Sketchy Friday at ScrapMuch

Well, once again  it has been awhile. Since I last checked in I have hauled my mother around  from place to place We have addressed all her medical needs and gotten a lot of it straightened out. We said hello to Grandchild number 8 and helped another daughter when her fairytale of another child did not go the way we had hoped. We have cried and rejoiced and just stayed super busy. It has taken 5 weeks to come up with a semblance of a plan for Mom so once we get through the middle of June... 3  more trips and VBS to go, then I am hoping that we can get a routine going and my craft cave will not be so neglected.. One certainly can hope....... I have soooooo many pictures to scrap!!!! And that is just the current ones!
  Well this is the only layout I have managed so far for the month of May! It using a sketch from ScrapMuch that I just love! There is still time for you to try it.

And here is my take

The second week Mom was here was the annual benefit golf tournament. Adrienne and her 3 boys were here for the day and the twins came with Jeremy. We had a wonderful chaotic day. Zade loved Grandma Frances and went to sit with her in the sun. Love this picture. So thankful to have my mother here to be an active part of these kids lives!!!
  This is a hodge podge of papers and embellies from my stash..
Really happy with the title I did it in MTC!

Thanks for stopping by. count your blessings!
Brenda

Built Boy Tough

 Another Let's Get Sketchy sketch to play with!!This was week 1 for April. And as always was super fun to play along.

And my layout

 This picture of Jeff and the boys showing off their hammers somehow surfaced on my table in the craft room recently. When this title popped up as the freebie of the day last week at Miss Kate Cuttables I knew that I was going to put the 2 together. I used a variety of different papers and embellies from my stash to get the colors that I wanted. Just love this picture and so glad to add it to my album.
  Thank you again for the fantastic sketch! If you haven't played along you should definitely check it out; you will have fun with this one!
Thanks you for stopping by!
Brenda

Lets Get Sketchy

  I am loving having my mother here with me. It has definitely changed the flow of my days but I know that it is a gift to have her here and I will be able to go back to my regularly schedule life soon enough.... so squeezing in time in the craft cave has become a premium. I am trying to just keep one layout in process and just plug along every chance I get. I got this one finished earlier this week and I really love the way it came out.
I always love the sketches at Lets Get Sketchy  and the month of April is no exception. This week 3 sketch was wonderful to work with.

And here is my layout.....

Isn't he a doll!!!!  This was all the Authentique Hope collection with some embellies from my stash. Thank you for the wonderful sketch to help me to document my blessed Easter Sunday!

I appreciate your time with me. I hope you find time to day to play with your memories!
Brenda

One last "procrastination week" layout

 I leave in the morning to do the hard thing and talk to Mom about the next chapter in her life. I have managed to get the office close to ready for her to stay in, but have also managed to really get lost in the craft cave some too. When I got sad while getting ready I would escape for awhile and get lost in my memories. What a blessing this hobby is for me.
   I used the April "Be Our Guest" sketch at the Scraproom. You must check out this months post as my scrappy friend Suzanne is the guest. Her layout is fabulous!!
  So here is the awesome sketch. A copy came along with my first ever kit this month and as soon as I saw it knew I would use it over and over.

And here is my first go at it.....

I am absolutely thrilled with the Bo Bunny Believe for Easter pictures. I love the bright colors instead of the traditional pastels. I used the Paper Smooches tag die for my tags and then a heart punch with some of the left overs, I just can't waste any of this wonderful collection! I tried stamping directly on the paper for the JOY title (Unity Stamps) but though I was able to stamp it perfectly on scrap 3 times, it was a hot mess on the layout ugh... chipboard and tag die to the rescue!! I actually like it better than the original plan. Pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh sequins and the Prima wire thread and a few other embellies from the recesses of my stash and it is done.
  I am going to try and get a plan figured out to take some photos and a kit with me as I anticipate some alone time in the hotel room this week end.  I am hoping that playing with my memories will keep me distracted.
  Thank you for stopping by! I really hope that you are able to have fun playing with your memories today!
Brenda

Scrappy Friends challenge

  I love this group of challenges and have not been able to do it in quite awhile. So happy to be feeling up to scrapping again! This month for the triple challenge Rochelle Spears challenge is to use a PL card or a journaling card.
GrandDiva's Creative Corner gives a choice of 3 sketches so you can choose how many photos you want to use. Here are the 3 fantastic sketches.

And Creative Paper and More  gave us this beautiful mood board to work with

I chose a journaling card, sketch with 1 photo and I was inspired by the paper with words and the range of colors of the mood board.
  I just got my first ever kit from the Scraproom. I have never purchased a kit as I was afraid it would be to limiting for me. I am getting ready to move my mother into my house so in anticipation of having MUCH less time to mull over layouts I am trying some different things to help to speed up my process. A friend of mine shared this kit with me and when I found that it had some Bo Bunny Believe in it I was sold. I have the 6x6 pad and was so excited to get some 12x12 to go with it. So here is my first layout using this fantastic kit.

     Don't you just love the colors! I dug through my stash and got some vellum.I backed the picture in it punched it embossed it and glittered it!! The flower die is a spellbinders, it was  the first one I ever bought and I have not used it in so long.

 The tags and butterflies are Paper Smooches dies. The ribbon is one of my favorites and I have had it forever.

The title is Heidi Swapp.This is truly a old and new layout.

 Here  is a shot that shows the journaling card. I used it for hidden journaling to write a note for Olivia.

 So here is my take away. Having a kit with paper and embellies as a jumping off spot truly did make this go together very quickly.The experiment was a success! I can't wait to use more of the kit. I am packing up some photos and more of the kit to take to work today (for my breaks)We will see how it goes!
Thank you so much for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me. I hope that you will check out the Scrappy Friends challenge and the Scraproom and find some inspiration.
Brenda

Procrastination Weekend, First layout

 On Saturday I will be driving 9 hours to pick my Mom up to bring her back to live with me for awhile. It is a messy messy situation and I am so dreading that part of it, and the driving part. I need to get a room on the main floor ready for her, but just can't seem to get motivated. So instead I have scrapped away the week end. What a blessing to have a hobby that can keeps my mind occupied and . leaves with another page for the memory book.
  So here is the first of the layouts that I got done. I used the April sketch #192 at Sketches in Thyme.

Here is the sketch....

And here is my take......

       Our church has an annual golf tournament that is called the "Sinners and Saints" tournament. It is a benefit for the youth program at our church. For 3 years now Jeff has been able to get all the guys together and play. It has really become a fun family tradition that we all look forward to. This year will not be everyone as it falls on  Amanda's birthday and 10 days before her due date, I don't foresee Tim leaving town. LOL      

                                                                

I used MTC   a ton on this layout. Our internet went out as I was finishing it (for 3 days) I had to go and sit in the church parking lot and use their wifi to get the cut file done for the crossed golf clubs....haha.. I made the PL style card in mtc. I also like to do the journaling strips there as I find it easier to make changes to it than the other programs I own.     I used an embellie pack that I had in my stash and of course my Prima wire thread. 

Thank you so very much for stopping by my little blog. Hope your day is spectacular!

Brenda

Layout #2

  This layout is for the April single page sketch challenge at Stick it Down. I really love that the prize is a guest designer spot. That really makes it a fun challenge. You should hop on over there and check it out!
   So here is the sketch

And here is my take.....

Zade has decided that he is 2 with a vengeance and it is pretty funny. Instead of just saying No it is Whoa Whoa Whoa NO...... And has the facial expressions to go along with the attitude! It is so difficult to keep a straight face when he does it. Love his use of a hipster hat!!!
 I used the   "That's My Boy collection from Echo Park and some ribbon and enamels from my stash.
  Thank you so very much for stopping by. Hope today you have blessings too many to count.
Brenda

Surveying His Domain

Amanda posted this picture of Trip last week. They had been spending the day just hanging out and exploring in the back yard. This was a rare moment of rest,  but just love the picture. I am working at trying  not to over think all my layouts.. So got out the Echo Park Pirates collection and just started with the sketch. I did eventually get some other embellies out but the layout is mostly from the one collection. This really helped me to get the layout out done in record time.
The sketch

 My take on the sketch.....

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope your day finds you with moments for rest.
Thanks
Brenda


 

My first layout for the Scaproom.

  I had never visited the Scraproom before, a friend posted a link to this sketch challenge and I absolutely love it. I am hoping soon I can subscribe to their yummy kit club. So very glad that I found them.
  I have these  pictures that Adrienne and Ben posted on facebook yesterday from Ben's family's Easter egg hunt. I am so excited that Grace was there so I got to add flowers to the layout!!
This is the March sketch. Isn't it wonderful.

And this is my take....

The papers and stickers are from the  Echo Park Bundle of Joy collection.
The flowers are all from my stash,
 The title was cut using MTC. 
 I am so very blessed to have my wonderful grands to scrap, I hope for you beautiful memories to document too.
Brenda

Sketches in Thyme #189

  I am having a great time scrapping this Easter. These were the first pictures I got of Zade at his first egg hunt. He had so much fun.
   I was a bit intimidated with this sketch but really felt like it would work with these pictures.  And I am happy with the way it turned out. Here is sketch #189 at Sketches inThyme.

 And here is my take

The papers are all from Bo Bunny Lemonade Stand.
The chipboard tree I pilfered from Echo Park Bundle of Joy.... (the papers that I originally tried with these pics but couldn't make them work lol)
The egg and candy are a file from Miss Kates Cuttables.
All other embellies are just items found in a stash raid.
 I am not sure who had more fun me scrapping or Zade hunting. Thank you so much for sharing my joy.
Brenda
Brenda

Stick-It-Down

I did this two page layout earlier this month and forgot to blog about it. This was the last of my procrastinated layouts. So now I am free to just scrap whatever... like I don't just do that anyway.. lol. But it really did feel good to get it done. Anyway I was blessed enough to have another layout of mine featured at Stick-It Down, when I saw it I realized I had never posted this one.....
  I was lucky enough to get these photos from Trips first birthday party. Tim's brother is a professional photographer and he took these wonderful shots. I used the 2 page sketch from March at Stick-It- Down. 
Here is the sketch

 And here is my take....

The paper is from the Carta Bella Ahoy There collection.
The party was Peter Pan themed and I had cut silhouettes for the wall behind the food table. So I cut a smaller version for this layout. I cut the silhouettes, the title and the ships wheels with MTC.
  Thank you so very much for stopping by and spending your time with me.
Hope your day is filled with many beautiful memories.
Brenda

.......Stick It Down

  I also managed to do the one page layout too. Yep I had a bit of a me day yesterday! But I needed a kick in the pants to get back in the craft cave. A friend in my yahoo group posted a link about a week end crop on Shimelles blog. I have seen her work before but did not follow her blog. Oh my my so happy to change that. So I joined the facebook group and got 3 of the 5 challenges done yesterday. Yep, planned on getting them all blogged and shared yesterday but ran out of steam but 3 LAYOUTS it has been a long time!!! Ok no more gloating.......
 The sketch from Stick it Down

And my take.......

This layout is soooo far out of my comfort zone, but I really like it! I am in a yahoo group and there is a challenge to use all green papers for a layout. So I hit my scrap bag and got these together. Then hit my cardstock stash for a background piece to pull it all together. The floral and polka dot are a 2 sided classic Martha paper!!  Found some green sparkly thickers and then hit the button jar! Can not remember the last time I used buttons on a layout. When I decided to journal in brown I went back and added a bit of brown to the embellies... yep love my wire thread and had just the right colors for this layout! So glad I attempted this. Was a sketch that scared me and a color scheme I could not wrap my head around and the outcome a layout I like!!!  One of the challenges at Shimelles crop is monocromatic...got that one covered!

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have a moment to scrap your blessings today!
Brenda

Scrapping the hard things....

 On Dr Suess day my niece posted this picture of my brother with the quote "Sometimes you never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory" I had never seen this picture.... so it was a little hard to swallow. I still can not believe he has been gone 16 years. So I decided to grab this photo off facebook and  keep it where I can love it. Robbie loved his girls more than anything and this picture truly captures that for me.
I used sketch number #187 from Sketches in Thyme

 I really love this sketch. I had a bit of a hard time with the layering and felt that my end product was a bit one dimensional. I love the look and think I will really do some digging and see if I can't improve on the next one.
Here is my layout.

Everything except for the brown wire and the little embellie that says "with great love" came from the Jack and Jill collection by Echo Park. So it went together quickly.
  I really appreciate you taking a moment to share in my messy life. I hope today brings you many reasons to smile.
Brenda

Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop

 I am excited to get to participate in this months blog hop at Scrapping Our Stash. I hope you got here from Alisons blog. If not you need to go back and check ut her amazing creation.
This is my year of joy. One of the things that I have "uncovered" that steals my joy is procrastination. So I am trudging through the things  I have put off for so many different reasons...... This layout is one that I started in June.... yep it has been on a desk in my craft cave since then. This is Olivia's first recital and the picture is so gorgeous. I convinced myself that the layout also had to be perfect. Well no matter how I tried it was not even close. I worked with it  and worked with it but was never happy enough to apply any adhesive. So recently I decided that I was going to finish it and I am so happy I did. This is certainly not what I was envisioning, but I have joy that it is done and the desk is ready for me to create another layout for the first time in months!
  I used a prompt at Whimsical Musings "Inspired by doilies" as my starting point. I had bought some new flowers to use on it but they did not make the cut at all lol so everything is from deep in the recesses of my stash.

The background paper is a piece of old recollections scallops on gray that was given me, I soften it with a piece of blue vellum. I watercolored the piece with the title on it. This was the beginning of the falling apart of my vision. I love the look of watercoloring but just can not seem to master it at all.I will keep trying...... The pattern papers are all MME Ooh LaLa This was one of the first collections that I bought!! The blue doilie was colored with Tim Holtz distress ink in Tumbled glass. The flowers are all Prima from my stash. I added small pink roses that were gifted me several years ago. The lace trim and the bling were just miscellaneous pieces from who knows where.

Well as you see it was quite the hodge podge of a layout. But I can happily say it is done! It has been a reminder that way too often I am my own worst enemy and do not follow through because the evil perfectionism has taken over, and  quickly perfectionism becomes procrastination. I am going to hang this in my craft room as a reminder that I need to just stick with a layout and have the memories preserved, eight months is just too long to wait.
 Thank you so much for stopping by and listening to my saga. Please hop on over to Juliana's She always has the most beautiful layouts. She is truly talented and I know you don't want to miss it.
   Thank you so much for your time and today just may be the day to attack that "no more procrastination" list!
Brenda

Guest designer at Stick It Down

  I am so excited to have my layout featured today at Stick it Down. Please hop on over there and check out the awesome sketches and the projects by the very talented design team.
I know I have disappeared again..... but what a wacky end to 2015 beginning to 2016. My mom fell and broke her hip and wrist so I went and stayed with her for 3 weeks of her rehab. I have been totally out of the loop. We just finally got to celebrate Christmas this past Saturday. I am really feeling like I totally missed January.
  Since I had no Christmas pictures to use for this wonderful sketch, I decided to take some photos of my Christmas decor. It is very hard to "plan" a family gathering for Christmas with my family( too many other families to work around.) This year I told the girls to figure out what would work best for them.They picked Christmas Day!!!! I was  so excited to get my entire family for Christmas Day that I ramped up the decorating this year and added several new projects..... then it all fell apart lol...But I have the projects complete for next year, and I enjoyed them this year! And Christmas in January was awesome. I truly love any day that I can have all my chicks and their chicks under my roof.
Here is the January sketch from Stick it Down

. Here is my take on the sketch....

Sorry for some of the poor photography. My sweet husband was trying to help me out so that I could get the layout done in time. You only thought I was the lousy photographer in my family .

The old window came from the "junk man" from downtown. He owned a block of the downtown area and it was a piled high junkyard. He died this year so this window has special meaning to me. I used MTC and vinyl for the nativity scene.

The vinyl tree is a favorite of the toddlers. They played a game with grandpa with pushing the dots and the lights would "go on and off"..... they would laugh and laugh. So much fun! The border is a Martha Stewart punch.

This was the prettiest tree we have gotten in years. I really enjoyed decorating it. Unfortunately by January 16th it was a mess. But we enjoyed it anyway.

I wanted to hang all the stockings this year. I had Jeff hang a curtain rod for me and used shower curtain hooks to hang them. I was so happy with it. Can you imagine we will have two more next year! I also truly love the tomato cage trees we built for the sides of the front door. They are just sooo cute!!

This tree is from a cut file from Miss Kate's Cuttables.

This is the tag that I made for all the presents this year. It was much simpler than past ones but ended up being a good thing with our wacky year. I numbered each picture and explained on this tag.
Well that is a few highlights from my home this year. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a smooth start to 2016!


Thank you so very much for sticking with this LONG post. I am honored to have you visit.
Brenda