The Paper Variety Blogaversary Challenge #5 and Apron Strings 4 Sketches 20 Days #6

Evening all my scrappy friends!  I spent most of the weekend getting baby things ready, but this evening I spent time being creative.  I created this layout for both the Paper Variety - Blogaversary Challenge #5 and Apron Strings - 4 Sketches 20 Days #6.

Here is my layout:

The Paper Variety Blogaversary Challenge #5 is to use your favorite embellishment(s) on your paper project.  I used stickles, bling and rick-rack.....my three favorite embellishments!  Check out the Paper Variety for all their cool challenges. 

I also created this layout for Apron Strings 4 Sketches 20 Days #6.  Here is the sketch:

And challenge #6 is to replace at least two smaller photos for a larger one.  I replaced the 5x7 on the left with (2) 4x6's and cut them down a bit. 

Here are some detailed shots:

Materials Used:  paper - Lime Twist by MME; butterfly, word strips, and always happy stickers - Lime Twist by MME; title tag - Lime Twist by MME; butterfly die-cut - Lime Twist by MME; stickles - Glam Pink; bling - Heidi Swapp ande Forever in Time; rick-rack - Jumbo Mediterranean Blue by Wrights; pop-dots - Forever in Time

Thanks so much for visiting! Head over to Apron Strings and The Paper Variety to join in the fun!!!

Project Life Tuesday - Week 35

Welcome to Project Life Tuesday 2011! If you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you will stay awhile. I'm Jessica and I am participating in Project Life, a different way to record our lives by taking one photo a day. This was inspired by the fabulous Becky Higgins who has put together a wonderful kit to make this challenge easier.


Don't worry, I'm not leaving traditional scrapbooking behind. This just gives me the opportunity to focus my scrapbooking on trips and things that are important to me right now and not get all bogged down with every birthday, dinner, and holiday that comes along.


Each Tuesday, I will post my pictures/journaling from the previous week. Project Life Tuesday was created by Jessica Turner over at The Mom Creative and she hosts a linky for readers to link up their pictures. So if you want to join in or want to see others POTW, just click the Project Lift button at the top of this post.

And finally, my POTW:

Saturday - My friend, Sabrina, from Kansas, came to visit me this weekend to scrapbook.  I haven't seen her since my wedding almost 2-1/2 years ago!  It was so fabulous.  We scrapped the entire weekend and even went to the Crafty Scrapper, our LSS.  

Sunday - Sabrina scrapping away.  I only finished 10 pages this weekend, I seem to be doing everything slower these days!  Sabrina finished way more pages than I did.

Monday - Miriam finally came to visit our remodeled home.  We grabbed some dinner and chatted for almost 4 hours!  It's been way too long since we've gotten together.  So glad to have spent time with her.

Tuesday - I am officially 34 weeks pregnant.  I am getting HUGE!  This week it has become a lot more difficult to move around, get in and out of the car, in and out of bed, and just overall waddling around.  Juan keeps saying "waddle, waddle, quack, quack" everytime I walk into a room.  I am really feeling like Madalynne will be arriving early.  My feet swelled last Thursday and still have not went back down so now suddenly none of my shoes fit. She is also moving alot in larger movements. Her movements are visible now just by looking at my belly.  Pregnancy stats: weight 246.5 lbs.  I went to the dr. this week as well.  Weight at Dr. office was 246.1 lbs blood pressure 120/80 so still no sign of preclampsia!  Yeah, because I was worried about the swelling.  My stomach is also getting very hard and tight, she is still very lop-sided to my right side.  Baby update: she now weighs about 4-3/4 lbs (like an average canaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers - which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born - are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous sysem is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well.  Good news is babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine with no long term effects.

Wednesday - Today is our 6 year anniversary of our first date.  Hard to believe so much has happened in such a short period of time.  To celebrate, we took advantage of restaurant week and had lunch at the Mansion.  Neither of us had been to this super fancy restaurant before and it was FABULOUS! I had an appetizer of goat cheese and zucchini. My entree was a pork meal that was delish and for desert we had an amazing chocolate cake with molten chocolate raspberry interior and raspberry ice cream.  YUM!  

Thursday - Juan and I took his son, Adam, to dinner tonight for restaurant week.  We went to Ruth's Chris and had an AMAZING meal.  My appetizer was lobster bisque, for my entree I had a petite filet with mashed potatoes, and for dessert I had banana cream pie.  Everything was sooooo wonderful.  The boys had martini's and wine and it was great to spend time with Adam!

Friday - Shannon came down to help thow me a baby shower this weekend.  She came a day early to scrapbook and we spent most of the day at the LSS Crafty Scrappers and had lunch in Waxahachie.  It was so good to see her, it has been too long.  Oh, and we did manage to get a layout done!

Thanks so much for visiting me this week!  I am really enjoying the photo's of the day.  I am surprise that I have kept up for almost 2 years. 

Sketch Inspiration Sketch #236 & Let's Scrap - Scrap Our Stash Challenge #15 Bingo

Happy Labor Day!!!  I didn't do much laboring, but I did manage to create another layout today.  Pretty sad that it took me most of the day, but I do like how this one turned out.  I used this week's sketch #236 from Sketch Inspiration and combined it with the Let's Scrap - Scrap Our Stash Challenge #15 Bingo.

Here is my layout:

And here is the sketch I used:

Here is the Bingo challenge if you would like to join in:

I used column #4 with (3) different ribbons, (9) punched shapes including (4) small heart punch, (1) large heart punch, (1) border punch, (2) circle punches, and (1) rectangle punch.  My stamped images are the "i am..." text, the "so happy" text, and the photo caption in the corner.  I think my alpha's and matted photos are obvious.  This challenge was a bit difficult for me as I don't have very many punches left.  The one's I do have had to be dug out of a box; but it was a good opportunity to use stash that I typically would not have!

Here are a couple of detailed photos:

Materials Used:  paper - Sugar Tree and Bazzill; ribbon - unknown; stamps - CTMH Take a Picture and Spring; ink - CTMH Black; punches - Martha Stewart border, Creative Memories circle punch, Emagination heart, Marvy Uchida rectangle, and EK Success small heart punch; date sticker - 7gypsies; pop dots - Forever in Time; bling - Mark Daniels; thickers - Rocketeer and Text by American Crafts; bracket - unknown.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Your comments are so inspirational and I would like to thank each one of you for stopping by.  

Let's Scrap - Scrap Our Stash Challenge #15 Bingo

The Scrap Our Stash Challenge over at Let's Scrap for the month of August is Bingo.  Just pick a row going across, down or diagonally.  Here is my layout - the last one for Casa Batllo'! 

Here is the Bingo board if you would like to play along:

I used the second column.  (3) pattern papers are the background, yellow strips and navy strips; my hand written journaling is on the circle journal in the bottom right corner; I have blue lace on the strips and white lace at the top of the photos at the bottom; (13) green blings; and (3) white rub-on words on the photos.

I also used a Let's Scrap Sketch - Sketch #3-24-10:

Here are a couple of detailed pics although this is a pretty basic layout, not much "details" to photograph.

Materials used: paper - Lost & Found Two by MME and Twig by Little Yellow Bicycle; lace - unknown; bling - Scrap 2 It; rub-ons - Simply Stated by Making Memories; letter stickers - Thickers; stamps - Pennant Alphabet by CTMH; ink - Moonstruck by CTMH; brochure holder - Creative Memories.

Thanks for visiting me!!!!!!

The Paper Variety Blogaversary Challenge #3, Let's Scrap - Challenge 111 & Sketch 2-24-10

The Paper Variety is having a Blogaversary this week.  I've combined the #3 challenge with the Let's Scrap challenge.  The #3 Challenge for the Blogaversary is to create a layout using your favorite photo or photos.  Obviously, I love these photos of Juan and I on our honeymoon in Spain!

Sweetie Rene' over at Let's Scrap has posted a design team "Recipe Challenge".  The challenge is to use the following elements on your page: 

~ 1 LARGE photo (8 x 10 or larger)

~ At least 5 shapes, circles, squares etc etc. You can use a punch, use die cut shapes as I have done here, stickers, or any other big shape (no buttons or brads please!). You don't need to use 5 different shapes, just 5 shapes!
~ Use string or twine on your layout.

Here is my layout (the left side is for the challenge):  I used the following shapes: (2) large rectangles, (1) large circle, (1) smaller circle, (1) scalloped journaling sticker, (1) heart, and (2) skinny rectangle tags.  My twine is wrapped around the heart and I used an 8x10 photo.

I also used a Let's Scrap sketch, #2-24-10.  Here is the sketch I used:  I rotated both sides.

Here are a couple of detailed photos:

Materials used:  paper - Lost & Found Two by MME and bazzill; ink - black by CTMH; border strips - K&Company; label stickers - Basic Grey; title rub-on - MME; journaling tag - Basic Grey; pop up sticker - Mariposa; twine - lime twist by MME; layered sticker - Lost & Found Two by MME; dragon by jolee's boutique.

Thanks for taking time today to visit me!  Hope you enjoy my layout.

The Paper Variety Blogaversary Challenge #1 & Let Scrap - September Month Long Challenge

Morning to you all!  The Paper Variety is having a blogaversary challenge week and Let's Scrap has a month long sketch going on this month with a fabulous sketch from Julie Bonner.  I decided to play along with both with another honeymoon layout from Casa Batllo.  Casa Batllo is a residence designed by Gaudi.  On this layout I have emphasized the front entrance to the building.  Here is my layout:

The Paper Variety Challenge #1 is to use stamps on your paper project.  I used a CTMH notebook journaling stamp, CTMH flourishes and CTMH storytime alphabet.

Here is the Julie Bonner sketch:

Here are a couple of detailed shots:

Materials Used:  paper - Authentique Paper and Creative Memories; journaling clock - BoBunny; title letters - cricut Black Letter; stamps - CTMH flourishes, Storytime Lowercase and Comments; inks - CTMH Vineyard Berry and Black; game spinners - Tim Holtz; letter stickers - Li'l Davis Designs; brads - Lush by MME and Lost & Found MME; layered chipboard - Lost & Found Two by MME; pearls - burgandy; chipboard - Maya Roads.

Thanks so much for visiting me!!!!  I hope you are having a fabulous crafty weekend.

My Hubby's Thank You Card

My husband attended my baby showers with me on the premise of being the "photographer" (I think he just really wanted to be involved, LOL)  It was very sweet and he did a great job of getting photos.  My sister had a gift specifically for him at the shower.  It was the most adorable pink Puma outfits!  My hubby is a PUMA nut and is the literal poster child for that brand.  He was so excited and quickly let me know that this was his favorite gift out of everything we received.

He wanted to send my sister a separate thank you card and raided my scrapbook loft to make it.  It turned out really nice and he had fun making it.  He wanted to use everything he saw in my room, LOL!  I was perfectly happy to let him.

Here is the card that he made:

The Paper Variety Blogaversary Challenge #2 & Let's Scrap 8-31-11 New Sketch and Layout

The Paper Variety is having a blogaversary this week. I decided to play along with their Challenge #2.  There was also a new weekly sketch posted at Let's Scrap.  There are TWO fabulous prizes this week, so I just had to play along.  This is another layout from our honeymoon in Barcelona.  This one is Gaudi's Casa Batllo' residence.  Here is my layout:

The Paper Variety Challenge #2 was to create a project using at least 70% of your favorite paper company.  Mine is obviously My Mind's Eye.  I have been using a TON of projduct from MME lately on many of my layouts.  I just love all the glitter.

And here is the Let's Scrap sketch:

Here are a couple of detailed photos:

Materials used:  cardstock - bazzill; paper - Lost & Found Two by My Mind's Eye and BoBunny; border strips - K&Company; brad - Lost & Found Two by MME; title tag - MME; sticker letters - Mariposa; flag banner - jenni bowlin studio; word stickers - creative imaginations; tickets - Tim Holtz; stitching - Bazzill In stitches.

That's so much for visiting me!!!  I hope you like my latest creation. Thank you to everyone who leaves a comment, they mean a lot!

Featured Photos and Winner!

Apparently my scrapping marathon last weekend with my friend Sabrina did me well.  I had not scrapbooked ALL month!  I only completed 10 layouts, but one was a featured photo on Let's Scrap, one was a featured photo on Scrapbook Challenges, and one WON the weekly prize at Let's Scrap.  YIPPPEEE!  Talk about a motivator to scrap away this weekend.  Of course it helps that my friend Shannon is visiting me for a long crop weekend.  Hopefully I will get a ton of layouts done!  Hope you do too!!!

Project Life Tuesday - Week 34

Welcome to Project Life Tuesday 2011! If you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you will stay awhile. I'm Jessica and I am participating in Project Life, a different way to record our lives by taking one photo a day. This was inspired by the fabulous Becky Higgins who has put together a wonderful kit to make this challenge easier.

Don't worry, I'm not leaving traditional scrapbooking behind. This just gives me the opportunity to focus my scrapbooking on trips and things that are important to me right now and not get all bogged down with every birthday, dinner, and holiday that comes along.


Each Tuesday, I will post my pictures/journaling from the previous week. Project Life Tuesday was created by Jessica Turner over at The Mom Creative and she hosts a linky for readers to link up their pictures. So if you want to join in or want to see others POTW, just click the Project Lift button at the top of this post.


And finally, my POTW:

Saturday - We got so much done today.  Juan put up the tree above Coco's crib, although I still plan to add 3D flowers to it; Juan helped Vanessa install bulletin boards in her classroom in preparation for school starting on Monday, and we went to BabiesRUs and finally ordered a rocker (a huge ordeal)!  Ok, so maybe Juan got a lot done, LOL.  Unfortunately the rocker will take 10-12 weeks to arrive so Coco will be about 6 weeks old before it even arrives.  :(  Guess I didn't plan that very well.
 

Sunday - After church today, Juan and I met Marco and Gracie at Whiskey Cake for lunch.  It was pretty good food, but even better to spend some time with family.  It has been way to long since we've seen them both!

Monday - Juan brought me flowers today.  Aren't they gorgeous?  We are having friends over for dinner tomorrow, so it was a perfect excuse for him to bring me some color!  Thanks babe!

Tuesday - We invited our friends, David and Siobhan over for dinner and to see our home remodel.  It's been months since we've seen them and it was a great night.  It was fun cooking dinner and preparing for company with Juan.  We work so well together.
 

Wednesday - Today I am officially 33 weeks pregnant!  This week it has become difficult to get a good night's sleep.  I am up about every 2 hours as Coco lives on top of my bladder!  Starting to feel uncomfortable; but overall I'm doing well.  Getting very excited for her arrival.  This week our baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark.  She is rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening.  The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit throught the birth canal.  These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. Pregnancy stats: 245.6 lbs.  I seem to be gaining weight too rapidly all of the sudden.       

Thursday - Juan and I went to Al Biernet's for restaurant week tonight.  Restaurant week is local 'fancy' restaurants provide a 3 course meal for $35 and donate a portion of that to the local food bank.  It is a great opportunity to try new places that typically would be too expensive.  We love Al Biernet's but do not get the chance to eat there often.  I had a rocket salad, salmon with a blueberry glaze and spinach, and carrot cake for dessert.  It was all delicious.  

Friday - Juan found out that another of his photo's is being published.  This one of the fountain at the Latin Cultural Center in Dallas.  I don't know all of the specifics of when and where it is being published, but we are excited about it.  

Thank you for visiting me again this week.  I really enjoy all the comments and seeing everyone else's pictures of the week!