You Make Me Hoppy!

Hi there, hoppy Sunday! Hope you have had a little time to create today... I'm squeezing a little in before I head into a busy week! I loved the Card Patterns sketch this week, and I actually needed to make several cards for various reasons. This one is going to my animal loving niece, along with a pack of animal stickers- just for fun. :)

The stamps are from Papertrey Ink and the patterned paper is Echo Park. The frog embellishment is from an Etsy store called "Ring-O Crafts."

If you get a chance, and want to play along, here's the sketch: 

Enjoy your Sunday evening!

RUNinspired

Good morning... I am normally out running a long run on Saturday morning, but this weekend, I had to rearrange my schedule a little. I wanted to share a layout I did on my girls scrappin' weekend about my first big race, the KY Derby Mini Marathon- 13.2 miles!

When I first started running, I went into a local running store called Fleet Feet. When I walked in, the first thing I saw was a huge poster that said, "Uninspired" at the top and then, underneath, "RUNinspired... running changes everything." I loved it. It was such a motivator for me, and now, I am 10 weeks away from running my first Marathon- 26.2 miles!

My two brothers, my sister-in-law and me running together in the Mini Marathon:

We had a blast running together and finishing was a feeling only someone who's "been there, done that" can understand. RUNinspired... 

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop!

Hi friends... this is my second post for the day! I wanted to squeeze in a card I made for the Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop! This month, the inspiration came from this awesome photo:

I wish I had a spot in my house that looks like this! It looks like such a happy place... the perfect spot to read or do some needlepoint! ;) 

This is the card it inspired me to create:

Quite simple, actually. It was leftover Sassafrass paper, odds and ends, paired with some Papertrey ribbon and sentiment stamp. A happy little card!

Click here to join the hop and see all the creations!

Just Beachy!

This layout could quite possibly be my most favorite ever! It took a long time to make and it was agony choosing all the photos to add, but the end result was exactly what I wanted... a collage of memories from our recent trip to the beach.

I printed some of my favorite photos from the week and printed in a contact sheet form. From that point, I hand cut each one out and arranged on the layout. I added buttons, hand cut clouds, some chipboard, patterned paper and stickers for finishing touches. I love the way it looks...

I am submitting this to the City Crafter challenge blog. The theme this week is "It's a Shore Thing"... I think I got that covered! ;)

Sketchy Thursdays- GDT

Sketchy Thursdays has their challenge up for the guest designer for August. I decided to play along... I got a lot of scrappin' and card makin' done on my girls trip this past weekend. The gals at Sketchy Thursdays requested that we not only use the sketch, but to also include:

• A summer topic
• The colors red, orange and/or yellow
• A journaling spot

here's the sketch...

here's my take... 

I chose to use the colors red and yellow and my journaling spot is from the SMASH pad "entertainment." The summer topic: RUNNING! Training now for the Chicago Marathon in this heat has been murder. The layout is about the Rodes City Run, second race in the triple crown leading up to the KY Derby mini Marathon. After I finished my race, the kids got to run. It was a ball- they got to run along the river at Waterfront Park. All the kids got a prize, a free lunch at Chick-fil-A and had fun in a giant cow jumper.

A close up of some cute faces and embellishments! I love those puffy clouds- thanks, Elizabeth! ;) If you want to play along in the GDT Challenge, click HERE for all the details. You have until July 23!

Oh Deer!

Hi friends! I whipped up a quick card this morning for the Jingle Belles weekly prompt. This week... "reindeer games!" At first, I was like, "great. I don't have any reindeer in my stash." Then, I found the Basic Grey paper pad! The tag and the patterned paper are both from the Jovial collection... are you sick of seeing me use the same 'ole stuff?

In addition to the BG Jovial papers and tag embellishment, I also used a couple rub-ons, a "love" stamp, some cranberry seam binding tape (my mom gave me loads of spools!!) to make a bow and added some hand cut felt leaves all bound together with button and twine. I actually love this card... and so does Elan. He thinks it's a hunting card. :)

You're the Best!

Happy Friday! Getting ready to leave for a girls weekend to do some scrappin' and craftin' and eatin'! Super excited, but first I wanted to share a fun card using the Card Patterns sketch for the week. Here's my card:

And this is the sketch:

Hope you have a great weekend!

With Sympathy...

Unfortunately, I've had to send a few sympathy cards in the last week. I got out my new Basic Grey Out of Print paper pad and used Paper Smooches Friendly Flowers stamp set. Added some ribbon, colored and paper pieced the flower and then used my Papertrey set for the sentiment. Easy, pretty, tasteful.  

 

I hope the recipients felt a little sun on their face when they got the card. It's always hard to lose someone you love...

Always Up to Something...

Hi there! Hope you all had a great Saturday. It was a beautiful day and I have officially started my marathon training! I ran 10 miles yesterday morning with my running group, and I have to say... it was awesome. I was so dang proud of myself for running at a wicked pace and up lots of hills to boot! Took the kiddos for a full day at the pool and grilled out for dinner. Pretty much a perfect summer Saturday!

I wanted to share a cute layout of Elan I made last week. I took these pictures of him while we were on vacation and thought they showed his little personality so well... that face always looks like he's up to something!

I really just took the cute pictures and put them on the page. Not many embellies... I did use some chipboard and decorative tape, and yellow twine that I am in love with! Easy peasy... have a good Sunday!

Card Patterns Sketch

Here's the card of the day! "Happy Bird-day" is based on the great sketch from Card Patterns...

I used a ribbon embellishment of a bird from Ring-O Crafts on Etsy. It went so well with this paper from Basic Grey! The stamped sentiment and die cut are from Papertrey Ink.

Here's the sketch, it's a good one, don't cha' think? 

I hope you get to play along! :)

Jingle Belles- Stars OR Stripes!

Hi there! Have you all recovered from the long July 4th weekend? We are slowly catching up on our rest. ;) Before I hop off to bed, I wanted to share my Jingle Belles card for this week. The challenge was to use stars OR stripes in your Christmas card creation. Here's mine:

The snowflake paper from Basic Grey reminded me of stars and my chipboard "JOY" has striped letters. Yes, I used PINK on another Christmas card. That's what happens when you make a holiday card in the summer. Come fall, my Christmas cards might be ORANGE! ;)
Enjoy your evening...

Happy Fourth, USA!

Happy 4th of July to all my crafty friends in the USA! I thought I would share some layouts from the past.

Here's a collage layout of the 4th of July bike parade in 2008, that my neighborhood has every year...

Here's a cute picture of the kiddos and Wrigley after the parade in 2009...

This is a more recent layout. It's pictures of the kids and Stephen watching the fireworks last year...

And, after today, I will have more pictures to view, reminisce, and scrapbook! Have a happy and safe 4th of July, friends!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles

Happy Saturday, crafty friends! I am sorry to admit that I failed to post the second challenge over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. Ugh... oh well, here is my project anyway:

This is my niece, Claudia at the beach. She just learned how to walk and had a ball exploring the ocean and the sand! The caption at the top reads, "How blessings brighten as they take flight" -Young.

The last couple of layouts I have done, I've used the Echo Park line, "Sweet Summertime." It's been fun using stickers again! ;)

I hope you get a chance to be creative this weekend!

Elan is 2 Wheelin'!

Last week, Elan learned to ride his bike without his training wheels. *Sigh* isn't he a little young for this? Why does he want to grow up so fast? This year, he will be riding a big boy bike in the 4th of July neighborhood parade, and it seems like last year I was pushing him in a stroller. Time just goes by so fast... 

He was so excited, and so proud of himself... he ran to me saying, "Mom! I'm never riding with training wheels again!" He picked it up easily and has been 2 wheelin' ever since.