An 8.5 X 11 layout, a great you tube channel and a fun challenge !!

Happy Thursday scrappy friends!  We have a "heatwave" LOL ... the temperature is minus 10 deg C today but that brought a little snow, just enough to mess up the rush hour this morning but I have the day off so woot woot!

I made my second ever 8.5 X 11 layout and I must say I am really starting to like this format.  Once I got the proportions sorted, it became quite easy and I love the result. This size of layout, and this particular page,  are totally inspired by one of my favourite scrapbookers - Rory Vaillancourt.  She is on you tube as "Kateroar" and is also a member of the Scraptastic Design Team.  Rory is immensely talented and makes lovely layouts and great videos. Her voice is so soothing and relaxing as well LOL.  She is also quite active on our various facebook groups.  If you don't know her, head right on over to You Tube.  As a double bonus, she is hosting a challenge right now.  The requirements are super easy - be a subbie, make a layout and link to it in the comments section of her challenge video. The prize is totally awesome as well !!!

This layout is really a scraplift, not of a specific layout of Rory's but rather more generally of her style, design and some of the techniques she uses often.  I used a monochromatic colour scheme.  The banner under the photo was given texture by using my crimper (gosh I don't even know when I last used it!!) and then distressing, and inking the edges.  I used some vellum behind the photo and then some fun foam to pop both the vellum and the photo up.  All "Rory techniques" LOL.

Here it is : 

The story behind this layout is very simple really.  The journaling says it all:  "My day is always brighter when I meet a kitty or puppy along the way!"

The supplies come entirely from the mega kit I put together using my January Scraptastic kit along with the leftovers from the October main and add-on, as well as the TLN kit.

I must say that I am really happy with this layout - it is one of my favourites so far this year.  

Thanks for the inspiration and motivation Rory.  And of course, a big thanks to all of you who take the time to read my blog, like and comment on my layouts whether it be here, on instagram (mooreilly), or on our various facebook groups.  I am so very lucky to be part of this fantastic community. 

Cheers!

12 X 12 Travel layout (11/150-2015) - Canal Love (Venice)

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you had, are having or will have a wonderful day depending on where in the world you are - I hope you are warm, or cool, as the case may be LOL.  As for us, here in Quebec, Canada, we are still in the deep freeze.  It is the coldest winter in over 20 years according to the experts.  On Friday, the maximum for the day was minus 23 deg C!!! Hmmmm 'nuff said. 

I wanted to pop in today with my final layout for the portion of my trip that I spent in Venice.  This one is aptly called "Canal Love".  It is also for a challenge over on the Victoria Marie Facebook Group.  If you are not a member of the group yet, head on over there; it is a really fun place to be.  A great group of scrappers, tons of inspiration and motivation,  fun challenges and well Victoria is just a hoot and more - her posts crack me up!! 

I love Canal cities and towns - they are so beautiful and lovely to walk around.  I spent 2 or 3 days just walking around Venice; discovering almost every corner.  I also enjoy going off the beaten track so I deliberately allowed myself to get lost and wind up in residential areas where peoples' boats were tied up outside their door.  I don't have great balance when it comes to standing in moving vehicles (of any kind), or vehicles that are not on a firm footing, or ground LOL.  So I would probably wind up in the water as often as I would go through the entrance if I lived there LOL.   There is something so very calming about strolling around canal streets.  I do hope to get back there one day.  If you have been to Venice, I would love to see any pages you might have made and read about your discoveries, likes and dislikes!

The supplies are entirely from the "mega" kit I prepared from the January Scraptastic kit and add-on (This must be the place), together with the October TLN kit and the October main and add-on (Heart It Races).  

The only items I added from my stash are the enamel dots and black gems (the latter are from BoBunny). 

This was the 11th layout I made with this kit.  I have made two more layouts since and still have enough for about 4 more.  With scraps, I might even it make it to 20 !!

So there you have, a quick visit today, with the ramblings somewhat in check LOL.  Thanks for being here :) Have a great scrappy day and I will be back with another page, and post, on Thursday. 

12 X 12 Travel layout using Scraptastic kits and a little story :)

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you are having, or had, an amazing day, or evening!  Hope that cover everyone LOL.  We are still in the deep-freeze in Quebec, Canada.  Our winter started quite late but it has been so so very cold since the first of the year.  We are setting records often and actually had the dubious honour of being the coldest place on earth on Thursday, January 8th!!!  The themometer seems to be stuck in the minus 20's C. I have become a master of layers, but the upside is that it is too cold to snow so we are having a very easy winter from that point of view.

I have gone back to making a few travel pages to try and stay warm LOL, so today we are revisiting Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol region in western Austria.  I visited  in the summer mind!  

I originally started this page with the intention of following a sketch for the weekend challenge over on the Victoria Marie Facebook Group.  But in the end, this page took on a life of its own and in no way, shape or form resembles the sketch I had chosen - absolutely nothing except for the double matting of the photo.  So back to the grindstone on that challenge !!!  But I really love how this page turned out; it is one of my favourites this month.

The product:  After finishing all my Christmas presents, I had used bits from the September, October and November Scraptastic kits but still had lots left over.  I made quite an attempt at killing the September one but then the January "This must be the Place" kit arrived and it was love at first sight.  Not wanting to leave October's kit behind (it is so beautiful), I created a mega-kit for this month - it consists of the remainder of the October Heart It races kit and add-on, the October TLN kit and January's kit and add-on)  I hope to get 20 or more layout from this mega kit and am loving it.  Those two months complement each so much that half the time I really don't know  what comes from which. Therefore, I have not really added much from my own stash.  In this case, all the supplies come from my mega kit with the just a couple of exceptions :

• The background paper is from Stampin' Up in Basic Grey with vanilla polka dots
• I used a few brads from my stash, as well as enamel dots and shapes.

I am getting a lot more comfortable using vellum and just love the effect on this page.

The story:  I visited Innsbruck and Igles fairly early on in the one-year sabbatical trip - in August of 2005.  It is so beautiful!  When we arrived, there was big convention in town so hardly a room to be found.  The tourist office eventually found us a lovely pensione, at quite an altitude and  at quite an uphill trek LOL.  This particular pensione was actually closed but the landlady (then in her late seventies, early eighties I think) still lived there with her daughter, grand-children, two dogs and three cats.  Every once in a while they would take in tourists, as long as it was for a week or more, and as long as it was not a group!.  Well, what a gem of a find.  The landlady was just so lovely as well.  She did not speak English, nor French and my German is more than atrocious but we still managed to communicate.  I spent a couple of evenings watching her sew and do the most lovely needle work I have every seen - embroidered table cloths, sheets and pillow cases that were stunning.  My room was amazingly comfortable and breakfast each morning a real treat.  There was also a lovely terrasse - the photo in the picture is the view I had sitting on that terrasse while sipping a glass of wine, or drinking coffee.  As the journaling says : "Priceless".  Unfortunately, that lovely lady would not allow her picture to be taken - she felt she was too old and no longer photo worth --- what a shame, as she was quite lovely.  It was obvious from the photos in the dining room that the pensione had once been THE place to be - there were photos of a much younger her and her husband in the pensione, or on the ski slopes,  with many celebrities, Olympic althletes and politicians.  One of the most beautiful two weeks of my trip (and such a getting into shape two weeks too LOL, lots of hiking which I loved).

So there you have, you have made it to the end of another of my long and winding blog posts - thanks so much !!  I will be back soon to report on how I made out with my goals for January.  Until then stay warm, or cool, as the case may be!  Cheers xo

A couple of layouts, 2015 scrappy goals and just a little rambling LOL

Well hello there and happy Wednesday!!!  Finally, you say?  Of course, you would be right LOL... so happy happy New Year as well.  May I take a minute to wish you and yours a fantastic 2015 filled with health, happiness, fun, giggles and lots of scrappy time, or reading time, or gardening time ... or whatever floats your boat!!!

As many of you already know, I have a grueling work schedule from mid-December to mid-January - Christmas and New Year's is our busiest time of the year.  So no posting.  But I did quite a bit of scrapbooking anyway - often in 15 or 20 minute increments when I got home, or just before bed.  It is my sanity-saver and I also make a lot of Christmas presents.  I won't go back and post any of those layouts since I pretty much put them up on our various Facebook pages so you have probably seen them.  I was also honoured to be asked to be the Scraptastic member spotlight for December (see their blog on the 31st of December).

The main point to today's blog post is to set out my scrappy goals for 2015, explain them a little, challenge myself (and you if you so choose LOL) to stretch my creative limits a bit, to think outside the box and generally to have lots of fun this year in my scrap room (I know, I know some people are under the impression that it's my dining room - go figure!!!).

But, just before I get to that main point, here are a couple of my most recent layouts :

On to the goals :

The numbers :  I want to make 150 layouts this year, which translates to a little over 12 per month.  But, since I mentioned that I wanted to stretch my creative limits a little this year, they won't all be 12 X 12.  Within that 150, I want to make:

• At least 12 pocketed page 12 X 12 layouts as inserts into my normal 12 X 12 album.  I am not ready to jump on the "Project Life" bandwagon just yet, and frankly I don't think I have enough going on in my life to warrant it LOL, but I do want to get at least one spread a month done to document some of the everyday, but in particular what I read, the tennis I watch, the netflix movies or series I watch... None of these warrant 12X12 pages but I want them documented.
• I also want to try my hand at some 8½ X 11 pages, at least one a month.  Rory Vaillancourt, one of the Scraptastic DT members (kateroar on YouTube) scraps mainly in that format; her layouts, and videos, are awesome and inspiring. 

I also want to make 50 cards; my card stash is dwindling.  And, what better way to clean up the scraps after creating a page LOL

The product:  As you know, I joined Scraptastic last May and I love, love, love it!!!  I tried many ways of using the kit for the first few months and bought sometimes only a main, sometimes a main with a few extra bits, sometimes a main plus the add-on.  I sometimes added from my stash, other times not.  In late summer, I found the formula that worked for me (I did blog about it  here :   http://lifescrapsbymoira.blogspot.ca/2014/08/did-i-kill-june-scraptastic-kit-and.html ).  My strategy for this year is :

• I will buy a main kit plus an add-on every month, with the occasional additional flair, wood veneer, or the new acrylics.  I will also prepare a small add-on from my stash and then I will scrap away.  That brings me to 

My budget:  Yes, I do have to talk about it LOL !!!  My challenge to myself for the entire year is to not buy anything other than what I mentioned above. I have a stash the size of a small store and need to use it.  The exception of course will be basic tools, like adhesives, trimmer blades etc... and I will treat myself to  a birthday haul in October.

The combination Scraptastic kit, add-on and my stash is a winning one for me.  The other thing I love about getting a kit is that I do get my "new product fix"!  I am not as tempted to watch haul videos, new collection videos etc... because I know I will get lots of the great new goodies out there.  I will also get some really fun exclusives.

The kit is nicely coordinated so pulling product is so much easier.  The end result is that I have never scrapped as much as I do with the kit subscriptions.

Another big factor in my increased productivity and fun is:

My inspiration:  I am quite active on a couple of awesome, awesome, awesome (did I say awesome) facebook groups; mainly:

• nicolejones911
• victoria marie facebook group
• scraptastic member forum

These groups are amazing, full of talented, creative and fun scrapbookers sharing their layouts, their inspiration, their techniques, tips & tricks.  We encourage each other, we challenge each other, we have an amazingly fun time!!!

I am also an avid process video watcher and that community is the best as well.  It has grown leaps and bounds this year and there are so many talented scrappers showing us beautiful pages (I really wanted to post a top ten of that for you here, but when I reached top 30 and realised the list was not done; I decided against it LOL).  So hop on over to the FB groups and you will find that most You Tubers let us know on the group when they have posted a video.  There are new ones every day !!!

And finally, I want to increase my participation in challenges this year.  So my goals for that are :

• Do the nicolejones911 challenge every month
• Do at least one of the Victora Marie FB group challenges every week (if I can do both, yay me)
• do as many of the challenges run by my friends Ronisuescrapper, Megan and Jennifer as I can (at least two a month)
• participate in as many of the challenges as I can  issued by my favourite You Tubers
• Do the sketch challenge and the Pinterest challenge posted on the Scraptastic blog, as a minimum from their blog.

So there you have it - my 2015 Scrappy plan!!!  I did not make the goal of short blog posts because that, of course, would be a monumental fail.  Like always, thanks so much for sticking with me.  I hope to post every Thursday this year and one day on the weekend about twice a month (so six blog posts per month is the goal!!! :) :)

Have a wonderful scrappy week!!!  Check out the FB groups mentioned above, go have fun on You Tube ... join us!!!

A December Documented (or Daily) Prompt - make 3 X 4 cards from the scraps left on your work surface after completing another project :)

Good morning and happy Thursday to you all!  It's December ... woot, woot!  Can you hear the song :  "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." LOL.  It is one of my signature songs - I sing that portion of it in response to all sorts over the earlier part of December.  When my mom told me they had decorated the dining room at her residence, that was my response.  When my friend told me she was starting her Christmas shopping, I sang that portion of the song ... you get the picture.  Have I now implanted that in your brain for the day - will you be singing it all day???  Yay, my job is done LOL.  We can now move on to the subject at hand :

I made about 50 Christmas cards this year, here is a selection of them :

Here is my scrap table after I finished making all the cards :

So we all have messy desks after a project, right?  Please do not disillusion me if that is not your case!!  We all hate the cleaning up part, right?  Except for my cat Chopin that is (you can see his paws up in the right hand corner LOL) who loves playing in the leftovers, but usually just makes the mess messier LOL.  And finally, cleaning up that mess takes away from valuable crafting time, does it not?  So what's a crafter to do??  

TURN THAT MESS INTO 3 X 4 CARDS FOR OUR DECEMBER DOCUMENTED ALBUMS !!!

I did not buy anything this year for my album, used only things I had in my stash (the Scraptastic December kit will be Christmas themed, but it may not get here in time for me to use it in the album).  I am using a 6 X 8 album, with pocketed pages but did not have a single 3 X 4, or 4 X 6, Christmas/winter themed card.  So I cleaned my desk :

As I was making these cards, I thought of three different categories of cards that I would use in my album, and that I could make ahead of time :

• date and event specific
• event specific, but no date
• generic filler cards

The generic filler cards are the easiest and fastest to make.  I just trimmed scraps to the 3 X 4 size, rounded the corners and then searched for little bits on my desk that matched the colour and that I could layer :

There is still plenty of room to add a title or a date.   I search for different shapes and sizes from that little scrap heap, at least 3 little bits, so that I can layer.  Each little layer touches at least another one.  I also add just a touch of dimension or bling for texture and pizzazz !

Then for the event-specific cards, although I don't know yet when these events will happen :

We have not yet had our first real snow storm - that 20+ cm snowfall, but it surely will come and probably sooner rather than later ... maybe in the next few days.  So I am ready with my card.  

I don't have a tree in my house because I have my kitty and my sister has two, plus Oliver, our golden retriever; and we spend a lot of time at each other's homes.  So no trees for us.  But my mom has one, her residence has many, we have one at work, other family members and friends also have trees.  So a page will definitely be dedicated to Christmas trees.  My card is ready.  I used twine for some added texture here to represent garland on the tree and stickles on the tree to represent the lights.

Lastly, the presents.  I document shopping, wrapping, giving and opening so I am not sure where is card will wind up in my album ... probably buying because it is actually a gift card holder that I made. I may decorate the inside, or add the list of the gifts that I buy as well as who they are for:

And the very last category, is a card that is very specific and very personal to my Christmas period :

This will be the title card for December 18th.  I work in an Italian gourmet food shop and bakery and Christmas is our busiest time of the year.  We get all sorts of special orders for pastries, cakes, food, baskets .... so on the 18th of every year, I become the "List Lady"... I make lists pretty much all day - special orders by category, orders from vendors, extra staff on call, ingredient lists, crew load lists .... lists and more lists... At the bottom of each of my lists, I always write, and then sing when I give the list to whoever  "And, a partridge in a pear tree" !!! LOL

So now I have implanted a second song in your brain for the day ... wouldn't want you to get bored singing the same song over and over ... so now you have two.  You don't have to thank me, it was a pleasure!

There you have it, I hope I have given you a few ideas for 3 X 4 cards; they are so versatile and easy to make and much more fun than cleaning off the desk !!!

Pop on over to our facebook group, December Daily Inspiration Group - Anything Goes,  for lots more inspiration and gorgeous projects.  There are close to 200 amazing DD crafters in the group making beautiful stuff.  Also pop on over to Sue's You Tube channel (shiles728) to keep up to date with everything going on in the group.  And, of course, there is still time to join in Kristy Nitro's amazing challenge (Kristy Nitro on You Tube).

Are you still with me?  All the way to the end? .... Wow, you are as amazing as I thought.  Thanks so much for sticking with me and my ramblings!  Have a wonderful fun-filled day and don't forget :  SING IT FOR ALL TO HEAR !!!

My job is done LOL.  Hugs xoxo

 

11th and final layout with the Scraptastic August Boys of Summer Kit :) :)

Good morning and happy Saturday to you all!  I hope you are having a great day so far!!  I have a fair amount on my plate today - making bread (well OK, the machine makes it but still ... LOL), making chili,  getting some December Documented stuff done, planning out the layouts than I will make to give as Christmas gifts (more about that in another post); and tonight is my work Christmas party!

So I thought I would quickly pop in and post my last layout with the Boys of Summer kit. Remember when I posted the first layout and I was a little afraid that I would have trouble with this kit since it was so "little boy" specific?... Well, I guess I got over that LOL.  I am so happy that I really got a lot out of this kit and was able to adapt many of the die-cuts.

Without further ado: 

See what I mean about adapting the die-cuts!!!  If you are thinking "that die-cut has nothing whatsoever to do with that page" ... you are right LOL.  But I decided to use it simply because the critter is making the same goofy face I am on the photo and his arms are spread out like mine!  Reason enough I say, plus the colours match!

The supplies:  I was really down to scraps for this layout.  The background cardstock is from my stash as I did not have a single piece of 12X12, cardstock or paper, left.  

• The burlap stickers were left over from the Either Way kit, as were a couple of the other stickers
• I am not sure if the hello wood veneer was from this kit or a left over from another, but the spread you wings was from my stash
• The little gold circular pieces were left over from those totally yummy gold thickers we got with the Either Way kit
• I used Glimmer Mist on the corners

The story:  There is no real story to this one. It is an everyday photo from my year-long backpacking trip to Europe.  I spent two weeks in Sevilla, Spain in November of 2005 and loved every minute of it.  I have shared quite a few pages from this portion of the trip already.  On this photo, I simply wanted to show the size of the tree.  If you know me a little, you know I am a nature lover and yes I admit, somewhat of a tree-hugger ;).  This tree was not in a park or anything;  just there along a wide-alley walkway, in the center of town.  The only other place I have seen trees this size was in the California Redwoods area!!!

So there you have it, just a quick visit from me today... For once, I am sparing you from my usual ramblings LOL, but never fear, it is a short respite.  I will be back, ramblings and all shortly; maybe even tomorrow if I can get my DD act together.  

Thanks for stopping by as always and have a wonderful scrap-filled day.  Hugs xo

December documented - a page, an embelli, a tag and a few ramblings ;)

Happy Sunday to you all !!! Well, we seem to be out of the deep freeze for a few days but it is very cloudy and we are to get rain for two solid days Monday and Tuesday.  But having a choice between snow and rain, I will take the rain for now.  I love snow but starting around mid-December LOL... Yes, I know I live in southern Quebec and it snows in November but a girl can hope and dream, no?

On to the subject at hand before I bore you to tears ...

First up, I made my first page.  I apologise for the lighting.  I finished this page last night and took the photo straight away because I wanted to get this page into the album :

It says November 7 & 8 doesn't it?  ... That's not December?  You are right.  Because of my work schedule, I do a lot in November to get ready for Christmas.  I take the first week of December off to bake, decorate, send all my Christmas cards, do all the present shopping and even wrap the presents.  When the 15th or so rolls around, I work ... work and work pretty much solidly until 4 pm on the 24th.  So all my personal stuff has to be done and ready - the freezer has to have food so I can eat LOL, and my nephew (who happens to be my boss) has to have enough wine to keep me happy !!  So I start my season in November and therefore my December Documented will need a Prologue ;) :) ... Watch for that "cover" page soon.

Every year, on the first or second weekend of November, my local scrappy friends and I get together  for a Christmas crop.  It kicks the season off for me.  I love Christmas so an extra-long Christmas season is fine by me.

My second little project for today is a wood veneer snowflake.  The packaging called them wood veneer doilies (silly of them to make such a mistake isn't it?) :

I started by painting the bare wood veneer with some semi-gloss blank canvas acrylic paint by Claudine Hellmuth.  It gave it just a touch of sheen.  I then hapharzardly applied some gold ink (I used Brilliance) and then several layers of clear and glitterly embossing powder.  I think I did four layers.  This embellishment was originally intended for the cover of my album; it didn't make it but will definitely be in the album.

And last up for me today is my tag in response to the challenge over on our Facebook DD Inspiration Group, as well as on Sue's You Tube channel (shiles728).  The challenge is closed now. I am so amazed with the wonderful tags everyone created and posted.  Here is my little contribution :

 It is quite a simple tag :  I used a scrap of red cardstock to create the tag which is about 3 X 5 so I can fit it nicely into a 4 X 6 pocket.  I stamped and clear heat embossed the snow flakes on the background.  I then die-cut some smaller snowflakes out of white glitter paper (I used a Spellbinders die) and glued them to the tag.  I put small red star shaped gems in the center of each of those snowflakes and added the letters NOEL in silver alphas.  The hole reinforcer is also out of white glitter paper.  Lastly I added red and white twine, along with 1/8 inch silver ribbon.

Well there you have - as the title says - a page, an embelli, a tag and a lot of ramling LOL.

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking time out of your day for me.  I truly appreciate it.  I love reading all your comments.  

I will be back soon with a layout - my 11th and final layout with the August Scraptastic Boys of summer kit.  Until then, stay warm (or cool if you are down south, or in the southern hemisphere) and be well.  Hugs xo