Awesome Kid | Scrap the Boys Challenge

This month at Scrap the Boys, we had a sketch challenge. Here's what I made:

Here's the sketch. Since I scrap 8 x 8, I had to adapt it a little.

I used Cocoa Vanilla's No Limits collection on my layout. Here are some detail shots.

I mounted some of the elements on black paper to make them stand out since I have so much going on on this page.

The orange letters are old BasicGrey stickers. I love those things.The style is timeless and goes with just about any other letters.

I used some of the frame diecuts from the No Limits collection to highlight some of the pictures.

Some of the stars are diecuts (and puffy stickers) and some were fussy cut from one of the papers in the collection. I know some people dislike fussy-cutting, but I really enjoy it and it's a very economical way of adding to my embellishments.

I hope I inspired you to try out this sketch and/or to scrap the boys/men in your life!

Sweet | Paper Issues Keep It Sketchy - Sketch #3

I'm super excited that Paper Issues decided to go with weekly sketches instead of just one each month. Here's a page I made for the Sketch #3:

Here's the sketch. I used the same basic design, but I substituted a chipboard embellishment for one of the pictures, I didn't angle the photos, and I added some more stuff.

I used Fancy Pants Cherry on Top chipboard pieces as my starting point and then used papers and some other elements from my stash to build my page. Those little birds were in a drawer I have with other bird embellishments. I had printed them out. I think they were probably from when we had "CSI Coordinates" many moons ago. The colors were perfect for this page and add a bit of whimsy. I added soem googly eyes for fun.

I had this already tied red ribbon in my red ribbon jar and decided it would be the perfect touch to this sundae bowl, along with the chipboard heart because I always add a heart to the pages I give away. I found some fun phrase stickers in my stash that were dessert-related. The gingham one was perfect and led me to use the gingham brads.

I found some tiny tags in my stash and tied one onto one of the brads. Those labels are ancient Martha Stewart labels. It's actually one label that I cut in half.

At the very last minute, I added that spoon because that empty space was bugging me. I really liked the addition of this and tied on a charm that's been in my stash for eons. I just love combining old and new stash!

I hope you'll come play along. This was a fun sketch to play with! Be sure you enter your layout in the Facebook group for your chance to win a gift certificate to the shop. Speaking of the shop, there are all sorts of new goodies, and lots of pieces of this Cherry on Top collection in stock. And whenever you shop at Paper Issues, please use my discount code Debbi (no e on the end), and you'll get 20% off of everything in the store, including kits, every single day!

Wonder | Paper Issues Keep It Sketchy Challenge.

I made this layout for the June 1 sketch over at Paper Issues.

Here's the sketch. I stayed pretty true to it.

In looking for papers to go with my friend's daughter's dress, I came across the pink cloud paper from Shimelle's Never Grow Up collection, and decided I had to use that. The butterflies were cut out of one of the papers from this collection. The green strips were scraps from some old papers by Sassafras Lass and Prima. I rescued these pretty word stickers by K&Co that were perfect with the colors.

The title is also from this collection. That flowery trim is old Doodlebug Frills. I love to mix older and newer stash. And of course I used some Nuvo Drops. The fuchsia trim at the bottom is some leftover scraps from an old Ki Memories diecut paper that I came across in my scraps drawer when I was looking for some other pink paper. 

I found these fuchsia flowers in my stash that were perfect, and I trimmed them with some leaves cut from a Shimelle paper from the collection.

I hope you'll come play along. This was a fun sketch to work with. Make sure you enter your layout in the Facebook group for your chance to win a gift certificate to the shop. Speaking of the shop, there are all sorts of new goodies. And whenever you shop at Paper Issues, please use my discount code Debbi (no e on the end), and you'll get 20% off of everything in the store, including kits, every single day!

2 Cuties | Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches - Day 28

I finally finished all 30 sketches in Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches! However, I'm SO behind on posting them, so I'm doing some quick blog posts to catch up. Here's my page for Sketch 28:

Here's the sketch.

And some details. I used the Fancy Pants Happy Place collection from a couple of years back because the colors matched the kids' clothes. There weren't any cutesy elements, so I stamped some Tim Holtz crazy birds on coordinating cardstock. In retrospect, I wish I had stamped on white paper and painted the birds. Next time... The speech bubbles were fussy cut from an old Studio Calico paper.

How fun are these birds? I love how this one looks like he's looking up at the kids. I used the awesome Bella Blvd Florence alphas for my title. Such an playful, fun font, and it comes in every color of the rainbow.

This 30 Days of Sketches challenge is now over, but Paper Issues has a sketch every month, plus scads of other challenges, and there's a fun Alphabet Soup challenge that will run across 26 days, with a new challenge for each letter of the alphabet. Whenever you shop at Paper Issues, please use my discount code Debbi (no e on the end) and you'll get 20% off of everything in the store, including kits, every single day!

Smells So Good | Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches - Day 29

I finally finished all 30 sketches in Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches! Here's my page for Sketch 29:

Here's the sketch.

I used mostly older stash on this page. Look--that blue paper is Ki Memories paper, and the sniff sniff sniff sticker is an old 7gypsies sticker! The zig-zag border is Doodlebug Frills. Those are at least a dozen years old. Those white things ticking out the top are also by Ki Memories. I also used Magic Mesh--how's that for a blast from the past?

Something newer that I used is the awesome Bella Blvd Florence alphas for my title. Such an playful, fun font, and they come in every color of the rainbow.

How cute are these dogs? I was looking through my very limited stash of dog stickers and found nothing suitable, and I found these adorable digital images by Oksana Stepova and fell in love with all the adorable images, and I bought them. They were actually the starting point of my layout and I chose the colors to go with them.

The labels are old Jenni Bowlin stamps. I added some leftover bits of Magic Mesh, and that little dangling tag is super old too. I hand-drew my scallops so they'd be a little wonky. The black and white circle things are by Queen & Company. They're called Lollies.

This 30 Days of Sketches challenge is now over, but Paper Issues has a sketch every month, plus scads of other challenges, and there's a fun Alphabet Soup challenge that will run across 26 days, with a new challenge for each letter of the alphabet. Whenever you shop at Paper Issues, please use my discount code Debbi (no e on the end) and you'll get 20% off of everything in the store, including kits, every single day!

Into the Water | Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches - Day 27

I finally finished all 30 sketches in Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches! However, I'm SO behind on posting them, so I'm doing some quick blog posts to catch up. Here's my page for Sketch 27:

Here's the sketch. I obviously substituted clouds for the squares at the top, but I tried to stay true to the sketch.

And some details. Once I decided on clouds, I looked for a picture and found these pictures of a friend's daughter and mom swimming in the river. I looked through my clouds and found this old paper and felt like it had a perfect rustic, outdoorsy feel, so that's the look I went for with my layout. I remembered these old corrugated letters and then found a corrugated paper in my stash. Wood embellishments seemed perfect for my page.

I added green watercolor behind the trees and some blue watercolor below the photo for water. The sun was bright when I took my photo, so the blue paint didn't show very well. I found some kraft word stickers in  my stash. to go with the rustic feel. And of course I have a lifetime supply of Studio Calico Tweets birds in my stash because I think I bought 4 packs of them when I found them on sale.

The trees are a FREE cut file from Paper Issues called Tree Farm.

And these old K&Co. Dymo-tape looking word stickers were the perfect color for my page.

This 30 Days of Sketches challenge is now over, but Paper Issues has a sketch every month, plus scads of other challenges, and there's a fun Alphabet Soup challenge that will run across 26 days, with a new challenge for each letter of the alphabet. Whenever you shop at Paper Issues, please use my discount code Debbi (no e on the end) and you'll get 20% off of everything in the store, including kits, every single day!

Together | Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches Day 26

I finally finished all 30 sketches in Paper Issues 30 Days of Sketches! However, I'm SO behind on posting them, so I'm doing some quick blog posts to catch up. Here's my page for Sketch 26:

Here's the sketch:

And some details. I had a 6 x 6 pad of Teresa Collins paper that had blues to match the kids' clothes so I decided to work with that. I was originally going to use squares of the paper, but when I laid them out, I didn't quite like how it was looking, so I thought of a paper I had with frames and cut them out. I used a craft knife to cut out the centers and backed them with the teresa Collins paper. The sketch said giant title, and this foam word sticker was ginormous for my 8 x 8 page.

My layout was looking sort of plain, so I added some thread and a flower die cut. I found some super old metal brads and some old K&Company phrase stickers in blue to liven things up a little.

And of course I always add at least one heart to the pages I make for people. I almost never use kraft paper anymore but decided to mount the whole layout on some kraft. I also lifted the frames up with adhesive foam for added dimension.

This 30 Days of Sketches challenge is now over, but Paper Issues has a sketch every month, plus scads of other challenges, and there's a fun Alphabet Soup challenge that will run across 26 days, with a new challenge for each letter of the alphabet. Whenever you shop at Paper Issues, please use my discount code Debbi (no e on the end) and you'll get 20% off of everything in the store, including kits, every single day!