Simply Me

So In Love ...

2011-07-22T00:19:00.003-04:00

It's amazing how sometimes you can be randomly snapping photos and you will capture one that grabs your heart and holds it tight. That's how I felt as soon as I saw this photo of my beautiful daughter. I looked into her sweet eyes and my heart overflowed with the love I've felt from the moment I knew I was expecting her. This precious girl and her equally precious brother are the reason I was put on this earth, and everyday I think about how lucky and blessed I am to be their Mommy.

I was inspired to use the Echo Park Be Mine line, along with a paper from Teresa Collins Posh line (for the flowers). The "so in love with you" caught my eye immediately, and I designed the layout around the photo and that sentiment.

Thanks for looking!!

I {heart} Dogs

2011-07-17T22:29:00.005-04:00

I finally did it!!! After months of having zero motivation, I finally created a new layout. Not a kit this time -- this is my layout. I was inspired by the photo, I just knew I had to do something with this one. Then I picked up the Friends Furever line from We R Memory Keepers and knew that the two belonged together. The final piece was the July 2011 sketch challenge posted at Scrapping Turtle, which is a sketch from Scrapbooks Etc.

So I put the three together and created this:

The journaling is still to come. I need to sit down with Sammy during a quiet moment and find out what he loves best about his puppy. I want it to be in his words.

Thanks for visiting my blog and seeing how inspiration finally hit me.

Poor Poor Blog

2011-07-12T21:30:00.002-04:00

I had the best of intentions of getting this blog back on track, but clearly it hasn't happened yet. I could list a ton of reasons, all of which would be valid, but there is one main reason I didn't get back to blogging when I wanted to. I lost my mojo :(

When my Design Team assignment with the Scrapping Turtle came to an end I was very sad. It was a huge part of my life and meant the world to me. It is more than a scrapbook store, it is my happy place, filled with people who mean a great deal to me. Being on the DT was a very significant thing in my life -- it was something I felt I was good at, something I could be proud of. But I'd been on the DT for two terms and at that point I was working part time, in the midst of report cards, and planning on a full time return to work by the end of March. I couldn't do it all, not with all of the health issues I was still fighting. So the DT term came to an end and I found myself taking a break from the regular scrapbooking and card making challenges.

In much the same way that I had missed teaching during the time that I'd been unable to work, I now found myself missing this part of my life as well. Without the deadlines, it was too easy to give in to exhaustion and other priorities, leaving creativity behind. My heart wanted to, but my mind and body just wouldn't let me pick up my scrapbook supplies and create something. I kept telling myself that once I got into a routine I'd get my mojo back, that things would return to normal, that I'd find a rhythm in which I could do all the things I wanted to do once again. I kept telling myself that tomorrow would be the day when I'd find the time and energy to create a layout or make a card, tomorrow I'd be inspired.

You'd think that the lack of motivation would at least mean that I slowed down on purchasing scrapbook supplies, but that wasn't the case. As with everything I've been "obsessed" with in my life, I continue to buy, buy, buy -- even if it is only being placed on a shelf. I've done this with books, CDs, DVDs, and every craft I've encountered -- instead of buying one or two things I have to have everything, just in case it is no longer there the next time I go back. I continued to enjoy visiting my LSS and picking up some lovely new goodies. I purchased with the best of intentions, with ideas racing around my head, but once I brought them home I was too tired to begin or I had to focus on something for work. I'll get to it tomorrow.

Then came the shocking news. On the morning of March 27th my brother phoned, frantic that something had happened to our very dear aunt. He'd heard a loud noise not long before he'd called me and when he went outside he could see black smoke in the distance over by where she lived. After talking to me and telling me how worried he was, he tried driving past her building, but the streets leading to it were barricaded and he couldn't get through. He parked as close as he could get and set out on foot, his heart filled with fear. The closer he got the more he knew that this was very very bad.

The apartment building my aunt lived in was engulfed in flames. Around 8:30 a.m. that Sunday morning, a massive explosion shook the building. An entire section of the building collapsed in flames. My aunt's apartment was in that section. Her daughter scoured the city looking for her mom and my brother helped as much as he could. They checked out everywhere they could think that she might have gone -- walked the paths she used for her daily walks, visited every store that she had ever shopped at, called everyone they could think of that she could possibly be visiting, and repeatedly called the Red Cross to see if she had turned up, but she hadn't. We hoped and prayed that she would be somewhere safe, somewhere that she couldn't contact us from (in the middle of a field taking a walk perhaps) or somewhere that she hadn't heard about the explosion and fire. By that night my aunt was one of the people still unaccounted for. Everyone was hopeful that the missing people would turn up after a weekend away or something, but her daughter and the rest of the family knew in our hearts that she wasn't somewhere safe. She'd never let any of us worry for even a moment. She'd never go away without telling her daughter where she was going.

Over the next few days her daughter held a vigil in the parking lot, watching the fire department methodically search the rubble, carefully moving debris. My aunt was one of two people still missing the day after the explosion. Her daughter vowed to maintain her vigil until they brought her mother home -- and she did, joined by her brother and her niece, and other family members over the next few days. You can't help but hope that there will be some kind of miracle, some kind of Hollywood-esque moment in which they move a chunk of concrete and find an air pocket where your loved one has been trapped, battered and shaken and dehydrated but otherwise miraculously safe from harm. You hope, even though you know that it is just a matter of time ... you hope because there is nothing else that you can do.

I watched the news footage over and over on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday -- staring at all of the people in the crowd, hoping that I'd see my aunt in the crowd safe and sound with maybe a bump on her head causing her to not know who she was. I've always had a vivid imagination so I came up with all kinds of possibilities, all of which involved her being alive and unable to let us know for some unrealistic reason or another. Even as I joined my cousin in her vigil on Tuesday I hoped and prayed for that miracle, for that Hollywood moment. We didn't get it.

At approximately 8:30 a.m. on March 27th I believe that God reached down and picked up my aunt and the other resident, carrying them home. I believe that it all happened so quickly that neither of them felt any pain, that neither of them suffered at all. On March 30th the recovery teams brought my aunt's body home to her family. Later that same day they brought the other resident's body home to his family.

Even now I don't really believe that any of this happened. I mean, I know it did, I saw the rubble, I went to her memorial -- but it still hasn't hit me that this wonderful caring loving woman is really and truly gone from this earth. Or maybe the grief is manifesting itself in a different way. When I sit down and try to be creative I find my mind racing, wondering what the point is, asking why this had to happen. I find myself dwelling on the question of tomorrow - wondering what would happen if it never comes. I don't have any answers. All I know is that somewhere in there I lost my creativity, I lost that belief in myself that I could create something good and worthwhile, I lost the desire to lose myself in the muse for hours at a time.

I want it back ...

Ch-Ch-Changes

2011-03-16T00:07:00.002-04:00

Wow! It's been a long time since I've been here. Sorry my dear blog. Interestingly enough my last post coincides with when my life changed as I returned to work part time in September. This was a major step for me, one that I wasn't overly confident with nor was I feeling physically prepared for it. After all the stress and frustration that have been a part of my battle to regain my health over the last few years, I finally stopped listening to all the nay-sayers and decided to take my life back - or at least see if I could manage it anyway. It has never been a matter of whether or not I wanted to return to work -- I've been fighting to do that since this battle began -- it was a matter of being able to manage the requirements of teaching on a daily basis, while coping with the fatigue and pain that are a part of my life on a constant basis. On the plus side I have always loved being a teacher and been proud of what I do, being a teacher is an important part of who I am, and I was returning to a school that I consider to be like "home" to me.

While I returned to the school that I love and to a supportive staff, I had to leave behind the grades I have taught for most of my career and my beloved Primary division to take on the challenge of a new grade level, a split class, and my first real experience in the Junior division. My ability to cope with change has been seriously affected by my illness, so these challenges were not easy ones for me. Thankfully I had the support and encouragement of my family, my dear friends, and my co-workers who welcomed me back with open arms.

Returning to work, even on a part-time basis, meant that there were changes in other areas of my life as well. One of those changes was that I let this blog lapse. I'm hoping to change that and revive it by sharing the projects I have created since my last post (but not all at once).

So I am blowing the dust off and bringing Simply Me back into the light. I hope you will join me on the next leg of my journey -- wherever it may take me.

August Design Team Projects

2010-08-24T23:50:00.006-04:00

I will be honest, this month has totally gotten away from me. I haven't had a chance to post my Scrapping Turtle sneak peek or my reveal and the month is close to being over. Yikes!!! I've had a lot going on this month, including a fabulous weekend at Memories Manor with six very dear friends.

Now on to my Design Team work for August.

This month I've been having a blast working with Echo Park's A Walk In The Park line. I love Echo Park and this is one of my favourite lines from them. I had so much fun working with the double sided papers and the stickers.

First of all, here is my sneak peek for the month:

Followed by my reveal:

Thanks for looking!! I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle to see all of the wonderful creations from my fellow design team members.

They've Done It Again

2010-07-27T23:49:00.004-04:00

Yup!! Sass has ANOTHER new line that I love. It's called Count Me In!!!!

The moment I laid eyes on it I said "this is perfect for Sara's first day of school photos". Don't ask me why -- we haven't even picked out what she is going to wear on her first day yet, but that is what this line said to me.

Love it!!! Way to go Sass!!!

Check it out: introducing Count Me In...and yep, you can win this too!!

Can't wait to see what they introduce next :)

Mix and Mend

2010-07-27T00:44:00.004-04:00

I love Sassafras Lass!! It is one of my must haves whenever I find it. It is always such a fun paper line and I adore it. But this time they've really done it. They've shocked me with something I totally didn't expect. The newest Sass line is .... well ....

I'm not really sure how to put this into words ...

Umm ...

Quite possibly ...

Most likely ...

My most ...

FAVOURITE SASSAFRAS LINE EVER!!!!!!!!!!

I am head over heels in love with Mix and Mend!!!! I can't wait to add it to my collection!!!! I love love love it!!!! Woo hoo!!!!

Check it out on their blog -- introducing Mix and Mend...and a fun way to win it!:!!! Sass as you've never seen it before :) Love it!!!

New Folding Technique Card

2010-07-25T18:20:00.003-04:00

This week on the Scrapping Turtle forum Tracey is challenging us to step outside of our box and try a new technique or product. Perfect timing!!! On Saturday I attended a crop hosted by my friend Noel (thanks Noel!!!!) and had a fabulous time with a wonderful group of ladies. Noel shared some cards that she'd created recently and I gave this one a try. Thanks to my friend Shirley for showing me how wonderfully easy this card is.

I had a great time at the crop and I was somewhat productive too :) I made two cards (I'll try to share the other one soon) and put together three double page layouts. The best part was just being with such friendly folks and having an enjoyable day!!!

Thanks to Noel, Janet, both Lori's, Shirley, Emma, Monica, Diane, Mavis and Noel's daughter for a fabulous day (I hope I didn't miss anyone) :)

June Mystery Kit

2010-07-22T01:19:00.002-04:00

In June I attended my first Crop For The Cure. This is a fabulous day crop organized by my dear friend Tracey and her family in support of raising money to fight breast cancer. It was an incredible day and I can't wait for next year's crop :) I spent the day with some very dear and fabulous friends, including Tracey, and took a wonderful layout class taught by my friend Lori from the Scrapping Turtle. Tracey's sister Amanda Stratton was there to take incredible photos of us all -- she took the fabulous photo featured on the layout below. If you are looking for a photographer give her a shout -- you won't be disappointed.

The Scrapping Turtle offered a special Crop For The Cure mystery kit, which was also the store Mystery Kit for June. This is the layout that I created and I was thrilled to win the Mystery Kit contest.

I love this photo of myself with four of my very dear friends - Lori, Lisa, Marissa and Ria.

Fussy Cutting

2010-07-20T00:12:00.003-04:00

I have a folder of things that I've created and haven't yet shared. I thought it was time for me to get them out of the folder and onto the blog.

This was created for a challenge from Anne Marie from the previous Scrapping Turtle Design Team. I used the Junior line from American Crafts for this layout about Sara and Sam in their "rocket ship".

Recipe for a Layout

2010-07-18T10:25:00.005-04:00

This week I have a layout challenge posted on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I gave an ingredient list of scrappy items needed to create a layout.

Base ingredients (these are the must haves):

1. Cardstock

2. Patterned Paper

3. Stitching (any type, can be already stitched or done by you)

4. Flowers (minimum of two)

5. Packaging from some type of scrappy item

6. Bling

Mix the above ingredients together into a pleasing arrangement. Add adhesive. Season (embellish with other items not on the list) as needed or desired.

Serve and enjoy :)

The patterned paper I selected already fulfilled a couple of the ingredients -- patterned paper, flowers and stitching. That was a lucky break LOL I used cardstock to mat my photo and my journaling block. I used a section of Prima packaging for my journaling block and added bling to the centres of each of the flowers.

The photo on my layout was taken in June 2009 by the extremely talented Kim Munro.

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle to see what the other DT members created and to post your layout using this recipe.

July Reveal

2010-07-15T21:40:00.004-04:00

It's Reveal Day on the Scrapping Turtle forum!!! This month I've been playing with the Family Heritage Collection from Adorn It (Carolee's Creations). It was a great line for both heritage and non-heritage photos alike.

Here is what I created with it:

"Pure Happiness" was my Sneak Peek for the beginning of the month. These are recent photos of the children and the line worked fabulously with them.

"Mother" showcases a photo of my brother and I with our Mom on Mother's Day. I used the Quickutz Nesting Flowers dies on this layout -- they are highlighted in Quickutz Korner this month over at the Scrapping Turtle.

"Grandmother" showcases a photo of my Grandma and Great Grandma with the grandchildren. This is one of my heritage photos, although it isn't that old in the grand scheme of things.

"A Family ... " highlights a photo of my Daddy, myself and my brothers taken when I was a baby. I love this photo!!! My Daddy had the most amazing smile :)

I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle forum to see what the rest of the Design Team created this month. Fabulous projects!!!

Vicki's Card Sketch challenge

2010-07-14T21:15:00.003-04:00

Vicki posted a fabulous card sketch in the Scrapping Turtle forum. I used it to create this sympathy card for my Uncle. Now I need to get it sent off in the mail.

Fabulous sketch Vicki!!!! I hope everyone will visit the forum to see what the other DT members created with this sketch.

Pass The Turtle Shell

2010-07-07T23:38:00.005-04:00

One of the things I look forward to each month is the Pass The Turtle Shell game on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I started this as a fun little game and it has taken off in leaps and bounds. I have regular players every month, new players joining, and others who play as often as they are able. I love how popular it is and hope to continue running it for a long long time. Not only do I enjoy seeing all of the fabulous layouts that are created by each participant, I love playing along. I have so much fun with these layouts.

Here is my Turtle Shell layout from June. I used the Basic Grey Granola line for this one. The photo was taken of myself and my sister-in-law on Mother's Day. Although we are sisters through marriage, we truly are heart sisters. There was an instant connection when we met that has only grown stronger over the years.

I also discovered two previous Turtle Shell layouts that I haven't shared here yet. I'm not sure right now which months they are for. I hope you enjoy them :)

Little Man uses some Pebbles papers that I got at the Scrapping Turtle Auction.

A mixture of Reminisce and Best Creations makes this fun layout of Sammy and his construction toys.

July Product Highlight

2010-07-05T23:58:00.003-04:00

This month the Scrapping Turtle is highlighting a new service they are providing. They are now offering the ability to die cut 12 x 12 " cardstock and patterned paper in a variety of fabulous shapes. The Design Team showcased some of the available shapes for our July Product Highlight. You can see our creations here in the forum or on the blog.

I love die cut shaped papers so I'm really excited about this service. I can't wait to try out all of the different shapes that they have available. I think this is a great idea and I'm so glad that they now have it available.

I used my die cut paper as a background for this layout showcasing Sara playing in the water park at Hershey Park last September. I cut my patterned paper to fit the design of the background die cut to maintain the design.

Thanks for looking!!

Tanya's Layout Sketch

2010-07-04T11:40:00.004-04:00

Goodness!!! I need to clean the dust bunnies and cobwebs off this blog and get posting. I've been a lazy blogger the last few weeks. Whoops :( I have so much I need to post and need a day to get things updated.

This week on the Scrapping Turtle forum Tanya has posted a fabulous layout sketch. You can find the thread with the sketch here. I had a lot of fun working with this sketch and have to admit that my layout rather took on a life of it's own. I was quite flexible with the sketch LOL.

I used Bo Bunny's Block Party line for this layout of Sammy looking out the window at Niagara Falls, Ontario last July. He was in awe of how high up we were and everything he could see.

Thanks for looking!!!

June Sneak Peek and Projects

2010-06-13T13:02:00.007-04:00

I can't believe how quickly this month is moving. It seems like just yesterday that June arrived and yet here we are almost at the halfway point.

This month for the Scrapping Turtle Design Team I am working with the fabulous Man of the House line from Bella Blvd. This line is my favourite from the most recent Bella Blvd. releases -- a great masculine line. For my Sneak Peek this month I created a layout to showcase a photo of my favourite great uncle.

The fabulous Dress It Up buttons from Jesse James are the Product of the Month at the Scrapping Turtle. These buttons come in a wide range of themes to suit every project and they are super cute. I used the Tool Time buttons along with the Man of the House line to create a layout of Father's Day 2009.

For my layout sketch challenge this month I chose a beautiful sketch from PageMaps. I love their sketches!!! Here is my interpretation of the sketch.

Thanks for looking!!! My June DT reveal will be coming soon :)

May Mystery Kit

2010-05-30T18:17:00.004-04:00

Each month the Scrapping Turtle puts together a Mystery Kit. This month it contained some yummy goodies from KikiArt, including a roll of the fabulous Fun Tape.

Here is my layout:

The photos were taken at my second cousin's birthday party. Sara wanted to smell the flowers, but didn't realize that if she pulled up on them they would come right out of the planter. She didn't know what to do when she ended up with the whole flower hanging from her hand. Luckily it came out root and all so we were able to replant it without any worries.

Thanks for looking!!

Online Crop and Other Challenges

2010-05-28T23:01:00.003-04:00

There are lots of great challenges over at the Scrapping Turtle forum right now. The new D.T. is hosting our first online crop "Cruising Into Summer" this weekend and we're having a blast. Please join us on Saturday May 29th for another great day of our online crop :)

I have four challenges and one game posted for the online crop. I had fun creating my projects for them.

1. I challenged everyone to create a shaped layout or card -- it could be any shape, except for a regular straight edged square or rectangle. I used a die cut patterned paper that has scalloped edges for my layout.

2. My H2O challenge is all about water -- water has to be represented in some form or another whether it is in the photo, the paper, the title, the embellishments, etcetera.

3. For a twist I shared a CardMaps card sketch from PageMaps.com and challenged everyone to use it to create a layout. The journaling on my layout reads: "I've learned to cherish these moments, the simple often taken for granted moments. The simple act of taking a walk with my children is something I can't do very often so I cherish being able to do it in Toronto."

4. I challenged everyone to create a card using a layout sketch from PageMaps.com. I used the Fancy Pants About A Girl line to create my card.

I also have a few other recent challenges to share.

Shelley posted two sketch challenges for us this month. One was for a layout and the other for a card. Here are the projects I created, both of which I made while attending the National Scrapbook Day crop at the Scrapping Turtle:

Tanya's layout challenge on the forum challenged us to create a two page layout using six or more photos. I used some more of my Fancy Pants About A Girl line to create my layout for this challenge.

I also posted the reveal for May's Pass The Turtle Shell. It's a fabulous reveal and I hope you will visit the forum to check it out. I love doing this every month and I love how excited the participants are for it every month. I hope you will join us for it in June.

Thanks for looking :)

Cruising Into Summer

2010-05-25T10:31:00.002-04:00

Please join the Scrapping Turtle Design Team for a fun online crop May 28th and 29th. We have great challenges, fun games, and the chance to win a great prize from the Scrapping Turtle. We set sail from the forum at 6 p.m. on May 28th. See you there!!

May DT Reveal

2010-05-16T00:44:00.007-04:00

This month on the Scrapping Turtle Design Team I worked with the beautiful About A Girl line from Fancy Pants. Love this line!!! I had a lot of fun working with it.

This is Sara doing her own unique interpretation of Lady Gaga. I used three different Quickutz fonts on this layout -- Sugar Sweet, Banana Split and Holiday.

I used a section of the transparency from the line on this fun layout of Sara on Easter morning. I also used my Quickutz Epic 6 Exclusive die, Eyelet Edges, and Scallops border.

I was delighted that I could make some of the papers work for my little man too and I created this layout of sweet Sammy. I used my Quickutz Zelda font and Beads border.

My friend Denise and I found some utensil holders at IKEA during a recent shopping trip. We both thought they would make a great holder for pens and things. I altered mine with the About A Girl line and my Quickutz Flowers border.

Thanks for looking!!! Please visit the Scrapping Turtle to see the gorgeous projects created by my fellow Design Team members.

May Product of the Month

2010-05-05T12:33:00.005-04:00

Scrapping Turtle's featured Product of the Month for May are the fabulous Fun Tapes from KikiArt. KikiArt is a fun company that you may have seen at Scrapfest if you were lucky enough to have attended. They have great products and you can find a wonderful assortment of them at the Scrapping Turtle.

I used the Antologia Amor fun tape on this anniversary card. They are super easy to use and glide on very smoothly.

There are several different styles of the Fun Tape. Check out the details and the projects created by my fellow Design Team members on the blog here.

Big News!!!

2010-05-03T21:16:00.006-04:00

I am back for a second term on the Scrapping Turtle Design Team!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I am so excited!! I had a blast during my first term and worked with some phenomenal ladies. Now I'm blessed enough to have been asked back for a second term to work with a new group of super talented ladies. Congratulations to my fellow Design Team members -- Shelley, Vicki, Tanya and Lizzie!!! I'm thrilled to be on the team with you :)

This month we are working with Fancy Pants papers. I love Fancy Pants and the newest releases are fabulous. I was given the About A Girl line -- love it!!! The papers are sooooo pretty!!! Here is my sneak peek for May -- Beauty Blooms From Within. The photo was taken in our hotel room in Toronto when we went to see King Tut in April. Sara loves staying in a hotel because it is such a treat.

Our first challenge of the new term was a card challenge. Lizzie challenged us to use a pinwheel on a card. Here is what I came up with. The pinwheel actually turns so that it goes with the sentiment. I made it at the National Scrapbook Day crop at the Scrapping Turtle on Saturday.

Stay tuned for the Product of the Month project :)

Viviane's House Mouse Blog Candy

2010-04-26T00:17:00.002-04:00

I love these little mice :) Viviane is celebrating being on the Design Team for the House Mouse & Friends Challenge Blog. She is giving away some yummy blog candy -- the stamps shown below!!

Visit her blog for the details of how you can have a chance to win. The blog candy closes on May 10th.

Thank You to Some Amazing People

2010-04-18T22:14:00.004-04:00

This week's card challenge at the Scrapping Turtle was to create a card based on a sketch that Anne Marie posted from PageMaps. Her instructions were to either make a welcome card for the incoming Design Team or a thank you card for the outgoing Design Team.

I chose to create a thank you card in honour of all of the amazing people who have made my term on the Design Team such a wonderful experience.

Here is what I posted with my card:

While making my card I thought about all the wonderful people that I wanted to thank for the incredible experience I have had as a member of the Design Team. It has been an amazing time for me and I am sad to see it coming to an end

Thank you to Hannah, Lori, Teresa, Bev, Shirley and Laura for all you do to make the Turtle such a fabulous place to be Your support has and always will mean the world to me

Hannah and Lori thank you for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to represent the Turtle on the Design Team. It has been an incredible honour for me I have grown in so many ways as a member of the team and I'm very grateful for the encouragement and support that you have given me.
Thank you to our fantastic DT girls -- Tracey, Mellissa, Marissa, and Anne Marie. You are all amazingly talented and a blast to work with. I've learned from and been inspired by each of you, and I'm so proud to have been a member of the team with you. You all rock!!!

Thank you to all the fabulous Turtles who make the pond such a wonderful place to visit and hang out. It has been a privilege to design for you and I hope that I have helped to inspire each of you at least a little bit. to all of you.

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle forum to see what the rest of the Design Team ladies have created for this challenge. Their work is fabulous!!

My Last Reveal

2010-04-15T09:42:00.003-04:00

Today my last reveal with the current Design Team was posted on the Scrapping Turtle forum. This has been such an incredible experience for me -- I've had the honour of representing a wonderful store, working closely with the very talented ladies on the Design Team (love you girls!!), and inspiring an amazing group of Turtles on the forum!! Thank you to Hannah, Lori, Teresa, Bev, Shirley, Janet and Laura at the store for their wonderful support and friendship!! Thank you to Tracey, Mellissa, Marissa, Anne Marie and all of our fabulous Guest Design Team members for seven wonderful months!! Thank you to everyone who is a Turtle in the Scrapping Turtle pond -- you make the forum a wonderful place to be!!

Now on to my reveal :)

This month I worked with the gorgeous Jazmyne line from Bo Bunny. This line is part of their Limited Edition Glitter Series and it is fantabulous!!! The papers are all glittered and gorgeous. The embellishments are fabulous. I loved working with it and still have lots of paper left to make more wonderful projects.

"I Do" is a layout of my Grandma's second wedding. She had a rough first marriage which ended with her being a widow. She met the man who I would grow up calling my Grandpa and fell in love with him. The story of their love would make a good movie in my opinion. He was truly the love of her life and her soulmate. They were married in 1963, proving that "Sometimes life gives us a second chance at love".

"Follow Me" showcases Sara at Brantwood Farms. She was showing her independence by walking ahead of us, but she kept looking back to make sure that we were following.

"A Sister Is" showcases one of my favourite photos of my Grandma and her sister when they were very very young. They were more than sisters, they were best friends and kindred spirits. They had a strong connection throughout their entire lives and were two of the most amazing women I've ever had the honour of knowing. I love them and miss them both very very much.

I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle forum to see the fabulous reveals of my fellow Design Team members. They are wonderful!!!

Layout Inspiration Challenge

2010-04-12T11:43:00.004-04:00

This week is my layout challenge week at the Scrapping Turtle. I posted an image to inspire everyone to create a layout. You can view the image and the challenge here, as well as the creations of the other Design Team members.

Here is my layout created for the challenge. I used Bazzill cardstock, Quickutz Cloud border, and papers from Kiki Art and We R Memory Keepers. The tree, fence and hill were handcut from the Kiki Art paper, as were the butterflies.

Coredinations

2010-04-10T09:21:00.004-04:00

This month the product highlight at the Scrapping Turtle is the Core Amour line from Coredinations. These are exciting new papers that have hidden embossing that appears when you sand over it. There are two lines: sable and onyx, and they are all beautiful.

I used the Forever paper for the Sable collection to create my Family Is Forever layout. The title is embossed in the paper, as are the words that I have highlighted: mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, son daughter, niece, nephew. After sanding the words that I chose to highlight, I rubbed my Catseye ink over them to make them stand out.

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle for special savings on these papers for this month, and check out the Scrapping Turtle forum and blog to see the fabulous projects created by my fellow Design Team members.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T10:35:00.004-04:00

Thank you Jesus!

Wishing everyone a happy and blessed Easter!

April Sneak Peek

2010-04-02T00:14:00.003-04:00

This term with the Scrapping Turtle Design Team originally would have ended on March 31st, but I'm delighted that our term was extended by one additional month. So this is my last sneak peek with the current design team. I hope to be back on the Scrapping Turtle Design Team, but I don't know what the future will bring.

This month I am playing with the gorgeous Jazmyne line from Bo Bunny. This line is part of their Limited Edition Glitter Series and it is stunning!! The papers are all glittered and beautiful. The embellishments are fabulous. I totally love this line!!!

For my sneak peek, I used photos of Sara and Sammy sharing a pre-bedtime dance. Sara literally swept Sammy off his feet (if you look closely at the photos you can see that Sammy is not standing on his feet at all). She twirled him around and he loved every moment. I'm so glad I grabbed the camera to capture this precious moment.

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle forum or the Scrapping Turtle Blog to see the wonderful layouts created by my fellow Design Team members. The layouts are fabulous, as are the women who created them. I feel deeply blessed to have had the experience of being on the Scrapping Turtle Design Team with Marissa, Tracey, Mellissa and Anne Marie. You girls are amazing!!

All You Need

2010-03-31T19:42:00.006-04:00

Another wonderful round of Pass The Turtle Shell has come to an end on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I really enjoy hosting and participating in this each month. This month we started with a fabulous layout by my dear friend Lori. It was a single page layout, but my team all created double page layouts.

Last year I started a tradition with Sara. On Valentine's Day she is allowed to put on my wedding dress and pose for pictures. She is quite taken with weddings and wedding dresses, so she loves doing this. I used some of the photos we took this year for my Turtle Shell layout.

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle forum to see the wonderful layouts created for March's Pass The Turtle Shell. While you are there, be sure to sign up for April's Turtle Shell so we can see your wonderful work.

Folded Card Challenge

2010-03-28T10:10:00.003-04:00

This week is my week for issuing a card challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. My challenge is to create a card incorporating some creative folding -- the folding can be part of the structure of the card or it can be part of an embellishment you make for the card.

I was inspired by an apron card created by Betsy Veldman and created this pink apron for my card. I also made the base a tri fold card.

Thanks for looking! I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle forum to see what the ladies have created for this challenge.

Scrapping Turtle Product of the Month

2010-03-25T23:37:00.003-04:00

This month the featured product at the Scrapping Turtle are the Sakura Pigma Micron pens. I love these pens! They come in a variety of colours and have fine tips that are perfect for journaling, doodling, accenting or for using in templates.

To showcase these fabulous pens, I created a canvas with one of my favourite sayings. The background was created using a variety of mist colours. I then stamped the saying in the centre. I used a template to add the butterflies in the corners using my Sakura Pigma Micron pens, then added a bit of doodling. The paper butterflies were cut from a paper (I believe it was DCWV) and are actually glittery. The photo doesn't capture how sparkly and pretty this canvas turned out. It is really one of my most favourite altered projects.

For the rest of this month, the pens are on sale at the Scrapping Turtle. They carry black, blue black, burgundy, fresh green, hunter green, royal blue and sepia. I hope you will stop in and pick some up -- they are wonderful pens and easy to work with.

Cards from Sketches

2010-03-24T20:51:00.008-04:00

One of the wonderful things about sketches is that you can find them for more than just sketches. There are also many sketches available to help you create beautiful cards. One of our weekly challenges on the Scrapping Turtle forum is a card sketch.

The following cards were made from sketches from PageMaps, which is a fabulous resource for sketches.

This card is based on a sketch by Lucy Chesna.

This is the most recent card sketch, as posted by Brenda, our Guest Design Team member for March .

Please visit our forum to see what the rest of the DT did with the same sketches, as well as many others.

Layouts From Sketches

2010-03-22T20:19:00.008-04:00

I really enjoy using sketches in my scrapbooking, especially when I need a bit of an inspirational boost. Sometimes I use the sketch basically as it is, sometimes I make subtle changes, and sometimes I change it so much that it looks completely different. Even though I don't use them as often as I used to, I find sketches to be a great resource.

All of the layouts I am sharing today were created based on a sketch. They were either for one of the weekly DT challenges at the Scrapping Turtle or for the online sketch crop that we hosted.

First is a sketch that I created myself (I don't have a drawing program so I had to create it by hand) and the layout I created to accompany it. I had fun creating the sketch :) I used some fabulous Jillibean Soup for my layout of Sammy trying out Sara's keyboard.

Mellissa posted a fun sketch challenge for the online sketch crop. She called it "Etch A Sketch". She started the challenge by providing us with a sketch. The first person who signed up had to add something to Mellissa's sketch and then create a layout. The second person then added something else and created a layout. This continued through all of the participants. I thought this was a great idea and couldn't wait to play! I was second on the list and added the flower that you see on the sketch below. I handcut the flowers on the pretty pink layout of Sara striking one of her model poses.

The following layouts were created based on sketches, but I forgot to save the sketch information. The first was for the online sketch crop that we had on the Scrapping Turtle forum, while the other two were for the weekly DT challenges.

Some Recent Mystery Kit Challenge Layouts

2010-03-21T23:06:00.006-04:00

I've been tidying up my folders on my computer and realized that I have quite a few projects that I've created over the last several months and haven't shared yet. I thought it was about time that I posted them here. Today I'm starting with a couple of layouts created from the monthly Mystery Kits at the Scrapping Turtle.

Each month a kit is created using a variety of fabulous scrappy supplies. We have no idea what is in the kit until after we buy it, which is where the "mystery" comes in LOL. Anyone who purchases the kits then has the challenge of creating a layout using at least some of everything that is in the kit.

Here are two that I've created in recent months and I don't think I've shared yet.

Thanks for looking :)

March Turtle Reveal

2010-03-20T20:17:00.006-04:00

I'm a few days late sharing this, but here it is at last - my March DT reveal for the Scrapping Turtle!!

This month I had the pleasure of playing with the new Three Bugs in a Rug Animal Stackers paper line. This line is so cute :) The

papers are double sided, and there are cut outs, die cut shapes and stickers to go with the line.

My first layout is a single from Sammy's first birthday party. We had a Halloween theme and all of the children wore their Halloween costumes. The photos are of Sara and Sammy in their costumes. The border for the circle was created using the Quickutz Cupcake Liner (thanks to Mellissa for the idea).

We were lucky enough to visit the Strong Museum of Play in New York state last year. This double layout showcases the fun train that Sara and Sammy rode on at the museum. I used my Quickutz Cloud, Ladder and Fence dies on this layout.

This double layout commemorates Sammy's first tentative steps. I remember that day like it was just yesterday. What an exciting day it was!! The scalloped border was created using my Quickutz Scallop border die.

I also created two cards with this line. The elephant and the lion were created using Quickutz dies.

I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle forum Turtle Soup to see the wonderful creations made by my fellow Design Team members.

Turtle Sketch Challenge

2010-03-08T01:01:00.004-05:00

This week on the Scrapping Turtle forum Anne Marie has brought us a sketch challenge. I rotated the sketch and created "Hush". I am currently going through all of my scrapbook papers to see if there are any I'm willing to part with, so I opted to use some older papers from my stash for this layout.

Please visit us on the forum to see what the rest of the Design Team created with the sketch and to see Anne Marie's fabulous sketch.

March Sneak Peek

2010-03-01T16:56:00.004-05:00

This month I am working with the adorable Three Bugs in a Rug Animal Stackers collection. The papers are so cute!!! They are double sided and there are matching die cut shapes and stickers. I'm so excited about this line -- it is fabulous!!!!

Today is Sneak Peek day at the Scrapping Turtle. So here is my first layout using this line.

Our Little Monkey showcases Sammy when he was just over a year old. He continues to be our curious little monkey, always getting into places and things that you wouldn't expect him to. To create the layout I used the following Animal Stackers papers: Big Top, Zoo Animals, Welcome To The Jungle, and Monkey' N Around. I also used some stickers and die cut shapes. The journal box is a Luxe To Die For Jotter -- pre-made journaling boxes that are super easy to use on your layouts.

I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle to check out the fabulous layouts created by my fellow DT members and the fantastic lines they are working with.

February Mystery Kit

2010-02-27T11:13:00.003-05:00

What a beautiful kit for this month's Mystery Kit at the Scrapping Turtle!!! I had fun with this one. At first I found it a challenge to figure out what to do with the paper flowers, but then inspiration hit me. I folded them and cut them into snowflakes (remember how we fold paper to make paper snowflakes, well that is what I did with the paper flowers). I also decided to cut the big snowflake paper in half and only use half of it on my layout. I used my QK Supermarket font to cut the title out of two different papers, then layered it. I used the punch out portions from the big snowflake to make the smaller snowflake for matting the close up of Sammy.

Unfortunately the photo doesn't capture the shimmer of the snowflake paper or the bling cardstock. It has been snowing quite a bit here so the days are rather gloomy.

Pass The Turtle Egg

2010-02-26T01:27:00.003-05:00

The reveal is now up on the Scrapping Turtle forum for Pass The Turtle Egg. We played a type of telephone tag game using a card as our starting point. My fellow Turtles did a fabulous job with the cards they created.

Here is my card:

I embossed using a Cuttlebug folder, chalked it, then added some punched hearts and a heart stamp from Stampin' Up.

The sign up is up for our March Pass The Turtle Shell. I hope you will drop by the Scrapping Turtle and join us :)

Stampin' Up Creations

2010-02-21T10:04:00.004-05:00

I am delighted that my dear friend Denise is a Stampin' Up demonstrator. My Mom and I have been enjoying taking card classes with Denise and belonging to her Stamper's Club. We've created beautiful and adorable cards with her. I don't have all of them photographed, but here are some of the ones I haven't shared yet.

Snowman Thank You card:

Gift Card Holder:

Valentine's Treat Cup Cards:

I have more Stampin' Up creations to share as soon as I get some photos taken of them. This afternoon Mom and I are heading to my dear friend Ria's for her Stampin' Up workshop. I'm looking forward to seeing what beautiful creation we will be making today.

Check out Denise's Stampin' Up blog here. She'd be thrilled if you wanted to book a workshop, sign up for one of her classes or place an order.

Thanks Denise :)

Pass The Turtle Shell

2010-02-19T11:19:00.005-05:00

For the last few months I have been leading a fun game on the Scrapping Turtle forum called Pass the Turtle Shell. It is like playing tag or the game telephone, but using a layout as a starting point. I've been selecting a layout each month from our fabulous gallery. The chosen layout is then sent to the first person on each team. That person scraplifts it and sends their completed layout back to me. I then pass the new layout on to the next person on the team. When the teams are all finished we have a big reveal so that everyone can see how the layouts changed from person to person. It's a lot of fun!!!!

I've been participating every month that we've played so far. Here are the layouts I completed.

November 2009:

December 2009:

January 2010:

This month I changed it up a bit and we are playing Pass the Turtle Egg. Instead of a layout, we are passing a card. I can't share my card with you yet, as we are still in the middle of playing.

We'd love to have you join us. Drop by the Scrapping Turtle forum and check out the next round of Pass the Turtle Shell :) Coming soon!!!!

February Reveal

2010-02-15T23:40:00.007-05:00

Today was Reveal day at the Scrapping Turtle. I had the pleasure of working with Piggy Tales 5 Little Ducks collection. I love this line!!!! In addition to double sided papers, there are rub ons and adhesive chipboard to accompany the line.

For my Reveal I created three layouts and two treat baskets.

Splish Splash:

A Whale of a Day:

5 Stars:

Treat Baskets: Thanks to Chic' N Scratch for the tutorial on how to make these baskets.

Please stop by the Scrapping Turtle forum to see the fabulous projects created by the other members of the Design Team for this month.

Save The World For Me

2010-02-14T22:48:00.003-05:00

This week is Mellissa's layout challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. She challenged us to use both a colour and a black and white photo on our layout.

I used the adorable Woodland Whimsy line from TPC Studios to create my layout. I handcut several of the pieces and also used some of the embellishments that came with this line. The ribbon between the two owls says "Save The World For Me", which is the title of this layout. I adore these photos of Sammy taken last spring.

Please stop by the Scrapping Turtle forum to see the other creations for this challenge.

You Are My Sunshine

2010-02-08T09:26:00.003-05:00

I created this layout using TPC Studios Woodland Whimsy line -- it is a super adorable line with lots of cute little critters. I haven't used the hedgehogs yet -- saving those for just the right layout LOL. I love this paper line.

In addition to using the fabulous papers, I also used ribbon and dome stickers from this line. I used my Quickutz Chick-A-Dee font for the title.

Journaling reads: "Watching Sara and Sammy together fills my heart with joy. They are devoted to each other. The love they have for each other fills my days with sunshine."

Photos were taken May 23, 2009. Boy did Sam ever have a lot of hair LOL.

American Crafts Glitter Cardstock

2010-02-04T18:16:00.006-05:00

This month's Product of the Month at Scrapping Turtle is a sparkly and shiny one!!!! It's American Crafts Glitter Cardstock!!!!! I loved working with this cardstock. It is very sturdy, cuts well on my Quickutz Revolution (and the Epic too), and very little of the glitter actually comes off onto you (sorry Marissa) or your tools. It comes in a variety of beautiful colours and each sheet is 12x12.

I created a layout using a lot of the glitter cardstock and my Quickutz Clouds, Grass, Flowers and Leaves die, as well as my Katie font. I am sharing two photos of the layout. The first is using a flash so that you can see the sparkle of the cardstock better. The second was taken outside using natural light.

For the month of February American Crafts Glitter Cardstock is on sale at the Scrapping Turtle. Don't forget to pick some up for your scrapping fun!!!! And don't forget to check out the projects created by my fellow DT members using this wonderful product. They are posted on the forum.

February Sneak Peek

2010-02-01T10:20:00.003-05:00

Happy February 1st!!!! It is Sneak Peek day at the Scrapping Turtle so we are able to show off what we are working with this month!!!

This month is Piggy Tales month -- the Design Team is working with three different lines from Piggy Tales. My line is the adorable 5 Little Ducks -- cute papers, rub ons, and adhesive chipboard!!!! I love these papers!!!!!

For my sneak peek I used the "One Day" paper with all of the lilypads as my background. I added some waves using my Quickutz Waves border dies. The photos are mounted on handmade lily pads, as well as the "Far Away" and "Play" papers. I added some Quickutz frogs and some dragonfly brads. The title is cut from American Crafts glitter cardstock using my Quickutz Relax font.

The photos were taken in 2008 at Storybook Gardens. Sara had a great time that day -- as did we!!!

Thanks for looking!!!! Stop by the Scrapping Turtle forum to see the fabulous Sneak Peeks created by my team members!!!!

January Design Team Projects

2010-01-31T23:05:00.008-05:00

For the month of January at the Scrapping Turtle I worked with the delightful American Crafts Blue Skies line. This is a really cute line of double sided papers, rub ons, and embellishments. I really enjoyed working with it.

My sneak peek was a layout called "What A Deer", showcasing Sam just outside of the Scrapping Turtle store in St. Jacob's:

For my reveal I created a single page layout of Sara riding the carousel at Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania. I called it Simply Delighted:

Here is a two page layout of Sammy playing the "Hey! What You Doing?" game that he enjoys with his Daddy. I've also included closeups of each page:

I also created three cards using this cute line:

Tomorrow is Sneak Peek day for the February Design Team layouts. Drop by the Scrapping Turtle forum to see the wonderful layouts we have prepared for your viewing pleasure.

Love Struck Blog Candy

2010-01-31T22:58:00.002-05:00

Would you like a chance to win the limited edition Love Struck Cricut cartridge? Is so, then check out Scrappin N Style. As part of her New Year's Resolution to keep up on her blog, Amy is offering a free Love Struck cartridge.

All you have to do to win is:

1. Follow her blog

2. Post about it on your blog or favorite message board

3. Leave a comment on the post with the link where you posted it and how to contact you if you win

And Amy will be adding to her blog candy for every 5 people past 100 that sign up to be followers. Sounds great to me!!!

Good luck!!!

Bad Blogger

2010-01-30T19:38:00.002-05:00

Oh dear -- I haven't been a very good blogger this month. My computer died on me early in the month and it seems like I've been playing catch up ever since. I purchased a new one out of necessity, but just being offline for a few days threw me way behind. I hope to be a better blogger in February -- fingers are crossed.

I have quite a few things to upload and hope to get to some of them very very soon.

Sorry for being a bad blogger :( I will try to do better.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-01T01:44:00.005-05:00

Wishing that 2010will be a year full of happiness, good health, peace and prosperity for all of us :)

Name Layout Challenge

2009-12-30T23:31:00.004-05:00

Back in November Tracey posted a fantastic challenge for her DT layout challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. We had to create a layout using items related to the letters in a name (we were able to choose whatever name we wanted). I chose the name Heather and this is what I came up with:

H = Heidi Swapp Carefree Pink School Stripe paper

E = eyelets, edge distressor

A = American Crafts paper (flower)

T = Teresa Collins paper (title oval)

H = hearts

E = edge punch

R = Ranger Stickles

Scrapping Turtle Design Team Challenges

2009-12-30T23:02:00.009-05:00

I realized that I didn't post some of the projects I have created for some of the Design Team challenges at the Scrapping Turtle.

Mellissa ran a Tags Galore challenge for several weeks. I had the best of intentions, but life got in the way. Here are two that I created based on a PageMaps sketch:

I created this card based on Vicki's fabulous guest Design Team card sketch:

Tanya gave us a wonderful card sketch to work with and that was the basis for this card:

This card was for Anne Marie's challenge to create a non-traditional Christmas card. That meant we couldn't use the traditional colours:

Marissa challenged us to create a round card. I made mine into an ornament shape:

Anne Marie challenged us to use a sketch by Allison Cope from her So Sketchy site. This is the layout I came up with based on this sketch:

Altered Notebooks

2009-12-28T00:22:00.004-05:00

I created some altered notebooks for a Secret Santa gift for a very special friend of mine. She uses a lot of notebooks in her creating and designing, so I thought it would be wonderful to give her some pretty ones to work with.

I also made her a framed plaque (which I will not be sharing for privacy reasons) that included a photo of her house, her last name done in the Quickutz Katie font, and 'picture' of her and her family created with Stampin' Up's All In The Family stamp set (stick people). She was really touched by my handmade gift.

Happy Christmas Eve!!!

2009-12-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.

I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.

Could it be inks or paper or paste?

Or a stamping kit, I said, with a smile on my face.

And that's when I heard him,

"Hi Santa," I said

"You know....good little girls should be in their beds ".

"I know I should Santa, and now I've been caught.

But I was just so excited to see what you brought."

"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."

He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk.

I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.

You've got enough stuff, I'll see you next year!"

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Turtle Layout Challenge

2009-12-20T17:19:00.004-05:00

This week is my week for a Design Team layout challenge on the forum at the Scrapping Turtle. Since this week is Christmas I opted for a Christmas themed challenge. Choose one of the fabulous Christmas cards posted in the Scrapping Turtle gallery and scraplift it to make a layout. I chose a beautiful card by Audrey that is posted here.

To create my layout I used the Little Yellow Bicycle Christmas line from last year. I'm so glad that I finally used some of this beautiful line. The photo was taken when Sara and Sammy met up with Santa at Southworks a few weeks ago. They were delighted to just 'bump' into him as we were walking through the mall.

Join us over at the Scrapping Turtle to see what my fellow Design Team members created for my challenge. They are fabulous!!!!

December Turtle Reveal Day

2009-12-15T23:30:00.008-05:00

Today was the Design Team Reveal Day at the Scrapping Turtle. This month we worked with lines from Kaisercraft. I've had the pleasure of playing with the Lilac Avenue line. Love it!!!! The double sided papers are beautiful and the embellishments are fabulous!!! There are black and white rub ons, colour rub ons, die cut elements, alpha stickers, embroidered patches, inks, stamps, and brads that coordinate with the line.

In addition to my Sneak Peek from earlier in the month, I created two layouts and a set of three altered items.

Make A Wish:

Products used: Bazzill cardstock, Lilac Avenue Wisteria, Lilac Avenue Die Cut Elements, Kaisercraft Rhinestone Strips (purple), Stampabilities Just Dandy and Dandelion Wish, Copic Markers, Gelly Roll Clear Star pen, Zig marker, Ranger Distress Ink Black Soot, Quickutz Grass border die

Friends:

Products used: Lilac Avenue Sweet Pea, Lilac Avenue Violet, Lilac Avenue Dandelion, Lilac Avenue Snap Dragon, Lilac Avenue Inks (Amethyst and Splice), Lilac Avenue Rub Ons, Lilac Avenue Die Cut Elements, Lilac Avenue Brads, Lilac Avenue Alpha Stickers, Bazzill cardstock, Quickutz Scallop border and Nesting Flowers dies, Bazzill paper flowers, Maya Mist (Amethyst Metallic), Kaisercraft Rhinestone Strips (purple), Zig marker

Friendship Gift Bag:

Products used: Lilac Avenue Lavender, Lilac Avenue Violet, Lilac Avenue Sweet Pea, Lilac Avenue Brad, Bazzill cardstock, Fiskars Treading Water border punch, Epic Six Exclusive Die, Maya Mist (Amethyst Metallic), Quickutz Nesting Circles dies, ribbon from bulk wall

Friendship Gift Bookmark:

Products used: Bazzill cardstock, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Lilac Avenue Ink (Splice), Lilac Avenue Wisteria, Lilac Avenue Sweet Pea, Lilac Avenue Rub Ons

Friendship Gift Tree:

Products used: styrofoam cone, Maya Mist (Amethyst Metallic), Lilac Avenue Lavender, Lilac Avenue Sweet Pea, Lilac Avenue Dandelion, Lilac Avenue Rub Ons, ribbon from the bulk wall, Gelly Roll Clear Star pen, Quickutz Nesting Circles and Nesting Stars dies

I hope you will visit the Scrapping Turtle forum to see what the rest of the DT ladies did with their lines. Fantabulous!!!!

Letterpress Giveaway

2009-12-15T23:17:00.005-05:00

Have you heard about the new Letterpress? It's designed to be used with the new Quickutz Epic 6 tool and involves printing word or designs with ink while debossing the design or words into thick soft paper. It will make your projects look elegant and stylish.

Interested?

Lifestyle Crafts has a fabulous giveaway going on right now. The winner will receive the L Letterpress Combo Kit which includes:

L Letterpress

Epic Six Letterpress and Die-cutting Tool

Clear Packing Mat with Grid

Paper Placement Guides

Ink Base

Brayer

Ten A2 flat cards

Nine Printing Plates

Tube of Black Ink

Circle Cutting Dies

PLUS a custom printing plate valued at $39.99!!!! Isn't that amazing?

Check it out here to find out how you can enter and get up to three chances to win this fantastic giveaway.

QA Cards

2009-12-14T18:51:00.004-05:00

One Saturday per month Lori at the Scrapping Turtle brings us a fabulous Quickutz class for the Quickutz Anonymous members. She creates fantastic layouts, cards and calendar pages using a variety of Quickutz dies -- often finding unique ways to use the die on the projects. I still need to add photos to several of the calendar pages and some of the layouts before I can photograph them, but I do have a few of the recent cards to share with you.

This pretty Autumn card was created in our October class (if I remember correctly). I love how Lori had us use the negative part of the die cut image (tree) for this card.

In November Lori brought us three wonderful cards to create.

This fabulous snowman card used stamped acetate, glitter paper and a Snow Marker that puffs up when you heat it with a heat gun. The sentiment says "Every snowflake brings to mind how special you are - you're one of a kind!". Isn't it a cute card?

This Christmas card is absolutely gorgeous!!! I love how it sparkles and shines. The photo just doesn't do it justice. Like I said, it's gorgeous!!!

I love this fun card using some of the Paper Doll dies from Quickutz. What a unique idea!!! I told you Lori finds creative ways to use the dies --- I never would have thought to use just the legs and feet to create a card, but this one is fabulous!!!!

I haven't yet taken pictures of our December QA class projects. I'll get those up as soon as I do. I'm already looking forward to our next QA class to see what wonderful creations Lori will have for us :) Thanks Lori!!!

December Product Highlight of the Month

2009-12-07T00:34:00.004-05:00

For the month of December the Scrapping Turtle product highlight are the fabulous Maya Mists. I have had some fun playing with the Maya Mists on two projects so far this month. I used Maya Mist for the flowers on my sneak peek layout and I also created this layout that I really love.

I used the negative part of the tree border die cut (Quickutz) as a mask (I actually cut out three of them) and spritzed the white cardstock with the green Maya Mists to create the background trees. I also spritzed the green cardstock to add a little extra sheen. I then attached the green trees to the cardstock so that the Maya Mist trees were like a shadow behind them. I added some snow using my white pen. I finished the layout off with some photos of Sara in the snow and some American Crafts Thickers. I am very pleased with how this layout turned out.

Maya Mists are on sale at the Scrapping Turtle for the entire month of December. Pop in and grab some today.

The Character Cafe

2009-12-05T00:38:00.002-05:00

The Character Cafe is having a blog hop to celebrate the release of their latest images. It is called the 12 Hops of Christmas. The images are all fabulous and the projects all of the ladies have created are wonderful.

To start the blog hop, go to The Character Cafe's store. Read all about the great blog hop and what you need to do to win the fabulous prize that is up for grabs. Then follow the links to hop through the blogs in order until you reach The Character Cafe's blog. Make sure you do all the blogs in the correct order AND leave comments along the way :)

Turtle Sneak Peek

2009-12-04T11:47:00.005-05:00

Today was Sneak Peek day at the Scrapping Turtle. It is usually the first of the month, but this month we extended the anticipation for a few extra days. This month I am working with the beautiful Lilac Avenue line from KaiserCraft. All of the papers are double sided and there are alpha stickers, die cut elements, rub ons (in both black and white and colour), brads, embroidered badges, inks, and stamps to coordinate with the line. KaiserCraft also has bling and flowers too.

Since my wedding colour was purple, I was inspired to create a wedding layout with this line. The flowers were sprayed with Maya Mist to coordinate with the layout. For my sneak peek I used:

Lilac Avenue Snap Dragon
Lilac Avenue Sweet Pea
Lilac Avenue Brads
Lilac Avenue Amethyst Ink
Lilac Avenue Alpha Stickers
KaiserCraft Rhinestones purple
Maya Mist Amethyst Metallic Mist
Bazzill bling cardstock
Bazzill Paper Flowers (Tropical White and Gerb French Vanilla)
Brad from the bulk wall
Quickutz Scallops border, Vine border, and Bride & Groom

Copic markers

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle to see the fabulous Sneak Peeks created by my fellow Design Team members. They all did a fantastic job with their lines!!!

Stampin' Up Workshop

2009-12-02T20:10:00.006-05:00

This past Sunday I hosted a Stampin' Up party with my awesome demonstrator Denise. She designed three great projects for us. We had such a great time together. The projects were fabulous, the company was out of this world, the conversation was uplifting, the snacks were delicious. It was a great afternoon all around.

Check out these great projects that we did.

Isn't this one gorgeous? The colours, those snowflakes. The snowflake circles are heat embossed and look very pretty --- the photo doesn't do them justice.

I love the colours on this card. It is so pretty. I already sent it off to one lucky recipient --- I hope she likes it.

This is a cute Post It note holder. There's a whole pad of Post It Notes inside. Love it!!!!

Thanks to Denise and my wonderful friends (including my Mom) who made my workshop such a great success!!!

Check out Denise's website here.

November Mystery Kit

2009-11-30T23:38:00.004-05:00

I had a fabulous time working with this month's Mystery Kit from the Scrapping Turtle. What an amazing combination of supplies --- such a beautiful kit!!!! Everything you see on this layout was part of the kit, with the exception of the cardstock and the ink. You can't really see it in the photo, but there is clear plastic in the centre of each of the paisleys (on top of the patterned paper).

I call this layout "Relax, Savor, Enjoy" because of the ribbon. That seems, to me, to perfectly describe this photo of my Sara.

November Product Challenge Layout

2009-11-30T18:20:00.002-05:00

I finally created my layout with the November product challenge kit from Two Scrapbook Friends. I really enjoyed this kit using some Scenic Route paper, Sassafras letters, and Bo Bunny dotted cardstock. It was perfect for this photo of Sara playing in the leaves.

House Mouse Shaker Cards

2009-11-28T21:31:00.007-05:00

I was so lucky today!!!! I got to spend part of the day at the Scrapping Turtle with some wonderful friends creating six fantastic cards. I took Bev's amazing House Mouse Shaker card class and had so much fun!!!!! Bev designed fabulous cards that are so much fun to create. We coloured House Mouse stamps with Copic markers (two of my favourite things by the way), heat embossed the corners of the shaker box mats, and created these cute little shaker boxes. Inside each shaker box is some glittery snow. I love them so much I don't want to give them away, but Gary says I have to. I wonder who will get one?

Here are a couple of the cards that we made today, to give you an idea of how amazing Bev is.

Thanks Bev!!!! You rock!!!!

Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-11-26T18:36:00.004-05:00

I love the Muppets and have for as long as I can remember. I have been a fan of the genius of Jim Henson my whole life. My favourite Muppet is Animal, but I truly love them all (well, Miss Piggy isn't exactly at the top of the list).

Here's a fun video of the Muppets doing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (love it!!!!!). You can view it on YouTube here.

Man I love these guys!!!!

(Thanks to Shelley for sharing this)

Thanksgiving Wishes!!!

2009-11-26T16:18:00.005-05:00

Wishing a safe, happy and joy filled Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family in the U.S.!!! I hope your day and your lives are richly blessed.

Although we celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada in October, I'd still like to take a moment to list some things that I'm thankful for. Tara gave me the idea for this. She posted a challenge on her blog for today, asking us to name five things we are grateful for right now.

1. My family --- Gary, Sara and Samuel, my Mom, my brothers and SILs, my cousins, and the rest of my extended family.

2. My friends --- both the ones I see on a regular basis, the ones I only see occasionally, and those I only see online.

3. The support of my family and friends -- I wouldn't be able to get through without you.

4. My Mom surviving her heart attack with such a good prognosis. I am so relieved to still have her with us. Love you Mom!!!

5. Most importantly --- my Lord and Saviour, without whom none of this would be possible. He is my rock, my strength, and my salvation. I love you Lord!!!

God bless you all!!!

Projects

2009-11-24T00:40:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to post these for awhile, but it kept slipping my mind. I created these projects in August for my Design Team application at the Scrapping Turtle. I tried to use a lot of Quickutz on my projects. I was accepted to the team, so I guess my projects were a hit LOL.

Layouts:

Card:

Altered Project (I love this paint can):

Blog Candy

2009-11-23T20:21:00.001-05:00

Crafty Dragons is celebrating her first Design Team post with some yummy blog candy. Check it out and find out how to qualify for your chance to win by going to her blog here.

Rusty Pickle Digi Stamps

2009-11-23T19:51:00.003-05:00

Did you know that Rusty Pickle has a fabulous line of digi stamps? You can see them all here. They also have their first ever Design Team for their digital stamps and are doing a special giveaway to celebrate the DT reveal. It is happening today, tomorrow and Wednesday. You can start at my friend Billie's blog and follow the links to all of the other fabulous blogs to see what they've done with these wonderful digi stamps.

Have fun!!!!

Have You Visited?

2009-11-17T10:48:00.005-05:00

Our Spooktacular Friday the 13th online crop at the Scrapping Turtle? We have challenges, games and a great make and take. The crop is ongoing all this week, so please pop in and join in the fun.

I have two games and three challenges in the crop. My first challenge is the Harley Inspiration challenge. I have posted two Harley Davidson ads for inspiration. You get one ballot for completing a project based on one of the ads, two ballots if you do a project for each ad. I did a layout for the first ad and a card for the second ad.

My second challenge is It's All About Colour. You must create a project using only black, white, pink, blue and silver -- and there must be something metallic on your project as well. I used metallic silver ribbon and silver paper on my card. I used my Threading Water punch on this card.

My third challenge is the Punch It challenge. You must use at least three punches on your project. Here is the card I created as an example. I love this pumpkin stamp by Art Gone Wild.

I am still working on the challenges posted by my fellow Design Team members. Good thing I have the rest of the week to complete them LOL. So far I have completed Mellissa' Layout Sketch challenge. She posted a layout and added the requirements of black and white photo and the colours orange and black. There is a bonus for using Basic Grey paper. I used Basic Grey Indian Summer for my layout, along with lots of Bazzill cardstock, Doodlebug alpha stickers, and my Quickutz Bracket border and Nesting Leaf dies.

Please join us in the forum and give some of the challenges a try. We'd love to see what you create.

November Design Team Reveal

2009-11-16T13:48:00.009-05:00

Yesterday was the big reveal day for our November Design Team work at the Scrapping Turtle. I had a lot of fun playing with the Fancy Pants Little Sprout line. I still have lots of supplies left over so I'm not done creating with it yet.

Here are my projects for this month:

Three layouts:

A wall hanging:

And a card:

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle to see what my fellow Design Team members designed with their kits this month.

November DT Kit

2009-11-15T00:09:00.004-05:00

Well here it is the 15th of November and that means it is Reveal day for the Scrapping Turtle Design Team's November projects. I was thinking about that when it suddenly hit me --- I forgot to post my sneak peek from the 1st here on the blog. So before my reveal is ... well ... revealed, here is my sneak peek.

This month I have had so much fun playing with the adorable Little Sprout line from Fancy Pants. I love these fabulous double sided papers. The line also includes title strips, stickers, journaling cards, ribbon, rub ons, and fantastic glitter cuts. Love it!!!!!

Here is my sneak peek:

In addition to the patterned papers, I used Bazzill cardstock, a glitter cut, and my Quickutz Scallop border die. I hand cut the flower and pop dotted it on the page. I alsto hand cut the journaling block from one of the journaling cards and pop dotted it.

Remember

2009-11-11T14:53:00.006-05:00

Thank you.

To all those who have fought for our freedom and made this country the great one that it is today.

Thank you.

For the sacrifices you made so that we may know freedom and democracy.

Thank you.

For protecting us.

Thank you.

For giving your all in service of your country.

Thank you.

To our veterans and to those currently serving in the protection of our freedom.

God bless you all.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 8

2009-11-08T19:11:00.003-05:00

Carolyn gave us another wonderful challenge this week at the Scrapping Turtle. She called this one "Something".

We were required to use:

1. something inky

2. something see through

3. something shiny

4. something purple

5. something Reminisce

For my layout to meet the challenge requirements, I

1. inked the edges of the papers, including the torn edge of the title piece

2. used a Little Yellow Bicycle Clear Cut over one of the photos

3. added Stickles to the title, used a Clear Cut with glitter, and used paper that was shiny

4. used papers that had purple in them, used ribbon with a purple edge

5. used Reminisce I Want Candy and Spooktacular papers

Here is the card I made with my scraps. I also used a Hero Arts stamp:

Thanks for the challenge Carolyn!!!!

Belated Banner

2009-11-08T00:06:00.003-05:00

I put this little Boo Banner together using a Little Yellow Bicycle kit. It was easy peasy to put together and took basically no time at all. I had it done weeks before Halloween and knew exactly where I was going to put it. I set it aside in a safe place, planning on putting it up a few days before Halloween.

Well, it has now been a week since Halloween and I'm sad to say that I only rediscovered this safe place about twenty minutes ago. Needless to say, I forgot to hang up my banner :( So I'm sharing it here and putting it safely away with the decorations for next year. LOL

Spooktacular Online Crop

2009-11-05T18:43:00.001-05:00

Scrapping Turtle is having an online crop. I hope you will join us.

Scenic Route Mini Album

2009-11-05T08:53:00.007-05:00

The product highlight this month at the Scrapping Turtle are the fabulous Scenic Route Chipboard albums. Each member of the Design Team worked with one of these albums to showcase what you can do with it. Today was my "reveal" day for my mini in the forum and on the blog. You can view the blog post here. Check out the creations of the rest of the Design Team while you are there -- some were posted prior to mine and two more will be added over the next two days.

I created a mini album of Sara's first month using the 7" Circle Worn Grid Chipboard Album. I combined it with the October Afternoon Ducks In A Row line --- which includes papers, Alpha stickers, Label Stickers, Journal Cards, and Word Stickers.

Page one: Bazzill cardstock, OA Alpha Stickers outlined with Zig marker. I traced a chipboard flower and cut it out of the OA paper. The ring is wrapped with ribbon from the bulk wall.

Page two: Bazzill cardstock and Quickutz Journaling Block die. I hand cut the ducks from the OA paper.

Page three: Bazzill cardstock, flowers, brad and ribbon from the bulk wall, OA journal tag and sticker. I created a little pocket for the journaling tag to slide in and out of.

Here is the tag:

Page four: Prima Little Darlings Lamb, OA sticker.

Page five: Prima Fabric Words, Bazzill cardstock, Quickutz Cloud border die.

Page six: Chatterbox Eclectique Chipboard Layers (wings), OA Alpha Stickers outlined with Zig marker, Quickutz Cloud border die.

Page seven: One of Daddy's favourite photos --- Sara with the remote!!!! Bazzill cardstock, letters cut from OA paper, Colorbox Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan, Quickutz Arrows die.

Page eight: Ribbon from bulk wall woven into paper, OA sticker, Basic Grey Bling It heart, Bazzill cardstock.

Page nine: Bazzill cardstock, OA Alpha Stickers outlined with Zig marker, Quickutz Footprints die.

Page ten: I traced the shape of the Prima packaging to create the photo mat. Flowers and brads are from the bulk wall.

These albums come in a variety of shapes that can easily be mixed and matched to create a unique mini album, perfect for gift giving or a special keepsake. They are reasonably priced at $4.99 to $8.99, but for the month of November they are on sale for 30% off at the Scrapping Turtle. Get yours today!!!

Free Jessica Sprague Class

2009-11-02T09:21:00.003-05:00

Check this out:

Information on how to register for this free class can be found here.

I'll be there, hope you will join me :)

Have a Safe and Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T11:12:00.003-04:00

More Stamping Up Cards

2009-10-30T00:34:00.007-04:00

Earlier this month Mom and I did a Stamping Up card class at Denise's house, along with my friends Marissa and Ria. It was sooooo much fun!!!!!! One can't help but have fun when the Divas are in the house :) We made three fabulous cards and had a great day!!!!

I love the cupcakes on this one. You can't tell from the picture, but they are pop dotted. I love the colour combination on this one too.

This one was fun to do. I am in love with the punch we used and now have it on my wish list. Bunching up the ribbon was ... well ... tedious ... but now I know how to do it so I hope to use that technique again.

I love all the folds on this card. It looks great folded up and great unfolded. Love it!!!!

Thanks ladies!!!! We're looking forward to doing it again in November :)

Please take a moment to check out Denise's website here. I know she'd be delighted to help you out with all of your Stamping Up needs :)

October Stamper's Club

2009-10-29T00:41:00.006-04:00

I recently began discovering the wonderful world of Stamping Up, thanks to my friend Denise who is a demonstrator. My Mom and I have taken several classes with Denise so far and plan on taking them on a regular basis. I'm really enjoying being able to spend several hours at Denise's house creating some fabulous cards and socializing without any pressure. I still have to photograph some of the cards that we've made with Denise (from the monthly card class), but I do have the most recent ones we made photographed and ready to post.

Last Wednesday we went for our first Stamper's Club. We made three cards while we were there and had a wonderful time visiting with Denise.

We made this cute little candy holder, complete with M&M's (Yummy!!!). Denise taught us how to use the Round Tab punch to create the bats. I fell in love with the Batty For You stamp set and had to add it to my collection.

As part of the Stamper's Club we learn a new technique each month. This month we had a lot of fun with the Marbles Technique to create this fabulous background for our Halloween card. Denise also taught us how to create the mats for the stamps with a punch. I love how this card looks -- and it uses the cute Batty For You stamp set too!!!

We used a beautiful snowflake stamp to stamp the background for this Merry Christmas card. The white snowflakes look so pretty with the Elegant Eggplant cardstock. We used the Patterned Pines stamp for the trees -- love how elegant they look stamped in white.

I'm already looking forward to our next class with Denise. Check out her website here.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 7

2009-10-28T18:53:00.003-04:00

Carolyn posted another wonderful challenge for the Economic Stimulus Challenge this week on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I had a lot of fun doing this one!!!!

Our requirements this week were:

1. Daisy Bucket patterned paper

2. 3 or more buttons

3. ribbon

4. letter stickers

5. stamped item

I used the A Wondrous Word line from Daisy Bucket. I love this line, but I hadn't yet gotten around to using it. Thanks to this challenge I found the inspiration I needed to put it to good use. I used five buttons on the border strip at the bottom. I made a ribbon bow for the tree. The letter stickers were used to do Sara and Sam's names under the photo. For the stamped item I used the Daisy Bucket Dainty Swirl stamp on either side of my title piece. The fabulous photo was taken by Kim Munro (love it!!!!).

Here is the card I created with my scraps:

Thanks for another fabulous challenge Carolyn!!!!

Halloween Layout Challenge

2009-10-27T23:31:00.004-04:00

This is my week for posting a challenge on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I had to do a layout challenge and since it is almost Halloween I thought what better than a Halloween inspired layout challenge.

I found this fabulous Halloween image from B.J. WebArt to use as inspiration for my challenge. The layout doesn't have to be of Halloween, but it does have to include the colour orange and at least one photo turn. The photo turn is for my friend Wendy who won a fabulous American Crafts giveaway at the Scrapping Turtle, which including 416 photo turns LOL.

Here is the layout I created for my challenge:

I used Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, Ranger Stickles, photo turns from the bulk wall at the store, an owl cut from a paper in the Dream Street Sam line, and Quickutz dies (Tree border, Tombstone and Cat, Haunted House, and two different Pumpkin dies).

I hope you will give my challenge a try and let me know where I can see your layouts.

House Mouse Christmas Cards

2009-10-27T02:09:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking one of Bev's fabulous House Mouse card classes at the Scrapping Turtle. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work, but so worth it. I love the cards I made :) I learned a lot about colouring with my Copic markers, got to do some heat embossing, made six fabulous cards, and spent time with some wonderful people. I'm looking forward to taking another one of Bev's card classes in November --- after I recover from this one LOL. Thanks Bev!!!! I had a great time :)

Aren't they fabulous?

Spooky

2009-10-26T12:45:00.003-04:00

Each month Two Scrapbook Friends puts together a Product Challenge Kit. Participants are required to take the products in the kit, create a layout and post it in the gallery. At the end of the month one layout is chosen to win a gift certificate.

This month we were given some papers from the Eerie line by Basic Grey, ribbon, black cardstock, an embossed spider and embossed bats. Here is the layout I created with those products:

I cut out the spider and the bats, and sanded the spider. I added the spider webs in the corners using white ink and an Inkadinkado stamp. I added some highlighting dots to the title. The photo is of Sara Trick or Treating last year.

Can't wait to get photos this year :)

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 6

2009-10-25T00:30:00.003-04:00

This week Carolyn brought us the Economic Stimulus challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. Kim is away on a fabulous vacation and Carolyn very kindly offered to step up. She gave us a great challenge, but it was certainly a challenge. I had a struggle with deciding what to do for this one.

This week we had to use:

1. Karen Foster patterned paper

2. charm or plastic/metal token

3. Quickutz other than font

4. two different colours of cardstock

5. flower embelishment

The only Karen Foster paper I was able to find was this bandana paper. I trimmed around the outside edge so that the cardstock would show. The charm is a rocking horse -- the only one I could find that related to this paper (most of my charms are baby related). For Quickutz I used the Rocking Horse and the Lucky Horseshoe (as well as the Holiday font). I actually used three different colours of cardstock. The flower embellishment is from Pink Paislee.

Thanks Carolyn!!!!

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 5

2009-10-22T00:36:00.003-04:00

Kim brought us another fabulous challenge for week five of the Economic Stimulus Challenge on the Scrapping Turtle forum.

In order to get all five ballots we had to use:

1. polka dot patterned paper

2. Crate Paper patterned paper

3. zig zag edge

4. at least 3 eyelets

5. alcohol ink

Bonus ballots were given for creating a card using our scraps and for using something from the Design Team Tips and Techniques on the forum.

You cannot see this in the photo, but two of the Crate Paper papers that I used have tiny polka dots on them. I used papers from the Mia line from Crate Paper. The zig zag edge is on the flower stem. I used four eyelets on the photo mat (one is hidden) and threaded the twine through them. I used a bottle cap technique from the DT Tips and Techniques thread and flattened out the bottle cap. Then I inked it with alcohol inks --- it was originally orange and is now a combination of Cranberry, Lettuce and Ginger. The fabulous photo was taken by Kim Munro.

To create my cute little tag card I used a tutorial by Brenda Rowe on the Scrapping Turtle forum. The tutorial was about making a tag from double sided papers. I opted to make a card rather than a tag, but the technique came from Brenda.

Thanks for another great week of the Economic Stimulus Kim!!!!

Scrapping Turtle Challenges

2009-10-19T00:36:00.003-04:00

Each week at the Scrapping Turtle the Design Team posts a challenge. We take turns creating the challenge and posting it to the group.

Last week Tracey posted her card challenge. She challenged all of us to use embossing (dry or heat) on our cards. I opted to use my newest Quickutz embossing folder, a cute Christmas tree, and some Coredinations cardstock. After embossing I sanded the embossed image and decorated it with Ranger Stickles. It certainly sparkles :)

This week Marissa has challenged us to use a fabulous sketch by Allison Cope. Ally creates amazing sketches that are wonderfully inspiring. Check out her blog here. I used the sketch and some old papers I found in my stash to create my layout. I cut out a large pumpkin for the circle part of the sketch and coloured it with my Copic markers. The pumpkin border is a Bazzill Just The Edge Halloween border, coloured with Copic markers. I used a stamp by Inkadinkado for the flourishes. The font is Quickutz Holiday font (left over from the last QA class, which is why I mixed upper and lower case letters -- I also thought it looked fun).

Please join us on the Scrapping Turtle forum to see what the rest of the Design Team created for these challenges and to join us for these and future weekly challenges.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 4

2009-10-18T09:57:00.004-04:00

I am running a week behind in posting my creations so I need to play catch up over the next few days.

Kim gave us another fabulous challenge for week 4 of the Economic Stimulus Challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. In order to get all of the ballots for week 4 we had to use:

1. American Crafts patterned paper

2. SEI patterned paper

3. 5 brads

4. fabric

5. Quickutz

We also received a bonus ballot for creating a card with our scraps.

"Little Bird" meets all of the requirements. The cage paper is American Crafts and the light blue paper behind the photos is SEI (it didn't photograph well). There are five brads on the bird cage paper. For the fabric, I cut apart some fabric leaves for the bird to stand on. The bird is a Quickutz Bird die.

Here is the card I created:

Thanks for another fun challenge Kim!!!! This is great!!!

October Design Team Reveal

2009-10-17T22:22:00.005-04:00

I had so much fun playing with my Scrapping Turtle October Design Team kit. I had the privilege of playing with Dream Street's Sam line --- Love it!!!!! It is great for Autumn layouts, has adorable little owls, has matching chipboard and rub ons, AND it has the same name as my sweet little man. How could I not love it? LOL

"What A Hoot" showcases photos of Sammy at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. We plopped him down amongst these beautiful Autumn coloured mum plants. He thought it was hilarious!!!! The 'What A Hoot' title piece was cut from one of the patterned papers. The phrase 'Whoo-Hoo' is one of the rub ons that match the line and the frame around it is one of the chipboard pieces (it originally said School Is Cool, so I cut the centre out to create a frame). There are three chipboard pieces below the photos as well. In the centre of the photos I used two tiles from Technique Tuesday, which I had painted with Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Pine Needles. The Autumn trees were created using my Quickutz Trees die. I cut the medium and large owls from two of the patterned papers to add to the trees. The two small owls are rub ons. The loops and ribbon are from the bulk wall at the Scrapping Turtle.

"Give Thanks" displays a photo of Sara saying grace at supper time. She started saying grace with us when she was two and now says it independently. She keeps it short right now ("Bless this food, amen"), but she knows that we can't have a meal without it. The photo corners, journaling piece, and small flowers are chipboard pieces that match the paper line. The rub on in the corner also matches the paper line. I added Kaiser Craft rhinestones to the three chipboard flowers. The scalloped edge was created with my Quickutz Scallop border. The title is also a Quickutz die. The flowers in the bottom left corner were created using Quickutz Trees and Turkey dies (the feathers were used as petals), as well as Technique Tuesday tiles which I inked then painted with Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy.

"Monkey Boy" is one of my favourite layouts. When I saw the leaf ribbon in my kit I immediately thought of it as a vine that monkeys could be hanging from in the jungle. Then I found the fabulous Prima Dancing Monkey in the store. I knew I had to include it on a layout. To create the background I cut two different kinds of leaves out of two different colours of green cardstock using my Quickutz Tropical Leaves die. At first I was only going to have them form a small frame around the photo, but I kept adding more until I had the thick frame that I was then able to mount my monkeys on. I used the Quickutz Anime monkey to make the two monkeys on the vine, as well as the monkey heads that the two 'o's in my title are mounted on. The title is created with American Crafts Thickers. My journaling was done on a Jillibean Soup Journaling Sprout. Thanks to Cindy who showed me that the Tropical Leaves die could be used to form a background for the animal dies -- I was inspired to move her idea even further to make it a complete frame).

My fellow Design Team members did a fabulous job with their kits as well this month. We'd love for you to join us in the Scrapping Turtle forum so that you can see the wonderful creations that were revealed this month by the team. Also keep an eye on the blog where the reveals should be posted very soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

2009-10-12T10:11:00.002-04:00

Happy Day

2009-10-11T11:56:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday to my little man!!! Can't believe you are two already!!!! Where did the time go? I think Mommy will be doing a lot of hugging today :(

October 11, 2007

Last week at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The Original Scrapbox Giveaway

2009-10-08T11:20:00.003-04:00

Would you love to win a Workbox from The Original Scrapbox? I know I would!!!!

Enter today (last day). There are ten blogs you can visit in order to enter and lots of ways to earn extra entries.

Good luck!!!

5 Products 5 People

2009-10-07T00:19:00.004-04:00

I participated in a fun little 5 Products 5 People challenge on The Scrapping Nook forum. We received in the mail five products and had to use them all on a creation. I chose to use them to make this card for my Mom (yes I was a little late getting it to her).

I painted the large pendant (Spellbinders) with Worn Lipstick Distress Crackle Paint (which is the product highlight for October at the Scrapping Turtle). The smaller pendant was spritzed with Maya Mist and pop dotted to the large one. I then layered the two green flowers on top. I wasn't sure what to do with the Maya Road clear ribbon, then decided to try bunching it for the ribbon border. That was trickier than I expected it to be, but it turned out okay (it isn't actually crooked, it just photographed that way). I attached the butterfly, then stamped the sentiment with a Studio G stamp. Inside I printed a poem for my Mom --- love you Mom!!!!

October Product Highlight

2009-10-06T20:11:00.005-04:00

Each month at the Scrapping Turtle we highlight a different product. The Design Team creates projects featuring that product and the store offers it to customers for 15% off.

For the month of October we are highlighting the fabulous Ranger Distress Crackle Paints. Love these paints!!!! The effect makes such a huge difference on the finished project.

I decided to create a card for my Crackle Paint project. I used my Quickutz Picket Fence border die and painted it with the Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint. The trees are Maya Road chipboard. I painted the trunks with Vintage Photo Distress Crackle Paint and the tops with Pine Needles Distress Crackle Paint. I stamped the We R Memory Keepers house onto a separate piece of cardstock, then cut it out and pop dotted it to the card. I added a couple of dots of Stickles for the hinges on the gate.

I think this is one of my most favourite cards.

A close up of the fence:

Close up of the trees:

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle blog to see the fabulous projects created by my fellow Design Team members.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 3

2009-10-05T12:32:00.005-04:00

Kim gave us another fabulous challenge this week at the Scrapping Turtle for the Economic Stimulus. Each week she has been giving us a list of things to include in a layout and for each one we include we get a ballot for a surprise. This week was another great list, along with two ways to get a bonus ballot -- make a card with the scraps AND use a turtle sketch for the layout.

This week Kim was looking for:

1. Basic Grey patterned paper

2. My Mind's Eye patterned paper

3. chipboard shape

4. bling

5. stamping

I used the Basic Grey Archaic line and the My Mind's Eye Abbey Road Stomp line to create my layout of Sam at the Waterloo Region Children's Museum. As you can see, he wasn't overly thrilled to meet this big fellow. I stamped the footprints around the outside of the paper using my Basic Grey Archaic stamps. The title "Roar" is Maya Road chipboard, which I inked. I used some Kaiser Craft rhinestones on the title and on the dinosaur that I hand cut from the paper. The arrow is also from Kaiser Craft. Thank you to Vicki Murray for the fabulous sketch posted on the Turtle forum which I used for inspiration for this layout.

Here is my bonus card that uses scraps from the papers I used on the layout, as well as another stamp from the Basic Grey Archaic stamp set. The "happy birthday to you" is a Studio G stamp.

Thanks Kim for a great challenge!!! I'm having a lot of fun with the Economic Stimulus!!!!

Mellissa's Challenge

2009-10-04T13:46:00.004-04:00

Mellissa's Design Team layout challenge at the Scrapping Turtle this week involves using a lot of shapes on your layout --- circles, triangles, rectangles, etc.

I was inspired to scrap this photo of Sara playing dress up in her witch's costume. This isn't her Halloween costume for this year. We actually picked it up at a used store some time ago so that she could play dress up, but it needed some repairs. My Mom had it at her house for awhile and just brought it back this week. Sara immediately put it on and modeled for us.

The background paper is from Paper Pizzazz. The bracket was cut from a Halloween paper I had in my stash (I can't remember the manufacturer -- Rusty Pickle? Jenni Bowlin? not sure) -- I also used it to mat the photo. I cut the diamonds and the triangles using Little Yellow Bicycle. I punched circles from a Halloween paper by The Paper Company. The title words were cut from a Little Yellow Bicycle paper. I added some Kaiser Craft rhinestones and some doodling.