CAS-UAL Chic Challenge #3

Hey y'all! Happy Friday. It's a bittersweet day around here. My niece is flying to South Africa today & will be there for a month & a half on a mission trip. I am so very proud of her, but we will all miss her bunches & I am a bit worried about her too. We will be counting down the days 'til she returns!

Today the newest challenge is up over at CAS-UAL Chic and it is to include something musical on your project.

 Here is my card:

 

 

I used the Cupid's Arrows stamp set from the store & the Heart Board Fri-Dies.

 

I also used some scrap sheet music paper along with a sentiment regarding music!

Be sure to play along with this challenge and link up on the blog for a chance at a fabulous prize!! 

Have a great weekend. I hope to be back soon!
Keep crafting!
~Stephanie

 

 

  

Use It Up Tuesday-Travel Often

Hey guys!
So baseball is behind us (Ty's team lost their first single elimination game Wednesday night) and now we have lots of free time to enjoy the rest of the summer!! And boy is it zooming by too quickly! I can not believe it is almost the middle of August! Ty's All Star team played amazingly well & most of the boys were heartbroken when they lost, but Ty seemed nonplussed! Glad he can take the wins &  the losses with dignity!

Before it is the middle of the month, I have to share the current sketch challenge at My Scraps & More Sketches, #111. This amazing sketch was created by Audrey:  



Here is what I created:

 

I used larger paper scraps from my stash. The blue/circle paper reminded me of the circles from the sketch so I figured it was a great way to duplicate the circles & use up some scraps!

 

 

The wood veneer globe is probably my favorite embellishment here! It is from Simple Stories' I Am collection. The "relax" chippie is from Crate Paper's On the Road collection.  My foam alphas are AC Thickers.

 

 

The "you are here" chippie is also from Crate Paper. The flower & "hey there" chipboard pieces are from My Mind's Eye and are very old! I have been hoarding them for years!! But, it's "Use It Up Tuesday" so I made sure to use some older supplies!

 

Bes ure to play along with this sketch & link up at the blog.  Here is what you could win for playing along:

    

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to be back soon. Tomorrow we are headed to a water park with family & friends!!

~Stephanie

 

 

New DT!

Hey y'all! I have been MIA for awhile, I know. Summer came at us in full swing & we just got home from vacation a few days ago. We are all missing the beach terribly now!

 

While we were away, some exciting news was announced over on the CAS-ual Chic blog.

  
 CAS-ual Chic is a brand new fun and inspirational challenge for those who love Utterly Adorable Layers in their design! It is a sister blog of CAS-ual Fridays and about a month ago, I received an email from Michelle asking me to join the team!  There is one challenge a month so you have plenty of time to play along. There are no product requirements and you can make anything  you choose-cards, layouts, PL spreads, etc. The DT will be using CAS-ual Friday stamps & dies & would love to see them in your projects if you have them!
The first challenge goes live tomorrow, so be sure to stop back by!
Have a great night!
~Stephanie

Loving My Life

Hey y'all. Is it hot where you are? It's supposed to reach 102* here today! That means that even the pool won't be refreshing. The oppressive heat is the one thing that I can't stand about summer! We will get through it, though. And next week we'll be at the beach so it will be fine!
We do  love to travel in the summertime & have many wonderful memories of fun family trips!
I have created a PL page to share some of  those memories.

 

This was a trip from 2010 when we went to Chincoteague. It was very relaxing & fun. We went on a dolphin tour, saw wild horses & as always, enjoyed time together!

 

All of my journal/PL cards are from We R Memory Keepers. And all of my flair buttons are from The Crafty Pickle.  I used the dragonfly from the Cute Bugs set and the bee, butterfly & bird from the Spring season collection.

 

 

 

The "travel often" wood frame is from Studio Calico.

The large flower is from Basic Grey. 

 

I love the flat back flair buttons! They are less bulky than most & fit nicely in my albums. And they are so darn cute!!

You an check out all the flair, & more, in the shop. 

 

Have a great day & stay cool!

~Stephanie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sneak A Peek

Hey y'all! Happy Sunday. Hope the weekend was a good one for ya'.
We had a great one-a Zac Brown concert with great friends, family dinner to celebrate our nephew's 18th birthday & Ty has his first baseball play-off game tonight.

I want to share with you a little sneak peek at the blog hop projects made by the designers at The Crafty Pickle:

Be sure to come back tomorrow morning to join us for the hop!

Have a great night. We are all excited to watch some Little League baseball now! Go Ironbirds!!
~Stephanie

Happy Birthday (A Couple Days Late)

Hey y'all! It's Monday again-man they come around fast!
My kids now only have 1 Monday of school left!! This year flew by!
May 30 was my husband's 44th birthday. We went to the school carnival & then went out to dinner with the family that night.
I made him this card:

I used all papers from my stash.

 

 

The chipboard frame & mustache are older pieces from Crate Paper. I lightly distressed the background paper with my distress inks & then added some black ink.

 

I hope he enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it for him!

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight.

Have a good one!

~Stephanie

 

Good Times-SOUS Sketch

Hey y'all! Hope this Thursday finds you well (& ready for the weekend)! I know I am ready to relax this weekend & do nothing (aside from attend Ty's first baseball game-weather permitting-& Leah's end of the season gymnastics lunch)!! I am wiped out from the last few weeks & want to hang low, enjoy time together & maybe watch some movies.

Today I am sharing my layout using the latest sketch over at Stuck On U Sketches . This fun & funky sketch was created by the fabulous Leah!  



Here is what I created:

 

I used the same placement for my photo & papers as the sketch. Everything shifted to the right side of the page & I love the look! I started with a spattering of gold mist on the white cardstock.

 

 

I grabbed my Notes & Things  6x6 paper pad from Crate Paper & layered a few pieces under my photo. I decided to place a heart shaped doily under my picture to replicate the heart from the sketch.

 

 

The camera is also from Crate Paper, the Close Knit collection, as is the dimensional heart.

 

 

The feathers are from Studio Calico and the "love this" arrow is also from Crate Paper.

 

We hope you find the time to play along with this fun sketch! Link up here if  you do. We love seeing your creations!

Thanks for stopping by today!!   

 Stay crafty xo

~Stephanie

Use It Up Tuesday (on Wednesday!)

Hey friends!! I know I am a day late sharing my UIUT post but yesterday was busy around here!

My daughter made the middle school gymnastics team & they FINALLY got to compete in their first meet yesterday evening! 3 meets were canceled due to snow & missed school days! What a way to start an already short season. But last's night meet was a tri-meet that lasted for 3 hours!!! The girls did great (even though their team came in third) & all worked well together & were fabulous supporters for each other. It's so great to see Leah as a part of a team & bonding with some new friends. She only competes in beam, & while she was so nervous, she placed third last night! We were so proud of her!!  

So, on to my layout! Last Monday night I attended my once a month scrap club (with a group of friends that I always look forward to seeing) & we began this page. I had to finish it up at home & this is what I created:

 

The papers were supplied by a friend in our group (I think they are from recollections?). I added some gold mist splatters to the white cardstock & placed some white tissue paper behind my photo.

 

I pulled out some older embellishments from my stash & started layering & adding!! The "party" chippie is from a pack of birthday-themed chipboard & is so old that I can not remember  the manufacturer! The silver doily is from Studio calico. I bent the edges of the banner pieces to give the page more dimension.

 

The flowers are from Prima & are, again, so old!! The date sticker is from Jenni Bowlin (a classic).

 

The cork tags above are from Scrapbook Circle & the flair is from Heidi Swapp. I placed a 9 (AC Thickers) on top of the star to note my daughter's ninth birthday. Her wish was to go to Great Wolf Lodge, so we took her best friend & my sister, brother-in-law & nephew went with us. It was a fun weekend getaway & she said it was "the best birthday ever"! That made it all worthwhile, even the fact that we got sick when we arrived home! Sweet memories were made for sure.

 

   

Thanks for visiting y'all!

Stay scrappy....

~Stephanie  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out 2 Dinner

Happy Sunday afternoon y'all! I hope everyone enjoyed Valentine's day!! We had a fun day here, which included watching my nephew's basketball game followed by breakfast at the kids favorite pharmacy/breakfast spot; Leah, my sister & I went to our county's high school regional gymnastics championships & were amazed at what  the girls could do! I then took Leah & two friends bowling while Ty went to my sister's to play (some more) with my nephew. We dropped Leah & her friend off at her friend's house, where they were having a sleepover & went to dinner with my sister & brother-in-law while my niece baysat the boys. While driving  home from dinner it started to snow & the wind was wild! It was pretty but a bit frightening too. We were fortunate (& so grateful) that we didn't lose our power!!
It was a nice Valentine's day, all in all. Since it is that time of year, I am trying to scrap older Valentine's Day photos! I used a sketch from My Scraps & More Sketches to create this page:

 

Here is the original sketch

 

 

I used Bella Blvd's Kiss Me collection here. It is absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day!!

 

Before I started layering papers, I added some gold mist to my cardstock. I also layered some white thread underneath my photo.

 

I cut many banners & used the sketch pretty literally.

 

 

I added in a few strips of washi tape at the bottom of my layout & my title in alpha stickers also from Bella Blvd. The metal "xo" is from Studio Calico.

 

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a great day!!

~Stephanie 

 

  

Bumper Cars-More Bella Blvd

Happy Hump Day y'all!
We got a small amount of sleet/freezing rain early this morning so the kids are at home today. There is a chance for more this afternoon but I am hoping that does not happen! They need to go back to school tomorrow- I need them to go back to school!

I have another layout to share using Bella Blvd's Lucky Starz collection.
For this one, I started with a sketch from My Scraps & More Sketches.

I started with white cardstock & splattered some black mist. The triangles were cut from a piece of BB paper. I like the way they give the page a feeling of movement.  

 

 

 The chipboard pieces here are from UmWow Studio.

 

 My alpha stickers are also from Bella Blvd & the acetate word diamonds are from Studio Calico.

  

The cork "way to go" phrase is by Scrapbook Circle.

These photos were taken in spring of 2010 at an area amusement park. Ty & my nephew LOVED the bumper cars that year & rode them numerous times this day! They had so much fun & created great memories! I wish they could have stayed that little!      

Thanks for visiting! I so appreciate it!
Create on!!
Stephanie

Winter Wonderland-SOUS Sketch

Hey y'all! Happy 2015! It's a cold one here today. The low was 10* & the high is only supposed to be 27*! We are in the throes of winter!!
I am here today to share my layout using the first sketch of the New Year over at Stuck On U Sketches! It's a fabulous one  too, created by Leah. Have a look:



And here is my layout:

I loved this line from Teresa Collin's, Santa's List. And I have been hoarding it for a year now!! Time to use it up & make room for new holiday collections! I wanted to keep the focus on this fun patterned paper, but took the circle elements & snowflakes from the sketch. I also used the picture & title placement from the sketch as well.

I pulled out my Martha Stewart Arctic snowflake punch and my Marvy large snowflake punch to create more snowflakes on my page.

 All the stickers here are from Teresa Collins.

 The gold doily came from Studio Calico. I love the shimmer it lends to my layout!

This is a pretty straight forward, simple page but I wanted the photos to play star here. They are of Ty & my nephew being pulled in a sled  through the snow one winter's day. They were just itty bitty & had so much fun in the "winter wonderland"!

 

We hope you get the chance to play along with this fun sketch. We love seeing your creations! Be sure to  link up with the current sketch on the blog.

 

Have a wonderful day, y'all!! Brrr! Hope you are staying warm.

~Stephanie

Happy 2015!

Happy (belated) New Year friends! I know I am a few days late but things got busy around here. We had a great time at our friends' wedding on New Year's Eve, despite being separated from the kids. They had fun at their aunt & uncle's house & went to the movies & had ice cream at 11:30 at night!

On New Year's day, we had a Christmas gift exchange with our neighbors & then brought in the New Year with collards & hopping john for good luck. We then went to my brother & sis-in-law's house for chili & to watch some football with family.

On the second, we traveled to Arlington National cemetery to visit my hubby's parents' graves. The cemetery looked so pretty & tranquil with a wreath on every grave.  

 
 From there we hopped over to the National Harbor to see all the decorations, have lunch & ride the Capital Wheel. That was an adventure! I felt sick for the rest of the day!! We met my sister, brother-in-law & nephew there also.

We had dinner in Olde Town Alexandria before heading home. It was a fun-filled day & A nice getaway.

 

The kids headed back to school yesterday & that was an adjustment! Ty told me yesterday afternoon that during school his brain was not working right! Too many days of playing & electronics will do that to a kid. Glad they are back on their regular schedules now!

 

I wanted to thank you all for being a part of my life via this blog. It means a lot to have followers here & the comments you send warm my heart! thanks for sticking around & here's to hoping 2015 is an amazing year for y'all!

Cheers!

~Stephanie