Everyone Loves a Party!

Hey all!  My latest blog post is up over at Scrap Your Scraps.  This month I decided to delve into using party supplies on a layout, so I dug out all of my left over crepe paper and made a fun two page layout for Lily's first birthday!  For the complete tutorial and post hop on over to the blog, but here is the sneak peak at the finished product!

Sweet Haul!

Check out this sweet haul I got from Things That Shine.  A big thanks goes out to Ashley Calder who put together this wonderful assortment of embellies for me from her store on Etsy.  Don't forget to take a stop over at her store and check out her pretty products. She will be the sponsor for August over at Scrap Your Scraps and she is the current sponsor at Sketch N Scrap.  You can also check out her blog.

I will be using these products on an upcoming page as part of her August challenge, so stay tuned to see what I've created for her Pinterest challenge using her fantastic items.

July 15th Sketch is Up!

Hi everybody, so today is July 15th . . . well at least it is for another 2 hours, which means it's time for the July 15th sketch from Sketch 'N' Scrap!  This will be my second contribution as a design team member and so far, I've got to tell you, I am loving this.  Not only am I getting more pages done than ever before, thanks to the two wonderful blogs I belong to, but I'm getting them done with much more ease.  Having a plan of attack going into a layout means I spend less time fiddling with every little detail.  I don't always follow sketches to the letter, but I take great inspiration from them and they really help me in planning what I'm doing.

So here is the sketch from Sketch 'N' Scrap . . .

. . . and here is my take on the above sketch!

As usual I did alter the sketch a little to fit with the size and type of photo I had, but I decided to stick pretty close to home for the rest of it.  Even though this is a autumn layout I didn't use any fall themed paper or embellishments at all.  I loved the bright colours of the new washi tape I had just purchased, and how they made the black and white photo pop even more.  The stitching was done by hand, which is tedious I know, but my sewing machine hasn't worked in close to 10 years, and I don't think I'll be purchasing a new one for awhile!

Remember to check out Sketch 'N' Scrap for a chance to win some great prizes.  You can't win if you don't play.  For more information on the challenge visit the website here.

Creative Block

Oh lord I just can't seem to come up with an idea for my blog post for August for Scrap Your Scraps.  I seem to be suffering from some kind of creative block or something.  On the plus side though all of the other fantastic ladies have come up with some terrific ideas, so why not check it out!  The latest post is about using acrylic paints on a layout, and I decided to do a contributing layout, here it is . . .

Don't forget to go check out the wonderful post written by creative team member Tiffany over at the blog  Scrap Your Scraps 

I'm also a design team member at Sketch 'N' Scrap so why not stop over and get some terrific sketch inspiration.  There are also some great challenges going on, with some awesome prizes, but you can't win if you don't play, so click on the link above to find out how to play!

first Sketch-N-Scrap layout is up!

So my first ever contribution to the awesome blog Sketch-N-Scrap is now up!  Basically how it works is twice a month we create layouts based on the sketches showcased on the blog for the month.  It's been a long time since I've worked from a sketch, but I have to say I am 100% loving it!  I had forgotten how easy and quick it can be to get a page done when I already have an idea of what the finished product looks like.

Here is the sketch for July 1st . . . 

. . . and here is my take on the sketch!

So for this layout I kept the background papers the same, but I ended up re-arranging the photos to better fit the sizes I had.  I also slightly changed where the embellishments would go and which side the photos would be on.  The great thing about sketches is that they are a jumping off point as well as a guide.  Wanna follow 'em to the letter, be our guest.  Wanna use 'em for inspiration and change 'em up to suit what you're doing, well that's just fine too!  Don't forget to hop on over to Sketch-N-Scrap to check out all the other fantastic entries and to get inspired to start scrapping!