So Precious To Me

I went to my very first class! My local scrap shop, The Paper Pickle hosted a LO class last Thursday. I was nervous at first. I love scrapping, but am not really at the level of some of the other women. After a few tense moments everyone started gabbing and all was good. This was an incredibly fiddly LO and took more time than I'm used to. Lots and lots of cutting! I'm very pleased with the results though. I'm glad I chose Sepia pictures to go with it. This particular LO was designed by Michelle - you can see more here.

These photo's are of my grandparents - my mothers parents. They have both passed, and I miss them terribly. This LO makes me smile and helps ease the loss. I chose several shots of them through out the years of their marriage ( almost 60 years!). Thanks to everyone at the shop for your inspiration. Thanks Michelle!

Vacation Confessions

I haven't been in the scrappy mood for quite some time and am struggling with my creative ability. When this happens... I head over to home and scrapped! I found this great challenge suggested by the lovely Kim. What a great way to capture random vacation moments... please ignore the boringness of the LO. I'm working on my scrapping mojo!

The journaling reads:

1. I believe this vacation has brought us closer together as a family.
2. Even with a manufactured tan, I will still get burnt in the Florida sun.
3. I want to be a snowbird if we ever have the good fortune to retire.
4. Pelicans are much scarier than they appear on television.
5. I have a fear of birds (see confession #4)
6. Moving walkways cause injury to the unwary (Austin has scars to prove it).
7. I really detest small airplanes.
8. 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Florida is not even close to 70 degrees F in Canada
9. It is possible for Jeff, Austin, and I to sleep on a pullout couch, although I have permanent dents in my rib cage from small, pointy, elbows and knees.
10. Austin doesn’t really like to fish… he likes to watch other people fish and gets tremendously excited when “he” catches something.
11. Dolphins are more majestic in the wild than they are in captivity.
12. Despite my love of roller coasters, some of them are really, really scary.
13. I can walk for 13 hours straight carrying a 9 year old child piggy-back.
14. Chirros are the most magically delicious thing I have ever eaten.
15. I do not understand the American obsession with giant smoked turkey legs. I find it gross to walk around with a giant piece of meat on the bone like a caveman.
16. Americans are not really as rude as TV makes them appear. In fact, most of them give better customer service than we have in Canada.
17. Real vacation is a book by the pool watching Jeff and Austin be Father and Son.
18. There really is such a thing as too much fast food.
19. It is possible to find a pair of comfortable flip flops that do not make that annoying sound.
20. Jeff can eat more crab than I ever thought possible.
21. I will remember this vacation forever.

Crafty Craft Paper

This horrid photo doesn't really pick up the oranges, but yo get the idea. The title is Wanna Be Cowgirl. Based on a design from Scrapbooks ECT by Erin Clarkson.

We all have it... craft paper, left over packaging that we thought we might use, weird bits of leftover chipboard. Well, it's time to USE IT OR LOSE IT! I think this LO is much more effective on craft paper than it would be on plain old white. What do you think, try your own LO on craft paper and lets see it!

I have no idea where most of these papers are from. I don't sort by designer so everything is just all mashed in together. If you want to know about a product, I could probably find the origin if I looked hard enough. Leave a comment if you're curious. The stars are a cuttlebug die, and also the font in "wanna be". The blue sticker letters are CM (sent by Amy, thank-you very much!).

Big Brother and Me

Baby Me and Brother David. Loving this paper!!!

Love these colours!

This is yet another scrapwitch challenge (I have a lot to catch up on!). This is my cousin Jenny when she was about 3 I think. Isn't she cute? This is a Penny sketch.

Catching up on old pics

This Build-A-Layout challenged posted by Amy at Scrapwitch was the perfect thing to get caught up on my old albums.

Baby Pics

I've stolen my mothers photo albums! These are some pics of yours truely, at about 1yr. To ease myself back into scrapping (I've been gone for sometime, moving ect), I've tackled one of Mistra's SBS's over at Scrapwitch. Go take a look if you have a moment!

Patterned Paper Challenge

Create a fun LO using only patterned paper for your embellishment. You can either make embellishments out of PP or use multiple patterns and colours to create interest on your LO. Here is a quick example:

Of course, my scanner has yet again washed out the beautiful tones of the paper, and given me red face, but you get the idea. All of these were scraps pulled from my stash. I didn't have to cut up even one new piece to complete this LO, and it was super-quick to finish!

Time: Approx 15 min

Just For Fun

Yet another random LO of the kitties. I did this one up quickly last night. I finally got to use up some of my kitty stickers, ( I have WAY too many).
Time: Approx 25min

Fun with Patterned Paper

These are colours that I would have never used together in a million years. I'm quite proud of myself. On my continuing mission to eliminate a huge portion of my accumulated scrap pile, I developed a new process. I picked my background PP and then reached in blindly to my pile of large scraps ( the ones that are still 12" on one side are in a separate pile for easy access), and pulled out a piece of mystery paper.... the turquoise one with the white dots. It's difficult to tell on my photo, but the back ground PP is made up of tiny little dots for texture. So now I had a micro-pattern, and a smallish pattern. I looked through my neutral small scraps (I keep all my grey, black, and white scraps in the same container), to find a medium sized PP. The navy cardstock border was added to create some structure. I found the Queens & Co letters to pick up the polka dot pattern on the PP which was in a neutral colour to balance out the punch of colour from the all that turquoise. The letters also pull in the silver/grey from little fins shirt in the photo. Overall, I can't beleive the results and will keep this colour pallete on file for future boy LO's. The embellishment in the top left corner was found completely by accident when I was looking for something else. I've had it for ages! I added the buttons for some texture, and the doodling because... well lets face it... I LOVE doodling. It also picks up the doodled appearance of my medium PP. I decided to take a risk and journal directly on my background PP, how brave am I?

Recent Work

This was an SBS challenge over at SW put together by the lovely Mistra!
Another of Mistra's SBS challenges. Loads of fun.


This one I made up. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the background PP. It was part of my "splurge" from the sale over at Mad Scraps. IRL the red paper with the journalling is actually orange. Not sure why the scanner didn't pick it up. Wierd.

How could something so good be so evil?

Whoopsi, I posted in the wrong blog. If you're interested in reading, fly over to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Back in Action!

I finally managed to scrap a little last night. While the results are less than desireable, it was nice to be back in my scrap room for a while.

Here's this weeks sketch!

Weekly Sketch

Here's this week sketch! If you are feeling inspired, show us what you got! Email your finished LO to jewels.scrapstash@gmail.com!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.