G45 Ladies Diary Tray

What a gorgeous sunny Saturday afternoon here in Nfld. I should probably be outside putting my garden to bed for the winter ...in the past I've been guilty of putting it off till the last minute and then poor hubby has to go out in the first snow and hack things down so I don't have such a slimy mess to contend with the next spring.... but instead I cleaned house {why is it that when I work three days in a row , my house just falls to pieces????} . Anyhow, work is done and before I pop down to play in the woman cave I thought I'd share my beautiful G45 tray that I made last weekend at Deidre's retreat in Springdale.

This tray is a 7Gypsies tray that my dear friend KELLY bought me when I visited her in Edmonton last year. {To see Kelly's blog posting on our trips back and forth across Canada to visit each other click HERE }. I was ecstatic when I opened this month's ScrapThat's kit featuring the gorgeous Ladies Diary pps from G45 . The soft green blues in this paper line were the perfect match to the color in my scraproom and I immediately got inspired to do this tray! {Kelly will no doubt tell you that the rather large and STRONG mug of Bailey's that she mixed me - to settle me down she claims! - was rather instrumental in inspiring me and this tray lol}!

Irregardless of what was truly my muse, I was so very pleased with how it all turned out! Here's a few close ups.

 

The dress form is a gorgeous chippie piece from FABSCRAPS { an African company}. I first altered it with model paste{ the only part you can see that on is up by the neck...sort of a waste of time as I ended up covering 99% of it up lol}. The leg part of the form was embossed with Martha Stewart emboss powder to give it that metal look. I cut a small scrap of the G45 paper to make the "shirt" and added several layers of lace for the skirt. The "pearl" necklace was colored with alcohol inks{thanks for bringing me those to play with Kelly} and I finished off the dress form waist with some brown ribbon and a flower and feather from the ScrapThat kit.

Lots of Glossy Accents crackle medium on this clock face to age it.

A few flower sprays in opposite corners... and a pretty fabric banner to top it off!

This banner was super duper easy to make. I simply cut the banner pieces from artists canvas { as a painter I have tons of this stuff kicking around} ...you can buy this at any art supply store in any size you need . I cut out my banner pieces and painted the edges with ModPodge to keep them from fraying. I bent over the top edges and using my crop-a-dile, I punched holes and set my WeRMemoryMakers eyelets in each piece. Then I inked the edges and added my word using stickers from the Ladies' Diary G45 sticker sheet. ..and Viola`! a beautiful addition for my scraproom wall. Thanks for popping by today. I hope its as nice in your neck of the woods as it is here today. Toodles!

Double the Fun Sketch Challenge

Well my dear friend, KELLY. has been busy creating a new sketch for her " Double the Fun' feature over at CANADIAN SCRAPBOOKER magazine. Here's her sketch....

 and here's her beautiful layout featuring GRAPHIC 45 's gorgeous TROPICAL TRAVELOGUE ....

So while I was blessed to have Kelly actually sitting at my side at Deidre's fantastic scrapweekend in Springdale, I worked away at her beautiful sketch and this is what I came up with !

These are my beautiful nephews, Nathan and Brady. These photos were taken a couple of years ago by my sister, Annette's, friend Deidre. Not sure where exactly but I can narrow it down to somewhere out around St John's . I'm ashamed to admit that I've dragged these photos { and these Creative Imaginations papers} to the last THREE crops I attended in Springdale. I guess I was just waiting for the right inspiration { aka Kelly and her great sketch}.

 This is a great multi photo sketch and perfect for a layout featuring photos from the same event. I think I'll be using it more than once! I'd love to see what you create with this great sketch and I encourage you to submit your creation to CANADIAN SCRAPBOOKER magazine for a chance to be published in Kelly's upcoming article.

Well that's it for tonight...hubby just bought me an new Android and now I gotta have a " tutorial" on how to use the darn thing { and anyone who knows me knows how frickin' technologically challenged I am...sigh}. I may be a while. Glad my hubby is such a patient man. BTW, you may have noticed that I made reference to Kelly being here in Nfld this past weekend with me...but that's a whole different posting..stay tuned { hint: she gets 'Screeched in"}.Thanks for popping by..toodles!

PS: You may have noticed that my blog has a new look...I can thank Kelly for that...she's so much more talented at all this stuff than me!

Frances -Sept Sketchy Challenge

How can it possibly be almost the middle of September all ready???? I'm sure July 1st was only last week! Don't you find that June and July just meander along but August goes by in a snap?

So here we are already half way into the September Sketchy Challenge over at CANADIAN SCRAPBOOKER . Check out the gorgeous sketch by Sue Sykes .

 

and here's my take on this month's sketch...

 

 

This is my lovely mother-in-law, Frances { She'd probably kill me if she saw this page posted here}. Frances HATES getting her photo taken and usually hides when she sees the camera. This beautiful photo of her was taken several years ago at her 50th wedding anniversary party. Photo by her son, Don Marks.  I tucked a little journal note in behind the photo that says " I could never make mother-in-law jokes about Frances. She's a wonderful, loving lady. " and she truly is .

 

I absolutely loved these Shabby Love papers from Harmonie - a great Canadian company! I picked them up last year in Edmonton when I was visiting KELLY . A trip of a lifetime that coincided with Canadian Scrapbooker 's annual Carnival...which, BTW is going on in Edmonton again this coming weekend. Sooooo disappointed to not be there this year but I think my niece, Ali's wedding this weekend is a tad bit more important! Family first!

 

Thought I'd share a brief little tutorial on how I did the floral chippie piece for this LO. My flower chippie is actually from Dusty Attic, but Harmonie does have a very similar piece. I'm creating this tut as an afterthought so I don't have a photo of a couple of steps ...bear with me! 

 

 

This chipboard piece is an open style and I started by laying the plain piece on pink cs and lightly tracing out the center shapes.

 

 

 

Next I applied a mix of Vintage Velvet, Spun Sugar and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks with a Q-tip. I wasn't really particular about this step just sorta smeared it on .

 

 

              Then I cut out the shape and erased all the pencil lines.

I don't have a photo to demonstrate { remember this was after the fact} but I had already painted the actual chipboard piece with a layer of white acrylic paint and then painted the leaves with a mix of two different greens { I knew holding on to all those tole paint supplies would come in handy one day!}.

I inked the outside edge of the flower with Aged Mahogany......

 

Finally , I laid the chippie piece down on my inked pink cs and proceeded to fill in all the gaps with Ranger's Glossy Accents { I looooove that stuff!}. I left it to dry overnight as I had a fairly thick layer of Glossy Accents on it.

 

 

 and viola! pretty custom accent.

 

 

 

 Well that's it for me tonight my friends. Must go batten down the hatches as Hurricane Leslie is fast approaching the island. All schools in Newfoundland have already decided to close tomorrow as a safety measure.Smart move me thinks! Hopefully there won't be too much flooding ....Yuck!

You still have lots of time, so why don't you skip on over to Canadian Scrapbooker and give their sketchy challenge a go. And while you're busy blog hopping check out KELLY"S new GORGEOUS fall LO and tutorial that she posted today using Bo Bunny's  Apple Cider paper line.. Soooo many gorgeous little details! Thanks for popping by! Toodles!

G45 Tropical Travelogue Book

Happy Back to School week everyone! Isn't funny how, that by the end of June, everyone is sick of schedules and just looking forward to the freedom of summer but, by the beginning of September we are all so glad to get back to our organized and structured lives? I often say that September is the true ' New Year'...not January. There's something about the freshness and crispness of September that inspires me to get organized and take on new projects.

I've finally gotten around to doing something with my Cuba pictures from last spring. I was soooooo inspired by the awesome super talented Clare Charvill {UK} of the Graphic 45 design team that I  just had to try my hand at an album similar to hers. Please take the time to check out her YouTube video showing her jaw dropping album at this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ1RPjXCQM8&list=PLD6A30D896908FB1F&index=4&feature=plpp_video .

I don't even claim to be anywhere near her level of creation but I think I did do a pretty good job of it. I'm so glad I took the time to study {yup...I really DID study} her video :). I had purchased the 12 x 12 paper pack of Tropical Travelogue to use for my Cuba pics but frankly was quite overwhelmed by all the patterns when I looked at it. I didn't have a clue where to start and I am so glad that Clare shared her wonderful creation and opened my eyes to all the possibilities and eye pleasing combinations that this paper offers! Please pop by her BLOG and give her some luv!

I did do a few things to make it my own. I didn't have access to the binder piece {Tim Holtz I think} that Clare used to create the actual album but I did find a wonderful substitute! In case you haven't seen it yet, Martha Stewart has a gorgeous new line of office organizers at Staples. I found this 7 1/2 x 9 1/2  binder that fit my needs perfectly. {Warning : this post is photo heavy! } Here's my album cover:

 

As stated, I used a Martha Stewart binder. The papers are from G45 Tropical Travelogue and the flowers on the front cover are an older set of Prima flowers that I've been hoarding for some time. As per Clare, I fussy cut a bunch of leaves from the pp and added a little Stickles to give a bit of bling to the cover. Here's a few inside shots. 

 

 

I have nowhere near as many nooks and crannies as Clare had in her book, but I did try to include lots of pretty details and little tags, etc to look at. All my pages are pocket pages with pull tabs on top, and they hold a double-sided insert with a 4 x 6 photo on each side. I actually managed to fit an astounding 56 photos in this book...most which aren't even visible unless you lift flaps or pull tabs, thus keeping it fairly clean and uncluttered looking. I made the passport inside the first page by cutting out pieces from the patterned paper and embossing a piece of black cs. I then sewed it down the spine . It holds two quote pages and two photos of hubby and I and our travel companions, Tracey and Kris, as we wait {impatiently} at the airport to board. Here's a close up of our "passport".

 

 I used an awesome set of stamps from Cloud 9 that was full of travel inspired quotes.

I'm usually pretty heavy on the journaling....tho not so much on this album....but I really liked the journaling cards that were included on one sheet of the pp and used them behind several photos in this book.

 

 

 Check out the cool flip book I included on this page. I took A LOT of car photos in Cuba for my son {the car freak}. We were fascinated by all the 1950's era cars that abound in Cuba {pre Cuban missile crisis} and by the fact that many had been converted to disel running taxis. I fit six  2 1/2 x 3 1/4  photos on this one flip page, plus a little journal spot under the cover. The mini alphas used in this book are October Afternoon mini market stickers.

 

 

The page on the right has an envelope attached to the front . I included a few smaller pages in between the regular size pages but they are still pocket pages.

 

 

 This page has a corner piece attached only on two sides so I could tuck in a photo and mat and also a small journaling tag. I used this technique on several different pages throughout the book. You can't really see from the pics, but each page is decorated under the photos so that it still looks pretty when the inserts are removed. Another reason to check out Clare's video as you can see her pages with both the inserts in place and out. I loved that idea!

 

 

Isn't this palm tree adorable? I have my dear friend KELLY  to thank for that ! Check out her cool tutorial on how to make it HERE. I searched high and low but could not find my sticky back canvas like Kelly used anywhere in my craftroom {and I thought I was so darn organized ...sigh} so I had to make mine from card stock. Still, I was pleased with how it turned out. You would not believe how many people stopped on the beach to have their photo taken with this sand mermaid tail that Kris created! Here's a few more photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a few more ways to fit more than one photo on a page:

 

 

This little book of critter photos is basically the same as a tri- fold card. The center is adhered to the page and the sides flip open.

 

 

This side holds six photos of floral shots. It's done with an accordion fold and joined on the backs with tape. This accordion page itself was heavy and flopped open so I made two tags from leaves and a brad which can be turned to lock it in place. You can see one of the leaf tags in the bottom of the photo.

 

 

 

 

 

On some of the pages I made my own epoxy-like stickers using Glossy Accents. I am sooo addicted to that stuff! I basically stick with that and sookwang tape for all my gluing needs. The big fish sticker on the top page and the flowers on the second page were done with the Glossy Accents. A little hint: with all my chopped up bits and pieces, I only could cut one set of these flowers from the patterned paper. However, there was a whole set on the back of the paper packet. Being the back, it was glossier than the inside paper. However, by covering both with the glossy accents, they turned out the same and matched well on this page.

 

 Last pic I promise!

 

 

Phew! So there you have it {and I actually left out photos of a few pages!}. I hope you've enjoyed seeing my Tropical Travelogue album. Now I really must get my butt down to the woman cave and get my two page Halloween LO designed to teach at Deidre's upcoming Scrapbooking weekend in Sprindale this month. I am so excited as KELLY is coming all the way from Alberta to visit me and we'll both be teaching at this weekend crop! Only 16 more sleeps! Wooohoo! Thanks for popping by and happy scrapping!