Use Your Words - Tough

Hi!

I hope you're having a great holiday weekend, so far!  I'm excited to have a day off, and be able to sleep in for three days straight.  Sometimes it's the little things, right? lol  We don't have much planned for this weekend.  I was hoping to take a road trip, but I couldn't make my budget work.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful daughter, who doesn't complain or get upset when things don't work out as planned.  She really is an amazing person.  So, we're going to cook lots of good food, and watch tons of movies together.  That's pretty cool, in my opinion.  I'm thankful that at almost 17, she still enjoys doing things with me.  Gosh, I love my girl!

Anyway,  it's the start of a new month (can you believe it's September already?!) and we have a new challenge posted over at the Use Your Words blog.  For all of the details, click HERE.

The challenge word this time, is TOUGH.  I knew I wanted to include a picture of my daughter.  I wanted to document how far we've come over the last year, and how tough she is to overcome everything she's endured over the last few years.  But, she's very private and doesn't speak to anyone but my mother and I about things she's struggling with, which makes it difficult to journal sometimes.  I didn't want to expose her in any way.  I decided that I would just include my feelings on the journey we've been on, and how she's maintained her composure, and strength, no matter what has happened.  I really like how this turned out, but I did have a bit of a time trying to get a good picture.  I love this photo of her, doing what she loves...swimming.  I took this picture of her while we were in Denver.  In my opinion, you can see the calm strength in her eyes.  I am thankful my new Studio Calico kit arrived shortly before I created this.  It had lots of great elements in it.  I used THIS sketch, although the challenge is now closed.  I tried not to overdo anything, as I wanted to focus on the photo and the meaning behind the layout.  She loved it, so I'm good. :-)   

I was able to combine the following challenges in my layout today.

Crafts Too Challenge You #2 - Sumer Days (Twist: Beach Colors)
Inspire Me Fridays #118 - Anything Goes
Happy Campers Challenge #21 - Use A Stamp
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon # 200 - Pretty Polka Dots

I do hope you'll head over to see what my friends have created over at the Use Your Words blog.  As always, they're absolutely gorgeous!

Have a safe and happy rest of your holiday weekend!
Hugs!   

Christmas Card Challenge Week #39

Yola!!

I hope you had a good week, and weekend.  I've been trying to reorganize my closet this weekend, but have lost motivation, and decided to play with my scrappy toys instead.  Anyone else have days like that? lol  Needless to say, it will still be there to finish later.  *sigh*

I'm happy to bring you another Christmas Card challenge.  I love making Christmas cards, and the opportunity to make at least one each week has been a blessing when it comes time to send them out.  Everything is done, and ready to go by the end of November.  Perfect timing, if you ask me.  This weeks challenge is to incorporate a photo into your card somehow.  For this weeks challenge, click HERE.

Now, I don't know about ya'll, but I was kind of stumped at this idea.  I guess someimes my ideas are too good for themselves, as this challenge was my contribution to the list. lol  I was trying to decide what to do, when the light bulb went on.  I remembered printing out some of the pictures, my friend Taj took of Sydney, in different sizes.  I already had the blue music resist piece from a previous project, and thought it would look nice with the photo in front of it, almost like a frame.  I had a friend choose the colors, and embellishments (green, blue, brown and ivory with rhinestones) and then put everything together.  Since his favorite color is green, I tried to use that as the main color, accenting with all of the others.  I tried using a dark brown, but it didn't go as well as the kraft (light brown).  And, did you notice?  There's glitter on it, thanks to the patterned paper I used. lol  I really like how this turned out.  This will be my mothers Christmas card this year.  I think she'll love it!

So, I'm going to ask the same question I did previously.  How many Christmas cards do you have finished this year?  Will you be finished before having to rush around at the end getting them done? lol  Maybe you can find the time to join us for this weeks challenge and get your Christmas card stash started!  I do hope you'll head over to the CCC blog and see what my friends have created for you today.  I'm sure you know by now, they're pretty fantastic.

Have a great day!
Hugs!

Recycling

Hi ya'll!

It's another HOT day here in the Dallas area and I've done nothing but stay inside and do as little as possible.  I had a migraine this morning, and even though I don't get a massive headache like most, I do lose vision in my left eye, preventing me from driving.  Fortunately, my eyesight has returned, and I was able to do one crafty thing today.  Check it out.

I found this piece of honeycomb looking cardboard in the recyling at work, and ideas immediately began to swim around in my head.  I wanted to do something with it so that I could show people at work what I had used it for, and this was my result.  I'm going to set it on one of the shelves in my office at work.  It's interesting how something that was considered trash has become one of my favorite scrap projects now.  I'm off to take a nap and then cook some dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs!

US #95 - I {heart} You!

Hi everyone!

I hope your weekend finds you in good health and spirits.  This is going to be a quick post because I'm headed out to see a friend who's in town.

For this weeks Unscripted Sketches challenge, click HERE.

This is my loose interpretation of this weeks sketch.  I love the purple/green color combo and how it all came together quite nicely.  And, I love the Pink Paislee die cut paper!  This is another of my favorite photos of Sydney from her photo shoot back in November.  The idea to get her in reflection was genius, if you ask me.  And, I love that they caught the word flirt behind her on the door.  I have a feeling she's definitely headed that direction.  My charming little girl.  *sigh*  They grow so fast.

I hope you'll head over to the US blog to see what everyone has created for you today.  As always, they're all pretty fantastic.

Hugs!!

US #94 - Sydney

Greetings ya'll!

How is your weekend going, so far?  What are your plans for today?  Hopefully, you're doing something fun and exciting, unlike me. lol  I'm back to trying to clean up the garage a bit.  I hate to clean. :(

Anyway, Saturday brings us to another Unscripted Sketches project.  There is a piggyback challenge for this week.  The piggyback is to use fabric.  For this weeks sketch challenge, click HERE.

Again, you can see this was created back when we had snow. lol  Hey, I'm happy I got the chance to sit home for a couple days during the work week and do nothing but craft away. :)  I was very productive. lol  I don't have any fabric, so I used felt for the butterfly.  I may have to think about purchasing some fabric pieces, just to keep on hand.  This layout was created in a 6X6 size for Sydney.  She said she wanted something for her to put in her room.  I asked her to choose a few of her favorite photos, and then put everything together for her using this weeks sketch.  I'm glad she loved it.  She's very much a girly girl.  I'm glad, as I'm not really like that. lol 

I hope you'll head over to see what my friends have created for you today.  There are some great, outside of the box, ideas posted.  Can't wait for you to see them!

Have a good day!
Hugs!

US #90 - So Grown Up

Hi ya'll!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, so far!  It's a nice, quiet day here and I'm hoping to get caught up on quite a bit of stuff.  I hope you get to do lots of whatever it is you're wanting to do today too!

I have another Unscripted Sketches project for you.  For this weeks sketch, click HERE.

I just love this picture of Sydney and wanted to use it as quickly as I could!  I think Taj did such an amazing job at capturing her personality, and her demeanor.  She's so calm, and strong, and knows who she is already, at 14.  I'm so happy to be her mother, and I love that she's mine.  These papers were girly, but not too girly.  Make sense? lol  I loved the simplicity of the sketch so that my photo would be the focal point.  I think I'll use this sketch and create a framed layout for her dad for Father's Day. 

I hope you'll head over to the US blog to see what everyone has created for you today.  They're all pretty amazing, but then, they usually are. :)

Have a wonderful day!
Hugs!

US #85 - My Angel

Hi everyone!

How is your weekend so far?  Good I hope!  I'm so excited to share another Unscripted Sketches project with you today.  I recently had some photos of my daughter taken, and couldn't wait to play with them.  For this weeks sketch challenge, click HERE.

I'm a less is more kind of gal when it comes to my scrapbooking.  I want my photos to be the main focus of the page, and this beautiful Bo Bunny paper allowed me to do just that.  This is one of my favorite photos of Sydney.  You can't really tell, but everything is black and white except for her blue eyes, blue earrings, and the blue streaks in her hair.  I really like how this turned out and can't wait to use more of the photos I had taken of her.

Please head over to the US blog to see what my friends have created for you.  They're all gorgeous, as usual!

Have a great weekend!
Hugs!
Steph

My Favorite New Toy & Some Photos

Good Monday to you!

How was your weekend?  Did you do anything fun or exciting?  I had a busy weekend, that ended with a trip to Ikea on Sunday.  Thanks to my wonderful friends Cherie, Susan, Jen and Lynn, I got a very nice gift card for my birthday.  Below is a picture of what came home with me after my trip up there.

Isn't it lovely?!  I have wanted an Expedit shelf for a couple years now, but hadn't really been able to afford it.  Thanks to the gift card, and some birthday money I had saved up, I was finally able to get it.  The most wonderful thing about this, is that it's the big one, not the smaller one, and I got it at the same price as the small one because I bought the display model from their "damages and as is" area.  Talk about luck!  I love how decluttered my area looks now, and how nicely the boxes I chose go with my new bedding (I know, I know. But I'm a matchy matchy kind of girl).  Anyway, a HUGE thank you again to the lovely ladies who bought me this amazing belated birthday gift.  :)

I mentioned that I had some photos to share also.  My friend Taj took some photos of my daughter over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Here are a few of the gorgeous photos she sent me.  I truly believe she's as amazing as a photographer as she is a paper crafter.

 My goodness how she's grown!  I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful, gorgeous daughter.  Thank you Taj for doing such an amazing job!  These photos will always be some of my favorites.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Steph