Challenging Challenges!

Scrapbooksteals had an online chat this past Friday night and as usual, challenges were issued a few days before for us to get a head start on. Here's what they were:

Challenge #1 was actually MWM #30 (I'll post that in a minute).

Challenge #2 was to create a layout sharing a secret about yourself.

Challenge #3 was to create a layout sharing something you're lucky to have (in other words, something you're thankful for).

Challenge #4 was a doozy! It was to create a layout that incorporated EACH of the following items:

- 10 metal embellishments
- 9 inches of ribbon
- 8 letters
- 7 non-metal embellishments
- 6 sentences in the journaling
- 5 patterned paper pieces
- 4 solid paper pieces
- 3 photos
- 2 rub on images
- 1 stamped image

Holy cow, right?! When I first saw this challenge, I thought it was going to create one BUSY page, but I'm pretty psyched about how mine turned out. I'll show you what I created, starting with Challenge #1.

Here is the sketch:



And here's my layout:



Cute, right?! Alright, maybe I'm a little biased, but I think this layout turned out pretty cute. :) I decided to make a layout describing my youngest red head. :) There aren't enough words to describe this sweet ball of maddening curiosity, but I figured I'd take a few and put them on the layout and then write a letter to her saying how much I love her for being all of those things. I wouldn't change a single thing about how this layout turned out...and I hope my little Brutus loves it when she gets older. :)

I decided to combine Challenge #2 and #4. (BTW, I didn't complete #3...too much on my plate this past weekend!) I'll show you the layout first and then I'll give you all the details afterwards...

Here's my creation:



I've been very lucky so far in my lifetime that I've been able to go to Disneyland and Disney World on numerous occasions. From the first trip to Disney World back in 1986, my love for Goofy was born. Each time I've been back, I've made sure to take a picture with him. Since I could only use three pictures for Challenge #4, I decided to pick my three favorite pictures. The first was from the first time I met Goofy. (Wasn't I adorable?!) The second picture was from when my friend and I went to Disneyland on our Spring Break, my senior year of high school. The third picture was from when my parents, brother, husband and I went to Disneyland right before Christmas in 2002.

Here's the break down of what I used for this challenge:

- 9 colored, small brads, 1 decorated brad holding the flower together
- 9 inches of ribbon in the bow
- 8 letters (i am goofy - hehe)
- 7 2 flowers together as one, 1 button, 1 row of stitching, 1 sticker (the Goofy sticker in the title), the bracket chip and the star chip
- 6 sentences in the journaling
- 5 patterned paper pieces
- 4 solid paper pieces (one behind journaling, one journaling is printed on, and the #4 is made of two different colors)
- 3 photos
- 2 rub on images (zig zag at the bottom is actually two separate rows that I pieced together)
- 1 stamped image (the circles stamped onto the star embellishment)

And. I'm. Spent! :) Typing that all out was almost as exhausting as creating the layout itself, but for all my hard work, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I'm not big on using a bunch of different patterned papers on one layout, but I chose these papers from my Fancy Pants "Father and Son" kit because the colors went well with my Goofy pictures. He wears blues, orange and green, and those are the exact colors on the papers.

I should also point out that I created this layout without the help of scraplifting!! This is HUGE for me as I'm not good at creating layouts unless I have something to go by. For not having help, I think I did alright! :)

I'm a Scrappy FOOL!

I was on a roll last week getting caught up on all of the MWMs I've missed. I've got about 6 more left before I'm all caught up and at the rate I'm working, they'll be done in NO TIME! :) Here are the layouts I completed last week:

MWM #11:



And my layout:



I didn't follow this sketch as closely as I usually do, so that was a big change for me! I have to say that it was COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone to do a layout at an angle, but I'm in love with the way it turned out! This Fancy Pants "My Family" kit has certainly gotten good use while scrapping the pictures I had from this photo session! I even got to use my newest Scrapbooksteals steal...the i-rock! With two girls, I knew I HAD to get one! There's going to be bling on EVERYTHING! :)

MWM #17:



And my layout:



Here are a couple close-ups of details:



While I'm not 100% pleased with the way this turned out, I still think it's pretty cute. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the background cardstock was pink with blue scratch marks all over it. This is why I chose the pink and blue pallate for the layout. The second page seems kind of plain to me, but I still like it.

MWM #18:



And my layout:



I LOVE THIS LAYOUT! I didn't know how to make a layout gender neutral when there was a daddy and a baby girl in the pictures. I took a frilly, dark cardstock and placed it over a plain white cardstock. Adding pinks, blues and greens helped neutralize everything. My husband really likes this layout, so I guess I did something right! :)

MWM #19:



And my layout:



This layout is just so precious! The browns from the papers complement the sepia tone of the picture so well. I also decided to use pinks as they all seemed to go together so well. Of course, I'm addicted to my Basic Grey "Bittersweet" papers and they just *happen* to be in the pink/brown category. :) I used a glittered pink cardstock for the background of this layout. It's just a cute, girly layout and I love it!

MWM #21:



And my layout:



The pictures of my layouts never turn out well, so some of the details get lost in translation. I did this layout on glittered cardstock that seemed to have the same green tones as the layout. This layout has easily made it into my top 10. :)

MWM #22:



And my layout:



This layout CRACKS.ME.UP! When I saw the title in this My Mind's Eye "Merry Days of Christmas" paper pack, I just KNEW I had to use it. What would Christmas pictures with Santa be if there weren't a few hilarious, crying baby pictures? :) Another one of my top 10 layouts!

And last but not least...MWM #25:



And my layout:



Here are some close-ups of details:



Here we go with the Basic Grey "Bittersweet" collection again! :) I just had to use it because it tied together the colors in all of my pictures so nicely! I made the journaling in this layout a letter to my daughter. Hopefully she'll love to see how silly she was when she was little. :)

This is not the end, my friends. :) It's just a goodbye until next time. Hope you've enjoyed looking at my mojo's as much as I enjoyed making them! Until next time!