Creative Foundations

OOOHHHH!!! So exciting!!

If you've ever heard me talk about scrapping, you've probably heard me talk about my crush on Vicki Boutin. I've been a fan of hers for years and her work is really what inspired me to take my own scrapping to the next level by expanding my use of techniques and exploring my own creativity. I had the pleasure of meeting her when I took a class with her at Scrapfest in 2010 and even had my page about Scrapfest (with a pic of her, of course) published in Canadian Scrapbooker!

But what I'm excited about today, is the giveaway on her blog: http://vickiboutin.typepad.com/. Do the blog hop, collect the words and post the sentence for a chance to win a copy of her new book Creative Foundations.

The phrase is mentioned on a couple of the blogs, but don't stop! Visit each blog! They're beautiful and exciting, with great examples of pages and cards. Definitely worthwhile!!

Happy Hopping!

The United Colours of Scrapping

Remember Benetton? They were so popular when I was growing up. I think every girl in my class had Colours perfume. But I digress.

This layout put me in mind of Benetton because the products I used on them are from around the world! Literally!

Of course, it's mostly stuff from the US: Bazzil cardstock, Jillibean Soup letters, Cosmo Cricket sticker and Sew Easy twine. But the paint is from Canada and the patterned paper is from Quebec (not sure if it's from a French or Quebec manufactuer, but it's a French paper line...whose name escapes me at the moment...). The pen is Sakura, from Japan. And (drum roll, please) the adorable buttons and doily are from Australia: Purple Pumpkin!

A while back I won a prize pack from Purple Pumpkin and waited eagerly for it to arrive. What a stash! They gave me a generous supply of buttons, doilies, flowers and die cuts. I'm sure I'll be able to use them on at least a dozen pages and cards.

This page was my first time using Purple Pumpkin products--fittingly enough, for the Purple Pumpkin March Sketch Challenge. I've admired them online for a long time, but just never put in an order. Maybe because I don't tend to use a lot of buttons on my layouts. But these fabric covered buttons are amazing! They're vibrant and whimsical. A great addition to my kid pages.

Check out their website for yourself! Purple Pumpkin Store

Happy Scrapping!

Crafting in the Real World

I've said it before: I'm a dyed-in-the-wool PAPERcrafter. I love paper. Have loved it since childhood.

I remember cutting out paper dolls and making them clothes from Christmas wrapping paper. I remember my first typewriter and the stacks of coloured paper I had for different uses: cream for poetry, gray for reports, blue for short fiction, purple for letters. I remember how delighted I was in high school when I found a box of gift wrap from the 1970's and wrapped the covers of my agenda and notebooks in it. And I'll never forget the stationery stores in Seoul with their neat little packages of 2 sheets of paper and coordinating envelope, the gorgeous handmade rice paper (that I taped to the windows for privacy in my curtain less bedroom) and the overflowing bins of amazing pens and markers.

So, of course, I love scrapbooking with paper. And as my husband will attest to, I have a fantastic stash of patterned paper. If you can name a manufacturer I don't have represented in my scrapbooks or my stash, they're probably not available in Canada. It is a huge stash. A monumental stash. A luxurious, inspiring, overflowing, rainbow, jealousy-inducing stash.

And also, of late, a very (sadly) neglected stash.

I have discovered the world of digital scrapbooking.

I won't say I was dragged kicking and screaming into the virtual scrapbooking world, but it was a prolonged, reluctant courtship--that I'm happy to say has blossomed into a loving and wonderful relationship. I love digital scrapbooking. Almost as much as I love paper.

When I became a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant last February, I decided to finally see what all the fuss was about. I signed up for a Studio J membership.

Now, I'm an avid scrapbooker. I average about 3 or 4 hours a week scrapbooking; more if there's a crop that week. And I get a good 3 to 5 pages done per month. Of course, for me, much of my love for this hobby is about the crafting, not necessarily getting pages done, but it is so very satisfying to have completed projects.

For the past few years, my goal has been to never be more than 2 years behind in my annual scrapbooks. And with effort, I've kept up.

Studio J is going to change all that for me. And I'm thrilled!!

I began working in Studio J in mid-February and to date, I have 17 new double-page layouts in my albums and 3 more on the way. That's 17 pages in 3 weeks. Now, I've done 10 pages in 10 days before--but they weren't the most complicated pages, and at the end of it I'd had enough of scrapping and took a few weeks respite. No so with Studio J! I can't get enough. And it's always there waiting for me.

It's an online application that's really easy to use (which is VERY important for someone ask tech-savvy as me--that is to say, not at all) and I can work on my layouts at bit at a time. This has always been my lament with scrapbooking. That I've needed a good chunk of time (at least 2 hours) to make it worthwhile. After all, the first and last half hours are spent getting everything out and then putting everything back. I continue to long for a scrapbooking space of my own where I can just leave unfinished projects on my worktable and not worry about them. Studio J is the next best thing.

My layouts are always there. I can work on them bit by bit--10 minutes here, 5 minutes there--until they are exactly they way I want them. But honestly, it doesn't really take long to create online at all. Here is one of my favourite Studio J layouts.

It took me all of 15 minutes to complete. Granted, I didn't stray too far from the template design. I just  added the photos, switched up the papers, coloured the elements (like the ribbons and brads), added the stickers and borders, distressed all the edges and added the journaling. The journaling actually took a long time because this is a page about an event I didn't attend and all K and H had to say about it was "It was great!".

Now, here's another Close To My Heart layout using the same template, but crafted in the physical world.

Now, you'll notice that this is a pretty simple layout. All I had to do was print the photos, trim the photos, ink the edges, trim and ink all the papers, stamp the flowers, colour the chipboard, adhere everything to the page, add the stickers and journaling. I would have stamped the title and stamped some other images on the left side, but it was already so late, I just wanted to get this page into the book. Because it was after midnight. And I'd been working on this page for 3 hours. (Not counting the time I spent trying to get my photos printed.)

So, it's no wonder I'm hooked on Studio J. My new scrapbooking goal is to have my 2010 album completed in classic scrapbooking and my 2011 album completed in Studio J and have both of them finished by December 31, 2012. If I can accomplish it, my annual scrapbooks will only be a year behind! And then I can turn my attention to some albums that haven't been getting enough: my wedding and my heritage albums.

Wish me luck!

Plug: Visit my website to check out more of my Studio J art and buy some great Close To My Heart products! http://www.susanagomes.myctmh.com/

Knut!

This page is yet another for the Purple Pumpkin sketch challenge. And thank goodness for sketch challenges because without them, I'm sure I wouldn't get as many pages done as I do. I'm following two challenges religiously, which ensures at least three pages per month.

This page tells the story of my youngest rascal and his white PJs that have earned him the nickname "Knut"--like the German polar bear.

He has since grown out of these snuggly jammies with feet, but he's still just as cute these days. (And still eating bananas for bedtime snack whenever he can.)

I had a little trouble with the colour scheme for this layout. At first, I thought I wanted all black and white--it did the photo justice--but found it a little more "formal" than this layout should be. So, I switched out the background card stock for Bo Bunny's fabulous Dot to Dot paper in turquoise and I think it lends the little bit of whimsy I was after.

I also love the title stickers: American Crafts Thickers, but in felt. These fuzzy letters give the title the same warmth and softness conveyed in the journaling.

Another lovely 2011 page in the book! God bless sketches!!

Rejoice!

I am really enjoying monthly sketch challenges lately. This one from Purple Pumpkin is the latest I've tried my hand at.

Purple Pumpkin January Sketch Challenge

When I first saw this sketch, I knew exactly what photos to use. I only had two photos of my son taken at a school celebration and they had been sitting in my photo pile for a while; I wasn't quite sure what to do with them.

Was this meant to be a school page? A religious page? A "when you were seven years old" page? Was it meant for his school days album or for the yearly family album?

When I saw this sketch the pictures and the paper jumped to mind, though I still wasn't sure where this page would find a home.

My take on the sketch.

Ultimately, I included this page in my son's school days album because the event took place at the school and I also want him to remember that faith development was an important part of his education and that he had a strong Community of Faith around him as he grew up.

My take on the sketch follows the plan very closely (that's what a good sketch is for, after all!), although I admit I had trouble with the proportions. I couldn't crop my focal photo small enough, so my horizontal line is longer than the one in the sketch.

Still, I am very happy with the result! Thanks for the great sketch, Purple Pumpkin!

Happy 5th, Saturday Scrappers!

Wow! This month the Saturday Scrappers celebrated their fifth anniversary. That's an amazing run for a scrapbooking group and this one is still going strong. I feel so privileged to be part of this group.


My first time at Saturday Scrappers, March 1st, 2008.

My own Saturday Scrappers anniversary will be in March, when I mark my fourth year with this amazing group of talented ladies (and a few kids!). Without getting too sentimental, I'd like to share what a huge impact this group has had on me.

I first started coming to this group at the invitation of Justine, whom I met through a scrapbooking group on Facebook. I'd chatted with her through the group several times and when I advertised a scrapbooking workshop I was giving, she signed up and brought a friend!

After the workshop, she invited me to Saturday Scrappers and eventually, I got up the nerve to actually go. (Trying new things and meeting new people isn't one of my strengths.) And I'm so glad I did!

That night I met an amazing group of talented and welcoming women who shared my love of scrapbooking and were very nice company. I've often said one of the great benefits of scrapbooking is the sense of community and this group is where I first learned that.



Me displaying my first published layout. (Fall 2010)


This group isn't only a place where I can have uninterrupted time to follow my passion, it's an amazing source of support and encouragement. Whether I'm working on a project for a contest, coming up with original layouts for submission or just whipping something up for my albums, these ladies can always find something complimentary and uplifting to say about my work. Whether the flattery is deserved or not is beside the point; the encouragement I receive is priceless--especially coming from other scrapbookers.

Even though I've never stayed the full 12 hours (and sometimes it's hard to stay for more than 2 or 3), and I often miss the pot luck dinner, I really enjoy socialising with the ladies of this group and it's nice to just shoot the breeze, catch up with what's been going on and occasionally meet new people.

Saturday Scrappers really has a wonderful thing going.

And one of the hallmark features of this group is a yearly challenge. Whether it's a page exchange, mini-album exchanges, card swaps or the annual Christmas Card Marathon, there's always something exciting happening with this group to inspire scrapbookers. This year, Justine is organising a Page-of-the-Month challenge. Each month she's posting 2 Pagemaps and interested scrappers are creating pages based on them.



Me with a partially finished page for the January 2012 challenge.

This is a great challenge for me, not only because I love Pagemaps, but it has really inspired me to get pages done. I know if I do nothing else in a month, I will get these pages done!

So, thanks Justine, Kerri, Sault, Angel, Mandy, Cathy, Peggy, Granny, Ilse, Emma, Siobhann, Lori and everyone else at Saturday Scrappers! It's a pleasure knowing you!!

A New Favourite

This is one of my latest pages and it has jumped to the top of my favourites list. There are so many reasons why this is my new favourite page, but I'll just give you the run down on the top 5.

1. I love the paper. The School Spirit line by Crate Paper is fabulous. It has a lot of colour and interest without being girly--which is important to me because almost all my pages are about my boys. I thought the geometric shapes in the background paper were a perfect fit with the science theme of the page.

2. A great title. I struggled with what title to use on this page. Originally, I thought I'd use puffy brown American Crafts Thickers to spell out "Science Centre" or "Little Explorers", but as luck would have it, I'm down to the last q's, x's and z's of that particular set.

Then I thought I'd just cut out a title from brown cardstock on my Silhouette when I had the time, but after the page sat around for a couple of weeks (I still have to buy a new cutting mat) I knew I had to come up with something else for the title or this page was going to languish for years. (Yes, I do have pages that need die cut titles from years ago waiting for me to do a massive die cut session one day.)

Finally, a few days ago, I realised my darling husband has a colour printer and I could just print something out. That's when I went to the Science Centre website to check out their logo. I found a logo for Kidspark, which is where all the photos are from and the journaling is about. Voila! Perfect title. I just had to print it out, trim it down, ink the edges, mount on brown cardstock and adhere with pop dots. I love the way it fits perfectly onto the page.

3. Glazed brads. I'm not normally a fan of brads, but I love glazed brads and I couldn't resist stocking up on these Basic Grey glazed brads when I saw them deeply discounted from Ninabrook Designs. Unlike regular brads, which just look like nail heads to me, glazed brads usually have a pattern, rim and epoxy coating. You'll often see glazed brads in packs to co-ordinate with a paper line. Even though I didn't have the co-ordinating papers, I loved these brads and think they fit in well with the colours on this page and add a bit of a whimsical touch. I even added a glazed brad to dress up the title, replacing the purple dot in the "i" with a brad.

4. This page documents a tradition. As a family, we love doing things together and visiting places like the Science Centre and the ROM. I have a lot of pages about these kinds of trips. But for me, and I hope for my children too, going to the Science Centre on the Christmas Break has become an important tradition. After all the Christmas hullabaloo, we take some time for ourselves, to connect as a family doing something everyone enjoys. I documented my feelings about our annual trip in the journaling and I hope when my boys are older they'll look back on these family trips as fondly as I do.

5. This page reconnected me with my old Smith Corona. I have always loved typing. I don't even mind the data entry work I do as an editor because I just love pounding away on a keyboard. (Perhaps if I had any musical inclination, I'd be a pianist.) My old typewriter was retired years ago because I had no use for it once my computer came along. But for whatever reason, I couldn't bear to part with it. It stayed in storage for years and has evaded the occasional mass clean out--including one just this spring that involved Kevin digging out all our old electronics for recycling. I saw him heading out with my old SC and saved it from the scrap pile just in time.

I'm not sure why I did that, because at the time I didn't even know if it worked or that I could purchase typewriter cartridges at Staples. But it went back into my closet all the same. Then this past December, browsing at Staples for something else, I saw a little section devoted to old technology, and there they were: typewriter cartridges. I didn't buy one at the time because I wasn't sure which cartridge my typewriter would take, but Kevin went back a few weeks later and picked one up for me.

That very night, I took SC out of the closet, set it up on my kitchen table and plugged it in. The hum of its motor was like a forgotten lullaby. I sat down, inserted some paper and typed out the journaling for my scrapbook page. It just took a few minutes, but using my old typewriter brought back a flood of memories of all the essays, themes, short stories, poems, resumes and letters I'd written using this old thing.

It sparked my old love for writing, and even though I'm not going to make any promises, I've had some more interesting ideas for a twist in my waiting-to-be-written novel.