Cat Party Card

My daughter asked for a cat party for her birthday, so the first step was making her invitations. I started with a cute card sketch from Atlantic Hearts challenge blog but, since I wanted to go vertical on my card base, I tightened up the design by moving the circles together. The card went through several revisions and I ended up simplifying it a bit because I just couldn't face hand cutting glitter tape for 30 cards (can anyone relate?) but I'm pretty happy with the final result!

Recipe:
Fanfare, Welcome Baby & One Way Borders stamp sets
Laughing Lola Level 2 papers
Slate, Whisper, Crystal Blue & White Daisy cardstock
Crystal Blue, Thistle & Black ink
Black & Gold Metallic markers
Purple Glitter Gem
Cricut Artistry cartridge: banner
Cricut Chore Chart cartridge: cat
Challenges: Bitten By the Bug 2 banner or sign challenge

Taft Point Layout

Taft Point at Yosemite is a bit of a hike, but always offers amazing views that make me glad I went! I created the base layout at my scrapbook retreat, but it needed some extra pizzazz, so when I got home, I decided to play along with some challenges to add punched borders, chipboard, and baker's twine.

Recipe:
Everyday Celebration Level 2 papers
Chocolate, Sweet Leaf & Colonial White cardstock
Chocolate, Sweet Leaf & Dutch Blue ink
Dutch Blue marker
Chocolate baker's twine
Nutmeg Memories chipboard (MME Indie Chic)
Cricut Stone Script cartridge: title
Fiskars scalloped border punch
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge 2
Challenges: Scrappy Friends Bingo challenge (I chose the row with border punch, green, ink, chipboard shape & twine); Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge chipboard & something old from your stash (my old was the papers I've been hoarding for at least five years)

Washburn Point Layout

Yosemite is so beautiful that all our pictures are naturally beautiful as well! For this layout, I chose to accent the blues in the pictures by using blue cardstock, blue ink, and patterned paper with blue and earth tones. The butterflies were a playful touch inspired by the March More Than Words challenge.

And here's my layout. I also used a stamped quote from Helen Keller about "beautiful things."

Recipe:
Beautiful Things & Treasure Life stamp sets
Dreamin' Level 2 papers
Pacifica, Crystal Blue, Chocolate & Colonial White cardstock
Pacifica, Crystal Blue, Sky, Chocolate & Desert Sand ink
Black marker
Cricut Jasmine cartridge: title
Cricut Artistry cartridge: butterflies
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: flourish

Yosemite 2012 Layout

It feels like I've scrapbook Yosemite pictures many times before, so it will be a challenge to keep this batch of pictures from our 2012 vacation looking fresh, but I am going to give it a try! Here's my intro page for the vacation, and I included a fun little envelope with hidden journaling about driving to Yosemite and our first stop there. Any guesses where these photos were taken?

And here's the open envelope with the card:

Recipe:
Beautiful Things stamp set
Huntington Level 2 papers
Whisper & Colonial White cardstock
Olive, Desert Sand, Chocolate & Cashmere ink
Sap Green, Clay & Cerulean Blue Shin Han markers
My Crush Wildwood Assortment
Chocolate Organdy ribbon
Chocolate metal arrow & brad
3-D foam tape
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #269

Monument Valley Layout

So close to finishing my Colorado vacation scrapbook! Here's my next to last layout . . . We spend a few hours at Monument Valley, but since we came during the windy season, there was so much dust in the air that it was hard to see anything.

Recipe
Flight of the Arrows & Friendship Alphabet Small stamp sets
Back Country Level 2 papers & My Stickease
Goldrush, Outdoor Denim, Colonial White cardstock
Goldrush, Outdoor Denim, Barn Red ink
Outdoor Denim marker
Outdoor Denim & Colonial White craft buttons
Outdoor Denim& Autumn Terracotta maker's twine
Circuit Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge 42

Blastoff Layout

One of the kids' favorite activities from Elliot's Despicable Me birthday party was making and launching their own rockets. For the layout showing the event, I used the right half of the Splitcoast Stampers March sketch, and added some fun details like a stamped rocket blasting off to the moon and a countdown to launch.

Recipe:
Atomic Caps, Atomic Numbers & Outta This World stamp sets
Animal Cookies Level 2 papers
Honey, Sunset, Whisper & White Daisy cardstock
Dutch Blue, Tulip, Sunset, Whisper & Slate ink
Dutch Blue, Black & Gold metallic markers

Carmine & Clay Shin Han Twin Touch markers

Red enamel dots

3-D foam tape

Cricut Artiste cartridge: rocket

Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: arrows

Challenges: Lasting Memories Lots of Number + Birthday themed layout challenge (I was inspired to add the countdown to my title)

Villains in Training Layout

No party would be complete without games, so for my son's Despicable Me birthday party, we planned games around the idea of getting ready to be a super villain! We created an obstacle course for the kids to conquer, plus we had a few other games based on the movie, like the unicorn horn ring toss inspired by Agnes' love of unicorns. Using the left side of the March sketch I had made for Splitcoast Stampers, I created a layout featuring a few pictures from the game time and then added a photo storage page with a few more pictures.

The sketch:

My layout:

As part of my photo storage page, I used a sketch from Sketches in Thyme, Project Life Style to come up with a journaling card. I wanted to include a photo, so I rearranged and resized some of the elements of the sketch, and I added that adorable unicorn die-cut and a quote from Agnes: "He's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!" As you can probably tell, the birthday boy got the honor of wearing the unicorn horn for the ring toss. He wasn't thrilled, but he was a pretty good sport about it!

The sketch:

My journaling card:

And here's my completed photo storage page:

Recipe:
Atomic Caps, Atomic Lower Case & Spot On Backgrounds stamp sets
Animal Cookies Level 2 papers
Honey, Dutch Blue & White Daisy cardstock
Dutch Blue, Tulip, Honey & Sunset ink
Dutch Blue, Black & Gold metallic markers
Cricut ZooBalloo cartridge: unicorn
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: arrows
Heart punch (EK Success)
Challenges: Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog anything goes (I used several Cricut cuts!)

What a Boy Wants Layout

For my son's 9th birthday, he really wanted a Despicable Me party, complete with themed games, decorations, and cupcakes. And of course, he was thrilled to receive lots of presents to delight a young boy's heart. Instead of writing down each gift and giver, I decided to have him pose next to the person who gave him the gift, figuring that would be a more meaningful memory than a list. I just scrapbooked a few of the photos, and put the rest in a photo storage page. The layout ended up being pretty clean and simple, but I will always enjoy the funny expressions on my son's face!

Recipe:
Fanfare Level 2 papers
Canary cardstock
Pacifica ink
Pacifica & Black markers
Elemental envelope & tag
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title & stars
Pattern: Lasting Memories March challenge sketch (birthday layout using sketch)
Challenges: Bitten by the Bug 2 birthday challenge

EMS Sketch Challenge 64 - Cliff Palace Layout

I took a week off scrapbooking to enjoy some time with a few favorite books, but I'm back with this month's sketch challenge. It's a single pager with room for four uncropped 4" x 6" photos. The style is similar to a pocket page layout, but there is some overlap in order to fit in a bottom border and a photo mat. Hope you enjoy the sketch, and please link up your completed layout below so I can ooh and aah over it!

The sketch:

My layout:

Recipe:
Passages Level 2 papers
Cocoa, Bamboo, Garden Green & Brown Bag cardstock
Cocoa, Bamboo & Garden Green ink
Black marker
Dreamer charms
Natural hemp
Burlap ribbon
Tumbled Stone Alphabet stickers (All My Memories)
3-D foam tape
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: sunburst, curved arrow, pennant
Cricut Artistry cartridge: arrow
Challenges: Use Your Stuff  #253 Use a favorite sketch (my most recent sketch is always my favorite!); Scrap Our Stash March tic-tac-toe board (I used the left vertical column, and it really helped me get some stuff out of my stash pile, so thank very much!)

An InLinkz Link-up