Enjoy 31

Hi there! Hope all is well! It's time for an all new Once Upon A Sketch Challenge! The journaling theme this month is "My Happy Place". 

Here's the sketch we will be playing with:

I scrapped a photo of myself that was taken at one of my most favorite happiest places ~ Venice, Italy. The city is quite beautiful to say the least and is a definite must see!

To create the background, I combined pretty patterned from the 13arts Faces of Spring collection along with the Rose Builder stencil, stamps, lots of texture mediums and acrylic paints. Once the background was completed, I embellished with a variety of die cuts including a pretty butterfly made using Die-namics Fancy Butterflies dies.

For the title, I framed a sentiment from Tropical Sensations:

I journaled on a die cut tag which I embellished with a die cut gear that was made using a die from Time Pieces. I added a crackle coating to the Imaginarium Designs chipboard Swirl Designs pieces that are adhered on top of the photo:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you liked my layout. Please be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch site to see what the participating DT members have created.
Be Sweet ;)

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Journey 31

Hi there! Hope you are having a great week! It's time for a new sketch to play with at Once Upon A Sketch. This month, we ask you to focus on the journaling theme: "Journey".

Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with:

I scrapped a trio of photos that were taken of the gorgeous historical Trevi Fountain while on our trip to Rome several years ago. I realized I had a typo in my journaling after the fact, but that is ok with me :)

Peeking from behind the photos is a small patch of stenciled brick wall that was made using the Brick Wall stencil along with Distress ink.

I thought a few decorative crackled and distressed chipboard pieces would work well on this layout:

I topped it with a trio of flowers, a few clocks that were made using Timeless and a chipboard title that I also distressed:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you liked my layout. Please be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch site to see what the participating DT members have created.
Be Sweet ;)

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Lucky...OUAS September 34

Hi there! Hope you are having a great week! It's time for a new sketch to play with at Once Upon A Sketch. This month, we ask you to focus on the journaling theme: "Lucky".

Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with:

I scrapped a trio of photos of Meredith as she was saddling up and riding her horse. These photos were taken nearly 10 years ago! 

I layered the photos on distressed patterned paper, stitched in place then embellished with a pretty white washed Imaginarium Designs chipboard dragonfly: 

I randomly stamped the chicken wire image from Distressed Background Blocks:

I framed Meredith riding her horse with a pretty white washed  Imaginarium Designs chipboard frame:

For the title, I stamped a sentiment from MFT Complimentary Greetings then framed it with a fancy white washed Imaginarium Designs chipboard frame and embellished it with an Imaginarium Designs chipboard heart:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you liked my layout. Please be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch site to see what the participating DT members have created.
Be Sweet ;)

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Memories...OUAS August 27

Hi there! It's time for a new sketch to play with at Once Upon A Sketch. This month, we ask you to focus on the journaling theme: "Ill never forget". 

Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with:

I scrapped a few photos of Meredith and Griffin :) The two photos were die cut using a Die-namics Square Pierced STAX die then layered on die cut Kraft pieces made using a Die-namics Mini Album Torn Notebook STAX die. For a little added interest, I inked the edges using MFT Sweet Tooth ink.

To begin, I made all of the colored papers using various acrylic paints and the jumbo size Gelli Arts Printing Plate. I trimmed the paper to size, distressed the edges, adhered to a plain piece of Kraft cs then stitched around the perimeter. 

I added lots of texture using the MFT MPD Gears Stencil and fiber paste:

The clocks were stamped using two of the clock faces from MFT MPD Timeless on coordinating die cut pieces made using Die-namics MPD Time Pieces. To add some interest to the plain strips of painted cs, I stamped the gears image from MFT MPD Collage Backgrounds using MFT Sweet Tooth ink:

The text image is from MFT MPD Collage Backgrounds and was stamped using MFT Black Licorice ink:

I'm entering this in Hels Sunday Stamper challenge where the theme is Time.
Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you liked my layout. Please be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch site to see what the participating DT members have created.

I will be back tomorrow for more to share for the MFT August Teasers Day 4!
Be Sweet ;)

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Memories...OUAS July 44

Hi there! It's time for a new sketch to play with at Once Upon A Sketch. This month, we ask you to focus on the Journalling Theme: "Grow". Refer to the photo shown below for inspiration.

Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with:

I scrapped a layout featuring a photo of my two girls: Angie (on the left) and Meredith (on the right) that was taken 10 years ago. Needless to say, they both have really grown and have blossomed into beautiful young women. My journaling is quite lengthy and is written on the back of the page.

I heat embossed various chipboard pieces including the little butterfly and hearts from Imaginarium Designs.

and added lots of pretty manufactured flowers that I have been hoarding. 

Here are recent photos of the girls ~ how time flies! 

Angie (23 years old)

Meredith (16 years old)

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you liked my layout. Please be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch site to see what the participating DT members have created.

Be Sweet ;)

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Friends...OUAS 29

Hi there! It's time for a new sketch to play with at Once Upon A Sketch. This month, we ask you to include a number, ANY number, on your layout. It has to be VISIBLE and it can be in your title or part of your journalling. It can be a date, an age, a house number, an anniversary, the number of children you have, the number of pets .... anything you like. But please make sure that there is some explanation through your journalling, somewhere on your page or blog about what this number means to you.

I made a layout featuring a photo of Emily, Connor and Meredith prior to the Homecoming dance. After creating the background with various sprays, molding paste and gesso, I was ready to embellish the page with various chipboard pieces from Imaginarium Designs that I altered as well. The beautiful frame around the photo is an Imaginarium Designs Anna Frame. The tag was made using a Die-namics Traditional Tag STAX die which features my journaling along with ID chipboard altered numbers.

Shown below are a few manufactured blossoms along with fancy ID flourishes. 

and all three butterflies on the page are from ID as well. I cut a doily in two that was made using a Die-namics Dizzy Doily Duo die and adhered those pretty little chipboard butterflies. 

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you liked my layout. Please be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch site to see what the participating DT members have created.
Be Sweet ;)

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Journey...January OUAS 34

Happy New Year dear blogging friends! Hope you all had a safe and fun New Year's Eve celebration!!! With the beginning of the New Year comes a new sketch over at the monthly Once Upon A Sketch Challenge! Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with all month long along and  the theme is "The start of something new..."

I always get a kick out of the surge of members that flock to the gym on or about New Year's Day already dressed up in their brand new tennis shoes and gym outfits! As the days, weeks and months follow, the crowds die down as members "fall off the fitness wagon". I admit, I am addicted to exercise and have been ever since a teenager. Surely I'm wearing away my joints but I love to cook, I love to eat and I'm willing to do what it takes so I can enjoy all of those things :)

This mixed media layout features photos of Scott and I that were taken on top of a mountain named South Mountain that we hike in our backyard. We use to hike this trail a few times a month then it became more like a few times a year. In 2013, we are getting back in the habit of hiking together more often than not.

I had a lot of fun layering a variety of textures, techniques and mediums on this layout. Using various Die-namics dies, I made a few rolled flowers such as the one shown below that was made using Die-namics Royal Rose.

and more blooms made using Die-namics Large Royal Rose and  Die-namics Royal Rose.

Thanks so much for visiting! For some AMAZING International inspiration and complete details, please refer to the Once Upon A Sketch Challenge blog.
Be Sweet :)

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