Ink!!

Hello,

This layout was made after Creative Scrappers owner Kristine Davidson made available a lovely printable on her Etsy shop. I was inspired to use tons of stamping and inking on the background, using some machine stitching to yield the background in. The photo was taken on the very last day of our camping trip in Maine. The cousins were having a good time around the fire pit. I cut apart the printable and pretty much stuck everything on! 

I'm in a summer mood- can't wait for sunshine!

September Color Spot

I've been lucky enough to be invited to be featured for the September Color Spot at Let's Capture Our Memories. I had done one last year and it was a fun experience, with nothing to go on but a color swatch... This is what the owner Isabelle had to say about the post:

Hello September!

Wow!

I really had a hard time finding a color scheme for you this month. Nothing was standing out. As I was planning the crop schedule, I started looking at pictures on my phone and found some from my last trip to Scrapbook & Cards Today Crop & Create in Cornwall, Ontario last September. OH! the memories... the wonderful memories from the most amazing weekend event spent with a couple of my scrappy besties!! And as I'm getting ready to head back to Create & Create in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd share the some of the memories, the moments with you. Here's a picture I took of the a small sample of the goodies we get to savor at Crop & Create! Where has this year gone too!! I can't believe it's September already. We are busy getting the kids ready for school and dotting the i's and the crossing the t's on the activities schedule for the coming months!! Here, at LCOM, it's also the start of crop season!! My favorite season!

I asked my super scrappy friend Elisa Delora if she would have a go at this month's Color Spot and I was so happy she said yes!  I love her projects.  She is awesome a clustering and adding so much detail to her layouts.  It makes her photos and story pop up.

Here is what Elisa had to say about this month's Color Spot.

"When I first saw the September Color Spot , the first papers that came to mind were part of the Timbergrove collection by Fancy Pants Design. It almost matched perfectly,less the navy papers. For a house full of boys and boyish layouts, I realized I don't have much navy... I found a 6x6 paper pack in my stash by Fancy Pants Design, Down By The Shore, containing a navy sheet.  As usual, when you stick with the same company, most usually, the papers will match, or at least compliment each other. 

Now as you may know, Timbergrove is a winter/holiday collection, quite full of hot chocolate, mittens, snowflakes and snowmen. It however perfectly matched my cozy, sleepy photo. Daddy and DS#3 had fallen asleep on the couch in a pretty cute pose. Those glasses are part of a costume, you know, the set with the fake nose and fuzzy moustache... The nose broke off, and the kids wear them, looking pretty goofy...or dapper, however you may see it. "  - Elisa Delora

How amazing is that?!   I love the her stitching is carried all over her page and the sprinkle of little hearts here and there, love!  Just like one cherishes the first bite into the chocolate covered strawberry, one can only cherish the father/son bond!!  She nailed the color spot perfectly!!"

Well, as I said, it was a pretty fun spot to do...I enjoyed it a lot. I also enjoy seeing themed papers used for other ordinary layouts, just to think outside the box. I thought it would be fun to try it too...

Thanks for looking!

Lucky us!

 It's another reveal Saturday! It's like the calm before the storm... another blizzard warning here in eastern Canada for tomorrow... on the upside, all our regular activities were not on for tomorrow anyway...

Here's a summer layout made for Let's Capture Our Memories reveal number 115. I can't wait until the warmer weather arrives, but it never does until we get a St-Patrick's day snowstorm. It never fails... no matter how warm it's been, we always get a huge snowstorm around St-Patrick's day. Hopefully, this will be it, and there won't be a delayed reminder of winter...

Our challenge was to make our layout green. There's not much Irish around here, but I'll certainly play along! Here's the sketch by Laura Whitaker:

It has a wide range of options for photos, or just cards, or anything your heart desires, really... This is a layout about a day at Magic Mountain, the local water park. We had a great day in the sun, splashing in the wave pool, and riding the waterslides. Nothing like a few family selfies to mark the occasion.

I raided my stash for this one, not really sticking to one company for supplies.  There are some My Mind's Eye Bright Side papers, Jillibean Soup placemats and paper, diecut and button, Basic Grey diecuts. The big green piece is American Craft Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go. The gear is Tim Holtz, and the alphas are really old Pink Paislee I had laying around. The mist is by Mr. Huey's and the wood veneer is Studio Calico.  Can't wait for summer!!!

Christmas layout- sketch 103

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, more and more! There's nothing like Christmas papers and embellies to get me in the Jingle Bells mood. That and DS#1 hammering Deck The Halls on the piano every chance he gets. He really loves that song... After this layout was made, I went to town making some teacher cards from the kids. Apparently they were liked and appreciated- more on that later.

This week's Let's Capture Our Memories reveal is a sketch by Becky Fleck at Pagemaps. Its great and easy! What I like most about it is the fact it can be a great way to use up 6x6 paper strips. Sometimes I get these specifically for card making, but with an awesome sketch like this one, the 6x6 pads can make a lot more than cards.

Here's the sketch:

And here is my interpretation:

These are photos from 2010, when DS#2 was in love with trucks, any truck. Amazingly enough, no matter what the truck looked like, to him, they were all cement trucks. Oh, his surprise was great when he saw his sitter bring him an actual cement truck as a present.

I made the background with the Tim Holtz Stars mask with platinum coloured ink by Tsukineko. I used silver thread stitching as an accent. Most of the strips have stitching on them, either neat of kind of messy back and forth lines. I added some snowflake accents, a sticker banner, some buttons and bling, and a hidden journaling tag bottom left. Doesn't he make a great kissy-face? Enjoy this sketch, I know I did...

Some sightseeing stew for a biking layout-

It's already time for reveal sketch 99 at Let's Capture Our Memories and it's a cool one by Shirley Mijares Mascarina. I love how this sketch can be used different ways- the photos can be replaced by journaling elements, embellishments, there is tons to do with this sketch. And the background was begging for ink/ paint/ gesso... I'm not that comfortable with making a mess, and so I have lots to learn. I am however enjoying the learning process, and i actually broke out some gesso and a few masks for inking...

Here's the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch. It's full of Jillibean Soup Sightseeing Stew.

I free stitched up the background after inking it up with some masks by Tim Holtz and Crafter's Workshop. I layered some of the 6x6 paper pad pieces under the picture and a cute Jillibean Soup placemat. I added a few brads and buttons and "Voilà!"

Here are a few details...

Hope you have fun with this one too!

Last sketch for the present team!!!

Well, it's the last sketch of the term for this Let's Capture Our Memories Design Team. I was part of Team A and had loads of fun with the wonderful sketches and Aurélie's great coordinating job! Can't wait to see how much fun we have next term, as again, I'm part of team A... 

This is the last sketch, and both teams have united to create some layouts and cards based on this card sketch by Ana Castro. It's great! I loved it. It's so versatile. I can see myself using it again and again!

And this is DS#3 sleeping away on the chair. He had quite the morning jumping in piles of leaves, checking out his favorites, just general good clean autumn fun! The papers are from Echo Park, For the Record 2. The mask is Tim Holtz and I was surprised at the quality of ColorBok's white ink. 

Hope you enjoy this great November day!

Another biking layout!

It's sketch reveal day at Let's Capture Our Memories and it's another multiple photo layout! I just love these, as I can add more photos and I can showcase all of my munchkins at once! I also feel 3 photos help tell more of a story. With portable phones, it's so easy to take snapshots everywhere, yet rarely are any of the photos perfect, and rarely do you "get everyone in the same shot"...

This week's sketch is by the talented Laura Whitaker...So here's to another glorious 3 photo layout:

And here's my take:

I just love this Urban Traveler collection from Simple Stories- it can be used in so many different ways. I love the rugged feel of it, and I love that it's great for layouts about movement, bicycling, or any fun activity. There's a bit of October Afternoon papers on there. The clips are by Maya Road and Tim Holtz. There are cork and wood veneer embellies by Studio Calico and the flair button is by Lime Citron. 

It was our third participation at the local bike ride fundraiser for the schools in the area. Great fun while being active!

August 1st Color spot challenge- team challenge: LCOM and Stuck?! Sketches

It's August 1st and it's a special reveal!! Stuck?!Sketches has teamed up with Let's Capture Our Memories for a challenge- a sketch challenge and a color spot. And they're both beautiful!  And what an amazing reveal it's been! I love the way everyone stepped up to the challenge- both teams did a great job. Check them out at Stuck?! Sketches and Let's Capture Our Memories!

Here is the sketch by Laura Whitaker:

Here is the gorgeous color spot by Design Seeds:

And here's my take on it:

It's yet another layout made with Echo Park's Happy Camper. I think it's my fourth... What a great collection. And what a great fit with the color spot... Amazing, huh? I added some wood veneers by Studio Calico and by American Crafts.  The mask is Tim Holtz and the stamp is Kesi'Art. 

It's a fun layout about a campfire we had at the cottage, complete with spider hotdogs, marshmallows and practice family selfies... we're improving...maybe. 

Yet another camping layout!

This collection, Happy Camper by Echo Park, has been completely annihilated by my scrapbooking of amazing camping fun and some out of town trips! I have squeezed out this layout, and another  yet to come, and the collection is toast! Maybe there's a tiny bitty bit left for a card. Or a tag... we'll see... Love it when that happens!

This layout is a Pagemaps sketch by Becky Fleck. I inked the right side of the page with glimmer mist over a Tim Holtz mask, and love the way it looks like the woods. With some scrappy tips, I've since modified that technique with and ink stamper. I'm very new to stamping and masking...but enjoying the process.

The title, Joli Feu, means beautiful fire, a traditional song sung at campfires. We made smores and spider dogs, and DS#2 was completely worn out. Love the way he's still wearing his neon bracelet headband. We had company for the campfire and enjoyed them quite a bit.

Mostly everything is by Echo Park. There's a Maya Road clip, a Studio Calico flair and wood veneer, My Mind's Eye washi, a Jillibean Soup button, a Recollections sticker, a Basic Grey canvas frame and some good memories :)

Thanks for looking!

Sketch #80 is up at Let's Capture Our Memories

It's the exciting part of the week when Let's Capture Our Memories  has a new DT reveal up on the blog! And it's a cool one- A great sketch by Laura Whitaker was used. It's amazing how different each interpretation is!

This one took me to a messy place I'm starting to appreciate. It goes together with my messy boys... tee her! I used lots of stamping with masks and even had a first attempt at stamping on my pictures. It's one of the new things I learned at Crop & Create hosted by Scrapbook & Cards Today. What an amazing fun filled event! The picture of my layout doesn't seem to do it justice, but the stamp was quite fine, and doesn't show up as very dark. And I slipped a little, but it's OK, the layout IS about how messy DS#3 got when he explored the ocean floor from up close! We'd gone on a road trip to visit the famous flower pots and see the Hopewell Rocks at low tide, and he really got enthusiastic about it! The title translates to "Exploring the ocean floor from up close".

This layout used mostly Basic Grey Hey Boy or Hipster and a sliver of Studio Calico papers. The embellies are all from both companies. The ink is Memento and the masks are Tim Holtz...Thanks for looking!

Reveal #78 at Let's Capture Our Memories!

Well, better late than never... I wanted to post this two days ago, as I usually would have, but camping got in the way... :) and the WIFI is not super reliable, but who cares? It's BEAUTIFUL outside!!

There are so many fun activities and fun photo opportunities- there's a wonderful play park, an amazing beach, fun campfires complete with marshmallows and spider dogs, a driving range, tennis, shuffleboard, etc... I've unofficially become the family photographer and camping layouts will definitely be made in the future... Love family time!!!

This week's layout is another birthday layout, in honour of LCOM owner Isabelle's birthday... and from what I can gather, a lot of the other designers' birthdays too!

This is the sketch, made by Ana Castro. What a great designer! I just love her sketches-

And here is my take on it:

The pictures aren't great and rather dark. These are from DS#3's second birthday party. It's in December, so it's already dark outside by the time we cut the teddy bear cake, but everyone had fun all the same... I couldn't believe his precious face when he realized all the singing and candles were for him! Bravo- he was very ecstatic. 

Almost all supplies are from Imaginisce and a few stickers are by Simple Stories. I used some Tim Holtz masks for the background as well as some Laina Lamb My Favorite Things stamps. The papers here were already very busy, bright, colourful and loud, so very few embellishments were needed. The bottom right bar code stamp with the little hearts is by Lime Citron. Cute, right? As usual, there si some machine stitching for texture and interest. I also added some Maya Road twine.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you have a great scrappy week, or some great memory making is fine also... ;P

It's your birthday!!! Sketch #76

It's Let's Capture Our Memories owner Isabelle's birthday this month (and DT members Aurélie and Jocelyne too!)- and we're celebrating with festive layouts. I only made it for a short time at the Happy Birthday Crop last weekend, but it was quite efficient at getting some inspiration back, after a very full week.

This layout was made to celebrate DS#2's second birthday. It was fun to make, and with the wonderful sketch by Emma Stafrace at Page Drafts. What a fun sketch. It just begged to be used for those fun events, with a lot of activity and people, but no great pictures, just a bunch of little snippets of pictures to tell a great story...

I used a ton of Simple Stories Happy Day collection, and a snippet of a Studio Calico scrap piece of paper. I made my background with a neutral sheet and decorated it with stamps (Jillibean Soup, American Crafts, My Favorite Things by Laina Lamb) done with Stampin' Up ink and some Tim Holtz masks. I always like to sew a bit on my layouts and this was no exception. I usually add buttons, wood veneers and other embellishments, but the paper is so colourful, and the stickers so cute, that I didn't think it needed more. It's already "busy" enough as it is... 

Hope you like it,

Happy scrappy week,

Right now- Let's Capture Our Memories sketch #74

It's Saturday again! Time to reveal a new sketch at LCOM. It's #74 and it's a keeper- so much fun. It's by Vicki Saulnier and leaves loads of room for creativity. And with Aurélie's inspiring post on masks and inks, I proudly made a mess on this one. I have been holding on to some masks for some time. Glad I finally got a chance to use them...

And here's what I came up with this time-

This was made with loads of Simple Stories Urban Traveler collection. I used some My Favorite Things stamps by Laina Lamb (thanks Nicole Harper...). I used Studio Calico wood veneers, mask and cork embellishment, Stampin' Up ink and a Tim Holtz mask.  I used some Basic Grey hexagon enamel dots, a Jillibean Soup vinyl button and corrugated star and some unknown washi.

The layout is all about DS#1's love for bikes, trying to imitate Mom & Dad's bike-over-your-head pose in triumph when we climb another mountain (or a molehill). His bike is a bit heavy though... hee hee... It just nice to see him try...

Happy creating!

Let's Capture Our Memories reveal #69!

It's reveal day at Let's Capture our Memories!! It's a bit funny how this layout is posted a little less than a year after the photos were taken. My little monkeys were checking out the new climbing structure at the play park at the campground. It was brisk weather, but they had a great time.

This week's sketch is by Kimberly Figures. As you can tell, I gave it a bit of a personal touch, adding 3 photos instead of 2, off-setting them a bit, and scrapping it bold and colourful, instead of shabby-chic... to each her own! And that's what a sketch is supposed to be all about- a starting point, a source of inspiration. I always manage to find a sketch to get my creativity going...

And here's my take on the sketch:

The papers used are all from the Echo Park collection All about a boy... I just love those bright colours! The hardware is from Tim Holtz, The corrugated stars are by Jillibean Soup... Love Studio Calico wood veneers!