Paige aka Cow Doggie

Whoa!!!  I almost forgot I had to get this layout posted so I could enter it in Imaginisce's Monthly Challenge for July!  I've had this layout done for a week!

Pictured is my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Paige with my best friend and husband Larry.  We use the mule to check on the cattle and Paige is my constant companion when I'm out and about on the ranch.  This day Larry and I would be checking on the cattle and you can just see her head poking over the top watching Mommy take the picture.  She seems to be saying, 'Hurry Mommy!  Time to be Cow Doggie!'

The 4x6 cut-out's on the B side of Doggie Mail Paper was perfect to use to display the photo of Larry and Paige.  The dotted frame to be a journaling spot begged to be stitched in outline stitch to form the frame.  Some Washi Tape from the Love You More Collection to make it all look like it was just taped to the page.   I just couldn't resist using the Imaginisce stamps from the Good Dog line And their Love stamp from a couple of years ago   The Dog House was painted using Zig Brushables to create my water colors.  I couldn't resist using pink and green for Paige. For the collar and the word "Love" I took some mixed media paper and sprayed it with Tattered Angels Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist.  Once dried I stamped the images and cut them out.  The red matches but the glimmer has a tendency to turn color on me when I photograph the layout.   For this month Imaginisce had only the sketch with no other added rules other then you had to use Imaginise product.  I love this sketch!

To make this even better challenge I incorporated the Pet Challenge at A Cherry on Top.  I had to use a quote and chose the first Stanza of Elvis Presley's song 'A Dog's Life' in my journaling.

Great fun with this layout, thank you Imaginisce!!!  Love your monthly sketch and challenge!  And thank you to Sher who hosts the Pet Challenge each month!

Delight - Nuts About Sketches #274

I am a week behind on posting my Nuts About Sketches layout!  So let's take a peek at this week's sketch #275.  A wonderful two pager and gorgeous layouts by the design team on the blog!

I had a busy week and no time to print out photos to work with this sketch!

I do though wish to share with you the layout I did for Nuts About Sketches #274.

This sketch just just spoke about fun all through it!  The June Paper Bakery Kit when it arrived was loaded with pure fun!  I couldn't resist to use it to work with this picture of my wonderful son James!

Thank you for taking a peek and please check out the wonderful sketches at Nuts About Sketches!

Until next time.... 

Odds and Ends

I thought I would just share a few thoughts and fun things going on today along with a little ranching layout.

First up is over at A Cherry On Top.  There is a huge amount of fun going on in the message board with loads of Points being able to be earned this week!  It is more like a week long mini crop while not a crop as the board celebrates CHA Summer 2013 in Vegas.  I was given a huge amount of points to share along the way this week and saving a few for next week.  So stop by gather some points towards your next purchase from ACOT and enjoy all the activity!

So what are a few of my pics for the new lines coming out:

From Imaginisce:

From Bo Bunny Kraft especially the envelopes:

From Elle's Studio Penelope:

And there are so many more I could share!!!

I found this morning Imaginisce announced their sale to American Crafts via their blog.  My hope that American Crafts will keep the original owners to design their products!

Looking back I realized I never posted my example for the 4x4 Challenge at A Cherry On Top!  I love hosting this challenge, and supplying each month's example.

This is EZ Sabre aka Murphy Dude!  Murphy in temperment is exactly what a Lowline is suppose to be.  He quickly worked his way into my heart.  His half blood heifers grace our pastures and are now giving us their son's and daughters.

What was undoubtedly the most favorite thing I enjoyed about this layout was using a stencil and Art Anthology's wonderful dimensional paint.  Here's what it looks like!

What grand fun to finally have three bottles in my stash and one of the paint sticks!

Until next time!

By The Book

It is truly fun to wave yet again at which ever number of agencies love to keep track of what we are up, too! Since my last post using the 'Zubaydahh's' name in a post I have seen a spike in page visits excluding some of those spam so called blog rating type sites.  The two most recent are blogsrating.pw, filmhill, and topblogstories.  Don't click on them rule going on for me....and checking by googling them first.  The New Frontier blog has info on these and a good place to learn about safety on the net.  Another spike as Snowden leaked about NSA.  I'm taking no opinion either bad or good on this one on my blog as my blog is about my love of family, ranch/agriculture, and scrapping in that order.

What I will say is I have been a "security mom" since 9/11 and saw the horror on my daughter's face as she saw the towers fall for the first time.  I want my children safe even though they are now mid-20's.  So just one last thing I do worry about since the Boston Bombing.  Are the various agencies sharing information?  I get spikes every time I post Zubaydahh's and Ibn Zubaydahh's name.  I've purposely left off their registration numbers from my blog to protect my parent's address.  So guys looking into me.....the names have a double 'h' unlike the now deceased terrorist of the same name.  Are you communicating who I am with other agencies.....dig a little deeper because that will fully alleviate any possible fears about me!  Then by gosh share the information!  Besides....I do enjoy being able to share my loves with the world!  Not a single peep out of me about this from now on!

Now back to scrapbooking!  The second thing to GET DONE is my mother's horse album.  I cranked the numbers of layouts last month with this in mind.  A Cherry on Top Becky Fleck Challenge is always a great sketch to use!  There is usually two or three a month.  I've participated in two or three since it started last year.  This past month I participated in Becky Fleck Sketch Challenge #44 of this challenge as well as entering it in the Moore Oklahoma Benefit Crop Add a Banner Challenge by Debbie Sherman.  Carta Bella So Noted was the perfect line to use for this layout and the next layout of Zu's son.  I did the journaling in hopes I could somehow have Mom understand how to tell her story with her beloved mare.  To her photos only need a date and where.  Not the why, when or how ever to be added.

Even more fun I won the ACOT Challenge!  The 1000 points I will put towards my Cyber Monday purchase  is so appreciated!!!  So join in on the fun!

Then I utilized my often used technique of making a double page spread without doing both at the same time and may not look at all the same but use the same line of papers.  The next layout is AC about 3 months of age and photos taken at the same time as the photos of his mother in the above layout.

For this one I took my inspiration from another Juliana Michaels' sketch she did for Paper Bakery Kits.  I love her sketches.  I added the banner to again match Zubaydahh's layout!

This reminds me as I'm a member of the Paper Bakery Kit Club I need to take a look to see if the new kits are in.  I love love all of their kits and wish I had time to get all three!  A fourth kit is being added this month! Paper Bakery's website has a new look so definitely check it out.  Love the new sketch for the first half of the month and saw it last week.  But the blog has not made the complete transition so decided to post the sketch from 17 turtles, Juliana's blog!  More for me then ya'll but please enjoy the sketch!  I love her sketches!

Until next time!

Socke Family - Nuts About Sketches #273

I have to admit my very favorite layouts are Heritage!  I know I'm being repetitive!  They are though.  I find I have come to realize what is heritage to me is not to others.  As I have hosted the Heritage Challenge at ACOT for a year now,  I have found Heritage usually means to a person is a photo of one's grandparents generation taken before they were born.  At 52 years old I'm seeing Heritage photos of the late 70's and early 80's.  That makes one feel really old!  I was in college during that time, LOL!  Last month I did a layout for Nuts About Sketches #269 with my maternal tail female line of my great-uncle Tom (Thomas Moore Ramsay) at the age of 5.  Of course like John he too will eventually qualify in the Alden Database of the Alden Kindred. The photo was taken in October 1900.  He is the brother to John Alden Ramsay the subject of my blog post Heritage Challenges last week.  I just love how the layout turned out using BoBunny Timepiece.

Of course the Tattered Angels Mist had to be used.  I do believe the next layout is the first one in a very long time I chose not to  use any Tattered Angels Products on a heritage layout!

The Socke Family whom I have never met is a photo of Uncle Tom's daughter Barbara, my mother's first cousin and my second cousin.  She is shown here with her husband Hollis and daughters Judy and Joanne.  The photo was taken in 1952.

October Afternoon 5&Dime seemed to be the perfect line to use for a 1950's photo.  What I loved the most when I added the Washi Tape, I found the numbers in the Prima Engraver's Tape would take the color of the cardstock with a slightly lighter shade.  I should have known it would do so as the numerals are white and opaque, but still a pleasant surprise!  I'm just really starting to get a collection of tapes together and learning how they perform on a layout!  I also could have trimmed the top of the photo, but I find how photos are developed and presented are often part of the fun of heritage layouts!  The way photos are presented change with the history how photography has developed!

Nuts About Sketches #273 is a wonderful sketch to use weather you want multiple photos as the sketch calls for or just a single photo as I used!  Thank you Shawn for a great sketch to work with!

It's also always fun when one can combine your design team work with a challenge at your favorite scrapping community!  This fit perfectly the A Cherry On Top July 2013 Holiday Challenge!  So much fun to make any layout with the following 4th of July staple elements: Stars & Stripes along with a little washi tape!

Until next time.....

Unlikely Christmas Layout

This was probably the most fun I had with a layout in June.

Christmas in June Challenge at ACOT called for a monochromatic layout choosing traditional Christmas color.  One was allowed to use neutral colors and you could have a hint of the another traditional Christmas color.  You also had to have some sort of bling and the hostess of the challenge loved light strings.  I pulled my 2012 November Paper Bakery Scrapbook Kit "Street Lamp" out and when I saw the Classic Studio Calico Chain Paper I could imagine a Christmas Light Wall.  From there it was easy to select the papers and embellishments from the kit Added some washi tape, buttons and a Chic Tag from my stash and the layout came together quickly.  Then reached for Gold Ice, Cherry Ice and Diamond Stickles to fill in random circles on the Chain Paper.  Oh what fun!!!  Once dried I sealed the stickles with Glossy Accents.  Since it had buttons it also qualified for the Take 2 Challenge.

Yes Q and that's James' cat's name looks a bit Freaky!  Christmas Layout with a Halloween Layout Title.  FUN!

June Challenge Winners

Hope you had a great 4th!

I would like to congratulate the winners of my two challenges I host at A Cherry on Top!

Some great layouts!

June  2013 Heritage Challenge Winner

by scrappinmom99

June 2013 4x4 Challenge

by cajenkins81

If your looking for inspiration the community at A Cherry on Top has some 

awesome challenges each month.

Winners of my challenges receive a $5 GC from A Cherry on Top.

Until next week!

Heritage Challenges

My favorite challenges without question are Heritage!  For readers of my blog they know I have stated I have a ton of Heritage Photos from both sides of my family.  In fact I have so many I gave my daughter all of the heritage layouts from hubby's side of the family to scrap.  It's two full boxes of photos and I'm not talking small boxes jammed full!

I know I've written too, I host the Heritage Challenge each month at A Cherry On Top.  Drop by and take a peek to see what the challenge is.  Maybe to entice you just a bit is my example for this month.

This is a photo of my maternal grandmother's brother John Alden Ramsay, known to my mother as Uncle Jack.  The photo was taken in October 1900 at the Tobias Studio in Perth Amboy, NJ.  He's three months old in this photo.  I'm guessing my great-grandmother had him in a Christening Gown.  He would have been christen in the Episcopal Church.  For those into genealogy the answer is yes we descend from John and Priscilla Alden who came over on the Mayflower.  If you wish to know more about the Alden's you can find that information at the Alden Kindred.  Still need to get birth certificates so we can join!  That to do list thing going on.

I used Graphic 45 Little Darlings collection and Prima Craftsman Flowers along with Gears and Keys Resist Canvas from Prima.  I also took a very liberal interpretation from Unscripted Sketches #216.  I loved my first use of a Word Cloud for the Journaling Challenge at ACOT!

I've really tried this past month to pick it up a notch and work to get more heritage photos done.  Instead of one I did two.  My first layout this month was heritage and hoping to do four!

Until next time!

My Ride

I have been absent from blogging with a huge amount of MOJO going on when it comes to my scrapping.  Even as I type I would rather be at my table playing with paper and glue.  Next layout I'm thinking about is using Bo Bunny Anthem & Liberty to work with a photo of my mother taken on July 4, 1976.  I also love love the June Paper Bakery Scrapbook Kit.  Can't wait to play with it, too!  Sadly already out of stock.  But take a peek at the Mixed Media Kit and Project Kit because they still have some.  They announced to members the reveal of their new website on July 15th!  Looking forward to it! I cranked out 12 layouts since my last post that are posted on my gallery and finished another for next week's Nuts About Sketches post!  I haven't had that much mojo in I don't know when.

Tuesday is usually the day I post my design team work for Nuts About Sketches and it's exactly what I want to share.  The photos are James'. He took them with his cell phone while out in the Main Pasture at the ranch.  Now why he would want to ride his KLR back there is beyond me.  We have more thorns then you can even begin to count.  Mowing the pastures as we don't use chemicals is the only way we control weeds.  Small mesquite and prickly pear end up leaving thorns all over the ground.  Fortunately no flat tires.  The two photos Mom likes the most are the bottom two.  This young bull calf is stretching in the left.  He's just adorable!

I used the May Paper Bakery Scrapbook Kit "Glitz Road Show"!  What an awesome kit full of fun colors and unique patterns.  Then also take a peek at this month's 4x4 Challenge over at A Cherry on Top as this is the example for the challenge.  Fun challenge and very specific, the ladies who regularly do this challenge are so creative with it!

Here's the sketch for this week from Nuts About Sketches.  Join in on the fun sketch whether you choose a single page layout or double page!