Woohoo! Layout of the Week!

I just found out that my "Paws" layout from a few weeks was chosen as Layout of the week over at the  Scrap That! Kit Club Forum. Internet scream! I'm so excited! I don't have my blinkie yet .. but it is on its way!

When I was visiting the forum, I noticed that tomorrow May 30th is their Blog Hop and Kit reveal. The sneaks looks awesome, so I hope to catch the Hop.

Anyway, just had to share!! Hope you have a great week!  I am busy creating!

Sandi

April 27th sketch

You know how I love my Fridays!!! The weekend officially starts (for me) in just a few hours! But more importantly, it is time for another SOUS reveal! This time we have an amazing sketch by our own Nanne Harry. And although I did not use any, this one would be perfect for those scraps you may have laying around. So, hopefully you will find some time this weekend or next week to get your new layout rolling .. 

Here I've used some of Graphic 45's Little Darlings that I just HAD to have. These are just scrumptious papers and I can't wait to use some more of them! That little muffin in the photo is Sandi on her first birthday. Although I've tried to clean up the distressed photo in PSE, it could use some more help. But this is as good as I could get it for now. 

I followed the sketch fairly closely this time but added in a few of my own little twists of course. There is lots of paper distressing and some punch work around the photo .. which then got covered up LOL.  I fussy cut the little girl from the signature page of the Little Darlings collection and mounted her on foam adhesive to elevate her above the vertical strips. 

My title is done on a Fab Scraps die cut piece which I've painted a warm Winter White and then inked. The alphas are Graphic 45. On the right you can see some of the chipboards elements that I bought to go with the collection. The gorgeous ribbon at the  bottom is from Wal-Mart. I rarely buy ribbon there but found some pretty things the other day, so check it out! There is also a vertical piece of ribbon from my stash over on the left amongst the flowers.

As you can see, I went a little flower crazy and sure  do like the results! Mostly, I've used Prima but some of the small ones were simply from my ever growing stash of small buds. I had fun adding in some color with the blue and the red. The clear florals I've had forever and am glad they finally have a home. Lastly I've added some crinkle ribbon from The Craft Spot and made a few butterflies with my MS punches. 

I hope that you will visit all the designers and see what they have done with this great sketch. And moreover, that you will find time to play along. Also, if you have not been by Stuck on U Sketches, please hop on over. We have a surprise for a few lucky ladies! 

Thanks for coming. Love reading your comments. Be sure to check out my post from Monday if you have not been by this week... that was a fun LO as well! Cheers! 

The Hunt ~ Swirlydoos April RR and Flying Unicorn Paint it on

One great thing about Mondays is that Mondays are when a few of the Round Robins that I play in post their new lifts. This week in the Swirlydoos forum, it was my turn to lift Manda and Christy. This is also for Mandy's Paint it On Challenge at the Flying Unicorn. 

I kept their 3 photo design (did Peyton) and used papers from my SD Beau Jardin kit which featured KaiserCraft's Bonjour collection and Glitz's Beautiful Dreamer.  Glitz is one my favorite manufacturers and I can't get enough of their Beautiful Dreamer. To re-create my version of the open die cuts used by Manda and Christy,  I used my12x12 Dusty Attic chicken wire as a mask and misted my background with Forest Green Glimmer Mist. 

I've used a couple of great Martha Stewart punches .. the Scroll hearts punch and the Cherish punch which is a PAP. There is also some Vintage lace punchwork on the solid pink strip. The edges are inked with Fired Brick.

Next I painted my Dusty Attic gates first with a Winter White and then came back and used plain white Gesso. I've used a mix of florals, some from my stash and some from the Beau Jardin kit. I made a couple of my flowers using my Tattered Florals die and some of the Bonjour papers.  The large pink flowers are Primas that I had and the dark rose-colored ones are Petaloo, as are my leaves. I actually pulled a Petaloo vine apart and used them here.  I finished off the deco work on the gates with  some pink Prima swirls from Hobby Lobby. 

The title is a Dusty Attic piece that was in my stash. I painted it first with a pale Juniper Green paint dabber and then used some Glimmer Glam in Dirty Martini and Pixie Dust, alternating until it was just the color I wanted. The letters are from the KaiserCraft embellishment sheet that matches the collection.

Lastly, I added a few butterflies quickly punched with my MS b/f punches and popped them on foam squares and added a few pearls. 

I think that is just about it.  Thanks for coming by! I hope you have a great week! 

April showers ~ SOUS Die Cut challenge

Happy Friday, everyone and welcome to today's blog post! Today I'm sharing my humble but fun little April Showers project for this week's Die Cut Challenge at SOUS.  I know, I know! These papers are not the usual me, right? But my hubby and I went on a little day trip a while back and I found these and thought "Hey, those are kind of different and fun!"  They are MME's Miss Caroline and are perfect for this page!

My hubby is always asking for a new rain gauge for his birthday. So every year the kids try to find him something new and different in "rain measuring" gear. Well, in 2007 we had record rainfall here in North Texas and one of our dd's gave him a plastic bucket as a  practical joke that was much enjoyed. And now it is scrapped for all posterity to see. Heehee!

My die cuts include my clouds which are cut from Zooballoo and then dry embossed with the D'Vine Swirls folder.  They've been inked and popped to the max. My banner/title is from the Enjoy the Seasons cartridge printed and  cut using my Imagine. Lastly, my flowers were cut using my new Flower Shoppe cartridge. First cartridge I have purchased in over a year! I think it will be kind of fun although I can't say that I really needed it. The  rolled flower centers are kind of fun though. These were tiny and took a while to get just right.

My raindrops are simply liquid pearls in pewter.  I was carrying out a gray, storm clouds idea .. rain is not my favorite thing. LOL I've dressed my photo with some red and white twine. Then added a couple of butterflies punched with my MS punches. I wish I could say that this was a fast page but I seriously fretted over those clouds a good bit, first using one cart and then another until I settled on these.

I hope that you will visit us at Stuck on U Sketches and see what all the designers have done this time. But more importantly, we want to see YOUR April Showers projects. Just remember that they must be new as of 4/20/2012 and you must use a die cut of some kind, either using a machine or a die cutting  tool.

Thanks for coming by~! Hope you have a fantastic weekend! Today is my birthday, so I plan to kick up my heels a bit and celebrate another blessed year! And I think there is some scrappy goodness wrapped up and waiting to be opened .. so, so long for now! Gotta go see what it is!

"Paws"" ~ SOUS Original sketch by Debbie Burns

Hi, everybody! It's Friday and I am so excited to share the news that we have a very special   

Guest sketch designer with us today over at Stuck on U Sketches, friend and former DT member, Debbie Burns! (Whew, that was a long sentence LOL) You can visit Debbie's blog at Love Life's Little Pleasures. I had tons of fun doing this page! 

I got to use some more of my Glitz French Kiss papers from my Swirlydoos kit along with some supplies from my stash. Loving the whole burlap thing mixed in here. Now I am not sure why I am so enchanted with this photo of my niece alongside a statue of a big brown bear while on a trip to San Francisco. But nonetheless, I am! LOL I altered it in PS using a number of FloraBella actions, Halo and Sublime. That gave it a great glow! 

Taking a white doily that I had on hand, I've used Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist to alter the white color a bit. My Dusty Attic piece was simply inked with my Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. Although they are hard to see, I added in some small brown pearls to give it a  bit of pizazz. 

Then I began layering in a number of Petaloo and Prima florals as well as the Prima resin bridge. My Prima branch is an older one called Cherry Blossoms in the Jubilee color.  The Petaloo are from the Canterbury collection .. love those!!  Some are the Glittered Fleur and some are the plain. There is another smaller Petaloo flower mixed in that I do not have the packaging for and have forgotten it's name. And as I am writing this, I realize I had planned to add-in some bling among the flowers, so I will be doing that before I put this layout away! It seems I have had too much on my mind this week! EEck! 

My title is merely some Glitz tiny alphas in Navy mounted on a Glitz French Kiss die cut.  Butterflies are courtesy of Lisa Gregory (thanks, Lisa!) and printed on white card stock.  I love printing them out and adding a bit of Clear Rock Candy to them as well as a few pearls and popping them up on foam squares. Because I did not plan quite right, I had to replace regular stitching with my Tim Holtz stamp in 2 corners. Alas, I had tape right where I had wanted to do my stitching. Oh, well, next time! Don't you love when I make mistakes, heehee! 

While you're here, I thought I would re-post the sketch in case you haven't saved it yet .. or been by SOUS. You will have 2 weeks to upload your project. And don't forget that Nanne is offering up that yummy handmade blog candy aka as "Gorgeous!"

Thanks for coming by! I always love reading your comments!  If you have any questions, be sure and let me know! Hope you have a fabulous weekend! 

Spring is in the Air ~ SOUS ~

TGIF! It's Friday and time for a new reveal over at Stuck on U Sketches. This week's challenge is very open to interpretation BUT you do need to use a Die Cut tool or machine of some kind. The theme is "Spring is in the Air." Perfect for Easter weekend, huh?

 So, for a while now I've been wanting to cut the bee from the Sentimentals cartridge and took this opportunity to do it  .. "egged on" by my scrap promoting husband who thinks I need to do something other than butterflies for a change. Hmmm ... but I didn't want to use black and yellow, so I went pale yellow with brown to make it more of a honey bee. LOL

As you can see,  I have welded my bee base to a rectangle and cut that from a pale yellow Bazzill card stock. Then covered that with a piece of Basic Grey Curio paper, although I have forgotten the pattern name. Sorry. While I'm on this photo, I wanted to point out that the Bee Happy sentiment is cut from the Cricut Just Because Cards cartridge using brown card stock. Because this had no shadow cut, I hand trimmed a shadow from the yellow Bazzill c/s. Then I placed the sentiment on foam squares for dimension. It looks super cute! 

This is a side photo of my cute little honey bee. I cut several layers and mounted them on one another using foam squares and got quite a bit of height. Next I added a ribbon to my bee and accented that with a small paper rose from my stash. It all made for a heavy little bee attached to the card base but I was super pleased with how it turned out! I have already sent it out to a dear friend. 

Well, I just want to say thanks for coming by to those who do! I know this is a busy weekend for most families. So your visit is appreciated! We will be spending Sunday at church and then with family. Got to watch those grand babes hunt their eggs!!! 

See you next time! 

Round Robin Challenge

Happy Monday, peeps! It's a happy one because I get to post my layout for the Round Robin challenge over at the Flying Unicorn forum. It is a fun one to do because the group has so much fun teasing each other about their LOs being pretty ... but NOT winners! Like I said, it's a fun group! 

The theme is Spring, so anything along the lines of rain, flowers, colors and that kind of thing. I did not use Spring-y  colors especially but used a Spring photo. The grandkids love getting outside as soon as it is warm enough. And impromptu picnics are a must, don't you know? 

My papers are a mix of Glitz French Kiss and Paper Reverie, I've used some large pieces of Dusty Attic that I painted  with decadent chalkboard and then highlighted with Rustic Glimmer Glam and a few pearls and gems. I've used 2 kinds of Martha Stewart punches, Cherish and the deep-edged Floral Vine punch. My florals are a Petaloo mix.

Those amazing butterflies are compliments of Lisa Gregory. Thanks, Lisa! I painted their antennae with some Smooch Pearlized Accents in a bronze shade. Did a little stamping in the upper left quadrant .. always have to pat myself on the back when I use my stamps because it does not come naturally to me. 

Be sure to click on the photo so you can see the detail up close and personal LOL

Thanks for coming by! Friday with be the reveal of a new Die Cut challenge at Stuck on U Sketches. I know it will be Good Friday and folks will be going every which way getting ready for Easter. But hopefully, the  following week you'll get a chance to play along! Until Friday, take care! 

Blog Candy Winner

We want to thank everyone for such a successful blog hop this past weekend at Stuck on U Sketches.  We had fun ourselves hopping around and learning more about everyone! Gotta love learning more about our scrappy friends!

Don't forget that you have until April 5th to upload your project if you are doing the latest Die Cut challenge (bunnies); and until April 12th for the latest sketch challenge.

So, without further ado, the winner of my personal Get to Know Me blog candy (the G45 paper pack) is:  Pam who said:

 "Love Love your layouts Sandi.  They always look so soft and dreamy and absolutely lovely! TFS"


Please email Sandi @ clarkson DOT sandi AT gmail DOT com with your mailing address. You have 7 days to claim your prize. Big congrats!

Hope everyone has a great week!