New Shimmers Release!

Sneak peek at Sketch 182!

I have for you a couple little peeks at the LO I made for Pamela's sketch #182, which will be presented this coming Monday. I love this sketch and I couldn't pass it up! Without further ado...

Yay!! Look...

I'm going to be published! I just found an email in my junk folder (I know, tell me about it...first time in years I checked it) that one of my LO's has been accepted for publication! How exciting! It will be published in Scrapbook News and Review's issue that comes out Jan 24th. What a way to start off 2010 :)

I also finished another LO based on one of Pamela's amazing sketches that will be available next Monday. I will take some pics tomorrow and post sneaks for you!

Sketch # 181

This one is called "He Was Here". The journaling reads, "Santa drank our milk and obviously liked our cookies. You're very welcome." My daughter approved of this one! :) Again, using Webster's Pages paper and velvet ribbon and Maya Road blossom and sheer journaling spots.

Check out Scrapbook Challenges to see Sketch 181 that Pamela created for this, that inspired this page and to play along for a chance to win a prize from this month's sponsor - Nikki Sivils! There, you'll also find weekly challenges and lots of other fun stuff to inspire you.

Thanks for taking a look!

Sneak peek!

A little peek at this Monday's upcoming Sketch 181!

A card for a good cause

I made a card to donate to someone who really needs it. Star Rork posted about it HERE. Please check out her post and help if you can. How often do you get a chance to use your art to make a difference?

Yay! Top 5 by Votes!

My page is in the top 5 now! How exciting :)

I made a new page last night but I can't share it yet - it's for Pamela's sketch that will be revealed this coming Monday. So not too long a wait :) I know I already made a page based on one of her other sketched for the end of the month, but this sketch is so awesome I just couldn't pass it up! Check out Scrapbook Challenges (link on right) on Monday to see it! I can tell you that it's called "He Was Here" and it's about Santa drinking our milk and eating our cookies. DD approved :)

OMG! - My LO is in 2Peas "Top 10 by Votes"

OMG!! The LO I posted earlier - "It's Warm Inside" made it into 2Peas "Top 10 by Votes" already! This has never happened to me before....but then again, I just started posting on 2Peas. LOL. Check it out here... Two Peas in a Bucket.

I am so excited! I gotta give props to Bo Bunny for that gorgeous snowflake paper!

Oh how I love snow

And Bo Bunny Snowy Serenade. I always liked Bo Bunny (esp. their Beu Jardin), but they just outdid themselves with this one. I love all those gorgeous snowflakes!
it totally inspired me to create this:

Confession (and a sneak!)

The truth is, before the LO I made based on Pamela's sketch for the blog hop, I'd never used a sketch before! I thought joining SC would be a good opportunity to explore working based on sketches. I completed a LO based on Sketch 183, which will be revealed in a few weeks, at the end of this month. And let me tell you, it's wonderful working with a sketch! It makes it go so much faster and takes some of the guesswork out, leaving more time for the fun part - choosing the pretty embellies :)

So, I wanted to share what I made but I can't, until the end of the month. But I can share some sneak peaks! Check back in at SC every week for the new sketches Pamela makes. They're very inspiring. And check back here or at SC for the full LO I made. It's about my daughter opening presents and it's called..."Dear Santa, Define 'Good'." LOL....I saw that title used by someone else and I fell in love with it.

I'm using the beautiful Webster's Pages paper, Winter's Wings line. Plus some Cosmo Cricket and the flower is a Maya Road velvet pleat. I colored the lace with Glimmer Mist.

In my defense

I mean, just look at that face.

Can't scrap with 'em, can't scrap without 'em

Lol...I'm referring to the kiddos, of course. They leave me no time to scrap...but without them, I'd have nothing to scrap about. Scrapping never even occurred to me before they came along. Those cute faces are my muses. But can't those muses give me at least a few minutes a day?? It really is all I ask for. Not an hour. Not even half an hour. Just a few minutes. Ugh.

You might wonder why I don't just go and scrap now. Well, I'll tell you. I'll share some intimate details that many of you likely won't approve of. In my defense, with my first child, my daughter, I did it all properly. She was sleeping alone in her crib her very first week home.

My son, on the other hand. Again, in my defense, my kids are 4.5 years apart and doing the whole "diaper" thing after all these years was a little...well, let's just say I didn't feel like doing it :)

So, I took the lazy way out, and yes, my son is still co-sleeping with me, almost 10 months later. My scrap room is attached to my bedroom. Hence, I am unable to utilize it while he's sleeping right there (I don;t know about you all, but when I scrap, I make a lot of noise).

So there you have it. By the way, if any of you have any super advice on how to get him out of my bed and into his own, please share. I'm open to ideas, in the interest of getting more scrapping time. Anything for scrapbooking!

Anyways, I have so many ideas on all the pages and albums I want to do. And so many good photos. And Pamela's great sketches are so inspiring I want to do them all! It all sits there in my head, calling out to me all day long and I simply have no time for any of it. Agh!

And the winner is...

Lisa, of Positively Lisa! Congrats! Email me at ileneemail@yahoo.com with your address and I'll get the 6"x6" papers RAK out to you ASAP. Thanks for the comment and for hopping by :)

Again, thank you all for playing and your sweet and generous comments. I wish I had enough 6"x6" papers to go around for everyone. But, I had so much fun with this, that I think I will have to do more giveaways! Make sure you add me to your friend list and check in sometimes for more chances to win and to see more of my work and sneak peaks of the upcoming sketches at Scrapbook Challenges.

HAPPY 2010!!!

Whew, that was awesome!

Wow, the Blog Hop was so much fun. We had such a great turn out and so many people participated and joined in, doing their own interpretations. Thank you to everyone who left a comment or friended me! I tried to leave back as many comments as I could. Some of you didn't have blogs, which made it a little hard :) Sorry if I missed anyone, just know that each comment was much appreciated. Thank you for all the kind words about my work and for all the congrats for making it on the team. I'm loving it already! Later this afternoon I will announce who won my little RAK and Pamela will announce who won all the goodies that were up for grabs!

In scrapping news, I'm in the middle of my project for the challenge that I will be posting later on in the month, and I printed the photos for the sketches I plan on doing. I'll try to get them done early so I can post some sneaks :)

New Year's Blog Hop

Hello 2010!!! Welcome all to Scrapbook Challenges New Year's Blog Hop! Yes, this is the one you've been waiting for. If you're just joining us, then please start at Pamela's Blog.

To introduce myself - I'm Ilene and I am a new member of Scrapbook Challenges DT! I can not express how honored and excited I am to be joining this wonderful group. I am so looking forward to meeting everyone and getting some awesome scrapping done! I can't think of a better way to start 2010. I won't bore you with too many details about myself. If you'd like to know a little more, then just scroll down to an earlier post (12/31). I made a few pages that can tell you all you need to know!

Without further ado - here's the sketch the very talented Pamela created for us, and my take on it. As you can see, I am resolving to change my evil, messy ways. The theme is New Year's - looking back on the old, froward to the new, resolutions, etc.



Now, about the wonderful prizes. I will choose one person randomly to win a RAK of 6"x6" papers, which will include one each of all the papers in Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend (18 sheets), Memory Box's Gliterrati (10 sheets), and Basic Grey's Motifica mini papers(6 sheets). To be entered to win, all you have to do is is either leave a comment for me, or add yourself to my "Follow" list. The link is on the right, under "Follow with Google Friend Connect", and make sure your picture/name gets added to the list when you're done.

Here are more prizes - there are many chances to win! These are salivation-worthy. Everyone who leaves a comment on ALL blogs in the blog hop, gets entered into a drawing for a collection of My Little Shoebox goodies. Everyone who does a layout based on the sketch this weekend and posts it in the Hop On section will get entered into a drawing for the "Origins" collection from Basic Grey. There will be a Prima RAK up for joining SC and another for inviting to SC. Some more details:

One lucky person who leaves a comment on all of our blogs in the DT/GDT blog hop will win a collection of goodies from My Little Shoebox:


One person who does the sketch and posts in the Hop On section will win the Origins collection from Basic Grey, which includes:
* Origins Collection Pack of 12 x 12 papers
* Origins Stitched Brads
* Origins White Tracery Doilies Paper
* Origins Brown Tracery Doilies Paper
* Origins Chip Sticker Shapes
* Origins Chip Sticker Abcs
* Origins Canvas Tags
* Origins Bloomers
* Origins Buttons


There are two packs from Prima Marketing, one will go to someone who JOINS the group this weekend, and the other will go to someone who INVITES someone to the group this weekend (through the invite link on the group):


And then one last RAK (which will be posted in the Hop On section) goes to one person who leaves a comment on the blogs in the Hop On section. They will receive an album and a bunch of trim from Rusty Pickle:


Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting my little piece of the internet. I so look forward to getting to know you guys and sharing our creations. Make sure you join Scrapbook Challenges if you aren't already a member. Each week, we have a new sketch created by Pamela, with plenty of examples from DT members, as well as weekly challenges and general fun and camaraderie. Start 2010 off on the right foot :)
Now, hop on over to CJ's Blog.