Challenge week - why take the challenge?

I challenged myself this month with my scrapbooking. I wanted to create 31 pages - one for each day of May - even though it was a school month, and a busy one at that. I am about 10 pages short. I know there are still a few hours left in May, but I also know with my calendar today I won't complete 10 pages.

When I realized earlier this week that I probably wouldn't meet my challenge I was disappointed, and then I looked at all of the layouts I have created this month. More than 20 pages. How can I be unhappy about that? I've shared photos and stories and also played with paper and stamps. Seems like a win to me.

Also as a part of my challenge to myself, I started visiting challenge blogs again. I was totally inspired by what I found! Some layouts I shared earlier this week and entered into the challenges. Some, like this one,are too late to be entered.

This page was inspired by a sketch at Stuck?! I captured this memory because of the sketch challenge.

I love the way the white space in the design emphasizes the photo. A photo that has been in my box for about three years.  So, although I'm sad I missed the deadline, I am so pleased that I was inspired to create this page and share this story.

Why do I take challenges? Because they motivate and invigorate me. Because I get ideas and inspiration from them. Why do I take challenges? Mostly because they help me to share photos and tell stories. For me, that is what this all about!

Challenge Week - Let's Get Sketchy

I'm challenging myself this month and completing some challenges along the way.

Today's layout was inspired by this sketch from  Let's Get Sketchy.

Here is the layout I created:

I used a CTMH May special paper pack from two years ago to create this page. I also dug into my older embellishments to add a bit more pizazz.

The title, I promise, sums up the story. We were at the park for a fun day. I don't remember the special occasion now. Both kids decided to have their faces painted. They were very excited at the time, although I didn't capture that in these photos. Still, I promise, they were having fun!

Thanks for the challenge! Check back later in the week to see what other challenges I've taken on this month!

Challenge Week - Sketch N Scrap

I decided to celebrate May as scrapbooking month in a big way. I've set a layout challenge for myself (more about that later in the week.) I know that one way I get inspired to get pages started and finished is to participate in challenges from other sites.

Today's layout was inspired by this sketch from Sketch N Scrap.

Here is the layout I created:

I liked the triangle elements on the sketch, but the triangles I cut didn't work as well. Instead I substituted tags. I used paper and fabrics from the Jubilee pack by CTMH.

I love that this layout uses small pieces. All of my scrappy work this month has left me with a big scrap pile!

And the title and embellishment area. I love the flare badges in the Jubilee Assortment!

Thanks for the challenge! Check back tomorrow to see what other challenges I've taken on this month.

Reading Changed My Life

This layout was inspired by the April challenge over at Once Upon a Sketch. (Yes, I am getting this in under the wire.)

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on it:

I loved the sketch and the journaling challenge was the perfect starting point for what I wanted to say about these photos. Reading did change my life - and it continues to change it. Watching my daughter read with her grandpa also changed my life.

I liked the busy band across the middle of the layout and the restful white space above and below. I used buttons, ribbon, stamping, chipboard and brads to embellish around the photos.

Because my title was a long one, I moved the journaling onto the white space below the photos. This helped balance the title and made it easy to ready my story.

Thanks for the challenge! It was a fun layout to create!

Play

My school spring break is just finishing up. I took some time to play this week and one thing I created was a layout based on sketch challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles this month. Here is the sketch:

And here is my layout, called Play:

I chose to use two very similar photos instead of just one to show more of what all three kids were doing as they played.

I used a playful font for my stamped title, and embellished with velvet-textured rub ons.

I really liked that the journaling wrapped around the circular element in the sketch. I added a journaling block but kept the wrap-around feeling with the punch out.


















Thanks for the challenge! It was fun to play with!

We Write in Cookbooks

Another day, another challenge. I love having time to create pages and share them! This is the current color challenge over at Color Me Scrappy. The twist was to highlight food in some way.

 

There is a story I've been meaning to tell for almost two years now about my daughter and cookbooks and it seemed to fit the bill.

*Note: The winter daylight here has distorted the colors of my layout a bit. In person they look much more like the challenge colors, really!

In addition to recording a story and participating in a challenge, I got the chance to use my new Cricut Expression 2 and the CMTH Artbooking cartridge. In fact, I used only cardstock on this layout!

I am so glad I finally recorded this story. Thanks for the challenge and the inspiration!

I am a teacher

A couple of weeks off from school with plans that mostly involve hanging out around the house has led to some fun layouts! Even better, I'm home in the daylight right now to photograph them! I'm thrilled to be playing along with Stuck?! sketches this month! Check out this fun sketch:

This sketch worked perfectly with my current school photo to tell a story that occurred to me while doing holiday baking with my kids.

The journaling reads: I am a teacher in the classroom - but also in the kitchen, craftroom, grocery story. Teaching is part of who I am; it is how I approach others and the world.

For me scrapbooking is, at its heart, about recording stories. Although this journaling is brief, it captures an integral part of my personality, something I need to be reminded of and that I hope my kids will remember as well.

This layout seemed to come together on its own. I had some pieces that I had cut while playing with CTMH's Artbooking Cricut cartridge in the fall. They seemed to fit well with the story I discovered while baking. A school picture was just the right evidence for the story. Thanks, Stuck?!, for the sketch that provided a perfect canvas for this layout!

I believe...in challenges - two of them!

What do I believe? That seemed like a heavy question to deal with in the summer - a time I associate with light-hearted fun. Still, I love a challenge. When I saw the word "believe" at Use Your Words, I decided to play along. As I started thinking about this layout, I remembered something that I have said to my kids many times - so many times that they now repeat it to me: 

I found a fun photo of my two kids and me and then I found this sketch at Let's Get Sketchy 

And it clicked.

I kept the embellishments simple using chipboard and coordinating ink.

Thanks for the challenges!

Joy - Two layouts for Two different challenges

I love challenge blogs. There. I said it. I follow them. I check them. Once in a while I even create layouts to go with the challenges. I'm often inspired by sketches and product challenges. But many times the inspiration has to ferment. I tuck ideas away for the right day, the right photo, the right layout.

The August 5th challenge at Stuck?! was not like that. I liked the sketch and thought I could work with it, but it was the extra challenge of a quote by Abraham Lincoln that sucked me in. "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." I read the quote and knew that I was going to create a layout for this challenge.

I have already created a layout about the day on the bounce pillow. I've told that story. Still, this photo drew me in. I can see the life in my daughter's face. It seemed perfect with Lincoln's quote.

As I created the layout, the word that was constantly on my mind was joy. Joy is what I can see in her eyes. So I decided to add another quote (this one by Wagner) and use the word "joy" as my title. 

 

I included the Lincoln quote on a journaling tag to cover some distracting images in thebackground of the photo. I used the "m" monogram for my daughter's name.

And last but not least, some joyful embellishments for the page. (These pinwheels are fun and easy!)

The first joy layout, the first challenge.

It was such fun creating a layout about my daughter's joy, when I found this joy-filled photo of my son from the same summer, I was inspired to do a layout with a similar theme.

This one is based on  the August 1 sketch at Let's Get Sketchy:

The background strips caught my attention immediately. (Especially since I had been cleaning off my desk and discovered many long and narrow scraps of paper.) I used blue and green paper to bring out the colors in the photo rather than compete with it since I was using lots of different pattern papers.

I chose the same title, but for this one I paraphrased the Wagner quote as my journaling to include some of the things that my son finds joyful.

I decided to include a monogram as I had on the first layout (even from the same set of Thickers) and stamped onto chipboard stars for a bit more whimsy.

Creating two layouts that were thematically connected was a new challenge for me. I'm glad I've captured the joy of both of my kiddos in the summer of 2011. Thanks for the challenges, Stuck?! and Let's Get Sketchy! These two layouts were a joy to create!

Check it out!

Look who was featured from the Scrapping Everyday Miracles July challenge!

Thanks, ladies! You can read more about my page in the original post. Why don't you play along for August? 

Well Read: A post about favorites

This month's challenge over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles is to create a layout about favorites and use office supplies. I love a good challenge, and I love office supplies so I jumped on this one. I started the page once everyone in my house was asleep, so I decided to work with some of my current favorites. Digging through my stash to get going, I found the Scholastic paper and Stickease from CTMH and I knew what favorites I would document - books!

Since I am an English teacher by day, many people ask about my favorite book, but it is a question I have a hard time answering. I struggle to name an all-time favorite. I wrote about that in the journaling below the photo and then listed six current favorites and described a bit about why I love them.

Although I don't often use themed items, the paper, zip strips and Stickease were perfect embellishments for this topic. It was fun to tie in the different elements.









I love this Thoreau quote from the Stickease sheet! One of my philosophies about reading is that life is too short for bad books (unless they have been assigned, of course!)

I thought the staples and paper clips were a good fit with the theme and style of this layout (in addition to being part of the challenge!)

I repeated the idea of a quote in this cluster near the title as well. There were so many quotes about reading that I had a hard time choosing just one (and an even harder time making it fit on the paper!)

Thanks for the challenge! I enjoyed deliberating over my favorites and creating this page!

What about you? Do you have a current favorite book? (I'm always looking for a new one!)

Ten Pages in Ten Days - Part 2

I'm still sharing pages I created on my recent spring break. This one was inspired by the April 1 challenge at Sketches with Color. I love creating with sketches. Isn't this one pretty?

I had to stretch myself to include the colors from the challenge as well.
 
Here is what I came up with:

 

What first was it you ask? The first photo I took with my smartphone! In the journaling I tried to capture both how I felt about the phone when I first got it (I didn't think I needed it.) and how integrated it has become into my life since that day.

Here are some details:

 

The papers are CTMH, mostly from Chantilly. The embellishments are a mishmash of old and new CTMH. The color challenge encouraged me to accentuate the Twilight color in the pattern paper and I liked the way it turned out.

Thanks for the challenge, Sketch with Color!

Showering You...

Nothing gets me going like someone issuing a challenge. I love them! I especially love sketch challenges. I am excited that I had time to play along with two different sketch challenge blogs this month. I created two one-page layouts that will go side-by-side in my album as a larger spread about an event. I've been doing this frequently this year - creating two one-page layouts that work together to tell one story. 

The first sketch I used was from Stuck?! Sketches. Isn't it fun?

 I usually scrap 12X12, so I modified the sketch a bit. Here is my take:

 

I used some very old paper from CTMH (Precious Paisley). I thought it was perfect for a baby shower! I liked the circle included in the sketch behind the photos, but it didn't work with my photos. Instead I used three small circle stickers and some sparkles to add interest to the linear design of the layout.

The second page I created based on a sketch at Sketches in Thyme:

The page I created is a companion to the page above and uses many of the same products.

 

I didn't feel the need to include a title on this page since the journaling, photos and products link it closely to the page above. The photos I used were too large to be lined up across the layout. I am pleased with the way this cluster of photos contrasts with the more linear page above.

I'm finding this idea of creating companion one-page layouts is really working for me. I get the benefits of both types of designing - the smaller canvas of the 12X12 but the simplified product choice of the 12X24. The variety of sketches available in 12X12 but the ability to tell a story of 12X24.

What about you? Do you know any good challenge blogs? Have you discovered any tricks that are really working for you right now? I would love to hear from you!