Hope

Well it seems it is the season of Cancer Relay for Life events in a lot of places this month. I was talking to Mom yesterday and she reminded me that her Relay was coming up soon and wouldn't I like to make a donation to her team? Hint hint wink wink...real subtle Mom LOL.Of course I made a donation but it also got me to thinking about a Relay back in 2005 when Mom was asked to be co- patron with Mr. Stoodley for that year's Relay. She was so nervous as she stood to the podium in front of all those people and told "her story". I sat there with tears in my eyes the whole time. So darn proud of her and so grateful that she was a SURVIVOR and could stand up there almost 20 yrs later and inspire others. And my mother is not just a cancer SURVIVOR but a cancer ACTIVIST! Mom has always been a big supporter of many charities but she goes above and beyond for the Cancer Society. She can be found selling daffodils at the stores for the daffodil fundraiser every year; she has particpated as a team member in many Relays for Life: and one of her greatest joys is singing with the CanSurmount choir...a choir made up entirely of cancer survivors. They perform at various charity events, fundraisers and church services throughout the year.And then I realized ...I had NEVER scrapped those photos! GASP!!! Well the time has come. Of course I really wanted to include daffodils on my LO . I couldn't find any pre-made ones so I had to come up with something on my own. I did a quick tutorial to share with you ladies so here goes:

I free hand drew the three petal shape on a post-it note and traced it out two times each for each individual flower.HINT: I just kept flipping the post-it note over each time I taced it with the pencil making my own "carbon/tracingpaper". Cut out these three petal pieces and using a stylus press "lines" into the petals.For the side view flower{ the top flower drapping over the photo} I also hand drew a cup shape cutting it a little wavey across the top . You will also need 5 daisy shapes{ EK Success daisy punch} punched for the front view daffodil and 1 or 2 for the side view daffodil. I then inked the edges of everything with both Barely Banana and then small dabs of Dusty Durango ink both by Stampin" UP.

For the forward facing flower , layer two three petal flower pieces ,turning so that all petals are visable . Glue in place. I used a bamboo skewer at this point to make the petals slightly rounded. I then layered the 5 punched daisy shapes in the center of the daffodil alternating those tiny petals . After the glue sets up { I used a hotglue gun BTW} I used the tip of my craft knife to "fluff" up all the little petals . I also painted the tips of the center with a small amt of Stickles "Star Dust".
With the side view daffodil , you will need to cut out one of the petals from a three petal piece. Using a craft knife cut a rounded slit in the center of the whole three petal piece and slide the cup shape into it. Add the two petal piece behind, turning so that all five petals are showing.Now take the left over petal that you previously cut off and make a small bend along the bottom of it. Refer to above photo. This tab needs to now be tucked into the slit you made for the cup , keeping it on top of the cup piece. Glue all in place . Cut one of the small daisy punched pieces in half and then glue behind the wavey edge of the cup so just a little is poking up behind. Dab with the Star Dust stickles.

The stems were also cut freehand and inked along the egdes to add some dimension. Cut a few skinnier strips with pointy tips and roll tips around bamboo stick to replicate the leaves. I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. I'd love to see anything you create with these daffodils.send me a link!

Thanks for popping by and please support your local Cancer Relay for Life when it happens in your neck of the woods! Toodles!

Mini Album for upcoming crop I'm hosting.

I realized today that I haven't posted in FOREVER!!! I've been so busy with work, some inside painting, grad dress shopping,blah,blah,blah. I have done a little scrapping but the last few days I've been busy designing a toilet paper roll mini for my first ever crop that I'm hosting at the Bay of Islands Yachet club on June 12 th! I'm so excited! There's been a huge void left in the scrapping scene here in Corner Brook since our only LSS closed last June and I really miss getting together with other scrappers. So I've taken the bull by the horns so to speak { with only a small amt of pushing form Tracey, Kris, DH Rob and Kelly LOL} and have organized a crop. Hopefully it is just the start ! So I thought I'd share with you the mini I designed to do with the ladies at the crop. I've used all Basic Grey Capella pps for this mini and Stampin' Up "chocolate chip" ink and cardstock. It's the perfect brown for the Capella pps!

Here's a quick tutorial on how I created this mini.
Supplies: spare chipboard sheet , three flattened toilet paper rolls, 12x 12 pp of your choice, crop-a-dile, two eyelets, book rings, ticket corner punch, embellies,ribbon, journaling spots{ I cut mine with Cricut} and ink colour of choice, embossing machine and patterned folder of choice { I used Cuttle bug "Textile"], punches of choice

1. Flatten TP rolls , use bone folder to sharpen the edges { I stored mine under heavy books while collecting}. Don't worry about scraps of paper left on rolls as you'll be covering them anyways. HINT: try to use the same brand of TP so all the rolls are uniform or you may have to trim them.

2.Cut 12 x12 pp into 4 6x6 pieces and then further trim them down to 6x4 3/4 pieces. Keep your trimmed off scraps to make your tags later.

Apply adhesive of choice to center of wrong side of 6x4 3/4 piece of pp and lay flattened TP roll on top. Cut small "v' s to each corner as shown in picture below.This helps to avoid tearing when tucking in your end pieces. Then adhere the pp along length first and then tuck end pieces inside the roll, gluing down all edges as you go.Repeat for other two rolls and set aside.

3: Now let's tackle the covers. Cut two pieces of chipboard 3 x 4.5 inches each. Using a brayer , add ink to the raised side of your embossing folder. Insert chipboard into inked folder and run through your embossing machine. The debossed side will now have ink down in the pattern.Flip over the chipboard and using a sponge /inking tool...gently add ink to the plain embossed side and also ink all edges of the chipboard covers inside and out. Holding the two pieces of chipboard together, punch two holes where you want your book rings to go and then set eyelets in the front cover holes to strenghthen. Proceed to place first TP roll under the front cover lining up the edges on the eyelet end, and use pencil to mark where you need to punch hole and punch with your crop-a-dile. This first TP roll becomes your template to punch the other two rolls. When all are punched, stack together and thread onto the two book rings. Your basic album is now complete. Proceed to decorate with whatever embellies you choose.

4. Now let's whip up those tags for inside your TP rolls. Remember those 6x2 1/2" scraps that were left over at the start? These can now be trimmed down to make tags to fit inside the paper rolls. I left mine sticking out about 1/2" longer than the roll itself. I used a Stampin" up ticket corner punch on the two outside corners of the tag and a hole punch on the center of the outside edge and thread a little ribbon through it to make it easier to pull out of the rolls. Add quotes, small pics or whatever you choose to your tags. And that's it!!
As you can see from the first pictures , I entitled mine "Time Flies" and I used all the wallet size photos of my DD Chelsea from Kindergarten to Grade 12.I can't believe she's graduating next month! This mini album would also be nice as an inspiration book filled with your fav quotes or Bible verses, a grandma's brag book etc. The sky's the limit! Thanks for popping by and an early Happy Mother's Day to all my mom friends out there! HUGS!