Enjoying the Simple Things in Life

Hi there,

A little "set back" with my time schedule today.  

Ya see, yesterday I got the brilliant idea to back up my laptop for two reasons:

1.  It hadn't been done in awhile... and, 2.  I have thousands and thousands of photos on my

laptop and I was freaking out about the possibility of it crashing!

So, in the early afternoon, I began the painstaking process.  Well, it took almost 12 hours

and 8 discs later for the completion.  That puts the time at 3:30 a.m.!  Yup, I was up that 

long!  Wowzers... it was almost 4 a.m. before I went to bed!

Needless to say, I slept most of the morning!  

But, I did begin the process of "dumping" all my photos onto a thumb drive today.

This should free up a lot of space on my laptop and give it room to breathe!

Today I have a few layouts and a card to share with you.  Hope you enjoy checking them out!

The first layout was a submission to Colorful Creations http://colorfulcreations.ning.com/ 

for their Word Challenge (SIWW: September).

I used a sketch from Let's Scrap (4-29-09) http://letsscrap.ning.com/photo/4-29-09?context=album&albumId=2186252%3AAlbum%3A630432.

Here's what I created:

The Allagash Waterway.  Such a beautiful place.  The Boy Scouts went here for their canoeing,

camping trip, exploring all that nature has to offer. 

The huge tarp was set up because our first day there nature decided to dump buckets

of wind and rain on us!  It didn't matter that we all had rain gear on.... we were all

drenched!  Because the wind picked up, making canoeing a nightmare, we had to stay

close to the shore... and camp at the first available site.  A fire was started so we could

all warm up and get our clothes dried.  By afternoon, the sun came out and everything dried

completely.  The rest of the trip was rain free!

Supplies used:

Paper: Autumn Leaves, DCWV

Computer Font: Adorable

Flowers: Prima, Forever in Time, Other

Leaves: Sizzix Leaf Die

Big Shot

Ribbons

Border: EK Success Stencil

Ink: A la mode Brown

The leaves were tucked just under the photo and each leaf folded to create some dimension.

You also get a closer look at the border, which was inked with the edges turned up a bit.

My flower grouping.  The tiny flowers were purchased with gems already in the centers, which

was cool.  I layered a couple of the larger ones and added a knotted twine for the center.

The quote for my layout.  Leaves were also tucked under the page a bit.  A strip

of light blue with brown polka dots ribbon was added along the bottom of the page.

My next layout was a submission to Sketch Inspiration http://sketchinspiration.ning.com/

for their Sketch #337 Challenge.

http://sketchinspiration.ning.com/photo/sketch-338?context=album&albumId=4597656%3AAlbum%3A107166

Here's what I created:

Love this photo of my "guys" gaming.  They were so focused on the game they didn't even

know I had peeked around the corner and took this photo!  That's some serious

concentration!

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV, White Cardstock

Ribbon

Sanding Block

Sharpie Marker

Font: Cricut Stamped

Cricut

Sticker: Doodlebug Design

The circles were sanded as well as the strip of paper along the bottom.  Ribbon was added along 

the paper strip.  Found this cute sticker to add on the page too.

The journaling was written on strips of paper that I previously arranged the way I wanted

it before hand, then they were adhered in place.

This small banner was sanded along the edges before the date was written.

This layout was a submission to Let's Scrap http://letsscrap.ning.com/

for their Sketch Challenge (10-10-12).

http://letsscrap.ning.com/photo/10-10-12?context=latest

Here's my layout:

Boy Scout meeting.  Occasionally I bring my camera to document what we do at the 

meetings or to just have it on hand in case we do something that's pretty cool!

Well, at this particular meeting, they snatched my camera and I was so involved

in taking my notes and working with a few boys on advancing, I didn't even know they

took SO MANY photos!  When I got home and checked... Oh my word... I couldn't believe

the funny photos they had taken!  And they had a BLAST... and I guess that's all

that really matters anyway, right?  I was happy to provide them an hour and a half

of FUN!  :)

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV

Twill Ribbon

Self-adhesive Foam Letters

Twine

Ribbon

Sanding Block

EK Success Corner Rounder

Ink: Adirondack Hazelnut

Folk Art Paint

Sharpie marker

Silver Brad

Bracket & Hinge: Hand Made

Sanding was done on most of the paper pieces.  This cute hinge was traced and

hand cut, sanded and a silver brad added for the end.  Twine was threaded through

the brad holes.

A corner rounder was used on each top and bottom of the strips of papers.  Two strips

of ribbon were added under the photo.

The bracket was traced onto cardstock, cut and the edges sanded.  I used a strip

of twine along the edge of the photo block.  I twisted the twine tighter so it would keep the

curves in it.

A couple strips of twine were added along the smaller photo block.

I'm starting to get the hang of banners.  I love how this one turned out!

I used twill, cutting the ends of each one to wrap around the twine.  A knot was

added at the ends of the banner.  For the letters I chose foam.  They were thin enough and 

multi-colored, so I painted them and when that dried I adhered twine onto the letters with hot glue. 

Here's a closer look at the banner.

This photo gives you a view of the ribbons and twine.

And now for my card, which was a submission to Soul Scrappers http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/

for their Card Challenge (CC9).

There were two challenges included into the one.

1.  Make a card using the recipe that was given for the example.  It's a simple recipe

that can be altered in many ways.  And it doesn't have to be a Christmas card.

2.  Make up your own recipe for your card, post it so others might be able to use different recipe

and make another batch of Christmas cards (or other cards).

I chose to post my card using the following recipe shown below as the example.

http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/forum/topics/cc9-card-challenge-christmas-is-coming

Here's my card:

I swayed a bit from the sample and I really like how it turned out.

I "toned down" the dark blue strip through the center by adding wide sheer ribbon

over it.  I used half of the paper doily to peek out from behind the cardstock.  The edges

of the doily were inked.  I found the dimensional snowflake in my stash and added

it to the center and a couple of smaller snowflakes were also added.

The greeting was added last.

My final layout was a submission to Soul Scrappers http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/

for their Monday's Child Poem Challenge (THC54).

Here are a few requirements:

1.  Use any version of the Poem on your layout.

2.  Use a 4x6 photo or smaller.

3.  Use bunting/banners.

4.  Use ribbon/twine.

Here's the Poem, which can also be found here: 

http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/forum/topics/thc54-monday-s-child-poem

Monday’s child is fair of face

Tuesday’s child is full of grace

Wednesday’s child is full of woe

Thursday’s child has far to go

Friday’s child is loving and giving

Saturday’s child has to work for its living

But a child that is born on the Sabbath Day

Is fair and wise and good and gay.

The last line can also read :- 'is bonny,blithe, good and gay' .

Here's my layout:

The sketch layout was my own creation.

Love this photo of Andrew when he was a little tyke.  Such a ham for the camera!

I opted to use the whole poem since I didn't like what was said for Saturday's Child.

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV, Colorbok

Ribbons

Computer Font: Parisienne

Fiskars Border Punch

Bubble Letters

Brads

Folk Art Paints

Glitter

String

I added several layers under the title block.  Thin ribbon was added along the bottom

and a bow in the upper corner.

These bubble letters are the cutest!  I added them on top of the ribbon.
The only thing that's annoying about them is
that the letters inside the bubbles move around!  Some of the letters are now turned
upside down... and they won't right themselves no matter what I do!  Grrrr!

Here a couple photos of the cutest banner ever!  I had these rather large brads that were
odd colors.  The prongs were folded under and tapped with a hammer to flatten them out.
I started off by painting each one colors that matched the polka dot paper and
before the paint could dry I added clear fine glitter.
When they dried, I cut a piece of string and adhered the very top of each brad to the string.
That's it!  Isn't it cute?

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend and were able to get some crafty stuff done.

A HUGE thank you to all my followers and everyone who pops in for a visit!

Libby  :)