CPS104: Papertrey Ink Sponsored Sketch

I was so excited to see that the sketch this week over on Card Positioning Systems is being sponsored by Papertrey Ink. I know the sketch is supposed to be applied to cards but when I saw this week's challenge, I knew that it would fit perfectly with an idea that I've been throwing around for awhile. The photo on this page was taken Christmas Day and features my mother reading a story to my daughter. It really captured how close their relationship is and how much my mother adores Isabelle. I used paper from Cosmo Cricket to piece together the "quilt" behind the photo. I stamped the 1.5" quilting block from PTI's Quilter's Sampler Additions with Versamark and then heat embossed with chocolate powder. I then cut out each piece and placed it on a shimmery, champagne coloured cardstock that I had scored at 1.75" intervals to emphasize each block individually. This was then mounted on a second piece of cardstock that I stamped with an image from CTMH's Simple Stitches. The large sheet of DP is from Pink Paislee and it was also stamped with CTMH Simple Stitches. The sentiment in the lower right corner is from PTI's Quilter's Sampler Sentiments and says: "Granddaughter you may outgrow my lap but you can never outgrow my heart".

I stamped the verse in Brown StazOn on cream coloured felt. I used a label image from SU's Lovely Labels and then tossed in some accessories from the SU's Pretties Kit. Surprisingly, this page actually turned out pretty close to the way I imagined it except for a few bloopers along the way . . . like my daughter putting dirty hands all over the picture! Oh well, at least one day, I she can say that she helped:-) Thanks for stopping to look and thanks so much to the great people over at CPS for hosting these sketches! Also thanks to PTI for generously sponsoring this week's sketch!

Pink Cat Studio Challenge

Pink Cat Studio has been busy with sneak peeks for their new release on Monday (if you love Lily, you'll want to make sure you tune into their blog). (Okay so the link button is not working so check them out here: http://pinkcatstudio.blogspot.com/ )
They also have a great group of girls over on Paper Craft Planet which is where I found their latest challenge. The task this week was to use a Pink Cat Studio set and use it to imitate an image from a different Pink Cat set. Now this might seem crazy but I read the challenge this morning and I thought about it all day! I couldn't wait to try my hand at this. I used my Q.T. Hooty set to imitate one of the images from the Tweet set (where Tweet is sitting atop her birdhouse). First I cut my card so it's dimensions were 4.5" square. I then used the second largest of my Spellbinders circle dies to cut out the centre of the card and to create the embossing around the edge of the opening. I used some leftover DP (sorry I don't remember which company it came from) to create the background for my image. By building up the inside of my card, I was able to set this back from the front of the card by 1/4". I made the birdhouse out of a scrap of DP that I cut free hand and then used a combination of SU punches (word window and photo corners) to make the roof. Q.T. was coloured with copics and then mounted on the DP with a series of dimensionals. I placed small pearls in the corner of her glasses for extra ooomph! The second part of the challenge was to include a ribbon and two embellishments. The ribbon I added came from my LSS last year so I'm a little short on memory for the company. The buttons were also from my stash but the dew drops in their centres are from Robin's Nest. The outside edge of my card looked a little stark in contrast to all the colour so I sponged some CTMH creme brulee ink around the edges!! I have to say, at the end of this all, I had more fun doing this up than I have had in a long time with my scrapbook supplies! Way to go guys for putting together such a great challenge.

Backwards Calendar

I can't believe I have so many pages to catch up on!!! I've decided to start working backwards from my daughter's current photos so I can trick myself into thinking I am up to date on her scrapbook. Guess the joke's on me! I'm so proud of this page . . . It's a shame that the tiny beads don't look nearly as nice in the photo as they do in person. I sprinkled the beads along the curved line present in this gorgeous Cosmo Cricket paper and the used sticky tape to create the folds in the Martha Stewart ribbon just above. I love these photos . . . this was Isabelle's Christmas dress this year and it was also the first time she had barrettes in her hair (I should also note it was the last as well!) This next photo is a recently completed page celebrating Isabelle's first Halloween. Isabelle wore the cutest little outfit and went as Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.
I used this great paper from Imaginesce coupled with the Cuttlebug spider's web folder and some images from Crafty Secrets. The calendar page is an SU stamp superimposed on the SU crackled backgrounder stamp. The ribbons came from my LCS as did the "Trick or Treat" cutout. This one came together nice and easy. I wish that all of my pages were so quick to materialize. I find myself spending far more time sketching my page layouts than I ever did before. To be honest, I'm a hundred times happier with the results. It's fun to look how far I've come from two years ago when I first started scrapping. I have a long way to go but with such a richness in paper "artists" blogging out there, I find inspiration everywhere:-) Thanks for looking and thanks for inspiring me in turn.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a quick Magnolialiscious post to wish everyone a happy valentine's day and a wonderful long weekend. This is a card I whipped up for my husband . . . I used some left over pieces of CTMH paper for the background and my trusty Fiskars 1" heart punch for the embellishments. Tilda's apron was paper pieced and she was coloured with copics and SU markers. The label is from SU (I think the set is called Lovely Labels). Had a great time with this card and hope to try some Saturday sketches today. Don't forget to tune in tonight to Papertrey Ink's release party:-)

Over the Rainbow PTI Challenge

I started this blog way back in the summer when I thought I would have all the time in the world to blog and stamp during the last 6 months of my maternity leave - lol! Who was I kidding anyways:-) I now have a toddler who loves to climb, play in the dog's water and throw things into our toilet . . . so I live vicariously through the blogs of others; oohing and ahhing over their beautiful creations. For the last ten days or so I have been anxiously awaiting each of Nichole Heady's posts to find out what Papertrey Ink is up to as they approach their Second Anniversary (woohoo)! I feel like a kid at Christmastime as I rush to the computer every morning to see what's waiting for me on her blog. Today, Papertrey Ink is hosting a fantastic contest for a chance to win a package of each one of their cardstocks (yep that's right - pretty nice eh?) Had to throw a Canadian thought in there:-) Anyhow, for the very first time I got up the courage to play along. In order to particpate, you needed to incorporate the colours pure poppy; ripe avocado; ocean tides; and summer sunrise. Unfortunately, I don't own these (yet - nudge nudge wink wink) but I did have some fabulous paper from Cosmo Cricket. This a 12x12 page that I did of my daughter and my father sharing an ice cream sandwich. The look on her face was priceless when she had finished it all! I had so much fun with this layout and I even got to tuck in a little journalling card behind the bottom photo. The ribbon and buttons are from my stash but the lettering is from the Cuttlebug Tag Sale font. I ran some dark brown paper through the Swiss Dots folder on the cuttlebug and then flipped the cardstock over to get the look of the wafer from the ice cream sandwich. I then used a scalloped circle punch to take a "bite" out of the corner. The "ice cream" is some handmade paper that I bought at the dollar store and then distressed with some SU More Mustard. Thanks for looking and make sure you check out the countdown to Papertrey's second anniversary release!