Polka-Dots Challenge @ The Paper Variety

It's time for another fun challenge at The Paper Variety blog... and this time we have to show off our POLKA-DOTS! Polka-dots are so much fun and they serve endless creative possibilities! Here is my submission:

Cherry on Top

I apologize for the pitiful quality of the pictures, but that was 1979 and my family was, by NO means, into photography! hehe  Also, this is another one of those cases where in the past, in order to save space in my paper supply, i had thought it a neat idea to cut from every 12x12 paper i owned the strip that usually indicates the manufacturer and collection.  At that time, i didn't have a blog so i didn't really take notice of such details. I know, i know... that's plain awful of me! Nowadays, my friends make fun of me (and probably find me a tad bit pathetic) because i can match every single new collection with its maker! hehe  So, please, if you remember which collection these lovely cherry and polka-dot themed papers are from, let me know in a comment! :)

Some KaiserCraft heART!

You must have noticed that i have been posting quite a bit of KaiserCraft projects lately. One, it's a given fact... i LOVE KaiserCraft, the products AND the blog. And two... i have decided to try out for their 2011-2012 Design Team. How exciting!  It might be a long shot since there are so many talented designers out there, but i just had to give myself a chance.  Let's hope that they will too!

All projects have to be included in one single blog post.  Since I already blogged about most separately, including product details, design information and close-up shots, i will therefore include links to these posts in case further information is needed. 

In Daddy's Hands (Original Post)
This layout, done with the Up, Up and Away collection, is very special to me since it's the very first layout i've posted on my blog (in January of this year), the very first layout i've entered in a competition (KaiserCraft Saturday Sketch Challenge) AND the winner of that very first srapbooking competition!
Forever (Original Post)
Yet another double-page layout... I do make single pages also, but i tend to prefer double. I think that there's a lack of double-page designers out there so i would consider myself an asset to any DT :)  On this layout, i used the gorgeous Prairie Lane collection and quite a bit of wood flourishes, probably my very favorite KaiserCraft product to date! 

2 Sweet Girls (Original Post)
Another double layout with pictures of my adorable nieces, this time using the Candy Lane collection.
Remember & Cherish (Original Post)
For this layout, i have used the Le Chateau collection which is one of my all-time favorite KaiserCraft line.
Owl Frame (Original Post)
This was originally a cheap pink metal frame from the Dollarstore which i've altered with my leftovers of the What A Hoot collection. Again, you can see i used wood flourishes along with KaiserCraft chipboard alphabet.  I really love how it turned out!

Easter Candy Boxes (Original Post)
These are 2 Easter boxes i have made for my nieces out of recycled plastic packaging.  Some jellybeans, some leftover Utopia and Babushka paper, ribbon, bunnies and a little glitter later... and VOILA! They turned out super cute and they sure made 2 very special little girls happy! :)

Bridal Mini-Album  (Original Post)
I don't get to do mini-albums often, but i love them! This is a mini i made for my friend who got married in 2008. The collection used is the beautiful and romantic English Rose and the wood frame is from KaiserCraft.

Mother's Day Easel Card (No original post)
Because she deserves only the best, i made this English Rose easel card for my Mom who i love so much! I can't wait to give it to her on Mother's Day.

Now don't you love KaiserCraft too? Wish me luck! Even if i don't get chosen, i still end up with 8 wonderful projects! :)

Swirlydoos' Chipboard Palooza Contest

When i heard about this contest at the Swirlydoos Blog, i was so excited that my brain immediately started to plan and my heart to hope... to come up with a somewhat original way to alter my DA chipboard AND of course end up with a fabulous layout.  They wanted us to get our hands dirty... well, did mine EVER get dirty!!! They were as black as coal! I just regret i didn't take a picture.

I started off with 5 sets of DA chipboard (Yes, i went a little overboard as Swirlydoos was only asking for one, but i'm totally addicted to Dusty Attic chippies... so there!) : brick wall panel, music, ferns, mini words, 'with love' title

The brick wall was to be my main focal point and i wanted it to really resemble bricks so i started off by dabbing it with Ranger Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge) and covering it with Distress Crackle Paint (black soot). After it dried, it didn't quite crackle as much as i expected so i had to think of a Plan B. I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist (suede), let it dry and then dabbed it with a bit of Adirondack Paint Dabber (snow cap). Once that paint was dry, i covered most of the white spots with glue to then sprinkle the glue with 2 shades of Glitter Ritz (bronze & black)... Here are glimpses of the finished result:

The next piece of DA i wanted to alter is the music note border. Wanting to go with a little more subtle look with this one, i just simply dabbed it with Distress Ink (black soot), put glue on just the notes and sprinkled with Glitter Ritz (black).

Next came the ferns. I made my life easy with those also... i just sprayed them with 2 different shades of Glimmer Mist (Midnight Blue & Dazzling Diamonds).

Last, but not least, the title!  The title 'with love' comes in one chipboard piece and i was afraid to play with it too much at the risk of ruining it since i didn't have another one. I decided to just dab it with Distress Ink (black soot) and then glue some Glitter Ritz (black) on the side of each letter. For the other words, i decided to do a little collage. I had different mini-words that contained most of the letters i needed to spell out 'your music fills my heart' so i cut them out and put them back together. That's another way of altering chipboard, isn't it?! hehe All letters were then dabbed with Distress Ink (black soot).

I'm sorry... i don't have a close-up picture of the title, but you'll probably be able to see from the final picture of the completed layout... and here it is!

Your Music Fills My Heart with Love

The paper used is from BoBunny Mama-razzi Collection, and all flowers are from Prima.

Now why don't YOU get your hands dirty and alter some chipboard? :)

Bridal Mini-Album

I don't do mini-albums very often, but i do LOVE them! I recently completed one that i am going to give as a gift to my friend Denise who got married back in 2008 and for whom i was the maid of honor.  She is not a scrapbooker so i don't think she knows that this blog exists yet, so it should be safe to blog about her mini before i actually give it to her - hehe
I used a KaiserCraft wood frame and altered it with pink chalk and Ranger Distress Ink.

As you can see, the collection i used is KaiserCraft's English Rose. This entire collection is so very beautiful and elegantly romantic that it matched the pictures and the theme perfectly. The metal key is also from KaiserCraft. Flowers are from Reflections and Prima, and the swirly bling is from ZVA Creative.

The chipboard words are from the Dusty Attic and the locket from KaiserCraft.  I have colored both using distress ink.

What a great family picture! :)

Yes, that's me... the maid of honor (squinting her eyes in the sun!)

I really do hope she likes it and that it will forever serve as a beautiful keepsake of that very special day!

Happy Easter!

Whether one is religious or not, Easter is a special time to spend with family, celebrate life... and of course, eat candy! This year for Easter i decided to make cute little candy boxes for my nieces.
It all started with some empty plastic packaging from punches that i had bought a while back. I saved them, knowing that eventually i'd find inspiration to recycle them into something nice. Why not fill them up with Jellybeans?! hehe

Since the boxes were a bit too big for the amount of jellybeans i had (yes, i must confess, i had to taste-test the jellybeans before giving them to my nieces!!!), i stuffed the bottom of the boxes with tissue paper, and then, in went the candy!

I looked for paper to match the colours of the jellybeans and i found none better than leftover paper from the KaiserCraft Utopia and Babushka Collections (sorry, i couldn't find the link for this one as it is quite an older collection). After a bit of cutting, punching, choosing ribbon, i came up with these...

Now all i needed was a little something to make them a little more 'Easter-y'.  What better than bunnies... so i found these old bunny stickers in my Easter stash container and sparkled them up a little with Stickles. I did the same with the Easter flower stamp (that i bought at Michael's for only $1.50 by the way!) after coloring it in with markers. I then added a flower to each, and there you go... 2 pretty Easter boxes full of goodies for Ella & Daphne! :) 

Forever - Pencil Lines Sketch 234

YAY! I got to play with some KaiserCraft goodies again! Have you ever seen all their wood flourishes? They're to die for! I made sure to use a lot on this new layout, kept them to their natural state, and it turned out just beautiful.  

I was inspired by the Pencil Lines sketch below. Hopefully i get to win an awesome prize sponsored by Noel Mignon just by playing along! Once again, i turned it into a double-page.

Forever

June 2nd, 2009 is the date when Yves proposed to me and i said YES! It was also our 3rd dating anniversary... a day full of love and happy surprises which i will always cherish in memory... and in scrapbooking :)

I decided to use KaiserCraft's Prairie Lane collection since it went so perfectly well with the colors in our pictures.
Now look at this gate... Beautiful, isn't it? 

I would have really wanted to use these beautiful Kaisercraft Paper Blooms on my layout, but my LSS didn't have them in stock - i guess i'll just have to order some! So, instead, i used Prima flowers (which i LOVE too!), some of which i've altered a little by adding some Stickles just to give them a sparkle or two and dabbing them with Distress Ink, both from Tim Holtz.  Because i didn't find they went with the overall tone of the page, i also removed the center of some of the flowers and glued in some brown pearls instead.

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed and i'll be sure to keep you posted on when the wedding will be! hehe

Bonne Fete Therese!

Today is one of my friendly co-workers' birthday, Therese. By special request from her friends, I made this special card for her. I hope she has a wonderful day full of great food (we're going out to lunch - hehe), great laughs and even greater surprises!

Remember 2 Always Love Life - April Prima PPP

I'm so thrilled to share this layout with you today! I got to play with more Prima goodies recently... gorgeous paper, beautiful flowers and dainty ribbon... all for the Prima April PPP (Product Pick and Palette) challenge. I was also super excited at the beginning of the week when i received an envelope full of Prima flowers in the mail - i had won a $25 gift certificate at ScrapAttack Scrapbooking and spent it all, never even leaving their Prima section!

Without further ado, these were the gorgeous colors in the April Palette that i already shared with you in a previous post:

Stunning, aren't they?! There was no way i would pass on this challenge so i got busy browsing my Prima stash right away and came up with this one-page layout. Yes, i know, one-pagers are fairly rare on my blog, but i do like to make some now and then! Sometimes it just feels right :)

Remember 2 Always Love Life

You probably remember having seen this picture already. I had used a sepia version of it on the very first layout i posted on this blog back in January. There is such a sweetness to it, the way my nieces are walking away, hand in hand with their father, leading them to explore a sweet Summer's day.  I thought this colored version matched perfectly with the Prima palette.

The paper i used is Spring Tide (842475) from the Madeline collection (i made a card with the leftovers that i'll share with you tomorrow!) and different shades of cardstock. The majority of the flowers used are also Prima: Celebrate - Love Note Collection (548827), Sparkling - Marri Collection (548582), Annabel - Softies Collection (547936), Bright Mini Rose Mid Release (535544).  The pearly ribbon is the Pearl Cream Lace (537265): only, it was originally yellow and i dyed it a soft shade of brown using Glimmer Mist. The other ribbon was dyed from peach to green. I also used Glimmer Mist on the Dusty Attic bird cage, birds, vines, title and corner. The edge of my background was stamped using a Prima stamp (850739) and different shades of  Tim Holtz Distress Ink. The die-cut swirls are from a Niklin Designs prize pack i had won via Creative Scrappers, and yes, you guessed it, they were also altered with Glimmer Mist.

Hope i've inspired you a little today.  Please don't be shy to leave me a comment - they always make my day!!! Tell me what Prima product is your favorite. Also, send your scrap buddies to visit my blog if you think they'd like my style :)

Spring Fling

Well, i have been pretty crafty lately, let me tell you! If it wasn't for work and sleep, i can honestly say that i'd be scrappin' 24/7!

The layout i'm sharing with you today was based on this April sketch at Artful Delight.

Spring is finally here and what better source of inspiration is there than to see the tulips budding through the ground? Although around here, it's been quite cold these last couple days, making me wonder if Mother Nature might have played a trick on us by deciding to 'spring' forward right on to Autumn! The tulips are slowly but surely still coming out though. :)

Spring Fling

Once again, you see that i've extended the sketch to a double-page layout. There really needs to be more double-page layout loving out there!!! ;)  I wish i had more information to give you about the paper used in this layout, but the sad truth is that i've had it for quite a while now and in the past, in order to better organize my paper in 12x12 containers, i used to cut out the white strips on which the name and brand are usually indicated. All i know is that it's Christmas paper! Can you believe it? A Spring layout with Christmas paper! hehe If any of you do remember this collection, please do let me know in a comment and i will be more than happy to update this post with the information :)

As usual, all the stitching was done by hand. My technique right now is laying my paper over a long piece of styrofoam and punching the holes one by one. Sometimes i make an outline with a pencil beforehand. I don't think i could even do a straight line with a sowing machine, let alone write a word in script! I can't wait to get myself the Sew Easy tool from We R Memory Keepers!

Wishing each and every one of you a beautiful Spring!