Page Maps Sketch Challenge - Girlys

Page Maps has a great sketch challenge this month. I really love their sketches :)

This one intrigued me with those swirly things.... Originally I wanted to make them out of pipe cleaners but I didn't have any. Then I thought about wire and seed beads... none of that either.

This layout sat undone for a few days while I pondered over the swirlies... because I knew I wanted to use something similar and not replace with a different element....

And this is what I came up with!

Glitter glue makes everything better lol! Also the two left papers, plus the mat and the border are all from DCWV the Glitter Stack... so what should you add to a glitter page? MORE GLITTER!!!

Overall very cute I think for a bunch of cute little girls dancing around at my wedding.

Eventually I will make another page to go beside this one of myself holding one of the girls and my husband holding two of them :)

Thanks for looking!!



Sketchy Thursdays 11.17 - down the aisle

Right away, this sketch from Sketchy Thursdays inspired me to use my flower girls and ring bearer.

Since there were three kids it made perfect sense...

I really wanted to keep the warm feeling of the wood so I used a DCWV Photo Stack 2 wood grain background. I don't have mists yet so I instead inked flowers through stencils behind the photos with Studio G pink chalk ink. I added a butterfly paperclip and a big colorful title, matching the ribbon I used. Finally I added a Deja Views vellum quote, anchored with ribbon scraps.

Let me know what you think!!

Scrap the Girls November - Classic Girly

Scrap the Girls is a fun, no-boys-allowed blog all about scrapping girls. I tried their November challenge this month.

The criteria were:

PINK AS THE DOMINANT COLOUR

MULTIPLE PICS

POLKA DOTS

and as always... NO BOYS!!

This is my take:

I used an ancient pink polkadot baby paper I had, a big fluffy flower, a Creative Memories journalling card, and two Deja Views photo mats from a wedding set. I also knotted the friendship bracelet mounted under the flower. Finally I added extra polka dots with some Jillibean Soup letters!

Photos are baby me at about 6 months of age. I asked my mom for a title and journalling on it - she said she was just playing with her camera photographing her favourite subject - MOI - le bebe aux yeux bleus :)  

Hope you enoy!!

Moxie Fab's 365 Cards Week - Celebrating Relationships Challenge - Grandparent's Day

The Moxie Fab World Celebrating Relationships Challenge was to make a card for National Girlfriends Day, Grandparents Day, or National Dog Day.

Right away I had ideas for Girlfriends Day and Grandparents Day. The first card I tackled was for Grandparents Day as I had a Sketch Support card sketch I wanted to use for their DT call (see my entry here).

This is the sketch:


Tres cute eh?

This is my take on it:

This was my first adventure into paper piecing. I don't have a digital cutter so the houses are all hand mad and pieced by hand. I really love how cute they turned out :)

Hope you enjoy!

Sketch Support Design Team Entry

Well.... I've been submitting some Design Team entries. My super-duper long-shot was for Sketch Support. Didn't make the team, but wanted to show you the projects I created anyways!

For all the sketches please visit Sketch Support where you can get gorgeous print outs

The first sketch was Add-On Sketch #9. This is my first time using an add-on sketch.

This layout is of our photographer, Melanie, and Richard taking photos of someone. When I saw the camera add-on I knew that I could use it for this page.

The camera was made with grey cardstock, gold DCWV textured cardstock, black cardstock and black DCWV textured cardstock. I also used acetate for the lens and the flash. I added Stickles to the flash to add some more shine, and used more Stickles to make the line down the strip on the camera. 

Then there was Two-Page Sketch #21:

As you can see, I played around a bit, changing the photo sizes. I really enjoyed making the background and it was sooo easy! If you use a 12x12 patterned paper, you just cut it in half, then cut one of the halves in thirds and repeat!

Finally there was Card Sketch #11:

This one I wasn't sure what to do with, since I don't make too many cards, but I wanted to force myself. To see what I came up with, go here and see my blog post on that card as I am now entering it in a challenge :)

Giveaway time!!!

Well... its time for my very first giveaway.

This comes from My Memories Suite, a digital scrapbooking software. I was given a free copy to evaluate and another copy to give away! The brand new Version 3 has just been released!

Here is my first complete album. It is going to be a pocket album for my Mother-in-Law to keep in her purse. The cool thing about My Memories Suite is that you can also make videos, interactive albums, etc. I could have added music to this, but I was unsure about privacy issues so left it off.

This is my draft version of the book. I would love you to give me suggestions or let me know about pages that aren't quite right...

In total I spent $12 downloading things for this album as well as using the $10 free downloads I had. I found in making it that I really didn't need everything I had downloaded, so I would suggest you start with the essentials you really want, and then buy as you find you need something else. Primarily I used the Neutrals pack and Scrap Basics - Orange, with a bit of Vows and White Weddings thrown in. Everything else was freebies!

Review of the Software
Please note I was given a free copy of the software to evaluate. I am in no way required to give a favourable review, and all opinions are mine and mine alone.

Overall, I loved this software. It was so easy and fast to use. It does take a while to figure out where everything is, and in that respect I think the software could be improved by having a "View All" button for each category of add-on. That being said, I also found the division of all the elements very useful at times, and was OK with it once I figured out where things were (i.e. funky black flower is a Neutrals flower).
I love the quick crop options for the photos. I really can't say enough about how awesome it is to pick your photo layout and have the photos all jump right in, custom cropped for you. All you have to do is adjust the crop location on the photo if your subject is not dead-centred.
I also love all the ribbon and button options available. In general there is a wide variety of embellishments with anything you can think of... and if not, you can probably download the pack that you want.
The freebies online are awesome. Believe it or not, I did use some winter/Christmas accents in this album - its all in context. I would suggest that you download all the freebies so you have them available as there are hidden treasures in all.

My pet peeves - it is hard to see what-all you receive in the purchased downloads. I would prefer it if they had it all laid out element by element so you can look for something specific you want. I ended up buying one set that I barely used because the embellishments didn't have the feel I was looking for. I did use and love the papers in that set though.

All in all, this is a great, quick, easy to use software. You don't have to be "good" at computers to use it, and its easy to get going. I read nothing online and just jumped right in. I would suggest it for anyone who is interested in printing hardcover or softcover custom albums, making videos, or just digital scrapping. As an added bonus, what a great way to make an interactive album friends and family far away can experience!  This gets a two thumbs up from me!


Now get your own copy....
How to win:

1. Follow my blog
2. Visit the My Memories site. Check out the different kits available around the site.
3. Comment back here with two things: which kit or add-on you like best, and what your first project would be with the suite!
4. Bonus entry for any ideas or tips on how to improve my album. These need to be specific i.e. on the page about the cake, I think you should add an orange flower.
5. Bonus entry for sharing on Facebook or Twitter. Just comment letting me know you did!

The contest closes December 6th at midnight. Winner will be selected randomly from all entries.
Now if you don't win the giveaway, don't despair! I have a coupon code for you as well which gives you $10 off the software and $10 in free downloads! Simply visit here and enter STMMMS51336 in the promo code box and away you go!


Congrats to Chrissie who won the software!

Creative Scrappers 182 - We Did It

I was pretty excited when I saw the Creative Scrappers sketch #182 this month.

I was drawn to it right away with the circle and the flowers and of course, the bling. It looked so fun!

Unfortunately, I didn't have much in the way of things to execute the sketch with... but I gave it a try nonetheless....

The photo is from the Weekend to End Women's Cancers in Toronto Ontario that was held in September. My sister and I participated in a one-day 32 km walk. We only made it 20 km, but that was still a great accomplishment. I knew I wanted to use this photo for the sketch right away. The blue jerseys we are wearing are our completion jerseys. 

Here is a close-up of the journalling. It also shows the subtle glitteryness of the background paper which is from the Creative Memories Wish collection.

Here is a close-up of the edging on the circle. I don't have many punches at all, and I had nothing to make the intricate edge shown (I don't even have a digital cutter). So I decided to use a Tim Holtz stamp and some Fired Brick distress ink and give the edges some "texture" that way. I really like how it turned out.

Hope you enjoy... please comment and follow :)