CK Spooktacular!

October is fast-approaching, much to the delight of my two little Spooks...they adore Halloween & can be found wearing their costumes throughout most of the month!
So needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I have a bounty of costumed photos each year to scrap.

On that note, I'm THRILLED to have two Spooky layouts associated with the October issue of CK!  One in the magazine, and one in an online how-to article.  You can check out the online CK article HERE...I'd be so grateful if you'd check it out & leave me some love!  :)

To keep the Halloween theme going, here's a layout I made using Authentique Paper's new Glowing collection:

Perfect for a page showing my 2 little witches & their heavy bags full of loot.

Aren't those scalloped-circle alphas great?!  And I love the spooky-themed quote accents:

Here's a close-up of the folded harlequin banner.  I scored the diamond cut-outs an 1/8" above the middle, so the orange front-fold of the banner would have a slight border behind it:

I have to admit, this year, I'm kind of feelin' the fun Halloween vibe, & liking it!

Peach Crop Time!

As we transition into Autumn here in the U.S., many of us have been in back-to-school, back-to-scheduled-life mode for a few weeks...and over at Sweet Peach Crop Shop, we are enjoying the change with a Back-to-School Crop & Hop!

 

You have till Wednesday Oct. 5, 2011 to complete the challenges. You can take on just one challenge during the crop or all 10. You will get an entry for every challenge you complete. You are playing for a 3 Month Subscription to Sweet Peach crop Shop!

The first challenge is my sketch challenge:

For my example, I worked with the September Juicy Kit:

Now that school is back in session & my kids' free time is severely lessened, they are really enjoying & maximizing their weekend playtime.  So last Saturday, I found them setting up a "free lemonade" stand on the kitchen table, complete with signs, sugar cubes, and lots of full cups of homemade lemonade.

I've used this green Prima packaging several times on layouts, but I think this is my favorite:

Please come join us at the Sweet Peach BLOG for all the fun! 

Sweet Peach Sketch Time!

As I post this Sweet Peach sketch, I'm eating fresh peaches, yum...
gotta love farmer's market season!

My first September sketch is all about the tags & distressing:

Using the Sweet Peach Juicy Kit , featuring the SEI Corinne collection, here's my layout:

Using my paper-trimmer, I fringed the perimeter of the layout, then masked & misted it:

I had fun with lots of distressing & stitching, and customized the color of the lace trim from the kit:

Love seeing that Disney-joy on my kids' faces...also love creating Disney layouts without themed products...this SEI line was bright, happy, and perfect for our family Disney photo.

If you'd like to play along for a chance at a $10 Sweet Peach Crop Shop gift certificate, please link your layout to the Sweet Peach blog sketch post by September 19th.

Mistable Play...

As an art-medium lover, you KNOW one of the first CHA items I HAD to order was the Pink Paislee Mistables collection!
Such fun to play with, here's my first layout (another of MANY more Oregon beach layouts, lol) using my favorite of the new patterns, the lattice-resist:

For the background I used Tattered Angles Patina & Studio Calico Piglet...LOVED how the two colors blended to created a periwinkle/purple shade in certain spots.

The new Mistable canvas borders frayed & took color beautifully...added MME alpha & brads, a Crate sticker, & a few Prima butterflies to finish it off.

Goodbye August, Hello Change...

Not gonna lie, letting go of August has been an especially tough one this year for me...saying goodbye to carefree Summer days, & saying goodbye to my girls each morning as they both head to full-day school:

A new life-phase that is bittersweet...trying to take it all in, to be patient with myself & my kids while we navigate this new daily schedule together.  Part of me is jumping up & down with the thought of all this more compartmentalized time, & part of me realizes that for REAL I don't have little kids @ home any more;  Time keeps marching...   They DO look adorable in their little uniforms, though, don't they?! :)

In scrappy news, I'm looking forward to more regular posting here on the blog.  To start, here is Get Picky's gorgeous August Inspiration Challenge:

I LOVE scrapping with yellow, but somehow rarely do, so I decided on a monochromatic layout, to complement the blue sky in my beach photos:

Taking inspiration from the center photo of flourished white flowers, I added the large white doily & the wet-embossed yellow swirl stamp:

With a cue from the scattered-petal photo, I added scattered medallion circles & yellow flower buttons:

Man, I wish I were back at the beach!

To participate in this challenge, link your layout HERE.
You could be next month's guest designer, OR win this My Little Shoebox prize: