12 Days of Christmas - Day 3!!!!

So, let me start by saying one thing first. I am dumbfounded I have done 3 layouts in 3 days.  Seriously.  And 3 I like!  But I am going to just ride the wave and enjoy it.  (while also believing this can't possibly happen a 4th day in a row... or can it?)

The fun challenge for Day 3 of Victoria Marie's 12 Days of Christmas challenge is "Three awesome die cuts (or more)!"  So... I went to town and there are more die cuts on this layout than I may EVER have done before. I borrowed VERY heavily for the concept from a layout Irit Landgraf over on the Hip Kit design team in October.  She had used die cuts and other pieces all around a square photo.  It was really fun, like a reverse puzzle. I started with that blue snowflake tag and just kept picking up and putting down all the pieces from the Elle's Studio die cut, wood veneer and cut-apart sheet until I was happy with how it looked.

BTW, super happy coincidence that the advent calendar on the picture (a CTMH kit from about 3 years ago) was all red, green and blue, the same as the Elle's Studio pieces.

There are also some very tiny sprinkles of Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist in Citron and Blush to pull in a bit more of the lime green and pink.  (and I believe I am actually in capable of doing a layout without adding color shine).

Here it is:

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen 

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2!!

The second day of Victoria Marie's 12 day of Christmas challenge is mixed 2 fonts! Well, as the proud owner of 100+ sets of Thickers (who am I kidding, it's like more like 200+)... this was an easy challenge for me :)  I used my November Hip Kit for this as well.  Only additions were the Thickers as the totally adorable striped ones that came with... I just couldn't get to work on this :(

Here is my layout:

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

12 days of Christmas challenge - Day 1

I'm participating in the 12 Days of Christmas challenge over on the Victoria Marie FB page.  Our first day's challenge was to use distress ink in a new way.  As I've only ever really used it to ink the edges of my stuff... for me, pretty much any other way was going to be new :) haha.

But, I really wanted to try it with a stencil to get a soft, starry kind of look.  I took these photos Sunday night while we were setting up the Xmas tree. I asked everyone to pick their favourite ornament as we were decorating and I snapped a pic.

AND... hurray, I finally cut into my brand spanking new, first time I got it Hip Kit!!!  The November kit is so pretty with reds, blues, pinks and a touch of green.  I actually got a wee bit stuck too as... I wanted to use EVERYTHING all at once and that would have been a disasterous page :)  So I took overnight to step back and go... it's OKAY, you can use the other pretty things on the NEXT page.  Anyone else have that problem?  I am pretty pleased on the stepping back and how the page turned out.

Here it is:

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

November Scraptastic kit KILLED

So I went to clean up on Sunday and inspiration suddenly struck and I put together a VERY quick layout using up some of my pp and "bits" from my print and cut marathon.  I have to say for being a pretty simple layout I actually really like it.  The only issue... I am out of A's, E's and R's in those cool Maple Thickers making them sort of impossible to use now :(

Here is my layout:

(I actually added a few enamel dots to this afterwards but that's okay... )

And here is what I had left of my November Scraptastic "Shake It Off" kit (best kit name ever, next kit needs to be Uptown Funk) I did stash 4 full sheets of cardstock - 2 yellow and 2 pink, I just don't use bright cardstock like that, I did use the blue that came with it however. 

And lastly, here are the layouts I made this month with the kit. I had a flurry of inspiration and did 2 layouts just on Saturday so I am SHOCKED I killed this kit so fast.  I only got the main kit, no add ons.  I can now move onto my November Hip Kit Club kit which I was saving for Xmas stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!! My next mission is the 12 Days of Christmas challenge that Victoria Marie is putting on.  Here's her blog so you can check it out:

http://victoriamarieblog.wordpress.com/

Jen

Weekend layout #2

Here is my 2nd layout for this weekend. I had a grand time scrapping Saturday night with my 80s playlist cranked :)  The Bangles and a little Motley Crue would inspire anyone, right?!

This layout is all about my fav book series of all time (Harry Potter is a close second).  I have reread the Outlander series 8x (every time a new book comes out I read it again).  I suspect I will be rereading the recently released book 8 soon (only read that one once).

Here is it:

As soon as I saw this book paper in my November Scraptastic kit I knew... it was time to do a layout about Outlander.  If you look at the 2nd picture you can see I actually wrote stuff about the book/characters all around the border of the cream cs.  I included main characters, a couple Scots or gaelic words, places, etc.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

Happy Sunday!!

I did some scrapping last night and had a grand time teaching myself how to do print and cut on my Silhouette (FYI I am soooo happy I decided to figure that out!!!!)

Here is the first layout I did. I truly, truly LOVE it.  It turned out really close to how I envisioned it in my head and I actually did this from MY head. I didn't scraplift it, use a sketch or anything else. I hardly ever do that.  So that was kind of exciting too.

I did a second layout too that I finished up this am and that will be posted tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by.

Jen

Creative Scrappers sketch #282

Had a lot of fun today using my Scraptastic November kit (Shake It Off) and following the Creative Scrappers current sketch!!  I just followed the sketch and then added whatever embellishments were in the kit. My last layout was a struggle so was nice to just whip this one off and like it.  (well, except for the Izink incident... made a wee mess but you can't see it too too much).

Here is their sketch:

And here is my version:

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Project Life catch-up

A super quick post of 3 weeks of PL I did in the last few days.  Doing some catchup as always :)  Using up scraps from my October kits!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

Hip Kit Weekend Challenge

So, I am totally in love with the Hip Kit club :)  I haven't even USED one of their kits yet (been using up my October kits) and I love them!  haha...  Their DT post something daily for inspiration and almost always with a process video.  Heaven.  They do WEEKLY challenges with a prize.  Heaven.  They have gorgeous kits that do not take 3 weeks to get to me.  (and this is NOT the fault of any previous kit clubs I have been in. At ALL! We are just on the same coast of North America and that means way faster shipping).

Today I played along with their weekend challenge from Nov 14th.  It was a recipe challenge to use:

• 1 cardstock (white)
• 3 patterned papers (scraps from October)
• 1 tag (black and white)
• wood veneer pieces (arrow, clip, totally missed star that I see I somehow didn't put on)
• some bits and pieces (die cuts) (tucked in all over)
• something gold ( heat embossed all around the edges, gold arrows)
• 1 rub-on or one stamp sentiment (3 rub-ons - I NEVER use rub ons, yay me)

And here is my layout:

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

Trying new ideas

So, this month I hit a bit of a creative block after using my kits for a while. There was a lot of orange/peach/yellow in the kits and these are honestly not colours I use a lot. They were gorgeous and I found it fun at first to mix it up a bit... but then I started seriously jonesing for just a good blue or green :) haha.

I didn't feel I was ready to just say uncle either though... so I laid the kits all out and had this realization:
1.  I actually had used up a LOT of the kits already and done 6 layouts. That is pretty respectable.
2.  What was bugging me more was the huge amount of embellishments left over that I honestly knew were unlikely to make it onto layouts later just due to the colours.
3.  The photos I had printed for October that were still waiting to be scrapped really did go well with these kits!!

So, here is what I did. I used a technique I saw on You Tube by Irit Landgraf where I used a bunch of die cuts that I then gesso-ed over.  This allowed me to use up some of the bits I knew weren't likely to get used due to the colours and it added a really neat element to my page.  I really like trying out new things and I figured if it was a miserable failure... oh well, they were bits I wasn't sure I'd use later anyways.  It's not my favourite page I've ever done... by a long shot but I also don't hate it, LOL.  I look at it now and wish I'd maybe added more gesso out into the white space and had a bit more of the misted watercolour look but I am NOT going back to it. It has been put in my album.

I'm actually pretty pleased with the result as, after all, it was my first attempt and only the 2nd or 3rd time I've tried using gesso. As in EVER! :)

I did try to add gelatos with packaging like Irit does so brilliantly but the limited colours I had were so NOT pleasing me.  So I misted some Heidi Swapp gold and coral Color Shine onto the packaging and that gave me the soft colouring I was looking for (ugh, I really tried to get rid of that yellow as it's too harsh but no love... live and learn, gelatos may be Irit's friend but not sure yet it they are mine!!)

So another one bites the dust and here is what I have decided. I am done with layouts for this kit. There is one piece of pp I really like and it will come along to November with me. The rest I am going to try to use up with my PL for October as it's mostly scraps. AND... yet again, the coloured cardstock goes into my stash as I never ever use it. (part of why I moved to a new kit club, 6 pieces of wasted cardstock a month pretty consistently, I'd much rather get a few more pieces of pp or another embellishment and pay the same price)

Thanks for stopping by.

Jen

Creative Scrappers Sketch # 281

Playing along with Creative Scrappers sketch #281 and continuing to use up my October Scraptastic kit.  The background is actually the Shimelle cut apart sheet that I covered the pink stripe with a blue stripe.  I REALLY took a leap on this sketch as it was supposed to be one small square photo with a lot of white space.  But I saw that big square of white space and immediately thought... HUGE photo!! :)  It was totally perfect for these photos my husband took of a recent fishing trip.  The fishing was a total bust but being the good natured guys that they are, he and his friend appreciated the gorgeous West Coast scenery and time spent together.

Here is the sketch:



And here is my interpretation:

My very next step now is to work on getting WAY better pictures of my layouts.  This is a lot nicer (in my opinon) in person.  I finally replaced my iPhone but need a stand and set up to make taking these much easier. I can NEVER get them straight :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Autumn in Victoria

Here's an autumn layout I did with my October kit (Scraptastic). I live in Victoria, BC Canada and we have a very mild climate (it is actually a temperate rainforest here, similar to Seattle but far less rain). This is an early November walk we did around a nearby lake. We moved here from Northern BC which is usually cold and can be snowed over by November so... we still thrill in hiking in a t-shirt/light jacket at this time of year (actually we can do this all winter too  )

I got a wee bit mist happy on this but... can you blame me?!  The Heidi Swapp color shine is sooooo pretty and once I start, I just can't seem to stop myself.  In person the shimmer is amazing (just a wee bit more of it than I'd planned on, haha).

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Project Life - Sept 15 -21 - Using my stash

Hey everyone,

Here is my latest project life layout.  For anyone who hasn't been here before, I do my Project Life a wee bit differently.  I only do 1- 12x12 page protector for each week (with occasional double spreads for long weekend weeks) and I don't label as "Week 1, Week 2, etc"  I just put the dates.  I also don't date each photo although the journalling sometimes says which day.  I pick highlights from the week and if there is something I really want to do more on or a special event I then do a 12x12 scrapbook layout.  They all go together mostly chronologically in my albums.

So this is September 15 - 21 of this year.  It is the last prepped PL layout I had from when I went to a crop at the end of September.  I've started the new habit of leaving the photos laid out on my work space and as a result I've gotten about 6 weeks of PL done in the last 3 weeks, just doing a little bit at a time. I just sent in a big PL and layout photo order to be printed that will catch me up to Nov 9th and I will just keep doing what I've been doing by laying out each week.  I should do a post on my process for this!

Today I wanted to use up some stash so I started with some older Elle's Studio 4x6 cards, some Scraptastic TLN 3x4 cards and then 2 sets of die cuts I had (black & white are Studio Calico and blue/yellow are Pink Paislee).  Both sets of die cuts still have tons and tons and tons left in them :)

I left it nice and simple which is my usual style with a bit of journalling on each day. It's that tree amazing?  I had to highlight it.  Even this truly doesn't capture how huge it was as it was almost as wide as it was tall.

I also had a look at my last PL share which was from Jan to June 1st.  I will be taking photos from June 1st up to this one and will do another share with a slideshow soon!

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a scrappy day.

Jen

Pumpkin Carving

Okay, I have been sucking at keeping this up to date. I have been creating (albeit slowly) lately and not posting so I will try to start posting, even if it's a quick photo.

Here is my latest using my Scraptastic and Gossamer Blue kits from October.

I have also been trying to decide on what kit club I want to go with.  I had incredibly specific things I was looking for and after several months of looking I finally figured it out.  Here's what I was looking for:

1.  No stamps included - I rarely stamp on my layouts (to be honest, on ANYTHING) so didn't want a stamp included as the cost of that included means less other product in the kit.

2.  No or very little cardstock (and if cardstock neutral usable cardstock).  I have an entire Expedit cube full of 12 x 12 cardstock from years of kits and I never use any other than white, cream, kraft and occasionally grey.  So again, I don't need more and cost of this means less other stuff.

3.  Thickers - It's a weakness so I wanted them in every kit OR at bare minimum not other alphas that I'll never use (too big or not usable colours).

4.  A fantastic DT and active kit club members!  Part of the awesomeness of being part of a kit club is being inspired by the DT's creations and by others in the club using the kits. I'm a busy lady, and inspiration helps a lot.

5.  New product.   I am also on a BUDGET so getting the latest and greatest in my kits means I spend far less on the product I wanted but didn't think I was getting in kits (and when it shows up in kits months later and I bought it... sooooo annoying).

6.  Shipping doesn't take forever.  I'm in Canada and most kit clubs are not.  Shipping can mean I wait weeks for the kit everyone in the States got only days after release. That, to put it bluntly, sucks.

So, what kit did I land on?  I'm excited to say the Hip Kit Club.  Their DT do process videos constantly (not on my list but a huge bonus) and it met every single picky thing I was looking for.  I just received their November kit which is excellent.  It's got lots of Xmas-y stuff in it and I have LOTS of October kit stuff left to use so I will continue to post my creations from the October kits for the next while and as we move into the Xmas season... you will see my Hip Kit creations coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Scraptastic blog sketch challenge - September

Finally got to this sketch that I've had prepped for 2 weeks!!  This was posted Sept 25th.

Here is the sketch:



And here is my layout:

Happy scrapping!!

Jen

Scraptastic Birthday Crop - continued

Well, I managed to get 7 of the 9 challenges done. I am NOT sure if I will be able to get the other 2 done tomorrow or not. (I am thinking not as I have to work, etc).  But very pleased I got done as much as I did.

Here is the rest:

Challenge 1 - Sketch

Challenge 2 - Use a Top 100 song from 2010

Challenge 4 - Use a line from the Bingo card

Challenge 5 - Must say "Happy Birthday to You"

Challenge 7 - Use 4 different patterned papers.

Scraptastic Birthday Celebration - Challenge #6

Another challenge - Use your scraps!

Scraptastic Birthday Celebration - Challenge #3

Having a wee bit of a challenge figuring out how to link these up so hoping this will help.

Here is my layout for Challenge #3 - A colour challenge.

2014 Album - A Catch up post!

So I had wonderful plans to take photos of my PL as I went this year and... that did not happen. So I took time I really didn't have today and snapped shots of my entire album to date for 2014. I didn't do fancy lighting or even take the PL or regular layouts out of their page protectors. But for the most part they turned out pretty good and with some super quick editing and some online slide show help... here it is:

Disclaimer, this is likely missing a few layouts (No, I KNOW it is missing a few layouts) and I hope to go back and fix this once they get done. BUT, on the whole, this is likely to most caught up I have EVER been in my 14 years of scrapbooking.  I have a new system of downloading photos once a month and printing off all the PL and layout photos immediately I want to do. And, obviously, this is working for me. I just downloaded all of June and will be printing those off this week. I finished May's PL today.

Click on it and the slideshow should then play on it's own (having some issues with this only showing 15 of the 21 slides... I do not know why EDIT this is a limitation of using the free version of PhotoSnack. I've added a 2nd slideshow to show the missing 6 photos)





Jen

Scraptastic Sketchy Thursday - May

Just in the nick of time I finished this layout off while my boys got ready for bed. Gotta love having your scrap room up near their bedrooms sometimes :)

Here is the Scraptastic sketch for May from Susan Stringfellow:



And here is my version.  I used pictures from our Mother's Day weekend at Abkhazia Gardens in Victoria, BC.  This was one of the many wonderful stops my husband planned for me.  These gardens have a beautiful love story behind them that make them even more romantic.  And I had no idea they were there. I must go back again some day and have tea there too.

(Not the best picture but even in this poor artificial light I think you can see how beautiful it was there! There were 4 turtles in 1 of the ponds and my boys were just fascinated.)

Happy scrapping!

Jen

Mother's Day Explorations

Good afternoon! This is my latest layout using a May Scraptastic kit.  I was working a challenge for the scraptastic blog when I noticed that how I had done it was so close to the Creative Scrappers sketch #270 that I could use it for both challenges!!

So the scraptastic challenge was to use a grid pattern and I started out LOVING what Madeline did (HERE) and it inspired me to use my Mother's Day photos as I have a bunch of them and could use some of the small squares as photos. I wanted to use a picture of me with my boys as the main photo as it is all about being THEIR mom.

Then I spotted the Creative Scrappers sketch # 270:



That inspired me to pull out some vellum to block off my top section more and run a border strip in the middle.  Here is mine:

Happy scrapping!