Creative Inklings

A New Layout with Dear Lizzie

2010-02-05T10:30:44-08:00

So, at about 2:00 am last night my long lost MOJO finally came back! That's right - I was up scrapping at 2:00 am, working on an idea that popped into my head while suffering from a bit of insomnia (nasty sciatica!). I was stamping and cutting furiously until about 3:30 am, when I realized I may soon regret my late night (early morning) efforts. I had stamped dozens of buttons using the adorable Stamping Bella buttons, that worked perfectly with the new Dear Lizzie line of American Crafts paper. I also hand cut rows of banners from another sheet of Dear Lizzie paper, then left everything in a pile and headed to bed. I finished the design this morning, adding in my journalling, which is what this layout is about. Here's what my journaling says"

"Even though my heart has broken so many times this week, when you come home from school feeling rejected by your classmates….even though I cringe when I see you get too close to your friends to ask them to play….even though I get so stressed about your little differences, and worry that you’ll never fit in, that your strange way of talking will lead to your pears rejecting you, I still don’t want you to change. I want you to be yourself, because you are the most loving, gentle, sweet boy on the planet. Navigating the social scene in senior kindergarten is hardly bump on the road in the grand scheme of things. You have so many talents, that we’re so proud of. You can read, swim, ride a bike, know the entire subway system (by stop and subway tile design), know the human digestive system in more detail than most adults, adore babies, love life and that’s just naming a few things. You bring sunshine to our life, and fill our house with love and enthusiasm. You are simply the best son a mother could have."

And...here's the layout:

New Layout - Kids Helping Kids

2010-02-01T10:37:36-08:00

HI Everyone! I'm hoping this week will be a bit more fruitful on my blog. I have some super fun and exciting news to share with everyone, but I'll do that tomorrow. I have a new layout today, using some awesome stamps from Stamping Bella. The layout is about a fundraiser the kids participated in at their school, to raise money for the Red Cross fund in Haiti. The fundraiser was initiated by the older kids in the school, but everyone participated. The idea behind it was that the kids would earn money for doing their chores, and then donate that money to Haiti. We had already told Rowan about the earthquake in Haiti, and the devastating effect on so many families. He and Molly were both very eager to participate. Molly would tell me in the morning, "Mommy, I put my nightly away for the kids in Haiti" (I think the concept of what had happened was over her head, but she wanted to help), while Rowan would clear the table, clean up clothes etc, but ask questions like "where are they sleeping? I'm worried that people are cold." It was a good exercise. They raised about five or so dollars each, a small amount compared to what we had given as a family, but this was from them. It was a very good exercise in developing compassion.

The Layout: I used a sheet of paper from the Life Stories collection by My Minds Eye (Stamping Bella), and a bunch of Collage Press papers from my Stash. The title was created using QuicKutz Diesel and Lemonade fonts. The typewriter stamp is super cute, and is available here, at Scrapping Bella. I got the idea to use it this way from an incredible layout here by Kristen Faust.

Given the content of this layout, I wanted to take a moment and pass on a message I read from QuicKutz today. The QuicKutz founders, Natasha and Mark Hixon have close ties with Haiti in that they have adopted three Haitian children. I met Natasha couple of years ago at Scrapbooks By Design, and I remember her showing me pictures of her beautiful daughter she was about to adopt from Haiti. They put out a cookbook to raise money for some orphanages there, but now they are opening their hearts again and raising money for Earthquake relief. You can read about their fundraiser here. Basically they are auctioning off some their most popular and rarest dies this week in an effort to raise money for Haiti. I know I will be bidding! Check their blog daily for details.

Thanks for stopping by. If you want to leave a comment, I will donate an additional dollar for each comment to Doctors Without Boarders for their efforts in Haiti. Have a great week everyone.

Desperately seeking MOJO

2010-01-28T11:22:51-08:00

I truly apologize to those of you who visit my blog often. I am have a huge creative crisis these days, and there's NUTHIN' interesting in my head. I do have a layout to share today, but it's not anything fabulous. I am holding out hope that my Mojo will return to me soon, and I will then share my creations with all of you. In the meantime, if you happen to see my mojo anywhere, can you please send her back to me, I miss her terribly. After struggling with this layout for days, I finally consulted a trusted source for finishing up pages - page maps. I used one of the January sketches to create this layout of a playdate from a few weeks ago, when we had some snow! I used the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly crafting kit and my silhouette. Hopefully will have more soon!

New Layout - New Product!

2010-01-08T11:26:20-08:00

When I was doign a little shoppin' at Stamping Bella before Christmas (my prezzie to myself), I found a very cool new product by Tim Holtz, (who's stuff I always LOVE) Film Strip Ribbon. I wasn't sure how I would use it when it first entered my stash, but I knew it fit with my style. I have other ideas of how I will use this, but LOVE how I was able to use it on my layout for today. This is a layout of a few photos I took of my daughter in December, after a triumphant battle of getting her hair in a classic ballet bun (my daughter was cooperative, her hair not so much). Molly loves to perform, and loves looking the part. I have a string of photos of Molly doing multiple poses showing off her "do" and her little ballet outfit - too funny. As soon as she's old enough for acting classes, that's where she'll be!

I'm really pleased with how this layout turned out. I started out with a smooth sheet of white cardstock, and stitched two circle patterns in two shades of pink with my sewing machine. I added the 5 by 7 photo, then used my Marvy Uchida Giga square punch to add two more smaller photos of Molly. I used the Tim Holtz film strip for the focal point of my title, which was cut with the CK Typist QuicKutz font (retired). I had to stitch the film strip in place as it was a little too stiff and curly for glue. To highlight the main photo, I cut the edges of the film strip and placed it under the photo, then stitched in white around the rest of it. The quote was printed on Claudine Hellmuth adhesive backed canvas, and stitched to the layout. I then used some cute crocheted flowers that my friend made me last Christmas, and tucked a couple heart pins in the bottom one - the perfect embellishment for the page.

Scrapping the everyday

2010-01-06T05:04:18-08:00

I finally got back to some scrapbooking yesterday, afterweeks of no layouts (except for my DD album). It's great to back in a regular routine again with the kids back in school, and I get a couple hours to do something creative. I love the photo for today's layout because it is a typical moment in my week. Grocery shopping with the kids. As I say in my journaling, the whole process is a love/hate thing. Rowan especially LOVES to pick out the produce, so only the best gets put into my cart - anything slightly blemished or off colour gets rejected - this can add minutes to the shopping trip. I took the photo with my iphone, since I pretty much never have my camera with me in these types of scenarios.

For the layout itself, I started with a plain white sheet of Stampin' Up! cardstock. I then picked up the colours from the photo and chose some patterned papers from my stash. I used three smaller circle punches (1", 3/4" and 1/2") to punch circles that I arranged randomly on the top and bottom of the page. I then used one of my favourite SCRAPPY STAMPS from Stamping Bella - these have been standard go to items for my layouts! I used the Everyday Moments stamp - which was perfect. I stamped it using Stampin' Up! ink in real red, pumpkin pie and green galore, creating a boarder for my photo and title. I added one of favourite my products, the Maya Road envelopes. I loved that it looked like a brown paper shopping bag, and it was perfect for tucking my journalling inside. The title was made with various AC thickers. Here it is!

Happy Scrappy New Year!

2010-01-04T07:04:53-08:00

HI Everyone, hope you all had a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year. I'm back to blogging and creating after my long break, as long as my back holds out! With the beginning of a new decade, I've been spending some time lately reflecting on the past decade of my life. It makes my head spin all the things that happened in my life - some incredibly good, and some incredibly bad. I think I will be focusing on this general topic in my scrapping over the coming weeks, as I have so many thoughts and stories I want to get down. Ali Edwards has an interesting project on her blog, a repeat of previous years, called one little word. I'm not doing it myself, as I have some other ideas on how I want to focus my thoughts, but I do recommend it for inspiration. Also, I have to (and want to) complete my December Daily project. I have the first four days to share with you today. The rest will be completed bit by bit this month, and I will share those pages as I finish them. Also, I'm in the work of thinking of a New Year's blog giveaway, so stay tuned for that! Here's some photos of my book so far:

Another Christmas Card Sample

2009-12-11T07:38:56-08:00

This is the card my mother-in-law decided on for her Christmas cards. She has friends of many faiths, so the sentiment and imagery was perfect for her. I used Stampin' Up! cardstock in mellow moss, very vanilla and chocolate chip, tied with a mellow moss grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment is by Amuse Art Stamps, and the main images are by Stampin' Up! These shouldn't be too difficult to reproduce - I hope anyway.