LCOM Gimme All Your Lovin' online crop!

Guess what I'm doing this weekend... Let's Capture Our Memories is hosting an online crop this upcoming weekend and I'll definitely be popping over for some cropping inspiration. See you there!

Gimmie All Your Lovin' Online Crop!

February 2 & 3, 2013

In the Let's Capture Our Memories forum! 

Happy scrapping!

Creative Scrappers: Sketch #245

Hello, everyone! For those of you in New Brunswick, cold enough for you this week? ;) This week was definitely one to stay inside in our jammies and scrap the night away. Which was perfect for me, really, especially since I still had a few Creative Scrappers sketches to try out. This week, we had a Nicole Nowosad sketch to make our own. Here it is:

Now, I must admit, when I first saw this one, I was stumped. Even if I have admired Nicole's work for some time now and that I know that sunburst patterns have been and still are very trendy right now, I was totally clueless in how to adapt it in a design. What to do? In the last year, I have learned that when a sketch seems overwhelming, just scale it down, so that's how I started. It still wasn't doing it for me so I went a bit further and found a few layouts in my inspiration folder that had that sunburst pattern in them. I was immediately drawn to Ania-Maria Wolniak's takes on this trend, ran with it, and designed this layout:

I used a lot of Basic Grey's Serenade on this one... Truthfully, I love this collection so much that it took me a few moments to gather up the courage to make that first cut... ;) How sad, I know! Hee!Hee! I also added some Tim Holtz, Tattered Angels, Pink Paislee, Maya Road, American Crafts, Bazzill Basics, DMC and Queen & Co. This layout is all about how I have always admired my dear cousin, Lisa (shown in the photo), and how much I hope to know as much as her when I "grow up." 

And yes, the CS girls have done it again! And to now surprise, they seem to have had no problem adapting the sketch to their design. WOW! To see their amazing layouts, head on over to today's Creative Scrappers reveal. And... to win a prize package from CS' January sponsor, My Creative Scrapbook Kits, please upload your creations using at least one layout from sketches #241-242-243-244-245 using the CS inLinkz at the bottom of its reveals. The deadline? February 1, 2013.

Happy scrapping!

Creative Scrappers: Sketch #244

Almost three weeks into 2013! WOWZERS!! I have been seriously enjoying scrapping to my little heart's content lately (as if I never do, right? Hee!Hee!). No, but seriously, I have been to two crops this month already and I never tire of feeling the awesome energy a bunch of scrapbookers bring to the table. It's totally contagious!

This week at Creative Scrappers, the girls were inspired by this great Heather Leopard sketch:

And here is what I created:

Lots of Heidi Swapp's Vintage Chic on this one. I am a BIG Heidi Swapp fan and am über excited for many of her new products which she just released last weekend at CHAW. You have to watch this next quick video of hers. Can't wait to get my hands on that new pre-made album! Woo!Hoo!

Oh, yeah! Back to the layout... ;) Besides all the wonderful Heidi Swapp products I used, I also splashed odds and ends of Tattered Angels, Maya Road, Graphic 45, Tim Holtz, Queen & Co, Pink Paislee, Basic Grey, Bazzill Basics, Epiphany Crafts. American Crafts, and some very trusty cardboard from an old box I recycled onto my layout. This one came together in a snap and I just love how it turned out.

Ready to be amazed by another set of great Creative Scrappers' layouts? Please take a peek here and see for yourselves. And as all the reveals in January 2013, you have until February 1, 2013, to link up your own designs using sketches #241, 242, 243, 244 to their respective reveals to be entered in the My Creative Scrapbook prize package draw. Who could ask for anything more?!? ;)

Happy scrapping!

Creative Scrappers: Sketch #243

Hi, again! This time of the year is so full of excitement for us scrapbookers. CHA 2013 is going on as we speak in sunny California and we've been getting sneak peaks and full reveals of all the new goodies coming our way in the next few weeks. Kristine Davidson, our CS guru, is over there right now, taking in the scenes! Can you say OMG!! ;) Favourites of mine so far? Fancy Pants, Pink Paislee, Crate Paper, American Crafts, Studio Calico, Crafter's Workshop... and the list goes on and on and on... ;)

To help celebrate in the fun, Creative Scrappers girls have been scrapping up a storm as usual for this morning's reveal. This week, we worked with a Juliana Michaels' original. Here it is:

One of the reasons I usually work with sketches is that they are such a great starting point for all my designs. They can obviously be used as is, but also rotated, scaled down, flipped over, you name it. For my design, I scaled it down a bit, mirror-imaged it, and placed some elements to the side. But it still totally works!

Products used in this design are from Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, Stampin' Up, Crafter's Workshop, DMC, Pink Paislee, October Afternoon, American Crafts, Cosmo Cricket, DCWV, Maya Road, Queen & Co, Tattered Angels, Liquitex, Tsunineko and some good ol' Dollarama rub-ons from Make it Special Crafts (You really never know what you'll find there sometimes!).

On that note, are you ready for some reveal inspiration? Head on over to Creative Scrappers and check all the new eye candy for yourselves. Oh! And of course! You have until February 1, 2013 to link up your designs using sketches #241-242-243-244 to the respective reveals over  at CS. You'll be entered in a draw to win a prize package from My Creative Scrapbook, CS' January sponsor. 

Happy scrapping!

Scrap Friends Yummy Scrap - Colour Palette Challenge #8

Nowadays, with all those wonderful online resources, there are some really great scrappy challenges out there. I have recently fell in love with colour challenges. I love how they spark an instant "WOW!" for me. And this one, from Australia's very own Scrap Friends, was double the fun as I also fell in love with how they presented the colours:

Isn't that fabulous? Of course, I was instantly drawn to the great colour scheme, but I thought to myself, "I should use the elements of the whole picture as a sketch. And that's exactly what I did:

I just LOVE the way this layout turned out. Used tons of American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection as well as some Pink Paislee, Kaisercraft, Tattered Angels, Tim Holtz, and Queen & Co. And those doilies? Nothing fancy, but rather your everyday Wilton's doilies. And who do we have here again? My beautiful niece, Isabelle, of course, photographed by a friend of mine, Philippe Dumas.

Happy scrapping!

I Lowe Scrap's January 2013 Sketch and My Scraps & More Stash Challenge for January 8, 2013

Hi, everyone! I just love it when I find some new scrappy inspiration out there. And that's exactly what happened when I found ILS, a polish scrapbooking manufacturer which has eye candy for the masses on their blog. You should see what the girls over there are doing... HEAVENLY!! From what I understand, each month they have a sketch challenge as well as a colour challenge, both offered to all scrapbookers out there for the taking. Here is the sketch for January 2013:

Immensely inspired by ILS' design team, I thought I'd join in for some fun. This is what I came up with:

I just LOVE this picture of my nephew, Benoît. He would seriously live in the outdoors if he could, always wanting to play outside and during the Summer months, go swimming in his family's pool - which is fine with me because I always have a buddy to go with when we're home for vacation! Hee!Hee!

I mostly worked with Crate Paper's Brook collection on this one (the patterned paper on the upper portion of the layout reminded me of the water in their pool - NEATO!). I also added some Stampin' Up vellum (embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder using my Cuttlebug), ricrac and brads, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, Liquitex acrylic paint, Studio Calico clouds, a Close to My Heart metal embellishment, and some good ol' baker's twine and a paper clip.

And using baker's twine? Totally got the idea from My Scraps & More's Stash Challenge for January 8th. Can you imagine? MS&M has daily challenges on its forum. One of my favourites spots to check out every day for SURE!

Happy scrapping!

Creative Scrappers: Sketch #242

And so another week begins. And of course another set of awesome layouts have been revealed on Creative Scrappers. This time around, the CS girls had a great, little, funky Kiki Halbert sketch to play with. And here it is:

But this one made my head spin! I don't know why because I loved the uniqueness of the sketch and wanted to make the most of it, but I swear, it took me a good two hours to get to that starting point when you know you're on the right track. But when I got there, the layout came together in a snap. How did I get out of my little scrappy fog, you may ask? Honestly, I started thinking about what other CS girls might do with the sketch... Honest! And this time around, I gravitated towards Lucia Barabas' style. She is an AMAZING scrapper! You all know how much I love to layer on my layouts, but Lucia's layering is to die for! Watch her in action in this short YouTube video where you'll see her doing a recent layout she revealed with CS. Nothing short of pure magic! So, at the end of the day, this latest layout of mine is what I call my "Ode to Lucia":

Now, for those you who scrapped with me in those early days, stitching let alone having some dangling threads on my layout would have been legitimate cause for a serious creative panic attack! ;) I wanted everything to be so perfect. Nowadays, it's all about finding freedom in creating. And if that's tossing some thread on my layout "à la Lucia", then so be it! :)

And here, we have Louis-Olivier when he was two and a half years old, biting into a lemon for the first time... To our great surprise, he LOVED it! He ate the whole piece!! I've actually already made a layout with these pictures, but I held on to some extra prints just in case I was ever inspired to scrap them again. This sketch was perfect for them... I used some MME's Fine and Dandy - True Blue collection on some CTMH white cardstock (be still my beating heart!) with some bits and pieces of Stampin' Up vellum and corduroy brads, Studio Calico wood veneer stars, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, and of course, some stitching using a Bazzill Basic stitching template. Paper clips and doily were found anonymously in my scraproom ready to be used on this layout. Hee!Hee!

And now, it's your turn to show Creative Scrappers what you can do with the sketch. A prize package from CS' January sponsor, My Creative Scrapbook, is up for grabs, too! That's right!! By completing at least one layout from sketches #241-242-243-244 and uploading it using the InLinkz at bottom of the reveals, you'll have a chance to win a great scrappy prize from My Creative Scrapbook. You have until February 1, 2013, to upload your layout(s).

Happy scrapping!

My Scraps & More: Sketch 9

Hello, everyone! Have you ever seen a sketch and thought to yourselves, "I have to scrap it!" That's exactly what happened to me when I saw this Kristine Davidson sketch revealed on December 28, 2012 at My Scraps & More:

I loved the sketch so much that the layout came together in a flash. Here is what I did:

Yes, that's vellum you see on the right! I'm sure you've been seeing as much vellum coming back into scrapbook style as much as I have lately. Problem was, though, I couldn't remember where I had put it! Hee!Hee! Finally found it and stitched it over a piece of patterned paper adorned with some leftover bits of punched holes. Really love the effect it makes. Most of the project was done using Echo Park's For the Record 2 collection. I also used some Stampin' Up vellum, Maya Road pins, Studio Calico wood veneers, Websters and Jenni Bowlin buttons, Tim Holtz staples, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, corrugated cardstock (cut using Sizzix' Primitive Stars die - à la Kristine Davidson might I add), and of course, good ol' hand-stitching using my ever-so-faithful Crafter's Workshop template.

Happy scrapping!