SOUS Get To Know Me Blog Hop

Hello and thanks for participating in our Stuck on U Sketches "Get to Know Me" Blog Hop! The Blog Hop starts today, 7:00 AM EDT USA March 30th and runs through 11:59pm USA EDT on Sunday April 1st .

You should have arrived here from  Nanne's Blog. If you did not, then go back to Stuck on U Sketches where you will find the blog hop path.

Our design team has been working hard to create layouts about themselves to share with you and we hope you enjoy them! We are all answering 10 questions about ourselves, so that should be fun! We are including this bonus sketch today, so we hope that you will get an opportunity to use it this week.

 You must leave a comment on each of the designers blogs as well as become a follower to be eligible to win the SOUS blog candy. The SOUS winner will be announced on Monday April 2nd.

Okay, so on with MY stuff! 

I had tons, I mean tons of fun creating this page but will keep my description to a minimum, so that you can finish the hop in a timely manner. I've used Glitz French Kiss papers and  embellies from  my March Swirlydoos kit, along with a couple of pieces of painted Dusty Attic. Butterflies are courtesy of Lisa Gregory. The photo is of myself on vacation bending down to see if the bronze angel artwork would speak to me .. it's a crazy thing I always do LOL .. I've used some PSE actions on my photo .. Be sure to click on the photo for a close-up! 

Here are my answers to the 10 crazy questions: 

1. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Why?
I guess I would have to be olive green because that's my favorite color. 

2. What would people be surprised to learn about you?
I used to be a reserve Saturday night police officer .. guns, boots, lights, siren .. the whole nine yards. It was a crazy notion that didn't last but about 18 months. I had young children at home that needed their mom. 

3. What 5 things are always on your crafting table?
ATG, Distrezz-it-all, craft knife,  mat, paper trimmer  .. and a whole lot more LOL

4. Your go-to embellishment is ... laser cut chippies like Dusty Attic. You notice I didn't say flowers  .. heehee .. because they are essential!

5. What is your all-time favorite crafting tool? Martha Stewart punches. I'm addicted! 

6. Tell us about your family .. first in one word. Then in a sentence or two.
Hmmm, extra-large. I am married to my craft supporting hubby Dan. We have 3 grown daughters between us, 3 SILs and 16 fantastic grandkids. Family gatherings are tons of fun!

7. What is your dream vacation?
Taking all of our kids to Hawaii on a cruise! 

8. Who is your favorite crafty company?
Oh, I have so many ... right now I am loving everything that Glitz is putting out but Graphic 45 seldom disappoints. 

9. Tell us a bit about your crafty style. Definitely vintage shabby with a romantic twist. 

10. Where do you live? 
We live in Texas but my heart belongs to Colorado. 

So, are you ready to see my blog candy? In order to win, you must be a follower of my blog and you must leave a comment here. I will announce a winner on Monday April 2 and you will have one week to claim your prize! 

 So, your next stop is the blog of  Sandi Smith who is joining our sketch team and will be starting in May.  Thanks again for joining us! Have a great time on the hop! 

Bunnies Etc ~ SOUS Die Cut challenge ~

Spring is in the air! Here in North Texas birds are chirping up a storm and everything is budding out and/or blooming.  So I was more than happy to be working on this week's Die Cut challenge at Stuck on U Sketches. Well, I say that tongue-in-cheek because at first I was a little stressed about doing a "Bunny" project. At least until I found this cutie on my "Enjoy the Seasons" Imagine cartridge. 

After choosing the papers that I wanted to print and cut, I started putting my card together. The yellow polka dot paper was embossed with an unlabeled Cuttlebug folder, ugh! But my sweet little chick is embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. I really should look up all the ones I have and label them. 

I have layered my bunny a couple of times. You know me ... I love dimension! Should have done it one more time for fun LOL.  I've inked everything with Brick Red distress ink.  The sentiment "Spring" was also printed and cut with the Imagine. It is mounted on foam squares as well. The "think" was simply computer-generated but printed on some of the yellow polka dot paper I printed on the Imagine. 

Lastly, I added a few MS butterflies and adored one with a blue rhinestone.  I simply outlined the others with a glitter pen .. couldn't do anything too wet or the ink would run.  I added the yellow pearls to finish everything off although I later thought I could have added some ribbon.  My Glitter pen was used to accent the bunny and chick as well.

Here is a bit of a side view. I am so loving this card!!! Really I am! Now I have to decide     who I will send it to! 

That's it for today! I hope that you will play along with us! You have 2 weeks to upload your Bunny project to Stuck on U. It can be a card, LO, tag or altered item. You just have to use a die cut tool or die cutting machine. While you're here, I just wanted to remind you that next Friday we are having a DT-wide Blog Hop at SOUS. You won't want to miss it!

I hope you have a great weekend! 

Life is Nice ~ SOUS Original Sketch

:-) :-)  Friday again and you know what I'm thinking about,  right?? The weekend! Family time and scrappy time .. and time for another Stuck on U Sketches reveal. This week we have another sketch designed by moi. Something kind of basic so that you can make it your own .. I know I surely did! I actually rotated it after I got to working with my paper and photo.

It has been a busy, crazy kind of week for me, so this layout was a super fast one! I had some new K and Company papers that had jumped in my shopping cart one day .. heehee .. so I pulled these out and went right to town inking and misting my doilies and title mat. Then I used a fave Martha Stewart Garden Gate punch. And with the red on green, that punchwork really pops!  As I worked I was letting paint dry on my Dusty Attic French Window piece. I painted it with Gesso and then with Glitter Glam in the Rustic color. The actual title piece is a Melody Ross embellishment.

I also had some new Manor House flowers I was dying to use and thought they made a nice accent. I finished with my butterflies (KandCO) and a few pearls. All in all, this one only took about an hour and a half  .. maybe 2 ... where I normally spend 4 hours. But I am pleased with the end result and think it looks a bit different than your normal graduation page. I was just super glad that I got my layout done at all. Usually I work ahead but have had lots going on and haven't been able to do that! Hope to catch up next week.  Sorry that I don't have close-ups but me and my new IMac are still just getting acquainted. LOL

Oh, I have to share that that cutie in the photo is my niece Karen when she got her Masters Degree last summer. So proud of her!! She and her sister  are my only nieces ..and there are no nephews. My brother and sister-in-law raised 2 wonderful gals, that's for sure!!  Love you, Karen!!

Well, I do hope the sketch inspires you in some way and that you will play along with us at Stuck on U Sketches. Remember, you will have 2 weeks to get yours done and uploaded to the link tool. Can't wait to  see that you create! Also, if you haven't been to SOUS yet, then head on over and see what my DT sisters have done.

I thought I would give you a heads up that we are having a Blog Hop the weekend of March 30. Almost all of the team members are playing  .. and there will be blog candy, so you'll want to check that out! More details later but be sure to mark your calendars!

Thanks for coming by .. I alway appreciate your visits and your sweet comments. Have a fabulous weekend and do something fun if you can!!

Round Robin layout

Just hopping on here real quick to share a layout I did of dgd Marianne. This was for the Swirlydoos Round Robin. I followed Peggy and stayed pretty true to her design. The twist was to use at least 50% green and to scrap a photo of a baby!

I added in a few pops of blue as well as some yummy Manor House blooms. The vine is Petaloo and the chippies are both Dusty Attic. It is hard to see but I used my MS Wild Flowers punch around the page. Also used was my MS floral vine punch. There is some stamping in 2 corners  .. that was fun to do.

I'm keeping this short as I have to start working on my SOUS layout for Friday. Been up to my eyeballs with a new computer but have finally found my email and photos .. whew! I was  pretty worried for a while.

Okay, see you back here on Friday! Have a great week!

Be A Little Rowdy .. .. SOUS

Are you up for a new Die Cut challenge? I know I am! It's Friday and time to reveal this week's challenge at Stuck on U Sketches  .. which is .. 

Now doesn't that sound like fun? It can be a card, layout, tag or altered item. We just want to see you using your Die Cut machines. You will have 2 weeks to complete your project and get it uploaded to the linky tool. 

I had tons of fun making this sweet little card! I pulled out my Rock Princess cart in search of one of the solo figures I was thinking of using but fell in love with this Rowdy little trio of gals singing their hearts out! Aren't they just adorable?! 

So I cut them in black card stock and obviously did not use the layers feature at all. But I did want to give them a bit of personality with some bling and ribbon. Got to have bling if you're a rock star! The whole cut is one piece and is mounted on foam squares for dimension. 

Then remainder of the title was computer-generated, cut and inked. The inside of my card says "Have a Happy Birthday" with the HB being from the Beyond Birthdays cart. 

My papers are from Basic Grey's Curio line which is so versatile! There are 3 paper layers on my card base .. some dots, then red and lastly the stripe. 

I think that is about it today, ladies.  I hope your project brings you half as much fun! Be sure to check out what the rest of the DT has done .. these gals are so awesome!! And we have a couple of new DT members to introduce you to today, so if you haven't been there yet, head on over to Stuck on U Sketches. 

I hope you have a fabulous and productive weekend! Thanks for coming by!! 

March Kit of the Month projects

 Even though I am no longer on the CT, I wanted to share the projects that I created using this must-have "Putting on the Ritz" kit!  Last month's kit sold out in a few short hours as did this one.

First up is a layout of my gd-in-law using some to-die-for Inkido "Spring Time" papers and lovely Manor House flowers. Added in are a FabScraps dressform chippie as well a DA corner flourish which I painted in Salmon to match my papes. There are some great pearls from the kit along with a chipboard butterfly accented with some pearls from my stash. And take a look at that awesome cream Flying Unicorn flower .. I so love it! My mock-doilie is made using a technique I learned from my SOUS team mate, Beatriz Guzman. I've used a couple of different MS punches to grace my paper edges. 

Next is my husband's favorite! As you know he is a strong supporter of my hobby and has to pass judgment on all my work .. thanks, sweetie! This was done using Basic Grey's Little Black Dress, my MS Floral Vine punch and lots of Flying Unicorn flowers. I did add in one apricot Manor House flower, some Prima swirls and small roses from my own stash. Photo is dgd Maddie before her wedding. 

The very first project I made this time was my OTP dressform! Talk about fun! I could have made dolls all month! Anyway, this is a knock-off of one of the DCWV CHA exhibits from Winter of 2011 (I think that is the date.) I even used some DCWV paper I had on the shelf.  I sewed some darts in my skirt to make it more form fitting, then fussy cut a ton of butterflies! 

Close-up of the butterflies and bling.

Just another angle. 

Quick look at the back. 

One of my last projects was an oversized card. Here I have combined some cardstock from the kit along with a transparency, a BoBunny die cut and a Kanban die cut fashionista! I don't know how Alda puts these kits all together but she's an ace! Now I'm all set for somebody's birthday! 

Lastly, here is the project I had to share yesterday as my SOUS offering. (I've been short on energy this month and had to do a little double duty.) Alda included some fabulous gold-glittered tulle in the kit which I added as layers to my flowers. Can we just say WOW!

I still have about 6 or 7 pieces of pp left along with fabric, flowers  and die cuts that I haven't even touched yet! I see at least 3 more projects coming out of this kit.  Easily! 

Once again, I'd like to thank Alda for the opportunity to be on her CT. It has been an incredible artistic journey! And I sure will miss knowing ahead of time what is in those kits! 

Thanks for coming by! 

March 2 SOUS

TGIF! I love Fridays!! Weekend on the horizon, date night with the hubby and reveal day at Stuck on U Sketches!! What more could a scrapping girl ask? 

This week's sketch is one that I designed back in ..hmm .. December. And I thought that  the first of March, we might be starting to think Spring .. and I was right!! Here in Texas things are starting to bloom, yea!! 

I had planned to use this sketch to do a layout of my 3 dd's, putting them in the ovals and then a group photo above that. However, I changed my mind, at least for now .. but this sketch was made for them, so it will happen! 

I have used some yummy Basic Grey Little Black Dress to scrap more bridal photos. That was accented with some peach cardstock that I've used punched (MS floral vine) as ribbon across the page. Next, I made a few flowers using my Tattered Florals die and my Vagabond There are some floral layers out of tulle which gives the flowers a nice texture. Lastly, some embellies from my stash including a crochet butterfly from my scrappy friend in Ireland .. thanks, Cathi!

I've included the sketch here for your convenience! Be sure to visit the other DT members to see what they have done! Also, we hope that you will get a chance to play along with is You will have 2 weeks to upload your project! 

Have a great weekend!