And Sew On

Sequin Skirt Refashion

The beautiful weather yesterday inspired me to do a little sewing. I had this sequin skirt from a Value Village trip last spring. The tag says $7.99, but I'm pretty sure I got it on 50% off day. There was a little fraying at the edges, but since I knew it was going to be a kids' dress, I just cleaned it up with my pinking shears:

This dress was super simple. I just trimmed about and inch and half down each side and sewed them back up again to make a slightly smaller silhouette. Then I measure Audrey's chest size and cut the elastic an inch or so shorter. I thread it through the waistband of the skirt, then used the scraps to create little straps. This was a quick and dirty sew-- nobody look too close!

I think I put the straps on a little crooked. Oh well!

And it needs a steam...

I don't think Audrey minds. She went back inside and did an impromptu ballet:

"Mama, I feel just like a princess."

Unfortunately, Lily is down with a flu today. I think as long as I can keep her fever down she will alright. Poor pumpkin.

A little Scrapping Fun

I am doing a major purge of my scrap room. I'm getting rid of anything that I don't absolutely love-- because I just get bogged down when it's time to create! Some of it I have put aside for the girls. (Audrey informs me on a daily basis that she is an ARTIST, and she NEEDS to do ART!) However, some I'm going to give away to two of you!

I have two pizza boxes of supplies to give away-- you just need to promise to send me a money transfer for the shipping. (No idea how much it will be until I know where you are!) They are packed with paper, embells, alphas. Some are gently used, some brand new. All major brands. Here's a quick peak:

The first two people to leave me a comment (with their e-mail) that you want it-- done!

Two layouts to share, as well!

Lily-Belle has new glasses! It was quite a shock to discover she needed them, but she is adjusting well. With any luck she won't have to wear them for more than a year or two!

 

And then another one of Lily and I--- my little Mini Me:

Lastly, head over to the Scrapbook and Cards Today Facebook page for a great giveaway!

A Scrapping Getaway

Last weekend I went on a 36 hour scrap getaway to a friend's family cottage in Muskoka. For those of you not familiar with Muskoka, it is a stunningly beautiful lake region about 2 hours north of Toronto. We set up a big table in front of the living room windows and had this view as our scrapping inspiration:

Pretty amazing, eh?

I completed 6 layouts while I was up there-- one of which I shared the other day, and another is in this month's write.click.scrapbook gallery. Here are the rest, using a bunch of Amy Tangerine, other American Crafts, Studio Calico and Pink Paislee.It's worth noting that a few of these layouts I absolutely LOVE, and others I just kinda like-- but what matters is the photos are scrapped and the stories are told, because there are always new photos coming in! Every layout doesn't have to be a masterpiece. Really. :)

"Audrey and Dalia" 

Audrey and her bestie, Dalia. A fun, quickie layout that uses some Amy Tan packaging as the journaling block:

"Dreamy"

Probably my fave of the bunch. I just picked four papers I loved and added them to the Amy Tan stitched paper. The photo was taken on Thanksgiving, standing over the girls as they lay on the grass.

"The Joy of Turning Five"

Special event layouts are never my faves. Too much pressure, I think. These photos just express how excited Audrey was to turn five. I used the flash here because there just wasn't enough light in the room. The moral of the story is use your flash if necessary because although it might not be the most beautiful photo, the moment is still captured. That is one happy five year old!

"Two French Braids"

Again, I just gathered together supplies I liked and made them work. I played. It was fun. I had no boundaries-- no assignment to complete, no product I had to incorporate. I do so much assignment work that this was very freeing for me! Never save products for the "right" photo, or the "right" layout. Use the things that make you happy-- soon enough there will be new collections you will be dying to use, right?

Cut it up. Stick it down. :)

There you have it! I hope this becomes a regular thing. It was so much fun. :)

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!

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!

***************

 

Scrapbook and Cards Today - Fall 2011

The new issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today premieres today-- and it's a beauty! You can pick it up at your LSS, or download the whole thing for free right here.

 I thought I would share some of my favourites from the issue. First off, the cover, by Kelly Goree:

I love the that the design is so seasonal, and yet there are unusual colours for fall-- namely pink and leaf green. It is autumnal, without screaming autumn. Love that.

SCT also announced their 2012 PageMaps Calendar. Yes, I am Miss April again. :) Woo hoo! You can pre-order the catologue beginning Oct. 14th!

I loved Lisa Dickinson's "Easy, Detailed, Expert" article. Her "Expert" layout being my absolute fave:

I was really drawn to Davinie Fiero's layout in "From the Heart", about journaling your authentic life. I love it when I say, "Hey, that's a great layout!", not, hey, "That's a great two page layout!":

  

Kimber McGray always astounds me with her seemingly unending supply of great techniques. The woman is a machine. How cute is this penny slider card?

 

There are full instructions and step-out photos in the magazine.

Finally, here is my little contribution to the Three Designer Challenge:

A collage of photos from Audrey's first day of school, and some fun with the special bobby pins you can use with the I-Top:

So there you have it! A little taste of the fall issue-- it's awesome, it's new, and it's available right here! ;)

 

Them's the Breaks

I try to be judicious when it comes to trying out for design teams. You don't want to over-commit yourself, and you have to really love the product you are working with. It's not really a lucrative thing-- except in product-- so I only go out for teams that I really love. Recently, I submitted to the Bella Blvd. call for just that reason, and created four new layouts for the opportunity. It didn't work out-- I didn't get it-- but them's the breaks! I now have four layouts that I love for my albums and the satisfaction of knowing that I took a chance and put myself out there. Rejections sucks, but only for a minute or two. After all, it's only paper and glue. The vast amount of time it is a whole lot of fun. :)

I thought I'd share those four layouts, though. Wanna see? (Click to make the larger.)

"At Three and Four"

I've been meaning to scrap this forever-- I love it when their ages are just a year apart. It cracks me up to see people's faces when I say, "They're three and four." ;) A little misleading, as they are almost two years apart-- but accurate nonetheless!

"This is Baby Clahrk" - My family loves that Lily calls little Clark, "Claaah-rk". I used some Hipstamatic shots for this one. He is seriously the cutest baby boy on the planet.

"Sushi on Queen"

This one I actually did last year as an alternative for SCT, but  it was never published or put on-line, which meant I could use it for the submission.

"It Was our Very First Trip to Centreville"

Centreville is the kids' amusement park on Centre Island. (There are few little islands in Lake Ontario just a 10 minute ferry ride from the bottom of the city.) I haven't been since I was a kid, but the girls just LOVED it! I think we'll get a season's pass next year. I'm proud of myself for handing off the camera and getting myself in the picture once or twice.

 

So, there you go! Four layouts that really mean something to me...that did not get me a job. :) I always remind myself, though, that the kids won't care much about DTs and Pubs when they are big, but they will really care about all the stories I documented from their childhood. Isn't our hobby the best???

Farewell to Pebbles!

Hi all! Well, this is my last layout for the Pebbles DT! I have loved every second of being on this team, but I'm also looking forward to new opportunities ahead!

For this layout I took a photo of Audrey in a new "Paris" t-shirt I bought for her. I never buy t-shirts with cartoon characters or big logos/writing, but I couldn't resist this one. Audrey loves Paris so much--- just like her Mama. :)

For this layout I wanted to showcase all of Pebbles pretty patterns-- and so many wonderful pinks! I stitched them all over to add texture and interest:

It's also new gallery day at Write.Click.Scrapbook-- and this month's theme is "Books". I photographed a few of the kids' favourite bedtime stories with Instagram, then printed them off in a collage and cut them apart. I popped a few up with foam squares to emphasize the idea of a pile:

I love that we have photos of all these books in one place for the girls to see when they are older. 

I have just 10 days left of work, and I have to admit that I feel I am limping to the end. The girls at work say it all sounds good, but my voice feels very, very tired. I'm ready for a few weeks of not singing and feeling back to normal again. I'm also ready for some full time mommying as the girls go back to school and beautiful autumn begins!

Studio Calico "Boardwalk"

Well, my laptop is back, thanks to my Dad, but she is slow and she is hurtin'. A decision will be have to be made soon as to her future. In the meantime, at least I have my blog and google reader.

My love affair with Studio Calico's "Boardwalk" continues. I haven't got a kit in a few months (since I had so much to use up from my Nov-Apr subscription), but this one is just so cute and beachy. I'm so glad I remembered reveal day and picked it up with two add-ons.

First, I finally did some collages of our beach shoot with Heather last summer. (This is two 6X6 collages stuck together):

I used the frame stamp to create a beachy, weathered frame for one of the photos:

I used blue ink to edge the Pink Paislee mistable trim, and also used a cork to stamp circles of grey ink onto the scallops:

The other layout is using a 6x6 Hipstamatic shot of my dressing room table at work. I thought it would be fun to document the tools of the trade, so to speak:

It was fun using the twine as little tethers between each item in the photo and the label I gave it. I love the Cosmo Cricket mini alpha with see-through background.

I'm at work now, writing during intermission, so I should probably stop blogging and start using some of those items on my dressing table! Night, all!