Winner, Winner!!

It's New Year's Eve!!  I can't believe an entire year has come and gone so quickly! I have some happy, scrappy news to announce - the winner of my December Blog Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who left me your wonderful comments and thank you to all who come to visit me - I adore creating and it makes me so happy when others are inspired by what I do!

Okay - the winner of this month's giveaway is...  KATHERINE B!!

Katherine B said...

oooh an early Christmas! I've been a long time follower and lurker :):) so....happy holidays!

December 2, 2011 7:23 PM

Congratulations Katherine! If you could please send me off an email (torrjorr[at]gmail[dot]com) with your address I'll get these goodies off to you ASAP!!

Happy New Year to everyone tonight!! My wish is for a happy and healthy 2012!

New Years Inspirations with Graphic 45 & Petaloo

The Graphic 45 Design Team had the opportunity to team up with Petaloo all this week to create some festive Advent Calendars.  I had originally planned something TOTALLY different but ended up with what you see below.

I remember as a child, my great grandmother would get us these beautiful advents with such intricate designs and photos. When you opened a door, the most amazing, translucent image was revealed - and covered in glitter! I loved especially holding these up to the windows as they would give off a certain glow. My kids' advents have been replaced with very themed images like Star Wars, Barbie, etc and under each window you will now find a small piece of chocolate!

I wanted to try something a little out of the box with this one... To me, the joy in the advent itself is to count the days down until Christmas and with each day, a small reward or gift is revealed - which can be anything really! I decided to create 24 Christmas Crackers, in which a small toy, treasure, riddle, photo, poem or treat could be placed.

Thanks so much for your visit today!!

Supplies:
Graphic 45 Patterned Paper:
Joyous Noel, A Christmas Carol, Merry and Bright, Believe, Special Delivery: Christmas Emporium Collection
Timely Point of View: A Proper Gentleman Collection
Goblin Gazette: The Magic of Oz Collection
Jabberwocky: Hallowe'en in Wonderland Collection
Flying High: Le Cirque Collection
The Three R's, Bedtime Stories, Calico Kids: An ABC Primer Collection
Graphic 45 Tags 1: Christmas Emporium Collection
Graphic 45 Staples: Alphabet Stickers
Petaloo Darjeeling Collection
Hydrangea
Poppy Mix
Sage Green Assorted
Zinnia Mix
Dahlia Mix
Medium Mix
Anemone Mix
Darjeeling Petites
May Arts: Ribbon
Scrapbook Adhesives: 3D Foam Squares
Fiskars: Postage Stamp Punch
Martha Stewart: Border Punch
Aleene's: Tacky Glue

Nothing but a Memory

Happy Boxing Day! The design team at 7 Dots Studio was challenged to think about our New Year’s resolutions and to-do lists and how we could incorporate journaling in our projects.

Not sure if you are aware or not, but since the end of October, I’ve been having some pretty major health issues effecting my heart and lungs. It has been so very frustrating for me as I’ve undergone test after test and seen so many specialists who were trying to figure out what was causing the problem of it making it difficult for me to breathe. 

There are 5 pages written up in detail (which I’ll spare you the details) of my ups and downs over the course of the past little while.  In summary, it seems as though some kind of nasty virus decided to camp out in my heart and lungs and is finally making its way out.  It will still take many months for my body to heal, but I think everything will work itself out in the end...

Some detail shots of the beautiful coordinating stickers and elements from the Dreamer Collection.

More detail shots.  The hinges are not just for decoration.  When opened they reveal inside pockets with journal pages which document my journey for the past few months. 

Here is what the inside of the layout looks like.  The right side reveals my list of "To Do's" once I am feeling 'better'...

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with friends and family.

Dear Santa...

Snapped a few shots of my wee one writing a letter to Santa. 

Just loved the warm tones mixed with the cool blues found in Bo Bunny's Snowfall collection.

The design team was asked to focus on 'Brads' on their projects so for my layout, I peeled off the stickers on some of the brads to reveal a bare, almost copper-like embellishment, which I thought coordinated especially well with all the brown tones.

For some of the other brads, I kept as is like these glitter ones.

Thanks for your visit today! Only a few more sleeps!

You & Me

I wanted to share this layout I created for 7 Dots Studio using their beautiful Elise Rebel Collection.

My inner girly-girl was calling so I knew I had to create a project with lots of pink and lots of frilly stuff. I had originally decided upon a photo of my daughter and I that I was going to use for this project, but opted for this lovey-dovey pic snapped this summer of my and me husband (we are rarely in photos together as I am normally the one with the camera). I love all the sentiments on the stickers and elements for the Elise Rebel collection. They can work so well for a romantic type layout as well as one for general love and even more – so versatile!

 The beautiful flowers and pearl flourishes are from ZVA Creative.

7Dots Studio Supplies:
Elise Rebel:12×12 Elements
Elise Rebel: 12×12 Stickers
Elise Rebel: 6×12 Stickers
Elise Rebel Patterned Paper: Overemotional, Sensitive, Superstitious
Other Supplies:
ZVA Creative Pearl Flourishes and Flowers
EK Success: Border Punch
Misc: Doilies, White Journaling pen, paper piercer

Thanks for your visit today!

December Zva Blog Hop Winners Announced!

We'd like to congratulate the FIVE December Zva CreativeBlog Hop winners! Their names will be found on the following blogs:

Jolanda Meurs
Nicole Martel
Robin Shakoor
Carole Maurin
Lisa Gregory

One winner from each of the 5 blogs will receive a Zva prize package worth $30.00. Congrats winners!

Zva Creative December DT Blog Hop!

Zva Creative and our talented Design Team welcomes you to join us for our December Design Team blog hop!

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals. We want to make sure that they shine bright for you, so each designer was asked to share a creation using a specific color or color combination on their blog hop project. If you like what you see, you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

The Blog Hop begins at Windy Robinson's blog. She will have the complete list of all the participating blogs in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play along, just follow along the blog path. I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

Hidden on FIVE of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

The Blog Hop starts today, December 19th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, December 20th.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 21st on each of the five winning blogs. The full list will be found on Windy Robinson's blog as well. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday... plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize! To increase your chances of winning:

* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)
* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)
* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products. If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.

So you have FOUR chances on each blog to win one of our FIVE prizes! That's a lot of chances to win!

My project today depicts a photo of me having an everyday moment I suppose during an ordinary day.  I love the simplicity of it and wanted to share something as plain as getting ready in the morning can be just as captivating as a gorgeous photo shot in a professionally set up photoshoot.  I was inspired by Vanessa Carleton's song "Just an Ordinary Day".

The colours I used this month were a combination of cream and green so I layered some of the self adhesive crystals upon the flowers and leaves to help them stand out a little better.

The papers I used for this layout are from Bo Bunny's Welcome Home collection.
The blog hop begins here at Windy Robinson's blog. Your next stop is Lisa Somerville.

Thank you for joining us! Happy Holidays!

P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again on January 30th for our next Zva blog hop!

ZVA Supplies:
Self Adhesive Pearls: PES 03CB 104
Self Adhesive Crystals: CR 03CA 115
Self Adhesive Crystals: CR 03CA 120
Flowers: FL 04CA 127
Flowers: FL 04CA 129
Leaves: FL 04CA 111
Bulk 3D Rose Blossoms in various sizes of white and green

Believe Mini Album & Altered Art Box

It is high time for another Challenge from 7 Dots Studios; “Cultural Extras”. This time, the air is full of Christmas, and so are our inspirational projects!  What are your traditions, your feelings about Christmas time? What are your first thoughts about it? Our talented Designers are from all around the world, so we are sure that our points of view are a bit different… so let’s take a look into each others the Christmas preparations!

Every year our family puts up all three of our christmas trees and decorates them together! Its so fun but a little chaotic at times. We decided to let the kids have 'their' own tree and mommy can have 'her' tree - that way everyone wins - LOL! I used one of Graphic 45's Altered Art boxes so I've designed a lovely box in which the mini album can be kept.  Here is the altered art box and mini album together.

Here is the inside flap of the box before you open to the mini album inside.

The neat album that comes with the box is a neato accordian album with a total of 8 pages front and back.

Thanks for your visit today!

7 Dots Studio Supplies:
Elise Rebel: 12x12 Stickers
Elise Rebel: 6x12 Stickers
Elise Rebel: 12x12 Elements
Elise Rebel Patterned Paper: Delightful, Sensitive
Dreamer: Night's Fever, City Lights
Dreamer: 12x12 Elements
Dreamer: 6x12 Stickers
Other Supplies:
Graphic 45 5x5 Altered Art Box
Misc: Doily, ribbon, twine, button

Graphic 45 & May Arts Blog Hop - Final Day!

Graphic 45 and May Arts are teaming up for a super fun blog hop December 12-16th! There will be tons of inspiration, fabulous prizes, incredible crafts and so much more! Behold the magic that happens when Graphic 45 vintage-inspired papers and embellishments join forces with gorgeous May Arts ribbons! Our design teams are going all out to bring you the most enchanting crafts! You'll discover lots of fabulous new ideas to inspire your holiday season! Have fun and get inspired every day of this fantastic blog hop with Graphic 45 and May Arts!

Want to learn more about Graphic 45 and May Arts? Here's some fun information about these two fantastic crafting companies!

Graphic 45 an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company­ - owned and operated by a mother and her two daughters. Together we create vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920's and 30's - with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that's both fresh and familiar. Let our products inspire your next scrapbook layout, card, album, altered art project, or home decor DIY project.

May Arts is a ribbon wholesaler, based in Riverside, Connecticut, serving over 16,000 customers worldwide. We offer an exceptional selection of ribbons, including sheer, satin, grosgrain, silk and a variety of patterns and prints. We also maintain a steady stock of inventory so that orders can be fulfilled immediately. As one of the country’s leading wholesalers of decorative ribbons, May Arts has been providing superior products and the highest level of customer service for over 25 years.

There are lots of exciting chances to win terrific prizes! We are giving away this wonderful prize pack that contains a Tropical Travelogue 12x12 paper pad, coordinating chipboard die-cuts 1 & 2 and some gorgeous May Arts Ribbon!

It's easy to enter to win this awesome prize. Just hop on over to each of the blogs listed below and leave a comment! You'll discover some super inspiring crafts, learn some fun crafting techniques, and maybe even win a great prize!

Today I'd love to share with you some treat jars I created using Graphic 45's Christmas Emporium Papers and some of May Art's gorgeous ribbons.

I love to alter various finds from thrift stores and even old items from around the house that I either don't use or that need a little pick me up! I found this darling flour box at a thrift store for $0.50 and decided to alter it with a combination of Christmas Past and Christmas Emporium Papers from Graphic 45.

What was once a plain flour box was easily transformed into a vintage treat jar with a little help from Graphic 45's beautiful papers and metal staples and elegant ribbon from May Arts!

Today's line up of wonderful inspiration:
Tara Orr - http://eachmoment-onlyonce.blogspot.com/
Kimberly Jones - http://serendipityvintagestudio.blogspot.com/
Nancy Wethington - http://art-from-the-heart.typepad.com/
Peggy Cain - http://www.createwithbubbe.blogspot.com/
Nicole Eccles - http://www.nicoleeccles.blogspot.com/
Vera Yates - http://www.lingshappyplace.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for hopping by today!  A random comment will be chosen from one of our design team member's blogs and announced on Monday, December 19th! There's also an exclusive Facebook prize! Check out the Graphic 45 Facebook page and leave a comment for your chance to win!  Good Luck!

Photo Bucket Issues

Hi All!  If you haven't already noticed, there are SEVERAL bare spots on my site right now where photos SHOULD be.... Apparently, I'm having some issues with Photobucket.  I hope to have these fixed ASAP - please bare with me..... Thank you!

Holiday Gift Tutorials

Hi Gang! I have a few super duper easy tutorials to share with you all today!  Ok, are you ready for the easiest tutorial in the universe!?  PERFECT for the holidays and super quick!

You can find these 'hoops' at any local craft store - even some dollar stores carry them.

Select your favourite Bo Bunny Trinkets and simply slide them onto the hoop.

You've just created the coolest wine charms ever!

Wine Charms
Supplies
Bo Bunny Trinkets: Blitzen

Ok, since that was just way too easy, I thought I'd do another one!! Again, this is SUPER de DOOPER easy and Quick! (who doesn't like quick when we're all rushing around right before the holidays right!?) These little sacs take no time to make and are perfect for those tiny treasures, gift cards, potpourri - anything you like!

Burlap Gift Sacs
Supplies
Bo Bunny Layered Chipboard: Father Christmas, Blitzen
Bo Bunny Buttons: Blitzen

That's all for today - I hope you enjoyed today's tutorials!  See you tomorrow!

Remember These??

Do you remember these things? I remember having an absolute blast with these little paper creations - you could put anything you wanted on the insides and decorate them however you liked on the outside.

I decided to make one with Graphic 45's An ABC Primer collection and it dawned on me how wonderful these would be to teach children their letters or numbers, math, words, etc.!

I thought this may bring back some memories for a few of you so I've left a tutorial at the end of this blog post if you'd like to make your own.  Just click on the image to see a larger view if you can't read the instructions clearly.

Happy Crafting!