Adventures in Babysitting

If you are ever in need of inspiration, check out the monthly classes at Two Peas in a Bucket. That's what I did for this layout. Actually, the inspiration for this layout came from two classes, namely Nichol Magouirk's Scrapbook Stamping and Jenn Gallacher's Stretch Your Sketch. Here's Jenn's sketch:

And here's my layout:

As soon as I saw the sketch, I thought of using this series of pictures. I just love how Thomas is studying the page of his book, then noticing something and asking Melissa about it!

The journaling reads: October 2010 -- Two or three nights each year, Melissa and I drive into Manhattan to babysit for Thomas. It's a win-win situation! Michael and Jennifer get a night out on the town while Melissa and I get some precious one-on-one time with Thomas. Reading stories, singing nursery rhymes, playing with blocks and trains is all an adventure when we do it with Thomas!

Nichol's challenge this month was to dig out the word or phrase stamps to create a title or border on a layout. I used Technique Tuesday stamps to stamp a border under the journaling. The stamp reads: This moment. This story. This day. This experience. This life.

I also stamped on a label sticker, layered it on another sticker and added a flower and some buttons to ground the pictures.

I love stamping and I love sketches so I think I will be playing along with Two Peas all year long!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill (Kraft);

Patterned Paper: Sassafras Lass (Indie Girl); October Afternoon (Farm Fresh); My Mind's Eye (Just Dreamy 2);

Stickers: Sassafras lass (Indie Girl); October Afternoon (Thrift Shop, Farm Fresh); Making Memories (Tiny Alphas); American Crafts Thickers; Basic Grey Bloomers (Pyrus);

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Ali Edwards Today You, Little Labels ); Hero Arts (Design Accents: Patterned Hearts);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Taken with Teal); VersaMark;

Tools: EK Success Edger Punch (Postage Stamp); Martha Stewart Edge Punch (Scallop Dot);

Misc.: Martha Stewart twine; Making Memories buttons (Chloe's Closet).

It's a Boy!

I love sketches! Sometimes they are all I need to get the creative juices flowing. Here's the sketch I saw on the Moxie Fab World' blogs Go To Sketch Challenge:

Here's the baby card I made using the sketch:

There's a lot of paper piecing on this card. After cutting my card stock and patterned paper to the desired sizes for 4.25" square card, I stamped the clothesline in black in. I stamped it again on white card stock with blue ink, red ink and yellow ink. I also stamped it on my patterned paper. I cut out all of the shapes and pieced them together. For added dimension, I "hung" the clothes on pop dots! I used my Cricut to cut out the speech bubble and popped the top layer of that too. You can also take a peek at the stamping I did inside the card.

If you want to read more about the Go To Sketches Challenge head over to Moxie Fab World at http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2010/04/get-sketchy-our-go-to-sketches-week.html.

Supplies

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: DCWV (Nana's Nursery)

Stamp: Inkadinkadoo (Baby Boy)

Ink: Stampin' Up (Bayou Blue); Ranger (Black); Technique Tuesday (Sunlight, Lava); Signo Gel Pen (Black)

Tools: Cricut (George & Basic Shapes)

WCMD

Happy belated World Card Making Day. A couple of personal things kept my creative juices from flowing over the weekend but this morning, I was inspired to make a Halloween card based on Carla Peicheff's sketch which you can find here http://moralia.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/its-here-world-card-making-day/. Here it is:

This is one time when it paid off to have all of my Halloween goodies stored together because, other than the sketch, I had no plan. I just kept digging through my stash as I went, looking for the next layer.

So, It's October 5th and I've actually made a Halloween card! If only I can mail it on time then it will be a real treat for the special person who is going to receive it!

Ingredients: American Crafts card stock; Making Memories patterned paper (Halloween); Little Yellow Bicycle laser paper (Halloween Words); Queen & Company felt fusion; Creative Imaginations epoxy sticker; Bazzill paper flower; Technique Tuesday stamp (Swiss Dots); Tim Holtz distressed ink (Spice Marmelade), Ranger ink (Jet Black); Stampin' Up! punch (Scallop); ribbon from my stash.