heart 2 heart challenges...sketch challenge

Today is my last post as a guest design team member for Heart 2 Heart Challenges.  I had so much fun playing along with the challenges this month and I am honored to have been asked to join these amazingly creative women.

This week the challenge is a sketch.  As soon as I saw it, my wheels started spinning and my card came together so easily.

Here is the sketch:

and here is what I came up with (originally):

I actually intended to send the card with a gift to a bride to be whose wedding shower I was invited to, but couldn't attend.  Unfortuneatly my puppy liked the card too and ate the button and the corner of the patterned paper off of the card before I could send it (and it was on my desk too!)  I was heart broken, mainly because I loved the card, but also because we were leaving on vacation the next morning and I knew I wouldn't have time to make another.  My sweet son looked at me and said "Mom, you always think of ways to fix things...I know you can fix this"  So, I did...

this is version 2 (post puppy attack):

and a close up of my band aid...I layered 2 big pinks, added a courdery button and trimed flush with the edge of the card...with some really good adhesive to keep it down, no one would ever suspect this card was once Sara's chew toy.

I am not too sure which version I like best!

{love gives us a fairytale} products: (all CTMH unless noted)

cardstock:  Olive

patterned paper:  Mayberry

stamps:  bracket - On This Day; sentiment by Unity Stamp Co.

flowers:  by prima (version 1); Big Pinks (version 2)

brads:  mini medley autumn garden



Be sure to head over to the H2H blog to see what the DT came up with and to play along.

Tracy

a week in the life

Are you ready?  Are you participating?  If not...it is not too late!  A Week In the Life starts tomorrow and I can't wait.  This is my first year participating and I am nervous, excited and a little bit scared all in one..but I am ready! 

Haven't heard about A Week in the Life?  Well, Ali Edwards explains it all here...but, in a nutshell it is the opportunity to capture a week in your life, your plain ordinary everyday, in pictures and words.

This week I will be taking the pictures, documenting the stories and next week I will pulling it all together.  Stay tuned for this super exciting project that we will treasure for years to come. 

If you are on the fence, I highly encourage you to join.  If you just want to see what everyone else is doing, be sure to follow along on Ali's blog or register for A Week In the Life over at Big Picture Classes (it's free).  I will definetely be posting the finished project here next week...and maybe a few sneak peak pictures this week.



unplugged

Just a quick post today...

I am here....

unplugged (99% of the time)

enjoying some much needed family time

and quiet time.

But I will be back next week...with some craftiness to share and some home renovations up my sleeve...

enjoy the warmth and sunshine -

Tracy

a cause for a little "extra" celebrating on the 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

I have my own little celebration going because I am so super excited to announce that I was invited to be a guest DT member over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges for the month of July!  This is a wonderful website focusing on the use of CTMH products that posts a new challenge each Monday. 

This week we were given an inspiration photo to create with:

I absolutely loved the crispiness of this photo and all the white...eventhough I am often afraid of white space on my layouts!  I decided to create a layout using the white, grey, pink and pop of green (although I went more with a shade of blue).

For this layout I used (all products CTMH unless indicated):

cardstock:  White Daisy, Grey Wool, Ocean (retired)

patterned paper:  Hello Luscious (Basic Grey)

ink:  black, ocean (retired)

stamps:  Today's Date (retired)

accessories:  Bliss Level 2 Assortment, Designer Ribbon Pink Collection, button
the title was cut using my Silhouette

I have been on a roll scrapping older pictures of my kiddos lately.  I decided to stop trying to catch up and just scrap what inspires me at the time...the result tons of layouts I love!

Thanks for stopping by!  I will be back later in the month with another challenge to share. Be sure to check out what the DT members created using the inspiration picture by stopping by the H2H blog.    And don't forget to play along with the challenge and link up your creation from the inspiration photo for a chance to win a great prize (all the details are on the H2H blog).

4th of july crafting with the kiddos

We are full swing into our summer schedule here and in an effort to keep the kiddos busy... and mommy sane... I have planned a craft or two each week.  I plan on sharing them with you (in case you need to occupy your own kiddos) each Monday BUT, since I have something rather exciting schedule to post on Monday I decided I will share it with you today. 

DISCLAIMER:  The crafts that I have planned are not my creations (99% of the time)...I do not have enough time or mental energy to come up with brilliant ideas (because I will admit some of these are brilliant).  I have found most of these on the blogs of some amazing women (who have the time and mental energy or are just brilliant) and have adapted them to my family.  It takes enough energy to corral 6 children ages 2-11 to sit and do these crafts! I will give credit where credit is due.  Also if there is a tutorial involved, I will most likely link back to the original creator because again...credit where credit is due!

We started with crushed tomatoes.  If you think I am going to give you a cooking lesson though...think again.  All I needed was the cans so I emptied all the crushed tomatoes into plastic containers and put them in the freezer for later.

After the cans were washed and the labels removed, my little helper carried them all out so that I could take care of the first step.

I love little helpers!

I lined them all up and gave them a double coat of Krylon True Blue.  I used the dual paint + primer and loved the coverage.

After they dried it was the kids' turn to play.  I cut out a bunch of stars using my Silhouette and let them decorate their cans.   This craft was easy for all of the kids.  Even my two that are under three (get it...because two two-year olds sounded akward) were able to peel (with a little help) and stick the stars on.  We added ribbons with hot glue (which I helped with) and Kelsey assisted with poking a hole in the top to add some twine.  They came out amazing!

Happy 4th of July!

Enjoy your weekend

Thank you to Kelli and Stephanie Lynn for the idea!

the simple things 6-26

Our new puppy Sara had no trouble becoming part of the family.  She is one loved little dog. 

JT and Sara after a very hard day of playing: