October Sketch at Challenge Masters

It's October sketch time!

Here's my sketch.........................

and here's my sample:

The pictures are of me from when I was almost 5. My sister Judy must have told me to make model poses because I don't know how else to explain the strange stances! I love looking at pictures of myself from days gone by because there are so few.

I used all MME patterned paper except for lined background paper, that's BG. Patterned butterflies are spellbinder die cuts, chipboard butterfly is Scenic Route. Fired Brick and Peeled Paint Distress inks, Sizzix flowers, CosmoCricket sticker letters, MM sticker letters, Fontwerks date sticker, Kaiser pearls.

Fall Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Ch{all}enge Masters F{all} into a Ch{all}enge Blog Hop! The challenge Divas have gotten together to create some fantastic Fall themed projects for you to be inspired and enjoy!

You should have arrrived here from //http://lovinglife-liz.blogspot.com/

Liz's blog.

If not, then you need to start back at Tammy's Blog (Stash & Tag Diva) (http://tampatha.wordpress.com/).

We all have a secret word that you need to collect to spell an autumn phrase and to be entered to win one of the grand prizes. All the details are on her blog and you don't want to miss out on any great prizes along the way as we all have something special that you can win!

I hope you are enjoying all the eye candy you have seen so far. My project looks so much better in real life (I swear ;0) Unfortunately, it is storming as I am trying to take photos,and you know how that goes, so I hope you like it!

It is actually really dimensional which is not showing up so well in these photos. I plan on putting it on the mantel as soon as October starts. I used Making Memories cream polka dot pp from a few years ago and JillyBean Orange polka dot pp. The haunted house photo is from Jenni Bowlin's Halloween kit (which is to die for!)

I love hunting through my stash for just the right touch of something and for this project I came up with an old Jolee's (don't judge me) witch hat with spell book, wand and broom. I busted out an old black bottlecap from Lil Davis(remember them?) and topped it with a new sticker from Studio G. A few other Making Memories halloween embellishments from their collection from a couple of years ago add to the fun along with a Pink Paislee rub on and a Jenni Bowlin sticker. Alphabet letters are Basic Grey, American Craft Thickers,and a Heidi Swapp "H" covered with black glitter. All edges have been inked and distressed!

My absolute favorite part of this project is the teeny tiny JB Halloween Bingo cards. It really is part of the packaging that I cut apart. Totally not my own idea yet brilliant!

I was inspired by the Jenni Bowlin designers especially http://www.jbsmercantile.com/page.asp?Page=141 Ranjini Malhatra and http://www.jbsmercantile.com/page.asp?Page=298 Kerry Lynn Yeary.

There a few ways to win during this blog hop:

1. You can leave a comment here (by Sunday, Sept 19th by 11pm EST)telling me your favorite part of fall. If you do this you will be in the running for a cute little RAK from me. (photo coming soon)

2. Create a fall project. Whatever kind of project you come up with(a card, a scrapbook page, or something else ) it must be fall themed. Then go to http://www.challengemastersonline.com/ and upload it to our gallery. If you are new to Challenge Masters, you must register twice (once for the forums and once for the gallery although it can all be the same user names and password) There will also be a thread in our forums dedicated to our blog hop so make sure to post your creation there as well. A great kit could be yours by entering!

3. Visit each blog in order of the hop and write down the secret words. Details on Blog 1 (Tammy) about how to win this prize.

Don't forget while you are at Challenge Masters to check out all our other challenges. We have new ones starting on Sunday that run through the end of the month. Jump right in!

Thanks for visiting my blog. My secret word is

Next stop on the blog hop is Anne. You can visit her here at http://www.annemade-anne.blogspot.com/

Happy Fall!

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Blog Hop!

This weekend, Challenge Masters is having its first blog hop! There are several ways to win and a bunch of great prizes. Check back on Friday for all the details!

Challenge Masters Sketch Challenge

Here's my latest sketch for the Challenge Masters site. I did it in MS Word and I think next month I will go back to doing it my own way.

Nook Stuff

I couldn't wait to dig into the August Scrpbook Nook kit that came the other day. It was packed with Sassafrass Lass Indigo Girl and some fun embellishments.

Here's a layout of Amanda and Jessica. I love this picture although they have grown up a lot in the 2 years since this photo was taken!I am a sucker for decorative tape. The green one here is from Basic Grey. I folded it into a loop to make faux leaves. LOVE it!

More BG deco edge tape on this card and more Indigo Girl! I can't sew but it looks like I did by adding some DCWV colored rubons over my little banner letters.
A card I made with some October Afternoon papers that came in a Nook kit from a few months ago. The card is based on a sketch from The Nook's forum. I also used some Chatterbox felt and chipboard stickers, some cute Bo Bunny brads, flowers I punched out of some vintage dictionary paper and some Heidi Grace flourish rubons.

A few of my favorites

When my nieces came over the other day, they went looking through all my old albums. I came across a few that are my faves.

I love this one because I was inspired by some angel cards. I try to take notice of the signs that come my way.

This one is for Cindy. I think scrapbooking is very theraputic for me.

I love this layout because it expresses how I feel about this life I lead.

I only have a handful of baby pictures of myself (the curse of being the youngest of 6) so this one is precious to me.

I created this layout after seeing color combo #150 at http://colorcombosgalore.ning.com/

I bought the postcard a few years ago in an antique store beacuse it captured the feeling I had about summer vacations spent at a motel in Massachusetts when I was little.

If I hadn't just come a cross it a few days ago, I would have totally forgotten I had it.

After creating it, I went right out to the antique store in search of treasure. More on that later!