It's the most wonderful time of the year...almost!

And by the most wonderful time, I don't mean Christmastime (although I do love that time of year as well). I am talking about FALL! After the disgustingly hot summer we've had this year, I am REALLY looking forward to Fall. Luckily, there are tiny hints all over the place that it's just around the corner. The pear tree in our back yard is starting to shed it's leaves (something it does at the end of summer). My oldest daughter found a yellow leaf in our driveway this morning. It's been in the 80s (!!) for two days in a row!! Yes, my friends, Fall is upon us. And not a minute too soon!

Halloween is just 2 short months away and I've already got ideas as to what my girls will dress up as. Sounds like the perfect time to crop LAST YEAR'S Halloween pictures, right? I'm pretty excited about this layout. I had an idea in my head as to what I wanted the layout to look like, then I found a perfect layout to scraplift!

Here is the original (it's small):



And here is my layout:



Here are a couple close-ups of some embellishments and distressing:




I found Coredinations cardstock at my local scrap store that is black with orange underneath and I distressed around the edges with sand paper. I also distressed around the cardstock with ink. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! I'm always shy when it comes to embellishments, but I think the brads and stickers I used fit in really well. Now that I have this page done, I'm looking forward to Halloween this year!

Scrapbooksteals Sketch Challenge, pt. 2

As I mentioned yesterday, scrapbooksteals.com is issuing a layout challenge every day this week as part of their birthday festivities. I'm pretty proud of the layout I created today...all during my daughters' nap time, might I add!

Here is the sketch:



And here is my interpretation:



I love that these challenges are forcing me to sit down and scrap pictures that should have been cropped a long time ago. They're also allowing me time to sit down by myself and just think my own thoughts. Something I don't get to do a lot with a 3 year old and a 1 year old running around.

Father's Day Card

I was feeling particularly crafty this Father's Day, so I made Father's Day cards for the three dad's in our lives...my dad, my husband and my father-in-law. I made the same card for all three and turned them out in all of about 30 minutes!

About 95% of the cards were made with steals from scrapbooksteals.com, my FAVORITE steal website! If you haven't checked them out yet, DO IT! I got the idea for the card from idea pictures from a previous steal on scrapbooksteals. I used paper from my Breaking Free kit, Xyron sticker maker and my embossing powder and heat gun! (All previous steals!!) I have to say, I am having fun with my embossing stuff! Haven't quite perfected it yet, but I'm having fun none-the-less!

Here are a few pictures of the finished product. They were a HIT this Father's Day. I even got a thumbs up from the hubby, who suggested I make more cards and try to sell them. I took that as a green light to keep on stealing! :)