Sunday Sketch, April 26th

I just love circles and have been playing with many different possibilities lately. I particularly love my trusty scalloped circles, but wanted to do something a little more interesting. Hope you have fun with this one.



My Little Shoebox has some AWESOME scalloped circles with their new products. This super cute and fun one is from the Enjoy Life line and made the perfect background for the park photos of my daughter. I just cut the scalloped circle in half and layered them to look like rolling hills. I also used my new Fiskars Apron Lace punch to mirror the scallops at the bottom of the page. Added a few journal tags and overlays to add some depth and interest and Voila - here is one example of my sketch. Thank you for stopping by - Liz

My Talented Friends

I am always amazed at what designers can do with my sketches. Featured below are two of my friends who never cease to amaze me with their work. I try to do an example layout with most of my sketches, but then when I see layouts like these, I get a little green with envy and wonder why didn't I think of that. LOL!!! I just adore these two ladies and what they create. Please see the April 19th sketch they used to make their layouts in the post below.


I just love how Pearl makes every layout look so eclectic and whimsical even though she is a master at placing every element perfectly with balance. Her blooms are always so remarkable and she uses just the right amount of contrast and texture with her layouts. Please visit Pearl's blog Paperfections for more inspiring work and ideas.


Debbi (aka Delusional1) took a totally different route and made something every bit as stunning. The bold, bright colors and radiant photo make this layout a pure knockout. I hope she is submitting this somewhere, because it is just perfection. Please visit Debbi's gallery at My Creative Scrapbook.

Thank you ladies for sharing your ideas - Liz

Sunday Sketch, April 19th

I was feeling the need to continue my quest with circles. I just LOVE them! When I first started to sketch, I always colored my flowers and then I got in the habit of just black and white, but I'm feeling like color again. Hope you find some inspiration for my sketch and thank you so much for stopping by.






I took this photo of my children playing on our deck with my new Canon Rebel (see "Out with the Old" post below). They are almost 5 years apart, but they love to be with each other. I'm so glad we had another baby, because I know they will always have one another when they get older.

These Basic Grey Sugared papers were the perfect color palette and texture for this photo. I love the reds, browns and pinks. I took a scalloped die cut from Bazzill and used one of my smallest EK Success Daisy punches to make the flower border in the scallops and then cut a large circle from the center to make a frame for the layout. I also just found these really cute red Tropical flowers from Bazzill. The large white Prima flower has little holes punched into it to give it a light airy effect, and I layered cardstock flourishes over the BG rubons to give more depth.

Sunday Sketch, April 12th

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate the holiday. This week's sketch is all about circles of various sizes and styles. I think the sketch could be fun for a boy or girl layout and gives you some options and a wide range of color palettes. Please see my example below in the Little Man Henry post. I've been playing with my Creative Memories circle cutter, which really beats the Cutter Bee hands down. My Cutter Bee circles are always a little misshaped and I find myself using a plate again LOL! I had actually been toying with the idea of buying some circle punches, but so glad I stuck with my CM cutter - it really got the job done. Have fun with this one!

Little Man Henry

My little boy is growing so fast and I need to make sure that I document his amazing journey. I have been so busy with raising this little guy and his sister, my full time job and design team work for My Creative Scrapbook, that I have not had the luxury of enjoying a good challenge on another site. So... this week I was "spying" on the Dream Girls blog and saw their AWESOME idea for Challenge #25, which inspired me to do this layout. Thank you so much to Dolores and Debbie for the little kick in the butt I needed to get moving and working on my little boy layouts. You ladies ROCK and Happy Anniversary!


Stay tuned for the sketch that goes with this layout. I will post it on Sunday, April 12th. Thank you for stopping by - Liz

More April Kits at MCS

Can I just say WOW for My Little Shoebox!!! I had the pleasure of working with these fantastic products in the April Album kit at My Creative Scrapbook. The My Neighborhood collection is about the cutest darn papers you have ever seen and I had a blast creating projects for the Design Team Gallery this month. Hurry to see if there are still kits available, because this little kitty is a must have!


I couldn't believe my luck when this paper line from MLS came along, because I've had these photos of my daughter for a couple years and the neighborhood theme is perfect.


Talk about getting some mileage out of this kit, I cut the sides off of the scalloped paper to add some interest in the positioning of the paper and then what luck when the scraps were the perfect size to add a little zest to my thank you card. TFL.

April Kits at My Creative Scrapbook

The April kits from My Creative Scrapbook are here and you will NOT be disappointed! The main kit is loaded with paper and embellishments from Bo Bunny, Zva, Creative Imagination, Melissa Frances and American Craft. There is so much to play with and the color palette is perfect for Spring. Here are a few examples. Click here to see the rest of the Design Team Gallery.


The die cut paper from Creative Imagination and pink crystals from Zva make this monochromatic layout pop. So many flowers, flourishes and alphas to play with.


This layout is based on my exclusive sketch that is included in the main kit. Please come by My Creative Scrapbook to join the monthly sketch challenge. You need only be a member to participate.

Sunday Sketch, April 5th

I had some fun with this sketch, because I wanted to do something a little different with circles and use the Creative Memories circle cutter I purchased for WAY TOO MUCH money. But alas...that circle cutter works so much better than my Cutter Bee. Hope you will have fun with flourishes, flowers and of course...butterflies (seems to be a staple around here, but always optional).


I took this photo of my daughter last summer after I bribed her to do a photo shoot. She really isn't that much of a drama queen, but this expression is priceless.

I also just picked up some of the new Basic Grey Marrakech papers and LOVE how they look! The colors are so brilliant and rich and the patterns are fun and versatile. Funny little bit of info, I am running out of my BG Wilma undressed letters, so now I am hacking up the remaining ones to make the letters I need. The P in this layout used to be an R. Oh well, I love this alpha and should probably order some more before BG discontinues them, but there are still a lot of letters to be morphed. The journal tag is a Maya Road Sheer and I used a flourish that my friend Debbie Danielson (a.k.a. Paperjunkie) made for me on her personal cutter. Just cut it up a bit to change the directions of the vines. Thank you Debbie!!!


This amazing layout is by my friend Lynn B. She used the April main kit at My Creative Scrapbook and my Sunday sketch to make this super fun layout. The butterflies are gorgeous and the photo is just perfect. A little funny for me is that I designed the sketch with butterflies and then forgot to put them on my layout...shame on me. You can find more of Lynn's beautiful creations at her blog Pretty Paper Swirls.

Out with the Old, In with the New

I am so excited that my new Canon Rebel camera arrived today! I have been waiting to purchase one for a while, because I think I have outgrown my Nikon COOLPIX. Can't knock it too hard though, because it is the camera that took the photo of my daughter and the rainbow in a post below. Nevertheless, I think I am ready for a bit more "power".


I took this photo of my new Rebel with my Nikon COOLPIX, which is 7.1 megapixels (not too shabby for a pocket camera), it's pretty clear, and of course the Rebel looks so handsome all in black, LOL!


Then I took the photo of my old Nikon with my brand new Canon Rebel, which is 10.1 megapixels (super cool) and I think you can notice a bit more clarity...and I did not use a flash - thank heavens. The brilliance though is in how the Rebel handles my shaky hands and helps me line up my shots. Stay tuned for more photos from my new camera pal.

I Sketch, Therefore I Am

Whewww - just updated my blog design...again. However, this time I created my banner from scratch. I've been teaching myself all kinds of html code breaking mumbo jumbo and trying out all kinds of digi products to make my blog the Cutest Blog on the Block. Then it just hit me...duh - I sketch and my banner should be one of my designs. You would think, these things would naturally occur to oneself, but when you are still regenerating the brain cells lost in pregnancy, it takes a while to recoup one's senses and practical thinking skills. Bottom line...I am happy with my new look. Thank you so much for stopping by.