More Wedding Pictures

Hi folks! It's been quite awhile since I posted. I got laid off from my job in July, after 11 years with the company. I've spent every extra moment since then job hunting and taking side contracts to improve my skills and make some money. I'm pleased to say that I've finally secured employment with a great new company, and I'm beyond thrilled with the opportunity. Unfortunately, my scrapbooking has suffered these last few months, and it's been harder to jump back into it than I expected. Therefore, I'm taking it slowly and just working on photos that I want to scrap for now, rather than the challenges.

That said, here are some additions to my wedding album. The color theme of the entire album is red, white, and black, with cream, silver, and gold accents. With this first picture, I did lots of fussy cutting with the black and white flowered paper and pasted them onto the white background. I was going to raise the flowers, but the album's getting really full so it's time to do some flat layouts. :)

Hope

This LO was done for the Get Messy challenge at Crop Suey, Helen's Floral Masculine challenge at Scrapbook Challenges, The Bird is the Word Challenge that said to use "Hope" on a LO, and the Punky Scraps challenge that said to use tissue paper.

Love is Thicker than Blood

I chose this title because my son loves to remind me that his sister is only his half-sister, so he says he doesn't love her as much as he would if she were his blood. I beg to differ. I never thought I could love someone so much who wasn't blood, but I love my daughter as if I had carried her myself, and this page is a testament to that. I put a lot of love into it, and my daughter loves it too! I enclosed a personal message to her and tucked it into the envelope in the bottom left corner.

I did this LO for the Pick of the Week scraplift challenge on Scrapbook Challenges, and the July challenge at Berry71Bleu that required a pink and orange color pallette and hidden journalling.

Here's a little peek at the message I wrote for Maddy:

And here's a detail shot:

Wine Tour

I love it when Dad visits. We always do such interesting things. One of the things we did this year was a wine tour. I live in one of the best wine-producing regions in the world, yet I've never done this. I don't drink wine, but I developed a real appreciation for it on the tour, and I look forward to trying some new wines now that I understand them better.

I based this layout on a Let's Scrap sketch. Here's the sketch:

And here's my LO. I cut out pics from the brochures to use as embellishments:

Here are some close-up pictures:

ConGRADulations

Scrapbook Challenges is posting a Sketch-a-Day for July. Here's one of this week's sketches. I wanted to use slightly larger pictures, so I made it a two-pager.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my LO:

And then some close-ups:

Gifts from the Heart

It was my birthday in May. This year I wanted a low-key affair with just my family at home, so they went out of their way to make it special. My husband gave me my favorite flowers - red roses, and spending money for scrapbook supplies (perfect!), my daughter made me a beautiful card with a very touching sentiment inside, and my son made a chocolate orange cheesecake -- our first homemade cake ever for either of us! Also, Kayli and Nathan came over and my Dad was in visiting from Alberta, so it really was a perfect birthday.
I did this LO for a Let's Scrap sketch challenge. Here's the sketch:

And here's my LO. I only did the left side of the sketch:

Beautiful Girl and Sharp Dressed Man

I'm back!!! I took a bit of a scrapbooking hiatus for May and June to focus on some other priorities, but I've missed scrapping SO much! I'm excited to be back, and with so much great stuff that's happened throughout May and June, I have lots of great new pictures to scrapbook -- and, of course, a few years of pictures still to catch up on.
The most recent event that's happened is that my babies have graduated from Grade 8! Where has the time gone? Here they are all dressed up for graduation.

This first page was done for the Sketchy Thursdays challenge. Here's the sketch:

And here's my LO. I chose only to do the left side of the sketch:

I did a page to complement the left side, that's very loosely based on the above sketch, of my handsome boy:

 

Mom

I've been so freaking busy this May, I've barely had time to breathe, let alone scrapbook, and with a couple of major events in June, I'm not sure it will lighten up much. I can't wait until summer so I have more free time. In the meantime, I submitted this LO to Berry71Bleu for the Mother-themed challenge in May.

Blessed

Okay, I don't think I've ever scrapped a LO with myself as the focus, but I wanted to do a Mother-themed challenge and combine it with a specific color palette, so this is what I came up with. The text is from an email I received awhile ago. I'm not sure of the source.

This was done for the Scrapbook Challenges mini-crop (inspiration picture), and  Berry71Bleu monthly challenge (Mother's Day theme).

Here's the inspiration picture I used from Scrapbook Challenges:

And here's my LO:

The Great Wind Storm of 2011

A couple weeks ago, the roof blew off my daughter's school during a big windstorm. I let the news article give the details, while I journalled my daughter's personal experience and hid it. I did this for a Design Team challenge at Let's Scrap, which required you to document a challenging moment in your life.

Bookworm

While we were camping, Conner was so into a book that he found a comfortable spot in the flatbed and got lost in the story. This LO was done for Punky Scraps (use no cardstock, stitching, paint, twine, and a stamp). The solid brown is actually craft paper, not cardstock, so it qualifies. :) It was also done for Let's Scrap NSD challenge #5 (use book/dictionary text on a LO). I splattered the black paint on the background, and made the owl by printing it from the computer and adding the eyes. I never thought I'd have a chance to use googly eyes on a LO!

Fun in the Sun

I've finally started scrapping our Cuba pics from last year. This LO was done for Bird is the Word (use the word "Sun" or "Sunshine" on a LO) and Let's Scrap (challenge #1 - use mixed alpha title, border punch, 2 photos).

Create

Conner loves to build things. He has recently turned his talents towards cooking, but a couple years ago he couldn't get enough of his Lego and K'nex. In this LO, he is showing off his wonderful creations. They were motorized too! I did this LO for the Paper Secrets monthly Sketch challenge. I used some of the products that Natalie sent me when I won her challenge a few weeks back, and a couple products that Marivic sent me a month or so ago. I was going to combine this challenge it with The Paper Variety challenge to use dots/polka dots on a LO, but I ran out of time.

Here's the Paper Secrets sketch:

And here's the LO:

All I Need is You

Happy belated National Scrapbooking Day! I can't believe there's a day just for us avid scrappers. Let's Scrap has posted a month's worth of challenges on their site, Paper Secrets posted a few challenges, and Scrapbook Challenges posted a mini crop as well, all in honor of National Scrapbooking Day. That doesn't include all the other regular challenges I try to do. It's gonna be a busy couple of weeks for me! I have company coming for the last week of May, so I'll have to get as much done as I can by the end of next week.

Anyway, here's a LO I did for Sketchy Thursdays (follow a sketch), The Paper Variety (use ink, mist and/or paint on your LO), Crop Suey (include lyrics or do something music-based), and Paper Secrets (use red, white, and turquoise).

Here's the sketch from Sketchy Thursdays:

And here's my LO:

Favorites

I've been so busy these last two weeks I've barely had any time to scrapbook. But what a pleasant surprise I got the last week of April when my Dreamer LO was chosen as a Gallery Gem at Scrapbook Challenges. Also, I was chosen second place at Berry71Bleu for the monthly challenge, AND my Magic LO was chosen as a fave at Punky Scraps for the month too!! Thanks so much for the love! Watch for more LOs to be posted this weekend!

A Month of Challenges at Let's Scrap!

This month is National Scrapbook month. In honor of that, Let's Scrap is hosting a month of scrapbook challenges, BINGO game, and lots of prizes. Check it out!

http://letsscrap.ning.com/

A New Life Begins

I did this LO for Bird is the Word, where the word to use is "Begin/Beginning". I combined it with this week's sketch at Let's Scrap and this month's Inspiration challenge at Scrapbook Challenges.

Here's the inspiration pic:

Here's the sketch:

And here's my LO of my great-niece, Skylar:

Earth Day Challenge 3 - Nature Lovers

This was the third challenge I attempted at Scrapbook Challenges. The challenge was to use old book paper, a twig, a nature theme, and no more than three traditional scrapbook items (where multiples seem to count as one). So I covered some cardboard in book paper, wrapped some twigs in twine, and matted my pictures onto craft paper. Then I cut out a bird from an old greeting card, butterflies from some cardboard packaging, and added the letters and buttons as my traditional items.

We Are Family

This LO was done for a sketch challenge at Punky Scraps.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my LO:

You Color My World

I really enjoy working with paint, and thought it would be perfect for this month's challenge at Berry71Bleu, where the challenge was to use a "Burst of Color". Since we could send three submissions, I also chose "Act Natural" and "Magic".

Earth Day Challenge 2 - Recycle Your Scrapbook

This was another Scrapbook Challenges challenge that said to use only recycled materials on your page. I started with a Sketchy Thursdays sketch:

 
and then I raided the house looking for items to use.

The base is made from craft paper that I painted using green and white. The white circles on the craft paper are binder reinforcements. The picture mat is a piece of foam packing material. Behind it, I added some newsprint (that happens to say Earth Day), pictures cut out of a greeting card, and a picture of vegetables from a can of veggies. The blue flower in the top left corner was cut from a restaurant flyer, and the other flowers, as well as the green borders surrounding the foam mat, the two hearts, and the word love, are cut from old greeting cards. The metal circles down the sides are some kind of screw eyelet from my husband's tool room, and the big green, blue, and white circle decal is cut from a plastic gift card backing. Finally, the green tabs surrounding the word "love" are reusable office tabs, and the word "You" is cut from old greeting cards and surrounded by a metal keychain loop.

Here's the result:

Earth Day Challenge 1 - Nature in all her Splendor

This weekend over at Scrapbook Challenges was all about Earth Day. Most of the challenges had me recycling a number of household products for LOs. This challenge had a list of 18 criteria I had to meet. Since it will be graded on a point system, I tried to double every step. I think it's kind of a mess myself, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

The criteria:

1. Include a philosophy that you live by. A philosophy that I live by is that you shouldn't take life too seriously, and it's reflected in my journaling: "While taking some family pictures, I told you guys to "Strike a Pose", and this is what you came up with. I couldn't help but laugh at your ideas of "posing", and it reminds me of a wonderful saying I heard by Reba McIntyre, sort of a philosophy of living, if you will. "To succeed in life you need three things: A wishbone, a backbone, and a funnybone."
2. Craft paper - check.
3. Flowers - check. Five of them, to be exact.
4. Eyelets - check. Used in the four corners. I've never actually worked with eyelets before, but luckily my DH had a whole kit in his tool room.
5. Plain brads - nine of them, for the centres of the flowers and the ends of the tags.
6. Outdoor photos with nature in them - check.
7. Strips of patterned paper - check. I used an old batch of Creative Memories scraps for all of the patterned papers.
8. Hand journaling - check.
9. Decorative border punch - check. I don't own a border punch, but I used scalloped scissors and a hole punch with the green patterned paper.
10.An old book page - check. I even made sure it had a picture of kids playing to keep with the theme.
11. Three new embellishments - check. I added three Kurio stickers (Fun, laughter, Smile).
12. Paint - I got a little carried away with the paint, but used blue and green on the background, as well as for stamping.
13. Stamp with an item from around the house - I used paint and bubble wrap to stamp the circles, and then tried a penny (with mixed results) and a bottle cap (it's there, but you can't really notice it).
14. Fabric - I used two pieces of blue fabric, two pieces of grey denim, and three strips of faux leather.
15a. Tag - I used a small tag in the title, as well as three simple handmade tags (from the patterned strips of paper) in the corner fastened with brads.
15b. Something weird - twigs!!
16. Staples or paperclips - I used both. Three staples around the corners of the title, and three paperclips.
17. Twine or string - I used both. I used twine around the decorative borders, and string in sewing.
18. Tearing - check.
Well, that about covers it, I think. :) Here's the result:

Fifth Time's the Charm

Here's a LO I did for Sketchy Thursdays (sketch), Paper Issues (something to do with Mom's or Mother's Day), and The Paper Variety (use a number on your LO).

Here's the sketch:

 

And here's my LO. It's a picture of my mom with some of her grandkids. I could not get my nephew to look at the camera, no matter how hard I tried. He was too fascinated with what his sister was doing.