Vacation and a Card for a Past Challenge

Happy Monday everyone!! Today is kind of a dreary day here but the weather is not hot or humid so I will take it!!!

Today I am posting a few things. First, a card I created for "Freshly Made Sketches #298." I was hoping to have time to post it before we went on vacation last week but never got the chance to edit it.

I used PaperTrey Ink's "Butterfly Hope" stamp set which has sat in my NBUS pile for a long time. I needed to send some encouragement cards and this set was perfect. I also created a matching envelope while I had everything out.

Here is the sketch:

I used Altenew Dye ink cubes and  Memento Ink in "Tuxedo Black" to stamp my images.

I didn't have a piece of blue paper to match the blue in the butterfly so I did some ink blending on a piece of white card stock, stamped the sentiment in black and die cut it using a My Favorite Things "Pierced Square Stax" die.

To finish off the outside of my card, I added some sequins and black jewels randomly around the card.

I also stamped the inside of the card with a matching butterfly.

Just an FYI, the white panel looks wonky in this photo. I had not stuck it down inside the card yet and it drifted a bit to the right.

This ends the post part with the card. Now onto vacation photos!!

Last week we went rented a house in Rhode Island. My father and stepmother stayed with us and my sister and family rented a different house a couple streets away. Charlotte had a BLAST seeing her cousins every day.

The weather was PERFECT the whole week and the water was not as cold as I thought it would be. The first night I was able to take a few photos of the sunset as we walked along the beach after dinner.

Unfortunately that was the only night I was able to take as we were either eating or making dinner at that time all the other nights. I also did not get up for a sunrise either. Our house was on the main drag and every night people were loudly walking home from the bars at closing time. I am a light sleeper so that was not fun for me. Wound up sleeping in way too much!!

The last day we had a little photo shoot with the family.

This is my father, my stepmother, Charlotte and three of her cousins that were there.

This is me with my father and sister, Jen.

My sister was even able to get a half way decent photo of the three of us. Why I wore those darn sneakers, though, is beyond me!!

Well that is all for today. I appreciate you stopping by!!

(Affiliate Links are used when possible at no extra charge to you)

Stamps-PaperTrey Ink "Butterfly Hope"
Ink-Altenew "Fired Brick Red" and "Persian Blue," Memento "Tuxedo Black"
Dies-My Favorite Things "Pierced Square Stax"
Paper-PaperTrey Ink "True Black" and "Stampers Select White"
Other-MISTI, Jelly Gems, Doodlebug Design Sequins-"Ladybug", 3L Scrapbook 3D Adhesive Foam Squares , Sizzix Big Shot Machine,
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National Scrapbook Day Pages

This past Saturday was National Scrapbook Day. I hosted the challenges at Scrapjazz.com and it was so much fun!! I was not able to create scrapbook pages for each challenge but I was able to finish two. I am such a slow scrapbooker so two pages was good for me.

The first challenge was to pick an article from Scrapjazz.com and create a layout or card that was inspired by that particular article. I had a really hard time choosing but finally settled on a sketch article that featured travel layouts from Prague by Amy Sotolongo. Here was my take on the sketch:

I had extra fun creating this page because I dug through all my drawers and used so many products on this page. Chipboard, die cuts, felt flowers-it is all there. I plan to use this layout design again on a canvas I want to make for my entryway.

The second challenge I finished was another sketch challenge. I created the sketch below in Photoshop pretty much copied it exactly.

I had a lot of fun creating the layers and using conversation balloons for my journaling. Again, I pulled a lot of things out from my stash to layer on here.

I know NSD is over but if you need some inspiration, come on over to the Scrapjazz SJ Challenge Central board every month to complete new challenges and win some prizes. The next challenges will be posted on the first of June.

I hope you enjoyed your time here today. Happy Thursday!!

Nora

My Vacation!!

Char, Chris and I took a trip to Chicago to visit my brother last week. Though I don't usually share photos of non-creative stuff on my blog, I decided to post some so that my family can have a chance to see my brother's children. We don't get to see them that often and it was so nice to be able to spend some time with them!!

The boys love their sister. She is fun to squish!!

I could just eat her up!!!

Look at that dimple!!! So cute!

It has been so long since Chris fed a baby!! My niece was so much easier to feed then Charlotte ever was and it was a fun change of pace. I even offered to do it and I would always hand it off to someone else if they were around when Char was a baby.

Charlotte and my brother. Are these two related or what?

My brother and family.

 
A photo of my brother's children and Char altogether. After looking at this, Charlotte said we need to get ALL the cousins together and have a professional photo taken.

Isn't my niece delicious? She was so squishable and you just had to kiss those cheeks!!!

Char had fun climbing the wall with her cousin at the science museum in Chicago.

I took so many photos over the two days with my brother's family that I only took two more for the whole rest of the vacation and we were gone five more days!!! Charlotte even complained and she is always up for a good photo shoot.

Have a great week!!

Nora