If you don't like bugs, don't look!

I took Jack and Ava to the Wings of Paradise Butterfly Museum on Friday morning. It was my first outing, on my own, with both my grandchildren and it went quite smoothly, considering they have way more energy than I do!

The title on this page says it all. I'll just give you the deets on product used to create this layout. The acrylic alpha and frames are by Emily Giovanni, The patterned paper and elements are from the kit, FlavorAO, by Jen Yurko at Inspiration Lane and the scalloped edge mask is from one of my classes through the Jessica Sprague site. Some of the butterflies are brushes by A. Wolf at The LilyPad.

I'm tired today.....

...so only made two layouts! Again, still trying to complete all the challenges at Elemental Scraps by the 27th of September.

The word is "EXPLORE" for this challenge. We're given a word and create a page that shows the best use in photos of the word. Here, darling James is checking out the pebbles by the seaside. Now that he's walking, exploring is all he does most likely.


I used the kit Life is a Beautiful Thing by Connie Prince, but the alphas in the word EXPLORE are from PolkaPolka_Boy Alphas by Leslie Bodoh.

The layout below is from the Surprise Challenge on September 17th. The surprise was that we had to use a grid with at least five photos. I chose the pics given to me by my son that were taken on their recent vacation on Manitoulin Island. I also chose to use many pics that showed Jack and Ava hamming it up for the camera.


This page uses papers and elements from the Autumn Blush kit by Jennifer Barrette.

We're into the countdown!

The deadline for completing challenges at Elemental Scraps is fast approaching. In the past 24 hours, I've completed five, count 'em, five, pages. So, here, in no particular order are my latest pages.

This is for a font challenge and we had to use a 'grungy' font. I chose VT Portable Remington. The kit is Firefly Chic by Digital Courture of Inspiration Lane.


Next up is a Template Challenge using a template by Chrissy W. I'm beginning to like using templates as it makes for great layouts everytime. This one uses pictures from my recent trip to visit my daughter and her family in London, hence The London Eye title. The kit I used for this layout is Life is a Beautiful Thing by Connie Prince of Elemental Scraps.



This one is for a Scraplift challenge, with a twist. We had to pick a favourite of a specific person, then flip it to create our own layout. This is my grandson, Owen, having some water fun in the garden. There is a combination of several kits here. Get Happy by Sherri Tierney, April Showers by Bella Gypsy, Shades of Bliss by Meredith and the bubbles are from B. Kerr at Studio Girls.



Three down, two to go. Another Scraplift Challenge and the person we were to scraplift from is Melissa. I chose a picture of Owen looking very apprehensive and unsure of himself while at the Deer petting farm. The kit is Mayhem by Bella Gypsy and the font is SBC Love Mom.



Lastly is another Scraplift challenge, this time we were lifting from mommyto3. My subject is our Devon-Rex kitty, Burt. In this photo he was about 6 weeks old and still living with the breeder and his mommy and siblings. Two kits were used for this layout: Just Smile by Sharia Braxton and Autumn Afternoon by Bella Gypsy. The font is Complete in Him.



Well, that's it for this post. If you've read to the bottom, well done. You'll know to come back again as I've got about four challenges to go before September 27th at 11:59 p.m. I'll tell you, it sure makes the month go by quick!

I'm so tired!

This layout was made for the "Surprise" challenge at Elemental Scraps for Sep 16th. The surprise was to use a photo with something other than a smiling face. I think this counts. The LO was created using the kit, Life is a Beautiful Thing, by Connie Prince. The font is CK Becky.

Chef de Patisserie

No surprise, but this was made for the Inspired by challenge at Elemental Scraps. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and then you can even read the journalling bits. The kit is by Chrissy W. entitled "Sew Cute".

Here's another layout. This was for a woman in Australia.

Two more challenges completed

Elemental Scraps has great challenges. If anyone from there is reading my blog, I think it's a really cool place, but, unfortunately, I'm not good at 'chatter', so don't post much, except for my layouts. What I like most about the challenges is the point system they have whereby you can accumulate points, earn extra points for using product they promote and then, in the following month you can spend the points. Oh, I love shopping so I'm going to try to complete all challenges in September. I'm going to be a busy lady.

The challenges in this post are: What's the Word (Special) and All About Me. You'll easily know which is which!

What's the Word was created with a kit entitled "Butterflies in the Park" by Bella Gypsy, with a couple of sample brushes from Hof3, and, for All About Me I used "Time for Me" by Sherri Tierney.

Speed Scrap at Elemental Scraps

Elemental Scraps hosted another speed scrap today. It was scheduled to start at noon today and, because our internet connection was behaving badly yesterday, I only saw it at 12:02 pm. I was very lucky because the page you make must be uploaded into the gallery by 2:15 pm. Well, I made the deadline with time to spare! HOO-RAY for me!

My DD in England sent me tons of photos from May 1st to August 28th via a thumbdrive she sent home with my other DD who was visiting recently. I said I would use these photos to make some layouts. This is the first one. Hope you like it, Kirsten.

I used the kit "Autumn Rushes In" by Connie Prince/DigiDiva Designs, with the exception of the black background which is part of the sortasolids AugCP pack by Chrissy W.

Finally....a page featuring my DDs

I have four children, now all grown up and on their own, some with kids of their own, some not; a couple of these "grown" children have asked me when will I do a layout that doesn't feature my grandchildren. Well, good question, thinks I. So here, today, for the viewing pleasure of my daughters, Tiffany and Kirsten, is a layout featuring them.



Remember any pics of my own children, as youngsters, were not taken with digital cameras so the quality of the photos will be less than perfect, but the kids are, indeed, perfect! (I wonder how many brownie-points the last statement will net?)

This layout also was done for a Template Challenge at Elemental Scraps. The kit is "Mayhem" by Bella Gypsy. The template is by Chrissy W.

More challenges completed

Both of these layouts were created for challenges at Elemental Scraps. The first one is a Font Challenge. All product was from Elemental Scraps and the designers are Sherri Tierney - Get Happy, CD Mix 2, and Shades of Bliss - Meredith Cardall. I used two fonts in this layout: Complete in Him for the journalling and Renaissance in the title.



I love this picture. It was John's sister, Maria, who gave John the title, Clown in the Gown. When he sent her the picture, way back in 2000, and asked what she thought of the 'wench on the bench', she came back quick as a wink with, "better than the clown in the gown" and that has stuck with John ever since. Of course, I don't let him forget it, either!

Next up is the page I completed for the Speed Scrap last night. What fun that was, receiving instructions every 10 minutes for an hour and then having only 1 hour and 15 minutes to get it uploaded into the gallery. Sure gets the adrenalin going, let me tell you!



We celebrated DS' birthday on Thursday past because he's leaving on vacation today (his actual birthday) and these pics are of his daughter, Ava, enjoying some chocolate cake. YUM! The products were, again, from Elemental Scraps and were Just Smiles - Sharia Braxton; Butterflies in the Park - BellaGypsy and a date strip by K. Pertiet which I picked up at Jessica Sprague.com. The font I used here was Joyful Juliana.

Thanks for visiting, please come back again.

Surprise Challenge at Elemental Scraps

Today was a Surprise challenge and the surprise was a colour challenge. The colours I chose were part of the Color Play series. This is a compilation of 44 designers who created "stuff" using a particular pallette. They are available in the Elemental Scraps shop at $1.00 per package. You can pick and choose which you like best and go from there. The products I used to create this layout all came from Color Play.

I'm going to try another challenge tonight. It's a Speed Scrap at Elemental Scraps and starts at 10 pm EST. You can check it out here.

Ever 'scraplifted' your own work?

It's a first for me, too! That was the challenge at Elemental Scraps today.

This is the original page created that I used in this challenge. When I look at it now, I realize that there's just way too much on this page. However, in my own defence, I was taking part in a "speed scrap" which gives instructions every 10 minutes and, once all instructions are in, you have 1 hour and 15 minutes to whip it into shape and post it into the gallery. I had never done a speed scrap before and, man, does it show!







This is what it looks like now, after having scraplifted and using the same photos as in the original page.

This page was created using "Startistic" by Connie Prince/DigiDiva Designs.

It's only been a couple of weeks that I have been taking part in challenges, but I think I see improvement already.

I'm in love with two men!

YUP! They're my grandsons, Jackson & Owen, both are three years old, both are very clever and both clean up real nice. Just take a look at the photo below.

This page was created for another challenge entitled "Numbers" , this time from Elemental Scraps.



When Andrew & Sheena got married last year, it was decided that Owen & Jack would get all gussied up for the occasion and donned tuxedos for the day. They looked terrific at the beginning of the day, but by the time the reception took place, shirttails were hanging out, ties were askew and life was good! I really, really would like to know what Owen is thinking in this picture. Jack, I can only assume, is crying out, "I'm tired of having my picture taken!". It was a great day and the little 'uns did really well.

This page was created in CS3 using a kit called "Aiden" by Meredith Cardall.

September always feels like the beginning of a new year...

....even though my children are grown and married and I don't have to worry about back-to-school shopping or anything like that. In a couple of years my grandchildren may be hitting on Grandma for new "stuff" their parents won't think is necessary, but I'll look forward to that with pleasure. However, I digress.

In the digi-scrapping world, the start of ANY new month is a new beginning. Most of the forums I have visited start new challenges each month. Most offer a point system that allows you to collect points in one month and spend them the next month. Sounds good to me so, hopefully, I will be participating in several challenges this month. The first challenge is from Inspiration Lane. This is the first of two mini-challenges for the month and all you have to do is download the mini-kit and make a page. What could be easier? So, without further adieu, here is my page for Mini-Madness #5.



The page was created in PS3 and all products are from "Harvest Time" from Christie Lemon Designs. This kit is not available for purchase, but only through the Mini-Madness Challenge.