You make me Happy layout using Cosmo Cricket DeLovely

Hello! This is one of my favorite pictures of Maddy from last summer. I thought the DeLovely line from Cosmo Cricket was just perfect for it. I used a sketch from Sketchalicious that Amy had posted at Birds of a Feather in July.

I wish I had a good computer program to edit pictures. The colors in the picture above are off. :-(
I had fun sewing on this layout!

I am linking this layout up to the The Paper Variety for their challenge this week. If you haven't checked out TPV, head on over there! They always have great challenges!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Simple Camping Layout using Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy

I have had very little scrappy time lately. We had a family reunion this past weekend that took me a couple days to get ready for as it was all weekend. It was a blast. I am so fortunate to have married into such a fantastic family! I've also been spending a lot f time going through things to get rid of and pricing stuff for my garage sale this weekend! That and making presents for two of the three birthdays we have this week!

Here is a layout I created a week or two ago. Just a quick and simple layout. I love the Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket! This was for a challenge at the Birds of a Feather crop. The challenge was to create a layout about what you are doing or have done THIS summer and journal at least three sentences.

The pictures were from our Memorial Day camp trip. We played games, napped by the fire (well, I didn't...but Chris did), went and explored new territory and enjoyed sitting by the campfire at night. The picture of the fire is right after Chris through our Christmas tree on the fire! It was pretty fun to watch!
The chipboard letters didn't really match color-wise, so I distressed them so nobody would notice!

Thanks for stopping by!

Em's Visit Layout using Echo Park

I created this layout a while back for a Birds of a Feather crop. I used the Little Girl line by Echo Park! I used pink! I used pink! Are you shocked? I am! ;-)

I apologize for the bad pictures. I couldn't get a good one at the time and have forgotten to go back and retake it. Looking at it here, I wish I hadn't put that bird sticker on there...its to cluttery right there. I'm wondering if I can pull it off without messing up the layout?
Every summer my Cousin Emily and her two girls come up to visit us. I look forward to their visits every year! I sure wish they lived a lot closer so we could spend more time together. I'm so far behind, that these are pictures from last years visit!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Silly Kids Layout

This is a quick and simple layout I created using sketch #47 by Helen at Scrap A Little. The Paper View challenged us to use circles on a paper project this week. I LOVE me some polka dot paper! :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Camping

**Warning: This is a picture heavy post. **

Chris took a weeks vacation last week. We had plans set, hotel rooms booked, doctor appointments scheduled and then things started going to pot. Maddy's doctors appointment 3 hours away was rescheduled and then we had to be back two days earlier than planned for a funeral. So we scrapped all our plans and took off camping! This was Chris's decision and I think it was an excellent one. We've been wanting to go up to Walton Lake. It is only about a half hours drive from our house! :-)

Here we are:

This is our views...you can see some of the lake. It was so nice to be so close to walk too!

The first thing the kids did was ride their scooters back and forth.

We needed some campfire wood so we took off for a little drive to see what we could find.

Of course Peyton wanted to help.

And because Peyton did, Maddy did....

While helping Chris load the wood into the back of the truck I came across these. They brought back so many memories! These were my wildland firefighting gloves from way back in the day before kids.

Oh Walton Lake...how I love you...how I wish I could have a cabin right here to go to often....

Yes, those were capris that were more like shorts, paired with a camo jacket and rain-boots. She is quite stylish!

We went for a drive to Allen Creek Reservoir. I found a new place I want to camp. This would definitely be a Chris and me, no kids and tenting it trip. The road is pretty rough getting in there, but man, is it beautiful and so incredibly peaceful.

This photo is the works of Peyton.

The kids had a blast throwing rocks into the water. I got Peyton to wade in with me til his shorts got wet. But he wouldn't go swimming because we forgot his swim trunks.

Maddy didn't care to sit and wait for the fish to bite. So I'd take off for a walk around the lake with her. They closed down the lake last year to re-do the camp spots and the trail around the lake as well as kill off all the fish and restock the lake. Peyton was quite the fisherman. He caught 15 fish total! A few times he didn't have his line in the water but 2 minutes before he caught a fish! He learned to cast all on his own and DID NOT want anyone touching his pole when he was casting, he wanted to do it all by himself!
The kids cracked me up. They got restless, whiny and cranky, but also had lots of fun together.

We had a lot of fun!

As if that wasn't enough to wear the kids out (think, no naps and late nights) we got home Friday morning. Unloaded the trailer, did a few loads of laundry to load back in the trailer, packed for another weekend away and took off again! We had a birthday party, a funeral and Chris had a golf tournament Saturday and Sunday. All that called for staying where it was all located. I spent some time at my moms just hanging out. The kids were able to hop in the pool and play some on Sunday. They could spend HOURS in the little pool and going down the slide.

I also caught Maddy climbing into an exersaucer! She cracks me up!

I've been playing catch up since being gone so much and have another busy weekend and week to plan for. Wish me luck! At some point, life will slow down, right? We have a family reunion weekend camp out, 'I'm heading out to visit a on-line friend for the first time, we have three birthdays and a garage sale, all within a matter of 9 days! :-0

So as you can see, I haven't been home. I do, however have some new layouts to share with you. So check back soon!

Stuck On U Sketches & Creative Cuts & More Summer Mini Album Blog Hop

Welcome to the Summer Mini Album Blog Hop sponsored by Creative Cuts and More! The hop is being hosted by Stuck On U Sketches and Creative Cuts and More (their blog is Die Cut Diva).

I am so honored, Terry at Creative Cuts and More called and asked me if I'd be interested in participating in this mini album blog hop! Of course I jumped at the opportunity! Today's blog hop consists of Design Team members from both Stuck On U Sketches and Creative Cuts and More (which I have previously designed for). If you want to start at the beginning now, head over to Stuck On U Sketches. Make sure to read to the very bottom where you will find a coupon code to Creative Cuts and More.

I started off with the Circle Window 6"x6" Album. The Sweet Summertime line by Echo Park jumped out at me when I found out the theme was summer.

I opted to let the chipboard show. I'm loving the look of kraft on my layouts and figured I would test it out on a mini. I'm really happy with out it came out. I fussy cut clouds and the banner triangles and then used the Echo Park alpha stickers for the title. The grass at the bottom was cut using a Sizzix die and then overlapping the pieces a tad.

This is the inside cover! I'm still not 100% sure exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I have a few ideas rolling around in my head. I think I might add some photos to the right page above and below the circle.

A close up of the inside of the cover.

I was inspired by the pinwheel patterned paper and pinwheels in some of the stickers. I created my own pinwheel on the left hand side.

Here I used the super cute Filmstrip (small) and put different patterned papers underneath.

I made a couple more of those fun little pinwheels.

I used the Scallop Oval Fram #02 - Large on these pages. I cut them in half. The butterflies are from a couple Martha Stewart punches I have.

I just love these flowers. They are two of the Flower #06 - Small. I layered two of them and used a sticker for the center.

I have recently seen some really cute pop up cards. I got to thinking that they would be fun to put in a mini!

This is the Pop Up 2A Insert Horizontal Pop Up Bar.

I used a Scallop Circle Frame Small on each of these pages.

I used the Pop Up card insert again on the final page.

And the final page...I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the center. Maybe 'Made by' and the year. Maybe a quote. I used the Filigree Square Label with Squares.

Kudos to you if you made it through all those photos!

Now hop on over to Kim Langhorst's blog!

Make sure to:

1. Become a follower of each blog

2. Leave a comment on each blog

3. Leave a comment on Die Cut Diva letting Terry know you stopped at all the blogs.

Die Cut Diva will then pick one lucky winner that will in our amazing blog hop give away that is sponsored to us by Creative Cuts & More. The winner will be announced on the SOUS and Die Cut Diva Blogs on August 5th. So do stop by and see if you are the lucky winner!

The hop today consist of DT members from both Stuck On U Sketches and Creative Cuts and More. We will be showcasing the minis in alphabetical order and the order is as follows.

Beginning at the SOUS Blog then on to:

1. Annette Gearside

2. Beatriz Guzman

3. Becky Voth

4. Bonnie Friesen

5. Dawn Gallop
6. Dawn Lotharius
7. Fern Riley
8. Kayla DuPont <-----YOU ARE HERE
9. Kim Langhorst <-------GO HERE
10. Kristine Reynolds
11. Leah Schaeffer
12. Melissa Waldorf
13. Nanne Harry
14. Noelle Reese
15. Sandi Clarkson
16. Stine Ursin
17. Taylor Usry
18. Wanda Boardley
19. Die Cut Diva

With that being said, I hope you hop along and enjoy all the inspiration and eye candy! Your first stop is SOUS. Thank you so much for stopping by today and have fun!

One more quick thing, Creative Cuts & More is also offering our readers a 20% discount this week! Just use discount code SOUS20 during check out to save 20% off your entire order!

My Beautiful Family Layout

Hello all! Birds of a Feather had a crop this weekend (you have til Wednesday to upload your layouts). One of the challenges was to use a photo that was 5x7 or larger! I have had this photo taken at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's wedding last summer for a while. I was having a hard time getting started on it. While at the Horse Races a few weekends back I saw a full page ad in their pamphlet that really jumped out at me so I tore it out and put it in my purse! :-)

This is what I ended up with:

I wish the photo was netter, I may try to retake it after I get the correct butterflies. I spent A TON of time cutting the papers just right and stitching everything! I'm not sure I'd do it again. haha! Part way through stitching around the circle Peyton came up and pushed a button on the sewing machine! :-0 I'm not sure what he did...but he changed my stitch! It adds character right? I was bummed when I got done with the stitching and realized I had forgot to ink each piece of patterned paper.

I made some satin flowers to go with the layout. They seemed to go well with the papers.
Lots and lots of stitching!
I used Cosmo Cricket Tiny Types and American Crafts Thickers for the title. The lace is layered on a piece of brown ribbon. I wanted something in the upper right corner of the photo and by the title to create a triangle (ya know...rule of 3 and triangle rule in design). I had this cute little brown butterfly that seemed to fit. But wished it was pink. I then remembered I had bought Maddy hair clips with butterflies on them. I searched and found a clip under the recliner. ;-) It was bent up and not overly pretty, but it would work for the picture til I could order some more butterflies! I hope to be able to order a itty bitty pink one and one similar to the size I have by the title. I might even order a couple extra in case one would look good by my satin flowers! Most of the papers are Basic Grey. There are a few pieces that I pulled from my stash and can't remember their brands.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Make sure and stop back by Friday to see my mini album and play along in the blog hop I'm participating in!