Playing with Love and Simple Stories

Happy Friday everyone (just barely, but still Friday nonetheless)!!!! This "back to school" time is really "kicking my butt"!!!! I have been sooo very tired lately but am still managing to get in some (well needed) scrap time :-)

Last month, I was lucky enough to win a few challenges through various scrapbooking sites and received some pretty GREAT scrapbooking items!! One of them was a kit by "Simple Stories" called Summer Fresh.  LOVE IT!!!! I was able to create some beautiful layouts for my September challenges over at Colorful Creations and Sketchers. 

The first page is for the Design Team Reveal over at Sketchers on Saturday.  Sheshe created this beautiful sketch for us to work with...

And here is my creation...

What did I tell you?!?!  Isn't this line just wonderful?!?! Everything on this page was included with the kit... Papers, die-cut stickers, "denim" numbers, quote stockers, EVERYTHING!!!!! I had sooo much fun working with both this kit AND this sketch!!! And I have to say that I am very pleased with the end result :-)

My next layout was created for both my September Project Challenge at Colorful Creations, but following a sketch from Sketch Inspiration.  I think I became addicted to working with sketches from the first time I finished one!!!! Any who, here is the sketch...

And another bright and "summery" page from the Summer Fresh line!

Again, everything you see here is from the same kit.  

For the month of September, I decided to work on pinwheels for my challenge.  I've been seeing them more and more on pages, cards, weddings, etc.  They have a very appealing look and are very versatile since YOU are choosing the paper that makes them!!!! I wanted to "go big" on this one to fit with the theme of the page, however most pages tend to have them much smaller.  This is a picture of my oldest daughter at a friend's birthday party earlier this year.  She swears she "loves" cupcakes, but really she just loves to lick all the frosting off of them and throw the cake away! 

And last, but certainly not least, I bring you card I made with love.  No, really.  I used a stamp from Tim Holtz that says "LOVE"!!!!! And it's AMAZING!!!! My husband was in desperate need of a "pick me up" so I decided to make him an inspirational card.  He truly is a wonderful man, and I wanted to remind him of just how important he is to me! (I know... blah, blah, blah...) This card is for my September Card Challenge, also held at Colorful Creations.  Stop in and check it out!!!

I started with a standard 5x7 card base with tan cardstock, then dressed it up a bit.   I had some tan vintage paper in my scrap pile that I used as the background here.  I also found some red Co'ordinations distress paper by Tim Holtz in my pile that I embossed and sanded, to give the card some texture.  When that was finished, I used my brayer to add a thin coat of medium over the raised areas, then added some Perfect Pearls to give the card an "ever so light" shimmer.

The "vintage white" paper is also from Co'ordinations, and is from their "Whitewash" line of core papers. I added some atop of the red paper, inking the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye.  Then I embossed another piece with a Tim Holtz Sizzix "Frame" embossing folder, and used my hobby knife to cut around it.  The stamp is also from Tim Holtz (I swear I did not do this on purpose but Tim Holtz pretty much owns this card!!!) and comes inside the same frame you see embossed here.  I topped it off with some swirls and pearls and a few inspirational words on the inside!!!! What do you think?!?

And here is a side view so you can see the dimensions!!!

Well, as usual gang... Thanks for stopping in and have a LUCKY day :-)