ABC123

I have two challenges included in this card today - the sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches and the the Back to School theme is from Stampin' Royalty.

The letters are chipboard.  I have used chipboard on three projects in a row....as you'll see below.  And let me tell you - inking chipboard with our new ink pads ROCKS!  All I had to do is press them into the pad one time - even with the yellow.  And they dried quickly too.   Maybe I'll finally get around to using up all the chipboard pieces I have....or at least some!

This is the layout and colours for Day 27 of 31 Pages in 31 Days.  I wasn't sure what picture I was going to use - but I took time last week to get a bunch of old pictures enlarged, so decided on this group  of high school buddies hamming it up outside the Field Museum in Chicago before going in to see the King Tut Exhibit.  Yeup - I'm the red head standing on the right.

For the "tag" with the writing, I used MDS2.

When I saw the colours and theme for Day 28's layout from 31 Pages in 31 Days, I knew exactly which pictures I was going to use.

Lyssa used tin foil glued to cardstock to create the embossed piece under the car.  Oh - and that was the only car I had and it was on MDS2.  Lyssa had a cool little race car!  Anyway, for the embossed section I used some "heat tape" for taping ducts.  I stuck it onto the cardstock and embossed it.  Very shiny!

I've been to school already today - so I'm ready for the meetings to begin tomorrow.  I'm now off to finish some MDS2 assignments and get Day 29 done!  It really is going to be hard to go back to school.

Hope your Hump Day has been a good one.

Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Counting Down

I was so busy scrapping yesterday that I missed Merry Monday - This challenge blog is surely going to help me plan the cards for my Christmas Stacks this year!  I held my August Christmas stack last week and the next one is October 27.

I decided to use "Four Seasons" for todays' card along with the Northern Flurry embossing folder.  The little blue bird in the middle is raised up on dimensionals and the only reason that the greeting is punched and raised is that I stamped the greeting after I embossed the paper and it got muddled in with a snowflake.  I'll need to remember that when I do the class!

Thank you ladies for challenging me to Keep it Simple and getting these Christmas cards done ahead of time.  

I'm a bit behind on the 31 Pages in 31 Days - but I will finish on time.  I actually have more than 31 pages done now because of the double spreads...but that doesn't count.  This is actually Day 26.  Lyssa used one of those pieces of DSP that I NEVER use....they don't come in every package, but the ones with the stripes of designs are left alone by me.  So - this pushed me out of my box.  I did go looking through my retired pieces for something to use.  And, in the end, I like how it turned out.  I now have to dig through things to determine when this picture of Allison was taken.  Yikes.

I don't think I can say enough about how excited I am about the MDS2.  I am loving so many features!  Being able to colour stamps easily with multiple colours ROCKS, being able to make words fit a shape ROCKS...it all just ROCKS!

If you're at all interested in seeing what I'm so excited about - you can download the MDS2 FREE for 30 days by going to my website.

Well - I'd better get going to school.  It's a bit later than I wanted, but if I stay focused I can get a lot done, come home and do more scrappin'

Hope your day is full of good plans - that pan out!

Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Cupcake Birthday

Sorry this is a late posting for Sunday Stamps.  We are back after a brief break and this week we are featuring a sketch created by Hayley.  Remember our challenge blog alternates each week between sketches and colours - fun, fun, fun!  I love Hayley's sketch with the three little pieces featured in the corner.

I rarely use busy busy DSP for a background, but it just seemed to work this time - I love these little cupcakes, they're so much fun.  I stamped and fussy cut the cupcakes in the corner. 

This is an awesome sketch, and you should see the different interpretations by the Design Team!  They're great.  When you have finished your own creation, please be sure to link it back to the Sunday Stamps Challenge blog so that we can take a look.

I thought I would share a couple of the projects I've completed recently with MDS2 (My Digital Studio 2).  I'm doing a digital/virtual class with Heather Summers - MDS wiz!!!!  Totally excited about learning the new features of this program.  If you're at all interested in seeing what our program offers, you can download it from my website store and play with it for FREE for 30 days!  How awesome is that!

So - I'm off to get a Newsletter finished, and then do some more scrapbooking!  I'm going to have to head into school early this week to start putting my classroom back together - but I'm giving myself one more day of crafting.

Hope your have a marvelous monday - Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Totally Scrappin'

Today I'm only posting the last couple of scrapbook pages I've completed for the 31 Pages in 31 Days. I've had some exciting unexpected company and didn't get to any challenge cards today because I was completing these pages......so...

Day 23 was exciting for two reasons.  Lyssa (the inspiration behind the 31 Pages) used an old card front as the base of the page and created these butterflies with waxed paper. It works beautifully for the butterflies.

Lyssa's sketch was pretty vintage, so I hunted up this picture of my one of my Great Grandmothers.

I see now that I'm looking at the card on the post, that it needs something in Pool Party up in the Left corner.....I'll have to work on that!

I've kept the sketch for Day 24 bang on - I've just changed the paper from what Lyssa used and added the tag in the middle so I could journal on it.  She used a card front again - but I just cased her card for this one.  I like the little photo corners that she created - I wouldn't have thought to distress them and then layer them.  Glad I kept that punch though!

Finally, for Day 25, Allison gets another Dance page finished.  She had started scrapping her pictures quite a few years ago and has now asked me to redo them - they were very plain and neither one of us knew what we were doing at the time.  

Subsequently, I had to dig up some old Green Galore because the pictures had already been matted in that paper since it went perfectly with the costumes.  I was even lucky enough to find some DSP in Green Galore.  The "Best Friends" is a sticker that Allison added to the first page.

The sketch is close to the one that Lyssa had for today- hers was a challenge including DSP, ribbon, a Big Shot Die and Fabric....

Well  - I'm off to play hostess.  Dinner has grown to include 8 people.  It should be a fun night.

Hope you have enjoyable company with you this evening - friends, family, pets.....

Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Masking and Scrapping

I feel I kinda cheated on this challenge this week from Freshly Made Sketches.  The sketch is pretty much bang on - except for the masked stamps along the bottom.  The "cheating" comes in because I pretty much cased the base of the card from the Stampin' Success Magazine on page 7.  I added the wee little 5 cent stamp next to the twine and then changed the bottom by adding the masked stamps.

I'm using this card as one of my techniques in September.

Sorry to the FMS ladies!

This is the Day 21 page for the 31 Pages in 31 Days.  Stamping on the cotton ribbon is sooooo easy.

Day 22 of the 31 Days is a double spread.  I had never created the pin-wheels before.  It was fun, and I added a bamboo skewer for the handle as Lyssa had done.  I am loving getting these old pictures scrapped!

I'm off to get more photos printed.  WoooHooo!

Hope your day is going well - Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Merry Monday Bananas

Oh Yeah - back in the swing of Christmas Cards on Monday......It was a fun easy sketch today - I added an extra element, but for the most part I stuck to Lesley's design.  I was glad to use these scraps to create the card - that was an extra bonus!

Allison was glad to see another set of her dance pictures make it to a page today for the 31 pages in 31 days - headed by Lyssa Zwolanek.  Lyssa used the Floral District paper today which was bright and "girlie" - that's what made me go through the dance pictures to see what I could use.  Subsequently, my page isn't quite as bright as Lyssa's sketch (I used the flip side of the paper she chose), but I had tons of fun creating it. 

I delved into my retired paper scraps to use the Glorious Green to go with the costumes, and then I just had to add some chunky glitter to the page.  What's a dance page without glitter!

The Title is done on MDS and then cut with a Framelit die.

Those little bananas are not Stampin'Up! of course...but we had purchased them to go with this page.

I finished my daily challenges, did some chores,  and finally had a wonderful evening visiting with family.  It's been a fabulous day - the beginning of a fabulous week.

Hope things are Fabulous in your little corner of the world.

Thanks for dropping by.

Joan

MashUp! and Catch Up!

Even though there hasn't been a lot of blogging since I got home from the mountains - there has been a lot of scrapbooking in order to catch up on my 31 pages in 31 days.....

But first - I participated in the Friday Mashup! this week which was...

1. Make a project with "the Sketch".
2. Or Make a project w/ a "flower or multiple flowers".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project w/ "the Sketch and a flower or multiple flowers".

I just happened to have some of these newsprint flowers left over on my desk from a scrapbook page - so I decided to put them to good use.

And now here are 8 days worth of scrapbook layouts to catch up on the 31 Pages in 31 Days.  I'm actually going to end up with more than 31 pages because some of the layouts are double spreads.

I had this page completed before I left for Banff, but when I took a picture of it the light wasn't very good.  My Day 12 colours are a bit different than Lyssa's who is leading the charge with this 31 pages in 31 Days.  I kept the layout pretty much the same, except where I elongated some of the mats so that I could get more of the picture in.  I also chose to use Gumball Green instead of Wisteria Wonder.

For Day 13 I decided to use Grant's Grad Photo and a couple of photos from that day.  He sure did look good in his kilt that day!  In order to add a little bit "extra" to the Crumb Cake bases, I spritzed them with the Silver Smooch Spritz.

 For Day 14 I ended up changing quite a few features - Lyssa's focal point was a hand made film strip along the side.  I've ended up with bubbles all over the page.  I had quite a bit of fun doing this.  I cut circles from our window sheets and used them to mat both the pictures and the letters.  The letters have been adhered with glue dots and then the "bubbles" have been raised with dimensionals.

Lyssa's layout for Day 15 had 6 photos...I opted for 5 because of the sizes.  I kept everything else pretty much the same except for the sentiment and I've added the hearts that I punched out from the glimmer paper......gotta love that glimmer paper!  I also love the rhinestones that are connected in a string - makes them a whole lot easier to put around a shape.

I've done a number of MDS pages for Elliot, but had't given him his own paper page yet.  I changed this Day 16 layout a bit by separating the "boxes".  Lyssa had the smaller one inside the bigger one, but I wanted to put Elliots photo in it - so used the smaller box to write the details in.  

I loved how Lyssa took the Modern Label punch and folded it back on itself to attach it to the page with brads.

Allison was not happy when she saw this page.  She had been annoyed that I kept taken pictures as she got Grant to show her how to flick her fingers....she decided it must be a "boy" thing 'cause she just couldn't do it.  Lyssa's original Day 17 layout had tiny banners from a Simply Scrappin Kit.  I used one of the framelits with the International Bazaar DSP to create my "banners".  It took a couple tries before I got the colours and papers figured out for this one.

I worked on this Day 18 layout today - and I know what photo I'm going to use, but I need to get it enlarged and changed to black and white.  This is my first "hybrid" page because I used MDS to create the title banner.  There are two things to note about this layout.  Lyssa used our First Edition DSP and layered a bit on the top and bottom after distressing it.  I like how the buttons and ribbons were used at the top....and the fancy little lace piece sticking out from under the banner is actually a piece of wax paper put through an embossing folder - awesome idea that I would never have come up with myself.

Finally - Day 19.  I had some things that I had to do today, so I pretty much did the sketch exactly as Lyssa laid it out.  I did realize as I was putting it together that my dimensions were off - but I'll make it work with pictures I have.  I was amazed that I actually found the piece of last year's Christmas DSP that Lyssa had used for a base.

That is it for today!  I'm desperately trying to get rid of a two day headache before going with my husband to see "Jersey Boys" tonight.  Mind over matter!

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend....thanks for stopping by....sorry there was so much to look at!
Joan

Time's running out!

I'm just popping in to remind you that there are only 16 days left to take advantage of our August MY DIGITAL 2 promotion.

If you're even the least bit curious about what digital designing is all about - August is the month to give it a try.  Get 31% off 31 digital content options and most of Stampin'Up! print products for all 31 days of August!

All cards, photobooks, individual pages, and tags....print any photobook, board book, swatch book, individual pages, greeting cards, postcards, trifold cars, or tags - all for 31 % off

I'm getting ready to make an order myself because I just finished working on a book about our two weeks in Halifax.  Contact me for more information on how you can save your memories, and more!

Gone to the Mountains....

I'm going to be in Banff until Thursday so I won't be posting any paper crafting.  I was going to take paper with me....but decided I needed to focus on the MDS stuff that I'm working on.  I don't have to go to meetings like my husband does, so I'll be enjoying the mountain air and crafting digitally.  I may post some creations....we'll see. Catch ya later.....Joan

Embossing & Dancing

No - I wasn't dancing while embossing today.  In fact, I was pretty close, on a number of occasions today, to just stop what I was doing and walk away.  I'd be nearly finished something and then there would be a smudge or smear.  I'm shutting the craft room down for the night after this post.

So, here is my first majorly embossed creation using the Dynamic Duos colours - Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink.   I had a couple of the dry embossed pieces left over from a class. I embossed the Pleasant Poppies on velum with black embossing powder and then coloured in the flowers and stems.

Next is the page for 31 Pages in 31 Days.  I did not keep to Lyssa's colour example today - and I added a circle and flipped the "sketch".  I've had these dance pictures cut and tucked away on my craft table since LAST summer!  When I saw the circles on Lyssa's example today, I decided that it was high time I got something done with them.  I still fought with it, but I think I won in the end.....up until I smudged some of the silver Dazzling Details....and then rectified the situation.

I had fun babysitting Elliot last night.  He spent a good half hour gnawing on his toys.  I just sat and took pictures....poor little guy.  I love the intent look on his face in some of them....here are just a couple to share.

And I'm off - I won't be posting a card tomorrow for Sunday Stamps as our fearless leader is in the midst of moving....but we will be back.  I will most likely post a scrapbook page tomorrow....then I'm headed to Banff for a couple of days.

Hope you've had a day free of smudges and smears!!!

Thanks for visiting.

Joan

Mashup! Forever and Always

Oh how I love black and white cards!  And that's what today's Friday Mashup! involves - including the Bling!

1. Make a project using " Black N' White Only ."
2. Or Make a project with " Some Bling ".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a " Black N' White Project with some Bling! "

I've used Everything Eleanor and fussy cut the "mat" and the flowers; so everything is popped up with dimensionals.  The rhinestones are in the centres of the flowers.

This is today's "31 Pages in 31 Days" sketch by Lyssa Zwolanek.  I knew when I saw the little squares that I should use some of my old photos - of me - when photographs were square and matted and black and white.  I thought of cutting off the white edges of the photos, but because they have their rough edges, I thought they sort of added something.

These two people, my paternal grandparents, meant the absolute world to me.  They raised me in more ways than my parents did.  

Lyssa's example is done in Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and Daffodil Delight.  I changed out the Daffodil for Basic Grey and the Riding Hood Red for Cherry Cobbler.  I added a little Basic Grey ribbon, and bit of punched lace and some butterflies.  I will scribe something for the circle section but I want it to be perfect.

It has been a wonderfully perfect day so far....two challenges done and my beautiful daughter, Allison, came down to ask if I'd eaten breakfast and would I like her to make some blueberry pancakes for us.  Duh!

Now I'm off to do some shopping - 

Hope your day turns out perfectly!  Thanks for dropping by to visit.

Joan

All caught up.....for now

Today's main feature is a sketch challenge from Create with Connie and Mary.  And look at me...another clean/white card AND I added Pacific Point without it being required.  What's up with that?

I used paper from International Bazaar - cutting the design just to keep it interesting.  For the mat on the "greeting" I traced the outside of the Apothecary Accent framelit and fussy cut it.

Now for my catch up items for the 31 Pages in 31 Days... with Lyssa Zwolanek

Day 7 - I've used the same layout that Lyssa did on her example, and I've used the same package of paper - but I've changed it up to be a "boy" page instead of a girlie page.  I didn't know what sort of "accents" to use so I crumpled up a couple strips of paper, used twine and did some doodling around the pictures that were matted.... although it doesn't really show up in the picture.

When I saw Lyssa's layout and colours for Day 8 I automatically thought of this picture of my dad taken around either Banff or Jasper in the mid to late 60's.  The colours and the images from Nature Walk were perfect.  I also added trees from Lovely as a Tree.  I copied all of Lyssa's elements...right down to distressing the piece of balsa wood that I'll add words to later.

Finally - Day 9's page - TODAY!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!

Again, I kept everything the same as Lyssa's example on this one too except that I added the little snowflakes around the edges.  I guess I've done so many clean cards lately that I need to fill in the empty space on other projects.

That's it for today.  I have some chores to do and then I'm going to go shopping for a toy or two.  We're babysitting Elliot tomorrow night and he's requiring some stabler toys to pull himself up on.

I can't wait.

Hope things are happy and healthy in your corner of the world.

Thanks for visiting

Joan

Fishy Fishy...

I am a whole lot later posting this than I expected to be....and I have two scrapbook pages to share - but I didn't like the lighting in my stamping room tonight - so I'll re-photo them tomorrow and post them then.

This little silver fish is part of two challenges; the sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches and the colours come from an Inspiration challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.

The base of the card has been "scored" with the diagonal plate and embossing folders were used for the large turquoise piece, the fish and one of the little banners.  I've used the wing from the bird punch to create all of his little fins sponging the edges with white craft ink.

It's been a very busy day - I got a lot accomplished...and now I'm off to bed.

I hope your week has been productive in the areas you want - thanks for dropping by!

Joan