Anything But a Card 17

 Hello! It's time for a new challenge at Anything But a Card. Challenge 17 brings "APRIL SHOWERS". For this challenge April Showers - create anything with a WATER theme including mermaids, beaches, seas, the color of seas/oceans, thunderstorms, rainbows, streams, rivers, ponds, snow, spring showers, umbrella, fountains, waterfalls. I went a little unconventional with a layout about a water park adventure from our family trip to Florida. Can't wait to see so other fabulous projects.

Feast with Friends

The Basic Grey blog has been posting some awesome sketches lately. Whenever I see BG papers in the clearance bin at the LSS I stock up so I'm using some older Indian Summer paper and stickers for these photos of a squash themed potluck dinner my friend hosted last fall. I followed the Basic Grey sketch from 7/23. I have the week completely off so I'm excited to craft while watching the Olympics. 

A Cosmo Cricket LO to Share

With CHA happening this week I thought it would be fun to share this LO I made using a picture from CHA in 2010. Cosmo Cricket took their fans to CHA by putting their Facebook profile pics on sticks and taking pics all around CHA. I used the Togetherness collection that came out at that year's CHA and some other CC goodies to create the LO. 

SEI Layout Challenge

This month SEI issued a layout challenge to go with their end of the month link party. I decided this Easter picture went great with the Bridgeport collection and fit the sketch cause I had just one photo. I was fortunate to win this collection from Paper Crafts over a year ago and I received the stickers, chipboard, rub-ons, letter stickers, and papers so this LO came together super easy. I'm excited to visit the others on the link party!

Just a reminder: Die Cuttin Divas has a super easy and very fun silhouette challenge that ends Monday so pull out your die cut machine and get to work.

Jingle Belles 5

The super talented Amy is a guest sketch artist and designer at Jingle Belles this week. She create a super fab and easy sketch. I made my card is less than five minutes. The bling isn't strictly part of the sketch but I wanted a bit more of a punch and well I love bling. Paper and sticker is Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses.

Here's an LO I'm sharing for the Basic Grey Challenge blog challenge to use flowers. I have flower paper and stickers. Me and my two cousins made with Basic Grey Lemonade paper and stickers.

Sketchabilties Sketch 39

Since I have some extra time now I wanted to make sure I started to scrap some photos. I have a large stack of photos and and even larger stack of paper that needs to be used. I want to be a person who uses stuff faster than I buy it but its hard especially knowing new collections are just around the corner. I used some KI Memories Posh line for this photo and the Sketchabilties sketch #39. I was happy to use some flowers and thickers. I feel like I hoard these things but rarely ever use them. The picture is my cousin and my cat. My cat lives with my family because I can't have her in my apartment. So my cousin will take random photos and videos of the cat with her cell phone. This is one such picture. My cousin also gave my cat another nickname BEC (pronounced 'beck' and standing for bug eyed chubber because she apparently eats a lot and has large eyes)

A Layout (shocking I know)

So I do occasionally scrapbook as well. Cards are so much easier and less intimidating to make but I really want to use all the fab goodies that I have to preserve some memories as well. I don't always share what I scrapbook because sometimes I can't (pictures of my students) or because the project wasn't made for a challenge or because the photos of the LOs are never to my liking. I completed a mini album this month, another simply needs journaling and I made 4 LOs. I'm happy to have the memories recorded. I figured I'd share one I made with a Pagemap from January. I made the LO with Sassafras papers and some bling. I love that Sassafras papers are bold, but then some are perfect for pages with a border already in place. I also love the borders that come at the bottom of the papers. It like having a bonus embellie. The picture is me and a crafty friend from college selling our wares at a local craft show.

Creative Scrappers #119

I haven't made any LOs in a few weeks and so I wanted to play with a LO sketch for a change. I was lucky to get some SEI Moravia papers and stickers on sale and I thought they went great with these pictures.

I used sketch 119 from Creative Scrappers. I added some thread and use the gel pen for writing but everything else is from Moravia. I love the flocking detail mixed with the shine. I made this LO for my cousin about her dog when he was just a puppy although he was one big puppy.

I decided to put together a quick card from the paper as well. I wanted the bold flocked paper to be the focus but added to the shine with the leaf brads.

Scrap It With a Song #20

After 20 fabulous weeks I'm saying goodbye as a DT member at Scrap It with a Song. We have lots of great new talent joining the team and I figured that with student teaching coming I didn't want to reapply for the team. But I had a great time and hope I can play along at least some of the time. For week 20 the song is Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder. I went a little untraditional with my take. I thought "lovely" "wonderful" and "precious" were great words to describe the cards that students made me during my last school placement. I thought the ABC Sassafras paper was great because it was school and the little monster worked because they were a trying group of kids but like that monster still very lovable.

We are being sponsored by Crafty Ribbons who will be giving the winner 20 jewel colored heavily glittered ribbon. Sound like a really fun prize so please share your creations for this week!

Scrap It With a Song #18

This week at Scrap It With a Song the song for inspiration is Get Here by Oleta Adams. I thought all the mention of travel would be a good reason to use it for a LO about a trip. Here's is my craft club's spring trip to Princeton (we got there by railway as in the journaling). I used Sassafras Anthem papers and stickers. I also used some pieces of the brochures we collected. This week we are being sponsored by The Paper Trail an online scrapbooking store who is offering a $20 gift certificate. We've had less than 20 participants these past few weeks. I would think great sponsors and the ability to create any type of paper craft would elicit a little more response. If you've never played along I urge you to give it a try. If nothing else who wouldn't want a 1 in 20 chance of winning a $20 gift certificate. So whip up a quick card or beautiful LO inspired by our song this week and share!

Scrap It With a Song #17

This week at Scrap It With a Song we are being inspired by the song With You by Jessica Simpson. Remember you can be inspired any part of the song and make any sort of creation you want. The event I'm scrapping was called Storytelling 'with you' and me so I went with it. We also have a fabulous sponsor in Crop Chocolate who has generously donated $20 in crop credits for the winner. Cant' wait to see your take!

Scrap It With a Song #16

The song this week at Scrap It with a Song is Faith Hill's This Kiss. Now I'm not big on the lovey dovey songs maybe because I don't take lovey dovey pictures but there are ways to be inspired by this song without going with the love theme. So take a shot at it. Remember we love to see cards just as much as we love LOs. We have YourScrapbookStash.com sponsoring this week. They are generously giving the winner a $20 gift certificate! Imagine $20 of the latest and greatest supplies for free, sure to get you inspired!

My Mind's Eye Challenge

My Mind's Eye has issued a challenge this month to make a project based on a sketch and the word hope. Check out the details here on their blog. I made my LO with supplies from the Lush collection in blue and brown including the letters, ribbon, brads, and paper. I used a different MME line for the base of the LO. Unfortunately I can't seem to make blogger display my picture right side up.

Scrap It With a Song #13

Scrap It With a Song is back with a new song this week; Happy Together by The Turtles. Our sponsor this week is once again, Cassandra from PaperMom. She has adorable digi images and handmade items to swoon over. She is offering the winner 3 digi images!! Check out the blog to see more DT inspiration. My LO was done with some Sassafras papers. I kept it really simple so the focus would be on the fun images and journaling. These are the girls that I lived with freshmen year, four years later right before graduation.

Scrap It With a Song #12

This week the song at Scrap It With a Song is America the Beautiful fitting with the holiday. We have a generous sponsor in Nikki Sivils Scrapbooks. Check out the prize package and other DT inspiration at the blog. Since it was before the holiday I didn't have any patriotic photos so I scrapped about a beautiful place in America that I've been too. Lake George New York is a gorgeous place. I used an old sketch from Creative Scrappers #107

Pink Elephant Scrapbooking Challenge #14

This week's challenge at The Pink Elephant is Red White and Blue with a sketch. So snap some pictures this weekend and then get right to scrapping!

Scrap It With a Song Challenge #11

This week our song at Scrap It With a Song is I Can See Clearly Now as performed by Jimmy Cliff. My intereptation might take a bit of explanation but first… Our sponsor is the wonderful Michelle’s Scrapbooking and More home to Pixie Cottage Stamps. They also sell patterned paper, copics, and even more stamps. They are offering a $10 gift certificate to the winner.

As for my take I went with the sunny day theme of the song and scrapbooked about a sunny day spent outside. This goes to show you were are looking for creative takes on the song but just give us a quick explanation for the connection you’re making. I used a Sassafras Lass background, some Thickers for the title and CC Tiny Type for accents. Please check out the rest of the DT on the blog for extra inspiration, including members of the Michelle’s Scrapbooking and More DT, and then share your take on the song.

Pink Elephant Scrapbooking Challenge #13

The Pink Elephant is back with a fun new challenge! In some ways this is a simple one. No sketches or colors. Simply show us your layouts using extra photos with pockets, flippers, accordion minis, or any other fun creative way to add lots of extra photos to your layouts. In my LO using the Basic Grey Origins collection, I made the large panel a pocket because I had so many extra pictures from the zoo. I plan on tucking some extra journaling in there, though there is some on the bottom. You can see the extra photos sticking out the top but they do slide neatly in. All the stickers are BG Origins too, but the title is AC Thickets and the cardstock is Bazzill.

Check out the rest of the DT on the blog and then share the link to your creation!

Pink Elephant Scrapbooking Challenge #12

The Pink Elephant has a new scrapbook challenge this week. We have a great sketch and challenge you to use vacation photos. I have lots of vacation photos still to scrap so this was an easy one for me. Pretty much everything is from Basic Grey's Offbeat collection. I printed the journaling on cardstock and cut it into strips. Can't wait to see all the wonderful interpretations from our participants. Also check out the rest of the DT on the blog for more inspiration.

Scrap It With a Song Challenge #9

Back with a new song at Scrap It With a Song. This week is Could Not Ask for More by Sara Evans. It is pretty touching and quite frankly a bit sappy, but I decided to go another way with it. My LO's title comes from the lyrics "these are the moments." I paired that phrase with a picture of my cousin and I that really exemplifies are fun together attitude and relationship. That picture is from my 21st birthday where she is pretending to steal a lick of the whipped cream off the top of my first legal drink. The rest of the DT has some great inspiration so please visit the blog to see that and then show us your take. It can be sappy or silly a card or a LO. Anything goes as long as you link it to the song.