Winner. Winner. Chicken Dinner.

Remember, the sketch design contest @ Let's Scrap?   Well...drum roll please...I was one of four winners!! 

I cannot reveal any of the details until my winning layout is featured for the weekly sketch sometime in November.  I don't even know which week my winning sketch will be showcased...but I am stoked!!  Stay tuned to the blog or check in every Wednesday @ Let's Scrap for a new layout design and challenge.

My very first attempt at sketch design produced a winning layout!

Yay me!

One Pink Nail

This is not my idea.  However, I am participating.

One small thing.  Lots of meaning.

I usually wear 10 pink nails the entire month of October, but I noticed something different recently. 

ONE PINK NAIL

I hope many of you reading this will join me with ONE PINK NAIL for the month of OCTOBER!

Wear your chosen polish color on the other nine, but make your left ring finger the ONE PINK NAIL!

Why the left ring finger? It's said to have the vein connected to our heart (as in the reason behind the "traditional" wedding ring finger).  Hmmm, is that true?

Why one pink nail?

It will catch more attention than a full pink manicure and will give each person the opportunity to answer the question everyone is sure to ask, "Why just ONE PINK NAIL?"  (Everyone that knows me, will know the reason why and won't have to ask.)  It's to remind us during October (breast cancer awareness month), to do our monthly self-exam and for those over 40...get your mammogram!

That one pink nail may just save a life!

10-3-12 Sketch

Good Wednesday morning  scrappers!

Here is today's sketch @ Let's Scrap:

And, here is my take on it:

This layout is all about our adorable Mini Goldendoodle, Gracie.  Yup.  Center Stage.  She may love water, but she doesn't love getting IN the water!  To refresh your memory, I previously blogged about our "day at the pool" here. 

I fell in love with Little Yellow Bicycle's (LYB) Splash line that came out this summer.  I had to have it.  All of it.  I hope you can see the clear water drops and splashes that are embossed/printed on the paper. 

This particular sketch calls for 2.5" square photos. 19 of them!!  I did not want to print so many 4" x 6" photos and then crop the crap out of them!  I downloaded a free photo manipulator called Photosheet (it is a huge time saver to print smaller photos without losing any of the detail).  I used the 2.5" x 3.5" wallet size option, saved the photos (two up on a 4" x 6") and uploaded them to Costco for a whopping $1.98!  So much easier!

Oprah says, "love is in the details." I hope you can see the clear water drops and splashes that are embossed/printed on the paper and the shimmering sparkle of the Gelly Roll pen (they come in many colors!).

Here are the "technical" notes for the layout:

• Paper & embellishments:  LYB Splash
• Paper clouds:  cut with QuicKutz cloud shape
• Stitching:  Blue Star Gelly Roll Pen and Paper Pizazz Easy Stitches template
• Paper inking (for edge distressing & paw prints):  CTMH Outdoor Denim & Citrus Leaf
• Bark-n-Splash logo downloaded from the internet, printed on my computer, and inked
• White Textured Cardstock:  Bazzill
• Journaling is computer generated, printed on LYB coordinating 6x6 paper pads (perfect use for this size!), and mounted on CM Pop Dots
• Paw print Rubber Stamp:  Michael's

You can probably see why I fell in love with the LYB Splash line.  Details.  Love.

What is a LOAD?

 

An acronym: for LayOut A Day

You know... all those piles of photos waiting to be scrapped,  computer sticks full of photos waiting to be printed, OR unfinished layouts sitting around the room, or page kits staring you in the face? 

Well, this is the time to get it done!!  Let's Scrap is hosting a LOAD challenge.  One LO for every day of the month = 31 finished LO's.  The whole idea is for you to get stuff done...this is not supposed to be a chore!  It's supposed to be fun.

Here are the rules for this challenge....

• each page counts as one layout
• a double page spread counts as 2 (size of page doesn't matter)
• each card counts as one (on the fence about how easy this is for card makers!)
• you don't have to use Let's Scrap Sketches.  If you do, you can put them in the gallery to show off your work.  If you don't, you can still post them in the group here. 

This is just for fun and to challenge ourselves to get LOAD(s) of scrapbooking done.  There are no prizes just the satisfaction of getting LOAD(s) of scrapbooking done!

I hope you will join me with this LOAD, get your scrapbooking caught up, use up a bunch of your stash, and have some fun. 

I'm participating...will you?  Heck, I'll even publish my progress.  See it over there on the sidebar?  Tomorrow that had better say at least 2!!

Our Saturday Adventure

The last two weekends in September are considered "peak" weekends in Colorado to see the beautiful fall show that Mother Nature puts on for us every year.  I had to put the kabosh on Bill's Saturday tee time.  Nope.  Not golfing.  Going hiking.

We got a late start to the mountains (we always do...no matter how hard we try).  I had mapped out one of several "best Colorado hikes to see the fall Aspen trees" and off we went.  When the trail directions say that 2-wheel drive cars should park here at the fork, they are not kidding.  Not us.  We have a truck.

We parked at the next parking spot available...just outside the Hessie Townsite, but still a hike to the trail head.  We were indeed greeted by some beautiful scenery.

Just 30-40 minutes into the hike, we stumbled upon a beautiful waterfall/stream that we just had to check out.  Over the years, the tumbling, rushing water has worn the rock surface smooth as glass.  Didn't stop us.  Huh uh.  Bill had Gracie and was leaping over the water and rock formations to the edge to get the eagle's eye view.  Well, I can do that.  Sure, I'm not 6' tall, but I can follow his every move. 

I did not make it over the first water cascade.  I slipped and in I went...ass-end first into the cold mountain water rushing over me shoulder to shoes!  By the time Bill had turned around to pose for the picture he was sure I was setting up, he noticed me in the water.  He rushed back to help me out as I couldn't find any place to plant my feet or hands to get out.  Underneath the beauty of rushing water lies slippery, slimy moss-covered rocks! 

(This photo

and that photo

have been

removed by

the author.)

The very first words out of Bill's mouth were, "Oh my god, you've ruined your iphone!"  Really?  Did you want to know if I'm okay? 

After the shock and the embarrassment had subsided, I began to take inventory of my water soaked hiking gear.

• iphone wet & ruined.  Check. 
• Camera & case soaked.  Check.  Ruined?  Not sure.  
• Pack, shorts, undergarments, hiking shoes & socks wet? Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Thank goodness I'm a tough broad and have experience in Camp Fire Girls (lol).  Thank goodness it was a hot, beautiful day.  Thank goodness I'm a scrapbooker and a storyteller.  Onward.

When we got to the lake to set up for picnic lunch, I finally had to undress, air out, and dry off.  Off came just about everything (without getting charged with indecent exposure, that is).  Plus, there was so many people there.  It was like a highway in the hills!  Seems we weren't the only ones wanting to hike and see the leaves.

Nobody enjoys the day more than Gracie!

I did not ever dry completely.  I did have to hike down with damp clothing.  Let me just say that wet hiking shoes & socks are the worst...lots of chafing and wrinkled skin.

The payoff:

Lost Lake

As we were unloading our packs and getting ready to leave, I spotted a huge animal coming towards the truck.  Holy cow!  I thought it was an elk.  The first thing I noticed was its antlers.  Didn't take me long to realize it was a moose.  The biggest...darn...moose...I've...ever...seen.  Just 20' from me.  He was grunting and grazing through the meadow.

I had to google that beard-thingy.  It was so long
it grazed the ground.
Now I know it's called a dewlap or bell.
Funky!

 

Oh yes.  Massive payoff.  Majestic really.

At the end of the day...big smiles.

I'll do it again.  And again.

9-19-12 Sketch

In case I forgot to mention, the third Wednesday of the month is always "card-sketch-day" @ Let's Scrap.  Today's sketch:

And...here's my take on it:

 

I started with the idea that the background could really be chevrons and off I went! After cutting the card/pattern on my Silhouette, I decided to back it with a fall colored patterned paper.  Then, I coordinated some matching cardstock and backed just one of the chevrons with gold.  The wheat stalks were also cut on the Silhouette.  The wheat were (painstakingly) layered on top of one another and tied with baker's twine and then mounted with a pop dot.  The rings on the sketch lent themselves well to a three-layered scalloped circle (cut with Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Scallops via the Epic Six).  Well, after all that...there was no room for the sentiment!  I was too far along to re-invent, so the sentiment was stamped at the bottom (glad there was room!).

 

Products used:

• White 90# index weight cardstock for the card base
• All paper and coordinating cardstock were from my stash (yippee...it's a stashbuster!)
• Baker's Twine:  Martha Stewart
• Clear stamps:  Stampendous
• Ink:  CTMH Cocoa
• Pop Dots:  Creative Memories



Scrapbooking. What It's Not

It’s Not About the Paper!

 

Scrapbooking is not about the paper.

It’s not about the camera.

It’s not about the ribbon.

It’s not about the brads.

It’s not about the buttons.

It’s not about the stamps.

It’s not about the die-cut machine(s).

It’s not about the products.

It’s not about the kits.

It’s not about the punches.

It’s not about the craft.

It’s not about the tags.

It’s not about the flowers.

It’s not about my handwriting (or lack thereof). 

It's not about artistry.

It's not about perfection.

It’s about
 MY MEMORIES. 
MY STORIES. 

It's MY LEGACY.

&

It's for MY CHILDREN and THEIR CHILDREN (and so on and so on).

I sometimes forget.