Best NSD Ever!!!

As all you scrappy folks know, this past Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day - squeeeee!!!! - and this year I "booked" the day off with hubby and the kids and locked myself in my craft area for 12 hours!!!  I turned on my country music, logged in to two online crops, and happily scrapped the day away :-)

At first I planned on scrapping along with Scrapbook Nerd and Let's Scrap, but last minute decided to enroll in Big Picture Classes Creative Crop, and since Let's Scrap's challenge are on for the whole month of May, I put them on temporary hold for the weekend.  Both Scrapbook Nerd and Big Picture Classes put fourth (May the 4th, get it, tee hee!) 10 challenges.  Of the 20 total challenges I got 15 done!!  Yes, I am impressed with myself and have patted myself on the back a few times already, I am not so humble ;-)

Both sites did an AMAZING job with their online crops and the inspiration was incredible!!  I'll have scraplifting material for months now!

The first challenge was an Early Bird Challenge from Scrapbook Nerds on Friday, and was a scraplift from one of the admins.  This was my version:

The next layout I combined two challenges - Scrapbook Nerds challenge to use no pattern paper, and BPC's challenge to hand journal.  Since I always hand journal, I changed it up by not using journalling lines:

This next layout also combines challenges - Scrapbook Nerds provided a sketch and specified the use of paint/ink/mist and a mask/template, and Big Picture Classes challenge to take a creative hike and try something new, which for me was using paint, random embellishing and only one small photo.

Scrapbook Nerd also had a second part to the above challenge, to make a card out of scraps from the layout:

Challenge #3 at Scrapbook Nerd was to create a card or cards with a focus on flowers:

Again another combination of challenges - Scrapbook Nerds colour palette and photo inspiration, and Big Picture Classes sketch and to scrap someone or something you love.  I love my DD's sense of style :-)

One of my favourite challenges by the Nerds was "May the 4's Be With You" - a site named Scrapbook Nerd HAD to celebrate Nerd Day in some way too!!  The challenge was to scrap a layout with as many groupings of 4's you could, ie. 4 brads, 4 stickers, 4 pieces of twine, etc.  I lost count of how many 4's I had, but it was enough to win the prize for this challenge so I was a happy girl :-)  Got one more of my MANY camping moments scrapped too!

Final challenge at Scrapbook Nerd was on Sunday evening and was a One Hour layout challenge based on a sketch.  This was an awesome challenge!!  Amazed at what everyone, including myself, produced in just an  hour!!

Last but not least, was a challenge by BPC to use a pocket page panel to include more photos on your layout.  I used a 6"x12" Flip Flap Memory Protector from CTMH and got 8 more photos to this layout:

 Here is the layout with the flap up:

 So there you have it, my very productive NSD weekend :-)  Already looking forward to next year!

A HUGE Thank You to both Scrapbook Nerd and Big Picture Classes for amazing online crops!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!

ANDIE :-)

Happy National Scrapbooking Month!!!

I cannot believe it is May already!!  Crazy!

First big news - a week ago today my Nephew, Coleton James Marshall arrived into the world!!!  This makes me an Auntie for the 5th time and I am sooooo excited!  He is just gorgeous, with a head full of dark hair and cheeks I wish I was close enough to to squish :-)  Now we are just counting down the days till we can meet him this summer, and for now rely on daily photos from my sister, the proud new Momma :-)

Next, tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day!!!  Whoot!  Whoot!!  I am handing the kids over to Daddy tomorrow and locking myself into my dungeon that is my craft room ALL DAY and NIGHT!!!!  Got my Coca Cola and Reese Pieces to keep me full of sugar and caffeine and my grapes to balance it out a bit (ha ha!) and I'm heading down there after the kids are in bed to tidy up and organize so I'm ready to go first thing tomorrow morning (or late tonight!).
I'll be following along with at least two online sites for NSD - first of course will be Let's Scrap, as part of their DT I'll be posting and hosting a challenge tomorrow - will try to get it posted here too but probably not till Monday (runs all month at Lets Scrap).  If you'd like to join in on the month long fun of challenges, sketches, and games click HERE: 

In addition to the festivities at Let's Scrap, I will be attempting to join in on some challenges over at Scrapbook Nerd for their first ever NSD celebrations!  If you'd like to join in on that fun with me, click HERE and head on over to the forum!

If for some reason these two sites do not keep me busy enough (ha ha!) you know that there is a ton of others celebrating this weekend too!!!  Or check out the sales at your Local Scrapbook Store!!!

Let's Scrap has their regular weekly sketch up also:

I love a sketch that holds multiple photos like this!  I'm not very good at paring down my photos so the more I can include on one page the better!  This sketch was perfect for some beach pics last summer and some scraps I had leftover from Echo Park's "Summer Days" - nice and bright and cheerful, my fav!!

Made some washi tape flags with some tooth pics too!

This one won't turn right side up, but you get the point - I made my first polaroid style photo matte and love the way it turned out!

I also got around to completing fellow DT member, Tiffany's challenge #160 - complete a layout using a Let's Scrap sketch, the theme "Spring" and including buttons, flowers and hand journalling.  I decided to scrap some wedding photos of myself that I had previously left out of my wedding album because I felt I looked goofy and "fat".  Now, 13 years later, I just see a happy bride and wish I was that "fat" again, tee hee!!  We really are our own worst critics hey?!  Anyhow, here it is, I used Bella Blvd. "Love and Marriage" mixed with a few other Bella lines:

Well my scrappy peeps, that is all for today, I have some prep work to do for tomorrow's festivities!!!

Happy National Scrapbooking Weekend!!!

ANDIE :-)

National Scrapbooking Month with CTMH!!

It's been awhile since I posted a Close To My Heart promotion or workshop, I've been neglectful of my beloved "job" as a consultant since moving, but it is time to get things going again!!!  I miss my regular scrappy groups and need to meet some new people in my new neighbourhood :-)  Well CTMH is sure making it easy on me - they are releasing an exclusive new paper pack just for the month of May called Dream Pop - and it's AMAZING!!!

12 B&T Duos, 2 each of 6 designs, and 12 coordinating cardstock sheets that have a glossy pattern on one side - adding stunning dimension to your paper crafts!!

AND they have designed a workshop for it!

A full colour workshop guide:

Layout #1:

Layout #2:

Card #1:

Card #2:

Card #3:

So how can you get this exclusive Dream Pop paper pack you ask??  Simple purchase $35 in CTMH products during the month of May and you can receive Dream Pop for only $10!!! ($19.95 retail value).  AND if you spend $40 on CTMH products, and the $10 for Dream Pop, your $50 purchase qualifies you for the May Stamp of the Month, Pinwheel - shown in all the artwork above - for only $5 ($17.95 retail value)!!!  That's a whole lot of savings for a whole lot of pretty stuff :-)

Here is the Pinwheel stamp set:

And if you are a local scrappy peep (Edmonton area), here is the info for my Dream Pop workshop - I'll be tweaking it slightly and adding a third double page layout instead of the treat tubes that are featured in the workshop guide: 

Not local but want a kit??  No problem!  Message me with your email address and mailing address and add $10 for shipping within Canada.  Outside of Canada - message me with your mailing address and I will get you a shipping quote :-)  The kit will be pre-cut and ready for assembly - including all Cricut cut pieces and stamped images so you don't have to worry about having the right colour inks!

I'm working on trying to get photos of all the product that will be included in the workshop kit fee, and will post them soon, but the retail value - $83 - is more than the cost of the workshop!!!  Happy National Scrapbooking Month indeed!!

Happy Scrappin'!

ANDIE :-)

SPLAT!!! and SKETCHY!

Sounds like a cartoon, right?!!

Happy Hump Day everyone!  It is Wednesday which means there is a new sketch up at Let's Scrap, and it's a card sketch.

I was on my black and white kick when I did this one :-)  It is on sale via my Paper Candie Designs facebook page HERE.

The Design Team is also gearing up for National Scrapbooking Month next month and there are over 31 challenges to participate in, including sketches over and above the weekly Wednesday sketch!!!  I've been around for two NSD at Let's Scrap now and let me tell you, it is a TON of fun!!!  So if you haven't joined already, or maybe have but haven't really checked us out yet - now is the time to do so!!

One other sketch I got a chance to work with and finish up with last night, was the April Sketchy Challenge over at Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine's site.  I've just joined their gallery and this is the first layout I've posted, but so far really impressed with the inspiration and talent there!  And it's Canadian so everyone is really nice, eh?!!  (I know, I know, I am not a funny person but I try!).  Here is the sketch:

And here is my take, using Basic Grey's "Oliver" paper:

I ran out of adhesive last night - gasp!! - so had to head to my local scrapbook store today to re-stock, and while heading out my eye caught sight of the Tim Holtz Distress ink set-up . . . sooooo I HAD to grab something!  Bought me some Vintage Photo distress stain to SPLAT!!  away on my layouts and cards now! One of the other Design Team members over at Let's Scrap, Val Thorpe, has done a few layouts using this SPLAT! technique and I just LOVE it!!!  Can't wait to try it myself, thanks, Val :-)
**  Check out Val's blog HERE to see her amazing work and leave her some love!

Ba dee, ba dee, ba dee, dddddaaatt's all folks!!

Happy Scrappin'!

ANDIE :-)

Blowing Kisses and Making Chevron Arrows!

So after posting the trick I found on Pinterest the other day - making dove tail tags with a square punch - I decided to take it a step further and see if I could make my own chevron arrows . . . and it worked :-)  But first, lets start from the beginning of the page . . .

I have had this photo of my kids for a year now and just love it.  They got these whistle lips in a party loot bag and as loud as they were, they were great entertainment for them for quite awhile, and I couldn't resist the cute photo opp :-)  Anyhow, I have been wanting to scrap it for awhile now and finally found some paper in my stash that I liked to go with it, some Studio Calico.  Loved the little birdie on this postcard, but didn't see the postcard as part of my page . . .

So I cut out the birdie . . .

and used the rest of the postcard as a photo matte :-)

Then, I should mention most of the Studio Calico paper I had  was scraps from a kit that I had already made a few pages from, so following a sketch wasn't so easy . . . so I just wung it and started layering away till I was happy with the result :-)

Here is where the idea for trying the chevron arrows came into play.  I like to use as much of my scraps as possible, which includes the strip of paper you cut off the bottom of your pattern paper sometimes.  In the above photo you'll see I used the bar code under the birdie, and then I used the rest of the strip and made the chevron arrows.

I used a glue pen to stick  them down, then did some faux stitching over top of them to add that extra pop!  I'm sure you could make them a little bigger and even use some 3D foam tape to pop them up too, or layer them a few times, the ideas are endless, just play!!

Close up of the title, using two different Thickers - also stash that's been around for awhile!!

When I was all done putting the page together, I decided it needed something more and pulled out my chocolate ink to do some splattering . . . note to self - be sure to cover your photo before doing so!!  Oh well, a little ink splatter on the photo didn't end up looking so bad :-)

Hope you enjoyed my little page building demo and in honour of Earth Day, I hope it inspires you to make use of more of your scraps!

A few more photos I'd like to share before signing off . . . today is not only Earth Day, but it is also my 13th Wedding Anniversary!

And this past weekend was my daughter's first dance competition.  She was a little nervous but also very excited, as she has been dancing for 5 years now.

Her first dance was group Jazz, and they received a Silver!!

 Her second dance was novice group Tap, and they received a GOLD!!!

She was so happy and proud of herself, and we were so very proud of her!!!  The roses were from her little brother :-)

Thanks for stopping by my scrap happy place today, please be sure to comment and leave some love so I know you were here, and can follow your blog if I don't already :-)

Happy Scrappin'!!

ANDIE :-)

Two Birds, One Stone . . . or Layout!

Well apparently I am really into challenging myself these days and have found and joined a few more scrap happy sites!  Was feeling in a bit of a rut with my scrapbooking so I am really enjoying the inspiration I'm getting from these sites and the AMAZING peeps there.  There is definately something to be said for the sisterhood of scrapbookers/crafters!!!

Now the best part is I was able to combine two challenges into one layout!  I took on my first "Case" over at C.S.I. - Case File #67 (What a super cool idea for a challenge site, to "solve" the case you following the scheme, evidence, testimony, etc.!!) - and here is the sketch they provided:

And the "Scheme":

You have to use the five colours and then draw inspiration from the photo, using elements in it.  Here is my "Case File" - hoping I "Solved" it :-)

I was also able to use this layout for the current Use Your Stuff #80 challenge - using a song title or part of lyrics as your title.  This was easy to do with this pic of my son, Tyler - the kid talks non-stop!!  So right away the title "Yakety Yak" came to mind!  Ever since starting pre-school he is just a sponge for information and he feels it's his duty to educate the rest of us I think!  Oh, and don't try to tell him he got any of his facts wrong - he takes after his Daddy here, always has to be right!!  Silly boys, they just don't get it ;-)  tee hee!

Here are a few close ups of the layouts details:

Thanks for stopping by my scrap happy place, be sure to leave me some love so I know you were here and can follow you if I don't already!!

Happy Scrappin'!!

ANDIE :-)