Two for Two

I am back this week with two layouts as promised. I worked with my Cricut Expression on both of these layouts. I needed to put this machine to use. You know! Its easy to get caught up in buying all the cool cartridges (And boy did I get my collection started with a vengeance). But I tend to forget to pull the Cricut out when scrapbooking. So I have challenged myself to use it in at least one out of every two layouts in some way or another. So far I am really liking the results of using this plotter.

My first layout this week is on some pictures I had in my stash of my DD. No sketches used on this layout. I mean, really, its just three pictures. I decided to stick to my usual style of Classic and Clean. The twist for me was in using my Cricut.  Here is a picture of the layout:

I used a few cartridges on this layout: for the clouds I used April Showers, then for the title (which I could have made larger) and the tree I used Just Because Cards, then finally for the top scallop border I used Martha Stewart's All Occasions Cake. I love this layout. It is so cute and so totally my daughter.

For the next layout, I worked on a page from Annie's Attic Scrapbooking with Cricut. When I saw this in the book, I just knew I had to make it for our recent trip to DC. I am still waiting on the pictures to come in the mail but I couldn't wait to get this page ready to go. Are you ready? Here it is:

OMG! I just love this one! I used Independence Day for the Capitol Bldg and Serenade for the cherry blossom trees as the book stated. As for the title the book used a couple of images from the Destinations cartridge but since I don't own that one, I had to improvise. Instead I used Martha Stewart's All Occasions Cake and her Elegant Cakes cartridges for the font. I welded the letters together  and then did it again with the shadow layer. The spread holds two 4x6 photos and two 4x4 photos.

I really like how this layout turned out. You really need to see it to appreciate it. The trees are popped up for added dimension as you can see here:

Isn't it a nice touch? That was not me, it was as the book instructed. I love it! There are a number of cute layouts in this book. I highly recommend it. I have quite a number of pages bookmarked for future use.

Well that's all for this week. I will see you next week with some more scrapbooking and other ramblings.

Have a great weekend!

Return to an Award!

As you have noticed I didn't post a layout for last week. =(

For Spring Break, DH and I took the kiddies to Washington DC and down to N.Carolina to visit my brother-in-law. We had a great time. We only regret not having more time for DC. We allowed four days for it and it wasn't nearly enough. We are thinking of giving it another go next year to see all we missed.

But I have some great pictures. So let the scrapbooking begin!
I will work on (2) two page spreads this week. One will be on D.C. following a layout that I saw in Annie's Attic Scrapbooking with Cricut book.

I can't wait to make it! I am really excited about this one. The other layout will be about my DD. I only have three 4x6 photos but I think I can make it fun & spread it into two pages.

Since I have been back, this is the first chance I've gotten to be on the computer. And what a surprise did I get when I learned that my blog pal Angie of Angie's Craft Blog awarded me with a Versatile Blogger Award!

Woo Hoo!
I am so honored, Angie that you thought of me. Thank you so much! Everyone should get a chance to visit her blog. She has some great challenges which I love. Go stop by and give her some love. Tell her I sent'cha!

And with that, I am leaving on a high note.

Thank you all for following. Try to come back by the end of the week to see the two layouts I will be creating for this week. And as always please comment & post a link to your blog or photo of your layouts if you are playing along.

See ya soon! 

Spread 'Em!

I finally got done with my two page spread for this week. It has been a crazy week of unscheduled meetings and appointments. My little one got sick and for the last three nights I haven't slept. Its been like having an infant in the house all over again. Boy, am I glad those days are over. But man, broken nights are hard to take after you've been out of that phase for a while.

So for this week's sketch I decided to work on sketch #9. 
Here is what it looked like.

This image only shows the sketch. When you download or buy the book @ Sketchsupport.com you will get details for all the elements on the page.
Here is my Layout:

And here are some close ups of each individual page.

I used Pebbles, Inc. Tree House paper line. Its so cute! I just love the colors. Its fun and playful. For the die cuts, I used my Cricut (gasp!) to cut the owl and the title from the Straight From the Nest cartridge. The little red bird by the journaling strips is from Pebbles Chips embellishment pack for the Tree House line. I doodled some not so straight lines around the edge of the background and where I messed up I made little zig zags to imitate stitching. I also used my Signo white gel pen (Thanks, Linda!) to "stitch" around the owl and doodle on the title.

Overall I am really pleased with working off these sketches. They are really worth it. It took me one afternoon (between laundry, kids and meals) to put this layout together. It usually takes me a whole week to put together a layout when I am left to my own devices. I hope to get 3-4 layouts done on a given week as this new way to scrap becomes more natural for me.

So how did your spread come out this week? Please post a comment and let me see it! I 'd love to see your work.

Well, that's all for now. Happy Spring Break!
See ya all next week =)

  

I've got your creme right here!

Got your attention now, huh? LOL
Well! Have any one of you tried out this?

I saw the commercial and thought, what a cool idea! I need to try that. So when I went to Stop & Shop this week guess what came home with me. Yup! They had all the flavors. I tried the Original flavor last night. I followed the recipe on the back of the container for Chicken Bruschetta Pasta. And can I tell ya! OMG!

Do you see this? It was so good! So yummy. You guys have to try it! I love fresh tomato and basil and this recipe had it all. We all loved it! It was all we could do not to go back for seconds and break our diet. It is a must try. I highly recommend it.

I also picked up the Savory Garlic flavor so I'll let you know how that one turns out. Let me know if you've tried any of the Philly's Cooking Cremes and what you thought of it. I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

P.S. I am almost done working on my two page spread. I've got all the photos trimmed and ready to go. Now its off to pick some patterned papers. I hope to post it up tomorrow. Come back soon and let me know what you think. =)

And if you are playing along, I'd love to see your layout. So don't forget to leave your blog address with your post.

See ya soon! 

Mail Box Haul

I recently realized that I haven't scrapbooked my kids photos since 2008. I don't normally scrap chronologically so that isn't the issue. What is, is that I haven't done anything with recent photos. Therefore, I need to catch up! I know we are all always catching up and that will never change but, not to have anything from that last two years? That is crazy! So now I am on a mission to get as much done as possible in the next few months before they are out of school. This gives me 10 full weeks, 12 if we are being technical.

So to help me in my new quest, I decided to get a book of sketches from Allison Davis and Debbie Sanders at Scrapbook Generation.

The cool thing about their sketches is that they #1: have tons of two page layouts, which I love and #2: they have measurements! For everything! How neat is that! I think that this will surely cut down on my "production time" and help me get more done faster.  And since I was already shopping, I also got some new paper from My Mind's Eye (love them!) Stella & Rose Gertie and Fine & Dandy True Blue Collections.

I also added a couple of sheets I picked up this week at Michael's. I can't wait to start playing with these. They look so fun. I so love the colors. I hope to share the layouts with you that I make with these next week. This week as been a crazy week with appointments, field trips, and meetings. Next week I hope to get some breathing room & some scrapping time.

I've got 10-12 weeks before they are officially off for the Summer. I am going to challenge myself to make at least 1 two page layout a week. Shouldn't be too tough, right? So who is gonna join me? Lets play together and see if we can make a dent on our picture pile. Comment below and let me know if you are in!

See ya next week!