The Inspired Scrapper - Sketch Challenge

This week, The Inspired Scrapper offered a sketch challenge, using one of Becky Fleck's sketches from PageMaps. Here is the sketch -















and here is my version of it:



I had fun playing with this one - distressing and inking edges, stamping and embossing with utee (can you see the dots in the bottom left corner?), stitching and stapling - good times!




I squeaked in last minute with this layout - The Inspired Scrapper posts a new challenge tomorrow. Come by and check it out!

Fun and Frolic with Paper and Glue...

Lovebug Scrapbooking is running a kit contest right now until mid-August and what a deal!! They have 5 small kits available for five dollars, or all five for twenty dollars. I bought two, and LOVE what I did with the Making Memories kit, if I do say so myself! I haven't had a very satisfying go at cardmaking or scrapping for what feels like quite awhile - until now! My 12x12 layout:






















From the leftover supplies, I was able to make six cards - adding nothing but cardstock and one ribbon! I still have enough left to make at least two more cards - sooo satisfying!!




"Art is not the bread, but the wine of life."
John Paul Richter

This Month's 'The Inspired Scrapper'...

I am so pleased to say that I was asked to be the Guest Designer this month for 'The Inspired Scrapper'. This fabulous blog is the brain child of Sonja McLean, a whirling dervish of talent and drive whom I have admired for a number of years now, since I first met her at a LSS. I alternate between 'flattered' and 'sheepish' to be included for the month among the very clever and accomplished Design Team members Sonja has working with her at The Inspired Scrapper. This is the layout that I did for this week's 'Rain' themed project. Thank you Sonja, and the rest of the team, for inviting me over to play!

A Lovebug Blog Challenge...

I'm so excited that Lovebug has a blog! I, like many other people I know, are addicted to blogs, so it's great to have another blog to check in on. For those of you who are not familiar with Lovebug Scrapbooking, it is the friendliest community of scrappers that I have ever encountered. Along with the blog, there is a forum, a store, and a gallery. A little something for everyone!

This challenge was a scraplift challenge, and the chosen layout was by Lys, aka 'iamalloverit'. Lys had turned out to be my 'secret Santa' this past Christmas, and I ended up using some of the chipboard she sent me - thanks again, Lys! I'm not a 'literal' scraplifter - I usually use the inspiration piece as a launching pad and then head off in whatever direction I end up going. With this layout, I kept the basic composition and the 'time' theme, and ran with it. Thank you Lovebug, and thank you, Lys - the blog's first scraplift challenge was good fun!

Block Head

For a few months now, I have been experiencing 'writer's block', for lack of a better term. I am not one to be short for words, but I can't string together a simple paragraph to save my life! I've started several posts in draft form, but just can't get 'em going. It's a strange feeling to have so much going on inside my head and not be able to get it out. The connection between my brain and my ability to type has short-circuted. My fingers are mute! Kind of frustrating, I must say! It's not like I've got the next great Canadian literary masterpiece trapped inside - I just want to be able to vent, blab, ramble, pour it out...and I can't! I'm stopped up! The pathway from my brain to my fingertips is constipated!! I need the mental equivalent of a tall glass of prune juice but I just don't know what this would be. Crap! (no pun intended). In the meantime, this current mental affliction has not impacted the big piece of my little brain that is devoted to scrapbooking! I have managed to squeeze out (again, no pun intended!) a couple of layouts for the lovely little inspiration blog I mentioned in my last couple of posts. Sonja posts a new challenge at The Inspired Scrapper every Friday, which gives me just one more reason to exclaim TGIF!! each week. Challenge #7 was to use one sheet of diecut paper on at least two layouts. I managed to do this using a lovely cream coloured, very lacy piece of paper, and the bonus for me is that I used it on a primarily pink layout about my daughter and a boyish, earthier colour schemed layout about my son. Sonja's current challenge is #8 - using chipboard snowflakes, and the examples she has posted are very nice, but I just can't deal with anything snow related right now. Without going into huge dramatics, I'll just say that anything to do with snow OR winter could just about tip me over the psychological abyss I teeter on, so I will be abstaining from this week's challenge BUT - I am really looking forward to finding out what the challenge for the coming week will be! In the meantime, I'm on a bit of a card making bender, so maybe I'll have a few for posting soon, if words continue to fail me.

The Inspired Scrapper - That's Me!

Another layout I did in response to Challenge #6 at The Inspired Scrapper. Inspired, indeed! I haven't done two layouts in two days in who knows how long!!

Inspired by 'The Inspired Scrapper'

If you are a lover of all things scrapbooking, as I am, then check out this new inspiration blog belonging to Sonja McLean, an amazingly talented Canadian scrapbooker, and an all-round lovely human being. It's called The Inspired Scrapper and is home to a design team made up of several extremely creative women with a variety of personal scrapbooking styles. Something for everyone!!

Here's the layout I did for Challenge #6 - Lucky In Love. Although we are nearing Valentines Day, any day is a good day to stop and reflect on the people who we love and the richness in our lives, wouldn't you say?