The Miracles of Fall

Happy Monday friends, and welcome to a brand new week.

The Miracles of Fall is the focus of Scrapping Everyday Miracles Challenge #21

I decided to focus on the blessing of fresh produce.  As gorgeous as the changing of leaves can be this time of year, and the flight of the geese as they make their way to warmer climats, a bounty of fresh vegetables sure can make one feel incredibly blessed.

On this particular afternoon Mom called and asked if she could please bring over some of the harvest from her garden, and that of a friend's.  I wasn't home at the time when she stopped by.  When I came home there were bags full of wonderful smelling red potatoes, huge bright orange carrots, a funny shaped pumpkin, the largest zucchini I have ever seen, along with some glorious smelling tomatoes.  I felt rich, I tell you.  It may not have been worth a lot in monetary terms, but the thought that I had more than I could possibly need on my own, while so many go without was overwhelming.

Where normally, thoughts of Fall conjure up visions of brightly coloured trees, this year thoughts of Fall will remind me of the incredible gift of fresh, brightly coloured produce freely grown and harvested in my mother-in-law's garden.  Many a zucchini bread, and fresh oven-baked potatoes await my family.  Crisp, fresh carrots will satisfy my girls' hunger at lunch, and gorgeous peppers, and tomatoes will garnish many a meal to come.

This Fall we are so very blessed.

Simple Stories Harvest  Lane Collection

So in celebration of Fall, this month our Challenge at SEM is for you to scrap an everyday miracle you've captured in this wonderfully colourful, and refreshing season.  Even if you live in a climate where the change is colours is not as distinct as it is here in North America, there are still miracles happening all the time, all around you.  As always there is a twist...we challenge you to use paint on your layout.  You'll notice, I kind of cheated on that.  I opted for the a Maya Road metallic mist over the paint, because of the overall design of my layout.  But ink, is ink afterall, so please feel free to adjust your own layout as necessary, we won't hold it against you.

You can see the rest of the Design Team's Fall inspired layouts and, get the inside scoop on this month's sponsor right here.  We hope you'll be inspired to join us this month. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

♥ S.


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LCTS Reveal

Let's Capture These Sketches sketch #151 boasts patterns, blocks, and flourishes.  Here is what Kimberly created for us to play with this week.

For whatever reason, this gorgeous sketch was giving me a hard time.  I just couldn't seem  to get it to translate onto paper the way the sketch intended.  Has that ever happened to you?  I began by flipping the sketch to suit the photos that I wanted to scrap.  I think perhaps that's where my dissatisfaction came.  I was stuck on what photos I wanted to scrap, and couldn't quite make them work as well with the sketch as I would have liked.  But, still I forged ahead, and came out with a layout that to document the moment in a way that is fun, and playful, and has my fingerprints all over it. 

Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer collection

Can you see the sketch in there?  It's flipped on it's side, and mirror imaged.  I encourage you to hop over to the Let's Capture These Sketches blog to see what the rest of the DT created, there are some really great takes to be seen.

And don't  forget about the blog up happening this weekend over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  You have the remainder of the weekend to get it on the fun, and qualify for some great prizes.  You can see what I have up for grabs here.  Have fun, and happy hopping.  You can see my layout and rak here.

Be blessed this weekend!

♥ S.



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A New Chapter Blog Hop

 Happy Friday friends,

I'm thrilled to welcome you to Scrapping Everyday Miracle's blog hop.  It's been wonderful welcoming a few more talented ladies to our team.  Sad to see some of my friends leave, but that's the great thing about the world wide web, no one is ever too far away.  I wish our departing friends all the very best as they go on to begin a new chapter in their own lives.

A New Chapter.  That's the theme for this hop.  We are inviting you to create a project that captures the essence of the new chapter you are currently in.

My new chapter is that I've joined a woman's bible study once again.  It's been several years, and although I have some great resources for my own quiet times here at home with a great cup of coffee, my journal, and my sharpie pen.  There is something really special about gathering around a table with other women, from other walks of life, with other stories to share.  Last week was the first week.  I went thinking I would only know one or two women, but ended up running into quite a few other women from various past chapters of my life.  I also met some really wonderful woman right at my own table.  They were warm, unassuming, welcoming, and ready to dive in and be real with one another about what God is calling them to in their lives (or not knowing exactly what it is that God may be calling them to at this point in their lives).  I had a wonderful time, and am really looking forward to the Beth Moore study on James.  I've heard such great  things about her studies.  I've seen dvd studies by her, and listened to several You Tube, and Pod casts by her.  She's so charismatic, passionate, and full of conviction for her desire to teach others about the lessons she's learned along the way through various chapters of her life.

Using My Scrapbook Nook August kit featuring Carta Bella

The verse printed on the tag in the little pocket is Isaiah 43:19  "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert, and streams in the wasteland."  It's kind of our theme verse for this hop.

SEM always has a twist, and this month it's to use to book pages on your project.  Now, I have to be honest, I totally forgot about it.  I had it out, and everything...I just simply forgot to add it.  On the upside, however I have two actual books in my photo, ha ha.  I'm hoping that will cover me.

And what's a blog hop without a few raks (Random Acts of (scrapbooking) Kindness).  Here is what I have up for grabs for one lucky reader.

I'm a big fan of bits and pieces, and so that's what I'm offering up to you, I'll even throw in a package of Chic Tags (my new fave embellishment), and an Evalicious badge or two.  To be eligible, I'd love it if you would become a follower of my blog (if you haven't already), and leave me a comment letting me know you're interested in this bundle of goodies.  That's it.  Easy peasy right?  This give away is open to everyone, as I am willing to ship internationally.  I will leave it open until Monday, 11:59 pm October 1st, and use Random Generator dot com to select a winner, and post on Saturday  October 6th.

Now, I hope you're in a hopping kind of mood.  I have your hopping orders right here.  If you haven't started there, I suggest you go back to the Scrapping Everyday Miracles blog, and start there.  The rest of the order will be as follows.

 Svetlana 

  Felicity 

  Elizabeth

  Kelly 

  Nicole

  Sherri

  Marjolaine 

  Cara

  Einat 

  Tracey G 

Dolores

Make sure you stop back at SEM to finish off.  Commenting there after completing the hop will enter you to win the grand prize from our very generous sponsor Art Freckles. 

Our grand prize winner 
will win a 
prize pack 
valued at 
$25 CAD

  In addition, Art Freckles is offering 15% discount to our blog hoppers on all purchases made between Sept. 28th and Oct. 5th.  
Use coupon code is 'SEMHOP'

Happy Hopping friends.  I'll be back tomorrow with a sketch reveal.

♥ S.

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Basically Bare Mini

A quick share of a mini I made for Let's Capture Our Memories recently.

I created a mini album of our Summer.  I love the look of the 'naked' album.  I find it super easy to work with.  Where some may feel the need to cover the entire thing up with patterned paper, I actually like the look of the chipboard under my photos.  Here's my cover.  I used an old Pink Paislee Mask and some white Mr.Huey's, to create a little bit of pizazz to it.  I felt the cover needed just a little something more without adding a bunch of patterned paper.

Rather than go into detail about every page, I'll simply let them speak for themselves.  If you saw my Amy Tangerine mini, you'll remember that I love to add bits and pieces to my albums, mixing and matching different manufactures.  I used the Echo Park Happy Days collection as my base, and added just a few little bits from my stash.  For the most part all my embellishments are made of paper and/or stickers from the collection.

I combined a few photos using a brad for easy viewing under the "flip" sticker

The album comes with five chipboard inserts for the pockets.  It quickly became apparent, however that I needed a little more for this project.  No problem.  The pockets were wide enough to simply make a few more inserts out of scrap pieces of cardboard (from cereal boxes, etc) and simply add them in.  Here is an example of just that.  Both these pages fit in the same "Aug Long" pocket.

Front view

Rear view of same inserts

Here's another set of two.

Front view

Rear view of  same insert

Even after adding a few more inserts, I still had a handful of photos that I wanted to include in the album.  Solution: tape an envelope to the back page to hold  said photos.  Easy peasy.

You can see that even though I've added those extra pages, and the envelope, that the album is not terribly thick.  Still thin enough to be easily stored on my shelf with the others.

The beauty of these little albums is how quickly they make creating a fun little keepsake.  This album from start to finish took me about 3 hours.  Sometimes I can spend that on one layout, so that gives you some perspective.

The entire Echo Park - Happy Days collection and several different varieties of mini albums are all currently available in the LCOM shop.


Happy creating friends!

♥ S. Pin It

You're Invited

We have some new additions to our design team, and we'd love for you to pop over to the SEM blog and say hello.  You'll get a peek at their style, learn a little more about them, and find out more about this....

You can see the introduction to the new ladies joining the team here.

Speaking of prizes I will be offering up a little something for one of my lucky readers also.  You'll have to come back on Friday to see what goodies I have set aside for you.  You'll also see a new project I created especially for the event.

Hope to see you on Friday!


 



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Let's Get Sketchy #30

It's Reveal Day!

Sketch #30 over at Let's Get Sketchy had my name all over it.

Loved the design that allowed for several small photos.  These ones of Eden getting her hair cut in June were perfect for it.

I used a paper collection, I've been hoarding for over a year.  Remember the 100 Days of Summer collection by Simple Stories?  I think it may have been their first ever collection.  I adored that line.  So much so, that I never used it.  Do you ever do that?  I created one double page layout with it, and that was that.  I loved it so much I was afraid of creating something sub-standard with it.  How ridiculous is that anyway?  Better to have photos mixed in with it, and include it in my albums where it will get views, rather than sitting on my shelf  in it's nice shiny package getting no face time.

Here's my take on this week's sketch.

Of course I needed to add a few more bits and pieces to make the sketch reflect my personal style.  And, this was my first attempt at using Gesso.  Unfortunately it's a trial an error kind of thing, and I'm not a huge fan of the huge white blotch on the bottom left of the photos, and I would have preferred just a little more to the top left of the photos, but overall I'm pretty pleased with it.

If you feel inspired to play, and want a chance at the $20 Gift Certificate to Scarptastic Kit Club this month.  Create a layout based on this sketch and link it up here.  This is also where you should go to get further inspiration, from the rest of the kind, and talented design team.

Happy scrapping friends,

♥ S. Pin It

My Scrapbook Nook is closing

 
I still can't believe it really. 

For as long as I've been scrapping, The Nook has been there. 

The forum was always alive with action, and chatter, no matter what time it was.  It was just that kind of place, home to many, many women all over the globe. 

For those of you who don't get my passion with scrapping, you likely won't understand my kinship with women whom I've never met.  Just trust me when I say I have girlfriends all over the world.  Women with whom, I've laughed, and cried, been challenged by and just simply enjoyed being with thanks to the Internet, and My Scrapbook Nook.  Pam, the owner, and Leah the Design Team manager created a wonderful home for scrappers everywhere.  It makes my heart heavy to know this place will no longer be around.  My eyes are stinking with tears that threaten to spill over even now as I type.  The Nook was a rare gem in this field.  A treasure, I called home, and it will be missed.

You can read my tribute here on the Nook Blog, and see a few of my Nook Kit Club layouts.

♥ Sherri Pin It