sketch to work with.  I altered my take a little bit (as usual, so it would seem), and also had a little bit of a different take on the twist.

Here's the sketch:

Used with permission by Becky Fleck

My take on it includes photos of Théa and her sweetheart of a friend Sabrina.  These two have been dancing together at Kick It for the past 5 years, it's really hard to believe how far they've come since their days in Tiny Dancers.  They've not only become stronger, more competent dancers, but they've also become good little friends.  They encourage each other, challenge each other other, and best of all have a lot of fun learning together, and hanging out at the studio while they wait for their older sisters to finish class.  Although the photos are not the best quality, which on a side note is something I've gotten over, as I've discovered that things move rather quickly during Dance Competition time.  So much time is spent on costumes/make-up, and rehearsing that photos need to be captured in the precious moments in between all of that other stuff.  The result is often poor lighting, people in the background, and a lot of 'take what you can get' photos.  In the past I've waited for 'a better time' and discovered at the end of the season, that I really didn't get many photos of them in their costumes, and with their friends.  No more of that, I want to capture what I can, so I'll take whatever I can get.  Here are a few of just such photos.  This is the day of their Tap Small Group number.  I'm not sure where the other 2 in the dance are, but these two were with me so I pulled them off to the side to capture a few just for fun photos in the lobby of the Pantages Playhouse.  Sabrina has enough spunk to fill the building, and Théa is trying her best to play it up too.  I thought 2 Cool for School was a fitting title, given Sabrina's facial experession in the photos.  Théa really didn't get it, which just makes me laugh. 

Here is my layout

The twist this month is to use a computer generated element.  I chose to use the Dance Manitoba image as mine. 

Joining us this month will get you into the drawing for the $30 Ormolu gift certificate (which I seriously wish I had a chance at).  All you have to do is complete a layout using the sketch, incorporate the scrap twist and link it up to the SEM blog by July 31st.  You can see what the rest of the DT came up with, and have a peek at the Ormolu goodies here. 

Thanks for popping in today friends!

♥ S. Pin It

Pretty Party Girl

Crate Pretty party is just that, pretty, pretty papers that allow you to capture the beauty and girlieness of a 10 year old's birthday outfit perfectly.  The soft, yet distressed look to the papers are so gorgeous, the pages practically scrap themselves.  This layout came together a cluster at a time.  I love layering, and wanted to create a small cluster of layered goodies in the top right corner, and place my photo cluster to the bottom right corner.

I started with this.

The button and pink brad are from an older Crate Paper collection

I was loving the elements from the sticker sheet and wanted to use as many as I could on this layout.  It's been a while since I've hand stitched on a page, so I wanted to get that in here too.  The gorgeous Evalicious badge was the perfect element to use make this happen.

Here's a better look at all the dimension.

The photo cluster is similar, but larger.

The two doilis, lace, office tag, and alphas are from my stash

More hand stitching, more stickers, more Evalicious, and some Maya Road pins

I've hidden the journaling on the tag behind the photo.

Here is how it all came together.  A snapshot of my daughter's 10th birthday, in her pretty new outfit from her grandparents.

I added just a little more machine stitching to the corners to finish it off

Crate Pretty Party Papers and embellishments are all 40% off in  the store right now.  You can get this collection and more amazing deals here. If new is what you're looking for there are plenty of new release items to satisfy you in that department also.  Check out the new Heidi Swapp for example, it's bright, bold, and full of inspiration.  Regardless of what you're in the mood for the store has plenty to offer, you're sure to find something to suit your fancy.

We are finally off to the lake for the first time of the season.  So I'll be offline for a while.  I'm really hoping to sink my teeth way into The Hunger Games series.  I've been saving up the trilogy to read over summer holidays.  We're all ready to be unplugged for a few days.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I'll be back soon.

♥ S.

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