15 Years... and counting

I don't have a new layout to share this week because I have been working on a super-secret project (ok, actually a design team submission... shhh) and I have had little other time to scrap. I do, however, have a new sketch to post. I am also doing this early because tomorrow, I am not doing anything scrappy at all due to the fact that it is my 15th Wedding Anniversary.

It really doesn't feel like it has been that long... and we've been together for 17 years now... since senior year in high school. We're definitely not the same people we were then, but we have grown together. I know if you ask Joe about the events 15 years ago, he likes to joke about 2 weeks that he doesn't remember, but he got married in there and also saw Pink Floyd & The Grateful Dead... (that explains it).

In honor of this auspicious day, I made him help me sketch... so here is the 15th Anniversary sketch:

I couldn't resist...

Today is payday, so, naturally we are out of all the good food in the house (Charlie is undergoing a growth spurt and is eating anything he can find), so, after I got home from work, a visit to the grocery store was necessary. After perusing the ads we got in the mail yesterday, I made the decision to go to a particular grocery store that happens to be right next door to a Michael's. Oops! With the big yellow "Clearance Sale" banner, my bargain-hunter mode kicked in and I couldn't resist the draw. Luckily, I found some of those plastic popcicle molds in the dollar bin outside... my wallet, however was in for so much more. As I wound my way around the store, I kept finding score after score... I suggest a visit if you are in the market for any of the Prima Nursery Tales line or you can get some great deals on some Sassafras (The COLLECTIONS of Hog Heaven and Whale of a Tale... 1/2 price!)

Ok, so this was maybe a little bit of retail therapy for me. Wednesday was not the best day around here. I found out where all those really annoying black ants that keep invading my kitchen are coming from- after I happened to poke my thumb into the bathroom wall while trying to steady myself while cleaning and dozens of the little suckers came out. YUCK! And then, there is the case of the non-working free-standing dishwasher that only seems to now serve in the capacity of something to throw everything else on and take up space. We moved it out of the kitchen, and found a nice hole in the floor, presumably a soft spot from when our water heater gave up the ghost last fall and slowly leaked its way into the floorboards. Oh joy...

So much summer fun!

I know I kinda skimped on the sketches last week... mostly due to time constraints and because of my contest, but I hope this one makes up or it! :) Don't forget, you have until July 15th to post a layout to the comments section (or email me) of this post. This week's layout is one I did for the June Contest on Scrap-Tastic. It started out looking a little funky as a sketch and it took me about 4 sketches to finally map it out well enough to use, but I love the end result! For this one, the challenge was to use at least: 3 patterned papers (I used Daisy Ds, LilyBee from the French Couture Collection, and Die Cuts With a View from last year's Fall Stack), 3 cardstocks (which I used to mat the photos as well as the background for everything), 3 stamps (my butterflies, which I stamped on white crdstock and then colored in using chalk pastel pencils, and also the "Live well, laugh often, love much" on the border), and 3 DIFFERENT embellishments (I used Chipboard for the title, brads, die cut flowers from Daisy Ds and even added some dimensional flowers and butterflies from Studio 18, some ricrac, and finally a cardstock journal sticker from Sassafras). An exhausting list, but a very worthwhile layout!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the Dads! I am making my dad's card this morning, so I really shoudn't be on here much longer...

My Little Shoebox Yumminess... Pagemaps Blog Contest

The Pagemaps blog has an awesome contest and the prize is some awesome stuff from My Little SHoebox, so, naturally I have to enter :) And, I have to say, I love this month's sketch for this! It really got me out of my groove a
nd doing some different techniques! For my take on it, I stretched it into a two-page layout with 4 photos. In this case, it's actually 2 8x8 pages. I used papers from K&Co. and Rita Marie. The journal spot is from My Mind's Eye. The big ribbon is Making Memories (I believe), as are the glitter alphas in the title. I didn't like how the title was looking, as it was originally a bright silver, so I inked them in with a Prismacolor marker to match the colors in the layout. One of the other new techniques I used was in making the pearl swirls. I stamped the swirl design on the page and traced it with Helmar Craft Glue. After letting the glue set for a few seconds, I used strands of beading (like you would sew on a dress) cut to size and set them in the glue. In a couple minutes they were perfectly dry!

They did it again...

Sassafras has a new line coming out and it's a have-to-have it one... I am so addicted to this! This is the Me Likey line... I hope a few places that I know carry this because I will be stocking up when it comes out! aren't these fabulous? They scream Summer pics! These are just some of them...

Feeling super-inspired and even generous today!

I don't know what has gotten into me today, but I have been feeling super-inspired to do some sketches today. That's the good news! The bad news is that none of my current photos actually lend themselves to being used on layouts for said sketches. However, I am also feeling rather generous as well, so I am having a contest! Use one ofthese three sketches for a layout and post a link to it in the comments to this post (or you can email it to me with the subject "Blog Contest" at jroriente@gmail.com). I know sometimes layouts take a while to create, so I think I will run it until July 15th. The winner will get a goody bag of mystery scrappy items :) Happy Scrapping!

Sketch #1

Sketch #2

Sketch #3

(this one is a double-pager, but I suppose if you are into the 6x12s would work well for that as well...)

Toot toot!

Just blowing my own horn here a little bit, but my last posted layout (4 of a Kind) is on the Sassafras blog. Here's the post if you wanna check it out :)

Golden Oldies

Winner Winner!

I am feeling lucky this week! So far, not only did I win a book from Goodreads, but I also won some yummy Helmar adhesives from the Helmar blog. Sunday just can't get here fast enough so I can play!

Some Sassafras Fun

I originally had a different sketch in mind and even had the layout done for it to post this week, but lo and behold, there was a sort of challenge on the Sassafras blog that I just had to try. Their challenge this week was to mix the old and the new together. Now all the patterned papers on here are from Sassafras. I used pieces from Hog Heaven and Happy Place and mixed them with Bungle Jungle and Anthem. I even used some of their yummy Paper Whimsies (which I blinged out :) )

I know that the scan is a little wonky, but the layout is just so darn chunky!

This week's Blog Prompt

Seeing as it's the end of the year and students are reflectng on the past school year. (okay, they're probably doing more planning for the Summer than reflecting, but I can dream.) Anyway,when you reflect on your school years, was there a particular teacher that made a big impact on you? that you still think of?

I think that during my school years, probably one of the teachers that made the biggest impacts on me was my 3rd grade teacher, Mr. McMullen. I was in a 2nd/3rd Grade split room and after the 2nd graders left for the day, we older kids were exposed to lots of cool things, including writing our own books (which were entered in a Young Author's Competition- mine won that year!) as well as I think that class fostered my love of reading because Mr. McMullen would read to us. However, he didn't bother with kids' books... we heard "Tarzan" and "Where the Red Fern Grows" and stuff like that.

It's the name of the game...

This week's sketch is actually a post-layout sketch because I saw how cool the layout was and had to post it as a sketch...
With this layout, I used Sassafras paper from the Anthem line and some miscellaneous paper from my scrap box as well as some corrugated papers. The chipboard is from Scenic Route, Heidi Swapp, Colorbok & Target.