Creative Accents January Challenge!

This month at Seriously Creative Challenges, the prompt is "Let it Snow"! You can make a card, a layout, or any other project, as long as it involves SNOW!!! It has been a very strange winter in our neck of the woods, with not much of the white stuff - in fact, I just heard that the annual dog sled race that happens here has been canceled! We are supposed to get a dump this weekend, so hopefully there will be enough for the Cariboo Marathon, which is a big cross-country ski race that happens here in February I believe.

Anyway, here is my project:

These photos have been in my "To Be Scrapped" pile (do you have one of those?) for a while, and they were taken close to four years ago now, but honestly, they are the most recent snowy photos I could find! I love them, because they show us on one of our many family walks in one of my favorite places in the world, Dawson City. I'm not sure why I loved it there so much, as it's one of the coldest, darkest places you can even imagine, but there's no accounting for taste! A close-up of the journaling:

Uh-oh, I just realized I made a booboo on the last line there, and I wasn't even drinking! And here's a close-up of some misting I did using a doily as a mask:

I did this on purpose so I could put this layout in over at Scrapbooker's Anonymous - they want to see some masking this month, with paint, ink, or what have you. I wish it turned out a bit darker, but, on second thought, that might have been a bit overwhelming. I used white paint on all my paper edges for a bit of a snowy effect, and I also painted my chipboard letter stickers - some are green, others are pink, but you'd never know it! To finish it all off, I made some bling swirls with my IRock tool and a Bazzill template by two of the snowflakes. I was going to add a third by the far left snowflake, but my batteries were dying and I needed to get this in on time. What do you think, should I add more bling, or leave it as is?

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and please mark this challenge on your list of "To Enter" challenges for January - if you do, I'll love you forever!

Supplies: Coredinations and Bazzill cardstock, Echo Park patterned paper, Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, Sakura pen, Imaginisce IRock tool and gems, Bazzill swirl template, Maya Road doily, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, unknown die cut snowflakes

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The Moment You've All Been Waiting For!

Yes, it's here, the first installment of my December Daily album! I've had a heck of a time putting this sucker together because Brenna's getting so tall! What does that have to do with anything, you ask? Well, her grabby little hands are all over my stuff, so every night I have to put everything away again, and it's seriously cutting into my mojo! Why can't she just play with her toys and leave mine alone?

Last year was my first ever December Daily, and I decided to make it 7"x5", and mostly red & green. Partway through the process of making it, I won some sweet blog candy from my good friend Roz, and it was HUGE!!! And all full of Christmas papers, ribbons, embellies, and embossing folders. It was too late to use a lot of them at the time, but I vowed to use them in 2011. So, I stuck with the same size (hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!) but changed the colour scheme to something more modern. Hope you like:

Lots of cool Basic Grey and glitter papers, Grungeboard and chipboard numbers, stamped embellies, misting galore (check out that doily on day 12 misted pink!), ribbon and twine, and some cute little snowflakes I bought from Graphicat Designs for $1 a pack. I won't go into full details right now (after all, it is date night, heehee!) but you'll be seeing more as I fill it in starting in December. And hopefully I'll finish the other foundation pages BEFORE December 1st, but it's looking doubtful - I'll try my best! For more info on this project (it's not too late to join in, I started late last year and hung in until the end!) visit Ali Edwards' blog here.

I'm going to enter these pages over at Scrapbooker's Anonymous for their A to Z challenge for November: "D" is for "December Daily". I'm also going to enter these at Scrap Your CRAP (gotta love that name!) - they want to see misting on your creations, and I've used three different hues of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist throughout this project.

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Layout #55 - Sketchy Thursdays and Scrapbooker's Anonymous

This has to be a very quick post because Brenna's screaming at me, but I really want to get it in before the Sketchy Thursdays deadline in, like, 30 minutes. So, hope you like it! It chronicles my first solo camping trip with Ailis, and I loooooove this photo of us with our headlamps on! That mess all over Ailis's face is our attempt at s'mores (note to self: dark chocolate does not melt enough to make a decent s'more!) I'll have to make another layout at some point with more of the story, because I played the best crank phone call to Jason on this trip, and I still get giddy when I think of just how good it was! I'm also entering this over at Scrapbooker's Anonymous for one of their mini birthday challenges, Bling! and at Scrapbooker's Paradise for their distressing challenge this week (all my edges are distressed).

Supplies: Fancy Pants papers and sticker, KI Memories sticker, MAMBI bling word, creative Memories pen, machine stitching

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Card #8 - Scrapbooker's Anonymous and CPS 223

My poor auntie, she just had surgery on her foot. Something to do with nerves and/or tendons, and she has to stay off her feet for a while still. I made her this card, even though she might not get it for a loooooong time, seeing Canada Post is on strike.

I still had out my pretty Basic Grey "Sugared" scraps I used for my last layout, and discovered that my measly supply of Copics matched pretty well. (Making a card from these scraps means I can enter the Scrapbooker's Anonymous challenge twice!!!) I coloured up this image of 50's Kaylee from Some Odd Girl, and used this sketch from CPS (flipped around):

I had a heck of a time trying to embellish this card! I really like the paper flowers I came up with, but I still think the card is kind of plain. I tried a grungeboard fluorish and ribbon, but nothing was really working out. Here's something I discovered which was like, a total light bulb moment for me: see how Kaylee is placed on embossed cardstock? Well, she's raised up just the slightest, and my light caused a shadow. I took my C3 copic, and traced the shadow!!! I didn't even have to think about light sources and how big the shadow should be or where it should go, it was just there! So cool, I just can't believe it! Then there's my dumb blonde moment (and I'm not even blonde!): this is 50's Kaylee, but isn't "groovy/grooving" a 60's term? I thought of that after, but maybe my aunt will be so doped up on painkillers she won't notice!

Supplies: CTMH cardstock, ink, watercolor pencil and gems, Some Odd Girl image, Basic Grey patterned papers, Hampton Arts stamps, Creative Memories pen, Ranger Glossy Accents, Copic markers

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Card #3

First off, let me say I've been trying all week to leave comments at some of your blogs, and blogger is still not letting me, grrrrrr!!! I will try again this week, but rest assured I am keeping tabs on all of you, haha!

Second, it is great to be back in the Cariboo (the region, not to be confused with the caribou animal!) I was able to get in to my LSS, Creative Accents, a couple of times this week, once for a Beginner Copics class with Cheri, and again yesterday (Jason wanted to buy a canoe, more on that later). So even though this particular LSS is an hour drive away, it is still more accessible than say, a 5 hour drive to Whitehorse or a 2 hour drive to Smithers. And their class list is quite extensive, so I should be able to get my craft on there at least once in a while. So stoked about that, woohoo! Anyway, check out the Creative Accents Challenge Blog here. They are just getting started, and you don't have to be anywhere near us to take part in the challenges.

I bought this Andrea Acorn stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie there, and the sentiment that goes along with this set is just perfect: "Aw, nuts, I forgot your birthday!" Happens to me all the time, so I think this set will get a lot of use. I coloured her up with my Copics, but seeing I don't have that many, her dress is the same colour as her hair. Probably didn't need to point that out to everybody, but in case you are wondering why I chose to do it that way, well, there ya have it, heehee! Cheri gave some good advice to invest in some grays, so I bought a gray and that way I was able to make some shadows in the green robe without even buying a green. Neat, eh? I made the green robe using a Close to My Heart Olive ink pad and blending pen, which probably didn't give ideal results, but I don't think it's too bad.

I'm hoping I can get in on some challenges with this card. I used sketch 219 from CPS, and I used the backside of the Webster's paper from my last post as the patterned paper, which means I can enter Scrapbooker's Anonymous bonus challenge. But, the main reason for making this card is because I missed my Burns Lake friend Maria's 40th birthday, which happened sometime in May. Happy Birthday, Maria, miss you and hope you had a great birthday!

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First Layout of the Year and My First Blogger Award!

I wasn't quite ready to put away my Christmas papers, especially the new ones I won in Roz's blog candy, plus I really needed to scrap this photo from last year. I remember the kids posing for their photo, and everyone milling around the craft fair saying a collective, "Aaaaawww!" They both looked so adorable with their biggest smiles on! The process of making this page was quite involved, but I love the result, with the Glimmer Mist, sewing, felt, ribbon and twine, buttons...really, what more could you stick on a page? I'll be entering this page is three different challenges:

1. Creative Scrappers - used sketch #137
2. Scrapbooker's Anonymous - use 17 buttons (count 'em!)
3. Scrap-tures is having a month-long challenge for their anniversary - challenge #2 is to have Santa or someone in a Santa hat featured in your project

Supplies: patterned paper by Little Yellow Bicycle and unknown, Close to My Heart ink, stamps, pen, and felt, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, unknown ribbon, twine, buttons, and journaling spot
I "met" Carole from England through the December Daily album process, and it was really nice to get to know her and see how her family celebrates December across the world. Some similarities, but many differences! The other day, Carole nominated me for this "Stylish Blogger Award", and I'm so excited because this is my first award! Thank you so much, Carole!!! The rules of this award are to tell everyone 8 things about myself, and then pass it on to 4 other people. So, 8 things, hmmmmm, I'll try to make it interesting:



1. I have dual Canadian/Australian citizenship, and I'd love to try living in Australia one day.


2. My baby teeth were riddled with cavities and fillings, but my adult teeth don't have any (knock on wood)!


3. I was a competitive gymnast for 9 years. As a kid, I was known to flip whenever I saw wide open spaces, like fields, parks, or grocery store aisles. My poor unsuspecting mom was kicked in the stomach a couple of times, and I drove her bonkers rolling onto and off of the couch compulsively! I still want to do handstands when I see a grassy field, but if I follow that urge, it really hurts (and it's kind of embarassing)!


4. I had hernia repair surgery when I was 13. The doctor was shocked: he'd never seen a hernia that large in a young girl before. I blame it on lifting heavy gymnastics equipment.


5. For the longest time, I wanted to be a stuntperson in Hollywood!

6. My first scrapbook was created with only photos, one pair of decorative edge scissors, and a box of felt pens. It is very funny to look at now!

7. I usually have 2 or 3 books on the go. Right now I'm reading Play Dead by Harlan Coben, Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, and A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul. I have a bad habit of reading ahead (my dirty little secret!) that I'm trying to quit. So far, I'm not succeeding!

8. I think if I had to, I could live off of peanut butter toast. That, or pizza!

And now, I'm sending this award on to Jenn, Roz, Alison (who I also "met" through the December Daily album), and Karen B way over in Australia. I think you all rock, and I hope you enjoy your Stylish Bloggger Award! I can't wait to read your 8 interesting tidbits!

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