Playing Along With LGS … Finally!

Posted on March 14, 2013 by daydesigns
Do you ever find yourself so swamped with all the items on your “to do” list that things slip? This week has been a week of letting things slip for me! Starting with not getting a layout ready for Let’s Get Sketchy‘s Monday reveal. It IS Team B’s turn this week so playing along is really a bonus for me but it’s something I told myself I would do as a way to have regular posts on my blog. But … I dropped the ball this week. I also completely forgot to take my girls to their hair cut appointment on Monday. Not sure where my head was that day!! 
Without further ado, here is the sketch that we are working with this week.
And my interpretation.
I have a tiny confession to make. I looked at the sketch, saw that I needed two landscape photos (I went with 4×6 to keep things simple) and then totally forgot to look at the sketch again while building my layout. What?!?! I am not advocating this as a way of following along with a sketch challenge by any means! I count it as a lucky coincidence that my layout resembles the sketch at all – albeit mirrored. This is just how my week has gone!
Sigh.
Here are your detail shots.

My title is made up of 3 different components. A word tag, small letter tiles and more traditional letter stickers. Remember that you can have fun with any component on your pages. Don’t get locked into one way of thinking. Like, “My titles must be made up of Thickers!” When you’re using up your stash like I am you quickly realize that you’ve got to get creative with your resources or pretty soon you’ll run the risk of thinking you can’t make another layout because none of your Thicker sets have enough letters in them to spell “Thickers”! Mixing and matching styles, manufacturers and products keeps things feeling fresh and new – no matter how long the product has been sitting on your shelf!

From that same Teresa Collins set as the “family” word tag was a 12×12 sheet of month journaling cards. I cut out the February one to use on this layout. The clocks are also from a Teresa Collins collection pack (for whatever reason I have a TON of Teresa Collins packs – must have bought them on sale or something!) I liked the symbolism of time passing for a child’s birthday layout.

The row of little clocks looked a bit bare so I dug out some mini brads to fill the centres. Now it looks finished and I love the pops of red and hints of shimmer with the gold.
In fact, I loved the gold so much I knew I needed to add it somewhere else – the centre of the large clock embellishment seemed like the perfect spot! Kind of wishing I had some of that Heidi Swapp gold lame colour shine spray too …
Well, that’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by. Are you playing along with Let’s Get Sketchy this week? There’s a $10 GC from The Paper Bakery up for grabs this month. All you need to do is enter 3 out of the 4 challenges by the end of March. Good luck – hope to see you on the blog.

Posted in challenges, layout, Let's Get Sketchy, Marley | 9 Comments

Double Page Layouts

Posted on March 13, 2013 by daydesigns

Do you make double page layouts? I admit to having made a ton in the past but lately I’ve focused on single pagers. Well today at Practical Scrappers we are sharing some of our recent double page layouts with you. Hopefully they’ll inspire you to create more double page beauties! You can definitely tell a more in depth memory over those two pages (and, of course, include more pictures!)

I went back to our Disney trip for my inspiration and came up with this.

(click to make it larger)
One of the last pre-made pages I have from all the ones I started with was the base for this layout. I did add a couple more blocks of patterned paper – the one behind the title and the one the journaling is on. Actually opposite corners of the same piece of Teresa Collins paper. The journaling is worth a read. It tells the story of how we were literally steps away from meeting the Top Three princesses (Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty) but got Belle, Ariel and Tiana (who?!) instead. Sigh. An hour in line for the second stringers!! Hmmm, I think I’m still a little bitter about missing out on my  favourite Disney Princesses. The girls? Happy as clams!

Here is a close up of that journaling. 

I felt I could embellish with flowers since the subject matter is fairly girly.  I had one giant black one left from my Disney stash but it was too big and I really needed more than one. Digging through my flowers tin (see this post) I discovered a hole or two in my available colours. Yellow and black! I had one large yellow flower but that was it. What to do? Mists to the rescue! I took some old Stampin’ Up paper daisies and sprayed a couple of the large ones black and three of the small ones yellow. 
You can see one of the large black flowers in the journaling close up above and the last detail shot below. In this close up of the title you can see the small yellow one as well as the other colours I used. 

Another thing that’s quite fun to do – and will help with the ol’ memory many years from now – is to use letter stickers to put the names of princesses we saw on their pictures. It adds detail without adding bulk or taking away from the pictures. In fact, that small bit of information enhances the layout as it adds to the memory/story being told.

Here’s that close up of the black misted flower I was talking about as well as the one large yellow flower I managed to find in my stash. Oh, and the Mickey Mouse ears gem that I’ve been adding to all my Disney pages. It’s little details like those that tie an album together. If you’re wondering what spray I used to mist this black, it’s Dyan Reavely’s Dylusions in Black Marble.
Well thanks for coming by today. I value your visit. If you liked what you saw today please leave a comment, I certainly do appreciate them and would love your feedback. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday. Have fun scrapping!
Posted in Disneyland 2012, layout, Practical Scrappers | 1 Comment

Past Time to Pick a Winner, Don’t You Think?

Posted on March 12, 2013 by daydesigns

Um … oops? My apologies for forgetting to pick a Birthday Bash Blog Hop winner!! First off, a big thank you to all my commenters (is that even a word?) I really appreciate you taking the time to leave your thoughts on my little crafty efforts.

As per random.org, the winner is comment #16 …

Oh My Goodness this is the cutest thing! I really love the colors you used for the feathers!
CONGRATULATIONS BUFFY!

Please email your mailing address to alisonday at eastlink dot ca and I’ll get those goodies out to you.
Posted in Giveaways, Let's Get Sketchy | 2 Comments

First March Monday Reveal … And A New Twist!

Posted on March 4, 2013 by daydesigns

Welcome back! It’s Monday again and time for another new sketch over at Let’s Get Sketchy. Since this is the first Monday in March everything resets. We had a TON of participants last month. I love checking out how everyone interprets the sketches! It was great to see some new faces playing along. Keep up the great work! 
Hope you’re looking forward to 4 brand new sketch challenges (one with a new twist!) and a new sponsor too. At time of publication I don’t have details on who our sponsor is for March but check back with the Let’s Get Sketchy blog for more details. And don’t forget about our Birthday Bash Blog Hop! It’s still going on – you’ve got until March 8th at midnight CST (that’s 10 PM PST) to submit a challenge entry based on one of our Birthday Inspired Projects and be entered to win the grand prize. Just not able to get to your scrap space this week to create something birthday inspired? Don’t despair! There will be plenty of other opportunities to win RAK’s this month as we are celebrating ALL MONTH with prizes. Make sure you you’re a follower of the blog and check back often for those extra chances to win!
And now for our sketch this week – which comes with that twist I was talking about … a colour combo!
As you can see from our colour inspiration picture we thought maybe you’d have some Christmas photos needing scrapping but … I took it in a very different direction!
As we had just come back from Mexico and the colours were showing up in my pictures a lot, I decided to use them to create a tropical feel. I’d also been sent a couple sets of rub-ons that contained the colours I needed so I decided to use them.
Here are my detail shots.

The blue isn’t in the inspiration picture but as Greg was wearing a blue shirt I thought that adding a few touches here and there would help tie everything together.

Here are those rub-ons I was talking about. I am not the biggest rub-on user out there (they kind of scare me to be honest!!) but I’m pretty pleased with how these turned out. I was also able to journal right over them which was great!
The doily was also part of the same prize pack I won. I liked how it was square! Using it on an angle gives the layout some movement and energy.

The little red flower was from the same rub-on pack and the brad and the dahlia are from my Stampin’ Up stash. 

Another look at those big flower rub-ons and my white Mister Huey splatters. Marley had suggested mists for another layout (this one) and I liked it so much I duplicated it here. This may have to become my unifying thing for all my Mexico layouts. That and the kraft card stock. Thanks Marley!
Now it’s your turn. How will you interpret the sketch and colour challenge? Can’t wait to see! Be sure to upload your layout on the Let’s Get Sketchy site by the end of March. Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great week!

Posted in challenges, layout, Let's Get Sketchy, Mexico | 2 Comments

S.W.A.T Drill #3 – 4 Photo Challenge

Posted on March 2, 2013 by daydesigns

It’s time for another challenge from your local Scrap Warrior! Oh heck, it’s too late in the day to think up witty little lines for a blog post! 

With St. Patty’s Day right around the corner we wanted to challenge you with some four focus fun.Just as a four leaf clover brings good fortune, so does this challenge. Simply create a layout using four photos and you could be the lucky winner of a $20 gift card to 3 Scrappy Boys!

Here’s my layout – another Disneyland layout. I’ve been lax on finishing this album but it is slowly coming together. 

I cropped two of the photos to 4×4 to make a even grid. 
Some of my details for you.

Tucked behind the flowers and the red journaling card is one of our Photopass Cards. I like finding new ways to tuck bits of memorabilia into this album.

My letter stickers were not sticking so much, despite additional glue, so I got creative and stitched them down. I don’t have a working sewing machine but I do own a Sew Easy (We R Memory Keepers) that got the job done just as well!
Okay, that’s it for today. Your challenge is to create a layout with 4 photos on it. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Oh, and if you’re looking for my Let’s Get Sketchy Birthday Bash Blog Hop post go here.
Posted in challenges, Disneyland 2012, layout, SWAT | 1 Comment

Let’s Get Sketchy Birthday Blog Hop Bash!

Posted on February 28, 2013 by daydesigns

Welcome! Are you ready to PARTY?

Let’s Get Sketchy is turning ONE and to celebrate we are having a Birthday Bash Blog hop.  As you make your way along our hop to visit each of our DT blogs you will find lots of birthday inspired projects.   If you have arrived here from Lynn’s blog welcome to the LGS blog hop!! If you have stumbled across this by chance and want to play along then you can head back to the Let’s Get Sketchy site to start at the beginning and to start collecting your Birthday challenge words. These words should be in bold on each DT member’s pages.

It is Birthday Season in our house right now. Marley was 9 on Tuesday and she starts the birthday parade that culminates in my husband Greg’s birthday on May 10th. Four birthdays in ten weeks can be exhausting! Especially when at least 3 of them require parties with all the trimmings!
My project was inspired by my daughter Marley’s love of owls. She has been obsessed with owls for several years now and since we live close to O.W.L. (Orphaned WildLife Rehabilitation Society) she regularly raises money for them. Her birthday party is on Saturday and once again she has asked for donations to O.W.L. She also wanted a swimming party with an owl theme. Ummmm … not sure owls can swim but, okay! We sent out invitations with both a life preserver ring AND an owl on them and I have been tearing my hair out trying to create these …



I was inspired by several variations I saw on Pinterest – you can see my board here for all my inspiration pieces.

In typical ME fashion, I bit off a bit more than I could chew for this one. Marley’s party is 48 hours away and I have exactly ONE of these bags finished. YIKES!!!! I apologize that I do not have more things to share with you today but … well, life happened!

UPDATED 03/02: They’re finished!! Check out my little brood!

Aren’t they the cutest?! Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled programming …





WAY back in November I took advantage of a Black Friday sale to pick up a Silhouette Cameo. Then my laptop died and my new Cameo languished, waiting for me to sort out my laptop so I could load the software and start playing. That finally happened this week ( along with a couple days of bad nausea – life, right?) and I started cutting out feathers. And more feathers. And then I realized I needed even MORE feathers! NOW do you see why I only have one finished? It’s a great way to use up a ton of card stock though!!

I need to get this post scheduled as I have to work tonight but if you check back later over the weekend, I promise to update this post with pictures of all the bags and the other owl themed things I’ve got up my sleeves for this party. Until then, I’d love for YOU (hint, hint, hint!!) to tell me what your best birthday memory is. How old were you? What did you do that made the day so special? Did your parents ever throw you a big themed party? If so, what was the theme? I will pick a winner from my comments to win a little pack of goodies. I think I remember a stamp set and ribbon & brad set that could make some sweet celebratory cards! I’ll get a picture uploaded tomorrow for you!

 Also, Let’s Get Sketchy is having a Birthday Bash Challenge. Create any birthday inspired project from examples you see on any of the DT pages on this hop and upload it to the LGS blog.  If the project you pick is a layout then do a lift of that page, If it’s a different project – like my goody bags – then do that project.  You can pick from ANY DT member’s blog project for the hop. 

Don’t forget to collect your clue words as YOU (hint, hint, hint!) hop along. Once you have gathered all the words they will form a quote related to our Birthday. Tell us that quote by emailing us and get your name in the pot for an extra drawing. The winner of the hop will be randomly selected and will win a nice bag of scrap goodies from Lets Get Sketchy.  As always there are rules for playing!

Here are the rules for playing and winning:

1. You MUST be a follower of each LGS team members blog and leave a comment on each blog and;
2. You MUST also be a follower of the LGS blog.

Please make sure you visit the entire team today as some members are hosting additional blog challenges during the hop and offering their own extra goodies for you so the more you play the more chances you win!
All blog hop entries are due by midnight, March 8th, 2013. CST.   
Now hop on over to (Melinda’s) blog to see what she has in store for you!
Here is the lineup in case you get lost!

Line up:
Brenshevia
Debbie
Stacia
Laurie
Carla
Michelle
Lynn
Alison — YOU ARE HERE —
Melinda
Tracy
Sherri
Marit
Lanette
Bev
Stephanie
Stacey
LGS

Posted in challenges, Let's Get Sketchy | 27 Comments

LOAD213 Day 27 – Learn Something New

Posted on February 27, 2013 by daydesigns
I can hardly believe it is the second to last day of LOAD213 today! My prompt for today was to “learn something new”. My techniques and my story are both about learning something new!
When Marley was 4 we signed her up for Blast Ball – a pre T-ball type sport that Ladner was running for 4 year olds. One of the parents at her preschool was heading up the program and a lot of her preschool friends were signing up so we thought ” what the heck”. Neither Greg nor I particularly like baseball (except for that period in first and second year university I alluded to here :)) but we felt it was important for our outgoing, active little girl to try a variety of things to see if any of them “stuck”. Thankfully, Blast Ball did not stick! She had fun and sort of asked about it the following year but that was also her first year of soccer so she never really bugged us about it to the point of us caving!
So that was the “try something new” in the story. As far as the layout goes, I was going through a phase of trying out new multimedia techniques and threw several at this layout to see what would happen. I have several sheets of super bright card stock in my stash (no doubt purchased on sale or something!) and one technique I discovered in LOAD1012 was covering them in white paint to mute the intensity. For this one I used gesso as I wanted to be able to easily add other mediums on top without getting any sort of reaction from the base coat. 

When the gesso was still wet I laid a piece of bubble wrap onto it. This happened to be super sized bubble wrap so the result was a back ground of dots that almost look like soft balls. How serendipitous!
Next I wanted to see if I could create a look of grass along the bottom of my page. I took several shades of green Gelatos and coloured the bottom edge of the card stock. Then I flipped it over and sprayed it liberally with water until the Gelatos dripped down the page. I stopped the drips when I had reached the effect I wanted and dried them with my heat gun. I love the way it looks!
I’ll leave you with a couple of close up shots of my title clusters. 

This first one shows you the different layers – paper, journaling tags, stickers on pop dots … it all adds up to interest and texture.
Here you can see that I added a couple of cute pennants from Pebbles. They seemed to fit the theme!
Well, there you have it. My last layout for LOAD213 (unless by some miracle I find time tomorrow to scrap something other than a DT assignment!!) It has been such a blast creating these layouts for Lain, then seeing them on the videos and hearing my words coming out of Lain’s mouth. I did not think she was going to read them verbatim and if I am ever asked to contribute to a future LOAD will definitely chose my words more carefully!! I’d proof read better too!! LOL!
Thank you Lain for giving me this opportunity to showcase my work. It means more to me than words can say! Thank you to all who have stopped by to view my work and were kind enough to leave comments. I appreciate every one of you!!
And now off to figure out Marley’s goody bags!! Her birthday party is on Saturday and  am trying to make owls out of paper bags. Yikes!

Posted in layout, LOAD, LOAD213 | Comments Off on LOAD213 Day 27 – Learn Something New