Design Dollies Elements Challenge

The Elements Challenge over at Design Dollies is a recipe this week: baby blue, ink, masking, word print paper, and stripes. Whoah, talk about a challenge! I started with the mask, which you can just see on the blue paper. It's a fleur de lis, and I couldn't get it all in, but it's really pretty. Then I got out the word print paper. I wanted a vintagey feel, so I searched high and low until I found this old postcard with the mannequin on it and cut that out. Then stripes...Would you believe that anything with stripes that I had on hand did not go with this doll or this mask or this paper? Then I looked through the whole stash of stuff I got for my Design Dollies prize pack, and saw this yellow and white striped paper clip. Isn't it awesome? That's when the yellow was introduced, so then I needed more yellow, hence the flowers. The bee and the dollar store slide frame thingey? They were totally random, and the bee rub-on was so frustrating. I went through a ladybug and another bee until I got it on there, and I still messed it up, so that's why it's half covered, shhhhhh! The word bubble sticker is actually from a package intended for baby pages. I didn't think I'd ever use 'em, so I gave 'em to my daughter, but now I think I'll steal them back! I don't know who's going to get this card, but I hope they damn well appreciate all the trouble and time I went to!

Supplies: CTMH card base, blue cardstock, and pink patterned paper, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Screen, K&Co black patterned paper, 7 Gypsies brads, Uniek sticker, Tulip rub-on, unknown flowers and paper clip, doll cut from postcard

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Sketchy Thursdays

Before I start with this layout, I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it into the Winner's Circle at SPCC for my last layout! Yay, I love getting recognition for a job well done! Thanks to everyone at SPCC for showing me some love!

This layout showcases photos from the same day as my last post. My husband entered a cross country bike race, and I wanted to see him compete, but I had no idea what I was going to do with the 2 kids while he was doing it. It was loooong, and hot! We had just moved here, so no friends or family to babysit, so I just brought them along and hoped they wouldn't be too bored. As I was making this page, I realized for about the millionth time just how easygoing Ailis is. This day, she was happy to practice balancing on things, picking flowers, and daydreaming.

This was the first time I've used lace die cut paper, and it was a bit of a challenge, but I really like the effect. Too bad I had to clip it to the clipboard to get the photo, it would look better suspended in midair or something! I guess it will have to back up onto a white page in an album too, which is kind of a shame. Ruins the effect a bit, doesn't it? I used a Sketchy Thursdays sketch (love their sketches, but usually miss the deadline, gasp!) and I also got to use some new ribbon and flowers from my Design Dollies prize package, and some new pewter spritz from Tsukineko. Fun, fun!

Supplies (all CTMH): lilac patterned paper from Life's Delights Level 2 paper pack, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Olive, Key to My Heart and Cherish the Moment My Acrylix stamp sets, Twinkle Brads

Other: dollar store die cut paper, Basic Grey green patterned paper, Prima flowers, Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz in pewter, unknown ribbon, flowers and buttons

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Little Dude

SPCC colours this week are Marina Blue, Crumb Cake and Whisper White, so I matched them up best I could with CTMH's colours: Indian Corn Blue, Desert Sand, and White Daisy. Then I used the sketch from Design Dollies, flipped it and tilted it some, added a circle. Anyway, it was really fun to make this one because I used a bunch of things I've never used before, like corrugated cardboard and blackboard, plus I got to get a bit dirty by sanding, inking, and painting. All the fun stuff we love about scrapbooking, right?

Supplies (all CTMH): Desert Sand textured cardstock, Indian Corn Blue and White Daisy cardstock, patterned paper from Sweet Home Level 2 paper pack, Intrinsic Backgrounds and Annotations My Acrylix stamp sets, Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Indian Corn Blue and Desert Sand, Exclusive Inks marker in Cocoa, Natural Hemp

Other: Cosmo Cricket blackboard, white acrylic paint, K&Co brads, Prima journaling card, cardboard

P.S. this is layout #48 of 120 for the year

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Layout #47 - P.K.

Do you ever think back to the time before you had kids and think, "Hey, I did some pretty cool things!" Well, this layout is titled "P.K." which stands for Pre-Kids, and it shows one of the adventures we had with a group of friends one December. There's a little cabin in the mountains near where we grew up that's first come, first serve, and a group of us went up after Christmas. You have to snowshoe to get to the cabin because it's too steep and treed to snowmobile up to, then you have to snowshoe up further in order to board down. It's a lot of work for not much boarding, but the powder makes it all worth it, and we had a lot of fun just hanging out in the cabin once it got too dark to do anything outside.

So once again I took on the Design Dollies colour challenge for this week, which is teal, brown, cream, and a pop of red. Honestly, I can't believe I fit this many photos onto one page, with journaling! I stole the design from one I saw in Scrapbooks, etc. because I loved the grid idea. And now these photos are scrapped (finally!) and there's proof that I was maybe just a little adventurous P.K. Who knows, maybe we'll take the kids in a couple of years!

Supplies (all CTMH): Juniper, Colonial White and Cocoa cardstock, Perfect Day patterned paper and My Stickease, Colonial White buttons and brads, Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Juniper and Tulip, Exclusive Inks marker in Juniper

Other: Sakura white pen, Creative Memories brown pen, Prima journaling paper, unknown crochet trim and ribbon, Autumn Leaves stamp, K & Company button brads

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Design Dollies & JUGS

This photo was taken 5 and a half years ago, and I always liked it, but it never got scrapped. It shows my little guy snuggled up with a blanket in the baby car seat we'd bought in preparation for the impending arrival of his first sibling. He was always so active and intense (still is!) that we could never get a reprieve, and so we finally let him watch TV, but even that didn't keep his interest for long. The only show that he would sit longer than a half hour for was Winnie the Pooh. He just loved it, especially the part with the bees! I'd kind of forgotten this story until the Design Dollies elements challenge came out this week, asking for a project featuring a favourite cartoon character. I wracked my brain until I came up with this, and I just so happened to have stickers to match the theme! The challenge at JUGS this week is a colour challenge (don't I just love a good colour challenge!) - navy blue, orange, green and cream, and these just happen to nicely match my stickers and this gorgeous background paper from the CTMH You Rock paper pack. (Check out the thingies in my sidebar to click over to Design Dollies and JUGS.) And there you have it, layout #46 done!

Supplies (all CTMH): patterned paper from You Rock and Backcountry Level 2 paper packs, Colonial White cardstock, Intrinsic Backgrounds My Acrylix stamp set, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Outdoor Denim, Clear Detail embossing powder

Other: Sakura white pen, Creative Memories stickers, Versamark ink

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So You Think You Can Scrap!

I did most of this layout during commercials of Wednesday's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance". It was quite the challenge, and I almost finished the whole page, but it needed some fine-tuning and I didn't actually get it done until this morning. (Incidentally, I'm kind of disappointed with the show this season. It's kind of got that "been-there-done-that" feel to it, and I'm missing that wacky Mary!) The colours over at Design Dollies are baby pink, black, and red this week, and the Stampin' Royalty challenge was to use stencils (finally am going to enter one of their challenges, yay!) so I combined the two to make this page of my 16th birthday dinner. I got to play with one of my new Glimmer Screens, a new stamp set (Little Princess), and some Perfect Pearls, so I had a lot of fun making it. I kept the journaling simple by just stamping some phrases, because this was over half my life ago, and I don't really remember it all that well. I used to keep a diary at that age, but I think I got rid of it - too much embarassment if anyone ever cracked that open! Aren't the pictures bad enough?

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, patterned paper from More to Adore Level 2 paper pack, Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Blush and Black, Exclusive Inks marker in Tulip, Clear Detail embossing powder, Be Yourself, Classmate Alphabet, Picture Perfect, Little Princess, and Reminisce My Acrylix stamp sets, pewter mini brads

Other: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Screen, Ranger Perfect Pearls, unknown ribbon

P.S. this is layout #45 of 120 for the year!

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Usually I'm pretty modest, but...

...I just think this layout is so awesome! I love the colours, the shine, and the paisley chipboard water droplets, and I especially love the painted and stamped journaling block. The Design Dollies elements challenge this week is to use a song title in your project, so I wracked my brain, and finally stamped my U2 song in black Staz-on onto my photo. I think I may have missed the deadline on this challenge, though. Note to self: stamp photo BEFORE attaching it to the page. I had to fill in the letters with black pen because they didn't go on right. The paisleys I painted hot pink, then dumped glitter on. Then I had more story to tell, so I wrote on my photos. Usually I use a sketch for inspiration, but this time the design is all my own. What do you think? I showed my husband, but he just grunted. Maybe if I showed more enthusiasm for his upcoming goat hunt, he would show more excitement for my best layout EVER...

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, Classmate Alphabet My Acrylix stamp set, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Black

Other: Staz-on ink in Jet Black, Maya Road chipboard, Deco Art paint, unknown glitter and ribbons, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, patterned paper by Doodlebug, date stamp, Creative Memories pen

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Blackmail!

I just finished reorganizing all of my photos in chronological order from my birth until now, and when I came across these two, I kept them aside because I knew I wanted to make a page with them soon. Aren't they just hilarious? This is so typical of my impulsive boy. If he needs to go pee, he's been known to just whip it out and do it right there. I'm not sure why he's eating dinner in the nude. Maybe Jason will remember. But the kid has no inhibitions whatsoever, which is great in some respects, but can become very embarassing at times. This page could come in handy if I ever need to blackmail or embarass him at some point, maybe on his wedding day!

The colours for the Design Dollies colour challenge this week are orange, green, yellow, and white/ivory, which I think look great with these photos. I've been hoarding this green sparkly die cut paper for about 2 years, so I'm glad to finally get it out of my stash and into an album! Then I used some scraps and old fiber to dress it up a bit. The title was embossed with clear powder, then I painted over it with white for a kind of grungey look.

Supplies (all CTMH): Delightful Alphabet My Acrylix stamp set, Clear Detail embossing powder

Other: Creative Memories orange pen, Galaxy Marker green pen, K&Company green die-cut paper, Bazzill yellow cardstock, Scenic Route and Basic Grey patterned paper, unknown fiber, DecoArt paint, Versamark ink

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Hey, remember when I posted this?

Well, I won the Design Dollies June challenge! I am so over the moon!!!!!! They are sending me a prize package and everything! How cool is that? If you've never tried a Design Dollies challenge, you just have to, because they are so unique and a lot of fun! Thanks, Dollies, I love you!

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First Gymkhana with Woops-a-Daisy

Hey, everybody, I'm back from my little holiday, and it was very nice to get away and spend time with family, eat like crap, and not do any housework! Now that Nolan's off school, though, it seems like I'm constantly breaking up fights - it took me a whole week to do this layout! Well, it does have a lot of special extras, like machine stitching, a tissue paper ruffle, and some tear aways (is that what you would call them?) and I really like the end result, so it was worth all the time put into it. It was inspired by a layout in the October 2009 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
These photos are from 2 years ago, and I still have some more that I think I'll put in our family album. We were visiting family in Terrace, BC, and our cousin Michalla had a gymkhana to go to all day. She asked Nolan at first if he wanted to ride in it, and he said yes, but then changed his mind with lots of crying. He said he wasn't comfortable around horses! So Michalla asked Ailis, who was only 3 at the time, if she wanted to ride a horse, and she said, "Sure!" She was so cute with her borrowed lopsided bike helmet, sitting on that big horse, singing songs!

Supplies (all CTMH): patterned paper and cardstock from Whoops-a-Daisy Level 2 paper pack, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in White Daisy, Key to My Heart My Acrylix stamp set, silver brads, White Daisy flower brads, White Daisy embossing powder

Other: Prima flower, Creative Memories pens, Versamark ink, Hampton Arts alphabet stamps, tissue paper

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