Challenge #3 - Inspiration from Vera Bradley

Yesterday, I got to have lunch with a few friends down at a fav restaurant near where I used to work and we happened to be right by a cute gift shop with tons of Vera Bradley on clearance. Well- I just had to look (and buy *LOL*). I bought this great hanging toiletry bag in a lovely tree print  I decided it was so pretty, that it literally was inspiring me to scrapbook these random pics of my husband and son sleeping. The journaling talks about their similar personalities and their shared propensity for falling asleep at the drop of a hat *LOL*

I also used the sketch at Sketchy Thursday's 3.17 challenge. I haven't done ST in a couple weeks and am glad to have gotten a chance to finally join in again. I'd been trying to figure out what to do with  and finally came up with this idea.

For this I used a bunch of paper scraps: Kaiser Craft and some other unknown PP; Bazzill cardstock, cheap CS from HL,  white uniball gel pen, Pine Needle Distress Ink (Ranger), McGill botanical bird punch, Sizzix (Tim Holtz) wood grain embossing folder, ColorBox chalk ink (chestnut roan), and AC Thickers

I hope you will play along - please link up your layout post  in the comments  by next Tues, March 29th at 11:59pm

Challenge #2 - Karen's take on Lifting Yourself

 So, to the right is the first layout I ever did - at my first Creative Memories party no less. Not a lot to it, huh? But, this is where the dedication to - and eventual obsession with -  documenting life's moments with pictures and words began. I struggled with how to lift this- there was no thought of design, balance, cohesiveness, etc when I did this. In fact, it took years and years before I took an interest in design principles at all :P  But, I finally did it: the next layout was done with carnival pics (again) and EP Walk in the Park papers (again- at this point, I've decided to do all the carnival pics in this line :P). I also used Lil David designs epoxy stickers, American Crafts Foam which I colored with a Sharpie to adjust the color, a Zig marker, and CM letter stickers.  Basically, all my embellies have been in my stash for years- so, another blast from the past. The journaling talks about how unusual it was for my oh-so-cautious child to take to this spiderman "activity" so well and with so little fear. He's a lot braver now at

almost 7 then he was 2 years ago at barely 5   :)

Okay peeps- an extension of challenge #2

Since no-one has yet participated in challenge #2, we are giving you another week- come on, ladies!!

Weekly Challenge #2: Lift Yourself

Sometimes inspiration comes from a magazine or online. Sometimes it comes from an awesome kit club design gallery. (hee hee) Sometimes it can come straight from your own albums! That is the challenge for this week, to use your own layouts as your inspiration!

I dug through one of my first albums and found this page.



It is a good one to use to lift. So I went to work and here is the lifted layout. (I found this picture on the bottom of a huge plastic tub filled with photos from before I went digital. I love it!)



That's it! Go find an old layout and lift it. Post the inspiration and new product here for a chance to win some Sweet Peach RAK!

Weekly Challenge #1 : DIY / homemade embellies

Here is a layout from my cousin's (in-law) wedding.  All details can be found here.

For our very first scraptastic challenge, we chose using homemade embellishments - be it paper flowers, fabric lollipop flowers, or- as in this case- resin flowers I made with molds and casting resin. The sky is the limit and use your imagination. My plan is to draw for prizes from weekly participation on a monthly (and eventually bi-weekly) basis. The first prize will be an assortment of resin flowers, birds and stars in the winner's choice of colors (see here). Thanks for looking and hope to see your LOs or cards linked here in the comments by Tuesday, March 8 at 11:59 pm EST   :)

P.S. And I figure your odds of winning are pretty darn good if you get on the "ground floor" ;P