My Creative Sketches: Bring Your Own Sunshine

To enter the Little Yellow Bicycle giveaway, please see this post.

I'm not sure if I have ever made a scrapbook page that was predominantly yellow before, but this photo of my little boy offering up some daffodils called for yellow. Yes, it did. 

I love the happy colors in the Park Bench collection from Fancy Pants Designs. It was just the burst of sunshine I needed. The little decorative bags that are part of the new Fancy Pants collections are so cute. The starry bag here was a perfect pop of color and provide a great spot for hidden journaling. 

My layout design is based on the new April sketch at My Creative Scrapbook. 

I followed the sketch pretty closely, but omitted the banner and the vertical strips.  To balance the page, I added small elements to the top and bottom of the right side.  

Here's a side-by-side view of the sketch and layout:

A great prize is up for grabs if you play along with the sketch challenge. You can find all the details here.

Giveaway: There's still time to enter the drawing for the Little Yellow Bicycle prize here on my blog. The prize is from the super cute new Fern and Forest collection.  Details in the post below. Be sure to comment in that post to enter. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.  

Brrr Winter: January Sketch Challenge

Every time I use a sketch, I think: why aren't I using more sketches?  It's really wonderful to have a jumping off point for my design, even if the sketch is more of an inspiration than a direct map for my layout. 

I used the January sketch from My Creative Sketches for this winter page:

I love Winterings, this pretty, new line from Little Yellow Bicycle. It has such a soft color palette that's easy to use. It was perfect for my photo. 

This snowman cluster at the bottom was fun to make.  I pop-dotted the snowman sticker and added a twine scarf around his neck. 

Here's a closeup of the title area. 

This is the new sketch by My Creative Sketches. You can see the influence of the original sketch on my layout, but I did take a few artistic liberties. 

We'd love to have you join us for the new sketch challenge. As always, there's a wonderful prize up for grabs (see photo below).  You can find all the details on the My Creative Sketches blog. 

Christmas Carriage Ride: My Creative Sketches

During the holidays last year, we visited to the Billy Graham Library one evening and it was beautiful in every way: a pastoral hideaway in the busy city. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the hills and valleys, alive with lights and music from carolers.  It was a night to remember and I captured a nice photo of my folks with my son.

I used the photo on this layout, following the new December sketch by My Creative Sketches. My paper and embellishments are from the Once Upon A Christmas line by Little Yellow Bicycle and this project is featured today on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog. I love the elegance and traditional holiday colors of the collection and thought they worked perfectly.

To make the cluster in the upper-right hand corner, I used a mix of chipboard and stickers and stitched a red "hanger" for the ornaments. 

This is the sketch I used:  

We'd love to have you play along.  You can find all the details on the My Creative Sketches blog.  The challenge runs through January 14 and there's a great prize up for grabs.

My Creative Sketches: A Fall Day

In the South, we don't always have a true Fall. Sometimes, we have more of an Indian summer and a mild winter with some falling leaves in between. I long to visit New England this time of year to see what Fall is really all about.

But we do have a pretty vista year-round at the lake house and I snapped this photo of the boys on a visit there in November 2010.

I used Little Yellow Bicycle collections on this page, a combination of Acorn Hollow and Escape. Love how well the two lines work together.  The journaling spot tucked under the photo is Elle's Studio with a little May Arts ribbon stitched on as a pull tab.

Here's a closeup of the embellishment cluster at the top:

This layout was based on the new November sketch at My Creative Sketches. 

We'd love to have you play along and there is a great prize up for grabs. You have until Dec. 14 to link your work.  You can find all the details here on the My Creative Sketches blog.

We also have new two specials to announce at My Creative Scrapbook. First, the November and December kits can be made as a one-time purchase for a gift.  The second special is a new referral program. If a member refers a customer who signs up for a 3-month membership, the member will receive Prima Flowers and an additional gift. Please visit the My Creative Scrapbook blog for details.

Happy Autumn Days - Sketch Challenge

Every year, the theme park in our state has a Halloween outing for kids.  The park does a spooky event at night for adults, but during the day, it's family friendly. Events include trick-or-treating from park characters and picking your own pumpkin from the patch.

For Cory, any outing that involves the plastic pumpkin is a good one as he associates it with candy.  When we went to the park's pumpkin patch, I tried to convince Cory to leave his plastic pumpkin in the stroller so he could pick a real pumpkin.  But as you can see, that didn't happen.  

For this layout, I used Simple Stories, mostly Harvest Lane with a little bit of Fabulous and Awesome thrown in.  I used paper both from 12x12 sheets and a 6x6 paper pad.  I love the smaller patterns on the 6x6, especially the little journaling cards like the title block, "Autumn Days."  

To color the doily, I used spray mist from October Afternoon.  It gives great coverage and dries quickly.  The kraft leaf below it is from the dollar spot at Target. I just added a little ink and stitching and it was perfect for my page.

Here's a closeup of the embellishment cluster on the bottom left. At first, I had just the tree and fence there and they looked a little lonely. So I added the house, which balanced it more.  For a decorative touch, I added a bit of orange/brown twine around the tree from Trendy Twine.

The layout is based on the new sketch by My Creative Sketches for our monthly challenge. 

The sketch challenge starts today and runs through Nov. 15. We'd love to have you play along and we have a great prize for the winner, chosen by random draw.  You can find all the details on the My Creative Sketches blog. 

My Creative Sketches: Jillibean Macho Nacho

When my son was 2, we entered a contest and won 4 passes to see The Muppets, the sweet and joyful movie version that came out late last year.  It was my son’s first trip to the cinema.  For him, it was a fun outing with popcorn!  For me, it was pure nostalgia: Kermit, Miss Piggy and all the rest. Sigh.  Jim Henson was a genius.

Being a scrapbooking mama, I considered bringing my “big camera” along but thought that might be a bit over the top for our local cinema.  So, I used my iphone instead to snap a couple photos.

For this layout, I used Jillibean Soup’s fun Macho Nacho line. I love the paper with the TV icons. So cute!  And perfect for this page since The Muppets started as a television show. I tried to use the big circle to echo the idea of a film reel or old movie camera.  The TV sticker is from October Afternoon.  I added a couple brads for knobs then pop dotted it on the layout.

The layout is based on this sketch from My Creative Sketches.

This is the new sketch for September and is part of a four-week challenge that kicks of today and ends October 14.  There’s a terrific prize for the winner (see below).  The winner will be chosen by random draw on October 15.  Just link up your page to enter.  

We’d love to have you play along. You can find all the details here on the My Creative Sketches blog.

Using Sketches and Bella Blvd: Sweet!

On our beach trip this year, the boys would relax every afternoon with a popsicle on the deck. I don't know if it was their favorite part of the day, but it was ours.  They were finally quiet and sitting still for five minutes! After we got home, Cory decided that we needed to stock our fridge with popsicles and they have become a staple now in the house. It's hard to resist a summer treat.

I used Bella Blvd's Sunshine and Happiness collection for this page with a little bit of Baby Boy. The two collections work great together. 

Here's a closeup of the top of the page:

The layout is based on the new August sketch at My Creative Sketches.

This sketch was really fun to use and adapt. I made the title square on the left into a long pennant, clustered the other squares closer together and used a butterfly trail rather than the flower swirl.  You can see all the different ways the design team interpreted the sketch on the blog.  

This sketch is for our monthly challenge, which starts today and runs through Sept. 14.  Add your interpretation to be entered for a great prize. Winners will be announced Sept. 15.  You can find all the details here.

Simple Stories: My Creative Sketches

Last year, Simple Stories' 100 Days of Summer was one of my favorite collections. I have been eyeing the new summer collection ever since it was announced in April.  Summer Fresh is such a fun mix of denim, burlap, florals and bright colors with a down-home feel.  I love it.  

I used Summer Fresh on this page of my little one at 13 months.  We were at the US National Whitewater Center, watching the kayakers, and I caught this profile of Cory in his stroller, looking so intently.  The tag under the photo tells a little more about our outing there.

The blue paper is one of the new Simple Basics papers that coordinate with each collection. I love that Simple Stories starting making these basics. They are perfectly, well, simple. I used Sky Blue Daisy. 

Here's a close-up of the top of the layout.   

The layout is based on the new June sketch at My Creative Sketches.  We kick off a new challenge every month, mid-month, with a great prize.  Here's the new sketch:

The new challenge runs until July 14.  We'd love to have you join us.  You can find all the details here on the My Creative Sketches blog. 

My Creative Sketches challenge: Little Yellow Bicycle

I'm so excited to be part of the My Creative Scrapbook team.  One of my favorite parts of the team is our monthly sketch challenge and we 'd love to have you play along.  A new sketch is posted each month (mid-month) on the My Creative Sketches blog.  And we've got prizes, great prizes!

Here's my layout.  I used Little Yellow Bicycle's Paradise collection.  This is my little boy, almost 2, playing peekaboo with me at dusk at the park.

Here's the sketch I worked with, the May sketch at My Creative Sketches. 

Please join us; play along! Make your own layout based on the sketch and upload your creation. Just use  the linky tool to add your page to the My Creative Sketches blog here.  Your layout should be new for this challenge and cannot be used in any other contest.  Just one entry per person, please.  The winner will be announced by random draw on June 15. 

Here's the prize. Yummy!