Cutie Pie

I finally finished a layout that I started a few weeks ago!  I used a sweet photo of Nolan (I just love that little boy!) and combined it with this fun collection of papers and embellies!

I did a bit of distressing to the edges of the papers...

added some bakers twine...

and had fun digging into my stash for extras like buttons, floss and paint!

And there you have it!  Thanks for looking :)

A Winner!

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog and left a comment on my recent Inspiration Elevator post!  I really appreciated all the positive comments!

As promised, I did a random draw for a fun prize package of Kelly Panacci products and the winner's name is...

Karen Ladd!

Congratulations to you Karen!  I will get those products out to you as soon as I receive your mailing information :)

Little Red Wagon #181

For this week's challenge at Little Red Wagon we were challenged to use a paper crimper on our creation!  I know that I used to have a paper crimper around here somewhere, but do you think I could find it?  I had to resort to using a piece of corrugated paper that I had in my wagon, that looks like it has been crimped... I hope that counts?

I also dug into my wagon and found these leftover papers and stickers from a layout I did recently so I decided to use them on a card.

A pretty simple card, but I love the colours!

I hope you pop over to Little Red Wagon to see what the other Girlfriends created using a paper crimper!   I am sure their designs will inspire you to play along :)

Inspiration Elevator - April 2013

Welcome to another Inspiration Elevator reveal! We are thrilled to celebrate the end of our first year of Inspiration Elevator challenges and are anticipating that the second year will see our creative growth continue to go UP!

To celebrate our first anniversary and our fabulous designers, Christa and Ann decided to challenge our designers to take an in-depth look at a fellow designer's artistic portfolio via her blog, choose elements from that designers creations and incorporate them into her own work. In other words, we are encouraging a scrapLIFT! Rather than a mere copy of someone else’s work, this is a stylistic scraplift that should inspire each designer to grow creatively as she is inspired, yet remain true to her own style.

As the second year of this creative journey begins, and as the popularity of Inspiration Elevator increases, we have created a new blog for our Inspiration Elevator Challenges. So, if you want to play along you can find the challenges and links to the inspiration all in one place! Also, to celebrate our first year, we have decided to incorporate RAKs along with our Designer's reveals!  How exciting! Now, before you check out each of the Design Team's blogs, we want to let you know of a few personnel changes.

While, we are so excited to welcome back most of our original design team members for year two, we are saddened to be saying goodbye to Audrey Yeager. Audrey has creatively embraced every challenge over the past year and has been a super part of our design team over the past 12 months. We hope you will continue to stop by her blog and see her gorgeous creations. Thank you Audrey for sharing our journey – we are grateful for you!

We are very pleased to announce a new member to our design team. Join us as we welcome Jodi Wilton. Jodi's design style is happy and whimsical and we are looking forward to sharing this new year of growth with her and seeing how her creative muse is tickled by our challenges.

We mentioned RAKs or giveaways at each designer’s blog this month, since we’re celebrating our first year. Please read each designer’s instructions regarding the giveaway as they will vary. We will post a final list of winners on April 24th on the Inspiration Elevator blog, so be sure to pop back and if you create something based on this month's challenge, please link it up on the blog.

I was fortunate enough to have received Jodi Wilton's name as the person that I am scraplifting for our anniversary post!  I have long admired Jodi's design work and I was thrilled to work with her style.  Some of the things that really impress me about Jodi's work are the bright, fun colours, the great photos and the clean, full-page designs that she creates.  So I decided to throw all caution to the wind and just have fun with colour, some adorable photos of my great-nephew and using all the space on my page as part of my design.

I incorporated some of my favourite design elements on my page, like the banner and Silhouette title.

 I also added some stitching for the airplane's flight path.

And, of course, I had to add my signature button before I considered my layout complete!

   
I loved being inspired by Jodi's style and I really enjoyed working with bright colours and the use of more than one photo!  Thanks Jodi for all the great inspiration I found on your blog!

I have decided to offer a special collection of Kelly Panacci papers, stickers and chipboard as my RAK! 

All you need to do to have a chance to win this giveaway is (1) leave a comment on my blog and (2) become a follower of my blog by Monday, April 22nd!  Also be sure to leave a final comment on the Inspiration Elevator blog :)

Do stop by and see what the other designers on this adventure have created:

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Cathy Harper

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton (that's me!)

Jodi Wilton

Inspiration Elevator

Thanks for looking ~

Little Red Wagon #181

Another new challenge has been posted at Little Red Wagon and we hope you decide to play along!  This week Regan has challenged us to use a cameo on our project.  That is not something that I would have ever decided to do on my own and that is why I love these challenges! 

I knew I didn't have anything with a cameo on it, so I went to my trusty Silhouette and cut out a cameo shape to get me started.  Then I created this card with it:

I dug into my stash for the papers, doily, ribbon, button and floss and I even found a stamp with the perfect sentiment.

Now you can head on over to Little Red Wagon to see what the other Girlfriends created and maybe you will be inspired to create something with a cameo on it!

Awesome

It has been a wonderful but incredibly busy couple of weeks!  We have just finished being a part of ScrapFest in Kitchener, which is a lot of work but so rewarding when all is said and done.  It is so great to see so many scrapbookers in one place, and I love being able to supply products and inspiration to my fellow crafters!

I also recently completed this layout using Fancy Pants Park Bench papers and I wanted to share it with you.

I grabbed this photo of Spencer from a semi-formal affair at his school this year.  I am not sure who the flower is for or who took the picture (a mother is seldom told the details) but I just love the expression on his face!

I played with the background of my layout a bit by using some Martha Stewart Texture Medium, a template and some Mister Huey's Color Mists.

I also used some of my favorite product - Washi Tape! (I just adore that stuff!!)

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great day :)

Little Red Wagon #180

I can't believe it is Wednesday already!  It has been a terribly busy week at work as we prepare for two off-site events.  It is nice to take a break to get creative and I had fun with our challenge at Little Red Wagon this week!

Tammy wants to see some lovely lace on our projects so I created this card.

I started with some awesome lace trim that I found in my wagon.  I then decided to use this spool of thread card that I found on the Silhouette store.

I had fun adding all the bits and pieces to it and now I just think it is too pretty to ever give away :)

I hope to see you over at Little Red Wagon this week joining in the fun!  We would love to see your lacy creation!

Little Red Wagon #179

It's Wednesday and time for another fun challenge at Little Red Wagon!  This week Jan is challenging us to be a Negative Nellie!  That's right - she wants us to use the negative part of a die cut.

I started by cutting out some hearts from a piece of white cardstock.  Then, instead of using the hearts, I used the negative to create this sweet little card.

I added some scraps of pattern paper behind the negative and layered some papers to create my card front.  A bit of twine was my finishing touch.

This was such a fun challenge!  I hope you decide to play along :)

Joyfully Counting!

There is so much to be grateful for!  I joyfully count the gifts and give thanks!

- Good Friday service touching my heart in an unexpected way
- making a FaceTime call to my Mom for the first time and seeing the delight in her eyes
- enjoying a small Easter gathering with my family

- our son's new puppy, Sadie, who is too cute for words!
- productive days
- good news concerning a friend's health
- new recipes that become family favorites

- unexpected snow flurries, knowing it will hopefully be the last of the season!
- a pretty ring from my sisters

- the fresh stack of books that I bought at a used book store
- carrot cake cheesecake!
- Spring's first robin