Soul Scrappers "Name" Challenge

Hello there,

I hope you have great plans for this weekend.  It's great weather here..... and no rain.  Yay!

I've picked just about all I can from my garden, for now anyways.  I've picked tons of beans

and peas and spinach.  It's sad how a HUGE pot of spinach boils down to only a small bowl!

Anyone have a yummy recipe for Zucchini Bread or Zucchini Cookies?  WITHOUT CHOCOLATE!

Why are all these recipes with chocolate?  I have an allergy to chocolate.  Yeah, I know, bummer!  :(

We're doing some demolition work on our porch this weekend.  Getting it ready for 

a new and improved addition to our house.  Can't wait!

And now for some fun!  Soul Scrappers http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/ is having another great challenge.  

The deadline for submissions is August 27, 2012.

Create a layout that revolves around a "NAME."  Sounds easy enough, right?

Except for the fact that I really didn't want to use the explanation and/or meaning of a name on my 

layout.  After much procrastination, I decided to just go with it.  And we had to use

old paper from our stash that we haven't used for more than a year.

I chose a sketch from Splitcoast Stampers (#121)  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/

Here's my layout:

I absolutely love this photo of Dylan playing and having a great time, then looks over

at me to see if I was watching!  So cute!

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV, White Cardstock

Ribbons

Font & Stars: Cricut George & Basic Shapes Cartridge

Cricut

Ink: A la mode Red

Computer Font: Agent 'C'

Pop Dots

Sketch: Splitcoast stampers #121

Photo dated: March 9, 2008 - 7 years old

The meaning of Dylan's name.  Some of it actually pertains to him, others not so much.

But I copied it, printed it out on cardstock and used it.  I crumpled up the cardstock and

inked the edges to give it more of an "old and worn" piece of paper. 

The star was cut using my Cricut.  I crumpled up the star and made folds towards the

center of the star to make it pop more.  The edges were also inked. 

This grouping of stars was also crumpled, inked and pop dots were used to raise

them from the layout. 

Another fun font from Cricut!  The letters are wider, thus taking up a bit more

room and worked well with this layout.

In the end, I was pleased with how it turned out.  Certainly a fun challenge!

Have a wonderful day!
Polly  :)

Stink-Dog!

Hi there!

Wow!  I canned 28 quarts of green and yellow beans yesterday and I'm canning the remaining

seven quarts this morning!  And this is only the first picking!

Our house was sweltering yesterday from all those quarts boiling!

I think the 2nd batch of peas will be ready to pick soon too!  I love standing in my garden picking

the peas and eating them, throwing the shells back into my garden.  So yummy!

Today I have a sketch challenge from Let's Scrap http://letsscrap.ning.com/ in which

I missed the deadline but submitted it anyway because I had worked so long on this one, I still

wanted to upload it to their gallery.

Here's the sketch (8-1-12):

And here's my take on the sketch:

Our dog got sprayed by a skunk late one night and the smell was, well, out of this

world.... a smell that's even hard to describe in words!

Of course, I had to bathe her!  I washed and scrubbed, rinsed and washed again and

again, until finally I had to just get her out of the tub because the smell was 

making my eyes water!  

So, in our living room, on old towels, our cat, Tom, loved the smell!  I think

he's the only cat on this earth who loves the smell of skunk!  

Tom really brightened the mood of this situation.  He just "loved" Zoe.  He kept

rubbing his head against Zoe, rubbing against her, rolling around beside her, purring like

crazy!  Is he for real?  How in the world can he love this smell?  But, it was really a sight

to see and did get some chuckles out of me.  Silly cat!

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV

Cricut

Font: Cricut Doodletype

Ribbon

Green Sheer Ribbon: Stampin' Up!

Gold Cording

Stampin' Up! Border Punch

Sharpie Marker (for journaling)

Flowers: Forever in Time

Sizzix Striped Embossing Folder

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Sizzix

Gems: Forever in Time

Left side of the layout. 

 These paper flowers are the cutest from our local Dollar Store.

You just never know what you're going to find in one of these stores.

 I layered two different colored flowers and added a gem in the center.

You can also see the border punch and how I curled up the ends to give the

layout some dimension.

I still can't believe I found ribbon that actually matches my layout!  I only had about

14 inches of it.... nothing more in my stash, so I knew I didn't have much room for

"mistakes" and had to get this just right pretty much the first time.

These banners are the cutest!  Each time I see a challenge with banners, I cringe, but

the more I actually get to work with them, the easier it gets and more fun too!

I glued the ribbons around the cording to help keep them in place better.  I ended up

knotting the cording on each end rather than "tucking" it underneath something.

After cutting the title letters with my Cricut, I decided the letters needed something else,

so I embossed them, which I think turned out pretty good. 

I used an embossing folder for this piece of cardstock and added the sheer ribbon from Stampin' Up!

Right side of the layout. 

Another close up of the embossing, the border punch and flowers.

And, finally, the journaling telling the story of Zoe getting sprayed by a skunk!

Have a wonderful day!

Polly  :)

See!

Good morning!

I am so thrilled to have yesterday behind me!  It was another one of my "BAD DAYS!"

Everything that could go wrong did.  Why do we have days like this anyway?  What is

the purpose of going through days like this?  Ugh!  They stress me out so bad.

I really believe we should only have ONE bad day per YEAR!  Wouldn't that be nice?

I probably should try to embrace these bad days, but Wow, it certainly is hard!

Although so many things went wrong, there were also SOME good things that happened, like

our son calling, our grandson visited for a bit and I was able to pick three bags of

my green and yellow beans.... in which I will be working on canning today.

In the end, the good certainly didn't balance out the bad and I'm just glad today is a

new day!!  :)

Ok, on to much better things, like my post for today!  

Soul Scrappers http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/ is having a sketch challenge called the "Negative Space Sketch Challenge" (NSC13) and I thought I'd play along.

Here's the sketch:

And here's what I created:

Such a fun photo!  Dylan just couldn't wait to show me his missing teeth and new ones popping

through.  It was so funny how he pulled his lip way down there to make sure I

could see them!

I rarely work with lots of negative space, so this was interesting for me.  I always feel like

I need to "fill" it all in.  But I do like how it turned out.  

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV, Other

Twill Ladybugs (unknown brand)

Ribbons

Ric Rac

Stampin' Up! Border Punch

Sanding Block

Font: Cricut Stamped

Cricut

Sharpie Marker (for journaling) 

The ladybug is cut from a strip of twill with various colored ladybugs along it.

Thought it would be cute to just cut a few of them for this layout.  I shredded the 

edges with my fingers. 

My journaling block.  I've also attached another ladybug in this block too. 

A close up of all the layering going on and the border punch used. 

This little cluster was fun, although it took me forever to figure out exactly where I

wanted the ribbons and paper to go.  I'm just a nit-picky person!  

I also love how the apple from the patterned paper ended up in such a perfect spot.

I didn't plan it this way, so it's very cool indeed!  :)

Have a wonderful day!

Polly  :)

Soul Scrappers Word Challenge

Hi there!

Hope your Saturday is splendid!

I've been "catching up" on some scrapbooking layouts with challenges that I really wanted

to enter.  So, yesterday and today, being rainy days, were the perfect days for hiding in

my craft room!

This challenge was hosted by Soul Scrappers  http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/

All I had to do was create a layout using the word "Believe."

That's it.... easy peasy, right?

The sketch I chose is from Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Gallery #143

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/

Here's the layout I created:

Lynn was casually sitting at our dining room table, looking through the local

Newspaper when I grabbed my camera and asked her to smile.  Another one of

my favorite photos! 

Supplies used:

Paper: Momenta, Autumn Leaves

Flourish Stamp: Autumn Leaves

Ink: ColorBox Blue Lagoon

Lace

Ribbon

Gems: Forever in Time

Font: Cricut Stamped

Cricut

Sharpie Marker (for journaling)

I purchased a "grab bag" at one of our local stores in the fabric department and discovered

this beautiful lace!  I've been "saving" it for just the right layout.... and, well, this is the layout for it!

The other portion of the lace. 

The letters were created using my Cricut and the journaling words are my own.

So fitting for our daughter!  She joined the military several years ago and loves it!  

She also graduated with, not one, but two Bachelor's degrees at a local College.

She's definitely doing what she set her mind to!  :) 

 A close up of the gems I used.

Have a wonderful day!

Polly  :) 

Gotta Love Fresh Veggies!!

Hi there,

I just realized that I haven't posted for awhile.

Yikes!  Time sure has a way of flying by!

I've been happily eating peas out of my garden.... every day!  Eventually I'll have to

actually PICK them for freezing!  And my string beans are ready to be picked too, ready

to be prepared for canning.  The trick is to actually set aside some time to do this!

And, I've been helping with an Eagle Scout Project that one of our boys is working on in Boy Scouts.

I love to paint, so this is right up my alley!  Except for today, we used Primer.

Yup, you guessed it.... I got it all over me!  My legs, arms and because I took off my flip flops, 

the bottoms of my feet!  Now I'm wondering how in the world

I'm going to get this Primer (Red) paint off me!  Ugh!

After trying a couple solutions my hubby "thought" would work, but didn't, I'm thinking it may be

best to just let it "wear off!"  Guess I won't be going too many places for a few days!!  :)

Two Peas in a Bucket had a challenge (the deadline was August 4, 2012) in which I

participated in.  Challenges are so fun..... and I love how they get me motivated to scrap those photos!

The challenge was the "Multi-Photo Challenge" using 3 or more photos on your layout.

Here's the link to their site:  http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/

For this challenge I used two different layouts from Let's Scrap  http://letsscrap.ning.com/ simply because I liked the photo layout on one and the page layout on the other, so I combined them.

Here are the two sketches I chose:

I used the page layout on this one.

And on this one I used the photo placement.

And this is the layout I created:

I took so many photos of our Allagash Waterway canoe trip.  It was really difficult

to choose only five photos!  

The Boy Scouts wanted to canoe the Allagash to earn the 50-Miler Patch.  So, for

seven days we canoed... and canoed... and canoed!

We encountered some hard rains and windy weather, but we also had tons of fun!

We camped at several different campsites, enjoying the beautiful, peaceful scenery while

creating many fantastic memories.

We saw a Bald Eagle high in a tree, watching us and a couple Moose in the water, for awhile

anyways, until they saw us, then would head back to the privacy of the trees!

Some days we canoed up to 12 miles, which was so pretty on calm waters.

One of the things we had to do as earning the 50-Miler Patch was to do a

conservation project.  We had to remove a huge tree stump in the middle of the

campsite.  The boys worked so hard, in the rain, chopping away at this stump for hours!

In the end, the campsite looked so much better with that stump removed and the ground

all smoothed over.  The photo above shows us standing around where the stump was.

Blistered hands... that's what I got.  I have a very bad habit of turning the paddles in my

hands continually while paddling.  Why?  I don't know.  I only know that after awhile, my hands started to get sore, then the blisters came.  There was nothing else to do but wrap them up and continue

on!  Wrapping them really helped and some of them actually healed before we

got back home!  :)  I seriously need to STOP turning the paddles when canoeing! 

The boys were SO excited to earn their 50-Miler Patch, which made the trip all worthwhile!

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV, White Textured Cardstock: Colorbok

Leaves: Sizzix Leaf Die

Big Shot

Self-Adhesive Metal Piece: Colorbok

Sun: Traced die cut and hand cut, layering two different ones

Ribbons

Sharpie Marker (for journaling)

The sun was created with two different papers layered slightly off each other, then the

tips were curled a bit.  This photo also shows the blocking on my layout.

 Ribbons on the right side of the title block added some interest.

The left side of my layout.  The title is from an actual photo of the 50-Miler Patch.  I

printed it out on cardstock and layered various papers as a border around it and the final 

touches were the ribbons and the sun.

The left side of my layout.  The bottom left of the layout shows all of us huddled

in our canoes, all holding onto each others canoe so they wouldn't drift

away while the photo was being taken by the Park Ranger/Guide who kindly

took the time to take this photo of us.  

Now you can actually read my journaling! 

I found this metal piece in my stash and thought the waves matched really well

with the theme of my layout. 

I tucked the  stem of the leaves under the photo, letting it "drape" over the 

journaling a bit.  The leaves were folded in a bit to give it some interest.

Have a wonderful day!
Polly  :)

Watch Me, Grammie!

Hello there,

Let's Scrap is having a challenge called "Flip It!"  

This got my full attention because I flip sketches too, to make them work more with what 

I want to do with my layout!

So, I gathered my papers and photos and searched through all the wonderful sketches

in the Let's Scrap Sketch Gallery and finally found the sketch I would use.  Since I had to

Flip It, I rotated both sketches clockwise, 90 degrees and went from there.

I've been trying to actually show you the flipped sketch, but can't seem to make it work, so 

hopefully you can picture it.

Here's the sketch I used (4-11-12):

The direct link to their sketch:

http://letsscrap.ning.com/photo/4-11-12?context=album&albumId=2186252%3AAlbum%3A681669

And, just for the fun of it, here are a few of the general rules:

1.  No card sketches, only layouts

2.  Create a single or double layout using a Let's Scrap Sketch

3.  The sketch cannot be used as originally published, you must rotate it or flip it

4.  You have two weeks to complete this challenge.  Deadline is August 10, 2012

Here's my take on the slipped sketch that I submitted to Let's Scrap (Challenge141, 4-11-12):

 This was another fun layout.  The photos show Dylan "in action" and having so 

much fun, as long as Grammie is watching!  :)

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV

Fiskars Border Punch

Bike Sticker: SandyLion

EK Success Corner Rounder

Sharpie Marker (for journaling)

Font: Cricut Doodletype

Cricut

Sanding Block

Ric Rac

Satin Cording

Pop Squares

"Free to be silly" Sticker: Miss Elizabeth's

I chose to stagger the title letters because I thought it fit better with the theme of my layout.

I used a border punch for the left side of photo section.  I placed the sticker on green cardstock

and just trimmed around it, placing a couple pop squares underneath to lift it off the page.

The ric rac was added as a little something.  The edges of it were shredded with my finger.

The green center photo block was sanded only on one side.  And finally, I sanded the 

brown strip off to the left in long straight lines to make it look more like "bike marks." 

 A closer look at my title using the Doodletype font with my Cricut.

Here's a close up of the grouping which shows a bit more detail on my sanding, the shredded

ric rac and the sticker words, as well as the border punch. 

Since I ran out of room on the left layout for the "!" I simply placed it on the right layout.  When

both layouts are placed together you can't even tell it was separated!  Really cool! 

I also sanded this photo block only on one side.  Here's a better look at the ribbon

I placed just under the photos. 

 I searched forever through my stash and finally found this bike sticker.  I think I need

to have a few more bicycle stickers, die cuts, etc. in my stash!

Anyhow, I placed two pop squares, one on top of the other under the right tire to lift it

off the page more while the back tire only has one pop square.  I was trying to achieve the

bike looking like a wheelie.  No matter, I still like how it turned out.

 My journaling block.  At the very top I added just the tip of a border punch to make it

look sort of like dirt, bike marks, something.....

At the bottom I added a piece of knotted satin cording.

Another look at the sanded cardstock that is supposed to look like "bike marks" in the

dirt.  If you use your imagination, doesn't it kinda look like it?  

Have a wonderful Saturday!

And thanks for taking a peek at my Blog.  I sure hope you've enjoyed it.  I appreciate all who are following my Blog and all who may stumble upon my site!

Polly  :)

A Little Note

Good morning!

I've been "busy as a bee" working on my sample layout for my very first Quote Challenge on

Soul Scrappers (Aug. 20th).  It's frustrating sometimes when you have a plan for the layout, all the photos

needed and the papers and when it actually comes time to begin working on it, nothing is coming together

like you planned.  Guess that's just a part of "going with the flow" right?

I did get the layout finished at the end of the day.  :)

I feel better knowing that I'm ahead of the game.... somewhat.... because there's still more to do

to prepare for hosting this challenge.  But not to worry, all will be good (I have to keep

telling myself this)!!  

Today, I have a card to show you all.  But first, here's the sketch in which I based my

card from (Splitcoast Stampers - SC265), and the direct link to their sketch: 

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1604645?&si=Sketch%20SC265 

And this is my take, based on the above sketch.

This is a rather simple card with some different (for me) techniques that I've tried 

and I really like the results!  This sketch was super fun to work with.  I'm sure it will

be used again!

Supplies used:

Paper: DCWV, White Cardstock

Gold Stretch Cord

Flower Petals: EK Success Balloon Punch

Various Embossing Folders: Cuttlebug

Sizzix

EK Success Circle Punch

Inks: A la mode Pink, Studio g Blue

Ribbon

Sentiment (unknown)

Banner: Self-adhesive Squares 

This cute little flower was made with the balloon punch and circle punch.

So easy!  I punched all the "balloons" then adhered them onto a circle then added

another circle punch to the top, in which I inked and finished off with the sentiment. 

I don't usually work with banners but I have to say they are growing on me, since there

were several challenges on various sites in which banners had to be used.

I had some self-adhesive 2x2 squares hanging around forever, pulled them out and was pleasantly

surprised that their colors matched with my papers for this card!  How often does that happen?

I started off by punching the circles and folded them in half.  They looked so "plain" so 

each one was embossed with various folders.  Then I peeled off the backing of each circle and

folded them around my gold stretch cord.  Because the circles were "sticky" made it so

much easier to stick them around the cording and stay in place!  Finally, I decided

where I wanted to place the banner and adhered.

Have a wonderful day!

Polly  :)