Craft Love - my top 10 for 2010

I've been in the mood to go through my project files for 2010, so I thought I'd also share some of my favorite things made in 2010.  I actully had to edit this a few times.  I love several layouts and projects created in 2010 that I didn't even add here!  I also have a couple things out for publication that I just adore but can't share at this time.  Maybe next year!

The first is this layout of Morgan at age 6:

This was one of the very first layouts I made in 2010.  I was feverishly preparing for CHAW10 and had to create one more layout for my Studio Calico gallery, when I gazed at this Crate paper print and those pretty roses.  I experimented with scraps and then recreated them myself.

I've submitted this layout a few times but, alas, it has never been picked up.  That said, I've seen tutorials in the big magazines a few times on how to recreate these flowers, as well as products from manufacturers with templates, etc.  There's even some canvas flowers in the current Studio Calico kit.  You can find a tutorial I posted on my blog here. 

One of my summer assignments for Scrapbook and Cards Today was to create a mini album with this canvas pendant album that had to do with Mom.  I admit, the shape of the album threw me off a bit when trying to come up with something, but what I ended up with is a treasure for my girls that I'll always be grateful for.  (this is the only photo I have.  I just snapped it really quick for editorial approval before dropping it in the mail.  You can see it and a few inside pages in the summer issue of SCT). 

I don't know if it's normal for mother's to do this, but I sometimes have bad dreams about something happening to me that takes me away from my kids.  It's such a scary thing to think about, a worst fear, so I don't know why I do it, but creating this album helped a little bit.  It's full of advice and love for my kids.  It even includes vintage items, like that buckle and glass buttons given to me in a large box of baubles from Steve's grandmother's estate. 

This next one is all about the photos, and it's a 3 page layout too:

Payton had outgrown this bouncy seat, but after I donated it to Goodwill, I wanted to go to the store and take it back so bad.  It's filled with so many memories for me of my sweet girl as a baby.  She was in or around it for her first 3.5 years.  So I went back through my photo files and picked out just about every photo that included both her and this chair in it, even if it was just in the background (like a photo of her on her first birthday with her dad, opening presents. You can see just a wee peek of the "blue chair").  I used every photo I could find.  It's not the prettiest chair, so most of the time, it would be moved out of the way when a photo opportunity came along, but I'm so happy to have all these photos that included it. 

::sigh::   babies. 

I'm in love with this photo so this layout had to be included:

We live on 2 acres and have a pond that was full of polliwogs (tadpoles.  Baby frogs).  My girls grabbed this wee net from their goldfish bowl, and decided they were going to go down and catch a couple.  So they grabbed the net, a bucket, and a gallon bag, and headed out.  This pose is all Norman Rockwell to me, and that day made me laugh so hard.  Those polliwogs were sure hard to catch!  But the kids had a blast.

This was made with a Studio Calico kit and when I saw that WRMK paper with the little characters on it, I knew I had to use it.  I was also inspired by a quilt I had seen, as well as an old piece of OA patterned paper, so recreated the cathedral quilt technique with paper for this layout.  This is another layout that has been submitted but not picked up, but I pulled my own strings to ensure this technique was published with my name on it first after the flower incident.  I know you put your work out there for other people to use, I know, and I'm happy to do so, but if it's going to get published, it should have my name on it first.  I'm just onery about that, I guess. 

I had a lot of fun making this layout: 

The Fiskars apple punch and Studio Calico's Elementary line were meant to work together!  I also really wanted to use these photos together, of Morgan's first and then last day of Kindergarten.  Boy is the sass that she learned quit apparent in that photo, lol.  I had fun with this one so it had to make the list. 
I just recently made this layout, for the Crate Paper blog. 

I combined my favorite line from Crate in 2010, Brook, with the Snow Day line on a very fun layout. It's fresh and juicy and I love it all the more because that day was fun and fresh, so it captured it so well.  I loved my falling snow and the hearts which lead you to that cute chipboard snowman.  I had fun with my stitched scallops too, which I used to carry the scallop from the patterned paper down the page.  That was a really fun day, and this layout came together really fast.

Another fun day, and a layout that mixes Crate's Restoration with a Studio Calico kit, was this fun fall layout:

This one came together easy too, and I was able to use punches of color with that scalloped square punch and Crate's Restoration line.  I have been wanting to use more maple leaves in my work this fall, and found this template deep in my stash, so I traced it on the back of Claudine Hellmuth canvas and trimmed out the leaves.  I then used some JBS ink on a couple of them to change their color.  I just love the whole feel of this layout.  That was another fun day we had this fall too. 

This next one was made for the SCT Calendar.  This is little miss September:

The stitched grids and the birdies melt my heart.  I also ADORE this color palette, and have always loved these pics of my girl.  I was so honored to be included on this calendar and had a lot of fun with the sketch I was given.  I was really able to make it my own. 
Earlier this fall I was asked to participate in a Halloween event at 2peas.  I needed to create a Halloween layout, but didn't have a lot of Halloween product in my stash, so purchased one of the previous add-ons from Studio Calico and only used it and the polaroid stamp for my layout:

I had taken hundreds of photos that Halloween, and actually enjoyed going through my files and choosing those that told the story of that day the best.  That little buttefly fairy princess.  And her dog, Spot.  Spot even drew a great big spot on her dog tag, because she didn't believe me when I told her that it said Spot on it.  ha!  I love how this layout looks Halloween with only having a couple of themed products on it. 

This last one is my favorite project of 2010:

I was assigned to do the Christmas/winter projects for the winter issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today.  I LOVE getting assignments because it gives me the creative freedom to do what I want.  The first thing I knew I wanted to make was a pretty canvas for a mantle to display over the holidays.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to use that Cathedral quilt pattern technique on an altered project, and also a chance to use some Christmas photos I took of my girls in 2006.  I am in love with this project. (you can see a better photo of it in the SCT too).  And now Christmas is over and I'll be taking this down soon.  It is such a treasure and I can't wait to get it out year after year to display in my home. 

One of my favorite decorating ideas these days is to display themed photos of my family.  I have a couple of frames in my living room that I've been changing out as the seasons change.  This fall it had a photo of me pregnant with Morgan, showing my belly and holding a pumpkin in October.  Then it had a photo of Morgan sitting with Santa in 2004.  These photos get a lot of lookie loo' s from family and I love that.  Now it's time to find a winter photo to put in that frame.  hmmmm.

So that's it!  Some of my favorite projects created in 2010!



Happy New Year!  The kids are going to the dentist this afternoon, and then we are going to party at a friend's house, at least until 8:45!  Steve is on shift today so it's just the girls, out on the town.  Be safe and have a great night!  Davinie

P.S.  I'll be back tomorrow with Project 12, 2011!

I'm running a half marathon in 2011

There.  By making it my title it'll live in blogland forever, so there's no way I can back out now.  I turn 35 in 2011 and to celebrate my early midlife crisis, I have big plans.  Big plans for "changing the world".  My world, anyway.

via idea-obscura

I am absolutely 100% getting this framed and putting it where I can see it everyday.  Thank you Francesca (and Ghandi).

What kind of goals do you have for 2011?  I have a few things I talked about in a previous post, but my main goals for the new year are:

Run that Half-marathon
Enroll at George Fox University and work towards that Master's Degree and Teaching Certificate
Use a container of baking powder before it expires.

I wanted to do 13.1 miles last year, but in the end, laziness at preparation got the best of me. 
I was going to enroll in school in 2010, but I got scared of the process, and then decided it would be best if I was doing student teaching when Payton was in first grade so I'd have one less thing to worry about with her in school all day vs. trying to find child care.  Steve's schedule is inconsistent. 
Baking Powder?  I'm still using an OLD container of baking powder.  I keep forgetting to add it to my grocery list, so I haven't had the courage to toss it out yet.  ha!  But in general, my kitchen *really* needs updated, so I am uninspired, but I really need to do better about cooking and baking, so that's my goal.  We all loved fresh baked goods and dinners made from scratch anyway, right?  I hope to do better.

I have other things I'd like to accomplish too, as I said, but they say most people don't follow through with their Resolutions, and these goals will be tough for me anyway, so 3 it is.

What are you hoping for in 2011? 

the rest of Who's Who

I just have two more layouts to share from my Who's Who Gallery at Studio Calico.  I'm working on another right now using the kit, but I won't able to share it until next week (I'm hosting the SC blog and have a fun challenge for ya). 

First is a Morgan layout.  Halfway to Seven:

I used JBS chewing gum ink on my butterflies for this one. 

This was made mainly with the Dear Abby add-on.  I also added that natural canvas I keep talking about, and sprayed it pink with mist.
The title was cut from cardstock after printing it out on my computer.  My Slice can't handle this detail (but most others can). 

Note to self:  Do not wait almost 6 months to do a layout like this.  If she is 6.5 in July, do the layout in July.  For pete's sake.  My sweet girl turns 7 in January.  Oh my.  I can't believe it.  Did you know she was only 3 when I started working at Studio Calico?  My how times have changed.

I'm hoping to document age 7 with a mini.  That's one of my goals for the new year.

Next up is An Angel:

I was so sososososo proud of my girl that day.  She wasn't nervous at all and had the best time. 

I rubbed the alphas on this one with some Stazon ink.  I love the JBS inks, but the dark brown has got to be Stazon.  The gold alphas matched the paper so I needed my alphas to stand out more and this was the simplest solution.  I simply stuck the alphas to the outside of the packaging and inked them, and then placed them on the layout.

That's the Martha Stewart punch (I think it's the himalayan snowflake) mounted on kraft (you can never have tooo much kraft cardstock!) punched with the real estate punch.

The More SC patterned paper add-on sold out in a flash, but you can actually still snag an extra piece.  The SC exclusive paper is in the more patterned paper add-on.  This is a low cost way to beef up your kit (and matches previous kits too). 

And that's it! 

I've already placed my order for February and hope to have a very productive month in January (although I'll be super swamped for CHA).  I think we may have figured out what's wrong with my printer and hope to get it fixed asap..  I'm hoping for tomorrow.

In the meantime, prepare for next month with this, this, this (I need to try one of these), and of course, more kraft.  :)

Have a great day!  Back soon.  Davinie

Dear Toth Fare

The Who's Who kit is live!  Looks like all the add-ons are still available (Dear Abby is my fave this month, FYI). 

One of the layouts I made this month utilizes the main kit from Metropolitan, so I thought I'd share it in it's entirety first.

Last month one of my layouts was about *my* traumatizing experience at the dentist with Morgan as she had four teeth yanked out. 

This month I did a layout about what she and Payton did the night before the "toth fare" arrived.  I walked into the kitchen to find the two of them with their art supplies out, feverishly writing notes and drawing pictures for the little waif.  It was so cute.  Crazy too.  They hid under the tables at Disneyland when the princesses came to visit, run from Chuck E. Cheese, and the Red Robin, but were completely bedazzled by the idea of the tooth fairy.   

Morgan's letter to the "toth fare" read: 

My girl had her four teeth in two treasure chests,  There were so many and they were so large it took two. 

Not to be left out, how dare we even consider it, Payton had her own letter to write.  She asked for help at first, but then got tired of it so she dictated the rest:

The next morning, amongst the pile of (Pink Paislee....  ) Pixie Dust was a gold coin, a balloon, and a card from the tooth fairy.  Inside it read:

This isn't her mama's handwriting.  The tooth fairy has different A's.  (wink, wink). 

I knew I needed to save all of this and document it in a layout for sure. The icing on the cake was when Payton came up to me later and asked if she could touch the fairy dust.  When I said yes she dashed to the kitchen and then came dragging her feet back, upset because "Mom, I touched the dust but I didn't fly". 

Oh my.

As for the design of this layout, when I saw the two kits with these two different KI pockets, I knew I wanted to use them together.  The big one was for the letters, of course, but I thought it would be fun from a design perspective to use the little one on the opposing page.  I started with the SC paper from the main kit this month, but only used one piece.  I trimmed out the middle, @10x10, and then used it inside the big KI pocket.  I then stitched the kraft over the top of the pattern on the first page.  An easy an economical way to stretch a single piece of paper to a 2 pager layout. 

I also trimmed four tags and used them to represent the four teeth that were pulled.  The little fairy (or fare, I guess)?  I photo copied her from Morgan's artwork and trimmed her out.

This isn't the fanciest of layouts, but what fun it will be to look at in the future with those little notes and artwork from my girls too.  LOVE that.

Now what am I up to?  I'll tell you what.  When Morgan had x-rays of her teeth, there was nothing happening.  But I swear to Pete, in the last week, a bottom tooth has decided to make it's way North, and she has a loose tooth up front down below.  Good grief!

That leads me to my next project:

This is soon to be a butterfly fairy princess tooth pillow.  I thought it would be fun to make, and a fun thing to save for her hope chest.  She wants to help me make it which will be fun too.

Mama better get on it, though.  These teeth are falling out faster than anticipated, lol.  I'd best get started on Payton's butterfly fairy cowgirl ballerina while I'm at it.  :)

I'll be back later with the rest of my kit work!  Davinie

You did know .............

what day it was, didn't you?

Holy deliciousness, it's the January kit from Studio Calico, Who's Who.

I picked up Mary Jane and Dear Abby.  I was hoping to have another project to share with you today, but I've had this layout on my desk using Elementary products (with lots of the stars and notions), and I needed to get it finished so I could put it away. 

My favorite add-on was definitely Dear Abby, as I mentioned before.  I LOVE the BG Curio Bloomers and I really liked the little pages from Glitz. 

I will be using my kit for my challenge on the SC blog next week, so be looking for something there soon (think New Years and Resolutions, hint hint). 

The only other extras I'd definitely recommend this month are:
JBS Chewing Gum ink - I used this ink on the sneak image in my last post, the first one, using the butterfly stamp set.  It's a really pretty pink. 
Natural Sticky Back Canvas - this is my new favorite thing.  It's natural, which matches my kraft love quite well.  I also used it on the same sneak as above, and I misted it to make it pink.  It took the mist really well and is a fun new obsession. 
MORE SC patterned paper (you can see one of them in the trees for the Who's Who image above.  LOVE.  If nothing else, add some of this to your cart this month).

While you are surfing the site be sure to head to the blog for the Reveal Night giveaways:

And have a great day!  We are taking the kiddos to see Tangled at the theater.  My sister saw it a few weeks ago and declared it her favorite Disney Princess, so Mama is actually pretty excited to see it.  Dad will just have to suffer through.  :)

Happy Monday!   May your first day back to work, the day you take your tree down, head to Target to hunt for LED lights on sale (got some of those yesterday), or gorge yourself on the plates of candied treats brought to you by neighbors, (maybe all of the above?) be filled with love and happiness. 

Davinie

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, all my blog land friends!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday season with friends and family, and that your days are filled with fun memories to cherish.

I'm taking time for my hubby and my kiddos, reflecting on 2010, and making plans for how I envision 2011, so that I'm all set to make that resolution on 12/31 and actually follow through with it.  Things on my list so far:

• Train and run a half marathon (maybe 2!)
• Register for school
• organize my craft space to be family friendly
• organize my to do list and actually make a to do list and follow through with a to do list
• menu planning
• make the quilts for the girls' room
• make a quilt for the master bedroom
• follow a pattern I found on ravelry and knit something besides a scarf
• repaint the upstairs
• Project 12

I have a lot of things to think about and prioritize.  I'm trying to do my best to make this my best life and haven't felt like I've been doing my job on that front for a long while.  It's time to make a change. 

Enjoy your weekend!  Davinie

Christmas Eve Sneaks

What a holiday!  I hope you are having a wonderful time with your family as I am, and creating fun memories too.

I'm about to go dashing through the snow.  Payton either got the flu from the mist she was administered the other day (NEVER again will I do that to my girl), or she had a reaction to the booster shots she also received at her well girl checkup...  but we missed some sledding fun with friends.  We are doing a mini adventure today instead.  We have a sledding hill at our house, but this is a bigger butte and should be fun.

Before I go, I wanted to share....  SNEAKS.  If you haven't noticed, I'm having some major fights with printers at home and in the area, so I haven't been happy with my photos lately, but what do you do, buy a new one?  I need to get my $$$ Epson serviced before I do that, but in the meantime, craftiness is due.

So...  you keep calm and carry on.  Right?  This is what I came up with for Who's Who:

I did add some canvas for this layout.

I wish that the bloomers from BG's curio were being added to the shop.  These colors are so me and I wish I had more.  You can get them in the Dear Abby add-on, along with some fun faux vintage book pages from Glitz, which we've been trying to use for several kits. 

I was pretty punchy this month and had fun with it.  The above layout is actually a two pager but I can't share the second page in my gallery because I used the KI Pocket from the Metropolitan kit for the base of the second page.  LOVE this one. 

Steve was supposed to be on shift for Christmas Day but a fireman with no kids offered to work for him which was so nice.  That said, he has to head to the "office" on the 26th which means if I don't decide to brave the crowds with the kiddos, there will be time for craftiness, which means I may have another project to share at reveal time.  We shall see.  The best time to buy wrapping paper and holiday decor is the day after Christmas when it is 50-75% off, don't you know.... 

In the meantime, enjoy the season! 

Davinie

My November

The holiday season is in full swing but I'm still here, recording the memories.
I didn't want to get carried away with December without taking note of November, so I made sure to make a priority of my Project 12 layout.  This is wha I came up with this month:

I kept things simple this month.  Since it was out, I used my Metropolitan kit from Studio Calico (but I did add some SC buttons that I picked up at the Black Friday sale.  My layout needed a touch of pink.  You just never know what might show up under the SALE tab).

One of the beautiful things about the SC paper add-on is that if you do it, you'll have more than enough to create two page layouts (the green here is the B side to the pattern book print).

What we did:  I am married to a hunter, yes I am, and since he supports me in the art forms I'm passionate about, I support him in his endeavors.  I like to remind him about that too, lol.  He left for about 11 days to camp in the woods during the colder months and hunt the elusive elk.  He has done so every year for several years.  In the past it hasn't been an issue, but the girls were having a hard time this year, so we made sure to give them a special date night with only daddy where they could spend quality time together.  I let them wear whatever they wanted and Steve took them to a local diner.  They loved it, were treated like loyalty, and it helped a lot.  We'll definitely do that again next year.

We have steers butchered every year.  This year, I was at work when the butcher came, and Steve didn't shield Miss Payton Jayne's impressionable 4 year old eyes from the process, but in the end, he didn't need to.  She was completely fascinated by the whole thing, asked some amazing questions, and wasn't phased a bit.  A future doctor or veterinarian on our hands maybe?  hopefully not a butcher, no offense.  heeeee.

This sketched worked for me because I have layouts and projects planned for many of the things we did in November, so just want to touch on them with a single photo in my Project 12 layout.  Just before Thanksgiving we spent a week at the beach, and I"m going to do a beach layout already, so I summed it up with our annual family photo.

After sewing it up, photographing it, and putting it away in it's page protector, I realized I had left off our Thanksigiving happenings, so I have penciled them in at the bottom of the page, for prosperities sake.  Steve was on shift so we had a low key holiday and had a full turkey meal at the firestation (although *just* as Steve took his first bite of turkey, he had to leave on a call for choking, which was appropriate, I guess).

We also got snow!  We barely got any snow at our house last year, so the kids were super excited.  They dashed out and made a quick snowman before it all melted away.  They named her Charlotte.

So.  That's what my family did in November.  What about you?  You still have a few days left before the deadline to link your layouts to the Project 12 post for the month. 

Happy Holidays!  Davinie

Holiday giveaways

Scrapbook and Cards Today is on day five of 12 days of holiday giving.  Today it's Studio Calico.  Mr Huey, doily stamps, wood veneer.  yum.  You can leave a comment for the Studio Calico prize pack here and check out the rest of the list here. 

Crate Paper is doing a Happy Holiday blog event and today's giveaway is $100 in Crate Paper products.  Check out the lovely inspiration and enter a comment for your chance to win at the Crate Paper blog here. 

Up next?  Studio Calico Who's Who sneaks.... 

Have a great day!  Davinie

Silent Night

Mama was saved from endless boo hooing by Daddy's lack of focus on our girl.  But I am so glad I was there.  She loved it, and did a great job.  Grandparents and her Great Grandma as well as some cousins and her Aunt were there to watch her too. 

SO proud.

Payton Jayne in Silent Night / 12112010 from Davinie Fiero on Vimeo.


You can see Morgan's 2 attempts here:

When she didn't know what to expect
And when she DID know what to expect


Hence my current excitement.  :)

She got a rose from her sister, lunch at the Black Bear diner (her favorite place) and then dessert at Baskin Robbins.  D'ya think I hyped it enough, lol?! 

Decorating for the Holidays - fabric and paper wrapped wreath

I had several projects in the winter issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today, and one of my favorites was this fun wreath I made.  It came together really quickly and was actually really easy to make too.

The holiday line from Stampin' Up
I Believe line from My Minds Eye
Tradition line from Fancy Pants Designs

All three lines worked so well together, and I was blown away by the Stampin' Up fabric.  It was a lot of fun to work with!

For this wreath, I picked up a foam from from Michaels.  It was simple to embellish.

I tore thin strips of fabric and wrapped them around, tying a knot in the front.
Then I trimmed 1/4 inch + strips of patterned paper and wrapped that around the wreath.  I pulled it tight in some spots, and let it get loose in others in order to provide a more dimensional look.  I mixed different patterend papers on this part.

My paper flowers are called Kusudama and I followed the basic tutorial on this site to make them.  They'd make fun ornaments for the Christmas tree too! 

Let me know if you have any questions about this project!

Speaking of Scrapbook and Cards, though...  I hope you've been visiting the site the past few days.  They are doing 12 days of holiday giving, which started on the 10th.

Here's:
DAY ONE - Sizzix Elips
DAY TWO - Pagemaps 2 book

There are some great prizes to be had, so be sure to check it out.

P.S.  Did you see the sale at 2peas?  Orders placed 12/11 and 12/12 for $35 or more ship for free.  Code word HOLIDAY.  (wink, wink)

Have a great night!  Davinie

Decorating for the holidays

Steve is outside, making noise and hanging up Christmas lights.  There was a mad dash last night to the store for LED lights for the tree inside when we went to dress it and found several non-working strands.  boo.  But hopefully LED will last a long time.

We've got Christmas shopping almost done.  I've used amazon.com more than I thought I would this year.  We  Santa is picking up Leapster Explorers for the girls, but after some suggestions, I picked up Olive, the Other Reindeer (how did I miss this book?  There are movies starring Drew Barrymore and advent calendars and plush toys?!!) and Cakepops by Bakerella.  I'm slipping Olive into the book basket and after seeing the snowmen on the cover, think making Cakepops with my girls might be a fun festive holiday idea. 

We've had snow the past few days and the kids have LOVED it.  Steve has dragged them around on their sleds with the 4wheeler a few times.  As much as renovating my homestead irritates me, I wouldn't trade what our neighborhood gives to my girls for anything.  I need to keep that in mind.

He's doing lights, I'm working on the inside.  Organizing the mantle on the landing between up and downstairs with preschool projects, my reindeer print, and my canvas.

Have you seen the winter issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today?  I was asked to do the holiday project article and had a lot of fun.  By far my favorite piece was this canvas.  I'm so glad I'll be able to moon over those photos of my babies year after year.  Check out page 39+

Interested in learning how to recreate it?  I shared how to do the cathedral window quilt pattern on the blog. 

While you are at the site, check out the spring 2011 issue call.  You can check that out here.

When the winter issue came out I posted a giveaway for the new 2011 calendar I was honored to be part of.  The winner of that calendar from my blog is michelestamps2.  Email me or SCT at ideas@scrapbookandcards.com and they'll get you the calendar.  I just got mine over the weekend and it is soooo cool.  Those ladies who won a calendar earlier in the week, you should receive your calendar this week. 

See you soon!  Davinie

A Calendar, an idea book, and a Sketchbook too.

Check it out:

The 2011 SCT-PageMaps Sketch Calendar is here! From the beautiful design to the stunning artwork, from the techniques to the bonus sketches, from the sponsors that provided our designers with great product to the wonderful practicality of the calendar itself—SCT and PageMaps are thrilled to share it with you!

This limited edition calendar will be on your bookshelf long after 2011 has come and gone with its 26 never-before-seen PageMaps sketches that will keep you inspired for some time (including CardMaps, too!). This calendar makes a great gift, too! Order by December 14th to ensure your copies arrive in time for gift giving.

 And the best part? A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the 2011 SCT-PageMaps Sketch Calendar will be donated to both Canadian and American breast cancer research charities!

If you'd like a chance to win a copy of this awesome calendar, leave a comment on this post.  When you do, let me know what your favorite size to scrapbook is.  12x12? 8.5 x 11? 2 pagers?  I'd love to know!

I'll leave the comments open until midnight PST tonight. 

Thanks and have a great Friday!  Davinie

Crate Love - Finding Fall with Brook and Restoration

I really liked the color palette of the December kit from Studio Calico, Metropolitan.  It really reminded me of an earlier release from Crate Paper, Brook. 

I'm still thinking about fall, so I thought it would be fun to mix some of the Metropolitan kit with some of the Brook line, as well as the newest release, Restoration.  I came up with this:

There's a new product in the shop I forgot to tell you about.  It's Claudine Hellmuth's sticky backed canvas, but it's in neutral, not white.  Oh my stars, I'm in love.  Neutral is my signature color, don't you know.

To make the maple leaves I traced a leaf on the back of the canvas and trimmed them out.  Other ideas on what to do with maple leaves can be found on my 11/30 Studio Calico blog post here.  I did a reverse applique with the leaves on this layout, which includes another photo from this same day.

I had fun with ink on these leaves.  With the first one, I rubbed the JBS malted milk.  I wanted to change the color a bit and bring out the texture of the canvas too. 

I experimented a bit with my color.  On this next leaf I started with the malted milk, but then decided to try out Lemon Drop.  I was worried it'd be too yellow, but the color I got was perfect for the color palette of my layout. 

 

Love.

Next up is the title.  I just got my wood veneer alphabet from Studio Calico, so wanted to use that along with some classic calico ink to help them stand out more against my background.

To make sure I got the woodgrain texture, after misting I blotted each letter with a paper towel. 

I'm developing a love affair with mixtape, so I used some of the tape found in the Metropolitan kit on this layout too.  It's barely adhesive, and I"m a girl who loves repositional things!  :)  I just tore off strips, placed them as needed, and then sewed over the top.  The light adhesive didn't bother the needle on my sewing machine at all. 

I also used a square punch with pieces from the Restoration line to add bits of color.  I just love the look for this layout. 

Additional supplies include Crate Brook chipboard elements, some very old American Crafts felt flowers, and some fun sentiments from 7 Gypsies (found in Mass Transit, an add-on that's still available, might I add). 
See you back here tomorrow!  I may or may not have another calendar or two from SCT to give away.  (wink.  Wink wink).

Davinie

P.S.  I know my photos have been all over the place.  Center, left, big, small, rounded corners, no.  I'm still trying to decide which look I prefer.  Let me know what you think! 

Project 12 November in December

Tis the season!  December is here!  We almost have a full year captured!

Here are some favorites from the October sketch:

I LOVED this interpretation of the sketch.  She made a pumpkin out of that circle shape in the design!  I adore this one from eClaire:

I also like the brown framed photos, it helps them pop, and the overall color palette is delicious.



And Jennifer has my heart with her stitchery and the row of buttons on her layout:

Check out what we have for the November sketch:

I love this sketch.  Super simple which means there's a lot you can do with it.  I do NOT want to be swamped like I have been the past two months, so I've already got the sketch printed and have been sorting through photos.

Stick with me here.

Last month I mentioned that I wanted to give 5 of the new SCT sketch calendars away based on the participants in the October sketch.  I asked my hubby to throw out 5 numbers under 30, and the lucky girls are:

 #9 -  Andi

#11 - Alison Day

#13 - Ally

#18 - theelfqueen

#24 - Melanie

and to reveal how completely whackadoodle the boy is, when asked why he chose what he did, 4 of the 5 are Nascar drivers.  Sorry ladies, lol!  #18 is because he just likes that number.  What a cheeseball.

Email me girls!  I will be sending you calendars as soon as I get them!  It should be sometime this week!

I am SO glad to have you participating in this challenge.  I'm so excited that some of the calendar winners are ladies who have been participating all year!  I wish there was something I could do to thank you all!

As always with the Project 12 challenge....

link a layout highlighting your month to this thread by December 20.  You can use the sketch, but you don't have to use it, nor do you have to create a 2 page layout.  Just document your life.

Link your layout here and for a second chance at a fun prize sponsored by SCT magazine, email a link to your layout to ideas@scrapbookandcards.com.

I'll see you with a layout in a few short days!

Enjoy the process!  Davinie