pages with papertrey challenge #9

I am back with another layout which I am entering on Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge.  This time, the challenge is to stamp on patterned paper. 

One of the discussions over at the Papertrey forum is how Project Life is working out for those who have tried them.  I know that I cannot commit to taking photos of our everyday and that I will be constrained on having to work with a predetermined format all the time.  But I still like the idea of having something to capture what happened during the month.  So I started putting together a monthly layout for this purpose.

Here is what I came up with for the month of May.  If you would look closely on the yellow gingham patterned paper, you will see the stamped chicken wire background.

I used Papertrey stamps (dot spot, bells and boughs, farm & barn background), dies (eyelet lace, beautiful blooms #3, half and half, heart to heart, block alphabet, bells and boughs) and patterned papers (gingham summer sunrise, striped smokey shadow).  I also used some polka dot October Afternoon paper.

Close up of the journaling...

Thanks for stopping by!

 

not-an-olympic-sport cake

Did you all catch the Opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics?  Wasn't it a sight to behold? It was such a spectacular display of music, dance and theatre as they narrated and gave homage to Great Britain's history and culture. And of course, David Beckham piloting a speedboat on the River Thames, who can forget that?!

In keeping with the Olympic theme, I am featuring a multi-tiered cake I did 5 months ago for a boy obsessed with the Superbowl.  Okay, so American Football is not featured in the Olympic games, however, it still speaks of sportsmanship and victory.

For those of you not in the know, the Vince Lombardi Trophy is what is awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl.   This all-silver trophy is what Liam wanted as his 11th birthday cake, featuring the logos of the competing teams in the finals - the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

The trophy is made of rice crispie treats

National Football League edible logo

Enjoy watching the Olympics, and have a cupcake on me while you do!

Have a sweet week!

Bebsy

Memories from Brampton Home

After 5 years of living and loving my Brampton home, I had to relocate again.  While I was packing, I came across old pictures of parties and gatherings we had with family, friends and of course, my craft sisters.  I realized that every part of the house was a source of fond memories.

Sassy Sewer Virna and I celebrated our birthday together with a khaki and white theme.  We decided to  hold the party outdoors as weather was simply amazing that year.



Everyone came dressed in Khaki & White




Irma played host to outdoor games

 The basement was the "happening place" as it saw its share of Birthdays, New Year's Eve Party and Family Reunions.



Hubby's 40th Birthday Party




2012 was "Rockstar" Theme New Year's Eve Party





Kris Kringle during Holiday Family Reunion


And, who could forget all the meals shared in the dining room?  It also became venue to our yearly "Cookie Exchange".


Family and Friends Get-Together



Cookie Exchange Tradition




After so many years, the high school friends reunite



After the "SOLD" sign was put up, it suddenly hit me how much I will miss my old home.   However, I look forward to making new memories in our new home with family, friends, craftmates and of course, new friends.



father's day part 2

Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend.  I am here for another quick post. Here is part 2 of the layout I made of our father's day weekend last month.  This time, I am focusing more on the celebrant :)  

There were lots of things to do on Safari Niagara. This layout highlights two of my DH's favourites for that day, paddle boating and fishing.  Both were enjoyed with Frances so  that made it even more special.

I used DCVW cardstock, Echo Park's Playground collection and Papertrey's dies (love lives here, bells and boughs) and stamp (bells and boughs).  EP's Playground collection had some really cool patterned papers like the pennants above which I hand cut. The bows are a perfect touch to add some breaks across the page.

Here is a close up of the photos and journaling...

Thanks for stopping by!

father's day

 I am back with another layout. This time, it is for our father's day celebration last month.  We spent the weekend at Safari Niagara which is a nature and adventure park that is home to lots of native and exotic animals. 

Here is a layout I made of our day there.  It has photos of my DD's 2 favourite activities for the day... splash pad and her new found love, the trampoline. She had a blast boucing up and down while I waited nervously on the ground.  There was no time limit for this and boy oh boy, we certainly got our money's worth!

I used Martha Stewart's cardstock, October Afternoon's patterned paper and embellishments and Papertrey's block alpha dies, buttons and twine.

Here is a close up that shows how much fun she had with the trampoline...

And a close up of my fun elements.  This one looks like a mini button boutique.  Clusters like this make me happy...

Happy weekend everyone!

Lucky Month

Last month was a lucky month for me as I won two giveaways - one from Leah of Sew Spoiled, and the other one from the Green Bag Lady. 

From Sew Spoiled, I won a Simplicity bag pattern designed by Leah herself. 

I've been a follower of Sew Spoiled for a long time and Leah's creations are just divine. She's not just a great sewer and pattern maker, she also shares her knowledge with her readers through her tutorials.  I received the pattern last week and Leah even included a very cute key ring. 

I love the colour!

Thanks (sew) much to Leah of Sew Spoiled for the great pattern. I can't wait to try it out and make one of her bags. 

The other giveaway was from the Green Bag Lady. Teresa VanHatten-Granath is the Green Bag Lady. As her blog states: "Teresa and her team of volunteer 'Bagettes' make bags out of donated fabric and give them away for free in exchange for the promise to refuse paper and plastic when shopping".

Very cool vintage fabric

I admire Teresa's eco-friendly effort and I plan to pay it forward by having a give-away soon. Watch out for it!
Thanks again to Sew Spoiled and the Green Bag Lady for their fabulous giveaway. 

papertrey july blog hop

It's that time of the month again... Papertrey's monthly blog hop. 

And here is this month's inspiration photo.  It brings to mind all the freshness of those cool summer colours and the elegance of a beautiful rose bouquet.

Here is the card I came up with.  I used most of the colours from the photo and took inspiration from the rose bouquet to make my own rolled flowers.  I rolled the rosettes from spiral circles which I cut free hand.  This is my first time trying this technique and I love how delicate and elegant the flowers look. So I will definitely be trying this again soon.

I used Papertrey cardstock (harvest gold, simply chartreuse), dies (garden variety II, turning a new leaf), patterned paper (berry sorbet bitty dots), impression plate (simple stripes -- i love that plate!) and stamp (communique curves).  I also used Echo Park's Victoria Garden collection for the rolled flowers and some pearls from my stash.


Here is another angle of the card.

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of the day and happy hopping!

frances-ism

Do you sometimes have moments when your child says or does something really funny or silly that it competely throws you off guard? I have my fair share with my DD and it got me thinking to preserve it somewhere so that I can look back to it whenever I need a good chuckle.  And of course, to preserve it means to make a layout of it.

Here is the latest one I have scrapbooked.  I started with my first one early this year and thought of calling it Frances-ism (after her name).  It is basically a collection of the silly stuff she does and the funny things she says. I will try to post the older ones next time (once I photograph them). 




I used DCVW cardstock, Papertrey Beautiful Blooms die, Basic Grey brad and Simple Stories patterned paper and stickers.  I recently discovered Simple Stories patterned paper and I love their latest Summer Fresh collection (you will be seeing more of this in the future as I got quite a few, you know, just in case...).  They are very easy to use for blocked style layouts like this one.

Here is a close up of the journaling. 


And the sticker embellishments...



Have a great week!

sleep-over!

Do you remember your first sleep-over party?  The details are now lost on me, but I think I may have been at least 13 before my mom allowed to me to spend a night in a house other than our own.  And back then (in my world at least), a sleep-over did not require printed invitations, catered food, crafts nor cupcakes and cakes.  

A VHS tape and a bowl of popcorn.  That's all we needed, and that's all we got.

For her 10th birthday, my neighbour Kailey invited 4 of her bestfriends to her house and had a sleep-over party.  Her mom had asked me to do this cake as her special birthday surprise. 

This all-edible 3 dimensional creation is made of dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling. 

Is this how you remember your sleep-over parties to be?

Sweet dreams!

Bebsy

Crochet Jewellery

I learned to crochet from good, old home economics class.  I never really pursued this craft because for me, a simple project like a doily took forever to make.  Now, I regret not having paid attention in class as I see a lot of jewellery incorporating beads on crocheted wire.  I admire the artisans that create truly unique and intricate crochet jewellery pieces.

I attempted to make a few projects with wire crochet.  I looked at online tutorials for instructions and ideas.  Using  beads from my collection, here are a few of my projects.

Mini-doily earrings

Chain stitch pendant

"Cloud" earrings



This can be a ring or pendant

There was a lot of trial and error involved so it took a lot of patience, coupled with cuts and blisters along the way.   But despite the challenge, I enjoyed making them as each piece is one of a kind.

last day

Happy Saturday!  Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.  We are headed downtown to visit a friend and get some beach action (for my DD) by the lakeshore area.  Beach action for her means building sand castles and soaking her feet on water.

I have a quick post to share a couple of layouts I made last month during my DD's last day of dance class.  The first is with her two teachers.  She enjoyed going to that class and part of the reason was because she adored them so much.  They were so good with kids!

I only used only 2 Papertrey products here... the heart die on the title and the date from Calendar Basics!  I used a patterned paper from Close to my Heart as the base.

Here is a close up of my fun embellishment cluster.  I used stickers from October afternoon, brad from Basic Grey and a button from my stash.  I love clusters like this!

And here is a close up of the photos.  I used Lifestyle Crafts alpha dies for my title.

Part of the last day activity was a dance presentation for the parents. Here is a layout I made showing my DD totally focused on her performance.  You could really see that she was trying to follow the dance steps.

I used the same CTMH patterned paper as base, Papertrey's doily details die and MME's patterned paper and sticker elements.  The title was cut from a Lifestyle Crafts alpha die.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!