Friends

Hello everyone!! I survived the end of the school year and my neices wedding and I actually had time to do a LO that was just for fun!! I love having my summers off!!

This LO is of Lauren with her friends at her Valentine's Party this year at school. They made the most lovely tissue paper flowers that all the girls insisted on wearing in their hair!! I used the sketch from Stuck On U Sketches this week... and I have to say that I totally loved it!! It was so easy to play with... I will probably have to use this one again!!

And because I was feeling really crazy... I decided to participate in a site I have never played along with before... Scrap Our Stash! Their challenge this month is stitching!! So... I actually got out the sewing machine (now I have used it 2 whole times!! I am on a roll!! LOL!!) I did a little zigzag action up the side and across the top! I really do like the way it looks... not sure why I don't do it more often!!

I hope you are all having a fabulous week!! Thanks for stopping by!!!

Barb :)

Splash

Happy Monday everyone!! Sorry I am late getting this posted... blogger was not being nice last night or this morning!! But, it looks like everything is up and running fine now!! We have a new challenge for you over at Practical Scrappers!!! The challenge this week is to use eyelets!! I don't know about you, but it has been a while since I have used eyelets so I thought this was fun!! Be sure to check out what the design team did and then create something yourself!! We would love to have you link it up at Practical Scrappers!!

I used large blue eyelets and some small blue eyelet buttons to add a little design by the circles. I also used 2 large yellow eyelets to hold the title banner (which for some reason did not show up very well in the photo... but it looks much better IRL!!)

The papers are from Me & My Big Ideas. Thank you for stopping by to take a peek!! And while you are checking out blogs, be sure to head over to Frosted Designs to see the yummy June Prize Pack that is up for grabs!! It includes the brand new Cricut Cartridge FRESHLY PICKED!!!! You won't want to miss your chance to play along!!

Frosted Designs has a New Look!!

Happy Friday everyone!! I am a little more excited than usual this Friday!! Maybe it's because I only have to work one more day before my summer vacation begins..... or maybe it is because of the exciting changes taking place over at Frosted Designs!! Recently Meg and Jamie who started the blog, decided to step down to move on to other projects. Sooooo..... Diana and I decided we didn't want to see this challenge blog come to an end, we love the team of designers and we already have so much talent there!! With that being said, we are now the co-leaders!! After a few brainstorming sessions we have decided to make a few changes to the blog!!! The first thing you will probably notice is our bright new look!! AND we are now going to start offering monthly prizes!! Do you like the look of this:

All you have to do to have a chance to win is participate!! It's that simple!!! Each time you submit a project at Frosted Designs you get one entry. The more projects you submit, the more chances you have to win!! At the end of the month we will draw one person from all the entries!!! Did you see the Cricut cartridge Freshly Picked?! Isn't that worth playing for?! And we have some papers, flowers, bling, Stickles, ribbon, buttons, stamps and more!!! So.... come play along!! We would love to see what you create with our challenges!!

This week's challenge is being presented by me!! The challenge is to use buttons in your cards, layouts or projects!! Seriously... could we make this any easier for you to enter?!! We all have them... and we all use them... so show us what you've got!!!

This LO is of my baby girl who just turned 8!! (Sorry about the crooked "8"... I didn't notice it until I posted the picture!!) We were on the cruise and after dinner, I snapped a few pictures of Lauren. I included the pros and cons to her turning 8 on this page. I would so love to freeze her right at this stage... she is so much fun and my little buddy!! I used buttons for the centers of all the flowers and I also used 3 red buttons of different sizes and shapes to add a little interest to the bottom corner.

Supplies used:
Papers - My Mind's Eye Out & About
Flowers - Prima
Letters - Thickers
Misc. - ribbon, "8", metal clip

Thank you for stopping by my blog today.... please head on over to Frosted Designs and check out all the new changes!!!! Be sure to link your button project for a chance to win the monthly prize!!!
Barb :)

Check out our new Challenge Blog!!

It is finally Thursday and I have some exciting news!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is time to reveal our new sketch challenge blog at Sketches in Thyme!! Our buddy Kim has worked very hard putting together a fabulous team of ladies that provide a ton of inspiration to me... I hope they provide the same inspiration to you!! 

Our first sketch was found at Scrapiopath (Sketch #34) and it was a lot of fun to play with!! When you are over at the Sketches in Thyme blog, be sure to check out what the design team Mavens did with this sketch!! I love how one sketch can have so many different interpretations!!

This is my take on the sketch! My pictures are from a trip to Maui over a year ago. We took a sailboat tour over to Lanai and had an absolutely wonderful day. The kids had a chance to see a lot of whales splashing about and we even got into a pod of spinner dolphins!! They are sooooooo much fun to watch! They were jumping out of the water everywhere!! Big fun!!

My favorite part of this LO is the flowers! They were some Prima ones I had in my stash. I had originally bought them because I like to have white flowers around so that when I can't find the right color flower, I can color one myself! But for this LO, the white was perfect. I added color to them by stringing some beads on a wire and poking them through the centers! Aren't they perfect for Hawaiian flowers?!! I love how they turned out!! Then I took some green ribbon and cut some slits into the side. By using glue dots to glue them down, I was able to twist them a bit to look more like palm leaves!!!

Supplies used:
Paper - Making Memories Great Escape
Flowers - Prima

Cricut - Lyrical Letters

Misc. - gel pens and rub ons

Now... are you ready for some REALLY EXCITING NEWS?!! Our lovely Kim has put together some yummy blog candy for you to have a chance to win!! And the rules are so simple!  Head back to Sketches in Thyme to find out more about how to win!!! We would love for you to visit all of the Maven's blogs. To help you along, we put the blogs in alphabetical order to visit. My blog is the first one!! (the advantage of having the name that starts with a B!!) Each Maven will have a link to go directly to the next blog!

After you are done at my blog, you should head on over to Brenda's blog!! You can get there by clicking HERE!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog!! Make sure you take the time to visit all of the lovely Maven's blogs... you won't be disappointed!!! (I also want to apologize to my bloggy friends for being a little MIA lately.. I am finishing up my school year and my neice gets married Saturday... life is pretty busy! But I do plan on getting to all of your blogs this weekend to see what all of you have been up to!! )

Barb :)

Good Times

Happy Memorial Day everyone!! I hope all of your are enjoying time relaxing with family and friends! Even though it may be a holiday... Pracitical Scrappers is not taking the day off!! We have a new challenge for you.... But before I get to that... I have some exciting news for you!!!  I am now a Sassy Designer!! The lovely Sheila has invited me to be part of her team at She's a Sassy Lady and I am so flattered!! The thing I like best about her sassy blog is that she is the queen of giving detailed instructions for each of the things she makes!! I am certainly going to have to step up my game to be part of her team!!! LOL!! Sheila has an amazing team of women... all of which bring something different to share! I hope you take the time to stop over and meet everyone and follow along as we share new ideas daily!! You can get there by clicking HERE!! I will be sharing my first project later in June!!

Now onto the Practical Scrappers new challenge....The challenge this week is to use a transparency, vellum or acrylic accents on your layout/card/project!! So when you are done grilling out and you have soaked up enough sun... get out your scrappy supplies and play along with us!! Make sure you link up your project at Practical Scrappers for your chance to win!! Also be sure to check out all the amazing and creative ideas my DT sisters have for you!!

These pictures were taken one August day when I woke up and decided that Lauren and I needed a road trip. We got dressed, jumped in the car and off we went!! About 2 hours later we were walking through the doors of the Indianapolis Children's Museum!!! If you look at the picture in the middle, that is Lauren in front of the museum enterance!! In fact, all of these pictures were taken outside!! I love the bronze statues of children playing... and apparently, so did Lauren... she jumped right in there and played with them!!! LOL!!! If you ever have the opportunity to go to this museum, I highly recommend it! It is one of my favorite places to hang out with my kids!! (Yes, I did the same thing with my older kids when they were younger... we have been going there forever!!! )

I wanted to make this LO on the fun side to represent the fun we had.... so I did some doodling along the outside of the page and wrote the name of the museum and date across the top of the line of photos!! (I was just feeling brave the day I made this LO!!!) The flowers are actually pieces of pink transparency that I cut circles (with circle punches) out of. The circles were two different sizes. I "fringed" the larger circle and rolled the edges up. The inner circle was the same transparency, I just flipped it over to give it a different look! I then added my usual Stickles and some bling... a few pop dots and they were good to go!!! The title is an old vellum title I have had laying around for years. I chalked the edges and then used the brads to attach it to a blue background paper. My favorite part of the challenge was my vellum butterflies!! I used my Martha Stewart punch to cut out some green butterflies and vellum butterflies. I chalked both with blue ink and glued the vellum on top of the green cardstock. A few drops of Stickles and they were done!! I did pop dot them to attach them to the page!!

The papers on this one are a mixure of Basic Grey, We R Memory Keepers and K & Co. Thanks for stopping by and visiting wth me today!! I hope you and your family have a blessed holiday!! Enjoy that sunshine!!

Barb :)

Memories/Start Your Engines

IT"S FRIDAY!!! And to make it even better.... it's a 3 day weekend!!!!!!! Today, as we do every Friday, we have a new challenge for you at Frosted Designs. This challenge is something I have never done.... and boy was it a challenge!!! We were given a photo to use as inspiration! At first I thought this would be easy peasy... but then I started to pull out paper and couldn't really find any papers I liked for this challenge.... which is amazing if you saw the amount of paper stored in my office right now!!! But, the cool part was, I was able to pull out stuff that I have had for years!!! And I mean years!!!! I used up so many old products that have been sitting around and that made me happy!!! So.... here is the photo:

How beautiful is that?!! I love the colors and shape.... so bright and cheery! And this is what I did with it....

These are some more pictures from the trip to Dollywood with my parents and sister. The picture printed out darker than I wanted and I will replace it when I get a better copy, but at least you get the main idea!! I can't even begin to list the supplies used in the LO because they are really that old!!! My favorite paper is the one I used for the circle... it has a velvet print on it and when I chalked it with purple, it all blended together so nicely on my LO!! The Frosted Designs design team girls have done some pretty cool things with this photo.... be sure to stop over and see what they made. And then go through your supplies and make your own project!! We would love to see you link it up so we can all enjoy it!!!

I also have another LO for you this week.... it was made using the Friday sketch at Practical Scrappers this week. The sketch is from our very own Pia.... didn't she do a fabulous job?!!  These pictures are from the same trip to Tennessee. My sister and I took Brayden and Lauren go carting one afternoon!! And you will be proud to know that Lauren and I won!!! Whooo Hooo!!

This LO was fun today because I moved away from my normal girly looks and got messy!! I sprinkled red drops of paint on the background to add a little color (because clearly I have issues with too much white space!!!) LOL!! I also did a lot of hand doodling on this one!! The papers are from My Mind's Eye and We R Memory Keepers. The stamp is Fiskars - Away We Go Road Trip. The rest of the supplies are random things I had in my stash!! We would love to see what all of you can do with this sketch and be sure to link it up over at Practical Scrappers!!

 Enjoy your long holiday weekend and be safe!!

Barb  :)

New Challenge Blog and a LO!

I am soooo excited to tell you about a new challenge blog that is starting!!!!!!!!! Yay for new challenges!!! Our lovely friend Kim (Memories in Thyme) has started a new sketch blog!!!!! And guess what she named it........ are you ready for this?!!! It is called Sketches in Thyme!!!!! And.... to make it even more exciting (at least to me!) is that Kim has asked me to be part of her design team!!!!!!! I absolutely love to scrap using sketches and Kim has picked out some wonderful sketches for us to get started with!!

The premise of this blog is to post a sketch found about the land of blog, give credit to the person/blog where it was discovered, and challenge you to get scrapping.  We will be a bi-weekly challenge and may occasionally have prizes. We will have a top 3 each challenge and a winner that will be chosen by random.org.

So..... be sure to hop on over to Sketches in Thyme and check it out! Each day Kim will be introducing a new member of her design team each day and you won't want to miss it!! There are a lot of familiar faces and a whole lot of talent (which makes you wonder why she picked me!!!) LOL!!! I know this is a busy time of year, but we would love to have all of you play along with us!!!!

Now... on to my LO! As I was wandering through blogland this week, I happened upon the Sketchy Thursdays sketch and I just couldn't resist!! It is a 2 pager!!! WOW!! And I liked it so much, I really didn't change much on it! These pictures were taken when my parents took me, my sister and our kids for a little weekend get away to Dollywood!!! (Sorry about the glare on Brayden's picture!!) Lauren, Brayden and Emmy had a blast and I have so many fun photos! It's hard to believe this trip was 2 years ago!!! I am always so behind on my scrapping!!!

The papers are My Minds Eye Simply Delightful. Flowers are Prima, Making Memories, and Heidi Snapp. The large flowers were white that I sprayed with yellow and pink glimmer mist! The other embellishment came from a Making Memories pack. I personally like the silver wings on Lauren's back!! (Even though she told me that it looks silly!!!)

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!! I love to hear all your very kind comments!! Be sure to stop over at Sketches in Thyme to check it out!! If you like what you see, grab a badge and help us spread the word!!

Barb  :)

Twinkle Toes

Yesterday, my youngest daughter had her dance recital!! I just love how sweet and adorable all the little dancers are... and of course, I wouldn't be a proud momma if I didn't show off a couple of pictures of my baby girl!!  We snapped a few pictures in front of our house before we left for the recital...

That last picture is of Lauren with her sisters (Kristin and Courtney) who came to see her recital... she was soo excited that they were there!! Just a side note, these are the same two who are featured in my LO today!!!

Well... it's Monday and that means that we have a new challenge over at Practical Scrappers!! Are you ready for this one?!! This week we are asking you to show us fabric, felt or Tulle!! I don't know about you but this challenge just screamed girly to me.... and so this is what I made....

This picture is of my oldest girls several years ago at a dance recital. It is sooooo hard to believe that they are now 20 and 19!!!! Where does the time go?!!! I used a mix of fabric and felt on this one. The flowers are from a Martha Stewart kit I got on clearance at Big Lots!! It was actually a hair accessory kit but I just used the flowers from the kit!! The big purple one and two small pink ones are from this. I added some paper flowers, stickles, gems, buttons and ribbon and I think they turned out adorable!! I also used a flower ribbon around my circle. The ruffle under the picture is embroidered with butterflies and topped off with felt ric-rac that I also added Stickles to.!! In fact, I think I put Stickles on just about everything!! Gotta have that bling!! I added some purple feathers because... what dance costume doesn't have feathers on it?!! LOL!!

The papers are We R Memory Keepers Madame Royale stack. I used the Forever Young cart for the circles. Flowers are a mix of Prima, Recollections, and Making Memories!!! The letters are Stickles that I painted and topped with Stickles!

Thanks for stopping over to see what I created.... now head on over to Practical Scrappers to check out what the other designers have made for inspiration this week!! Be sure to check it out everyday since new DT examples are revealed daily!! We would love to see what you create so be sure to link up your projects at Practical Scrapper!! Have a lovely week!!!!!!
Barb :)

Friends are like Shoes...

Happy Friday everyone!!! It is time for a new challenge at Frosted Designs.... and this week we have an object challenge!! And what is that object you ask?!! SHOES!! Come on girls.... we all love them and can't live without them!! So.... get creative and make a card/layout/project that features shoes and link it up over at Frosted Designs!! I am always blown away by how creative everyone is each week.... can't wait to see what you come up with!! And.... check out what our design team did this week... talk about creative!!! You won't want to miss it!!

So... a little background information may be necessary for this LO!! This is me with one of my best friends, Myra. Myra and I worked together for several years as co-chairs of our church's annual Harvest Party (kind of like a school carnival!) So.... our joke was always to go big or stay home.... we  put all of our games on "steroids"!! If we saw a game somewhere else that we liked, we would get together and make it bigger!! We had the best and most amazing games and we had so much fun doing it!! And somehow, Myra always managed to add bling to any game we considered a "guy" game!!! It was the funniest thing and I teased her about it a LOT!!! So, one week we were out running errands getting ready for the big event and my shoes were killing me. So.... what is a girl to do but stop everything and go shoe shopping!! We had so much fun!!!! Well, when my 40th birthday party rolled around last year.... what do you think Myra got me.... SHOES of course!!!!! They were so cute and I loved them!!! And then, Myra admitted that she liked them so much, she went back and got a pair for herself.... which she wore to the party!!! So, we put on our shoes and modeled them for the camera!!! Funny that our toes were already polished the same color!! LOL!!!

Well, everything on this LO is made with Myra in mind!! I put my flowers on steroids, added as much bling as I could possible get on it, and tried to let it reflect the things I think of when I think of Myra!!!! The girl loves her shoes and her bling!! Gotta love her!!! The title on this says.... Friends are like shoes, A good pair never goes out of style!!!  Thanks for being a great friend Myra!!

The papers are a little darker than I was used to working with so I struggled a little bit with the over all LO. I added in some white elements to lighten it up a little. The frame at the bottom I cut using my Cuttlebug, chalked and then added some glossy accents to give it an epoxy look. The flourishes were my favorite mistake!!! (Don't you just love it when a mistake turns out great?!!) They were some chipboard ones that had been sitting in my stash for quite some time. I decided to paint them black but when I put them on the LO they were just too plain... so then I had the brilliant idea to heat emboss them with some sparkly embossing powder... they were now glittery but too light.... so I took them and inked over them with black ink!!! I thought the final product turned out pretty cool!! They have some texture and personality and I like that!!!!

The papers are from DCWV All Dressed Up
Flowers: Prima
Carts used: Forever Young & lyrical letters

Thanks for stopping by.... I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend... and Sandy - I am sooooooooooooo jealous that you are done for the year!!!!!! Enjoy your first weekend of your summer vacation!!!!

Barb :)

Just Call Me Mom

Hello everyone!! How was your weekend?! Mine was busy and I am soooo glad it is over!! Lauren made it to all of her lessons, the garage sale was a success, the golf team lunch was a hit, my date with my husband was wonderful, the park got cleaned up and I survived our open house!! Whew... what a weekend!! But with a new week comes a new challenge at Practical Scrappers!! And this one is super easy because we all use it.... are you ready for it?!! This week we are challenging you to use patterned paper in your card/layout/ project!! Seriously, could there be an easier theme?!! We have some of our design team examples up today, and will show you new ones each day this week... so stop over today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and.... you get the idea!! There are some very creative projects over there so you will want to be sure to check them out!!

This is me with 3 of my babies on Mother's Day this year!! Aren't they just so sweet?! My layout was completed using the papers from the Paper Poppy Kit Co. May kit. I LOVE this kit!! The papers and embellies are so fun and easy to use!! You can pick up a kit of your own by clicking here!! The sketch I used is also from Paper Poppy! I used 6 different patterned papers on this LO. The butterflies are chipboard that I glued patterned paper to, sanded the edges, and then inked. I added a few rhinestones and the anteanna are made from twine. The papers at the top of the LO are actually the packaging from some Prima flowers I had used on another LO! See... I can recycle!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week!!
Barb :)

You Are So Beautiful To Me

I spent the morning Saturday at a local park cleaning up as part of my daughter's Kid's Give Back group. We had so much fun (yes... picking up trash can be fun!!) working together!! After we were done picking up trash, some of the group took some time at the park to relax and enjoy ourselves!! I took this picture of Lauren on the slide.... I just love her precious smile!!

Well, this weekend, my good friend Sheila (aka She's A Sassy Lady) posted a challenge on her blog and the prize is so great.... everyone will want to play along. Here's what you need to do.... create a card, layout or project that reflects summer!! How easy is that?!! The ONLY requirement is that you include something from your Cricut!! What are you playing for you ask?!! Well..... you are playing for a Cricut cartridge...LOVESTRUCK!!!! That's right!! You could win!! But you better hurry.... you only have until Tuesday to get your project completed and posted!! Sheila and her team would LOVE to see what you create!!! Click HERE and check it out!!

I am also going to put this into a couple of challenges!! This week Stuck On U Sketches is mixing things up.... no sketch, just an item..... which is BUTTONS!! I know I only have a single button on this, but, I am going to submit it anyway!! I think the flower that the button is on is adorable!!

And... the sketch I used is from Sketchy Thursdays! As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew it was one I wanted to use!! It just screams summer.... perfect for the She's A Sassy Lady challenge!!

I used:

Paper: We R Memory Keepers Rainbow pack

Cricut: Forever Young

Martha Stewart Punch
Misc. Ribbon and button

Now.... get busy and create something that has to do with summer... don't forget to link it up by Tuesday to She's A Sassy Lady for your change to win the Lovestruck cartridge!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a fabulous week!!

Barb :)

Rainbows

Happy Friday everyone!! I don't know about you but I have a pretty busy weekend planned.... I work all day today then off to dance lessons, help at my mom's garage sale which she was so kind to let me add all  of the stuff I have been clearing out of the house, then guitar lessons, then I am going to make lunch for the entire golf team for Saturday's invitational... and end the evening with a date with my husband. Saturday starts with a park clean up, more garage sale stuff, and then I will spend the rest of the evening getting my house ready (mulch the flower beds, clean the entire house top to bottom, wash down a few cabinets, touch up a few walls, etc.....) for the open house that is happening on Sunday!!! I seriously think I am going to need a weekend to recover from my weekend!! So... If I am a little MIA this weekend, I will apologize now..and then I will try to get caught up early next week!!

So.... enough of my whining already!!! We have such a happy theme over at Frosted Designs this week.... are you ready for this?!! RAINBOWS!!! That's right!! We want to see anything you have that comes in a rainbow of colors... brads, ribbon, papers, flowers, anything at all!! Get out those bright colors, make something wonderful and then share it with us over at Frosted Designs this week!! We love to see what everyone creates!! Also check out what my amazing DT sisters did with this theme... pretty amazing!!

I took the theme pretty literally!! I had these amazing pictures from Maui.... where you will always see the best rainbows... but I had never scrapped them. I guess  I just wasn't sure how to do it..  and then this challenge came along and I had the perfect reason to get them out.  In the top photo you can see the rainbow over the West Maui Mountains with Lahaina in front. Isn't it gorgeous?!! In the bottom picture the rainbow is not showing up really well which is weird because you can see it just fine in real life!! Oh well!! But the rainbow is going right over the sunken ship that has been in the Lahaina Harbor for a number of years... it is the coolest picture in real life!!

The papers are from the Me & My Big Ideas Fashion District stack. The flowers on the paper reminded me of Hawaii and I thought they were perfect for this LO!! I pulled out some seriously old supplies for the rest of this LO.... the chipboard frames I have had for about 100 years and never used... I stumbled on them when going through my chipboard stash to find the heart and the letters!! The "rainbow" letters are thickers that I painted. "Maui" came from some old rub ons I had laying around.

Now... on to those fabulous little flowers!! I have to give a shout out to my generous and very talented friend Beatriz from Amazing Grace for sending me the directions for these. She recently demonstrated these on her blog and you can find it by clicking HERE!! The rainbow one was the first one I tried.... so of course it didn't turn out perfect but for switching ribbon 6 times while making it, I think it turned out pretty well!! I also took my scraps of ribbon and ran a thread through them and bunched them up to make the rainbow "line"!! These flowers were so much fun to make... I will be using them a lot more! When Beatriz did hers she used these as the centers and added ribbon behind to make petals... totally cool!!

And... I was so excited when I saw that Scrap It With A Song is using Cyndi Laupers song "True Colors" this week!! It matches up to the Frosted Design challenge perfectly so I will enter this into their challenge as well!!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!! I appreciate all my friends who take the time to comment or say hi!! Have a great weekend!!

Barb :)

Butterfly Farm

Before I share my newest LO with you, I just want to tell everyone how lucky I am to have the amazing blog friends that I have!! Everyone is so nice to me.... and this week, two of them sent me gifts!!! I love gettting this kind of mail!!  LOL!! Over at the Paper Poppy Kit Co. Alphra had some fun contests during National Scrapbook Day and I won one!! She sent me these lovely buttons!! Thank you Alphra!! I can't wait to use them!!

And then.... my friend Judy was demonstrating the new gel pens with the cricut!! If any of you know Judy, you know how incredibly generous she is!! Well, she picked me from the comments that were left to receive these 2 brand new gel pen sets!! I love the cool things she was able to do with these pens and I can not wait to get some time to try them out myself!! Please stop by Judy's blog (Judy's Cardmaking and Papercrafts)and show her some love!! She is one of the nicest, kindest people you will meet!!

Now... on to my layout!! Stuck On U Sketches has another amazing sketch for you this week!! The sketch is from the very talented Liz Qualman and was so fun to work with! If you haven't had a chance yet, stop over at the Stuck On U Sketches blog and see what the design team did with this sketch!! AMAZING!!

These pictures are from a butterfly farm in St. Thomas. We visited it after a day at the beach... that explains the bathing suit and wet hair!! Lauren was very clever with her tricks to get a butterfly to stay on her hand... but it seemed to work!! She loved posing with the butterfly!!

The papers are all from my May kit from the Paper Poppy Kit Co.  Alphra did an amazing job of putting this kit together!! She added in some super fun embellies too!!

The butterfly is 2 chipboard butterflies that I covered with patterned paper an then inked the edges with blue ink. The top layer is the Prima butterfly stamp that came with the kit. I have to be honest... I love the stamp as long as I don't look at it too close!! The middle of the butterfly is a lady and it kind of freaks me out!! So... I covered the freaky lady up with pearls!! LOL!!! The mat behind Lauren's photo is actually the packaging that the chipboard butterflies came in. I added in some Prima flowers, random ribbon and black flourishes from my own stash. Everything else is in the kit!! If you want a kit of your own, you can find it HERE!!

And finally I want to thank Jenny over at Wee Memories!! Her challenge this week is to sew on your LO!! Me sew?!! Seriously?!! My dear mother gave me a sewing machine for Christmas.... one with just the basics, nothing fancy!! But that sewing machine has sat in it's box in the closet until today!! I finally got it out!! Of course my thread colors are limited since I am not a person who normally sews.... so I was stuck with an off white thread color. I started by stitching around the large piece of patterned paper. I know it doesn't show up in the photo but I really did it!! I even switched stitches in random places to add the little zig zag stitch!!! I am sooooo proud of myself!! I am such a big girl now!! But since that stitching did not show up well, I decided to be super brave and sew around the blue paper at the bottom of the layout!! I actually think it turned out pretty well for my first time!! Sometimes I just surprise myself!! LOL!!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week and I will be back Friday with a new Frosted Designs layout.... the challenge next week is really fun so be sure to stop by Friday to find out more about it!!

Barb :)

Happy Monday & a new challenge!

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day and is well rested and pampered!! Well... are you ready for a new challenge?! At Practical Scrappers this week, our challenge is to use punches in a card/layout/project!!

Yes... this is another cruise picture!  I did not put a title on it since it is going in the cruise album... I figured I really didn't need one!! Besides, I couldn't make the one I wanted to use work... so I just left it off!!  heehee!! I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the border around the outside of the layout. I used the same corner punch for the frame around the photo. AND I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the butterflies!! I LOVE this punch!! It has to be my favorite and I find myself turning to it a lot lately!! Of course, it doesn't help that my Gypsy is off for repairs and I am just too lazy to start pulling out cartridges to use the cricut the regular way... I am too spoiled now!! I guess until I get my baby back, you may be seeing a lot of punches and premade embellies!! LOL!!

So... supplies used are:
Paper: K & Co. Lofty Nest
Border Punch: Martha Stewart
Butterfly Punch: Martha Stewart
Flowers: Prima
Music Paper: Paper Poppy Kit (April?)

AND.... I wanted to thank the lovely ladies over at Scrap it With A Song for picking my Paparazzi LO as a top 5 this week!! They have a new challenge posted for this week so get on over there and check it out!! Also be sure to stop by the Practical Scrappers site to check out all the wonderful projects the team of ladies have created there!! Check back each day as new design team projects are added daily!!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and say hello!! Have a fabulous week!!
Barb :)

Spring Break

Before I get to my post today... wanted to share some good news.... My Once Upon A Time layout was picked as one of the winning layouts over at The Pink Elephant!!!! Yeah!!! Another award!! I love winning awards!! Thanks ladies for picking mine!!

AND..... So super excited to share that .... I was picked to join the Stuck On You Sketches Guest Design Team!!!! Can you believe it?!!! So.... soon you will be able to check out some of my work over there!! If you haven't visited the SOUS ladies, you need to!! They have a new sketch challenge that is up today and some wonderful examples of their take on the sketch!! Go check it out!!

Now... on to the real reason for this post...It's Friday again and that means a new challenge is posted over at Frosted Designs!! This week your challenge is to sand something. You can sand the paper, letters, even the photo if you choose!! (Which I did!!) Now come on and join the fun... this challenge is so easy because we all do it!!! :) So... grab that sand paper and get to it!! Then link up your project at Frosted Designs so that we can all see the amazing talent you have!! While you are there, check out what the rest of the design team created!! You won't be disappointed!

So.... I am still scrapping those cruise pictures... and have many more to go!! (When you only put one picture on a page it really takes a while!!) LOL!! This LO is going to be the one that goes in the front of the cruise album...with a teenage son who was more worried about his social life than family time, we did not get many pictures of all four of us together. But I do really like this one!!

What do you think of my flowers?! I had fun making these because they were quick and easy and I like the look of them! Well, if you want to know more about them, you will need to hop over to Lidia's Breaking Barriers blog because she has a wonderful tute on how to make them!! Her's look way better than mine but for the first time, I think mine turned out just fine!! (Besides, my internet was down the night I made these so I was going by memory... and that is always a scary thing!!) You can go right to the tutorial by clicking HERE!! Thanks Lidia for sharing your talent!!

The papers are from Making Memories Great Escape pack. I LOVE these papers for vacation photos!! They are fun without being too cutsie!! The letters are from my Paper Poppy Kit Co. March kit (?) and the metal brads are from Spare Parts. I sanded the blue cardstock around the picture, the letters and the picture itself!! Lots of sanding going on but I love the final LO! I know it is simple but sometimes simple is good!! I didn't want to over do it with the embellies and not focus on the photo!!

I am so grateful to all my bloggy friends for your continual words of encouragement and kindness!! I am so glad to have found this sweet little community!!
Barb :)

New Blog Award!!!!

I have another blog award to share with all of you!!! My GF Crystal over at Crafting for Caitlyn was sooooo super sweet and awarded me this award!! Crystal... I want to thank you for all the visits to my blog and all the incredibly kind comments you leave!! I am so glad to have met you through blogging!! You are such a sweetheart!!

Okay, rules for this award are:

1. Link back to the person who gave you the award (Crystal at Crafting for Caitlyn)

2. Post where you would like to be in 10 years
3. Give this award to 10 awesome bloggers

Well, in ten years I would like to be settled into a new home in Dallas (I would like to make this one move and then stay put for a bit!!) I would also like to be settled in to a new church, have many new friends, and maybe even be a grandparent!! (Courtney is twenty already so that is a very real possibility... even though I still think I will be too young 10 years from now!!!) LOL!! Our plan also is for my husband to retire around this time so that we can travel a lot!!!

Now... on to the 10 people I would like to share this award with... all of which have fabulous blogs and I draw a ton of inspiration from!!!
Leah at Beeing Creative and Feeling Cherry
Sandy at Details by Sandy
Beatriz at Amazing Grace
Jocelyn at Simply Me
Lidia at Breaking Barriers
Tina at Bits and Scraps of My Life
Sasya at Hand-made by Sasya
Angi at Cokie Pop Paper Boutique
Fern at Fern's Creations
Jessica at Mountain Mommy Scrapper

Thanks again Crystal for sending this award my way!! And for all my blog buddies... sorry I have been a little MIA this week... been home sick and then my hubby was in town because he had to have his Lasik tweaked.. and we all know just how needy our men can be... but it has left me with very little time on the computer the last few days!! I will try to catch up over the next few days!!
Barb :)

Paparazzi

Well... I just couldn't help myself... had to play along with a couple of challenges this week!! Of course I had to do the Stuck On U Sketches challenge!! This week the sketch is a Becky Fleck's Pagemap Sketch... and it is a 2 pager!! It is so nice to do a 2 page LO for a change!!

And then, when I saw the theme for this week over at Scrap It With A Song...I had to play along!! Lauren loves the song Paparazzi... and I am trying to get all of our cruise pictures done.... this all worked together so nicely!! LOL!!

So did I mention that Lauren loves this song?!! And we had this fun little photo shoot on the ship.... she was on a bridge that changed colors.... she loved it and we took about 800 pictures on it!! So, anyway.... I took some of the lyrics from the song and added them to the right side of the page. This LO was a ton of fun to do because I kept adding stickles and gems and all the bling I could find. Lauren even came in and helped me!! That made it really fun!!

The papers are all from We R Memory Keepers Tiffany stack... used stickles, misc. gems and ribbon, and pop dotted just about everything I could!! LOL!!!

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!! Be sure to check out both challenge blogs and play along!!

Love Ya Chicky

I have to admit... I am excited to be sharing my first official Practical Scrappers challenge with you as a design team member!! This week the challenge is to use stickers! How easy is that one?!! So... I guess there is no reason why all of you can't participate!! Get out that overflowing crate of stickers, use them on a project and be sure to share them with us at Practical Scrappers!! And also be sure to check back each day as new Design Team projects are revealed!!

These pictures were taken during a visit to the zoo in Aug. of 2006. Yes, the same zoo visit as the goat pictures... and there are still plenty more from that visit to scrap... guess I was in a snap happy kind of mood!! And can I help that I think they are all adorable and want to scrap them all?!! LOL!! So... we were in the farm area where (back then) we were allowed to pick up baby chicks! Lauren loved to do this and would squeal with delight every time one would try to escape her very tight grasp!! She must have given them 3000 kisses that day alone!! The papers and stickers I used in the title are from We R Memory Keepers Over the Rainbow pack. I LOVE this pack!! The papers are all so bright and cheerful and summer like!! Perfect for my zoo pictures!! The flowers are stickers I have had forever!! And yes... I really do mean forever!! I added a few stickers to the tops of buttons and even managed to add some stickles to the centers of a few!! I hand stitched some floss around the border of the marquee shape.

Thanks for stopping by... I love hearing from you... it really makes my day!! Have a great week and happy scrappin'!!
Barb :)