Practical Gift Idea and a Sketch....

Today is a new sketch reveal over at Sketches in Thyme! Hop on over to see this week's Guest Designers and the lovely Mavens, as they have some incredible inspiration for this Jana Eubank sketch.

As you are crossing off the last few names on your list, here is a quick yet fabulous gift idea to share, an altered planner. We all need a planner of some sort to keep up with our daily schedules. If you have someone on your list that never goes far without a planner, then this little gem is perfect for you.

First, you need to buy a planner, I picked this one up at the dollar store for $2. Then I matched the supplies and style of it to the friend I'm gifting. She is all victorian and I wanted this planner to reflect her beautiful spirit.

Next, I measured, cut, and inked up the paper for the cover.

I also used a little bookplate along with the year as an embellishment for the year.

Other embellishments I added included a tag with a quote just perfect for her, you really can't have vintage victorian without the addition of pearls, roses, and ribbons.

Once you see how easy these are to create and personalize, you'll enjoy creating for all your friends and family!
If you have some practical girt ideas, please share them with us at practicalscrappersideas@gmail.com, we'd love to hear from you!
Blessings,

your smile....

Well, it is Cyber Monday....are you ready? I'll be spending my day back at school with my wonderful third grade!
Today I'm sharing a layout for Practical Scrappers. We were asked to use stickers in a way other than a title. I posted my little flower element for you yesterday. If you missed it, you can see it in the very next post.
I used Diana's lovely sketch from Frosted Designs for my layout. I love this one and couldn't wait to use it!!!

Here is the completed the layout. I used some old Floral Tapestry papers from CTMH for this one. I decided it is time to start pulling out this stash of paper and USE it!

The beauty in this layout is my 17 year old niece, Samantha. This is her school photo for this year, Junior year.

Everything on the page is CTMH except the bling (Recollections) and the chipboard is Pink Paislee.
Come back tomorrow as you'll see a sneak peek for Lucky Girl Warm Winter Wishes kit!!!!

give thanks

Today I'm sharing an altered 5X7 photo frame. I had the challenge at Practical Scrappers and Frosted Designs to create something giving thanks. Well, for my regular followers, you know what I'm MOST THANKFUL for, yes, Ashlea and Jon-Christopher. My sister is so good to let me have them when I want. I love all my nieces and nephews so dearly. These two feel just like my own children, at least I think this is how a mother must feel....

Everything on this frame except the ribbon and bling are from Wild Saffron. First I measured and cut the paper to trim the frame. I then added some embellishments, inked up the chipboard letters, finished off with bits of bling and ribbon.
Do you love the effect on the photo. I wanted a ghost like look, so I set my printer to fast draft and printed on babmoo cardstock. I LOVE how this turned out and my Granny already has it sitting in her living room.....
What are you most thankful for this season, I'd love to hear, please leave a comment telling me.
Blessings,

DrEam.....

Good Morning,

It is time for another Monday reveal at Practical Scrappers. Check out my side bar to the left for some incredible new changes at PS coming your way in October.

This week our challenge is to use ribbon on your project. I had this darling photo of my oldest nephew, Tyler, just begging to be scrapped.

I gathered the ribbon to form a little border to help bring the eye to his beautiful gaze. I also took the remainder of the ribbon to create a little side bloom that was attached with a dainty hat pin. I am to pleased with how this one came out.

Supplies:

cardstock, bloom,., ribbon, pin, and journaling tag are all Lucky Girl Craft Kits

dps-My Mind's Eye

bling- Prima

distressing inks-CTMH

Our sponsor this month is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps, stop by to visit the dt inspiration samples for you!

Blessings,

Something new at Practical Scrappers!!!!!

Practical Scrappers is going to have a new free magazine style format beginning in October. We are seeking project submissions for the following topics and will be featuring some of the great work that comes our way. In your email please include a link to your blog, if you have one, and tell us what country or state you live in.

Layouts Submissions can be sent to practicalscrapperslayouts@gmail.com

Layouts that use five or more photos
Layouts that use black and white photos
Layouts that use distressing techniques

Cards Submissions can be sent to practicalscrapperscards@gmail.com

Cards that use distressing techniques

We will also be looking to feature great projects from our message boards. No theme or guidelines for that, just share your great work with us!

And here's the best part: EVERYONE who sends in a submission will be entered to win a Clip it up Mini from Clip it Up! So if you've got a project to share, send it our way ASAP!

My Guy....YOU....

Good Monday,
It is so good to have my internet back, hopefully to stay. We had a bad rain on Saturday morning, lost electricity for a few hours and the internet didn't come back until late Sunday evening.
So now on to business for today. Lucky Girl Craft Kits is sponsoring Sketch Inspiration. Don't you love this yummy sketch? I kind of tweaked it just a bit so I could use this one darling photo of my little man when he was just two.

And, it is also my Practical Scrappers layout for this week, to use buttons. I kind of wanted to do lots of buttons, but really was enjoying the "black tie" feel to this one, so I kept it very simple, yet "handsome" and just added three pearl buttons with some black thread.

All of my papers and alpha's came in the Lucky Girl September Falling for You kit. The rubons are American Craft, the blooms are Prima, the pearls are from Hobby Lobby and the journaling box is Making Memories.
So....head on over to visit the lovely ladies at Lucky Girl and Practical Scrappers, leave them some love for all their yummy inspiration!!!! And play along with this sketch at Sketch Inspiration!
Blessings,

Bliss....

Good Morning,

Today is a new challenge reveal at Practical Scrappers and we want to see your white core cardstock projects. If you follow my blog, you know that this is one of my all time fave techniques! I used some CTMH cardstock, the stylized flowers cuttlebug embossing folder, and some light sanding to get this distressed finish

I finished it off with a pretty wire edge matching ribbon from stash, a ticket from Lucky Girl Crafts, bloom and bling are from stash too.

I hope you'll find a great use for white core cardstock this week and share it with us. We are sponsored in September by Robyn's Fetish Digital. This week's winner will receive 5 images or paper sets. You'll have until Saturday, September 11 at 5:00 pm to enter.

Visit the rest of my fabby dt sisters all this week for daily inspiration, while you are there, leave them some love!!!

Your Smile...

Good Morning,
This is a quick post as I didn't get home until 12:30 am this morning and I'm posting from school....Today is a new challenge reveal at Practical Scrappers, this week we want to see white pens used on your projects.
This is one of my favorite photos taken this summer of my little Hunter. I used my white pen to doodle the ovals and journal around the border of the layout. Click to make the photo larger to read my journaling.

Can't wait to see what you do with this challenge. Please visit the rest of my PS sisters for more inspiration!
Oh, and I'll have a post up tomorrow to share about Ashlea's dance comp!!!!
Blessings,

Hope

Good Morning,
It is Monday and a new challenge is revealed today at Practical Scrappers. This week we want to see you use some lace cardstock! I just had a little bit of this left in my stash, I decided to cut it to a 6 X 6 size card. I used my pearlz glimmer mist to add more shimmer to it. Then decided it needed some big bling!

Then just for a punch of color, I chose a ribbon with some coral and green polka dots. I also still had a cute ticket left over from my Lucky Girl August Kit.....

Don't forget to visit the dt all week for more lace cardstock inspiration, and remember that we are sponsored this month by Sassy Studio Designs.
Blessings,

Good Friends....

Good Morning,
Today is Monday and that means a new challenge is up at Practical Scrappers, and this week we want to see your stitching....

I used a ctmh pen to create my faux stitches around the title and a machine to stitch on the felt. All papers are Cosmo Cricket, the bloom is from stash and the bling is from Michael's.

Don't forget our sponsor this week is Sassy Studio Designs, post your stitching projects by 5:00 pm on Saturday....
Visit the rest of the dt all week to check out the fabulous inspiration they have for you!!!
Have a great Monday...
Blessings,

boys of summer....

Good Morning,

As you are reading this, my first day of school with students, has begun. We have 61 beautiful new third graders coming in this year. Please pray for us today!

For those of you who joined in our Anniversary last week and this weekend at Practical Scrappers, Thank You, and I hope you enjoyed every minute of it!

Moving on to the new challenge this week, a summer theme project! Pull out any photos of boating, swimming, watermelon eating, bbq's, camp fires with smores....we want to see them!

I used this sketch from SOUS for my inspiration.....

Here is my layout. I chose some fun photos of my little boys from July at the lakehouse. It doesn't get more summer than this...

We had docked the boat up on an island and the kids played for hours in the lake. You can see that Megan's pink float was worth a million bucks to them that day!

All papers used are Junkitz from long, long ago. The ribbon and staples are from stash and ink is ctmh.

I hope to see you playing along this week! don't forget to visit the dt each day this week to see their summer theme inspiration!
Blessings,

More celebrations....

Good Morning,
Today is day 2 of our anniversary celebration at Practical Scrappers...and the last day of our Blog Party at Lucky Girls....
The challenge at PS is to use just ONE photograph on your layout.
Here is mine....

Yep, it is one more Old School Lucky Girl kit page. OMG, have I told you how I LOVE this kit?!!!
Everything on this page, except the ink is from the August kit!!!! YUMMY!!!
Don't forget that Jessica has a sale right now on her kits, buy two kits and get 25%, use code BUY2SAVE25 at checkout.

Click here to enter the main Lucky Girl Prize drawing. To enter my Blog Party Prize, please follow my blog only if you are inspired by my work, leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite "Old School Memory". My winner will be drawn on August 4.
Now you are headed to visit some more of Jessica's scrappy yumminess! Be sure to give her lots of love!!!
Blessings,

C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E.....

Good Morning,
Today is another day to celebrate! We will be celebrating all week at Practical Scrappers, it is our one year anniversary!!!! I'm so delighted to say that I've been a part of this team since the very beginning! Love ya Christine and Ang!!
Our challenge will change each day this week. Today we are featuring projects showcasing our number one favorite product.

This is my darling honeybee when he was in third grade....
I'm featuring my favorite supply item, ink! If you follow me, you know I ink everything.....
Today is also the second day of our big August Blog Party at Lucky Girls!!!! Everything on this page, except the cardstock and ink is from the Old School kit. Don't you LOVE it?

To help spread the word about Lucky Girl Craft kits, Jessica is offering 25% off two kits or, for her subscribers, you'll receive two free bonus kits - one valued at $15 with the shipment of the August kit, and one valued at $25 at the end of your annual commitment!
Use code BUY2SAVE25 at checkout for the two kit promo
Subscribers, just include a note with your order telling me you want to take advantage of the BONUS KIT!

You know we can't party without prizes!!!! Click here to enter the main Lucky Girl Prize drawing. To enter my Blog Party Prize, please follow my blog only if you are inspired by my work, leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite "Old School Memory". My winner will be drawn on August 4.
Now you are headed to visit all of Jessica's scrappy yumminess! Be sure to give her lots of love!!!

Blessings,

beautiful...

Good Morning,
Today is new challenge reveal day at Practical Scrappers....we have a great challenge this week. We want to see at least 7 different things used on your layout. That was kind of challenging for me. I initially thought 7, oh gosh will I get seven on a page, but when I got started, it was easy, here is my layout....

My 7 things are 3 different papers, 1 trim, flowers, brads, and pearls. Of course I really didn't count the inks or the cricut cuts....
These are more beach photos from our March trip to Myrtle Beach. I played with the colors to mute them down just a bit.
Are you up for our "7 things" challenge? I sure hope to see your project at Practical Scrappers this week!
Don't forget to visit the super talented dt all week to see how they used their seven things.
Blessings,

and 1 girl....

Good Morning,

Today is Monday and that means a brand new challenge at Practical Scrappers!!!! This week our challenge is to use stash that is older than one year. Well, that is really easy to do, since I have such a "hoarding stash", please tell me I'm not alone!!!!!

So, here is what I did....I was inspired to use this line of papers for my Frosted Designs challenge this week, border punches. While that layout came together, I had the idea to make it a double page, so here ya go...

And here are both layouts together. The little felt on the sides act as pull tabs for the hidden journaling behind the photos. The titles read, "my 2 boys & 1 girl"

Our sponsor this month at PS is Digi Doodles, the winner will receive three free digis.

You have until 5:00 pm Saturday, July 24 to enter. Oh, and don't forget to check out what my fellow dt sisters did with this one!!!!

Blessings,

Celebrate Old Glory.....

Good Morning,
I hope you all had a terrific weekend! I got lots accomplished outside, now I'm ready for some scrapping. I'm kicking my week off with a new challenge at Practical Scrappers. This week, we want to see some sort of embossing on your project. It can be dry embossing, heat embossing, embossed stickers or cardstock, etc.
I cut my title and stars from CTMH white core cardstock, ran them through the cuttlebug, sanded lightly for a fun distressed effect.

I loved the photos I got of the July 4th fireworks we shot off while at the lake house. I wanted to use those and keep the layout simple.
All papers, cardstock and ink are CTMH. The pom trim came from Michael's, the buttons, twine, and old glory sticker are from stash. I used the George and Alphalicious carts on this one.
Visit the dt each day this week to see what they came up with for this week's challenge. While there, leave them some love!!!
Remember, you have until 5:00 pm (EST) on Saturday to leave your link. The winner will receive three digis from our July sponsor, Digi Doodle Shop.
Blessings,

Us....

Good Monday Morning,

Today is a quick post. It is Monday and that means a new challenge at Practical Scrappers!!!!!! We have winners from our border punch/decorative scissors challenge. Our Top 3 are Andrea, Sarah, Kendra, and our winner is Angie. Congratulations ladies, you created some awesome projects this past week!

Our new challenge is to use animation or cartoon in your project.

I had this Sassafras paper that was just perfect for this challenge. The clouds, rainbows, and mushrooms are such fun and yummy papers for the photos I wanted to scrap. I also loved all the color, I can get trapped in the muted subtle colors sometimes. I think everything about this layout is reflective of the fun we had the day these pictures were taken.

Want some more inspiration? Visit my DT sister's all week, they have lots of fun for you to browse. While there, leave them some love.

We are being sponsored this week by Digi Doodle. The winner will receive three digis!!! As always, you will have until 5:00 EST on Saturday to link up. I hope to see you join in the fun this week!

Blessings,

live...

Good Morning,

I had such a FUN weekend with my little kids.....nieces and nephews are God's answer to us ladies who can't be a mommy!!!! We did movies, found a little turtle, (named him Alex), and my little man had a big night on Saturday. His little league took the team to a Lexington Legends game. The Legends are a minor league team for the Huston Astro's. The little team had a trophy presentation by the Legends AND got to go on the field for the seventh inning stretch song...We had a BLAST!!!!

So, now it is Monday, and I'm back to blogging. We have some big winners at Practical Scrappers for the incredible flower challenge. The last time I checked, we had 160 participants this week, WOWZA!!!!! Our top 3 this week are, Carol, Sarah, and Susan, with the Grand Prize Winner being, Leanne. Congrats to you VERY talented ladies....ALL of you have inspired me....

Our challenge this week is decorative scissors or border punches. I decided to create a flower using a border punch. I will have a tutorial posted at Practical Scrappers on Saturday for this technique.

These flowers are fun to create and just another way to use up scraps and punches....

My design team sisters have loads of inspiration for you this week! Please visit them to say hi and leave them some love! This is our last week to win Squigglefly digi images, so be sure to get your project linked up by 5:00 pm (Eastern) for your chance!

Oh, and don't forget about the current Design Team call going on through July 5. This is a fabulous team to be a part of!

Happy Monday!
Blessings,

Design Team Call @ Practical Scrappers

Design Team Call

To apply to become a designer for Practical Scrappers:
1: Email Christine at practicalscrappers@gmail.com with your message board name and a brief description about yourself.
2: Participate in one of our challenges before July 5th, it can be our normal challenge, the monthly bonus challenge or a sketch challenge
3: Read the DT Guidelines listed below
4: Add your blog to Mr. Linky (here)
========================================================================= Practical Scrappers Design Team Guidelines

1) Designers need to submit their weekly project by the due date listed on the calendar. It’s always on Friday. If you are going to be late - we need to know. If you cannot participate that week - no problem - but we need to know. If you have two unexcused absences (meaning you never bothered to let me know that you aren’t sending anything) you will immediately be removed from the design team. As long as they are posted to the Designers Gallery by the time I get up Saturday morning (or I know they are coming) I am a happy lady! I will not e-mail to remind you. If you publish a project early please schedule it to post on the due date so that the site does not get overrun.

2) All layouts must have a picture on them - in other words they must be complete.

3) Become a member of the Practical Scrappers forum and post to it regularly You will also be responsible for posting a Question of the Day, see the forum to get a feel for how that works!

4) Commenting on entries for our challenge is important - you will be assigned a number and you need to comment on all entries that end in that number. So if you are assigned number 1, you should comment on 1, 11, 21, 31, etc. This ensures that all entries are recognized by the PS team!

5) We have sketches posted every weekend - as a design team member you need to complete one sketch per month. These will be posted on the Designers Gallery Blog when they are available, allowing extra time to work ahead on them.

6) Please take your layouts out of albums/page protectors before you take your picture. Please also crop your layout pictures as much as possible. Please don’t be offended if we ask you to take another picture. We want our audience to be able to see your layout at it’s best!

7) All design team members are welcome to apply for a second term. Consideration for your second term will be based on both your project quality, uniqueness, and participation in the PS site as a whole. No more than five people will be chosen for a second term.

8) After completing two terms on PS we ask that you take one term off before reapplying. We do this in an effort to keep our ideas fresh. After one term off, you are welcome to reapply!

9) We ask that while you are on term for us you do not join more than two other design teams. We also ask that you e-mail us when you apply for other design teams to give us a heads up. This is to hopefully avoid a bunch of our design team members ending up on someone else's team.

10) All new design team members are on term from the beginning of August thru the end of October.

11) Please be active in promoting Practical Scrappers - we are working hard to make this a top website!
Blessings,

You are sweet....

Good Morning,
Hopefully as you are reading this, my mom is having her surgery. She had a GREAT day yesterday and hopefully she will not go into afib again....

Today is a new day and challenge at Practical Scrappers! Before I reveal my dt project, let's announce the winners of the glitter and flocking challenge. OMG, you ladies really knocked my socks off with your projects this week! So much talent and inspiration from ALL of you!!!! Here are this week's winners, Sandra, Marina, Pinky, Wendy, and Robbyn! Congratulations ladies!!!
And now on to this week's challenge. We want to see flowers. I tried my hand at a rolled paper flower. While sitting in the hospital with mom, I used a pull out card from a magazine to practice and I LOVED it. I may use it later this week. I used this sweet cherry image from our sponsor, Squigglefly. I wanted just a small flower in the corner and tried a little one.

I inked the edges of the flower up with some green ink, just for more dimension. So why don't you try something out of the box this week for flowers. Here is a great video on how to create your own beautiful paper roses. I can't wait to see your blooms!
Check out my lovely dt sisters all week for incredible inspiration!
Blessings,