June's 'get messy' challenge

Firstly, this was quite a stretch for me to say the least, challenge, yes...I cracked open my jar of Gesso, that I've had for a very long time but haven't used until today!

I'm so glad that Carmen hosted this 'get messy' challenge over at Scrapbook Challenges. 

Here's my layout:

I've smeared the gesso on the patterned paper and then added some more and scrapped a grooved tool through it...left it to dry for an hour as I had some thick splotches.

You can just barely see the shimmer in this frame which was hand cut from a sheet of patterned paper.

Don't you just love seeing the texture and dimension that this gesso adds to this layout ?

You can also see the faint bit of spritz that I've added with a smoosh spritzer...it had some shimmer to it as well.

Here's the sheets that I've hand cut to create some embellishments to go with this paper collection from SEI...

So glad you've popped in today, I hope you try to mix things up a bit with paint/gesso/inks and 'get messy' !!!

Colour Challenge

Good Morning!

I was having a great time today playing along with a couple challenges over at the Scrapbook Challenges site. 

The one I'm going to show you today is the June 'Colour Challenge' and was hosted by Emilia from their Design Team.

 She wanted us to work with this colour palette as our inspiration:

and this is what I came up with:

I came upon these papers at Bryan's store, Paper Nation...I loved the look of them, the colours and I'm loving all this wood grain paper, so of course I needed it! 

Made some fun and easy embellishments with my circle punches and cut my felt with my circle die from Sizzix...crinkled and layered and voila...add some brads and they were ready to add to this layout...I find it a little more challenging to embellish more masculine layouts but I think this one worked out fine :)

I love my twine...raised the card stock matted photo on some 3D foam tape to add some dimension and to make the twine look better :)

Thanks so much for checking in today, tomorrow I'll be sharing my  June 'By The Numbers' Challenge layout that Cathy has hosted this month!

School Days

Good Morning! 

I love sketches...have I said that before??? Yes, I'm quite sure I say it very often ;) This sketch is awesome and I sure hope you decide to play along with it too...I think I might even create another one.

I flipped a couple things to make this sketch work better with what photos I had on hand, I also got a chance to play with my Cricut and my CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge...

When you need just the right colour for your title, this AP cartridge does the trick, I used my Creme Brulee cardstock to add some more yellow to this layout with these letters.

Can you see the white splatter...I filled my CTMH spritzer with some rubbing alcohol and some White Daisy re-inker...played with spritzing and loved the final result, just a little distressed

Twine has got to be my perfect go-to item for a dash of texture and colour

seeing as I'm a huge fan of all types of shapes...stars and school of course are fantastic together and this layout needed some star treatment...I even ran the large start through the embossing folder and my Sizzix...thanks so much for stopping in for a visit today, enjoy your Wednesday and I hope that you have fun with this sketch :)
This week's sketch is being sponsored by:

click on the image to head to their site!

Scrapbook Challenges

Good Morning! 

I've been playing some more with sketches, paper, scissors and glue!

Over at Scrapbook Challenges, they've got a sketch...it can be a single page or a double page, you choose!

I decided on a double page, mostly because that is what I usually do and it is my comfort zone when it comes to layouts...however I am starting to get much braver on the single page front and seem to be scrapping both fairly equally these days :]

Here is their Sketch 301...I hope you give this one a try!

and here's what fun I had with this double pager :]

Yes, Marissa has turned 16 and on her Birthday I took her to the Motor Vehicle Office and she was tested on her driving smarts!!! She passed no problem and after her eye exam, photograph, paying the fees and signing on the dotted line...she was given her one year temporary 'Learner's License'...that was the easy part, now she needs to practice actually driving a car! Yikes :|

Everything was dug from my stash and it felt good to get some more recent photos scrapped this weekend!

I had a lot of fun working with this sketch, hopefully you do too! Thanks for stopping by today :)

Finishing things up...

I've used the last couple days to put some finishing touches on some of the layouts I've been working on from my '20 Layouts Class' that Jennifer Edwardson taught back on May 5th as one of the satellite fundraisiing events for BC Scrapbooking Crops for Kids.

I'm happy to say that I've almost finished all of them! So seeing as I've taken Jennifer's power layout classes three times...I've created a total of 65 layouts with the help of Jennifers great classes!

Here's a couple that are ready for the album...

Simple Stories paper line, if you weren't aware, is an awesome newer paper company and if you are lucky enough to get your hands on it...make sure that you grab a handful of papers and for sure grab their sticker sheet. The sticker sheet usually contains alphabet stickers, like I've used in the title, and lots of fun images. One cloud was on the sheet along with the umbrella, I've put them on some card stock and then cut them out so I could pop them up with 3D foam tape for some extra dimension.

The Washi tape that I have been collecting forever was put to good use here under my pom-pom ribbon and  I needed to outline my title 'games' with my CTMH fineliner to make it stand out a little..I love these sticker sheets :)

This 'Follow Your Heart' line from My Mind's Eye was a must have even if I haven't really gotten into it before this layout. I always LOVE buying these papers with all the detail already on them, however, they are sometimes difficult to use...mostly because you often don't want to cover up the details...

here I decided to use my exacto knife and then tucked the paper underneath and added some fantastic canvas flowers, inked and layered with some of their decorative brads...love that their embellishments are so gorgeous and versatile :)

I love my niece...she's adorable, I had fun playing with all these papers, Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye, Jillibean Soup...some of my favourites all on one page :)

Although the colour isn't so great in this photo...I am loving this mint'y coloured American Crafts foam thickers...one of my new favs :)

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your Sunday :)

June Stampaganza Special!

Hello Again!

I wanted to send out another reminder that this month is the time to take advantage of some FREE stamps...for June only, purchase two stamp sets and get the third one for FREE!!!

Contact me for more information or to take advantage of this month's special before it's too late!

Shop stamp sets HERE

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It’s Stampaganza Time!
June 2012 Constant Campaign

Purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, or E) at full retail price and receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value)—a savings of up to $29.95!

Stamp sets that count toward the qualifying purchase include full-priced A, B, C, D, and E sets only. Stamps that do not count toward a qualifying purchase include customizable (K), Workshops on the Go™, Cricut® collection, and Stamp of the Month (both discounted and full-priced) sets.

Dates: Offer valid June 1 (9:00 am MDT) – June 30 (11:59 pm MDT)

Contact me today to take advantage of this stampaganza special!!!

How's about a Sneaky Peek?

Hello!

I thought I'd send out some sneaks of the upcoming classes for this years BC Scrapbooking Crop for Kids in October.

This year I'm teaching a couple different classes but today I thought I'd share some pics of the class I'm teaching that I've sponsored with Close To My Heart papers and embellies.

We will be creating 2 doubled page layouts and 2 single paged layouts...but then after I created with the kit, I decided to add a Bonus single paged layout because I had some chipboard bits left and another layout was just minutes away :)

Here's the kit contents:

Now I can't show you the complete layouts until it's class time, but you might like to see a little of what we will be creating in class...

these chipboard sheets are fabulous...the embellies are the best quality I've seen

and these cork alphabets are my all time favourite CTMH embellie yet

Pennants and banners are so cool...I'm loving them and they add such great dimension and jazz to layouts :)

Well hopefully you have gotten a feel of the papers and embellies in this kit and hopefully we will see you there in October!

Card or Layout???

Well it could be either....can't it? This is what I love about the sketches over at Let's Scrap...when I first saw this sketch I wanted to make a layout...it makes a great card too but this photo of Olivia with Mt.Baker in the background was perfect for it.

This photo is so reflective, it reminds me of the next stage in her life after graduation..looking to the horizon and future...the whole world at her beautiful feet!

I literally found this ribbon downstairs and decided to incorporate it here...at first I thought maybe it was too thick but I like how it reminds me of a tuxedo bow tie!

Found some great sentiments in my collection of stamp sets and I like how they all said what I'm thinking as I created this layout :)

I added some bling between the words for separation but also because it is her prom picture and it needs some BLING !

In the end this photo is what I want to notice the most, so keeping the embellishing to a minimum let that happen :)

Thanks for stopping by today...have a great Wednesday!

Scrapbook Challenges

Hello my scrappy-friends...it is a beautiful sunny day here, just one in the past seven, but I'll take that :)

I thought I'd share a layout with you today that I've created for the Scrapbook Challenges DT Call.

As I've shared over the past few months some different Challenge and Sketch sites with you, Scrapbook Challenges is a wonderful place for those of you that are Traditional, Digital or Hybrid Scrapbookers and are looking for another place that offers sketches and weekly challenges.

I have discovered over the past year that I LOVE Sketches and challenges as they help me get more scrapbooking done and a variety of challenges helps to encourage us all to scrapbook perhaps a little out of our comfort zone...perhaps even discovering something that we now really love to do!

Well this morning I took a look at this sketch, dug up two sweet photos of my niece Jada and got to work...

and this is what I've created for the Scrapbook Challenges Design Team application fingers crossed they like it, but even if I'm not successful, I know where to go for some great Sketches and Challenges and I hope you do to!

I found a full roll of super special ribbon that I've been hoarding for years because it's super pretty and I like to keep things forever...but it looks lovely here and my niece is super special too, so this is the perfect place for it !!! I've also raised the photo of Jada and created a Polaroid feel with the cardstock I've matted it on...and some fun butter yellow twine adds some nice dimension.

Now you could easily carry this across two pages by meeting the inside edges of the patterned paper flush together and continuing the banner across two pages...

I've used the My Mind's Eye 'This & That' line and purchased the coordinating sticker sheet to go with the five different patterned papers I purchased...it made creating this banner super easy and quick! 

I love digging into my stash of goodies and finding flowers or other do-dads that work nicely with my project even if they weren't purchased together...these flowers were in my stash and the colours worked great for this layout...don't be afraid to piece things together as you will always find something fun to add texture and dimension to your projects!

Thanks for stopping by today...off to work on my BC Crop for Kids classes...check out my classes tab on my Blog for more details of my upcoming classes :)

University Road Trip!

Just got back last week from a three day Road Trip up North to Prince George...a smaller town in Northern British Columbia for some of you that are not Canadian...from where I live in the Lower Mainland, its about an 8.5 hour car drive and just over 750km !!!


Do-able but tiring for a weekend as it pretty much takes a day to get there and one to get home...throw in a meal break part way through and that's 8-9 hours...phew...but in the end we were thrilled with the campus and it looks like Olivia, my eldest daughter, is excited to be attending this September!


I thought I'd show you some of the great sites there...

Medical Wing, somewhere Olivia will be hanging out...

Student Library

Main meeting area on Campus for students :)

examples of the beautiful Architecture

Fitness Centre houses, squash courts, two full size basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, the largest indoor running/walking track in BC, fitness rooms for Yoga and other classes, weights rooms...

Administration building, Professors' offices'

natural garden tended by the students

really neat structure to sit and enjoy the view, but also to collect some solar energy

the view from the Campus

It is nice to be able to tour the campus and get a feel for where my baby-girl will be living for the next four years!!!