Egg-cited!

I'm getting there, especially after completing the past couple of layouts. Spring is in the air. Brandi's birthday will be on Easter this year--there will be a lot of celebrating to do. She'll be 19--YIKES! I do not feel like the mother of a 19-year-old (well, sometimes--ha!). Recently I submitted a couple of layouts to Color Combos Galore's Design Team call and was accepted! I love that blog's inspiration factor--it's a hot spot for creativity. Lots of talent there and everyone is so friendly and eager to share. It's definitely a blog you want to visit. Check my sidebar for the latest activity. Also, I was recently asked to contribute another layout to the Got Sketch? blog. Another favorite blog of mine for inspiration. I'm always looking back to this blog for sketch inspiration. Valerie Salmon's sketches are very user friendly. Most of them allow multiple pictures, and if just using one picture in your layouts, they're easily adaptable. Check my sidebar for the latest activity at the Got Sketch? blog.  The above layout is my contribution.  These were pictures taken of my family when we visited Daffodil Hill last spring, just one day before Easter. Later that spring, we visited again for Brandi's 18th birthday.  It's a place you can take lots of pictures, have a picnic, and just run and play with your family.  Definitely an Easter-ish spot for us.  I used the Hello Kitty Font cartridge with basic black Cricut pen to help me create the title.   I couldn't decide which color to use on the title, the red or the yellow, so I just gave up and used both, and in the end, liked using both.   

This second "layout" is a faux french memory board I used to hang on my wall.  These pictures of Gwen and Raiden were taken on Easter 2007.  I used the Wild Card Cricut Cartridge to help make the faux memory board.  It's the Icon Feature using the Argyle shadow cut.  While in the Cricut DesignStudio software, I stretched the cut to fit a larger canvas than a card, outlined a piece of white cardstock with the yellow Cricut pen, cut, and then cut the image again using a double-sided patterned paper by BoBunny.   The white cardstock pieces were embossed using my Cuttlebug/Houndstooth embossing folder. Then, I assembled it onto a blue cardstock base on top of a very thin piece of chipboard, stitched it for texture, added the pictures, embellishments, etc., and then attached the ribbon for a hanger. To give it more structure, I attached another sheet of very thin chipboard to the back.  Can you believe my sewing machine stitched through all of these layers?  Well, it did--it's my new hero this week.  I've also been taking the Sew Scrappy Happy class over at 2Peas.  I've been stitching for a little while now on my projects but could never master the zigzag stitch while taking corners.  Thanks to Jennifer Johner's help, it's finally happened.  Here's a photo to prove it!