Sketchabilities #82....

Good morning!  Here with the reveal of Sketchabilities Sketch #82............

Just LOVED working with this sketch!  I tweaked it a bit--something I allow myself to do in order to be truly comfortable with my work--by using three pics instead of four, changing the sizes, and having fun with the banner shapes.

I used my go-to products of recent:  patterned papers from Glitz Design and AC, doilies, a fave stamp from Gossamer Blue, awesome arrows from Sodalicious, and my new love--Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Gold Lame (Seriously, who could not love a product named Gold Lame??).

Please stop by Sketchabilities and see what the rest of the design team did with #82 and take a look at the featured designers for the last sketch.

Happy Scrapping!

Michelle

@ Twelve.....

Cannot possibly believe that I have a 12 year old.  It just seems so unreal to me that my little boy turned 12 on December 1st.  Where has all the time gone??  Next year he will be a teenager!!  Good thing I have a little over eleven months to get ready for that one....

Here's a page I scrapped celebrating Hayden's birthday......

I used Gossamer Blue's December kit which is full of bright, fun colors--perfect for a birthday page I think. 

I had originally chosen to use a color photo, but when matched up with the papers, I really thought it was too much color.  Changing it to black and white solved that issue and helped to draw the attention to it.

Tried my hand at embossing and learned some lessons: 

1.  Do not/be careful when embossing on patterned paper--sort of warps the page a bit (fixed this by laying something heavy on the page for awhile).

2.  No too sure if I like the Zing Silver Embossing Glitter.  It did not saturate the stamp as much as I had hoped and sort of stuck to places outside the stamp.  This could totally be from human error because I am a bit of a novice in this department or I might possibly need some new embossing ink. 

I also tried a new color--Black Velvet--from Heidi Swapp's Color Shine line and LOVED it.  It is an opaque black with some sparkle--perfect combo in my mind!

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas Eve!

Michelle

Sketch #81 From Sketchabilities.....

Good morning!  Here with the my first post for the new design team at Sketchabilities! 

For Sketch #81, which you can see here, Karan gave us a fantastic design to play with. 

When I saw the sketch for the first time last month I was really excited because, to me, it screamed Christmas.  The three triangles layered beneath  the photos obiviously read Christmas tree to me.  That was my first thought, so I found it ironic that when I sat down to do the layout I went all autumn and replaced the "tree" or triangles with chevrons!  LOL.  That is the fun thing about sketches--they are jumping off points and you can take them very literally and scrap the sketch as is or you can color outside the lines and use it as more of an inspiration piece.

So here's my take using pics of Maleia from autumn past.......

Please make sure to stop by Sketchabilities to see the rest of the team's take on Sketch #81 and make sure and link your project because you could be chosen by Karan to be one of the five featured designers for Sketch #81.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Michelle

The Hobbit......

I admit, I have a history of being a procrastinator, but I did not mean to wait so long to read Tolkien's The Hobbit.  I had planned on finishing it prior to the release of the movie, but I thought I had awhile.  Well I did not. 

So, with a gusto (yes, gusto is not really a cool word, but it is accurate), I began to read the book on my Nook and  I LOVED it. 

This is not the first time I have read The Hobbit, but I think I enjoyed it more this time around for sure.  And it was a fast read.  It was pretty non-stop.  I so loved returning to the world of hobbits, dwarves, elves, giant eagles, men who could turn into giant bears.....  Ah, Rivendell.....how I wish I could really go visit.

As I was reading this book I kept thinking, "How did they make 3 movies out of this??"  The book, my version, was only 239 pages, but as I went along I certainly saw how this could be done and am super excited to see all the action brought to life on the big screen.  Granted, I am a little bummed that the movies are so far apart with the second installment to be released December 2013 and the third July 2013, but I will deal :-).

Here's a little eye candy from the movie.....Okay, maybe Bilbo is not eye candy....LOL.

And look who is set to return to Middle Earth in the third installment.....

Technically, Legolas is not in the book, but thank you Peter Jackson and your talented writers for thinking there needed to be a little bridging between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings......

Happy 12.12.12.

Michelle

So Thankful 4 U....

I loved these set of pics taken of Maleia while at the apple orchard this past fall and I wanted to scrap a group of them together for a thankful layout to put in her album.  I had a sketch in mind from the Scraptastic Kit Club and this is what I came up with using their awesome November kit....

And a close up....

Each of my kiddos gives me something unique....with Maleia it is her bright, sunny attitude and her sense humor.  This girl can crack me up like no other :-).  I wanted to document these special qualities for her because they can take me out of a gloomy mood in seconds.  She is great medicine for me and I am so thankful for this.

Michelle

Beetlejuice......

I know, it is December and yet, I am sharing a Halloween page. LOL.  

My husband totally surprised me when he declared he was going to dress up as Beetlejuice this year.  Well, it was not a total surprise, since it is his favorite Halloween movie, but....usually it is just the kids in costume.  And I have to say he totally pulled it off and he did it with quite a lot of flair.

He's already thinking about next year too.  Yup, the next one will take a little planning and time considering he will have to grow a mustache and some side burns to play the part of Joe Dirt.......Super excited about that one.......
Happy Wednesday.

Michelle