Perfect Balance

The subject of this layout is my daughter, Rebekah, learning to ride her bicycle on two wheels.

I remember when my son was 5 years old, and in kindergarten, my husband taught him to ride without training wheels. He learned very quickly....in only one afternoon.....so when Rebekah was 4 years old....I thought, why not give it a try? Noah was obviously ready at 5...and probably could have learned even sooner. We just didn't know that we could teach him any sooner! So, like most things in parenting....whatever you mess up with the first kid, you can correct with the second! :)

So, when Rebekah was 4 years old, my husband began to teach her without training wheels. We weren't disappointed! She was a natural. This layout documents the experience.



I must admit that this layout is a bit busy compared to my usual style. I often am more 'clean and simple' about how I approach things, but I must have been feeling adventurous this day! I do love the colours....the pinks, blues and greens really appeal to me.



Here is a close up of the left hand page. This was my first real foray into using the Cricut. My friend, Carol, was the brains behind this bicycle tire. I had decided that I wanted a big bicycle tire on the page, but didn't have a clue how to execute it. That is where Carol came in. She had already had some practice with the Cricut, so she came to my rescue. The cartridge we used was Graphically Speaking, if I remember correctly.....


Here is the right hand page. I used the black rings to focus the viewer's eye on the subject, as well as for the purpose of tying the two pages together.



Here is a close up of the layered flowers (Primas) I put together....


And here we have a close up of the journaling. The journaling block is made from the SU! Top Note die which I ran through my Cuttlebug.

Rebekah is now about to turn 7 years old! She has moved on to bigger and better things with her increase in years. She now plays the piano, rides horseback and skis, in addition to riding her bike on two wheels. :)

Destination Istanbul

I have to say....I really love this layout. :)

This colour pallet is one that I reach for again and again. I am really into the earth tones. I also love chocolate brown paired with pastel colours....pale pink, baby blue, pale yellow. So pretty!

The photo featured in this layout is of my husband and I in Istanbul, Turkey during the time when we lived overseas in Switzerland. The photo was taken on the rooftop of our hotel (the Hotel Empress Zoe....it was amazing) and that is the world famous Hagia Sophia Mosque that you see in the distance.



This layout features some SU! patterned papers, and flowers that I cut out of felt (purchased by the sheet at Michaels) using my Cuttlebug and flower dies. The scallop edged page in the background was cut using the Cricut. The journaling was done by hand using a white gel pen.

Sigh....now I am dreaming of another vacation......

MFT Guest Designer Entry

Well, I have decided to go out on a limb and enter the June Guest Designer Contest for MFT. I am not usually one to enter contests....I think I have entered two (ever!). My logic was this....I entered a challenge the other day and actually won (it was a random selection....), so I was feeling lucky.

So, on a high from my lucky win, I came up with this card below. The challenge was to interpret the theme 'Some Like it Hot'. I used MFT stamp set Girls' Day In to create an image of 'Who's That Girl' getting ready for a hot date.

I used Nestabilities to mat the image, Copic markers to colour Who's That Girl and her bottle of polish, and I paper pieced her comfy looking chair. The card base is ivory with chocolate chip cardstock from SU! I still love that chocolate chip! It just seems to make everything look good!

The rest is self explanatory....so I am off to bed.

Hopefully tomorrow will be another lucky day! :)

Happy 30th Birthday - Version II

As you probably saw in my previous post...I have twin sisters who just celebrated their 30th birthday. I can't tell you why, but my sister, Heather, has a 'thing' for motorcycles. She has never owned one, and as far as I know, she has only ridden on one once. It was with her fascination in mind that I bought this stamp from Hanna Stamps ages ago, with the intention of making her a card. Well, I finally got around to it for her birthday this year.

Once again, I was working with limited supplies, on the go, and at my Mom and Dad's house. For those reasons, this card is lacking a sentiment. I had pre-stamped and coloured the image with my Copic markers. It was the assembly of the card that took place on the fly. It was at the assembly stage that I realized I lacked a sentiment for the front.



The supplies for this card include Copic markers, Chocolate Chip ribbon from SU!, twine from my Mom's kitchen drawer, Sage Shadow paper from SU! and kraft paper.

Oh well, the most important thing is that my sister LOVED her card. I actually got a scream when she opened it. :)

I hope you like it too!

Sketch Plus Three Challenge

Here I am with another challenge card for my friend, Joanne. Based on the limited nature of my blog posts since our last move (now eleven months ago!!), it looks like it takes Joanne issuing a challenge to light a fire under my butt and get me posting! Where oh where does the time go??

Well, like I mentioned, I saw this challenge over at Joanne's blog, and it was enough to give me a bit of a jump start....that and the fact that my baby sisters (twins!) were celebrating their 30th birthdays, and I had to get cracking!

The 'Sketch Plus Three' challenge was to follow a sketch as well as to include three elements from a list of nine. The three that I chose to use on my card are twill, paper with printed text, and kraft paper.

My sister, Patti, is quite the cook...so this stamp from MFT was the perfect choice for her birthday card. I coloured it with Copic markers, used my rectangular Nestabilities and some dimensionals to put this little card together. The background with the text is actually a recipe from one of my Mom's magazines, but shhhhhh...don't tell her! I was finishing the card at my Mom and Dad's house while visiting for the Memorial Day weekend, and I was working with less than my full array of supplies...so I had to improvise! :)

Well, I guess the time has come to wrap things up and pop on over to Joanne's blog to post my creation to Mr. Linky!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tea Anyone?

I made this card in order to participate in week number two of my friend Joanne's blogaversary challenges. The challenge was to create a card using kraft paper and stitching. This is what I came up with.

I used this cute little Flopsey stamp from over at MFT. I am embarrassed to say that I think I had only used him once before! I started with my palette of colours (kraft, Not Quite Navy, Sage Shadow)....all from SU! and once I decided on this Porcelain Prints patterned paper, the little Flopsey by the tree was calling my name.



Flopsey was highlighted with a Copic marker and then he was flocked with white fun flock over the shading. Flopsey was actually supposed to remain white...but when my hand slipped as I coloured in the tree trunk...I had to get creative in order to cover up the 'oopsie'.

I used the leaves from some floral wedding confetti to breathe a bit of life into the tree (at tip from Lauren Meader). She is the one that told me that you can purchase this wedding confetti at Michael's, and I have found that it comes in handy!

I used my threading water punch, some twill tape and some hemp twine tied with a button, in order to decorate the middle of my card. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the background of my stamped image is chalked and then the image was cut using my largest sized rectangular Nestabilities.

That pretty much sums things up! Thanks for stopping by!

On a Mission

One of my (many) missions lately, has been to finish up unfinished projects. I have several stamped images in need of colouring and some cards that have been abandoned because I couldn't get them to look just right. Well, my challenge to myself is to finish them all off!

This image had been stamped and coloured for months. This weekend, my children have a birthday party to attend for a little boy who is really 'into' space. Well, I dusted this image off and decided to make something of it!

I wanted to make a card other than a standard 5 1/2 by 4 1/4, but didn't have a lot of time to look up the measurements for a specialty card. So, I decided to go with a card that opens in the center.

The papers are all from my scrap bin and the stamp is an SU! set called Pun Fun. I used a small star punch and some pop dots to adhere them around the space ship. The stars were also coloured with a glitter pen to make them shimmer. The number six was cut using a die cut and my cuttlebug. A bit of orange ribbon, et voila! I was finished. I am happy with the result and hope that this little guy's mother sees and rescues this card before it ends up in the trash with the wrapping paper! Eeeek!

Thanks for stopping by today!