Back To School !

It's that time of the year when all parents are kicking up their heels because it's Back to School! This summer I did enjoy not rushing around in the morning, worrying about missing the bus, forgetting books and lunches and telling the girls, "No, you can't wear  THAT to school!" ha ha

But routine is good for us, too, and now I will have more of a routine time to blog and scrapbook.

Here is a layout I designed for the Create & Connect trade show in Vegas, and it's up on The Crafty Power blog. I used 4 of the 3D foam Designer Shapes:  wings, stars, heart, and rectangle/frame:

I have a simple tutorial on how I made those red stars....so click HERE to visit their blog and check it out.  The papers are FancyPants Designs and the stamps are Stampin' Up! and Graphic 45 (alphabet). The silver glitter is EK Success/Martha Stewart.

Confession:  The photo is from last year's first day of school.  Here is this year's pics from last week:

BabyOfTheFamily is in Grade 8

DramaQueen is in Grade 11

BoyGenius heads off to University

Oh well, two out of three isn't bad. Ha!  

Identity Crisis?

Recently, a scrappy friend of mine asked, "What is your signature style?"

Supplies:  Fancy Pants Designs

We have been discussing this off and on, and at first I was puzzled, but then I panicked...oh no! Who am I? Do I have a design style?

Sometimes I'm vintage and use heritage photos...

Supplies:  Bazzill

sometimes I'm graphic and simple....

Supplies:  Stampin' Up!

and sometimes I'm playful and cute...

Supplies:  Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper

Supplies:  Bo Bunny

I've now come to terms with the idea that I am a 'scrapbooking chameleon' of sorts...I change up my designs according to my moods, the papers and the photos.

And I've also decided that it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially because of the design work I do with Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.  I love experimenting with all trends, products and styles, so I am very very lucky I have that opportunity to just "be myself" and express my creativity with the magazine!  In the new Summer 2013 issue, you can see my changeable chameleon design style in all of these layouts and cards.

I'm also very fortunate to be on the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Design Team because that means I can use whatever papers and products I like!

So the 'crisis' is averted...well, at least until next week!

A Place Called Home

I think everyone knows by now that I have a fondness for vintage layouts and heritage photos.  Lately, I've found myself gravitating towards my mother's scrapbooks, enjoying the beautiful black and white photos, trying to imagine her life "back in the day."

The Kaisercraft "75 Cents" collection seemed perfect for this layout...

This is the family my mom rented a room from when she was working as a single woman in a small country town.

For the design, I used this wonderful sketch from Sketchbook 365...

Some close-ups...

I layered some stickers, created the fence from strips of paper, and the key is K&Co.

These adorable little clips are Stampin' Up!

I used two alphabet stamp sets: the smaller one is Hero Arts and the other is Graphic 45

Here is a closer look at the roof...

I was inspired by my friend Michelle's birdhouse she recently designed.  Click HERE to visit her blog and see her amazing birdhouses.

Here is a simple tutorial  on how I made my roof:

Cut a triangle roof out of scrap card stock

Cover it with adhesive

Punch scallop edges on strips of paper

Stack up an arrangement of your strips so they will fit on your roof 

Layer the strips starting at the roof's bottom edge

Flip over roof and trim strips off along side edges

Gently curl up scallop edges for dimension

It's easy, isn't it?  Now you can tell your family and friends that you shingled a roof today!

Who said scrapbooking isn't labour intensive?

A White Valentine

As some of you already know, I have a very dear friend who lives far far away on the eastern coast of Canada in a magical place called Newfoundland.  A few months ago, Michelle invited me to join a Facebook group called "Crop Circles" where mostly Newfoundland scrapbookers meet and share.  Natasha Connolly set up this group, and I had the good fortune of meeting her last September as well. If you're a lucky Mainlander like me, you can manage to squeeze into the group and join in the fun.

This is Michelle's January Sketchy Challenge layout depicting my Screeching In when I visited her in Newfoundland.  And YES, I kissed that REAL fish!

There are lots of wonderful challenges at Crop Circles, and Michelle announced an all-white challenge for January.  Uh oh!  I've never designed anything with one colour, and card stock isn't always my first choice for scrapbooking.  I guess you could say I'm a colourful kind of girl.

Here is Michelle's all-white layout and a link to her blogpost where you will find a tutorial on those beautiful embossed flowers she made...

Click HERE to visit Michelle's blog.

But I'm up for a challenge and eager to try new ideas, and before the month could end, I promised myself to make something all white.

A layout was daunting, so I decided to make a card, a Valentine card actually....

The doily and heart dies are all Stampin' Up/Sizzix and the XO is from a Tim Holtz Sizzix die.  The ribbon is May Arts and the card stock is Bazzill.

The pearls are Stampin' Up!

Here are the 3 Stampin' Up dies I used. I just LOVE embosslits!

I had this XO die cut in Kraft paper left over from another project, so I painted it white with gesso and sprinkled it with Iridescent Diamonds Craft & Glitz glitter.

When I began making this card and pulled out all the white card stock from my stash, I quickly realized that there are many shades of white! Surprise!  So that's why my embossed hearts look a little grey, even though I used white card stock.  It's what I had on hand, and if you know me, I didn't want to start all over again! 

Do you think my husband will notice the different shades of white anyway?  uh. No.

So thank you Michelle for pushing me out of my creative comfort zone!  I should probably mail YOU this card instead (or maybe the Cod that I kissed :)

A Merry Christmas to All!

This is my last blog post before Christmas.  I waited until today because I wasn't sure if the world was ending or not.  Looks like we're good to go!  I guess the Mayans weren't great at making calendars after all.

I thought I would share some Christmas projects I designed for Canadian Scrapbooker.

First up....here are 3 cards I created for the Winter issue 2012 using Bo Bunny's Mistletoe collection.

Love these bright cute papers!

I added Robin's Nest Dew Drops as ornaments on this tree.

Aside from some lace and pom pom ribbon, I didn't do much else except cut the papers.  Their adorable Christmas images are perfect for simple cards.

On December 11, I had a blog post over at Canadian Scrapbooker about a Christmas card I made with Stampin' Up! products.  

Here is the card....

The tree is made with folded doilies cut with a Stampin Up Sizzix die.

Click HERE to visit the Canadian Scrapbooker blog post with the details and photos of  how I made my card.

Right now there is a HUGE contest over at Canadian Scrapbooker called "12 Days of Giving".  Every day you can enter to win a prize package from a different sponsor!  Click HERE to check it out.

I designed two Christmas projects for this contest, using Fancy Pants "Home for Christmas" and My Little Shoebox "Winter Wonderland".

I made Christmas crackers with the Fancy Pants papers for Day 3 of the contest....

They are super simple to make....

Cut an empty paper towel roll in half.  Measure and cut your patterned paper to fit around it.

Put SookWang double sided adhesive tape (1/4") at top and bottom edges of the paper.  Put a second strip of adhesive tape under the top strip (this will hold the tissue paper in place).

Remove the backing from the second piece of tape along the top.Cut a wider piece of tissue paper that extends about 4 inches past each side of the paper/roll.

 Centre the tissue paper edge on that exposed adhesive strip.

Now remove the remaining top and bottom adhesive strips and wrap paper with tissue around your empty roll.

Almost done....just tie one end with twine, fill with prizes and goodies, tie the other end and decorate the top!

For my second project on Day 4 of 12 Days of Giving, I designed an Advent Garland using My Little Shoebox "Winter Wonderland" collection. 

I bought the pretty iridescent silver garland at Canadian Tire, and I found the clothespins in Hobby Lobby in the States.

Each pocket is basically a rectangular piece of patterned paper, folded in two places for the body and the top envelope part. 

One of the pieces of MLS papers had all of the numbers 1 - 25, which I cut out and adhered to the front of the pocket envelopes.  I added stickers from their sticker sheet to decorate them a bit more.

On the back side of the pocket envelopes, I put small doilies (cut with the same Stampin' Up doily die I used for the tree "Joy" card).  In the centre of each doily I put an alphabet letter sticker, so the entire banner in reverse spells "Have a Merry Christmas!"

In the pockets I put chocolate gold coins....but I think my teenagers would prefer the real thing! 

It's not too late to win a prize package over at Canadian Scrapbooker!  Stop by there and check out all the fabulous projects made by the rest of the Design Team using all of the papers and products from contest sponsors!  Click HERE and enter to win yourself a Christmas present.

I'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! May you be blessed with a peaceful and joyous holiday season :)