Trick or Treat {Paper Issues Scraplift Sunday Challenge}

I played in Paper Issues Scraplift Sunday challenge and made this:

I loved lifting Kat's beautiful layout--such a fun and unique design! I pretty much copied the basic design, except I used one photo instead of three.

Here are some details. I used Bella Blvd's Sweet & Spooky Collection. There are so many fun elements to fussy cut from this collection. The Sweet & Spooky tab is from the branding strip. The little witch girl was at the edge of the paper and I hated to see her go to waste so I put her peeking out from above the photo.

The chipboard pieces in this collection are so cute! Pretty much everything on this page is from the collection, except the enamel dots and the Tim Holtz word stickers. I put a little heart on the ghost because I'm adding a heart to each page I make for this little girl.

I hope you'll play along with this challenge or one of the many other fun challenges at Paper Issues. Post your creation in the Facebook Group by February 3 for a chance to win one of two gift cards to the Paper Issues store. Please use my code Debbi (no e on the end) for a 20% discount on your entire purchase at the Paper Issues store!

Gone Buggy {Paper Issues Scraplift Sunday Challenge}

I just love Scraplift Sunday over at Paper Issues because I can try on another fabulous scrapper's style! Here's the page I created for this challenge:

Check out Angie's amazing layout we lifted. Mine doesn't do hers justice, but I sure enjoyed trying!

Here are some details from my page. I used Bella Blvd's Bug Explorer collection and fussy cut all of those bugs from one of the papers. The black chipboard letters are really old Heidi Swapp letters. They never go out of style, and that's a good thing because I have a million packages of her letters.

I was so happy to use up some of my gazillions of little brads.

I love Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher. I wish he'd make one with a longer reach, though. We should all petition him to do that! I've sent messages before, but he hasn't listened yet!

There are so many great challenges over at Paper Issues, and I think you should give this one a try--what a fun and unique design. So happy I gave it a whirl! If you upload your layout over at the Facebook Friends and Fans page by December 3, you could win onoe of two gift cards they give away every month!

There's still  lots of the Bug Explorer collection in the store, along with tons of new stuff. Use my code, Debbi (no e on the end), and you can get 20% off your entire purchase!

Spooky Fun {Paper Issues Keep It Sketchy Challenge}

ETA: I'm fixing my journaling mistake. Thanks, Tracee, for finding it!

I wanted to scrap these pictures of our first experience carving pumpkins before we got too far away from Halloween, and I just got Bella Blvd's Sweet & Spooky collection in the mail from Paper Issues, so I went in search of a Paper Issues challenge and found that this month's sketch features two photos. Here's what I created:

Here's the sketch that inspired my page:

And here are some details. I mostly used stuff from the Sweet & Spooky collection, plus a few things from my stash. Most everything came from this one sheet of paper and the chipboard from the collection. The black and white papers were scraps from my stash. I fussy the little monsters and spider and adhered them with pop dots for extra dimension and then added a Lawn Fawn puffy star.

The little cat was also cut from that same paper, which is on the back of the orange, so if you buy that orange paper, be sure to get two sheets!

That blue skeleton face was cut off at the bottom of the patterned paper and I thought how cute would he be peeking out from behind the photos, again cut from that same sheet of paper, along with the bats. The phrase stickers are by Tim Holtz. I was walking upstairs to photograph my layout when I stared at it and felt something was missing. I ran back downstairs and added the enamel dots, which added just that little extra touch this simple page needed.

I hope you'll come play in this or another of the many fun challenges over at Paper Issues, for a chance to win a gift certificate to the store!

Paper Issues has a couple of Halloween collections, so grab them before they're gone! And be sure to use my code Debbi (no e on the end) for 20% off your entire purchase!

Freaky, Funny Fish Face Fails {CSI Case File No. 258}

Our mid-month challenge is live at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration! I made two pages. Here's my first page (I'll share the other one in a future blog post):

Here is the Case File. The beach scene on the Case File reminded me of last summer when Tracee and I spent the day at the Chesapeake Bay. We were trying to take a selfie of us making fish faces in front of this restaurant that had a giant fish on the front of the building. The sun was in our eyes, and we couldn't quite get our mouths right, but we sure had a lot of laughs and some fun pictures as consolation. I used several of the traditional clues--Evidence: stripes, beach elements, animals, wet medium; and for Testimony, I used the topic of documenting a trip to the bay.



I used the current sketch at Sketchabilities as inspiration for my design:

Here are some details. Last summer, I bought a few sheets of paper from collections by Echo Park and Bella Blvd that featured these fun fish, and I knew I had to include those. I added some water color on the back because, well, fish had to swim through something. I used a fun stamp from Citrus Twist to add the fish bubbles, and that "don't ask" is from a "snarky" stamp set by Paper Issues. It just made me laugh, so I stamped it all around the page.

I needed something to go in that space beside the title at the top, and I thought a speech bubble would be fun. I found a sheet of paper from Photoplay's Like a Girl collection that was blue and had speech bubbles, but the speech bubbles say affirming messages for girls, but the more I looked at some of them, the more I cracked up and decided they would be perfect! The waves are from the Silhouette store and I thought it would be fun to make it look like the title was floating in the waves.

These photos just crack me up every time I look at them. I have so much fun with Tracee! Make sure you stop by her blog because she made a fantastic page using the same photos. I love it when we scrap our pictures together!

This is a perfect Case File for beach pictures or 4th of July photos. You don't need to feel limited by the color scheme either because how you interpret the Case File Scene is up to you! I hope you'll come play with us. Not only is it great fun, but you could win a prize from one of our 13 sponsors this month!

I Love My Team {Stuck?! Sketches October 15 Challenge}

It's time for a new challenge over at Stuck?! Sketches! Here's the page I created, feature a picture of me and my fourth grade teacher teammates.

And the sketch Laura made for us:

Here are some details. I cut those "4th" thingies out on my Silhouette for our annual picture that goes on a bulletin board at my school, and so the yellow was my starting point for the layout. I found this yellow paper with plus signs in my stash, which I thought would be perfect for a school page. When I was looking for a frame, I found this striped chipboard one, and I drew the rest of the colors from that. The blue ledger paper is really old Dear Elsie paper. The red arrow paper is by by Bella Blvd, and the diagonal stripe is by Simple Stories. The flair badge is by A Flair for Buttons, and I've had those red Jenni Bowlin school letter stickers in my stash forever and was happy to finally use them.

Here's a shot of the top. The apple was cut out of a Bella Blvd paper, as are the little stars. That cool stamp of scattered letters is by Carabelle Studio. The circle chipboard piece is by 2Crafty. I coated it with silver embossing powder.

The schoolhouse and arrow were cut from the same paper as the stars, and the apple is from another Bella Blvd paper from the same collection (Star Student). The Maya Road light bulb doesn't show up as much as I had wished, but I thought it was a good accent for a school page.

I hope you'll come play with us! It's a fun sketch to play with, plus we have two awesome sponsors donating prizes: