Sketches

I recently became obsessed with sketches.  I always need a little kick in the ass when it comes to starting a page and they are such a huge help.  I started a board on Pinterest and use it all the time.  I am a very literal translator of sketches.  I love that they give you a layout but you can choose what to fill it in with. They always help give me that jump start I need when I've been staring at a pile of photos and some papers for half an hour trying to figure out what to do.
Some of my go-to sources for sketches are:
-The Page Maps books, you can find them on Amazon
-The Page Maps archive, TONS of sketches
-Got Sketch by Valerie Salmon
-Miracles Momma Designs by Heather Landry
-My Little Sketch Blook by Liz Qualman
-52 Sketches in 52 Weeks-nothing new this year but a good archive
-Sketch Savvy by Susan Stringfellow
-The Basic Grey Blog

Here are a couple of my recent uses of sketches.

From the Basic Grey blog:

Nothing But Trouble-Crate Paper Toybox

Page Maps:

All Bundled Up-Little Yellow Bicycle Winter Twig

Page Maps:

Gingerbread House-Crate Paper Peppermint

More Chap...and I embossed!

American Crafts Chap, even as all the new winter releases come out I am still obsessed with this line and it's still my favorite.  I think because it's so versatile.  It's billed as a "boys" line but it's boy while not being to child-like.  I am not a huge fan of really kid-themey collections.  I recently ordered some Thickers from Crafty Steals and they went perfectly with Chap. Another thing I did with this layout that I rarely do is emboss.  I never do it and I don't know why.  I have a ton of unused stamps.  The chevron stamp that is part of the Chap collection was just screaming to be used in this layout so I broke out the heat.

Side-note: If you have not discovered the deal of the day scrapbook sites yet then you should! I am a HUGE deal nerd.  My favorites are:
Crafty Steals-The deals don't go away after a day so you have access to their archive at all times.
Scrapbook Steals-They have, in my opinion, the best selection.  2 deals a day, AM and PM.  However stuff goes quick on this site, as soon as they put up Thickers they're gone. Occasionally they'll open up their archives and you can shop through limited quantities of past deals.
Peachy Cheap-Not as good a selection as the others but every once in awhile they have Basic Grey embellishment bundles.

Sweet (red) and Flat (yellow) chipboard Thickers from American Crafts

It's a crappy photo but finally some embossing!

Girls

I love my girls, friends and family alike.  There's nothing like some quality girl time.  These are two of my very favorite photos from 2011.  I believe they might have been taken on the same night too, what are the chances of that?

Myself and my gorgeous & happy niece-Little Yellow Bicycle's Paradise collection

It's true, happy girls ARE the prettiest

Clouds and birds

My "niece," sister & myself-American Crafts Garden Cafe

Palomar Observatory revisited

Awhile back I posted photos from a camping trip we did near home over Halloween weekend.  I finally got around to scrapping those photos, woohoo! Loved this campground, we'll be going back in the spring.
 
Used this sketch from Scrapbook Challenges for this one:

Camping time-American Crafts Campy Trails

The Forest Pantry-Basic Grey Marjolaine

Used a January 2012 sketch from Page Maps for this one:

What a View-American Crafts Campy Trails

Model Shot-Basic Grey Max & Whiskers

I can't find the original sketch I used for this but I have it pinned here.

Palomar Observatory-Fancy Pants Summers End

Campfire Beers-Crate Paper Farmhouse

American Crafts Nightfall

Since I'm one of those control freak type people I feel the need to scrap in order of occurance.  I'm finally getting to this past fall so I can finally use the American Crafts Nightfall collection that I've had stashed away for these layouts. I bought a ton of it on clearance so I will be using in next year too. My fave embellishments are definitely the wool ones.

For the Apples layout I tried my hand at making the flower on the top right using this tutorial here. 

Apples!

A closeup of the flower

Pumpkin Patch

Boston

I got back from a quick trip to Boston to visit my little brother a couple of days ago.  I took my camera and took no photos with it.  I only snapped a couple of shots with my iPhone and the majority of those were of food because I basically ate my way through the city with Evan's guidance.  I tried Ethiopian food for the first time at an awesome restaurant called Addis, eating with your hands is awesome. We had phenomenal Thai food at a place called Similans that turns on disco birthday music (complete with laser lights) when it's a diner's birthday. We cooked and baked at my brother's house in Somerville, walked the Minuteman Trail, planned our April Central America trip and wandered around Harvard Square.  It was a great 3 days in Boston, I just wish it could have been longer.  Hopefully I will head back soon. Some iPhone shots:

Ethiopian food at Addis Red Sea

Baby brother and AMAZING Thai at The Similans

Homemade mac & cheese and garlic roasted cauliflower

The Coop bookstore at Harvard Square, HEAVEN

Learning how to cross the border from Costa Rica to Nicaragua, too cheap to buy the book

The Minuteman Trail, it goes for about 30 miles, we did 4

Palm Springs!

Oh Palm Springs how I love you!  You're close enough for a quick weekend getaway and you're weather is pretty much always awesome. Plus you're an excuse to drink too much. My go to spot has turned into the Riviera, thanks to attending a bachelorette party here last year. It has great decor that makes for fun photos.  These pages are from a little girls trip a friend and I took in September.

Pool at the Riviera

 

For some reason every time I go here I drink too much and end up doing a photo shoot in the lobby

I love washi tape!