a little of my life

a set of two!

I have two posts up over at My Minds Eye becuase they was a weekend in the middle :)

the first post was on friday and it was all about stamps - the two cute sets that came with the sweet Indie Chic release. I played around with Shrink Plastic, Paper Art Clay and Wooden spoons for a giggle :)  those picnic spoons are so sweet to alter.

 

 

and then today's post is something for Daddy's desk to remind him that he leaves one set of crazies for another set of crazies when he leaves work :)

I used two Miss Caroline wooden Banners and the Sunny Side papers - i left the last page blank for Lily and Fay to write a secret message for Ian :)

enjoy.

The end of part of my Scrapbook Journey

I have had a wonderful amazing journey in the Scrapbook world and a big part of that  adventures is Prima Marketing Inc.  I was always a fan of their flowers and their crystals. 

In 2009 I got a place on their Design Team - i think you could have heard me squeal from miles away.  I enjoyed working with all the big names in the industry and seeing all their work. It was cool to have my work admired and at CHA - being part of a manufactuer's team and playing with products before they reached the stores. lots of fun... taking part in all the challenges over at the Prima Blog was a good way of getting to scrap out side my little box. 

During this time, I also started making their Build-a-Page sketches and once my year on the Design Team was over, I was asked to stay on as the Prima Sketch Artist - a position I enjoyed emminesly - i loved seeing how the Design Team interpreated the sketches and then how the fans made it their own.

Here's May Build-A-Page sketch and you can see the awesome layouts inspired by it here!!

I was very humbled to have 6 peices of my work included in the Prima Idea Book that they released in 2010 - something magical about seeing your work on a printed page.

And I would never have made covergirl if it wasn't for a special request through Prima either.

It has been an amazing journey over the last 3 1/2 years but one that I have had to call to a close as my life is taking a different direction these days.

I will always be proud to have been part of the Prima Marketing team and will miss working with the girls and everything they have going on but I have decided that it is time for change. I will alasy be grateful and thankful for the experiences I have been allowed through workign for Prima and for that I will leave with a happy heart.

I will always find a way to have a little bit of Prima on my layouts and will enjoy seeing all the new things they bring out in the future.

Thanks to everyone for allowing me to be part of the Prima Team and to their fans for making me smile every time they used one of my sketches.

Best Wishes,

ps. I thought i'd share some of my favourite Prima layouts over the last few years - i hope you like them too.

 

 

 

you can see my prima sketches *here* and the rest of my Prima layouts *here*

some more favourite photos

as part of the latest My Minds Eye challenge. all about using shapes to change the feel of a layout dispite its colours to feel more feminine.

 

and using my lovely star punch i was gifted by a friend who doesnt get scrapbooking at all but thought of me anyways. thats what friends are all about.

 

and of you missed my "inspired by Pinterest" layout, go and check the details on the MME blog - i used  For the Record by Lynn Warner and Our Neighbor by Aleksandra Gadji

Enjoy.

 

important-to-me people

I love these photos of these people so dont be surprised if you see them on more than one layout :)

Fay and her Grandad enjoying a giggle.

 

and my wonderful friend who gets my bipolar and runs with it.

 

and if you want to know more about this altered tray - check out the My Minds Eye blog post about it.

International Scrapbooking Day

I love scrapbooking - and I know I can come across quite fanatical sometimes about it - especially about journalling on layouts.  Scrapbooking is all about memory keeping - whether you scrapbook in an simple style or an ornate mixed media style, whether you spend lots of money or hardly any money, the end result is still the same - making sure your voice is heard if you are not physically there to explain.

You can read about the way I journal *here*  and maybe it will pursade you to at least keep notes with your photos even if you dont scrapbook.  how many times have you looked at old photos and wondered who, when,where and why?

Today is a day to celebrate the art of scrapbooking and the craft of keeping memories with the relevant photographs of the moments.

This is my layout to acknowledge the fact that Scrapbooking is my friend, my therapist and my voice.

journalling reads " Scrapbooking to me is a form of therapy: to help me express the thoughts and hopes, the hurts and loves, the daily moments and the big events that make up my life. I want my kids to know the store is of my life in my words so that it is my truth they read not a version of chiense whispers from others. it is my diary and my trust. It is my friend no matter that the subject. May 2012"

I adore my Bombshell Stamps and i am obsessed with stamping onto cork currently - i love the texture it gives.  The Bombshell blog is full of awesome inspiration for using the stamps - everything from cards to shoes :)

The Papers are from My Minds Eye - the latest 6x6 Indie chic release  - again tons of inspiration on their blog.

Other products are Prima Flowers, Letraset ProMarkers, Stazon Ink pads, American Craft Alphas and Martha Stewart Punches.

I am lucky to be part of some amazing design teams both currently (My Minds Eye, Bombshell Stamps) and previous teams (Prima, Treasured Memories, SFTIO Kits, etc) over the years - they have allowed me to experiment with styles and products outside my table and I lucky that they look after me so well that all I need to buy is adhesive! 

If you want to know know about my scrapbooking, check out www.lovelifescrapbook.com

 

A little Sharing

Every so often, I get lovely requests to take part in Challenges or Guest on Teams etc and I do try to say yes but it doesnt always work out with my scheduling but this month I was able to make some time  to play with the crew over at Colorful Creations - its a lovely community with a ton of challenges to keep your creative juices flowing.

I played with a great sketch by Irene and produced 2 layouts and a card from it :) Check out the thread for the sketch and all the details...

Sometimes the idea in my head works out perfectly and this is one of those times. This card is going to a lovely couple who've just had a beautiful baby girl - I made it from a single sheet of MME paper and one of their layered cardstock stickers and a swirl.

And these are the Layouts.

a whole Assortment of layered stickers and diecuts and the photo overlays...

And I cant have a layout of one kid without the other one getting in on it aswell - did i meantion that they like having the layouts on their wall until i do a new one for them. Lily is a bit annoyed that she doesnt have as many as Fay and explaining that she is not as old as Fay doesnt compute  - as she say "Mama has enough paper" as if that cures everything.

Things in this house are not called what they are - i swear Lily does it on purpose so she can correct us constantly - so here is a chicken called Ducky, we have a dog called Kitty and a pink cat called Blue.

So I hope you will hop across to Colorful Creations and check out everyone's work and say hello :)

and did you check out Twisted Sketches Card this weekend - it's been going TWO YEARS now - isnt that insane? 

have Fun!!

Friday the 13th rocks!

For us, Friday the 13^th is a date with Karma attached to it. A day when good Karma or Bad will come your way based on your actions. To avoid any bad karma, we pay it forward by sharing what we have – be it goods, foods or actual money. We’ve had parties to share food or given away clothes we’ve outgrown.

We often try to share what little we have to help others realize their dreams and one of the ways we do that is through Kickstarter which is a US based crowd funding platform where a little goes a long way. It is full of Geek Nerd love which is a bonus for our family. In my opinion, making something positive out of a negatively viewed thing is always good!

(Photo is of http://www.advancedterrain.com/ products)

I did this layout for My Minds Eye to celebrate :) so click the link for the supplies list.

I used most of the embellishments as they came except I made a new word from one of the layered cardstock stickers – I changed “friend” into “nerd” because it worked for my layout – remember to always looks outside the box with your supplies for those hidden gems.

And today I'm off to celebrate the fact that Twisted Sketches CARDS is two years old today!!! 

its all about the angles...

or in the caseof the brand new shape challenge over at My Minds Eye.. its all about Hexagons...

I adore this photograph of Fay taken on her Birthday and I am humbled to be part of her life – she is amazing to watch grow and develop.

Supplies:On the Bright Side “One” Paper Pack: Orange Wood paper, Yellow Chevron paper, Floral paper, ‘Polka’,Die-Cuts; Miss Caroline “Howdy Doody”: Buttons (Wood Flower); Miss Caroline “Fiddlesticks”: Buttons (Wood Round); Miss Caroline “Dilly Dally”: Buttons (Epoxy Round),Brads and Tags (Genuine Tag); Follow Your Heart “Be Amazing”: Twine,yellow sharpie,foam adhesive, distress tool

 

I love all the layouts about with such clean and exact lines because I suck at straight lines even with a trimmer. I distressed all my edges simply because I cannot cut a straight line and the distressing hides that fact. I went for a large Background hexagon and then thought the idea of layered hexagon flowers would work so well with button centers.

I decided to hang the banners on their corners to keep the angle theme going.  Don’t forget with some clever tag placements you can ultise diecuts in different ways – in this layout I did it with the “in one word” die cut as the genuine tag covers up the word underneath.

and then I made another layout...

This Rocking horse is part of the playground equipment at the lake nears the girls Grandparents. We think it has been there since at least the 1950’s as Ian remembers playing on it when he was a kid.  It has a kind of magic that comes with the sculpted horse head and the way it moves. The girls love it and it is the first thing they run to when we visit.

Supplies:On the Bright Side “One” Paper Pack: O‘Stitched’, ‘Multi-Chevron’, ‘Red Wood’, ‘White Wood’, Die-Cuts;  Follow Your Heart “Be Amazing”: Twine, grey sharpie,foam adhesive, distress tool

 
I went with the colours of the rocking Horse – it was the photo that made me reach for this paper release with the red and the distressed yellow paint. I went for a more Masculine style for this layout to emphasize the story of the horse rather than it being about the girls.

make sure you check out the challenge and take part to win some awesome MME goodies.

new pretty things

Lots of new things going on over on the My Minds Eye blog - new blog, New People, new releases :)

go and check it all out and join in the blog hop with some of my favourite people...

and if you missed my MME stamps post - check it out here...

 

smiles or not

A month of haircuts for my girl - very 20's chic i think. she likes it and thats all that matters. and we finally  found trousers for her as she dislikes jeans a lot - she is now a confirmed combat pants girls. 

and lilys still not playing nice with the camera.

a few bits done this month for My Minds Eye - I've had too much doctor madness this month to do much else which sucks for me.

more about this clock in this months newsletter :)

and this was my layout for the my sketch this month... and these were the cards.

I've not been up to much - trying to find that balance between health and family and work and crafting.  I hope you have all been well.