Just sharing...

a couple of layouts and a card.  I'm not a big fan of pinks and purples usually, but with all the different color combinations out lately, I seem to be attracted to these colors.  Pink Paislee's "Vintage Vogue" collection is a great line that uses purples and pinks.  Here's a layout using this line:

I didn't use a lot of embellishments (shocking for me!) on this layout, other than the diecuts from their ephemera package and their wooden spool buttons.  I pop dotted some of the diecuts and squares for dimension too.

I made this birthday card for one of the girls at Urban (Roxanne) last week and this time I remembered to take a photo.  My new favorite Memory Box die (until the new ones come in) is their twig and leaf die and I used it to make the wreath on the card.  The twigs, leaves and berries are not attached when you cut out the die, so you can use any part of the die.

I used My Mind's Eye papers and Prima flowers and bird's nest.
And, because I'm still hooked on using that die, I decided to use it on Urban Scrapbook's next monthly challenge.  The kits aren't up for sale until February 1st, but I'm cheating and showing you my layout early.  Shhh, don't tell anyone!  Truth is, I'm putting it on today because I will probably forget to do it next week, and I don't seem to post as often as I would like!

After searching for hours for the photos I wanted to use and not finding them, I decided to use these photos of Pat's daughter and my dad's puppy we gave him for his birthday.  They were perfect for these papers from Basic Grey.  There's my wreath made from the Memory Box die!
Next week the Urban Design Team layouts will be on display at the store and on our website.  I haven't chosen the layout for the kit yet, I'm looking forward to seeing what our amazing design team has come up with!
Have a great week!

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January Tag Challenge

This month our group's challenge was to make a tag that represented our favorite winter activity.  I hate being cold (and I live in Alberta!) so any winter activity for me involves indoors, fireplace, hot drink, and warm cozy clothes.  Although, I do like taking winter photos and I love snow at Christmas but just not the cold temperatures.  We have been extremely lucky this winter, breaking records for the warmest winter, and very little snow.... until this week.  It has been in the low -30's to almost -40's, that's Celsius not Fahrenheit!  At least it's perfect weather for scrapbooking and my favorite winter activity, reading.  I read a lot throughout the year, but it's so nice to cuddle up with a good book when it's cold and snowing outside.
For my tags I used old book covers as the tag base.  I buy used books for the inside pages, but I save the covers for future projects.  Since the covers are harder than chipboard, I didn't want to chance ruining my tag die, so I cut them out with a craft knife, using a chipboard tag as a template.

The flowers were made with a Spellbinder's die(Spiral Blossom One) Tim Holtz Pinecone die, and the small leaves, flowers were from Memory Box.(Catalina border) I also dipped the bookpaper flowers in Utee and sprinkled on some clear glass glitter immediately.  Some of the covers were plainer so I cut out a rectangle from the spine(included the title) and glued it onto the front of the tag.  I printed my tickets from this website  and added in my own words.
My photos aren't the greatest, the light isn't great this time of year, and I took them outside (very fast in the cold!) but here are a few closeups:

Today I had the day off, and because it was so cold out, I decided to stay home and scrapbook.  Here's a layout I did with a line from My Mind's Eye called "Kraft Funday, Bright Days":

I added in some Tim Holtz Kraft Coredinations paper, Prima Wood buttons, a 7Gypsies ruler, a porcelain number (the photo was taken in 1982), Cosmo Cricket word sticker and My Mind's Eye matching kraft embellishments.  I love the little package of circle garland!
That's all for today, stay warm!

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Take a Tim Holtz District Market canvas and ....

change it up!  I love these new canvases but I decided to use the one I purchased as a base to scrapbook on.  These Burlap Panels are so nice to work on, they are a solid board with the printed burlap wrapped around to the back.  Here's a photo of my finished project as promised:

I used 7Gypsies printed papers, ruler, metal charm and pin.  The red paper is from the Tim Holtz Kraft-Core collection.  I embossed it with his Collage & Notebook Texture Fade and sanded it lightly, then colored rock Candy crackle paint and scraped it across so it filled in the recessed areas. I have been coloring the Rock Candy crackle paint, which is clear, by dabbing Distress Stain (I usually use 2 or 3 different colors)on my non-stick craft mat and mixing the little puddles with a plastic card (a used up plastic coffee card) into the crackle paint which I have put also on my mat.  I don't mix them in very much, I like the paint to be uneven and have some clear spots.   I also added a bit of snowcap paint on the edges.  I had some left over rock candy paint, so I scraped it across some of the lower right corner of the canvas.  If I did another canvas, I think I would like to cover the whole thing with the tinted rock candy, it gives a subtle dimension and richness to the canvas.

I used one of Urban's vintage pocket watches but Tim Holtz makes one almost the same.  I covered the inside back with 7Gypsies paper, placed a metal Graphic45 flower, (in the center are some watch parts) then with melted Utee, I poured in enough to cover the bottom.  I had stamped on some brown tissue with a Tim Holtz stamp (Going Somewhere collection) and cut out tiny words, placed them on the hardened Utee, and then poured more hot Utee up to the brim of the watch.  The dress form is from Wendy Vecchi's Dress Form Art Parts (available at Urban) covered in 7Gypsies paper, stained on the edges, and painted with Rock Candy.  Once the Rock Candy is dried, I swiped Distress stain on top and then baked it into the cracks with my heat gun (a tip from Tim's twelve tags of Christmas).  The small piece of 7Gypsies gathered paper was made by sewing strips down the length of the paper using somewhat large stitches.  I wet the paper, patted it with paper towel, and carefully gathered up each row.  I usually clip the ends of the threads, but this time I left them and wound them around the envelope closures.  I added in different rub-ons, a Jenni Bowlin flower (love these!) a Prima tile (I broke it in half, colored the inside and (you can't see it very well) put a 7Gypsies pin through the center and the ruler is from 7Gypsies.  I guess I should explain that this photo is of my daughter, who lives in New York.  She is a fashion designer (she just got an amazing new job designing for Steve Madden), hence the Dressmaker form and bits & pieces of New York embellishments.  I thought the gathered paper looked like fabric too.  She's been on quite the journey with lots of hard work to get her where she is today and we are very proud of her!  The letters are Tim Holtz's Random Alpha parts and some of the stickers are from Tim Holtz too.  Whew, that's a lot of explaining!  I know my canvas is a bit more involved, but you really don't have to do a lot to make it more personal.  It would make a great gift too.  Hope this has inspired you!
Have a great Tuesday!

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Happy New Year!

Well, another year has come and gone already.  Did I accomplish all the things I wanted to do?  Of course not!  I'll say the same thing I do every January 1st, maybe this year will be different.  Maybe I'll actually scrapbook more and make a small dent in my supplies, maybe I'll start painting again, maybe I'll paint our living room, sew those curtains for the bedroom, and the list goes on.  I think that should be my word for this year - Maybe.  Maybe I will, maybe I won't.  I kind of like that word, no pressure, no promises, kind of mysterious, it could mean anything.  I'll have to think about that....maybe.
Anyways, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.  I was pretty busy this Christmas, our family dinner is now at my house. It was tiring and busy but I hope everyone had a good time.  It was over so fast!  Our youngest son left for a holiday in Cuba on Christmas afternoon and so we have been babysitting his 7 month old sheltie.  I forget how those puppies keep you on your toes!  He helped himself to  a portion of the wonderful cheesecake my mom made for dessert while we were in the family room.  He could barely reach it on the table, but managed to nibble away the one side.  It was pretty funny, actually, but I don't think my mom was too impressed.
Another year of monthly challenges has started at Urban Scrapbook and this year our theme is sketches.
We are starting with one photo for January and every month will see the addition of another photo.  It could be very interesting in December with twelve photos.  Here is my layout for this month:

We had this beautiful paper, stickers and rub-ons from Kaiser Craft to use this month.  Kits are available at Urban Scrapbook starting tomorrow.
I have another project I finished today to show you, but I'll save that for tomorrow.  Maybe. (this word could be addicting, lol)  The light wasn't very good to take a photo of it today, so I'll try tomorrow.
Have a great Monday!

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