March Prima Palette - Go Green!

As posted before, the March Prima Product Pick and Palette features gorgeous shades of green as shown on this picture.

Since green has always been one of my favorite colors, i was very excited to do this challenge.  I was quick to browse through my stash at home and then look in every nook and corner of my local scrapbooking store for any green Prima products i could use.  There were so many flowers i had seen on the Prima website that i would have loved to use like these and these, but i was afraid that they wouldn't come in time if i ordered them. If only i could one day have a limitless money supply, so i could buy every Prima flower available, i would be one contented lady! But until then, here is my layout...

One with Nature

Here is a list of all Prima products used:  (paper) Moulin Rouge "La Chat", Fairy Flora "Summer Storm", Jack n' Jill "Green Fields"; (flowers & leaves) Rose Leaves (540456), De Soie (546656), Cloissone Bronze (538972), Lovely Fabric Leaves (547523), Pearl Penache Ice Castle (538491), Butterflies (543860); (other) Pearls, Clear Stamps Fauna (850739)

The quote is from one of my favorite authors and went perfectly with the theme and my picture which, needless to say, was taken on a very windy day.  Mother Nature was dancing and twirling like crazy!

The big shiny green flower displayed here is from the Bronze Cloissone pack. It is breathtaking! Instead of the pearls around the center, it had little gems which i found were not the right kind of green for the rest of my page, so i removed them and put the pearls instead.

For a more textured effect, I decided to wrap the chipboard circle with lacy ribbon that i dyed green using Glimmer Mist. The green title were also colored using Glimmer Mist.

 The butterfly was originally beige as well as the little rose and guess what turned them green?  Yep, Glimmer Mist - hehe  I used a Prima Clear Stamp with Distress Ink on the border of the paper to give it a little more green.

  

So now, who said it wasn't easy being green!? ;-)

A Bo Bunny Birthday Card

For the Tuesday Card Challenge at the Bo Bunny blog, we were asked to 'bling it on'! Now we all know that Bo Bunny has a lot of nice multi-colored jewel sets in all their collections, but unfortunately my stack at home is very limited right now (i'm saving what i have for a special layout i'll be doing soon) and the local craft store was closed today since it's Sunday.  I never thought i'd have time to do this challenge since the deadline is tomorrow or else i would have made sure to go bling-shopping last week! Nevertheless, i did end up having a little time on my hands today and a friend's birthday is coming up soon so i searched in my scraps for some of the 'blingiest' Bo Bunny paper collections ever... Jazmyne! Along with Zva Creative, Prima and other 'no-name' bling, paper flowers and a little handmade stitching, here is the finished result... 

Gifts from the Heart

A few months before Christmas, i had made these altered frames as gifts to my Mom, my friend Denise and my friend Christine.  Now that all gifts have finally been delivered (yes, it took that long for Santa to visit! hehe), i can share them with you.  

For Denise

 For Mom

 For Christine

And also for my friend Christine and her boyfriend Andy who have moved into a brand new home last November (and which we visited only this past weekend and found super beautiful), i made this Home Sweet Home card with the We R Memory Keepers Family Keepsake collection. 

Wishing you all a very creative weekend!  I will most likely be working on a Prima-based layout for their March Prima Product Pick and Palette challenge and start preparing my application for their new Design Team.  It's a long shot, but i have nothing to lose - it would certainly be a dream come true!

Pretty Pigtails & Crate Paper

Another post, another challenge!  This time, i've done a layout based on this sketch at the Crate Paper blog. The paper used is an older Crate Paper collection named Lillian, but i was waiting for the perfect pictures to go along with it.  Daphne is so cute on these pictures with her yellow Summer dress and short pigtails, thus the title for this layout...

Pretty Pigtails

I've decided to give the banner a different touch by cutting out leaves, stitching them up and using them as the flags. Turned out nice :) Every stitch was done by hand and the chipboard letters were painted using Glimmer Mist.  Hope you all like it!

Beautiful

I know all aunts must say this, but my nieces have got to be the most beautiful little girls in the world!  Here is a layout i made with a recent picture of Ella.  She looks so pretty and poised on that picture; it makes me realize how fast she's growing up.  She's becoming quite a beautiful little lady.

Beautiful Ella

This layout is based on a BAP sketch on the Prima blog.  I have a chance to win some amazing Prima products to which i'm grossly addicted! No one does flowers like Prima! The collection i used is Botanicals. Most of the bling and ALL the flowers are from Prima too obviously.  I modified a few of them using a little glimmer mist and pearl ribbon.  The title is from Art Blanche which i painted black.  I stitched most paper pieces and reluctantly decided to stamp a lacy edge (from KaiserCraft, as is the journaling rub-on) around the background.  I say 'reluctantly' because i'm still very much a newbie when it comes to stamping - i tend to make a mess, but i love how it all turned out.  A beautiful layout fit for a beautiful little lady!

Make sure to visit the Prima blog and check out their March Prima Product Pick and Palette (so many lovely shades of green!!!) and instructions for your chance to win some of these goodies!

Sending Everyone Lots o' Luck!

I am not Irish, but since green is one of my favorite colors (i have to admit i have a LOT of favorite colors - hehe), i do enjoy St Patrick's Day!  Here is a card i made for the occasion, and for the We R Lucky challenge at We R Memory Keepers' Facebook page.  The rule, of course, was that it had to be green :)  A winner will be picked at random so go join their page now and share one of your green projects!

Wishing you (and myself) a very lucky St Patrick's Day!

All Ready for Spring!

Yes i sure am! I cannot wait for all the snow to melt and the flowers to bloom. And today is such a nice mild and sunny day here in New Brunswick that i can't help but think that Spring is just around the corner!  To celebrate its eminent arrival (and to enter this challenge), i played with the fabulous Echo Park Springtime collection and made this color-fun layout with pictures of my 2 cute nieces playing in the garden...

Springtime

All papers and stickers used come from Echo Park.  I tried to make my own cardstock flowers using the Martha Stewart doily punch, but it didn't work out exactly like i wanted - i guess that practice makes perfect! I decided to still use them but as the base for the other flowers which turned out fine. The big pink flower is from Prima. All the stiching was done by hand and i really love how that turned out. I will definitely be stitching again on future layouts :)

 

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Here is another Spring-inspired layout i did recently which i'm very proud to say has been picked to be published in the May issue of the online ScrapStreet magazine.

Grow 

In this layout (based on Liz Qualman's sketch), i used BoBunny's Jazmyne paper. The chipboard title is from Art Blanche, white flowers are from Prima, and the lacey circles were done using Spellbinders in the Cuttlebug machine. I really love this layout and am so very excited to have it be featured in ScrapStreet!

Thanks for looking... and until next time! :)

My Mind's Eye Blog - Challenge #21

I love My Mind's Eye paper! I don't think there's ONE collection of theirs that i didn't absolutely fall in love with at first sight.  So when i saw this challenge on their blog last week, i just knew i had to play :)  Sketches were given as inspiration to create both a card and a layout, using 'Celebrate Today' as a theme and 80% of their products.  I decided to use the Stella and Rose collection for each project. (Unfortunately, my local scrapbooking store was all out of My Mind's Eye products except for the paper, their big order only arriving this week... and i just couldn't risk not meeting the deadline for this challenge which is Wednesday, so the paper just had to do for this time around.  It is so beautiful in and of itself that i figure it must amount to 99.9%... at LEAST - hehe).

Always Delight in Today

As you already know, i really like double-page layouts so as usual i have taken the liberty to extend the sketch on another page. I love the combination of yellow, grey and blue of the 'boy version' of Stella and Rose called 'Hattie'. The black glittery title and flowers are from Making Memories; flowers are from Petaloo and bling is from ZVA Creative.  Journaling reads: "I have waited 33 years to find the ONE... Now that I have found you, I will treasure every single day I am given with you!"

 

   The card challenge came as the perfect opportunity to not only use the Stella and Rose leftover paper from the layout, but also to make a special card for Yves whose birthday was yesterday.   

I love you Birthday Boy! <3

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Before i go, i have to tell you that last Friday was a very special day for me... i finally received (all the way from Australia!) my prize pack of KaiserCraft products i had won in their January Saturday Sketch contest... the beautiful English Rose collection. Also, on that very same day, i found out that my layout 'Poet @ Heart' had been picked as the winner of the last BoBunny Layout Challenge Friday.  Needless to say, i was one very happy scrapper!

Imaginisce Monthly Challenge Round 1

One thing that i love about scrapbooking is that there's always lots of scraps left over to do cards!  And that's what i did to participate in this Imaginisce challenge... used up my leftovers! The deal was to use mostly Imaginisce products (although all i had left pretty much from the collections i decided to use was paper, so hopefully it amounts to enough) as well as this sketch as inspiration...

And to make it a little more challenging, we also had to follow these 3 requirements: 3 patterned papers, 3 colors and 3 embellishments (March is the 3rd month, after all).  I love this challenge, and since it's all about 3's, i made 3 cards! 

You're So Cool!

3 patterned papers - Summer Cool (Blue Raspberry Ripple, Strawberry Sorbet, Flipsicle Twist Paper); 3 colors - blue, green, yellow; 3 embellishments - chipboard sticker, gems, brads

Princess Birdies

3 patterned papers - Fairest of Them All (Magic Meadow, Sweet Satin Ribb, Be Back by Midnight); 3 colors - pink, green, blue; 3 embellishments - ribbon, flowers, bling

Wild Things Birthday

3 patterned papers - Wild Things (Bamboozled, Hip-Hippo-Ray!, Zoophabet); 3 colors - green, blue, brown; 3 embellishments - ribbon, buttons, leaf

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I had to make a 4th card this weekend (a special order from the workplace) which i'm obviously not submitting to this challenge since it was not made using Imaginisce products (i used Basic Grey's Marjolaine collection for this one), but i did base myself loosely on the same sketch and game plan (inspiration goes around!) and i still want to share it with you...

Now i hope my week will be as creatively productive as my weekend was.  Have a good week everyone!

Bo Bunny Layout Challenge Friday - Poet @ Heart

For this challenge, Bo Bunny asked us to make a layout that shared something that people might not know about ourselves.  Most people (even some of my closest acquaintances) might not know that i write poetry. I have ever since i could string 3 words together.  For a long time, poetry has served as my preferred outlet for my creativity, and especially the expression of my innermost, sometimes darkest, feelings. Nowadays, i mostly create and externalize myself through scrapbooking, but i still do dabble in rhymes once in a while.  

Now on to my challenge entry... 

Poet @ Heart

I thought that the new Bo Bunny collection Gabrielle was perfect for this layout so i picked up whatever products were available at the local store (which wasn't a whole lot since their big shipment is due to arrive only this week). This collection is so pretty! Once again, Bo Bunny has outdone itself. The stickers, trinkets, bigger flower (Petals), cream-colored chipboard and most of the gems (Candy Jewels) are also from Bo Bunny.  Other products used are from Art Blanche, DA,  ZVA Creative, Prima, etc. On the right page are excerpts of a few of my poems which i printed, then crinkled up and distressed to give the layout a more antique look.

A few close-ups of journaling and embellishments...

Three Times' A Charm

I have been quite busy scrappin' lately, entering contests and challenges and submitting layouts to magazines.  I was very excited this week to being picked a random winner of a $30 prize pack from ZVA Creative (*BLING*) just by participating in their blog-hop last weekend and posting a comment on one of their design team's beautiful projects.  It was as as easy as 1, 2, 3 and it was my 3rd win since i started blogging. Speaking of 3's, here are the 3 layouts i'm sharing with you today:

Frosty Treats

Like a lot of my layouts, this one was inspired by a design at my favorite scrapbooking store, Scrapbook Craze in Bathurst, NB (soon to have a Facebook page, i hear!).  The original layout was made using the BoBunny Midnight Frost collection which i have yet to use, but can't wait.  I guess i'm saving it for a rainy day - hehe  Anyhow, i decided to use the just as pretty Fancy Pants' Hot Chocolate collection. Most of the chipboard pieces are from Maya Road.  The pictures date back to 2007, but the page comes just in time for the 2011 Canadian Maple Syrup season! Yum!

Gracious Quietude

I don't want to brag, but i LOVE how this layout turned out.  The thing is, although i normally love all that BoBunny does, i wasn't too convinced about this paper at first.  After months of hesitation, i finally decided to give it a go.  And now, i have to say this is one of my faves!  The paper collection is Peacock Lane and i'm glad that i have lots of it left to eventually turn it into pretty cards :)

With Purpose

So it all started off with this sticker i had of this quote "The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do" which i found inspirational. Call me vain, but i do enjoy making layouts about myself (see... i don't have kids of my own so i'm often limited in the pictures i can scrapbook so blame that more than vanity - hehe).  The collection used is Basic Grey's Marjolaine (pretty name for pretty paper) and the title was done using both KaiserCraft and MayaRoad alphabet chipboard. I passed it in my Cuttlebug to give it a plaid embossed look.  All chipboard pieces were painted using Glimmer Mist.

A little close-up of the flower arrangement... and my 'purposeful' face :)