Owl Be Home For Christmas Blog Hop!

Hello Friends!  Welcome to the Owl Be Home For Christmas Blog Hop!! 

We are so happy you are here! 

Please be sure to start at the beginning at Heather Lynn's blog: 

Random Recipes, Paper Crafts, and Photos by HL  

so you don't miss out on a thing! 

 We have all made some super cute owl themed projects to share with you today.

You will not only get some inspiration ~ but you could win prizes, too!

Heather Lynn is offering one hopper a really fun prize. 

You must FOLLOW and COMMENT

at all of the stops to have a chance to win the Grand Prize! 

There will be lots of other candy offered along the way, 

please take your time and visit all of the blogs.

You have all weekend to do so. 

Please be sure to let us know at the last stop (at Pinque Peacock) that you followed the rules to be included in the random drawing for the Grand Prize!

 Heather always gives us free reign on our projects as long as it follows the hop theme and incorporates owls in some way.
I decided to make some ornaments:

These were so fun and easy to make and I just love how they dress up my little tree:

I hope you enjoy the hop and all of the gorgeous projects.

Here is the wonderful line up we have for you this weekend:

1. Heather

2. Teresa

3. Jenn

4. Jessica

5. Ashley

6. Lisa

7. Melissa (You Are Here)

8. An'Jenic

9. Cindy

10. Julie

11. Joe

12. Christina

13. Janet

14. Paula

15. Tara

16. Heather

17. Norma

18. Pinque Peacock

Thanks so much for joining us!! We really appreciate each and everyone of you!
From my home to yours ~ Happy Holidays.

Sketches In Thyme #97

A new sketch is up today at Sketches In Thyme!

Isn't it fun?

I chose to shrink it down into a one-pager:

Paper is from the Paper Loft collection "Easy Breezy".

And some fun little bits from American Crafts and Pink Paislee.

We'd love to see your take on this awesome sketch.

Don't forget, there's a prize up for grabs this month for one lucky participant!

Kids' Christmas Cards

This week at Party Time Tuesdays we're looking for your child-themed holiday cards.

Mine's more for a tween/teen than a little one.

Some pretty paper, a little ribbon, and voilà!

It's a loose interpretation of a card I saw on Pinterest, I love the way it turned out!

We'd love to see yours! Link up here.

Sketches In Thyme - New Sketch Is Up!

Hello, Thursday!

I'm so excited to share the latest sketch from Sketches In Thyme with you.

The super fabulous sketch #95:

Say "bee". Like, say cheese. Get it? (I had title block. Does that happen to you?)

{I just noticed that I forgot to "outline" the inside of the "b". All fixed now. Oops!}

Pull-out tag for journaling:

Which is funny since my handwriting actually isn't hideous on this:

I'm pretty sure Duke wanted to eat her. Oh how we miss that goofy boy.

Won't you join us?

Link up your take on the sketch on the Sketches In Thyme blog

and be entered to win this:

Products Used:

Lily Bee Design {Stationary Linen}

The Paper Loft {Gentler Times - Party Line}

Webster's Pages {Palm Beach Girl}

American Crafts chipboard {Dear Lizzy Neapolitan}

Freckled Fawn {Grey Dot Washi Tape}

Queen & Company {Black & White Twine}

Journaling Tag from K&Company {Smash}

December Daily - the bones

I was intrigued last December by so many people's December Dailies that I promised myself I would try it this year.

Oh the visions I had!

 All of the cute pockets of goodies and photos.

I will get one of those gorgeous little Sn@p binders and fill it full of our holiday traditions and escapades!

It would be so easy to keep up with!

I mean, if they can do then surely I could do it, too.

Right?

Wrong.

I couldn't even get the darn thing assembled by December 1st.

And we don't even do that much stuff in December,

I would have an album full of fluff.

Or "what we had for dinner".

Or a bunch of staged, fake photos of the kids and more likely -

our poor dogs in Santa hats and elf hats drinking the water out of the Christmas tree.

So, I'm not doing a December Daily. But I sort of am.

It will be a fun little album of all our traditions and escapades,

but it won't document every single day.

I found this adorable burlap chipboard album (Little Yellow Bicycle)

at Michael's for THREE DOLLARS. Um, hello?

It's 6x6 and has 6 inside pages.

I just received an awesome kraft envelope for winning a layout challenge,

so I punched some holes to use it as a "page" also.

Some acetate pages and vellum envelopes will also find their way in soon.

The paper? October Afternoon's Make It Merry. *swoon*

I love it. LOVE. It's so whimsical and perfect.

More bits and pieces from the OA collection . . .

What's an album without washi? A boring one if you ask me.

And stamps!

I won't bore you with the ink, paint, ribbons, and alpha stickers.

Mainly because I haven't picked them all out yet.

I have been taking plenty of photos for it, though!

Here are a few that are just waiting for a prime spot in the album:

Is there anyone out there who is a little like me?

Is your "December Daily" more of a

 "This Is What We Did In December And A Little Bit Of November And Maybe Even January"?

Since that title is so long and would never fit on a 6x6 album,

I shall call it instead the "Holiday Hustle".

Because it's funny. 

And everyone could use more funny.

All {Bundled} Up

It's Anything Goes this week at Party Time Tuesdays!

The Party Planners have a definite winter theme going on this week

with adorable images from Digital Delights and Crafty Sentiments.

My image is Snowman's Gift from Crafty Sentiments.

Isn't he the cutest?!

I colored him with Tombow markers that I got from my friend Teresa,

cut him out with a die from Spellbinders Blossom Tags & Accents set

and placed him on the "B" side of some Martha Stewart Christmas paper.

I love the bright blue color of the marker,

 so I decided to use the same color as the card base

and luckily found a few Prima gems in my stash that matched perfectly.

The All {Bundled} Up sentiment is from one of those $1 bin sets at Michael's.

Please join us with your "anything" creation!

Click here to read the rules, see the amazing design team work, and for info on our wonderful sponsors.

Sketches In Thyme #94

I hope each and every one of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving.

Well, if you celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving.

If you don't, I hope you had a fabulous day anyway!

Now let's get down to business...

A new sketch from Sketches In Thyme!

It's a 2-pager, but you're more than welcome to turn it into a single page like I did:

I really didn't do much here, I let the sketch and the paper do all of the talking.

The title is a fun mix of Echo Park alpha stickers,

an ancient sticker from EK Success, and a rub-on from Luxe Designs: 

I love this quote and have no idea who it's from.

It's part of a sheet of vellum stickers that my awesome Mom sent to me a long time ago.

The cute confetti was made with my EK Success swiss cheese edger punch:

 And one of my favorite tricks for turning a single photo into two,

cut it in half and mat both pieces:

I hope you'll use this sketch and share it with us over at Sketches In Thyme.

Don't forget to stop by to see the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Mavens!

Paper Used:

Jillibean Soup {Christmas Eve Chowder} Dried Green Onion

Jillibean Soup {Christmas Eve Chowder} Frozen Shrimp

Doodlebug Design {Petite Prints} Bon Bon Dot-Grid

Christmas Cards!

Has this been the longest week ever or what?!

Yay for Friday.

I have some Christmas cards to share today, 

the first is using Kimber McGray's Saturday sketch from Two Peas In a Bucket:

My Mind's Eye "Merry"

A couple of clean and simple cards using up my stash of holiday papers:

'Tis The Season- A Christmas Story by Reminisce 

'Tis The Season- A Christmas Story by Reminisce

 And this super fun card using washi tape:

Recollections Tape

(I can't take credit for the idea, of course I saw it on Pinterest!)

I'll be making a whole lot more this weekend.

Do you make your holiday cards or do you buy them?

Thanks for stopping by,

I hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Seriously FAB

Ready for another Gallery Inspired layout?

This time I got to lift from a friend.

If you've never tried to replicate a friend's work, I wouldn't recommend it.

Talk about intimidating!

Click Here to see Mad's gorgeous layout.

And here's my interpretation of it:

I've had a few people ask how I do those circles.

I didn't invent it, I've seen it around.

Most people use toilet paper or paper towel rolls.

I use the one from the aluminum foil because it's smaller and thicker:

You should try it, it's very fun.

*sigh* Hambly, you are missed.

Love these mini overlays:

Products Used:

Bazzill Basics Paper {Antique Micro Dot}

Hambly Screen Prints {Up Up & Away}

Webster's Pages {All About Me - My Story}

American Crafts Amy Tangerine {Come Together}

Jillibean Soup {Pasta Fagioli - Clove Fresh Garlic}

Simple Stories {Fabulous}

Hambly Screen Prints {Mini Overlays}

Pink Paislee {Porfolio Ephemera}

Simple Stories {Sn@p Studio 3x4 Snappy Sayings}

October Afternoon Mesh Tape {Witch Hazel}

American Crafts Dear Lizzy chipboard {Neapolitan}

Authentique {Delightful Details}

Mister Huey's Color Mists {Calico White}

Jillibean Soup Labels {Card Sentiments}

Echo Park Dots & Stripes Christmas {Alpha Stickers}

This Makes Me Happy

I'm here to share my first layout as part of the wonderful team of Mavens

at Sketches In Thyme.

The sketch this week is SO MUCH FUN

and you'll be blown away with what the team has done with it.

Without further ado, the fabulous sketch:

Here's mine:

"In a perfect world every girl would have a daddy like you."
Photographs courtesy of Mary Littlejohn Photography.

For the title I used some ancient stickers and a Sn@p Card from Simple Stories.

Of course I cut it up. It's just what I do. 

The white background paper (Sationary Linen from Lily Bee) seemed a little too stark so I got out some Smooch ink and flicked it all over the place.

And the swirls are just doodles.

Don't be afraid to get that pen out! It's only paper after all.

Other products used:

Antique Micro Dot paper {Bazzill}

Love Bird paper {Studio Calico}

Portfolio Collection {Pink Paislee}

Laced with Grace papers {Glitz Design}

Witch Hazel Mesh Tape {October Afternoon}

Sketched Grey Dot Washi Tape {Freckled Fawn}

Miscellaneous pearls and gems {Prima}

B&W flowers {Making Memories}

We'd love LOVE for you to play along!

In fact, we're so excited to see what you create that S.I.T. is giving one lucky winner

this gorgeous 6x6 Harvest Lane paper pack from Simple Stories:

*Stop by Sketches In Thyme and link up your project by November 30th!

Pink for Boys

Thank you for the all of the congrats and well wishes!

I can't wait to start sharing my interpretations of Sketches In Thyme's gorgeous sketches.

Yesterday I mentioned the Bubblegum pink Thickers that have been collecting dust. 

They just didn't work for me on that cute girly layout, so I used them on this one instead:

Pink for boys?! Sure. And butterflies and hearts, too!

Don't limit yourself when you scrap, there are NO RULES.

Well, there are some rules.

Like not bleeding on your paper.

Or rubbing your eyes after playing with glitter.

I used chalk ink with my beloved arrow template from The Crafter's Workshop.

The effect is so cool, it almost looks like spray paint.

I love my boys, and I love using up all these scraps!

Scraps! (and an announcement)

I know what you're thinking ... 

"Where has this girl been?"

(Humor me.)

I've been playing with scraps. Lots and lots of scraps.

It's disgraceful, really, what I've let my scrap box turn into . . . 

All the little bits and pieces that I love so much (or not so much)

that I just can't seem to part with get thrown into that box.

When I couldn't close it anymore I knew I had to do something about it.

Inspired by too many bloggers to name (because if I forgot one I'd feel like a tool)

I got to work separating my scraps into usable kits.

I wanted to really challenge myself to use this stuff up so I made some rules:

 The only other paper I'm allowed to use is 12x12 for the layout base.

But it has to be old paper.

That paper that's been sitting in my Cropper Hopper for 3 years. Or more.

No new stuff. None.

Here's the first "kit" - 

So far I've made a few cards . . .

Saturday Sketch by Kimber at Two Peas in a Bucket.

And this layout:

Making good use of all those scraps . . . 

And the packs of embellishments that were collecting dust . . .

I must admit, I cheated already.

I really, really wanted to use the bubblegum pink Thickers that have been sitting in my stash, but the color was wrong, wrong, wrong.

So I dipped into my jar of glittery hot pink chipboard for the title.

I'm not beating myself up about it becasue they certainly aren't new AND

I used those bubblegum pink Thickers on an equally fabulous layout that I'll share with you tomorrow.

-----------------------------

Oh, oh! And the special announcement part?

This girl got picked by Sketches In Thyme to join their fabulous team of Mavens!