Lasting Memories Scavenger Hunt Birthday Blog Hop

How FUN was this.   www.kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.com had a blog hop with 10 people and at each stop you wrote down their featured "element" they were using in their layout and then when you were finished with your list of 10 elements you make an anything goes layout using 5 of the 10 elements.    So here is my layout.   Once again pics of the grandkids while on vacation in California the last 2 weeks.
I used these 5 elements     Twine,  Washi Tape, Diecut, Stamping and Chipboard.

My twine is 2 pieces down the left edge of layout
Washi Tape - 3 strips of gold w/ stars washi tape horizontally across center of layout under the pictures.
Die-Cut - the sand buck, the sand castle  and the seashell on the title.
Stamping -  I stamped 2 seashells on the file folder at bottom right, which I used for the date of pics.
Chipboard - the 2 pc bathing suit at the right side of the title.

So much fun doing the blog hop and making the layout plus so many of the 10 also had great blog candy they were offering.

Relax

I could have used this picture of Mylan in either direction, but since she was reclined in a recliner I decided to go with the horizontal look.    I love her smile in this picture and also how her hair is all spread out around her.        I had so much fun using a lot of my MME Sunny Side collection for this
and the great sketch in the sketch-y friday challenge over at www.shopscrapmuch.blogspot.
This is a new challenge blog for me but looking forward to following them and doing more challenges there.    Check them out.

Ocean View - ScrapStuffz "inspired by" Challenge

I love this picture of Mylan standing on the beach and the ocean in the background.   Even though she isn't looking at the ocean scenery you can tell that it is such a beautiful and tranquil spot.
I didn't have any ocean time this summer but so glad I got to see it through all the pictures of my grandkids while they were in California for 2 weeks visiting the other grandparents.    Plus it gave me so many new pictures to scrap.  Love it.  
I'm entering this layout at the ScrapStuffz "Inspired by" Challenges.     Their picture inspiration was of beach chairs sitting in the sand and facing the ocean.    So I thought this picture went with it perfectly.

Cheesetique & Yummy

This was a fun layout to make I really liked how it turned out.  These are pictures from our first dinner out at Cheesetique in Shirlington Village, when I went to visit Leslie and Jason in July to go wedding dress shopping.    The weather was perfect and we ate outside and I had the most awesome adult grilled cheese sandwich and homemade potatoe salad.   It's a favorite spot for the kids to go to and will be a favorite of mine to on my next visit.   I could have eaten there every day.    I used sketch #41 at
My Scraps and More sketch blog and it also works for the challenge at Colorful Creations - E challenge
for using layers and buttons as their embellishment challenge this month.
Then I'm also using it as my layout for this week for the 52 week challenge at my yahoo group.  ScrappinNChattin.

This Week's PL page

The weeks not over but since I've just been making single pages this covers the majority of my week of anything than the everyday scrapbooking watching TV week.
I'm entering this at www.week--2--week.blogspot.com   for their PL challenge to make your own journaling card, which I have made two on the page.    My MESSY week consisted of moving everything around on my scrapping desk so Arthur could rearrange my printers and give me more work space.  For about an hour I had a very very clean work space but then I started scrapping again.   But I do have to admit the new deeper space on the desk with no printer there makes a huge difference.
Then we also decided to have an attic fan installed this week and that made a mess all over the place, but now everything is back to normal.     I just wish it would cool off and humidity would drop so I could try it out and sleep with the windows open and get more a breeze coming thru.

WOW

July 4th might be over but I still got to scrap new fireworks pictures.     The challenge this week at
Lasting Memories    www.kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.com    happens to be use starts and stripes.
Susan took the kids out to California for 2 weeks to visit all her family and they went to the Orange
County Fair and these are pics of the fireworks from that night they got to see.    I have lots of pictures
left to scrap from all the fun they seemed to be having at the fair.
I'm not sure who this paper is by but it was a single sheet of black with silver stars, so I just kept it simple and I had a piece of glossy silver cardstock and used that to cue 4 strips and made my layout.

TREATS

After our trip to Texas to visit the kids.   Dad sent each of them $10.  to buy treats at the
local splash pool.   So I scrapped these 2 pictures.   One of the kids holding up their money
to say thank you to Papa B and then the other picture of them at the pool having treats.

I used the latest sketch at Sketchabilities blogspot sketch #96.     I loved the clean lines of
it.  I used a very pale blue cardstock for the base paper and red cardstock to mat the pictures from my scrap stash.  Then I used one page of Pink Paislee  paper, from the Declaration collection, got to cut it and use both sides of it.   Love it when that works out and then used red ink to ink the edges.  
Then added to purple flowers and red pearls in the center.

Let's Get Sketchy - August Week 1

Since I'm in the spotlight this month at Let's Get Sketchy I didn't want to waste anytime making my layout from the week one sketch.

I love working with Black and White but usually add Red as my splash of color

when using B&W, but since there was a little bit of yellow in the pictures that

I used I decided for this layout to mat all my B&W strips in yellow.

I'm really happy I did it this way because I really think it is so cheery looking.

Whimsical Twist Challenge

My friend Sandi from my yahoo group scrappin-n-chattin is on the Design Team for this new challenge blog.   Whimsical Twist.      http://whimsicaltwist.com/blog/
Their first challenge was inspired by summer pictures.     Perfect timing for me because I just got these pics of my grandkids on FB having fun at the beach while they are on vacation in California.

Cousin Time

I made this layout of Kai and Mylan with their cousins they were visiting on a trip to California.
I used Sketch #35 at Artful Delight.   When I first saw the sketch I wasn't sure about how I would like it.   But I just opened up my scrap paper drawer and pulled out a bunch of different pagers and started cutting different sizes of circles.  In the end I really like how it turned out.   Totally different than anything else I've made.    So check out the sketch at Artful Delight and see what you can do.

Wedding preparations have started

I went to DC for 4 days towards the end of July and got to go wedding dress shopping with Leslie.
I didn't cry, but did get misty eyed when she walked out wearing the first dress.    I have to say I have a beautiful daughter.    We went to three different bridal salons and she found the perfect dress at the first stop.   Alfred Angelo, it was probably the 7th dress she tried on and kept going back to that one at each shop.     Since the wedding isn't until May 4, 2014 I still had to come home and start making layouts.
So this layout is pictures I took of her with the dress she bought.    She loved it as is, but then they added the jeweled sash and it was even better and then topped it off with the veil, and viola we have a beautiful bride.      I used week 3 sketch at Let's Get Sketchy, but unfortunately I was a day late in getting it finished and didn't get it entered in time.   But still loved the sketch.

Then just this last weekend I had to keep making more "pre-wedding" layouts.    The top one shows the dress we got in the big picture and then every small picture are dresses she tried on and didn't like for one reason or another.       I can honestly say Leslie looked  great in every dress so made it hard for me to pick a favorite, but I could tell her favorite just by the smile and look in her eyes and I agreed with her 100%
These last two layout I made for challenges in the yahoo group I belong to   Scrappin-n-chattin.
The top one was a sketch and paper collection picked for me by my partner for a 24 hour challenge.
The collection is MME Indie Chic.      The the double page layout is for one of the August challenges to  mat the pictures in the layout 4 times.

SMILES

LOVE these two totally different smiles on Addisyn.  Sweet and innocent and fun and happy.
I used the sketch #38 by Lisa Hidy at www.sketchnscrap.blogspot.com.   I used a combo of products.
The photo mat paper and the heart paper at top and bottom were the front and back designs from the Bo Bunny Love Letters collection and the the pink background paper was from Jillibean Soup, Blossom Soup collection.   I thought they went together real well.    Then some black card stock strips from my leftover stash   Wood veeners, both hearts and arrows.  and then I had trouble finding all the letters I needed from my title from one set of Thickers so used The cap S from one set and the rest from another.

Project Life - Texas Trip

This is my 2nd Project Life page.  So far I've only done single pages, Although this one probably could have turned out to be a two pager.      But I wanted to use project life to kinda sum up our road trip to Dallas to visit Jason and Susan and the grandkids.   I had already made many full page regular layouts with tons of pictures from the trip, but this just puts it all together.

I'm entering this over at www.week--2--week.blogspot.     The challenge the last 2 wks of July was to follow a sketch and include on your PL page.   The sketch is what I used for my title section.   Top left pocket.    I also got to use some of the prize I won for their last challenge which was a EP Photo Freedom kit and then I used some other Elle's Studio Journaling tags that I won last week in another challenge.  

Love using new items and prize winnings.    So much fun.

Have you tried PROJECT LIFE yet ???

I wasn't sure I would try it or not.  I loved looking at everyone else pages but just didn't think "my life"
was different enough every week to justify doing it for a full year.
BUT,  I finally made a page.   A dear online friend sent me a few different page protectors and I didn't have a reason not to give it a try.
I have made one page now covering a week in July and I loved it.    In fact I went to Michaels this morning and bought another package of page protectors of 2 different styles.    I haven't broken down and bought a core kit yet because at this point I feel like I have enough little "add-ons" in my stash that I can use for inserts and extras on my pages.    I'm already (in my head) planning to cover another week from June when we went to visit the grandkids in TX.     Plus in 2 wks I'm going to DC to see my daughter and do wedding dress shopping with her, so should have a fun week to cover for PL pages.

BUT then my good news.   I just found out that my first PL page one on a new blog for PL pages.
This was just their 2nd challenge.   They have challenges two times a month so please check it out.
I'm glad I gave it a try and I'm sure you will too.

http://week--2--week.blogspot.com

Sandi and Suzanne run the challenges and they always have great prizes.

Pool Time - July 2013

Worked with another great sketch at Let's Get Sketchy,   this was the July Week 1 sketch there.
I got the pictures of David and Nikki taking Gibson and Addisyn to the pool this weekend from FaceBook.     Oh how I love FB and getting pictures of all the family that are out of town.
Makes picture collecting so great, doesn't beat being there in person but still gets me pictures to scrap.

Notre-Dame Basilica

The Week 2 sketch challenge at Let's Get Sketchy is fantastic.   I love the look of a photo cut
in half and matted.   I knew as soon as I saw the sketch I would want to do some type of landscape
but then my daughter and her fiancee posted this picture from their trip to Montreal over the July 4th weekend and I decided today to use this picture.   I really like the looks and the cut worked out perfect.

Grandma's Gifts

This is my take on the July sketch for Artful Delight.   I used more pictures than were in the
sketch but I like the outcome.   I really like the window pane look on layouts, when there are
a lot of pictures I want to use together.

Candy Cane Card

Around the Christmas tree card

Christmas in July - Happy Holidays card