I {ADORE} this girl...

Good morning! I am super excited that I have another share for you today and even more excited that it is non-DT related!! Which means I got some EXTRA scrapping time in this month, which is great!!! I have been holding on to this pic of my little niece for a long time, she's a bigger now, but something about it just struck me, I knew I needed to do a special page using it! And I decided to print it in black and white to add even more drama...my favorite part is the expression on her little face...it's priceless!!! 

Ok, here are the pictures:

I actually used the cardboard/paper packaging from a pack of Prima flowers to put behind my matted photo.  It had such a cool design with the script and the clocks that I thought it would be worth saving!! 

I also made a bow using some black tulle and white meshy stuff. I also wanted more or less a monochromatic color scheme so I stuck with black, white, greys, and shades of orange/peach to make sure that the photo was the star of the page!

 And the last close up, my favorite and only little niece, Zoe!!! I love her!!

Okay, well short and sweet today. I hope you enjoy your weekend! I will be working the whole time but I'll be off again Tues and Wed and then it will be back to some creative time!! Until next time, peace y'all~VV

Supplies List:

Basic Grey 'Ambrosia' collection "marmalade"

cream/black script background paper-unknown

black shiny damask paper-DCWV wedding collection

black tulle, white mesh, seersucker fabric, vintage buttons-my stash

Tim Holtz paper distresser

Tim Holtz distress stickles 'dried marigold'

Clearsnap Smooch Spritz 'silver foil'

Clearsnap Colorbox cat's eye inks 'butterscotch'

grey and peach roses by Recollections

decorative music tape by Recollections

Ranger stickles 'black diamond'

Princess Petals florettes by Webster's Pages (tulle flower)

black glitter stick-on border by Studio G

'snow' enchanting!

Good evening, everyone!I hope your Monday wasn't too crazy or hectic. I know mine was pretty good. I was off work today and got to stay home with J all day....however not as productive as I had hoped I would be, wanted to get started on some spring cleaning and tackle this mountain of laundry, however sketch challenges were calling my name! Today was the last day to enter the sketch challenge over at Stuck?! so I had to get going and submit something! This was the original sketch:

Pretty basic, 3 photos though which I LOVE because I always have so many pictures to scrap. I used this as a loose idea for my LO. I added some thicker paper strips to the bottom and also put the Title on the opposite side of the photos. Also I added alot more embellishments... I just couldn't help myself. Since I don't have alot of snow pictures I couldn't resist using up some of the yummy goodies from the

  Artful Delight Nov scrapbook kit that I won back a few months ago. Here are some pictures:

 I really like how the earthy-colors make the white snow in the photos stand out. I also was trying to avoid making it too 'icy wintery blue' so I put alot of greens and browns in there for good measure. Almost everything used on this page came from the November scrapbook kit! My first time really breaking into that stuff, I love how the trees and little deer turned out too. Now, for some closies:

 Probably my favorite page element, I made these 2 trees. At first, they were just some basic chipboard trees that came in a kit I ordered from Oriental Trading. I took the middle out of the tree and used it to make a second one. Then I backed the 'hollow' tree with brown cardstock and inked the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink in vintage photo. I thought it looked a little plain, so I put a generous amount of liquid glass in there and filled it up with these 'candies' circle things. Then I doodled on the trunk of the tree. On top of that I added ice stickles and some Martha Stewart tinsel glitter on top of the stickles. For the second smaller tree, I took the chipboard cut out and inked it, then made a little trunk with leftover brown cardstock. On top of that I put several prima flowers that I inked with more Tim Holtz distress ink in vintage photo. I put them kind of close together so they would look like big leaves. 

 For the snowflakes, I used chipboard ones that I added some pearl bling to , then doodled around them with ice stickles and sprinkled more tinsel glitter on top. 

That's all for now my scrappy friends..back to work tomorrow, a closing shift though, probably stay up for a bit and do another LO since I CAN!! J will probably stay up and play his game I'm sure, which basically takes up the whole living room with our 52" tv blasting and all the lights out! That means I'm back in my craft room working away! I really should be doing laundry, but ugh its kinda depressing. Have to turn on some really good tv to get me to tackle that pile, well, there's always tomorrow. Until next time, Peace Y'all~VV

Supplies List:

Tim Holtz distress ink in vintage photo

Martha Stewart crafts tinsel glitter in crystal

Smooch Spritz in caramel mocha

Glimmer Mist in lilypad

brown and green cardstock

American Crafts thickers 'giggles'

Craftworkcards 'Candi' in choc-o-mocha

Prima Marketing north country collection paper- ' In the House'

Prima Marketing north country collection chipboard stickers

Prima Marketing north country collection flower market

chipboard trees- Oriental Trading Co.

ice stickles in stardust

Glossy accents 

Tim Holtz paper distressing tool

stick-on pearls, blue, green, gray- Michaels

Inspiration Wednesday....2 Sketch Challenges!

Good afternoon all my friends out there in blog land! Today, so far has been a really great day. I got to sleep in again, after staying up until almost 2am in the craft room I needed it! I was off yesterday and today so I was able to get some much needed stress relief/ crafty time in yesterday afternoon. From about 4:30 until about 8:30, then I took a break to cook dinner, then from about 11:30 until almost 2am! But it was much needed... I swear I could have stayed up all night scrapping! I really had the mojo going yesterday...listening to my fav music station on Comcast, scentsy pot smelling up the room, a big glass of iced sweet mint tea, I was ROCKIN! I am very proud though, I completed 2 total layouts for 2 different challenges, so I will be sharing those with you today. SO STAY TUNED FOR A REALLY LONG BLOG POST!!!! The first one is for the Basic Grey sketch challenge. Have I told y'all how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Basic Grey?! By far my most favorite paper line...all of them are so versatile and easy to combine too for lots of different occasions. The winner of the sketch challenge gets to select a collection pack of their choice!!! OMG I would just die if I won. Here's hoping! This was the original sketch:

I actually stayed pretty true to the sketch on this one, the only thing I really did differently was put my journaling on top of the block below the butterfly. I really like how the colors I used aren't really the typical 'girly' colors but it's still a really girly layout!  The photos are from last Thanksgiving, of me holding 

my niece, Zoe! This is what I came up with:

 And another shot:

 this time standing up, trying not to get too much flash in there!

 And of course, some closies of all the good stuff! This layout is loaded with it!!

 This butterfly I had in my stash, I didn't really like it cause it was kinda plain, so I glued it on top of a scrap of lace acetate paper to fill in the wings, then I inked the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink in antique linen. Of course the body of the butterfly I just drew on with Aqua stickles once I folded it and glued it to the paper. 

 For the title, I used some pink paislee woodshop letters which I covered in 2 different kinds of glitter. The 'girl' part of the title is stickers that I outlined in brown pen from the Basic Grey 'Origins' collection sticker elements sheet. 

 another closeup of the lovely flowers! For most of them, I used some plain white and black flowers from my stash that I inked and sprayed up to make them kind of monochromatic. I used Glimmermist by Tattered Angels in Lilypad as well as some Smooch Spritz in gold glow, then on top of that I inked the edges with TH antique linen again. While the glimmermist was still wet, I actually drugg them through the remainder of glitter used on my title and it stuck to them!

 I love this shabby-chic teal rose from Bo Bunny. 

And here are a few shots of the creative process as it was in the works:

  Supplies List:

background paper- Basic Grey 'Origins' collection "sea salt"

paper strips- Basic Grey 'Origins' collection "paraffin"

teal strip and block- Basic Grey 'Lime Rickey' collection

girl subtitle letters/tiny flowers- Basic Grey 'Origins' collection sticker elements

title letters- Pink Paislee woodshop expressions- "sawdust"

glitter on title- Martha Stewart holiday glitter in 'olivine' and 'tinsel'

paper flowers- Prima No. 9 Essentials collection

white/black dot paper flowers- from stash

Glimmermist by Tattered Angels in 'lilypad'

Smooch Spritz in 'gold glow'

shabby teal rose- Bo Bunny 'ad lib petals'

Tim Holtz distress ink in 'antique linen'er

flower centers- Craftwork Cards 'Candi' in choc-o-mocha

teal crystal flourish- Prima 'say it in crystals'

Large spotty green button- Purple Pumpkin Crafts

3 layer flower- K&Company 'classic margo'

Stickles in aqua, lt. green, and TH distress stickles 'peeled paint'

chipboard flower, butterfly, pearl brads, and flower button-from stash

Okay, are yall ready for no. 2??? I know this is probably my longest post ever! For the second, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do because while I was looking for the perfect Basic Grey paper to do layout #1 I stumbled upon this Lilybee paper that I totally forgot that I had. Don't you just LOVE when that happens? So I knew I wanted to use those 2 papers together and I also figured it was time to scrap some photos of our beloved kitty, Carmella, since she's such a presence in our lives but it seems she never really gets to be in the limelight! So I knew I had these 3 photos of her laying in her favorite afternoon nap spot, directly on top of our cable box, I guess because it's warm!? This LO I will be submitting for the January Sketch Challenge over at Artful Delight. I have really come to love this site, they put together the best scrapbook kits and once I get my BDAY $$$ (January 25th in case you wanted to know) I will def. be purchasing some stuff from Leanne. I won a Nov. kit a few months ago in a sketch challenge and everything in it is GORGEOUS!!! This is the original sketch designed by Abby.

And this is my take:

And a few close ups, lots of yummy goodness on here, I mixed and matched different stuff, cause well, that's just what I like to do. If an embellishment doesn't go I just alter it up! For example, this cute little tag inside it's own envelope actually is a baby-themed tag that I covered with a little rounded square of teal paper and some sticker letters, then I wrote on the vellum envelope.

 One of my favorite things to do is staple ribbon. I totally forgot about this technique until I found this cool teal and brown fleur de lis ribbon and I knew I had to add it to my page!

 The flowers are a mix of vinyl flowers, Prima of course, and some cute vintage kitty stickers that I put on cardstock and popped up with pop dots.

 The title- I LOVE these letters, I wish I could remember where I got them from, don't have the packaging anymore and they are almost gone! :(

 I like the contrast of the yellow spotty button and the teal lace in this shot.

 Overall, I am really happy with both of these layouts and will be happy to submit them both...hopefully for a prize or two :) as soon as I'm done with this REALLY LONG blog post. LOL. But it was worth reading till the end wasn't it? Happy Wednesday Y'all! Until next time~ V V.

Supplies List:

background paper- 'memorandum 9 to 5' Lilybee Design

large paper square- 'memorandum timeclock' - Lilybee Design

light teal cardstock- from stash

large cream circle paper- 'the story of us' collection "I'm Yours" by ATD Momenta

shabby sticker letters (title)- from stash- Mary Engelbriet?

Large spotty yellow button- Purple Pumpkin Crafts

layered tag w/ envelope- Colorbok 'Oh Baby'

Tim Holtz distress ink in 'antique linen'

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 'acoutrements'- large flower button, metal button

Tim Holtz Idea-ology salvage stickers- 'crowded attic'

vintage kitty cat stickers- 'gifted stickers' by Punch Studio

teal lace- Prima 'Say it with Crystals'

white vinyl embellishments- American Crafts Townhouse collection 'elegant'

white/turquoise brad- My Mind's Eye turquoise lush collection

chipboard frame, vintage buttons- from stash

Colorbox chalk ink in Seafoam and Deep Lagoon- chipboard frame

Glimmermist by Tattered Angels in Lilypad- chipboard frame

gem drops by The Robin's Nest (4 lt. blue)

stickles- yellow 

Tim Holtz distress stickles in 'peeled paint'