The Scholarship

I've been wanting to scrap this photo since the day she received her scholarship.  Happy to be sharing the story and the layout with you today.

Our Théa had a wonderful Dance year in 2014.  Competition was once again a joy to attend, watching her "do her thing".  This year she was fortunate enough to win a scholarship for her Hip Hop Solo.  It was pretty fun listening to the adjudicator offer her his feedback.  He was practically gushing over her waves, he had so many wonderful things to say about her solo, my heart was bursting with pride listening to him recognize my girl's talent.  This photo was taken the evening of the Gala awards and show.  The show is filled with numbers from throughout the three week competition, all of which were top marks recipients, or adjudicator's choice.  Each scholarship has 3 recipients, but only 1 of of those are asked to perform in the Gala evening.  Théa was the lucky one chosen in her category.  She looked amazing and performed her solo perfectly.  It was a great way to end the competitive season for all of us.

Isn't that background paper awesome?  Especially for those, who like me, love the distressed look, but have never really gotten the hang of achieving it on our own.

I was a little surprised at the size of the burlap bows when they arrived.  I thought, somehow, that they would be smaller.  It just required a little "thinking out of the box" to figure out how to fit it into my design.  A simple 3/4" glue dot is all that I needed to tack it down to the page.

If you haven't yet, you can still get yourself some Burlap & Bouquets goodies here in the Paper Issues shop.  Use code:SHERRI and save yourself 20% off whatever you choose to order.

Thanks, as always for stopping by, have a great day friends!

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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!

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Kawaii Crepe (Scraptastic Sketch)

It's time for another sketch over at Scraptastic.  I decided to modify the sketch to an 8.5x11 format just to change things up a bit.

It was so nice of mom to come into the city to attend Isabelle's Grade 9 graduation ceremony with me, as Darwin was out of town.  After the ceremony we asked her where she wanted to go for lunch.  Thankfully for mom and I she chose one of her favourite places, which wa also a place we had not yet been.  Kawaii crepe is delicious with a variety of crepe fillings to choose from.  Whether sweet or savory they all taste as delicious as they look.  We had 3 different fillings between the three of us: cookies & cream with strawberries, chicken caesar salad, and pulled pork.  It's a place I'll now need to take Darwin, so he can experience the deliciousness for himself.

I loved this card from the July Either Way Kit.  I knew when I saw the sketch, that this was the way I wanted to use it.  And how great is that ripped paper stamp?

A little more stamping and lots of buttons, and enamel dots to finish off the page.  Not too much, but not too simple, a great sketch to work with.

We'd love to see your take on Susan's sketch.  If you play along please come over to the blog and link up here for your chance at a Scraptastic gift card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends!

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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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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.

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Moments In Between

I wanted to share with you how I used my June This Life Noted kit(sold out) to complete the week of May 25-31 for my Moments In Between album.

The kit was so great that I actually kept my pages pretty simple, unlike my usual use of several embellishments this time I kept the layout pretty flat.  I found that the colours and designs of the cards, stamps, and rub-ons really gave my photos all the pop they really need.

I actually like the change up from my usual style.  I did swap out just a couple of the cards from previous TLN kits for some that I had been hoarding for the "right" photos, that black and white one for example.  I love that card, and knew I wanted to use it with a photo of the hubs and I.

Kaitlin nailed that "this is magic" card when she designed it.  It's such a perfect fit for the photo of my baby girl with her Hip Hop Dance Scholarship.

 I just love this arrow stamp from the TLN stamp set.

"Captured" is one of the fabulous rub ons by Chic Tags, they go on so smoothly that they actually look like part of the journaling card.  

The envelope and the hot air balloon here are also from that same rub-on pack.  I also cut a slit around the top part of heart on that bottom right photo to add just a touch of dimension to my card.

I may be a little behind in documenting my everyday, but I'm not too stressed out by it.  Using This Life Noted Kits helps to quickly get my photos into albums quickly all while at the same time making my albums that much more fun to look at.

Hope you're enjoying the process as much as I am.  To start your own subscription to the This Life Noted Kits hop over here to see how to get yourself started.

Happy Saturday friends.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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Grade Nine Grad

I'm still in disbelief that Grade 9 has come and gone for my first baby girl.

She looked stunning, as did her bffs.  So much grace and sparkle in one room, it was tight capturing the shots we wanted but we made the best of it.

I used the Family Traditions Collection by Adrienne Looman to record the moment.

Isn't that bokeh paper great?  I added a little hand stitching with white thread for contrast.

The little baggies will be difficult to use up, as I kinda just want to keep them around.

I spent a bunch of time scrapping last weekend, and therefore have several layouts upcoming, it is just a matter of time before I can share them here.  And you can bet I'll have a few more layouts of Belle in her grad dress to come too.

Hope summer is treating you well in your corner of the world.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

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Summer so far

Happy Friday friends,

I certainly hope you will forgive me for how absent I've been around here lately.  It seems like this past year has only gotten busier, and busier.  I thought that things would slow down when Dance Competition and recital were finished.  I was wrong.  I have finally come to believe that this is just the way our life is going to look for the next season.  Summer looks a little different than I thought it would so far this summer, beginning with my heading back to work 5 days a week.  It's been about 10 years since I've done that, and let's just say I'm pooped.  My hats off to all you full time working moms out there, it is no joke spinning so many plates at once.  The girls, on the otherhand are having a wonderful summer thus far.  I'll be picking the youngest two up tonight from their grandparent's home out of town where they've been staying for the past week, as they attended an Art Camp hosted by the super sweet, and maga talented CD Muckosky.  And Isabelle has spent the week with her friend at the lake for the past 7 days.  It has been so quiet around here.  You'd think I would love the quiet, but it's honestly just a tad too quiet, especially these past 2 nights with Darwin out of town too.  No puppy shadow following me around, no fighting, and reminders to pick things up around the house...makes me truly thankful for the sometimes craziness that is my family.  I am blessed to be a wife and a mom, as tired as those roles and their duties make me at times, I couldn't be more happy to fulfill them.

On to my layout.

You may recognize these photos, as I've already scrapped one of them just recently.  Because I get so few photos of this particular child however, I am using every opportunity to scrap and re-scrap the few good ones I get.  That, and they matched the papers from the July Either Way Scraptastic Kit so well.

Had a lot of fun using my new sewing machine on this one.  There are so many lush patterned papers in this month's kit that I had to find a way to use as many of them as possible on one single layout.

With so many patterns, I needed the title to pop off the page, so I used some 3D adhesive to make it happen.

The Scraptastic stamps are always so fabulous, and reliable, no practice stamping necessary, they always work the first time around.

There you have it, a little personal update on my life, and something fun to set you on your way for the upcoming weekend.  Have a great one friends!

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Moments In Between

I'm trucking along with my Moments In Between album, and have another week to share with you today.

 June 1-7

 I focused on using up my Heidi Swapp, and Crate Paper ephemera packs on this week's pages.

I also added a few bits and pieces from a few Paper Issues Swag bags.  How cute is that bird clip?!  The October Afternoon label maker looking phrase on the top right is also from a Swag Bag.  Just like the ephemera packs they are jam packed with product.

In order to fill a few more empty pockets I created a couple of Silhouette cut files a while back. If you're interested you can download them for your personal use here on Dropbox.  To get your hands on some of those ephemera packages hop over to the Paper Issues store, and don't forget you save yourself 20% off your entire order by using code:SHERRI.

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Scraptastic July Kits

A new month means two new Scraptastic kits are now shipping

This Life Noted Kit

My favourite thing about this kit, aside from the great summery colours is the adorable star shaped wood veneers.  If you enlarge the photo you'll their rounded edges, so cute.

Either Way Kit

Filled with paper and elements from my two of my favourite manufacturer - Fancy Pants Designs, and My Mind's Eye.  A match made in scrappy heaven.

Either Way Add On

Those gold glitter alphas, and burlap stickers - love!

Either Way Stamp Add On

Can't wait to use those solid shaped stamps, they look so cool stamped w/alphabet stamps added to them.

Summer Nights Kit

This Simple Stories collection has big a huge hit this summer.  With all it's fabulous brightness, it's no wonder why.

Summer Nights Add On Kit

How cute are those die cuts?  And how awesome to get an entire package of brads.

Summer Nights Stamp Add On

So much goodness to match perfectly with that Summer themed kit.

There you have it friends.  My Either Way kit arrived just the other day and is beckoning me to come and play.  To get your hands on any or all of these kits hop over to the forum and sign up here.  You may also order just about any of the add-on separately (veneer pieces, cut aparts, flair buttons). 

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