Been MIA

Where have I been???  

To make a long story short, it has been a long August of being busy with my "real" job as an educator.  What do I do you may ask, since most teachers are on vacation in August?  I am what you would call an instructional coach and I essentially teach teachers.  August is our Super Bowl month of preparing for teachers to return to school and we spend a lot of time conducting trainings for our school district's vision.  I also work with Brand New teachers and get to train them on the stuff that new teachers should know.  Anyway....my job sometimes gets in the way of my hobby, which I absolutely hate.  But, what can you do???  Scrapping is not a sustainable living where I come from - one can only dream...  Now that it is September, I am BACK!!!  Yeah - bet you never thought I would ever tell you this much about my real life - hee, hee.  Below is a little bit of Nikki Sivils to share to make it up to you :)

I want to share some of Nikki Sivils gorgeous Tree Love collection.  Being a Colorado girl, these are some of my very favorite papers and embellishments and perfect for the camping trip we took to Rocky Mountain National Park in July.  My son is such a little stinker, that I had to scrap some of his expressions.  For this layout, I added a little red spray mist to warm up the color palette and to add interest.  I also used some of Nikki's awesome sticker letters along with a larger foam alphabet for the title and stuck one of her burlap buttons to finish it off.

You can see the misting in this photo and how well the sticker letters look with the larger black foam letters.  I also love her sticker journal tags and used a black gel pen to write on it.

The burlap buttons make a a great embellishment anywhere you want to arrange them.  I used these to finish of the squared look I had created with the 6x6 patterned paper.  Aren't they adorable???


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Sunday Sketch and Guest Designers

This is the first sketch for September and it may look a little familiar, because I took one of my favorite sketches and revised it for a fresh look and more photos. I know you are going to love what the guest designers did with it. I will post the August Challenge winner this week and post the September challenge early next week.

Sheila Danforth is the featured designer this week and I am loving what she did with her nostalgic version of the sketch. Here is a little bit about her, "I live in Wisconsin. I have 2 Beautiful daughters and am expecting a Grandson within the next few weeks. My favorite things to do in my spare time are scrapbooking, gardening and exploring antique shops."

This is what Sheila had to say about working with the sketch this week, "I really enjoyed working with this Amazing sketch, I Love flowers and bling so this sketch was perfect for me. I used lots of Prima flowers, bling and paper,some Creative Imaginations IOD paper, beautiful lace ribbon and a dusty attic ornate corner. I didn't have 3 photos I wanted to use but I had this adorable 5x7 of my girls that I had taken at a local scrapbook store a couple of years ago. I stayed pretty true to the sketch because the minute I saw it I was in Love. Liz's sketches make scrapbooking so much fun, I am very grateful to have been chosen to design for her. "

Close Ups of Sheila's Work

Please visit Sheila's blog Luv 2 Scrap for more information about her and details about her work.

Julia Short is back for her third guest spot with another stunning layout to share. I love this photo of her daughter Sandie Vincent and her granddaughter. Here is what Julia had to say about the working with my sketches this year, "I want to say a big thank you for having me as part of the guest design team this year. I have so enjoyed working with Liz's sketches and feel privileged and honoured to have worked with her."

Please visit Julia's blog On Top of the Scrap Heap for more information about her and details about her work.

Beatriz Guzman is also back again this week with another bright and sassy version of the sketch. She also used some of her Paper Poppy kits to create this layout. WTG Beatriz! Here is what she had to say about the working with the sketch, "One of the many reasons I love this sketch is because of the multiple pictures in one page. My daughter is taking photography lessons and she had a "practice session" with me! So this sketch was just perfect! I followed the sketch pretty much throughout the page. I am crazy about Liz' swirls, flowers and butterflies!!!!"

Please visit Beatriz's blog Amazing Grace for more information about her and details about her work.

Thank you so much for stopping by -

Sunday Sketch and Guest Designers

This week's sketch is the last sketch for the August challenge.  Hope you all have fun with it.  It has been such a crazy month for me and I am sooooooo far behind on my blog (in case you haven't noticed).  I'll get caught up again soon :)  But now for the wonderful guest designers.

Rozella Meijer-Kern is the featured guest designer this week,  She created a really beautiful layout to share with all of you, but first here is a little about her, "I'm Rozella Meijer-Kern and I live in the Netherlands. I am married to my husband Peter and we have two beautiful girls Lysanne and Julia. I discovered scrapbooking a few years ago and have been addicted ever since. Through scrapbooking I keep my memories alive but above all I get to be creative. I love using lots of flowers and bling. Mostly I love to create scrapbook pages and I have been published in various magazines and serve on several design teams. I am honored and excited for the opportunity to be part of Liz's guest designers.

 Here is a what Rozella had to say about working with the sketch this week, "I used the sketch as base, but made some changes.  One thing is I moved the title above the picture. This is my youngest daugther in the summer of 2009. Her hair is almost white. Instead of circles, I used prima flowers and some bling from ZVA Creative. My pictures used were a little too big, so I had to improvise with the sketch.

Close Ups of Rozella's Work

Please visit Rozella's blog Scrap ala Rose for more information about her and details about her work.

Teresa Fenstermacher is back again this week with her amazing design.  Here is what she had to say about working with my sketch, "Once again, I completely enjoyed working with Liz's sketch. My layout went together like a dream. I love how Liz puts so many layers in her sketches yet they have very clean lines. The addition of the circle is perfect. I stayed true to the sketch with the exception of using one photograph instead of two because this adorable picture of my grandson had to take center stage! The papers I used are from the Fancy Pants "Like Father Like Son" line. When you have a sketch with this many layers, it is nice to be able to go to one paper line to get 3 or 4 different patterns that coordinate so you can layer them up. Thanks Liz for another awesome sketch and for the opportunity to design for you!"

Please visit Teresa's blog Teresa Jaye is Here to Play for more information about her and details about her work.

Pat Bishop is also back again this week with another of her wonderful designs.  She said this about working with the sketch this week, "For this layout, I used Cosmo Cricket's Over Easy,  and Bazzill cardstock. I also cut scalloped circles and embossed them to kind of look like tires to mirror the ones in the photos. I kept the layout pretty much the same as the sketch with just a few added embellishments."

Please visit Pat's blog A Scrappin' Nana for more information about her and details about her work.


Thank you so much for stopping by -

Sunday Sketch and Guest Designers

I thought it would be fun to play with circles again...I've gotten a little square lately. LOL! I love what the guest designers did with the sketch this week. This sketch is also eligible for the August Sketch Challenge.

Michelle Unruh makes her third appearance as a guest designer this week and I am in love with her layout. I couldn't have imagined how beautiful this sketch would translate, but she sure did! Here is what she had to say about working with it, "Liz's sketches are always so easy to use. This is a great sketch that flows so well, and I really just followed it pretty tightly. I feel like the layout put itself together!!! LOL Because, it came together really quickly. " Isn't she a sweetie???

Please visit Michelle's blog Happenings on this Side of the River for more information about her and details about her work.

Sandie Vincent also makes her third appearance this week and I just love the contrast between she and Michelle's projects. One is so bright and cute and Sandie's is so perfectly grungy and adult. I absolutely love what she created. Here is what she had to say about working with the sketch, "I was so inspired by the circles in this sketch, I love working with circles and knew that this was perfect for the papers that I'd been saving to scrap my new camera! Instead of having a circular layout, I used the main circle as the focus for my layout and layered my papers as per the sketch, and adding cameras instead of flowers and flourishes! I also moved the position of my title as I had used a quotation as one of my strips. I just love working with sketches, you can't beat a kickstart to your inspiration!!!"

Please visit Sandie's blog All Scrapped Out for more information about her and details about her work.

Thank you so much for stopping by -