And Sew On

American Crafts Guest Designer

I was so thrilled when American Crafts contacted me about being a guest designer this month. They really are my favourite company, so getting a box of "Nightfall" and "Garden Cafe" in the mail was a pretty big treat!

"The Sparkly Witch"

When I saw the chalkboard papers I was a little unsure what to do with them--- but the minute I set photos against that dark background I was hooked!

I printed the journaling onto twill ribbon, and used a white pen to repeat the dotted line theme around the felt embellishment:

"Halloween"

I'm a grid girl, and the squares on this Nightfall paper were just begging to be filled!

"Boo Treat Bag"

I love the idea of hanging this treat bag on someone's doorknob for them to come home to...

A little hand cut fringe and some wine cork stamping added a little pizzazz!

"Me and You"

Lastly, a little tone on tone layering-- I cut a 12x12 piece of paper down to 8.5x11, then cut the scraps into tags to match the size of the "Garden Cafe" tags. The photo was taken over Thanksgiving when the weather was ridiculously warm!

A little hand journaling and some ribbon to trim the tag!

Thank you, American Crafts!

A Confetti Thank You Card

I made a Thank You card the other day, using some yummy American Crafts products that arrived on my doorstep a little while ago. It would never have occurred to me to use black paper-- but now I'm in love with the impact it gives, and the way colours just pop against it.

Originally, this was just the circle accent against the black and white patterned paper, but something about it felt unfinished to me. I needed to tie the colour palette together with some little bits of confetti inserted into the dotted white line.

Done. Love.

Next!

Amazing

"When I see your face...there's not a thing that I would change...because you're amazing...just the way you are."

 

Who knew that the cinder blocks on the side of the Staples building would make such a cute background for the kiddos?

Happy Thanksgiving

Cocoa Daisy "Farmer's Market"

Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I received an e-mail from Ronda Palazzari, the DT co-ordinator at Cocoa Daisy, asking me to be the guest designer for their October kit, "Farmer's Market". Given my love of autumn, this really was the perfect kit for me. Here's what I came up with for the folks over at Cocoa Daisy!

"Reservations for Six at 6"  

Instagram photos of my girlfriend's birthday dinner blended perfectly with a moody black and grey palette, with hits of red/orange/green. The journaling is about how much fun we had, but how pathetic it was that our dinner reservations are now made for 6 pm!

I played with my circle punch and pop dots for the layout, nestling embellies in little half-circles of paper. The Amy Tangerine chevron is totally my fave!

"Cloche"

I wanted to document my perfect fall hat-- one that I had been searching for forever! I also wanted to play with a chevron pattern, but not in the traditional way.

 

"Autumn Beauties"

The exclusive stamp with the main kit was a honeycomb. Now, I'm not a stamper, so this forced me to try it out and be creative. I loved how it turned out!

I first stamped a honeycomb pattern onto plain cardstock, then stamped on the back of a few pieces of patterned paper and cut out the little hexagons-- popping some up on foam dots.

Finally, my card. I blew an entire package of Amy Tangerine paper leaves on this card, but I think it was worth it!

I'm putting this aside for the next time I need a really special thank you for someone.

Thank you, Cocoa Daisy, for the opportunity to design for such a great community, with such a rockin' kit!

A Handmade Wedding Gift

We went to a beautiful wedding this summer. The groom was a friend I've known since we were 14, and his bride is a beautiful lady-- inside and out. Their wedding decorations were fashioned entirely by the bride herself-- and all out of paper. From the boutonieres, to the bouquet, to the paper spheres hanging from the ceiling-- Melissa did it all herself. She also made tea cup candles for all the guests as favours-- and there were A LOT of guests!

When it came to choosing a gift, I wanted to make something for her, knowing that they would both appreciate the time and effort that goes into homemade. I thought, and thought-- for a while, considering the wedding was in July-- and decided on a photo canvas. This one measured 12X15, and I used a few of my favourite Studio Calico and American Crafts products to bring it all together:

I wanted this to be subtle-- something that non-scrapbooker would still want to put on their wall.

Since their professional photos weren't available yet, I downloaded Facebook photos and ran them through a photoshop action to give a dreamy look. (If you can't quite make it out, the bottom of her shoes say "I {heart} Adam". So sweet.

I have been dying to find the right use for this tag-- my favourite of the pack from the moment I saw it:

The final touch was a quotation that perfectly tied in with their wedding ceremony, and the readings they had:

"We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

Ain't that the truth?

I gave it to them on yesterday, along with a gift certificate to Crate and Barrel (LOVE that store!), and they loved it. Hooray!

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