Liebster Blog Award

I received a blog award thanks to Joyce at http://scrapsofelegance.blogspot.com/ Thank you Joyce! Joyce as been my one and only follower for the past few months, supporting me and encouraging me to work on my blog. I finally decided to take the plunge, and now I think I am on a roll!

About Joyce:    
For those of you that don’t know Joyce, I’ll tell you a little of what I know. First and foremost, she is the most kind hearted and sweet person I have ever known. I never hear her say anything negative about anyone in the many years I have known her. She is just the sort of person everyone wants to be friends with: creative, smart, beautiful, interesting, and she has an amazing sense of humor. You know, the kind of dry, sarcastic sort that makes you laugh and you can’t stop to breathe. Her paper crafting skills are amazing. She is a true fine artist and all-around top-notch crafter. She puts so much thought and detail into every aspect of her work. She just might be that next great designer, so keep an eye on her!

About the award:
“Liebster” is a German word meaning dearest, beloved or favorite, and the Liebster Award is sort of a chain letter among bloggers that’s intended to showcase exceptional up-and-coming blogs (typically, those with 200 or fewer followers). There’s no evaluation committee or formal award process for the Liebster, but in a way it’s even nicer – it’s recognition that a peer has noticed and appreciated your hard work.

And, now I am sharing and passing on the award to five up and coming blogs that I’m sure you will want to stop by for a visit and say hi.

Here are the rules:
• Choose 5 up and coming blogs of fewer than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
• Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
• Post the award on your blog. Link back to the blogs you have given the Liebster to so everyone else can pay them a visit.

I haven’t been very good at being in-touch with the online scrapping community, so many of these blogs are also new to me. All of these ladies are super talented and inspirational.

So in no particular order here are my 5:

Lynnise: http://lynnisebowman.blogspot.com/

Adriana: http://abinspirations.blogspot.com/

Geraldine: http://afabricatedjourney.blogspot.com/

Tammy: http://myscrappingplace-tammy.blogspot.com

Fran: http://paperinkme.blogspot.com

And as a special thank you to Joyce, I have created a card for her. You can see it by clicking here.

Featured at The Color Room

I'm thrilled to be featured at the color room for last weeks' color challenge. Here's what they have to say:

Thanks to Kerry Murray, who is just one of the fantastic designers over at The Color Room. By the way, if you have never been to The Color Room, I highly suggest you check it out by clicking here. The ladies there (I haven't seen a guy yet… ha!) are so sweet and supportive, and inspirational!  There's a heck of a lot of creativity in that room.

You can see the palette and my layout by clicking here

Strut Your Stuff!

For this challenge I really wanted to capture the feeling of movement. I like the idea of making a "freeze frame picture" as if it's a still from a music video or something. This photo was a pain because of my daughter's hair flying in all directions, but also that's what makes it great. She was prancing around when I was taking photos of her one day.

CSI #3

Strut Your Stuff
I've used "instructions" as my journaling and also in the style of second-person point-of-view for "testimony." That was a great idea from CSI and it worked out well for this photo and concept. I also used circular elements (gold balls, and some swirls making loops), and gold metallic elements for the "evidence"




Original photo:

digital items include:
• Several CU items (flowers, background stuff)
• Carnevale studio mix 14 by scrapbookgraphics.com artists Lorie Davison and SussieM (all the gold stuff, ribbons, feathers)
• Pink Lotty's "Marie Antoinette" kit (bows, paper)
• most items recolored for this palette: floor (growing gray), flowers (cream and dusty pink), background and t-shirt (lilac), ribbons and feathers (tea leaves brown)
• I used some free-hand painting to make some atmosphere and added lighting and shadows.

Thanks for looking!

I'm on the watch list!

Yay! I am so excited that CSI has put me on the watch list. What an honor; there are some fabulous designers there, and they've made it so fun to play. Here's what they say:

http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/

Thank You Joyce!

Well this week I received a blog award from Joyce at http://scrapsofelegance.blogspot.com/ (more on the award at a later post) and decided to play at CR84FN for the first time. I haven't played there before because it looks like 99.9% of the submissions are cards, and I haven't been "into" making those lately. But I thought I could use this opportunity to make a card for Joyce and challenge myself to make a digital card look as realistic as possible. So, the following is the color palette and my submission. See what you think!

CR4FN palette #46

 

http://cr84fncolorchallenge.blogspot.com/

The card:

 Detail:

I used some websters trim, a card from Rhonna Farrer, another card from Pink Lotty, a pin and flower from Kitschy digitals, a piece of embroidery from Lorie Davison, and some CU stuff. Added some glitter, type, and shadows/highlights. All recolored for this palette.

Thanks for looking, and thanks Joyce!

"Wings suit her"

Scapping my little fairy here for color room palette #94.  In my view, this palette is begging for some sort of garden scene.


Color Room Palette #94

Wings suit her perfectly

Journaling says: At this age (6), Charlotte is rarely seen without some sort of  costume on. Most of the time it includes wings. “Mommy, can I be a mermaid with wings and a crown?” Boy, she didn’t want to miss out on anything! But if she could only choose one accessory, it would be wings for sure. And they suit her very well; she wears wings as if she was born with them.

• Lots of stuff from Rhonna Farrer here, I used both of her Urban Junque Collage kits (available at 2peas). Plus her lace kit.
• The cool fairy garden background/overlay is by Joanne Brisebois
• one pair of wings from Sherrie JD/studio tangie, ATC collection
• assorted CU items (butterflies, flower, brad)
• The rest of the items are from paislee press, various kits, "dialogue," "sweater weather," "epic," and "huntington."

Don't ask me how all this junk made it on one page, I have no idea. It's all a blur.

AND ANOTHER new playground!

…and this might be my favorite yet! I got a comment from Debbi Tehrani today inviting me to check out CSI, "a weekly challenge designed to inspire scrapbookers to tell their stories and to create beautiful, meaningful pages based on a color scheme and an inspiration image." Yea, it's awesome! Here's the link if you want to check it out: http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/

I saw palette #2 and instantly fell in love with it, so I had to crank out a layout (and quick!). With only a few hours left to the deadline, I had to think fast. I posted my entry with 29 minutes to spare, whew! Here is the "case file" and my rushed layout.

CSI #2

The Souvenir

This shows a moment of my daughter exploring my parents' yard. I did some "stream-of-consciousness" journaling with words I could think of to describe my daughter in that moment. I also used some inspirational words. I managed to get a couple rocks in there as "souvenirs" for the "stone" evidence. I also used a sheer element, flowers, and an architectural element.

Most items are from Lorie Davison, "Under dappled shadows" kit.
One bow from Ztamp "big wide bows"
some stuff made by me.

New playground for me

Well, I have decided to play at "Color Combos Galore" this week. This is my first time trying a challenge for them.

Color Combos Galore inspiration Board #215

So for this challenge, the Design Team is asking for not only a color challenge, but also they give you a "Designer's challenge" and there is a "Bonus Challenge" as well. So three areas to consider for this layout; here's my entry for this challenge:

All Dressed Up
Color Challenge: yes, done
Designer's challenge: "Putting on the Ritz," use hats, got it, done
Bonus Challenge: Use inspiration from the photo and tell us about it: I used the sugar flowers. I have a collection of flowers made by Kitchy Digitals called "candy coated garden." They are super cute, and fit right in with this sweet photo. The photo reminded me of them immediately. Also, what do you use in a bakery? Baker's twine of course! So I had to use some of that as well.

Journaling says: All Dressed up with nowhere to go! Who says you need a special occasion to get gussied up? Charlotte loves to put on hats, shoes, blankets… whatever is handy. It’s fun to put stuff on, that’s all she knows at 15 months old. It’s delightful to watch her explore her world… fills my heart with joy and makes me smile… inside and out.

Stuff:
Kitchy Digitals "candy coated garden" flowers
Two itsy bits of paper from Rhonna Farrer (yellow and pink)
individual frames and background overlay from Paislee Press "gallery frames No3"

Now all I have to do is figure out how to link up my blog with their challenge. Wish me luck!

The Getaway!

Scrapping one of my favorite subjects, down time! When I saw the below Color Room palette, I instantly thought of wine country, so I set out to capture those lazy moments I've had wandering through the vineyards no too far from home.

Color Room Palette #92

The Getaway
With this layout I wanted to convey the feeling of easy-going travel. Journaling is about the Santa Barbara county areas of Solvang, Los Olivos and Santa Ynez. While working on this layout, I couldn't help but have a glass of wine and I watched one of my favorite movies, "Sideways." Sideways is a fantastic dark comedy that was filmed in this same location.

Stuff: Lots of CU items, plus elements from "the Breath of Autumn" kit by Em-ka designs: including grapes, wood, leaves. Map by Google maps!

Chic, Kid, Sweetest

Posting another fantastic Color Room palette here, #91. I created three layouts using this palette.

Color Room Palette #91

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Chic
A chic page with color palette #91. Elements include handmade and CU items, plus: The Voices of Color Collection - Black by Baers Garten; Noted by Pink Reptile Designs.

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Kid•In•A•Box
Here's my kid in a box, her favorite toy! Elements are very simple. Two masks and one paper from JM designs.

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Sweetest
Scrapping a double page spread with the glorious color palette #91 here. Most everything is from various Lorie Davison kits. Some flowers from Kitschy digitals. Gesso from studio Tangie. Colors shifted and changed to match the palette.

Thanks for looking!

Featured Layout at the Color Room

Here's a layout that was featured last month at the Color Room

Color Room Palette #88

Santa Baby

The photo is my whirlwind baby Charlotte (well, she used to be a baby, now she's a kid!). Everything you see int he layout was a freebie download… What a deal. I got all of these digital images via the Scrapbookgraphics.com 2011 Christmas Blog Train! I encourage you to check it out. Designers include: SussieM, Flergs, Lorie Davison, tangie and natali ____________________________________________________________________________

Although not selected as a feature, I created another layout using this same palette. Here it is:

All I want for Christmas

Lots of vintage holiday paper elements by sherrieJD. Some stuff handmade, all done in Photoshop.

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Thanks for looking! 

Featured at the Color Room

I am delighted to have been featured at the Color Rom for Color Palette #81.

Here's the palette and my layout:
The color Room palette #81

My first idea when I saw these colors (palette #81) was to create a magical winter wonderland. Here it is!

stuff: sussieM: santa's city and Santa brings goodies, Lorie Davison: grayemouse winter ball, L murphy: eternal soul, emeto: dragon tales, EmKa: so this is Christmas

Thanks for looking!

Addicted to "the Color Room"

I've been playing at the Color Room (http://thecolorroom.ning.com/) Since September 2011 and have 50 layouts posted there. The way the fantastic ladies over there have the challenges set up is simple and clear. Something my non-techie brain understands. I love the idea of having a concise color palette. Today I've decided to post some of my personal favorites from the color room. Here they are:

Color Room Palette #76:

The Artist
Now, looking at the above color palette, you'd never guess that the colors in the below layout were actually pulled from it. Well, it was only my second week at this game, and I really didn't quite understand how to get all of the colors in there. But still, I love this scene I was able to create using primarily one Lorie Davison (excuse me, fabulous Lorie Davison) kit. Here's my budding little artist at just 11 months old:

All digital elements, including:
"Vintage Baby" - Kit By Manuela, baby shoes
"Precious" - Kit by Natali Design, bear
"Secret Garden" - Kit by sussieM Designs, two butterflies
Everything else except the dog is from: "the Artists' faeries studio" kit, Lorie Davison

Here is the original photo:

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Here's another one of my favs…

Color Room Palette #77:

Flying Lessons
I've was in the mood for Fall, this palette came just in time. Here's my daughter having a flying lesson with Mother Goose at almost four years old:

As you can see, I started to get better with the colors. But in reality, there is a lot of green in this scene. I guess I really didn't consider that an additional color, but it is!

Lots of fussy bits in this project, including:
Christina Renee Designs: Locket
Ztampf accents: "big wide bows" sheer bow
Ztampf accents: "satin swirls" ribbon
Maya of Scrapbookgraphics.com: "frank and alice" letters
Lorie Davison: "feathers and mittens" two robins
Em-ka Designs: "meadow elements" poppies, "Mother Goose" goose, fence, greenery, flowers
Natali Design: "paint the autumn" leaves, dried flowers
Lorie Davison: "Falling Leaves Autumn Tea" peaches, papers, tea bag, scrapbook, and "the artists' faeries" paper
sussieM: "sweet apple" basket of apples
Manuela Zimmermann: "vintage farm" bird
The background/scenery is a composite of several of the above "papers" plus a little Photoshop magic.

The photo for this was actually taken in my ugly driveway:

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And for this palette, there are two layouts… 

Color Room Palette #78:

La petite ballerine:
This one was really fun. The only trouble I had was that I needed to create a ballerina skirt where there was none. So everything from her waist down is fake, and never was in the photo. Tricky business, but patched together three different pettiskirts and faked it.

Items from digital kits as follows:
Pink Lotty Designs: "Marie Antoinette" background papers (2), dress form, chair, curtain, hair feathers, moulding above curtain, two perfume bottles, purse, flowers
Lorie Davison: "greymouse manor winter ball" lanterns, stool

Here's the original photo for comparison (you can see why the skirt had to be changed completely):

And lastly, another layout for this same palette…

Time Flies
Here's baby Charlotte lookin' sweet for color palette #78. My daughter (now eight) and I have been having so much fun with these pages. She loves to help make up a story about what's going on in the layout. I tried to stick really close to the color palette, it's a beauty!

Here's the rundown:
Lorie Davison: "falling leaves autumn tea" cabinet, background (top part)
Lorie Davison: "greymouse manor winter ball" mouse, bubbles, spool of thread, bauble
Lorie Davison: "window to my heart" bottles, keys, roses (2), scissors, birds, shelf/background (bottom part)
Studio Emka: "feelings" roses (2)
Splendid Fiins: bakers twine
Boutique Cute Doll: "fearless" resin bird
Christina Renee: "Collectors Plethora" pocket watch
Websters Pages: "postcard collection" card
...and a few small things made by me :-)

I guess you can tell I'm a fan of Lorie Davison! You can find her amazing kits for sale at http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com (no, I am not associated with them in any way).

Thanks for looking!

Better Catch up, Baby!

Well, it's time to play catch up with my blog here. Today I am posting a layout that has never been posted anywhere before. It's called "Oh Baby!" and is one of my daughters' favorites; here it is:

I worked on this layout for a long time; I wanted it to have gobs and gobs of eye candy. When I would have the layout up on my monitor, my daughter would come around and say "Oh, you are working on Oh Baby!"

Digital elements include:
• Several items created by me using felt and glitter styles.
• Kitchy digitals sugar, paper and plastic flowers.
• SussieM "Santa brings goodies"
• Microferk "radiant" "verano" and "reflections"
• Vinnie Pearce "dash-dot"
• Natali designs "precious"
• Studio Manu "lil miracle" girl

Thanks for looking!