I've been feeling sad this week about Halloween. I LOVE Halloween! Somehow, my children aged out of Trick or Treating. There was no discussion about costumes, no shopping or making of costumes. No visit to the pumpkin patch. We haven't carved pumpkins yet. Well, we haven't bought them yet either.

To make myself feel better and to be able to play along with Paper Issues, I'm "Wichin' you a Happy Halloween" with some Ghosts of our Halloweens past...

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2007

The Ghost and the Cowboy

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2008

The Vampire meets Superman

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2007

Scooby Meets Elmo

Halloween 2007

....and this is why I scrapbook.  Happy Halloween!

Hello Sunshine

Well, I said I have lots to share this week. I've been super excited to share this layout. It is featured in today's Get It Scrapped article, using embellishments in a design hierarchy, and only 3 embellishment areas. 

This was a great assignment for me. First, I've been perfecting my creation and usage of clusters. Second, I had this big, huge wood piece that had been staring me in the face. Third, I had some new papers and mist to play with. All of these helped me choose this photo of my younger son playing in a pool on a hot day at Grandma's. He's so easy to please. Give him some water and he gives you an instant smile.    In a nutshell, It was natural to make the title the heaviest embellishment area because of the product I chose.  The As you move around the page to the bottom, the clusters get smaller. I embellished the title piece to make it stand out even more. Throughout the page, I repeated the color yellow, small word stickers, and wood pieces, all in different shapes and pieces.

Thanks for taking a look at my creative view today. There are many more inspiring layouts and articles on the Get It Scrapped blog. Today is also the last day to take advantage of the discounted price of the new class Curated Albums. 

Supplies: CS-American Crafts, PP-Pebbles, wood chips-Freckled Fawn Studio Calico, chipboard, brad, paper clip, badge, phrase stickers, vellum tape-Freckled Fawn, Stencil & Sequins-Studio Calico, Mist-Dylusions, twine-Doodlebug Designs, Stickles, ink-Memento, pen & adhesive-EK Success, sketch inspired by My Scraps & More

Lucky

Oh happy day. It's Monday again. And it's Halloween week. But I have mixed emotions. My boys are no longer Trick-orTreating. They have outgrown it. I guess it's time for a new Halloween tradition. It's also time for another challenge and reveal at Let's Get Sketchy. 

First, I flipped the sketch around to the way I used it.  I use mostly 4x6 photos, so it was easy for me to convert this to a one photo layout. I liked the idea of the steps of the altered papers so left the banner one sided. Because I used a pre printed paper, i changed the embellishments at the sides of the page. Lastly, I moved the title. 

We loved walking around Downtown Naperville on warm sunny days. No matter what, we always had to stop at his fountain and make a wish. And take a picture. So, it's just another moment captured and a chance for me to say "remember when..."

Thanks for taking a look at my creative view today.  Stop by again. I've got lots to share

Supplies: PP, stickers, die cuts, chipboard, alphas and brads-Simple Stories, washi-MME, pearls-Freckled Fawn, twine-Doodlebug Designs, Jillibean Soup, mist-Studio Calico

OMG, Great Grandma

It seems this month that some newer-to-me places have caught my eye. Namely ScrapMuch, Stuck?!Sketches  and Paper Issues. I have participated multiple times at all three blogs this month. Just want to say thanks for the inspiration that helped me get a few pages completed.

This LO uses a free cut file from Paper Issues. and a sketch from Stuck?!Sketches

I chose my own shape to use, circles, which enabled me to use the Paper Issues cut file. I just want this to be a fun page because it was a fun and exciting day for my son. The design of the page is simple enough that I could choose bright, happy colors, and whimsical embellishments. The title is large and eye catching. After reading it, the meaning of the page is apparent. the embellishments add to the excitement of the page. It came together quickly, after I decided on all the pieces. 

This page is based on a sketch from ScrapMuch, using many pieces from the Sept & Oct Paper Issues Swag Bag. 

It was kind of fun using just mixing bits and pieces, and not a selection of papers.  (I only hard wish I could get the white balance right of the LO. It's taking photos here when it's so grey outside. The background is white paper!) This too was a fun sketch to use and a design I need to remember in the future. I didn't want a completely solid background, so I used a chalk mist with a stencil. I felt I needed something to tie it all together, so I layered the background paper after punching a scalloped edge around it. I used a couple of 3x4 cards and a bunch of embellishment pieces from my Swag Bags. A few extra embellishments and I was finished.

Thanks for taking a look at my creative view today. It will be a busy week here, so com back again., I have lots to share

Supplies-OMG-CS-Bazzill, PP-BoBunny, DoodlebugDesigns, Pebbles, Echo Park, Die cuts-Paper Issue and Brenshevia Baker, Silhouette, brads-MME, stickers & chipboard-Freckled Fawn, Twine-DoodlebugDesigns, tags-PaperIssues swag bag, Alphas-October Afternoon, Freckled Fawn, stamp-WRMK, Ink-Memento

Supplies-Great Grandma-CS-AMerican Crafts, PP-Theresa Collins, enamel dots-MME, Basic Grey, punch-Fiskars, ink-Colorbox, mist-Tattered Angels, stencil, TCW, alphas & washi-Freckled Fawn, dies cuts-American Crafts, remaining pieces all Paper Issues Swag Bag

Curated Albums

Have you seen the new class that's starting soon at Get it Scrapped? It's called Curated Albums.

How do you have your albums arranged? by person? Theme? Year? This class will help you find the stories within your albums that you may not know are there. That;s how I'm thinking about the class. I scrap chronologically. Why? I like then see the changes and consistencies in my family from year to year. But, what I have been noticing with the consistencies, is that a story is unfolding about us. Some are personality stories, others are traditions. What if I pulled apart the albums to better showcase these stories? I'm sure there are many others I'll find in my albums, and that's why I am looking forward to this class. 

Class begins on Nov 4th. I think it's going to be worth it. You can sign up here: Curated Albums.

Let Her Go, She's 91

Hey there. It's my reveal day over at ScrapStuffz' Inspired by.  We've changed things up and are offering two inspiration photos this month with a verbal prompt as well.  I created a layout for each photo.

"let it go"

 I'm pretty much out of snow pictures, and I thought "let it go" to be quite funny.  I grabbed some blue card stock, a printed neutral paper and some funny pictures, and "Let Her Go" was created. All of the embellishments further the silly theme of the page.

These photos were taken right after we got our first dog. We had a feeling that our younger son would  love playing with her, but wee not expecting this. He would not leave her alone. Thankfully, she was very tolerant of him.

The second photo

"words to live by"

From this photo I took the whitewashed frame and ran with it. I used a whitewashed paper as the background for this LO. The sketch is based off a sketch at Stuck?! sketches. I thought it was a fun one and slightly different form what I usually see. But I was able to use it within my style. That's what it's all about.  I used different blocks of paper at the bottom instead of a triangle, but kept it angular in nature. I did leave the triangle at the top though.  The rest is all humor. Again.

I loved the paper in this collection that had the old newspaper and magazine clippings. I though they were amazingly supportive of a photo of my 91 year old Grandma. Feminine with some attitude. Just like Nani. We had taken her out for her birthday and when we were ordering drinks, she said, "i'll think I'll have a term that sounds good." and right out of the bottle she drank. But really, she is 91. Who is going to tell her otherwise?

Thanks for stopping by today to look at my creative view. Come again soon. I have lots to share.

Ler her Go:CS-Bazzill, PP-Bo Bunny, Fancy Pants, cork-Freckled Fawn, Fancy Pants, chipboard-Freckled Fawn, Crate paper, Brad-Freckled Fawn, die cut stickers-Crate paper, 7 gypsies, sequins-Studio Calico, clip-Queen & Co

She is 91: PP & Die Cuts-Famcy Pants, wood pieces-Freckled Fawn, Studio Calico, resin flowers-Freckled Fawn, mist-Heidi Swapp, washy-scotch, sequins-Hazel & Ruby, Doodlebug Designs

The Play-Outs

I've been wanting to make this layout for quite some time. Well, thanks to the latest Link party at Paper Issues "Woodn't you know it's fall", I had my excuse. I used the idea of what fall means to me to  create the page about the baseball playoffs.

If you know me, you know I live for baseball. I have a love/hate relationship with fall because yes, it means baseball playoff and the World Series, but it also means the end of the season. These photos are from the 2008 NLDS, Dodgers vs. Cubs. We were super excited, thinking maybe this is the year for the Cubs. We had tickets to both home games, and sat there watching as the Dodgers won both games. The Cubs got swept in 3 games. That was the end of the season for us. My son coined the term "In Dusty we Busty", as the manager, Dusty Baker, just couldn't get the job done. From that day on, we called this the Play-Outs, not the playoffs.

Thanks for taking a look at my creative view today. Check back again tomorrow when I have more projects to share.

Supplies: CS-Bazzill, PP-Paper Pizazz, Echo Park, unknown, Embellishments-EK Success, unknown, Alpha-American Crafts

Say Cheese

Just a quick one because I forgot to write this up! Paper Issues has started a new feature called Sketchy Saturdays. Create a project based on a sketch. Here is the inaugural sketch and my interpretation

What? A 2 pager from this? Yep. I turned the sketch on it's side and spread it open to accommodate the 6 larger photos.  I continued to use the same simpler format and paper collection as on previous pages for this project. Worked like a charm. And helped me get one step closer to finishing that long Bar Mitzvah project that has been hanging over my head....Thanks Paper Issues!

Supplies: CS-Bazzill, PP, die cuts, chipboard-Basic Grey, alphas-American Crafts, Basic Grey, sequins-Michaels, metal pieces-MME

Brotherly Love

Good Monday to you. I can't believe the month is almost halfway over. But that means we are getting closer to Thanksgiving.  Well, I guess I'll just keep plugging along. Seeing that is is Monday, I have a new layout to share for this weeks sketch challenge at Let's Get Sketchy. 

As you can see, right off the bat I made it mine by using two photos instead of three. I added some extra paper at the top and bottom of the page, moved the embellishments around and used die cuts instead of a circular element. 

I got a new camera for my birthday. My boys were outside playing and reading. I looked up saw that my younger son had crawled into his brother's lap. I grabbed the camera and just started shooting. These photos are all because of the camera :-)

I chose to use some primary colored, basic shaped papers, but added fun, silly embellishments. Although they can at times be monsters, at this moment, they were just brothers.

Thanks for looking at my creative view today. If you like what you see, leave me a comment letting me know

Supplies: CS-Pulp Papers, PP, buttons, stickers & die cuts-Fancy Pants, washi, pearl and resin shapes-Freckled Fawn, enamel dots-MME, sequins-Michaels, mist-Tattered Angels, Studio Calico

Little Drummer Boy

Hi there. I'm up on the Get It Scrapped blog today sharing a layout created with free downloadable images. These images are not necessarily designed with scrapbooking in mind.  

To begin my process, I browsed the Get It Scrapped Pinterest board on this topic. As I was browsing, I came across some vintage music sheets. That made me think of the photos of my son at a music concert, where he is performing a drum duet. I went to thegraphicsfairy.com to look further, eventually finding one that I liked.  At this point, I looked for a design so I could print the image in an appropriate size.

The photos aren't stellar, so I decided on neutral shades for the entire page. I liked the idea of the numbers paper to represent a musical 8 count. I printed the image the size of a journal card (3x4) to use it as an embellishment. There are other musical embellishments such as the two different styles of washi tape. The remaining embellishments are also neutral, stars.  However, you can also read them as he was a star for the evening.

 Thank you for taking a look at my creative view today. There are also more wonderful layouts on the  Get It Scrapped blog.

Supplies:CS-American Crafts, PP-Studio Calico, washi Tape-Recollections, My Minds Eye, Darice, Twine, Queen & Co, Brads-My Minds Eye, chipboard-Studio Calico wood chips-Studio Calico & Citrus Twist kits, metal star & bling-Freckled Fawn, mist-Heidi Swapp & Studio Calico, Ink-Colorbox, ren & Adhesive-EK Success, sketch inspired by Scrapbook Generation

U Pick 'em

Oh, I had so much fun on Scrappy Friday. I spent the day in my scrap room, where I was actually fairly productive. Today I am sharing one of the projects I finished. I used the newest sketch at ScrapMuch? as well as inspiration from the Bingo board challenge at Scrap Our Stash and Paper Issues current Issue-You're sew cute you keep me in stitches

I had 4 photos that I wanted to use so I adjusted the sketch to suit my needs. I balanced the two sides by mirroring them.  I do a lot of 2 page LO and was happy to see one in a sketch challenge.  I used the middle vertical column of the Bingo board. There are tags, paper clips, wood veneers set on a base of kraft paper. My free space can be brads, twine, washi or mist. There is natural twine that connects the clips.

Our fall family tradition is apple picking. While living in Illinois, we found an orchard that we really liked. This particular one also had a late blooming raspberry vine. I had never been berry picking, and suggested we do so. I wound up taking more pictures than picking berries, but that's ok, since these are the results.

Thanks for stopping by my creative view today. Come back again. I have lots to share.

Supplies: CS-Paper Accents, PP. Die cuts, Stickers-Basic Grey, twine-MME, washi-WRMK, MME, brads-makingmemories & Basic Grey, paper clips-Doodlebug, wood pieces-Freckled Fawn, cork-Fancy Pants, Alpha-American Crafts, sequins-Studio Calico, Stencil-Paper Issues, Mist-Tattered Angels

The Best Thing

Happy October. Wow. How did that happen? Ok. Let's try this. Happy Wednesday. It's a good Wednesday here. It's time for a classic toy challenge at Child's Play Challenges. Today's LO is inspired by a Jack in the Box toy. 

I have to tell you, even now, when that thing POPS, I still jump! Anyway, I saw the jester and was insured to use a collection of papers I have with a Circus theme. The circus font is in the title card,  the black & red paper is reminiscent of the "big top" the shiny polka dot washi tape like clown costumes.

How does this work with the photo? It doesn't really, but I liked the title card to lead into how we feel when we get squeeze hugs from our younger son. So although I chose to use the circus papers, I selected ones that supported the photo and the story it tells.

Thanks for taking a look at my creative view. Come play at Child's Play. How are you inspired by Jack in the Box?

Supplies: CS-Pulp papers, PP, stickers & title cards-Fancy Pants, enamel dots-Basic Grey, MME, sequins-Hazel & Ruby, frame & brad-Freckled Fawn, washi-MME, mist-Heidi Swapp, Tattered Angels