The cutest Nerd

Our kids sure know how to crack us up, especially Théa.  Here is a kid that can be so passionate about her academics, and Dance one minute, and then come down the stairs with with her face completely face painted the next.

On this occasion she was dressed and ready to go to Dance Competition, but came down the stairs with these lens-less 3-D glasses on making silly faces.  Of course I had to snap a couple of photos of her while I could.

I just love the way everything goes together so nicely, like the collection was made just for these photos.  I'm going to link this layout up to the Paper Issues latest Issue "Say Cheese" sponsored by Maya Road.  As usual this girl of mine has provided me with some cheesy photos for the issue. Check out the great link ups here, and add your own for a chance to win a Maya Road goodie bag of your own.

And don't forget you can use my code to grab some Maya Road goodies of your own and save 20% off your entire order.  

Thanks a bunch for stopping in today friends.  Happy crafting!

Pin It

Duckface

Paper Issues has a brand new Issue out today.  "Say Cheese" is the theme, and I went with the "cheesy photo" take on it.

I was pretty happy to discover these photos on my phone a day after I left my purse unattended at the Dance Studio while speaking with one of the directors.  I don't think I could ever have too many photos Haley and Théa together, they make for some pretty great scrapbook pages with funny titles.

If you know me at all you know that I love embellishments, and Maya Road has no shortage of them.  These little transparency frames are pretty darn cute, I really like that they're tiny.

I think the ampersand clips may be my favourite embellishment of all time.  I burned through the package I ordered in no time.

Another little transparency frame, and some fabulous fabric tape.  This was the first time I've used the tape, it goes on so well, and sticks so nicely.  I used the Teresa Collins Something Wonderful collection to create this page, the background paper is by Fancy Pants designs, both of which I ordered from Paper Issues.

Get your hands on some of these fab Maya Road goodies in the Paper Issues shop here.

Link up a creation of your own for this issue to be entered to win a Maya Road goodie bag.  The DT has some pretty fab inspiration pieces to help get your creativity going.  You can check those out here.  

Happy crafting friends, looking forward to seeing how you interpret the theme.

Pin It

Chic Tags & Maya Road Swap

We've got another product swap to share with you over at Chic Tags.

Teaming up with Maya Road was a super fun idea.  I've always been a fan of their embellishments.  Here are the projects I created with goodies from both companies.

Meet my friend Shannon.  She and her family have done life with us for the past 14 years.  Our families have such a nice time when we're together, kids, dogs, and all.  Last August she took her family, and transferred job positions to one in Calgary. I miss her so much.  Life is busy these days, which isn't too much of a change, but it sure is nice to have that person in your life that when you're together you each enjoy the time so much.  Chatting, learning, challenging, and encouraging one another.  I was so happy to receive her text saying she was going to be in Winnipeg for one night recently.  We had the chance to meet for supper, catch up and just enjoy the short time we had together.

The chipboard words, and hearts were so great for embossing.

Burlap, felt flowers, and twine?  Yes please.

As is a habit of mine, I placed my journaling on a hidden tag behind the photos.

And here is my second layout.  My favourite photo from our Fall photo shoot.

I just love the looks on the girls' faces as they threw the leaves around.

I used my silhouette to cut leaves out of gold cardstock, and vellum.  The Happy Place tags are perfect for journaling.

This time rather than embossing the chipboard words, I simply used my Tim Holtz blending tool to add a little distress ink to them.  That cute little ampersand stamp is by Chic Tags, and I may or may not be hoarding a few of those Maya Road heart pennant clips.

Now be sure to pop over to the Chic Tags blog to enter for your chance at the Happy Place collection we're giving away to celebrate our blog hop with Maya Road.  And don't forget to pop over to the Maya Road blog also to enter their giveaway, and see what they're talented crew has created using our Chic Tag products.  Good luck to all.

Thanks for stopping in today friends! Pin It

Out On The Town

That's the name of the July Kit I chose to work with this month at Scraptastic.  Here is my first layout created with the kit.

This photo is my dear Miss Maggie holding a nest we found in our tree this Spring as we were yard cleaning.  I just love the colours in it so much, I know that I'll scrap it again before summer is over.

Here are a few close ups for you:

That stitched looking stamp is definitely one of my favourites ever

Notice the stamp overlapped onto the photo?  No biggie for me.

Really love those coloured mini tags

So many stickers, embellishments, stamps to play with.  To read more about the product I used in the kit, please hop over to the Scraptastic Blog to read all about it.

I also wanted to invite you to our 3rd Birthday Celebration the first weekend in August.  Hope to see you there.

  Thanks a bunch for popping in today. Pin It

I Am Thirty-Nine

Even to say it, it doesn't sound true.

I celebrated my birthday on Monday.  It was a very understated affair.  No big party, a couple of small gifts, and dinner at home, made by yours truly.  Some may have been disappointed with such a simple evening, but I for one could not have felt more blessed.  It seems that the older I get the less it takes to make me feel loved.  I am strong, and healthy.  I live in a country where I am a free black woman, able to do pretty much anything I set my mind to.  I have 3 beautiful girls, and a husband who is a wonderful father to them, and a sensitive, and caring partner to me.  We have a lovely home, in a beautiful neighbourhood, a dog who adores each of us, and more 'toys' than we need.  Life is full.
Life is good.
I am blessed.
Life won't ever be perfect, but I am acutely aware of how unnecessary perfection is.  I'm learning to be comfortable in my own skin.
I'm learning that life is short, and I need to make the most of my 24 hours everyday.
I'm learning to stop comparing my life to others'.
I'm learning that I am unique, and have talents and abilities that are worth sharing with the world around me.
Every year I discover more of who I am, and who I was created to be.

The title reads "feeling awesome at 39"

I added a little more bling than usual trying to capture a girlie feel

Thank you to all of my friends, and family who contribute to this life of mine.  I wouldn't be the same without you.  And you dear reader are a part of the blessing.  Thank you for being here.  For your encouragement, and for allowing me to share with you, and in return for sharing with me.

Here's to another year of learning, and growing, and playing, and discovering more about this life I've been given.  I welcome thrity-nine with open arms.  Bring it on!

Pin It

Let's Capture These Sketches Reveal

Sketch #149 in now live on Let's Capture These Sketches. 

Here is Natalie's sketch

Check out all the white space and the cluster.  So up my ally.  The flowers kind of threw me for a loop at first because I don't actually own many flowers anymore, and definitely none that large.  I decided to just look at it as a cluster rather than 3 flowers.  Then things came together very quickly.

I realize it's hard to see the outline.  Consider this  caption centered on the bottom, and that should make things a little easier to see.

Once again I combined a mix of manufactures on this page including: Jillibean Soup, My Mind's Eye, Prima, Evalicious, October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin, and Studio Calico.

These photos are of Théa, and Eden are from the day my girlfriend gave us a mini tour of the local radio station she works at.  The girls met their favorite DJ, and were introduced to a bunch of the staff.  Two sweet guys in particular totally made their day by suiting them up in a cowbow hat, and lanyard.  Such a small gesture of kindness totally made their day.

A simple, yet eye catching design.  Works for me.  You should see what the rest of the design team created. Curious?  Click  here.

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

♥ S. Pin It

Scrappin' Your Stash

I'm up on the Let's Capture Our Memories Blog today.

The excitement of CHA can be felt all over the scrappy web.  It's always so exciting to see what our favorite manufacturers have come up with to delight our scrappy senses.  I know I'm not the only one who struggles with balancing wanting more new goodness and using up the goodness we still have in our stash.  As much as we want to bring brand new scrappy goodness into our home, we have a slight sense of guilt over all the scrappy supplies we still have piled up, staring us in the face ever time we sit down to scrap.  For today's post, I thought it may be a good idea to showcase a couple of ideas to help us use up some of that stash to make room for some of the new CHA goodness we've got our eye on.  So I gathered up my Crate Paper Pretty Party Collection pack, and some other random supplies that have been gathering dust in my space and got to work.

First an altered tin.  Add a little Mod Podge, eliminate a few things here and there, and voila a cute little tin for my 10 year old girly, girl to keep her treasures in.

Next up a layout.

This design uses 10 different strips of paper.  It's not a new design by any means but efficient in helping you to make a dent in that stash of yours.  Have a look and you'll see what I mean.

To create this design I began by using a lightweight piece of cardboard I recycled from my pocket page protectors packaging.

I cut the piece of cardboard to 12" x 6.75".  I then marked the center point on the cardboard and drew angular lines about every two inches all the way around.

Next I sliced the pieces apart, and numbered them so that I could replicate it easily once the pieces of patterned paper were cut out.  This will also allow you to keep, and reuse the pieces over, and over again.

Because the traced pieces are always slightly larger than the original there will be a tiny bit of overlapping at the center.  This is easily covered up once you put your layout together.   I like the look of stitching on my pages, and this is a great design for it.

Remember we're trying to use up our stash, so I've layered several die cut shapes,  and boarder stickers that came with the collection around my photos.

And here is the final product.

The photos are from Tuesday when two of my longest standing friends came over for the afternoon.  It had been a long time since we'd all been together.  Hover your mouse over the photo to read the journaling.

I hope I've been able to inspire you to dig into your stash and put some of the scrappy goodness you've been hoarding, or just haven't gotten around to using, to good use.  What kinds of empty little containers have you been saving that could benefit from a little sprucing up with pretty paper, ribbon, and embellishments?  Canning jars?  Pringle tubes?  Little vases from the Dollarstore?  I'm sure you don't have to look too hard to find something.  And what about all those layouts you've been pinning, or adding to your favorites folders that use a lot of little bits of paper and tags, or die cuts, or journal spots?  Maybe it's time to lift one and make some room in your stash for the new goodness that's sure to arrive in the LCOM store within the next month or two.  If you do decide to tackle your stash I'd sure love to come and have a peek, be sure to link me up.


Happy scrapping friends!

Scrappy Goodness Used:
Crate Paper Pretty Party
Maya Road Vintage Butterflies
Maya Road Pins
Maya Road ribbon
Ormolu Chevron Tag
October Afternoon Sticky Keys
American Crafts Thickers
The Twinery Twine
3D Foam Squares
Other:
Petallo flower
May Arts Jute & Tulle
Tombow Adhesive


Pin It

Card Kit Swap Part 2

Friday, I posted about the Nook Card Kit swap.

Today I have Andrea's kit, and the cards I was able to create with it.  Her kit was jam packed with Pink Paislee goodness.

I love the colour combination, and I've never even seen those Maya Road flowers before, gorgeous.

I've created two cards thus far with these goodies, and I have many more to come I'm sure.  As you can see I was spoiled rotten, I was thinking of using the remaining papers on a layout.  And that wood veneer bird, I have something special planned for that little guy.  This is the kit that just keeps on giving.  Thanks so much Andrea!  Here are my creations.

I used that wide brown trim to create my own bow.  It's held together with floral wire.

Isn't that sparkly trim so cute?!

I hope Andrea likes what I've done with her kit.  I can't wait to dig in some more.  I'm most excited about my plans for that wood veneer bird!

On another note, I have some great scrappy news to share with you, but can't just yet.  I'm hoping by Wednesday I'll be able to, so stay tuned.  Thanks for popping by today, I sure do appreciate it!

♥ S. Pin It

LOAW challenge #2

This is week #2 of the Studio Calico Layout A Week Challenge.  Once again Caz did not let us down with the inspiration piece.  Check this out.

original source: here

This was a tough one for me.  It took a few days for an idea to form.  The idea: to create a layout with a banner running all the way through it just like this frame...sometimes I'm not so swift on the uptake, lol. So here's what I created...

I've used Lilybee Picket Fence papers, and purple alphas for a previous Nook kit, along with Maya Road chipboard shapes, Crate button, misc brads, Pink Paislee Tickets, American Crafts alphas, Jillibean Soup Sprout (backwards and misted with Branwood Mr. Huye's.  I've hand stitched the boarder with DMC embroidery floss in brown and cream.

Again, a white cardstock background.  I think the end result is okay, a little simple, but outside of my standard style so I like that about it.  Want to know something funny?  The photo was originally straight, in line with the boarder.  As I was sewing the banner on however, it shifted (I only use the teeniest bit of adhesive when first laying out my design, I didn't think about securing it completely before stitching).  It wasn't what I had planned, but it doesn't make me crazy to see it off centered either, so I've decided to leave it.

Speaking of Studio Calico, I've signed up for their monthly kit, and am looking forward to working with more of their product.  Their kits are interesting as they have a host of different manufacturers represented each month, it's not solely their own stuff.  Another neat attribute is that they often (if not always) have exclusives in their kit, that cannot be purchased elsewhere.  September's kit for example has some of the much talked about Amy Tangerine items, however they are in different colour/style than the originals.  You can see the full Kit, all the Add on kits, and the exclusives here.  One last thing about these kits is that they ship super fast (within a week), and come directly to my door.  Sweet!

We're off to the beach tomorrow with friends.  The weather is suppose to be nice and hot, so combine that with water, sand, snacks, and good company, and you have a very good day on the horizon.  Hope your Monday is looking just as good.

Thanks for popping by,

♥ S. Pin It

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #5

There is a  new challenge posted over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles, entitled "I couldn't help but laugh".  I knew I still had these pictures of Eden from two years ago that I hadn't scrapped, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Products used: the July kit from My Scrapbook Nook featuring October Afternoon 5 & Dime collection, along with some Studio Calico mists, and twine from The Twinery, Jenny Bowlin butterfly, Maya Road chipboard bits, and the tiny star was pained by my love friend Lisa.

The journaling reads "there is nothing classy about this girl when she gets her hot little hands on freshly bbq'd baby back ribs"  Looking at these photos still makes me laugh. 

Hope today is the beginning of a fun and enjoyable weekend.  We're off to Thunder Rapids Fun Park this afternoon with the kiddos.  Should be a blast with many photo ops.

Happy Saturday all,

♥ S. Pin It

Scrapping Everyday Miracles

It was a while back that I mentioned this new Christian based scrapbook site called Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  I've been keeping up with them in spirit only thus far, as it was so busy the last month of school, and then being away at the lake.  Last week however I had a chance to participate in my first scrappy challenge with them.  The challenge was to scrap a layout using lyrics of a Christian song to inspire the layout.  I took this picture while driving home from the lake one Sunday evening last summer.  I've used it several times while leading worship, or a  devotional time with my group, etc.  The photo doesn't boast the best lighting, but even still, one is able to see the rays of light cutting through the sky, and flowing down from the Heavens to earth.  That is my favorite kind of sky, aside from the Harvest moon.  I always imagine that it's the result of God pulling back the curtain of Heaven to have the angels, and those that have gone to join Him before us, to reveal what His children are up to.  The song that rose up in my heart as I was looking at it last week was on oldie called "Be Still And Know".  I thought it had been DC Talk who sang it, but I can only find a Newsboys version.  Perhaps I remember wrong.  At any rate it's the same song I remember.  You can hear it here if you're interested.  This song takes me back, and the words ring as true today as they ever did so many years ago.  A sky like this causes me to be still for a moment and take it all in.  His great, great love for us, demonstrated by the 'pulling back' of the Heavens and drawing us near to Him.

Materials used: Alphas: Basic Grey & Sassafras, Paper: My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico, Chipboard Heart: Maya Road, Sculpture Flower: Prima, Trim: My Mind's Eye, Embroidery floss: DMC 747

Thanks to the lovely Sasha I've gotten a little hooked on hand stitching :)  I love the tone on tone here, still working on getting my stitches closer together, need to find a proper needle. 

Happy Monday friends.  I hope you'll pop by again soon. Pin It

Unpluging for a few

Just wanted to pop in and say that the girls (my girls that is) and I are getting away for a few days.  Off to the lake, just us.  The weather has been really nice here, and is suppose to continue well into next week, so by the beach is where we want to be.  It will be nice to unplug for a bit, and recharge.  A friend loaned me this book, and I'm excited to dig into it.   I started this one a couple of weeks ago.  It's a little slow moving though, so if it doesn't pick up soon, I'm moving on.  I've also jumped back to the book of Exodus in the Bible, and continue to be blown away by the sheer number of specifications, and directions the Israelites were required to follow in order to gain forgiveness from their sins.  It leaves me deeply thankful every time I read for the incredible gift of salvation Jesus offers us by taking our sin upon himself once and for all.  There's no way I would have been able to keep all those details straight. 

On the scrappy front.  I was super thrilled to see this post on My Scrapbook Nook forum the other day.  It's so neat to see others' interpretation of my work.  I played around a little more with my July kit and created this quick and easy card for Danni's recipe challenge.

There are some other great creations to see, you should jump over and have a look.  I just love the talented bunch at the Nook, we have a lot of cyber fun together.

The ever so talented Pam, also had an Ad Challenge this moth.  Here's what I put together for it...

I really like this layout, and loved the challenge, it totally took me outside of my comfort zone in design style.
All the new CHA stuff has been revealed by now, and I'm totally looking forward to this, this, this, this and this just to name a few.  What's caught your eye this release?

Time to get moving here.  Hope you're having a fantastic summer thus far.

Thanks again for stopping by, I sure appreciate it.

♥ S. Pin It

Cosmo Cricket Love

I received my July Kit from My Scrapbook Nook yesterday, much to my delight.  I wasn't expecting to receive it until much later in the month due to the postal strike, but yippee, it was waiting for me in my mailbox yesterday.  It is full of Cosmo Cricket goodness.  Normally, I find Cosmo wonderful to look at, but difficult to use.  This 5 and Dime line, however has got the mojo going.  Here are two layouts I created yesterday afternoon.

Eden in mid air at the school playground

I had so much fun with this one.  It came together in about an hour.  I love the added touch of the embroidery floss on the Maya Road canvas tags.

The talented Jessy posted another fun sketch challenge over at the Nook.  Not sure how it is that hers are the only ones I manage to complete, but hey I guess that's a good thing.  

Here is Jessy's sketch:

And here is my take on it:

I hand cut most of those large flowers from a sheet of patterned paper (the one in the bottom right corner, however is a chipboard sticker).  This layout took me much, much longer than the first.  I played around with the composition a lot more before finding something I was satisfied with.

I've had these photos of Belle & me at the lake, all year, but was never really happy with the layout I'd come up with to scrap them, so they've sat untouched until now.  I flipped the sketch, and made some minor alterations to suit my needs, but am very happy with the final result. 

What kind of creative projects have you been up to lately?

Thanks for popping in.    Have a great day!

♥ S.

Pin It