Sketchbook Winner

BAM.  I was gone camping, had one bar of service, then Payton got an intense case of the flu, then it was her birthday, and now we are home and Steve has the flu....  this week has been insane!  I didn't have a chance and then forgot to post my Sketchbook winner and the class starts tomorrow!

Kellie Groves said...

I am so excited about Kelly's upcoming class. I loved the SketchBook 3 class and often turn to the sketches when I need inspiration. I cannot wait to see SketchBook 4! Thanks for a chance to win a seat :)

9:28 PM

Kellie, I'm sending you an email!  Congratulations!  See you in class!

Happy 6th birthday Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine!

Scrapbook and Cards turns 6 years old this week, and we are having fun celebrating.  I hope you have checked out the blog for a lot of fun inspiration this week. 

Today we are doing something fun that I've actually never been part of before, a scraplift layout chain.  It started with Miss Emily and has rounded the team from there.  Check out her blog to see where it all began.

My layout came from Summer.  This is what she sent:

How could my eyes go anywhere except to the photo. It's a super cute photo of her kids, and it scares me to death.  That's a big photo.  I went through my files and couldn't find a single photo that would look good if it was trimmed narrow and vertical like this one.  I then went through trying to find a succession of photos that would look good layered vertically, and nothing jumped out at me there either.  I then decided to be true to myself and print a photo in a size I'd use, and use the other elements of Summer's layout to inspire the rest of the design.  This is what I came up with:

I started with photo placement, and kept my photo on the left side of the layout.  I knew immediately what I wanted the title to be, and stuck with the original layout by having it at the right side on the bottom.  When it came time to finding papers and embellishments, the 12x12 space was throwing me off, so I made my layout 8.5 x 11.  I think this is because I was trying to stick to inspiration from the original photo which was narrow and tall.

I liked the Studio Calico paper Summer used on her layout, so let it inspire me by using large circles on my version.  I then utilized scraps on my desk, as this layout was made with the April kit from Studio Calico, City of Lights, and I had those butterflies left over from another project.  They fit in well with the design.  I tried to put my journaling in a similar place, and then filled the spaces out with embellishments. 





My layout certainly stands on it's own but when you see them close together, you can tell how I was inpsired.

On a personal note, that's Payton in a Kindergarten production of the nursery rhymes they had been studying.  She was Humpty Dumpty's horse.  Oh my was she excited.  We made that horse costume out of a cardboard box which she painted and after I added hair, gave her a trim.  She really enjoyed the process, but did come up to me before her performance and asked if she "looked fat".  lol. 

Anyway....Scraplifting can be fun!

The last person on our layout chain is Lynn Ghahary.  Be sure to check out what she did inspired by the layout I created.

Make sure to head back the SCT blog too, and see all of the layouts lined up together.  There may or may not be a fun giveaway you can enter for while you are there.  :) 

Have a great day!  Yes, this post was pre-planned.  I'm still out in the woods camping with my family.  I'm also celebrating a little birthday of my own. Sweet Payton Jayne turned 6 today.  ::sigh::  Mama wasn't quite ready for that one yet. 

Davinie

City of Lights - my projects

Hello Friends!

The kit is live so it's time to share the projects for City of Lights, Studio Calico's April kit.

As I've mentioned, I got all four add-ons, but I didn't have the time I wanted to spend with them.  I ADORE the main kit as well as the SC paper for this month, so be sure to at least go for that should you be shopping.  The gray polkadot in particular is fabulous.  The dark woodgrain with the pink is also wonderful.  Get more SC paper, lol.

First to share is my main kit project:

I think this is my favorite main kit only layout that I've made.  I really had fun with this one.

I started with my Cameo.  I knew what photos I wanted to use, so in the 12x12 inch blank file, I placed and sized my circles, and then trimmed them out.  After that, I chose butterflies and sized them according to the circle shape, and trimmed them out of the SC paper.  After that it was a font for my title.  I have had so much with my Cameo lately that it's opened up a whole new world for layering and texture to my projects.  I'm really enjoying it.

 

The JBS template was such a great idea.  I didn't want to cut it up, so in order to preserve it for a future project, because I'm a hoarder that way, lol, I traced the monograms of my girl's names and hand stitched them.

Handstitching tip: 

Use a narrow needle.  Mine was a darning needle, I think.

Use two strands of floss. 

Pierce holes fairly close together

Stitch slowly.

When I first punched the holes I thought I made a mistake with this idea and that the stitches would tear and run together.  It definitely took some finessing but I love how it turned out.

The kiddlets dragged all the linens out of the house to make a fort under the soccer goal post in our backyard, and our dog had to be included.  It's so nice when the girls aren't pulling each other's hair and actually getting along, lol.  Okay, they don't spend time pulling hair, but you know what I mean.

My second layout for my gallery offered another workout for that Cameo:

In preschool last year they spent a day doing a little Queen of Hearts play, where they repeated the poem about the queen of hearts and had kids take turns acting it out.  When Payton got a turn she was able to do her performance with a couple of buddies.  The knave is basically her BFF, so I wanted to make sure I didn't forget to document it.  I took photos of all the kids that day and these particular photos have been shuffled through the digital file.

I created the background using a couple different heart sizes.  It actually took a while to drags things around to where I liked them.  The file is 12x12 and I saved it, but can't currently figure out how to share it on the blog here.  I had advice regarding Typepad, but lowly blogger doesn't appear to have the same capabilities.  If I can figure it out I'll be happy to share.  :) 

On the right side I wrote out the Queen of Hearts poem and repeated it down the paper and trimmed it out.  I created this layout late one night so I hope you won't notice that I spelled "steel" wrong.  It shoudl be STEAL.  ack.  That's actually driving me a wee bit nuts but you'll notice I sewed on it a bit so it's going to be a wee pain to fix.  It'll happen, just not today. 

The doily was also something created with my Cameo and misted Piglet.  Those intricate details asked alot of my machine.  I had to punch some of the shapes out with a blade because they didn't quite trim.  I love the doily though.  The title is also trimmed with the Cameo, and it's the same font as my last layout.  It's Lollipop, I think it was called, and you can get it at the Silhouette store.  I wanted a fun cursive that wasn't too fancy and this was it.

My last project to share today is a quick and easy card:

This was stamped with the new Hero Arts ink we have in the shop.  This particular color is Wet Cement, and I love it.  It has some good color, don't you agree?  And yes.....  there's that gray polkadot again.  :)  

That was all I had time for this month.  I had 8 page papers on learning theory to write.  bam. 

I am participating in a fun blog hop on Friday to celebrate a certain magazine's birthday.  I will have another layout created with the City of Lights kit to share then (and you can see a sneak of it on this post).   Friday also happens to be the date my youngest girl surprised our family with her birth, and that little spitfire will be 6 years old.  Excuse me while I cry my eyes out.  :)

Davinie

Studio Calico love - Scholastic

Remember when you were a little kid in school and the Scholastic Book order would get added to your homework?

I remember taking that thing home, sniffing it a couple of times, and then getting out a pen and circling my favorites, tallying the total, editing, circling, editing, reading, sniffing, tallying, editing, and basically sleeping with the thing.

I LOVE the Scholastic Book order.

I'm so glad it hasn't gone away, and that now that I have two children in two different reading levels, when it's book order time I get twice as many book order forms!  AND you can order online (but it isn't the same experience AT ALL). 

I had to commiserate about my Scholastic love, so when Payton was feverishly highlighting her latest issue, I took a couple of photos, even though she was annoyed with me.

Layout:

I have some new SC product on this layout (and a little nibble of the City of Lights kit with that bright yellow).

Rolodex, both A and B sides, from Take Note. 
Mister Huey opaque white mist

Shopping:

Tonight is Reveal (and today is presale for shoppers).
Don't forget these items while you are in the shop today:

Craft Bond - a must have for confetti
Glue Pen - random confetti and a journaling strips favorite adhesive
Pick Me Up - very handy

Colorbox White Frost ink - I've heard this is the best white!

AND

Modern Albums - these are going to go away.  Everywhere.  Get Modern Albums while you still can!

Davinie

City of Lights sneaks

I'm about to dash out into the wild blue yonder with the family for a few days over Spring Break.  Normally I fake my excitement to camp, but I'm actually looking forward to stepping away for a bit, even though a couple of my textbooks need to come with me.  boo. 
While I'm gone I'm going to miss out on a bit of the Studio Calico action, but I do have sneaks to share. 

I bought all four add-ons which was crazy because I did NOT have the time this month.  That said, I ADORE the main kit, so you can't go wrong with the main.  This is a sneak of my main kit layout:

That gray polkadot is hands down my favorite paper ever.  You'd think a polka dot is a polka dot, but that gray does it for me.  Be sure to pick up the more SC paper when you are shopping this month, if nothing else.  There's SC paper and Sassafras paper in that particular add-on.  Do it.

My Cameo got exercise too this month too, and that's not becuase there was a lack in product.  For me personally, I'm just enjoying the freedom of coming up with my own thing and adding tons of texture.   I created my own file for this next sneak:

And if I can figure out how to link it here, I'll do that so you can have a pretty background paper too.

This last sneak won't be in my gallery this month but was made with the City of Lights kit.  It's for a blog hop coming here soon... really soon.... as in...  Friday, soon.  So check that out.  I had a lot of fun with this last one.

Have a great Monday!  Davinie

P.S.  Sketchbook giveaway here.

Sketchbook 4 - a sneak and a giveaway.

Hello friends
I was honored to be asked to contribute to the latest Sketchbook class from Kelly Purkey.  I had a lot of fun with my sketch and hope it inspires those who take the class. 

Not familiar with Sketchbook? 

Join Kelly Purkey in another installment of her popular Sketchbook class! Sketchbook 4 is a four week class filled with fresh sketches, easy instructions, beautiful examples, and lots of fun. This class is designed to be used at any time and over + over again when you need inspiration.

Sketchbook is different from any other sketch class out there because Kelly and the contributors offer design tips and detailed explanation of what makes a page work. It's more than sketches - they’ll deliver valuable pointers for creating great layouts.

By the end of the class, you'll have a complete sketchbook of 12 original sketches, 38 layouts, and an ADDITIONAL 38 sketches based on those creative pages. All the examples are brand new layouts, exclusive to this class... you won't see them anywhere else! You will be receiving an example layout from Kelly for each of the sketches, along with two example layouts from a Studio Calico Design Team member and some of your favorite SC Guest Designers.

And here's a sneak of what I came up with utilizing my sketch:

I used a few bits from the April kit from Studio Calico, City of Lights, as well as some Take Note, the new collection from Studio Calico, and some MME Miss Caroline, which I adore.  There's also a few bits from my stash. 

Does the class sound interesting?  Sound fun?  I promise you'll walk away with loads of inspiration and ideas.

If you'd like a chance to take this class, I am excited to be able to give away a spot.  Just leave a comment and let me know if you've taken a Sketchbook class from Kelly before.  If you've already registered and win the spot, you'll get refunded.  Perfect, right?!

Good luck!  I'll choose the winner on Tuesday.

Davinie

Project 12 - life goes on

It would seem that my last post was a great quote to use.  Obviously Davinie is swamped and blogging is something that's taken a backseat.  It's a bummer because I have plenty to share...  I just don't always have time to sit down and do the sharing.

If you jumped on the SCT blog on March 15, you would have seen a Project 12 post from me, but I haven't had a chance to share it here yet.  This is what I came up with for my March post:

It was based on the Feburary 2010 sketch Becky Fleck did for my challenge which can be found here.  They are in .pdf format and you can print the sketches right out.  That makes creating layouts much easier.  :) 

My layout was also inspired by the March Colour Suite challenge.  You can check out the challenge and the color palette here. 

I found I've been taking a lot of phone photos, so decided to only use phone photos to document the first half of March for this layout.  Everything is equally grainy, lol.  DANG I wish I had my husband's 4s.  If not for Siri that phone would be mine.  hmph. 

I still documented our everyday and used 16 photos on a single layout too.  We had baking and makeover,s birthday flowers and snow days, with some playdates and school mixed in too.  I think it captures our life well, but I really need to get Steve in front of that camera.  He's simply not a fan.  :)

To get the general and random thoughts down I have a monthly planner that I use for my Project 12 as well as my Project Life stuff.  Some days are monotonous, some days are hectic because I'm doing everything and dad is at the firestation for 48 hours, but this planner helps me remember what happened when, which also helps in organizing everything. 

Have you had sick kids lately?  Morgan has missed more school days this year than in all of her previous schooling combined.  She just gets hit with these low grade fevers that are too high to send her to school, and just lies around like a limp noodle or snookers me into playing Mario Brothers on the Wii.  Ack.  :)

I hope you are having a wonderful March!  It is now Spring Break at our house and we plan to camp next week and then celebrate a certain someone's 6th birthday on Friday.  Fun times ahead!  I hope the weather cooperates and it isn't raining the whole time, lol.  But if it's raining and we are stuck inside, let the campground at least have wifi.  ha!

Davinie

P.S.  Going to see the Hunger Games with the hubby this afternoon.  Woot!

P.P.S.  Back tomorrow with Studio Calico sneaks and a giveaway for a seat in Sketchbook 4!  You won't want to miss this class, and if you have purchased a seat already and win a spot, you can get your money back.  :) 



Words on Wednesday - lose yourself

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