I Got A Makeover

Well my blog did anyway.  What do you think?

The very talented Kristine Davidson did a fabulous job giving me a fresh new look that matches my personality, and even reflects my scrappy style.  You'll noticed lace trim, banners, doilies, and butterflies, all of which find their way onto many of my scrap pages.
Kristine has a great rate, and she works fast (my makeover took her less than 48 hours). You can see more of her blog makeover designs here.  I love my new look, it makes me happy every time I open the page.

I thought that today I'd share a few projects with you.  First up is a new layout.  This was one of those layout that came together super quick.  I had the photo, and knew I wanted to pair it with some of my Double Dutch scraps by Lily Bee Design. Add a little mist and half an hour later, a completed page.

This is Gus, our friend's cat.  We cat sit him from time to time when they go out of town.  Isabelle is always in her glory when we get to visit.  She adores cats, but we will likely   never own one.  I made the poloroid frame using my Silhouette. 

Next are a couple of layouts I had up on some DT blogs over the past while.

This one was made using My Mind's Eye All Is Bright papers, and some fabulous A Flair For Buttons Flair.

 

This one was up on the Chic Tags Blog featuring many of their fabulous tags, and more of that same MME collection. 

I have a few more project to share with you, but they'll have to wait for another time.  As will a scrappy little secret I've been keeping from you.  That will have to wait just a tad longer though.

On the agenda today I'll finish wrapping the girls' stocking stuffers, and deliver little homemade treats to our sweet neighbours.  Only a few more sleeps to go, are you ready?  Tonight I've got a scrappy date with my girl Tara.  It'll be nice to catch up with her.

I hope this finds you doing well in your corner of the wold.  Thanks so much for stopping by today, have a wonderful weekend friends!

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Ready, Set, Go

I mentioned that I had the privilege of attending Crop & Crete in Saskatoon a couple of weekends ago.  I realized last night that I hadn't yet shared anything from the event.  Let me edit my photos, and I'll do a post with them next week okay?!

In the meantime let me share a fun layout I created for one of the challenges over the weekend.  The challenge was to "emphasize fonts".  We were free to interpret that in whatever way we felt like.  I decided to go with a mix of fonts in bright, bold colours to go with the Amy Tangerine Ready Set go papers that I chose to use. 

Quote source

The quote is one that I discovered online while searching for something to go with the photo of my second favorite Starbucks mug (my favorite on is a Christmas one, I think I'll create a layout on that one too at some point, ha ha).  The journaling reads "I couldn't agree more.  My ceramic Starbucks mug is my best friend every morning of the week."

I didn't win the challenge, but I did win a different one.  I'll share that layout with you sometime soon. 

Have a great day friends.  I so appreciate you taking the time to pop in!

♥ S.

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Having fun at LGS

We have a treat for you today over at Let's Get Sketchy.

Seeing as this month has 5 Mondays, and not the usual 4 we have played a little game amongst ourselves and lifted one another, in order of offer our faithful members something to join in on this month.  Our fearless leader Brenshevia paired us up, one with another and we were given the task of choosing one of their LGS inspired layouts to lift.  My partner was Eileen, and I chose this gorgeous layout of hers to lift.  This particular layout was based on a colour challenge.  I chose to focus on the design of the layout rather than the colour combo, and had fun playing with it.  I flipped the orientation, and kept the elements together while moving them around my page.

Here is what I came up with.

Using the October kit from Scraptastic

This photo was taken quickly outside the dance studio with just a handful of the girls who were also part of the American Girl movie filming with Théa last month.  Such sweet memories for my girl.  The journaling reads: An opportunity of a lifetime  Getting to dance in an American Girl movie, and meet a bunch of new dancer friends is something Théa will not soon forget.

I loved Eileen's clusters, and had fun creating some of my own.  Using doilies, and carstock shapes.  The key up top is an Amy Tangerine element.  The flair buttons are new to my stash from a flair for buttons, a fabulous new Etsy store discovery. 

Are you up for a lift this week?  Head on over to the Let's Get Sketchy Blog to get the details and choose a layout to lift.  The design team has a lot of inspiration to choose from.  You just may win yourself the Apron Strings grand prize up for grabs this month.  Hope you'll consider joining us.

Thanks for popping by today.  I hope this last week of October is off to a wonderful start for you.

♥ S.


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In Real Life

My friend Danielle is part of the Use It Tuesday Blog.  It's a challenge blog where whole idea for the challenges revolves around using up your stash.  Great idea for those of us with more product than we'll ever use in this lifetime.  Truth be told, I actually purged a ton of scrap supplies at the beginning of summer.  Entire collections, that I was just done working with were given away to a friend.  I like new.  I like only focusing on collections/items I have a plan for.  No more buying anything just because it's cute, and I think I may use it one day.  I did, however manage to hang onto a few things that I just couldn't get rid of.  Like this fabulous orange chevron paper by My Mind's Eye.  It's about 2 years old and from their Lime Twist collection.

Lucky for me Challenge  #42 is to use the colour orange.  As it turns out I had several "old" items that I held on to that were in fact orange (I must really like that colour, who knew?!)  I decided that I would go with an all orange and white design.  This photo of my scrappy girlfriend Carol, and me was perfect for the page.

The Amy Tangerine tag, and brad, Jillibean Soup sprouts, Prima sculpture flowers, and that fabulous doily (my last one that size, sniff), were all items I had been hoarding saving.

Journaling reads: Getting to meet Carol in real life, after chatting online for several years was one of the most fun things ever!  We met up when D & I went to Vegas.  A few hours over shopping and lunch was the perfect way to really get to know each other.  She is awesome!

Carol - this layout will always bring back sweet memories of meeting you in person and our wonderful time together connecting over all things scrappy, happy, and everything in between.

Thanks for stopping by today friends.  If you're interested you can check out the Challenge #42 here.

♥ S. Pin It

Let's Capture These Sketches Reveal

Sketch #153 by Kimberly went live today.  Look at all the inspiration.

I had this fabulous photo of Eden holding a perfectly preserved monarch butterfly we found in our yard just begging to be used with this sketch.  I grabbed my scraps of random papers and bits, and pieces, and went straight to work.  I played with a little gesso once again, but ended up covering up most of it in the final design, again (someday I'll get it right).  Some ink, mist, stamps, stickers, metal...a little bit of everything is what it took to get this one just right.

Used a few more Chic Tag pieces on this one.  (I've begun skimping on them, as I'm running out, and can't easily pick more up locally).

Hidden journaling on the tag once again.  I am loving those tiny alphas by Prima.  They are a perfect size and stick really well.  And that kraft doily?  A surprise gift from a friend (lucky, lucky me)

I've layered a couple of different stamps here.  One being the Transposed Dots design by Christy Tomlinson for Unity Stamps.

Really liked getting my hands a little dirty with this one.  Thanks so much to Let's Capture These Sketches for the inspiration.  You can see what the rest of the team created, and link up you own layout here.

Thanks for popping in today friends,

♥ S. Pin It

Let's Capture These Sketches Reveal

Sketch #149 in now live on Let's Capture These Sketches. 

Here is Natalie's sketch

Check out all the white space and the cluster.  So up my ally.  The flowers kind of threw me for a loop at first because I don't actually own many flowers anymore, and definitely none that large.  I decided to just look at it as a cluster rather than 3 flowers.  Then things came together very quickly.

I realize it's hard to see the outline.  Consider this  caption centered on the bottom, and that should make things a little easier to see.

Once again I combined a mix of manufactures on this page including: Jillibean Soup, My Mind's Eye, Prima, Evalicious, October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin, and Studio Calico.

These photos are of Théa, and Eden are from the day my girlfriend gave us a mini tour of the local radio station she works at.  The girls met their favorite DJ, and were introduced to a bunch of the staff.  Two sweet guys in particular totally made their day by suiting them up in a cowbow hat, and lanyard.  Such a small gesture of kindness totally made their day.

A simple, yet eye catching design.  Works for me.  You should see what the rest of the design team created. Curious?  Click  here.

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

♥ S. Pin It

Let's Get Sketchy Reveal

Loved this sketch by Janessa Franco over at Let's Get Sketchy. 

It's the Challenge #28, and my first reveal as part of the DT, very exciting.

Here is my take on it.

As soon as I saw the circles, I knew I wanted to  switch them up to hexagons, just so I had a great excuse to use my 'new to me' hexagon punch.

I also wanted to add journaling, and the photos alone didn't really tell the story.  The sketch, in my eyes, however didn't really accommodate exposed journaling. To remedy the problem, I created a hidden pocket to slide the Chic Tags journal card into.  Smart right?!  I'll be showing you how to make your own pockets, easy, peasy next week.

This page is the result of a lot of mixing and matching different product/manufacturers (one of my fave things about working with sketches) from Echo Park, and Studio Calico, to Chic tags, Prima, and October Afternoon.

The rest of the DT had some really great takes on this sketch also.  Please pop over here to check them out, get more info on this month's gracious sponsor Scraptastic Kit Club (Jessica is graciously offering up a $20 gift certificate to her store), and link up your own creations.

Thanks for stopping in today friends, and a Happy Monday to each of you!

♥ S.

Don't forget you still have time to get in on the Lily Bee Design giveaway here.  Good luck! Pin It

About my mother

It's the first Monday of the month, which means it's time for a new challenge over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  With this being the month we celebrate Mother's Day in North America, the challenge is focused around mothers.

Some of you may know that growing up, I was not particularly close with my mother.  All that hurt was re-ignited when I saw what the theme of the challenge was going to be this month.  I put off creating the layout for several weeks, in fact, not sure where I would begin.  When I finally sat down to create something this is what I came up with.  This photo of my 1st birthday is one of the very few I have of myself and my mother together, I chose it because it's one where she looks happiest.

Using the new Fancy Pants Be You collection

I wasn't really thrilled with how the layout turned out.  I like the papers, and the design is fine, but somehow it just felt 'not me', sterile.  I had to really think and pray about what was not sitting well with me over this layout.  What I came to realize, is that my childhood is not something I speak of often.  It's almost as though it's a untouchable part of my history.  I really felt the Lord saying to me that I had some healing to do, and that He wanted me to press into my feelings, so that He could bring about restoration.  As I allowed Him to move me, and speak to my heart I realized that denying the 'good' of my upbringing, and not acknowledging the many ways my mother did show her love for me was wrong, it was denying all the ways God had shown His love to me.  A friend recently reminded me of Romans 8:28 "and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."   That is the truth of my childhood, and I need to give Him the glory, and give my mother praise for her part in it.  She tried her best to be a good mom to us, I have no doubt, but I didn't really see that until my firstborn came into the world.  Seeing her as a grandmother, expanded my view of her.  The way she loved my daughter, and gently held her, they way she was so supportive of me, and my parenting.  I began to see that she likely had the same amount of love and compassion for me and my brother when we were growing up.  I think that perhaps being married to my father forced her to, unknowingly keep part of herself hidden.  Living under a controlling, selfish, and irritable man changed a bit of who she really was.  Going through this process of scrapping about my mother has helped me to see, and believe that she did the best she knew how to love us, and protect us from the same upbringing she endured (broken home, infidelity, and a home where love and respect was always conditional)  I don't think she realized that the pattern was never really broken, but I believe now, that she tried her best.

Here is the same photo redone on a new, more meaningful, more 'me' layout.

Sorry that the quality looks poor, but the colours really are that muted and soft (Crate Paper)

This layout was created after processing everything.  I really sensed the Lord working through me on this one, allowing me to see my mother in a new light, His light.

I've written out the feelings I was able to articulate through this healing process on a couple of tags hidden behind the photo.

I hope that if you have a similar story of hurt and disappointment regarding your childhood and/or relationship with your mother that you have found some solace here today.  I pray that you may know the love of your Father, and hear the calling He has on you to come to Him, allowing Him into the dark places to bring healing and restoration.  You just never know the depth of peace that awaits you on the other side.

You can see what the rest of the design team did with this challenge, and get all the details on this month's gracious sponsor over here.

As schedules would have it, I am also up over at Let's Capture Our Memories today. 

 I have a fun Pink Paislee layout to share with you.  Tomorrow I'll teach you how to re-create it.

Have a blessed day friends. Pin It

On Parenting

First off - let me share my fantastic news with you...the list is up...and my name is actually on it!  Yay!  I feel honoured to have been included in this list of wonderfully talented woman.  Now...we play a bit, and get to know each other.  I'm not exactly sure what all to expect.  It may be the same kind of set up as last time, it may not.  Perhaps we'll be required to create new projects.  Perhaps we'll only be sharing recent or favorite projects.  I guess we'll see.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

I have a new project to share with you today.  Carol, at My Scrapbook Nook offered up a "quote/title" challenge to us on Sunday, that had my name written all over it.  The challenge was to use a quote or a title for your layout.  I love titles, especially long ones, like quotes.  I decided that rather than starting with the quote, to begin instead with the photo, and to focus my layout on parenting.  I had this photo of the girls, and decided to look for an appropriate parenting quote to go with it.  I found this one, and knew it was perfect for the feelings the photo evoke in me. 

Using My Scrapbook Nook April kit featuring Crate Storyteller, Prima alphas, doily, and jute: from my stash

I've said before that parenting is something that I use to only dream of.  To look around the dinner table, and see all three of their beautiful faces, just overwhelms me sometimes.  Sure, they have their times where I need some space away from them (or maybe it's them who need some space from me?!), and things that they say and do, that make me shake my head.  But at the end of the day, when I sneak into their rooms to peek at them, and lean in and smell them (yes, I really do that still) I am so deeply in love with each of them.  I am so very grateful to God for entrusting them to me.  I believe parenting is a HUGE responsibility.  One I try not to take lightly.  One that scares the pants off of me sometimes.  One that causes me to dream, and reflect on the type of parents I had, and the type of parent I want to be.  What I say and do with them, and to them, and about them matters.  The way I show them love, and the way I discipline them matter.  I have been bestowed "no greater responsibility, and no greater privilege" than to raise my three girls. As they walk through this life may they be able to say that they had a mother who loved them unconditionally, and was always on their side.  May they experience the love of their Father through my words, and actions.  And, may they never question how very important they are to me.

Welcome to the weekend friends!  Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

♥ S. Pin It

Just couldn't stay away

I've been involved in a really great project with a dear friend of mine from church.  It's all about what I'm all about: the power of story.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I am always interested in what is going on in the lives of the people around me, especially those I meet for the first time.  I love how the more you learn about a person, the smaller the world feels.  It's been going very well so far.  Of course it's all pretty new still, so this would still be the 'honeymoon phase'.

Yesterday afternoon I just had to do something creative.  Not to neglect the work I was doing.  I just needed to get my hands on some paper, ribbon, and glue, to make something pretty.  This is what came together

Using My Scrapbook Nook's October Kit featuring My Mind's Eeye

I think I'll makes some cards next.  It's been so long that I'm not sure where to even begin.  I've pinned a few great creations that the DT have made with the October kit, I may have to lift one or two of them to get me going. Speaking of pinning, have any of you gotten into Pinterest?  I resisted for a long time, but have succumb to the call of the world of colourful images, creative ideas, and pin board sharing going on over there. 

things I want to try like this

and this...

and things that speak to me like this

What kinds of images have you been pinning lately?

Thanks for stopping by today.

♥ S.

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Scrapping Everyday Miracles

It was a while back that I mentioned this new Christian based scrapbook site called Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  I've been keeping up with them in spirit only thus far, as it was so busy the last month of school, and then being away at the lake.  Last week however I had a chance to participate in my first scrappy challenge with them.  The challenge was to scrap a layout using lyrics of a Christian song to inspire the layout.  I took this picture while driving home from the lake one Sunday evening last summer.  I've used it several times while leading worship, or a  devotional time with my group, etc.  The photo doesn't boast the best lighting, but even still, one is able to see the rays of light cutting through the sky, and flowing down from the Heavens to earth.  That is my favorite kind of sky, aside from the Harvest moon.  I always imagine that it's the result of God pulling back the curtain of Heaven to have the angels, and those that have gone to join Him before us, to reveal what His children are up to.  The song that rose up in my heart as I was looking at it last week was on oldie called "Be Still And Know".  I thought it had been DC Talk who sang it, but I can only find a Newsboys version.  Perhaps I remember wrong.  At any rate it's the same song I remember.  You can hear it here if you're interested.  This song takes me back, and the words ring as true today as they ever did so many years ago.  A sky like this causes me to be still for a moment and take it all in.  His great, great love for us, demonstrated by the 'pulling back' of the Heavens and drawing us near to Him.

Materials used: Alphas: Basic Grey & Sassafras, Paper: My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico, Chipboard Heart: Maya Road, Sculpture Flower: Prima, Trim: My Mind's Eye, Embroidery floss: DMC 747

Thanks to the lovely Sasha I've gotten a little hooked on hand stitching :)  I love the tone on tone here, still working on getting my stitches closer together, need to find a proper needle. 

Happy Monday friends.  I hope you'll pop by again soon. Pin It