Saturday, December 15, 2012

Inspiration Elevator #8: Fear Itself

I would like to express my overwhelming sadness for those affected by yesterday's horrific events and send my prayers for comfort and peace to all those grieving in the days to come. Our challenges are created well in advance of our reveal date and while our challenge topic is FEAR this month, I am sure I could never truly understand what that word means in light of this tragedy.
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You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow.  You can view all of the challenges on my blog here.  

Please join me in welcoming Michelle Hernandez.  We are so fortunate to have her joining us this month as we explore our scrapbooking limits. Michelle uses a variety of techniques to take her pages to the next level. You can see her amazing creations at her blog "My Analog Life".

This month, our challenger was the super talented Sue Sykes. Sue writes an ongoing article for Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine called Leaving Your Legacy and her challenge this month for Inspiration Elevator was also featured in the Winter edition. This is what she wrote:

"The idea of “Leave Your Legacy” first came about in 2007 when I was sorting through some vintage photos of my parents. I realized that while I knew most of the standard information about the images, the profound information about my parents and relatives was missing - information that would give me a glimpse of what they had been like when they were younger. 

To me, scrapbooking is, of course, a means of artistic expression, but more than that, it is a way to leave a little piece of history for future generations in each layout. And so, it amazed me, in talking with friends who scrapbook, to learn just how seldom they scrapbook about themselves. All of these incredible people, and their families may not really know anything personal about them: their hopes, dreams, habits, likes, dislikes, fears and accomplishments. With this article, I hope to encourage fellow artists to scrap more about themselves to avoid that from happening.

I think it's important to document your fears as well as your happy times and accomplishments. Many times, things of which we are FEARFUL, often characterize our personalities. It's also rewarding to be able to look back, once you have overcome a fear, to realize how far you have come. On the heels of my husband's heart attack, this was an obvious choice for me, but it's difficult to put into words the FEAR that you feel when faced with the possible loss of your partner. I want to remember the fear that we both felt, so that it will help us to stick to our commitment of living a healthier, less stressful life.

So what is it that you FEAR the most?

Not only do I want you to scrapbook about a FEARFUL topic, but I also want you to include at least ONE product that you have avoided using. Maybe it's because you are hoarding it and are FEARFUL of using it all, or maybe you are intimidated by it. Whatever the reason, spread your wings and challenge yourself to use it."

When Sue issued this challenge, I knew right away what topic I was going to cover (for once!) and my darling husband had just shown me the photo of his most treasured possession: his motorcycle. I want to tell you how much I HATE that thing but alas, we have only so much time and I have come to accept the fear it brings me every time he gets on it..a bit better anyways. But in the beginning it was awful. I really wanted this layout to represent how hard those times were for us.

I knew I wanted to try some texture medium and a stencil too, to give this page lots of masculine textures, and my BFF Ann, was kind enough to lend me just the right amount!


I began with an old chevron patterned piece of paper from my stash and added the medium with a plastic knife over the stencil. I loved hoe the edge of the knife made 'tire' tracks in the raised medium.

I hadn't really planned out the over all design too firmly. I wanted the artsy to flow!

I got out my watercolour paints and used black to really reflect how this new TOY really wrecked havoc with my piece of mind. I added the teal colours to match the actual photo.
The medium actually resisted the watercolour in places. I even added some glimmer mist to mirror the glimmer-y paint on the bike. (I should say that my hubby said the layout was not 'pretty enough' for his 'baby'. (yes, we are still married. Hrumpf)

 I also splattered and misted a bit. The gear shapes represent the wheels, the stitching the path of acceptance (not a straight line) and I wanted the whole creation to feel rough and have lots of depth.
I also added lots of torn edges and this was a really 'jagged' journey for us.
I especially love that when I sanded the photo the textured stencil created a design on the photo! So cool! What a journey. It was very cathartic!
Overall, a wonderfully creative experience and after lots of thought and experimentation, I have something I love!

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:
Michelle Hernandez, Guest Designer

I am so excited that you are continuing on this journey with me. If you would like to join us on this journey leave me a comment with a link to your creation, and I'll be sure to pop by and leave you some love.

Until next time, keep doing what you love!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

December Daily: A Discovery..or two.

Well, I am continuing to find a bit of time to complete my pages for my December Daily. Two at a time seems to work best and I can get the 'mess' out during resting and for TWO pages it seems worthwhile.

I Also discovered that if I type the journalling I am much happier with the result. Finally, even on days when there aren't too many things going on, using my 'filler' idea-ers is very satisfying too.

 Some sequins added sparkle and I cut the edges off a snowflake for those tree trunks.

I even got my sewing machine out on this page which made me happy.

I hope you are enjoying your DD if you have time, or enjoy dreaming of a DD next year if December is just too busy. Thanks too to all those of you who stopped by to say "Hi" and encourage me in my last post.

Four down and 27 more to go!

Until next time, keep doing what you love to do.

Monday, December 3, 2012

December Daily: the beginning

Wow, Dean Martin says it best when he sings: "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.." I have begun to get into the holiday spirit and my December Daily is really helping me find the smallest reasons to be grateful and immerse myself in the Christmas spirit.

I chose Simple Stories Homemade Christmas for my paper palette for this project. I wanted to apply the "KISS" principle and KEEP IT SIMPLE SILLY (stupid is a bad word around here!) Here are the first two pages plus the title page. I chose to use an 8x8 album from Recollections for this project so my first page is my title page.




I hope you share your DD pages with me! Stay tuned for more simple December Daily's!
Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Friday, November 30, 2012

The Christmas Crop at Two Scrapbook Friends: Making a List and Checking it Twice

Looking for a chance to get some last minute creating in before the holiday rush begins? Two Scrapbook Friends is inviting you to join them for an online crop in their forum.

There are lots of great prizes and fun challenges. Here is a great layout I created using the November sketch from Canadian Scrapbooker.  Every year Santa makes his list and checks it twice so I am challenging our friends who play along to use a LIST on their creation.

This design showcases my daughter while we are on vacation in Florida. Her sunburned cheeks didn't melt away her great sense of humour.




I also took a few 12x12 shots so I could share a bit more of the details:
After splattering some watercolour paints on to the back ground, I used my Creative Memories Punch to cut the great hexagons. I also stitched a few in floss too. The swirls are from an older Bo Bunny sticker sheet.
On the right hand side I added more paint in swathes of colour (most of it disappeared under the photos) and some more splatters. The hexagons add a little bit of weight under my focal photo and journalling.
I added some doodling around the main title, and on a few of the hexagons to tie it all together.
It wasn't hard to find ten things I love about her! I printed the text on the printer, inked the edges and added some tiny Momenta numbers.

I hope you will stop by and say hello and play along.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Inspiration Elevator #7: Regrets and the Path Not Taken

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow.  You can view all of the challenges on my blog here.  

Please join me in welcoming Katherine Sutton.  She is a very talented designer and we are excited to be working with her!  You can see more of her work on her blog, Fruits of my Scraps.

 This month, our challenger was the super talented Cathy Harper. Here is her challenge, in her words:  "I have been thinking about my challenge for months now. This is such an amazing team, I am thrilled and humbled to be a part of IE...each of you are amazing designers. I often wonder what I am doing here amongst you. I scrapbook for the joy of it, the creativity part of it, the love of paper part of it....I hardly ever bare any of my feelings in any of my work! I often tell my kids that they can make up there own stories to their pages..I am that terrible about journaling. I guess it is a bit superficial or a whole lot superficial. So here is my challenge. I want you to create a page about REGRET. “No regrets”…they say we should live our lives without regrets… if it were only that easy, right? Most of us hold onto 1 or 2 (or a mountain full) of things we feel regretful for in our lifetimes. A lost love, those words you WISH you had said, the weight you wish you had lost….you know them, right? I encourage you to confront them….take those suckers on and scrap about them… or just one. This can be something superficial to something serious and painful… it’s up to you how far you want to dig. I DO encourage you to use this as an opportunity to really stretch yourself. Journaling is very powerful and you might be surprised by how you feel afterward. This is going to be super tough for me (I may already regret it, lol )...as I am one who lives with a mountain of regrets and know in my head that I should move on, let it go. I am hoping this challenge will help me actually "let go" of some of these things. Maybe by putting in down in 12x12 form, creating it, seeing it and feeling it, that I can put some of it to rest! It's worth a shot! Pictures, no pictures...that is all up to you!"
I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:
Katherine Sutton, Guest Designer

IE challenges always begin with lots and lots of thought. I takes a lot of planning for me to be able to represent my feelings about these challenges and this one was no different. In fact, I was up finishing this design at the very last second. So difficult when I knew what I wanted to say but I didn't have the photo or photos to best represent my journalling. Finally it all came together with the new app for my iPad, don't you know there's an APP for that?!

I want to begin by expressing how I feel about the idea of having REGRETS. I don't have any. I don't spend my time thinking about what might have been; the should-haves, could-haves and would-haves don't play a roll in my life. It's a concept I decided on when I was quite young actually. My mother always told me not to spend the minutes of my life thinking about the past because you can't change the past but you can choose what you carry with you into the future. It is SO important to scrapbook these things that are at the core of our being, don't you think? Those thoughts and ideas that make us who we are? Thanks Cathy for that..otherwise I don't think it would be something I would preserve for future generations but it IS something they should know about ME.
On to the design part of this process!
As of late you may have heard me talking about my creative 'constipation' (sorry for the imagery) and I sometimes turn to Basic Grey to get it all 'flowing' again. This new collection called Lucille had some beautiful teal colours with browns and it really spoke to me creatively. As mentioned, I also decided to use these Pocketbooth photos from my iPad App to fully express this part of me. (this is a great app and for those of you who love your iPhone/iPad you should definitely check it out for 99 cents!)
I began with my paints and added splatters and crinkled some scraps and watercoloured over top for a very aged distressed look.


I added some fancy sewing machine stitches down the right side. I like to think they represent the ups and downs; ebbs and flows of life.


 I usually leave my title to the end as the design sometimes leads me in a direction I didn't plan, but this time I had it before I even stuck one thing on paper. I think it very aptly expresses the ideas behind my philosophy of life.

The hardest part for me though is the journalling. Firstly, because I almost never plan for it visually in the design and secondly, because I find it hard to say exactly what I want to say...succinctly.
Here it is though...even if it is a bit long! (I also chose to highlight some of the words in the matching teal colour. The special words actually fit together in a shorter little saying. Cool, eh?)




Thanks for sharing this journey with me. I have felt myself grow through this process and am thrilled to have a piece of myself in the scrapbook for those who come after me.
We'd love to see what you are inspired to create about your own regrets or lack thereof.  Or if you want to share something just add a comment below and we will be sure to drop by and say hello!

Next month's challenge is even more of a 'dig deep' challenge bur that's why I love Inspiration Elevator. Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Fall For You and a great new sketch blog

Good afternoon! Today, I want to share with you a design I created using a sketch created by Kristine Davison from My Scraps and More. Every month there will be at least 4 new sketches! You can link up your creation's post/photo to the blog and share in the fun! You can check out the first sketch here.

And here's my creation.
I used two older photos of my daughter and trimmed them down to 3.5 x 3.5. After splattering some watercolours, I matted them together on one sheet of white and layered them over a pieces of patterned paper that was stitched in contrasting thread. I added a tabbed piece to allow my title to 'pop' off the page, the banner and the 'ribbon' shape add flow across the design.

I really enjoyed playing along this week and already have plans for sketch #2!

I hope you'll stop over and be inspired! Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Best Friends Every Day of the Week

Good Morning! After another great weekend scrapbooking with my friends Sue, Jennifer and BFF, Ann. I used Authentique's November sketch to create this design about Adriane and her BFF, Jordyn.

I love the Lively collection and keep it handy in my stash. It's bright pinks, browns and lime greens really represent Adriane and make her layout lovely and "lively".

I chose the woodgrain as my background, sprayed it with some acrylic paint. I then added a feminine doily. The little banner pieces come from the large sticker 'Details' sheet from this line. My little title stickers too. The larger ones are Thickers from American crafts which I sanded and inked.

I love this photo and I hope the design does it justice. Until next time, keep doing what you love.


Product List
Authentique Lively
- Flutter design
- Bright Design
- Details stickers

American Crafts
-Thickers

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Playing Along with Let's Get Sketchy: Let's LIFT!

Happy Sunday! This weekend I spent some wonderful time withe Ann and my pals Sue and Jennifer. I spent lots of time scrapping and getting my Mojo back!

I was really inspired to play along with Let's Get Sketchy and they challenged us to 'lift' a layout that inspired us from their designers own 'lifts'.  I chose Eileen who had lifted her design from Yuki. I  adored all the white space here and when I pulled out my photos, I realized I had chosen the same paper line from Fancy Pants! I love these designs Eileen and Yuki! Thanks for being so easy to lift!


I really like the brackets, the little brads on the banner and the colour combo especially . I used Thickers for my title and you all know how much I love BUTTONS! I even added my favourite yellow pom pom trim.

We really don't get the opportunity to "lift" a layout, since in the world of design, we are always thinking about original inspiration but I really enjoyed this process, and I created a layout JUST FOR ME!

Thanks Let's Get Sketchy, until next time, keep doing what you love!



Thursday, November 1, 2012

He's My Lucky 13

At our house there are lots of special dates that fall on the 13th day of the month, so any superstitions that may exist certainly don't apply to the Uttley's! In fact, this year was a very special 13th day. Max turned 13 in September and he is even more awesome than last year. It seems to be a trend for him!

I had these great photos of him from our most recent trip to Disney where we celebrated his big day. He was so goofy and silly and actually let me take his photo. I was so thrilled they turned out perfectly.

I found the great line from Authentique called "Original" and even it's title seemed a perfect match. I pulled out the November challenge (in the form of a sketch) from True XOXO blog and VOILA! a page was born.


I began with sanding and misting the back ground. I also like the look for the distressed edges and inked them with a brown ink. The Title is cut from the Silhouette and the Tim Holtz kraft core cardstock really adds depth. I even stitched a messy stitch all the way around.

The journalling is simple but speaks to his personality and how I love being with him and how he always makes me happy in my heart.

I hope you will pop over to the XOXO blog and check out what the other Lipstick Chicks are doing and play along with our challenge this month. You could be the next Guest Designer!

Until next time, keep doing what you love to do.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Quickly and the Authentique Colour Challenge

Good day! I am once again using Authentique's 'Peaceful' to create this design of Rich and Max.

I used "Warmth" as my background paper and added bits and pieces of "Chill" and "Frost" on this Pagemaps sketch.


I love the colour combination of cream, olive and black. The cute chipboard letters from Bo Bunny really give me title that pops off the page.

I hope you'll find time to play along with Authentique every month. Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Peace and "Peaceful"

 On the first Saturday of the month Authentique releases two sketches on their blog. This month, I used both the layout sketch and the card sketch to do some creating with the Peaceful line.

This cute card uses a black cardstock base (Stampin UP!) and the papers 'Frost' and 'Solitude' from Authentique.



I used an embossing folder on the green pennant piece and inked the edges black. The accordian flower has a punched edge and the peaceful swan at its centre is from K&Company.



I hope that this card will someday bring someone some comfort during a difficult time. Thank you for stopping by and until next time, keep doing what you love.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Some "Enchanted" cards

Hello! Today I wanted  to share the last of my creations using the Enchanted line from Authentique.
Here are two little cards I made using the little bits and pieces left over and these great patterns really made it easy. The sticker sheet has so many great captions and quotes. This one really inspired me and I created a layout and this card with the same title!
For the second card I cut a spider using a Silhouette spider and added some googlie eye to give him character. I was very honoured when Two Scrapbook Friends want to release the card as a kit in the store!
Have a spookily delicious weekend! Do a bit of Halloween creating in your space and until next time, keep doing what you love!

Friday, October 26, 2012

You Sparkle

I love working with Authentique. I know I keep saying but I really do! I created this design as part of my design team kit for Two Scrapbook Friends. I thought it was the perfect paper line to showcase this little diva photo of my Dolly.


I used some torn edges and added ribbon and washi tape too.
I liked to frame up and ground my title which is comprised of some Thickers and a title I ran through my Xyron sticker maker.

This little cluster of buttons and stars really added some meaning to my title and focused attention on my photo.

I hope this little design inspires you to create something sparkly! Until next time, keep doing what you love!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

BIg Halloween Grins!

Good Morning bloggy friends! Halloween is around the corner! Today I wanted to share with you a design I made for Two Scrapbook Friends using more of the Authentique Enchanted line!

Using several layered pieces I created a frame and rounded some corners. The cream piece of patterned paper and the orange hounds-tooth balance each other and the black cardstock allows the main photo to pop. I cut the pumpkins from a Silhouette pattern and added bits and pieces from the sticker sheet from this pack. But cutting them from patterned paper the little Halloween script adds a little 'something'. The big orange letters are Thickers and the font is one of my favs!

I hope your Halloween thoughts are ghoulishly happy ones! Until next time, keep doing what you love!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Sketch at Two Scrapbook Friends

Hello friends! I wanted to share with you a sketch I created based on the Bliss layout I posted here early in October. There is a new sketch every Wednesday at Two Scrapbook Friends. I hope you'll stop by and be inspired every week!
Here is the layout again:

Be inspired! I would love it if you comment here and leave me a link to your sketch inspired design.
Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

You Put a Spell on Me!

Halloween is around the corner and manufacturers have been producing some of the best holiday lines. For those of you who know me well my favourite papers these days are those by Authentique. Recently my friends at Two Scrapbook Friends gifted  me with the Enchanted line.

Now, you should know I am not a huge Halloween scrapbooker. But this line wasn't just limited to Halloween! I used it to create several layouts that I will share with you this week.

Here's the first: I had this great photo of Adriane on her way to school in grade 2. She was happy and joyful and her smile so sincere.
I really like Authentique's classic patterns and show cased how well they all go together here. I also included a bit of Washi in a polka dot (polka dot polka dot polka dot AFRO!..sorry, couldn't resist).

The first and last part of the journalling is done via my Print Shop program and I added the "SPELL" afterwards with a great font from the Silhouette.

Thanks for stopping by, and until next time: keep doing what you love!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Fabulous Four

I haven't been very 'bloggy' lately what with the fall rush of school events, and getting back into the swing of things. But while I was away in Disney, I challenged my friends at Two Scrapbook Friends to create a design using these three colours: Goldenrod, Teal and Grey.
Here's the inspiration:




Here's my design using Authentique's Curiosity line, it has those great golds and teals and grey..which really inspires me. The photo is of us after Max's 13th birthday. I chose to use the black white as my photo choice because we weren't very colour co-ordinated..and you guys know how THAT can mess with your mojo!

I used some sequins to create a heart that matched the colours of this line perfectly. I am thrilled with how it turned out! I also inked the Tim Holtz letters an added some Glossy Accents. The letters actually had a robin's egg patter on them when they dried.

I hope you will give this challenge a try too. Thanks for stopping by and until next time: do what YOU love!


Monday, October 15, 2012

Inspiration Elevator #3: What Do You Believe?


You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. We love to have new faces join us on our journey and this month we welcome a new guest designer to join us.  Please join me in welcoming Denise Morrison. Denise's blog is aptly name "Life is Yummy" and so is her art!

This month our challenger was the very talented Ann Jobes. Her challenge to us is as follows:
This month's challenge is a journalling prompt. I realize some of us do not journal much on our pages, and if we're truthful, we mostly scrapbook for ourselves - it gives us joy, a creative outlet, etc. But we do hope that someone is going to page through these albums sometime in the future, right? For this month's challenge, I'd like you to think about some of those values or beliefs that are important to you.

There is no "right way" to do this. Spend some time thinking about this. It's your chance to share with future generations something that is important to you and makes you who you are. Take some time to collect some verses, quotes or sayings that speak to your soul. Choose one that you think is a "life verse" - something that really communicates the essence of you.

Use whatever photo(s) you think will suit your message. Enjoy putting a meaningful page together using your favourite techniques, style, papers - whatever makes it "you".

I know this is going to be difficult. I'm asking you to reverse your process and put the message first when we so often put our message/journalling last, as an afterthought, if at all.

Another great challenge, which of course, was super challenging! I thought about this challenge for a long long time. Not because I don't believe in anything or I couldn't think of a saying or title to represent my belief system, but because there were so MANY! Ann and I chatted about this quite a bit and she and I agreed that we would probably need many many many layouts to cover off the tenants of our belief system.

I chose to with "Find Your Joy". I really believe strongly that choosing to find happiness in every day, in all you do, makes life worth living.


This photo of Adriane shows such a crazy grin. When she was younger, the loved the swings, being outside and she always embraced each and every moment. She was so capable of finding her joy.  The Fancy Pants Hopscotch line worked perfectly to convey such summery joy.

I added my journalling on a hidden tab under the photo.Which helped me get the design as I wanted it.


 I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:


 We would love to see what you are inspired to create. Add your comment below with a link, I will be sure to drop by and say hello.

Until next time, keep doing what you love to do.
Christa


Thursday, October 4, 2012

Autumn Colours Blog Hop with Two Scrapbook Friends


Are you craving design inspiration for your Fall and Thanksgiving projects?  The Design Team at Two Scrapbook Friends, plus some special friends, have been busy putting together some amazing paper crafting projects that are sure to kick start your Fall creativity. 

To see all the great projects, begin the hop at the Two Scrapbook Friends Blog and travel from blog to blog.  If you comment on each blog, you will qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a RED HIGHLIGHTED word on each blog which will make a phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once you have completed the hop to all our designers blogs, leave a comment on the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and email the phrase to us and we will enter your name for a second chance to win!

The hop will remain open from October 4th to October 8th at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on October 10th on the Two Scrapbook Friends' Blog. So, be sure to stop back at the Two Scrapbook Friends Blog and check to see if you are the winner of a fabulous prize!

So remember, in order to be entered to win:
1. Leave a comment on all the blogs as you go and then go back to the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and leave a final comment there.
2. To have a second chance to win, keep track of the HIGHLIGHTED WORDS from each blog and email the phrase to 2friends@execulink.com. Put "Blog Contest" in your subject line.
3. Check back at the Two Scrapbook Friends blog on October 10th to see if you are the winner. (Winners will not be contacted personally.)

Be sure to stop be each on the following blogs, leave a comment and keep track of the secret word!

Two Scrapbook Friends
I created a design using Little Yellow Bicycle's fall line from 2011. It had a quote that I totally loved.

" Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.~Emily Bronte"



This quote needed just the right photos and I found these three of Max when he was about 3 years old. These pictures still make me laugh and smile 10 years later! I like the balanced horizontal design for these photos and added visual interest with a large chipboard piece, buttons and twine. It's these little bits that ARE my favourite parts of a layout.

 I pulled the title "bliss" out of the quote and it really does represent his joy at playing in the leaves..(if you could just see my hubby's face ..he doesn't look quite so blissful at having to re-rake all the leaves!)

The final touches of a little bird and a chipboard bracket draw the eye to the focal point photo.

I hope you will stop by all the inspiring blogs and fall in love with FALL!
Until next time, kep doing what you love to do!