Elf Selfies!

I'm excited to share another page with you from the Scrapbook Circle December kit "All Is Bright"!  I think this may be my favorite page I did this month!  :)

One morning last year, we found that the elves got onto the iPad and took a whole bunch of silly selfies! 

 I wanted this page to be fun and festive, so I used some of the striped pieces from the Glitz papers to layer behind my photo. I love the shade of yellow in with these traditional Christmas colors...it is such a great contrast. I added a bit of shine with some of the red glitter ribbon, too!  

On my background, I used a polkadot stamp and some gold embossing powder. I love how this came out and the texture it adds. I grounded the photos with a machine stitched black circle. 

Finally, I popped some of the Studio Calico stickers around the page, too, to add a bit more whimsy! 

(Note: alphas are from my stash! I used papers from the main kit and the add on, too!  Sketch by Stuck! sketches. ) 

What are your elves up to these days???

Stay scrappy my friends!

Have you Hugged Your Mum??? October Scrapbook Circle

September is over!  Where did it go?  It has been a gorgeous fall so far...so nice and warm.  The trees are starting to show their true colors!  (Did you know that the colors are there all along?  In the summer, there is so much chlorophyll produced (which is green) that it covers up all the other colors?  Yup....former science teacher...)

Anyways, while decorating for fall, we got these gorgeous mums at the Farmer's Market.  The funny thing about these photos of Charlotte is that even though she looks so girly and cute with the flowers and the pink shirt, she was actually looking through the flowers and dirt for bugs!!  That's my girl!

I used the October Scrapbook Circle kit, which has the most gorgeous colors for fall!  I noticed that in the kit that many of the colors were part of the latest color challenge at ScrapFriends, too, so I focused on using those colors on my page.

For the background, I began by stamping with the exclusive Scrapbook Circle stamp with Versamark and heat embossing with white powder.  The I went over it with some Gelatos and used water to blend.  Finally, there are a few green splatters and a lightly stamped Dear Lizzy chevron stamp.

I also used the exclusive "You Are" stamp, too.  I tried covering it with the Gelatos, misting it with water, and then stamping.  It worked OK, but I think it would be better with less detailed designs.  I outlined it with a black pen to make it stand out better.

I used some free leaf svg files i found online and cut them with my cricut.  Then I stitched down the center of each.

Lots of fun layering with papers, die cuts, envelopes, stickers, and sequins!

Here is a peak at the October kit:

Want a chance to win one???  Visit the Scrapbook Circle blog and leave a comment HERE!

Can't wait to share the rest of my projects with you this month!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Glitz "Love You Madly" Blog Hop *GIVEAWAY*

I am so sad to say that today is my last post for Glitz Designs.  Next week Glitz will be announcing a new team!  It has been so amazing these past 2 years working for this great company with this EXTREMELY talented group.  I will miss it, and I am excited for Glitz and where they are heading!

So welcome to my last Glitz Inspiration Blog Hop!  Today we are featuring the Love You Madly collection.
One winner will be chosen from the comments on all the blogs to win an assortment of goodies from the Love You Madly collection!

My daughter happens to Madly Love beads.  And I am so lucky that my brother lived in New Orleans for a few years and then decided to give all his beads to her (can you sense the sarcasm?)  She has always loved playing with beads since she was very little.  Its so fun when you step on them in your bare feet....

I wanted to incorporate some gold elements on the page to pick up on some of the beads in the photo, so I create some gold accents with some gold embossing powder.  For the gold garland, I used a pencil eraser to stamp in versamark, added the gold powder, and then heat embossed.  Then I stitched through them and added some paper garlands and a giant rhinestone.  There are also a few hearts stamped here and there, too, from the Love You Madly stamp set.

I layered some paper layers, die cuts, transparencies, and a gold heat embossed piece of "washi tape" from the Yours Truly stamp set.

And this Hello Beautiful stamp from Cashmere Dame.

As a finally farwell, I am giving away a HUGE box of Glitz goodies!!  There are at least 30 papers from the releases in the past year, and TONS of embellies.  I have more than what is in the photo below, but this is at least part of what you are gonna get!  I will choose one random FOLLOWER to win this giveaway.  In addition, if you share this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter, then please make an additional comment that you did so to earn an extra chance to win.

Here is the order of the blog hop from the designers blogs!  Each time you leave a comment on their blogs you have a chance to win the Love You Madly Prize pack.

Lea Lawson – http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/
Audrey Yeager – http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/
Camilla Ekman – http://camillaslillasida.blogspot.com/
Gerry Van Gent – http://www.gerryscrafts.blogspot.com/
Janna Werner – http://jannawerner.de/
Karola Witczak – http://www.karolakraftuje.blogspot.com/
Laurie Schmidlin – http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/
Lisa Andrews – http://lisaandrews.blogspot.com/
Mou Saha – http://collagecollagecollage.blogspot.com/
Nicole Martel – http://nicolemartel.blogspot.com/
Noel Culbertson – http://paperpassionpixels.blogspot.com/
Rommel – http://risqueerabisque.wordpress.com/
Teresa Kline – http://paperieblooms.blogspot.com/
Glitz Design – http://glitzitnow.com/blog/

Have fun hopping and Stay Scrappy My Friends!

Glitz Designs "Uncharted Waters" Blog Hop

Welcome to the Glitz "Uncharted Waters" blog hop!  Today the design team has created some fabulous projects with this nautical themed collection to share with you today!

One random winner will win the entire "Uncharted Waters" collection!  The winner will be chosen from the comments left on all the blogs.  In addition, some DT members are giving away prizes on their personal blogs as well.  Read below for more.

I fell in love with this collection when I first saw it because of the anchors!  We spend a lot of time in on the lake and the St. Lawrence River in the summer, so I always have a ton of water photos to use.  I created this page of my daughter fishing off the dock on the lake!

I stamped the little whale onto patterned paper and then cut him out.  I colored in the flower on the front with a white pen and popped him off the page.  You will also see that I used the arrow roller stamp along the bottom edge and heat embossed with clear powder.

I wanted to use some type of string on my page, so I just let some thin jute wander around my title a bit.  I also wanted to add a few bits of pink to complement my daughters shirt, so I just punched a few holes and scattered them around, too.

So here is the order of the blog hop:


Lea Lawson – http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/
Audrey Yeager – http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/  <-----YOU ARE HERE
Camilla Ekman – http://camillaslillasida.blogspot.com/
Gerry Van Gent – http://www.gerryscrafts.blogspot.com/
Janna Werner – http://jannawerner.de/
Karola Witczak – http://www.karolakraftuje.blogspot.com/
Laurie Schmidlin – http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/
Lisa Andrews – http://lisaandrews.blogspot.com/
Mou Saha – http://collagecollagecollage.blogspot.com/
Nicole Martel – http://nicolemartel.blogspot.com/
Noel Culbertson – http://paperpassionpixels.blogspot.com/
Rommel Okuma – http://risqueerabisque.wordpress.com/
Teresa Kline – http://paperieblooms.blogspot.com/
Glitz Design – http://glitzitnow.com/blog/

I have a prize to give away today to one follower who leaves on comment here on my blog.  Last month's winner never contacted me, so this month's winner is getting THAT prize:

Plus this prize:

I will choose a winner Monday, April 1st.

Thanks so much for stopping by and stay scappy my friends!

Photo Alterations...Inspriation Elevator

You may recall that the purpose of the Inspiration Elevator challenge group is 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. You can view all of the challenges on my blog by clicking HERE.

CHALLENGE:
This month, our challenge comes from the very sweet and very talented Joanne Burton. Joanne resides in Waterloo and co-owns a scrapbook store there with her bff. Her scrapbooking style is classicly elegant and always showcases wonderful photos. It's no wonder that her challenge to is centered around the photo - here is the challenge, in Joanne's own words:

Inspiration Elevator has been such a tremendous experience for me! We have explored our style, stretched our single pages into two, documented our fears and regrets, scrapbooked our beliefs, worked with less than perfect photos and have even gone vintage! Hopefully we have each grown as a result of being a part of this group – I know I have! 

One of the fun things about scrapbooking is working with our photos. We get to pick and choose our favorite photos and have fun recording the memories behind them. So this month, I thought we could stretch our creativity by having some fun with our photos!

I assume we all work with digital photos, so this month’s challenge will work for each of you. I want you to pick a photo and then alter it in some way using your favorite photo editing program. I would like to see something more than just making your photo black & white. Maybe use a special effect, add a frame, play with text, etc. There is so much you can do!

Play with your photo until it conveys a particular look or feel that will help you to express your memories associated with that picture. Then add it to your page! When you post your finished project, please share how you altered your photo, and why you chose the effects you did. (Maybe you could even post a before and after of your photo!)

My Take:

I came across this free photo overlay for Photoshop when someone posted it on Facebook.  I have never worked with overlays before, but followed the directions (and watched a few YouTube videos) and I enjoyed playing with it a bit.  You can find the heart overlay HERE (its free!) from Somewhat Simple.  I had just chosen a recent photo, and wasn't intending on using it, but after playing with it a bit, I like the way it turned out and decided to use it!

Charlotte sometimes gets my point and shoot out and starts taking photos of everything.  We got this great little shot of the three of us.  But as SOON as I get behind the camera, they disappear and won't look at it!  :)

I just got a huge stash of Fancy Pants papers from My Scraps & More.  This is the "Trendsetter" collection.  I love this color combo of navy aqua and pink that has been showing up everywhere (Crate Maggie Holmes, AC Dear Lizzy, Glitz Uncharted Waters) I cut apart all the tags from one of the patterned papers and layered them to create a mat for my photo.  On a few of them I added some Navy twine. Directly behind my photo, I used some light blue vellum (which I found in a clearance bin at AC Moore for like 10 cents!)

On my background, I heat embossed some doily stamps in white and splattered some navy and pink ink.
Another little cluster of some tags, a badge, chipboard, and a button near my title area.

Thank you for stopping by today!

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Cathy Harper 

Lisa Spiegel

Stay Scrappy My Friends!