Challenge #240 - Fall Y'All at use your stuff

Renee is hosting this weeks challenge and she says she "loves" fall.   The colors, cooler temperatures, boots and especially pumpkin spice lattes. For this weeks challenge, we are focusing on fall.  What's your favorite thing about fall.  Do a layout, card or spread showcasing all things fall.  Come show us your fall creations.  I'll be back with a layout for this post later as I was at a retreat this weekend and still getting caught up. 

Yeah getting caught up.  Here's one of the layouts I did at retreat this past weekend featuring one of my favorite fall activities. 

 It's not the pumpkin picking but the return to regular scheduled scout meetings and outings. 

You still have time to join us at Use your Stuff, so stop on by and share your favorite fall activities

  

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Carving Party at Use your Stuff

Back with another couple of  challenges for you.

It's a free week for the Design Team at Use Your Stuff but some of us want to show you our spooky creations for a fun theme of HALLOWEEN.
 

 I was inspired by the following TSR challenges

 freaky fast  Friday formula and the whip it up  Wednesday challenge

 

 

 

I used orange mist on the print patterned paper.  You can kind of see it poking out on the top and bottom of the strip.  The best of it got covered by the photo as I misted prior to laying out the papers and photos.  That's okay as I like how the cuts from the freaky fast formula came together.

I thought about not using the black web looking paper twice, but I wasn't crazy about how the reverse side looked with the photo mated on it.  I'm glad when I cut my 12 inch strip that I didn't cut the pumpkins on the reverse side as I fussy cut around the happy girl faced pumpkin to have 3 pumpkin elements to spread across the layout.

 

Still have a bit more of the kit left and will have to figure out what to do with it as we don't have many Halloween photos left and the kids are getting older.  This year we are going to sit at home, watch a movie and eat candy, skipping the predicted down pour and not imposing on our friends in town

Make sure to pop on over to Use your stuff for some more Halloween inspiration.  I'm posting a bit early as I didn't want to miss out on the TSR challenges

Fresh Picked

I'm playing along with TSR  facebook October throwback challenge.

I had to create a layout inspired by the throwback sketch....and I had to use at least one item on my page that has been in your stash for at least one year.  Then uploading the layout and comment on what item(s) I used.

 

Super easy on the one year or older requirement.  Everything on the layout is more than one year old.

All the papers are from Creative memories Rugged collection.  The Alpha's and farm themed stickers are also from creative memories.  I have no idea how old it all is, but I'm using it up.

 

I love the faded red background as it reminds my of the aging barns around us.  Ours barn is the blue one in the background of the larger photo, it's metal and not as cool as the neighbors red wood barn.  But it works and you get that overall country feel no matter the color.

The circle elements are cardstock stickers from the rugged collection as well.  I popped up the green on foam.  the red circle is also popped up on foam that I cut in half so it wouldn't be as tall but still have some height.  the yellow one is straight on the page.  I used some of the flourishes from the Alpha sheet as I have a bunch of them and hardly any letters.  Couple of well placed farmyard stickers and it's done.

 

 

Remodel

Okay I know I was just saying how I haven't been scrapping much since the start of scouts.  But can you blame me for feeling that way.  It's been one girl scout event after another.  Truly I had five weekends in a row of scouts and loved every minute of it.  I think I'm starting to find some scrappy time for myself, but we'll see.

Anyway I was inspired by the following challenges: Stuck October 15th

 

and paired it with a color challenge from: Challenge Yourself

 

And here's the layout I came up with.

 The over all layout is mostly the same as the sketch other then I filled in the circles with the reverse of the paper I was using to add more of the fall colors to the layout.

I also replaced the flair with flowers from my stash and the hearts with the tool stickers

so glad to get both of those items out of my stash.  I'm happy to report that I am making in roads on my September and October kits from TSR

 

Thanks for taking a peak

 

Heritage at Use your stuff

Karrie is hosting challenge # 239, and she wants to see something from your Heritage. What does heritage mean to you?  Old photos or old paper, or new supplies that look old, a photo that is older than 20 years, a piece of memorabilia or ephemera older than 10 years, or maybe document a memory  you have of something longer than 5 years ago. There are not too many restrictions on your creation other then an explanation in your blog post how your project fits the theme.

Karrie also wants you to use as much other stuff as you can  

 

For my heritage feature I'm using a photo of my brother and I from mid 1970's. 

Definitely older then 20 years and you can tell with the fun orangish tint of the photo. I've tried editing it in a photo shop type program but couldn't get the color correction to my liking.

So I went with using the original.

 

I also used some older ephemera.  The gold scallops are from the stationary section of my husbands grandfather's trading post. (probably circa 1950's).  The wooden button is from a pair of my childhood overalls from about the same time period as the photo.

 

I hope to have inspired you to pull out something from your past to share with us at Use your Stuff

 

 

Girl Scout stuff

I know I haven't been cranking out the layouts recently and probably won't be getting anything done if I didn't have DT assignments and here's why.  Girl Scouts.  Our troop has blossomed to 46 girls and I manage the product sales, registration, communications, checkbook attendance tracker and awards assembler.  This is what badges and patches for 45 looks like.

I'm looking forward to my upcoming scrap retreat at camp cascade next month.  No work, no kids and no scouts

Fall Celebrations at Lasting memories

Yeah me! I've been able to play along with all of the October challenges at Lasting Memories.  I think I was extra motivated since I suggested the theme and challenges for the month.  So, what did you think?  I love fall can you tell.  Anyway this weeks challenge for the all about fall theme is Fall Celebrations - Halloween, Thanksgiving, or any celebration that occurs in the fall.  I didn't want to do a Halloween layout as it seems just about every other blog is hosting a Halloween challenge and I don't have a lot of photos from Thanksgiving so here's my take on the challenge with celebrating our first homecoming in the new school district.

 

 

I used the sketch from Sketch and scrap#115

I stayed pretty close to the sketch other then leaving a bit of a gap between the photos and placement of the stars

 

The title is thickers Candy cane

that I sanded so that I could color them to match the paper color on the layout

and here's a close up of the journaling

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a chance to join us this week.  Don't forget to check out the other challenges for the month as they are still open

 

Mixing up stamps at use your stuff

Welcome to a new challenge theme at  Use Your Stuff

 This week we are using stamps.

You can create any kind of project mixing your stamps,

combining two or more images or stamp sets in your project.

 

I'm going to see what I can come up with a little later as I spent the weekend stuffing the barn with anything that might blow away.  So glad the wind storm  passed with very little gust.  Now I can get back to crafting.  In the meantime go on over to check out the DT creations

Favorite Fall Activities at lasting memories

We are into our third week of October at Lasting Memories with our "all about fall "challenges.

This week we want to see your favorite fall activities.

Mine is hiking.

My best hiking buddy Jodie and I lead a small patrol for  girls scouts in our service unit.  We also like to hike just the two of us.  This layout is of our hike on the north fork of the McKenzie near Cougar reservoir.  I can't wait to do the ones from our most recent hike at Opal creek. Stunning and interesting.  I hope to get to those soon so I can use some more Mushroom Melody paper.

I've just fell in love with Jillibean soup Mushroom Melody when I got my August TSR Kit and promptly used it all up so I splurged and bought the whole collection.

  

And here's my layout sans sketch.

Can you believe it?

 It's been a while since I've just thrown something together but I love how this came out.

Hopefully you'll have time to enjoy your favorite fall activities and join us this month to share

Girlfriends

My girlfriends and I planned a lunch date back in September and coordinated our wardrobe color so we could take a few photos down by the river after lunch.  The last group photo we did was us in all pink at my old house with my old camera that had a timer and tripod.  No such luck this time as we resorted to doing our photos selfie style in blue.  I decided to use some of our shots for the October challenge over at GrandDiva's creations
 

I also decided to try and use my August prize kit from TSR on this layout.  The flowers were a huge stretch for me, but I had fun stitching them onto the layout.  Still have a bit of paper and embellishments left, but not enough to keep me from working my way through the back log of kits, September here I come.
 

I rotated the sketch and changed the direction of the smaller triangles to point back at my photos.

 

I'm also playing along with Rochelle's this or That challenge as I used a tag on my layout

 

Halloween Cookies

Hi there, I'm doing something I don't normally do and that's combining DT assignments.
 I'm short on time this week and the two challenges blend so well that I gave it a go.

So here we go:

Assignment for Lasting Memories is to create a layout for the "All about Fall "challenges with this week challenge to use nature elements in your layout (sticks, twigs, leaves, pumpkins) either in your photos or as embellishments.  I went with silk leaves as embellishments which lends itself to my assignment for Use Your Stuff which is to create a card, layout or altered art piece using Orange, black and neutral only.  I cheated a bit as I used two neutrals- dark gray and white and the leaves aren't just orange but you get the idea.

 

 

I fussy cut the camera from a journal card and then used the left over pieces to create the photo corners at the top of the layout.  It helps pull some of the white up to the top of the page for some balance and also acts as an anchor for my embellishment clusters.  

I journaled in white so it would pop off the black background.  I thought about using gold to bring out more of the glitter on the leaves but went with the sequence glitter instead

 

Hope you like my smash of challenges and that you join me at both

 Lasting Memories and Use your Stuff

 

 

Use your Stuff- make your own embellishment

Hello there my friends, stopping in to let you know about this weeks challenge at use your stuff make your own Embellishment to use on a card or scrapbook layout or other crafty item of your choice.

 

I'm going to try and pop in with a creation a little later as I'm a little bit sore and stiff from the weekend canoe/kayak certification class I co-taught for girl scouts

 

Fall colors Challenge at Lasting Memories

Welcome to a new challenge at Lasting Memories.  This month it's all about Fall and we are starting with a Color Challenge - Burnt Oranges, browns and deep reds.
Neutrals are okay to use as well

I even snuck in a bit of blues as I knew I wanted to add the patch from my Student conservation project on my layout.  Otherwise I held to the specified color theme by going with a craft background, maroon, dark brown and orange papers.  Most of which came from my Creative Memories stash of a year to remember line.
 

I used this awesome sketch from scrap -n- sketch for my starting inspiration.  A little bit of tweaking to make it work with my photos as well as dropping of the large title since I didn't have room as I used the patch from the program.

 

The fun thing about my layout is that I worked on the SCA trail crew from July to mid August.  Not really in the fall but the colors worked well as it has an earthy feel and my crew shirt just happened to be maroon.  So don't feel limited by the colors to go with a traditional fall layout.  Can't wait to see what you come up with

Use your Stuff- Black, White and Yellow

Use Your Stuff  challenge #235 this week is hosted by Shirley. For this challenge,  Shirley decided to go with a "mood board" as inspiration.  This challenge can be as simple or as complex as you wish to make it... use just the colours for inspiration or you can use the items or both.

 So here it is your "inspiration"

 

 

I went with mostly colors and a small dose of dots 

The following photos are of the materials I gathered from my stash.  

I pulled my black and white creative memories collection.  I've had this in my stash for awhile now as I thought I'd use it a lot because it can be so versatile with just a splash of color.

  Funny thing is I really like more then just a splash of color.

I also pulled apart this layout base that I had created earlier this summer for my daughters first communion photo.  Black background was just too dark, so I'm reusing it for my new creation

I altered the placement of the base papers and pulled the text print to the top of the stack as well as colored in some of the words with yellow.

And here's a close up of my embellishments cluster which is more of the text paper framed by one of the CM circle frames and finished off by the coordinating flowers and a sparkly gem center.  I still need my husband to do the journaling on the tabs to the side of the photo but that's a whole other process.  So done for now.  

Around at Lasting memories

We're up to our last directional challenge of the month here at lasting Memories.
 This time we are going "ALL AROUND"-
use anything depicting direct or use CIRCLES
                             

I went with circle elements on my layout and used Make it Monday Sketch #72 as my inspiration
 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and make sure to join us at lasting memories

 

Butterflies at Use your stuff

Hello,  popping in to let you know that Amanda is hosting this with this week's challenge at Use Your Stuff.   Amanda says Butterflies "are one of the most beautiful insects and they can be used for so many different occasions and ideas in scrapbooking!"  So  this week the challenge is to use butterflies in some way, shape or form on your project. 

Need some inspiration check out this beautiful card Amanda made

 

Hope you'll play along and be sure to stop by next week too as I'll be playing along with

 Team B's challenge

 

"IN" at Lasting memories

Welcome back for our 3rd directional challenge of the month.  This time at lasting memories we are going "IN".  So show us your layouts of jumping in the lake, sleeping in a tent or lounging in your favorite chair, or any other possible combination of in. 

 

I went with In the garden.

 The photos in this layout are from my daughter's birthday trip to Shore Acres Botanical Garden in Coos Bay, Oregon.  I used my last July TSR kit- Mushroom Medley.  Yippee!   Now to finish off the 2 July kits so I can crack open my September shipment of kits.

  Really trying to stay focused and get back on track. 

 

 

I also made a second page to compliment the Garden shots as it was a Birthday trip so I can't leave out the birthday girl.  For this layout I was inspired to use Sketches in Thyme #218 as the paper pack had a sheet with cute 3X3 squares just like the sketch.

Added a bit of bling, twine and a doily to finish it off

 

Thanks for taking a look and I hope you come on "IN' and join us at lasting memories

 

One more with Mushroom Medley

Last layout of the night as I have a work in-service tomorrow and really should rest up before getting back in the pool after 3 weeks off. 

Anyway tried to use up the last of the scraps from my TSR Mushroom medley kit. Still have a few bits and stickers which is okay as I ordered the collection pack.

 

I was trying to play along with another Sketches in Thyme sketch #219, but it's not quit the same.

Here's my layout

 

and here's the sketch

 

I started by changing the orientation to fit my photos and I cut them down to 3x6 but staggering them looked weird.  Maybe if I shortened them to 3x5 it might have looked more visually appealing.  Just didn't want to lose that much of the photo as it would have cropped my son completely out of it. So I actually played with placement for awhile (much longer then I tend to move things around) until I finally decided to just stack them one over another.

 

I really like how this bit turned out.  I cut the frame off of the bucket list and added it to the "find a beautiful place.." as it needed some definition to make it pop off the stripe. To give it just a bit more contrast I also tucked the mushroom paper under it as well as still used the bucket list with the edges inked.

 

Well that's it for now.  Make sure to come back on Sunday for my lasting Memories DT reveal as you'll get to see what else I did with this kit.

Let's go on an adventure

I think I found a new favorite collection that I need more of thanks to my TSR kit of Jillibean Soup- Mushroom Medley.  I think it's all the outdoorsy elements that appeal to me, especially the topographical lined paper. 

 

See what I mean.  Fun and playful outdoor paper.  Yeah

 

Well another layout done and another kit just about finished off.

 

Think its time to tackle the July kits now, wish me luck.

Let's get sketchy layout

Got another layout completed using the September sketch at Let's get sketchy

 

 

 

 

I rotated the sketch and went a bit larger with the photos, but the overall layout structure is the same.

I opted not to use a title since there wasn't space and moved the embellishments from the bottom to the top.

 

Happy to report that I've used one more of my TSR kits from August so 1 more to go along with 2 for July to use before I let myself even think about the September kits.  Need to get a few more done