Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sketch #89

I have had a busy busy week getting ready for school...for both girls and not a whole lot of scrapping going on. But I was asked to contribute to Valerie Salmon's Got Sketch blog and that is one request, I can never say no to! Valerie has super versatile and fun sketches.

Here is my interpretation of Sketch #89 -

And a couple of close-ups too!

I had some with my sewing machine as I "extended" the spray from the sprinkler and then added some of the super fun Cloud 9 rain dots!

Because my pattern papers were so vivid, I chose the clear acetate stars by Heidi Swapp and added an American Crafts Flair for the centres.

And I finally (after 2 years or maybe more!) used up my Heidi Swapp alphas! LOL And those cute little trees are by Chatterbox!

Thanks for dropping by! I've got lots of scrappy stuff to show you this week from Black River Designs and Scrap Shotz September kit! *drool* it is all so delicious!!!

-vw

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Back Home Safe And Sound

After what felt like a very long drive yesterday and a serious lack of sleep this past week, we are all home safe and sound!

The girls cried in the van as we left the driveway...they were actually crying or moaning all morning as they said good bye to their special summer friends and their cousins, my brother's girls. And I don't blame them because I am feeling very very sad, depressed, down in the dumps that we are back home. Not because I don't like our home but I love being in Saskatchewan. It will always be home for me. I love the people. I love the relative safe lifestyle my girls' experience every year. I love the special relationship they share with my Mom and their cousins/aunt/uncle. There are so many things I love about Saskatchewan...until our next visit...

In the coming weeks, I will share some special photos I took while on vacation and hope to scrap them very soon.

On another note, it was fun to come home and see the perennials that I worked so hard on blooming beautifully in the yard...or the matured veggies in my garden...the waaaay overgrown shrubs in the front...

It was a very busy day for me today as I attended an all day Copics Certification class. It was awesome! The ladies there were super fun! Sherrie, the instructor was fantastic...and the Copics...what can I say? I am addicted! LOL After the class, I zipped over to the Farmers Market to buy our fruits and veggies...and to the Coop to pick up my prescription. It was such a busy busy day and I am super tired, over tired really so in a day or two, I'll be back to normal!

And it was great to hear from my brother that he and his family arrived home safe and sound...I have the cutest nieces in the world...but then I am a bit partial!

Thanks for dropping by! I'll be posting some scrappy projects in the next day or two! I've been scrapping!

-vw

Sunday, August 16, 2009

ATCs

ATCs - when I first heard the term, I thought what is that? I am terrible with metaphors and acronyms so it is definitely not surprising that I would not know what ATCs were! Well, ATCs is short for Artist Trading Cards. They are traditionally 2.5"x3.5" in size. They are little morsels of beauty as well! LOL

Anyways I haven't made alot of them and have been involved in 3 ATC swaps. I have wanted to share this guy for a few months but always seem to forget...so here it is!

Isn't he cute? The base is a Jenni Bowlin bingo card. I made some paper flowers, layered them and added a button with jute. The chickie is a stamp and I paper pieced him. The alphas are the ever popular Making Memories mini alphas and the heart is from Making Memories.

And here is another fun guy...I made him in the shape of an Easter egg as it was an Easter ATC swap. I have to say that this may indeed be my most favorite ATC ever!

Have you made any artist trading cards?

Thanks for dropping by!
-vw



Thursday, August 13, 2009

OffBeat

Don't you just love that name??? In my stash, I have a few BasicGrey collections and one of those collections is named OffBeat. I love it! It's so fun and versatile! I've used almost all the papers now and only have scraps left but I thought I would share a couple of layouts from today!


While these pictures are not technically perfect, they represent some of our treasured moments and summer family rituals.


These pictures illustrate the first time my girls and their cousins (my brother's daughters) had a marshmallow roast together. There were alot of squeals and excitement that night!

I wanted to share a couple of close-ups. First, I layered some of the rubs from the matching Olio book; gosh, there are so many rubs included. There are 3 rubs that are the same colour and pattern as the background pattern paper. Then I fussy cut some rubs put on cream cardstock and adhered them to the background.

This is a close-up of layering some rubs, 7 actually. I like the look and will be doing this again!

And something I don't do often but should is mix and match alphas, font and colour from different sets.

I like the look and am happy I ventured out of my little box! LOL

Thanks for dropping by!
-vw

Sunday, August 9, 2009

12 Years Today!

I cannot believe it! Today is my 12th anniversary! It's been a lovely day...Dominic went for a bike ride in the gorgeous sunny day and I got to scrap for 2.5 uninterrupted hours. In the afternoon, we swam with the girls for an hour and had a family dinner in Regina, followed by a Dairy Queen treat! And now we are just vegging...

I am looking forward to some sunny days this week...we have just had 2-3 rainy cool days so the Sun Gods are on my side!

I'll have more scrappy stuff to share in the next few days!

-vw

Friday, August 7, 2009

August PageMaps

In the summer with a limited amount of time, I still try to squeeze in some scrapbooking each and every day. And I was so fortunate to be a contributor to the August PageMaps newsletter. If you have not visited Becky Fleck's website, zip on over there to be inspired! Her sketches are fabulous! They are easy to follow and so versatile.

Here is my layout.

It was created using alot of Pink Paislee goodness! It shows a favorite picture I have of Madison and my Mom, more affectionately referred to as Pau Pau. Other supplies include Making Memories (chipboard); American Crafts (alpha); Heidi Swapp (alpha); Basic Grey (chipboard); Tattered Angels (glimmer mist); Versamagic Chalk Ink (jumbo java); stitching; Fiskars Upper Crest border punch.

Thanks for dropping by!
-vw

Monday, August 3, 2009

More from Ruby Rock-It

A couple days ago, I posted a couple of layouts and a mini album from the Ruby Rock-It kit. Here are a few more layouts from this wonderful Scrap Shotz kit.

These pictures have been waiting for the perfect papers...and this Scrap Shotz kit from Ruby Rock-It are perfect-O!!! Danielle has changed so much in just one year! She was ecstatic on this day that we set up the sprinkler ball, a birthday present from Auntie Ellis, her GodMother. It was short lived though because Madison just HAD to sit on the ball and of course, it popped!

And here are the corresponding pictures with Madison and the sprinkler ball. This was a rather momentus occassion for me as I finally got the shutter speed right to capture the water droplets too!

The pattern papers, gems and die cut are from Ruby Rock-It. The cardstock is Bazzill. The alphas are Chatterbox...I just love these alphas. And the butterflies are Cuttlebugged! (is that a word?) LOL

These pictures are just SO Danielle! She is happy all day long, each and every day...and I am so blessed! I know it! She also loves this dress and rather than pose or sit for me, all she could do was jump, laugh and giggle at me so I had to work with what I had! Yup! An imp!

I am loving the Fiskars Upper Crest border punch...and I am loving putting the gems on its little petite points.

Thanks for dropping by!
-vw

Saturday, August 1, 2009

It's the First of August!

Wow! Summer is half over! Yikes! That means school starts in just a measly 4 weeks...and Danielle will be going to school every single day! *sniff* *sniff* I am so going to miss her...she and I are such good buddies. We think alike, share the same crazy humour and have fun hanging out together...

Well, I better start writing something else here or I will start crying!

This month I have lots of scrappy things to share. Let's start with a few projects from the Scrap Shotz August Reveal. Gosh! I have to gush about this kit by Ruby Rock-It. They are a new company from Australia and there stuff is FANTASTIC!!! Did I mention fantastic????? Because I really mean it! Their papers really speak to me! (And if you are reading this and are planning on having a design team, can you please please PLEASE pick me??? LOL) Everything about their products speak to me. It's like all their pattern papers match all my pictures; uncanny, eh?

So let's start with a mini album I whipped up in 30 minutes. Yes, it was literally 30 minutes. I took a bunch of extra pictures, cut them down to 2.5 x 3.5 inches, stacked them with the ATC transparencies, cracked open my brand new Bind It All and voila! a beautiful mini album!

The great thing about this album is that I can easily add more pages into this album, say details of the pictures or just more pictures. I love this and can see myself doing a whole lot more of these!

The intent of this layout is to have it hung in Danielle's room. She and Pinkie are inseparable and have been since I gave her Pinkie. Actually Pinkie was purchased from the Peter Lougheed Hospital Flower Shop. I had had my hip replaced and wanted her to have something that she could love as Danielle shared the experience with me when she was 6 weeks old. Yes, she was admitted with me and it was the best thing ever for me. I would have been a basket case without her and I really believed she kept me calm and made me want to recuperate quicker.

Originally this was a circular piece of pattern paper with a few cut outs. I loved the frame so much that I used my coluzzle to cut the inside out. I created another circular layout with the picture of Danielle and Pinkie and all the other gorgeous pattern papers in the kit. Then I popped up the gorgeous frame with pop dots on top of the layout. I also added some of the Ruby Rock-It gems...these are yummers! They are super sparkly. The flowers on the edge of the frame are images hand cut from another piece of pattern paper.


I have wanted to scrap these pictures for so long. Danielle was sooooooo happy with her one piece bathing suit that she picked up on a shopping trip with Pau Pau. And these were her "fashion poses" LOL


With the kit ribbons, I created tabs adorned with the gems. The circles and flowers are hand cut from a piece of pattern paper. Some of the elements are popped up with pop dots.

Thanks for dropping by! I'll have a few more projects from the Scrap Shotz kit to share with you!
-vw