Another Peak!!

I just finished my project using Scrappin' Sheila's April Scrapbooking Kit.  I say project, because it is really not a layout, or it is, just on a bigger scale....well, that's all I am saying, and here is a peak:

See you tomorrow with the full reveal!  Have a great afternoon!!

April Sneak Peak!!

Can you believe that it will be April at the end of the week??  Really, no foolin!! :)  Here is a sneak peak at the soon-to-be-released kit that Sheila and I have been creating with, Scrappin' Sheila's 12x12 Scrapbooking Kit for April!!

It's theme is Let Your Imagination Fly!!  Lots of spring colours, flowers, birds, butterflies!!  Can't wait to show you what I am working on.  Those workshops this past weekend really got the creative juices flowing!!
Have a fantastic day in the sunshine out there!!!

The Artist in All of Us!

Yes there is one in all of us, and boy does Donna Downey know how to find it!!  If you know of her, everything you see and hear on her blog, is magnified when you meet her in person.  She is a bundle of energy, and inspiration, she is bold and encouraging.  She is a hugger and an impulse buyer!!  During the workshop on Saturday, one of the attendees showed her some fabric altered with a machine called an embellisher, out came her phone, and budda bing, she found one and bought one right there and then!!  I did three workshops on the weekend, and spent an amazingly inspirational day on Saturday with my SIL, Julia, by my side.  LOVED it, we both did.

Friday nights class:  A layout created on Prima canvas, it already has text on it!! Did some stamping, some iron ons, bling, colour washes with acrylic paint, I made it my own with some distress inks around the outside edge.

Saturday's classes:  The morning class, Life's Artistry, was a canvas album, and was very messy.  I still have blue fingers!  No one got even remotely close to being done.  Lots of colour washing on our canvas, paper and flowers, and fabric was attached to cardboard, also for inclusion in the album, some stamping also.
 

 

Donna showing us how to apply acrylic paint to canvas, and then use India Ink for journalling: 

Saturday afternoon: The Inspirational Journal.  This is where she really got us challenged.  Donna strolled around the room, giving us instructions....ie: pick a page, and use only 1 colour of paint, new page, you can only use ink, now use circles, two colours, one stamp, very fast paced.  She showed us some techniques, drippage, image embedding, image transfer, white washing, glue resists....then she made us get up, take our journals and go to someone elses' table.....and use THEIR stuff...EEEK!!  and WOW!!  It really made you see your own supplies in a different way.  She totally wants everyone to stop hoarding, USE your products, experiment, get messy, be daring!!  Some pics of what I did: 

Some I like, some I am totally going to keep working on, we really only scratched the surface.  Can't wait to continue it.  The journal is supposed to be somewhere to test ideas, a foundation for later work, an inspiration!! 

Fabulous time, can't wait to do it again!!!  Thank you Donna!!

I will be playing this weekend with....

DONNA DOWNEY!!

I signed up for a few (three to be exact) workshops that she is teaching this weekend in Kitchener!! 

I am over the moon excited!! 

Now we need to get her to Scrappin' Great Deals!!!!

Bo-bunny Gabrielle

I am in love with this new line from Bo-bunny!! Love, love, love it!! The colours, the patterns, the script, the butterflies. Here is one layout that I just finished last night using it.

This is actually the first layout I have done in a long time that is not for a team, or with a kit etc. It is a picture of me, my sister and my brother, way back when, in 1972. (That's me on the right.) So I used three pieces of the patterned paper, the lace ribbon from the wraps, the diecut chipboard, the brads and the sticker sheet. I usually like to mix up my embellies & paper from different supplies, but did I mention I really love this line?? Perhaps I did!! I also used some flowers from Prima, and a MS border punch, some stickles and thickers!!

Here's a little close up of the layers:


Have a fantastic spring day!!

Happy Birthday Card!!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby. It was actually yesterday, he was a St. Patrick's Day baby. Here is his card, a very quick one.


Stamped with a recent release from Kraftin' Kimmie, Stripes the Zebra, embossed, then shaded with some distress ink. Embossed the Echo Park paper with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, inked the edges, added some Cosmo Cricket ribbon, all on some Black Bazzill paper. Done!!

Enjoy your day!! Fabulous warm weather!!

Ray's Reptiles

Gee I wish my camera had fresh batteries in it ..... Wandered around the Western Fair today with Malcolm seeing the exhibit from Ray's Reptile Zoo, based in Ottawa. It is always a fantastic show, the handlers really know how to get the kids involved with the creatures.

We saw a yellow anaconda, reticulated python, king cobra, pink footed Tarantula, bearded dragon, a few monitor lizards, various tortoises...really cool....so glad they were behind walls. I was brave enough to touch a black rat snake. eek!!

Funniest moment....during the live show, the handler is talking about Tarantulas, specifically the one he is holding in his hand....ewww....yes I know; however he is talking about the spider's hairy butt and how it uses it for defense, well he asks the kids, all sitting down on the floor in front of him, what other animal has a hairy butt? So he gets the typical answers, dogs, bears etc., then one little girl, about 6 or 7 from the look of her shouts out "My DAD"!!! I haven't laughed like that in awhile!! Man it was funny!!

Had to share!!! :) Having a great Mommy/Son day!!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

It's a Kraftin Kimmie Blog Hop!!

Yes, it is time for the full reveal of Kraftin' Kimmie's March 2011 stamps!!

You have been seeing sneak peaks all week of the fabulous stamps that Kimmie is releasing this month....stamps from Annie Rodrigues, Steven Leary and more of my kind of stamp....Krafty Quotes!!

The Krafty Quote stamps are larger in size than your average sentiment stamps and are perfect as the focal point of your scrappy cards and as an addition to your scrapbook layouts! This month’s set includes quotes from Mother Teresa, L.M. Montgomery, Bette Midler and Lauren Bacall!

You will get to see most of the new images while you sit back and enjoy our Krafty Hop! You’ll see all the Krafty Girls, as well as some very special Krafty Guests along the way!! If you want to start from the beginning, just head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge Blog! As you hop from blog to blog, be sure to leave a comment at each and every stop because some lucky stampers will win packages of stamps from the new release!! And when you’re done hoppin’, be sure to head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie shop, because ALL the new images are NOW available!

My little guy, Ben, when he was three months old. He just started smiling around this time. I used Bazzill Kraft paper as my background and for the punched out stars. I stitched around the outside of the kraft paper using my SewEasy. The ribbon, the charm tag and the star brads are all from an older Making Memories line called Pitter Patter. I mounted the photo on some Prima paper, used some foam Thickers for the title and added some Maya Road pins behind the letters. Some of the stars got a coating of Smooch pearl top coat for a little sparkle.

Some close ups:

Really happy with the layout, and I finished it in the nick of time!! Nothing like waiting until the last minute!! But I did get to spend an amazing evening crafting with my good friends celebrating Angie's birthday. Kimmie did get to inspect my layout prior to this post, actually saw it from start to finish!! Next month I'll be more on the ball!

So from here, please head on over to the fabulous Michele's blog for your next stop on the hop!! I popped around her blog and WOW, does she have a lot of of amazing stuff for you to see!!

I hope you have a fantastic day, don't forget to put your clocks ahead, and enjoy the hop!!

It's a Krafty Peak Day!!

It is sneak peak time for Kraftin' Kimmie's Stamps!! Kimmie asked me to be a guest designer again this month for her new line of stamps: Krafty Quotes! I was very happy to do so!! I love adding "thoughts" to my layouts and this new line fits in perfectly with my style!

So here is my layout for today, featuring a quote from Lauren Bacall. I knew as soon as I read the quote what pictures I was going to use! A child's imagination is limitless!!

I used a mix of papers from Bo-bunny, Bella Blvd and October Afternoon, added some background stamps (Tim Holtz and Cornish Heritage) using distress ink in Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint, added some cute "hand" buttons, the alpha is from October Afternoon and the ribbon is from Cosmo Cricket. I am really into scrunching up my ribbon lately, really like the depth it brings. Lastly I sprinkled around some stickle dots. I stamped Kimmie's sentiment on the Bo-bunny paper using Indigo chalk ink.

A close up:


I hope you liked what you saw here today and make sure you visit all the Krafty girls to see their takes on the Krafty Quotes!! Check out Kraftin' Kimmies Challenge blog for the list of who to see! Come back and see me on Sunday for the blog hop!! Enjoy!

SGD'S First Blog Hop

Welcome everyone!!! This is the last stop on our hop and if you did not arrive here via Kim's blog than head over to Scrappin' Great Deals' blog to start at the beginning!!

Introducing Me!!

My name is Lori and I have been working at SGD for a little over a year now. I have been scrapping since 2001 when a friend introduced me to Creative Memories and I was hooked!! I am a landscape designer during the week, and usually spend at least one day a weekend at the store - supporting my hobby! I have a wonderful hubby, two incredible sons, a dog, a cat and two bunnies - which equals one full house!!

I tend towards the shabby chic style, a little artistic, a lot layered and distressed!! My hands are never clean when I have finished up a layout! Ink, ink and more ink!! And yes I am a Tim-aholic!!



I am SGD's resident designer and have been working with Sheila putting together the store's monthly scrapbooking kits for several months now. I LOVE this part of my job the most!!! Putting together several different paper lines, matching various embellishments, trying to keep it unique and up to date.....LOVE the monthly challenge it gives me! And then I get to put together a few layouts every month with the kit. Is this just the best job ever!!! YES!!

So that is me!! And this is the end of our Hop!! I hope you enjoyed meeting some of our designers! Make sure you leave a comment on every blog for a chance to win some Blog Candy!!

Have a great day!!

Recipe Time!!

Here is my last layout made with SGD's March Kit:


I absolutely LOVE this recipe. In fact I burned my chin on the pan the first time I made it because it smelled so good and I leaned in too close to give it a sniff!!

I used both the October Afternoon and WRMK paper to write the recipe on. The apple stamp is from Flourishes (love these stamps!!), and I used it to create the background with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I also stamped it once with Memento Ink and coloured it in with my Pan Pastels, cut it out and popped it up on my page. I stamped the background page a few times with a couple different Cornish Heritage Stamps, also in Antique Linen, then shaded the apples with the Pan Pastels, as well as around the border of the page. The title stickers are MME, added some jute twine, and eyelets, dabbed some dots around the page and done!!

Here is a close up of the colouring with the Pan Pastels:

Have a great afternoon!!!

It's Release Day!!

Another month has come and gone, March is here!! Let's hope for that early spring, I am quite done with snow!

Scrappin' Great Deals March Scrapbooking kit is stuffed full of colour!! It was a bit of a challenging kit to work with! A little outside my comfort zone, but that is good, it shakes things up a bit! Here is the kit:


It has designer paper from WRMK, October Afternoon and Echo Park, co-ordinating Bazzill cardstock, Webster's alphas, Basic Gray and WRMK brads, Prima Flowers, Pebbles Candy Dots, Maya Road chipboard buttons, and lots of WRMK title cards, flocked lace trim and journalling tags. This kit celebrates Family!!

Sheila and I had a blast on Saturday with our mini "competition", who can get the most done, the best layout, etc, etc. All in good fun of course, and with her being the boss, somehow she always wins???

Here are two of my layouts, the third I will be finishing up later today.


I used an I-topper for the first time to make my own paw print brads. Really happy with how they turned out. Love these pictures of my son and our cat, man they love each other! I played with some white Chalkboard Glimmer Mist on the background, didn't really show up enough so I added some splatters with chalk ink and a Tim Holtz stamp.

Next one:

I used the flocked lace trim as well has some scalloped edges from the WRMK title block paper and layered it along the bottom of the layout. I used the tattered florals Tim Holtz die to make the flowers, put some brads in the centres, tucked in the Prima flowers and voila!! Probably the fastest layout I have ever done! It came together really nicely I think!! I chose a Sepia toned picture because of the vibrant colours of the paper.

That's it for now! Make sure you pop over to SGD's blog to have a look at Sheila's creations! Beautiful work!!

Have an awesome day!!