Sunday Sketch January 29th

It's time for another sketch!  If you have a lot of little journal cards or ticket cards lying around, this is the sketch for you.  However, you can use any kind of patterned paper to create the same effect.

This is a page I created with Little Yellow Bicycle's Saturdays Collection.  The mix of Denim, Red and Cream is soooooooo cool.  It makes a great collection for both male a female pages.  This is my husband driving a boat on a lake near our home.  We had a great time and yes, it was a Saturday.

The title is a combination of Wonder & Wishes corrugated letters, My Little Shoebox Mini Alphabet Stickers and Saturdays Chipboard Pieces.

Like most of the Little Yellow Bicycle Collections, there is a Paper Flower Kit with this one.  The detailing on the flowers is really pretty and they even look good on a masculine page.

The Tear Out Tickets make a great layer of "patterned paper."  I layered an embossed Fresh Verse Sticker over them for extra journaling.

Hope you find some creativity from this sketch and please drop me a link so I can come by and admire.

Thank you for stopping by!

Little Yellow Bicycle NEW Swoon Collection

Did you know that Little Yellow Bicycle has released a GORGEOUS wedding collection?  It is called Swoon and I am smitten with it.  I know black and white collections can seem like a challenge, but this one has so many shade of gray, that it will easily capture all of you memories with beauty and ease.

I love all of the little stickers and chipboard pieces that come with this collection.  Makes it easy to add a sentiment to your page design.

I used some of my Martha Stewart butterfly punches to add to the theme of butterflies in the collection.  Love how this collection hits all the shades of black, white, cream and gray.  Makes my little butterfly stand out in this cluster.

It rained just a bit on our wedding day, but it made for beautiful photos and some good luck at the beginning of our marriage that still continues to thrive.

I also created a Swoon mini album to go with this page, but I will share the rest of this little album a bit later, just wanted you to see some more of the gorgeous papers and the paper flower kit.  Both of these projects will be in the Little Yellow Bicycle booth at CHA.  Hope you will stop by and say hello to our team.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new sketch and some more Little Yellow Bicycle.

Thank you for stopping by!

BRAND New Awesome Collection from Simple Stories

Yesterday was all about Fabulous and today is all about AWESOME, the new all boy collection from Simple Stories.  What more could you want than awesome green, browns and oranges, awesome stars and awesome motorcycles and guitars???  It's just so... well - awesome.   I think it is perfect for my "awesome" son and will probably make a cool page of my "awesome" guitar-playing husband.  It's going to be an awesome year at Simple Stories if you KWIM - LOL,

The sentiments in this collection on the cardstock sticker sheets totally crack me up.  This one was so perfect for my little guy.

Thought it would be fun to make a little flag out of the cardstock sticker sentiments to ride on the back of the motorcycle.  A little twine finishes off the look - even though I know the twine does not look "tough."

 

I am becoming addicted to flag trios.  I plan to share a few more CHA projects this week with lots of flags, I think I have run out of my toothpick stash, but I really love these "sandwich" toothpicks because they have flat sides and the tops are rounded and perfect for scrapbooking.

Please visit the Simple Stories blog for a chance to win this colleciton. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

BRAND New Fabulous Collection from Simple Stories

Simple Stories has a brand new collection called Fabulous and it is for all the girls in your lives.  Can you say fabulous gingham, fabulous pink and fabulous flowers, because that is what this collection is all about!  I couldn't be happier with a collection so fun to create pages about my "fabulous" daughter.  Might even make a "fabulous" page about myself...you get the point - LOL.

You can't really have fabulous without a bit of twine and miniature clothespins.  These are such fun colors to create with.  Please visit the Simple Stories blog for a look at the entire collection and a chance to win this collection in a drawing.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Sunday Sketch January 22nd

Is it hectic around your house?  I just finished off the last of my CHA projects today and will be popping them in the mail tomorrow, headed for Anaheim.  And...because the trade show is just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to make a sketch with one of my projects for Little Yellow Bicycle's Paradise Collection.  I like the idea of color blocking and using as many patterned papers as you can while still keeping the design relatively simple.  So take a look in your stash to find at least three or four different patterned papers that compliment each other perfectly.

I created this page of a visit with some of my girlfriends to San Diego.  I thought the sentiments of the cardstock stickers perfectly captured the occasion.  I also highlighted the Flower Kit and dressed it up with LYB Jewel Stickers.

I just love how adding a few pop dots to the cardstock stickers makes them jump off the page.  The "free" sentiment paired with the bird sticker shows how my friends and I "left" our families at home so we could enjoy a girls weekend out.

Thank you for stopping by and let me know what you think or do with this one!

Simple Stories Facebook Fan Blog Hop and Design Team Call

We are so excited to participate in our first official Simple Stories Facebook Fan Blog Hop!  How did we come up with this idea you might ask???  We love our fans and we wanted to find a way to include them in more of what we do.  So...we asked them to be available for a special announcement and gave them a time and the first 7 fans to respond were invited to join us. How fun is that?

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and I thought it would be fun to use the Simple Stories Generations collection to make a card for the holiday.  The bingo cards are so fun to add to a project and usually they come in 4 x 6 sizes, but I cut this one out of the 6x6 patterned papers to get the 2 x 3 card instead, which was a perfect center for my large paper banner.

Sometimes all you need is a bit of velvet twine and a good looking button to make an interesting element on a card.  Pop dots elevate the heart cardstock sticker that matches the tiny one in the center of the bingo card.

There is also a VERY exciting announcement over on the Simple Stories Blog.  I know many of you have been wondering when we would do a Design Team Call and now is the time!  We are looking to expand our little design team with more people who love Simple Stories as much as we do.  Be sure to hop back to the Simple Stories blog for all the information!

If you are just arriving and would like to hop along our Facebook Fan Blog Hop Trail, here is the order of the hop.  We know the hop is a little long, but please leave a comment for all of our fans, they have a little challenge going on with the comments and there will be prize possibilities for those who leave a little love.

1.            Simple Stories

 

2.            Martha Saenz

 

3.            Simple Stories design team member,  KimHolmes

 

4.             Amanda Albright

 

5.            Cindy Pittman

 

6.            Simple Stories design team member,  Emily Pitts 

 

7.            Sara O’Shea

 

8.            Simple Stories design team member,  Allison Landy

 

9.            Kate Blue

 

10.         Simple Stories design team member, Wendy Morris

 

11.          Naomi Armenta

 

12.          Michelle Brekke

 

13.          Simple Stories design team member, Liz Qualman - You are Here!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!!

Monthly Sketch Challenge at Little Yellow Bicycle

Hope you will jump into the monthly sketch challenge over at Little Yellow Bicycle this month.  I'll post the sketch here, but you can click on this LINK to see the sketch challenge details, rules and few other examples of the sketch.  I had to use the BRAND NEW Paradise Collection from LYB.  I love the mix of earthy greens and browns combined with a pop of pink.  It's almost as if they had my little "paradise" in mind with her style and sense of color - LOL

I had to add some flowers, been missing those lately. The Paper Flower Kits in the LYB collections are a perfect match.

This little "happy" banner is actually part of the Favorite Pieces cardstock stickers.  I just pop dotted and added some twine for effect.  Then I layered on the smaller letter stickers to finish the sentiment.

I love to use the Tear Out Tickets for my journal spots.  On this one, I actually cut the 4x6 ticket in half to make it fit the sketch.  You probably didn't even notice - LOL.


Please come join us - you can use any LYB collection you like - and you all know how much I love to see what you do with my sketches.

Have a wonderful day!

Sunday Sketch January 15th

It's another Sunday and time for another sketch.  I know this one is a little simple, but I am sure a few of you will take it over the top with ideas for embellishment and I know some of you will have fun with the simple design - so all is good.  I have to tell you that it makes me happy to regularly share sketches again - 2011 was such a busy year for me and I kinda want to get back to my roots.  I also cannot believe how many of you have shared links to your projects with me.  Please keep them coming!  I really get a lot of joy seeing what people do with my sketches and I have always been a proponent of sharing my sketches with no strings attached.  Thanks for leaving me a link to your pages so I can drop by and admire your wonderful work....seriously!

If you do not regularly visit the Adornit blog - you are missing out on some serious inspiration.  Not only does Adornit still create quality scrapbook supplies, but they have moved into the quilting industry too and the women in the family are so talented.  I just love everything they do.  Please stop by and tell them I sent you!  When I saw Adornit's Circle of Friends collection, I knew I had to use the gorgeous pink paper on my project with my sassy little daughter.  It looks so bright and fun and a nice compliment to these photos.   Since there was no friend in the picture I decided to mix and match collections. I cut off the bottom of the Circle of Friends patterned paper and added it to the blue striped patterned paper from the Photo Girls collection. Then I added the “whatever” sentiment from the Girly Glam cardstock stickers

When was the last time you used clear stickers? ADORNit makes some of the best and they have so many different themes that there is a lot to choose from.. The flowers and the words “sweet” and “adorable” are from the Princess Clear Stickers. They added just the right amount of pizazz to the project. Then I tied on some of ADORNit’s Squiggle Ribbon. It is so cute and there is just a tad of glitter on the stitching on the ribbon, BUT, since it is what I call “responsible glitter” because it does not come off and get all over you!

I also had to include some of the tiny alphabets and used the Multi Reds Tiny Alpha to weave my title. I also added some pink and purple flowers from the Princess Foam Stickers. This is such a happy page and it was fun to mix and match all of the wonderful collections and embellishments.

ADORNit Products:
Circle of Friends collection – Circle of Friends patterned paper
Photo Girls collection – Photo Smiles patterned paper
Multi Reds Tiny Alpha
Foam Stickers – Princess
Clear Stickers – Princess
Cardstock Stickers – Girly Glam
Cardstock Stickers – Princess Dreams
Ribbon – Squiggle in Turquoise

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Sunday Sketch January 8th

Back again with a Sunday Sketch.  This sketch is kind of a fun mess, but I think it gives many opportunities to journal and try different elements.  I sure you could turn or flip it for a fun effect too.  You could even break the 5 x 7 photo up into a couple of photos.  The sky is the limit, so have fun!

I created this page with the Simple Stories Year.o.graphy collection, which is really, really fun to work with.  You could scrapbook almost every even in a year with this collection.  I also love how Simple Stories created some very cool basic papers like this ledger paper for my background.  I simply sprayed and dripped it with mist to introduce more of the red in the background to emphasize my son's rosy cheeks.  Then I use a combination of journal cards and journal spots, along with cardstock stickers to embellish.

 

Pop dots have a remarkable effect on cardstock stickers.  You can give them so much dimension with just a little foam that it transforms these inexpensive embellishments into something very special.  Although, I did not add it here, just a bit of twine tied onto a sticker is another way to dress them up.

This is a combination of the Simple Stories 12 x 12 Expresssions Cardstock stickers.  I used the to make this fun title and subtitle.  I love the different letter cases in the red mini alphabets.  I think Simple Stories has really created a product that can make a complete page without needing a lot of extras.  Except for the mist, black gems and floss, this page is all Simple Stories Year.o.graphy.

We had a blog swap with the Glue Arts team this week, please be sure to visit both the Simple Stories blog and the Glue Arts blog for some wonderful projects by both design teams.

Thank you so much for stopping by and please let me know if you use the sketch so I can stop by and admire your work!  I ALWAYS love to see how people interpret my sketches and many times their pages turn out so much better than mine - LOL.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sunday Sketch - 2012!

Happy New Year!  2012 is going to awesome and to kick it off right, Sunday Sketches are back! I made a resolution to be more consistent in posting my sketches where everyone can expect to see them on a regular basis, so be sure to check in each Sunday for a new sketch and some inspiration or become a follower so you get a reminder when the sketches post.  Check the gallery HERE for more sketches.

My son is such a ham.  He thought it would be fun to throw snowballs at me while I was taking the photos, so I had to do some handy photo work to avoid a mishap with my camera.  I love his little Carthart jacket and how warm it looks.  When I was thinking of this design, I thought it reminded me of Kraft paper, so for this page, I mixed Little Yellow Bicycle's Winter Twig collection with My Mind's Eye's Fun Day - Everyday Fun collection.

I love the way the blue looks against the grungy kraft color.  And that plaid paper from Winter Twig is one of my very favorites!   I added a Fresh Verse sentiment from LYB to the MME Layered Sticker.  Then I included one of the Winter Twig Clear Cut Shapes for more interest.

How cute are these wooden banners from MME?  They add just the right texture and sentiment to a page.  I love how the warm wood grain looks against the icy blue color in the patterned paper.

Did you know that Little Yellow Bicycle made a chipboard alphabet for the Winter Twig collection?  I am always happy when manufacturers include an alphabet with a collection - keeps the industry fresh and unique instead of relying so much on one brand of letters (if you know what I mean).  I finished the title with some of My Little Shoebox's Mini Alphabet Stickers.

I hope your 2012 is filled with all kinds of new and exciting adventures.  Thank you so much for stopping by!