Re-do!

The "incompleteness" to my most recently posted layout was on my mind throughout Thanksgiving weekend, and I was actually looking forward to getting back from our mini trip to so I could play around with it. I was even more adamant about getting it up to my standards after posting it here on my blog, and seeing all over again that it just didn't look right to me. I still wouldn't say it's a favorite layout, but after adding some star embellies, staples & hand-stitching, I'm way more content with the result. 

I also went back and added a few elements to its adjoining page, which was for a Let's Get Sketchy! sketch last month.

And here's what they look like side-by-side in Santiago's 1st Birthday album:

Let's Get Sketchy! November Week 4

Have you ever been unhappy with a layout? Felt like something was not right or something was missing, but just couldn't figure out how to make it right? I know that happens to me sometimes. And it happened with the layout I was working on for this week's Let's Get Sketchy! reveal. Typically I set the layout aside and come back to it a few hours or even a few days later, and try to look at it with fresh perspective. Unfortunately I completely procrastinated on this project because I got busy with plans to go out of town for Thanksgiving, and I was literally photographing and posting it minutes before we were to go out the door for our drive down to San Diego. So it makes me really sad to see my "incomplete" layout up, but what can I do...maybe I will figure out what it needs to make it feel more "complete" and re-post here on my blog...

But for now here is what mine looks like. Please go and check out the rest of the amazing-as-usual sample layouts on the Let's Get Sketchy! blog and please join in and submit your own!

Scrappy Friends November Challenge

A few months ago I discovered that several of my internet scrappy friends were teaming up to do a monthly challenge on their blogs. At Brenda's blog you will find a sketch. And if you hop over to Rochelle's blog she has a stash challenge, at Kristi B's blog there is a technique challenge, and at the Scrappin' n' Happy blog Kerys has a color combo challenge. If you complete the challenge at each blog you receive an entry for a random prize drawing, and for every additional challenge you combine or complete you will receive an entry for a bonus prize. Now how much fun is that?

I really got caught up in my Let's Get Sketchy! design team work as well as our month long trip to Dallas, so I completely forgot to post my entries for the months of September and October, which I am now posting below:

With the latter layout, my entry into the Scrappin' n' Happy blog challenge actually won me the random prize drawing. I was so excited to get my prize in the mail last week

and got to work with it immediately to complete the following layout:

I used the sketch from Brenda's challenge, and rotated it 90 degrees. And then I used the color combo challenge from the Scrappin' n' Happy blog (the colors in my EP prize were PERFECT), the technique challenge from Kristi B's blog, and the stash challenge from Rochelle's blog..  Now after photographing my layout I was preparing to upload it and link it to all the sites...when I realized I had totally missed one of the requirements for Rochelle's stash challenge. Arrgghhh!  So I went back and added some chevron and here is the result:

Let's Get Sketchy! November Week 2 Challenge

It's fun to go on trips, and it's good to visit with family...especially since I had not seen my parents since April of 2011. But it's also good to be home. Back into our routine. Not living out of a suitcase. And back to scrapping! We've been back since late Tuesday night of last week, and I'm embarassed to say I haven't quite finished unpacking and all the suitcases are still sitting out...but I did manage to complete about ten layouts. Clearly one can see where my priorities lie LOL.

Some of the scrapping I did was just for fun, and a lot of it was a project I'm working on for a friend, but I also completed a sample for this week's sketch at Let's Get Sketchy! I love how sketches make it quicker and easier for me to get my scrapping done! Please go check out the sketch we have this week at Let's Get Sketchy! and don't forget that you now have the entire month to submit layouts for a chance to win the monthly prize.

For the above layout I used a photo of myself and my co-workers at the last "paying" job I had before becoming a SAHM. It was taken at our annual company Christmas party about a week before my last day.  I was on such a roll that I also did an adjoining page using the card and a photo of the beautiful plant that my employers gave me on my last day.