Once Upon A...Sketch - Challenge

As I've said before, I love a good challenge. Sometimes it is just what I need to get my scrappy mojo going. I found Once Upon A...Sketch and I was hooked. Each challenge includes a sketch and a journalling requirement.

The current challenge is to use this sketch:

and include write your journalling on a journalling spot.


Here is my take on the challenge:

I used a clear journalling spot for the journalling and a fun journalling tag for the title.  Thanks for the challenge ladies. It was fun!

Do you have favorite challenge sites? Please share. I'm always up for a new challenge!

What's going on Wednesday

What's going on? Check out a sneak peek:

 

 Want to see more? Head over to Paper Thrills and see the newest challenge and my layout. Then come on back and tell me what you think. While you're at it, why not take on the challenge yourself?

Inspiration

Look what my darlings got me for mother's day!

"This book is hard to find!" I said to my hubby.

"I know," he said.

I am so blessed to be married to a man who understands having a hobby that excites my passion. He is an inspiration (and so is this book!)

What about you? What inspires you?

National Scrapbooking Day

Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day! Did you do anything special? This weekend was a very busy one for our family. I didn't think I'd get to scrap much, but things settled down earlier than I thought and I got out my photos!

I didn't get out to a face to face crop, but I did get to play along with some of the challenges at the Creative Crop hosted by Big Picture Classes and Creating Keepsakes. Although the challenges weren't timed, the fact that a new one arrived in my inbox every hour did keep the pressure on. I managed to complete three and two were real challenges for me - things I hadn't done before or wouldn't have tried without the extra nudge. Here are the layouts I created.

Challenge #1: Text
I found a paperback book that I didn't need to read again and cut it up for the text portions on the right hand side! (very new to me!)

Challenge #2: 10+10+10: ten products, ten techniques, ten words
I must confess, I didn't use any products or techniques that were brand new to me, although some were things I hadn't done in a while. Still, this is certainly more than I would do on many of my pages!

Ten products: card stock, father sticker, ribbon, journal spot, "strength" button, felt flourish, chipboard star, rub on star, brads, edge anchor.
Ten techniques: sanding, edge distressing, inking, stamping, hand journaling, clustering, tearing, gathering, punching, hidden journaling

Challenge #6:Think outside the box
Another one that was totally new to me.

It is kind of hard to see in this photo, but the strip that goes horizontally between the photos and the title is 12 inches long, but the base of the base page is only 9 inches.

All in all a very productive day! I hope you got a chance to do something crafty on National Scrapbooking Day! If you didn't (or even if you did) why not create your own scrapping day or time this week? You might surprise yourself!

New Paper Thrills Challenge!

There's a new challenge up at Paper Thrills today! Check it out. Maybe you'll have time to play along this week. It is national scrapbooking day on Saturday, you know! This weekend is very busy for our family this year so I doubt I'll get much scrap time in, but I plan to take lots of photos!

Making Cards

I'm not a big fan of making cards. Don't get me wrong, I love hand-made cards. I like to receive them. I like to admire them. I even like to give them. I just don't enjoy making them.

But my friends and family know that I am a paper-crafter. So I'm supposed to make cards. I have to say, everyone is appreciative. I always get nice compliments on them. As my friend Kerrie at Scrappy Happening says, at least I can use my card making to justify my scrap spending. If I spend $3 on some supplies that make at least one card, I figure the rest is money saved!

In my guilt induced card making, I've discovered that I enjoy making cards either with scraps from a layout I've just completed or in large bunches where I copy the same design again and again.

This time of year I always end up making lots of cards. We have four birthdays within a week at the beginning of May and that in addition to Mother's Day cards. So when I had some crafting time this weekend, I did the layout that was in my head (see previous post) and then got to work on the cards using both of things that I know work best for me. I used the scraps from my layout and used the same design on multiple cards.

Do you enjoy making cards? Do you have any good tips or tricks?
I'd love to hear them!

Challenge? You bet!

I'm always up for a challenge! Here's a layout I created for a challenge over at Ella Publishing as a part of their spring training week. The challenge was to use one sentence journaling (and that is a challenge for me!)

Check out the papers - from a kit on the Michael's clearance rack!

Journaling reads:
Just one of the roughly one million ways you have changed me.