Soccer is for Kicks!

First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to read and comment on my last post, you all made me feel a whole lot better after my cupcake fiasco! And even though I still believe they were the ugliest cupcakes around, they WERE edible and Ailis's teacher told me last night at judo that they were fantastic because everyone could read the numbers on them (one mom put saran wrap directly on her cupcakes, and the numbers got ripped off with the wrap, so at least I didn't make THAT booboo!) So, all that work and worry and it was no big deal after all - needless to say I've learned from my mistakes and I am now working on a SMASH book page to commemorate it!

Anyway, onto my layout for today:

This is the first layout I've completed using my February Counterfeit Kit, and I learned a lot by making this one! Number one: if you're stuck for a page title, google it! I can't remember where I found this one, but it was on a page with TONS of sports titles.

I also played around with making some handmade embellishments:

To make the multi-coloured flower, I used a Stampin' Up punch (borrowed from a new scrappy friend I've made down the street, yay!) to punch 4 different coloured flowers, then cut them up into hearts and reassembled them into flowers. I think they look pretty cute! Then I made the little ribbon rosettes by hand. The first two I stitched, but the last I made by covering the button in score tape and pleating the ribbon around it - sooooooo much easier, and looks even better, in my opinion. The twine came rolled up on a spool, and it looked kinda cool lying on my page in spirals, so I kept it curly as much as possible and just stapled it in place. And the banners were made from rectangle stickers that I trimmed to look that way - much more fun than boring ol' rectangles! Here's another closie:

So, I managed to incorporate several challenges into the making of this page:

Scrapbooker's Anonymous: use three hearts (at least) and some stitching on your layout

Scrapbooker's Paradise #54: use real or faux stitching

Frosted Designs: use eyelets or brads

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Simple Stories and Close to My Heart patterned paper, Maya Road doilies, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Close to My Heart stickers and brads, TLC stickers, Stampin' Up punch, Ranger Distress Ink, Creative Memories pen, unknown buttons, ribbon, and twine

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A Birthday Card for my Daughter (and one for a laugh!)

Finally finished this card for Ailis, hope she likes it (but she will because she thinks I'm the best scrapbooker in the world - it's nice to be idolized, I wonder how long that will last?):

I really struggled with this one, I had a heck of a time figuring out where to embellish and with what. I had to cover up some cutting booboos, so that's why the end result probably doesn't look too much like the sketch by Graphicat I was inspired by:

Anyway, I got to use my new Tickled Pink digi, although next time I think I'll print her out bigger, she was pretty hard to colour with my limited Copic skills. The paper is MME, cardstock, sentiment, and ribbon are CTMH, and the felt flower, fabric button, and lime twine are from Lovely Bug Bits 'n' Bobs. Spellbinders dies, Copic markers, a bit of Broken China Distress Ink, and a Prima flower round out the supplies used here.

And here's the card that Jason made me for Valentine's Day:

He has atrocious handwriting, not to mention he was writing with a Copic marker! It says "A Window to My Heart".

I don't know how I managed to turn over my desk, it was quite scary, but I thought it turned out pretty good considering he's never really done anything like this before. It's definitely going in my SMASH book!

I'm feeling like quite the dork today! Have you ever volunteered for something, and your efforts turned out less than stellar? Well, please, do share! Here's my embarrassing moment for today: I was planning to make cupcakes for Ailis' class for her birthday/Valentine's Day, but seeing their teacher was planning a chocolate fondue for that day and she needed 100 cupcakes for 100 Day (today), I told her I would make cupcakes for today instead. She got me to make 2 dozen, and they were to be decorated with numbers 1-24. Well, I can follow a recipe, but I'm no pastry chef, and my cake decorating skills are virtually nil, but I thought I could manage. To make a long story short, I was up until 10:30 last night making the bloody things and they look absolutely pathetic! The moral of the story is: don't volunteer to make cupcakes, or anything, ever again!!! I no longer care if I look like the slacker mom, I do not need to prove myself! (Yeah, right! Let's see how long that feeling lasts, too.)

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In Honour of Valentine's Day...

I thought I'd post this SMASH page I finished the other day:

The photo is of me pretending to sniff some flowers Jason got me waaaaaay back in 2004 (wonder what he was sucking up about?) I also saved the card he wrote from that very bouquet (the benefits of being a pack rat!) to include here, and I filled out a journal card from my SMASH pad telling about the night we met. See the glimmer mist circles in the background? I used this very cool technique I saw on Dana Tatar's blog - place a toilet paper tube on your page, then spray the mist into the tube! Perfect circles every time!!!

And here's a picture of my dear Ailis on her 7th birthday yesterday. I ordered her a red SMASH book of her very own, along with a pad and some stickies, from Graphicat Designs. She was pleased as punch and would not go to bed until she'd filled in a couple of pages!

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February Counterfit Kit

There are two kits posted over at Counterfeit Kits this month, both by Scrapbook Circle, and they're both pretty stacked! I chose to copy the one above, called Note to Self, because of the beautiful bright colours and school-themed products. One of the papers, Marbles by October Afternoon, caught my eye right away, and I thought I could recreate it with some scraps. This is what I came up with:

At first I wasn't sure if I liked it, but it's kind of growing on me. It's crazy busy, so not sure what I can do with it, but it was quite relaxing and satisfying to make it (used some VERY OLD papers!), so hopefully I can work it in somewhere this month.

Here are some other papers I pulled from my stash, some brand new (top row) and some very old (the three at the bottom right):

Top row is all Simple Stories Yearography, middle is all Studio Calico, and bottom has some BoBunny, MME, CTMH, and Karen Foster.

And finally, some embellishments and alphas to go along with the theme. I started to rip up a piece of corrugated cardboard, but I lost patience and decided to leave it as is until I need it. The pieces of red and green felt are going to be felt pom poms (great tutorial here), and I would also like to print out some of the incredible journaling cards listed here, but those can be added later.

Well, we've had a very successful weekend here at the McCleary home. I managed to host a wonderful b-day party for Ailis, my mom and niece stayed over last night, and everyone is in good spirits today. Hoping for a smooth week ahead, fingers crossed!

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Some b-day invites and a couple SMASH pages

A quick post today to show you what I was up to on the weekend, and to share some big news (no, I'm not pregnant, haha!) Ailis and I made birthday invitations for her judo party this Saturday. As you can see, I let her do the gluing of the elements. It took a lot of restraint on my part to let her do as much as I did, and I know some of you (Alison Day!) will appreciate this. I kept it very simple this year, as I tend to go overboard making beautiful invites that will, inevitably, end up in the garbage, as DH is quick to remind me! So, scrap cardstock, die cut squares, and an uncoloured digital stamp (that Ailis won herself from C.R.A.F.T. Challenges), and they're done.

Here are a couple more SMASH pages I managed to finish, one for Brenna:

And one for Nolan:

I've decided that this SMASH book is going to be about family and friends, but everything is still pretty random. I've got things glued in all over the place, nothing's in order, and I'm embracing the chaos!

Anyway, this Nolan page brings me to a boy update. As I've mentioned before on this blog but some of my new followers may not realize, we suspect that Nolan's got Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism. I just got the date for his full assessment by a team of doctors, and this will happen at the end of March, woohoo! It's been a long wait, but in the meantime he's been making some progress with school and hockey with our increased understanding of him. Last week he participated in a geography challenge at school, and I think he was the top Grade 4 student - we were really proud of him! Then, at his hockey tournament, he made a major breakthrough - he came home and said to Jason, "Daddy, I just realized I can skate with the puck!" You have to know that even though he's been playing hockey for 5 years already, and he's a fantastic skater, he never scores or performs to what we know he can do in a game situation. It's pretty frustrating as a parent, but I knew one day it would click for him. After the light bulb went off, he scored a goal, made a couple of assists, and numerous shots on net! We were all very pleased, but then one of his coaches asked to speak to Jason after the game. Uh oh, what's he done now? But it was all good, the coach asked if Nolan would be interested in playing on a Northern Selects team! So now, he'll be traveling to Edmonton and Vancouver for tournaments, and representing all of northern BC!!! Holy cow, he didn't even have to try out! Anyway, now we're pinching pennies like mad, but we're all really excited for him and this opportunity! I told you it would be a good week!

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Creative Accents February Challenge - LOVE!

I don't know about you, but I love me a good recipe challenge! It's time for the February challenge over at Seriously Creative Challenges, and we're challenging you to include some L.O.V.E. in your project! Normally, I add layers and embellishments to everything, but I haven't used ovals much since, oh, 2003? (Yep, I used to cut ALL my pictures into ovals, and don't deny it, I know you did too!) As for vintage, well, I just had to turn to my January Counterfeit Kit, and everything I needed to make this card was there:

I quite like how it turned out, and it was relatively easy to make seeing that I already had a coloured image ready to use. It's actually from a postcard I bought ages ago and held onto for who knows what! I cut some book paper for the outer oval, and stamped the card base inside and out with a Tim Holtz script stamp. Here's the inside, finished off with a scrap of BoBunny ledger paper and another piece from the postcard:

Well, by the time this card posts, I will be cheering on my boy in his home hockey tournament. Seems like the game is starting to click for him, and he now realizes he can skate with the puck! (Go figure!) Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Supplies: Close to My Heart cardstock, MME and BoBunny patterned paper, Tim Holtz stamp and Distress Ink, Prima flowers, buttons, ribbon, and book paper from my stash

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Piggy Tails!

Here's a very playful layout I finished last night. I started making it with the Scrapbooker's Anonymous "F" challenge in mind, as I used almost all Fancy Pants products, but...missed the deadline, oops! I also used this sketch from Creative Scrappers (flipped sideways):

but again, missed the deadline, double oops! Here's a closie of the journaling, because the story is quite cute:

And even though these photos were taken several months ago, I still can't get a pony tail or any sort of style in Brenna's hair to save my life, she just rips any elastic out right away! Very different from her sister, who would sit still and let me do whatever I wanted with her hair. Ah well, every kid is different, aren't they?

Supplies: Fancy Pants patterned paper and journaling card, Prima (?) flowers, Kaiser rhinestones, KI Memories (Love, Elsie) rub-ons, Creative Memories pen

layout 6/52

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