Guest Designer - Fancy Pants Designs Part 2

I almost forgot to share the projects I created with the True Friends Collection for the my Guest spot on the Fancy Pants Designs post a while back.

We just all just happened to be wearing coordinating colours to match the collection on the night Isabelle graduated from Grade Nine.

I enjoyed layering several of the tags and photo frames together, and how cute is that button collection.

And for the first time in a long, long time I was even inspired to create a few cards.

I had a blast guesting for them, and really enjoyed the products they sent me to work with.  I was overwhelmed by their generosity.

Thanks for stopping by today friends!

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Guest Designer - Fancy Pants Designs Part 1

I had the privilege of guesting on the Fancy Pants blog last week.  I may or may not have squealed a little when I get the request.  As many of you know they are one of my absolute favourite manufacturers in the industry, so it was a real treat to get to play with both the Oh Deer and the True Friends Collections.  And let me tell you, they are incredibly generous, I more than enough goodies to play with.

Although I am not a traditional crafter by nature, the Oh Deer ephemera package, totally inspired me to create a Christmas project that the girls could use during the Christmas season.

I used my 50% off coupon and picked up this double sided easel from Michael's to create a Christmas countdown calendar for the kids to fill out starting today.  They are pretty excited to take turns using different coloured chalk to write in the number of days.

I used varying layers of 3D adhesive to create a sweet little scene in the bottom corner of the chalkboard side.

On the whiteboard side I did something similar in two corners.

There were so many pieces in the package that I just kept working with it and created this layout.

How cute is that chipboard holly?

Trust me when I tell you that is was hard to use up this vintage looking white button.  I kind of just wanted to hoard if for a season or two.

I'll be back later in the week to share with you my True Friend projects.  Thanks for stopping by today friends! Pin It

The Right Adhesive

I was pretty excited to have received an email from Tombow a little while back asking if I would like to participate in their Sticky U!  I've been a loyal Tombow fan for years and years, so of course saying yes was a no-brainer.  I was shipped a roll of their new Xtreme Permanent Adhesive.  I wanted to put it to the test on my regular layered, with lots of bits and pieces style.  Here is the result.

I love this photo of Isabelle and her friend Keira just prior to their grad dinner.  Both their dresses had so much pretty detail around the waist, and the way they were both holding their clutches called for a photo all it's own, and in turn a layout of the shot, of course.

I couldn't resist adding in the photo of the just the girls' feet, showing off their fab shoes on the layout.  I used a Webster's Pages clip to fasten it to a tag and tucked it into a glassine bag behind the main photo.

Not only was the adhesive a breeze to put on, requiring just the teeniest bit of pressure to dispense from the roll, it also worked perfectly to hold my sequins, and wood veneer pieces (which are normalled glued down with liquid glue), my flair buttons, my burlap bow, and my chipboard accents (which are normally secured in another fashion).  A closer look reveals that you can't even see the adhesive under the transparent sequins.

Thank you Tombow for inviting me to participate in Sticky U!  The Extreme Permanent Adhesive has found a new home among my other Tombow go-tos.

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Playing with PageMaps & an announement

Several of the Scraptastic DT had the opportunity to join Becky Fleck this month for her PageMaps reveal.  We were each given a sketch to work with and were free to use one of the two December Main Kits.  I chose to work with the Home For The Holidays kit, and had a fun 8x5x11 sketch to work with.

Here is my layout

And here is the sketch I worked with

You can see that I stayed very true to the sketch, and added only a few of my own personal touches, like the veneer deer.

I just loved that little guy and had to work him in somehow.  I figured since deer were represented on the patterned paper in the sketch he would be a good fit. 

For the rounded title up top I hand stitched with some red embroidery thread, and then used one of the stamps in the kit to stamp around the circle.  Rather than putting the stamp onto an acrylic blog I simply used my fingers to bend the stamp around the stitching.  I practiced this a few times on scrap paper, however, before adding it to my layout.

You'll also notice here if you look closely that I've matted my entire layout onto a piece of light brown cardstock, it somehow made the layout look a little more finished in my opinion.  Now, getting a photo that was straight, was a whole other ball of wax, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't pull it off, hence the all white only background you see in the photo of the complete layout.

A big thank you to Becky for inviting us to play along this month, I really enjoyed working with the sketch.  The rest of her dt, and ours as well created some wonderful layouts as well.  I would encourage you to pop over and have a peek if you've got a minute.  You can see the full reveal here.

I have one other bit of fun news to share....

I'm pretty excited about joining the super spunky, hilariously funny group of girls at Paper Issues. You've heard me say that Cassie has THE BEST online scrappy store out there, and even better delivery, fast and always wrapped in the most awesome houndstooth paper with a gorgeous red seam binding ribbon.  It's seriously like receiving two gifts in one.  I was thrilled when she extended the offer to me, and as of Jan 1 I am officially a PI girl.  My shiny new badge, thanks to Jen Chesnick is in my sidebar.  Use it every time you order from Paper Issues and instantly receive 20% off.   Here is a peek at my very first DT order.  I can't wait to dig in.

I am so anxious to work with the new Fancy Pants Be Loved Collection.  And how cute are those October Afternoon Daily Flash Pop Drops?  Cassie has several different color combinations in store. I've been wanting those Alison Kreft start and speech bubble paper clips for so long, that I'm almost afraid to use them now, they're almost vintage (now that CHA winter 2014 is just around the corner, haha.  Also is stock is the brand new Crate Paper Valentine's Day Collection, if that's more your speed.
This weekend also marked the first of the Monthly Swag Bag by Paper Issues.  Here is a peek at this month's kit.

There will be a new Swag Bag every month.  Signing up with ensure you don't miss out on yours.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Scrappy goodness to add to your pages every month.  You can get yours here.  There are only a few left for January, so I wouldn't think about it too long if I were you.  Remember if you place an order, Swag Bags included, you can score 20% off just be using my code.

Thanks for stopping by today friends! Pin It

Scrapbook & Cards Today

I'm back up at Scrapbook & Cards today with post number two of two.  If you missed the first one, my introduction to layering you can see it here.

Today I am breaking down my process for creating with multiple layers on your layouts.  Here is a sneak of what you'll see on the blog today.

I hope you'll pop over to the blog to see the rest of the layout and have a little peek into my design process.  A huge thank you once again for Catherine for having me, I enjoyed hearing back from her readers, and hope to see some link up with their take on layering.

I'll be back on Friday with some Project Life layouts to share with you.

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Guesting at Scrapbook & Cards Today

I have the awesome privilege of guest blogging over at Scrapbook & Cards Today.  I was thrilled when Catherine invited me to share what she calls my 'signature layering style' of scrapbooking with her readers.  Today is part one of two that will post this week on her blog, and I'm sharing with readers my take on the August Colour Suite.

The colours were a prefect match to The Pier Collection by Crate Paper, and the design elements in the ephemera package were a perfect start to introducing readers to how easy layering can be.  Here is a little peek at the layout I created.

I would love for you to pop over to the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog to see the rest of the layout, and have a peek at my post for today.  I'll be back there on Wednesday to break down my layering process if you're at all interested.

I hope you're enjoying this gorgeous Long Weekend.  Thanks for popping in today!

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Paper Secrets Guest Designer

I was contacted by Kristi several months ago to consider a spot as their Guest Designer for August.  I was thrilled of course at having been asked.  I was even more thrilled at the opportunity to meet both her and her shop partner in crime Rochelle at CHA last week.  It was so great to have them stop by the Chic Tags booth.

Kristi(L), Rochelle(R)

For those of you unfamiliar with Paper Secrets you can check them out here. They are a paper crafting shop and challenge blog, with new sketch challenges with a twist released twice monthly.

I had the pleasure of working with the Summer Stories collection by Teresa Collins.

It is gorgeous, check it out

I had a really great sketch to work with.  A good sketch, combined with a fun new photo, and this gorgeous collection all made for a fairly quick layout for me.  Here are a few sneaks of my layout.

The twist this week is to use an embellishment with text, hence the Freckled Fawn "love" heart.  I'd love for you to pop over to the Paper Secrets Blog and see my completed project.  There will be a lot of inspiration from the DT also.  You may also link up a project of your own for your chance at a $10 gift certificate to the store.

Thanks for stopping by today friends! Pin It

Guesting The Nook

Happy Monday friends.  I hope that the weekend was a great one for you where every you may call home.

I have a Nook layout to share with you today.  I may not have gotten a permanent DT spot at My Scrapbook Nook, but at the very least I have a little guest spot there - yay!  I mentioned on Friday that I won the sketch challenge last month, which resulted in my filling the role of Guest DT for this month's sketch.

Heather was the lucky Nook member chosen to have her layout transformed into a sketch this month. Here is her layout:

 And here is the sketch DT member Patricia created based off of the layout.

I wanted to incorporate the circles, but just couldn't make it work with the photo that I had chosen to work with.  Sometimes, I'm about the design first and everything else is made to be incorporated into that.  Other times I allow the photos to drive the design process.  With that I chose to keep the photos and journaling spot rectangular.  I also modified the embellishments from circles to starts.  Here is what I ended up with.

Using My Scrapbook Nook February kit featuring October Afternoon

The photo is of Théa and her Tap Small Group the day they competed at CNDC.  How cute are those costumes?  Jody put together a fun little dance for them.  It challenged their skills, but kept them totally engaged, and leading their audience on a fun little journey with them. 

It was fun to join the DT this month, I sure hope the opportunity presents itself again sometime soon.  In the meantime, how about you come and visit us over there, and try your hand at the sketch.  I'd love to have you :)

That's it for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

♥ S. Pin It

Rockin' The Hill

Happy Saturday friends!

I am up at Let's Capture Our Memories today with my last post for this month.  I once again used the Pink Paislee Prairie Hill Collection to create a single page layout.

This is what I created.  You can read more about it here if you'd like.

I hope today offers you a little time to be creative.  I know there is a lot of inspiration to be had over at the LCOM forum.  You can join in the fun here.  If you are more in a shopping kind of mood today, I highly suggest you head over to the LCOM store and check out all the new product that has recently been added.  Amy Tangerine, Crate Paper, and Studio Calico just to name a few. 

In other news there is a pre-birthday giveaway going on over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  You can get in on that over here.  And don't forget we'll be kicking off our First Birthday Blog Hop on Thursday May 31st.  Hope to see you there!


I hope your weekend is turning out to be a great one, thanks so much for popping by today!

♥ S


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A little Double Dutch

Stitching on your photo and a little paper weaving are what I have to share with you over at Let's Capture Our Memories blog today using the brand new Lily Bee Design Double Dutch Collection.  It's even prettier in real life, and distressed and summery coloured.  I'd love for you to pop by and say hi to me over there.

On another note my heart melted yesterday when I saw these little guys crossing the street.  As much as adult geese can be annoying: on the road at all the wrong times, hissing at you whenever you dare cross their path, and leaving their goose poop all over the parks and golf courses, the wee ones are just so darling.

Have a great Wednesday friends!

♥ S.


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About my mother

It's the first Monday of the month, which means it's time for a new challenge over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  With this being the month we celebrate Mother's Day in North America, the challenge is focused around mothers.

Some of you may know that growing up, I was not particularly close with my mother.  All that hurt was re-ignited when I saw what the theme of the challenge was going to be this month.  I put off creating the layout for several weeks, in fact, not sure where I would begin.  When I finally sat down to create something this is what I came up with.  This photo of my 1st birthday is one of the very few I have of myself and my mother together, I chose it because it's one where she looks happiest.

Using the new Fancy Pants Be You collection

I wasn't really thrilled with how the layout turned out.  I like the papers, and the design is fine, but somehow it just felt 'not me', sterile.  I had to really think and pray about what was not sitting well with me over this layout.  What I came to realize, is that my childhood is not something I speak of often.  It's almost as though it's a untouchable part of my history.  I really felt the Lord saying to me that I had some healing to do, and that He wanted me to press into my feelings, so that He could bring about restoration.  As I allowed Him to move me, and speak to my heart I realized that denying the 'good' of my upbringing, and not acknowledging the many ways my mother did show her love for me was wrong, it was denying all the ways God had shown His love to me.  A friend recently reminded me of Romans 8:28 "and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."   That is the truth of my childhood, and I need to give Him the glory, and give my mother praise for her part in it.  She tried her best to be a good mom to us, I have no doubt, but I didn't really see that until my firstborn came into the world.  Seeing her as a grandmother, expanded my view of her.  The way she loved my daughter, and gently held her, they way she was so supportive of me, and my parenting.  I began to see that she likely had the same amount of love and compassion for me and my brother when we were growing up.  I think that perhaps being married to my father forced her to, unknowingly keep part of herself hidden.  Living under a controlling, selfish, and irritable man changed a bit of who she really was.  Going through this process of scrapping about my mother has helped me to see, and believe that she did the best she knew how to love us, and protect us from the same upbringing she endured (broken home, infidelity, and a home where love and respect was always conditional)  I don't think she realized that the pattern was never really broken, but I believe now, that she tried her best.

Here is the same photo redone on a new, more meaningful, more 'me' layout.

Sorry that the quality looks poor, but the colours really are that muted and soft (Crate Paper)

This layout was created after processing everything.  I really sensed the Lord working through me on this one, allowing me to see my mother in a new light, His light.

I've written out the feelings I was able to articulate through this healing process on a couple of tags hidden behind the photo.

I hope that if you have a similar story of hurt and disappointment regarding your childhood and/or relationship with your mother that you have found some solace here today.  I pray that you may know the love of your Father, and hear the calling He has on you to come to Him, allowing Him into the dark places to bring healing and restoration.  You just never know the depth of peace that awaits you on the other side.

You can see what the rest of the design team did with this challenge, and get all the details on this month's gracious sponsor over here.

As schedules would have it, I am also up over at Let's Capture Our Memories today. 

 I have a fun Pink Paislee layout to share with you.  Tomorrow I'll teach you how to re-create it.

Have a blessed day friends. Pin It

FABulous framed

Curious to see what I've altered using these items?

I'm up over at Let's Capture Our Memories Today.  I'd love for you to come and visit me there.  I'll be back here tomorrow with a scrap lift I completed over the weekend.

See you tomorrow.  Hope your week is off to a great start.

♥ S

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For the love of Prairie Hill

Today is my day to post over at Let's Capture Our Memories.  I'd love it if you'd pop by and say hi.

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Have you seen the New Pink Paislee Collections?  Both the Indigo Blue, and Prairie Hill Collections caught my eye.  As soon as I saw the Hilltop sheet from the Prairie Hill Collection, I knew I wanted to cut it into itty bitty pieces. 

I had a feeling I would  love it even more with a little cardstock showing through.  I used my paper trimmer to get nice straight lines, placed them evenly on the cardstock,then glued them down one by one.  Isn't that kite the cutest?

This is the design I ended up with. 

I apologize that the little stickers are difficult to read.  They say "They make life even sweeter" The white ink text reads: "There are sure to be a lot of laughs when our families are together"

I left the layout like this for several days, despite felling like something was missing. Then a couple of weeks later while showing it to a friend I realized what was missing.  I had the idea to add a few strips of jounaling to the top right of the layout.  So I pulled out some Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type (thanks Jody), and added sentiments that were fun, matched the colours, and were appropriate for the photo of the family I was featuring on the layout.

Here's a close up of the Tiny Text stickers.

Here is the layout that is in my album today.  I feel as though the little journal strips finish it off much better, and add a little more character to a page that's all about a family that's full of character.

I'm currently playing with another sheet from the line.

Again, my scissors got the best of me.  You'll have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Thanks for stopping by friends, have a great Wednesday everyone!

♥ S.

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