You've got mail!

Have you seen the adorable little mailboxes at Target in the dollar section? I was lucky to snag one before they were gone, and I altered it using the You + Me kit from Scrapbook Circle.

Nate had such a great time with the advent calendar this year, that I think I'm going to do a week of Valentine's Day by using this little mailbox. I'll put little notes, stickers or candy in there from the Wed. before Valentine's until 2/14. I know he'll get a kick out of that. 

Thanks for stopping by to see my little mailbox today. It was fun to make and will be a cute decoration on the table for Valentine's Day.

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On a side note, I wanted to thank all of you that left such heart-warming and sincere comments on my blog, the Sketchy Thursdays blog, and Facebook about the last sketch challenge. It was a gut-wrenching day to read the comments and realize we were closing up something that is so loved and looked forward to each week.

I just love you all for taking a moment to let us know we affected you in some way or another. Thank you for being there for us each week. Love ya all!

Sketchy Thursdays {huge announcement}

Here is my layout for this week's Sketchy Thursdays challenge. You can find the sketch on the blog, as well as this week's prize details from ARTchix Studio.

I made my page using the January kit, You + Me, from Scrapbook Circle. The colors in this kit are right up my alley. I love the gray, blue and red all together. The picture in the layout is Nate's school picture this year. The colors in his shirt just went so well with this kit.

I pleated the die cut banner in the kit to give it a bit more dimension and pop. If you haven't tried this yet, give it a whirl. I was pretty happy with how it worked out. It allowed me to curve the banner, too, by doing that.

And here is the huge news…

I am nervous, sad and anxious to announce to you all that Heidi, Julie and I have decided that the 1/12/12 challenge will be the last challenge for the Sketchy Thursdays blog challenge.

Finding sponsors, keeping up this pace for 2 and a half years, and overwhelming lives for all three of us has found us with a decision we needed to make.

I plan to keep the Facebook page live, active and post sketches as I am driven to. I may even come across some random prizes or opportunities that I will post there as well. 

I have already been asked to continue making sketches for other sites and companies. Heidi will also be continuing her sketch work with Scrapbook News and Review.

I promise there is no secret agenda—just 3 very tired, overwhelmed ladies that feel we have hit a threshold for this part of our adventures.

Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with us, and I hope to see you playing along with this, our last, challenge. Much love to all of you that have supported the site for the past few years. I have a special place in my heart for everyone who played, sponsored and stopped on by.

Sock monkey

Hi! I got a chance to play along with this month's sketch challenge at Artful Delight this weekend. You have until Jan. 23rd to play along over there. 

I used the You + Me kit from Scrapbook Circle. I feel like a broken record siting that kit—it goes on and on and on. I still have more projects from that kit after this one to share with you! 

This page is about Nate's love for Sock Monkey. He has so many of those little monkeys that when we were at Gander Mountain shortly after Christmas, and he saw this hat, there was no question about whether or not we'd let him buy it. He just looks so dang cute in it! I love this style hat, too. It's such a great trend for the kiddos. 

Thanks for stopping to see my layout today. I had a lot of fun making it. 

You + Me {card}

Hello! There is a card sketch challenge going on at Scrapbook Circle this month. You have until Jan. 18th to play along with us. One lucky winner will get a $15 credit to the Scrapbook Circle store.

I used the Scrapbook Circle Jan. kit, You + Me, to make my card. Everything in the kit is just so pretty! And perfect for Valentine's Day cards.

I also played along with the Card Makin' Mamas challenge. For the New Year, they want to see New Year's cards or cards using something NEW to you. I used my new Fiskars punch, called Starlets. I have always wanted one of those punches that has the different options for corners. I snagged one of the new ones this weekend, and you can see how I punched out the corners of the layers.

Thanks for stopping to see my card today. I hope you have time to play along with either of these card challenges. 

3 wise men

Hello there! I wanted to share with you a page I made using Got Sketch #136 and a challenge from Paper Issues: Got Your Number.

If you have a layout, card or paper project (old or new) that has a number on it, link it up over at Paper Issues.

This layout is from Christmas Eve when Santa Claus came to husband's family's house while out making his Christmas deliveries to the world. How nice of him to stop by and snap some pictures and give presents to our family while he has to have been so busy that night! *grin*

Thanks for stopping by to see my layout. Hope your week is starting off well.

Sketchy Thursdays {RMSC}

Today is another reveal day for Sketchy Thursdays. My sketch for this challenge can be seen over on the Sketchy Thursdays site. Play along and link your page over on the blog.

This week we have partnered with Scrappy Chics. Their DT is also playing along with the sketch, so head on over there to see their reveals, as well as the ST site to see the prize info. We have an additional prompt this week—to use blue & silver for your page. Mine seems to be more like teal and gray.

I made this page with the January Scrapbook Circle kit, "You + Me," as well as adding in some items from a past SC kit. The picture is from this fall when hubs and I took Nate to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. There was a pretty cool climbing thing and I snapped this picture while he was on it.

Thanks for stopping by to see my page this week. I hope you'll be able to join Sketchy Thursdays and our partnership with Scrappy Chics to play along this week.

imaginisce intro day

Today is my Introducing… post at imaginisce.

Check out the 5 things about me (and my secret).

Thanks so much for stopping by there. I am so very excited to be a part of this team. I can't even begin to tell you how fun this will be. Can't wait to bring you loads of inspiration this year!

New craft room for 2012

I am so excited to share a big project that was in the making for many months. By "in the making," I mean I had the best of intentions to get this done sooner. 

Above is the room that I used to use for my scrappy space. It was the smallest of the bedrooms in the house. The other spare room (below) was our guest room. All it had in it was a spare bed and a closet full of stuff we stored away. 

It was begging for me to take it over. And now the room I used to be in (the green one), is going to have all of our exercise equipment in it and be a storage room for the husband.

My favorite part of this room (other than the size and the bigger closet) is the way I painted it when we moved it. I had used left over paint from other rooms and done a two-tone, mix-and-match. Now I actually get to enjoy it! It had been one of my favorites when I painted years ago.

Like I said before, the closet space doubled from the other room, and I am loving all of the extra shelves and spaces I have.

I have also been meaning to show this technique on my blog for awhile now. I have 15 albums full of scrapbook pages. They take up the entire top shelf on the left side of the closet. Once stacking those was too difficult in the old room, I started hanging my page protectors on 'S' hooks in the closet.

I have found that not only is it a space saver, but the pages don't flatten and smoosh like the ones in the books have.

And there you have it—my new craft room. As you can tell, I'm quite excited about it. Now I can start to add some personal touches and hang some new artwork. I love a blank canvas! 

Thanks for stopping to see the new room! 

Wonderful Christmas

Happy New Year! There are two great things about the holidays (at least for me). Lots of pictures and some extra time off work to do something with those pictures. It's a win-win!

I had a chance yesterday to make my Christmas page. It is a 2-page 8.5" x 11" layout. I also used this sketch here from Sketch Support.

In making my page, I used a mix of My Mind's Eye Lost & Found - 2 Sunshine and Graphic 45. I usually do a more playful and colorful holiday layout each year, but this year I went with a more classic color scheme.

There were a lot of great little moments this Christmas, and the sketch was perfect for adding in all those little pictures. Gotta love husband with his mustache mug! His "cop-stache!" LOL! 

I used die cut tags from Graphic 45 for the ornaments down the side, and this picture of Nate was my favorite one on Christmas day.

Thanks so much for stopping to see my holiday page for the year. I hope everyone's 2012 is starting out perfectly!