Happy Birthday Noah!

Somehow, some way my oldest Grandson Noah turned 14 this week!  When he was born he was born 2 months early and weighed 3 lbs 6 oz!  He was quite healthy and was off the respirator in less than 24 hours.  But then on his 3rd day one of the NICU nurses (GOD BLESS HER!) noticed something wrong.  That led to surgery which took a 3" quarter size in diameter piece of his large intestine out because of a blockage!  If he hadn't been born when he was he would have either been stillborn or died shortly after full term birth!  God knew we needed this amazing little boy and He answered this Grandma's prayers which from the beginning were "In due time Lord"!  Then he got pneumonia and we almost lost him again.  But by the time he was 6 months old you would never have known anything had been wrong with him - except for the scar on his belly which we still call his Miracle Scar.

Now he's 14 and healthy as can be and just an amazing young man!  He loves video games and video editing so I made these signs and this card for his birthday.  The card is for my Scraplift challenge today at Creative Inspirations.  I lifted this card by Bev Code...

And created this card...  (Notice I made a mistake on his year?  Suppose that was my mind denying he's growing up so fast???  LOL!  So I made him another one and I'll take the top piece off of this one and replace it and have another card for something else.  LOL!) I used Kreaxions Punch #907 with Insert C for the corners and Insert A for the borders. 

So that meant I needed another card quick.  To go with the gaming theme I took a Silhouette print and cut file and created this card for him...  I printed the image on cardstock and then the Silhouette cut it out for me.  I stamped the sentiment and added some Crystal Lacquer to make the buttons stand out.

And here are the signs I made for him.  I have to admit that they're BOTH COPIED FROM PINTEREST!  But they were perfect!  For both I cut cardstock with the words I wanted and then used the cardstock as stencils for the signs.  And even more special, the wood came from our property. I painted this one...

And this one was done with Sharpie pens...

They were both a lot of fun to create and Noah LOVES them which is the best part of all. 

I hope these projects inspire you to create something soon!  Happy Crafting!

2 More Cards

It's been quite crazy here the past couple of weeks.  Life can really throw people curve balls at times.  I need a sympathy card for a friend whose father suddenly passed last week.  And then I had the leftover piece from the frame I cut out for that.  I took one look at it and the Stick It Down Blog challenge and voila!  I came up with a great card!  This is all I've done so far this month along with my Design Team projects for the Sketches In Thyme Blog (should be revealed towards the end of the month) and tomorrow's Creative Inspiration Thursday Scraplift Challenge which I'll reveal tomorrow. 

First up is the card I'm submitting for the Stick It Down blog's March Card Sketch. 

The sketch -

And my version (the inside sentiment is in the bottom picture). I printed the letters (Font is Castellar) and then cut them into rectangles.  I stamped the background and the flower (Heartfelt Creations) in the center.  (Ink is Ranger Distress Mini.)

And this is the sympathy card I made.  I cut the frame using a Silhouette cut file.  The inside sentiment is next to the front part.  I used Close To My Heart stamps with Ranger embossing innk and Stampendous embossing powder.

I hope these cards inspire you to use both the positive and negative parts of your machine and die cuts! Happy Crafting!

It's March!

Wow...  this year seems to be FLYING by!  I've been trying to play and thought I'd be having quite the time scrapping since I was home alone for 6 days.  But between keeping the wood stove going for heat and trying to stay warm, I really didn't do much at all.  However, I survived all the snow and ice with no issues all by myself!  I didn't go anywhere - too much snow for me to shovel our long driveway - so I just binged on Netflix and Amazon Prime.  LOL! 

But I finally got busy playing and here's what I've created so far...

First up is my challenge for the Creative Inspirations March 3 Saturday All Sorts category.  My challenge is to use stickers on your project.  This is my example page.  It's my Grandson Garrett a couple of years ago being his super cool, superstar self.

I've also made a few cards...  One I'll share later this month for another Creative Inspirations challenge.  The others are below...

I recently won a gift certificate from Heartfelt Creations and so I chose the Dogwood Flower stamp and die set.  I've had great fun playing with them!  I just die cut these and then inked the edges after I did some shaping of the flowers.  The punched pieces are leftovers from the card for the CI challenge...

I also recently discovered Ranger's Distress Crayons by Tim Holtz.  O M G!  So I combined the crayons and the Heartfelt Creations die and stamp set.  I was inspired by two videos.  One was a class on Scrapbook.com by Tim Holtz  showing how to use the Distress Crayons.  The other is a Heartfelt Creations video using the Flowering Dogwood set.  Here's the link to that video...  Heartfelt Creations Flowering Dogwood Tutorial Video

I hope you enjoyed these creations! 

Happy Scrapping!
 

More February Projects...

I'm finally getting around to sharing some of the other projects I created in February.  First up is my version of Sketches In Thyme's Sketch #314 by Shawn Lahr.  The picture is of my daughter and her youngest son being their silly selves.

Next up is my page for the Creative Inspiration Technique challenge to use scraps to make your background.  The pictures are of my parents' back yard in 2003.  My Dad is standing next to a small tree that my daughter had planted for Arbor Day about 17 years before.  He was so proud of that little tree! 

Next is a heritage page.  I'm so very blessed to have some really old pictures because my Grandfather was a photographer for the Army in WWI and WWII.  He also helped build the Panama Canal and he was on the crew that finished the Washington Monument.  Unfortunately, some of these fabulous pictures have no information on them.  This is one of the reasons I truly love scrapbooking!  My family's future generations will know as much as I can possibly share on my pages!  These are some of my Grandfather's relatives in West Virginia.

And another one with no information...

I hope you enjoyed these pages!  I am happy to be playing quite a bit more now than I have been able to for the past 2 years.  :)

Happy Scrapping!

And Still MORE Scrappy Goodness!

I'm still on that roll!  Oh it feels so good to be productively scrapping again!  :)  Here's a card I did for the Stick It Down February Card Sketch and for Danielle's "RED" challenge at the Creative Inspiration February Mini Crop

And this 2-page layout is based on the Stick It Down February 2 Page Sketch as well as Jackie's challenge to use intertwined hearts on your project at Creative Inspiration.  The pictures are of the flowers we received for my Mom's funeral in October 2014.

I had great fun with these two sketches! 

Happy Scrapping!

Finally Scrapping Again!

I think this last week I've scrapped more than I have since we moved to Alaska!  :)  I've had great fun with sketches and challenges.  I'm still designing for Creative Inspiration and for the Creative Inspiration Magazine too.  And I also design for Sketches In Thyme.  Being on the design teams has been good for me because I HAVE to make some projects for them.  But just this last week I've finally been able to play along with challenges too.

Stick It Down's blog had a cyber crop on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and I really had fun with their challenges!  I even won a prize!  Thanks so much!  So I'm going to start playing along with their sketches now too.  In fact, here's my submission for their February One Page Sketch -

It's a picture of my parents about a year before all the health issues started for them.  Married almost 68 years and madly in love until Mom died.  Daddy lasted about 14 months longer and then he passed as well.  Man I miss them so much!

I've also been playing along with the Creative Inspirations February Mini Crop and the Scrapbook Generation challenges on Facebook!  Here's what I've created so far...

This is from a sketch by Allison Davis at Scrapbook Generation.  And for a color challenge from Jules at Creative Inspirations.  I stamped and cut out all the flowers, eggs, words and grass!  The pics are of some of my cousins on Easter Day 1964.

This is for a challenge by Tracy at Creative Inspirations.  The picture is of some of my Mom's side of the family.  Don't really know who they are but I really like the picture.

This is for the February 12 layout sketch at Creative Inspirations.  It's a picture of my Mom's youngest sister and her youngest son.  I embossed the mats and inked them.  I drew the circles using the Kreaxions Circle Cutter with the pencil instead of the blade.  Then I went over them with pens.  :)

And finally just one for fun...

More of my Mom's relatives from West Virginia.  I like this picture and it goes really well with these elements.  :)

I really hope I can keep up my scrapping because I've truly missed it!  There's another cyber crop at Scrapbook Generation's Facebook page starting Friday the 23rd that I'm planning to play along with.  That's ALWAYS a LOT of fun!

So assuming that the cold weather up here doesn't freeze up our water system any more than it already is, I'll be spending the next week or so playing with my scrappy supplies!  Be sure to follow the links and check out all the fun!  There's still plenty of time to play along!

Happy Scrapping!

December Reveals!

OMG HOW in the WORLD did it suddenly become December 3rd???!!!  It's been an amazing and busy year here at the Alaskan Homestead.  And it's our second winter here too!  Thankfully so far this year we're having a much more normal winter instead of the temps in the teens and 20s with 6 feet of snow on the ground until March!  :)  We've had temps in the 30s and 40s with a dusting or two of snow and rain almost every day.  Good for the water tanks!  :)

So here's what's happening this month...First I want to share the Creative Inspirations Magazine.  This e-zine is chock full of designers from all over the world and I have several layouts and cards in it!  Plus a few of my new signs that I'm starting to sell!  I'm so completely honored!  :)  Here's the link - Creative Inspirations Magazine.

Next is the Creative Inspirations Forum 12 Days Of Christmas Mini Crop that's going on now.  These challenges are geared to be quick and simple and easy so you can get inspiration for your last minute projects.  Here's the link to that section of the forum - 12 Days of Christmas Mini Crop

My challenge for the 12 Days of Christmas Mini Crop is Day 4 - Emboss on Your Card.  Here's my example -

I chose dry embossing with an embossing folder, some Stickles (a favorite way to add bling) and some glitter paper.  (The background paper has gold foil in it.)  I sanded gently over the embossed section and added some Stickles and rhinestones.

Last but not least is my reveal of the December 4 Layout Sketch by Bev Code for Creative Inspirations.  Here's the sketch -

And here is my version of the lovely sketch.  I took an 11x14 canvas and used some Silhouette cut files to create a canvas.  The picture is of my Mom and Dad (now both in heaven) on Christmas Day in 2005.  I printed the photo on textured cardstock (Bazzill) and I added a few drops of Stickles and some brads and rhinestones and pen outlining to make different details stand out more.  This looks difficult but it was really easy because the Silhouette cut files did all the work!  All I had to do was adhere them to the canvas!

Come back again to the Creative Inspirations Forum or to my blog here for my December Mini Crop Challenge.  It starts December 15 and ends December 24 so you can finish those last minute projects!

I'll also have a reveal for the Sketches In Thyme blog sketch around December 25.  There's a new sketch every week and a new example daily from Sketches In Thyme.  And there's always a chance to win a prize there too!  Be sure to check it out and subscribe to their daily emails for inspiration!

I hope these challenges and sketches inspire you to create your own holiday creations!  And I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season!  We celebrate Christmas here so I always say Merry Christmas!  But I have friends who celebrate Hanukkah and others who celebrate other holidays this time of year.  So HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!  And Happy Scrapping!

Ginni