Spread Your Wings~~~SOUS Guest Designer~~~

Hola mi amigas!! I hope this finds you as happy and blessed as I am! I am so very honored to be Guest Designer for my fav challenge blog, Stuck On U Sketches, aka SOUS. As many of you already know I used to be a part of this talented group of ladies and it is so fun to be sharing the limelight with them this week. Sandi sent me this super funtastic, sandylicious sketch by Suepup....isn't it just delicious?

I luv, luv, luv the sketch so much that I did not stray far from the original design. I used some yummy K&Co papers (big surprise, LOL). I adored the look of the paint wash over the page so I added that to my layout as well.

The photos are of my sweet little DGN, Madalyn. I changed the pic to b/w, overexposed it to get the subtle look and then added some color back in on her eyes, cheeks, mouth, the wings and a few of the rose petals.

I used PhotoImpact for all of the enhancements.

Spread and Wings are both cut from Songbird and the circle is cut by making a centerpoint circle cut in two sizes, the second 1/4 inch smaller than the first, using Plantin Schoolbook...this is a great way to get the circle accents in the narrow sizes. I've added some pearl adhesives to the circle, butterflies and title. The journal tag is from K&Co and originally read, 'what did you want to be when you grew up?' I used computer generated words to alter it to read, 'what do you want to be when you grow up?'

The bird is from Indie Art and is layered over a peacock feather. The 'wrought iron' cuts are all from Ornamental Iron.

Oh you just have to love the Mother's Day Bouquet cart....so many flowers, so little time...LOL. The frosted lace stickles are just so funderful to use on florals...love the look they give. These leaves are from a cuttlebug die.

Some more yummy MDB flowers anchor the corner of the photo. My tag cut is from Plantin Schoolbook. The bingo card has been miniaturized and layered onto the tag, I then added a frame of adhesive pearls.

Here you can see the funderful butterflies from Sentimentals...I've added some adhesive pearls and made antennae from craft wire. I've added a pin to pierce the 'y' alpa bead in the word your.

Once again I want to thank the SOUS team for the wonderful invitation to join in on this super delicious sketch....give it a go and link it to the SOUS site to share your insipration!!!

Thanx so much for looking, have a great day!

Much Love, Sandy

The Best Is Yet Unwritten

Good Saturday everyone, I hope this finds you and yours well and happy! Today I'm posting a scrappy page of me....I do not consider myself very photogenic and seldom have photos of myself that I like...along with that I am soon to turn fifty in May....I actually like this photo and when I thought about the transition from my forties to fifties I thought this is how I would like to remember being 49. I also think that we can spend a lot of time stuck in our past and lose sight of the future....So, this layout is inspired by the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield...I tweaked the words a bit from 'the rest is still unwritten' to 'the best is yet unwritten'. I believe that regardless of the ups and downs of life...while we may not be able to control our destiny...we can certainly influence it....we are each born many man, yet die but one. So it is time for me to live my story...What a wonderful time to be me, I am grateful for everyone in my life and the lessons and experiences they have helped me gain...without each of them I would not be me...I am grateful to God for guiding me...he never said it would be easy...he simply promised to be there!
I have once again used K&Co papers, lots of distressing, inking and layering. I have used several new techniques on this layout...hope to remember to give credit where due....and made some fun flowers as well.

So have you seen the wonderful Prima Romani Rose collection? They are the inspiration for my large fabric flower. I had to give it a go on my own and I have to say it was quite easy to make and I am very happy with the outcome. The butterfly is from M's recollection series...as are the tiny rosebuds. Gate is cut from Ornamental Iron and I've added a faux metal technique that I found on youtube, click here to see that video by Scrappinings. Mine turned out a bit different that hers but I love them and will do it again! I just love youtube vids for inspiration and Scrappingings has lots of fun tuts!! The alpha stickers are from Destinations, found them on clearance @ Big Lots.

The paper flowers are all from Mothers Day Bouquet. I have added puff paint to the larger ones, and stickles to the others. I have added stamen to two of the designs. The title font is the diamond cut from Jasmine. The photo corners and the branches are from Straight From the Nest. I have computer generated...Everyone has a story...how mine ends is up to me! I used glossy accents to adhere them to Tim Holtz fragments and then backed them with a frame cut from Heritage.

The is made from the letters that were left from the diamond cut part of the title. These flower centers are made with adhesive pearls and then I covered them in glossy accents.

My feather is from Sentimentals. I cut the peacock feather and then the plume pen @ 2 1/2 inches and then added the pen tip to the peacock feather.

Well, I hope you like it! I really enjoyed making it.

Thanx for stopping by and have a great day!!!!

The Blizzard Of Oz...There's no place like home!

Good Saturday to everyone...Many of you have suffered the onslaught of snow brought by the 2011 blizzards throughout the country. Well, here in Southeast Kansas it is very unusual for us the have a real 'blizzard'. So of course Mcauley, Icah and I had to go for a walk on February 1st when the snow fell up to 3inches an hour, with totals well above 18 inches in our little town by the time it ended....had to save this memory! I used K&Co papers and some of my newest cricut carts!

I computer generated a little newspaper with the snow totals and commented on school being closed for four consecutive days...you can't read it in the photo but it looks really good on the layout. The flowers are from Mother's Day Bouquet cut at 2 inches and 1 1/2 inches with the snowflake center cut from Home Accents. A little pearl accent finishes them off.

The film strip is from Wall Decor and More and I've added a little Jenni Bowlin calendar to document the month. I used my 50 States cart to cut Kansas and marked out location with a little blue bling star.

What would the Blizzard of Oz be with out a hot air balloon....I created this with four cuts of the parartrooper from Stand and Salute...added the basket from Happily Ever After, a little embroidery floss and some pearl accents and viola...a balloon to carry the blizzard away...and of course we are all familiar with the famous line...."There's no place like home!", that I have framed in one of the K&Co metal frames I so adore. The words the and of are from Hannah Montana.

My photo mat is from A Child's Year and the filigree corners are from Ornamental Iron. Snowflakes, branch and skis are from Winter Woodland. I used my new Happy Hauntings cart to cut the words Blizzard and Oz and also cut the shadow cut for Happy Halloween to use as my icicles at the bottom of the page....I wish you could see how the white pearlescent paper and the icicle stickles transform this gruesome font into a wintery wonder!

Well, that's it for now...hope to be back soon! Thanx for stopping by and have a great day!

New Inspiraton On It's Way

Those of you who know me know I love to take pix...well just wanted to share the most exciting news....I have finally decided to take the plunge into the world of DSLR and my new Pentax k r should be here by the end of the week...just can't wait to see the photos I can take with this one!!!

Attitude...Who? Me!!! LOL

I must say this has to be one of my fav awards...Thanx so much Mary for thinking of me...I am so very touched.
I have not been out and about much these days and post very seldom so what a wonderful surprise it was to receive this awesome award from an incredible lady. If you have never visited Mary's blog you sure are missing out! She has wonderful tuts, creations, and information....her cup sure does runneth over!!
The conditions of this award are to list 3 things about myself that make me different from everyone else and to pass it to 5 other bloggers.

hmmmmm....I am sure there are people who share these qualities...but here are some things that are me...Mcauley helped me a bit...

1. In a cynical world I always look for the best in people....I have been called naive but I prefer to think of it as trusting...people are innocent until proven guilty in my book and that has to be experienced by me personally...I never judge someone based on someone else's opinion...there are plenty of people who love to bring themselves up by bringing others down...expect the best of people and you just might get a surprise!

2. I loved being pregnant!!! I was never sick....just fat and happy....LOL....carrying my boyssss has to be some of the most precious time in my life....they are truly my greatest accomplishments.

3. Love, hope and prayer go into my creations...when I am scrapping a picture of a person my heart and soul are with them...whether it is a relative I've lost through death, a family member that may be estranged, or a loved one close by I pray for them and feel such a connection to them. I smiled as I was scrapping the photo in my last layout of Mcauley and Icah...continually calling Mcauley to look and see if he liked what I had done...I told him that even though I was driving him crazy now it brings me joy to think of him sharing these pages with his own children saying, "I remember when Mom scrapped this page." He only giggled and said, "Mom, you will be showing them to my children!"

so now to pass this on...
I have to share with my sweet ladies from SOUS and a couple of crafty friends...

Sandi
Nanne
Leah
Brenda
Barb

I hope you will pay Mary, Sandi, Nanne, Leah, Brenda and Barb a visit...you won't be sorry!! I have been inspired by each of them and I am sure you will be too!!

Angels Unleashed...Mcauley & Icah...It's a boy thing!

Well hello and happy 2011 to all of you beautiful bloggers!! I am trying to make a promise to myself to post at least once a month in this new year....maybe more if time allows....

This is a photo of my son and our newest addition, Icah...he was a Christmas gift and has brought us so much joy in a short time...so much fun! I changed the photo to b/w and added the eye color...and here are my lovely angels unleashed!!!! The papers are from DCWV, from the Be Mine collection and the Le Creme Stack. I water distressed the papers, crumpled, tore and then did some lacing with embroidery floss. There is a book page peeking from under the marquee that I cut and laced.

Several cricut carts were used for this one. Angels was cut from Graphically Speaking...the word was angel, I cut past from the same cart and added the S. The gorgeous fence is from Heritage. The shimmer papers cut wonderfully...especially for small, detailed images. I added the Griffin brad from Creative Imaginations.

The wings again cut from the shimmer card stock are from Indie Art, the clock from Graphically Speaking, and the lock and key are from Sentimentals. the Friendship tag and flower were both from my stash. I cut the marquee from Sentimentals and the photo mat from A Child's Year.

The 'collar' is embossed with my cuttlebug and then some faux stitching added to help with the total look. The metal items are all from Hobby Lobby...things I've picked up on clearence here and there. The It's A Boy tag from the baby isle at Michaels. I have added Mcauley and Icah to the 'dog tag' along with the date. Both unleashed and thing are computer generated, letters cut apart and inked.

The clouds are cut from Zoobaloo, the stars and star flourishes both from Home Decor. I also added some feathers to create a since of wings. The quote is "Each of us are angels with one wing, to fly we need only embrace each other."

Thanx for stopping by, hope you have a fab day!!!!!

Much Love,

Sandy

These Magic Moments

Hola!!!! I hope this finds you all well and happy!!! I have had this layout done for awhile and finally had an opportunity to add it to my blog. I hope you like it! I adore the photo of Carsyn...she looks so dreamy! I added the moon in photo impact....with the pumpkin and toy horse in her hand she reminds me of Cinderella at midnight.....
Lots of my fave K&Co papers here....I cut a hole with Plantin on the top layer....soaked it with water and scrunched it up to add lots of distress to the page! The tree is cut from Heritage and stretched in DS.

Blackletter for magic and computer generated 'these' and 'moments'...I cut 'moments' into to squares and added some TH distressing ink to the edges....a book page and a marque cut from Sentimentals. Photo corners are from Heritage and I've added some pearl accents.

The little mice are from My Community...I cut them in black just to add a quiet idea that they could be the horsemen.....Pumpkins and vines are from Happily Ever After....I've added some glossy accents to the tops of the pumpkins and tree to add a frosty look.

The clock strikes twelve...cut from Graphically Speaking...the little yellow flowers are also from this cart...lots of layers and scrunched and scrunched.......I've added a bit of the top of a corn stalk to the florals.

The scallop flower is from Plantin...just a circle cut and layered...the other flower is from Home Decor....I found these precious pins of the 'glass slippers' at the Dollar Tree...could not resist tucking them into the scene.
Hope you are all looking forward to lots of family fun for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up....I hope to be back soon!!!!!