First of the Month DIGI

Here is a card that I made for the digi of the week challenge over at Designed2Delight. As always the first digi stamp of the month is free. This month it was this cute fall cat. I didn't want to do the Halloween thing yet so I just did a regular everyday card.  I really have to find away to get more organized and use all these cards that I have started making!  Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

First Day of School

I made this card for the challenge over at Designed2Delight where they give you the image and you come up with the project. I have been following them for a month now and have to say that I am getting better with the copics. I am not as afraid of them as I was in the beginning and am starting to play a little more with them. This weeks digi was of Maisie Belle. She reminded me of every child on their first day of school. She has everything she hopes she will need stuffed in her pockets! I have also entered it over at For Fun Challenges where this weeks challenge is 'Back to School' I guess school is on everyones mind this month! Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

A Day at the Park

This is a layout of my parents on an outing to a park in Yorktown, VA in 1956. It was about a month after they were married. I have entered this into the sketch challenge over at Sketches in Thyme. It was one of those sketches that I wasn't quite sure of. Even after I completed the layout I wasn't quite sure if I liked it or not. But I can say that it has started to grow on me. I am not use to having such a 'busy' base paper. But in the end I think I like it. Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

Rocking His Baby

This is a layout of my Dad rocking me. I am entering this in the challenge over at Lasting Memories. They wanted to see a secret on the layout. My secret is that I seldom use the original photo. Different layouts need different size photos and the older ones are sometimes just to fragile to work with. What I do when I don't use the original is to put it in a photo sleeve and put it behind the picture on the layout. It is protected because of the quality of materials used and I always know where it is. Since I am working on a Family Heritage album these photos are very important to me. Thanks for stopping by. Yvonne

On This Day

This is my sisters bridal portrait. The hardest thing on here for me was trying to figure out what to say so I settled on just the basics. Name and date. I have entered this in a sketch challenge over at Lasting Memories Layout Challenge where the only requirement this time was for buttons to be on the layout. I put buttons in the center of the flowers that are at the base of the picture. Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

Mommas Baby Girl

I made this LO for the challenge over at Sketchy Thursdays where every Thursday they have a new challenge for you. It really helps in getting some of those odd photos scrapped. I also have entered it into the challenge over at For Fun Challenges which was a scrap page. Nothing else just a scrap page. This is a LO of my mother holding and playing with my younger sister when she was about six months old. When  I first saw the sketch I had no idea what photos I was going to use. As I was going through the stack of old family photos I saw these three small photos that must have been in one of my parents wallet at some point. They seemed to be perfect for this challenge. The title is 'Mommas Baby Girl' but the letters I used for Momma are a light pink and they really didn't show up well in the photograph Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

ROCK ON Birthday Card

This is a card I made for My Minds Eye Challenge. This week it was any theme as long as you used 80% My Minds Eye products. Boy that was an easy one because that is mostly what I have. I made this from the Abby Road Collection which is really great for boys because it is a dinosaur theme. The only items on this card that are not from MME products are the eyelets in the tags, the sentiment stamps and the ink that was used for the stamps and distressing the edges. Thanks for stopping by. Yvonne

If you were a flower....

This is the card I made to enter into a few challenges that are around this week, First I entered it into Fridays free image challenge over at Design2Delight where they give you a free image to use every week that you play. This weeks image was the flowers all in a row. How cute are they? Next I entered it into the color combo challenge over at Scrapmasters Paradise where the colors they chose for you to use this week are from the copic B52 which is a blueish hue. I didn't have this marker and really didn't have a marker real close so I masked the flowers and then used a sponge to stamp on the white card stock to give the appearance of the sky. I hope the color is okay. The next color was BV00 which is the purple flowers and the final shade they chose was RV00 which is a light pink. I didn't have the exact one but I did have a light pink that I used on the other flowers. The third challenge that I entered this in was at Picture Perfect Creations They also have a color combo challenge going on this week. Their colors are Crumb Cake which is a brownish tan and I used for the base of my card. Then they had Bravo Burgundy which I used for the center of the flowers. The third color is Blushing Bride which also is a light pink and used on the flowers. The final color they requested was an olive green which I used for the leaves. I hope my colors all match up close enough to what they all were requesting. Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

Senior Picture

This is a layout of my nieces senior picture. I followed a sketch from Artful Delight and have entered it into their challenge. I liked the sketch but I am still not sure about the final outcome. I have also entered this into the challenge over at For Fun Challenges where the challenge was a scrap page. Thats it just a scrap page. I also have entered in the 'Try something New' challenge over at Lasting Memories. On the beige paper I took a plastic shopping bag and crumbled it up and then applied ink to it and used the bag as a stamp to create a background pattern. It wasn't the effect I had hoped but really liked how it turned out. Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

All About a Boy

Well as you know I am seeking out the challenges that how should I say 'encourage' me to use the copics. The digi image I used today was from Phindys Place. I just thought that the 'hug' he was giving the bunny was to cute. I tried blending colors in his hair and boy do I need practice here! I just can't get the hair to look 'naturaler'  I know that is not a real word but I am stuck on it! But as I said this is a learning experience for me and learning I am doing. Mostly learning what not to do but learning none the less.  So I found that this card fit the requirements for four different challenges. First I followed a sketch from Pink {ink} Sketch Challenges  It was a pretty neat sketch to follow with a different look then I am use too. Then because I used at least three different shades of blue and entered it into more than one challenge I could enter it into the challenge over at Pile It On.  Over at Sparkles Forum Challenges the challenge was One for the Boys and this is a card for a boy. And finally the last challenge that I entered it into was over at Paper Playtime where the challenge is Anything goes. So thats all for now Thanks for stopping by.

A Christmas Card

I figured that the only way I was ever going to improve on the techniques of using the copics was to use them a lot. So I have been looking for challenges to enter that will give me the chance to use them more instead of putting them up on the shelf and forgetting about them - again. This challenge is from over at Do It With Digis where this weeks challenge requirements are a Christmas card and it must have a digi image or sentiment on it. I found this digi stamp at digital-doodling.blogspot.com. I liked it because of the falling snow. It reminded me of waiting for the snow as a kid because that meant it was almost Christmas. Thanks for stopping in.

A Card for Fall

I made this card as part of the ongoing image challenge at Delightful Inspirations. By joining in this challenge I am getting free digi stamps and practice playing with the copics. I have also entered it into a sketch challenge at Fairy Fun Fridays. I was kinda stumped as what to do with the digi stamp image when I first saw it but after seeing the sketch it started coming together. I don't normally use a lot of prints on the same project so this was stepping a little out of the box for me. The flower sentiment was made from a print on the paper I used. I cut out the flower and attached the sentiment in the center. Thanks for stopping by Yvonne

Girl Time

This was made for a sketch challenge over at Sketches In Thyme It is one of their own original sketches and it really drew me in. The picture I chose to use is one of my mother and me when I was about 10. A day of curlers and beauty secrets passed down from mother to daughter.  After all these years its not the beauty secrets that I remember but the closeness that I felt with my mother.

My First Time Using Copic Markers

I had bought a set of Copic Markers a while ago but had never gotten around to using them. Then today I stumbled across a challenge at Delightful Inspiration where on the first challenge of the month, they give you a freebie digi stamp to use for the challenge. When you enter the challenge you are then given the next digi stamp to use for the next challenge. So everybody who enters their challenges are winners because you get free digi stamps!!! Free is ALWAYS good! But don't worry if you miss the first challenge of the month for that first freebie you can always purchase the stamp for the current challenge for a very low price. You need to stop by and check them out and get all the details straight from them. This was such a cute stamp and fun to work with. I found that it also fit perfectly with the challenge going on over at Scrapmasters Paradise which is a color combo challenge. They don't require you to have/use the exact product but you must try to get as close to the color combo swatch as possible. The 3 required colors on this card are Copics BG09  which I used for the petals of the flower on the mouses' head. Copics RV29 which I used for the mouses' dress. The last color was Copics E25 which I do not have so I used another marker that I hope matches up close enough to the color they wanted for the cupcake wrapper. And the colors I think went great here. I have a lot to learn as far as coloring techniques with the Copics. I have zero skills here. I need to watch a few dozen tutorials on how to add shading and dimension which hopefully won't require a lot of natural artistic talent. The  last challenge that I entered this into was over at Sweet Stamps. They wanted 'bling' this week and the sprinkles on this cupcake fit it to a tee. You get an extra entry into the weekly drawing if you use a stamp from them. I haven't gotten mine yet but I plan to. Thanks for stopping by and looking.

Through The Years

I made this LO showing my Mother as she grew up. The paper and design is mostly from a monthly scrap club called Club Scrap. I altered it from the original design by adding the journalling square with the brads and I added the flowers. In the end I really liked how it turned out.

ALL BLINGED UP Card for my Niece

I made this card for my niece who is into all that frilly, girly stuff that we love so much about little girls.  It is pretty simple but I think she will like it. It was also perfect to enter into the ALL BLINGED UP challenge over at http://scrapaddictsattic.blogspot.com/  Thanks for stopping by Have a great, crafty day

I used a die cut cardpad from K&Company for the card base, the crown came from A Childs Year cartridge for my cricut, the letters are  made by Recollections from Michaels and all the bling came from my stash of leftovers from other projects.

Memory Box Photo Holder

This is a box that I originally made to put 4x6 brag books in to give as gifts. I found that I could  put 5x7 photos easily in it so now I have one for photos waiting to be scrapbooked. I also made some to hold the cards I made. I can keep they separated by theme birthday, anniversary, baby etc each one made with papers that are for that theme.

Blog Candy at the Misfit Crafter

Ok so Monique is trying to get to 100 followers. She has now past that number but is still running this and giving away some super blog candy as prizes. So go on over there and join in on the fun! http://www.thismisfitcrafter.com/2011/07/get-100-followers-blog-candy.html

These are the first pictures of me that my mother took to send to my father who was is Korea at the time. I used this sketch from Sketch Inspirations at  http://sketchinspiration.ning.com/ I have entered it into Sketches in Time Open Challenge at http://sketchesinthyme.blogspot.com/2011/07/julys-open-challenge-part-2.html

My Little Artist

So I had a slight headache one day and decided to lay down for a little while. I just laid on my stomach across the bed sideways with my feet hanging off the side of the bed.  I didn't mean to fall asleep but I did and I woke up to my 2 year old granddaughter 'tickling' me. I asked her why she was tickling Granny and she laughed like only a 2 year old can. When I sat up I saw that she had a sharpie with the lid off and that is what she was using to tickle me with!! Next was a nice hot bath with a scrubbie. I have entered this in the Sketchy Thursday 7.28 challenge at http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/

Just Venting....

 A little over a year ago my daughter totaled my car. She and my son, who was also in the car were both fine - not even a bruise. So I needed to find a new used car. I wasn't upset I try not to let 'things' get to me. I am more likely to get mad or react over the actions of people then everyday inconveniences. While I was looking for another car I saw an Eclipse Spyder convertible. I said wow look at this and a friend of mine said that that car was for someone young and single. Another words  not for me. I told him that age was but a number and I could be single faster then he realized. I owned the car in less then an hour. I absolutely love my car. I have always liked smaller cars. I would leave work in the summertime with the top down just enjoying the ride home. A few months after I got it a belt started squealing and it wasn't running so smooth. So I took this car that I have fallen in love with to 3 engine repair shops and 2 transmission shops. None of them found anything wrong. They didn't even find the squealing belt. They all said "Wait until it breaks down and then we will fix it. I wonder if I was treated this way because I was a woman? Well my car finally did break down. That squealing belt was one of 2 timing belts that this car has. It also operates the oil pump. So even though there was oil in the car it wasn't circulating. But now instead of a couple hundred dollars to fix my car it is going to cost about about $1500. I will get my car fixed but I am soooo mad at those shops because I feel if they would have looked a little deeper none of this would have happened

Sketchy Thursday 6.23 H.O.G. Rally 2011 Petersburg VA

My husband and I went to this awesome rally last week. Had a great time exploring the wonderful city of Petersburg and surrounding area. We were given wrist bands to wear for different functions. I figured I could use them somewhere and guess what? I found the perfect place for them. I created this LO using the sketch from Sketchy Thursdays (http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/) check them out if you can, It really helps get those ole creative juices running! I used those wrist bands for trim/embellishment on a page about the rally.Except for the red, white and blue ribbon they are all wristbands. I also used the headline from the local newspaper as the title. Ok thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

6 Generations

This is a LO showing 6 generations of women in my family. Starting with my Great Grandmother and ending with my granddaughter. What I noticed that I hadn't noticed before is that we all have the same nose! Except for my granddaughter and she still has the baby nose so we will have to wait and see how that works out.  I wonder if this means we are a  'nosey' family! :) I had made this LO for Sketchy Thursdays but don't think I made it in time. But I got a LO done.

Fathers Day Frames

I made these frames for my granddaughter to give to her fathers for fathers day. I got the idea from a video posted here http://blog.cropchocolate.com/2011/06/jamies-june-feature-project-video.html It really was simple to do. While you are there check out the main site which is a scrapbooking discount daily deals site. Really great prices and they have new deals a few times a day.

May sketch challenge for Scrapper Creations

I had this done for a couple of weeks and couldn't decide what to journal! It like the page came to me right away and I know what it is - after all I was there :) just had writers block. Still not sure if I like it but it will do for now.

Link Up Love Party with K Andrew

The link up love party is a way to get to know each other and find new blogs and inspiration. What a wonderful way for us to get to know a little about each other. K Andrew has a wonderful blog that is full inspirational thoughts and crafty posts and lots of give a ways. I have spent a good chunk of my afternoon just reading her past posts. You can check it out here http://www.gettingcricky.com This is a recipe book that I made one for my brother and 2 sisters. My mother passed away in Dec 2009 and this is a collection of her hand written recipes. It was both a joyous and tearful project for me.

Flaunt it Fridays Pooh Font Challenge

These are my twins - about 18 years ago!! Boy it seems like yesterday! All cuts and the font are from the Pooh Font cartridge. I made this for the Pooh Font challenge at http://flauntitfridays.blogspot.com Thanks for looking.

My Card for the More Than One Fold Challenge at Prairie Fairy Fridays

This is a graduation card that I made for my niece. The flaps fold in overlapping each other with the tabs securing the fold. The letters that I used are a mirror like silver so they didn't photograph very well. I also rolled up the 'gift' like a diploma. I have used this fold for birthdays and other celebrations. I have entered it into the http://prairiefairyfridays.blogspot.com/ #53 challenge 'More Than One Fold'. Although I don't think it is up to the rest of the cards I have seen. OMG they are so gorgeous. I am just beginning and am in complete amazement at what all you crafters out there can do. But I am learning a little at a time and hopefully I will catch up to you.

Made it myself Mondays

I made this card for my sisters dog. It is her birthday this month. It seems that in my family we remember the important times in our lives through our pets. They are after all very important to us!

Bryanna at 4 months

This my granddaughter at 4 months. She dressed up as a witch and as you can see in the photo she loved the hat. All the cuts on here are from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.

Scrap "lifter"

I read/saw this term on the ScrapperCreation site the other day and the more I think about it the more it describes me. I am always searching the internet looking for another layout idea. When I see one that I like, I save the image for later. Sketches are hard for me to work with. I need to see what someone else has done with the sketch and then I can work with it. I then take creative liberty and make it my layout. I very seldom just copy the layout but I have once or twice. When its perfect its hard to change. So I guess my thoughts are at what point is it no longer 'lifting' but stealing? It seems the old saying that imitation is a form of flattery should hold some merit. I don't ever nor do I ever plan on selling layouts. I would like to show them off though. I make each layout for the pictures that are on it. I used a ready made layout one time because it came in a lot of scrapbooking supplies that I had bought and I really didn't like doing it. It seemed to take longer trying to find the pictures to go in it then if I would have made the pages my self. So when I make a page, first I have the pictures then I design the page. And yes by design I mean find one that I like for it.

Getting the Gypsy

Well I am getting the Gypsy - old news to most of you but new, scary and exciting to me. I am that old dog that is trying to learn new tricks and becoming a pest to those who are trying to help me learn. (Thank you Karin!) I do have a question or two for those of you who are experienced with the Gypsy. I will be uploading all my cartridges and once I do that, they can never be uploaded again. What happens if the Gypsy breaks? You know I drop it, the grand baby puts it in the toilet, the dog chews it up, etc.? You see all those stories that people tell and laugh about I think start in my house. Do you register it and then it is on file somewhere what you have on it or are you just sol? That is my biggest fear I think. So do any of you experienced Gypsy users have any info for me??

I can''t wait to try out the new CCR. I use the Design Studio often and am anxious to see what improvements have been made.

I used Animal Kingdom cartridge for the pig and cow Old West Cartridge for the bucking horse and My World Cartridge for the tractor.