S.W.A.T: Sketch with a twist-buttons

Just finished the most exciting Broncos game and am so excited to be returning to the Super Bowl! My oldest has been the biggest fan since he could speak and he is absolutely giddy...no other word to describe it. The last 2 times we were playing in the big game he was about 6 week and just over a year so he is ready to see one he can remember :)

This week there is a new sketch challenge on the S.W.A.T. blog. This is the second drill of the month and it is a sketch with the twist of using buttons. I had these fun pictures of my husband's grandpa who we love dearly. He is so funny and gives us much to laugh at when he is around. He is the only living grandparent for my husband and I and it is special for us to see the boys interact and enjoy relationship with him. I used up lots of stash for this layout. The black and white paper from Doodlebug has been in my possession for an extremely long time. I thought it paired well with the black, red and white buttons I have had for just as long. Add some washi, some sequins and a few other fun necessities and I like how it came together.

Here is the sketch I used and the one you will use if you choose to join us. There is a fabulous grouping of embellishments up for grabs and you would have great odds of winning! Come take a stab at it and join some fabulous ladies for some fun. Don't forget to use a button or many on your layout.

Have a super week.
Lisa

Practical Scrappers Card Sketch and Winner!

Hey there. Popping in on a Friday night after a very busy week. This actually went up on the Practical Scrappers blog this week and somehow it didn't get published for the right day here on my blog. I had that happen with another recent post and am trying to figure out if it is user error or something with blogger. (Probably the former but most certainly have to at least try to convince myself I'm not totally crazy and inept so...) I will share the other missing layout later this week with a big apology to my dear friend Melissa as I was a special guest designer for her and it didn't get linked here.

Anyway, here is the card I made for the Practical Scrappers blog. Christine Meyer, our fearless and very creative leader, has jumped into the world of sketch designing and I chose to use her example to base my card off of.

Here is Christine's sketch.

I also promised a winner for the blog hop from last weekend. That person is Iris. Iris, please email me with your address and I will get a fun scrappy stash in the mail. I have it boxed up and ready to go.

Lisa

Scrap Your Stash Blog Hop with Practical Scrappers

Woohoo! So excited to be part of a fun use your stash blog hop with Practical Scrappers today. If you are here after visiting Kerri's site, Welcome! If you just stopped in there are tons of amazing crafters with projects for you to see today and some of them even have prizes. I may even be one of those with a fun prize... you may have to read to the bottom to see :) Just sayin'. Let's get started

CHA is this weekend and that means the industry is putting out all kinds of fabulous new product.  So what better time to kick off our new monthly series of Scrapping our Stash! I don't about you but my craft room is full of stuff, great stuff but lots of stuff! The idea of working through what I have (to make room for the new stuff coming out, of course!) is so appealing to me and when I look through my tons of paper and embellies I still am in love with so many of the older lines. Today I am going to share a couple of pages I put together for my husband's parents album. I add pages from the year to an ongoing album that I have kept for them for the last 12 years.

The pictures on this first page were taken at the special anniversary dinner we had for our parents for their fiftieth anniversary. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful, loving relationship to look to and to pass on to our kids. I thought this old Basic Grey line, Little Black Dress went well with the theme with the gold accents it has. I used my Cricut and Teresa Collins Sophisticated cartridge to cut the title, the number  and the flourish. I covered each of these in Glossy Accents to give that raised, shiny look. 

The next page I did uses an old Little Yellow Bicycle line, Hello Fall. We took Dad on the Cog Rail train up to Pike's Peak for his seventieth birthday. He loves trains and was thrilled to go until he got to the top of the mountain and had some heart problems due to the altitude. The next train ride will definitely stay on lower ground! I found these little wooden fall accents in my stash but they were out of their container so I can't remember where they came from. Aren't they cute though?

So that is what I have to share for this month's Scrap Your Stash segment. Now for the prize. Since this is all about the stash, I have a goodie box filled with fun stuff from my own stash. I'll give you a few clues since I don't have a picture. There is a little washi, some fun wooden embellies, letters and a bit more. I promise it is all good stuff...no scrap crap here :) (I once went to a crop where they had scrap crap drawings all night long and some of it was OLD so I had to say it! It was fun though.) In order to qualify for my prize just leave me a comment and tell me if you have a huge scrap stash or if you are not one to hoard. I would love for you to pick one of the ways in the right hand column to follow my blog and let me know which way you do. That's it. Easy Peasy. I will draw a winner and let you know who was picked in one of my upcoming blog posts.

Kim Ryden is next on the list. If you want a full list check out the bottom of my post. And a special shout out to the big sponsor of today's hop: Kiwi Lane Designs! For information on how to win the big blog hop prize make sure you follow the directions on the Practical Scrappers website.

Lisa

Practical Scrappers Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers
Charissa Miller

Cathy Harper  

Jennifer Haggerty  

Christine Meyer

Kristina MacKeen

Erin Morehouse 

Nicole Laha 

Krissy Clark 

Wendi Robinson 

Lissa Mitchell 

Deborah Johnson  

Jessica Arrant 

Kerri Yarus

Lisa Peeples YOU ARE HERE!

Kim Ryden

Laura Cox

Kelly Jean

Lanette Erickson

Alison Day

Wendy Coffman

Michelle Johns

Lee-Anne Thornton

Marcia Dehn-Nix

Kelli Fortier

S.W.A.T Challenge: One Word for 2014- Choose

Hello friends. 2014 has started off fast for us. The boys are both back in school (well, one is home sick today so...) and classes have started out with lots of homework already. Nathan is a driving fool...okay don't take that literally. Hopefully he is using his wisdom and making good driving decisions right?? Anyway, he is off to the races and loving his freedom. His brother is liking it too. I guess it's cooler to be toted around by his sibling than his mother. I have taken advantage of it by having him run a few little errands for me. I know the newness will wear off and he will start complaining about running around for me so I'll take it while I have it.

I started last year with choosing one word that I would let be my word for the year instead of setting multiple goals. My word last year was connect. Having moved again it was something that I needed to do both physically with the new area around me, emotionally with the feelings I was having after all the changes the last few years, and spiritually as all the moving had made me a little numb, not gonna lie. I also needed to work through the feelings dealing with my nerve issues and the implant that would be taking place. I feel like connect was a good word for me last year and one that I can continue to embrace. This year I have chosen a new word. It is one that has been very big in my mind and one that I knew was my word but took awhile to embrace  because it requires a lot from me. My word for this year is Choose... as in choose my attitude and where it will take me. Life has definitely been full of ups and downs this last year. It has been very good in some respects and super hard in others. What I've found is that too often it is way too easy to let our circumstances dictate the emotions and responses I have...oftentimes for the worse. It is easy to wallow in hopelessness or disappointments and let those choose the next steps you take. I have found that, for me, I have to learn to make a determined effort to look beyond the moment and what's happening right then and choose to respond in a different way. I am going to work on setting my mind on things above (Col 3:2). Just a few verses down,
Colossians 3:12-14 sums up the choices I want to make perfectly. 12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. I have a choice. I can choose how I will face life... I can choose my attitude.

Lucky for me, the new January challenge on the S.W.A.T blog was to create a layout, art journal page or whatever would help you to document the one word you have for the year. I did this last year and loved the visual reminder of why I chose that word. I have more pages in mind to add to this over the year and will share them as they come. For today here is the layout that I created for the challenge.

Do you have a word for the year or a list of goals to attain. I would love for you to join us in our challenge. There is a $20 gift certificate to 2 Peas for the winner of this month's challenges. Now that is incentive!

Share with me your word or one specific goal in the comments below. I would love to hear what you are working on.
Lisa