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Marley is 8!

Posted on March 3, 2012 by daydesigns

In fact, Marley has been 8 for a week now so I’m a bit behind in celebrating her. I did write a heartfelt Facebook status update on the day. That counts, right? LOL!

I have created two layouts so far to remember this birthday. The first one I want to show you is for a PageMaps contest. We were given this sketch

And here is my take on it.

I had a lot of fun with this, used papers from several different companies and some new ribbon that I received last week in the mail. A total surprise package! But more about that later.

Every year we measure the girls first thing in the morning on their birthday. We have been using the door jamb of what is now Paige and Christine’s bedroom. I’ll show you a close up of the door jamb below – someone (hmmm … wonder who?) has “decorated” it with permanent ink. … sigh. Kids!

But I digress. I went back today and measured exactly how high up the wall her M8 mark is and you can see it above. 51.5″ or 131cm for us supposedly metric Canadians. So tall!! Greg’s overjoyed. She’ll be able to ride ALL the rides at Disneyland in May.

A couple more close ups of the details.

The other layout I did was for the last day of LOAD212. I completely disregarded the prompt as I really wanted to get a jump on scrapping her birthday. Here it is.

And close ups of each page.

Since last year we went a bit over the top with her party (see here) we’d been telling her all year that this birthday would have to be low key. And it was. We had 10 of her friends over (including 2 boys! yikes!) to have pizza and watch a movie – Dolphin Tale – and then eat cupcakes. I really didn’t do too much prep. Goody bags were simple – just white paper bags with their names stamped on them – and only a few items in them. There was no craft to organize or games for that matter. The birthday banner made for Paige last year (see here) got a new number on it and was hung in a new place but other than that, decorations were minimal (pretty much non-existent really!) But at the same time, we celebrated Marley in a way that made her feel special and allowed her to spend time with her friends.

The title for this layout is super simple – her initials and her age.

I also included a copy of her birthday invitation.

Now for those family members that have hung in, here are some pictures from the day.

She was very serious about having her height measured!!

Remember the “decorations” I talked about? Yup. Here they are!

After the measuring it was time for gifts. Here she is opening the card I made. Inside was a Groupon for a horse back riding lesson. As you can see by her reaction below, she was pretty excited!

Aunt Moira, this one’s for you. Marley loves her new book! Thank you!! It is a teeny bit advanced for her but we’ll take it slowly.

Birthday pancakes!

After all the soccer games were over for the day (it was Sunday after all!) we headed over to Andrew’s to celebrate with the Campbell cousins as well as the Nielsen cousins. It was also Jonina’s Mom’s birthday the following day so we had a joint cake.

Last but not least, here is a picture of my surprise prize. I participated in a card exchange for Valentine’s Day with my ScrapHappy group (see the cards here) and won the prize. I had completely forgotten there was a prize involved and so hadn’t checked the boards for awhile. Gotta love the surprise mail!!

I used the green velvet ribbon and the dark pink crochet trim on the top layout. LOVE IT!!

That’s it. Thanks for stopping by!

Posted in challenges, layout, LOAD212, Marley, Scrapbook | Comments Off

Vintage Birthday Card

Posted on February 27, 2012 by daydesigns

Today is my brother’s Mother-in-law’s birthday. She has felt like another mother to me since Andrew and Jonina started getting serious and our kids refer to her as Amma Lynne, just like her actual grand kids do. So when we were invited over to my brother’s to celebrate not only Marley’s birthday but Lynne’s too, I knew I had to make something special for her. I went into my stash of samples created by the clever ladies in my uplines and here is what I came up with.

I used what has become my go-to DSP when I want a vintage vibe – Everyday Enchantment from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue. I embossed the bottom layer with the Stripes Textured Impressions folder and inked the edges with Soft Suede (LOVE this ink colour! use it on most of my edges). The other pattern is actually the back side of the red patterned paper. I simply inked all the edges and mounted it on Very Vanilla before adhering it with Dimensionals. I cut out the doily with my Paper Doily Sizzlits Die and then brushed it all over with more Soft Suede.

The sentiment was a multi-step process. First I stamped the curly frame image from Elementary Elegance Stamp set with Early Espresso ink. I then stamped over the image (as closely as I could) with some Versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. (I was rushed taking the pictures so it doesn’t really show up. Bummer! Trust me when I say that the gloss is there – it’s subtle but it adds quite a bit to the over all look of the card.) Then I nestled the Happy Birthday sentiment into the same frame image stamp and stamped the whole thing with Baja Breeze. This allowed me to cut out the inner frame and mount it with Dimensionals onto my embossed image.

A little bit of the Pleated Satin Ribbon in Baja Breeze finished it off.

Thanks for checking out my little card. I’d like to take a moment to remind you that you have a little over a month left to earn free products like the DSP and stamp set I used on this card. Sale-a-Bration ends March 31st so place your orders now. Any orders of $60 qualify you to one free item. To check out the available products please follow this link.

Posted in Cards | 2 Comments

Happy Birthday Marley!

Posted on February 26, 2012 by daydesigns

Today is my eldest daughter’s 8th birthday. 8?!?! When the heck did THAT happen?!
Here is the card I whipped up yesterday for her. I wanted it to be girly but not too girly – to match her personality.

My card base is Very Vanilla card stock – I love this soft neutral for cards!

I started with the cupcakes as that’s what we made the other day for her birthday party. The top of the cupcake is Blushing Bride which I embossed with my Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions folder after I punched it out with my Cupcake punch.

Then I started thinking about how I wanted the cupcakes to be layered. I decided to pop them up on top of flowers (as it has been feeling kind of Spring-like around here lately) so I used the new Blossom Punch and some Twitterpated DSP with coordinating 1 3/8″ circles. They needed a grounding base so I pulled out my Island Indigo card stock, embossed it with the same polka dot folder as the cupcake tops but I adhered it de-bossed side up for a bit of variety.

Finally the sentiment on top and the dots below were from the Create a Cupcake stamp set. The candles (8 in number) were an afterthought and were made with my cupcake punch again. Everything is better with a little sparkle (same goes for layouts!) so I used my Dazzling Details on the candle flames and the polka dots on the cupcakes.

Thanks for stopping by. If you like my style please become a follower and you’ll never miss a post again!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Posted in Cards, Marley | Comments Off

C’est Magnifique sketch challenge

Posted on February 24, 2012 by daydesigns

A couple days ago I created the following layout for a “new to me” blog – C’est Magnifique. Here is the sketch they gave and my interpretation of it.

Lain’s prompt for Day 21 was “My Hometown”. Anyone who knows me knows that I moved around A LOT as a kid (literally all over the world!) so pinning down a hometown is a bit difficult. Before now, I probably spent the most time in Prince George but while there I lived in 3 different houses. Currently, Greg and I have lived in Ladner, BC for about 9 years – the longest stretch I’ve ever lived anywhere! So I could have scrapped about any of those places. But … I had come across the picture at the top left of this page earlier this month and I knew this was the story to tell for this prompt.

The journalling kind of tells it all so here it is: “The story goes that wen I was 2 weeks old my parents dragged me, my brother (3 1/2 at the time) and my Aunt Jean “house hunting” in a little village near Cambridge called Bar Hill. This was the house. We lived in this house whenever we were in the country – in between trips to Indonesia and Iran – up to the time we immigrated to Canada. I have many houses that I think of as “home” but this was the first and still holds the dearest spot on my heart. In 1985 we visited friends in Bar Hill and went to see the “old house”. I took the picture above that has my Dad in it. In 2004 when Greg and I brought Marley to meet the British relatives, we again went to see the “old house”. I hope that we can visit it again the next time we’re in Britain – whenever that is!”

The title is the address of the house. The street, that is. When I figure out which number it was, I will add it on but right now I can’t remember that detail.

This layout is also for my Apron Strings Bake Your Cake challenge – I used lots of stickers (fruit filling) on this layout, mostly of the word variety but the quilled butterfly – which is also my Twelve embellishment – is a sticker too. Here is a close up of that.

Another close up of the stickers. This time a journalling spot, a heart and an expression tab.

I had a lot of journalling and didn’t want it to overtake the layout by being a huge white rectangle on the bottom of the page. So I cut it up into strips to lighten its visual weight.

Well that’s it! Thanks for stopping by. I’ve got a birthday party to get ready for today so will probably get even further behind on my LOAD layouts! Oh well. I would dearly love to accomplish the 29 layouts in 29 days goal but since I am currently at 22 done so far this month, I think I’m doing pretty well! Have a great weekend everyone.

Posted in challenges, layout, LOAD, Twelve | 2 Comments

Halloween layout for Get Picky

Posted on February 24, 2012 by daydesigns

I know, I know! Spring is just around the corner so why am I scrapping Halloween? Because I can!! LOL!
Actually, it wasn’t on my table to scrap. I did not wake up yesterday and say “I’ve got to get those Halloween pictures down on paper today!” But … somehow it happened anyway!

I am a couple days behind with LOAD so I was working on the prompt for Day 22 which was “holidays”. Our LOAD Scrapper on the Street, Dani did a layout about Halloween and I felt the pieces of my layout fall into place. Thanks Dani!! I was also able to combine a couple other challenges into it, namely Apron Strings Bake Your Cake challenge and Get Picky’s sketch challenge.

Here’s the sketch I used (loosely!)

And here’s my layout.

I thought I’d use some leftover Halloween papers but I couldn’t find any – I guess I used them up already. What I do have plenty of (kind of hording it ‘cus I love it so much!) is the Spice Cake DSP from the Holiday mini (discontinued now – I checked the Clearance Rack of my On-line store but it’s not there … yet?)

To create the title I used 3 different stamp sets – Jayne’s Type Alphabet, Just Perfect Alphabet and Calendar Alphabet & Numbers. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get them perfectly aligned. (I totally meant to do that! Sigh. Clearly I need some practice!) The leaves were stamped using the Gently Falling stamp set (also from the Holiday mini so now discontinued – hopefully they bring it back for next year as it is a great set!)

To add some distinctly Halloween elements I used 4 stamps from the Out on a Limb stamp set. This pumpkin one – 3 goofy pumpkins for my 3 goofy girls!

This little black cat for my little kitty.

And this little witch for my little witch. The broom and the witch are two different stamps – having the clear mount stamps means you can line them up to create a scene with ease (no Stamp-a-ma-jig required!)

Oh, and a quick comment on the jagged trim piece anchoring my pictures. This is an example of why I never throw anything away. This was a scrap that was created when I made the giant rosette for this layout. I saw it in my scrap bag and felt the jaggedness complimented my layouts theme.

I added bling in several locations in the form of Basic Rhinestones. I scattered some of the large ones in among the leaves and then used the small rope rhinestones two ways. One was under the kitty, in a straight line. The other you can see here – I curved it as I was sticking it down to create glittery swirls. The organic shape compliments the leaf cluster.

My Apron Strings cake had bling as one of my ingredients (Sprinkles) so I was glad to incorporate it so cleverly here.

Finally, an apology. For using so many discontinued items. It was totally not my intention and to be honest I didn’t even notice until I was writing this post and trying to link to the products. I am sure that all scrappers out there can attest to having older product in their stashes so please forgive me for trying to use mine up. I think a good take away tip for you is that products that are non-themed can still be used effectively on a themed layout. The Spice Cake DSP and the Gently Falling stamp set are most definitely NOT Halloween themed but the colours are a good match and when mixed with few Halloween stamps and some great pictures of kids in costume, they work well for this kind of layout.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stamping Everyone!

Posted in challenges, Halloween, layout, LOAD, sketches | 6 Comments

Challenge layout

Posted on February 18, 2012 by daydesigns

I haven’t been showing you too many of my LOAD212 layouts but as this one is for several different challenges I figured I’d do a post on it.

Lain’s prompt today was “So You Say it’s Your Birthday” (and it really is Lain’s birthday – hope it’s a good one!!) which for some reason made me think of some of the cakes I’ve made for the girls over the years. I used this sketch from Elle’s Studio Sketch Thursday challenge …

… and came up with this.

This also has components on it for a couple of the Apron Strings Birthday month challenges – namely Day #9 (create a layout in less than an hour – this took me 53 minutes) and Day #11 (create a floral embellishment.)

Here is a close up of some of those floral embellishments. I used my Big Shot and the Fun Flowers die from Stampin’ Up! The title was a last minute “aha!” moment. I was looking for a large 6 in all my letter stickers. When I saw the @ symbol the title just came together!

All the patterned papers are from American Crafts Celebration line and I love how this one has this embossed pattern of fabric swags or bunting. Seemed perfect for a party layout but a little goes a long way! To finish the grouping I added some more scraps and another flower.

Here’s the third layered flower that I made.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Posted in challenges, layout, LOAD212, Marley | 2 Comments

When I Grow Up …

Posted on February 17, 2012 by daydesigns

I am participating in this on-line challenge called LOAD (LayOut A Day) in which we create a layout a day for every day in the month of February. It’s been pretty intense but a lot of fun! Check out the details here on Lain’s site. Her theme this time round is “Past Perfect” and I’ve been able to scrap several stories from my childhood which has been incredibly fun, moving and cathartic.
Today’s prompt was “When I Grow Up” and I was instantly reminded of a couple of pictures I came across recently of me opening up a Nurse’s costume that my Mum made when she was at college. I was no where on her horizon but she hung onto it and gave it to me eventually. I in turn gave it to my eldest, Marley several years ago. I love that!
Anyway, this is the layout I created.

I used this sketch from Studio Calico and papers from Pocketful of Posies DSP. As you can see, it doesn’t take a lot of paper to make an impact!

Te create my title I used the Jayne’s Type Alphabet stamp set. I stamped out my letters in Early Espresso onto Whisper White card stock then I cut them out and mounted them onto another piece of Whisper White using Dimensionals (that I cut to fit.)

For my journaling I typed out my story into Word then printed it off onto Whisper White card stock. Then it was just a matter of cutting and pasting!

To create some interest on the background I stamped images from Circle Circus in four different colours – Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.

Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoy what you see please leave a comment so I know you were here!

Posted in layout | 3 Comments