ever tried. ever failed. no matter. try again. fail again. fail better - samuel beckett

Blogosphere friends, you will have noticed that I wasn't the successful picture this! challenge blog design team member this time.  Don't fret.  It wasn't my time and I will keep trying.

This was the moodboard that inspired me to design a layout filled with aqua and pink bubbles.  As you know, I love bubbles and will add bubbles and circles to everything if it wasn't just plain odd.

I adore Audrey's elegance and style and have been using photos of her in some of my layouts and journal pages.  I have been waiting to find the right inspiration to use this photo and design this layout.

I love using bead paste and see it appearing more often in my work.  And I love creating embossed inked backgrounds.  You'll see this technique in quite a few of my other recent projects.

I am submitting this layout in the august 1st picture this! challenge: moodboard.

a happy twinkie birthday

Twinkie is one of those precious little Stampotique stamps that make me so happy.  His joy is infectious.  I made this birthday card for one of Alex's friends at school.

The brick wall was embossed on gold mirror paper and coloured in with permanent markers.  Tim's crazy bird accessory presents were also stamped, cut and coloured in using gold mirror paper.

The background was torn from an old book now used for .. well, my crafting amusement and eventually a memory book (whenever I get around to it).

 

 

I'm entering Twinkie in the:

 

1.  Craft Stamper February 2016 Text Me! Challenge

2.  SDC February Mardi Gras Challenge



 

you can't blame gravity for falling in love - albert einstein

Valentine's day is just around the corner and I get to share my love with a whole craft room of very talented ladies.  Here is the card that I put together for my stamp club Valentine swap:

 

As you might have guessed, for those who know me, there are a few layers involved in this little 5x4.

 

Layer one: Tim's tissue paper torn and randomly glued onto grey cardstock

Layer two: acrylic paint through heart stencil

Layer three: washi tape

Layer four: die-cut heart

Layer five: die-cut love

 

All mounted on my cheat: a pre-fab ombre card purchased at Michaels.

 

I'm entering this not so cute card in:

1.  Anything But Cute Mixed Media Challenges Challenge #10 Grungy Love

2.  Craft Stamper February 2016 Text Me! Challenge

3.  Simon Says: Have a Heart

 

 

 



it is not the strongest or the most intelligent of the species that survives, it is the one that is most adaptable to change - charles darwin

I created this steampunk mixed media card for a friend who is very much obsessed with everything steampunk.

 

 

 

This was definitely a fun card to build: so much mess! (Yes, short text means I'm pushing through to get all the 2015 projects posted before the year ends)

happy new year! resolutions and rememberlutions for 2015 and january dt project

Resolutions have never been my strength.  They tend to be monster-sized goals that seize your attention for a few weeks until your best friend says to you, as you're carrying your gym bag out to the car with the greenest of green smoothies, there is a super sale at (you fill in the blank) and we will need humungous lattes to survive the rush.  Resolutions can be behemoths if you let them.  

But resolutions really are simply goals; we just tend to make them at a critical time when the world is bellowing sentiment of new beginnings and fresh starts.  Therefore we often take a reasonable, probably meaningful, goal and turn the little critter into a mountain of an accomplishment.

With that said, I have made two "resolutions" this year (I have many goals but two of which I really want to be mindful): (1) Organize better so that I may (2) spend more time with family and friends.  The first resolution may surprise those of you who know me.  I am quite the organized person.  Everything has a home and events and activities are always well planned and prepared.  What I need is a schedule.  

I read this article (Here’s What You Should Do Instead Of Making New Year’s Resolutions It’s called a “rememberlutions” jar and it’ll make you feel good all year) posted by Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine and decided to, in addition to my two resolutions, celebrate the smaller resolution successes as they come as well as all of the magnificent things, memories and accomplishments over the next twelve months by creating my own rememberlutions jar.

That coupled with our design team inspiration, I was off to the races.

I created a pendant for each of the four seasons of the year so that I have something to look forward to at the end of each season as the jar turns.

winter:

spring:

summer: 

autumn:

And here they are all together and assembled:

Whether you create resolutions this year or a rememberlutions jar, do what makes you feel good, makes you giggle and smile and let's you celebrate you all year long.

I'm entering my rememberlutions jar in the Sweet Stampin Challenge: New, Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #8: Something New for the New Year and Anything But A Card Challenge New Beginnings.  The rememberlutions jar is a new project created for the new year.

holiday cards: wrapping up 2014

Now that the gifts (almost all) have been given and the cards (nearly all) have been sent it's time to wrap up 2014 with a holiday card post that will inspire, if not for this season, than possibly for next year.  Here are my holiday card templates for 2014. 

I have also included the card Alex made for his teacher this year.  The design was provided by Dawn (The Inked Stamper), the details and layout were all Alex's ideas and I tied the bow.  Come on.  It's a very nicely tied bow.

Enjoy, my blogosphere peeps and I will see you in the new year.

I am entering happy winter in Simon Says Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge.

inked stamper design team december project: all you need is love but a little (hot) chocolate now and then doesn't hurt - charles schulz

It is starting to look a lot like Christmas!  Mother Nature has definitely prepared us Edmontonians for the winter solstice with a HUGE amount of snow just before the weekend.  And although the snow and the road conditions have fostered a number of colourful words, when all tucked up warm at home, sipping my Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (no whip, non-fat if you're in the neighbourhood), past the din of tires spinning and snow plows beeping there is something so magical and peaceful with the world covered in white. 

Is it any surprise then that white is the in colour again this winter?  White ornaments, white trees, white deer heads.  White.  Which totally adds style to our December inspiration photo all that much more.  My Mind's Eye kicked it out of the park with their Sleigh Bells Ring collection.

Using MME's Sleigh Bells Ring collection and Prima's Coffee Break Cup O Joe paper I put together this fun, wintery, sparkly layout.  It has been a super long time since I worked on a layout.  For those who can date Alex's age by the toque he wears, you will recognise that this is an early 2014 winter layout.  Oscar has now been retired.  Not sure what it is about my monkey but he can definitely make a toque look good.

There are quite a few layers to this layout.  I started off setting up the first layer by laying down the book page, the burlap pieces and Prima's Coffee Break Cup O Joe papers.  I then inked splatters and hot chocolate cup rings using distress ink (pumice stone)/Tim Holtz splatters layered stencil and added stars and random droplets with dylusions sprays and izinks.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, because this is the second time I will sing their praises in two posts for the Design Team, I will once again mention how great those little bottles of ink are.  Izinks are super easy to use and have a fantastic dramatic effect for very little cost.  Afraid to use them, you say?  Let me know in the comment section if you are interested in a class and The Inked Stamper can set something up if there is enough interest.  So don't be anxious about letting us know if you would like a demo on how they can be used.  Classes at The Inked Stamper are always super reasonably priced and you definitely get your bang for your buck.  

I outlined some of the stars to ground them.  A technique I learned at The Inked Stamper from Dawn.

Once that first layer dried I was all set to start building.  I added the photos, the snowflakes (Lawn Fawn stitched snowflakes) and the MME embellishments. 

I love dimension and I love creating dimensional pieces so that each time you look at it you find something new to notice which is why I will often add a pop-up piece or two.  The Prima cups O Joe and the little toques were perfect for adding that additional layer.  
 

Thank you for stopping by, remember to leave a comment and if you have any questions do not be afraid to ask!  I always love hearing from you and the Design Team have the bestest and mostest craft knowledge to share.  I am always learning from them.

Stay warm and craft-on my North American friends and to those in warm wintery locations: send us warm crafty thoughts.  We will need them until April.

silhouette cameo .. i found a stray and he followed me home

I tried telling mr. everythingshetouches that I found this poor little critter by the side of the road and that he followed me home but mr. everythingshetouches is far too wise for stuff like that.

The truth:  this little guy was on super sale and I couldn't resist missing the great opportunity to bring him home five months earlier than planned (do you think mr. everythingshetouches will forget this was an early Chanukah gift by the time Chanukah Harry actually rolls into town with his bag of goodies?  Yeah.  Not likely).

And even on sale (did I mention that it was a really good sale? - 40% off!) I struggled with the idea that I hadn't done enough research to bring this baby home and crack it open the minute the keys hit the bowl and the door closed behind me.  So for two days the box remained closed and I watched YouTube videos on how to use the Silhouette Cameo and read countless reviews.

On day three I opened the box.  Set up was easy peesy lemon squeezy.  Cutting?  Not as much.  Here's my first unsolicited bit of advice: don't open a new machine after 10pm.  Fatigue, technology and despair don't mix like White Russians and red wine.  Save the grand opening for a time when you (a) have time and (b) don't feel the need to check your eyelids for holes desperately (I'm no longer a night owl).

In my search for answers as to why the Silhouette would not cut through the paper (or when I had more hope - chipboard) I found that there is a bad batch of blades included with the Silhouette itself.  A quick, and very nice, call to customer service taught me that Silhouette does not ship to Canada (was my machine somehow smuggled across the border by the store elves?) and I was on my own to procure a replacement blade ($21 at Michaels which is almost as much as the Silhouette itself.  Criminal!  They're $16 at Treasured Memories which is slightly better).  The Michaels staff member was quite sympathetic and very accommodating.  And with great trepidation and a series of plan Bs if the new blade did not work I plunked it into the machine and I cut my first image.  Success!  And then I cut another and another and well, you can see for yourself I had a lot of fun.

Now the mission is to maximize Silhouette functions to really enjoy my newest toy.  Perhaps I can teach it to also clean the house ..