Chris' Blog Candy

Chris is offering up some blog candy for having over 2500 hits on her blog. The lucky winner will get: 

A Pack of beautiful Blue and Pink Flowers

A Pack of LOVE Charmed Enamel

Icicle Stickles

A Sheet of Summer Dimensional Stickers

2 Sets of Studio G Clear Stamps

A beautiful Silver Heartshaped Picture Frame.

To qualify, post about Chris' blog candy on your blog and link back to her blog. Then leave Chris a comment letting her know that you have posted about her blog candy. It's that simple :)

You can see the blog candy and read more about it here.

Bella Blvd. Giveaway

Bella Blvd. has revealed their amazing new lines on their blog. You can see the fabulous papers and accessories in each new line. Hope on over and take a peek. Leave a comment and let them know that I sent you and we'll both have a chance to win their fantastic giveaway.

Check it out here.

July Product Challenge

The July Product Challenge kit from Two Scrapbook Friends was a fun one to work with. I found it perfect to showcase some photos of Samuel at the beach last summer. I used a Fiskars border punch across the top of the background. The blue Coredinations paper was put through a corrugator, then sanded to reveal the white core. All edges except the background were distressed. I hand cut the shapes for the Maya Road sheer tickets, as well as the sun and the acrylic piece. The only items I added to the kit, aside from the tools I used, were ink and the journaling block.

July Mystery Challenge

I had a great time with this month's Mystery Challenge kit from the Scrapping Turtle. It was full of lots of scrapping yummies -- American Crafts papers, die cut cardstock, buttons, brads, two kinds of ribbon, tulle, loop, transparency, Clearstar Gelly Roll pen, and pom pom ribbon. Fantastic!!!!!! 

I used my Quickutz Flourish border die with the striped paper, then cut the flourish into two sections. I also cut my title from the striped paper, using my Quickutz Sugar Sweet font. The flowers were created using three sizes of circle punch, then scrunching up the paper, lots of inking, and layering them together. I topped each flower with a button and a knotted piece of tulle. I used the transparency rulers to create my flower stems. The pom pom ribbon and polka dot ribbon formed my border across the bottom, while I used hand cut scalloped pieces to form a border on the right. I created ribbon leaves from the thin green ribbon, and used one more piece on the loop at the top. I outlined the die cut paper and the title with the Clearstar pen. I put it all together with these fabulous photos of my daughter Sara, taken by my dear friend Kim Munro.

I am thrilled with how this layout turned out. 

Do Me A Favor

I couldn't resist these cute little favor boxes from Basic Grey when I saw them in the Scrapping Turtle. Even though I knew I wouldn't be able to give them away, I still had to have them. They fit in perfectly with our kitchen theme of roosters and chickens. They were super easy and super quick to put together too. Aren't they cute? 

If you'd love to have a set of these cute chickens for yourself or to use as party favors, pick up the "Do Me A Favor" June Bug Favor Boxes kit from Basic Grey. (There are also lots of extra pieces in the kit that you can use for scrapbooking).

Scrappers Island Week 7

I made it through to week 7 on Scrappers Island at Two Scrapbook Friends since I won the immunity challenge last week. Our challenge this week was to create our own background using white cardstock, paint and Glimmer Mist. We also had to use layering, ribbon, brads, buttons, edge distressing, distressing with ink, and a chipboard title. This was a fun challenge -- even though it took me three attempts to get the background I desired. I even used one of my other attempts as the photo mat. I really like how this layout turned out - the background, the pleated ribbon, the distressed papers and photos, the layering, the Quickutz bubbles coated in Glossy Accents -- everything!!!! And who couldn't resist these adorable photos of Samuel taken by my dear friend Kim Munro!!!!

Bella Blvd. Sneak Peek

Have you seen the sneak peeks of the new lines from Bella Blvd.? I think .... no wait .... I KNOW I'm in LOVE!!!!!!!! Super Stud will be perfect for photos of my Sammy. Flirty will go with photos of my Sara beautifully. Camped Out will be a wonderful match to those outdoor photos. And Plastino .... it will look fabulous with so many different photos!!!! I can't wait to be able to see it in real life and of course to add it to my collection. I've loved Bella Blvd. from the moment I first saw their fabulous products and now I love them even more!!!!!

Check out the formal introduction to the four new collections here. 

Oh Boy!!!

Our sketch challenge for this week at The Scrapping Nook's Summerfest was from Pagemaps. I changed the positioning of the photos and left off the flower, but for the most part my layout goes with the sketch. 

I used some new Collage Press papers I picked up at The Scrapping Nook on our way home from our visit to Niagara Falls. The bling title is from Sandylion and the journaling tag is from Anna Griffin.

The photos of Samuel were taken at breakfast on Saturday morning. We ate at Denny's and everyone kept commenting on how cute he is. I love these pics!!!!

Technique Card

Thinking of techniques to use, particularly one I haven't tried yet, is hard to do when you feel like your brain is asleep. But that is what I had to do for the Summerfest "Let's Get Technical" challenge at The Scrapping Nook. We had to create something that had five different techniques, but one of those techniques had to be new to us. I actually did six techniques, two of which I'd never tried before.

1. inking

2. punching

3. hand sewing with floss

4. distressing

5. stamping on flowers -- new

6. corrugating with heart corrugator -- new (I decided I don't like the one that does hearts, it doesn't make a deep impression)

A Sketch for a Quote

I was thinking of how I wanted the card to look that I was working on for the Summerfest "You Can Quote Me On That!" challenge at The Scrapping Nook, when my friend Mellissa revealed a card sketch she had created. I'd already cut out the flowers and embossed the cardstock in my Cuttlebug when I saw the sketch, but I knew these items would work well with it. With a little chalk ink, some ribbon and a butterfly I had everything I needed to create this card.

Flowers were cut from Heidi Grace Designs. Ribbon is from Michaels. The butterfly is Colorbok.

How Was Your Day?

In this week's Summerfest challenges at The Scrapping Nook there was a challenge to create something using every letter of the alphabet at least once. As soon as I read that I remembered the phrase that contains every letter of the alphabet and is used to showcase fonts. Then I thought, why not make it into a card? So I did. The cardstock used is all from my scrap pile. The image is from the internet (I CANNOT draw that well).

Beach Baby

We were given a colour challenge as part of Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook this week. We had to pick at least three colours from a gift card that we were shown as a sample. I used brown, pink, yellow and green from the colours on the gift card. 

The photo was taken in July 2007 at Port Dover. That is my sweet Sara. It's hard to believe how much she has changed in two years.

On The Table

Our photography challenge for this week in Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook was to take a photo of something arranged on our table, and to take it from the perspective of being on the table. 

Here is my photo.

Scrappers Island Week 6

Even though I have immunity for this week on Scrappers Island at Two Scrapbook Friends, I had to create a layout in order to move on. 

Our challenge this week involved another great sketch by Karan Gerber along with three criteria.

1. We had to use "crappy" or less than perfect photos.

2. We had to use our "crap" - meaning our older papers and supplies.

3. We had to take our colour scheme from a provided image of a living room.

I had no problem selecting my photos. These photos from my brother's 50th birthday came to mind instantly. I can't say the same when it came to papers. I struggled with that one. I recently reorganized my papers by manufacturer and didn't know where to begin. I ended up asking a couple of friends if they could suggest lines that might work (thanks ladies!!!!). I ended up pulling out some old Sweetwater, Bo Bunny and Scenic Route.

I'm quite pleased with the finished creation.

My Sweet Child

I'm so excited!!!!!! 

I participated in this week's immunity challenge on Scrapper's Island at Two Scrapbook Friends (the final immunity challenge I should note). Our challenge was to use a Karan Gerber sketch to create a baby layout. I immediately decided to use some cute pics of Samuel and the awesome Baby Safari line from Little Yellow Bicycle. I also added some Bo Bunny and some DCWV paper. The title tag is from Little Yellow Bicycle. The bling is from Bazzill. The rub ons (yes!!!! I used rub ons!!!!!) are from DCWV. The floss for the balloons is from my stash.

The fabulous photos were taken by Melanie Cooper.

Now here is the really exciting part. There were eight of us who participated in the immunity challenge. Out of those, the tribal chiefs were willing to grant two people immunity for this week. I am thrilled to report that I was one of the two people chosen to have immunity!!!! Woo hoo!!!!! Now I know for sure that I will be around for next week's challenge!!!! I'm doing the happy dance!!!!

My layout for this week is finished. I will take a photo tomorrow, upload it and post it here.

Little Diva

One of the Summerfest challenges at The Scrapping Nook involved a layout by Karen T. We were required to use 3 of the 5 items identified as Karen's "Hallmarks".

These items were: 

mixed patterned paper

bling

blossoms

scalloped edges

multiple photos

I used all five on my layout and used the sample layout as inspiration. I combined papers from My Little Shoebox, DCWV, Daisy D's and Creative Imaginations. My letters were from Heidi Swapp. I used bling from Kaisercraft, K&Company, and Ranger Stickles. The flowers were from Kaisercraft as well as handcut from the paper. I used my Fiskars border punch on the photo mats.

This also conveniently coordinated with Regan's DT challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. She challenged us to use shaped cardstock on a layout. I was quite pleased with myself for using three pieces of shaped cardstock on the challenge.

A Card and Some Symmetry

We were given a quote challenge for Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook. It was a choice between two quotes, one by Sam Keen and one by Lucille Ball. I chose the one by Lucille Ball and opted to create a card with it. The green cardstock is actually Coredinations cardstock. I embossed it with my Cuttlebug, then decided that I liked the reverse side of it best. The butterfly is cut from a Cherry Arte paper, then embellished with Stickles before it was pop dotted on the card. I managed to use a few cardstock scraps on this card.

Our photography challenge this week was Symmetry. Everyone was posting these beautiful photos of plants, so I wanted to do something a little different. I was in the children's bedroom this morning and noticed Sara's Little People playhouse. So there was my symmetry.

Cheer Up

Ever been challenged to use something "fuzzy" on a layout?

One of our challenges this week for The Scrapping Nook's Summerfest was called "Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear". We were required to use something fuzzy on our projects. The Prima flamingo was sitting on my work table because I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with it. I'd purchased it on an impulse buy when I was shopping for pink things and I didn't end up using it. So there it was and on went the light bulb --- it is fuzzy!!!! Couple it with this photo of Sara showing her 'attitude' side and I had the beginnings of a layout. I used my Quickutz Revolution and my Cloud border die, my Smiley Face die, and my Speech Bubble die. I fringed the grass to add a little bit more texture (not sure if that qualifies as "fuzzy" or not). 

Good thing it wasn't long before Sara did :Cheer up and put on a happy face".

Little Charmer

The sketch challenge this week for Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook was a sketch from Fiskars. Since a friend of mine has also challenged people to use the Quickutz Flourish border die this month on the Scrapping Turtle blog, I thought this sketch would provide the perfect opportunity to combine the two. I actually cut out six of the flourishes so that I could layer the patterned paper ones with cardstock ones.  The papers are from Crate Paper's Lemon Grass line. The cardstock sticker is from Cosmo Cricket's Fleuriste line. I also used Bazzill cardstock, a Heidi Swapp flower, Glimmer Mist, and a Fiskars border punch.

The adorable photo of my daughter was taken by my good friend Kim Munro.

Turtle Card

I created this card using the Life Is A Beach cartridge for my Cricut and the Quickutz Rocks die. The stamp comes from a Fancy Pants set of acrylic stamps. I added some Stickles to the turtle shells. I used my Fiskars border punch for the bottom of the card.

I created it for my friend Hannah's baby shower for her adorable baby Jack. My friend Mellissa organized a fantastic shower for Hannah and Jack, with some help from some fabulous people. It was a great evening and I sure enjoyed hanging out with so many fantastic friends. Thanks Mellissa!!!!! Congratulations Hannah and Jack!!!!!

Happy Everything

One of the Summerfest challenges for this week at The Scrapping Nook was to draw inspiration from some Foxy Lady jewellery. The jewellery made me think of this paper from the Zinnia line by Little Yellow Bicycle. I wanted the paper to stand out, so I added a plain Hero Arts stamp, no colouring. It was a quick little card to create, but I like it.

I Made A Card Using My Cricut

Yes, that's right!!!! I used my Cricut!!!! I made a card using the Life Is A Beach cartridge. I think it turned out pretty cute. I'll take a pic of it tomorrow in the daylight and hopefully get it posted for you to see.

Scrappers Island Week 5

I survived another week on Scrappers Island on the Two Scrapbook Friends forum. This week we were given another fabulous sketch by Karan Gerber to work from.  We had to use a die cut shape as our background. We also had to use lots of layers blending cardstock and patterned paper, have brackets surrounding our title, and include either a bling or chipboard photo corner.

I had so much fun creating this layout. I used papers from Pink Paislee and Crate Paper, my Fiskars border punches, Bazzill cardstock, my Quickutz Flourish border die, Prima bling, Pink Paislee flower, K & Company Naked Tag, Stickles, American Crafts Thickers, chipboard brackets, Catseye ink, and Glossy Accents. I cut the flourish out three times, out of patterned paper and cardstock, but them all in half, then layered them to create the partial frame around the photo. I was inspired to use the flourish die by my friend Kim, who has posted a challenge on the Scrapping Turtle blog. 

The amazing photos were taken by my dear friend Kim Munro (yes, the same Kim who posted the challenge on the blog). We had an awesome day visiting her a week or so ago and the pictures she took are breathtaking. These are just two of many. Can't wait to scrapbook some more :) Thanks Kim!!!!!

I will definitely be around for week 6 of Scrappers Island. Tonight I participated in a very challenging Immunity Challenge on the Two Scrapbook Friends forum. We were given a list of 50 scrambled words/phrases and challenged to unscramble them. Some of them were very difficult. I managed to unscramble 44 of the 50 words before the time deadline. I was pretty impressed with myself for that!!!!! Myself and two other participants now have immunity from this week's elimination vote on Thurday. Good luck to those ladies still in the vote. They've all done a fabulous job with the challenge this week.

Two More Summerfest Challenges

Here are the final two challenges for this week in Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook.

My "Indulge" layout was created in response to the ad challenge we were given this week. I used the basic design of the ad, the white lettering, and the row of four small photos. I actually managed to use two older papers from my stash - one patterned and one vellum. The photos were taken on July 4th while we enjoyed some yummy ice cream.

Our photo challenge for this week was "translucent". I have to admit this one had me stumped for awhile, but I really like the final result.

July 4th

Tara posted a challenge on her blog to share photos of our 4th of July celebration. Since we are Canadian, we did not celebrate the 4th of July, but I thought I'd share a couple of photos of what we did do today. 

We enjoyed some very yummy ice cream while sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather. 

Man of the House

The initial idea for this layout came about from the "That's Entertainment" challenge for Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook. We were given the option of getting inspiration from the works of either of two of the entertainers who passed away last week. I selected Farrah Fawcett and a movie she was in called "Man of the House". I initially wanted to do "The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars", but my toaster is definitely not brave nor has it ever been to Mars (I'm not even sure it has ever been out of Cambridge). So that is where the title came from.

The layout is based on a sketch by Allison Cope that was posted for Sketchy Saturday on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog. I love Ally's sketches!!!!! One of Tara's challenges on her blog was to use a sketch from the SCT blog. She also challenged us to use red, white and blue on a layout. So I made red, white and blue prominent colours on my layout.

The patterned paper is from Three Bugs In A Rug Playtime line. Letters are American Crafts Thickers. I punched out three different sizes of stars then layered them together.

Creative Antics Blog Candy

Ann is celebrating her blogoversary in a big way. She is giving away a fantastic blog candy. Check out Creative Antics and leave a comment for your chance to win. You have until midnight CDT on July 7th to enter.

***Winner has been announced***

StampinAddicts Giveaway

StampinAddicts.com has tons of ideas using the Stampin' Up Big Shot and is giving away a Big Shot Die Pack. This is part of the Stampin' Up Summer celebration. To enter you only have to write about it on your blog like I have done. Then you send an email with a link to your blog post to be entered into the drawing. Drawing is at the end of the month. 

The pack includes: 

Stampin’ Up! Thanks (Embosslits)
Stampin’ Up! Final Press (Embossing Folders)
Stampin’ Up! Perfect Details (Textured Plates)
Stampin’ Up! Two Tags (Bigz Dies)
Stampin’ Up! Fancy Favor (Bigz XL Dies)

Blog Award

My dear friend Patty gave me this blog award today. It certainly made my day brighter. I thought it was a great way to let people know that their blogging efforts are appreciated. So I'm going to pass this award along to the following people:

Patty

Marissa

Ria

Tara

Dee

Cherie

Regan

Joanne

Carolyn

Chris

Now I challenge you to take this award and pass it along. You never know when you just might be the bright spot in someone's day :)

Golf Card

I'm not sure what inspired me to create this card. I don't play golf, so I don't anticipate sending this card to someone inviting that person to go golfing. I'm really not sure, but the idea popped into my head and I went with it. It all started when Shelley posted her GDT card challenge over at The Scrapping Turtle. She challenged us to create a card using something not normally used in scrapbooking. My first thought was "golf tee". Of course, not being a golfer, I didn't have any golf tees laying around. Off I had to go to Dollarama to see if they had any. They did. So my card is done and I am now the happy owner of 47 extra golf tees and no clue what to do with them.

The grass was created using a Quickutz die, as were the letters. The golf ball was cut using the Sports Mania cartridge from Cricut.

Canada Day Picture

We took a bunch of photos of the children on Canada Day. I hope to post a few more of them here, but this one is my favourite. I posted it for the Cutterscreek Yahoo group for this week's photo challenge (photos celebrating the birthday of the country you live in). I just love the expressions on Sara and Sam's faces. The buttons actually  have flashing lights, which the children thought was really cool.

I'm So Proud!!!!

My hubby accomplished a long time goal of his that he has been working very hard to achieve. Today he learned that not only did he pass his exams, but he excelled at them!!!!!! Congrats honey!!!!

Rain Dance

Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook is full of fabulous challenges. This week, one of them is a fantastic sketch from the Prima blog. 

The quote is from My Sketchworld and was part of a challenge on Tara's blog. As soon as I read the quote I knew which photos I wanted to use. I don't know who wrote the quote, so I can't give credit to the author.

Most of the papers are unknowns from my stash, although I did use a scrap from the American Crafts Backyard line. I also used my Fiskars border punch for the first. Letters are American Crafts Thickers. The umbrellas were hand cut and pop dotted.

Canada Day

One of the challenges for Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook this week is "This Land Is Our Land". In honour of Canada Day (and Independence Day in the U.S.A.) we were challenged to create something using the colours of our flag. For me that was red and white. 

I also combined a couple of other challenges into this layout for Tara's blog challenges. I used a sketch from Creative Scrappers for my inspiration and I created a fringe for my layout (below the row of photos).

The photos were taken last year on Canada Day. The journaling reads: What better way to celebrate Canada's birthday - fabulous weather, a wonderful friend, and a refreshing dip in the pool.

Papers are from Reminisce, Around The Block, Bazzill, and a Canada kit that I picked up last year but I don't remember the manufacturer.

Sisterhood of Scrap Mystery Card Envelope

I was lucky enough to participate in the June Card Mystery Envelope at Sisterhood of Scrap. I love mystery envelopes!!!! You never know what you will get and it is so much fun creating something with it. I had to create two cards with the supplies I received. 

Scrappers Island Week 4

This week the challenge was all about pink, flowers and bling!!!!!! Karan Gerber provided the survivors of last week's Scrappers Island challenge at Two Scrapbook Friends with a fabulous sketch to work with for week four. It was also added that the layout had to include some distressing --- which I love to do!!!!!

I went back in time to when Sara was only six weeks old and selected three of my favourite photos from the photo shoot we had done. 

I found this fabulous glitter paper from Petaloo that I used in my Quickutz with my flower die. I turned the centre over so that I could use it for my journaling. The vellum flower was created by cutting out three of the roses and layering them together. I made another flower from the We R Memory Keepers paper using my Fiskars squeeze punch and a brad. I used a piece of white Bazzill embossed cardstock and chalked it with pink chalk to bring out the embossing and make it pink. I also inked the felt border so that it was a darker pink.

My fingers are crossed that I will be participating in week 5 :)

Here is the list of materials: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey Two Scoops Creme Brulee, We R Memory Keepers Tiffanys Andrews, Bazzill embossed cardstock (chalked with Catseye chalk), Daisy D's paper, Doodlebug Cupcake Dot Cardstock, EK Success Rose Vellum, Creative Imaginations Creative Cafe paper, Petaloo Glitter Sheet, Queen & Co. Felt Fusion border (inked with Peony ink), Colorbok metal tag, Prima bling and flowers, unknown brad, Making Memories Sabrina Tiny Alphas, Fiskars squeeze punch, Heidi Swapp Edge Distresser, Quickutz Flower die (for journaling flowers)

SEI Giveaway

SEI is celebrating their 100th post!!!!!!! They have a recap of their five favorite project posts --- you've got to see the tie, so cute!!!! --- and a sample packet giveaway!!!!! Yummy!!!!!

Check it out here!!!

(In case the link doesn't work: http://seilifestyle.blogspot.com/2009/06/100th-post-giveaway.html )

Happy Canada Day!!!!!

Wishing everyone here in Canada a wonderful, enjoyable and safe Canada Day!!!!! 

Happy birthday Canada!!!!!

A fabulous place to live!!!!!!!