Rainy Monday

So it's another rainy summer day! Let's just say that the amount of rain we have had this summer has been...a lot. And after a bit of a blog break though, I am ready to post today :)

July is coming up, and so I placed an order for some photos for scrapping. Eighty-eight prints to be exact! Here are a few photos you will probably see on upcoming layouts...

Painting Erin's room this past February.

Evan's first U2 concert with us back in September 2009. He is such a big, little U2 fan and I swear we didn't brainwash him (lol). I attribute it to the fact that he went to two U2 concerts when I was pregnant with him :)

I have quite a few photos from the Botanical garden including this one of Erin and the duck. See his little head poking up :)

My latest kit from Scrapgal had some cool product from Heidi Swapp with a skateboard theme. I guess this photo of my nephews I took last month will come in handy! I have a few from in action that day actually that I am going to pick from, but this is one of my favorites.

And lots of photos to choose from of Evan when he tried tree climbing at the Botanical Gardens Tree Festival! The Botanical Garden photos will go great with the other line that was sent to me from Scrapgal.
So just a peek of what I will be up to in the next week or so. What scrap plans do you have coming up?

I'm finding summer is pretty busy despite the rain. We aren't rushing, but staying busy doing things at our own pace. Which is nice :)

Sketch Challenge with Crate Paper

So I am still going strong with my "do one scrapbook challenge a week in June" plan :) This week's challenge came from the Crate paper blog seen on this post.
Emily created a sketch and I decided to give it a try.

and came up with this layout. I changed it up quite a bit for my needs though. This is a layout I've been doing  for a while. And I used some older photos from last June. So Erin is quite a bit bigger now with longer hair, but just as curly ;)

Here is the actual sketch. I turned it on it's side and basically turned the long strip into a photo block. Still attaching my title to it and using cut-out's from a great patterned paper for my visual triangle. Really glad I took this challenge :) The challenge is still open until June 26th if you want to play along. And if you want, you can post a link of your layout to the comment section in that blog post.

Also, the design team call is still on at Scrapgal.
That is also going on until June 26th. We've had quite an influx of new scrappers at the boards which is fun to see. And I'm looking forward to seeing who will be joining us on the team!

As for scrapbook challenges, I am going to try to do one more this week! Just need to find the right one :)

Fun News!

Doing this layout...

won me a $5 gift card over at Studio Calico.
The winners were posted here
So fun to see my name there this morning.
And definitely encourages me to try and keep up with my personal goal of doing one challenge per week :)

Sketch Challenge with October Afternoon

Last Thursday, October Afternoon had a sketch challenge on their blog that I was actually able to complete! Two challenges in one month so far is pretty good for me these days!

Here is the sketch by Wilna Furstenberg...

And here is my take. I used Studio Calico mist to create a strip down the center to divide my layout into three's and follow the sketch design. But I decided to work at an angle instead of straight down. And I tried to use as much October Afternoon product as I could since it was their challenge. So patterned paper, label and word stickers, and the pink letter stickers are October Afternoon. The "welcome" title sticker is from American Crafts. Not quite sure where I got the manilla tag from, but it has been in my scrap collection for a while.
Going to try and get another challenge done this week. I'm hoping to do one a week this summer. But we'll see how that goes! :)

Today's the Day!

There is a fun mini-crop going on today at Scrapgal
Lots of challenges and prizes to celebrate the reopening of the store. It officially starts at 10am, but a few of the challenges are up already. You can see them on the boards here
on the crop forum!

My first challenge is a number journaling challenge. Simply to number your photos and then do a list with a short explanation of each photo. 
Another thing I wanted to point out about my layout, is that the lined circle paper on the right came from a Jenni Bowlin mini-album. I took it apart to use the cardboard circle covers for stencils in the future and the pages for journaling! I LOVE repurposing mini-albums and stretching out their use.

I also gave an example of how it doesn't have to be a two pager. I created this one page layout a while ago using the same journal method :)

The deadline for the challenges, isn't until Monday, June 13th at midnight. Winners will be chosen on Tuesday morning to win some great prizes like the three you see here! The big Cosmo Cricket pack is for the "Queen of the Crop" winner :)

Mini-crop and Design Team Call at Scrapgal!

Scrapgal is having a mini crop tomorrow, June 11th!
There will be challenges, games and prizes :)
Hope you can come and join us to check out the newly reopened store!

And in other big news, Scrapgal is having a design team call! You can check out the details here!
Come on by the boards and introduce yourself. We would love to get to know you! Everyone is so friendly :)

Studio Calico Challenge!

So there was a great challenge up on the Studio Blog yesterday! I don't usually have time for a lot of challenges these days, but this one was to good to resist! Studio Calico Weekly Challenge

Here is the inspiration piece that Nicole Samuels posted for the challenge to interpret as you wish. I went with a color combo challenge. I love the colors!!

And here is what I came up with for my layout. I have been wanting to use a lot more product in my stash. And when I saw that photo of Evan helping Erin across the stream, I remembered that little quote card that came in a prize pack with My Mind's Eye product in it that I won over a year or so ago! The papers had the perfect colors :) So this was a good challenge for me :)
If you want to play along, the end date is June 13th.

Using Wallet Sized School Photos in a Matchbook Mini-album

My blog post should be going up on the
the Scrapgal blog today. But I always like to share them here as well!

I had the most darling little Matchbook Chipboard Mini-Album in my kit from Jenn at Scrapgal this month. But I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it.
Until I was sorting through Evan's school photo packets that I have been collecting and storing in my school album kit bag.

And I decided to make a small mini-album that I could carry in my purse. The mini is only about 2 1/2 inches by 2 inches, so the wallet size photos are perfect. I used papers from the My Mind's Eye "Lil' Robots" collection to cover the album, mini alphabet stickers from My Little Shoebox, and a small frame stamp by Studio Calico.

So the wallet size photos are on one side of the page...

and his grade is on the back!
Now if someone could please tell me where his second grade photo packet is, it would be perfect!
Actually, the mini-album only came with three pages inside, but I realized that I could easily make more from sheets of chipboard and using a hole punch. And when I find his second grade photos, that is what I plan on doing :)

June Design Team Project!

Woo, Hoo! The Scrapgal site is up and running again :) Just in time for June projects!

My first one I am showing this month is just a 12x12 layout "Time for Planting" using the Bo Bunny Delilah line. It's more of an autumn type line, but the colors worked so well with these photos I took of the kids "helping" Mike with some spring planting. And I loved the pink ruffle flowers from Maya Road that came in my kit as well. Except for the flowers and the American Crafts alphabet letters spelling planting, everything is from Bo Bunny!
I used patterned papers to mat my photos and journal box. And the background paper I used comes with those cool paint effects. Very simple and easy! I used the sticker sheet which comes with an alphabet set, borders and shape stickers to embellish my page and create the title. Made things very nice and simple!

I'll share my other projects in the upcoming month! Including a mini-album for my Scrapgal blog post on Friday :)