Hopping with OUAS!!

Welcome to Once Upon A..Sketch' s first birthday blog hop!  It is so exciting to have you here and we hope you are inspired along the way to join in the fun and get creative!!  You should have arrived here from Lene's blog, but if you haven't you need to go back to the beginning of the list below so you don't miss out.

(please note that due to time differences there could be some broken links..please check back later as the blogs will be updated asap) 

Once Upon A..Sketch blog 

Nadia Cannizzo 

Patti Hamil 

Irini Liolia 

Gerry Van Gent 

Mahlin Wiggur

Vicky Varvadouka 

Sandi Taloumis

Jeni O' Connor

Lene Neby 

Pamela Young

Larissa Albernaz

LG Belarmino 

Bente Fagerberg 

Natalie Elphinstone

Georgia Heald 

Jasmine Shea

Mai Kosugi 

Natalie May 

Heather Jacob 

and then back to Once Upon A...Sketch blog to leave your name on the list. 

Our new MONTHLY challenge has just been released! Each Design Team member has created their own  layout based on this sketch and journaling criteria and you need to follow the above list to see what they came up with. 

We would love to see what you create, so please link your project to back at the Once Upon A...Sketch blog. You DO NOT have to participate in the blog hop to enter this challenge. 

Here is this month's challenge....

April Challenge

 The theme of this challenge is HOME.  We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "HOME" however you like based on the following sketch. You can journal as little or as much as you like, but your layout must incorporate this theme  and this sketch. 

And here is my example...

I used some fabulous papers from Webster's Pages that I had on hand...not any of the newer stuff, but I am so eagerly awaiting all of it that I felt inspired to pull out what I had.  :)  And then the chipboard fence comes from Magistical Memories and the chipboard corner pieces come from Imaginarium Designs.  

Here are some close up's of my layout:

PRIZES

Our main sponsor of this blog hop is ....

 

Imaginarium Designs chipboard is donating this prize to one lucky winner of the blog hop.

This prize pack includes AUS$70.00 worth of chipboard PLUS inks PLUS Spray Mists PLUS free postage to anyone in the world. 

DETAILS

 ***In order to be entered for the main prize,you must be or become a follower AND comment on ALL blogs along the way and finally back at the Once Upon A...Sketch blog to tell us that you have left a comment for everyone.

***There will also be some other prizes along the way which our Design Team have kindly donated. To win these, you need only comment on and follow the blog which is giving the prize. The randomly chosen winners for these prizes will be announced at that Design Team member's blog.

This is the prize I am giving away....

That is one huge pile of 12 x 12 papers from BasicGrey, and then also some 6x6 pads and embellishments, also from BasicGrey.  

This is open to ANYONE that becomes or already IS a follower of my blog and leaves me a comment on this post.  (This is the standard set by the hop)

 The blog hop starts today, April 1st and finishes midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) April 5th with the MAIN PRIZE winner to be announced soon after the blog hop ends at the Once Upon A....Sketch blog and the other winners announced at the Design Team member blogs soon after the blog hop ends also. 

Thank you for visiting and taking part in our blog hop!

We hope you found some inspiration along the way.

Your next stop is the very talented Larissa!!!!  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a wonderful day!

Sharing a Fun Tip

Hi everyone!  Thanks for stopping by the blog today!  I wanted to share a quick tip with you.  I LOVE to use my scraps, but I especially love using my leftovers from punches!  They add such great design to cards and projects and it's a really easy addition since you already have it punched.  For example, here's a card I made using the gorgeous Beautiful Botanicals stamp set from Skipping Stones Design.

I started by stamping a row of flowers:

(Holy cow there's a lot of ink on that stamp...just ignore that!)

Then I laid over my flowers a piece of paper that I had punched circles out of.

As you can see, I added lace underneath that.  But I love how the flowers are just peeking through the holes.  I actually stamped a few more light flowers in spots that looked a little bare.

Then I added just a little more and my card was done!

Hope I have inspired you to use those punched scraps!  I really think it adds a unique fun design element to any project.

Have a wonderful day!

Construction of a Mini

Hi everyone!  Thanks for the advice on yesterday's post!  I know we've all been there.  I imagine that can be said for any hobby.

Today I wanted to share a small mini with you that I made.

Construction:

I love it when companies make those 12x12 papers with 4 6x6 designs on them!  I think they are perfect for mini albums.  We R Memory Keepers does that.  My album today uses their Down The Boardwalk collection.

First I started with one of those papers to make my inside pages.  I knew I wanted them to be smaller than the 6x6 and I really wanted to make them shaped.  I used the perfect beach day die cut as inspiration and template for my inside pages.

I took the die cut and place it over each design and drew my template for my pages.  I wanted to keep the inside uncut as it would be the middle of my mini, where the fold was.

Typically I would draw with a pencil and then erase, but since I was doing this for a tutorial I used the black sharpie to make it more visible.  However, I highly suggest you use pencil.  :)

So my paper ended up looking like this:

Then I cut it out.

Next I took another one of those fun papers with 4 different designs to make my cover.  I started by cutting it and using 2 designs for the cover and back, keeping them 6x6.  (But I later cut them down some).

Then I just ran it all through my sewing machine to create my book.  

I also knew I wanted to use that fantastic die cut in my mini too, so I adhered it down as the center of the album.  :)

So here's my mini:

Completed Album

After this point, it didn't take long to add my photos, journaling and embellishments.  Here's my completed album:

That lace serves two purposes.  It adds to the design of the album and it keeps the album shut.  So you just untie it to open the album.

What do you think?  It's actually a very simple mini album.  Surprisingly, I didn't have too many pictures from my cruise, so I used what I had.  It was one of the most relaxing things I have ever done!  I can't wait to go on my next cruise.  :)

Thanks for stopping in today!  I hope you have a terrific day!!!

SSD 121

Hi everyone!  Thanks for stopping by!  So I've been in this weird not-really-wanting-to-create mood lately.  Even though I feel like I am finally able to go up and down stairs and to sit and scrap, so I am ABLE to, I just don't feel like it.  Which is weird for me.  In the past when I have lost my mojo, I just power through it...I sit and create and before long my mojo is back.  So I suppose I just need to do that now, huh.  I think I am just in this weird phase, longing for my knee to be completely healed, longing to not have to deal with certain things, longing for summer, longing for change...you get the picture.

But I do have a card to share with you though.  I made it several weeks ago, before my surgery actually.  It uses the Spring Awakening collection from The ScrapCake (I still had bits and pieces of it left and wanted to use it) and the yet to be released Heartsong 2 from Skipping Stones Design.  Heartsong was so popular they had to add another one.  ;)  It will be available soon!

I used this week's sketch over at Skipping Stones:

The sketch was created by the fabulous Angi Barrs.  I hope you take the challenge and play along with us!  *You do NOT have to have Skipping Stones Design stamps to play along!*  Play along here. 

And you don't want to miss out on what the rest of the team did with this sketch, check those out here:

* Jennifer Ingle

* JoAnn Valderama

* Kandi Philips

* Karen Baker

* Katie Gehring

* Lindsay Amrhein

* Stephanie Mino

* Wendy Jordan

* Wendy Price

And our guests for the month, along with Angi:

* AJ Otto

* Amy Tsuruta

So, like I said, I hope you play along with us!  :)

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY EVERYONE!!!! 

Have a fantastic day!!!

And the Winner Is....

For my giveaway here...

the winner is...

Congrats Heidi!  Send me your address to pamelacy@msn.com and I will get this mailed out to you!  :)

And THANK YOU to EVERYONE for commenting and sharing!  You all rock!  I will have another giveaway soon!  :)

Have a wonderful day!

BasicGrey + PSA Essentials Blog Hop!

First, in case you missed it...
*  I have a giveaway up here.
*  I have a challenge with a prize up here.

Now on to the hop...

Yep!  BasicGrey and PSA Essentials have teamed up for a blog hop!  You should have come from  Layle Koncar, if not, why don't you join us and start at the beginning on the BasicGrey blog.

So I have a couple projects to share with you.  They both use the fabulous new Plumeria collection from BasicGrey and the Topiary stamp set from PSA Essentials.

First up...a layout:

I stamped a column with the circle foliage stamp, and then stamped the tea pot with the circle too.  That white background was actually cut on my Cameo (a Kerri Bradford design I stumbled upon).  And then I couldn't find a place to put the journaling, so took a risk and wrote it write on the photo.  But here's a tip.  First I laid some clear plastic (trash...packaging from scrapbook supplies) and wrote on it first to see if I liked how it looked.  :)

To be honest, this layout didn't turn our exactly as I had envisioned, but it's ok.

Here are some close up's:

And then I also did a card.

Here it is:

Well, what would a blog hop be without a prize?


GIVEAWAY, what is it?
* 2 Peel & Stick stamp sets & 1 PSA Stamper (MSRP - $55)
* 1 Plumeria & 1 Konnichiwa Basic Grey Paper Pack (MSRP $50)

There are lots of ways to get entered...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ok, now you hop to Angie Holden!  :)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Giveaway Time!! :)

I want to shout out a huge thank you to you all for hanging in there with me while I wasn't posting as much.  You rock!!  :)

So it's giveaway time...

Here's the giveaway up for grabs:

PLUS

Oh yeah...that is one of the fun Lucky 8 punches from We R Memory Keepers.  And the first picture is their Good Day Sunshine collection, including embellishments and stamps!


And here's how you can win: Leave me a comment on this blog post. :) It's as simple as that.

I will also offer extra chances to win by doing the following:

• If you are already a follower of my blog or have just become one, let me know. Just leave another comment on this blog post letting me know that you are a follower (old or new) and you will automatically be entered in for another chance at the giveaway.
• Share this giveaway on a blog, facebook, or another website. Leave me another comment on this blog post with a link to where you shared it and you will automatically be entered in for another chance at the giveaway.

Hope you are having a fantastic day!  :)  I will draw the winner and announce on Monday.  

Again, thanks for stopping in!

She's 3!

I can't believe it still, and she turned 3 at the end of last month.
And she acts much older too!  It's crazy really.

This year we had a couple birthdays that were kinda difficult because they came right after my surgery and we weren't able to do much.  But we still had cake and presents.  And at 3, I suppose that's all that matters, right?  :)

I created this layout using the Kissing Booth collection from BasicGrey:

The hearts are just hand cut.  I started with some older stamps from the Little Black Dress collection, but the rest of the product come from the Kissing Booth line.

Here are some close up's:

So over at 2 Peas right now, I am paying attention to this thread (on what blog readers do NOT like) and this thread (on what blog readers DO like).  I thought I would pass those along for other bloggers, but I am curious to know your thoughts too.  I do believe my word verification is off.  Or at least it should be.  Someone want to comment and let me know for sure?  (ETA: ugghh!  I don't know why word verification is still on.  I've turned it off a few times.  It's like Blogger takes over and says "that's not a good idea...she doesn't mean it" and changes it back!)

And are there any kind of posts or anything you would like to see more of my blog?  I really want to know!  Is there something about my blog that just bugs the heck out of you?  ;)  I guess I am taking the time to reflect on it and would love some feedback on how I am doing.  

And I hope to have a giveaway up for tomorrow. ;)  (Although, I admit, now I am questioning whether that is in fact a good thing...I thought readers LIKED giveaways, but it sounds like some don't...thoughts?)

Thanks so much for stopping in today and for your comments!!!  

Have a wonderful day!  :)