Wedding Layout

I worked on this layout for a challenge over at Swirlydoos today. You have to lift your team mate's layout and make it your own. This is my team mate's (Jackie Clark) wonderful layout that I got to lift:

You can see more of Jackie's incredible work over at her blog Scraps of Brilliance. She also makes the most wonderful cards! For this challenge you received extra points for using black and white plus one other colour. That made the choice of a photo easy for me, because I have been planning on scrapping some of my son's wedding photos and their colours were black, white, and deep pink.

The paper line that I used is Bo Bunny's Enchanted. It comes with some beautiful coordinating embellishments and that is where I got the centers for my Gerber Daisies. To make them I used this flower from Close to my Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

I cut 2 black ones at 1-1/2", 3 black ones at 2-", 2 pink ones at 2-1/2", and 3 pink ones at 3". The little pink flowers that are on their own, were cut at 1'1/2" and then I scrunched them up to give them a ragged look. Down in the bottom, left-hand corner of the layout, I made a white flower embellishment from this Cricut shape from the same cartridge.

I inked it up and embellished it with some pearls and another Bo Bunny embellishment. Great fun! I encourage everyone to try doing some challenges. My favorite sites to go to are Swirlydoos and Flying Unicorn. There's always great inspiration and lots of friendly people to visit with!

Mini books and Stick pins go together!!

I was involved in a pin swap over at Flying Unicorn and wanted to come up with a way to package the pins. Paulien over at Swirlydoos was my inspiration with the mini book that she linked us to over at Tim Holt's blog. (Click on "Valentine mini book".) These little books are wonderful because they just use one piece of patterned paper, and you can decorate them to your heart's content. They also have several little pockets that you can tuck things into, so they worked well for the pins. I ended up using 3 of my favorite paper lines (as I had 3 different books to make) from Close to my Heart: Florentine, Dreamin' (retired), and Sonoma (soon to be retired), and I also made a matching card. Florentine:

I will only show you the inside pages of just one of the books - Florentine. If you would like to see the others, just email me and I will send you pics. I embellished the books with the co-ordinating stickers, flowers, etc that Close to My Heart produces for each paper line.

Dreamin':

Sonoma:

One final word about the pins. (I hope you have a coffee with you, because I know this has been a long blog.) :) Super, super, easy to make. You have got to try it. You will become addicted! I just picked up some beads at Walmart, 3 inch header pins, some E6000 glue and I was away. (There is a tutorial here for using a glue gun but I opted for the E6ooo glue instead.) They are a lot of fun to do, very economical, and you will be able to customize your cards and layouts in a whole new way. Ok. That's it. I hope you enjoyed this post. I'm off to enjoy a lovely summer day! Linda

Cowgirl Outfit in honour of the Calgary Stampede

During Swirlydoo's last blog hop, I ran across Kellie Reynolds' blog and fell in love with the paper doll outfits she makes. They are just gorgeous and really appeal to the little girl inside you. LOL. I decided to give it a try and since the Calgary Stampede is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, I decided to make a cowgirl outfit.

I have to admit, I just about skipped making the little hanger because I thought it looked too hard (yes I'm a wimp ... I know) but decided to give it a try because it is so cute.

Kellie's tutorial is very easy to follow and I enjoyed making it. It's not perfect, but with a little practise I think I will have less kinks in the wire! I would encourage you to give these a try, Kellie provides tutorials and patterns, and with a little tissue paper and some patterned scraps, you're off and running. I'm going to try making a wedding dress to embellish an album that I'm planning for my daughter-in-law. I think they would also make cute embellishments on a special layout! Enjoy your day everyone! Linda

Sympathy Card

Sympathy cards are always hard to make but I love this particular stamp by Just Rite, and use it alot.

I also used my new Bitty Blossoms die from Spellbinders to make the roses. When I'm misting things, I always sop up the left-over mist with some seam binding, and this was a piece that I had stashed away.

Stay cool today! It looks like it's going to be hot!!

Linda

Card Keeper Box

Vicki Wizniuk shared the cutest Card Keeper Box on her blog, that I decided I just had to make!

It goes together very quickly and easily and will be a great way to stay organized with up-coming birthdays, etc.

I used CTMH's "Dotty for You" paper (inked edges with "chocolate" ink) and decided to make 2 boxes and glue them together with wide pieces of scor-tape.  I will put family birthday cards in the front box, as I get them made, and miscellaneous cards such as "Sympathy", in the back.

Each box is 5 inches wide, 7 inches tall, and 2-1/2 inches deep.  With the two joined together, the depth becomes 5 inches.

Check out Vicki's blog, she has included a tutorial, and you will enjoy visiting because she is a very talented and creative lady!!

ATC card

It's a beautiful, hot day in Alberta today.  A good day to stay hidden in the cool basement scrapping and getting caught up on blog posts!

This is an ATC card that I made for a swap that I was in at The Flying Unicorn.

There's not really anything technical on it, just some distressing and inking, and my first efforts with Liquid Pearls (not as bad to work with as I thought).  I snuck a little bit of tulle in to give it some texture, and then it all came together with the beautiful tiles and chipboard from Prima.