Cari Fennell here I come!

This week marks my 29th birthday...for the 3rd time! Do the math and you figure out pretty quickly that I'm turning 31....EEEK!

Even though the thought of getting older isn't my favourite thing to ponder, I still like to get together with my friends to celebrate the day I was born. Really, it's an excuse to have a party and I'm always up for a party to celebrate me...even though it means that I'm now fully entrenched in my 30s.

A few months ago, Auntie Em's Scrapbooking announced that Cari Fennell would be coming to teach a few classes. Cari designs for Prima and is uber-talented! Bonus: Cari would be here on my birthday weekend!

The Scrapbooking Divas and I are signed up for the mini-album class this coming Saturday. I'm SUPER excited! I'm looking forward to meeting Cari, going to my favourite scrapbooking store and, most importantly, spending time with my divas.

Photo evident of the mayhem that will obviously ensue will be available next week.

Happy scrappin'!

A Bridal Shower

Last September, I was a bridesmaid in my friend Kathleen's wedding. With Jenn's help (Kathleen's other bridesmaid), I planned a kick-ass shower, if I do say so myself.

Since I was the hostess with the mostess (I'm so humble, I know), I didn't have much time to take pictures. Luckily Diane (who still remains blogless) had her camera and was the shutterbug of the group.

I had so many pictures to choose from that I decided to do two double-page layouts for the shower. Here is the first:

Since a bridal shower in inherently girlie, I decided to use purples and pinks with a touch of green. For these layouts, I used a Basic Grey collection. If anyone can enlighten me as to which collection it is, I'd appreciate it! I can't remember for the life of me! All I know is that I bought it at Auntie Em's Scrapbooking. It's a very girlie collection and I love it...which is something coming from me. I'm generally not the biggest Basic Grey fan.

For the first page, I cut different widths and lengths of three pattern papers. I inked the edges and layered them on a piece of cardstock in a beautiful shade of purple. I then used a Martha Stewart punch to create the photo mat.

I clustered embellishments around a journalling box on the bottom left-hand corner of the picture, added a title and voilà!

I wanted something to link all the pages. I decided that I would use faux-stitching. I used the faux-stitching around the strips of paper.

On the second page of the first double-page layout, I decided that I was going to put the bulk of the pictures.

I cropped the pictures as much as I could, sanded the edges and I layered them slightly on top of each other. I added a large die-cut piece that was part of a package of embellishments that you can buy as a compliment to the paper.

I used Basic Grey chipboard letter for the title. I found that the white letters blended in too much, so I traced them with a brown pen.

For the second double-page layout, I repeated the faux-stitching that I had used on the previous layouts.

On page #1 of this double-page layout, I used pictures of the bride-to-be and some of her best friends. I think the title is appropriate since all the pictures feature Kathleen and one other person.

Unlike the other pages, I also hand-stitched using the Sew Easy system.

I wanted the last page to feature Kathleen and her maids. Luckily, there was one great photo of the three of us. And Jenn says she isn't photogenic! Yeah right...

I just love the cluster of embellishments on the right side of the picture!

This was such a fun party and it's great to be able to remember it with layouts that I love. I originally thought that I could put all of Kathleen's wedding events in my 2011 album. WRONG! I made four pages for the shower but I think I made six or eight for the bachelorette! I haven't even started the wedding yet! Therefore, I've decided that Kathleen's wedding deserves its own album.

There will be more to come!

Happy scrappin'!

Anabelle's Album

I went to my first scrapbooking retreat this past weekend. It was amazing! I will blog about my experience later. First, I like to share one of the projects I worked on while there.

A little history:
My good friend Andréanne and I share similar philosophies on many things including family and friends. She and I both believe that friends are the family you choose. So when Andréanne and her husband Martin, after difficulties, celebrated the birth of their beautiful and very-much wanted daughter Anabelle, I had a new niece to love and spoil.

I wanted to celebrate Anabelle's birth in my own way. I decided to do so by making her (and her parents) an album. I decided to go with a Close to My Heart 6x6 chipboard album. I was so excited to make this album! Yes, I really wanted to give my friend's daughter a beautiful heartfelt gift blah blah blah...Really, I just wanted to have an excuse to use pink and sparkles and flower and frilly ribbon! I know, selfish reasons but my heart was in the right place!

I used the same paper collection throughout the project: Echo Park This & That Graceful.

Here is the cover page:

I made the rosette flower myself and used a Big Shot to cut the small flowers. The bling is from Close to My Heart. I used pop-up tape to add dimension to the stickers from the This & That collection. I finished it off with a beautiful picture of Anabelle.

The first double-page layout features pictures of the happy new family/parents:

"Famille comblée" means a family completed. On this page, I layered a sticker from the collection, die-cut flowers, a hand-made rosette, a pearl swirl, a crocheted flower, a chipboard heart that I embossed with chestnut embossing powder, and the 'Love' metal accent.

The second double-page layout features Anabelle with her papa and with her maman:

Andréanne gave me so many great pictures! I had such a hard time picking which ones to use. To increase the number of pictures I could use, I used tags to make a mini-layout within the layout.

Andréanne and Martin are surrogate parents to Martin's 13 year-old cousin Mégane. Mégane was so excited to have the opportunity to be a big sister. She is such an important part of Andréanne, Martin and now Anabelle's life that she had to be in the album.

I used the Big Shot to cut the butterfly and I added a little pearls for some sparkle. I traced the 'Beautiful' sticker with a brown pen to make it stand out.

The next page features Anabelle and her furry siblings: the family cats!

Since Andréanne puts so much importance in her friendships, I decided to create a double-page layout featuring the friends who came to meet Anabelle shortly after her birth.

Since I once again had so many great pictures, I used another tag to create a mini-layout within the layout. I used small letter stickers to add the names of Anabelle's visitors to the page.

On the next page, I used pictures of Sam (my son) and I meeting Anabelle at the hospital. Sam loves babies and he was so intrigued by Anabelle. All he wanted to do was kiss her! Luckily, my husband was able to get a shot of Sam kissing Anabelle.

 

I used pictures from Anabelle's baptism on the last double-page layout of the album.  Didn't Anabelle look so cute in his baptism dress?!

My favourite items used on this page are the pearls (I have no clue where I bought them or which company makes them!) and the cork scallop piece from Close to My Heart.

I used another tag to add more pictures to the second page:

I made a flower using beautiful pink ribbon and a paper circle and glue. I put glue on one side of the circle and I wrapped the ribbon around it, starting on the edge towards the middle. I finished it off with the great piece of bling in the middle. I love the sparkles!

Last but not least is the final page of the album. I used a die cut cork piece from Close to My Heart and stamped the words 'Handcrafted with love'. I didn't know this before but cork takes ink really well!

On this page, I decided to write a message to Anabelle that was from the heart. I said that she was wanted and that her parents and her extended family had been waiting for her. I wished her a life full of joy and love. I told her that she was surrounded with people who love her, including me.

And there it is folks, Anabelle's album. This album personifies what scrapbooking is for me:  showcasing beautiful pictures and telling a story. I have to confess that I am VERY proud of this album. I think it's the best work I've ever done.

I came back from the scrapbooking retreat on Sunday. On Monday evening, I couldn't wait anymore and I went to visit Andréanne and Anabelle to give them the album. Andréanne loved it. She even cried. I'm happy that she loved it so much and I hope she sees it as a testament to how much I value our friendship. But, I really made it for Anabelle. She might be too young to appreciate it now...but my hope is that she treasures it when she is a bit older. Who knows, she might look at it later on in her life and be inspired to start scrapbooking herself.

And the addiction gets passed on to another generation!

Happy scrappin'!

NAV, here I come!

I scheduled this blog post to go up while I will on my way to my first scrapbooking retreat. To say that I'm excited is an understatement! I've been counting down the dodos! Spending a whole weekend scrapbooking with my best friends sounds like a good time to me!

Kathleen and I will be driving together and sharing a room. We've done this countless times in our late teens and early twenties. To save $100, it seemed like a no-brainer. The bed will be small (double) but I promised Matt (my husband) that I would take pictures of the sweaty pillow fights that will unevitably happen (because, when girls get together, there are always sweaty pillow fights...according to Matt anyway), so he's happy!

I'm looking forward to not having to worry about anything but scrapbooking. We're staying and scrapping at the NAV Centre and all our meals and snacks are provided and included in the price. It's really a great deal. Regardless of the fact that it's a great deal, it'll be even better to have a whole weekend away from laundry, dishes, cooking and life in general. By Sunday, I'll be ready and happy to come home to Matt and Sam.

Now...what to pack? I started packing on Monday. I finished Thursday evening. He's a picture of my pile-o-stuff:

Yeah, I know...that's A LOT of stuff! I'd like to point out that none of this pile is my actual clothes. This is a only scrapbooking stuff.

Somewhere in this pile is my camera. I'll take lots of pictures and write a blog post (or two, or three) about my experience when I get back.

Happy scrappin'!

What to do with tranparencies?

If you're like me, you love Fancy Pants Designs. I have bought more than a few of their collections over the years. Their kits often come with a transparency and/or transparency cut-out pieces. I always would look at this stuff and wonder: What the heck am I gonna do with this?!

This weekend, I decided to get out of comfort zone and use the transparencies from the It's Your Day collection. I think the results are pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.

These layouts feature pictures taken at my friend Sherry's birthday party in November 2011. Here is a double-page layout I created using transparencies:

On the first page, I used one of the transparency cut-outs:

Since these pictures were taken during and after we sang Happy Birthday (badly) to Sherry, I thought the musical notes were appropriate. I used a few dots of Glossy Accents to glue it down. It worked really well.

Other supplies and techniques used: Rub-on from the collection as a title; stickers from the collection (border and flower on the left side of the page); Martha Stewart punch to create the border around the journalling box I made; sanding the edges of the two smaller pictures; and, making the fan flower myself (I'll get more into that later).

I used a 12x12 transparency on the second page. To make the design stand out more, I layered it on top of a yellow piece of 12x12 cardstock. I love the pop of colour!

I mentioned earlier that I made my own fan flowers. Tim Holtz has dies for the Big Shot to make them. They are fantastic dies and they work really well. That being said, you don't need the dies and Big Shot to make these flowers. All you need is a ruler and a ball tool. You use the ruler to measure the same space between each use of the ball tool. All the ball tool does is give you a place to fold later on. You can make the spaces as narrow or wide as you want and you can make your flowers narrow or wide by adjusting the width of the piece of paper. You then fold it accordian style and glue the ends togehter...tada! BTW, there are tones of tutorials online to get more detailed instructions on how to make these. Check out this tutorial by Helen for instructions.

On the third page I made using transparencies, I again used a 12x12 transparency from the collection but this time and layered it on top a piece of pattern paper (also from the collection) in a contrasting colour. I love the effect!

I made my own fan flowers again but this time, I decided to use one of my Close to My Heart fabric buttons on the bigger orange flower.

I love that I managed to finally get use out of the transparencies that came with a kit! But even though I used a new technique, I still stayed true to myself. These layouts are still very me: they are about the pictures and the story.


Happy scrappin'!

Diane should have a blog

I'd like to make an appeal: Diane, you should have a blog. There. I said it. It's out there.

This is my friend Diane in her scrapbooking element:

Of all the people I know who scrapbook, I think Diane is the most creative/talented, both in her organization of her scrap space and in her actual layouts and projects (That being said, I know a lot of talented and passionate scrapbookers! Check out my friend Natalie's blog My Two Left Hands, my friend Kathleen's blog Kitty's Crafting Corner and my friend Nathalie's blog The Creative Cellar.) And I'm not just saying this because, you know, I kinda like her. In all seriousness, Diane is amazing at the whole being crafty thing. I wish I had her talent! She's also humble about her talent. Best of all, Diane is such a supportive friend that she likes everything that the Scrapbooking Divas produce...or at least she lies convincingly!

I'm lucky enough to be her friend and bask in her awesomeness. I think Diane's blog would be amazing. It's not like she's ever at a loss for words!

Happy scrappin'!