Love Always Layout

Hi guys! Today I'd like to tell you about a new challenge blog I found. I love these challenge blogs, not just because they do have GREAT prizes, but also because I get inspired by the projects the DT post...and the other bloggers who enter the challenges. It's very cool to see how many different ideas you can get from a simple theme like "Flowers" or "Sentiments only" , etc. I love it! :)
So on to the challenge blog. It's called "Unique Crafter's Challenges". The challenges last for a month...and then they have a draw for a great giveaway! :) Like wow!!! :)

This month the challenge is "Anything Goes". That's pretty simple, eh??? So basically all you have to do is link up your latest project....and you get entered to win the prize! Totally cool. You can enter up to THREE different projects.

Today I am entering a scrapbook layout that I made for an 8x8 album. It's very simple scrapbooking, but I've come to realize that pages can be over-stuffed with embellishments, pictures, etc. I tend to stick to simple pages that let the pictures do the talking...cause for me that's the whole idea of scrapbooking in the first place! :)
Here's my page. It's a two-page layout.

close ups:

Details: 

   ....I hand doodled the butterflie's path...

   ......the quote is a rub-on.......

....I used the Fiskars "In Stitches" border punch to create my own film strip. :)

used:
Colorbok Paper & embellishments
(not sure about the dotten paper)
Fiskars "In Stitches" border punch
rub on quote
Clear/White Bling! :)
As always, I love showcasing great giveaways I find on blogs I follow. It's a chance to win some FABULOUS crafting goodies -- for free -- and it's soo easy to join. All you have to do is go to their blog, and follow the "rules" they have set up for their giveaway. Simple. Easy. And you could be the lucky winner as they are all random draws! How cool is that! :) Here's what you could win:

Interested??? Head on over to The Crafter's Reference Blog and add your name to the linky :)

Kitten Fun

My cousin's children came to visit us during the Christmas holidays. My cat had just had a litter of six kittens about a month before, and the kiddies were so excited. Here's one of my latest layouts -- just random pictures of the kiddies and the kittens. Some of these pictures are soooooo funny! The poor little kittens had to endure a lot during those two days -- especially from the youngest one! LOL

Mini Scrapbook part 2

Here's the second half of my first-ever 6x6 scrapbook album. The "film strip" I used was created using the Fiskars "In Stitches" border punch. TFL :)

This layout is of the launch of Space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

gfg

Crafty Cat: Your Choice -- Open 

Mini Scrapbook part 1

Hi there! I found this brand new 6x6 scrapbook album in a second hand store for a few cents, and decided "why not?". I've never scrapped any pages smaller than 12x12, so it was a little new to me. But I had soooo much fun! :) I decided to go with a trip my parents took back in 2002 -- pictures that we basically looked through once (when they got home) and then stashed the cd full of pictures away. Definitely not the ideal place to put pictures - especially of a trip like that! :p So I brought them out -- printed over 160 pics, and scrapped away. :) Here's a look at my layouts.

WARNING: This is a photo heavy blog entry!!! TFL :)

 

One of my favourite layouts of the whole album:

I've always loved the look of a film strip in a scrapbook. Because these pages are 6x6 -- I was able to get the film strip effect using my Fiskar In Stitches border punch. I don't think it would work so well on big pages, 'cause then the punching would look like stitches -- but because these pages are so small, and so are the photos, it totally worked! I love this effect!!! As you will notice when looking thru the rest of the album! LOL ( I used it A LOT!!!) :p

Sir Stampalot Challenge -- Travel The World
Totally Gorjuss -- For Someone Special 
>>> I made this scrapbook for my parents
All Sorts Challenge -- Anything Goes

Non-traditional Christmas

 I've been making a lot of green Christmas cards this week, but yesterday I discovered how awesome blue is for a Christmas colour. Non-traditional maybe, but it fits well with snowflakes. Here's a blue card I made today -- blue, white and red. I know -- it's a little 4th of July, but it works for me! :) Christmas shouldn't just be about the reds and the greens!!! TFL

the embossing is a little hard to see on the photos. here's a close up:

A Spoonful of Sugar -- Relish to Embellish
The Crafty Calendar Challenge -- Winter & Snowflakes
C.R.A.F.T Challenge -- Dry Embossing (I dry embossed the white squares the snowflakes are on)
I Did It Creations -- Holiday Colours Mixup (I used the 4th of July colours for a Christmas card)

Shades of Blue

Do you have a favourite colour when crafting??? Honestly I love purple...but if you'd look through my scrapbooks you would never know it! LOL Instead the blues will pop out! I'm always short on shades of blue papers. :)

Which gets me to my latest creation -- my latest Shades of Blue page.

I've been wanting to create a layout with photos from this family vacation way back in 2000 for like forever! I've had them all lined up in a photo album...but it's not the same as a scrapbook layout. But sometimes I just can't make myself cut up photos!!! LOL Or maybe it just takes some time for the idea to grow...

But I finally decided to go for it! In fact, the first photo I cut up, I went like really fancy! :) The photo was taken looking through a railing...giving it a unique shape...which I figured would look interesting, especially when outlined by borders. I used my Fiskar "In Stitches" border punch to outline the photo as well...and just loved the look! From that moment on, cutting the rest of the photos I wanted to use in the layout was easy! :) No, I don't have 4x6 photos anymore, but the layout looks great! :)

I added some big "family" rubons I've had in my stash just waiting for this layout. Don't rubons rock!!! I love them -- especially when they're like phrases and stuff! It's so awesome to simply rub on the message/quote rather than writing or printing it out.

So there you have it -- TFL :)

Clever Cat

My cat Pumpkin had a litter of kittens about two months ago. We weren't home the night they were born -- only realizing the next morning that she was no longer pregnant. And she was wandering around the house...totally NOT worried about kittens!!! Let's just say, I was going crazy!!! I searched for hours...turned the house upside down -- top to bottom -- searched outside as well, but couldn't find a sign of them!!! Finally after about 3 hours of searching, my youngest sister finally found them -- in a barrel of wool!!!!!!!!!

I snapped a few photos thinking they were perfect scrapbooking material. And of course the photo's been lying on my pile 'cause I had no idea of a layout!

Then last week, as I was browsing through the fiskateer gallery, I saw a layout that had journaling written on lined black paper. I loved the look! And I remembered that I had a whole notebook of similar looking paper lying around (and since you can only use a silver gel pen to write it in, it's pretty useless) That is, until I decided to try incorporating it into a layout or two myself. :)

 Or course, I had to use my new fiskar 'in stitches' punch as well -- i love that look!!! Added some Material Girl papers as well...and finally topped the page off with lots of rub-ons. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would -- pretty cool, if I do say so myself! :) LOL

Can you believe there are actually 6 kittens in the photo -- they're so camouflaged you can hardly see!!! TFL

Working with Combos

You know sometimes when you know two colours look great together, but when you try creating something you begin to doubt? LOL That was me working with this layout. One of my biggest problems when I scrap is colour combinations. Do they work??? does it look good??? should I change it up???

I've made a lot of cards with brown and pink, and they always look good. I love working with that combination -- so I tried taking it to my layouts. I wasn't impressed with my paper choice here in the beginning -- even tried changing the brown paper for some other shade of pink, but then decided that that would defeat the purpose! So I went back it what I had originally planned on using. It wasn't until I added the deep brown ribbon that I saw how good it all looked...but now I'm hooked! I have a pile of similar ribbon from our sewing stash all ready to be added to my future layouts! I love this look!!! :)

I also used my new fiskar border punch. :) It's called "in stitches" and I thought it would fit very good with the pink paper. (the punched border is around the photo mattting). I'm gonna have fun with that one for sure! :) TFL

Working With a Kit

I won the new Cosmo Cricket Material Girl line last month, and I've been itching to use it! I've never worked with a kit before -- bought one once and then used it for cards, not scrapbooking. So this was totally different for me. Honestly, I think I'd rather buy papers and embellishments separately -- kits are definitely not my thing! There's too much stuff that I don't really like in them...

But here's what I came up with.

I used a few papers from my stash...and the rub-ons weren't a part of the kit either. But I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. It was the first time I used cardboard embellishments. Let's just say this layout was definitely interesting as far as creating goes. TFL :)

Special Moments

My grandmother passed away a year ago next month. It was a hard time for all of us...she was such a remarkable and wonderful woman. For the past year I've been working on creating a layout in remembrance of her. But it's been a challenge...

During the funeral, the minister read an eulogy written by family and friends. Basically it was compiled of various memories people had of my grandmother...through the years. I knew I definitely wanted that as part of the layout -- and of course there was the remembrance card. But other than that, I had no idea what I wanted.

I printed the eulogy out on two smaller sheets of paper...trying to get them to fit in my layout. But even then, I realized I'd have to create a two-page layout 'cause there wasn't enough space! That just complicated things even more!

Then there was the layout itself. It ha to be extra special -- I guess that's why it took a whole year to come up with anything! Every idea I had, "wasn't good enough!" and I didn't even know what I wanted the final layout to be like! It was frustrating...but slowly the ideas came...and I just added what I liked...and set it aside until I came up with the next thing! LOL Talk about a process!!!

I was trying to find some rub-ons -- some extra bigs ones -- with a "remember" or "memories" theme. No such luck! Then I found some smaller memories themed rub-ons in the Dollarama. They weren't exactly what I had in mind...I was thinking BIGGER...but I moved on.

I chose to spell out some words with letters I had in my stash...just to give the page some dimension instead of just having rub-ons.

I have this picture frame with the quote "Remember the moments...the laughter, the happiness, & good times." I've always loved the quote -- it made me think of my grandma -- especially this past year. She's gone...and we can't bring her back, but we can remember the moments! I have such wonderful memories of her.. they're what I hold on to. So I thought I'd add the quote -- 'cause that's what she would want us to do. To remember her...but not to give up living. Life goes on...and so will grandma's legacy!

So I guess this project is now over! TFL