LM #153 - How You've Grown & WINNER

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!

This has been a crazy week studying for midterms. I apologize my post is so late so lets get right to it!

How You've Grown
We want to see how you've grown along the way of your scrapbooking adventures. Here, I have the very first layout I ever did, 5 years ago!
THEN pg. 1

pg. 2

I have the actual hat and booties from the picture on the page!

NOW

I was in the kitchen eating chocolate when my son came in and saw me. He said he didn't want any so I put the rest back in the fridge and went into the bedroom. All of a sudden my son comes RUNNING into my room and yells, " Mommy!!!! I ate all your chocolate that was in the fridge!" (in his sing-song voice) LOL!

NOW ONTO THE WINNER!!

Last weeks Birthday Blog Hop was amazing! I've been so busy I barely got my post up!

I used Random.org for my winner, and the winner is........................

BARBARA GREENBERG!!!

Please email thebookinroom@hotmail.com with your address so I can mail out your prize pack!!

NOW!! Go to Lasting Memories to link up for our next challenge!

xoxo Charity

Birthday Hop Time!

Hi everyone!! It is PARTY time at Lasting Memories today! We're celebrating Karen's special day with a "Scavenger Hunt Birthday Hop"! It's her 40th birthday tmw and what better way to celebrate than to have a hop in blogland!

Before we get started, you better get yourself a pen and paper because you're going to need it! There are 10 blogs in the hop and each person has chosen an element to use on her layout. Your job is to find all 10 elements, write them down and choose FIVE to include in your layout!

Be sure to keep your eyes open because we have sponsors as well as DT members giving goodies away. You may have to do a little something more for the DT candy, so be sure to read every post!

Sound like fun?? We think so!!! Ok, lets get to it! You should have arrived here from Claire and if you're just coming by, start at Lasting Memories because you don't want to miss a thing! You'll also find the master hop list there too. For my layout today, I chose pockets for my element.

My son and I went to the beach, where we collected sea shells. On the bottom picture I have glued a mini magnifying glass to show how far out people could go to swim.

I have hidden journaling pockets everywhere! If you have been following me, you know I love my hidden journaling and pockets on layouts. I have four pockets on my page. Starting at top left, I have hidden journaling. I have glued, with Crystal Effects, a sea shell to all journaling spots. The next pocket I made with blue glitter paper and my score board. I used a blue mesh bag and placed our sea shells from the beach in this pocket.

Here is another hidden journaling pocket. I asked my son what his favorite part of this day was. He said it was swimming with Mommy! So this is what I wrote and placed in this pocket. Why should I have to write all my thoughts on these layouts?!!

Here is an up-close shot of the pocket of sea shells.

And guess what! I'm giving away some candy!! Just leave me a comment telling me how many pockets I have in my layout and what you like best! I'll be giving away a kit to make your very own summer layout!

Don't forget, for the grand prize you have to complete the hop, enter your layout using FIVE elements you've found a long the way and be sure to comment that you've done everything!

 

Thanks so much for joining us! You're next stop is Darcy!

Here's our Hop List order

Lasting Memories

Karen

Claire

Charity

Darcy

Denise

Elizabeth

Haven

Kimberly

Michele

Stacia

Lasting Memories

Challenge #151 - Start & Stripes

Good Morning!!!

I am back with our weekly challenge at Lasting Memories! This weeks challenge is called Stars & Stripes!

We want to see stars and stripes on those layouts. I had some help with my layout from one of my foster kitties! Who knew she was a scrapbooker!!

I brought my son with me to the voting booth so he could see the whole process. They had cookies and pastries there! He was in heaven! JaKobe was so well-behaved the employees gave him stickers!

Now it's your turn! Go make a fabulous layout using stars and stripes and link it our challenge site:

Lasting Memories

Then be sure to tune in next weekend for an awesome Birthday Hop with all of us Design Team Girls! We have put together a fabulous hop LOADED with prizes! I'm getting excited just thinking about it!!!

xoxo Charity

LMCB #129 2's Company 3's a Crowd!

Hey everyone!

So I did my layout ahead of time to get ahead of the game.......HOWEVER.......I totally forgot to put up my post!! OMG!! I'm losing my mind!

Anyways, so we want to see 2's or 3's on those Layouts! 2 of something, 3 of something, pics, stash, journaling, or like I did, use the # 2 or 3.

Sorry for the delay and last minute notice! Remember we have a new challenge that starts EVERY SUNDAY!!! So go to Lasting Memories and link up with your layout! Be Sure to enter by Saturday night to win a fabulous prize!

xoxo Charity

Challenge #128 - Playful Pockets!

Hey everyone!

I have been totally flaky the past couple months and I apologize! I have so many things going on, working two jobs, single mom, one day off a week, and OH YEAH!

I WAS JUST PRE-APPROVED FOR A MORTGAGE!!!

Yep! All by myself! So I can stop renting a house and buy a home for me and my little man!

Now onto the challenge, what you guys are really here for! The CHALLENGE!!

We want to see pockets on those layouts! Remember, it must be a layout. Here is my take on the challenge:

 I am making a 8x8 mini album  for my sister and her new baby. This page she can either add pics in the pocket, or sentiments, whatever she might want to save. I took a vellum envelope and covered it with paper.

 I adhered it to the page and used velcro that I glued to the underside of the flap to hold it down. 

 Here are the papers and embellies I used. Yep, that's all I used to make this whole page!

Now for the good stuff! Look at this prize package our very own Design Team Sister Kimberly put together for one lucky winner!

Now go check out Lasting Memories for some more inspiration and link up with your entry to win this fabulous prize!

xoxo Charity

Challenge #123 - Christmas 2012

LM #123 'Christmas 2012'

Thank you for joining us last week!! We loved seeing everyone's LO's for our 'Something old Something new' challenge! There were some really creative LO's!! 
This week we have a brand new challenge for you! It's called
 'Christmas 2012'
So we would love to see what you did this Christmas!

I took my son on Mr Jingling's Express! I really wanted to go on Polar Express, however, I waited too long and missed the boat on that! All the tickets were sold out!! :(  To top it off, my son had a fever the whole 3 hour train ride and was miserable. It was really hard for him to muster up a smile, but he appeased me and played along 'for mommy'!! 

And yes, I spelled Jingling's wrong on the page! I JUST realized this while typing up my blog page!! Oh well! I'll go in and fix it later. I made my page with the My Memories sweet software. Check out the link on our Lasting Memories Blog for more information on the software.

NOW!! GO CHECK OUT THE OTHER DT'S AND GET SOME PAGES DONE!!!!

xoxo Charity

Lasting Memories Challenge #121!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our first challenge of the New Year at Lasting Memories!

Get inspired by a book, quote or an author!

Since I have a little 4 y/o boy Dr. Seuss was the first book to come to mind!

Hahaha!! I love this pic of him! He's such a ham and thought this would be perfect! Now go get some inspiration from the other fabulous DT's!! Challenge ends Saturday so hurry and get scrapping! Make a layout inspired by a book and enter our challenge!

Don't forget .. 

Monday - Monday Mojo (see all the DT Talent!)

Wednesday - Winner of our Month In Review Challenge and a new Month In Review challenge starts!

Lasting Memories Challenge #120!!!

Santa Claus Is Coming!
Hello!! Well, this is our last challenge of 2012, can you even believe that?? Thank you all so very much for joining us each and every week! Your encouragement and support has meant the world to us!! Looking forward to a great 2013 with LOADS of new challenges!! So, onto our last challenge of 2012!!

 Our challenge this week is ..

"Santa Claus Is Coming!"

and you're welcome to use this amazing sketch from Tanya!!

I didn't use the sketch because I had only one pic for this challenge and it is of my son with Santa this year. For the first time I have a picture of him WITHOUT me in Santa's lap too!! Last year the only way I could get JaKobe in Santa's lap was for me to sit on his lap, then JaKobe sat on mine!! Merry Christmas Santa!!! LOL!! I just bribed JaKobe a little and told him I wanted a picture so he kindly obliged and let me get the pic!

The Santa paper behind the picture is actually the front of a Christmas card we received this year! And from the same card I cut out the Santa you see on the left!! Love it!! Now go see some other DT inspiration and get scrapping those cards with your pictures!

Challenge ends 12/29/2012 at 6pm EST

Lasting Memories Challenge #118

ANYTHING BUT SNOW!!! Make a LO WITHOUT snow!!

We don't even have snow here yet in Cleveland Ohio! Not that I'm complaining one bit! LOL

I did this LO with 2 pages from this stack! That's it!! Everything on here is from this stack, no other embellies!

I used a blue sheet of paper from the stack and a page that had a bunch of different borders on it. The stars were one, the grass with the stripes were another, the flowers were one that I fussy cut out and popped up along with the mushrooms. 

The word 'fun' was from another page in the stack that I cut out and popped up. The stripes on my pictures were a border from the border page that I cut and adhered to the edge of my photos and then cut triangles for the corners. The bottom pic is popped up also.

Now go scrapbook something without snow and enter it in our challenge at Lasting Memories! You DO NOT want to miss it since we have a sponsor this week and you could win a $10.00 gift certificate!!

Snow Layout Challenge #117!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!
Happy Sunday and happy new challenge!! It's all about the snow, snow pics, kids playing in snow, your favorite snow pics, whatever about the snow that inspires you to make a layout of it we want to see it!!!
I did not make a layout with pics because, well, my pics from quite a few months are in the bottom of Lake Erie! Yep, you read that right! I'm one of those procrastinators that never take the time to upload pics from my phone.
Me, my boyfriend and my son sailed to Kelly's Island over the summer, had a fabulous trip, took lots of pics, and welp, we were on our way sailing back and here's me, trying to get one of those uber great shots of the morning sun behind the sail. I tell my boyfriend to move his big head as I started to lean to get the shot..........and..........there it went............bounced off the rim of the boat..........off the second ledge..............PLOP!!!! My HTC 4G Evo sunk with a quickness. The Lake consumed it with a fury like it was tasting a cell phone for the first time and it was a candy like no other!
I watched it for a second, slowly cry for help as it was sucked in by the waves of Lake Erie. Sheer terror on my face, I turned around to face Joe. He was now standing over me, the look of shock had drained the color from both of our faces. He looked at me and said "Honey, I will buy you a new phone cause I love you". (btw, first time he EVER said that 4 letter word!)
My eyes started to burn as I held back the fit of rage and sadness that was welling up. Every cute, funny, weird, hilarious occasion, single moment, planned celebration for the past 6 months was on that phone.................was now sinking hundreds of feet below the surface where we breath..........to thump (if it makes sound under water) (will it? if no one's around to hear it..lol) into the bottom causing a cloud of sand to settle around it, where it will rest for the days of it's life.....
SO! That's why I do not have any 'snow' pics!!!!! How was that for a suspenseful story of a scrap book LO!! hahaha!!

Can't wait to see what you've got!!  

Link up by Saturday 12/8/12 at 6pm EST to be a part or our TOP 3 or Featured throughout the week!! Be sure to come back tomorrow to see our MONDAY MOJO  and check out all of our DT projects up close and personal!!
xoxo Charity

Naked Layouts Challenge #116

Hey everyone!

OMG!! With JaKobe getting so sick this past week and work and life itself time totally got away from me and before I realized it, it was time for another challenge at Lasting Memories!! Holy cow I have to get it together!! So as you can see my LO is late, the challenge started yesterday!

Your challenge is to make a NAKED layout!! That's right, you saw that right....naked!!

I made a layout that is not like my usual work. When they say challenge they are not kidding! This one had me stumped and I had a hard time pulling this together. Inside the envelope is a letter I wrote to my son. Hopefully one day he will be looking through his scrapbook and he will find this letter I wrote to him.

While I was writing this letter, my son was drawing a picture for me, so I put that into the envelope as well!!

Sorry for the glare! Was in a rush to get this posted.

So go check out the rest of the Design Team, get inspired and link up your Naked Layout by 12.1.12!

xoxo Charity

Lasting Memories Challenge #115!!!

Hey everyone!!

I am excited to announce I am officially back on the Lasting Memories Design Team!! WOO HOO!!

Our challenge this week is to make a layout with stamping on it. I used the sketch provided so feel free to use it as well!

I chose to do a layout of our sweet cat Seva. She is no longer with us and dearly missed. We rescued her from our cable guy who's daughter found her abandoned and very ill. She was with us for about a year before her entire system failed and I had to put her to rest. She loved my son more than anything. She would sit on his chest for days if he let her. You didn't even have to pet her, she just wanted to snuggle. This particular picture I took with her in my arms wrapped in a towel. She had been extremely sick for a couple days. On this day when I came home from work she was lifeless in the middle of the floor. I picked her up, wrapped her in a towel because she was freezing cold and immediately took her to the vet. She opened her eyes for me while I cried uncontrollably and thanked her for being there for my son.

Seva was a very important part of our lives and we miss her greatly.

I made a pocket to hold the other pictures I have of her with my son.

So now wipe your tears and go get your scrap on!! Make a layout with stamping somewhere on the page and follow the sketch if you would like. Don't forget to go to Lasting Memories and check out the other Design Team ladies to get some fabulous inspiration!!

Halloween Goody Bag & Challenge Entry!

Good Afternoon Everyone!!

I have been ill all week, along with my little 4yo man  :(
We have been diligently trying to work on his goody bags for daycare all week! OMG! How daunting is a little task when you feel like your face will blow off your head! Crazy! Anyways, here is a goody bag (yes, I said 'a'--hence we have 19 more!) I made also to enter into a challenge at Decorate To Celebrate. For this challenge you have to make a party supply (invitation, decoration etc.). So here is my entry:

I hope you enjoyed the video! Now get your scrappy juices flowing and enter some challenges!!

xoxo Charity

Challenge Entry

Hey Everyone!!!

I'm back and in full swing entering challenges, posting videos and trying to get back in the loop of the crafting world! So here is my first challenge entry in about a year I think!

I am entering this S-fold Halloween card in two challenges:
1. Cardz TV challenge, make an s-fold card and use a cricut cartridge, enter by Oct. 9th
2. My Creative Time challenge, add googly eyes to any project, enter by Oct. 9th

I LOVE both of these blogs! You must check them out, very inspiring!

I hope you like my take on the s-fold card! I also show you how to make one in the video. So get inspired and get crafting to enter some challenges and meet some wonderful people!!

Have a great weekend!

xoxo Charity

Lasting Memories Challenge #63

Hey everyone!!

The new Lasting Memories challenge started yesterday! It's all about sephia and earth tones!! How fun is this?! I used My Memories Suite to make a digital layout:

Of course I chose to scrap my little man! I'm always taking random pics of him and came across this one while looking for a photo that would look good in a sephia tone. I hope you like it! Now go check out the rest of the fab DT, get some inspiration and get your scrap on!! Make sure you link up by Nov. 12th, 9pm est.

xoxo Charity

Paper Lovin' Gals Challenge #4!!

Hey everyone!!

So things are finally starting to settle down a little bit. Still moving stuff out of the old house into the new room I'm renting. Scrapbook mostly unpacked and organized. Work slowing down...a tad. So onto a fun challenge!

At Paper Lovin' Gals we encourage ALL kinds of crafting projects inspired by the picture provided for you. We are a weekly challenge blog that runs from Thursday to Wednesday. Lots of prizes and friends to be had! So here is Challenge #4 picture for you:

I LOVE this pic!! There are sooo many things I wanted to do for this one but the time was just not on my side. I love the blue in the bed spread so I made a little frame inspired from that:

I used the Zig Two-way fine tip glue pen to 'draw' the glue swirls then sprinkled glitter on them.

This is actually how the frame started off!

I bought a bunch of these on clearance for .50 cents cause I knew I could alter them!

I hope you like my inspiration from the picture! Now go check out the rest of the fabulous DT for even more inspiration!! They have some beautiful projects to show!!

xoxo Charity