A Layout for Another Chilly Day

Yep, still cold here!  But I did manage to get this page finished just now using more of my November Counterfeit Kit and a sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but you wouldn't believe how long I sat there, pushing those fussy cut flowers around my page!  Or maybe you would - I do realize my audience is other paper crafters, so I'm probably not the only one agonizing over the positioning of page elements. Right? (Please tell me I'm right?)

Not sure if you can really see the journaling, so here's the story: my second cousin had just arrived from Australia, so my parents brought her up for a little visit.  I had to bring Nolan to Prince George to get his braces on, so we made a little day trip out of it.  Here we all are at a restaurant for dinner - it was a really nice day!

Here's the sketch I used from Let's Get Sketchy:

Hopefully I can get this page linked up before the deadline, but dang I'm cutting it close!  Thanks for popping by!!!

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Sketch-N-Scrap #69

Hey everyone, it is a beautiful, sunny day, but damn cold out there!  -25 degrees Celsius, brrrrrr!  Good day to stay in and get some scrapping done!

For this page, I used items from my November Counterfeit Kit and a sketch from Sketch-N-Scrap for inspiration:

Really love how this one turned out!  I was a little stuck for a title, so I turned to a CTMH stamp set I had in my kit and it fit above the banner perfectly!  Not only that, but it also kick started my journaling!

Here is the sketch I used:

That's it for now! Hope you're getting in some crafty time this weekend too!

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"Get Serious!" For CKC and LGS

Whew finally finished this layout I've had sitting on my counter for about two weeks!  I'm not sure that I'm completely satisfied with it...I was going for more drippage (is that even a word?) with my dylusions spray, but maybe I needed to prep with gesso or something.  However, I did use a bunch of products from my 

Counterfeit Kit, including this cute CTMH stamp with the Dr. Seuss quote:

And as usual, I used a sketch.  This one is from

Let's Get Sketchy:

I really liked this sketch, and it seemed to suit my square, Instagram-style photos of Nolan goofing off!  Here's a bit of a close up of the journaling:

I haven't had a chance to bring my computer in anywhere, so still blogging by phone, ugh!  Now to see if I can link this project up...

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November Counterfeit Kit

So I actually put this kit together a few days ago, but I'm just getting it posted now because my stupid computer died on me!  I'm using the Blogger app on my phone to write this, that's how dedicated I am to my blog, haha!  

Anyway, I don't know how to post a pic of the original kit on here, but you can go to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to see it.  (Dang, I tried to add a link but I don't think this app will let me do it, sorry!). They also have a YouTube link showing the entire kit, which was very helpful to my replication process.  I ended up having two of the exact papers in my stash already, so started with those and went from there:

These were the first papers I pulled. Back row is from Fancy Pants' Burlap and Bouquets line, and the front row is from CTMH's Free To Be Me line.

Next I chose some more papers that seemed to fit with the theme of the original kit:

As you can see, I've got quite a wide variety, including some Basic Grey, Kaiser Craft, Bo Bunny, Simple Stories, and MME.  Hoping to put a dent in that crazy amount of patterned paper I have built up.

Here's my tray of embellishments and stamps:

Lots of goodies here!

And finally a little basket of printables and die cuts:

That's it for now! Hoping to get a good start on a layout today, but also need to do some laundry, get groceries, go for a workout, maybe some baking...Why oh why can't the weekends be longer?

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Final Layout with October Counterfeit Kit

Hey there, just a quick post to show another layout I completed last night with my Counterfeit Kit:

These photos were taken in the spring when I took Nolan and Ailis for a little holiday during their Spring Break.  Brenna stayed behind with Daddy, and he made sure to send me these photos via text to show me how they were doing.  So cute, I LOVE the sign he made for her!!!

I used this sketch from Sketches in Thyme:

But alas I missed the deadline and wasn't able to submit it for the challenge.  Ah well, still have a layout I'm quite happy with as a result of my efforts. 

My computer just died!  What the heck?! I'm typing this on my blogger app, which is fine for the moment, but I hope nothing serious is going on with my computer, I have tons of stuff on there that I'm not too keen on losing!

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New Layout for "Sketches in Thyme"

Yet another layout completed using my October Couterfeit Kit. I was a little skeptical about how this would turn out, wasn't really liking my banner at first, but then I added those little tickets I found in my tickle trunk and everything seemed to come together.  

Just documenting a trip to Prince George we took one weekend in the spring.  We went to the outdoor show and played around in RVs and on dune buggies and such.  Brenna got her picture in the newspaper, too, playing on a pontoon boat with another little girl she made best friends with for the moment!  The other cool thing was that we ran into a bunch of people we knew from Burns Lake and hadn't seen for a while.  Fun, fun!

Here's the sketch I used from Sketches in Thyme:

Stuck to it quite closely.  My photos just seemed to fit this layout.  Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by and looking!

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First Layout with My October Counterfeit Kit!

Wow, first layout in I don't know how long. I'm patting myself on the back right now! 

It features a photo of my two eldest, Nolan and Ailis, goofing off as per usual.

Seeing I haven't scrapped in so long, I needed to find a sketch to use for inspiration. I used this one from Let's Get Sketchy:

All supplies are from my October Counterfeit Kit.  I have CTMH background paper and gold polka dot vellum (wow, love that stuff, it's so gorgeous!  I had the rest of my piece laying out, and my husband put a frozen goat salami on the corner, and now it's warped - I was pretty mad!  Only a guy would put something wet on something paper, grrrrr!)  The yellow patterned paper is Crate Paper, and then there's a Prima flower and butterfly punched from some Simple Stories paper.  The doily is one I cut with my Silhouette some time ago from cream cardstock, then I just inked it with some CTMH Moonstruck ink.  The feather and button are from a dollar store.

One of the challenges from the folks at Counterfeit Kits was to use confetti on our project.  I found some sequins in my stash, but I didn't know how to do them all random.  So first I sprayed some Lindy's Stamp Gang spray in my two corners, then spilled a handful of sequins in those areas.  Then I glued each little sequin down by hand.  A little tedious, but I'm quite pleased with the results.  Unfortunately, my confetti effect doesn't show up that great in my photos.

So that's it for me for today, but I am motivated to get started on my second layout.  Wish me luck!

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Counterfeit Kit for October

Well, after a whole summer of no crafting, I'm hoping to get my mojo back in order to use up some of my ever growing stash! What better way to get inspired than by joining in with the ladies from Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog?

The kit this month looks a little something like this:

And here's my take on it:

I used that piece of Simple Stories floral paper as my starting point, and just grabbed other papers, ribbon, and flowers to match.

Then, to keep the embellishment gathering process simple, I pulled out a drawer of my newest stuff. There are assorted die cuts I previously cut with my Cameo, which I figure can be inked to match whatever project they get used for.  There's also some Prima canvas shapes, buttons, feathers, and I don't even know what else.  It's like a tickle trunk!

So stay tuned to this blog for more - I already have a few layouts in the planning process.  Yay, so excited to get going again!

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Creative Blog Hop Tour!!!

Have you heard of this yet?  The "Creative Blog Hop Tour"?  Well, if you haven't, let me tell you a bit about it.  I've been tagged by my bloggy friend Alison.  I am going to answer four questions about myself, and then introduce you to one of my crafty buddies.  Next week, it will be her turn to do the same.  Like a big ol' game of tag, but without the running!

So first off, let me tell you a bit about Alison.  You can find her at her blog, Alison Day Designs.  I "met" Alison a few years ago, somehow, I don't even really know how it happened!  But after commenting back and forth on each others' crafty creations for a while, it soon became obvious that we were kindred spirits.  We are always joking about living parallel lives, because I cannot tell you how many times I visited her blog and realized that our kids were puking on the same day, or we'd used the same sketch for a scrapbook layout, or we had made a page for the same online challenge.  Pretty trippy when that happens to two gals living several hundred kilometers apart!  I was lucky enough to meet Alison in real life when I traveled to Vancouver a while back:

So fun!  Make sure to visit Alison's blog and say hi!

Seeing this hop is all about getting to know our fellow crafty bloggers, there is a series of questions I need to answer about myself:

1. What am I currently working on?  

Honestly, I haven't worked on anything in quite a while.  I seem to have lost my mojo!  I think part of it had to do with my space, or lack thereof.

This was my nook under the stairs of the house we've been in for just over a year (wow, doesn't seem like that long!)  And while it may look like a cozy little retreat, in reality, it just wasn't working for me.  Dark (even with an Ott lite), crowded, messy, with dust from the stairs falling all over my projects - ugh!  And I hated having that whole disaster area visible as soon as anyone walked in the front door.  So a couple of weeks ago, I packed up all of my stuff and moved it out of there.  Don't worry, it's still accessible - I just have to rethink my process a bit.

For the summer, though, I plan to focus on my Smashbooks.  It's so easy to just pull out some bits and pieces from my storage drawer, "smash" together a page or two, and then stick it back in the drawer.  Here's a look at some of my more recent Smashbook pages that I posted to Instagram but I don't think I've posted here:

2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is a really tough question!  I'm not sure you could look at any of my pages and say, "That's a 'Roxy' page!"  But I love taking part in online challenges, and that seems to stretch me in different directions I would never have thought possible before starting a blog.  You never really know what you're going to see from me, and so I'll say that my unpredictability is what makes me unique.

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

My first scrapbook I made after my first trip to the Netherlands.  My relatives over there all had these albums where the photos were stuck onto pages and decorated with captions and stickers - I'd never seen anything like it!  So I bought myself an album and adhesive squares, some deckle edged scissors and markers, and set to work.  That was in 1998.  Wow, have things changed!!!  So while it started out as a desire to tell the story of my trip, eventually it turned into a hobby and a passion.  I still love that I am documenting our lives in my scrapbooks, but the act of creating something that can be considered art is so satisfying to me, and that's what has kept me doing it for so long.

4.  How does your creating process work?

This has changed over the years, too.  When I became a Creative Memories consultant in 2003, we always taught to start with the photos and matching papers, then journal, and finally embellish with stickers.  While I still often stick with this basic process, lately I've been having fun by starting with the products.  I love the challenge site "Counterfeit Kit Challenge" - they choose a kit from an online kit company, and challenge participants are to create a kit inspired from it using supplies from their own stash.  For the whole month, you can link up the projects you make with your kit, and the chicks at Counterfeit Kits will post additional challenges that you can take part in, too.  Anyhoo, by making my own kit, I force myself to start with the products first!

Here's a page I made with my last counterfeit kit:

Whew, that was tough!  Those four questions really got my mind going!  So now it's time for me to introduce one of my best scrapping and blogging buddies, Tara Cox:

Tara was the owner of my most favourite scrapbooking store in.  The.  World!!!  That's how we met, but then we got to know each other better through crops and classes, blog comments and Facebook.  Now she's closed her store, gotten married, and moved to South Carolina!  Thank goodness for all those ways we have to keep in touch!

Tara is a truly gifted artist, and even Tim Holtz has taken note!  Be sure to visit her blog to check out her amazing creations and to say hi!  

So thanks for stopping by!  This hop is a lot of fun- heads up, you may be one of the next people tagged!

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New Layout with my Counterfeit Kit

I've really been loving instagram pics and the Rhonna Designs app I have on my phone.  As far as printing, though, it's been a bit hit and miss.  You can print your instagram pics at Walmart, but they have to be uploaded to instagram, and I don't want to upload ALL my photos to instagram!  And of course, I don't have a Walmart in the near vicinity, so I tried emailing the photos to myself, downloading them to my computer, then printing them out on photo paper.  Sometimes it works great, and sometimes the photos end up all pixelated.  If anyone knows a better way, I would love some advice on this!

So here's a layout I put together using my May Counterfeit Kit, some instagram pics, and a sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

I deviated from my kit a bit to use a new Dylusions stencil, some texture paste and Dylusions spray.  I don't know, the result is a little out there compared to what I'm used to, but I think I like it...

And here's the sketch I used (love how everything's on an angle!): 

That's it for now, thanks for looking!

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May Counterfeit Kit

So I'm a little late to the party, but I did make a counterfeit kit for May and I'm intending to use it, starting right now!  The kit I wanted to copy is this beautiful kit from Paper Camellia:

And here's what I came up with:

If you're wondering what my process was, it goes a little something like this:  see that scrap of vintage camera paper?  I started with that and matched up papers from there.  

I really liked the die cuts that came in the inspiration kit, so I used my silhouette to make my own:

 You can also see the library pockets and journaling cards I made to match the original kit.

And here's a pile of scraps that I could not make pretty no matter what I tried.  Hopefully I'll be able to use all of them up this month!

And that's about it!  How 'bout you, are you joining in with a counterfeit kit?  Leave a link in the comments and I'll pop by to see!

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Scrapbooking Outside the Pocket

Oh my poor little blog, I've neglected you so!  That doesn't mean I haven't been creating, though.  Last month, I took part in my first online workshop through Big Picture Classes, and it was so much fun!  The workshop was taught by Monica Bradford and was titled, "Scrapbooking Outside the Pocket".  We explored different ways of using pocket products/journaling cards in our scrapbooking.  Here are some of the pages I created:

This was the first page I made, and I thought it was a little plain - no real embellishment except the tone on tone arrows.  But, it's starting to grow on me!

I really love this one!  It's also very simple, no real embellishments, but the bright colours really make it interesting.

More brights.  This time my pocket products were Silhouette die cuts.  They all started as cream coloured cardstock, but then I brayered ink over all of them to get this bold look.  Love that die cut feather!

This is what Monica called a T-design.  Once again, very simple, only die cut arrows for embellishment, but the T-design is really unique, so it looks different from every page I've ever done. 

During this workshop, I placed a Close to My Heart order, and decided to get some more pocket cards.  The idea for this page was to layer embellishments on our cards.  I've got some decorative brads, a wood veneer accent, some inked Pink Paislee hearts, and an apple cut from another journaling card.  I even did some stamping in there!

Here I decided to try the tone on tone background that I've been seeing everywhere.  I love this simple grid design - it works perfectly with a single vertical photo that you really want to be the focal point of your layout. 

And last but not least (I still have two more layouts to show, but I'll save them for another day), this bright layout of Ailis with her two grandmothers last summer.  I really love how this one turned out, too!  The photos are gorgeous, don't ya think?

Well, that's it for now.  I think this post goes down in history as the one with the most of my projects in it, whew!  Hope everyone's been happy and healthy!!!

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Sketches in Thyme Reveal!

We have a new sketch up at Sketches in Thyme, looks a little something like this:

And here's what I managed to come up with:

I knew right away I wanted to scrap these four little photos of my girls dancing at a concert in the park last summer.

 I cut the "right here, right now" bubble from a piece of Simple Stories paper I have, and thought it worked perfectly for the title.  Then, for the journaling, I did something a bit different for me - I hid it on a journaling card tucked in behind the green file folder!

I'm taking part in an online class right now through Big Picture Classes, and although I've finished a few pages, I just haven't had time to post them here!  Guess I better get on that, hey?  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you join us at Sketches in Thyme this month!

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You Are My Favourite Valentine

Well, I didn't get as much done with my February Counterfeit Kit as I would have liked.  This is the last layout I completed before dismantling said kit and getting ready for March:

Since Ailis was born on Valentine's Day, I thought I should do a page with just this simple title:

I thought this longer title kind of sums up my feeling for her, in a nutshell!  

Here's the sketch from My Scraps & More that I used for this one:

Lots of layers equals lots of fun!

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