Twice as nice

A few posts back, I told you about my scrapping day at Auntie Em's in Cornwall. When I went to the crop, I really didn't have a few select photos to choose from to scrapbook. I had quite a few prints with me from our latest trip to Quebec. I had already scrapped one, but I thought I'd pull out a couple more that I liked and make a more elaborate page with them.

Only once I got home did I realize that I had already scrapped one of the photos with the same Prima Song Bird collection. At first I thought "Doh!" but then I realized that I guess that says that I really love that photo, and cherish that moment. So it's not a foible after all. It's just twice as nice.

Have you ever made more than one layout using the same photo? On purpose? What were your reasons?

What a lovely evening, spent reminiscing

It's been a gloriously quiet night here at home so far. I don't think I can remember a night this quiet in our neighbourhood in a long time. It got me to thinking about some of the simple things in life, like a beautiful sunset, the songs of the crickets, and a sweet song that I used to sing to my niece when she was a baby.

It's a wonderful tune by Natalie Merchant that I heard once on a talk show. I instantly fell in love with it -- its simplicity, its melody, its whimsy. I bought the children's CD and listened to that song over and over. And when my niece was born, it was the first lullaby I ever sang to her.

I hope one day to teach her the song so that she can sing it to a special little girl as well.

Here are the lyrics:

I once loved a sailor, once a sailor loved me,
But he was not a sailor, who sailed on the wide blue sea
He sailed in an airship, sailed like a bird on the wind
And every evening at midnight, he would come to my window and sing:

Come take a trip in my airship, come sail away to the stars.
We'll travel to Venus, we'll sail away to Mars.
Noone will see while we’re kissing, noone will know as we swoon.
So come take a trip in my airship, and we’ll visit the man in the moon.

One night sailing a-way from the clouds
We passed through the milky white way.
While idly drifting and watching the crowds
he asked if I’d name the day.
Just by the dipper I gave him my heart. 
The sun shone on our honeymoon.
We swore to each other we never would part
And we’d teach all the babies this tune:

Come take a trip in my airship, come sail away to the stars.
We'll travel to Venus, we'll sail away to Mars.
Noone will see while we’re kissing, noone will know as we swoon.
So come take a trip in my airship, and we’ll visit the man in the moon.


Have a listen, and have a great weekend!

Weekend fun...I need another weekend to recoup

Who knew that scrapbooking all day could be so tiring? I certainly didn't. But I will tell you, it was totally worth the 1.5 hr drive, and the Sunday to rest and recover. Visiting Auntie Em's Scrapbooking store in Cornwall was the most fun I have had in a long time. It was a blast! And I got so much done, both projects and learning. 

Prima was sponsoring this crop and provided a beautiful goodie bag for our donation. And I did most of my projects using what I got from that bag of scrapbooking goodness. 

Of course I had to bring a notebook with me to alter. So I used the Prima Annalee paper we got, as well as just a few of the flowers, some Prima crystals, and lace.

Altered Composition Notebook

 And of course, I had to try my hand at a tag. This one uses Prima's Songbird stamp and Prima flowers, as well as Annalee paper that I distressed on the edges.

Art tag

 Then I pulled out some of the Moulin Rouge papers, and more flowers to scrap my dog Nanouk. He's so photogenic!

And last but not least, I used another Annalee paper and fussy cut my husband and I out of a picture that had a busy background, and did a layout of our latest trip to Quebec. Gotta love the Starbucks at the Chateau Frontenac!

I also did a layout using the Song bird collection of papers, flowers, alphas, etc. that I brought to the crop. I'll show that one off a little later.

I'm so glad that I attended the crop because I found a wonderful store (somewhat local) and met some amazing ladies that day. It was a long day but so worth it in the end!

Oh so romantic Quebec!

This past week I had printed off a few photos at Costco with the intention of actually scrapbooking them, rather than be satisfied with only digital copies of the pictures, and some digital layouts. And I really wanted to scrapbook our last visit to Quebec with my husband's father. He took some really nice photographs of us, which we rarely get, and it was high time to have something of the two of us on paper.

I really like this photograph of the two of us, ready to head out on another day, our last in Quebec, just inside the walls. There were tons of potted flowers hanging from the walls, and old lamps and buildings. It just oozes romance in Quebec. Hence the title of the page.

I used the Song Bird collection from Prima, primarily because it's so soft and romantic, and I happened to stock up on it when it was released. I love the colour scheme and the delicate patterns.

 The only thing that I'm not thrilled with is that Costco doesn't print small prints. The smallest print size is 4X6 inches. That's okay, but I have to consider how I'm going to crop the photo afterwards. So I printed this one off my inkjet printer at home instead.

I'd really like to work with some Instagram photos and some of the cute sizes, like 3X3 inches, with a small polaroid-like frame. I'm on the hunt for an online company that does it.

The bottom cluster. I had to use a bit of pink!

Do you scrapbook romantic pictures? Do you frame them, or just keep them in an album? And if you know of an online print company that prints odd-sized photos and ships to Canada, I'd really love to hear about them.

Have an amazing Sunday and I hope you all have a great week ahead of you!

Get the mojo back with a quick project!

Had those days when you feel like you've lost your creative mojo? Boy have I! Here's a little project I did, just to get me going again. Have you ever considered doing something as simple as altering a notebook? This notebook was created for a swap I recently took part in.

A simple notebook altered with scrapbook paper and
clusters of elements 

closeup of the top cluster. I adore the little butterflies!

Detail of the bottom cluster

I primarily used the Plumeria line for this altered project. It is part of the July kit and add-on from Scrap'n with Flair. You may still be able to get one if they have a couple in stock. And of course I had to use a lot of Prima flowers. Love them!

So when your mojo has run away, bring it back running with a quick altered notebook project.

Photogenic: Loving Nanouk

How could I not scrapbook this gorgeous photo of our photogenic Nanouk. He makes every page more beautiful!

Using Scrap'n with Flair's July kit: Basic Grey Plumeria, Prima flowers
pebbles, crystals, and button and I am Roses flowers.

Hope you are enjoying an amazing long weekend!

Friendship blooms

I'm playing this week with The Color Room for the first time. This ning site gives you sketches and colour palettes to work with for inspiration. And it was a lot of fun working with the palette for this week!

Naturally, I used my July Scrap'n with Flair kit to create an art journal page to play along. I created a composition notebook art journal for a swap a couple weeks ago, and used some of the scraps of paper left over from that to the first couple pages. The title of the page actually came to me last night, and I got out of bed, went to my craft room and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it.

I hope you have a safe and happy long weekend!

Art gives me wings

Putting stencils on paper and spraying vibrant colours sometimes is all I need to get my mojo going and pour out my feelings onto paper. Today I woke up feeling rather down, for no apparent reason, but I decided not to waste my day in negativity.

I put Crafter's Workshop stencils and Dylusion stencils down on watercolour paper. I sprayed with some vibrant Dylusions sprays, and then my muse came out to play. I layered more stencils, sprays, strips of Basic Grey Plumeria papers I had from my Scrap'n with Flair July kit, down on the page. Texture paste ... and of course my trademark canvas and inked paper towels. Add some Prima resist canvas pieces, sprayed lace and I was well on my way. Christy Tomlinson stamp for some texture, dew drops and Prima gems and crystals. I dove in head first into my art journal. Grabbed a coordinating paint swatch and stamped my journalling down.

The complete spread in my Prima mixed media art journal

Left page

Right page

Inked paper towel ribbon and resist canvas stamp

Art gives me wings

Inked lace and gems on Plumeria papers

Inked paper towel flower on Prima resist canvas flower

Inked canvas and texture paste, Basic Grey papers and stamps. Heaven.

Negativity does not live in this mind today, not any more. I cut my paper in half and glued it down into my Prima mixed media art journal. And I am happy once again.

A gift to yourself

Sometimes you just have to make something pretty for yourself. Something you can gaze at that brings you a sense of beauty and peace.

Be beautiful and have a wonderful weekend!

A highlight in my art journal hobby!

Tuesday was definitely one of the best days I've ever had art journaling. I drove over an hour and 15 minutes to get to Alfred Ontario to participate in a Prima workshop given by the amazing Anna Dabrowska, aka Finnabair. Here are some photos of my time there and the completed project.

Finn was a joy to learn from!

 Anna has an amazing gift of creativity and patience. Her enthusiasm for art journaling and mixed media in general was absolutely contagious! Spend five minutes with her in a room with art supplies, and you'll learn very quickly why she is one of the best instructors and mixed media artists out there. She's completely down to earth and fun, helpful and encouraging!

The first half day was spent working on our Prima mixed media art journal covers. We used all sorts of elements, mediums and paints to get her signature effect on our covers. I used quite a bit of the Luminarte Silks, so I had to buy some at the store because I just can't find them here.

My front cover of my art journal

The back cover

Some of the amazing textures Anna taught us to make

After lunch, we played with sprays, stamps, tea and created our first art journal spread to go into the art journal.

Our first art journal spread we made. 

Then Anna taught us a quick and easy way to make a colourful page using scraps and Ranger's Distress Stains. I love them. Going to have to get a few more colours I think, after playing with the pinks and oranges.

I finished my homework. So much fun to make

I really hope I have the opportunity to learn from Anna at another workshop again in the near future. I love her style and to watch her work through her process was sheer joy!

Beauty without colour

I'm finally feeling more like myself today. The toothache has subsided for now, and I decided to celebrate by playing in my art journal. This time around, I used the July kit from Scrap'n with Flair and the add-on kit to create the base for my page. I used various papers from the 6X6 paper pad, and distressed them. The Plumeria line by Basic Grey is just wonderfully rich for the summer. Not your usual cute summertime papers. More mature and complex.

I started the page with a pre-painted bubblegum pink watercolour page, and then layered on Dylusions sprays with stencils, then sprayed more Lindy's Starburst spray and Glimmer Mist. Then I layered the rest. The stickers from the kit were the finishing touch, and I layered them on the bottom and top of the page. 

I've loved every minute working with this kit and add-on. With all the delicious papers and lace, it's right up my alley. Make sure you pick up both kits before they are all gone. They are too luscious to miss!

I'm glad I had some time this weekend to dedicate to my art journal and art making. It really gives me a sense of accomplishment and renewed creativity that I need to get through my work week.

I hope that you'll spend some time this weekend to art journal as well. Link me up to your work if you do!

Have a great weekend!

Inspiration Saturday

I've survived my first week of work after vacation. I don't remember it being that hard, but at least it went by quickly. While I'm fighting with a miserable toothache, which is killing my creative mojo, I thought I'd share with you what has been inspiring me lately. I hope that you'll link me up to your inspiration in the comments so that I can get a creative boost from you as well.

From Craft Attack

By Czekoczyna

From 2gypsygirls

What I want for my next manicure

I am also trying to complete a mini album using the Scrap'n with Flair July kit and add-on. I'm so inspired by what the design team has done so far. Take a look at these blogs to see their awesome projects:

• Stephanie Stanton's art journal canvases
• Yvonne Gebauer's art journal page
• Jessie Bank's layout
• Elysia Lebedoff's ATC swap
• Tamara Renneberg's altered jar

I know that they inspire me to try new things, so I hope that you'll take the same inspiration from them.

Link me up with what's been inspiring you lately. I'd love to see what may challenge me in the near future!

Scrap'n with Flair's July kit and add-on: video

Check out this fun new July kit and add-on, and how I used all of it on this Graphics 45 altered art box and mini, using the Basic Grey Plumeria collection.

Enjoy!

Here's a picture of July's Scrap'n with Flair kit:

The textured papers are gorgeous, and double-sided. And you get two of the inks I used on my box and mini. The ephemera pack is also loads of fun to play with, as well as tons of stickers and two alphas!

And here's the add-on kit. It's a must-have as well:

I used these papers for the most part. And I couldn't resist the flowers!

Have a great week, and please let me know if you liked my video. Leave me a comment with ideas for what you'd like to see in the near future. Thanks again!

Follow your heart

I often will build an art journal page and then decide later to add some journaling to it, or add a little something more to it. I read something on Facebook where someone said that it's hard to know when to stop. I find for myself, I often stop too soon. 

For example, I stopped before I added the tissue paper. And then I stopped again after tinting the ribbon. There was just something missing, and the muse just kept pushing to load up the page, but I wanted something with lots of white space. So I stopped. Again.

And then I decided to put drops of a contrasting colour, some of the new Ranger Distress Ink in the Salty Ocean colour. And then I was happy. It was just enough.

The title cluster with the doily layer

Texture paste on book paper, then layered with lace

Layers to love

Do you follow the same type of process? Do you stop, then start again, over and over until you are happy? Do you leave artwork for a while and come back to it later to complete?