Deep Woods

I was able to take part in the Weekly Challenge at Club CK.  It was a sketch challenge with a sketch by one of my faves, Scrapbook Generation.  I have all of their two page sketch books and have found them a breeze to use and like that they use a lot of large photos.  They go together in a snap!

I decided to do one of the layouts for TRW II.  Photos from the wedding venue Bryon and Leah chose.  I think they knew right away that they had found The Place.  This feeling was confirmed when we visited another venue and they decided to look no further.  The woman running it is so helpful and will be great to work with.  It is beautiful and I can't wait to see them marry here!

The layout:

The 12 Days of Christmas

It's my turn to host the weekly challenge at Club CK and since I will be celebrating Christmas in July with my family, I thought I would make my challenge to create a layout about Christmas, Hanukkah,  or winter.  What better way to beat the summer heat than to make a layout about snow or a winter holiday?

I did my layout about the 12 gifts I received from my secret santa at Club CK.  It was amazing!  6 little packages showed up, one for each day.  By the end of the 6 days, I was feeling so blessed, when 6 more showed up.  Honestly, it made me cry.  My santa was very good to me, so I must have been good too, right???  Right?!?  Right.  I had fun photographing each day's gift after I opened them and I even used the Christmas paper from day 7.

The layout

5 in 1

Wow, I just used a layout for 5, count 'em 5 challenges!  It was a great week to do this since it is crazy!

The Challenge:
Make a layout based on a favorite book or author

I used Seuss.  Who can not love Seuss?  And I thought the title fit perfectly for the subject

The Challenge:
Use one of the quotes, titles or journaling ideas in the back of the May/June Creating Keepsakes mag

I thought the quote from Walt Disney - All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to pursue them.  was very fitting to someone realizing the end of that pursuit.

The Challenge:
Use cream, red and gray

I actually thought the colors went perfectly with these photos.  The reds in the photos are so vibrant that using the brighter cream and gray really let the pop!

The Challenge:
Use this sketch

I used the sketch for the left hand side of the layout.  I just extended it in my mind and used that great photo my dad took of Kayla looking back at us after she sat down.

The Challenge:
I have been part of a layout lottery.  We choose a number of layouts we want to complete in the quarter's time and post them as we get them done.  I chose 50 and am now over 60!

And here is the all purpose layout!

Chocolate Love

The Challenge:
Make an embellishment by pulling an element from your photo(s)

I chose to use the three photos from our Sister Chick Chocolate Potluck.  I brought my camera to take photos, but was totally sidetracked by Bunco and never took any more than these three!  Well, you know women and chocolate.  We had a feast this night and we partook while playing fun games.  I chose to make a cupcake embellishment to match the fancy tray of cupcakes in one of the photos.  And to think, I was just not in a very good and I almost didn't go!  Thanks, K for dragging me there.

We Are Bethel

The Challenge:
A recipe
The color yellow
Chipboard, twine, ribbon or floss
3 buttons
Letter stickers
Glitter or Stickles

I had these photos printed off to scrap when I came by this challenge.  I NEVER would have picked these papers if I wasn't trying to take part in this challenge.  I really like how it turned out!  I love the patterned paper and the feel it gives, the stitched border, the brackets and the title.  I don't think it would have looked anything like this if I just did it on my own.  This is why I like challenges; they stretch me and make me do things I wouldn't have done otherwise.  I know I have grown because of them.

Kick This

The Challenge:
Make a layout using blue, green and orange

Normally, I think this would have been a hard thing to do, but these photos were just begging to be used for this color challenge!  They are from last year's summer soccer season.  Kayla, Kyle and Bryon all played on the same team.  It was pretty fun to watch!

King of the Mountain

The Challenge:
In honor of the Royal wedding, use a royal title and the royal jewels

I thought this was perfect for the photos of John's climb to the top of Mt Shasta.  It took them two days (they camped about halfway up the mountain) and was the hardest thing either he or his friend had done.  They left camp about 5am to summit.  The ranger had told them it would be like 8-9 hours to get there.  They got there in 4.  He said it was so steep!  The view was amazing even through some forest fire smoke.  He even called me from the top!  They are already planning their next trip :)

Splash! Defense of the Castle

The Challenge:
Use brown, green and blue for colors.  Use the embellishments hand stitching and stamps.  Must use "splash" in the title.

I admit, I had a hard time thinking of what to do with this challenge because of having to use "splash" in the title.  I decided that this works since the waves come splashing in and destroy the castle the fam made.  This was from our family trip to the coast last summer.  It was such a nice day and we had not been somewhere, just the four of us for a while.

I used Stickles to outline the splash and the Sew Easy tool to make the holes for the hand stitching.  The stamps are from Stampin' Up!