Happy Accident!

I have saved the best for last from our NOLA vacation- FUN & FOOD! We went to listen to the Next Generation Brass band that plays on the corner of Bourbon street before our Anniversary dinner at John Besh's restaurant, August. We had no idea we would end up front row for the St. Patrick's Day parade! I guess I stood out since I was dressed for a nice dinner and ended up with a TON of beads and flowers!

 I really hate my doodling so I thought I would make myself try it on this great sketch from Trisha at Sketch Inspiration.

What a fun sketch from Sketchabilities. If you haven't checked out their inspirational work- make sure you do! You won't regret it. :0)
I really love this new flower Audrey taught us how to do in our Fabulous Flowers class at Lonestar! I am on a roll with handmade flowers thanks to her. :0)

I'm pretty happy with how this page turned out- maybe it's the memories of the fabulous food we ate there taking over! I particularly LOVED this sketch from Sketchy Thursdays because it allowed me to feature several pictures. They have the most creative, challenging sketches! They are soooooo one of my favorite blogs! I added glossy accents to all of my lettering and made my flowers from a heart punch- so simple!

How could you go wrong with this sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches?  The minute I saw it I knew I had to use it to showcase the beautiful bright Echo Park paper I have been using for this album.  I had taken a zillion pics of the signs for all of the places we ate, but I just couldn't figure out how to use them on a page, so instead I typed the restaurant names and created a colorful border around our pics.

Contest Crazy!

I took a scrapbooking vacation for a while there, but finding all of the great online scrapbooking communities have really helped me find my motivation again. I have decided to scrap my entire NOLA vacation using a contest for every page- a little personal challenge for myself. :0) I'm getting close to finishing sooo. . . a few more vacation pages and SUPER CUTE puppy and kitty shots are to follow. :0)

Both of these pages are the second in two page layouts (first pages are in previous posts . . . see if you can match them up.) :0)

Lafayette Cemetery page 2:
I found a great new community this week called Challenge Heaven. Oh my gosh! They have the best challenges! This is my first one for the word challenge. You had to use the word "remember" and distressing. I inked a lot and distressed the edge of the photo mat paper with my paper scrapper. You will see more pages inspired by their challenges soon. . .Love this new ning!!!



Oak Alley Plantation Page 2:
What a fantastic layout from Sassy Lil'Sketches that fit my pics perfectly. I inked my chipboard letters "time" with distressing ink and then covered them in Glossy Accents. I was pretty happy with the outcome. :0) I just have to add how proud of myself I am that I'm journaling along the way- woo hoo!

Everything is Better Fried. . . and Covered in Sugar

So when we were in NOLA we did a ton of walking- not for exercise, but to walk off the millions of calories we consumed. Oh my goodness- there is no exaggeration for how fabulous the food is everywhere you go. Cafe Du Monde definitely lived up to our expectations with their super yummy beignets. WOW!

Below: So I got my sketching mojo working with the help of a few of my new favorite blogs. Cookbookin', has a November sketch competition going on that involves food, so of course I thought of my vacation to NOLA. It was hard to choose which delicacy to feature, but the beignets won out.
Above: When I saw Sketchy Thursdays 11.11 Challenge's super cute sketch I knew I had the perfect trio of pics to feature. My cute hubby LOVED him some beignets. :0)

More Sugar . . .

Get Picky's Inspiration picture has had me thinking for weeks about what to do. Finally, I stopped fighting and gave into the obvious because this inspiration pic couldn't be more perfect to show off our shots from Sucre, a sweets shop we happened upon in NOLA. Get Picky is quickly becoming my favorite blog site- those girls are talented!

Inspiration Pic:
My take on it:

Sketch Inspiration

Sketch Inspiration has truly been a scrapbooking inspiration to me...it and Audrey (my favorite Lonestar Instructor ever!) I'm excited that I have started scrapping more lately and found an extensive online community to truly inspire me. I have submitted several layouts to Sketch Inspiration and even won a prize! I'm even starting to branch out to other blogs. I think I have finally found the motivation to update my blog more than once a year! Thought I'd share the layouts that I did for Sketch Inspiration that didn't make it to my blog . :0)

Click on the images to see the full size pic:

Baxter having a great time his first time at a real park

a NOLA plantation stop

a taste of our B&B

more of our walking tour

Staycation

Greg and I decided to stay at home this summer since we had just gone to NOLA in March. We had so much fun! One of our favorite excursions was a day at Messina Hof winery picking and stomping grapes, a tour of the winery, a fabulous lunch, a guided food and wine pairing and of course drinking a ton of wine! Here is one my first page made with beautiful BRIGHT Bo Bunny papers and embellishments.

On the Way Back from NOLA...

To make the trip home from NOLA interesting we decided to visit a few plantations. We were so fortunate that the weather was beyond beautiful making the drive was really enjoyable. Our favorite stop was Laura Plantation. We were impressed because the creole plantation was ornate and elaborate, but because of how each person there truly cared about its history and the former owners. if you ever are nearby you must stop!

I got my scrappin' inspiration from a few layouts I came across this week. I am always so grateful for the motivation all the blogs/nings I "stalk" provide. :0)


1st page: I pulled out my new stamps and added some ink to my pages. I also tried out an accordion flower for the first time. I sure hope I get better the more I practice! I'm excited about taking Audrey's Fabulous Flowers class next week at my LSS. :0) Thanks to Page Maps for another fabulous sketch!


2nd page: WOW! What an amazing, challenging sketch! I used my new flourish stamps on this page too, but dressed them up a bit. To the stamps and the rest of the page I added a few types of bling- Stickles, Glossy Accents, shiny ribbon and a few rhinestones. Thanks Sketchy Thursdays for the great sketch- super fun!

NOLA

Greg and I had a great time in New Orleans during Spring Break. I'm just now getting around to scrapping the pictures. I bought two of the Echo Park paper lines- Walk in the Park & Sweet Summertime and I am LOVING the bright colors. Here is a two page spread I just finished!

Sketch Inspiration Layout (above)

Get Picky Layout (below)

We also visited the Lafayette Cemetery- what a peaceful place rich with history. I got my page layout inspiration from the Page Maps Blog- Sketch Contest 2.