FTSSC & FTSCC Week 1 - DONE!!

The Scrapbooking Yahoo Group that I am active in, Friends That Scrap, has started a weekly layout and card challenge similar to the on-going Scrap Your Ass Off challenge over at Paper Secrets. Each week a layout sketch and a card sketch will be posted along with a list of requirements to choose from to incorporate into your layout or card. If you get the first week's completed and posted on time, then you are eligible for the 2nd week. There will be a prize at the end to go to "the last man standing'! I think this may go on for awhile because we have some real scrapping machines in this group!! It will definitely be a challenge for me with all the other committments that I have, but I want to give it a try. I have completed both challenges for the first week with time to spare!! WooHoo!
The layout challenge (Friends That Scrap Scrapbook Challenge) for week 1 - Use 1: paper tearing, stamping, distressing. Use 3: 3+ buttons, ribbon, journaling, 3+ pattern paper, 3+ flowers, stickers, rub-ons. Here is the sketch:

    
 and my layout...
I used distressing...along with 3+ buttons, 3+ flowers, journaling, and ribbon                            






The card challenge (Friends That Scrap Card Challenge) for week 1 - Use 1: stamping, distressing, misting and 2 of these: 3+ patterned paper, ribbon, rub-ons, chipboard, eyelets, bling.
Here is the sktech:

           
 and my card...I used a digital stamped image from DigiDarla, and ribbon and bling.









I think I am really motivated by challenges and can't wait for Week 2! Thanks for looking.

Precious Water in Rwanda

Here is another layout from our trip to Rwanda back in December. We have no idea how blessed we are to be able to put a cup under the faucet and get a drink of water that we know won't make us very ill or kill us. Most Rwandans do not have running water to their homes, so they have to go find water wherever they can. The two main options are bodies of water like creeks, rivers, lakes, etc. or, if they are lucky, a water well with a pump. They then must carry their full gerry cans back to wherever they live - by foot or on a bicycle- perhaps 10 or more miles. And water they can carry back is what they have for that day to clean with, cook with, drink, or bathe. The water they bring home is contaminated, so the water must be boiled to use for cooking or drinking. Then they must do the same thing the next day, and the next, and so on. How blessed we are!! This is the first of probably 3 layouts about the water situation in Rwanda. I did this layout for a sketch challenge so I'll include the sketch as well.

FOUR MORE CHALLENGES COMPLETED!
I scrapped with a friend tonight and got a lot done!
For Friends That Scrap, we had to choose what we would like on our Scrapalicious Sundae. Then each ingredient of the Sundae was assigned an element for the layout. Picking from the choices given then using the assigned elements, my Sundae (layout) had the following requirements:
served in a cup - 2 pictures; 3 scoops ice cream - triple matted photo; vanilla ice cream - cardstock only; hot fudge sauce - create a border with a punch, deco scissors or handcut; strawberry topping - masking; whip cream - panit/glimmer mist/ smooch/inking; nuts - rub ons/stickers; cherry - bling or pearls. And here is what I came up with

 Then I completed a card that qualifies for two challenges - Mojo Monday's sketch challenge and Market Street Stamps Block Party.

And one more card for the Anything Goes Challenge at Bugaboo Stamps. I used their digital stamp Baby Bundle Flower. Isn't it just the cutest stamp!!...now to bed!

Friends That Scrap's February sketch challenge

Here's the sketch

and this is my layout. The Rwandan children are always wanting to touch Will's beautiful blond curls! I just happened to have my camera handy when this little boy walked over and reached out.

2 Card Challenges - Digi Darla & Mojo

I'm finally getting some time to participate in a couple of Challenges. Mojomondayblogspot.com has a regular sketch challenge and Digi Darla has a challenge using one of Kim's digital images. So here's my entry for both!!

Thank You card

I enjoy making cards. They are quick and easy. This one uses a border punch, ink and a dauber for the spots, ribbon, and a 'thank you' stamp. I made these for a swap.

Hummingbirds Using Sure Cuts a Lot

Made these cute hummingbird paperpiecings for a swap. LOVE my Cricut and my Sure Cuts A Lot program! The paperpiecings were so easy using them!

TORN PAPER FLOWERS

I have fallen in love with these cute torn paper flowers. What a great way to use up your scraps! I used some of them to decorate a can which I use to store the flowers in. They're fun and very easy! See directions below.



1) Hand tear circles from print paper in several sizes ranging from 1" to 5" diameter.
2) Wad up each circle in your hand then gently unfold, do not smooth out. Rub the edges, wrinkles and crinkles with distress ink pad. This will create a wonderful texture for your flower. Set each aside to dry.
3) Once dry, begin layering the torn circles. Secure each of the layers with glue if you are going to use a button or jewel in the center, or you can use a brad to secure the layers together. Fluff up each individual layer and slightly curl the edges of the circles.
4) For leaves, tear green paper in various size leaf shapes. Repeat the same process as the flowers, but apply Peeled Paint Distress Ink. To create veins, fold leaf in half and ink along the edge. Unfold and scrunch again to ensure good texture.

Have fun!!

Saw this cute card idea in a mag and just had to share my rendition. The bird is created using 1/2 a heart! Too cute, huh!

BABY Word Book

I had so much fun using my Cricut and Cricut Design Studio to create my first 'Word Book'. I'm sure this will not be the last one that I do! I made this B-A-B-Y word book as a present for a young friend who is having a baby girl. It's so simple. You just open Design Studio, use your basic shapes to create a rectangle - whatever height you want your book to be. I made mine about 4 inches tall. Find a font you like (fat!) and make a Capital B. Now, enlarge the B to fit the height of the rectangle. Nudge it onto the rectangle and weld the two together. Mine was about 3 inches width total. Save as 'B.A page'! Then,I was actually able to put the A on the same mat. Pull another rectangle and move it over the first page (the welded B). Size the rectangle to where it covers the 1st page. Now move it back to the open mat space and make an A. Size it, then nudge it over to the rectangle and click weld. Make note of the measurements of the 'A page'. Save this mat again and open a new one. Form a third rectangle the same measurements as the A page. Form another B, size it, nudge it to the rectangle and weld. Make note of the size of this page. Save as 'B page' and open a 3rd mat. Form a 4th rectangle the same size as the 2nd B page. Form a Y, size it and weld it to the last rectangle. Save this mat as 'Y page'. You might have to play around with the pages, but basically you're done. I used these to cute not only the chipboard, but the patterned paper as well. I use recycled cereal boxes to make these little books because the box is thin enough to cut with my cricut but stiffer than cardstock. You may have to use some ink or acrylic paint on the edges to cover the color of the cardboard. Cover the letters with pretty paper then embellish! There's plenty of room for cute pictures! I've seen books done using words such as FALL, SMILE, FUN, FAMILY, TRIP, a person's name... the possibilities are endless. I used my Bind It All to bind it but you can punch holes and tie ribbon or use 'O' rings with ribbon tied on them. Have fun!!

Sure Cuts A Lot

I'm having so much fun with the new program that I got a few months ago called Sure Cuts A Lot. You use this program to allow you to cut most fonts and dingbats on your Cricut. I spent some time playing yesterday and actually was able to separate the parts of a dingbat and cut it in different colors. I followed the directions on this website
http://susanbluerobot.blogspot.com/
Susan's easy-to-follow directions makes using Inkscape (a vector graphic editing program) and SCAL so much easier! Here's a picture of the bear that I cut and then a few other things I've cut - silhouettes, flourishes, etc.

ONLY IN TEXAS!!

Guess what! Last Monday morning it got up to 70 degrees, then by 8:30 Monday evening it was snowing like crazy!! We had over 3 inches of snow! Today it is back up to 70 and tomorrow there is another chance of snow! CRAZY, HUH!

What a busy month lies ahead of us! But a fun month. We'll get to spend time with all of our favorite kids!! We leave Friday to head to San Antonio. Our sweet 7 yr. old granddaughter Bethany will be baptized Sunday and we wouldn't miss getting to share in that. Then the next weekend I will head to East Texas with Teri (our Denton daughter)and a group of my 'young' friends for a weekend of scrapbooking! WooHoo!! Then the next weekend is Easter. The choir will participate in all 3 services Easter morning at church then we'll head over to Teri and Darren's to watch Kaytlyn and Riley hunt Easter eggs and have lunch with their family (including Teri's brother Tim and Darren's mom Marcia) Then the next weekend I'm off to another retreat - BSF Retreat - a wonderful weekend of worship and inspiration.

I'll have lots more to share after these fun weekends! Have a blessed Easter holiday.

LOAD - Layout a Day Challenge

I have been involved in a challenge this month on Big Picture Scrapbooking. It is to create a LO everyday for the month of January. This has definitly been a 'challenge' for me to keep up with, but so far I've done it!! I thought I'd share my layouts for the first half of the month on my blog! I'm working on my England album, trying to finish it, but I can't NOT do layouts of our sweet grandchildren so there is a mixture of both here! Thanks for looking!

Post-It Holder

I saw these on a website and just couldn't resist giving them a try. They are so cute and incredibly easy! I only had yellow post-its so can't wait to get some other colors. But I wanted to share them here.

Supplies needed: a 4x4 square chipboard coaster (if you don't have any blank ones, go to Chili's and ask if you can have a handful - they'll gladly give you a few!!), patterned paper, coordinating piece of ribbon, binder clip, adhesive, scissors, and a distressing file (good emery board or sanding disc will do!)(sorry - left that out of the picture!!)
Put adhesive on the back of the coaster and place it along the edge of the paper. Cut along sides then snip off the tip at each corner. Be sure you have put the adhesive along the edge so that when you sand it, it won't come up. Take your file and with a downward motion sand along the edges, smoothing and removing any excess paper. Cut a little piece of paper that fits the front flat edge of the binder clip and adhere it to the clip. Tie the ribbon to the clip, put the pad and the clip on the chipboard and you're done!! Makes great little gifts!
This is the website I first saw it on and you can watch the video by going to this website, scrolling down and clicking on the video.
http://chicnscratch.typepad.com/chic_n_scratch/
Enjoy!!

Sketch Challenge

Every month I participate in a sketch challenge on one of my scrapbooking groups. I thought I'd start including the sketch for the current month's challenge, and maybe some of you would want to participate in the challenge as well. If you'll send me a pic of your LO, I'll post it on my blog along with mine! Fun, huh??
Here's the July sketch....

And here's my LO based on this sketch It's kind of rotated and a loose rendition!

My England Album

I've spent a lot of time recently trying to get our trip to England and Scotland scrapbooked. I took over 800 pics, so you see what a daunting task this is! Tori and Greg made sure that we saw as many of the awesome sites as we could. I only have a few minutes so I'll post a page now and promise to return in the near future with more.



We are eating a late lunch at The Trout Inn, a famous pub outside of Oxford, in Godstow

I don't think I mentioned that in February we lost our sweet Percy. He was a beautiful tan (unusual) pomeranian that just loved to be loved. We had had him about 13 years and loved him dearly. I've done one LO in memory of Percy and have a few more pics of him to scrap but wanted to share this one.

This is the sketch that I used for this LO. I love using sketches!!

Some of my Favorite Layouts!

The first two pics are a collage of pics from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning titled Reflections of Joy

Older layouts