Explore

This week I used my Gossamer Blue August kit to complete the weekly sketch challenge at Scrapbook Steals. 

I found a few pics of Caleb "in his element" and decided to go with an "exploring" theme.  The GB kit has lots of travel elements this month and since we don't travel very often, I tried to use them in a different way.  I added some stitching and distressing to the already distressed background paper and made a "clothesline" effect with some twine.  As usual, I kept adding things and messed up when I was doodling around my title.  I had to pull up some stickers and add the speech bubble/journaling spot behind my title to cover my error.  Luckily, it was an easy fix. 

Brothers

This week at Scrapbook Steals, Melodee gave us another great sketch for the weekly challenge.  When I was visiting Southern Indiana last week, I was lucky enough to spend a few minutes visiting the local scrapbook store, The Doodlebug.  It was great fun to wander through the store and chat with the owners about their trip to CHA.  Among my purchases were a few papers from the Brothers mini collection from Echo Park.  They were perfect for this week's layout featuring some old photos of my boys:

The masculine colors and patterns are great for my boy pages (I especially love the plaid).  I only wish I had picked up a few more sheets from this collection!  My only regret with this layout was my inking.  Because I can never leave well enough alone, after I finished my layout, I decided to add "just a little" ink to the edges.  A little quickly became a lot, thanks to a random swipe from my inking sponge. In an effort to even things out, I ended up with way more ink than I ever intended. I actually thought about cutting off the edges of the paper and matting it with another piece of cardstock, but I was afraid I might not be happy with that either so I decided to quit before I did any more damage. 

Genuine Boy

I had to get right on this week's mid-week mojo sketch challenge, since we were going to be traveling for most of the week.  I was glad to see a one photo, one page sketch, since I can put those together rather quickly.  I completed the layout on Wednesday, but am just now getting around to blogging about it. 

I used papers from My Mind's Eye Collectable Remarkable theme. They coordinated so nicely, with little effort, so this layout came together quickly. 

I finished the layout on Wednesday evening and hit the road on Thursday for a 6 hour road trip to visit my hometown.  We hadn't been there since Easter, and I had a wonderful weekend of family time, which ended rather sadly.  My grandfather, the most amazing man I've ever known, passed away suddenly on Sunday morning.  Luckily, I was able to visit with him over the weekend and I was able to mourn with my family.  My heart still aches to know that he's gone from his earthly home, but I'm glad he didn't have to suffer.  He was 85 years old and for the past couple years had great difficulty getting around.  Even with his physical limitations, my grandfather still insisted on getting out and about on his farm.  He and grandma would travel over their farm on the ATV he referred to as "the buggy".  When we were at my aunt's house on Thursday, Grandpa came by in the buggy to spend a little time with us and see my boys.  I just happened to have my camera handy and couldn't resist snapping a photo.

 I knew I had to be quick, because he isn't one to pose for photos.  He didn't see it coming, so he didn't have time to protest.   After I took his photo, Grandpa playfully announced that he probably broke my camera.  Little did I know, this would be my last photo of him.  I love that he's smiling and happy and that's just how I want to remember him. 

A Camp Story

This week I completed another Scrapbook Steals sketch challenge while camping with my family.   Since we were camping, it was only appropriate that I scrapped a camping layout.  I grabbed the Simple Stories Take a Hike collection that I recently "stole" from Scrapbook Steals and decided to modify the original sketch to work with my papers and photo. 

 

 

I used a fun journaling prompt from the collection and filled in the blanks with stickers from my collection.  A couple stickers and popped up elements made my layout complete.  Thanks for stopping by!

Are you ready for some football?

Melodee gave us two versions of this week's sketch for the weekly challenge at Scrapbook Steals.  I decided to use them both to make a two page layout.

 

These photos are from last year's football league.  My oldest son is totally obsessed with football and will be starting a new season in less than a month.  This year both of my boys will be playing so I'll be spending a lot of time at the football field.  I used the Silhouette Cameo to cut out the title and mat and used some stars to embellish the page.  I even modified a "flag" that didn't match my layout by adding a football sticker and doodling on the end.  Luckily, this one came together very quickly, especially since two pagers usually take a lot of time.  

Lake Michigan

I decided to play along with the Pinspired color challenge with my July kit from Gossamer Blue.  The photos were taken yesterday, when we took a quick trip to Lake Michigan for an instant dose of summer!  We walked on the beach, played in the waves, walked to the lighthouse, and soaked up the sun!  Here's the spread of colors that inspired it all:

Since my beach photos included lots of blue and "sand", I only added some yellow to make it all pop!

I kept this layout clean and simple.  I love how the blues and teals came together with the woodgrain paper from Elle's Studio.  I adore the Simple Stories I (heart) Summer collection and the cork Thickers are perfect!

the fort

This week marked the beginning of a new series of sketch challenges at Scrapbook Steals.  I love their challenges for lots of reasons, but mostly because it allows me to work with any products I have on  hand.  Lots of manufacturers have challenges, but you are required to use specific products, which I don't always have.  Scrapbook Steals also gives out a wonderful prize package each and every week to a participant picked at random.  I love that everyone has the same chance to win.  I've been playing along with their challenges, every single week, for 10 different gemstone series and for 50 weeks before that when they were numbered MWM sketches.  If my math is correct, that puts me at over 150 weeks of participation.  Every single week I've played along, looking forward to Wednesday when the new sketch is revealed.  I have even managed to get the challenge completed while we've been vacationing, camping, etc.  This challenge serves as my weekly motivation and reminds me that I don't have to be caught up or scrap my photos in order.  I just need to scrap whatever moves me. 

This week I was inspired to use this photo of my kids and their cousins and the "fort" they built in the woods.  Without even knowing they were doing work, they picked up sticks for Uncle Russ and stacked them up against the wood pile to create their very own fort, with a seat for each of them.  They had a blast and I love that they had fun with no toys, no electronics, just imagination.  My cousins and I spent hours in these same woods, building "forts" and playing house and building imaginary houses amongst hay bales, woodpiles, or whatever we could find.  Thanks to the random mishmash of colors the kids were wearing, I had to keep things rather neutral.  For this layout I combined lots of "earthy" elements from my stash, including papers from Imaginisce, American Crafts, Studio Calico, and Authentique.