remember this day.. {BG 2.06 sketch challenge}

Good evening, bloggers! It's been almost a week since my last post, and it's been a busy one! Mardi Gras season and 45-50 hr work weeks are in full swing! Thankfully only about another 2 weeks and it's over. I have still been trying to squeeze in wedding planning, along with keeping the house tidy (which is difficult sometimes!) working like crazy, not to mention all the many, many things to do on my crafty list. There is just never enough time it seems. I find more and more though that making time for it in my busy schedule really makes me happy and helps me relax at the end of a day or week. I find that my brain is so wound up at the end of a work day that it takes a little while to decompress all the millions of thoughts in my head. The other night I totally couldn't sleep because my mind was wrestling/tossing back and forth millions of wedding ideas/projects/things I've seen on pinterest, and I think it took me a good 2 hrs to fall back asleep. So last night, as J was getting in the bed early for an opening shift the next day, I spent about 3 hrs in my craft room working on this LO for the Basic Grey sketch challenge. It really helped me 'decompress' my thoughts and just relax and be able to create...it really helped me get to sleep after that! 

So here it goes, this was the original sketch:

And this is my take on it:

 For this LO, I mixed the 'out of print' line and the 'lemonade' line from Basic Grey. I seriously LOVE their papers, with the extra $$ I make this month I may break down and buy the kissing booth  and picadilly line. I have to splurge on something for myself after working so hard, right?! The larger paper strip is from Out of Print and the scallopped paper strips, as well as the argyle sticker and green argyle paper are from Lemonade. Here are a few closies:

 I used 2 fabric buttons from my Purple Pumpkin stash (lucky dip bag ordered in Nov) and it just keeps giving back! There is almost NEVER an LO that doesn't need a little PP love on it. I placed an order in the Jan. sale and am still anticipating my goodies!! Can't wait till it arrives!! I used a pink spotty button, as well as a little girl button that I 'punked' up a bit by inking them both with Tim Holtz distress ink in antique linen, then I put sunbeam yellow stickles on top of the girl button and added a heart sticker on top of the spotty button. I love the way they turned out!

 For the title, I flipped over a foil stamped chipboard embellishment and used some of the element stickers from the Lemonade line then doodled around it in black felt tip pen. I added some more of the stickers that I put on cardstock and then fussy cut and inked with antique linen again. The felt cutout heart was from my stash and I added stickles to it too.

 For the bees, they were element stickers too that I put on cardstock and inked, then popped up with some pop dots. I did a combo of heart puffy stickers and rub ons for the floating hearts above them. 

 I love this little bee with the hearts!! totally cute and lots of personality!!

 Here is a close up of the pic of me and my Meemaw, I was 6, my sister was 4. We were at a family reunion in the summer at the local beach. I was always such a ham for the camera! For this photo, I matted it and then over it put a clear rub on frame that I added yellow stickles to the edges of. I love how it turned out! Really makes this photo pop off the page!! Probably one of my fav pics of all time of me and my meemaw :) Man I still miss her like crazy!!

 And a close up of the journaling strips, green argyle paper popped up with lots of pop dots! I used like half a sheet on this page! LOL!

Alright friends, that is all for tonite. It's getting pretty late here and my hunny is already in the bed. I will be submitting this one for the BG 2.06 sketch challenge and I hope I win!! I really need some more of their paper, that would just be like the best late bday present ever!!!  I will leave you with a pic of me and my hunny bear after the Mardi Gras parade this past Friday night... it was alot of fun and a good break from our usual 'stay in' routine. It's good to get out and see why you are working so hard, right?! Until next time, Peace Y'all~ VV

Supplies List:

background paper- Oriental Trading Co

wider paper strip- Basic Grey 'out of print'

scalloped paper strips, green argyle paper- Basic Grey 'lemonade'

bees, cutout flowers, argyle strip, sticker letters- Basic Grey element stickers 'lemonade'

white cardstock

Tim Holtz paper distresser

Tim Holtz distress ink in 'antique linen'

stickles in sunbeam yellow

3 layer paper flower- K & Company

fabric covered buttons- Purple Pumpkin Crafts

tiny pearls/pink/mint green- Michaels

chipboard journal block (title)-American Crafts

vellium heart stickers, puffy heart stickers- Stickopatomus

black rub ons, clear grid frame, felt cut out heart-stash

glue stick, black felt tip pen, pop dots

123 challenge: one sweet love

Good evening, everyone! I know it's getting pretty late here and it's probably past my bedtime, but I've spent quite a bit of time lately blog-hopping. I'm really starting to get to know what is out there and what I love the most about the scrapbooking blog community is that is seems we're all sharers, scrap-lifters, inspirational women alike and most of all story tellers. I love all the inspiration I have been getting, and one day I aspire to be as great as some of those other more seasoned scrapbooking ladies out there! Here's to you gals ;)

So I decided that I would try out one of these challenges that I keep reading about everywhere. Since I am currently obsessed with The Purple Pumpkin, I figured I would try their September 123 Challenge. The rules were simple enough, use 1 Lollipop or Flower, 2 Doilies, and 3 Buttons. Easy enough, right? Well this is what I came up with tonight:

 I used my last full sheet and scraps from Basic Grey's "lemonade" line. I absolutely love this line, I bought it last year at a weekend long crop and I have used every single scrap of it!! For the rest of the paper scraps layered under the photo, I used one aqua colored photo mat from the My Mind's Eye 'Home' photo mat collection and then a scrap of craft colored card-stock that I cut into a journaling block. All of the papers I inked with a colorbox chalk in dark brown. I used my creative memories tear tool to tear the long strip of paper and for the aqua paper I tore it by hand on all edges, ripping it in one place which I then wrapped around the barrell of a pencil to make it curl up. I inked all the torn edges really really well to give it that vintage look. 

For the embellishments around the photo, I used 2 doilies and 5 paper flowers all from Prima, the 'love note' and 'sweet taffy brown' collections. On the flower centers I used some  vintage buttons from my stash, as well as 2 pearl brads. To add another element of texture, I added a scrap of pink fuzzy ribbon from my stash as well as 2 brown metal brads to the 'sweet' part of the title. For the bottle cap embellie, that was from an experiment a while back when I was trying to make some kind of necklace. It went awry and I decided not so much for a necklace, but maybe a scrapbook page. It's a regular bottle cap that I put patterned paper in, added some beads, and filled with liquid glass. I decided to use it on this page cause the colors kind of go. The last thing I did to add depth is go over the sticker letters in the title with liquid glass to make them pop. I think it turned out really well overall and only took me about 45 mins to do! That must be a record for me! LOL! Anyway, I am submitting this to the 123 September Challenge over at Purple Pumpkin. It ends September 30th, so you still have a few days if you want to submit something and win a fabulous goodie! 

Until next time my lovely ladies~ VV