The Paper Girls Challenge

With tons of pictures from Hannah's ballet recital, I was finally able to use some of the ballet paper I had been hoarding this year.
I really liked Echo Park's mini kit with elegant designs and fresh colors.

I used the June sketch challenge at The Paper Girls Challenge Blog for inspiration.

And here is what I came up with.

I traced a template on the striped paper to create the scallop design and with only a scrap of this pretty blue crocheted ribbon left, I split it and hid the gap with some oversized flowers. I stapled bits of ribbon to the top edge of the photo to tie in with the bold black letters and some bling to create depth and movement.

My Scraps & More Sketch Number Four

The last sketch for June over at My Scraps & More featured lots of layers...

I used hexagons punched using my newest tool, the Fiskars hex punch, to embellish the layout design where the stars are featured.

Our Ballerina

As an avid scrapper knows, sometimes an outfit is just perfect for the paper you have!
When I saw Hannah's ballet costume for this year, I immediately said (yes, out loud) "It goes with my Bo Bunny Isabella paper!

The pretty pinks and of course, the elegant ballet feel, was just perfect!

I added metal butterflies to add to the printed ones. I glimmer misted a doily in a deep gray and added gray and black flowers and some black bling flourishes.
The layout inspiration comes from My Creative Sketches June sketch:

Playing with Scraps

I love all the beautiful paper designs and because of that, hold on to all the scraps.

I had some great end pieces from these cute papers from Cosmo Cricket. I love how using scraps created a page with lots of white space, which I added a walnut stain circle to, to frame the photo. I added wood butterflies in the same stain to bring a color variance to the layout.
The sketch inspiration comes from Scrap Much? and their Sketch-y Friday sketch:

And another layout from my scraps from this collection:

I used Scrap Our Stash's sketch using only scraps, a premade tag, and twine.

My Mind's Eye June Sketch Challenge

I loved Hannah's vintage cowgirl costume for her ballet recital and I printed some of the photos in sepia to give it a vintage touch.
My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline collection had the perfect feel with the woodgrain and pretty flowers and doilies.

I used the June sketch on their blog for inspiration for my layout.

I also used Scrapbook Challenge's Get Messy Challenge for inspiration. I misted the background with glimmer mist, then painted the wood butterflies in coordinating dye. My fingers are green like kermit but I love how they turned out.

Signs of a Scrapaholic

I love playing along with scrap challenges and a clue I might be addicted? This month's challenge over at Challenge Me Happy involved using sequins. Since I amazingly did not have any in my stash, I went and dug through my ten year old daughter's closet, which just happens to be full of shiny, sparkly, sequiny things! When I found some gloves (yes winter gloves with sequins) that looked like their life was short, I snipped and ta-da! sequins on my layout!
Also included in their challenge recipe was more than one photo, sewing, 2+ patterned papers, washi tape, and an anchor. A varied mix but it worked out nicely for this layout of a ferry trip to downtown.

I also used inspiration from My Scraps & More Sketch Challenge #32...

which worked out well for the Challenge over at It's All About the Boys, using circles. I added buttons to add to the circle effect!
And the color inspiration came from Scrap Much with a color combo that had a very nautical feel to it.

Ombre with Ink

I love to follow the challenges over at My Scraps & More and the June 21st challenge was to create an ombre effect on your layout.
Using some phone pics, yes, I actually print my phone pics which document day to day life, I did a layout of my favorite addiction...coffee. Since I don't sleep much (I think this is due to my scrapping habit) coffee and I are good friends!
It was perfect to use ombre to create the coffee stained look on my background of this layout which is titled, Sleep Is Highly Overrated.

I added bunches of buttons as part of Sketch n Scrap's birthday challenge using buttons.
I also used My Scraps & More Sketch #33 for the June Challenges.

Scrap Much? June Week 2 & 3 Sketches

The second sketch for June at Scrap Much? had a fun circle in the background which is always fun for featuring patterned papers.

I used more of the Doodlebug graduation collection I've been playing with to create this layout...

For the Week 3 sketch, the background shape was a pretty doily....

I swapped out the doily for Hannah's 5th grade graduation program and made a pocket on the page to hold it.

Scrap Much? Sketch-y Friday June Week 1

I have been doing more and more two page layouts as I find sketches that fit many photos on them. The sketch challenges at Scrap Much? blog have been two pagers for the first sketch of the month and I look forward to them!
This was the inspiration for June...

I used Doodlebug which came out with an adorable graduation line. I featured a few of the many photos I took at Jack's Kindergarten graduation.

Some Summer Fun

Many times I don't get to scrapping my summer pictures until the next summer. That was the case with these beach photos of Hannah on the skim board at Dash Point State Park. It was perfect for BerryBleu71's challenge to do a project about a favorite summertime activity. We spend many days at the beach during summer break, playing and enjoying the water.The bright colors from Glitz Design's Uncharted Waters collection was perfect to capture this day!

I also used this photo as inspiration, from Rochelle Spear's June challenge. I loved how the vines twined and the beautiful mix of pinks and teals.

I also used Kristy B's technique challenge, doing ink resist. I used flourish rub-ons on the pennants and then inked over them and rubbed off with a paper towel.
For the layout design, I used GrandDiva's sketch...

as well as Scrappin'n'Happy's June recipe challenge using three patterned papers, twine, and washi tape.

Cool Colors with S.W.A.T.

I love checking out the challenges over at S.W.A.T. They are simple and fun and really get my mojo going!

This month for challenge #9, the inspiration was to use a cool color palette.

I love this combination, especially with the bit of gray! Here was what I came up with:

Bo Bunny Father's Day Card

I never buy cards anymore because I know I have enough scraps at home to make my own!
After creating this layout from BoBunny's Weekend Market collection...

I used my leftover scraps to create this card just in time for Father's Day!

I used some strips of paper for the dots, the ruler, and the book paper, and added the striped and mustache washi. I then cut out a journaling card and added the "dad" letters. To embellish it I added a circle jump ring with a bit of twine.

Just Jack

For this month's challenge at Challenge Me Happy, the challenge was to scrap about a name. I immediately thought of using Jack's name. I love how simple his name is but what has really struck us, is how everyone at the school knows it. As he walks down the halls, kids of all ages, "Hi Jack!" and he sometimes is confused as to why they know his name. I think it's his friendly smile and happy nature. The name just fits him, just Jack!

For this boy layout, I used papers from The Paper Loft's In the Zone line. I love the bold design and masculine colors of the whole collection.

My Creative Sketches May Sketch

With warm weather on the horizon, I look forward to outdoor pictures with lots of sunshine and light. For this layout I used a fabulous collection from My Mind's Eye and a sketch from My Creative Sketches...

I loved the banner and had the perfect punch out embellishments to coordinate with my patterned paper.

Up & Away

I love sketches for inspiration and over half of the time they are my jumping off point for my layouts. Recently I discovered Allison Davis' sketches over at Scrapbook Generations and Sketch Support and quickly fell in love! The fact that they include the measurements of the background paper makes it quick and easy to get layouts with multiple photos completed and I love her focus on using paper!
Over at Sketch N Scrap, DT member Lynette had a challenge using this Allison Davis sketch:

With lots of photos from our ocean vacation, I filled this page with pictures from the beach.

And as part of the blog It's About the Boys Challenge, I featured Jack and Luke doing one of their favorite summer activities, flying kites on the beach!

A Little Trail of Twine

Recently I decided to do more with my twine than tie it on buttons and hang banners. I started using my glue pen to create swirly loops and then adhere the twine to it.

I added a pretty metal drangonfly from Teresa Collins to the end of the trail.
Check out some more great twine ideas over at Kraze of MJ's blog and enter the Sketch N Scrap twine challenge!

My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3

I am a huge fan of My Mind's Eye and their collections. I love how they coordinate solids, stripes, and florals to be used together.
I also love their Lost & Found lines with pretty glitter accents, even on boy themed papers.
I used the blues from the Oliver line and a sketch from My Creative Endeavors, along with the twist of using summer as inspiration. I used this photo of Jack at the summer fair with a glint of the ride lights in the background.

I shifted my circle a bit to see more of it, and flipped my photo to a horizontal one. I used hexagon punched pieces in a sunny yellow for accents.
Go check out the challenge at My Creative Endeavors to give this one a try!

Beach House

Using the Lost & Found 3 line from My Mind's Eye, I created this layout from our beach trip to Ocean Shores.

I love this versatile line and the hues of yellow, turquoise, and grey complimented the gray shore pictures.
For the All That Stickles challenge, I used turquoise Stickles on the doily sticker.
For the Scrap our Stash Challenge, All About our Guys, I used Jack as my subject and included five screw brads to accent my layout.
And for The Paper Girls challenge, using the beach, I used photos from our beach trip.

Confessions of a Bag Lady

For Jack's shark themed birthday, I was super excited to find the trendy paper straws and glassine bags at Michael's in the $2 bins. The bold stripes in red and turquoise were the perfect colors to add treats to the sand buckets and straws for the "ocean water."
I saved a few of each, knowing them would come in handy on a scrappy project. Just in time, Paper Secrets first challenge for June is a sketch, with the twist being to use a treat bag!
So perfect!
Here is the sketch for inspiration...

...and here is the layout I came up with, using the adorable BoBunny Surprise line which also coordinated and was birthday themed! A win-win! The striped papers were perfect for the challenge over at Red Carpet Studio for "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" challenge!

I used the turquoise and white treat bag as a background paper, and the straws to make little pennants which I used in place of the doilies in the sketch.
So those treat bags you've been hoarding because they were too cute to throw away? Use them on a page and try out this challenge over at Paper Secrets: Paper Secrets June Challenge