Final Layouts for September

I'm not sure why I do this to myself every single month, but I get a few layouts done each week and then always end up procrastinating in photographing them and getting them uploaded here.  I promise that one of these days I will learn my lesson, but until then I have three layouts to share today...

For the first layout I used the September 15th sketch from Stuck?! Sketches.

Quite often I find that I need to change a sketch up a bit to accommodate a different number and/or size of photos, but not this time! I just got these photos developed a few weeks ago and couldn't believe it when I saw the sketch. Perfect! I was inspired by Drill #39 over at S.W.A.T. which is to use primary colors, so for product I used mostly Fancy Pants Nautical. The black alphas are Prima and Scenic Route, and the "crazy" chipboard arrow is Pink Paislee Hey Kid. I was also inspired by the September challenge at Scrap It Girl which is to use masks or stencils, so I used some modeling paste with the Crafters Workshop Bricks template to add some texture to my background.

For this next layout I used the September 15th sketch from Scrap Our Stash.

For this layout I was torn...I absolutely fell in love with the sketch and knew immediately that I wanted to use the above as my background paper because the design resembled the sketch. However I had already planned to use the above photograph with the paper, and part of the challenge at Scrap Our Stash is to use (2) photos. In the end I decided to follow the rule that I have set forth for myself for competing in scrapbooking challenges, which is to never let a sketch or guidelines for a challenge hijack my pages. I compete in challenges because they are fun and a great way to spark my creativity, but they are not the driving force as to why I scrapbook. Having said that lol, I was inspired by the Classic Craft Challenge over at Child's Play to use sequins. I have  ton of them that I just don't use often enough, so it was good to have a "gentle nudge" to do so,

My final layout was inspired by the Scrappy Friends' September challenge. Brenda's sketch is below.

And Rochelle had a Tic Tac Toe board for her challenge.

In keeping with my above-mentioned rule I did not participate in Kelly's Color Challenge, as I really wanted to use this particular photo and these papers for my page. As far as the Tic Tac Toe challenge, I completed the vertical, middle row: Stitching, Numbers (in the tape measure patterned paper) and Jewels.

Thanks so much for looking...see you back in October!

Let's Get Sketchy Hello Fall Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the LGS Hello Fall blog hop! If you have arrived here from Melinda F.'s blog welcome to the hop!! If you have stumbled across this by chance and want to play along then you can head back to the Let's Get Sketchy site to start at the beginning.  

The girls here at LGS are excited about the change in the season, and thus we are celebrating with a “Hello Fall” blog hop and giving away lots of daily prizes and a grand prize of a $25.00 gift voucher to Creative Embellishments. To be eligible win any of our hop prizes you will need to visit each designer’s blog, leave some love on each of our design team’s blog’s and follow their blogs. Each member of the DT will be sharing a Fall themed project for your inspiration.  To find out how to win our Grand Prize as well as lots of other giveaways, make sure you visit the LGS blog!

For your Fall inspiration I have created a layout using pictures of my son at the Pumpkin Patch in October of 2010.

Next up on the hop is Lynn G.

Line up is:

Brenshevia

Nadine

Melinda G.

Mayoori

Lisa

Shirley

Devra

Joefil

Melinda F.

Jenessa

Lynn G.

Michelle

Connie

Melissa

Wendi

Tone-Lill

Valerie

Danie

Lets Get Sketchy Blog

Here's the grand prize that you could win...

I am also giving away a RAK to one random person (U.S. only) who is following me and leaves a comment on this post.

Happy hopping!

Let's Get Sketchy Fall Blog Hop

Let's Get Sketchy September Week 4

I seriously cannot believe it's the last full week of September. And tomorrow is the official first day of autumn. Too bad it doesn't feel even the least bit like fall where we live. I mean, I'm not antsy to be bundling up in sweaters and bulky outerwear or anything...but I sure wouldn't mind a relief from temps being in the upper 90s. I'm pretty much over sweating profusely as soon as I walk out my front door, and I'm definitely ready to be able to go for walks and to take the kids to the park after school. So for now I guess I need to remain content with hiding out in the air conditioning and doing a little scrapbooking. I did just that with the latest sketch that's up at Let's Get Sketchy...

And I came up with this...

It's pretty apparent that I'm longing for cooler weather since I decided to get out some old Christmas pictures to scrap. The cooler colors that I decided to pull from the photos and card I made for Noé that year, as well as the snowflakes and silver sequins definitely fit the bill.

I hope you will take the time to head over to the Let's Get Sketchy blog and see what the rest of Team B did with this week's sketch. And you have until September 30th to link up your own layout for not only this week's sketch, but all of this month's sketches.

My Scraps & More Sketches

Happy Friday! And I am incredibly grateful for this one. Noé has been on a business trip of sorts...out at his alma mater recruiting for his company and gets back tonight. Which means I have been completely on my own with the kiddos. Usually I get through long days just knowing he will be home to help me get them to bed...but not for these last few days. My hats off to all those single moms out there!

Anyhow, another cause for celebration is a new sketch at My Scraps & More Sketches...

And my take on it...

Not the best photo of the layout as we have had a lot of rain and/or overcast days lately. I wish that meant that fall was here, but alas it's still in the upper 90s but with the added humidity. Ugh. Anyhow, I hope you take the time to head over to the My Scraps & More Sketches blog to see what the rest of Team B created!

Have great weekend!!

Stuck?! Sketches

Have you heard? Stuck?! Sketches is celebrating their anniversary this month. I had actually never seen this challenge blog until Laura took over as administrator last year, but I am sure glad I did! Laura is such a talented sketch designer...I love working with them!  Here's their September 1st sketch...

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

Isn't this the sweetest photo of Noé and Santiago? I love it so much that not only is it framed and displayed in our living room, but this is the second time I've scrapped it lol.

For product I used some of Crate Paper's Love Notes line...I love being able to use a line intended for a particular theme (in this case Valentine's Day) in a different way. I also used some scraps from Crate Paper's Portrait line and Prima's Little Guy line.

I am also entering this page into a challenge over at Sketches4All which was a Tic Tac Toe board, and I chose "Paint/Alphas/Stencil or Mask".

Thanks for looking!

Sketchabilities

It's only the second week of September and I'm already missing summer activities. One of the things I loved about living in Southern California was being able to go to the beach or pool any time of year. Now here we are in Texas, where it's still in the upper 90's, but since it's after Labor Day all the pools are closed. *SIGH*  So I guess I'll just have to pull out all my summer photos and get scrapping! For this layout I used a sketch from Sketchabilities.

And here's my take on it...

This is a photo of the little sandcastle that my nephew was helping Santiago build in the layout I posted here. The background paper and the cute little bucket & shovel embellie are Paper Studio, the title is a rub-on from the My Mind's Eye Breaking Free line, and the yellow frame is Fancy Pants Nautical. Everything else is miscellaneous scraps and bits.

I also entered this page into one of the September challenges at sketches4all which was to create either a Fall or Summer themed project.

Thanks for looking!

Let's Scrap

Over the summer the time I had to work on my scrapbooking was few and far between, so I found myself sticking strictly to single-page layouts, as I personally find them much quicker to put together. Now that I have more time I decided to get back to working on double-pagers, so I headed over to the Let's Scrap site which is where I often find good two-page sketches. To my surprise and utter excitement I discovered a message that they would be transitioning from a full-blown website to a blog. Yay! And below is their first sketch on their new challenge blog, which you can find here

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

I decided to print out these photos in black & white with some focal color for two reasons. First of all there were of a ton of conflicting colors in our clothes and balloons, and it was just too busy. I also wanted to really focus on the balloons which are the main topic...Santiago sending his letter to Los Tres Reyes for the very first time.

I'm also entering this layout into a challenge at the My Scraps & More challenge forum, which was to use a collection at least two years old and to draw something on my layout. I used two older collections...the purple paper is some My Minds Eye from about 8 years ago, and the patterned paper is Basic Grey's Kioshi. And then I used a black pen to outline around some of the white painted circles in my masking work. I love a challenge that gets me to not only use up my stash but also inspires me to be creative as well.

Thanks for looking!

Let's Get Sketchy September Week 2

It's Monday and back to reality for Noé and me. For the first time since the kids were born we got to spend an entire weekend away from them. We left Friday morning and drove down to San Antonio, and we got back to Dallas late Sunday afternoon. It was so nice to stay in a hotel for two nights and spend some spontaneous & child-free time together. And while we were both excited to see Santiago & Paolina after our time away...it was instant back-to-reality when my parents brought them to our house last night. We immediately had to get them bathed, and after we got them to bed I had to put together lunches for school today as well as unpack everyone's suitcases.

So please forgive this short post...I have a mountain of laundry, an empty fridge, and somewhere I need to squeeze in some gym time (we ate ourselves silly on our trip and my waistline is suffering lol!)

Today is another sketch reveal over at Let's Get Sketchy. This week is a fabulous sketch from Laura...

And here's my take on it...

While I'm glad that it's back-to-school season (I love routine and consistent time to myself) I'm already missing time at the pool. And I will always be homesick for the beach. So it was fun to pull out these old photos of my nephew building sandcastles with Santiago when he was a baby, and reminisce about summer fun!

The background paper is Fancy Pants Nautical and the dimensional elements are from Paper House.

Thanks for looking, and I do hope you will take the time to see what the rest of Team B came up with using this week's sketch.