Triple share - a "just for fun" layout and a 2-project BOAF reveal!

Good morning!  Today I have a few projects to share - the first is a "just for fun" layout I made that isn't for an design team work or challenge entry.  I snapped this awesome picture of my daughter that has just been begging to be scrapped, and the photo feels funky and artsy to me so I thought I would try to recreate a kind of impressionist background that mimicked the view she was looking at outside the window.  I came across this awesome pin on Pinterest that gave me the courage to try to make an abstract cityscape.  Here's what I came up with.

Lots of doodles added to make everything pop out against the water color background...and these white modeling paste chevrons have really gotten some mileage on my layouts lately.  I am going to have to make another batch!

I'm also up on the Birds of a Feather blog today sharing a layout and card I made using the November kit (which is packed with Heidi Swapp goodness, among other things).  Remember when crowns were all the rage in scrapbooking a few years back? (okay...so maybe it's been more than a few years...I'm getting old.) Anyway, I'm kickin' it old school for this layout! The crown here was too perfect to pass up.  And the Heidi Swapp Good Life paper plays right into my love for fussy cutting and quite a bit of cutting I did.  I pulled the crown, the camera, the silhouette and the star from the circles on the back side of the paper then layered them up over gelatos, inks and mists.  Then I used Heidi Swapp rub-on stars and added some of my own vellum punched stars and some stars made with a stencil mask and modeling paste.  I also layered the scraps from the vellum used for the stars and popped it behind the photo.  The bottom border is washi tape.  

For the card below, I used some more of the vellum star scraps, and punched out the world circle from the Heidi Swapp paper, using the scrap layered underneath.  I hole punched the main cardstock and added the royal blue card stock on the inside of the card.  The letters are October Afternoon.

Thanks so much for stopping by...your visits and comments make my day!  

Awesome giveaway over at ScrapFriends!

Who doesn't love free scrapbooking goodies??  ScrapFriends is hosting a giveaway where you can win all of these fab goodies by doing the most simple of things.  Click here to follow the ScrapFriends blog and check out the giveaway details.  (I'm totally entering, by the way...so yeah I wish you good luck...but I hope my luck is better.  Muahaha!) ;-)

Here's how to enter (Note that you don't have to have a blog - in lieu of a blog post about the giveaway you can post the deets to Facebook or Twitter!):

1. Become a Follower of our blog (if you don't have a blog, feel free use your Facebook/Twitter account)                                                                                                  
2. Leve a link to this post and photo of this candy on your blog, Facebook/Twitter or Social Network.
3. Please add your entry  with a DIRECT LINK to your blog post about this giveaway (not your blog)  via 
   button below, before 23 p.m. Brisbane  (Australia) on December 15. 
4.  Anyone can enter!

{you can also grab our button in our left sidebar} 

{Entries which fail to observe the above will be removed and will not qualify for the prize draw.}

The winners will be identified via random selection from http://random.org and announced on December 18, 2013.

Good luck!

CSI CF# 97 - The Best Cross Eyes

I don't know how she mastered it at such an early age, but man...my kid can cross-eye like no other.  ;-)

This week's case file over at CSI is full of gorgeous color and, being the 2nd week of the month, comes with a fabulous sketch by Emma Stafrace.  I had a lot of fun creating this layout, which compliments the "Memories" layout I posted last week.  Here is the case file:

And here is my layout.  I went for my modeling paste to spruce up the background a bit (I seem to be using modeling paste almost as frequently as gelatos lately!), and tried to layer up lots of texture to match the woodsy background of the to photo.  The papers are a mix of a little bit of everything I had in my scraps, and the little stitched heart, the feather and the awesome textured ribbon are from Citrus Twist kits of months past.

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate the visits! xoxo  Have a fabulous weekend!

CF#96...and my CSI Design Team Debut!

I am still pinching myself over having made the Color Stories Inspiration design team...such an honor!  This week's case file is an awesome one, with bold colors that look amazing together.  Here is the case:

I chose to make the black my dominant color, using it as my background paper.  It has been a long time since I have created a layout against a black background and it was a refreshing change.  Here is my layout:

For evidence, I used paint and a frame.  For testimony, I journaled about the duals that are sure to come in the later years as my daughter grows into a teen.  It is written on the pull-out card and reads:

I'm not so naive that I believe our duals will always end with fits of giggles and hugs and kisses.  You are your mother's daughter, and that's a double-edged sword...you have my stubborn streak and my determination, both of which will likely cause us to butt heads often when you hit your teen years.  When that time comes, I will draw upon this memory an remember the love and lightheartedness; the prophecy of standoffs to come.  And we will get through it...and maybe even giggle, just a little.  

Here are a couple of close-ups:

These moments...

Happy Friday, everyone!  Hope you all survived Halloween and the inevitable sugar craze that hits the kiddos halfway through trick or treating. ;-)

Here's a layout I did just for fun using a fabulous photo taken by my very talented photographer friend, Heather.  This was one of those layouts where I just grabbed a little bit of everything and loaded the page up with it.  I love this quote by Thich Nhat Hanh - so incredibly true!

Thank you for stopping by.  Your visits and comments mean a lot.  Enjoy the weekend!