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!

Let's Scrap - Scrap Our Stash Challenge #14 & Frosted Designs Flourish Challenge

I managed to complete another layout today! This one is for the Let's Scrap - Scrap Our Stash Challenge #14 and for Frosted Designs - Fabulous Friday Challenge Flourishes.  Here is my completed layout:

The Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs was to use flourishes on your card, layout or project.
The Let's Scrap challenge was:
1. Use at least 20 pieces of chipboard in at least 5 different shapes (like butterfly, gear, flower, photo corners, swirls, etc) Please note that individual letters used do not count individually---only individual WORDS count as one. Also you can’t count different fonts as different shapes. Here’s the twist --- I don’t want you to use the chipboard as it is. I want you to alter it. You can use paint, markers, watercolors, embossing, colored pencils, or even glitter, You could even use fabric, paper, or felt on it, But it can’t be plain. You have to dress it up somehow— so be creative!!! I want to see at least two different techniques used to alter it.
2. Use cardstock as your background paper and also alter it. Ideas of things you can use are masks and mists, doodling, embossing, stamp or sew designs on it
3. Use fiber, embroidery thread or twine somewhere on your layout (no ribbons or lace)


I used 23 pieces of chipboad; my shapes were banners, hearts, circles, brackets, and swirls.  I altered the chipboard with paint and stamping of the letters on the honeymoon banner.  I used yellow cardstock and altered it with stamping and stitching at the banners.  I used embroidery thread at the banners and the tie around the paper clip.

I also used sketch #259 from Scrapbook Challenges.  Here is the sketch:

Here are a couple of detailed photos:

Materials Used:  paper - bazzill and unknown; rub-ons - tLc; stamps - CTMH A Typeface and Wicked; letter stickers - creative imaginations; paper clip - Basic Grey; ink - CTMH black and creme brulee; chipboard - Maya Road, Heidi Swapp, TLC, unknown; journaling block - Enchanting by KIMemories; paint - Making Memories spotlight, espresso, acorn, chocolate, lagoon, and country blue.

Thanks for visiting me!!! 

Let's Scrap 8-24-11 New Sketch and Layout

Let's Scrap posted a new sketch this week.  It was a great sketch, but I'm not real happy about how my layout turned out.  It's a little boring, but done.  Here is my layout:

And here is this week's sketch:

Here are a couple of detailed photos:

Materials Used:  paper - Keeping Memories Alive, Webster's Pages; cardstock - unknown; trimmer - Creative Memories; flowers - vintage brooch by Sassafras; alphabet stickers - the Paper Studio; riboon - unknown; ribbon holder - Making Memories.

Thanks for visiting!

Let's Scrap - Scrap Our Stash Challenge #13

I managed to finish another layout today, WOOHOOOO.  This is for the Scrap Our Stash Challenge #13 at Let's Scrap.  Here is my layout, another from Casa Mila in Barcelona on our honeymoon.

This challenge was:

1. Use a monochromatic color scheme. All papers, CS, embellishments etc. should be in the same color family: red, orange, yellow, green etc. You may have a little tiny bit of one of the following colors (because patterned papers sometimes have a bit of another color): white, cream, brown or black. One of these additional colors only, and just a wee bit!!

2. Use at least FOUR patterned papers, each from a different manufacturer. Tell us who made the papers you used on your page.

3. Use at least 10 brads or buttons.

4. Use some ribbon, floss, or thread.

5. Use a flower somewhere.

I also used a Let's Scrap Sketch 3-10-10.  Here is the sketch:

Here are some detailed shots of my layout:

Materials Used:  paper - Vintage Love by Glitz Design, All Fall by Fancy Pants, CTMH, and Creative Imaginations; letter chipboard - Heidi Swapp; chipboard shapes - Maya Road; paint - lagoon, marine and asphalt by Making Memories; shimmer mist - Radiant Rain by Creative Imaginations; glimmer mist - graphite by Tattered Angels; brads - unknown; stickers - Narratives by Creative Imaginations; letter stickers - Sandylion; riboon - unknown; flower - Prima Flowers; circle punch - Creative Memories; border punch - EK Success; ink - black CTMH.

Hope your weekend has been relaxing and productive!  Thanks for visiting.

Let's Scrap Page Maps - August Layout Challenge

Let's Scrap is having a month long sketch challenge using Becky Fleck's page maps sketch.  It runs through August, so you still have time to join in!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my layout:



It is at the Perdrera in Barcelona on the rooftop terrace.  Beautiful location!  I used the sketch almost exactly as everything just seemed to work out.....love it when that happens.

Here are a couple of detailed photos:

Materials Used:  paper - Lost & Found Two by My Mind's Eye,  Bo Bunny; chipboard letters - Basic Grey; gold gems - Imaginisce; Irock - Imaginisce; stamps - A Typeface and Circle Around by CTMH; layered sticker - Lost & Found Two by My Mind's Eye; brads - Lost & Found Two by My Mind's Eye; tag - Lost & Found Two by My Mind's Eye; ribbon - unknown; ink - black CTMH; flowers - Just Blooms Autumn Sunflower by CTMH and unknown.

Thanks for visiting me!  I love all my blogging friends.  If you are or were in the hurricane path, my thoughts and prayers are with you.