December '11 P12

So you may recall that last year (this year, too, but I've gotten waaaaay behind!) I was doing a Project 12 album.  I did really well, all the way up to December, then didn't complete a December layout.  What?!  I think part of the reason was the sketch:

It's a gorgeous sketch, but come on - three photos????  I'd been taking pictures every day of the month for my December Daily album, so it was impossible to narrow it down like that.  Eventually, I printed off 12 mini prints, and then let them sit for several months longer.  Finally, in order to get myself in the Christmas/December Daily spirit, I created this layout, and I love it!

Here's what I used - Kraft and black cardstock, Simple Stories patterned paper (25 Days of Christmas collection), SMASH tape, Ranger/Dylusions spray (Postbox Red) and stencil, and stars cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  Man, I love that Dylusions spray with a passion!!!  Can't wait to get more colours!  

So, yes, now I'm feeling pretty Christmas-y, and when you see my December Daily foundation pages for this year's album, you'll notice some similarities between it and this layout - lots of stars and mist and the same paper collection.  Fun, fun!  Thanks for looking, and hope to see you making your own December Daily album!

Read More

Seriously Creative November Challenge

Hey, everyone, hope you had a great weekend!  Me, I'm glad to finally get this page finished - seems like I've been working on it for weeks!!!  I needed to make a project for November's Seriously Creative Challenge:

I've been seeing wood veneer accents everywhere these days, but I didn't have any of my own.  Then I saw this video, and inspiration hit!  I was able to cut these word bubbles out of some Studio Calico Take Note wood grain paper on my Cameo using a free file found here.  

Then I made this paper doll using another free file found here:

The Cameo got a good workout on this page - I cut the title, glasses, and notebook border using cut files from the Silhouette store.  Oh, and the star panel was pre-cut earlier, if you recall from my post here.

And here's the sketch I used from Let's Get Sketchy:

I just love this picture of Ailis!  I took it the day she got her new glasses.  I was hoping that all the kids would inherit Jason's superior eyesight, but I guess with three kids, chances are at least one of them will get my lousy eyes!  That's the thing with genetics, it's a bit of a gamble!  Anyway, with her new haircut and specs, she could probably pass for 15, which is a little scary!!!  We'll just have to keep her locked up at home, eh? Shotguns at the ready, haha!  

Well, must get Brenna Bean out of her high chair.  We have places to go and things to see, but thanks for looking, and I'll have December Daily progress to report soon.  Oh, and if you've made anything using wood, or even trees (i.e. Christmas trees will work!), be sure to link it up to our Seriously Creative Challenge!

Read More

I'm Back!

After a fantastic weekend of splurging, indulging, visiting, and rocking in Vancouver with some fabulous people, I'm back with a shorter post than I had intended because I erased some photos from my camera that I shouldn't have.  I guess my brain was elsewhere, which has been happening to me a lot lately!  Anyway, this is a card I made for someone in town here who dug through her stuff and found a pair of winter boots for Brenna.  Isn't that sweet?  I had mentioned at Strong Start one day that Brenna had been playing in the snow in gum boots because we hadn't been able to find winter boots for her yet, and she sent a pair home with Ailis the next day!  

The design of this card is inspired by one I saw in a Paper Crafts magazine, very simple to put together.  I used PB&J paper from Basic Grey, and some CTMH pearls.  The ribbon is from my stash, and I cut the sentiment with my Cameo (Pacifico is the name of the font, free at dafont.com) and sprayed it yellow with Dylusions spray - I love that stuff!!!  Here's a peek at the inside:  

I also had a birthday card I made for my girlfriend, but it's already in the mail.  Then there was a baby boy card I made for my friend in Surrey, but same thing, the photo evidence is gone!  Ah well, these things are bound to happen.

Here's something cool to tell ya:  when I was in the lower mainland, I was able to meet Alison, a friend I've met through blogging!  We've never met in person before, but I've always thought we led parallel lives - I can't tell you how many times I post something only to see that Alison's completed the same challenge, or I'm having a rough day with one of my kids and then I read Alison's post and see that the same thing has happened to her!  Anyway, it was pretty neat to actually meet up with her in person, and I have the photo as evidence:

She also gave me a whole schwack of goodies from her stash, some really awesome stuff!  Can't wait to play!!!

Which brings me to my next question:  Are you doing a December Daily album?  I am part of a facebook group started by my friend Carole - we actually "met" two years ago doing this very project!  We also have a pinterest board with some fantastic winter inspiration pinned, so if you are interested in joining us, let me know and I can set you up with our group.  And that is what I have planned today, some cutting with my cameo to get my base pages ready.  My goal is to have the album all set by the time December 1st comes around, not like last year...

Read More

The Amazing Challenge

Here's a layout I completed using my October Counterfeit Kit, and it looks as if I'm going to be on time for a few challenges this time!  First up is this sketch from Creative Scrappers:

I'm also entering at Frosted Designs (this week's challenge is to use mist and/or paint - I misted the rosettes and "Amazing" title piece with Dylusions Lemon Zest and painted the page border with a toothpick dipped in white acrylic paint) and  Ella's Pink Scrapbook Challenge #31 at The Pink Elephant: 3 photos, buttons, and flowers (rosettes count as flowers, don't they?)

Here's a close-up of the journaling and some homemade washi tape:

 and another of the title block:

Oops, just realized I didn't put the date on this page, I believe it was June 2, 2012.  We had such a blast, driving all over the area and completing crazy challenges like memorizing poems, a wilderness walk, stacking wood and bowling bingo.  I plan to do a SMASH page spread with some of the clues and memorabilia I have put away, but just wanted to get these three photos featuring my friend Andrea scrapped before too late - I miss that girl sooooooo much, and I only knew her for a year, sniff!  Thank goodness for Facebook and phones!!!

Oh, before I sign off, have to tell you about the crazy weather her this past weekend.  First of all, it snowed like crazy, and I bet we have a foot of the white stuff out there right now.  Second, the mercury dipped to -21 degrees celsius this morning, and stayed there most of the day - BBRRRRR!  And third, and this was the craziest of all, I was sitting on the couch Saturday night, talking to Jason, when I felt the couch moving - I thought I was getting a mad case of vertigo, which I have had before, when Jason said, "You're wigging out right now, aren't you?"  I didn't say anything for a moment, then said, "I don't know, it felt like the couch was moving!"  I probably would have dismissed it altogether, when Jason said, "I felt it too!"  Then we looked up and saw the ceiling fan moving and heard the dog barking like mad, and realized it must have been an earthquake.  Sure enough, found out via Facebook that there was an earthquake off the coast.  So strange, I have never felt anything like that before!  Anyway, it was a very big earthquake, but no tsunami resulted, and I don't think there was any damage or injuries, phew!

Read More

Self-Soothing

It's amazing how much crafting you can get done when you don't have phone or internet service to distract you!  No kidding, the wind blew our phone line right off the pole, and it took 5 days to finally get it fixed.  Good thing we had no 911 emergencies!

So, this is the first page I made with my October Counterfeit Kit, and I really love it!  I used this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

and some of the Basic Grey PB&J papers from my kit.  I cut the navy border, doilies, and title with my (brand new) Cameo (eeeeeee!!!!)  I also added some of those cool labels from my kit - these print out great, and you can find them here and here.  Here's a few close-ups of those clusters and the journaling:

The doilies were cut from plain cream cardstock, then I inked them with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink (hey, did you hear that all those limited edition inks from Ranger are now part of the Distress Ink palette?  This Picked Raspberry is so bright and vibrant, it kind of makes my mouth water, yum!)

Yep, my Brenna Bean is a real thumb sucker, and she twirls her hair while she's doing it - a couple of times her fingers have gotten stuck in her hair!  I had her out and about once, and a lady saw her doing this and said it's a sign of intelligence - maybe that she can do two things at once?  I don't know, I just think it so adorable!

Thanks for looking, and I should have more to post soon - I'm on a bit of a roll at the mo'!

Read More

October Counterfeit Kit

We're past the midway mark of October, and I finally got my Counterfeit Kit together!  Here's the inspiration kit from Gossamer Blue:

When I'm making my kit, I always look to see if I have any of the exact papers from the original.  In this case, I had two - the Echo Park Everyday Eclectic woodgrain chevron (with a small strip missing!) and an almost full sheet of the journaling cards.  From there, I look at colours and/or patterns and see if I can come close.  And this is what I ended up with:

I've got some cardstock in the back row, then the two EP papers, followed by all Basic Grey, the first from Paper Cottage and the rest from PB & J.  I've also got some Spellbinders dies to make labels, and some labels I had previously printed to use in my SMASH books.  I only had one resin flower, so I added some shaped buttons that might be handy for embellishment clusters, and some half-used packs of alphas (Thickers, Stickopotamous, and Making Memories).  And finally, some chevron washi (Queen & Co.), a chevron stamp, some coordinating ribbon, and a package of sheer label shapes that I won as a prize and haven't used - hope I can figure out a way to utilize them this month.

Oh, and the best part of all is I am now the proud owner of a Silhouette Cameo!!!  I've been playing already and I'm so excited to see how I can use this tool to get some layouts and cards done this month!  Stay tuned!!!

Read More

A Card for a Bestie!

Here's the challenge at Seriously Creative Challenges:

Ooooh, colours, lookit all the pretty colours!  That's what inspired me to create this card for one of my best friends:

As always, the photo doesn't really do it justice, but I'm quite pleased with it.  I used this sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday (really love the simplicity of this sketch):

And I also decided to enter a new (to me) challenge called Shopping Our Stash - challenge #72 is a Tic Tac Toe challenge, and I decided to do brad/kraft/embossing.  It was so fun to use my new embossing folder from Sizzix - it's double-sided with bricks on the other side!  Stamps are all from Close To My Heart, and patterned paper from Studio Calico.  I stamped the leaves with Distress Stain, which gives kind of a neat effect, kind of messy.  I guess it doesn't really show, but I wanted my leaves to be glossy, and since I can't find any Glossy Accents, I inked up each leaf with Ranger Perfect Medium and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  Worked pretty good!  What do you think of my asymmetrical idea of having the leaves on one side?  Not sure I'm happy with it, but hoping that my friend doesn't notice or care, haha!  That's the great thing about making cards for people who aren't card-makers, they tend not to notice if you've made a mistake (or 10!)

Well, thanks for looking, and I do hope you join us this month at Seriously Creative Challenges!

Read More