Easy Shaker Box Card Tutorial

Happy Valentine's Day!

What? Another Valentine project this week? Seems I'm on a roll. I wanted to share this simple shaker box card I designed using the Brother ScanNCut machine and BoBunny "Head Over Heels" collection.

Have you made a shaker box card before? I have a 'quick & dirty' technique. ha ha.  You  know me, always looking for shortcuts.

Here is the video that demonstrates  how I created the card.

You can also click HERE to watch this on YouTube and subscribe to my channel.

Are you celebrating Valentine's Day? I had a such a nice morning…. DramaQueen gave me my favourite chocolate(marshmallow) and my husband gave me a gorgeous charm.

Wishing you a day filled with love!

Jar of Hearts Photo Frame

It's almost the big day!  Yes, I love Valentine's Day.  I find I make lots of projects for this special occasion, and today I'm going to share a photo frame I altered.

I really like this pic of BabyOfTheFamily, taken last Fall. I actually designed this frame for display in the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L booth at CHA. 

All the heart embellishments are made with Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L designer shapes called  3D Foam Hearts.  

I used BoBunny's paper collection "Head Over Heels"

Today my photo frame is being featured on the Crafty Power Blog, along with my tutorial on how I created that jar of hearts.  Click HERE to see tutorial. 

Here is another Valentine project I created that was also on display at CHA last month: a Valentine card.

That cute clear pocket of sequins and glitter is Keepsake Envelope, another product I love from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.  The light pink/black stripes across the top and bottom are actually E-Z Squares tape runner that I heat embossed!  

Thanks for coming by! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Head Over Heels with BoBunny

There are few Valentines collections that I design with, but when I saw the Bo Bunny "Head Over Heels" release, I wanted to have it!

This is one of my projects that was on display in the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L booth at the CHA tradeshow a few weeks ago.  

Today my layout is being featured on the Crafty Power blog, so click HERE to visit and see more close-ups.

This photo of my daughters is from 10 (gulp) years ago.  It is definitely one of my fave photos of them of all time.

Actually, I created a layout 10 years ago called "Sisters" with a timeline of photos. Here is the right page of the double layout (Don't laugh)

Their relationship has changed and evolved just like they have.  Sometimes they seem distant from one another.

And sometimes I can see how close they really are.

I've always wanted a sister, but I do have a pretty fantastic brother who means the world to me!

I've witnessed my mom's close relationship with her sister, and they don't live in the same city but talk on the phone every day.

They try hard to get together to celebrate birthdays and understand that their time together now is precious.

I hope my daughters will cherish each other like this in their twilight years.

For now, they cherish their iPhones and friends, but I'm confident that will change.

January Sketchy Challenge

Once again I'm squeaking in my January Sketchy challenge layout.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should make a resolution about getting that done on time!

Here is Sue Sykes' awesome sketch, which I rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise:

Winter layouts are almost becoming a thing of the past for me.  That's because my teenagers don't really go outside much in the winter anymore.  If they do, it's only to take a bunch of goofy selfies. ha ha! Luckily, BabyOfTheFamily agreed to some pics a couple months ago.  I LOVE winter photos!

For my frosty layouts, I often use Bo Bunny, and each winter I'm excited about seeing their new papers.  I just love the colours and patterns in the Woodland Winter collection:

I put baby powder on the backs of my snowflake stickers so the edges would lift off my background.

BoBunny's matching embellishments and stickers always make designing so easy.  I must admit, I'm kind of a matchy-matchy type of girl :)

The navy twine is May Arts.

Every season I say how much I don't like winter, but I love creating winter layouts! 

I hope you have a chance to design a layout for Canadian Scrapbooker's Sketchy Challenge!  In a few more days, the February sketch will be posted.  Click HERE to visit the Sketchy Gallery and be inspired!

Stay warm...

Butterfly Suncatchers

It finally seems that the rainy days are over and the sun is shining!

I thought I'd make some pretty suncatchers to make the most of the sunlight.  These can be placed in plant or flower pots either indoors or out, but they are partly paper, so they are not 'rain friendly' ! 

All the crafty instructions on how to make these are up on the Crafty Power blog today.  They are really easy to put together....even kids could make them!  There is also a video, so stop by there and take a look.  Click HERE to find the butterflies!

Hope you are enjoying the weekend and catching some sun wherever you are! 

Identity Crisis?

Recently, a scrappy friend of mine asked, "What is your signature style?"

Supplies:  Fancy Pants Designs

We have been discussing this off and on, and at first I was puzzled, but then I panicked...oh no! Who am I? Do I have a design style?

Sometimes I'm vintage and use heritage photos...

Supplies:  Bazzill

sometimes I'm graphic and simple....

Supplies:  Stampin' Up!

and sometimes I'm playful and cute...

Supplies:  Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper

Supplies:  Bo Bunny

I've now come to terms with the idea that I am a 'scrapbooking chameleon' of sorts...I change up my designs according to my moods, the papers and the photos.

And I've also decided that it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially because of the design work I do with Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.  I love experimenting with all trends, products and styles, so I am very very lucky I have that opportunity to just "be myself" and express my creativity with the magazine!  In the new Summer 2013 issue, you can see my changeable chameleon design style in all of these layouts and cards.

I'm also very fortunate to be on the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Design Team because that means I can use whatever papers and products I like!

So the 'crisis' is averted...well, at least until next week!

Kickin' It with Kaisercraft

On Sunday, my baby boy turned 18.  Gulp.  Shocking but true.

BoyGenius on his FIRST birthday :)

We had lots of wonderful family time all weekend with him, and a very special guest showed up as a "Surprise!"

His Uncle Howard surprised him and flew in from Nicaragua to celebrate his birthday

His sister decorated the cake

Not a cake kinda guy...thus the chocolate strawberries.

Quite awhile ago I decided to work on birthday layouts right after they happened....when everything is fresh in my mind.  So I grabbed a photo of BoyGenius from Sunday and looked for papers.

The Kaisercraft "75 Cents" collection is perfect for a 'guy page.'

I also found this sketch on the Kaisercraft blog, for their April Saturday sketch challenge...

And here is my layout based on the sketch...

Those cool number tags are a TM Exclusives product from my local scrapbook store, Treasured Memories.

The keys are older K & Company, and I cut that heart from a scrap piece of corrugated cardboard. 

 The copper wire is Art-C, and the chevron stamp is Bo Bunny. I used both Clearsnap and Prima chalk inks for the edges and on the heart.

I used a fine-tipped Sharpie to draw faux stitches

If you would like to see how this layout came together, I made a video tutorial.

Click HERE to watch it on YouTube....and you can also subscribe to my channel if you'd like to watch more of my videos in the future.

I enjoyed designing with this Kaisercraft collection so much that I've already started another layout!  Stay tuned....

March Sketchy Challenge

For this month's Sketchy Challenge at Canadian Scrapbooker, I decided to have some fun with another new Bo Bunny collection called "Family Is..."

I am POSITIVE that the paper designers at Bo Bunny had a real life peek inside MY family when they came up with these hilarious and playful stickers...

Here is Sue Sykes' awesome March sketch...

Immediately I thought of some recent pics of my teenagers.  Sure, I had one "good" shot of them together for DramaQueen's birthday, but why scrap that photo when I had 10 other funny outtakes?  

I love the colourful, bright patterns....a reflection of my chaotic, loud teens!

Using the card stock and chipboard stickers makes designing a breeze...

I also did a fast forward video of how this layout came together. [You can click HERE to go to YouTube and watch on a bigger screen.  You can also click "Subscribe" if you'd like to watch all my videos]

I hope you can join in the fun over at the Sketchy gallery this month!  It's a friendly online community with lots of inspiration!

More news is GOOD news!

This seems to be a week of announcements and new opportunities for me!

I'm so excited to say that I have a layout published in Kristine Davidson's new sketch book, that is now for sale!

Many of you are familiar with Kristine's amazing sketches and her website "Creative Scrappers."  Lucky for us, she decided to design Volume 2!

It's packed with 125 sketches and wonderful designers' layouts based on ALL the sketches!  WOW.

I am so fortunate to be part of this fantastic sketch book, and here is my double page layout based on one of her sketches....

These are DramaQueen's back to school photos, taken last fall.  First year of high school!  yikes.

You've probably noticed that I have been loving the new Bo Bunny collections lately.  This is made with Isabella....beautiful greys and pinks!

Lucky for me, DQ has decided she likes PINK again! woohoooo!  So she has "allowed" me to scrapbook with pink papers.  Ironically, her previous fave colour has been grey....so the perfect match was made!

And lucky for YOU....I have a coupon code so you can purchase your own sketch book today for only $8.  So instead of buying yourself 2 frappa mocha caramel skinny vanilla latte with whip coffees.....you can own this sketch book and have a ton of inspiration at your fingertips! 

Your coupon code for a digital version you can download is  CWS2Discount.

You can also order a printed version even if you live halfway around the world!

Click HERE to shop at the Creative Scrappers store and buy the best Sketch book ever :)

Awesome Announcements!

I think everyone knows by now that I feel so lucky to be part of the team at Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.  Writing and designing for this wonderful publication is a dream come true!

When the Spring 2013 issue was released this past week, I was surprised and thrilled to see my little head on the cover, along with my name and article title "Time Travel."  wow.  This blew me away!

A big shout out to Christy Dean who took this head shot.  She is so talented!

I also have a second regular feature article called "Double the Fun."  

Here is my new  Double the Fun sketch for the Fall 2013 issue....

And my layout sample (you can see both on the Canadian Scrapbooker website Home page).

Featuring BabyOfTheFamily and Bo Bunny's new "Prairie Chic" collection.

I'd love for you to use my sketch and submit your layouts!  Click HERE to see the submissions page online at the magazine.

As well, today on the Canadian Scrapbooker blog, it's Tuesday with the Team, and my studio tour is posted there.  

If you'd like to take a look into my scrap space, click HERE to visit the CS blog.  I'm not super organized, but I love my studio :)

My final announcement is the WINNER of the Crop Circles blog hop......drum roll.......

it's NATASHA CONNOLLY!!!!!!!

Congratulations, Natasha! 

Whew...that is a lot of announcing...but I am not done.  Stay tuned for more news later this week :)