Saying Goodbye

to Get Picky ;(

I'm really bummed.

the  challenge site is closing down.

it's been so fun and I've felt like I've created some of my most favorite layouts here.

I have one last challenge to share with you.......and it's a nice way to finish off.

Our challenge was to  scrap about someone who inspires us.  For me that was easy....it's all the amazing women that surround my everyday life.  I am so lucky to have such a vast network of friends here in my little community.  These women are some of my most favorite people in the whole world.  They are strong, and brave, courageous and such good examples to me.  I love them.

It also doesn't hurt they the secretly connived to throw me a little 40th birthday party.  I was so touched, really I was.  It was such a fun night!!!

 "beautiful people don't just happen"

There was another time in my life when I felt surrounded by these kinds of women.  Where I felt loved and encouraged and lifted up.  When we moved I felt like I would never experience that again.  It truly is a special thing.  It took quite a few years and another move to discover it again....but it did happen again and I'm so grateful.  I really love my community and my friends.  

Here is our inspiration prompt......I used the last line as my title.

Get Picky March Sketch

The March sketch it's gonna put your sketch following skills to the test ;)

But it's totally worth it!!!

The design team came up with some great interpretations of this one....so be sure to check them out.

I played with this one for quite a while and messed with several different ideas till I came up with this.  I'm really quite in love with it and love the way sketches stretch my design style.  Makes me think of things I would have never come up with otherwise.

These pictures are of Kristen from last summer.  Our grandma has the most luscious back yard and the kids love spending their time out there.  Kristen came across a Croquet game a few summers ago and that's pretty much all she ever wants to do.  The rest of us get a little bored with it so she ends up playing by herself ;)  We have so many great memories in this yard.....all the kids have grown up back here ;)

 I used an old line from Crate..Portrait....it's not really that old, but in the scrapping world, I guess you would say, it's soooooo last season!  But I love it and haven't even begun to scratch the surface of this line!

I hope you give this one a try...and if you do, let me know ;)

Get Picky Feb. Inspiration

The February Inspiration Challenge is up at Get Picky and it's a pretty one ;)

I knew exactly what product I wanted to use......Crate Papers Paper Hearts Collection.

Then I came across these photo's of Doug and I......ahhhhhhhh ;)

I pretty much hate pictures of myself....but oh well.

We should make an appearance in these books of mine every once in a while, right!

I got pretty brave with my mist and did a negative title effect.
I like it, but wish my nozzle wasn't a little wonky, it kinda went off on it's own a bit.
It's always a risk where mist is involved, but that's the beauty of it I guess ;)

Be sure to hop on over and check out the rest of the design teams work....they are amazing and soooo pretty ;)

Get Picky Sketch

First and foremost....THANK YOU for all the sweet and lovely comments about my trip.  It meant the whole world to me and i'm grateful for all the love.....you guys are the BEST!!!!!

I seem to be slow on the scrappy inspiration this month.....though I've got loads to share.

Must get on that ;)

Today I'll share our Get Picky Sketch.....

I have to admit....i don't always love what I end up with ;(

I love the sketch, I liked my ideas. 

I love all the little bits, the stars, the rocket, the stickers, the strips of paper, the buttons ;)

Hello, my name is Carol and I am addicted to buttons ;)

But all together, it's not doing much for me.

I don't know what it is, it might just all be too straight.

Ya, I think that's it....it's too straight.

Ok, I feel better now ;)

Enjoy.

Oh, and I'm clearly having a little obsession with October Afternoon these days.

I have all these collections and I just can't put them down.

This here is Rocket Age and a bit of Boarding Pass.

So hop on over to Get Picky, check out the sponsor for this month, play and have fun!!!

Get Picky & October Afternoon

The Jan prompt for Get Picky is up!

It's a holiday theme with a 4 pic requirement.

I am in love with the October Afternoon Holiday Style Line......it went perfectly with these santa pictures I had of the kids at Disney California a few years ago.

All the fun miscellany bits in this line were screaming out for a banner.  I have seen lots of fun ones across the web and just had to try one myself.  I added the kraft doilies underneath and love the way the brown pops off all the color.

********************************

While I had all this stuff out I decided to play along with October Afternoons Thursday Sketch challenge that my good friend Danni Reid had up. 

A group shot of the kids with Santa.  

Why is it that a crying baby reaching out to be saved from this crazy guy is so cute and funny????

I'm so mean ;)

Thanks for looking ;)

Jan Sketch at Get Picky

We've got a fun new sketch for you girls over at Get Picky.

There's even a prize up for grabs so be sure to check it out!

I went a bit out of my comfort zone with this one and did a bit of hand drawing.  

Well, circles anyways.  That's a big step for me ;)

 

 

 I like how it turned out though....this here's Jack, figure I'm off to a good start working on him, right!! ;)   These are pictures of him playing with an elmo boat that Nathan got for his 2nd birthday!  It's gone through all the kids and has always been a big hit!  It's one of those good toys that didn't go bad and gross in the water. 

 I like using the negatives from my border punches and these ones fit perfect with my water theme ;)

This here is a mix of October Afternoons RocketAge and BoardingPass lines.

Get Picky Dec. Inspiration

Our New Years inspiration post is up at Get Picky

The challenge this month is to think about what we might resolve to do in the coming New Year.

We've got some inspiring words up on the blog to gleam your inspiration from.

I chose the words from the poem that say "Every day of your life"

I wrote a note to my kids about some things that I hope for them, and things I want them to remember.

 

I hope you'll hop on over and have a go at it!!!

Get Picky Dec. Sketch

I'm finally getting a post up before the time is up over at Get Picky!!!!

Yay for me ;)

We've got our December sketch up for you and it was a fun one.

 

wanna know something?  i didn't even realize till i found it on my desk, that the sticker i had to go above my journaling never made it on my layout!  ha!

I had these photos on this photo strip for quite some time.  Had been planning to scrap them....eventually ;)  So glad this sketch made me pull them out!  To make the photo strips I simply opened a new 8x12 document in photoshop and dragged my photos onto it.  Putting them in a row and using the grids to make sure they were all the same size.  Then printed them at my local printer and when I cut them out I just kept them together.....easy peasy ;)

My mom made me an entire batch of strawberry jam last summer....and my girls helped.  We will be enjoying that yummy stuff for years I think!  Love it!!!

Be sure to hop on over to Get Picky and check out the prize that goes with this sketch.  You've got till Dec. 28 (australian time) that's the 27th here in America!

Get Picky Inspiration

oh my......love what this prompt reminded me to do ;)

Scrap this story about Samantha.....it makes me laugh out loud everytime!!!

 The inspiration to scrap a story....to focus on the words and the journaling.

Samantha wrote this paper in school when she was in first grade.....the teachers comment just steps it all up a notch!

"I get mad wen I have to do my chros (chores).  All I do is shav (shove) stuf under my bed.  Inless (unless) it's something spshal (special).  Sometimes I have to make my bed or clean my bed.  Allso sometimes I have to clean under my bed.  That's tarabal (terrible) (insert teachers comment:  Especially after you shoved everything under there!)  I hate to clean!!!


I hope you'll have a chance to play along ;)

Get Picky is right over here ;)

Get Picky Nov. Sketch

sadly......is past.

i feel badly that i wasn't able to get this posted earlier....but you know.

the blog was on vacation, apparently!!!

I So loved this sketch, I didn't know it at first.

Don't usually do much with circles/ovals.

But these pics have been floating from paper to paper, waiting to be scrapped and nothing ever felt right so they always got pushed to the side.  

But alas, they finally made there way onto a page and I loooooove it!!!!

Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking ;)

My little Samantha....always the life of the party, even at ONE!!!

Used a bit of Studio Calico and Sassafras here ;)

Here's One More ;)

Post for Get Picky!!!!

The new inspiration for October is up.....and it was right up my alley ;)

loved the pops of color off the white....so I went with that!

This month it's a photo prompt - be inspired by this photo AND you must include FABRIC on your page.  The fabric can be in any way, shape or form (burlap, lace, felt etc)...

and mine....

Thanks so much for looking....happy Saturday ;)

Get Picky Blog Hop Winners!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone for hopping along with us!
I totally loved reading all your comments and am so grateful you took the time to be so kind ;)

The big winner over at Get Picky has been announced....hop on over and check it out ;)

As for the winner of my little RAK.....lets give  a shout out to Jessica P!!!!!
She's my random winner of new followers....thanks so much Jessica ;)

Please send my your address to carolmmonsonatyahoodotcom and I'll get this baby in the mail ;)

Jessica Pascarella said...

Love the layout! Great colors! Thanks for sharing it with us!!!!

October 15, 2011 5:17 PM

***************************************************

Stay tuned at Get Picky, our next challenge is coming up tomorrow!!!!

Get Picky Blog Hop & Prizes!!!

 Welcome to the Get Picky 1^st Birthday Blog Hop! 

We are celebrating our first year with a very exciting reveal as we unveil our 13^th Sketch with you today and share the beautiful creations of both present and past designers from our first year!  Some of the team members will be offering prizes so you will want to visit all of the blogs to increase your chances of winning a prize.  We are also offering a major prize along with the chance at a Guest Designer spot for the month of November if you visit and leave a comment at all of the blogs in our blog hop and participate in Sketch Challenge #13.  The Blog Hop starts today and will remain open until midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on October 28^th so this will give you all plenty of time to visit everyone’s blogs and create a layout for the sketch challenge.

Here is Sketch #13

And here is my layout

As we mentioned, there are lots of great birthday pressies up for grabs along our hop today.  Some of us designers are offering a RAK, including myself and of course there is the chance to become our Guest Designer for November....but what's a celebration without that very special gift.

We are so very excited to also announce that Imaginisce have been kind enough to sponsor us with an awesome prize for our very special birthday celebration.

Get Picky is the first stop of our birthday journey where you will find the complete list of all blogs in case there is a glitch along the way.  If you would like to play, just follow along the blog path in order so you don’t miss anyone.

Remember, if you want to be considered for the Guest Designer spot in November & the prize, once you have visited all the blogs and uploaded your entry for Sketch Challenge #13, please make sure that you go back to the Get Picky Blog and leave a comment on the challenge post.

The blog hop begins here: Get Picky Blog

Your next stop is here: Chantel Vandenberg

Thank you so much for joining us for this very special birthday celebration and for your continued support!


*and one more thing *
I'm offering a small RAK of some of my favorite goodies!!!
As long as you leave me a comment for the GP prize and then follow me I'll randomly choose a winner when the hop is over ;)

Get Picky Sketch & Best Creations!

 Our new sketch is up over at Get Picky!

We were so lucky to be sponsored by Best Creations this month.

I got a huge package of their kitchen line to play with ;)

My layout along with a few other team members made it on their blog as well ;)

 

 

 I had fun playing with these pictures of my sweet little Kristen digging for worms in her grandma's garden and then pretending to eat one!!!  This sketch was fun and so easy to work with!

Come play along for your chance to win a prize pack!!!

 

                       We are so very excited to announce our sponsor for September is Best Creation.

 

Best Creation is a scrapbooking, cardmaking and paper crafting company out of El Monte, California. Famous for our no-mess glitter papers, Best Creation has thrived for over 5 years producing the latest in double-sided patterned papers, cardstocks, basics, and embellishments. We hope our products inspire you to create and share memories of the past and present.

Best Creation has been ever so generous by not only sponsoring our sketch challenge with an incredible prize pack, but they have also sponsored our design team with a brand new 'just released' CHA collection for each of our dt girls, as well as our guest designer this month!  

                                                           THANK YOU Best Creation! 

Get Picky Inspiration

The August inspiration challenge is up over at Get Picky!
I was instantly drawn to the yellow and green combo ;)

Pulled out some of Crate's yummy Emma's Shoppe line and played with that.  Here's what I came up with.  These are some old pictures of my cute little Kristen ;)  I've totally been inspired by my friend Lilith with the thread cluster and have been having some fun trying out that technique ;)

Hop on over to Get Picky and play along.....we have a prize in store for you....here are all the details ;)

The winner of this challenge will be invited to guest design for our next inspiration challenge in September.

And this month we are offering another random prize.  Everyone who participates in this challenge will go into a RANDOM draw to win a selection of gorgeous products from My Little Shoebox!

All you have to do to be in the running to win is enter our challenge - it's that simple! Everyone who enters automatically goes into the draw for the prize!

Here is a photo of exactly what you will WIN...

 Prize includes:
My Little Shoebox Imaginery Friends Collection (3 x sheets of double sided paper, 2 x diecut papers, 1 x 12x12 sheet cardstock die cuts, 1 x 6x12 transparent overlay)
My Little Shoebox Lil' Critter Collection (3 x sheets of double sided paper, 2 x diecut papers, 1 x 12x12 sheet cardstock die cuts, 1 x 6x12 transparent overlay)
My Little Shoebox Sprinkle Glaze Alphabet Stickers (Lagoon)
My Little Shoebox Sprinkle Glaze Alphabet Stickers (Goldfish)