Inspire : Creative Scrappers-Bird is the Word

For the Pay it Forward Contest please follow this link:

http://mybeaner.blogspot.ca/2013/09/pay-it-forward-contest.html

 

Over at Bird is the Word this month the word is Inspire. I immediately knew who I wanted to scrap. I am most Inspired by Gabrielle. 

 When I first started scrapbooking I was doing page kits that came with instructions and the right amount of supplies (Nina Brook Designs). Then one day I was browsing through Scrapbook.com and I saw the most beautiful layout so I went to the artists gallery and the rest as they say is history! Gabrielle Pollacco had me hooked! lol Over the years I came to know Gabrielle and found it a hoot that we had both lived in the same town until I moved away. We found we had a lot in common in regards to our heritage and families and over time  she became more than just a mentor she became my friend. What I find amazing about Gabrielle what inspires me is not only her creativity but her energy. She is positive and upbeat and even under the crushing load of work she has to do she stops and makes the time to write and encourage me. I know that Gabrielle has influenced people the world over and if ever there was an Oscar for scrapbooking she would be the one to get it! I thank-you my friend for all that you have taught me not only about scrapbooking but also about myself and what I can do! HUGS!

This is the sketch from Creative Scrappers that I followed.

I really wanted the word inspire to stand out so I cut the word out using my Silhouette and then traced over it. I punched holes along the lines at relatively even spaces and then stitched it in black. I used the LE Kit from My Creative Scrapbooking featuring the new Prima papers Delight.

I tried to get Gabi's name right. This is her signature copied from her blog as are the pictures which is why they aren't the greatest quality. I stitched her name as well. You can see the masking I did with moulding paste in the upper left and bottom right corners. You can also see that I used canvas fringe behind the photos and used moulding paste on it as well. Once it dried I went over the moulding paste with Perfect Pearls Mica Powder in Blue Patina.

For fun I added a Dusty Attic frame around the smaller picture and went over it with Tattered Rose crackle paint from Tim Holtz.

Last shot is the bottom right corner where I added a fussy cut piece from the paper and then placed a piece of Dusty Attic fence on top. I love the fluffy white look of the butterfly so I attached it to the fence. I know that Gabriele loves pastels so I tried to do this page in that theme.

So there you have it! One of the people who most inspires me in life is Gabrielle Pollacco.

 I am off to possibly do another Keaton page and would love to give a huge shout out to Maja Designs for their most generous donation of product to this cause. You people are amazing I love you thank-you!

All the best! :)



KiKi on the block : A Kisses for Keaton layout

For the Pay it Forward Contest please follow this link:

http://mybeaner.blogspot.ca/2013/09/pay-it-forward-contest.html

 This is another layout done for the Kisses for Keaton album. It's titled Kiki on the block. I have to smile every time I see this picture. How adorable is this? I mean she's a little Cinderella with a hockey stick! Don't you just love her shoes? Lol. I would like to thank Krissy Mosbarger from Swirlydoos Kit Club for her generous donation of the Pion papers Vintage Garden used for this layout!

I was inspired by Kiki's dress and used a template I had seen on the infamous Gabrielle Pollaco's blog http://gabriellepollacco.blogspot.ca/. Gabrielle has kindly posted a template for the corset on her blog. I hand stitched the corset and added lace to the top and bottom of the corset. I then used some trim from Melissa Frances and misted it using Charcoal mist from Maya Road to make up the rest of the dress. I then disassembled a flower from Prima called Angel Eyes Madeline and used the smaller beads and added them to the dress. I used two birds and some crystal bling from Prima to recreate the birds holding the dress like they did in the movie Cinderella.

This is the flower from Prima that I took apart to help make the dress!

I tucked some roses into the top where I folded the paper back. I love the stencil I used on this layout from crafters Workshop called Mini Art Is. I used some moulding paste I had left from a Christmas Kit I bought from Swirlydoos last year! (You will get to see the final product from that very soon!)

I've combined this flower stem from Prima with some handmade ones. I loved this flower stem ( I've had it for ages) because it matched the outfit Kiki is wearing to a tee! It's from the Cinderella Collection go figure! The other flowers I made myself using paper from the Pion line.

I inked the page first, then applied the moulding paste and it still looked rather bare for the title so I used a butterfly stamp and stamped underneath then attached a butterfly I had cut out from the paper then I added the title!

This is the rest of the title. Again I stamped and used a butterfly I cut out from the paper. In hindsight I can see that in this case with smaller letters it might have been too much. I chose the title just because of the way Kiki seems so happy out on the sidewalk in a pretty dress playing hockey! She is obviously comfortable with who she is and confident of herself. A little Kiki on the block! Again I want to thank Krissy from Swirlydoos for her donation that helped make this layout possible! This album is a labor of love and I truly appreciate all the help I can get in its construction as I want it to be my Masterpiece! Something Kiki and her family can enjoy for years to come!

 

Well it's been a wretched rainy day here in Gravenhurst. This weekend is the annual Cranberry Festival in Bala. I have wanted to go for years but couldn't due to the fact that I was taking care of my mom and then the past two years it was pouring and this event is held outside. I can't handle the damp weather with my bad back but it looks as though I have no choice. It is the third year in a row now that it is raining during the festival and I am so done with waiting! I am off to the cranberry festival tomorrow!

Please remember to enter the Pay it Forward Contest if you haven't already and have a great weekend!

All the best! :)

 



Remeber-Sketchabilities, Scrap Around the World, Bird is the Word

For the Pay it Forward Contest please follow this link:

http://mybeaner.blogspot.ca/2013/09/pay-it-forward-contest.html

 

This is the first time I have ever entered one layout in more than one challenge. I always feel compelled to do individual ones for each challenge but this layout met the criteria so why not? This is my daughter Meaghan who for the past two years has battled to get out of a wheelchair. She broke her back and was told she would never walk again. I am proud of this girl for her tenacity! She is walking and she did it herself! But first the details. 

This is the sketch from Sketchabilities

and this is the Mood Board from Scrap Around the World.

What caught me about this Mood Board is how the blue, green and yellow pop against the stark white. So I tried to use these colors together against a mostly white background. I used the new 7-Dots papers 9th Waves for this. Love the blues in this line. This is the site for Scrap Around the world http://scraparoundtheworld.blogspot.ca/. They have a great group of talented ladies!

And for the Bird is the Word challenge the word this month was Dance! What a better way to celebrate walking again they to step it up and dance!

This is my gem. She was in the hospital for months and months back and forth between Cambridge and Hamilton. She had three major surgeries and after the last one she somehow slipped through the cracks. She waited endlessly for Physiotherapy to help her regain her strength but it never came. She gained a lot of weight due to being in the wheelchair and became very depressed. Then one day she took it upon herself dragged her walker into her apartment hallway strapped her leg braces on and started by simply trying to stand alone. Eventually she managed a step then two and well the rest is history. I bawled when she came to visit me and walked out of the car. She surprised me! Thank-you God! Miracles do happen! Now I am always driving her nuts, Megs don't bend over like that, Megs don't pick up the girls! lol

The title was important to me. Remember ( never forget this gift you received) Dance like nobody's watching (in celebrations of having the ability to walk and dance again).

Petaloo mixed with Prima in attempt to try and keep the color scheme consistent!

I tried to add texture to the page by using drywall tape (yes I am cheap lol) and going over it with moulding paste then removing the tape and letting it dry. Then I painted it with blue and green metallic paint.

\\\ell that's it for this post. I was in a mad rush to get it done and posted in time as tomorrow we celebrate our thanksgiving and I will be out of town. It is the first layout I ever did in a day. I'm a dawdler at times and like to over think things but not today. I just slammed it down and kept going. I hope you enjoyed! Have a great weekend and for my fellow Canadians Happy Thanksgiving! P.S. don't forget to go back and enter the Pay it Forward Contest if you haven't already! All the best!

The Journey OUAS

For the Pay it Forward Contest please follow this link:

http://mybeaner.blogspot.ca/2013/09/pay-it-forward-contest.html

 

This is my submission for this month's sketch challenge at OUAS.

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts about an amazing family. I decided to do this layout first because this event had just transpired and I am totally in awe of the courage and dedication of this mother for her family. This is the story behind Kisses for Keaton. Meet Stephanie a wife and a mother of two beautiful children one of whom has cancer at the tender age of two. Even while watching her young daughter Kiki endure the horrors of battling her disease, even when she feels like her heart is being ripped out of her chest and she wants to rage at the injustice of it all she finds a lesson in everything.

At an event held on the 29th of September Stephanie cut off her hair in support of Kiki and what she was going through with her own hair loss. You can see the realm of emotions she is going through in the pictures. The apprehension and angst and in the next moment  pure unconditional from the bottom of your soul love. Three other women joined her and they managed to accumulate 10 inches of hair which will be donated to a charity that makes wigs for children. Even today as a direct result of this event women are still getting their long locks sheared and are donating them!

I wanted to be sure that you could read the journaling as these are Stephanie's own words and they speak volumes to her commitment to her family. I am so honored that they have allowed me in to document their journey for every time I read her posts I come away with a new sense of purpose and desire to make a difference.

The theme this month at OUAS was journey and I could think of no other journey as amazing as the one this family is on.

Just a couple of close-ups as this is more about the story than the page. I did a bit of inking and masking to add dimension on this page. The papers are from the Limited Edition Kit from MCS called Anna Marie from Prima.

Aside from the tiny roses all the flowers were included in the LE kit. All the flowers are Prima and I used a stamp from LaBlanche to make the leaves but left them black and white to focus more on the vivid colors of the blooms.

Last close-up a trinket from MME which speaks to the subject matter. A story of a remarkable family who even in the worst of times find lessons learned from their experiences and who choose to share them with the world in the hopes of making a difference. I encourage you and will continue to do so, please visit the Kisses for Keaton facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kisses-for-Keaton/148650585296073 and read the excerpts written by Stephanie as she deals with this battle everyday. Take what this family has to offer with their insights and try it on yourself then Pay it Forward.

 

It has been a horrid few weeks for me, nothing compared to Stephanie's but I have been in and out of the hospital for tests and what not and feel incredibly "bagged"! Hopefully things will turn around as I am excited about delving more into the Kisses for Keaton project as well as my own pages. Also remember that there is a Pay It Forward Contest running this month with a pretty nice price pack so go back one post and enter! All the best! :)