Doing some catchup...

Seriously. How can life get so crazy, busy? Having 2 teenage sons, working full-time, being a mom, oh yeah, & being a wife...guess that's how life gets so crazy, busy!!! So I am REALLY enjoying being on vacation this week...not on some fabulous getaway vacation...(maybe someday!!!) but on a vacation from the J-O-B!!! I am getting lots of things caught up @ home...the things that get neglected during sports seasons, or when I'd rather be scrappin' than doing that OTHER stuff! LOL!

& yes, I am doing some creative stuff too! So thought I would share a few of my recent projects! The first project was one of those that I have been wanting to try for quite some time...making a layered paper flower! The inspiration came from a blog entry at http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/. The quick tutorial made it seem pretty simple. Plus, I wanted to create a flower for a challenge at http://www.vintageplum.com/ and I wanted to create a card for the St. Patrick's Day challenge at http://www.funfrilled.blogspot.com/. So this project knocked out several things at once! LOVE that!

This didn't EXACTLY fit the challenge at Fun Frilled...but I did stay with the GREEN theme...but I really needed a birthday card to send to someone special!!!

And here's a closeup of the flower...love how it turned out!

I have also been busy creating layouts inspired by several sketch sites...I LOVE working with sketches! They make it super easy to get to the fun stuff...playing with papers & embellies! One of my favorite sketch sites is http://www.52sketches52weeks.com/. Their weekly sketches are amazing, plus you get a chance at some great prizes!!!! Everyone loves scrappy goodies, right??? Here are 2 layouts that I created for Joel's school scrapbook...I am really trying hard to get it caught up before he graduates from the 8th grade in May! Almost done with his 6th grade year, so I think it's possible!

This is based on Sketch #9 at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks:

And this is Sketch #10...I really like how clean & simple this is! Love to keep the focus on the photos!

and here's another card...I am really enjoying card making...I am definitely a newbie card maker...but have been inspired by http://www.funfrilled.blogspot.com/. This week the challenge is to create card for Spring...what makes me think of Spring??? Butterflies! & pastel colors! I used my favorite Fiskars Threading Water border punch, some nifty machine stitching, some inking, & some really cute chipboard butterflies from Creating Keepsakes KOTM "Mix It Up" (plus a little Stickles to make them sparkle!) The tag is by K & Co. and the ribbon is Martha Stewart.

And here's a closeup of one of the sparkly butterflies!

How about a couple more layouts??? This next project was created using a sketch at http://www.dixiepieces.com/. Again, another layout for Joel's album...& yes, it is sports related as well! But now we are into track season of his 6th grade year!

The last layout I am sharing today is inspired by a sketch found at http://www.thescrappiest.blogspot.com/. She is hosting a yummy Pink Paislee giveaway and all you have to do is create a layout using a past sketch! Easy peasy!!!

Wow! That's quite a post for me! Had so much to share! & for those of you that check in on me every now & then, I haven't forgotten about Project 365...it really is one of my all time favorite projects! I am still taking photos everyday...(maybe not journaling everyday) and I just ordered pictures again of the past 2 weeks...so I am staying caught up! Just is impossible for me to post Project 365 to my blog...maybe if I didn't work full-time outside of the home??? I really do have plans of sharing more of my 365 photos...really...