Rise Up ... we did!

I quite often get asked how I met my husband, given that he is from the USA and me in Canada. That's not the only obstacle we had to hurdle. He's also from the Pacific Northwest, and I'm in the East. So it's safe to say that we didn't run in the same circles.

As you might expect, we met on the internet. Now, I'll start off my saying that it is not for everyone. You need to go into that type of relationship with eyes wide open and a head on your shoulders. There are definitely risks involved in long distance relationships.

When I got this month's kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out, I thought long and hard about the risks I've taken in my life, and if or how they paid off. By far, the biggest risk I've ever taken in my life is giving my heart to a man who lived almost a continent away. But it was also the risk with the biggest pay off so far. We both decided to take the risk and rise up above any challenges that the long distance relationship might throw our way.

So when I chose to scrapbook this long-distance union, I decided to use a quote that I recently heard and love..."Take the step. The bridge will be there." I thought it worked perfectly with the photos of my husband and I at Montmorency Falls in Quebec.

So now that we've crossed the bridge, we look at our future risks as a couple, and look for the opportunities in life, rather than the possible hardships.

Why not visit SFTIO during our month long Online Crop? You may find a few challenges there that will make you think more about making your pages meaningful.

Art Journal Peek

Just a little play with my Gelli Plate and some stencils this past week. Needed to get back into my art journal and just play.

Come join me!

At Scrapbooking from the Inside Out this month we are having a month long crop with lots of challenges, and scrapbook chat.

There will be lots of tutorials, and fun to be had! Come and meet some incredible people and learn how to make your journaling more meaningful!

New technique? Why not!

You know that I love mixed media, especially when I'm scrapbooking! On this glorious sunny Sunday, I thought I'd show you one of my layouts that I did using some glass bead gel. It's a new favourite of mine.

I did this layout for Scrapbooking from the Inside Out, and used a photo that had a pretty cool processing effect from Instagram.

I wanted not only to frame the photo, but draw attention to it. So I used a new medium to me, glass bead gel.

Want to know how I did it? Go check out my tutorial here on Scrapbooking from the Inside Out. While you are there, check out other posts by the design team to learn new techniques.

Remember to dream and take a chance!

It's been a long few months since I shipped my art journals off to California on a journey of their own. It was something that I never thought I'd do... send my original art work somewhere to be considered for publishing. But I did it. Because I was asked to. And several months later, here I am holding a copy of Art Journaling magazine, in my local Chapters store, and it has my art work in it. Wow! Never thought I'd see this happen.

Now, since seeing my magazine article, side by side with some highly esteemed artists, I got to thinking "What if I had never uploaded my work in galleries, and never opened myself up for praise, or heaven forbid, critique?" What if I never took that risk? Well for one, I would likely have missed out on a dream come true.

Using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's February Risk kit

I always wanted to know what it would feel like to open a magazine and see your work there, spread out on the pages. And to be truthful, given my own self doubt when it comes to art, I always figured that if my art was published in a magazine I could finally honestly call myself an artist. And I wasn't published because I took a risk by submitting my work to a magazine because of a call. Are you kidding me? I wasn't willing to stick my neck out there - to take that risk. So I took the risk down a notch and went about it in baby steps. I posted my work online, in a public gallery. And then when I got a bit braver, I added it to groups, where peers could critique it or admire it (always hoping for the latter of course). And that little risk led to a big dream happening for me. I was asked to submit my work for consideration, and write an article. Wow! All from just taking one chance, one risk. Now I know that not everyone would consider posting their work online a risk. But as a new artist, exposing myself to criticism was something I felt I wasn't completely comfortable with. But I did it anyhow.

They say that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Isn't that the truth! I guess the way I look at things is if the shot is too risky, see if you can take baby steps to get there. And watch your dreams come true!

Weekend crafting!

Hi all! I'm surrounded by crazy scrapbooking women this weekend while we endure a Snowmaggedon here in Picton Ontario. It's been a blast so far, and it's still not over. It's definitely been a learning experience as well, because I managed to do my first 2-page layout! Wow!

What I am definitely finding though is that now journaling is becoming a habit, and it's a good one. One that I think is changing with me thanks to Scrapbooking from the Inside Out. It's not just that I'm journaling, but that I'm also learning how to express how those memories make me feel.

For example, this layout, Dream, I wanted to express how it felt to finally see my work on the shelves of my favourite bookstore. I was still in shock and awe, and I wanted to capture that! I took a risk in showing my work online and it paid off. Guess how many chances I'm going to take in the future.

So I hope you are enjoying your weekend, and have some happy scrappiness as well. I'd love to see what you make this weekend!

The weekend means time to craft!

Hi all! Hope you are enjoying the start to your weekend. Mine is being very much enjoyed by me, especially after a very hard week at work. I got through it and now I can spend some quality time in my craft room. I got one layout done, using lots of patterned papers, and I wanted to do something more styled and clean instead of my usual shabby, grungy layouts. Just felt like these papers deserved it.

I loved these pictures I got of Nanouk outside playing in the snow. I used Winter Wishes by Echo Park that I got from Tina's Scrapbooking. I love the colours together. And now you can see how juicy these papers are.

And of course I had to play along with one of the Scrapbooking from the Inside Out challenges for the Harmony kit. I grabbed what I had from the kit leftover and started to work on a fun page, that's just a little artsy.

I guess I was in an aqua mood today!

I hope you'll join along in the SFTIO challenges. If you do, I'd love to leave you some love. Show me your work!

Have a great weekend.

My week's round up

What a week it has been! I would say for the most part, this week has included some extremes in a lot of aspects of my life. There's been frigid temperatures, which would freeze your face, with accompanying frost bite warnings on the radio, and in the same week, temperatures that had the snow melting, and had us thinking about whether or not we actually needed winter boots that day.

There have been moments at work filled with laughter and fun, and days that have been very hard and stressful, and quite honestly had me thinking about throwing in the towel (we've all had days like that, right?). I've had nights with no sleep at all and nights where my slumber was so sound, I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning.

So with all these extremes, I needed a stress-reliever. Something to bring me back to centre from the effects of this swinging pendulum. So of course, that meant scrapbooking.

I got my design team kit for Scrapbooking from the Inside Out this week in the mail, and was absolutely thrilled because I had arranged to go to Auntie Em's Scrapbooking this weekend with some girl friends, and that meant I could work on my assignment, but also be assured of some crazy good fun. We had a blast. I managed to get three layouts done, and I even tried some different styles for my layouts. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Then we headed off to a friend's for a lovely dinner with family and friends around the long table, with stories that had us doubled over laughing, crying, shrieking with laughter. The food was amazing, as was the company, and it was just what I needed. And I wasn't the only one that had a hard week. Many of us did, but you wouldn't have known it unless you asked. At the end of the evening we offered our listening ears, our compassion, and our shoulders to cry on, if they were necessary.

It made me think more about harmony, which is the theme of this week's Scrapbooking from the Inside Out kit, and I think that's something more that I need to explore in my life. What brings me true harmony in my life? When do I really feel in balance? So this week I've decided to do a couple challenges at SFTIO based on that theme, which I think will lead me to finding some answers. There are great prompts, quotes, a Pinterest board, and challenges to help you think about what brings harmony in your life.

I hope you'll join me and tackle one or two challenges as well.

Zany to Zen in the same day? I don't think so!

Just a quick post for tonight dear friends. Have you had one of those days where the pendulum of life was swinging from one extreme to another and back again. I've had quite a few of those more recently. So why not scrapbook a page about it? With Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's January kit Harmony, it just seemed to fit. After all, most times I'd love to have some peaceful harmonious moments in my life. But that's not how life works. A lot of the time, we have the more zany moments.

I really enjoyed doing this layout. I tried to use a little more symbolism than I normally do... the embellies on the zany side are more playful and whimsical, while the embellies on the zen side are more elegant.

I really had fun making this layout. It's a crazy picture of me, but I'm glad someone took it because it really shows off part of me.

Snow boots and more fun!

Hi all! Hope you are enjoying your weekend. We finally have resolved the leaking water issue, thanks to the January thaw, which totally threw us for a loop this past week. Once the problem was dealt with by the rental company, I could relax and find some time to do a couple layouts.

I started one last weekend but hadn't finished it before the end of the evening, and the same really goes for the second layout too I guess. I started using this amazing paper, and then realized that I had no snowflake embellishments. Tragic! So of course I had to take a trip to my local scrapbook store and get some.

 Originally I hadn't thought of scrapbooking this photo because it was blown out a bit. They I decided that it was too cute not to. So I started scrapbooking this onto some kraft-coloured paper that I stamped for some additional texture, and filled the right side with some border papers. I like how it offset the cluster in a simple way.

The next layout made me realize that I really like dark backgrounds. They just really make your page pop.

We bought our dog Nanouk some booties for the winter, because he injured his foot on some ice we had a few weeks ago. Once he had them on though, he didn't want to move. I practically had to drag him into the backyard to test them out. Made me laugh! I really loved this paper collection that I picked up at Tina's Scrapbooking  and of course, I had to go back there to get the additional embellishments. I found some white snowflake buttons, and some gorgeous Studio Calico wood snowflakes. I touched them with some Prima chalk ink edgers for added punch.

But the real story that I'm excited about is this Liquitex glass bead gel I used through a snowflake stencil. It added subtle texture and then once dry I hit the beads with some Prima chalk ink edgers in light blue and white.

I love how they just add something extra to the already complex design on the page.

I also bought some crackle paste this week, and I'm definitely going to be posting the results of trying that out. I'm thinking that might go into my art journal first, to experiment.

So I'm heading into the craftroom today to do a little organizing and also play a bit with my new mediums. Have an amazing weekend and remember to link me up to your galleries so that I can leave you some love.

Let's get an exchange going!

Morning everyone! How's 2013 treating you? I'm trying to make a point this year to not only gather a file folder of inspiration that I can use at any time, but also commenting on the layouts, blogs and websites where I find this creativity. I've always been a bit of a lurker in forums, galleries and other social media.

I figured that it's time to get working on being more social, more grateful, and more appreciative of the creative pieces that others have made that provide me with more creative mojo. So I'm starting in January, with galleries, like the one at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out, and I'm going to leave more honest appreciative feedback so that other KNOW that they've inspired me.

I'm hope that you'll let me know where you post your creative works, so that I can show my gratitude to you as well. Leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you, and hopefully we can exchange some creative juices for 2013!

A Peaceful Walk in the Park

I've been playing more and more with paper layering, and having a fun time of it with the Harmony kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out. For this layout, I stuck with a fairly simple background paper, with some coloured splats, ink and some stamping. There are some very fun border strips that come in the kit, so I used those in a couple areas, and then layered a chipboard embellishment, and some paper strips, along with the word art title. I love the fun chipboard pieces, and made a few glossy circle accent pieces to add some whimsy. But my favourite part of this layout has to be the shabby handmade flowers made from the papers.

Walking in the park as a family definitely brings me joy, so I used that theme using the Harmony kit. If I'm feeling out of sorts, what has always worked to bring me a sense of peace and harmony is getting back to nature. 

I've posted a tutorial on how to create your own flowers from paper scraps to complement the kit, on the bulletin board at SFTIO. Make sure you visit today to check out the tutorial and while you are at it, catch all the inspiration.

Looking for some inspiration?

I'm always looking for new sources of inspiration. I use the typical sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, but most times that's provided a cursory boost to my mojo. I rarely get anything of depth into my layouts by checking out those sites for help. Sure they provide you excellent resources for techniques, sketches, etc. but I need more. I get a wealth of sketches from Creative Scrappers blog.

If you visit the Scrapbooking from the Inside Out message board, you'll find a whole sub-forum dedicated to prompts, challenges, and ideas for how to use this month's kit. I particularly like the quotes that they find. I'm a big user of quotations or lyrics in my layouts and art journal pages.

I love the Pinterest board that the design team uses as well to give ideas for how to scrap using this month's theme. Go check it out, and let me know in the comments what you found that inspired you.

Have a great weekend!

Tiptoe through the tulips - in January?

I'm absolutely thrilled to be posting my first layout for Scrapbooking From the Inside Out! This month's kit is a delightful mix of fun patterned papers and whimsical embellishments. The theme for January is Harmony. 

I've always been known as a nature lover. It's where I feel most happy and at peace. My husband is also a nature lover, and it's part of what makes us work. For our anniversaries, we always head outdoors, to the Tulip Festival, to celebrate our favourite flower and the great outdoors...here in Ottawa, it's also a sure sign of spring. So this layout celebrates the harmony I feel I have with nature, but also with my husband, because we both have this love as a core value.

I used a lot of green accents on this page, not only to balance the yellow, but also because it really feels like nature to me when you use green embellishments.

Make sure you pick up this wonderful kit this month, and visit SFTIO to check out the prompts, challenges and design team layouts for inspiration. I already love this team because it's making me take a deeper look at scrapbooking and why I do it, but also putting more meaning on my pages.

Mixed media canvas - Create

It's been so nice having this week off work. Good thing too because the weather has been more than a little frightful. We have had a dumping of no less than 2 feet this week, and there's more on the way. Seems that a little while ago, most people were hoping we'd have a white Christmas and they weren't disappointed.

I've been busy crafting, cleaning, crafting some more and today, I made a new mixed media canvas.

I noticed that a friend was making fingerless gloves for presents, and asked if she'd have any to sell. Well, long story short, we bartered the gloves for a canvas. I really hope she likes this one.

I started with patterned paper, gave it a light purple wash, used some gelatos, portfolio pastels, Prima flowers, Color Shine, and lots of trinkets and bling to pretty it up. Oh, and of course, I had to put some modeling paste though a few stencils for interest.

Some stamping and more stenciling and I think I'll call it good. I really hope she likes it.

It had been a while since I had done any mixed media canvases. Think I'm going to have to do a few more soon and put them in my Etsy store. Let me know what kinds of designs you like in the comments, and maybe you'll see something with you in mind soon.

So excited!!! Just a quick post this time around!

I'm so excited. In fact I'm a little geeked out to be announcing this...wait for it...

Notice anything new in my sidebar? Ahem....the badge in white? The pretty badge with the white background?

Here, let me show you a close up!

I'm one of the newest members to join the Scrapbooking from the Inside Out design team! You can read more about it here.

I'll be posting my layouts using their amazing kits in the coming months and telling you more about what stories I decided to tell.

Exciting times are coming, and I'm going to keep you informed whenever I have more amazing news!

Just remember to breathe

This past week's been especially challenging. I know... so many people are really busy. I'm not the only soul on earth that has just way to much to do. But lately it's been chaotic. That's the only way to describe it really. Work was strenuous, and demanded too much of my energy, leaving me with nothing left by the time I got home. But work around the house still has to get done. And everything all combined put me over the edge. Friday I couldn't lift my arms, pains were shooting in my legs, and work was definitely out of the question. I spent most of the day in bed trying to recuperate, and get some strength back.

I managed to find a little energy today to complete a challenge for a site that I recently found that really speaks to me: Scrapbooking from the Inside Out. This past month's challenges have all been centred around mindfulness, or being aware. I completed one of the challenges today on focus.

My focus lately has been on my pain levels. And that's not where I want it to be. So this layout is more or less about changing my focus, taking one moment at a time, and remembering to just breathe.

I used Teresa Collins Vintage Chic paper, a doily, and a cut out bingo card from the same paper line first. Then I added some lace, some Prima resist canvas, some flowers and the journaling card. I'm very happy that Leanne from Mad About Scrappin' decided to throw in some doilies for me when she sent my kit. They added just the right touch to the layout I think.

I'm glad I took this challenge, because this week, boy did I need it. I reminded myself that this weekend, even though I am not working, I still need to keep my focus, watch my energy levels, and then I can move on to tackle other projects.

Loads of productive fun!

What a Saturday I had! It was fun, perhaps even a bit manic, but it was still very productive. I went to a scrapbook crop at Auntie Em's Scrapbooking store in Cornwall with quite a few friends, and got my scrap on! I was really looking forward to working with some products I received just a few weeks before...from Australia!

I'm a guest designer for Mad About Scrappin' this month and the owner Leanne sent me a wonderful box full of great goodies to play with. I chose a few papers from Teresa Collins. I cannot resist damask, in any shape or form, so that was a clear winner for me. I also selected some sweet flowers, some jute ribbon, and charms. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was really ready to dive in and create a layout or two using these beauties.

I wanted to do a sophisticated layout with a self portrait I had taken a while back. I really loved this vintage clock paper, and I wanted to jazz it up just a bit. I used the beautiful patterned paper and fussy cut it to fit over a doily, and put down some jute ribbon, some lace, a couple flowers, bling, and some glass elements.

I really love how it turned out. I really loved the pink flowers too. Two-toned flowers are so much more fun.

I've been wanting to scrapbook these pictures for over a year now. We took a trip with my father-in-law to the Royal Canadian Mint last summer, and we each took the opportunity to have a photo taken with us holding a real gold bar. These pictures needed something neutral, and the papers worked out great!

I wanted the photos to be the focus and be surrounded with bling, to go along with the gold. I also cut out some more of the patterned paper and added the pieces as embellies.

That wasn't all I accomplished at the crop, but I'll leave that for another post later this week. I've been a very busy lady, and I've got lots more to tell you on the weekend, so come back soon!

Gelli Arts makes art journaling easy and fun

Today was going to be an especially busy day, and I didn't think that I'd get to play in my art room. However, I just got a new art journaling tool recently and I was dying to play with it. By now you've probably seen the Gelli Arts videos on printmaking using their printing plate.

It's this really squishy flat gelatin plate that you can put paint onto, press textures into and get really cool monoprinted pages. I bought the smaller of the sizes, which is 6 X 6 inches because I often work in a small art journal, and I didn't just want to use sheets of paper as the Gelli Arts videos show. I have to say, I love it!

This is what my final page turned out to look like:

It's the fastest way I've seen to create interesting mult-coloured backgrounds that have immediate texture and interest. So I started with some craft paints I had in my stash, and got to work on my background. I used some stamps I have on hand, as well as a piece of shelf liner to give the paint interesting texture. I flipped my 9 X 12 journal over onto the painted plate, and pressed down.

What a quick easy background. I repeated the process and laid down another monoprint on the same page, to cover most of the page. After that, I just went to town with a Dylusions stencil and modelling paste, some Heidi Swapp Color Shine sprays, stamps, some scrapbook paper scraps that I put through my Sizzix and then added some lace and washi tape.

I love how the page turned out. Lots of texture without being overwhelming. Here are some close ups:

I think next time I won't cover the entire Gelli plate so that I get some rough edges along the sides of the paper. Right now you can see the size and shape of the plate clearly on the page. Spreading the paint randomly should take care of that next time. I'm also going to use some stencils and masks next time, so that I can get multiple colours onto the same page without the colours blending on the plate.

It's definitely a fun way to play. I'm going to get the larger size plates in the near future, and get to playing often. I think what I'll do in the future is use cardstock and then cut them into piece to use in my journal.

Another fun technique I used for the first time was stamping into Color Shine spray to see what effects I could get. The large heart was stamped using Dina Wakley's stamp. I just sprayed the pink spray directly onto a craft sheet, stamped into the spray and then transfered it onto the art journal spread. I love the grungy effect I got from it.

So that's my art journal play for this weekend. Hope you enjoy these tips, and go and try monoprinting using Gelli Arts printing plate. It's way too much fun!

Prima Workshop - Take 2

After over a week of having a messy craft room, still not unpacked from my last crop, I figured that today, being as cold as it was, was a good day for hunkering down, and cleaning out the craft room. Then I found my unfinished layouts I had done at the Prima workshop that was held at Auntie Em's Scrapbooking and Beading in Cornwall, and decided it was high time to find photos for those layouts.

We had such a blast there over the two days. There were plenty of techniques taught and learned, and lots of messes made by all. I think this was the cleanest my workspace had been all weekend. I have yet to complete my cover for the journal. I'll have to see if I can find my muse later this week.

One of the art journal pages almost complete!

Cari Fennell had taught us a couple of layout techniques using Firefly by Prima. You'll recall I posted the layouts without the photos. Well I found the perfect pictures for the layouts.

Our proud flower girl and ring bearer at our wedding.

And these photos were found in the cleanup. Below are photos of the flower girl and ring bearer years before our wedding. Look at Grandma's loving smile. This one is going to be framed and given to my mother as a gift.

Proud Grandma moment!

 

During the weekend, especially the day we worked on our art journals, I kept going on coffee and the candy buffet. Boy can that combination get you some interesting results in your art journal! Some of us react to sugar and coffee more than others.

Diane and I getting more than a little messy and zany!

Once we had come down from the sugar and caffeine high, it was time for a group photo, and time to hit the road until next time.

Needless to say, I cannot wait until all of us get together again to have some scrap-happy fun!