Good News

I was pretty happy to discover that one of my scrapbooking layouts was chosen as the first pick of the week at the new Scrapbook Challenges site. Here’s the page. Click on the image to see it at a larger size.

The stashometer rating is 38%. Nice to use some of the stuff that’s been hanging around for a while. I also used a Sketch Inspiration sketch.

And here is the award.

I’ve also put it in the sidebar. I’m insanely excited by it.

Fangy Family

Last year I took the boys to a Halloween photo shoot and came away with some pretty cute photos that I had to scrapbook. I was a vampire and the boys were my bats. Click on any of the images to see them larger.

I used some of my prize winnings for the cut-up pieces of paper, but I did use another paper from my stash. The stashometer rating is 19%.

United

Scrapbook Challenges has a new website and a new blog hop. Prizes are available to participants, so please check it out.

The sketch for this hop has a two-page version, and that’s the one I chose to do.

And here is my version (please click to see more detail).

With some sketches, I know right away what I want to do. This one was a bit more challenging to me. I’ve had these photos for a while and might even have scrapbooked one or two of them before. But they turned out to be a good choice for this sketch.

The stashometer rating is 22%.

Go check out the new Scrapbook Challenges site and try your hand at a few challenges. Fun.

Happy to Be Essie

I’m not back to normal yet, but I have some hopes that day may come. I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping and I suspect that will continue tomorrow.

I haven’t been up to doing any scrapbooking, but here’s a page I did a while ago. Click on the image to enlarge it. I used a sketch from Sketch Inspiration.

No stashometer rating on this one. I did use some products I picked up on my visit to Minnesota. So that was fun.

Christmas Wish

Sick today but wanted to post a layout anyway. Click the image to enlarge it.

I really love this patterned paper and will have to use it for another layout sometime.

Hope your holiday was fantastic!

Is It Christmastime Already?

It’s so strange to think of scrapbooking for Christmas when I’m still working on Halloween layouts. But I took a break to put together this page.

I am a saver. (This sounds much better than “hoarder”–don’t you think?) I have saved cards from when I was 10, which was (I confess) more than a little while ago. So I decided I needed to get some of my cards out of a box and onto a scrapbook page. This page features some old Christmas cards. I didn’t really use a sketch, but I got the pocket idea from a layout on Two Peas. Wish I could remember what one, but I didn’t mark it. I’m sure I’ll use it again, though, because I really like the look and the way multiple items can fit on one space.

No stashometer rating on this layout, but I enjoyed making it anyway.

Becoming a Vampire

This page has been in progress for a while. I finished it this weekend by adding the black trim at the top.

This year I was a vampire for Halloween. My sister helped me create a vampiric hairdo, and I think she did a great job. Click on the image to see it bigger.

Halloween Decor

I love Halloweeen. I took a bunch of photos and I think they are helping me get over my scrapper’s block. At least for the moment.

I really wanted to use some of my new stuff, so that’s where the patterned paper came in. I also used a piece of patterned paper from the stash, so I have a stashometer rating of 18%. For the design, I used a sketch from Sketch Inspiration.

I’ve got lots more Halloween photos, so I’m happy to have more fun pics to work with.

Bottomless Box

Life has been crazy as usual lately, but one fabulous thing happened this month: I was one of the winners of Creating Keepsakes‘ October “Latest and Greatest” blog contest. I was first surprised that I won; then, when I received the box, I was beyond surprised by everything it contained.

Loving this patterned paper and the adhesive pockets; plus the other stuff is cool.

Really looking forward to using the book-themed papers.

I adore using mini alphabets on my pages. Love them to pieces.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I promised myself I would not buy any new Halloween products this year. Thanks to this box, I kept my promise . . . and still got fun new stuff.

Many thanks to Creating Keepsakes for the contest. I am truly grateful! I’m keeping the products close at hand so I can use them.

Vacation Tales

I am so ready for a vacation. This is a bit sad, because I just had one! I visited my friend Mary Elizabeth last month, and we spent a hectic few days going shopping, attending plays, getting our pictures taken, watching true crime, eating out, and doing lots of talking.

I loved it.

Mary and I have been friends since we met at grad school in 1994. We survived our MA experience and graduated in 1996. Since then, we’ve only seen each other a handful of times, but we’ve stayed in touch first with letters, then e-mails. We aren’t always the promptest correspondents, but that hasn’t diminished the bond.

One of our traditions has always been to take pictures of ourselves in a photo booth when we can find one. They aren’t always easy to find. This time around it was no hardship, but I’ve already shared how the one we found had a broken camera adjuster. I finally downloaded the video of the moment, and it’s still pretty funny.

Even if we are the only ones to think so, that’s OK.

We saw two plays—Much Ado about Nothing and Hairspray—and ate lots of yummy meals. Mary Elizabeth humored me by dressing in period costume and posing for photos. I also loved seeing her house and am trying to figure out how to get my own house in the country.

Really, there’s nothing better than spending time with a good friend. Especially a friend who also enjoys watching true crime.