Saturday, February 21, 2009

Creative Button Use




Buttons don't have to be just buttons. You can make them into anything you want! Here I've used them to represent leaves on my trees, and on the ground. Thinking back I probably should have used some PP for grass, but that didn't occur to me until I was finished. This quick and easy LO took about 30min.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Weekly Sketch

Time for another sketch idea! I used this sketch to make a LO of my dad, which I will post later, (I don't have it with me atm). I cut out a random shape from PP and use it for my background. A simple easy sketch that should take you less tha 45min. If you give it a go, email your completed LO to: jewels.scrapstash@gmail.com. I'll post it on Scrap Stash and send you a small RAK for playing :).

52Q - The beginning

I've been following Mistra's blog and have fallen for the challenge she is working on for the year of 2009. 52Q, by *e*, takes place once a week. Each week *e* will post a new question to scrap and journal. Here are my first two attempts:

52Q#1 - What are your wishes for this year?

52Q #2 - Are you afraid of change?


I don't plan on spending too much time on this project, I like the idea of being able to complete something quickly... at least SOMETHING will get done. I did both of these in about an hour from beginning to end. Most of that time was spent messing around with my cuttlebug. Some of the completed tags are posted on *e*'s blog. You should definitely take the time to check it out. Some of them are absolutely stunning. Mistra has a couple on her blog too that are way cool. She's so talented!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Additions to my Stash!


YAY! My new stuff has arrived! I ordered this last week from MAD SCRAPS. Unfortunately, Mistra is closing up shop, but it's a great time to catch some deals if you're looking... and of course we're always looking for cheap stash! Here's what I got:
  • about 50 sheets of new PP. Most is heavy duty-double sided from various designers
  • new chipboard letters in 3 different sizes
  • shipping tags, which I plan to use on the 52 tag challenge that's featured on Mistra's blog (for more information, head on over.. there is a link on the LH side of my blog)
  • A variety pack of chipboard tags
  • A beautiful new acrylic album. SO EXCITED.

Needless to say, I'll be heading home tonight to check out my new stuff.

Happy Shopping!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Morgan's Catalina






Today I want to showcase some of my friend Morgan's work. She has a unique style all her own, and I am simply envious of her ability to mix colour to make her photo's pop. Morgan and I get together about once a month to scrap and share ideas and stash. We have taken a break since Christmas, but I'm looking forward to our next scrapping night in March. These layouts are from her 'Catalina' album. Beautiful work Morgan!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Sketch Challenge


I had an idea for a sketch today and thought I would share. I think I'll make this a weekly addition to Scrap Stash. If you would like to give it a try, email your results and I'll post it. If we get a few participants, I'll throw in a small RAK as a prize.


You can email your entries to jewels.scrapstash@gmail.com

Looking forward to seeing this sketch brought to life. I'm giving it a go this weekend.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Draw you own letters!

Can't find the right letters for your Layout? Make your own!
Advantages:
  • You can make them exactly the right size to suit your layout.
  • You can make them any colour you want
  • You can make them in any style to suit the feel of your page
Disadvantages:
  • None!
So what have you got to lose!

Thanks to Penny for inspiring me to do this. I kind of surprised myself with the results.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Crazy Colour!



I don't often get to use my super-intense-bright letters and cardstock. I love bright colours, and I love the way they look together, but sometimes it's hard to use them without taking away from your photo's and journaling. Because my photo's were on the weak side, I chose to take advantage and go crazy with my other feautres and have some fun. I'm happy with the result... I got to scrap one of my favourite places, and use all of my fun stuff too. This is one of the challenges in We Dare You if you've managed to get hold of a copy, check it out.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

I've been photo tagged!

Melissa over at Snip, Snap, Crop has photo tagged me! My challenge is to post the 6th picture in the 6th album of my photo stash. So here it is...


This was a random photo taken in NOV 2007 in the early morning during a snow storm. I remember because it was the first big storm we had. I've moved since I took this, it's the view from the side door of my old house.

Now my job is to choose 6 more people to challenge:
So I choose:

Heather
Mistra
Alicia
Penny
Josie
Ange

Can't wait to see!

Oh Christmas Tree

Can't find the right pattered paper? Make your own! I took a plain pc of green paper and wrote the lyrics to Oh Christmas Tree. I've used my own hand writing three times on this LO: The title, which is embossed with Tim Holtz distressed powder in 'Walnut'. The background PP, and the journalling. I like to use my own handwriting whenever possible. It makes it more personal, I think.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Review - We Dare You


If you're looking for a good challenge book, I highly recommend We Dare You by Kristina Contes, Meghan Heath Dymock, Genevieve Simmonds, and Nisa Fiin. It challenges you to scrap the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's a subject based book, rather than a sketch challenge. I find their ideas refreshing and unique. I have tried three so far with amazing results. They also have some great techniques that will inspire you to stretch your scrapping wings. Cost: $20 CAD. But who can really put a price on inspiration? I plan to try all of the We Dare You challenges.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Choosing a Colour Pallet




When I first pulled out this photo, I had NO idea what to do with it. I tried various papers, pink to match the dress, red for the flowers, grey (too depressing), no luck. Finally, I decided that the paper I used didn't necessarily have to match the photo. I looked at the photo and thought of my Grandparents. My grandmother loved all things floral. She loved printed wall paper, and big prints. I remembered I had a vintage scrap pad collection that was collecting dust at the back of my shelf. I have rarely used it. Vintage is not usually my thing. I flipped through the papers and found a lovely robin's egg blue. 'There is no blue in my photo!' I thought, but it just felt right. I selected the other PP from the same collection because it reminded me of the duvet cover that was on my grandparents bed for as long as I can remember. I chose flowers and embellishments that matched the paper and I was off! The journaling came easy for once. I don't think I did any editing at all.

So. What is the moral of this story you ask? You don't have to choose paper that matches the colours in your photo. Try concentrating on what the photo makes you feel and go from there. I guarentee you it will be much more personal and meaningful when you're finished.

Here is a copy of my journaling. It's tricky to ready in the photo.

My Grandmother and Grandfather played a huge role in my life. They were the center of my world for my entire childhood. I can’t even imagine the person I would be without their influence. There was a hole in my heart when we lost my Grandpa to lung cancer, and then my Grandma a few years later to a heart attack. Life without them has much less colour.

We called my Grandmother “Ma”. Mostly because that’s what her children called her, and when she adopted my cousin Jason he called her Ma as well. It stuck. I don’t think I ever called her “Grandma”, unless talking about her to someone else. On weekends she would pick me up and we would go into town to shop. She would always buy me some small trinket and we would have lunch in a diner (and of course, pie!), then journey home. In the afternoons I would watch cartoons with Grandpa while he did his puzzles. His favourite was the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show, but he would never admit it. I think he just used me as an excuse to watch it. Ma would be in the kitchen getting things ready for supper. The meals I remember the most were side pork and fried potatoes, and a completely wonderful thing she called Goop. Goop consisted of spring vegetables, and new potatoes from the garden all mixed together in a wonderful white crème sauce. There was always desert. If she hadn’t baked anything special my Grandpa would pour the supper tea into two saucers, add brown sugar, and we would dunk homemade bread in it. It was wonderful. Sometimes we would dunk the bread in fresh maple syrup.

Wednesday was bread day. Ma would get up early, (ok, she ALWAYS got up early), and start making the bread dough early in the morning. My Grandpa would not eat store bought bread. It had to be homemade. Ma would use the leftover bread dough to fry scones and get a dish of strawberry jam for me to dip in. I cannot even describe the flavour. To this day I cannot find one as good. Eventually she got a bread maker and her Wednesday traditions stopped, but I can still remember the smell of the bread baking. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night I can smell it and it is almost as if I’m back in the yellow sided house in Cordova.

When I was very small, my grandparents lived in Hamilton, and they had a cottage in Cordova next to my Great Uncle Gerald. When my Grandpa retired from Westinghouse, they fixed the cottage and winterized it into their permanent home. Just down from the “cottage” was Deer River. Over Deer River was the green bridge that allowed the traffic to pass from one side to the other. This is where we would swim for days on end. I don’t think we got out of the water except to eat. Entire summers were spent in my bathing suit with pruney skin. This was the ideal way to grow up I think.

Now that they have passed, I hope they are together and that there is a yellow sided house on a river with a green bridge in heaven. I know that is where I want to be when my time comes.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Back To Basics


Scrapping is about 1 basic thing: Recording our memories. Sometimes it's easy to get lost in making things pretty, or trying the latest new trend. All we really need is a photo and a pen. Tell your story.... that's what's important.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Easy double LO


I try to save the programs for all of the shows we see. I like to pull bits and pieces out of them to use on my pages. For this LO, I didn't have many photos, but too much for just one page, so I did a double layout. I wanted to pull everything together a little closer to the center to make it look "fuller". By layering the cardstock I created simple borders for a nice quick "blocked" look. I kept them off center because everything just looked too "report-like" when I had them straight. Nice terminology I have eh? <---- for all of you non-canadians, that is the proper way to use the typical Canadian "eh" in a sentence. We don't actually say it everyother word (well, unless you're an east coaster eh?).

Playing With Paint

This is a LO I did the other day which turned out to be very similar to one of Elsies 52 challenges. I didn't plan it that way, but whatever works! This is the first time I've used acrylic paint on a LO. I painted around the photo and also created the number 10. I'm very pleased with the results and will definitely try it again. This was an easy and quick LO but something to treasure. Sometimes we don't say the important things enough.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Spice up your Brad and Do-Dadd storage

This is a spice rack I had lying around that I wasn't using, (I'm not exactly the world's greatest chef). I had so many different kinds of brads and small metal embellishments, that I was getting frustrated with just keeping them in a box. This is just a cheap spice rack, I think it retails somewhere around $12. I love it.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Chipboard Letters


It's a two for one post day. Please ignore the horrid photography skills for this pic... the lighting in my basement is very sad.

This is my current collection of chipboard letters... well, the ones I've opened anyway. Like buttons, I love chipboard for it's texture and ease of use. I lose paitence with cutting out letters all the time, so this is a simple solution. Each set is placed in a baggie and pinned to my corkboard. Not a very elegant solutions, but cheap. These are all things which I had around the house. I'm still looking for a new plan, but this will do for now.

Button Storage

I love buttons. I love buttons so much, that I separate them by colour and store them in clear containers for easy access. Sadly, this is only part of my collection. Once a month or so I grab a couple of handfuls out of the giant bag I have still to sort, and put them away.

These containers are stackable (they just twist on to each other). I purchased them from dollarama (isn't that the best store?), they come 6 in a package - for 1$. You can also purchase a smaller size for brads and tiny beads.

How do you store your buttons?