CRII - December Challenge

OK - Post number three for today! See, I told you I would make up for not posting in December!

So this post is about the December CRII challenge. The layout was based on a Nov 2010 Page Maps sketch. While I had decided on the photographs to use, I had trouble finding paper that I liked. In the end I went for plain papers with the central vertical piece only being patterned. I had it in my stash, it's by 7 Gypsies (I think!). The paper under the title on the left is actually a K&Co tag that I cut in half. Ribbon is from my stash (left over from an LSS challenge I think) and the title letters and embellishments are both sticker sheets that I bought from one of those $2 shops. For the embellishments I stuck the stickers onto some white cardstock and then cut them out. I stuck them onto the page using foam mounting squares. To make the swirl at the bottom I used my new gold gel pen (a Christmas present since my last pen ran out) and my new Swirly Doodles (Hot off the Press) template. The template is really easy to use as there are several swirls that depending on how you put them together make different flourishes. There are suggestions on the template explaining exactly how to put them together.

While this layout is quite simple, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

For the card, it was a straight scraplift. Unfortunately Sue didn't know where she saved it from in the first place, so sorry I can't acknowledge the maker :( Here is the original on the left, and my version on the right. Mine is nowhere near as nice when I see them side by side, but at least I had a go!

Till next time, happy days!

Francine

CRII - November Challenge

Yes, I know, it says November challenge, but the two of us left in the year long challenge both forgot to do the November challenge, so the organiser decided we should have to the end of December to finish November and December! Thank you Sue! Sue is so sweet, organising all the challenges for us and helping us with inspriation.

If you've been reading my blog for any time, you know that the CRII challenge involves a card and a layout. The cards are always challenging for me as I really don't enjoy making cards much, but this one was reasonably simple. Here it is, along with the sketch (originally from Page Maps):











I made the flowers with my Sullivans daisy punches adding a rhinestone centre, used a rectangular die cut tag from my stash for the vase, and drew the flower stems in with a green marker. The die cut tag was a bit plain so I drew the flourish on using the Swirly Q's template from The Crafter's Workshop.




For the layout, this was the sketch by Susan Stringfellow of sketchsavvy.blogspot.com. It was meant for an 8.5"x11" page, so I stretched it to fit a 12"x12" page. I also made the photograph larger.

Earlier this week we drove to Sydney to visit friends and family. For the first time in a long time there was water in Lake George! On the way home we stopped at the lookout and I took some photos that I stitched together to make this panorama. Here's the layout.





All the papers come from my stash. Mostly they are TLC papers, except for the brown ones (left over from some LSS monthly layout challenges I think), and the blue/white patterned paper circles which is definitely left over from the Dec Wrapped in Paper challenge from the previous post. The ribbon is from my stash (bought at Costco when we were living in Canada) and the arrow and flourish are from the Tim Holtz mixed minis grungeboard collection and painted with twinkling H2Os. The title is Heidi Swapp ghost alphabet, attached with bronze coloured brads.

This is not one of my favourite layouts, but it will do.






Till next time, happy days!

Francine

Sweet Little Man

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wow - no posts in December! Well, I guess with the end of school, finishing off things at work in order to close down for a longer period, and all things Christmas related, I really haven't had time. So, to make up for it, I'm going to try and do several posts today with the challenges I finished just in time for the end of the year!

The kit for December's Wrapped in Paper layout competition wasn't one of my favourites. Once again I forgot to take a picture of the kit before I cut it up, so you'll have to make due with a description of the inclusions: pastel yellow cardstock, an A4 sized piece of white cardstock, three 6"x12" pieces of baby blue and white patterned paper, a large yellow flower, a piece of thin yellow ribbon, two other lengths of ribbon/lace - one blue, one white, a shaped piece of chipboard, a card of blue elliptical shaped bling, and a pearl set brad. The whole thing screamed baby to me, so I dug through my old photos and found two pictures of Logan at 7 months old (some 13 years ago). I used a sketch from Ingeborg Dijkstra-Verbeek from her scrapbooking competition website, and here is the final result:

The only things I added to the kit were the butterfly stickers, phrase/letter stickers and the title. The title was made with TLC/Breezy Designs rub on toppings. It does actually say 'sweet' with a flourish above 'little man' and I tried to rub white flock onto the adhesive, but it really didn't work. You can (kind of) see it in real life, but not in this picture! I used blue foil for the 'little man' part of the title. I inked all the edges of the papers with some blue ink from my stash and painted the chipboard shape with some blue twinkling H2Os then cut out a piece of blue paper to fit the inside of the shape. I had a sticker sheet with Logan on it that I bought in the US, and the other phrases came from a sticker book that I received for Christmas. The bottom phrase used to say "Our bundle of joy, our sweet little boy", only after I stuck it on I realised that it actually said budle, not bundle, so I cut the top line off. I guess that's what you get when you buy "Made in China" :P

If you're wondering where the white lace is, I cut one small piece of it and stuck it at the bottom of the vertical piece of patterned paper using the brad, and the flower I cut up into pieces and stuck it behind the chipboard. Other than the fact that the background is pastel yellow, I really like how this turned out.

And finally, here is the sketch that Ingeborg made. She does beautiful work and you can check it out on her blog. Why not participate in her monthly challenge at her scrapbooking competition blog too?

Till next time, happy days!

Francine