Get Inspired Christmas Edition

So now that it's been almost a week since Christmas, have you printed out any of your photos from that day to scrapbook? I'm always intimidated by large events like Christmas Day, Birthday parties etc when it comes to scrapbooking. I think I feel overwhelmed by the number of photographs I've taken. And in the case of Christmas, I find it difficult to work with the product out there, as it is usually in the traditional red & green which is one of my least favorite color combos. If you are looking for some awesome inspiration for scrapbooking your holiday photos, please check out Get Inspired's Christmas edition. No worries if you don't celebrate Christmas, as this edition also features pages with Winter and Chanukah themes. And I even submitted a page about El Dia de Los Tres Reyes (aka Epiphany).

Here are the pages I have featured in the magazine...

I hope this has enticed you to see all the other beautiful creations from both the Let's Get Sketchy design team as well as the reader's submissions. You can find the Get Inspired Christmas edition here.

Creative Scrappers

Almost time to say good-bye to 2014! Where did the year go? I thought I wasn't going to be able to share any more layouts this year, but I managed to get the following page finished & photographed in the eleventh hour. Not only did I base it on Creative Scrappers Sketch #283, but I was also totally inspired by DT member Missy Whidden's interpretation of it. It's more of a lift of her layout than anything else. Once again I must apologize for the crummy photo...where is the sun?

I love this photo of Paolina in her crazy "dress-up" She was about 21 months old at the time, and she decided to walk around the house with her Elmo slippers (over footed PJs) as well as her winter hat & mittens. The pacifier is the finishing touch!

Product List:

Basic Grey Soleil patterned paper & cardstock stickers

Basic Grey Sugar Rush patterned paper

My Mind's Eye Breaking Free and Just Dreamy 2 patterned paper

Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm patterned paper

Bazzill cardstock

My Mind's Eye diecuts

Tattered Angels glimmer mist

Sketch~N~Scrap

Happy Monday, everyone! Can you believe there are less than three days left of 2014? This year has certainly flown by...as has December. While I wish I had had more time to scrap, I have certainly enjoyed the moments I've spent with family and friends. And of course all the photographs I've taken this month will provide tons of scrapbooking inspiration in the future. As the year wraps to a close I just wanted to share one final layout I created this month. For this page I was inspired by the December 1st sketch at Sketch~N~Scrap.

When Paolina was in preschool this past year, her 3-year old class had a special project. Each weekend a child took home a stuffed Tweety Bird and the parents photographed & journaled about the adventures their child had with him. Paolina was given Tweety Bird the weekend that the kids stayed overnight at my parents house while Noé and I had an overnight Valentine date. These are the photos taken of Paolina while she was staying with her Nonni & Opa.

Product List:

Basic Grey Capture patterned paper

Bo Bunny Modern Miss patterned paper

Studio Calico The Pier patterned paper

My Mind's Eye patterned paper

Basic Grey diecuts

Crate Paper diecuts

American Crafts Thickers

Fancy Pants alpha stickers

The Crafters Workshop template

Tattered Angels glimmer mist

Stuck?! Sketches

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We went to the Christmas Eve service at church and then had dinner at an amazing Mediterranean restaurant with my in-laws. And on Christmas Day my parents came over in the afternoon. The kids love all of their gifts! But we have a rule...in with the new and out with the old. So today we spent some time going through old "baby" toys and deciding which I would take to a children's re-sale shop and which should just go straight to Goodwill. Then we hit the mall...I find that the sales after Christmas are way better than Black Friday.

December has been fairly mild in temperature here in Dallas, but unfortunately it has been either raining or just gray & hazy most of the month. Which of course is a disaster for photographing my layouts and cards. Fortunately this past Monday was absolutely gorgeous...sunny and in the 60s. So before taking the kids to the playground, I took pictures of a few pages...and just in time because our weather has been turning much more "winter-like."

I actually did the below page the first week of December and attempted to photograph it on one of the aforementioned gloomy days, but it looked horrible! So here is "take two" which was inspired by the December 1st sketch at Stuck?! Sketches...

This past January one of Noé's co-worker gifted this Gator to our kids after her son received a three-wheeler for Christmas. I thought it was just going to be a novelty...a toy that they would tire of after a few weeks or at most a month, But Paolina and Santiago love it, even almost a year later. These are a few photos of Paolina driving it while her brother was at school. Can you tell she's a Californian wearing flip flops in winter?

Product List:

Elle's Studio Saltwater patterned paper

Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm patterned paper

Crate Paper Portrait patterned paper

Doodlebug doily

Daisy D's cardstock elements

Basic Grey alpha stickers

My Mind's Eye enamel dots

The Crafters Workshop template

Tattered Angels glimmer mist

Let's Get Sketchy December Week 4

Is it seriously the Monday before Christmas? Where has the month gone? I'm usually so good about getting all of my Christmas shopping done by the end of November, but this year Santiago wouldn't give us a definite answer as to what he wanted until last week, so I found myself finishing buying gifts this past Friday. Between shopping, gift-wrapping, making cards and going to Christmas parties, I've barely had any time to scrapbook this month. And now Santiago is home on winter break, so unless he plays at the neighbor's house I guess I will be saying "see you later" to my scrap area until January.

Hopefully you will find the time amidst this busy holiday season to get some scrapbooking in yourself. Especially since Let's Get Sketchy has not only a new sketch up today, but there will also be a bonus challenge for the fifth Monday. But for now, check out this week's sketch...

And my take on it...

I couldn't resist getting a bit "messy" myself to create this page about Santiago decorating cookies with edible markers at Easter in 2011. I created a watercolor effect with gelatos, water and plastic bags, and I also splattered glimmer mists, inked with a mask and did some doodling. I had a lot of fun with this page!

I hope you can have some fun with this sketch too...and make sure you head over to the Let's Get Sketchy blog for even more inspiration.

My Scraps & More #96

Over the last two weeks we have had three Christmas parties to go to, but this weekend we have no plans. As much fun as we had going to the those parties I'm glad to have some downtime after all the shopping and wrapping I've been doing. I've barely had time for scrapbooking! Santiago's school party is today and Paolina's is Monday, and then of course Santiago will be on Winter Break until January 5th. So I'll be lucky if I get any crafty time in over the next few weeks! Hopefully your schedule allows you to get some scrapbooking done because My Scraps and More Sketches has a brand new sketch up today...

And here's my take on it...

You can totally tell that I am the scrapbooker in the family and not my husband. This past February, Noé went with Santiago's class on their field trip to the Perot Museum of Nature & Science. I asked him to please take photos. And this is what he came home with...a few pictures of Santiago on the bus. Sigh. Well at least it's something, right?

I hope you have the time to check out what the rest of Team A did with the sketch!

Product List:

Bo Bunny Modern Miss patterned paper

Crate Paper Love Notes patterned paper

Basic Grey Oh, Baby! and Lime Rickey patterned paper

Liquitex gesso and modeling paste

American Crafts Thickers

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist

Let's Get Sketchy December Week 2

Happy Monday! I apologize for the late post...our household has been down with a stomach virus. It hit us before I even had the chance to write up and schedule something for this morning. But thankfully we're all recovering, and life's pretty much back to normal. And what better way to celebrate that than a brand new sketch up at Let's Get Sketchy!

I flipped it and came up with this...

Santiago has always been such a ham for the camera, which works well for a scrapbooker. I have a collection of sometimes silly and always adorable photos of him.

Now it's your turn to get out some photos and get scrapping. Please head over to the Let's Get Sketchy blog for more inspiration

Product List:

Fancy Pants Nautical patterned paper

Bo Bunny Smarty Pants patterned paper

Crate Paper DIY Shoppe patterned paper

My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup and Laundry Line patterned paper

American Crafts Thickers

Sketchabilities

I am super proud of myself. Not only have I already done TWO layouts in the first three days of the month, I also...wait for it...photographed them! Yes, it's truly an anomaly. But I'm hoping it becomes a habit. Unfortunately it's horribly overcast here, making it impossible to get a good photo. So I'm only sharing one layout today which I was able to edit it in Picasa just enough that I don't hate it. But my second layout totally  needs to be photographed again later, once the lighting situation improves.

I used sketch #128 from Sketchabilites for my inspiration...

Santiago went through a pretty extensive phase (about age 1 to 2-1/2) of constantly making ridiculous faces. He never looked in the mirror when he was doing it, so I can only assume he just enjoyed the reaction from people when he did it. He's still a master silly-face-maker, but these days it's usually on request.

Product List:

My Mind's Eye Meadowlark patterned paper

Authentique Celebrate patterned paper

DCWV Rockstar patterned paper

Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm patterned paper

Pink Paislee Hey Kid ephemera

Crate Paper Styleboard ephemera

Crate Paper Portrait cardstock stickers

My Mind's Eye Jubilee enamel dots

Glitz Design Raven washi tape

Tattered Angels glimmer mist

The Crafters Workshop template