{{waiting on winter}}

Be careful what you wish for! My girl COULDN'T WAIT for it to snow... and now a blizzard may be dumped on our area next week; you know.. first day of spring?! ugh!  At least she's cute ;)

I used the March sketch at Stuck?! challenges:

Fingers crossed its a bust like the last few snow forecasts have been! :)

Have a great weekend!!

-Suzanne

{Frosty Friends}

I wanted something different to document the Blizzard of 2016.. I just LOVE this Wonderland collection by Pretty Paper Studio! I love the nontraditional color scheme, vintage icons, and all the little bits and pieces that coordinate. The papers, however, only come in 8x8. 

I thought the sketch challenge at The Scraproom Blog would go perfect with the sizes I had to work with! So I cut everything and adhered to a soft pink base:

These lovely people are my teacher friends (we all teach K-3); who decided to get together for a snowman making party with our kids. It was SO fun. And that's my awesome hubby who didn't want to miss his daughters (she's 2) first snowman. Also we needed the manpower (LOL!)

The candy dots added the perfect trio to the tag and flag element at the top.

How fun are those scripty titles?! So many would have worked here. I can't wait to use them all. That arrow is pointing to my very cold and unhappy daughter. Three feet was just too much snow to have fun for her (plus her mittens were wet within 5 minutes of building). 

Isn't that vintage snowman adorable? Love a trio of itty bitty emellishments to call it done ;)

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week!

{Artful Delight} First Snow

I can't believe we had a snow day and 2 2hr delays before Christmas due to snow! It was so exciting to watch my baby girl watch her first snowfall :)  I used the sketch at Stuck?!

 to make this layout using the December scrapbook kit at Artful Delight.

Loving that lil flair snowman!! Stay tuned for the January kit reveal.. you are going to LOVEEE it :)

Having a Ball!! :)

OH my, what a crazy 2 weeks it's been (as you'll see by last week's Project Life pages coming HOPEFULLY later this weekend!).. but this is the first I've had a chance to make something. And it's a traditional layout, even! 

I used this January sketch from Boys Rule Scrapbook kits:

and made a page of my boys (hubby and little brother) having a snowball fight on Christmas:

They were outside and I was in my sunroom, snapping pics - when they slammed the window with a snowball at me. I just LOVE how that pic turned out! :)

The hubby was smart (or not???) and was half protected on the cellar steps..

I used patterned papers from an old Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) Christmas stack. I'm loving USING what I've had for a while :) I embellished with this glittered snowflake diecut, chevron washi tape and a few blue gems.

I just wish it would SNOW again soon ;) I wouldn't complain about a 2 hour delay or snow day lol! Thank goodness it's the weekend! TGIF! :)

I'm sharing this layout at Paper Issues' "Say it Aint Cold Outside" link up :)

I'm also sharing this layout at Simon Says Stamp for their "washi" challenge and with Rochelle and her friends' challenges! So fun!

Rochelle - "baby it's cold outside" title or journaling

Kristie - use your stash - washi, glitter, chevrons

Brenda - use a sketch from Dec or Jan

Kerys - winter theme

Happy New Year!

A new year brings a new challenge {and format} to The Paper Variety! Be sure to stop by the blog today to see the exciting changes.

Our latest challenge is a COLOR challenge:

This challenge was a challenge for me!  It stretched me because I love color and patterened paper! I was so tempted to use a beautiful piece of red cardstock with white glittered snowflakes all over, when I heard Abby's voice in my head saying "a POP of color Suz!" So I tucked that paper away and went to town with black and white, adding a few red elements. And this is what I came up with:

These are the precious photos my sister-in-law sent us of their girls' Christmas photo shoot. Aren't our nieces "snow" pretty?? And they are just as sweet too. I knew these pics would be perfect for the black/white/pop of color challenge. It was really hard to keep the red to a minimum though!! :)

The black/white patterned paper is from My Minds Eye "Meadowlark" line, while the border strips and snowman are from Echo Park's "Wintertime" collection. I love mixing and matching my stash! :) Who knew?

You'll definitely want to play along - the prize is October Afternoon's "Farmhouse" collection! sponsored by The Paper Variety.

And guess what? You have TWO WEEKS to make a paper project. You can now link up your entries on our convenient "challenge" tab at the top of TPV. This will come in handy because over the next two weeks, you'll have DAILY posts our guest designer, inspiration for the challenges AND tutorials from our design team.

I'm sharing this layout at Paper Issues' "Say it Aint Cold Outside" link up :)

Have a great day!

Let it Snow (just kidding)!

I think I'm officially "over" snow.. but I was excited to scrap these snow pictures I took this winter! I found a cool challenge called "Project 12". You create 12 layouts, one for each month of the year.. what a great idea. And I love the 2 page sketches they provide.

I used my new Echo Park "Wintertime" collection -- love the accents of red, it went perfect without new snowblower. It got plenty of use in January!

(click to view larger)

I just love how it turned out!

Okay, now bring on spring :)

Winter joy :)

Nothing says "Winter Joy" like new pajamas - right?!

I used the current sketch at Sweet Peach Crop Shop for this page.

These are my cousin's little cuties - Gabe sporting Toy Story's Buzz and Woody pjs and Lucy decked out in Tinkerbell ;)

I just love how it turned out! The colors are not traditional but compliment the pictures so well.

I substituted the tags in the sketch with a bracket journal box and some deco squares :)

I paired this layout with another one featuring a few "outtakes".... after all getting these two to sit together for a picture took A LOT of bribing hehehe. I used a sketch from The Scrappiest for this one.

Again, I substituted the tag for a bracket journal box. Love the scalloped die cut paper!

Here is how the pages look together :)

I'm also linking them at Sketches in Thyme for their open sketch challenge.

Thanks for looking! Hope you're having a great week.

*snow* not ferocious!

I couldn't wait to play with this latest sketch from Sketchy Thursday.

I used some sweet pictures of my puppy Jax and his Christmas toy - the Abominable Snowman from Rudolph! He was so protective of it.

(click to view larger)

I mostly used Bo Bunny's Midnight Frost collection. So pretty!

I'm also entering this layout into a a few "snow" challenges. 

Speaking of which, you still have until noon Tuesday to enter The Paper Variety's snowflake challenge. And if you just miss it, stay tuned for the next challenge posted Wednesday :)

And with any luck, there is snow headed my way tomorrow!

SnC Blog Hop! :)

Good morning!! Welcome to the Scrappin-n-Chattin blog hop! SnC is a friendly, yahoo group with endless inspiration and wonderful friendships. This is your last stop on the hop, so if you are coming from Kim's blog you are on the right track. If not, head to our hostess Abby's blog and start from the beginning.

If you are a regular of my blog, you know one of my favorite things is my cricut ;) I recently bought a new cartridge Winter Frolic and will be showcasing it for you today.

The first thing I made was a 2 page layout of one (yes we had more than one! lol) of the blizzards that hit the east coast last winter. I created a winter scene on the first page of my layout (which by the way is one of our challenges this month at SnC!) by cutting out the snowy hills using my fit to page button. I added the north pole sign and little boy sledding using the layers features.

This cartridge has great borders!! I used this tree border on my journal box. I love dressing up my cricut cuts with embossing.

The titles sold me on this cartridge! They are so intricate and include a variety for both the holiday season and winter. They also have a layer which allows you to use 2 colors. I embossed this one too ;)

Here's my finished layout!

I also made a card using my new cartridge, as part of our everyday holiday card challenge this month. 30 holiday cards, 30 days, BIG prize :) I cut this little mouse and his present at 3 1/2" inches. I added a google eye for personality!

I cut another one of these great phrases for my inside sentiment. The bottom is a pocket for a gift card.

Don't you love this cart! As much as I would love to give one away to you, how about the next best thing? I'm offering 5 cuts from Winter Frolic for your own holiday layouts and cards. Just become a follower and leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday product line :) I need to add some to my wishlist if I'm going to keep using this cart!!

Now, since this your last stop on the blog hop - you need to collect your final word - SCRAPPERS! Email the phrase to Abby at tabbray@gmail.com before Sunday at midnight to be eligible for the grand prize. All winners will be announced Monday morning.

Thanks so much for hopping along! I hope you enjoyed seeing our favorite things. Good luck in the blog candy and grand prize drawings. This is just a small taste of the fun we have at Scrappin-n-Chattin... I hope you consider joining us :)

Scrap That Poetry!

It feels good to be scrappin' again after 3 days of not being able to sit at my desk. Why? Because this innocent little face decided to race me down the stairs on Wednesday morning. I won, at the expense of a broken foot in 2 places. I went to step over him and missed the following step, planting down hard 3 steps down.

Luckily, it wasn't as bad as they originally thought and I am in a walking shoe and using crutches for the next 4 weeks or so. While couch bound with my foot elevated the last 72 hours, I was able to surf my favorite blogs and plan out a few layouts.

After having fun with the Scrap That Poetry! blog hop, I used their current Challenge #8 poem - Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. I played with my new SEI Winter Song kit. I love the glittery patterned papers. All of the red accents (including alphas) are felt! So pretty.

The black frame is cut from the Winter Bliss collection at SVGcuts.com. I highly recommend their products if you are using Sure Cuts A Lot!

I used part of the negative that cut from the frame on the bottom of the following page. The border on the right is raised in felt, too. I'm not diggin' the rub ons, but I was committed when I started putting them on. Maybe not great to use on black? I don't use rub ons very often so if you have any tips and tricks, I would love to hear.

Here is how they look together.