Little Red Wagon #230

Here we are... Wednesday again!  Funny how that happens at the same time each week!

I was all excited to host the challenge over at Little Red Wagon this week.  I decided that it would be fun for everyone to Bling It Up! by adding some gemstones, sequins, etc. to their card, layout or project.

So, I made up this darling little acrylic purse that I embossed and then added gemstones to the center of each flower. What I didn't anticipate was how hard it would be to photograph because it is clear!

It is really adorable in person, but because I didn't have anything to put in it just yet, it just looks kind of 'blah' in the photo.  Actually it kind of looks like it has the chicken pox or something! Yikes!

I did have fun making it though!  I placed some washi tape across the top, made up a little tag using a wooden heart button, used some of my crinkly ribbon to tie around the handle and added a sweet turquoise pin.  Now it is all set for me to put something sweet inside and give it to a special someone when the time is right!

Do stop by the Little Red Wagon blog to see what the other girlfriends created for this challenge.  I am sure they made something amazing!  Then make up your own 'blingy' project and link it up.  We always love seeing all the great creations.

Project Life

We had a guest teacher at Two Scrapbook Friends this past weekend and she was simply amazing!  Jess Forster is a member of the Becky Higgins Project Life Design Team and she shared her love of project life scrapbooking with us.  I was so inspired by her clean and beautiful pages that I decided to give it a try for myself.

I dug out some photos from a trip we took to Mexico a couple of years ago and made up my first page. I used journal and title cards from the Midnight Edition Core Kit and I loved the neutral colors.

Left side:

Right side:

I even made my own title card using a tutorial from Jess's blog!  

 

I did all my journaling using my printer.  On this card, I added some yummy washi tape that I had in my bin.

A geo-tag that I cut with my Silhouette was layered onto a lacy heart :)

 A couple of candy dots were added to this card.

I am so in love with this style of scrapbooking, especially for my travel photos!  I can't wait to do a few more pages.  Thanks Jess for sharing your talents with us and for all your great inspiration!

Little Red Wagon #229

It's Wednesday and a perfect day for a rainbow of colours!  That is the challenge that Jodi has given us for Little Red Wagon this week and I think it is perfect timing as I sit here and look at the grey skies outside my window. She wants to see as many colours of the rainbow as we can being used on our project.

This is the card that I created.

With the gorgeous colours of the rainbow, I decided to keep my card clean and simple.

Some punched hearts, a simple sentiment and lots of love.

We hope you will join in the challenge this week at Little Red Wagon.  We can all use some rainbows in our life!

Inspiration Elevator - March 2014

Welcome to our March Inspiration Elevator challenge. Each month our group is challenged to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. Be sure to check out our Inspiration Elevator Blog to see all of our previous challenges.

Our challenge this month was posed by the very talented Ann Jobes. Here's how she expressed this month's challenge:

"First, for those of you who are getting tired of journaling-based challenges, I apologize. This idea has been cooking since the fall (just not articulated).

My daughter subscribes to the Dance Spirit magazine and I sometimes browse through it, too. One of my favourite monthly features is an article that features a different dancer each month, some photos of that dancer, and a description of their current work, and (the best part!) a letter. The theme is a Letter to My Teenage Self. The content ranges, depending on the dancer and his/her experience, morals, ideals, etc. So this month's assignment is to write a letter to your teenage self. You can take any approach you'd like to this - scrapbook page, art journal page, canvas. However the prompt inspires you. And your content is of course up to you, as well. Some topics might be: what would you try to teach yourself? Or, what would you counsel yourself to do or not do? This does not have to be a page about regrets. It could be about congratulating yourself on something you did right that has contributed to who you've become today."

Thanks Ann for an awesome challenge!  I admit that I was not too thrilled with this challenge at first.  But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I thought of a fun approach to it.  I decided to do a digital subway art design!

I am not overly proficient in Photoshop but I have managed to teach myself enough to get by.  In choosing to do a digital design I had to work with the technical side of Photoshop as well as the creative aspect of Ann's challenge.

I chose a chalkboard background and added some paint splatters to it to give it some interest.  Then I added different phrases that I would want my teenage self to know.  Words of encouragement. Truths that my very shy and insecure self would not have believed or trusted, but that I so desperately would want her to accept!

I also chose to add one of my school photos from high school to my design!  I felt it was important to have the photo on it in order to create a personal connection to the words that I wrote.  I scanned the photo into my computer, changed it to black and white and backed it with a doily-like frame.  Then I played with the placement a bit before I settled on this final layout.

I had fun working with the different fonts and enjoyed being creative with the positioning, color and size of each phrase.

When I completed the first design, I decided to try a different background.  This lovely wood background caught my eye and when I put it in place, I rather liked it!  I was able to use the original coloring of my photo (a bit of a sepia tone) which matched the warmer wood tones, plus the blue lettering matched perfectly with the painted wood.  When all was said and done, I wasn't sure which design I liked better, so I am showing you both!

I hope you will choose to visit the other Inspiration Elevator designers' blogs to see what they did with Ann's challenge.  They are an incredibly talented group of ladies and I know you will be inspired by their work.

Ann Jobes

Laura Whitaker

Lisa Moen

Cathy Harper

Joanne Burton (you are here!)

Jodi Wilton

Michelle Hernandez

We would LOVE to see you take up Ann's challenge this month, so if you do, please share it at our linkup on the Inspiration Elevator Blog. 

Little Red Wagon #228

I can't believe it's Wednesday already!  This past week has just flown by!  Our challenge at Little Red Wagon comes from Tracy and she wants to see something dimensional.

I recently make up this bendy card and it was perfect for this challenge!

Bendy cards are so much fun to make and they are very dimensional.  I used my Silhouette to cut the pieces for my card.  Don't you just love the picket fence!

I hope my card inspires you to create something with dimension.  If you do, be sure to link it up at Little Red Wagon this week :)

Little Red Wagon #227

Welcome to Wednesday and another fun challenge at Little Red Wagon!  This week Jayne want us to 'punch it up'.  She wants us to dig into our sadly neglected punches and put them to use!

I realize that my card is a bit out of season, but I really wanted to make a card using my many circle punches and this is what I came up with!

The background paper is a piece of Christmas paper that I had tucked away and the circles were made using bits of cardstock.

Super easy, but I really like it!

Now it is your turn.  Punch away and then link up your creation over at Little Red Wagon!  See you there :)

Happiness Is...

...pretty mini plates! 

This set of mini plates came from my Mom's collection and I decided yesterday that it was time to take down my winter plates and display these instead.  My kitchen and my heart both need some cheering up at this time of year.  This long, cold winter just seems to have been here forever!

My mom, sisters and I all collected mini plates.  When my Mom passed away last year, we divided up her plates and one of the sets I chose was this cherry set.  It is such a sweet set and it brings joy to my heart to see them hanging in my kitchen.

Not only does this set remind me of my Mom because they came from her, but because there are cherries on them, it also makes me recall some of the great vacation times we had in Traverse City, Michigan.  It was always one of my Mom's favorite places - especially during their annual Cherry Festival in July.  There were numerous roadside stands selling fresh picked cherries and we would eat them by the bagful! Then there were the cherry pies, chocolate covered dried cherries, cherry ice cream, cherry themed decor items, and so much more! Such good times and such fond memories.

I miss my Mom and I miss the special times we would spend together during the summer months.  But her plates do put a smile on my face and lift my heart and remind me that Spring is not far away.  The snow will melt, the birds will return and the flowers in my garden will start to grow once again.  And that thought makes me very happy ♥