Barren Beauty

The Challenge:
Use brown, teal, and purple for your layout colors

I had used green and purple for my layout about Tenas Lake and we went up to the observatory right after that hike, so I thought I would keep it going.

It really is quite a sight to see these badlands.  For such a green state, it is a reminder of the volcanic past.  Some of the mountains are not dead, there are changes to them each year.  I guess it's a reminder of a possible future too.  Even though the landscape looks bleak, I see a beauty there.  You can see most of the big, snow topped peaks in the state and the contrast between blue sky, white snow and black lava is very stunning.  I love this place as it has maps and windows that let you gaze on these pretty peaks and lets you know what you are looking at.  It is a quite popular place to go.  The highway that leads here is the old highway between the valley and the high desert.  It was also the wagon train way over the mountains.  I can not imagine trying to get through here in a covered wagon!

I decided to go with no real embellishments on this one, to go along with the barrenness of the landscape.  I decided to, instead, add extra journaling.  I just gave it a touch of twine.  I like the distressed look of the journal blocks too.

The layout

Growth

I am so glad I got to play along with CSI's challenge this week!  The colors were so beautiful.  When looking at the pallet we had to work with, I thought of these photos I took with my macro lens during a snowfall we had a couple of weeks ago.  The pink in the rose bud matched perfectly to the pallet.  I thought the other, softer colors played well with a winter flower.

I incorporated a circle in the overall design and then reinforced by the flowers, button and gems.  I used a tag for the journal/title spot.  The sheer ribbon was a good way to add the lavender, and the stick pin, which I made from coordinating beads, adds the gold metal elements.  I also chose to journal about growth being found even in the bleak winter months. I used a sketch by Sketches in Thyme and I think that is Thyme, which is dormant, represented in one of the photos.

The layout

Here is the challenge specifics and sketch

Tenas Lake

The Challenge:
Make a layout inspired by a card.

I used one of my favorite cards for this challenge.  It was one I made, but the sentiment fit perfectly for these photos of a hike I did with John.  I also used the same color scheme.  Really, I find such joy when we go on hikes, after I catch my breath ;)  There is such beauty in the state I live in and I am constantly amazed at the wonderful lakes and vistas we have the privilege of seeing!  I love hiking and I love getting new material for scrapping.  We're out making memories.

The layout

The card

The Watermelon Story

I did this layout for two challenges this week.

I did the CSI case #2.  I found this site to have some interesting takes on challenges.  You are to use color and pick prompts for embellishments and journaling.


I used flowers, swirls and I embossed the raspberry paper with a brick texture.

I also used the Fabulous Fridays prompt to use acrylic, vellum or a transparency at Frosted Designs.  The transparency I chose went really well with the color scheme for the CSI case.

I was also inspired by Erika at Club CK to scrap a story that you don't have photos for.  The only photos I have of this even are the ones in my memory.  In order to not lose such a cute memory, I wanted to scrap it. I went out and bought a melon so I would have some relevant photo, lol.  I am very glad to have someone encourage me to get that memory out of my head and in my scrapbook!

The story is about one of Kayla's first adventures driving solo.  I was setting up for a big BBQ and we needed to get 3 watermelons.  We sent Kayla because she could drive now.  When she came back, she just walked in the house and said the melons were in the van.  I walked out to see that she had placed each melon in its own bucket seat and fastened the seatbelts around each one of them.  I was probably one of the cutest things I've seen!

Farewell Sketchy Thursdays and a Fave

Today one of my favorite challenge sites announced their last picks of  favorite layouts, based on their sketch of the week.  I had the honor of my layout, Marco, chosen as one of the last faves! You can see here http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/2012/01/0112-our-last-winner-and-our-last-faves.html

I have learned so much from using their sketches and studying their layouts and those that they pick as faves each week.  I think I've grown a lot since I started playing with them.  I just wanted to take a moment to say, "Thank you!".  And I can't wait to see where the ladies end up next and what they may have in store for us.

Macro

This is my last layout for the Sketchy Thursdays challenge site.  They are calling it quits after this week's challenge.  I am so very sad, but I understand how much work this must have become for them.  I want to thank all the gals over there for giving me this last year (almost) worth of inspiration and awesome sketches.  I will miss you and hope the you continue to share your talents with us someway, somewhere.  So thanks and I decided to go have some fun and try some stuff that I haven't done before.

These photos were the first photos I took with the macro lens I got for Christmas.  It is amazing how ugly, brown weeds become cool and beautiful when you change your point of view.  I first stood there thinking that there was nothing to photograph, but then I started seeing the beauty in the close up.  I can't wait to go play with it some more!

The layout

The Sketch

Run

I have started a Thanks Living book.  It is a whole way of looking at life that has been started by my good friend Erika at ClubCK.  She is challenging us to identify things every single day that we are thankful for.  This goes beyond the month of thankfulness that happens in November, but really looking at your life and finding the many blessings you have.  Even on the hardest days there are things to be thankful for.  I know recently when I had a  really difficult day, I had to sit and really think. One of my choices was I was thankful that the day was over.  There is always something we can give thanks for.  And you know what?  I felt better after writing them down.

To go along with this mindset of thankfulness, she is challenging us to make a layout on one of the things we journaled about each month.  She is also using the challenge to talk about design and how we can use the principals to be better scrappers.  This month's principle was all about lines and how we use lines on our layouts to direct the viewer's eye and focus.  My layout started with a Z line, but I'm not sure it held it.  That was the goal though.

I chose to do my layout on my resolve to be better fit.  I have started a program, which I downloaded to my iPod, called Couch25K.  I am thankful for so many things that go along with this subject.  I am thankful for my good health and my ability to run, my supportive husband who went and bought me good stuff to help me (he told me that he was proud of me today!), I am thankful for the technology that allows me to be successful and inspires me, and I am thankful for a beautiful place in which to achieve this goal!  I kind of wrapped all that into this one layout.

I was also inspired by the challenge at Frosted Designs to use paint.  I splattered the background with blue paint to draw out the blue in the photos.

Hands of the What?!

The Challenge:
Use letter stickers in the body of your journaling

As soon as I saw this challenge, I knew this story would be perfect.  We got together last Easter, Mason's first, but we really just sat around and talked.  We didn't do anything Eastery.  As we were telling stories, Kayla exclaimed, "I have the hands of a cobra!"  What?!?  Cobras have hands???  Where do they keep them?  Of course we all busted up laughing and, to the day, tease her about her cobra hands.

We Are Young At Heart

The Challenge:
Use pink and use it in an unexpected way.  Not a layout on babies, little girls or love

I was a little stumped by this one.  I wasn't sure what that meant; in an unexpected way.  Then I was checking out the Scrapfit blog to see that two of my peeps were made designers there (congrats!) and this month's workout gave us the song Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar to use for our inspiration.  As soon as I saw the line We Are Young, I knew what photos I wanted to use and the light bulb went off in my head that this is also the perfect way to unexpectedly use pink!  So, I am using it on a layout of our church's Family Fun Night Minute to Win It.  I used the pink for a splash of fun, pairing it with other fun colors and patterns.

This is my first time playing with the Scrapfit girls.  Can't wait for the next time!

The Layout

Where I Run

I've been wanting to photograph the place I go to walk and/or run.  I'm trying to become a runner so it helps to have a beautiful place to go and do it.  I stated the Couch25K program and we shall see.  At the moment, I'm a skeptic, but I am going to give it my all.

I saw this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch and I thought it would go really well with this subject.  I also wanted to work on my clustering and be more artsy/messy.  I like order.  I like symmetry.  I like things in their proper place and I have found that I have struggled with the shabby look.  I love to look at layouts done by people who are extremely talented with it.  I love looking at Erin and Kelly's layouts.  They really rock the shabby.  They are so good at clustering totally random bits and pieces and it looks good!   I know I just need to go do it if I want to get better at it, so that's what I set out to accomplish on this layout.  It's a start, but I like how it turned out.  I also used my nemesis color, yellow.

The Layout

The Layout- both pages

The Sketch

Season of Lights

When I saw that the sketch challenge at Frosted Designs was made by none other than Ashley Horton, I knew I just had to play!  I have missed playing along with these guys. They have lots of fun and inspiring challenges.  Life has been just too busy!

I chose to use these photos I had taken of the lights of Christmas.  I just love the lights!  They are so pretty and fill one with a sense of joy and wonder.  I meant to take more photos this year, but, see above re: life being busy.  I actually used a paper line intended for summer, but the bright, colorful design was perfect for a layout about color and light.

The layout

The sketch

Leader of the Band

I was invited by Amanda at lovejoypaper to be a guest designer for her monthly challenge!  She provided me with a sketch.  As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew which photos I wanted to use.  These photos have been sitting around, not inspiring me at all, but I wanted to tell the story.  I'm so glad there are so many wonderful sketches out there to inspire us.  Thanks Amanda!!!

The Story:
Just 6 months after graduating, Bryon was hired by the school district to be the Pep Band director during basketball season.  He was up against three other applicants too!  He had many compliments given to him or about him by everyone from the high school principal to the athletic director to the band teacher to the kids themselves.  I am so very proud of him.

IRL

The Challenge:
Scrap a layout using emotion.


I chose to scrap meeting some of the friends I had made at Club CK.  Nine of us gathered together for a weekend of scrapping and fun.  I remember someone saying that I was quieter than she expected and I thought about that for a moment and realized that I was just so content.  It was one of the nicest craft weekends I've ever had!  Here we were, friends who had just met In Real Life and we felt like we had known each other for years and I felt so happy and content to just be there among my friends.  It really didn't feel like I was in a room of people I didn't know or just met.  It seemed like I was in a room with old time friends that I hadn't seen in a while.  I can't wait until this year's crop!  We will have many more laughs and memories then I am sure!