SOTW Feb 23-March 1, 2010 and an update!

I cannot believe how much scrapping one can squish into 3 (technically 4) days!

I spent the weekend with Alissa and Luanna from A PILE OF SCRAP! and Jane (a coworker from Creative Scrapbooks) at a retailer's event at Memories Wholesale here in Edmonton.
I was thrilled to be able to see and play with some amazing new products from Bo Bunny, American Crafts, 7 Gypsies, Ranger, Tattered Angels and many, many many more!! There were some incredible instructors there - Liz Hicks from Tattered Angels, Jen Starr from Ranger, Vicki Boutin who did the most beautiful 7 Gypsies mini album with us and many more - I will post some photos as soon as I get them!
It was an extremely fun weekend where I learned a lot and can't wait to share it in some upcoming classes!
I was super tired from the weekend but it was well worth it - and then last night had an alcohol inks class and even had more fun! A great group of ladies who made it fun to teach! And I am really looking forward to teaching a canvas class next month...the good news being it is already up in the store! (I am usually a bit behind in getting up my classes so I think this made my boss even happier than it made me!)
I am also happy to say that I am still playing along over at LOAD - where the inspiration is the best part of it all! I am already looking forward to the next one where I am vowing to do NO DIGI LAYOUTS!!!! However, I did do a digi today.......so that I could use it as SOTW too - and here it is!
And my layout...
And if last weekend wasn't enough....Creative is having an all weekend event this weekend and I am working the Saturday - thank goodness the kids have no school on Thursday and Friday because I am really looking forward to some Mommy/kidlet time!
Have yourselves a great week!

FEBRUARY DESIGN TEAM REVEAL AT APOS!

Well nothing like leaving everything to the last minute.... It has been a crazy busy hectic time around here, thank goodness for scrapbooking to take my mind off of things!

This month, the Design Team at A PILE OF SCRAP! all got some different Valentine's lines and decided we wanted to do our reveal a bit early to send out some inspiration for those looking to create a unique gift for the big day. I was thrilled to receive My Mind's Eye's "Irresistable" line - a great mix of classic and funky! I will apologize in advance for some of the pics as my camera batteries were dying and the lighting is not the best in my scrap area - I am hoping to retake some of the pics at some point. I ended up with 2 cards and 4 layouts and still have some paper left to create more if I can squeeze it in.

First up, I decided to play with my new Spellbinder's dies and some glimmer mist/stamps to alter a white flower.
I adore this stamp! And although it looks like holes around the scallop in the picture it is actually black bling. I ended up giving this card away to my son's little friend who is moving next week.


Then I did a little card that was inspired by a layout at LOAD that I absolutely adored. This is a great card for scraps that are left sitting in your scrap area!
This is her layout (her name is Errlee on LOAD but she doesn't have a blog as of yet)


And here is my card:

This layout came together very quickly
BLISS IS FOUND
Oh those Jenny Bowlin bingo cards.... LOVE THEM! And the little Maya Road pins too! I added a wee bit of Basic Grey's Indian Summer line to change it up a little and a little bit of the Kaisercraft tiny alphabets always add a nice touch.

My next layout came together thanks to a LOAD challenge to use our stash.
SURPRISE
these were 2 scraps in to top of the scrap box and I opened an embelly drawer and found a box of old Making Memories flowers...so I used the whole box in one shot!


My next layout took quite a while for me...
LOVE STORY
This is one of the photos that I inherited from my Grandparents and they have sat there for a while as I was feeling quite intimidated by them...but am finally starting to scrap them. I have noticed however that I put the wrong year in the journal tag as it is actually 1940 - this is my Grandma and Grandpa and my Dad the day that my Grandpa left for the war. I have only put the photo down lightly as I want to scan it and save the original. This also has some 7 Gypsies paper and Jenny Bowlin C'oredinations cardstock on it. The flower was originally a newsprint beigey Prima one....a few different shades of Glimmer Mist and some ink to change it up a bit.

YOU MAKE MY HEART SING
And my last layout - Is this not the freakin cutest paper ever?!!!!!!!!
I only got one sheet so I cut out a heart from behind the photo in order to pop it up. I also used some Jenny Bowlin notebook cards and my ever favourite Heidi Swapp alphabets (who says I don't like stickers?!)

Hope you liked my projects - make sure you head on over to see

• Cheryl's stunning "Smiles" layout (along with her other goodies!)
• the gorgeous stuff Candace did with Little Yellow Bicycle!
• Jen's magical memories with Making Memories!
• and Valerie's adorable Bo Bunny creations!
  

Latest Creations and Some Blog Candy!

Well I have been a scrapping machine lately! LOAD definitely helps as did the online crop at A PILE OF SCRAP! - I finally got the chance to take some pics in better lighting so I thought I would share today....and...

I think it's time for a little
Blog Candy!
So here are the details - for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate at the A PILE OF SCRAP! online store and some extra goodies from my stash you can have your name entered by
- Telling me which of these is your favourite and why
- Follow my blog
- Send a friend (make sure they tell me that you sent them!)
Simple as that ! I will leave this contest open until Sunday at Midnight :)
And without further ado, the creations!

We have a cool game on our forum that we play every month called Crop Circle where the winner from the previous month picks 5 elements you must have on a layout - this month we had to use punches, stitching, die cut paper, bling and ink. I am using up old pictures as I seriously need to get some pictures developed and my printer is out of coloured ink...
Next is the online crop stuff - we had an all 80s theme and some pretty cool challenges came out of it.
The Barbie Girl (remember the song by Aqua)- use some plastic on a layout
The white wedding challenge- use white cardstock as your base
The AIDS challenge - use red ribbon on your project
The Dirty Dancing Challenge (nobody puts baby in a corner so no corners on the base cardstock)
And the last challenge that I was able to get done was a Strawberry Shortcake cupcake card - this was a template that I found somewhere and forgot to take note - so if it yours, please let me know and I will make sure to let others know! I seriously need to take another pic of this as the background paper and my "mist box" are a little distracting!!

And this one was one that I played with at the LSS, experimenting with embossing powders and the Clearsnap design adhesives (that is the words under what is supposed to be the photos - I freaking love these!!) Scrapping without pictures is a rarity for me but I like how this one turned out.
And lastly are my LOAD creations - awesome prompts from Lain to use my stash has motivated me, now let's just see if I can make it through a shift at the LSS tonight without buying anything!

LOAD 1 -No Title Needed (all scraps)

LOAD2 - Vintage (me as a baby!) (old photo)
LOAD3 - Two (old stickers that I used as a mask with Glimmer Mist)

LOAD4 - Field Trip
Whew! And that is it! Hope you are having scrappy week too! Don't forget to leave a comment!

SOTW Feb 1 - 7 2010

Well I had a rather productive weekend .... I LOVE ONLINE CROPS!
Over at A PILE OF SCRAP! we had a lot of fun - we went a little crazy and had an 80s theme which is always good for a laugh :) I managed to get 3 layouts, a card and a headband done (yep, a handband is considered a scrappy creation when you glimmer mist and glue flowers on it!!)
I have really been having difficulties getting a good shot of my work but I think that is because it is so late and I am in my dark room. A friend suggested a light from Costco so I am hoping I can pick one up and see if my results improve.
The SOTW is a super quick one (and I will prove it to you!) - just using your scraps and pulling out some rubons! I used to be rubon crazy but haven't used them in a while so decided this would be the week. That and a little suggestion from Lain to use my stash - because I was crazy enough to join LOAD again!
I have to tell you how much I enjoy LOAD - yesterday I was really not feeling well at all. I put the kids to bed and was going to crawl in bed myself but remembered that it was day 1 of LOAD and I wasn't giving up that easy. As I sat down at my scrap table, I remembered Lain's LOAD prompt about using our stash...so I pulled out the top 5 pieces in my scrap box, pulled up the SOTW on the puter and TADA...a layout in about 20 minutes which is a MAJOR miracle for me!
So day 1 down, 27 more to go!! If you are looking for a fun and really inspirational way to scrap, LOAD is where you should be!
Well I need to go and pack up some stuff as I pulled the kids out of school today so that we could use up our waterpark passes before they expire - have a great day!
And now, the SOTW:

And my quick and painless layout:

Sorry for the picture quality...but if you were skimming, I did explain it earlier ;)
Have a terrific Tuesday!