An update on me and a few layouts in the midst of chaos….

Hi everyone! It’s been forever since I’ve had time to get scrappy. Lots going on here…it started with the end of the year stuff with Natalie and Macie—finishing up school, track meets, doctor appointments, camps, summer basketball league, dental appointments…you name it and I’ve done it. Sophie’s new school does not offer a summer program so she’s been at home with me all summer and that’s been interesting (ok, sort of stressful, I love her but she’s a bit of a high maintenance diva). A lot of times it’s hard to squeeze in any creative time when you are chasing 5 kids around (ok, mostly just 4 right now—even though Ashley is 20 now she’s still considered my kid 🙂 )She had the privilege of going to Brazil with the Study Abroad program through Texas A&M (where she goes to school) and had some exciting experiences. We’re hoping to work on a journal together documenting her time there. If we’re lucky, maybe she will let me share some of it with you guys here 🙂 Weston is crawling and so I am literally chasing him all over the place!

Anyhoo…I’ve realized that I just can’t do it all, as much as I’d like to, and so I really backed off the scrapping challenges and stuff and have been working on an art journal project that I’m hoping to submit for publication and working on my house. When we first bought this house, it was an investment property that we were going to just rehab and resell. In a funny turn of events, I actually fell in love with the place (usually not a danger in our line of work–I’m sort of picky LOL) and we decided to keep this one for ourselves and move in. Suddenly white walls and wall to wall tile were not good enough. We really rushed to move in, so I hadn’t really decorated or even finish unpacking all of the boxes even though it’s been 10 months. I’ve been redecorating the twin’s room, our master bedroom and bath, the dining room, the laundry room, and the living room. It’s been a blast turning this house into our home and I’m really happy with what I’ve done so far. I plan on sharing some pics when things are done.

Now onto my scrappy bits 🙂 This first layout is for my friend Ashley Horton’s July Sketch It Out Challenge. I am a big fan of Ashley’s sketches and layouts, and was really inspired by her sketch this month. I dug into one of my past kits from Scarlet Lime for the goodies, I believe most of the paper is American Crafts. I also used some rub ons and a stitch stamp that I found and had never used, as well as a mask and mist (part of the “twist” in the challenge) I am also submitting this layout for the *thinking through design* blog’s “thought” on grounding. I used the dark color strip as a way to ground the picture of Sophie against the white background with the misting. Here I feel like the mask/mist combo also helps ground the layout in general by appearing in both corners and tying the entire layout together. Here is my layout:

This next layout is for this week’s sketch challenge over at Let’s Get Sketchy. I never do anything diagonal, so I thought it would be fun to try this one out. Here’s my layout using some Simple Stories paper that I got as a gift from Ashley Horton when Weston was born.

I hope everyone is well, and that I am able to find some more time in the next few weeks to share some more of my projects. I’ve missed all of my wonderful scrappy friends!

Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays–Sketch #29

This week’s Frosted Designs sketch was designed by Karin and I loved it! I used my November Scarlet Lime kit which was full of all kinds of Studio Calico goodies 🙂
Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch, using some pics of Macie and Sophie cuddling on the porch Thanksgiving morning.

Make sure to link up your take on the sketch at Frosted Designs for a chance to win a fabulous prize from Sarah at the Paper Bakery! You have until noon (est) Sunday, December 11th to link up your project.

ARRR Matey! :)

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law approached me about making a collage piece for my nephew for his 4th birthday. He’s totally into pirates right now, so I thought “how about a pirate ship?” I really had a lot of fun with this piece–I’m always making girly stuff, so it was nice to do something for a little boy.

I started by painting the 12 x 12 canvas in different shades of blue with a little yellow mixed in for the sky. I wanted it to have a bright, sort of Caribbean feeling to it. I pieced together the pirate ship using an old map (which I inked over with vintage photo Distress ink–a favorite of mine in case you haven’t noticed 🙂 ), some old pieces of patterned paper, a few die cut pieces with a vintage theme, and stickers. I hand painted the little island using various shades of brown, and added the sandy palm tree . To create the water, I painted that area dark blue then covered it with Mod Podge. Before it could dry I pressed and crumpled dark blue tissue paper all over the bottom, creating texture and layers. When it was done I sealed it all with Liquitex gloss varnish. This helps seal in the color and prevent any fading, since it will likely be exposed to sunlight hanging up in his room. I was very excited with how it turned out. I plan to add a coordinating ribbon for hanging.