One-Page Sketch for Sketch Support...

July is coming to a close and so is my guest designer stint with Sketch Support. (sniff, sniff)

I have one last layout to share and it's for the 1-page sketch this month. (You can see the post at Sketch Support here.) I created "Go Big Kev!" using SEI's "I'm An Athlete" line from Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff. I made a few adjustments to the sketch by matting the entire page and also the patterned paper sections in the middle of the page.

I opted to use brads to make the swirly design coming off the star. (I have sooooo many brads - so little time...)

And, I used not one, not two, but THREE different sets of American Crafts alphas. Sigh.

May I also add that Charcoal is becoming my new favorite shade of cardstock.

I'd like to thank Allison Davis again for the opportunity to be guest designer. I adore her sketches and was able to create seven projects based on the four sketches.

I love American Crafts!

This week after an appointment in Louisville, I drug my boys across town to Archiver's. (The exchange was that they'd get to walk through Dick's Sporting Goods AND we'd have California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. It was worth it!)

In the first display rack I saw, a fun, colorful paper line jumped out at me. It's was the new American Crafts Margarita line. It was love at first sight. I grabbed a few of my favorite papers from the line and selected the layered felt/button embellishments. I was good (so good) and passed on the coordinating Thickers. (That should have earned ME a treat!)

Tonight I sat down with only my new AC products in hand and a set of photos from Kevin's swim lessons last summer. I could envision a sun made out of one of the embellishments, the glitter/dot yellow paper, and hand-stitching.

And so, a layout was born...

It makes me so happy.

And then I realized I was left with felt/button FLOWER embellishments. Flowers? What would I ever do with flowers???

Then it hit me...

Last month when I delivered a birthday gift to my aunt, she commented that she loved the card (handmade) and said that my cousin had asked once when I was going to start making my own gift bags, too.

Hmmm.

Gift bags?

I found a "naked" kraft gift bag. I also found some colorful pipe cleaners that matched the paper line.

And so a gift bag was born. Complete with matching mini card. (I added the green pipe cleaners for leaves/stem and replaced the bag's handles with hot pink pipe cleaners.)

I'm afraid I like them too much to give them away...

Paper Posies' August Sketch Challenge...

This month as guest designer for Paper Posies, I was asked to do the August challenge. DT member Mary Ann Metcalf decided to give us a sketch challenge. We used a sketch by Liz Chidester - Sketch #127 (here).

For my layout, I selected a photo from my NYC trip in December. I flipped the sketch, extended my title & journaling, stitched my circle, added buttons and made a few adjustments with the patterned paper strips. In the end, I have a layout that makes me smile and documents a story I don't want to forget (even if I'm still surprised I spent $7 for ONE strawberry!).

I loved the alphas in this kit - so many options! And that stripe paper...I think I used it on EVERY project I made with the kit!

Thanks for looking!

Paper Posies August Guest Designer...

Last year when I tried out for the design at Paper Posies, I was a little disappointed when I didn't make it. I just kept reminding myself that they only added a couple new members. (My friend Melanie was one of them!) A couple weeks ago Paper Posies' owner contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in guest designing for them for August. My answer, of course, was YES! The next week, I had a full kit in front of me waiting to be used.

The kit contains Basic Grey's new paper line "Out of Print." At first glance, this line didn't seem to be my style, but then I realized that I LOVED most of the "b-sides" from the line. And, there was a wonderful STRIPE pattern that seemed to tie everything together perfectly. I think I used that stripe on every single project I completed this month!

Plus, the kit included a set of American Craft fabric Thickers and a 12x12 sheet of Basic Grey alphas with both black and white letters. Three alphas gave me so many possibilities.

I also love that Paper Posies kits come with two sheets of each color of cardstock. I fell in love with the Bazzill Atlantic (blue) cardstock. I used it to create a 2-page layout for Blake's album with photos from a recent photo shoot. One photo of Blake allowed me to continue my title directly on the photo.

Plus, I added some of the October Afternoon rub-ons to the page, too. I made a card, too!The week I received the kit, I had caught the old Vanilla Ice hit from 1991 on the radio and introduced my boys to "Ice, Ice Baby." So...when I saw a photo of them ICING cookies, I instantly had a title in mind!It's a simple page that used scrap strips. I outlined the white alphas with a black pen to make them pop off the page a bit.

I also worked in an Easter layout. Another simple page using only patterned paper, alphas, and rub-ons. It's rare for me to do such a "flat" page, but I really like it.

I have a couple additional projects that I completed with the kit, but since they are both for challenges, I'll share them later.

The kit went live today. Check it out!

Sketch Support's July bonus sketch...

Yesterday, my layout using the bonus sketch was posted at Sketch Support. You can view the post here.

I used the bonus sketch for fireworks, to make flower accents on a 12x12 layout.
I layered cut outs from (Crate Paper) patterned paper with Kaiser Craft flowers and Crate Paper buttons tied with Pink Paislee twine. I also stitched "stems" for my flowers with twine and added bows to represent flower petals. I used one of the May add-on kits from Polka Dot Whimsy for this project.

So far, I have really enjoyed my guest designer spot with Sketch Support.

Here's a sneak for you...

Check out the blog post over at Paper Posies here... I can't wait to share my other guest designer projects with you. I really enjoyed their August kit and was able to complete 5 layouts and a card with it.

Stay tuned...

Sketch Support 2-page Sketches

It's finally time to share my (TWO!) layouts that I completed with the 2-page sketch for this month over at Sketch Support. (You can see the sketch and a detailed description of my variations here.)

As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew it would be perfect to use with the SEI "I'm an Athlete" line that I picked up over at Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff. Until this sketch, I hadn't had much success in getting creative with these photos from our trip in February to Murray State's game against Evansville.

I loved the sketch so much that I used scraps from my May Polka Dot Whimsy kit to create a second 2-page layout.

I flipped the sketch on this layout and went with an Easter egg theme.

My title - "To DYE For" - cracks me up! (Get it...we're dying eggs!)

In other news, I received a package in the mail yesterday. A kit. Looking forward to sharing that news later...

I made cards!

Thanks to the great card sketch Allison Davis sent me for my guest designer stint over at Sketch Support, I have some cards to share with you today.

Look HERE to see the sketch and details on how I varied them from the sketch provided. (The projects by the other guest designer for July are in the first half of the post.)

I used scraps from my May Polka Dot Whimsy kit to make all of the cards with the sketch. For this "thanks" card, I just added some Adorn It alphas.

The Pebbles sticker strips in the May kit were put to good use in place of the patterned paper strips on the sketch. I made two cards using the same supplies. (And I still had sticker strips left!)The "congrats" card was for a recent graduate. I liked adding the flying butterfly to this any occasion card. And here's a little bonus card that I didn't submit since it was so simple. I sent this one to a boy we know who graduated this year. It came together really quick using scraps. I added some old American Crafts alphas.

I can't wait to share the layouts I completed with the July sketches. I'll be sharing them each Saturday this month.

3 Days in July...

July 2, 3, 4...

6 games...

2 different ballparks...

Crossing six different counties in Kentucky...

Spending 6.5+ hours in the car driving back and forth...

But, there isn't anything I'd rather be doing. In case you haven't noticed, I'm Blake & Kevin's biggest fan.

For Blake, it was the Little League District Tournament in Lebanon, KY. He had made the all-star team. It was his last year of Little League. He caught all six innings of our game on Saturday and did a great job.

I have to admit, I thought the 1st base coach was kind of hot. (Yes, that is MY HUSBAND!)I love this photo of Tom and Blake at 1st. Blake had just slid back to home. He was the dirtiest kid on the team. No one even came close to beating him!

Unfortunately, the team allowed too many runs in one inning. We fought back and came back with a lead of 12-10 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Then we gave up three runs. We were put into the loser's bracket and would play again on Monday.

Meanwhile in Flaherty, KY...Kevin was playing his first game of the tournament. Before heading to Blake's game, we'd pawned Kevin off on the family of one of his teammates. I was getting text updates our whole (1 hr. 20 min.) drive to the game. Kevin made an outstanding dive in right field to snag a ball and keep his team in the tied game. But, they finally lost by one run.

We made it in time to see game 2. They won!!!

On Sunday, their single-elimination tournament started. Slam was ready.

They came out and won their first game of the day.

I love it when Kevin catches. (Can you tell he wants to be like his big brother?)

Unfortunately, Slam lost one game shy of the championship game.

On Monday, we woke up to rain. Ugh. But, it seemed to have gone around Lebanon. Blake's game started on schedule. I was happy to see them introduce the players for this game. They deserved it.

We wanted to win. We had to win. It was double elimination.

Blake took a pitch to the head and was walked. There's a reason for those batting helmets! Still, he said it hurt pretty bad. I caught him rubbing his head on 3rd...

When they switched pitchers early in the game, they also switched out catchers. Blake was moved to left field and later to 3rd.

On third, he snagged back to back balls to throw the runner out at 1st. (That's my boy!)

I loved seeing the pitcher congratulate Blake on his plays. However, the mood soon changed as our team couldn't battle enough to make up for the runs they had allowed in previous innings. We lost the game by two and were out of the tournament.

Blake's team isn't playing this weekend, but Kevin's Slam will travel to New Albany, Indiana. Hopefully we can kick some Hoosier butt over there and bring home a trophy.