August Sketch Blog Hop and Blog Candy

Welcome to the August Sketch Blog Hop! A few of us on the CK Forum (23 to be exact!) are sharing projects based on the wonderful sketch created by Amanda. I am sure it will be a lot of fun to see what everyone has done with the same sketch. If you did not arrive here from Mandi's blog, please return to Amanda's blog to follow the hop in order. Okay, so let's get started! Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

When I saw the cluster of photographs in the middle, I knew that I wanted the look of Polaroids on my page. I have been loving the look of the projects created with the Lawn Fawn Polaroid stamp from the Say Cheese set. Since I don't have the set, I decided to try my hand at making my own Polaroids with white and black cardstock. I was really happy with my faux Polaroids!

As you can see, I stretched the sketch a little. I usually try to make sketches my own. In stretching the sketch, I switched out the title block for an embellishment and moved the title down to the bottom of the page. As a result, I clustered the photos and journaling on the right to add balance and interest to my page.

Thanks to Nichol Magouirk, I have been so inspired to stamp on my layouts and this one is no exception. In addition to stamping on the faux Polaroid, I stamped the "On the Road" sentiment on the blue strip as well as the roadway under the cars. One other thing I would like to draw your eye to is my title. It's no secret that I love Thickers. However, since the Basic Grey collection pack came with stickers, I felt compelled to use them. To get the dimension of Thickers, I stacked my stickers two high. Lucky for me it was a short title and I had enough letters! Here's a closer look:

I have a confession to make: I am a latecomer to scrapbooking. While I do not scrap chronologically, nor do I fee the urge to "catch up", I look for every opportunity to group pictures from different events together. When I was playing around with the Wander collection for a travel layout that I will share next week, it occurred to me that these would also be great papers for a layout showing Mark from 1998 and Melissa from 1999 playing with the same toy. My journaling reads: Talk about getting a lot of mileage from a toy! Mark and Melissa both loved taking the Cozy Coupe out for a spin.

So, how about a giveaway to reward you for reading to the bottom of this post! I have a package of Jolee's Boutique Sightseeing Dimensional Stickers up for grabs! These should come in handy as you scrap pictures of your summer vacation! If you leave a comment and are a follower of my blog, you will be entered to win. I will randomly draw the name of a winner on Tuesday morning.

Thanks for hopping by! Your next stop is Devra's blog. And when you are done with the hop, return to Amanda's blog to see how you can enter her blog candy. In addition, check out Clever Creations for a chance at some more blog candy! And, finally, The Twinery is celebrating their anniversary and has a fabulous prize up on their blog.

Supplies

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper & Stickers: Basic Grey (Wander);

Embellishments: Maya Road Microchips (Motif Buttons/Neutrals); Tim Holtz (Mini Paper Clips; Tiny Attacher);

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Good Times; Borderline--Time and Space); Hero Arts (Travel Journal);

Ink: Ranger (Black; Coffee)

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment); EK Success Edger Punch (Postage Stamp)

Tuesday Trigger: Girly and Gutsy

It's time for another Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. The challenge was to create a paper craft project inspired by this picture:

As soon as I saw the beautiful rug in this photo, I thought of the Hero Arts Classic Fabric Design background stamp and created this card:

In an effort to duplicate some of those glossy surfaces in the trigger picture, I decided to heat emboss the background. I chose Papertrey Ink's Smokey Shadow cardstock for a more subtle effect.

The focal point mat is actually made up of four layers which include three PTI die cuts as well as a Martha Stewart die cut lace tag.

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White; Smokey Shadow);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Classic Fabric Design); My Mind's Eye (Stella & Rose/Gertie "Girlie); Papertrey Ink (Label Basics; Fillable Frames #4);

Ink: Stampin' UP! (Basic Grey); Versamark;

Patterned Paper: Making Memories;

Tools: Papertrey Ink Dies (Limitless Layers Collection; Mat Stack 3)

Misc.: Stamp n Stuff Embossing Powder (Detail Clear); American Crafts Thickers; Martha Stewart Die Cut Lace Tag; Ribbon from stash.

On the Road Again!

I just got back from the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge where I had a great time scrapping and shopping. Tomorrow, I am headed back to Pennsylvania with Melissa to visit my sister. Since I have been spending so much time in the car lately, it seems fitting to share the card I made for my brother-in-law's birthday last month. Here it is:

I was inspired to create this card after a recent family gathering where we were all talking about our talents. Sal gardens. Mark runs. Melissa dances. My sister, Diane, speaks French and Spanish fluently. My niece, Lisa, sings. And Frankie drives. Frankie is the type of guy who would drive 200 miles for an afternoon visit. He has logged hundreds of thousands of miles behind the wheel of the car so we tease him that driving is his talent!

Here's the inside of the card. I thought the sentiment was appropriate!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Wander);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happiness Messages; Travel Journal);

Ink: Ranger (Black);

Tools: Cricut by Provo Craft (Graphically Speaking)

Pen: Uni-ball Signo Broad (White)