Yay...Layout is finally done...

I started this layout Friday night and I have been fiddling with it ever since.  I tend to tweek a layout a lot.  I will cut out my paper to the size I want and then I will layer everything without gluing it down.  Then I start to play...shifting everything to the top.  No...don't like that.

Shift everything to the bottom corner....no...still not quite right.  Dig through some more paper...see if anything else can be added....Hmmm...that looks right.  Cut, distress, ink everything.  Start the process of layering all over again.  Add in the embellishments that I have either made or selected when I started the layout.

Still not quite right...dig through some more embellishments...what can I add?  That looks good and maybe this...Shift...layer and shift some more.  Not quite right...start at the beginning again.

This is more or less my process.  Over and over again until I just give in and glue it down.  Well I finally glued everything down on this one....

 

Materials used: Scenic Route pattern paper, Basic Grey pattern paper, Core-dination Core Impressions cardstock (Jenni Bowlin), dictionary paper, Making Memories vintage findings embossed ephemera, Prima bling & vine, Prima adhesive felt, misc. tag, Glimmer mist, Distress Ink, May Arts Ribbon, Webster's Pages cameo, gold embroidery thread, Archival Ink, Creativity Street glitter, gold paint dauber and pop dots.

The balance is not quite right but it is close so I am going to stop and just let it be...even though I still really want to tweek it a bit more.

Happy Sunday!

Another week down...

It has been a long week.  My boss has been on vacation and of course, it ended up being a very busy week covering both his job and my own.  Usually when he is away, there is only a couple of critical things that need to be dealt with but not this time, it seemed like everyone need to have something completed ASAP.  I certainly don't begrudge him his time away, lying on a lovely beach somewhere hot and sunny, but I will certainly be happy to seen him on Monday.


The one thing about busy stressful weeks at work is that I don't feel like being creative when I get home.  I was so looking forward to Friday, finally getting my hands dirty and creating another layout.

Alas...it was not meant to be last night either.  I had picked up some of the new Core-dination embossed cardstock -- the Jenni Bowlin line -- at the ScrapBox earlier in the evening.  Wow...I love this stuff.

I was inspired.  I could see a really cool layout starting in my mind.  But first I needed to make some more dictionary paper flowers to match.

 

As I was making these beauties, I hear a noise upstairs.  It is 2 am, I am putting the finishing touches on the flowers...a bit of gold dauber paint on the edges.  There is that noise again....Oh no....It is my son.  Being sick.  All over his bed...He didn't miss a single blanket.  Eekk...OH....YUCK!

Oh well....After cleaning him up, tucking him into our bed, stripping off the bedding off his bed, getting the first load of blankets in the washing machine and washing down his mattress, I was zonked.  Sleep was calling and it was now after 3 am.  Thankfully, he is much better this morning and hasn't had another episode; but, what a way to end an already icky week.

So today, I am keeping my fingers crossed that he continues to feel well and I am going to start looking for a photo got with the paper and the flowers.  So hopefully, sometime this weekend I might actually get something creative finished.  One can always hope.

Happy Saturday!

Early morning conversations....

Sunday mornings are usually time for my daughter and I to spend time with each other.  She is an early riser and Sundays is my day to get up with the kiddos.  I am not always fully awake since I, often, have been up late Saturday night working on a layout.  This was the case this morning.  I stumbled into bed at 3 am and she had me up by 7 am.  4 hours of sleep is not sufficient to have this conversation:

A:  Mommy, I need to talk to you.

Me:  Sure, Sweetheart.  About what?

A:  Did you know that when we all die, that the Earth is going to explode because the Sun is going to explode?  Then afterwards the Earth will be okay but we will still be dead.

Me:  Umm...no, I didn't know that.  Who told you this?

A:  R did.  Gotta go....She happily skips back into the living room and commences to watch Kid vs Kat.

Okay...that was a depressing way to start a Sunday morning.  Thankfully she seems to be fine with the whole Earth exploding thing so I don't have to figure out how to deal with it until I have at least had a cup of coffee.  I really need to speak to her brother about the stuff he is telling her.

On to happier things, I finally managed to get a layout finished last night.  I haven't been in a particularly productive mood lately.  I find that the shorter days in the dead of winter do really eat into my motivation.

This layout was for another challenge for ScrapCentral's Winter Blues Crop.  It was originally a weekend crop but we decided to extend it for the whole month of January.  As a very slow scrapper, this was music to my ears.

 Materials used:  Bazzill swiss dot cardstock, Scenic Route pattern paper, Graphic45 pattern paper, Die Cut with a View pattern paper, Basic Grey doily and element stickers, American Craft Thickers, Jillybean Soup felt flowers, Prima flowers and leaves, MAMBI bling, Foof-a-la flourish, Versacolor ink, pop dots, unknown beads and stick pin.

This was the best picture of the kids that I have from their first day of School in September....well....at least it shows their true feelings about it.

Today was suppose to be a PJ day because they were calling for freezing rain all day and we were going to just hunker down in the house.  Now it now looks like the freezing rain is not going to hit until this evening.  I don't think I am going to change my plans just because the weatherman is wrong once again.  I think PJs are still in order.  I am going to enjoy a day at home, working on some ATCs and maybe another layout.

In other news, The Paper Passion close their forums this week.  It happened very suddenly.  One minute the board was there and the next it was gone.  It came as a bit of shock to many of the members since there was no prior warning that this was going to happen.  I know it took me half a day before I finally figured out that they were completely gone and not just having technical difficulties.

Thankfully, I managed to find a new board where some of the TPP girls had ended up - Lets Capture Our Memories. It is attached to a store and is Canadian.  The members are very friendly and I am enjoying forging new relationships.  I will miss the local board but hopefully more of the TPP girls will end up over there.  Chatting with these ladies has become a part of my day that I look forward to.

Happy PJ Sunday.

Stomach Bug...

Fun stuff.  I haven't been sick much this year and the kids, thankfully, have been doing fairly well as well.  Well, my good luck ended yesterday morning. I woke up with some kind of stomach bug.  I will not bore you with the details but it incapacitated me enough that there was no way that I want to be around people feeling the way I do.  So, I stayed home from work.

I always feel really guilty about calling in sick even when I am at death's door.  I know that I should stay home to make sure that I get over it quickly and that I don't infect my other co-workers but I also feel like I am letting them down.  It is weird but I stress over it.

So after finalling making the call to stay home yesterday, I need something to get my mind off of all the work that I should be doing.  I figured I might as well tackle one of the crop challenges that I didn't get to this past weekend.  I also wanted to try my hands at making some of the dictionary paper flowers that Donna Salazar makes.  I found a video tutorial that shows how to make them the other day and I have been keen to try them ever since.  The challenge was to use Glimmer Mist, Maya Mist or some other misting agent on a layout.  It was the perfect challenge for these flowers.

The flowers turned out to be very simple to make and they look fantastic.  I am going to be making more of these in the future.  Surprisingly, they are quite stiff when they are dried.  I was a bit worried that they wouldn't hold up to being put in an album but it looks like they will quite nicely.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey pattern paper, Glimmer Mist, Tim Holtz ornate frame, Fancy Pants transparency, Dollar Store glittered ferns, Basic Grey letter stickers, Dew Drops, Tim Holtz stamp, Ranger Distress Ink, Maya Road trinket beads, Ranger Alcohol ink, gold wire, Me and My Bright Ideas bling and Creativity Street glitter.

The Maya Road trinkets were originally clear and were getting lost in the design so I used some alcohol ink to change the colour to a nice deep red.

I am home again today.  I am starting to feel better but I want to make sure that I can handle some solid food before I head back to work.  Since I am home again, I think I might try my hand at another layout or maybe some cards...something creative....something to keep my mind occupied...

Lazy Sunday....

Today is the perfect day.  I am in my PJs.  There is no rush to get anything in particular done.  I have been munching on raw cookie dough tying to make sure that more of it goes in the oven than in my mouth.  The kiddos are playing nicely for a change.  I completed one of the challenges for ScrapCentral's on-line crop and planning on starting another.   I need more days like this. 

The ScrapCentral challenge that I completed was one that you had to use only cardstock --  no embellishments, no ink, no paint, no stamping -- just cardstock.  What I found the hardest was not adding some kind of bling or dew drops.  I was so very tempted to add a few.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Stamp'n Up cardstock, Silhouette, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, EK Success bee and heart punch.

Other than the butterflies, bees and hearts, all the cardstock elements cut on the Silhouette from files downloaded from the Sihouette/Quickutz on-line store. 

I, once again, dug out my rolling pin and selectively embossed  areas of the cardstock elements and background with a Cuttlebug folder.  My rolling pin is getting more use for scrapbooking than it ever did for baking.

Ah...I think my perfect day is coming to an end.  I hear my husband and my son arguing over how to play Lego Indy 2.  Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Busy Scrapping Weekend

I am feeling very creative this weekend and I have lots to do.  Jenn from The Scrapbox asked me to do up some Valentine sample card samples for her.  I have 2 birthday cards to finish and guess what, I am late again -- so much for New Years resolutions.  Last but certainly not least, ScrapCentral is having an on-line crop this weekend.  There are lots of interesting challenges that I want to take stab at.

I haven't had much time this past week to anything creative so I am itching to get my hands covered in ink, paint and glitter.  So last night after getting home from The Scrapbox, I ended up motoring through 3 of the 4 cards that I had committed to do.  I started the 4th but the Sandman just wouldn't stay away.  I managed to finish up the fourth this morning.

Making Memories, as part of their Love Struck line, has these great accordion folded medallion embellishments.  Jenn was sold out of them basically the moment they were delivered but after taking a quick look another customers package, I realized that they were not difficult to put together.  Those medallions became the starting point for the cards.

I had planned to play around with them for awhile to get the hang of making them but they ended up being quite easy -- especially after I watched this Youtube Video by Spotted Canary which explains the little trick to get them to lie flat.  This is my first effort:

Basically, I cut a strip of cardstock 1" wide and 12 inches long.  I used a Scor-Pal to score the paper every 1/4".  The disks are cut out using Spellbinder Petite Scallop Circle dies and Standard Circle dies.  They can be further embellished from this point.

So if you want to see the following cards in person, they are residing at the Scrapbox as of early afternoon today.

Materials used:  Making Memories Love Struck pattern paper, Prism cardstock, Spellbinder In Spades Pendant die, Spellbinder Fancy Tag die, Spellbinder Petite Scallop Circles and Standard Circles dies, Ranger Distress Ink ~ Walnut Stain, Glossy Accents, Kaisercraft bling, pop dots, & May Arts ribbon.

Materials used:  Making Memories Love Struck pattern paper, Basic Grey Sugar Rush pattern paper, Prism cardsdtock, Basic Grey stamp, Spellbinder Petite Scallop Circle and Standard Circle dies, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Copic makers, pop dots and Basic Grey stamp.

Materials used:  Making Memories Love Struck pattern paper, Basic Grey Sugar Rush pattern paper, Prism cardstock, Spellbinder Label 6 dies, Basic Grey Sugar Rush Element stickers,  Basic Grey stamp, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Copic makers, pop dots and Sharpie pen.

Materials used:  Basic Grey Sugar Rush pattern paper, Basic Grey Sugar Rush element stickers, Prism cardstock, Ranger Distress ink ~ Black Soot, Versacolor ink ~ Peony, Prima bling swirls, Kaisercraft bling and pop dots.

I am going to a little break from cards now and try to tackle a few of the ScrapCentral challenges.  There is a cardstock only challenge that I have been thinking about since yesterday.  I have a few ideas for that one.

Happy Saturday!

Happy New Years

I hope that the New Year brings you peace, love, joy, and lots of wonder.

I can't believe that another year has come and gone so quickly.  I blinked and it was over.

I don't normally do resolutions.  I have never been much for self reflection but this year, I think I just want to try and slow things down a bit.  To enjoy the little moments and take pleasure in just being.  Hopefully this year will not feel like it just sped on past but was savoured and enjoyed.

With that in mind, I am going to enjoy some time with my kiddos today.  We are going to build some Lego miner vehicles, try to finish erecting a pyramid and maybe go tour with our out of tune band -- Scrappy Cheese.

Happy 2010!