Sketches in Thyme PL Challenge #87

For the second Sketches in Thyme PL sketch in October, I used a purchased 4x6 PL card and embellished it using scraps from other layouts.
It's hard to go wrong with the black/red/white/gold color scheme. I love how this turned out! I typed an assortment of wedding words and printed them on white cardstock. Then I just cut them out as needed. I'm almost done with the wedding album and will be posting a flip through soon! My goal is to finish before the holidays.


Now back to the sketch:

And my card:

Final layout:

I love how you don't necessarily need to use these sketches/cards in a pocket layout. They go just as well in a 12x12 layout!
Click on over to Sketches in Thyme PL challenge site for more inspiration.

UPDATE:  I was the winner in this months' challenge!

Sketches in Thyme Pocket PL #88

I've been peeking at Sketches in Thyme challenge site for a few months now and finally had a chance to work on some of their sketches.
As you know, I'm working on the wedding album for DS3 and to help decrease some of the bulk, I've been using all kinds of cool things to this album. One of these cool things is pocket style pages.

The site has two PL pocket sketches and this is the first one:

My take:

As you can tell, I didn't put a title on my card, but I followed the sketch and would not have thought of that on my own.

And the final layout:

I know, I didn't use a pocket page but I love the way we can use these on our 12x12 layouts as well.

Click on over to the Sketches in Thyme Project Life Sketch challenge site and check out their sketches.

Stick It Down October Sketch

I have not joined any challenges in a long time since I started working on my son's engagement party projects. I'm still working on my other son's wedding photos from the summer and have used all the premade layouts I did earlier. Since I printed a ton of photos of the wedding, I'm really trying to put as many photos as possible on each 2-page spreads. I'm doing this with flip flaps, pocket pages and clever cuts & placements.

I love the layout challenges at Stick It Down since they have one page, two page and card sketches. I got NINE photos on this layout thanks to the October sketch! I love how the photos surround a center photo. Although I don't technically have a center photo, it still surrounds key photos.

Here's the sketch:

Here's my layout:

These photos are when bride & groom are being introduced to the reception hall. I love how happy they look!

Click on over to the Stick It Down sketch challenge site for great sketches and inspiration from their design team and guest designers.
The roses and titles are all cut from my Cricut machine.

UPDATE! THIS LAYOUT WAS SELECTED AS THE WINNER ON THE STICK IT DOWN BLOG SITE! I was invited to be a Guest Designer in December. Look for that soon!!

FCCB #313 Make It Sparkle

 Happy Monday and welcome to another Monday challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB)!

Challenge #313-Make it Sparkle
Make it sparkle with glitter, gems, etc!

This Weeks Sponsor

Pretty Cute Stamps

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used. If you use a Cricut Explore machine, at least one cut must be from the Cricut catalog of images.

Here is my project-

Glitter, glitter everywhere as I make these centerpieces for my son's engagement party. Future DIL loves all things Eiffel Tower so that's the theme of the party.

I cut these Eiffel Towers from the Summer in Paris cartridge. I had to use my 12x24 mat since these are 15" tall. By using Cricut Design Space, I was able to turn one side upside down in order to fit two of them on one 12x24 piece of paper. I was also blessed to have future DIL's godfather work at a print shop so he supplied the large pieces of very thick cardstock. SCORE!
The glittery roses are from the Art Philosophy cartridge by Close To My Heart (CTMH). I made the teal roses at 5" and the gray roses at 3 1/2".

The pretty glitter paper accents are the left over pieces from when I made 50 Eiffel Towers for their invitations. I started to throw them away, but thought I'd hold onto them. I'm so glad I did!

Now it's your turn...click on over to the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog to join the current "Make It Sparkle" challenge.  Show us your bling!

TGIF; Thankful Friday #15

Friday! I think I'm just grateful for Friday. This has been a busy week at work and at home so I'm literally shouting TGIF!

Tonight is my daughter's Trunk or Treat event at her work. She's been working hard on the decorations and of course I've been helping too. I'm bringing my granddaughter so it'll be fun.


Now it's your turn...what are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment below!

WOYWW #438

Happy WOYWW! Here's my desk this week:

We're having great weather here in Central CA. I've been working a lot in the Command Center but taking breaks between projects. We used the new fire pit on Saturday night. That was fun. And we've been catching up on our shows. Anyone watching new shows this year? Besides "Will & Grace", which is technically not a new show, we haven't started any new ones.

Click on over to Stamping Ground site to visit other deskers or link a photo of your work desk. This is a weekly link that Julia hosts. It's a lot of fun to check out what others are working on.


Have a great week!

 

 

Challenge Accepted!

Future DIL: The 7' 3D Eiffel Tower for the photo backdrop is too expensive so we're not going to have it for the party.

Me: What?! But it was going to be so cool!

Future DIL: That's ok (with a disappointed tone)

Me: I'm going to make one!  Yes, it can't be that hard. It's basically a triangle.

DS3: Yeah mom! You can do it!

Me:  Yes I can.  Challenge accepted.

That was the conversation about a month ago.  Now I'm more like, "what the heck was I thinking?"

I started with two large boxes. I duct taped pieces together, measured & cut the shape and then hated it. That's so not me. I'm more of a "yeah, that looks about right" kind of person. Then I took a step back, started sketching on the cardboard freehand, cut some more & decided it really does look like the Eiffel Tower!

Now for the details... First I painted all sides in white paint; then outlined the edges in black and then just went for it as far as the tower details. I mean, it is supposed to look like the Eiffel Tower, not BE the Eiffel Tower. I then cut & attached additional pieces to both complete the look of the tower and also add extra reinforcement.

My coworker saved some awesome corner pieces the were in a box supporting computers. They are super heavy & sturdy. I added these to the bottoms & the (I'm calling it) spine. This will help the tower stand on its own. Swoon!

By the way, this beauty is 8' tall! It's too tall for my house, so the final assembly will take place the night before the party. I didn't take a photo, but I also used glitter spray all over it. When the sparkling Christmas lights are attached, it's going to be so awesome!

Materials:  Cardboard, paint, duct tape, E6000 glue, box cutter, pencil or marker, glitter spray, Christmas lights

TGIF; Thankful Friday #14

Well heck, hubby hurt his back at work again this week. I know he's in so much pain and it's awful to see him like this, but I gotta tell ya, I love that he's home during the day. I know, I know, that sounds so selfish, but it's true. I get to see him in the morning and during my lunch. He's helping me with small things around the house because he's supposed to keep moving so not to stiffen up. He's also been spending time with our daughter in the morning which he doesn't get to normally either. Our daughter is 24 so it's not like she's a baby, but it's funny to see them marathon watching Cheers.  Cheers?  Really?  I don't know who decided they were going to watch it. So funny!

I mean, when I say small things, I really do mean small things like getting the mail, taking the meat out of the freezer when I forget (which is all the time), folding the laundry, and stuff like that.
So this week, I'm thankful for a hard working man.

Now it's your turn. What are you thankful for this week? Comment below to let me know.

WOYWW #437 and Wedding Album Sneak Peeks

Happy WOYWW! Another Wednesday is here and I'm showing off the Command Center. Boy, there are things everywhere as I'm working on tons of projects for the upcoming Fall in Love (Tomber Amoureux) engagement party for DS1 and future DIL. Between those projects, I'm also trying to complete the wedding album for DS3 & DIL from July. Yes! I'm crazy and loving it!


I know it sounds nuts, but I think I do best when my plate is full. There's no time for procrastinating which is my second favorite thing to do.
Here's my actual work area:

And here's a shot of my crowded room:

If you follow my blog, you know DS3 was married in Las Vegas in July. I posted photos of their engagement party and wedding HERE and HERE. The best part of working on the album is that I get to re-live the wedding. It was so much fun! I have a box full of papers, embellishments & photos for this album but when it came down to putting the pages together, I was overwhelmed. So I grabbed this divider thingy and separated the embellishments and it helped so much! So did the premade layouts I did before printing the photos.
Because there are so many photos (I printed over 200), I am adding a lot of flip-flaps. What are flip-flaps, you ask? They are exactly that. There are many different sizes, but basically you add a flap on the outside protector over the same size photo on the page. (Look at the photos below or check out YouTube.) They add interactive fun to your layouts and really do allow you to add so many more photos without committing to full page layouts. Although I've heard of flip-flaps, this is the first time I've used them. I bought mine from CTMH* and I LOVE them! They come in multiple sizes and I bought one pack of each size.


I'll do an album flip thru once it's complete but for now, here's a few sneak peeks of some of the pages:

*If you don't have a Close To My Heart consultant, I'm sure mine will appreciate any business. Her name is Kristina Baldwin. To order products, go to the CTMH website and shop away.


To learn more about WOYWW, click on over to the Stamping Ground website and read all about it. I love this community of linkers. Everyone is so positive and inspirational. Not all of the deskers are paper crafters. Many sew, embroider, knit/crochet, etc. Click on the links to see work desks/areas from people around the world. Be Inspired - Leave Comments or Just Be Nosey, but definitely click on over!

Perfect Fall Day

I have to say this past Saturday was the perfect fall day in the Durham household. The guys were watching college football and the ladies were painting pumpkins. LeAnna was taking a break (waiting for the paint to dry) and didn't want to take a photo.

DIL and DS

 Mine is the striped one. The pink paint is glow in the dark

This is LeAnna's princess pumpkin.

Harry Potter!

We were going to add vinyl letters to Carly's pumpkin, but the paint just peeled off. So she's leaving it plain. I do have some vinyl letters that say "Witch Better Have My Candy". She is going to transfer the letters to a glass frame & place it next to the pumpkin. Carly is really into displays.

I finally got a photo of LeAnna. We added rhinestones on top of all the glitter!

CWS Mid Month Inspiration

Shoes! Yes, I get excited about shoes. Click on over to the Creative With Stamps challenge site to join in the October challenge and a chance to win a prize. This month's challenge subject is SHOES.  Click here to see my earlier card and here's my mid-month inspiration. I matted this simple stamped card front onto black cardstock. I don't know if you can tell, but I scored three lines above and below the stamp images.

Now it's your turn...join the challenge at CWS!

TGIF; Thankful Friday #13 on Friday the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th! No, I'm not superstitious, but everyone notices when it's Friday the 13th - don't they?

Well, here's to another Friday and upcoming weekend. I am thankful this week for all the new females in our life. I'm a mother of three boys and one daughter. As you can imagine, my life has been dominated with a male presence and that is ok.


During the week, DS1 and DS2 work out of the area so they get home late and DS3 works at night. This Monday was hubby's birthday so as always, I make a special dinner, we sing "Happy Birthday" & then cake and ice cream. This year, we had DIL, granddaughter, future DIL and her little sister plus of course me and our daughter. A house full of girls!  LOL


So thank you Lord for blessing me with a house full of boys AND girls!

Now it's your turn...write in the comments what you are thankful for this week.  Big or small, we are grateful for them all! Have a great week!

WOYWW #436

Wait...What?!  It's already Wednesday?  Boy this week is flying by.  Happy WOYWW everyone.  Please click on over to Stamping Ground to read all about WOYWW and visit other desks from around the world.


My desk is busy! I have so many projects for the upcoming engagement party and I am in crafting heaven! I love the Parisian theme - we're going with Autumn in Paris - Fall in Love. I convinced the new DIL to incorporate an autumn theme with her Parisian theme. Of course more projects for me but hey, I'm loving it!

My Cricut's been chirping. We finished the invitations & mailed them. I have cut out Eiffel Towers, fleur designs and the word "Paris" that will eventually be part of the cupcake picks. This weekend I'm hoping to start on the larger Eiffel Towers for the centerpieces. I'm hoping to make them at least 15" in height. Keep checking...I'll be adding photos as the projects are being done.

Look At Us Making Things! AKA Outdoor Projects

Don't look too closely at the backyard, but I'm super excited about the small improvements we're doing back there. So, our backyard is jacked up! Which is the least offensive way to describe it LOL. We are slowing getting into the groove of changing that. We added these inexpensive pavers to one corner to build a small patio on the side. This area gets lots of shade in the afternoon/evening & is perfect for this table set. We cleared and leveled the area (about 10' x 10'), added some sand and literally just placed down the pavers. I know, I know, we probably should have done this or that, but it is what it is...an inexpensive upgrade. We weren't set out to create a huge project that never gets done.

DH, who is not very handy at all, viewed some YouTube videos after I told him "WE COULD DO IT" when he wanted to buy a fire pit. He did it! I am so proud that he decided to go for it. Except for the initial digging of the circle (only about 5-6" deep) the rest took less than an hour to put together. We're going to add pea rock around the pit about 12" to 15" deep and then place large pavers to create a seating area for it. We have other easy ideas too but like I told DH, we'll do one area at a time so we won't get overwhelmed and then give up.

We've outgrown the need for grass. Well, maybe not so much outgrown, but realized that we suck at keeping grass alive! We are going to put some grass, but only in one area on the side. I'm actually keeping some new plants alive and I really, really, want some planter boxes for a small garden.



Once the new fence is up, we'll have a better idea of what we want to do.

I for one hate hiring people to do simple projects. Believe me, I know experts are needed for specialized projects, but stacking some bricks on top of each other...WE CAN DO THAT! I'm so happy we did.  You know when I say "we", I really mean him since all I did was stand there and look pretty. With the change in the weather, I can't wait to use this thing soon!

TGIF; Thankful Friday #12

This week I'm thankful for my little baby Graceland Lou "Gracie". She's our border collie mix dog and she is so super sweet and very nutty! She brings so much excitement, love and silliness to our home. I don't know how we lived without a dog for so many years. With all our kiddos growing up and leaving the nest, Kenny & I will still have little Gracie.

I know one day she'll be gone, but her priceless memories will stay with us forever. Now it's your turn...what are you grateful for this week? Let me know in the comments. Big or small, we all have something to be thankful for!