Discovering Love - Guest Designer at Bird is the Word

I was lucky enough to be the randomly chosen Guest Designer at Bird is the Word for my entry for the "Wonder" challenge. Today, I get to reveal my layout for the February 26 challenge word - which is "Discover"; and, seeing as it is February, I decided to do a Valentine's day layout! The photos of my son for this layout are from this Valentine's day (2012). I used the February 15 sketch from Get Creative as the inspiration for the layout. When I first saw the sketch, I thought "this is not my style" and wasn't going to play along; however, I decided to challenge myself and give it a shot. I am not normally a pink hearts and cutesy cupids sort of person either - but I am so happy with how this layout turned out.

The grid pattern of the sketch reminded me of a game board - so I used games as the theme for the layout; I've included playing cards, tic-tac-toe, bingo, and a score card! I've used patterned papers, Whatnot (Winner Score Card) and Peek-a-Boo (Tic Tac Toe board) elements from Glitz Design's Love Games collection for this layout. I used two pieces of patterned paper as the base for the layout. I used a Fiskar's tear edger tool for the second layer of patterned paper and I tool-distressed the edges of both paper layers. I added a few random  border punches around the edge of the base page as well. I then layered a large square doily on top of the patterened papers. I created the quadrants of the layout by criss-crossing two border strips of Xs and Os by K&Company -- perfect for the game theme and Valentine's Day! Tucked in all around the layout are bits of ephemera from the K&Company Valentine Ephemera Die Cut Cardstock collection - lots of hearts, flowers and cupids.

I cut the "LOVE" title on my Silhouette and added the word "discovering" using some inexpensive letter stickers I had in my stash. The tickets are from another border strip that I ripped into sections and stapled using an EK Success Fastener and XOXO staple.

I layered the "Winner" Whatnot card with four Aces from an inexpensive deck of cards I picked up a Michael's and then added a small red heart doily as the mat for the photo and tucked in a small embellishment that says "I adore thee" to the left of the picture.

I used the Tic-Tac-Toe peek-a-boo from the Glitz Designs Love Games collection and layered it on top of some cream-coloured paper so it would really stand out and so I could tuck some things in behind it. I added a heart and flower to the game card using 3D foam adhesive. I tucked a cupid in behind the game card as well as a print of a playing-card themed Vintage Valentine that I found online. Here is a close-up of the journalling on the back of the Valentine, which reads:

For William: Each day I discover a new depth of love and am stirred by the feeling you inspire in me. Words are inadequate to express how I feel. The love I have for you moves me beyond myself. Love, Mummy

For the final quadrant, I layered a Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card under another small red heart doily as the mat for the second photo and added a few more pieces of ephemera to finish off the section.

That's all for today - but stay tuned for my first layout for The Paper Mixing Bowl challenge blog - we're kicking things off on March 1!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Materials Used:
Patterned Papers: Glitz Design Love Games Collection - Score Card, Poppies, Damask; Glitz Design Love Games Whatnot - Winner Card; Glitz Design Love Games Peek-a-Boos - Tic-Tac-Toe Game Card; Pink Cardstock from Stash; Large Square Doily by Amscan; K&Company Adhesive Borders; K&Company Valentine Ephemera Die Cut Cardstock; Celebrate It Playing Cards; Jenni Bowlin Studio Mini Bingo Card "Lucky"; Small Red Heart Doilies by Regal Lace; Vintage Valentine found online; Black Letter Stickers from stash; Martha Stewart Edge Punch; Fiskars Edge Tearer; EK Success Fastener and Staple; EK Success Corner Rounder; Keepsakes Memories Adhesive Foam Dots; Memory Taper Runner XL; Glue Dots - Memory Book

The Paper Mixing Bowl: Two Weeks Until Our First Challenge!

Only two weeks until the first challenge will be posted on The Paper Mixing Bowl! We are all SO excited for our first challenge and DT reveal! Are you excited about a new challenge and plan to play along? Check out the Etiquette page for the rules of play!

We've lined up an incredibly talented Guest Designer for our inaugural challenge! She is such a wonderful artist - you won't want to miss her design for Recipe Challenge #1.

See you March 1st!

The Sun is Gonna Shine Above

Happy Friday! I got another layout done - playing along again with CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration (Case File #5) and Once Upon a Sketch (February 1st). I made this layout for my husband - it is his 40th birthday this weekend and the picture I've used is from my son's first birthday party. If you look closely, you'll see that I included a "1" sticker and a "40" sticker in the top and bottom borders of the picture to commemorate both special birthdays.

Once Upon a Sketch - February 1, 2012

I love the base page from the Bo Bunny Welcome Home collection with the "blueprint" graphic. It brought in the greens from the CSI colour palette and adds to the 'masculine' style I was trying to achieve with the overall layout. I brought in the cream, red, and eggplant colours in the photo matting and the die-cut cardstock gear. I sanded the edges of all the papers and really like how it turned out - especially around the very edge of the layout - where it helps bring attention to the journalling.

My "evidence" for this layout includes the die cut gear, which I cut from Core'dinations paper using my silhouette and sanded to get the distressed effect, as well as the pieced-together borders at the top and bottom of the pictures, which I made using cardstock stickers from Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Salvalge Stickers (Lost & Found). I also tried to incorporate some leaves by using a leafy-patterned paper in my photo-matting, but once all the layers were on and the distressing was finished, the leafy pattern became to obscured to really be visible. My "testimony" is the journalling around the edge of the page. There is a challenge this week at the Scrapbooker's Paradise Blog to use a song/song lyrics in your layout, so I'm playing along with that challenge.  I used some of the lyrics from Anne Murray's Danny's Song, which both my husband and I love. I altered the lyrics slightly and left a line out of the journalling intentionally so I could use it as the layout title. 

People smile and tell me I'm the lucky one, and we've just begun - I think we're gonna raise a son. He will be like you and me, as free as a dove; conceived in love - The Sun is Gonna Shine Above. And even though we ain't got money, I'm so in love with you honey, everything will bring a chain of love. And in the morning when I rise, you bring a tear of joy to my eyes and tell me everything is gonna be alright.

I used parts of a Maya Road Coaster Album for the chipboard gears on the layout. I inked the chipboard pieces with Colorbox Pigment Brush Pads (Chianti, Moss Green and Peony) and then stamped/heat-embossed the black flourishes. I added some metal gears and the measuring tape and number sticker borders to complete the embellishments. 

Thanks so much for your visit!


Materials Used:
Patterned Paper - Bo Bunny Welcome Home Key; Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue Rainforest and Botanica; Core'dinations Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection - Fired Brick, Victorian Velvet and Shabby Shutters; Tim Holtz Ideaology -  Salvage Stickers (Lost & Found) and Sprocket Gears; Maya Road Gear Coaster Album; Colorbox Pigment Pads - Chianti, Moss Green and Peony; Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink and Distress Ink in Black Soot; Ranger Superfine Detail Embossing Powder; Scrappy Cat Flourish Stamps; Kaisercraft Tiny Alpha Stickers; Zig Memory System Writer; Memory Tape Runner XL; Keepsakes Memories 3D foam adhesives; Aleene's Original Tacky Glue; Tim Holtz Ideaology Sander; Silhouette Cutting Machine.

Friends

Another new layout this week! I actually made this layout for my best friend, who was also the maid of honour at my wedding. I love this photo of the two of us - it makes me smile every time I look at it. I used CSI Case File #4 as the inspiration for the layout. I think I managed to match the colour palette pretty well - such a gorgeous, elegant colour combination! For my "Evidence", I've used wet mediums (Glimmer Mist and Ranger Enamel Accents) and Rhinestones - I usually try and use more than two but the other elements just weren't working for me on this page. For my "Testimony", I've written a personal note to my friend (tucked away in the envelope) with my reflections on our friendship and how we've changed in the 17 years that we've known each other.

The base page of this layout is by Pink Paislee and has been in my stash for quite a while; I loved how well it went with the colour palette. I misted a white fabric doily with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Raven and used it as the start of my layering on the right side of the page. I added a paper doily that I inked with Distress Ink in Antique Linen to achieve the beige colour of the palette. I then triple-matted the photo using three different patterened papers - the bottom mat has the light aqua colour in the pattern, followed by a mat that brings in the gold colour and the final mat that adds some more black. I edge-distressed and inked all the papers with Distress Ink in Black Soot.

For the embellishments at the top of the photo, I fussy cut some "feathers" from a second sheet I had of the Pink Paislee paper and added some real feathers and a chipboard shape and rhinestones. The title on the photo is a Dusty Attic Chipboard word that I covered with Ranger Enamel Accents - it is the first time I have used the enamel - and I love the glossy finish!

I used some of the gold patterned paper and a smaller inked doily in a peek-a-boo at the top right of the layout and the scrunched lower left corner of the layout. I cut an envelope from the black patterned paper to use for my journalling and layered it on top of some chipboard flourishes and another feather. I added a small piece of black twine to the envelope to close it.

That's it for today! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Materials Used:
Patterned Papers - Pink Paislee Fetching; My Mind's Eye - Andrea Victoria Black Damask and Lost & Found Two Sunshine Adore; Lilac House Needlepoint; Fabric Doily, Paper Doilies; Distress Ink in Black Soot and Antique Linen; Creatology Feathers, Studio 18 Rhinestones; Dusty Attic Mini Word (Friends); Ranger Enamel Accents; Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Raven; Chipboard Flourishes from stash; Xyron Sticker Maker; Memory Tape Runner XL; Glue Dots - Memory Book. 

Things Are Always Better Than They Seem

I'm back with another layout - I really am trying to live up to (at least) one of my New Year's resolutions and take some more "me" time and get some more scrapbooking done! This week I've done a layout to play along with Case File #3 at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and I've also used the January 15th sketch at Once Upon a Sketch. I'm also going to submit it for the Scrap it with a Song New Year's challenge! I love using challenges as a way to jump-start the creative process; when you have so little time to scrap - it is great to have a little outside inspiration!

The CSI Case File "evidence" I used for this layout includes: sheer ribbon, tags, a doily, and circular elements; for the "testimony", I used tags and repetition. The journalling prompt at OUAS was to focus on "Goodbye 2011" or "Hello 2012". Another resolution I made for this year was to try and focus more on the positive - 2011 was a year of ups and downs and it is far too easy to let the bad stuff keep you down. So, I need to remember that Things are always better than they seem -- and one look at my sweet little boy is a reminder that I can face anything in 2012! I journalled using lyrics from the song When I See you Smile by Bad English (wow - I'm dating myself) because they were so appropriate for this picture and this layout's message: "When I see you smile, I can face the world; You know I can do anything, when I see you smile."

I've used patterned papers by Webster's pages and Glitz Designs for this layout and edge-distessed and inked all the papers with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The base page is from Webster's Pages Nature's Storybook collection and it has been in my stash for quite a while. I layered strips of paper from Glitz Design's Beautiful Dreamer and Laced with Grace collections and added some lace trim to edges of the top strip. I then layered a circle of Glitz Designs (Beautiful Dreamer) paper with a Doily for the central circular element of the page. The three layers under the photo include a Glitz Designs paper layer, and patterned papers by Webster's Pages (Country Estate) and Glitz Designs (Laced with Grace). I also added a couple of embossed photo corners to the photo. To complete the layering, I used two floral pieces of Glitz Design's Whatnot from the Beautiful Dreamer collection and fussy-cut another floral element from the Webster's pages Country Estate paper.

I used a Melissa Frances Vintage Tag as the title element for my layout. I didn't like the embellishments that were on it - so I removed them and added some eyelets (circular) from my stash and criss-cross threaded some sheer ribbon through them. There was a picture of a creepy little girl on the tag - so I took the frame off the tag and cut a piece of the Glitz Design Beautiful Dreamer - Floral paper to fit in the frame on the tag (flowers = not creepy). I added clusters of flowers around the tag and at the edge of the picture and finished off the embellishing with a Dusty Attic Leafy Stem chipboard piece.

I did a really simple treatment on the Dusty Attic chipboard piece - I inked the entire piece with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then coated it with a fairly generous coat of Ranger Crackle Accents. 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. I love your visits and truly appreciate your comments!

Materials Used:
Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages: Country Estate - Breezeway, Nature's Storybook - Violette Wings; Glitz Designs: Beautiful Dreamer - Whatnot, Houndstooth, and Floral; Laced with Grace - Paper Layers, Stripe; We R Memory Keepers Paper Doily; Melissa Frances Vintage Tag; Martha Stewart Embossed Photo Corners; Dusty Attic Leafy Stem #3 (Small); Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink; Ranger Crackle Accents; Prima Mini Roses; Recollections Boutique Fleurs - Lace Borders and Mulberry Paper Flowers; Offray Ribbon; Tags and Eyelets from Stash; Memory Taper Runner XL; Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam; Glue Dots (Craft and Mini).

12/22/2011 -- William v. Santa Claus

There is a new challenge site called "CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration" that has wonderful, creative and fun challenges. I've decided to play along with Case File No. 1 at CSI and came up with this layout based on the case file requirements. I also used the Stuck?! Sketches January 1st sketch as the inspiration for this layout.



CSI: Case File No. 1



Stuck?! Sketch - January 1, 2012

I was inspired by the format of the CSI challenges and created a "Case File" of my own for this layout. My son was not too happy when we put him on Santa's lap this year - so I've called this layout 12/22/2012 - William v. Santa Claus.

I've used all the colours (or as close as I could get from my stash) from the CSI Case File. All the papers are by Bo Bunny and are from the Noel and Welcome Home collections. The base page has some blue-ish-grey writing to bring in that tone and then I layered the red and green pages. I used a manilla folder as the yellow tone and handwrote my title on the file tab.  I added a cardstock cut-out by K&Co. under the file tab because the sentiment was so appropriate -- this was my son's second Christmas and it truly was a December to Remember.

I have used distressing and a bow as my "evidence" elements. I distressed all the paper and embellishments (no inking though - I was SO tempted but thought it would make the layout too dark).

For my journalling, I have used a tag and a numbered list for the "testimony" elements. I had a little fun with this tag - and used some quotes from The Family Guy and the movie Elf as inspiration for some of my list items. I cut the tag on my Silhouette and printed it on my printer using a font called Grinched. I added some twine, which I wrapped around all the layering elements and tied the tag with a simple bow. I also tucked in a couple of cardstock cut-outs by K&Co. with the tag.

That's all for today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Materials Used:
Patterned Papers: Bo Bunny - Noel Collection: Joy, Traditions, Noel; Welcome Home Collection - Key; Manilla Envelope; K and Company - Yuletide Collection - Cardstock Elements; Hungarian Hemp Twine; Memory Marker (Black); Memory Tape Runner XL; Glue Dots - Craft.

Wonder & Promise - Updated

Well, this is my first layout of the New Year! It is a fairly simple layout - but I love the colour combination of blue and gold and the pops of white. I'm playing along with a few different challenges with this one -- I used the January 1st sketch at Once Upon a Sketch as the inspiration for the layout and the Glitz Design January 2012 Blog Challenge photo for colour inspiration. I'm also playing along with the Bird is the Word challenge for the word "Wonder". Phew...this layout is very "challenging"!

There is a lot of white space on the layout sketch so I wanted to use something a striking background page - I love this paper from the My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two collection. It coordinates so beautifully with the blue patterned papers are from Glitz Design's Vintage Blue collection, which I used for the photo mat, envelope and punched horizontal paper strip.

*Update: I really wasn't in love the layout the way it originally turned out - so I trimmed the glittery background page and edge punched it with the same punch I had used on the horizontal paper strip. I then added Glitz Designs Vintage Blue Motif paper as the base page. I am much happier with the layout now - and apparently have "shown my crazy" (as my sister would say) to all my blog visitors.

I matted the photo as a "stamp" by trimming the Vintage Blue Stripe paper and white cardstock with the We R Memory Keepers Magnetic Twist Trimmer "stamp" blade. I inked the edges of the blue papers with gold-toned liquid chalk (which does not photograph well). I added a die-cut post mark to the photo itself. The lettering, which doesn't show up wonderfully in the photo, says "1 yr". 

I cut the library-card envelope from the Vintage Blue Stripe paper and lined the inside with Vintage Blue Rose paper. The horizontal strip of punched paper is also Vintage Blue Rose. The journalling challenge at OUAS was to journal about your feelings this time of year (i.e. New Year) - the ticket in the envelope has a short note from me to my son; it states:

Dearest William, I can't believe how much you have grown and changed in the past year. You amaze me daily - you're learning so many new things so quickly. I look at you and my heart is filled with love - and with the Wonder and Promise that you bring to my life. Love, Mommy (January 2012)

I cut the envelope, journalling ticket, title letters and all the snowflakes on this layout using my Silhouette.

The large snowflake has a bottom layer of dark blue cardstock (which coordinates with the title lettering) and a top layer of white cardstock. To get the glittery "snow" effect, I painted the snowflakes with mod podge and then sprinkled them with Twinklets Diamond Dust.

That's all for today! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Materials Used:
Patterened Paper: My Mind's Eye - Lost and Found Two Collection - Sunshine "Two of Us" Lovely Paper; Glitz Design - Vintage Blue Collection - Vintage Blue Stripe, Vintage Blue Motif and Vintage Blue Rose; Bazzill Basics Cardstock in White and Dark Blue; Twinklets Diamond Dust; Martha Stewart Edge Punch and Liquid Chalk in Gold; Mod Podge (Matte); Aleene's Tacky Glue; Memory Tape Runner XL; Xyron Sticker Maker; Silhouette Die Cut Machine; We R Memory Keepers Magnetic Twist Trimmer.

Top Five Projects of 2011

Happy New Year!

Well, it was a busy year for me in 2011. I didn't get nearly as much crafting done as I would have liked - but I guess that's what happens when you have a new little one! One of my resolutions this year is to take a little more time for myself and get some more scrapping and crafty projects done! I have thousands of photos (literally) to go through and so many ideas for layouts and projects! And I love challenge blogs so I'm hoping to play along with some of my favourites a lot more often.

But before we get to posts of new projects for 2012, I thought I would do a quick recap of my Top Five Projects of 2011.

1. Time in a Bottle
I think this is my favourite layout of all time (no pun intended) - mostly because I have an emotional response every time I look at it. . . it reminds me to treasure the little moments with my son. . . he is growing up so fast.

2. Advent Calendar with Reversible Boxes
I am so happy with how this calendar turned out - and my son just loved having the little treats from it every day in December. It is going to be so much fun to get this out every year and have our Christmas countdown!

3. Altered Witch's Hat
I fell in love with Graphic 45's Wizard of Oz Collection as soon as I saw it. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with it, but when I saw a plain, kraft, papier mache Witch's Hat -- I knew I had found the perfect project to use the Oz papers. I LOVE this hat!

4. First Visit with Santa Claus
I just adore this picture of my son with Santa Claus - he looks so tiny on Santa's lap! This was my first published layout - and I think it was my handmade "distressed poinsettias" that got me the spot in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. I was so thrilled to be published!

5. His eyes - how they twinkled; His dimples how merry!
It was so hard to pick my final favourite but I finally settled on another Christmas layout (other contenders for the 5th spot were my layouts entitled Hope, One Kiss or Baby Boy). The reason I picked this layout is that I think this is the cutest baby picture I have ever seen (how lucky for me it's my son). I also really love how all the layering and distressing on this layout turned out.

That's all for today! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Advent Calendar with Reversible Boxes

I just love the Kaisercraft Advent Calendar and had been dying to make for my son for Christmas this year. I finally got it done on December 2! Only a day late...I'll guess have to eat the first two candies.... :)  I made the boxes for the calendar reversible, so after you finish each day you can turn the box around. I'm so happy with how this turned out. I hope it is something my son will treasure for years to come.

I assembled the calendar (my dremel tool was super handy to sand off all the extra tabs) and painted it with a basecoat of Adirondack Espresso acrylic paint. I then added a couple of coats of DecoArt Spun Gold acrylic paint - it wasn't quite the tone I wanted, so to get the "old gold" look I was going for, I treated the entire surface of the calendar with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. I used the same paint treatment for the calendar numbers.

I used two Graphic 45 paper collections, Christmas Past and Christmas Emporium for all the paper on the calendar and just love these collections and they go so perfectly together! I wrapped each box with paper and added a ribbon "pull tab" at the bottom on the reverse side of the boxes.  I then covered the bottom of each box with coordinating paper. I inked all the edges of the boxes with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I cut the "stamps" and small images from the G45 papers and distressed/inked the edges before adhering them to the boxes. I also added some Recollections Dimensional Stickers and K & Company Adhesive Chipboard and Stickers to several of the boxes.

I cut the central image from the G45 Christmas Emporium paper. I added the cream/gold cording around the edge of the image to give it a more finished look. I wanted to add something "extra" to the centre of the calendar, but I didn't want to obscure the image on the paper -- so I added a few simple handmade gift-boxes to the corners. I created the "boxes" by cutting and gluing pieces of cardboard together. I then wrapped the boxes with some of the G45 papers and inked all the edges. I added some ribbon to finish off the mini-gifts.

Thanks for visiting my blog - I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! Only twenty-two days until Christmas!

~Sarah

Materials Used:
Advent Calendar by Kaisercraft; Patterned Paper by Graphic 45: Christmas Past (Victorian Greetings, The Night Before Christmas, Glad Tidings, Christmas Past Frames, Holiday Spirit, The Holly & the Ivy, and Letters to Santa) and Christmas Emporium (Christmas Emporium, Believe! and Special Delivery); Adirondack Acrylic Paint in Espresso; DecoArt Acrylic Paint in Spun Gold; Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo; Recollections Signature Dimensional Stickers; K & Company Yuletide Adhesive Chipboard and Snow Globe Stickers; Celebrate it Holiday Ribbon and Cord; Craftsmart Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks; Memory Tape Runner XL, Xyron Sticker Maker and Glue Dots.

I'm Published!

Check out my "First Visit with Santa Claus" layout on page 29 of the Winter 2011 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker!

Here is a scan of my layout in the magazine.

You can see the original blog post and close-ups of the layout at: http://sarahs-scrapbook.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-layout-first-visit-with-santa-claus.html
TFL,

Sarah

Nevermore - Halloween Wreath

Just a quick post tonight of a wreath I threw together today. I got the idea from someone at work to use some inexpensive feather boas to create a very cool wreath -- in deference to the raven and feathers, I'm calling it a "Nevermore" wreath.

This was a really inexpensive project. I used a grapevine wreath from Michael's and wrapped it with four feather boas that I got at the dollar store. I then added a dollar store raven. Some hot glue and floral wire and I was done! The whole project cost less than $15 - and it looks fabulous on my front door!

TFL!
~Sarah

Halloween Advent Pumpkin!

So, my new online addiction is Pinterest (check out my Pins) and while I was browsing I saw the coolest Chalkboard Pumpkin. I just LOVE Halloween (second only to Christmas in my books) - so I used this as inspiration  for my very own Halloween Advent Pumpkin.

This was a pretty easy project. I started out with a black acrylic pumpkin that I painted with spray chalkboard paint. I added some glitter to the pumpkin stem and some decorations from Michael's and the dollar store. The metallic-green skulls were originally bone & black - so I painted them with acrylic paint. The letters are Chipboard Letters by K&Company. Here are a few close-ups!

That's all for today!

TFL,

Sarah

Materials Used:

Celebrate It Products: Black Acrylic Pumpkin, Glitter Pumpkin Picks (Black & Orange), Glitter Raven, Glitter Skeleton; Krylon Spray Chalkboard Paint; Martha Stewart Sparkles in Onyx; K&Company Chipboard Letters; Dollar Store Plastic Chain, Plastic Skulls and Chalk; Folk Art Metallic Peridot Acrylic Paint; Adtech Mini Glue Gun and Hot Glue Sticks; Aleene's Tacky Glue Fast Dry Glue Pen.