Sketchy Wednesday

What a strange day! The rain has been coming down since I opened my eyes. We've been to an appointment and the grocery store first thing, only to return to do some laundry and clean up to prepare for a camping trip we are taking, leaving tomorrow returning on Saturday. It's the last blast of the summer for the kids, as they start school next Tuesday. Patryk has been really crabby today...his new thing is to spit in my face when I am disciplining him. It is quite disgusting and annoying! Woke hubby up this afternoon (he's a 3rd shifter) and was surprised to find out he's trading my van for an Expedition! Super psyched, but surprised as I knew he was looking but didn't know he had found one! It's a flat out trade, so we'll owe nothing. More importantly, we'll have room for all of our camping gear and family this weekend! Can't wait to put it to the test :)

I did get up into the craft room today, and played with a Liz Qualman sketch. One of her amazing sketches is the sketch of the month at Colorful Creations, and I liked the design. It is hard nowadays to find multiple picture sketches! Everyone seems to enjoy showcasing a single photo on a page, but realistically, I take so many pictures of one event/moment, I always have a bunch I want to include. This was one of those times, the only problem was I'd had the pics printed out for a week so I didn't want to waste more ink. I had to change up the sketch a bit, mainly the picture placement. I also didn't make it a fancy shape (as I am not a good free hand drawer, and cannot buy any shaped paper as I am in a no-spend challenge this month at Colorful Creations. I love this sketch still, and hope it shows you that you really can make a sketch your own. It is more the layout itself here that is similar. A lot of people seem to have trouble following a sketch, thinking they have to make it exactly the same. Not so!

Here's Liz's sketch:

...and here's my take:

All paper: My Mind's Eye Complete Boy paper stack. Train embellie/"boy" title word/bracket: K&Co. MM metal ribbon slide with strip of MME paper. The circle is cut from the K&Co. sticker pack containing the train and word, I liked the notebook paper look of it, not to mention it is like chipboard as it is thick cardboard.

Happy Tuesday!

The rain has stopped here (for now) and it is going to be a busy day of bread baking and crafting for me. My little man still is not feeling that great. This cold seems to hang on for a looooooong time, making him a bona fide booger machine! I'm secretly glad the new big boy bed has made nap time a thing of the past...that just means I get to hang out in my craft room to make sure he doesn't jump the gate and play with my scissors!

My latest obsession is baking bread. With 5 people here in the house, I'm tired of spending an arm and a leg on loaves of bread! One loaf only lasts a day or so if we all eat a sandwich. I'm in week three of baking my own loaves, and it seems to be going well. They all eat it and say it is fantastic, even though it is smaller than your average loaf of sandwich bread. I'm working on this, a little at a time. Today I will let it rise longer and see what happens. So, off to the kitchen before nap time to start some yummy honey sunflower wheat goodness!

Yesterday it rained, and I was glad to be upstairs in the craft room. I made a few things that I'll share here, except for the DT sketch layout I made for sketches4all...it just isn't up to par. My scanner made it crooked looking, and the eyelets I used ARE crooked. Just can't post a crooked layout!

Anywho, here's one I made for Colorful Creations 4 square challenge, where we had to use 4 squares and a circle. I also used it for the sketches4all August layering challenge. Papers My Mind's Eye, inked with Versacolor Umber pigment ink. Freehand drew the star and cut out, adhered to white paper to make it pop. The silver washer came from my husband's toolbox (seriously) and I wrapped a twist tie from a box of garbage bags around it. Gotta love repurposing! Speaking of repurposing, when one runs out of chipboard circles, what is to be done? Well, I used a Capri Sun box. I cut the big circle out of the box, adhered white paper to it, and inked all over it (Stampin Up Garden Green, Versacolor umber, and a Stampin Up Stampin Spot made little square looking marks all over it, which I loved the look of.) The "genuine" definition is DCWV Rub-On Quote Stack - Boy. The sticker on the circle in the middle is P.Inc. Penstitching around the circle.

For the sketches4all site, as you all know from my previous postings, there is a contest for the Scrap Girl of the Month. Challenge #3 for this award was to make a bookmark using the colors orange and green, a ribbon, and a stamp. It also had to be related to our favorite book/author/magazine somehow. I chose Edward Abbey, my favorite author. I had a hard time at first, wanting to attach all of these 3 dimensional elements, but realized it needed to function as a bookmark, and resisted the urge. Orange flower paper is from my scrap box, from the MAMBI Coastal Culture paper pad. The green paper is from the K&Co Roam paper pad. The stamps are MM magnetic alphabet stamps, stamped in Versacolor umber. The dragonfly sticker is Miss Elizabeth's, and the paper the sticker is attached to was received in an RAK.

Last but not least, I made this card for Colorful Creations. It is Sandra's Card Sketch challenge, and I think I did well. I have been trying to make more masculine cards, as there are a lot of men in my family. It's a little harder, but I'm getting better at it. Papers are from an old PC Scrap Pad - The Den paper collection. It is from all the way back in 1998! The ribbon and buttons were received in an RAK. The oval sticker is Miss Elizabeth's.

Hope to post more later, after bread is baking :) Have a crafty day!

Good crafty morning to you :)

Started the day right, with a layout for sketches4all. This one was Christy's What's in a Word challenge, asking us to use a quote on the page. I had just received the quote I ended up using, along with all of the fabulous flowers, as an RAK from Cindy, a talented designer for s4u, and felt this was a good time to use it. This is a photo of my now 5th grader walking with her now 8 year old sister to her first day of first grade. Rileigh (the younger) wasn't due to start preschool for another month, and was so sad to leave her there. It took a good week for her to adjust to playing alone!

Journaling reads: "You were so very sad when we walked Andraia to school for her first day of first grade, mainly because your first day of preschool was a month away! You cried all the way home and kept asking if it was time to go pick her up yet!" I wish I could tell you who made the paper, as I am also in the Colorful Creations no spend challenge for this month where I cannot purchase a single THING to make layouts. It has been quite liberating! I remember getting this school themed paper in a giant paper pack, one of the not really name brand ones, from Michael's 5 or 6 years ago, and ripping it open to put it in my "occasion" file. Of course I didn't save the info as to the maker of the paper! Another oldie but goodie showcased on this page: the old EK Success Fresh Cutz die cut sheets, these are Rebecca Sower back to school that I've had collecting dust for probably 10 or 11 years! I adhered one with pop dots, and in looking at them, had a great idea for a homemade embellie which I will probably showcase here soon, as I can't wait to try it out on my next page for Rileigh's album, her first day of preschool. The flower embellishments were received from the same RAK I got the quote in. The arrow attached w/pop dots is from We R Memory Keepers Teen Angst scrap pad, along with the sticker letters. The corrugated paper making up the bottom layer of the photo mat was repurposed from a box of Pfaltzgraff plates!

I'm sure there'll be plenty of layouts to come today as I am back in the groove after being sick. Stay tuned, and have a scrappy day!