Thursday, February 28, 2013

#Snowday


I was thrilled to be given the Fancy Pants Blissful Blizzard by Two Scrapbook Friends very recently as my design assignment. Even though I am not a prolific winter photo taker, this collection is very versatile and in the days to come I hope you will see lots of ways to use this beautiful paper line.

In fact, since yesterday was another snow day here in frosty Southern Ontario and it was a gorgeous day. There was lots of fun snow and the kids always enjoy their illicit absence from school when there is a mountain of the white stuff in our backyard.

My first design shares with you photos I took on the last snow day we had not too many weeks ago. I have been taking photos using my Instagram program and posting them to Twitter and Facebook. The title uses a 'hashtag' which I thought was particularly witty, if I do say so myself.
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I used Mr. Huey mist in the opaque white to create a 'white out' effect. I had some Studio Calico snowflakes with I misted over to leave this stamped out pattern in the mist.
 
The square photo is mounted in a white pennant shape and I used triangles along the side cut from the different patterns in this collection.
Some of the snowflakes are left in their natural wood colour, while I misted others.
 
I hope you have enjoyed your 'snow day' and this little bit of inspiration. Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Little bit of Belated Valentine's Love

Whew. What a month! For those of you you who like to drop by and say hello here, you'll notice I haven't been very prolific in my blogging lately. It's been a busy February and I have been having a bit of dental trouble; which has really impacted my creativity. Seems those little pearly whites are in direct line to interfere with the creative juices!

I did manage however, to create this cute layout for my friends at the True XOXO challenge blog for Valentines Day.

It was truly pretty easy once I got going as I had these super cute photos of my dolly and me from a long time ago and a brand new stash of Fancy Pants paper too. I adore this Love Note Collection with its graphic patterns and mixes of pink/white/red.  The long title was inspired by a quote from a Pinterest post and it seemed to tell the story I wanted to share.

I began with some splatters (of course) and some hand stitched hearts. Added some great chevron patterns called Passion, a bit of washi tape and some pleated ribbon. You can't go wrong with a paper called PASSION on Valentine's Day.

My chipboard title is covered in red paint and some glass bead medium for texture. It's a simple design but I think it really showcases my black and white photos.

I would love to see some of your Valentines love inspired layouts. Leave me a little comment here and I will pop by to see what you are creating! Until next time, keep doing what you love.


Friday, February 15, 2013

Inspiration Elevator #10: Connect


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.  


This month, our challenger was the super talented Lisa Speiegel. Lisa lives in California with her family and this month she asks us to think about our growth in 2013. This is what she wrote:

"Create a layout about your One Little Word. You know, the word that we scrappers choose in January upon which to reflect for the year. This word should have special meaning to you and be selected for it's potential to help you reach and grow...the only hard part..you must use a photo of yourself and add journalling to the layout explaining the significance of the word..."

AS you may recall from an earlier post here at Do What You Love, I have chosen the word CONNECT. This word has so many meanings for me and for our challenge this month I chose to reflect upon how that words affects my family. I am so busy with work, and life. It seems sometimes that the emails, phone, texts and running around forces me away from something I ahve always felt important: connection with my family. Quality time spent being "present".

In 2009 I had wonderful photos taken by a very talented photographer by the name of Angela Smith of Waterloo, Ontario. I have scrapbooked almost every photo she took, in fact I make done some of them more than once in an attempt to find the right feel for each one. This photo is my absolute favourite of all she took. It really shows how my family is connected in that moment.



I didn't use one piece of patterned paper on this layout! I was surprised that I had the urge to use a bit more "art" on my design. I began this process with my Aquarelle Gel crayons.



They have such vivid colours and you know how I love a rainbow! After adding the rainbow heart by hand and blending it with my wet fingertip, I sprayed it with a fixative, so it wouldn't run with marker or the water colour paints. I flicked water colours in matching shades all over the layout and doodled a black line around the heart to give it POP.

I added the two chipboard love birds (coloured with the gel crayons and sprayed with fixative) and the wood veneer heart.


The little cloud was a die cut from my bin-of-no-return which I coloured with gel crayons too. My journalling was short ans simple: a reminder how this simple word can mean something so very important. I used the black Dymo labeller for impact and texture.


I hope you will join the rest of our Inspiration Elevator team to see what word best reflects their plans for change and growth in 2013.

Until next time, keep doing what you love,

Monday, February 11, 2013

Let's Connect Online Crop with Two Scrapbook Friends

Last Friday my friends at Two Scrapbook Friends launched their Let's connect Online Crop. So much fun! Great challenges based on social media types like: Facebook. Blogging, Twitter, iTunes, and Pinterest.

I even found time to play along with some of the challenges this weekend. I created this cute little design of my darling Bo and me.
I used My Mind's Eye Bright Side for most of it with a really cute denim background from SImple Tories.

I hope you'll come by and be challenged! The inspiration is divine and there are OF COURSE prizes to be won. Until next time, keep doing what you love!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Let's Connect with Two Scrapbook Friends Online Crop

Get Connected 

There are so many ways to get connected to the world of scrapbooking!

Twitter, Facebook, Email and Blogs are just a few! Two Scrapbook Friends invites you to join them and their wonderful Design Team and be inspired by all the ways we can get connected during our Online Crop in our Forum. Our Designers and the Two Friends will be issuing creative Social Media inspired challenges to thaw your Winter creativity! There will also be games to play and prizes to be won. So get yourself organized......the fun begins this Friday!

Want to know more? Here are some of the specifics!

1. Each Design Team Member and the Two Friends will post an inspiring and creative SOCIAL MEDIA based challenge with a great example in the Forum. Once you have completed each challenge, upload a photo of it to our Layout Gallery and link it back to the appropriate challenge thread in the Forum. (ALL LAYOUTS MUST BE CREATED JUST FOR THIS CROP to qualify for prizes. ) Finally, each layout will count towards only ONE challenge. Be sure to upload no later than February 18th at 11:59 pm.

2. There is a special category in the Layout Gallery for each challenge and participants MUST post a photo of their project under the correct category in the Gallery to be eligible for any prizes. Just be sure to resize the photos to less than 500 pixels (width and/or height). Its super easy but you must be registered on the Gallery before you can post. Please let TSF Joanne or DT Christa know if you need help...

3. Now for the best part! There are three prizes to be won: A) random draw for participation, B) random draw for completing all challenges, C) favorite overall winner voted on by the DT and the Two Friends.

4. In addition, the Two Friends and the DT will be choosing a favourite from her own category and that winner will be awarded 50 buttons!

The winners will be posted no later than February 20th on the Forum.

We hope you will join us and be inspired, we look forward to seeing your creations!