March Mini Challenge

MARCH: Stamp It!
Pull out at least two of your stamp sets that have never been used and use them. It's a wide open challenge...you can stamp a card, or stamp on a scrapbook page. Or, if you didn't quite get around to last month's challenge, you can stamp on your altered project. As always, share with us your creation.

What, you don't have any unused stamp sets? Trust me, I've got plenty to share...
~ Martha

Mar: Try a new to you stamping technique.
I'm got some to share too....
~ Karen

The last from the weekend...

I finished up these two sketch challenges this morning.  (From the BOBecky Higgins and a page map from ?Feb. 07).  The second sketch (Math Masters) was a real challenge for me.  Taking pictures at school assemblies is tricky and I never get a shot that I"m pleased with.  But these assemblies are a big part of the Things elementary years so I felt the need to document and journal what I had.  I've tried everything to get a clearer shot and it just doesn't seem to work with the lighting in the cafeteria, the movement of the children and the general sense of chaos during this event.  Go with what you have and be done with it...that's my motto of late.

I've cleaned off the desk and will likely pack things up until the next weekend.  I could make the time to scrapbook during the week but it never feels right.  Weekends are when I do my best work...I just need to live with this reality.

February Challenges

Reposting the February Challenges from earlier this year.

FEBRUARY: Alter It!
Perhaps I speak just for myself, but I know in my closet, I have stacks of stuff that I hope to alter some day. There are composition books, coasters, even some wooden letters...all waiting for me to alter and make a work of art using my SB supplies. This is the month to pull out that non-scrapbook project and alter away. Again, once you are done, share it with us. Keep it for yourself, or give it away...it matters not....just do it!
~ Martha

Make a valentine to give to your sweetie card/page/altered item.
~ Karen

Sketch challenge Wk 3 - K

Here's my take on week three.



I used the Rock Star paper as my title and cut out one of the metallic guitars for an embellishment - HL even has sticker 50% off this week.

To be honest when I emailed Martha I was whining. I love the sketch challenges but I tend to only have 3 or 4 pics for an event. Since going mostly digital I order my prints online and only pick the best ones. So I can't easily go back to resize the pics and print them specifically for the layout.


Here are the other pages I did today.

the end of an era - my office when I was working at home and pics from my last week working there.


more winter pictures - and I finally used most of one of my favorite CM packs.

Sketch Challenge, Wk 3

Karen greeted me this morning with an email, noting what a challenge this week's SS sketch was.  I admit, I'd only glanced at it.  But, figured no time like the present to work on getting it done.  That's the beauty of having a "pacing partner"...her email motivated me to jump in and give this a try.  Otherwise, I'm thinking I would have just spent the morning surfing.  

The hardest part was finding the right colors.  I knew with the pictures, I didn't need or want anything too overpowering...I tried several color combos before deciding on this stuff from Basic Grey.  And then, once I found the patterned paper, I had only one sheet.  I started to fret, what if I cut it wrong?  This scrap your stash challenge makes me less inclined to say "I'll just buy another sheet" since that defeats the purpose of trying to work through your stash, ya know?

Ok, so paper is picked, pictures are ready and now to put it all together.  That was the easy part.  The only thing I didn't like was how much space my journaling took up.  But then again, some times I struggle with even a sentence or two...so I decided to just hit print and move on.  

This layout just about depletes the stack of photos I had printed back last Fall.  I'm at a good stopping point.  I have one small stack for next week's challenge but really...need to change gears and work on the baby album and another small gift album that I've procrastinated on putting together.

PS:  the challenge is found in the Best of Becky Higgins, pg.  168.  Thumbing through this book, I realize there are a lot of neat sketches that I would like to try.

QTR1 mini challenge addition

I love your challenges and the idea of doing them monthly. I would like to add the following.....

Jan: Pull out some of that paper that you bought because you loved it and still haven't used. The stuff we all save for that special project. :D

Feb: Make a valentine to give to your sweetie card/page/altered item it matters not.

Mar: Try a new to you stamping technique.

QTR1 mini Challenges...

Here are  some challenges to try for the first quarter of 2009.  I've made them monthly since I believe in realistic goals.  My personal goal is to scrapbook once a month on the weekend.  More is better...but I know that life gets in the way.  I

If we need more challenges and mini goals, let me know and I can come up with something.  

JANUARY:  Sketch It!

I suspect we're all guilty of it.  We find a great sketch on a website, magazine or even in a  book and promise ourselves we're going to use it "some day".  Well, this month, some day IS here...force yourself to pull out at least one stashed sketch and use it.    Once you're done, share it with us so we can provide each other with appropriate oohs and ahhs.

FEBRUARY:  Alter It!

Perhaps I speak  just for myself, but I know in my closet, I have stacks of stuff that I hope to alter some day.  There are composition books, coasters, even some wooden letters...all waiting for me to alter  and make a work of art using my SB supplies.  This is the month to pull out that non-scrapbook project and alter away.  Again, once you are done, share it with us.  Keep it for yourself,  or give it away...it matters not....just do it!  

MARCH:  Stamp It!

Pull out at least two of your stamp sets that have never been used and use them.  It's a wide open challenge...you can stamp a card, or stamp on a scrapbook page.  Or, if you didn't quite get around to last month's challenge, you can stamp on your altered project.  As always, share with us your creation.  

What, you don't have any unused stamp sets?  Trust me, I've got plenty to share...

Let me know what other types of challenges we should try.