Bear-y Delightful

Can you believe i've been stitching again?! Yes, with already crippled fingers! Hey, if it makes for fabulous layouts, i'm willing to stand the pain :)

The layout i am sharing with you today was inspired by 2 blog challenges:

1. My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge 23 for which i had to use 80% of My Mind's Eye products (which is not difficult for me since i'm addicted to MME!) and base my design on this sketch. Fabulous MME collections are to be won which would make me a very happy scrapper! :)

2. Get Picky's April Inspirational Challenge #7 which provided me with a beautiful photo and color combo for inspiration. The winner will be invited to guest design for their next inspiration challenge in May. I would be totally honored!

Needless to say, i was extremely inspired by both MME and Get Picky, so i got right down to scrappin' this double-page layout.

Bear-y Delightful
Isn't this picture of my niece beautiful? I only had that one picture and since Get Picky was asking for a multi-photo layout, i decided to alter it a little using Photoshop and print it in blue and yellow as in the color combo. I think they turned out great :)
  
The collection i used is My Mind's Eye's Stella and Rose which blew my mind the very first time i laid eyes on it! Every single design is exquisite, the quality of the paper is the best, and the embellishments are beautiful.  The 'Hattie' line went perfectly well with the Get Picky's Color Combo! Check out the different brads...

To represent the circles on the MME's sketch, i made accordion fan circles which i learned how to do in a class at my LSS. 

So do you think the crippled fingers are worth it? (Psst... i have a couple more layouts coming up soon with even MORE stitching! hehe)

Who Needs a Carnival?

I have been pretty busy yesterday...  STITCHING! Yes, i stitched until the wee hours of the night, and stitched some more early this morning (my fingers are all in knots!!!) in order to finish this layout: 

Carnival

I'm not sure if you can see all the stitches but let me just say there's a LOT! hehe  But it was well worth all the work!  I love the dimension that it adds to this layout, and the way it brings out the colors of the paper and pictures.  The collection used is mostly Summer Days from Echo Park which i got in the fabulous Artful Delight May Kit.

Each page of this layout is based on a sketch at Artful Delight. I decided to merge 2 single sketches to make a double-page, therefore i get to enter 1 layout twice for this month's Delightful challenges (hopefully that's allowed!) 

The left page is based on sketch #4

 

... and the right page is based on sketch #3

 

Thank you for looking! Hope it brightened up your day a little with a rainbow of colors! :)

Swirlydoos' Chipboard Palooza Contest Winner!

Do you remember this layout?
I had entered it in the Swirlydoos' Chipboard Palooza Contest a couple weeks ago.  Well, i found out tonight that i am one of the 2 chosen winners!!! I am SOOOO happy!  This couldn't come as a better surprise on interNational Scrapbooking Day, and a SURPRISE it sure was since all the other entries to this contest were simply amazing! Click HERE to see how i found out!  I think this is the pack of Dusty Attic chipboard i am going to receive...

Now you know why i am SO excited! :)

I seem to be on a lucky streak since i also found out today that i was randomly picked as a winner on the BoBunny blog to receive their new collection called Zoology. Check it out - It is WILD!!

Yesterday i found out i was the lucky winner of Best Creations' new paper collection Gone Camping which is super fun!

AND i was also picked randomly out of 500+ readers @ Scrapbook & Cards Today to win the 5lb Mystery Box full of scrapbooking goodies they had been teasing us with for a week!

Now i'm certainly NOT superstitious, but i'm starting to REALLY think i should get myself a lottery ticket... or 2... or 3... What do you think?

Bo Bunny Card Sketch Tuesday

First of all, let me wish you all a very Happy interNational Scrapbooking Day!  Hope you have time to squeeze in a little creativity today. As for me, i have a few projects on the go, but scrapbooking time will be very limited as i'm going to spend a little Mother's Day quality time with my Mom followed by my future Mom-in-Law as it is not possible tomorrow for different reasons (I have very busy Moms! hehe)

I already posted the card i made for my Mom in my KaiserCraft DT submissions post (for which i wasn't picked by the way :( ) so now i will share with you the card i made for my Mom-in-Law.  It is also an 'easel card' (my new favorite type of card!) and based on this lovely sketch from BoBunny for this month's Card Sketch Challenge. 

I used the lovely Gabrielle collection. Note that you'll see a lot more projects with this beautiful collection since i have it x3 - hehe (And NO, i am NOT a hoarder! I just recognize quality when i see it!) 

I won't elaborate more on the makings of my card and just let the pictures do the talking, but stay tuned because i will post a tutorial soon on how you can make your own easel card :)

In case i don't get to post tomorrow as i'll have lots of catching up to do on my scrappin', Happy Mother's Day to all you scrappy Moms out there! :)

A Cherry on Top (and PageMaps) Sketch Contest

Did you think i had abandoned you all? hehe  I was busy creating as always... had quite a few orders for Mother's Day cards from my friends. Seems like my KaiserCraft easel card which i posted a week ago was a HIT! I took a picture of a couple of the new ones i made so i'll have more to share with you soon.

But for now, look at a layout i made for A Cherry on Top Sketch Contest at the PageMaps blog.  It is based on this fabulous sketch (aren't all PageMaps sketches just perfect!?):

Baby Daphne 

What better way to feature the very first precious picture (taken from a cellphone, thus the poor quality) of my youngest niece (who is now 4) than with a layout all dressed up in ivory and pink.  As you know, I normally do double-page layouts, usually extending the sketch i'm working with on a 2nd page, but i think this single layout will be just perfect at the very start of Daphne's album!

The paper i used is from Creative Imaginations and it is so beautiful (see the quilted texture on the background paper!?) that i had to keep myself from buying it in all the other colors available (green, yellow, blue, etc)!

I did a lot of hand-stitching which i LOVE to do although my poor hand would beg to differ! hehe  I'd love to say that i did the crochet flower too, but i bought it from a local scrapbooker who's also very talented at crocheting as you can see.

Cute carriage, isn't it?  It is a Martha Stewart 3-D accent. The pink bling also comes from MS.

So what do you think? Too much pink for you, perhaps? ;)