Forever Trust (Scrap & Music DT Reveal #18)

It's time for another DT reveal for Scrap & Music!

Sketch #18 is paired with a song that everyone likes... Metallica's Nothing Else Matters.

Being a child of the 80's, I listened to Metallica quite a lot in my lifetime and this song has always been a favorite.  Lots of inspiration in the lyrics.

While listening to the song and brainstorming for this layout, these are part of the lyrics that stood out to me the most.

 A lot of chipboard used in this layout, namely this cursive title from 2Crafty.

Being that Winter has officially set here in my corner of Canada, it warmth my heart a little to do a beach-themed layout.

  

Visit Scrap & Music to see more inspiration for challenge #18 from the rest of the DT!

And don't forget to check out my Christmas giveaway HERE!

Christmas 2013 GIVEAWAY!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

 Yes, can  you believe, it's that time of year again?!

 I wanted to make it extra special this year and take the opportunity to thank you all for making this blog a success and for all the kind words you leave on my posts.  You inspire me to keep creating!

It's now time for me to give back a little...

Before i get to that though, let me share with you a layout i created a few months ago for KaiserCraft's DT Call.  I was sent the beautiful St Nicholas collection (it had not been released yet) to create projects as part II of the DT selection.  These papers are absolutely gorgeous!

And since i have lots of leftovers, i thought i'd give some away to one of you!

This giveaway contains most of the St Nicholas paper collection as well as other Kaisercraft goodies and lots more miscellaneous products including Petaloo, Zva Creative and American Crafts.

If you'd like a chance to win this Christmas pack, just follow these simple rules:

1 - First, become a follower of my blog by clicking on the 'Join this site' button at the top of the blog.

2 - Leave me a comment.

You can get bonus points if you do these:

3 - Place a picture of my giveaway in your blog sidebar, and leave a comment to let me know with a link to your blog so i can visit.

4 - Share my giveaway in a blog post or on Facebook and leave a comment saying you've done so.

5 - Like my Facebook page by clicking HERE.  Leave a comment to let me know.

This giveaway will be open until January 14th at midnight EST.  It is open to everyone!

I will randomly pick a winner from all the eligible entries and announce it here on January 15th.

And with that, I hope that you have a Happy and Safe Holiday season! :)

2014 2Crafty Chipboard DT

I am so thrilled to announce that I have been asked to stay on the 2Crafty DT for another year.  So all of 2014, keep visiting for lots of chipboard inspiration using the fabulous 2Crafty products!

Here are the members of the 2014 2Crafty DT: 

Di Garling – Australia (Design Team Coordinator)

Nicole Doiron - Canada (Design Team Member)

 Lindy Gillespie - Australia (Design Team Member)

  Sarah Groen – New Zealand (Design Team Member) 

Janice Nicholls – Australia (Design Team Member) 

 Elena Olinevich – Belarus (Design Team Member)

Felicity Wilson – Australia (Design Team Member)

 Helen Tilbury – South Africa (Design Team Member)

 Stacey Young – Australia (Design Team Member)

  Chantal Vandenberg – Australia (Design Team Member)

Here is the list of " Resident Guest Designers"
who will pop by on a regular basis and
 share their wonderful talents as well.

Aida Domisiewicz - Poland (Guest Design Team Member)
 Chantalle McDaniel - Australia (Guest Design Team Member)
 Debbie Tehrani - USA (Guest Design Team Member)
 Ebony van der Starre - Australia (Guest Design Team Member)
 Jane Clark - Australia (Guest Design Team Member)

 Lisa Oxley - Australia (Guest Design Team Member)

Thank your for your words of encouragement on all my 2Crafty reveal posts.  Looking forward to many more :)

Silent Night (My Creative Sketches)

Earlier this month, i promised you another layout created with the December Main kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

It is inspired by the December sketch at My Creative Sketches.

  There were many beautiful flowers in this kit, including these adorable little green roses!  

*Love at first sight*

 

Another great addition to the Main kit is these small wooden shapes.

If you want to learn more about the MCS kits, click HERE.

To play along with this sketch challenge, visit My Creative Sketches for more inspiration and for the details.  You could win this awesome prize:

Good luck!

And It Feels Like Home (Scrap & Music DT Reveal #17)

It's already time for my 2nd DT reveal for Scrap & Music.  I love this challenge blog!  Just look at this wonderful sketch by our very own Ana Castro!  It's totally my style and I had so much fun designing with it as inspiration.

The song inspiration for challenge #17 is one that I have always loved (and god knows I've had it stuck in my head ever since I started creating this layout)... Madonna - Like A Prayer.

I chose these lyrics to use on my page 'I hear you call my name, and it feels like home' to complement one of my favorite pictures of me and Yves.

I treated my background with Liquitex Natural Sand paste and some spritz of Glimmer Mists.

I used some My Mind's Eye papers with a combination of Petaloo and Prima flowers.

Here you see some wooden embellishments from Maya Road and Prima.

I finished it off with one of my signature technique... whitewashing with gesso!

I urge you to play along with us at Scrap & Music and link up your project before December 28th.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow (SATW December Challenge)

I got my hands dirty once again playing with paints, mists and paste to create a mixed media background.

I was inspired by this gorgeous mood board and sketch combination from Scrap Around The World's December challenge, hosted by Design Team member Zaneta Glowa aka Zanka from Sweden.

The romantic and feminine colors of the mood board and the distressed frames got me inspired to create my background with layers and layers of paste and paints.  I added aqua-colored gems as in the beautiful ring and some pink flowers. 

 All the chipboard pieces used are from 2Crafty and include:

 Somewhere Over the Rainbow title, Butterfly Frame,

Corner Whispy Flower,

 and the Corner Oriental Flower.

As usual, I dabbed some white paint throughout the surface of my layout to give it a distressed whitewashed look.

The picture of my niece Daphne is a favorite of mine... she's deep in thought and dreaming no doubt of what wonders may hide... somewhere over the rainbow.

 

I'm very proud of this layout and I want to thank SATW for once again inspiring me to create something beautiful.  I can't wait for next month's challenge!

My December Tutorial with My Creative Scrapbook

Are you all having fun with the December kits from My Creative Scrapbook already?!

Today is my tutorial day on the MCS blog.

I was thrilled to be working with the Main kit this month and for one of the my 2 double-page layouts, I decided to try something a little different to bring a little pizzazz to my background.

First, I started with plain black cardstock as the background and adhered the first pieces of patterned papers.

Then, using a circle stencil I own, I traced some circles all around the border, small to large, all kinds of sizes.  You can easily trace any kind of shape you want on your background.

Here are some of my circles traced with a pencil.

With a piece of styrofoam underneath my page, I started piercing holes all along the edges of my circles.  It was fairly long to do, but so worth it.  Make sure to use even spaces between each hole.

 

I then used about 4 strands of embroidery floss and started stitching some of the circles (that I had marked with an X) in red.

 

After that, I did the same with my other circles alternating between 2 shades of green.

I love adding stitches to my layouts as it can add color, textures and dimension, all at the same time.

Here is the finished product, with the red circles adorned with some gems to make them stand out even more and give the page a fun Christmas feel.

Check out all the awesome kits that My Creative Scrapbook offers every month and subscribe today!