Creative Twist Up Close & Personal Challenge

Hello, Hello! Sorry to all that I haven't been posting much crafty goodness lately! It seems though that God is taking care of things for my family and the days are getting easier! I promise to get back on track and have some more posts this week than I have had in the past two weeks!

It is Monday, which means my regular Creative Twist DT challenge post! This week, the awesome Christina gave us an absolutely fabulous challenge that I just loved! It was an 'up close & personal' challenge, meaning to use a photo that was a close up or zoomed in on someone or something. I chose this photo of my rockin' hubby, Andy. I took it back in April during our annual NASCAR trip. We always go to Fuddrucker's in Grapevine, Texas for dinner the Saturday before the big race. He ordered the biggest burger you could get! He is a big guy and as you can see from the photo, that is one HUGE burger too! Yes, he did finish it all too...and the yummy cheese fries!

It seems I have another new love of late too....81/2 x11 layouts! I finally stepped out of my comfort zone a few weeks ago and did my first one. I am hooked! I absolutely love them and will definitely be incorporating them into my regular scrappy style! And, I really liked how this one turned out too! I used Reminiscence, K&Co., MME and Making Memories paper along with some fiber from the Lady Marmalade Gauche Alchemy kit, and some vintage buttons I have been hoarding for awhile. Love, love, love vintage yummies! The rub-on is Making Memories as well, and the journal tag is Heidi Swapp. I used Thickers (pajamas felt font) for the title and I am definitely getting the most out of these little guys! See, those "l's"? They use to be "i's"! And that "i" in American used to be a "j" & the "a" at the end of American was a "d" in a former life! I am a firm believer in getting the most bang for your buck and this is such an easy way to use all the letters! I also have to admit I love how my little flower turned out! As you can tell, since I am always using them, I love making these cute little flowers and they are super easy too! This one I sewed together using some Bazzill thread. I also used StampCraft ink in black and coffee to distress the background paper and journal tag.

Make sure you hop on over to Creative Twist and check out all the terrific projects the other DT members came up with! If you play along with the challenges you will be entered to win a gift certificate! And, there is currently an AMAZING fall challenge blog hop going on that Creative Twist is participating in! Make sure you start out at Scrapsketch and enjoy the blog-hoppin' party! Happy Scrapping!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

The Thundering Herd - Creative Twist & Scrapsketch DT Challenges

This week is my first official layout submission being part of the official Scrapsketch DT! I was super excited when Stephanie allowed me to be on her team and I still am. It is definitely a bright spot in my days right now! This is also my submission for the Creative Twist DT this week! I decided to combine the two challenges, a sketch and a classical movie inspiration, for this layout of my son and his friend when they marched in the local Western Days parade recently.

The sketch is #160 over at Scrapsketch and for the classical movie inspiration Christina asked us to use, I chose The Sound of Music. Since the school mascot is a bronco, the name of the jr. high band is The Thundering Herd, hence the name of the layout! They are a really awesome band, and I am not just saying that because I am a biased mom! LOL! They really are a tremendously talented group of young kids who always place at the top when they go to contests and even went to Tri-State last year! I am so proud of them! The adorably goofy boy next to my son is his BFF that he has know for years. He is such a good kid and has been taller than me for about a year now!
The cardstock for this project is DCWV and the patterned paper is by Karen Foster and The Paper Studio. Just random papers I bought a long time ago and knew someday I would use them! I used my Cricut and both George and Mini Monograms to cut the title and arrow. The music notes are some die cuts by CTMH a friend gave me. The foam photo corners are by AC and I inked everything, even the photos, with Stamp Craft black ink. The little flower I made myself from a gift bag I got from a local music store. They always put your purchases in these cool little bags and I saved this one to cut up and use on projects. I used George to cut the circles, then I just crumpled them, inked them and used a Making Memories brad covered in black Stickles to hold it all together. I just love these types of flowers! Fun & easy to make too!

Well, I hope you like my layout and that you take a moment to visit both Scrapsketch and Creative Twist! There are so many fabulous DT members that create such beautiful work for both sites! It will be so well worth your time. Plus, they both have great blog candy! Every time you leave a comment on Scrapsketch, you are entered to win a monthly prize that is awesome! And, Christina is giving a gift card away at the end of the month to all those who participate in the weekly challenges! Fun, fun, fun!

And now for an update....I am so blessed to have such amazing crafty friends and am so thankful to each and every one of you who has kept my family in your thoughts and prayers! I am so grateful and thank God for all of you! We are still going through some difficulties, but we crossed one bridge by the grace of God. We still have a couple more "big" bridges to tackle but I know that with our faith it will be okay. God always delivers and takes care of us and He has seen us through some tough stuff the past week. I am just thankful for my faith and strength it gives me. God is so amazing and I would not know what to do without Him in my life! Right now we are just taking it one day at a time and letting go and letting God. If you would still continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers though for the next few weeks, we would so appreciate it! I love y'all and y'all are the best!

I would also like to give a shout out to Joyce who is part of the circle journal group I am in at Gauche Alchemy. She is such a sweetie and I received some rockin' little scrap goodies from her that just made my day! It was exactly what I needed, when I needed it the most. Isn't it cool how things work out that way?

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Creative Twist Fruit Challenge - So Berry Sweet

The latest Creative Twist DT challenge was to incorporate fruit into your project some how...be it in the form of your title or embellies, whatever worked best. I have to say that I honestly look forward to Christina's challenges for us each week as I never know what she is going to come up with! She always thinks of fun, outside the box ideas and I am just loving that I get to be a part of that and such a creative team!

This particular layout is of my nephew, Drake, at his birthday party last weekend. I was going to use these photos for my first official layout as a Scrapsketch DT member, but have something else up my sleeve instead! LOL! I just thought these photos would work so well with this challenge! He is such a sweet little guy and is so funny! He will do anything for a laugh and just cracks us up all the time. He is also into karate right now and is pretty darn good, he can do the splits, so the little card he is holding up is one I made with a karate monkey image I had! He just loved it!I first have to say that the layout is inspired by Scrapsketch #139. The background paper I used for this layout is We R Memory Keepers. The rest of the paper is Reminiscence, Daisy D's, SU, Making Memories, and Bazzill. I used my Cricut Indie Art and Mini Monograms carts for the strawberry, title, and journaling space. I also used lots of stickles, Studio G ink for distressing, lots of pop dots, and Making Memories Brads. Inside each little "seed" on the strawberry I filled it in with red stickles, but it didn't show up that great on the photo unfortunately. It looks pretty cute in person though!

I am also sorry that the photos are not the greatest either! It has been raining here for days and the light just sucks so I can't get a decent photo outside anywhere. I took these inside and am not totally thrilled with them. Hope it stops raining soon!

I hope you take the time to hop on over to the Creative Twist site and see all the wonderful creations the rest of the DT came up with! Also, if you participate in the challenges you will have an opportunity to win a gift card! How cool is that! Happy Scrapping!


"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Creative Twist Letter Challenge

This week Christina gave us Creative Twist DT members a letter challenge. We had to use a letter as a theme for our project. I chose the letter "F" and did a friendship, forest friends themed card! This was so much fun since I got to use a new stamp set that I was able to purchase thanks to winning Stephanie's awesome blog candy a few weeks ago!

The stamps are Hampton Art Footlongs and the sentiment is by Studio G. I hand cut the clouds and grass, and I used Studio G, KI Memories, Cat's Eye Chalk, and SU ink for the card. The paper is Making Memories.I just love all things nature and really liked how this card came out. I can't wait to use this adorable little stamp set on some more projects! Make sure you check out the Creative Twist site! Christina is giving away some great blog candy for those who participate in the challenges! Hope to see you there, playing along! Happy Scrapping!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Creative Twist Book Inspiration Challenge

The challenge created by the awesome Christina for Creative Twist this week was a using a book as inspiration.! She told us DT members to create a project using a favorite book - its title, a quote or passage, or anything else we wanted to draw from the book. I decided to use The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I first read The Secret Garden when I was about seven or eight and just loved it. I read it several times, but only remembered it the other day when I started re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia series. I think I am trying to recapture the books of my childhood right now! LoL!

I really stepped out my comfort zone for this project. I have been wanting to do something like it for awhile but hadn't ever got around to it. I am glad I waited because for once I really like what I created! The vintage looking frame my friend Annette gave me before she left for Virginia last week. The majority of the products I used were SU, with the exception of the flowers, which are Making Memories; the buttons and thread from my stash; and the bling which is Autumn Leaves. I also used my Cricut and Home Accents for the butterflies. The ink is Staz On and I distressed with StampCraft.

I hope you like my little project and that you take the time to hop on over to Creative Twist to see all the other challenges the DT came up with! They are very talented and Christina is a fantastic hostess too! I would love to see what you come up with for this inspirational challenge! Happy Scrapping!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Creative Twist Upside Down/Inside Out Challenge

The challenge Christina at Creative Twist gave us DT members this week was to create something upside down or inside out. As soon as I heard the challenge I knew what I wanted to do!I got this cute little monkey online - just found him through Google and thought he was adorable! I colored him using my watercolor pencils before I cut him out, and placed him on some blue background, which I cut again. I pop dotted the balloon to give it extra dimension. The paper used in this project is DCWV and Bazzill cardstock. The ribbon is American Crafts and the sentiment is Studio G. I also used George to cut the diamond shapes which I also pop dotted, as well as to cut the flower and oval shapes.

Making this card was so much fun and I hope you take the time to pop on over to Creative Twist and see all the other DT creations! They are all a very talented group of people. I also hope you take the plunge and join us in this week's challenge - it would be so much fun to see your take on it too! Happy Scrapping!



"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Creative Twist Fold Challenge - A Vintage Card

The challenge for this week that is up over at Creative Twist is to incorporate folds into your project somehow. The other DT members really rocked it out and came up with some awesome projects & I am so honored to be a part of this team! Thanks again Christina!

For my card, I decided to do a vintage theme as I have been inspired lately by so many vintage products and projects. I am even working on a vintage circle journal & promise to post a peek later since I was able to finish the cover over the weekend. The vintage patterned paper for the card is Daisy D's, the music paper is The Paper Studio, and the folded paper is Miss Elizabeth. I just used a SU rolling leaf stamp on it. The tag is from my stash, as are the button and the keys, which are actually stickers that I put on chipboard and cut out before inking them with Stazon. The paper is distressed with coffee color ink from StampCraft. The sentiment is from SU. I was kinda overwhelmed by how much vintage inspired products I had, most from a kit a friend had given me for my birthday. Oh, and that vintage table I used for a background is also an upcoming project! My MIL gave it to me & I desperately need to re-finish it!

I hope you like my first challenge for Creative Twist & hope you check out the site too! I will try to post again later today with my WSB challenge. What I thought would be an easy challenge has got me against a wall! I love color challenges, and I already have the photo & paper & everything picked out for the layout, I am just having a horrible time putting it together! Total block! So after work, dinner, and open house at our son's school tonight, I am hoping to lock myself in my scrap room and finish up! Happy Scrapping!


"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Yay Me!!

I am so super excited because Christina just made me a part of her Design Team for Creative Twist! I found out first thing this morning and that was a wonderful way to start the day! Creative Twist is an awesome new challenge site that will get you thinking outside of the box, while using up some your stash at the same time! I just love her concept and am so happy to be working with such a talented group of scrappers! Make sure you take the time to check out Creative Twist!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

The Hawk - Creative Twist Challenge

One of the neatest new challenge sites that just began is Creative Twist. It is going to be a fun blog that challenges you to use your products (or a technique) in a brand new way. I like the fact that it gets me to not only use my stash, but to think outside the box while doing it! Make sure you check out Christina's site!

As I have seem to be doing lately, I used sketch #131 by Stephanie from Scrapsketch for the basis of the Creative Twist challenge. Have I ever mentioned I love Stephanie's sketches?! hehehe! The challenge at Creative Twist was to use eyelets and ribbon on your layout somehow as a border. Now, I will say that I probably stayed really simple with my ribbon and eyelet near my photo, but I liked the simplicity of it so that is why I didn't get a bit more crazy with it! The photo is one of our son in third grade. He was rockin' the hawk back then and we lovingly called it the frohawk! He looked so cute in it and I was just so proud of him for not being afraid of being different. At that time, the hawks hadn't quite come back yet, so I guess he was ahead of the curve! I am also not quite sure why I decided to do a Christmas layout, but it just felt right. I have been getting a little excited about the upcoming holiday, which is rare for me. Those who know me, know Halloween is my fav holiday. But I am trying to get in the spirit because I will have to start my cards and gifts soon if I will ever get finished before December!

On this layout I used American Traditional Designs paper and rub-ons. The title is Thickers (love them!) and the paper for the journaling spots are DCWV, Ms. Elizabeth, & some recycled packaging. I used some funky magenta ink by Studio G to distress the edges of the paper and journaling spots. The buttons and eyelets are from my stash, and the ribbon is from Michaels. I also used Mini Monograms to cut the scalloped circle and regular circle. Oh, and the photo corners and brads are by Special Moments.

I hope you like my funky little Christmas layout! Make sure to check out both Creative Twist and Scrapsketch if you get a chance! They are both fab sites you are sure to love!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."