Let's Get Sketchy April Week 4

Happy Monday! And you know what that means...another new sketch from Let's Get Sketchy! This week's is the last for the month of April, which will give you only have two days to get your layout uploaded to the blog, but I'm sure this sketch will inspire you to get scrapping!

And here's my take on it...

I didn't journal the date & location of these photos because this is an adjoining page to a layout that is going to be published in the upcoming Let's Get Sketchy online magazine Get Inspired, and that page has those details. But since you are obviously not currently seeing the "whole picture" I'll tell you that these are photos I took of Santiago at Huntington Beach back in June of 2009. He was at that stage when he would put sand into his mouth every single time we went to the beach. Yuck.

The background paper is the Paper Studio, and most of the remaining paper is Studio Calico LemonLush (except for the strip of dark blue at the top of the page which is Fancy Pants Down by the Shore.

Thanks for looking...hope you take the time to check out all the inspiration over at Let's Get Sketchy!

Cow Parade

Wow it's been a crazy week. Santiago's birthday is Sunday, the party is tomorrow, and Noé and I are going to a dinner party for his work tonight. I've been super busy running errands and working on party stuff, and I completely forgot to get a post up for a challenge over at Stuck on U Sketches, which just ended.

I only used two photos and came up with this...

Several years before we had kids, Noé and I went to visit his family in Mexico over Christmas and New Year's Eve. That year the Cow Parade was in Mexico City and we toured the streets to see all the sculptures...and of course I had to photograph each and every one. I recently went through my enormous stack of photos that needs to be scrapped and found all of the photos from that trip. I had really forgotten about them and was totally inspired to get them onto layouts. For this first page I used the above Stuck on U sketch. And for the below page, I just "winged it" without any sketch at all. Both pages use mostly Amy Tan's Plus One collection, as well as some Glitz & Doodlebug washi tapes.

I apologize or the "not-so-perfect" photos of these layouts. My camera is on its last leg, and I've been taking photos of all my layouts with my iPhone.  Have a fantabulous weekend all! And please keep your fingers crossed that the gluten-free, egg-free cupcakes I just baked turn out delicious for tomorrow's birthday party!

Sketchabilities

Hello and Happy Tuesday. I hope everyone had a beautiful Easter weekend. After the service on Sunday morning we were able to get someone to take a photo of our family...we have so few pictures of all four of us together and the fact that we are dressed in our "Easter finest" just makes it all the better. I can't wait to get this photo developed and scrapped!

And speaking of scrapbooking, I've been playing with all my new scrappy goodies again. For this page I used a sketch from Sketchabilities.

I flipped the sketch and came up with this...

I used a photo I took of Paolina in the car when we were on our way to the Santa Monica Pier to celebrate my birthday in 2012. I adore those sunglasses...wish I had an exact pair for myself! For product, I mixed it up as usual....the flair, background & some of the punched strips are Crate Paper Love Notes, the tags are Crate Paper Styleboard, and the fussy cut flowers & stickers are Basic Grey Fresh Cut.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look!

My Scraps & More #77

It's Friday! And time for another sketch at My Scraps & More Sketches!

And here's what I did with it...

I love this photo of Santiago and me acting silly for the camera. And I love all the new product I got to play with to create it as well. The background paper is Bo Bunny Modern Miss. The paper scraps are Amy Tan Plus One; Crate Paper Styleboard, Love Notes and On Trend; My Mind's Eye Lucky in Love; some very old Sassafras Lass. The flair is Crate Paper Love Notes, the vellum ephemera is Crate Paper Styleboard and the enamel dot is My Mind's Eye. I even used a new 6x6 mask from Crafter's Workshop called Sketch Grid.

Thanks so much for looking...hope you will take the time to see what else our talented design team came up with using this week's sketch!

Let's Get Sketchy April Week 2

It's Monday which means it's time for another fabulous sketch from Let's Get Sketchy.

And here's what I did with it...

The photo I used for this took me down memory lane...Paolina was about 5 weeks old and Santiago was 2 years old. In less than two weeks, he will be turning 6, and in June Paolina will be 4. Wow has the time flown by! For product I used My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart, Studio Calico The Pier, Crate Paper Love Notes & Styleboard, and some miscellaneous scraps from Prima, Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and Dream Street Papers.

Thanks for looking...please head over to the the Let's Get Sketchy blog for more inspiration using this week's sketch!

Sketchabilities

For me there is something absolutely magical about getting new scrappy goodies. I stalk the UPS guy/mail carrier until my package arrives on my doorstep, I tear into the box like a child on Christmas morning, and then I ooh and ahh over each item. And then the real magic begins as I sort through my photos, matching them to my precious new papers and embellies. If I have recently lost my creative mojo it has now magically reappeared! For the next week or so I'm daydreaming about creating pages, and household chores get put on hold as I pour over my crafting table. Love it!

To further sweeten the deal is finding inspiration in sketches. I used the current sketch over at Sketchabilites for the below page...

For this page I used a photo of Paolina from 2012, when her hair had just gotten long enough to put into pony tails. I kind of miss those sweet little baby curls, although I do not miss how tangled they got once they started growing longer. For product, almost every single item is brand-spanking new (I even used a brand new template from Crafter's Workshop called Coffee Splotch). There's some Crate Paper Styleboard, Basic Grey Fresh Cut, and the background paper is from Michael's. I also used a few scraps from My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste and Crate Paper Love Notes.

Thanks for looking!

Stuck?! Sketches

Happy Monday! After several weeks of feeling less than productive due to sick kids, doctor's appointments and other miscellaneous interruptions...I feel awesome about getting a ton of things crossed off my "to do" list today. I even had time to complete an entire layout (and photograph it) on top of everything else I did. Yay for me! I used the current sketch over at Stuck?! Sketches...

...flipped it and came up with this...

Last week I splurged and ordered a few scrappy goodies from the My Scraps & More online shop. I love that they carry current product, always have awesome sales, and ship super fast. I placed my order on a Tuesday afternoon and had my goodies by Friday. Unfortunately we were pretty busy over the weekend so I really didn't have time to play with any of it, but I as soon as I had the chance today I immediately jumped right in. I've been stashing this background paper from My Mind's Eye since they released the Miss Caroline line, and it works perfectly with these photos and the Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Styleboard 6x6 paper pad that I just bought.

My Scraps & More #75

Maybe it was the extended nationwide season of winter, but I feel like Christmas was practically yesterday. Yet here it is the first week of April. I think Spring is finally here to stay where we live...hope it's the same for you! And if that's not enough to get excited about...it's Friday and there's a new sketch up at My Scraps & More Sketches.

Here's what I did with it....

Did anyone happen to notice this page is adjoining to my last post? I love that I was able to take two completely separate single-page sketches and with a few minor adjustments turn them into a double-page layout.

Seriously this is why I love sketches...they're the perfect launching point to your creativity, and the possibilities are absolutely endless. Please go and check out the other pages the girls at My Scraps & More Sketches came up with using this week's sketch. I'm positive you'll find lots of inspiration there!