Your Story Matters Blog Hop

Posted on January 16, 2013 by daydesigns

I am SOOOO excited! Today I can make the official announcement that I have been published!!! Eeek!


Last summer several of us from ScrapHappy (an online social group started by Lain Ehmann for her devoted LOAD and True Scrap fans) got together to create a “cook book” of scrapping prompts. It was intended as a free downloadable ebook for new members to the ScrapHappy family, but Lain decided that it was so awesome (and we were so talented) that it should be made available to the masses. 

Okay, I may be putting words in her mouth there a little bit! 🙂

Today is the day that this little bad boy goes live!! 


To celebrate, some of the contributors are hosting a Blog Hop. If you’ve been following along then you arrived here from Monica Bradford‘s site. If you stumbled across this because you’re a regular reader of mine and you want to start at the beginning please go to Lain’s Layout A Day site. (If you are looking for the Mini Album project for Practical Scrappers – go here.) 

This book was prompted by Lain’s recent loss of her Mother after a battle with dementia  She realized, as she watched her Mother forget her own stories, that she wanted to help others capture theirs now. Before they faded or were lost to the sands of time. I think we often take for granted that we have tons of time to learn and hear about how Mom met Dad, or why they live where they do, or what Mom’s average day looked like. As someone who lost their own parents at a young age I can relate to the need to capture the stories now. It is my main driving force as to why I have embraced this hobby so whole heartedly. I have half remembered stories from my childhood, a box of slides, a few precious letters and lots of blanks. The blanks will probably always remain blank and that makes me sad. I don’t want to leave any blanks for MY children! I plan on living a very long time and retaining my memory until the day I die (that’s not too much to ask, is it?) but just in case, I want to leave a legacy of stories for my children and grandchildren to enjoy. The pretty paper and embellishments is purely a happy byproduct!!

Anyway, those of us who wanted to help Lain by documenting some of our memories were assigned different topics. My first layout talks about why Moulin Rouge is my favourite movie.  (And not just because it stars Ewan McGregor  … singing!) This layout is not the most embellished of all my layouts but it tells the story of my husband and my first date. Dinner and a movie seemed innocent enough at the time but before I knew it I was in love and planning a wedding. The picture was taken on our honeymoon in Paris at … of course … the Moulin Rouge!

Lots of layers, lots of red and I had fun created the windmill vanes out of scraps plus some doodling. 

 My second layout was about what I wished I’d learned at 18. Oh, there were a lot of things I could have talked about for that one!! The one I chose was that I wished I could have told 18 year old me that I truly love to run. Injuries suffered when I was 14 have now led to arthritis in my knees (left one in particular) that put the kybosh on my running career after the birth of Christine. Funny how you don’t quite realize how much you love to do something (even though it’s hard and you think it sucks when you’re in the middle of long training run!) until you can’t do it any more.

The large painted butterfly hides more journaling which talks about my weight/fitness struggles since finding out about the arthritis.

So what do you think? Want to see more? 

The book is available for purchase at the incredibly low introductory price of $7.00 US from Lain’s site. Please click on the photo at the top of this post to be taken right there. It is an electronic download so you can instantly see all the wonderful layouts and stories inside.

But WAIT …

Would you like a discount? 
Okay. Just for you! 
Use the coupon code HOP and receive $2 off. This coupon is good until midnight on 1/21/13. 

AND we will be giving away THREE copies of the book from comments made on ALL blogs (in other words, we will select three winners across all blogs). Please leave a comment about what story you feel is critical for every scrapbooker to document. Contest will close 1/19 and winners will be announced on the Layoutaday blog (http://www.layoutaday.com) on Monday, January 21. Prizes must be claimed by Wednesday, January 23. If you purchase a copy (taking advantage of the limited time coupon code of course!) and then win a copy, you will be fully reimbursed so you’ve nothing to lose!

Now hop on and enjoy what Paivi has to say. If you get lost along the way, here is the order of participants. 
Danielle Taylor: http://scrapperonthestreet.com

One last thing. I just wanted to say a big thank you to Lain for believing in us, her “little people”, for pushing us and for promoting us. Yes, you will see some “bigger” names as you go through this hop, but you’ll also see average scrapbookers like myself who are really just doing this for fun. We’re not professional (although we may dream of one day calling ourselves “professional scrapbookers”) but having our little pieces of life and art out there for the general public to see and critique is so unbelievably awesome. So, thank you Lain! You rock!!
Posted in eBook, ME (Alison), ScrapHappy | 27 Comments

A Mini Album for Practical Scrappers

Posted on January 16, 2013 by daydesigns

Today on the Practical Scrappers site we are sharing some Mini Album ideas with you. I hope you have checked out the other GORGEOUS mini’s over there! Also, we are running another card contest – check out all the details here. First entries are due by Wednesday January 30th – I hope to see some familiar names in the entries!! Oh, and yes, the page says 2012 but that’s just a typo!!

Okay, back to today’s post topic.

As I was searching for pictures to scrap the other week I came across some cute ones of Christine and I from her Parent and Tot Gymnastics class (see this post for the layout). They were still in those folded cardboard holders that you get for all your kids sports team pictures. I was about to throw out the holder when I was struck with the idea of turning it (and several of the other ones just like it that I found at the same time – I do have 3 kids after all!!) into a mini album. Since I am not purchasing supplies and actively stash diving right now, this seemed like a super idea. Very PRACTICAL even!! I do have stacks of left over cardboard that I could have used instead to create the album but I liked the idea of being able to slide journaling cards or extra photos into the sleeves of the album.

I think it’s time for some visual explanations!!

These are the photo cards that I’m talking about. We have a LOT of these kicking about – gymnastics, soccer, field hockey and dance! I started by punching holes into the fold, lining them up so I’d have one long side and then one short side all the way through the album.

Like this.

Then I pulled out my scrap drawer. I have recently moved to a larger drawer – not to encourage me to keep more scraps but because I wanted to be able to keep anything that was not a full 12×12 sheet in here. My previous scrap drawer was only able to hold papers that were a maximum of 8″ wide so my paper racks could get a little messy with odd sized papers getting crushed etc. Plus, the larger drawer allows me to dig through everything more easily.

I also have a bag of my plain card stock scraps. These are all Stampin’ Up scraps and at this point I haven’t decided if I want to amalgamate them with the patterned paper scraps or go through my big drawer, pull out other card stock scraps and create two scrap piles. One for patterned paper and one for card stock. 
But that is not important for this post, just a glimpse into my current organization dilemmas! If you have suggestions or opinions be sure to pop them in the comments!

After going through all my scraps, I pulled out several large pieces of card stock in colours that made me happy. No thought was given to colour matching at this point.

I did the same with my patterned papers. Once I had a good choice of both card stock and patterned paper, I started playing around to see which patterns could feasibly go together and which card stocks coordinated. 
Eventually I ended up with something that looks like this.

My front cover. 
I covered the photo cards with papers and then sewed everything together adding a little heart shaped charm onto the bottom. I haven’t (obviously) figured out a purpose for this mini yet but was thinking that I may create a book of people I love … or something like that. You’ll just have to stay tuned!!
Rather than comment a ton on my thought process (why the heck did I pair cupcakes with a distressed frame image, and other random bits) I’m just going to give you the photos of each page as they stand right now.

I kind of consciously didn’t make this flow from page to page but did try to connect each page to the one opposite it – especially if they were drastically different prints, colours or styles. All in all, I’m quite happy with this! I will mull over how to use it for a bit. For now it’s sitting on my shelf in my scrap room, waiting!

Oh, this is what one of the larger inserts looks like. I can put pictures here or lots of journaling. Or both!

And one of the smaller inserts looks like this.
One last view of my mini – because it’s my blog and I wanted to show it off again! LOL!
Thanks for “tuning in” today. I hope I’ve inspired you to look at something you might normally throw away in a different light. I realize it’s not feasible to keep everything but every now and then it pays to keep some things!
If you haven’t seen my big announcement yet today please go to layoutaday.com (after 8AM PST) to see what’s got me so excited – hope to see you back here after you do!

Posted in Mini Albums, Practical Scrappers | Comments Off on A Mini Album for Practical Scrappers

Let’s Get Sketchy – Playing Along in Week 2

Posted on January 14, 2013 by daydesigns

It’s Monday which means there’s a new sketch up at Let’s Get Sketchy! This is the sketch that Team B was assigned.

Be sure to hop over to the blog to see what Team B did. They are truly a talented group of ladies!
I decided to play along this week – here’s how I interpreted the sketch.
I used LOTS of scraps on this as well as one full sheet of 12 x 12 patterned paper and one full sheet of 12 x 12 card stock. Slowly but surely my stash is being whittled down people!! 
Okay, now that’s out of the way … a little bit about my process.
I normally start by looking for photos that would work with the sketch. Sometimes I don’t find ones that will exactly work but that’s where “creative license” comes into play! Like here for instance. In my search for photos I came across several sets of gymnastics portraits waiting to be scrapped. I will use the frames for another project (stay tuned!) but went ahead and modified the sketch to suit these pictures. 
I wanted bright colours to match both the bright colours in the photo and the genre of picture (i.e. childhood activities). The bright blue card stock was my first pick and then looking for something to pair with it I came across this old Echo Park paper (Country Drive I think). I loved the fun polka dots and the lady bugs, and as a bonus, the blue complimented it well. Next I went shopping in my scrap drawer and found the red and yellow pieces to layer behind the photos as well as the green strip for along the bottom. As soon as I picked the green paper I knew I could spray the border piece to match. 

The title is a mix of Bella Blvd and Echo Park alphabet tickers.
All the bits behind the title came out of my pre-cut embellishment tub. You know the one I mean. The one that contains all those bits and pieces from when you punch or die cut extra shapes? Instead of throwing them out you save them all “just in case”? It may not surprise you to know that I have a giant one! Feels SO good to use those just in case pieces finally!!

The smaller circles were freshly punched from scraps to match the papers used at the top of the layout but the swirl is a REALLY old bit I’ve had since my Cricut days. I knew it would come in handy one day!!
Well, there you have it. Will you play along this week? Remember you have til the end of the month to enter any of the weekly sketch challenges and that you have to complete 3 of the 4 sketches to be eligible for the monthly prize. This month we are offering up a $40 GC to Artful Delight – an online monthly kit club site. Be sure to check them out as they have some yummy looking kits for sale!
Posted in layout, Let's Get Sketchy | 7 Comments

A Practical Scrappers Frugal Finds Feature- Using Toothpicks

Posted on January 9, 2013 by daydesigns

Today over at Practical Scrappers we are sharing ideas on how to use toothpicks on your projects. Please pop over there and check out all the other great ideas as we have a truly talented line up of designers and their ideas may surprise you.

This is what I came up with.

I am again using some really old photos but as I was searching for inspiration I realized I could use toothpicks to make my kite. I also used toothpicks to paint my “clouds” – a two-fer!
Here’s a look at my process.
I started by laying out my main pieces – my paper and photos – and then roughly built a kite shape to see if it would work with the rest and to see where I wanted to apply my paint. 

This is my “paint brush”. I grabbed a handful of toothpicks and then taped them together with a bit of washi tape – I can not believe how many uses that stuff has!!

I squirted out some white acrylic paint and got busy. It was a bit tricky figuring out the best way to apply it with the toothpicks. I wanted the texture of the toothpicks to come through but I also wanted enough coverage to get a sort of realistic cloud image. The added swirls were just for whimsy!
Here’s a closer look at the swirly effect the toothpicks gave me.

While the paint was drying I got to work on figuring out how to make my kite. I started by gluing the toothpicks onto a piece of patterned paper in a kite shape. I didn’t take pictures of the next steps but essentially I cut it out, used it as a template to cut out kite shapes from other patterns and then pieced those patterns onto the front of my kite. Once the glue was dry, I added bakers twine – both as a cute embellishment and also to hide the imperfections in my paper piecing!

This is my finished kite. It was more finicky than I first thought it would be (things seem simpler in my head, do you find that?) but I am really pleased with the final result!

I added a tail of more bakers twine and some washi tape flags.

 

Here’s a closer look at the entire kite. To adhere it to the page I used two layers of pop dots (one wasn’t enough to clear the toothpicks!)
Thanks for stopping by today. If you get inspired by my layout or any of the other projects you see on the Practical Scrappers site, be sure to leave a link in the comments either here or on the Frugal Finds post at Practical Scrappers so we can check it out.
Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Posted in Frugal Finds, layout, Practical Scrappers | 1 Comment

Let’s Get Sketchy – Monday Reveal

Posted on January 7, 2013 by daydesigns

It’s the first Monday in January so that can only mean one thing … there’s a new sketch up at Let’s Get Sketchy! It’s Team A’s turn (my team) so here is my interpretation of this sketch.

Since my laptop is still at Future Shop waiting for me to sort out what to do about it, I’ve been rediscovering the older photos on Greg’s computer. These are from July 2008 – look how tiny Marley and Paige are! This was the first year we started volunteering with the Tour de Delta – a weekend long road race series here in Delta. We hosted a couple of riders from Quebec, one of whom stayed after the Delta races were done. There are 3 different road race series in the Lower mainland in July and since he was racing the following weekend (in Whiterock I think) and was such a lovely house guest, we said it was okay for him to keep staying with us. The girls absolutely loved him – especially Paige! She attached herself to him like we’d never seen her do before. She was completed devastated when he left. Kept asking after him for weeks! Ah, young love! LOL!
Here are your close ups.

I am totally trying to stash bust so figured multiple photo mats and journaling tags were needed here! The bicycle paper may be a bit “themey” but this option was better than the pink Studio Calico paper I also found in my stash!

This sketch gave me tons of room to journal so I tried to tell as much of the story as I could. My pen started running out towards the end too! May be time for a new one – they were originally purchased for an Interior Design class so they’re a good 5-6 years old now!

I decided to notch the end of the bike paper to add some interest. It was looking a bit boring until I did this! Oh, and isn’t that little bike sticker so cute! A REALLY old Studio Calico (I think) one!
Next are a couple shots showing all the layers and how some things are popped up with foam adhesive. 

Well, thanks for stopping by today. In case you’re interested (and you’re probably not but it’s my blog so I get to say what I want – BWAHAHAHA!!) I am now down one more piece of card stock and one piece of patterned paper. 🙂 Oh, and I used 3 pieces from my scrap drawer and 6 things from my journaling tags bin. Ah, it feels so good!! 🙂
Happy Monday all!

Posted in layout, Let's Get Sketchy | 5 Comments

Be Fearless

Posted on January 4, 2013 by daydesigns

I am in the midst of a craft room re-boot so really shouldn’t be crafting … right? Ha!

Yesterday I watched one of the new video classes from Two Peas (this one) and was so inspired that I added a row of brads to the layout that I was making using this Elle’s Studio sketch. It all came together to look something like this.

The sketch is designed to be used by those doing Project Life but as you know, I don’t do that. But I liked the segmented nature of this and knew that I could use one of the uglier pieces of card stock I have just finished counting and organizing! The only papers showing are a couple pieces from a new (purchased before January 1st, with a 40% coupon and with Christmas money!) 6×6 MME pad, and an Elle’s Studio journaling tag from my stash.
I like the recap feel to this layout. A couple smaller shots of our decor and then the highlights from the day – new stuffies, all the Day/Nielsen cousins together and the adults Christmas Dinner table. The kids are getting old enough that things are starting to feel almost civilized!

Here’s a close up of the row of brads I added to the title block (above) and then (below) I added brads to the centre of some of the garland images on the journaling tag. Only one of those brads was from a Christmas collection. Man  it feels good to use a pile of stash items on a layout!! I think I am really going to like the new Scrap Your Stash series at Two Peas! 
A couple more detail shots for you.

And then my other crafty endeavour today … a page in my 365 to 40 SMASH book!
I started following Krystal Norton’s blog at the end of last year and today she had a new post all about being fearless. It really spoke to me and I just pulled out my SMASH book and got busy. 

I started with a base layer of gesso, then green acrylic paint slapped on fairly messily on purpose. I also pressed some of this packaging material we got from Disneyland into the wet paint to add texture but I think I may have covered it up with the flowers. Oh well. I know it’s there!! I wanted images of wings but couldn’t find them. These pictures of peonies I found in old magazines worked (I think peonies are such gorgeous, showy flowers – it’s as if they don’t care that they are overshadowing all other flowers in the garden!) 

I grabbed some letter stickers from my stash and spelled out my title. I still have a few supplies from The Upstart Crow at home, one of which is this gorgeous wing stamp that I am totally in love with. I stamped it then added the SOAR tag on top, smudging the stamp in the process so I stamped it again! I scribbled a bit of gold Gelato around the edges of both pages then once things were mostly dry, I did a bit of journaling.
The peony image was bigger on this page so a couple of tags, some Gelato and a phrase finished it.
It’s nothing super awesome but it makes me happy to look at it!
While we are on the subject of my 365 to 40 SMASH book, here are a couple pages I forgot to share with you last month. In the chaos of attempting to do a December Daily, work close to 30 hours some weeks, keep track of my kids and all their Holiday activities …. it got lost in the shuffle! Better late than never, right?

Purely playing and experimenting!
Thanks for popping in today. Have a great weekend!

Posted in 365 to 40 SMASH, Art Journal, Christmas, Elle's Studio, layout, Scrapbook, Two Peas | 1 Comment

Practical Scrappers Holiday Sketch #2

Posted on December 20, 2012 by daydesigns

Wow! Two posts in two days! What’s going on? LOL!

Over on the Practical Scrappers blog today you can see what some of our designers did with this sketch.

Here’s mine.
Since my computer is in the shop with more recent photos trapped inside it, I went with what I had in my “printed to be scrapped” drawer. These are photos from Marley’s first Christmas – I look so young!! We were having a Christmas celebration with my brother and his family and took Marley and my nephew Matthew to see the lights at Van Dusen’s Gardens. I had fun mixing Christmas papers and tags with non Christmas papers on this layout. Digging deep into your stash can be so rewarding sometimes!! In fact, it has prompted me to come up with a totally crazy idea that I’ll share with you soon!
Here are some close up shots of the details.

Layers and layers of tags by Teresa Collins and Echo Park.

Like my lights? I used my Holiday Ornaments Framelits by Stampin’ Up! to create them. 

I liked how these Basic Grey letter stickers matched the old Basic Grey papers I found in my stash. The addition of  a simple pen outline makes them pop off the page.
Well, thanks for coming by today. In case you are wondering what is happening with my December Daily … the short answer is nothing. I found it completely impossible to keep up with this year and have packed it away to try and finish in the new year. Between my work schedule I either wasn’t around to record what was going on or I was too tired to attempt to make pages even when I DID have both the story and the photos. So, the lessons I have learned here is that next year I will prep WAY more, make it simpler and probably go to a December Recap book instead of feeling the need to record every day. As much as I’d like to say we have something worth recording every day of the month, the truth is we don’t. I think one spread of our normal routine is more than enough!
I am rambling so will sign off now. Have a great weekend everyone!

Posted in Christmas, layout, Practical Scrappers | Comments Off on Practical Scrappers Holiday Sketch #2