Remember me?

Once upon a time, I scrapbooked and blogged every single week.  This was on top of working full time, taking care of my family, and juggling crazy schedules with two active boys.  Something had to give. I stepped away from my blog for over a year, since I was struggling to find time to even be crafty.  I completed a few projects here and there, but I just couldn't find time to blog about everything.  The weekly sketch challenges at ScrapbookSteals.com were just the thing to get me back on track.  I dusted off my scrapbook supplies and actually completed every layout in the most recent "Lilac" series.  The folks at Scrapbook Steals are kind enough to give away a $50 gift certificate to one lucky person who completed all 10 layouts, so that was a good motivator for me.  After all, being able to buy new scrappy stuff always makes me want to get crafty!

Here are my 10 layouts from this series:

Delightful Daisy

I finished another 10 week series of sketch challenges, thanks to Scrapbook Steals.  I love the extra motivation I get each week, because I know I will get to spend at least a little time in my crafty space just to make sure I keep up with the challenges.  Here are my 10 layouts from this series:

Worster Lake

This Memorial Day weekend, we visited Worster Lake, one of our favorite places.  I decided to dig up some photos from 3 years ago and did a page featuring my darling sons enjoying the lake.

I used papers from Crate Paper, Basic Grey, and Authentique combined with stickers and embellishments from Echo Park, Simple Stories, and Elle's Studio.  This is the sketch from Scrapbook Steals weekly sketch challenge that inspired it all:

Impressively Iolite

I've come to the end of another 10 week sketch series at Scrapbook Steals.  I love playing along with their mid-week mojo challenges and have gained many friends, good deals, and much inspiration!  They are generously giving away a gift card to Scrapbook Steals, which I could definitely put to good use!  Here are my 10 layouts from the "Iolite" series:

 

Completely Citrine

I've come to the end of another 10 week sketch series at Scrapbook Steals.  I love playing along with their mid-week mojo challenges and have been doing this for over 160 weeks in a row!  They are giving away a gift card to Scrapbook Steals, which I could definitely put to good use!  Here are my 10 layouts from the "citrine" series:

 

 

 

 

This Family Rocks

This week, Melodee at Scrapbook Steals gave us a fun grid pattern to inspire the weekly sketch challenge.  I picked a photo of my boys and got busy cutting my grid.

I used some of my favorite papers from the Pebbles Seen & Noted collection.  I love the coordinating colors and patterns and especially love that I snuck a few floral prints onto a boy layout (something I don't often do).  I used part of a journaling card for my title and added some letters die cut from craft foam.  The same foam was used to die cut the hearts by my photo.  A fun and simple page with lots of patterns and colors!  Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Fun

Perhaps because I'm already longing for summer weather, or maybe because I'm missing my niece and nephew like crazy,  I decided to pull a few summer photos of these cuties for the weekly sketch challenge at Scrapbook Steals. 

I had two pieces of paper in my stash from the I Heart Summer collection from Simple Stories and paired them with some washy tape to make my version of this week's sketch challenge.  I flipped the sketch  to better suit my photos and paper.  I added a hand drawn border using a ruler and my trusty red Sharpie!  Thanks for stopping by for another week! 

Life is Good

In honor of my son's birthday this week, I decided to use a photo of him for the weekly sketch challenge at Scrapbook Steals.  This photo is one of my favorites from a spontaneous photo shoot at my grandparents' farm.  It was a beautiful summer day and the boys enjoyed climbing on the dock for some fun casual photos. 

I used the 24/seven collection from Simple Stories and just LOVE how this layout came together.  The colors in this collection are fun and gender neutral and complimented my photo perfectly!   I used several of the 3x4 journaling cards and lots of stickers to create loads of layers.  The cork title letters were die cut using Lawn Fawn alphabet dies and adhesive cork.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Outdoor Memories

With a crazy busy week, I just barely completed the weekly sketch challenge for Scrapbook Steals.  I seriously considered skipping a week, but then I started thinking about how many weeks in a row I've played along (over 150 straight weeks) and I just couldn't "not" do it this week.  I modified the original sketch to fit my papers and pictures and threw this together in about 30 minutes. 

 

I do not recall the manufacturer of the printed "hunting theme" background paper, but the rest of the patterned papers and embellishments are from the Take a Hike collection by Simple Stories.  I'm glad I made time to play along for yet another week!

I {heart} fall

I can't believe it's already the first day of fall.  I love the season, thanks to all of the smells, colors, and activities.  My youngest is already asking if he can carve a jack-o-lantern.  I told him it's too soon, but hopefully next weekend will find us picking apples at our local orchard.  I decided to make this week's Scrapbook Steals challenge layout with some of my favorite photos from last fall.

I love the multi photo sketch that Melodee gave us this week!  I decided to pair these fall photos with my favorite fall collection, Harvest Lane from Simple Stories.  The warm colors and patterns just make me happy! 

Astonishing Aquamarine

The majority of my blog posts are inspired by Scrapbook Steals and their weekly sketch challenge.  Not only do they bring us amazing daily deals on scrappy supplies and offer wonderful giveaways, Scrapbook Steals has been a place to connect with other scrappy friends from all over the US and Canada.  Every week they post a sketch, and I play along with whatever supplies I have on hand.  Each group of 10 sketches is named after a gemstone and this week I completed the Aquamarine series.  The generous folks at Scrapbook Steals are giving away a $50 gift certificate to someone who completed all 10 sketches in this series.  Here are all my layouts for this series: