Last Day

Credits Kit: Paisley Pop by Karen Funk; Font: Century Gothic, Alba Super

My baby on her last day of preschool.  She looks so grown up!

Come play along with us on Sketchy Thursdays.

Today is the boy's last day of first grade.  Didn't he just start Kindergarten??!!!!! 

What do you do to keep your kids occupied over the summer?

Heidi

Obaachan love

Credits Digi Paper, Flowers, Ribbon & Stitches: The Write Stuff kit by Audrey Neal; Button: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Font: Carbon Type

Sketchy Thursdays are becoming digi Thursdays for me, huh?  I promise I've not gone totally digi.  It's just most of my traditional layouts have been in Scrapbook News and Review recently.  Do you subscribe?  You should!  So much amazing inspiration and tons of awesome tutorials.  Speaking of...the July calls are up.  I'd love to see you published in SNR!!  Check out the calls.  Anyhoo, I promise I'll share more traditional layouts soon.  ;oD

I realized I have very few layouts made with the kids and their Obaachan.  Gotta spread the love.  ♥♥♥

So I went sort of clean and simple on the sketch this week for Sketchy Thursdays:

Hope you like it and I'd love to have you play along!!!  This week's prize is an awesome vintage-y pack of goodies by Vintage Street Market. 

It occurred to me just a little while ago that one week from today is JUNE!! 

What??!!!!

Where has this year gone? 

Hope you have super fun or relaxing plans for the Memorial Day weekend. 

♥Heidi

We're Not Going to Take It

Credits Border & Digi Stamp: Starbrite kit by Polka Dot Pixels; Staples: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Fonts: Carbon Type, Sidewalk

The girl's first makeup kit.  She needs a little work.

Based on the sketch I made for Sketchy Thursdays this week:

Be sure to check out what the ST DT made with this sketch.  Some of my fave layouts ever.  Great stuff!

Sorry I've been so MIA lately.  I've got lots of stuff to share but have had little time to share. 

Today was the girl's last day of preschool.  She's officially a Kindergartener now.  So excited!!!

Have a great weekend!

♥Heidi

These Boots

Credits Patterned Paper: Limon kit by Dana Zarling; Journaling Block: Doodly Journal Spots by Angie Kovaks; Fonts: Century Gothic, Champignon, Elephant; Brush: Splatter by Corelila

My daughter wears those boots everywhere, with EVERYTHING.  She inherited them from her older brother who wore them for a couple years also.  I have a pic of her at about 2 wearing them with only a diaper on.  They come up about mid-thigh.  LOL.  I will be sad when these boots no longer fit.  I'm going to have to immortalize them somehow. 

Diana knocked this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch out of the park!  Love it!!!  I know I'll be using this one over and over again. 

Have a great weekend!

Loved

Credits: Digital Paper & Border: Limon kit by Dana Zarling; Word Art: Be You kit by Karla Dudley; Photo Editor: Picnik.com

I am in love with this pic of my son.  If you could see the entire picture, he's standing there while my husband is tying his shoe.  I love the snapshot of downtime...he's usually larger - and LOUDER - than life. 

This is based on my sketch for Sketchy Thursdays this week:

Sorry I've been so MIA lately.  I've been busy, busy, busy creating lots of fun stuff but ~sniff~ I can't share any of it with you yet.  Stay tuned...I promise I'll share some stuff I made the last few months in the next few days. 

I've also been trying to get ready for Easter.  The Easter Bunny does baskets and then hides TONS of eggs.  EB's been trying to find stuff to put in the eggs besides candy.  So far EB is stumped.  EB thought about hitting the party store but then thought about how much useless party stuff is hanging out in the room I am currently trying to clean up.  Ugh. 

We'll be coloring the Easter Eggs Saturday.  Then the family comes over here for dinner on Sunday. 

What do you do for Easter?

Hope you have a great one!

♥heidi

My Sunshine

(Credits coming soon...)

This is one of my favorite pics of my daughter.  She was about 2 here.  She's got the most adorable, full lips.  I monkeyed around with the color on these pics and one of them came up all sunshiney yellow toned. 

This is based on this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch, this one by the lovely and talented Diana:



This is an exciting week on Sketchy Thursdays...today we reveal layouts by our newest Design Team!!!!  Head on over to the blog to check out their wonderful inspiration!!!!

We're having a weird weather week here.  This past weekend we hit 100 - the second earliest 100 in recorded history here.  Lovely.  Sometimes we hit sometime mid-April but on average it doesn't happen until early May.  And then yesterday it was slightly rainy and around 80.  They've got it forecasted for this Saturday in the low 60s.  Yes, you read right - SIXTIES.  If it comes to pass we will have swung 40 degrees in one week.  Very funky.  

Last Day

Credits Digital Kit: Pot O Gold by Raspberry Road Designs; Fonts: Baby Kruffy, Century Gothic, Freebooter Script

This layout shows various activities on the last day of Kindergarten for The Boy last year.  (Click on it to see it bigger.)   I really love the colors in the digital kit I used, Pot O Gold by Raspberry Road Designs.  Incidentally, the main kit is up for grabs as this week's prize on Sketchy Thursdays.

This week we have a double-page sketch:  

Remember, our sketches are design suggestions...check out all the different ways our DT interpreted it.

We'd love to have you play along with us! 

Also, don't forget we still have a DESIGN TEAM CALL up until next Friday 3/18.  We're looking for traditional AND digital scrappers.

I'm so not ready for this...today it is forecasted to be 89 degrees. 

89!

Toooooooo early!!!!!!!

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

In Your Face!

May 2011 issue

Supplies Patterned Paper & Bling: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Stitches: Feedsack kit by Splendid Fiins; Word Art: An Unkind Word by Deena Rutter; Brush: Stitch by Boyingopaw

I just discovered these pictures.  I don't remember taking them although they're taken from where I was sitting when we went out to dinner a couple weeks ago.  LOL.  Getting old, people.  :-(

This layout is based on the sketch I made for Sketchy Thursdays this week, although I knocked it on its side:

We'd love to have you play along with us!!!! 

And check out the Sketchy Thursdays site on Friday for a special announcement!!! 

♥Heidi

Makin' Sushi

OK, I promise I'm not permanently moving over to the Dark Side (aka digi) but for some reason I just can't get enough of it right now!

April 2011 Issue

Supplies Kit: Starbrite by Polka Dot Pixels; Fonts: Carbon Type, Scriptina, Trashed

This past Sunday we made sushi together as a family for the first time.  The kids really loved it.  They had a blast!

The sushi in the background is some of our creations!

(P.S.  My countertop is not acid green as is suggested by the pictures.  It's a very neutral off-whitish Corian.  I just couldn't get the color in the rest of the picture to look how I wanted without having the countertop change to this color.  Weird.)

This layout is based on the sketch I made for Sketchy Thursdays this week. 

I hope you can play along with us, especially because this week's prize is an awesome one by Blue Moon Scapbooking.

Today I chaperoned my son's first grade class on a field trip to a natural history museum.  They had a blast!  But I am beat!!!!! 

♥Heidi

Saturday Morning Technology

May 2011 issue

Supplies: Digital Patterened Paper: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk, My Shabby Valentine kit by Karen Funk; Digital Felt Circles, Journaling Block, Staples: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Stitching: My Shabby Valentine kit by Karen Funk; Fonts: Bad Robot 3D, Registry BRK, SS Play Font

My kids are so technology savvy.  And crazy.  I love the family pic.  Quality time with dad, eh? 

This one was made for this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch - definitely a great one by Diana!

OK, I promise. I have not completely switched to digital layouts. It's just all my traditional layouts lately have been made for Scrapbook News and Review magazine upcoming issues. All my others have been made after bedtime when it's easier to work on the computer than get into my scrap room. Besides which my scrap room looks like it violently threw up at the moment.   It's buried in the remnants of projects for the SNR March issue and boxes upon boxes of the kids' preschool art projects that I need to ruthlessly go through. 


I'll share a few traditional layouts very soon.

Have a great weekend!

Heidi

House of Tomorrow

Patterened Paper & Journaling Block: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Stamp: Be You kit by Karla Dudley; Stitching: My Shabby Valentine kit by Karen Funk; Font: carbon type; Poem: "Children" by Khalil Gibran

Love these current pics of my son.  He's technology-obsessed. 

The current poem challenge over on Scrap That Poetry is "Children" by Khalil Gibran.  So much of this poem spoke to me.  I am sure I'll use various parts of this one over and over again on my layouts.  

Come on over to STP, check out what the DT made for your inspiration and we would LOVE for you to play along with us.

Speaking of love, how was your Valentines Day?  I was showered with homemade cards and gifts and lots of love.  :oD  My hubby also got me a stereo system for my iPhone.  My kids quickly broke it in by busting a move, LOL!  There's video.  I'll try to post it in a little bit. 

This Is So You

Supplies Digi Patterned Paper, Flower & Staples: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Digi Stamps: Shabby Valentine kit & Be You kit by Karen Funk; Digi Stitches & Epoxy - Be You kit by Karen Funk; Font: CK Ally's Hand Official

Got another digi layout for you on this fine Sketchy Thursday. 

Both the kids got inline skates for Christmas.  I was a bit trepidatious giving them to them, especially the girl who's only 5, but they took to them very quickly.  I was impressed.  They obviously didn't inherit mom's terrible sense of balance (although I've always been good on skates - I can bump into a wall while walking but am  perfectly balanced on wheels, go figure).  I guess I shouldn't have been worried about the girl - she can do anything she sets her mind to and she's determined to keep up with her brother...and does, VERY well.

The boy really wanted a skateboard, and I would've obliged except everything has to be equal for Christmas and there was no way I was going to give a skateboard to a 5-y-o, athletic or not.  But, as mentioned, he took to skating very quickly.  It's so cool.  Now I just gotta break mine out and go skating with them. 

The journaling on the layout refers to the fact that the boy doesn't usually take on new activities until he's sure in his mind he will be able to do them.  He studies and thinks first and by the time he finally actually does something, he's usually a pro within minutes. 

This layout is based on the sketch I made for today's Sketchy Thursday challenge.

Have a great day!!!

♥Heidi

Loved

Happy February!

Today's Scrap That Poetry poem, "May You Always Feel Loved" by Sandra Sturtz Hauss, made me reflect on welcoming into our lives both our babies. 

April 2011 issue

Digi Papers & Stamp: The Best Things kit by Anita Richards; Digi Metal Charms, Hardware & Trim: Heart Sweet Heart kit by Dianne Rigdon Design; Font: Bookman Old Style, Carbon Type; Software: Adobe; Other: scalloped border 

I'm struck by just how similar they look in these pics.  LOL!  My little Baby Burritos.  :oD

This layout is based on my Sketchy Thursdays sketch for this past week. 

I'm really on a bit of a digital kick lately.  Amazingly, contrary to what I expected, it doesn't take any less time to make a digi layout for me than a traditional one.  That's a bit disappointing, LOL. 

We'd love for you to play along with us for this poem challenge.  Check out the STP blog for the poem.  It really is beautiful and full of scrapping possibilities.

*****

Some exciting news on the Sketchy Thursdays front...

To fill the gaping hole Mirjam left behind when she decided to unfortunately step down from our DT (we miss you, Mirjam!) we've asked (and she's accepted) our amazing Guest Design Team Member from December & January, Heather, to join our regular DT for the rest of the current term!   Welcome, Heather!

(Which reminds me...keep an eye out later this month for the next DT call!)

Aaaaannnnndddd...we've asked Julie to join our ST team indefinitely as our Social Director.  Julie is a social force to be reckoned with so we're going to tap that incredible energy and have her help out with the Fave posts, our Facebook page and , as Diana so eloquently put it, help "...with our social marketing and commenting strategies." 

I mean, really, who doesn't love getting a gaggle of Julie smileys in their comments??!!   :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) 

*****

Now, tell me...how do you deal with a child who has figured out that you can't disprove a stomachache and employs the doubled-over, grimacing, groaning strategy far too often?  Do you just make them go to school or do you give in? 

Have a great day!

I've officially crossed over to the dark side.

I've dabbled in digi in the past.  But it was free digi.  I was never very committed to the whole idea of making digi layouts so I didn't want to "waste" any money on digi elements or paper. 

Well, I officially crossed over to the digi dark side today...I bought TWO complete kits with the full intention of using them for layouts. 

April 2011 issue

Supplies - Papers, flowers, trim, and rhinestone: Heart Sweet Heart kit by Dianne Rigdon; Word art: Live Well Word Art kit by Jo Hanna

This is based on the sketch I made for Sketchy Thursdays this week:

We'd love to have you join us and play along.  You have until next Wednesday to be eligible to win a really cute kit prize!

Don't forget, we still have our February Guest Design Team Challenge running, too! 

Have a fantastic day full of laughter!

Merry Christmas a la Sketchy Thursdays

Supplies Digital Kit: Jingle Jangle Mini Kit by Polka Dot Pixels; Font: Brush Script Std

Sketchy Thursdays is taking 2 weeks off from the blog for the holidays.  However we aren't going to leave those of you with some actual time to create (lucky you!) in a lurch. 

For the next two weeks we are running a special Facebook only sketch and prize on our Sketchy Thursdays Facebook Page.  Check out the FB page for details.

I used our special Facebook only sketch to make my photo card to include in my Christmas cards this year.  Like the layout?  Check out the Facebook page for the sketch.  You can only see it there!

We'd love for you to come play along with us on Facebook!

I hope everyone has a happy, calm, loving, quiet Christmas! 

XO,

Heidi

Heavenly Hash

It's funny the little things which trigger the strongest feelings.  I associate my Grandma Madeleine's Heavenly Hash with family gatherings.  It's such a simple recipe.  Nothing fancy.  But having it there, among all the other dishes, for whichever holiday we're celebrating, makes it like she's there with us. 

Supply credits to come...

I've always wished my kids could have gotten to know my Grandma.  Especially my daughter for whom she is named after.  But, instead, I hope making the dish together brings them just a little bit closer to her.

I decided to try my hand at a digi layout again.  You know, I always hear digi scrappers proclaim how much quicker they scrap digitally.  Uh, nope.  Still takes me for. ev. er.  Although, I do believe it has a lot to do with my snail of a laptop. 

This layout is based on this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch.  I'm making up for all those very clean and simple sketches I made the last couple months, eh?

Well, I've managed to miss another 3 days of the Attitude of Gratitude challenge.  I'm going to have to catch up later this week. 

Today, I am grateful my kids did have the opportunity to get to know my Grandpa despite however brief their time together was.  Or moreso, I'm glad he got to meet them.  :o)

Party At the Nest

You know how we like to shake things up over on Sketchy Thursdays!  This week we have a card sketch for you. 

Of course, you are welcome to translate this into a layout, but I went the card route this time.

April 2011 issue

Cardstock: The Paper Company; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Hardware: Stampin' Up!; Ribbon: Joanns; Digital Stamp: Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps; Ink: Stampin' Up!; Pen: Zig.

This week's sketch is sponsored by Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps which is where I got that adorable little bird and watermelon stamp.

Hope you're having a great week!

Heidi

p.s.  You've only got a couple more days to get in on the September Guest Design Team Challenge with the killer prize from Snobby Walrus!

p.p.s.  Be sure to check the ST blog this weekend for an exciting announcement!

Let Your Dreams Fly

Once again this month we have Scrap That Poetry's poem debut coinciding with Sketchy Thursdays so of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to blend them, especially since they were really rather complementary.

These pictures are from the last time I had my daughter professionally photographed.  She's 4 months in these pics...she's almost 5-years-old now.  Maybe it's time to get some more pics done, eh?

STP's challenge #20 poem is "Dreams" by Langston Hughes.  I chose to interpret the poem for my title "Let Your Dreams Fly". 

~flower trim detail pic~

Oh, that Webster's Pages flower trim is so dreamy!  And check out that frame.  It's from Pink Paislee and I have absolutely no idea what material it is made out of but it's gorgeous.  It's like super soft taffy that doesn't lose its shape.  It comes "naked", kind of a manilla color.  I sprayed it with some lime Maya Mist and rubbed a bit of it off so that the surface is just subtley green while much of the color pooled in the crevices. 

~pebble detail pic~

And how stinkin cute is that Prima pebble with the little bonneted girl? I layered it on top of a digi stamp flower from Digi Doodle Shop, this week's Sketchy Thursdays sponsor. There's another one in the picture below. On both I printed them out, colored them in with colored pencils, and sprayed them with some pearl Glimmer Mist.

~flowers detail pic~

Into my second week in the Claudine Hellmuth online techniques class and had to incorporate some newly acquired acrylic paint techniques.  Here I used watermark resist with an acrylic paint wash and acrylic paint stamping on some French text paper I got from Diana's etsy shop. 

~book page detail~

With the exception of the French paper, digi stamps, and the Webster's trim, everything on this layout is from the Ninja Addicts kit "Thrift Shoppe Junkie".  Such a gorgeous kit!!!

I would love to see you play along with us on both Sketchy Thursdays and Scrap That Poetry!!!

Off to check out what's in store for week 3 in the Claudine Hellmuth class, put some finishing touches on some other things I've made for it so far, and to enjoy the official last week of my son's summer vacation.  I think I may break out the huge roll of butcher paper today and see what they create. 

Heidi

Digi is not my friend.

Nope.  I am not a digital scrapper.  It's very frustrating for me.  I'd like to be.  I've been trying.  It's just not meant to be apparently. 

This week's Sketchy Thursdays is sponsored by Sassy Designs, Ltd. and Terry provided our DT with samples from one of her awesome digi kits to use for our sketch reveal. 

Here's my attempt:

As you will note, I took quite a bit of creative license with Diana's gorgeous sketch:

Mainly, I changed her square into a diamond (as in baseball diamond) and changed the orientation of the pictures. 

Up for grabs this week is the Sassy Designs, Ltd. gorgeous kit, although you don't have to make a digi layout to enter.  Just use our sketch.  :o)

Please hop on over to the Sketchy blog to check out what the rest of the Design Team made for your inspiration.  They all did such awesome jobs with the digi!!  AND don't forget to check out our new Guest Design Team Member, Melissa!!!  She's such a cutie!!

OK, sorry for the quick post but it's late and I'm just about done and frustrated to death with my computer.  I'm going to bed. 

Hope you have a great Thursday!!

Heidi

Digital Sketchy Thursdays

It's time once again for your Sketchy Thursdays fix. 

This week's sponsor is Sassy Designs, Ltd.  They designed a digital kit  for Sketchy Thursdays and it's up for grabs for this week's drawing!  How cool is that??!! 

It's such a beautiful kit complete with distressed solids and patterned papers, frames, ribbons, a distressed card, and a gorgeous brad.  Sassy Designs, Ltd. made the kit available early for the Sketchy Thursdays Design Team to play with.  Hop on over to the blog to see what they made for your inspiration.  You'll note it was used both strictly digitally and hybrid!

So, this was my first attempt ever at a digital layout:

Whadaya think?  Pretty cool, eh?  It's so nice working with such a gorgeous, coordinated kit with lots of elements. 

We had a great turnout for last week's challenge!  47 participants.  I'm hoping we break 50 this week!!!  Hope to see YOUR creation among them!!

Happy Thursday!!

Heidi