Welcome Everyone!

Remember to "click" on all pictures if you'd like to see them a little closer.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

He's a good guy? Yah, right.

Hi, I hope everyone is enjoying some rest and relaxation after Christmas.  It was a very crisp and snappy -25 degrees here for Christmas Day, but things have warmed up considerably and all the children have been playing outside, happily, with their new sleds and skates!

Every year my sister and I look forward to seeing the pictures of our grandchildren with Santa.  It's just one of those traditions that we love.  So far, my all-time favorite is this one that I have scrapped today.  It is of her youngest grand-daughter last year and the expression on her face says it all.


This layout was pretty straight forward to do.  I used Martha Stewart punches to make the outer and inner borders, and then framed the photo with a mat and some lace.  The floral embellies were stuff I had in my stash, but the two blue roses were from a sweet fellow crafter at the crop where I was making this.  She offered them to me after watching me working on it and I was just thrilled as they fit so perfectly!  Don't you just love the friends you make doing this wonderful obsession hobby?


I didn't have a large candy cane, so I searched the internet and found a child's colouring page with one and made a pattern for the candy cane from it.  Then I just paper pieced it together 
and added some glitter and a bow.

Christmas is so hectic and busy, that sometimes it just totally overwhelms us.  I always love the peace and quiet of the following week, where I can reflect on all the concerts and visiting, 
and enjoy my photos (if I remembered to take them!).  
It's the perfect time to remember the following quote by Calvin Coolidge:

Christmas is not a time or a season,
But a state of mind.
To cherish peace and goodwill,
To be plentious in mercy,
Is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

Wishing you all much peace and goodwill,
Linda



Saturday, December 22, 2012

O Holy Night!

I was playing with Gelatos this week.  I see now why everyone is talking about them.  They're alot of fun to work with!


I started out by embossing the snowflakes on the tag and then coloured over them with a combination of these gelatos:

 
Now I have to admit, I thought "eek" at this stage of the  tag:
 
 
But I swirled the colours around with my finger, and sprayed some water on,
and things started to look better. 
BUT ... the purple blob in the middle... oh no... NOT the look I was going for:
 
 
Not to worry, go in and add some more colour where you feel it's needed:
 
 
and you end up with a beautiful glowing tag:
 
 
For the card background, I did the same thing, only left out the purple colour in order that the tag would stand out against the blue. 
The chippie was also painted with Gelatos.  This time I rubbed a bit on my craft mat, and smeared a little water in, making it into a paint which I then brushed on.  It was a little light in colour, so I painted over the Gelatos with several different colours of Smooch accent ink, outlined the chippie with a black Pitt pen, and then stamped a little bit of gesso here and there to soften it up.
 
 
The flower started out looking like this:
 

I sprayed it with black Smooch spritz, and rubbed in the purple Gelato here and there, dabbed it in glue and then glitter, and added some beads to the center, and it became this:

 
And that's it!  Throw in a little bit of burlap, and a little bit of bling, and you're done!
 
I apologize for my "plain" looking blog right now.  Something has happened with Blogger and my wallpaper is gone.  :( 
I will try and figure out what has happened, after Christmas, coz you know, right now it's CHRISTMAS and my list of "to do's" is still pretty LONG!  LOL.
 
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and finish off YOUR lists!
 
Linda

 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Icycles and Snow

I had a lot of fun doing today's layout.  Got to work with pictures of my favorite little boy (my grandson naturally!!) and used circles as a feature, which I've never done before.  I was able to use this layout in two challenges:  my team-mate in the Swirlydoos Round Robin 
used circles in her layout, which I was to "lift",
and there was a challenge at the Flying Unicorn to make circles your focal point.


I used a lot of different techniques on this: distressing, misting,
sewing (somewhat crooked lol), inking.

 
The ruffle around the picture was made using Tim Holtz's tissure tape.  I like how it doesn't stick permanently and can be re-positioned as you're working with it.
 

These hanging icycles came from a bargain I found at Michael's ... YAY... love bargains!!

 
50% off!!  :)
 
 
I added some tissue tape to this chipboard, inked the edges, and had the perfect backing for a title:
 
 
And then the final touch, that no layout can be without .... flowers
 
 
Love Timmy's Tattered Pointsettia die.  Making the flowers was so quick and easy with it!  Add some shots of Tattered Angels "Scarlet" glimmer mist and pearl beads, and we were done.
 
Season's Greetings to all!
Linda
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Friday, December 14, 2012

New Chipboard Company!!

There's a new chipboard company in town and I'm lovin' their stuff!!! 
Check out their site ... they're having a fabulous give-away!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Winter Bird

Hi everyone,

I was inspired by Alda over at Flying Unicorn, to make today's card.  Here is her beautiful card that I fell in love with. 


Scrapbooker's Paradise has a challenge on right now to use a Winter Bird theme, and the Flying Unicorn has a challenge to make a card or a tag in a different shape than usual.  Here's what I came up with.

 
Here in Alberta, I think one of the most beautiful winter birds is the Blue Jay. 
I cut the lovely shape of the card with my CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge.
I used the "fill the page" setting, and the card is about 4-1/2" x 4-1/2".
That cartridge makes it so easy! 
After the card was cut, I used this "Belleek Inspired" technique that I learned from Kittie Caracciolo (totally LOVE her cards). This technique is so easy and it makes the snowflakes just pop out!
 
On her card, Alda used an Aileen's product called Glitter Snow to coat the edges of all her mats, as well as the flowers.  I didn't have that so I had to improvise.  I put about a teaspoon of Light Modeling Paste on my craft mat and sprinkled in a small amount of fine glitter.  I mixed it really well with a spatula and it worked just great.  You can see it all around the edges of the card, as well as on the decorative mat.  I also put some on the Pointsettia and button down at the bottom corner.  It seems to be very durable and is standing up well to "flexing"... nothing has chipped off.
 
You can't really tell on the photograph, but I put liquid pearls on the flourishes and it gives them a nice shine to match all the sparkle and glimmer that is going on everywhere else.
 
 
Here's a little closer view.
 
 
I did a side by side of these two pointsettias in order that you can see the difference that
adding the Modeling Paste makes. 
The coated Poinsettia looks like it has a layer of beautiful, glittery snow!
Thank you Alda for the wonderful inspiration!
 
I encourage you all to check out the challenges by clicking on the links above. 
They are a lot of fun....and....there are prizes to be won!!!
 
Wishing you all the best,
Linda
 
 




Saturday, December 8, 2012

My "Rocker" Husband

Hi everyone,

Gee, Dec 8th ... need I say more????  What's a person to do, time is racing, chores are piling up... yikes.  I love all the concerts and music and decorating, but what I HATE is trying to fit housekeeping chores in there too.  YUCK.  Talk about ruining a girl's fun.  :) 

I decided to deal with it all today by turning the Christmas music on and just going full bore at everything that's been piling up.  (We're talking no room on the kitchen counters anymore.  *smile*)  (While I'm confessing... there's no clothes to wear either.  *NOT smiling anymore*)    The music's at the highest volume too.... for some reason it only motivates me when the whole neighbourhood can hear it!  But fun... I'm singing along ... a little rustily...and things are getting done.  What helps you at this time of year??  Give me tips ... I need HELP!!!

But back to scrapping,  this is a layout of my husband that I did for another Swirlydoos challenge

 
The picture of Gordon was taken at our son's wedding a couple years ago, when he was convinced to play a tune during the service. (I don't think he has played in front of an audience since his young "rocker" days when he played in a band at local dances.) 
 
We were to use a rock song for inspiration and grunge it up big time.  It was a lot of fun ... I really attacked the background paper with water and mist and a lot of scrunching and tearing! 
 
 
 
 
I had a great time making these zipper embellishments ... I just rolled them around in different shapes until I liked what I saw... and then added some screws!  For the guitar, I used "The Drunken Scotch" technique on it which uses Aileen's Tacky Glue, Alcohol Inks and a heat gun. 
You can find a video tutorial here
I kept practising on little pieces of chipboard until I got the colours working the way I wanted them to.  The colour of alcohol ink that I used was "Stream".

 
 The small picture was taken in the '70's when we were first married. 
And yes, our children laugh often, at his resemblance to Hyde from "That 70's Show"! 
I can tell you, his personality was/is the same too.  *laughing* 
 
That's it for today! 
Take care, and if you're feeling stressed about Christmas,
put some carols on and dance around your kitchen in your socks.
It's guaranteed to get you back in the proper spirit!! 
 
Linda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, December 1, 2012

A Trip to Banff

This summer, my daughter and I needed to get away and relax, so we decided to go to Banff for the weekend.  (We are very fortunate that we live not far from one of the most beautiful parks in Canada.)

I used some of the photos from that trip, in this layout for the November Swirlydoos round robin challenge.  Jan challenged us to make it a multi-photo layout and use specialty papers.  In addition, we were to make a flower from them.
001
I added the tissue paper to the background with mod podge and misted it.
004
Then I made the top left hand flower out of tissue paper following Tim Holtz’s tutorial.
003
We were also to use a rub-on in a new way, so I added the little black flowers to the letters in “you”.
002
I had just got a new mask that I wanted to try, and it seemed to fit the photos, so I used it in the background.  I stencilled it with molding paste that was mixed with some cool artist pigments called “Primary Elements” by Luminarte, in a Bolivian Blue colour.  (It was stepping outside my “comfort zone” to do the tree in blue, lol, but I ended up loving it.)
Banff is very beautiful, and is only an hour’s drive from Calgary.  If you’re ever in Alberta visiting, you really MUST go to Banff!