Definitely no Winter Blues here!

Earlier in the year, I had a great time participating in the Scrap Away Your Winter Blues challenge over at Scraptivity. The contest consisted of 12 layouts with a different requirements for each. It really forced participants to think outside of the box!

I love the layouts I created during this challenge, and also really enjoyed looking at everyone else's take on each technique. With so many great layouts and so much to see in the gallery during the challenge, winning the contest was icing on an already wonderful cake! Thank you so much to Scraptivity - Barb, Rebecca and everyone involved in making this challenge happen.

Here is a quick peek at the prize goodies that recently came in the mail. Stephen somehow thinks that now I won't have to buy any more scrapbooking supplies for the next year or so! Yes, I know it's quite the haul, but please tell me - where do men get these crazy ideas? :-)

You can see the layouts I created for this challenge here.

The Winter Blues are officially Over!

I can't believe it. Scraptivity's Scrap Away Your Winter Blues challenge ended last weekend, and I managed to complete all 12 layouts. I have to admit, it took a bit of a scrapping marathon last weekend, but I did it. The challenge for the first layout below, Week 12, was to use doodling. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think I have ever used doodling on a layout before, so this was truly a first for me.

I used a template from Paper Pizazz as a guide for the swirls, and I really like the result. This is one of my favourite photos of Vanessa.

Journaling says: Vanessa, It’s not just your love of all things girly that makes you such a beautiful person. Things like pretty dresses and colourful jewellery, wearing your long hair curly with lovely clips; yes, these things make you beautiful. But it is your compassion and caring, your kindness and selflessness that make you truly beautiful. 4 years old, May 2007
The challenge for Week 6 was colouring, and although I left this one to the end, I loved doing it. I coloured the background paper using watercolour pencils and Twinkling H2O watercolour paints. It was a lot of work, but I like the way it turned out. Journaling on the tag talks about how our dd loves flowers so much, including dandelions, and she gets upset if anyone tells her it’s a weed!
To see this KI Memories paper before I coloured it, scroll down here
I left the sewing challenge for Week 8 for last, and posted this page moments before the deadline. Evan really wanted piñata for his 6th birthday party. I stitched the line where the lanterns are hanging at the top of this layout. I love these K & Co. lanterns!

Journaling says: Evan, for your 6th birthday, all you wanted was a party with a piñata! I searched everywhere for a Star Wars one, but finally settled on Batman for you. You were thrilled! Happy Birthday, dude!
Week 11's challenge involved choosing an design from Scraptivity's digital elements, and I chose the bingo card for this page about how much the kids love playing games with their Grandma and Papa. I was working on this page at Scrapalicious crop when the kind lady sitting next to me won some American Crafts foam shapes in a draw. I was commenting on how adorable they were and we noticed how nicely they would fit on my page. She generously gave them to me! Scrappers are wonderful people!

Whew! While I'm suffering from scrapbooking exhaustion, I'm thrilled at the layouts I completed during this challenge, and am actually feeling a bit of withdrawal now that it's over. Thanks, Scraptivity and Canadian Scrapbooker for some wonderful scrappy inspiration over the past 12 weeks.

Coming up soon - stay tuned for a peek at the next set of exciting products I will be designing with in my latest Scrapalicious DT kit!

A Momentous Page

I've had this page in my head ever since I bought the MM scalloped heart around Valentine's Day last year!

Well, I finally put it all together, inspired by Scraptivity's Winter Blues challenge. Week 5's topic was hand cut designs, so this swirl paper was perfect for it. I love playing with my titles, so just imagine my excitement when I realized that the word "momentous" had not only the word "moment" in it, but also "mom to u"! What fun! Evan took this photo of me moments after the girls surprised me with a Mother's Day bouquet of lilacs. The journaling (on the tag under the picture) tells the story:

"This photo of me was taken on Mother’s Day, 2006. I remember the day so well. We were visiting and playing in the playground behind Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Evan decided that he wanted to take a picture of me on Mother’s Day. So I gave him the camera and a few tips. Just as he was about to take the photo, Alicia and Vanessa surprised me with a bouquet of lilacs. They chose them because they were my favourite colour, purple.

I took the flowers from the girls and inhaled the beautiful lilac fragrance for just a moment – and at that precise moment, Evan snapped the photo. He did such a great job. I love it. That moment was a big one for me. As I stood there, with my big boy using a camera and my girls picking the perfect flowers for me, I realized – my kids are not babies anymore. They’ve grown so much, and they are only going to keep growing faster and faster. Wow. I’m such a lucky Mom.

I want to savour every moment. Happy Mother’s Day to Me!"

There are only five days remaining to complete layouts for the Winter Blues challenge in order to be eligible for all of the prizes. Guess who still has four layouts to catch up on!? Somehow :-) I'm doubtful that I will complete that many by this weekend, but stay tuned and I will post whatever I do manage to finish!

Ribbon Joy

I'm still not caught up yet in Scraptivity's Winter Blues challenge, but I have once again completed the current week's layout. The challenge for Week 10 was to use three different kinds of ribbon. I've wanted to scrap this photo for a while now. It's a detail shot of the chairs set up for the family wedding we went to in Jamaica last November. I wanted the ribbon I used to mimic the ribbon tied around the chairs. This is more linear, graphic layout that I what I usually do, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Journaling says: Moments before Rosa walked down the aisle to marry Justin, I was struck by the beauty of these wonderful chairs waiting empty on the beach, wrapped in such beautifully draped white fabric with pink bows, awaiting the family and friends anxious to witness the joyful wedding.

Also, just a reminder, Monday August 24th is the final day to enter for a chance to win a Fiskars Easy Stamp Press RAK. If you haven't already, toss your name in the hat by giving me your best stamping tip on this previous post. You just might win!

Wishing a blessed and happy Easter to you and your family.

Wishing for Spring

The Scrap Away Your Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity this week is to create a mono-chromatic layout. Could it be that my desire for spring was behind my choice of colour for this one? My all green layout is about Alicia's love for picking flowers with her great-grandmother, Babcha, before Babcha passed away.

This layout is for week 9 of the challenge. I'm still behind on a few of the weekly layouts for this challenge due to our vacation in February. I have a layout almost complete for week 5, which focuses on hand cutting, so look for that soon. Weeks 6 and 8 will follow later. Then next week's challenge will be posted on Monday.

It sounds like I'm going to be doing a lot of scrapping in the next few weeks!

What To Do with leftover Fruitcake

...not to mention leftover Romani or Two Scoops paper! For Week 7 in Scraptivity's Scrap Away Your Winter Blues challenge, our task was to use 25 paper scraps. I punched 25 Quickutz hearts using various Basic Grey leftovers and a few Bazzill scraps, creating this tribute to the four people in this world that I love the most! I still have Weeks 5 & 6 in progress, but since I've missed the deadline to maximize my challenge points for past weeks, I created for the current week first. I hope to be caught up by next weekend!

Catching Up

Now that we are back to our routine after our Disney trip, I'm trying to get caught up on the Scrap Away Your Winter Blues Challenges at Scraptivity. I'm still working on Week 4, while the others are already working on Week 6. For Week 4, the challenge was to create a vintage looking layout using distressing. I used tearing, sanding, inking and crackle paint to create this layout.
The layout's photo, which is of my father and two of my uncles, would have been taken around 1925. My Dad, the eldest boy, is in the centre. They grew up on a farm, and it wasn't an easy life. Sadly, Tom died in his early 20s in a farming accident, and my Dad passed away about 20 years ago.

Nick is the oldest remaining living sibling, and he will be 91 years old this year. I love this photo since it gives a glimpse of the boys when they were young and spent a lot of time together, something they were unable to do as adults.

I received this photo, along with many of the other photos of my Dad's childhood, from my cousin Phyllis in Texas. I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to scrapbook them.

Pikachu!

For Week 3 of Scrap Away your Winter Blues at Scraptivity, we were challenged to draft our own sketch, and then create a layout from it.

This was a great exercise for me. Typically I don't work from sketches, but Wow! This layout came together extremely quickly using one. It think I may be giving more sketches a try!

This is an older photo of Evan, who has always had a fascination with the Pokeman character Pikachu. He was captivated by a little Pikachu keychain we had when he was a baby, and now, the obsession continues with Pokeman cards.

The journaling on this layout talks about a humourous slip of the tongue - asking to play Pikachu, rather than Peek-a-boo! I think it was a sign of things to come!

If you are interested, I posted my sketch in the S! gallery here. It's hand drawn and rough, but it worked. I think that if I am going to be doing more sketches, I really need to start learning Photoshop!

So Very You!

Our second assignment in the Scrap Away the Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity was to create a layout featuring journaling. My page tells of Alicia's fun-loving nature and her knack for making people laugh. I just adore the little stickers on the bottom of her ballet slippers in this photo!
I've found the entries for this challenge both diverse and creative. More about, (or join in) this great challenge here.

Winter Blues?

So, in all of my spare time ;-) I've decided to join in on the Scrap Away Your Winter Blues Challenge over at Scraptivity! I'm truly not sure where I'll find the time, but one week into the challenge, I'm keeping pace! Here's my layout for the first challenge, which was to use four different stamps from the same set. I used four stamps from Gel-a-tins Build your own Flourish set, along with 2 other Gel-a-tins sets and one EK Success set here.

Journaling says: Vanessa, when you were 2 years old, all you wanted for Christmas was a penguin. You learned about penguins from the movie Madagascar. I knew that when you opened this present you would be thrilled - and you were. The look on your face was absolutely priceless! The arrival of Douglas - December 25th, 2005, Vanessa 2 years old.