Got Sketch?, Cuz I Do!

Valerie Salmon's "Got Sketch?" blog is up with a new sketch this morning. I just love Valerie's sketches! They are so well balanced and creative with the embellishments and layered paper pieces.

This week's sketch used 3 4x6 photos along with a few embellies and a journaling block. If you want to check out the sketch, it's #59 here.

Here's my creation.... "New Ride":


I used the Sweet Pea Scraps May kit for my page. I also added some Magistical Memories chipboard pieces from a Scrapperie kit I had. I just love the end result!!!

Welcome to the Papertrey Ink "Blog Hop"!


Welcome to "Your Memories" Papertrey Lovers!! I'm Ally and the creator of all the goodies you see below. I would love to hear what you think of my creations. Enjoy your bloggy adventure this evening!
I created a gift card, envelope and tag set named "Father and Sons" using the "Father Knows Best" paper sampler. Since I stuck with the wonderful orange, light yellow and brown colour scheme, I thought the name was fitting.


I first created a container embellishment and tag with the "Father Knows Best" sample papers. I used the packaging from my Papertrey Ink stamps. They fit a 6x6 envelope perfectly! The title was computer generated and then stamped with the little frog from the new April release stamp set "Pond Life". So fitting! I used my Spellbinder's Nestabilities to create the layered title tag.

Supplies:
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Stamp: Papertrey Ink (pond life)


Then I proceeded to create a set of four cards with matching envelopes including a matching mini gift tag.

"Thinking of You" Card:

I used the larger 1.75inch squares of the "Father Knows Best" papers. I cut a striped patterned circle out of one square and used it to help title the card. The opposing "retro circles" squares are popped up on foam dots for a touch of dimension.

Supplies:
Papers: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Stamps: Papertrey Inks (polka dot basics, pond life)


"Happy Father's Day" Card:

For this card, using my Photoshop CS3 I cropped one of the single "retro circles" squares and the duplicated it many times to make a patterned paper using only that pattern. I found the center of my cut square of paper and drew a circle on the back. On the back of the paper I stamped the branch image from the "Out on a Limb" stamp set a few times. I then hand cut out all the space around the stamp using an exacto knife and it revealed the branch image on the patterned paper. A stamped a few other branch images on the craft cardstock base, added a Nestabilities "sun" shape and popped the whole thing up to get a shadow effect using the cut out branch. I added the strip of miniture "Father Knows Best" squares across the bottom and adhered the sentiment and voila!

Supplies:
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Stamps: Papertrey Ink (pond life, out on a limb)

"Take Flight" Card:

I shrunk down the squares of the "Father Knows Best" sampler and printed them out. Here I used a strip of the tiny squares as my base patterned paper. To create the oval shaped image I stamped all my "Pond Life" images on my oval. I then took my oval shaped Nestability and used it to mask the edges of the embossed oval to allow me to chalk just the raised image. I stamped a set of dragonfly fly wings on the back of one of the larger patterned squares, cut them out and popped them up over the dragonfly stamp. That just gave it more visual appeal.

To make the matching envelope image, I cut a scalloped square from the larger squares of "Father Knows Best" sampler paper, I stamped a damsel fly on the top and then carefully cut the damsel image out and backed it with brown cardstock. Just another added piece of dimension.


Supplies:
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Pond Life, Pond Life Sentiments), Fontwerks

"Hoppy Hello" Card:

This by far my favorite card of them all and took the most time to create. I once again used the smaller squared paper from the "Father Knows Best" sampler for my base patterned paper. I used some of the remaining larger squares and stamped the frog image on to the back of three different patterns. I hand cut them all out using my tiny scissors... yes.. hand cut. I then punched some circles out the patterned paper, adhered some orange cardstock behind it, stuck some embossed brown cardstock circles in the openings and popped up the froggies with foam dots. I adhered the "Pond Life Sentiments" title and my froggy delight was complete!


Supplies:
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Pond Life, Pond Life Sentiments)

Here's one final close up of the four matching tags for each card set....

Each tag specifically matches a card and envelope set.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing all my creations using the "Father Knows Best" paper sampler and all the gorgeous sets of Papertrey Ink. I hope you'll continue to come back and visit!

I'd love to know what you think of my creations... please leave a comment* or two if you wish. I'd appreciate the feedback.

*Comments are moderated and do not appear immediately after entering. They must be approved first. Thanks!

We're Blog Hoppin' Tonight!

Tonight at Papertrey Ink they are having a "Blog Hop". 25 random members of the Papertrey Ink forums were selected to create something to showcase for them with the guidance of a challenge by the owner Nichole.

WHEN IT WILL HAPPEN: The actual Blog Hop will take place TONIGHT, April 25th, beginning @ 8pm EST. (It will continue on the 25th of each month after that as regularly scheduled Papertrey event!)

WHERE IT'S HAPPENING: You will explore individual blogs through the list provided via our Newsletter Mailing List (sign up here) and through a list in the forum. People will also be encouraged to discuss things they have learned & what inspired them in the Blog Hop comment area in the forum.

WHAT PAPERTREY HOPES TO ACHIEVE: an evening dedicated to seeking inspiration through projects utilizing Papertrey Ink products.

I have been one of the randomly selected 25 participants and I will be posting my Papertrey Ink goodies for the blog later tonight. I hope that you'll return this evening and take a gander at my creations!

Hope to see you tonight!

They're Havin' a PAR-TEE!


Yup.... Scrapbook Doodle is having a croppin' party to celebrate their 1st birthday!

Why not head on over and check it out... here!

If you are new to the forum, sign in to the "Bring a Friend" thread and tell 'em "Ally" sent ya! If you post 25 post by the end of April (30th) YOUR name will be entered in to win a prize!! How cool is that!!

Hope to see you there.... the prizes and the challenges are AMAZING!

Playin' with my New Papertrey Inks

A few months ago I found the Papertrey Inks site and I fell in love with all of their beautiful stamps.

Here is one I made tonight using mostly Papertrey Inks stamps. It's for the "Pillow Challenge" over at the Verve Visual blog.

Here was the inspiration for the card...



Supplies:
Paper: SEI
Cardstock: Prism
Stamps: Papertrey Inks, Technique Tuesday
Inks: Papertrey Inks
Glitter: Ranger's Stickles
Die Cuts: Spellbinders
Ribbon: American Crafts
Chalk: Craf-T
Other: thread


International Scrabooking Contest at CCAS

The CCAS Blog:

Click to enlarge:

Give Away and some Contest News!


Today I'm giving away a FREE membership ($20 value) to the International Scrapbooking Association. All you have to do to win is leave a comment** on the CCAS Blog.

And my reason for doing this is to get you ready for a BIG contest on the CCAS Blog! Yup... to celebrate International Scrapbooking Day on May 3rd we are going to have a contest and LOTS of challenges on the blog. One of the prizes is a Clip It Up!!!! So come out and join us!!!

Stay tuned to the CCAS Blog for details! This is going to be FUN!!!

**The comments on the blog are moderated so they will not always appear as soon as you enter them. Once you have made your first post and it has been approved, all further posts will show in the comment section as you create them.

Participants:
Heidi
Colleen
Michelle

Random Chaos [12]

Yup... it's Monday and that means that Random Chaos blog has up a new challenge and some new and awe inspiring examples.

This week's challenge was to create a shaped layout and we weren't allowed to use a square or rectangle shape as our base! Love this!

So I decided to go one step outside the box with this one. I knew that everyone else would have circular pages so I decided to make an actual shaped page... a dinosaur shape! Cool!

And here it is....


It's a page all about my son's special dinosaur pajama's from his great Aunt and Uncle.

I hope you'll join in on the fun with us! Happy Monday!

God's glorious gift...

This morning I got up very early... just couldn't sleep. So I spent some time on the computer and then went and took a peek out the front door and lo and behold, the sun was rising. So I grabbed my camera, put on my 75-300mm lens and took a walk.

I walked across the road and took a stroll through the cemetery. The birds were chirping. The Canada Geese were honking in the field beyond the river and I even heard the wild turkey's calling.

So here are some of favourite shots this morning... Isn't this world an amazing place?


The Guantlet ~ Scrapperie

Do you want to participate in an exciting new scrapbooker's challenge for a chance to win some great prizes and maybe even become a Très Chic Girl? To celebrate our first anniversary, Scrapperie will be hosting a new contest to get your creative juices flowing! The contest, called The Gauntlet, will be completed in seven challenge-filled stages and will run from May 1-June 30, when the Grand Prize winner is announced.

Starting on Sunday, April 27, those interested in participating in The Gauntlet must submit one layout into The Gauntlet Gallerie and sign in on the Scrapperie forums. Anyone interested in participating has until 11:59 PM CST on May 3 to sign up and enter an initial layout into the Gallerie. The initial layout may be something previously made, published, etc- it should just showcase your best work. (Any project from that point on needs to be never before seen and specifically made for The Gauntlet's challenges.) Sorry, but any projects submitted to this contest must be primarily paper based. No all digital layouts will be accepted. Hybrid layouts are welcome, but it must be obvious that the layout is mostly tangible products.

Prizes will include a Grand Prize package valued at over $75 and a position as a Très Chic Girl for the upcoming term (July-October). First place is a prize package valued at over $50. Second place's prize package is valued over $35 and third place's prize package is valued over $25. Other prizes may be awarded at the judges' discretion. Everyone entering the challenge will have chances to win Scrapperie gift certificates for the Boutique.

The Gauntlet's winner will be determined by a non-biased panel of judges. Projects will be judged on creativity, originality, design and how closely each challenge is followed. Please come visit Scrapperie's contest forum for complete rules and details of The Gauntlet.

If you're stuck in a rut and wanting to win some great prizes, come play along in Scrapperie's Gauntlet!



It's Finally Spring!

So I had a very good friend, Laura (waving wildly!!!) send me an email about a scrapbook call last night. So while the boys were watching tv I sent out 2 emails for card calls to the Ready, Set, Create Ezine and I got an email back about 2 hours later saying that they wanted BOTH of them! How cool is that! Thanks Laura!!

So Todd is off for the weekend since he put in his hours earlier this week so he's up in the loft this morning throwing all the junk to burn down. Can you say HUGE bonfire??? I can't wait to get the loft out so we finish the master bedroom walls and get on with our renovations.

Yesterday Todd was home at 2pm so we loaded up the trailer with our bikes and headed down to Rondeau Park for a bike ride. We even stopped to take a walk on the beach. The temperature was like summer time! Hello Spring!!!


Random Chaos


Here is my take on the Random Chaos challenge [11]... we had to do a an "every day" page. I just loved working with my My Mind's Eye papers on this page!

I Found Some Goodies!!!

I found some blog candy this morning that you might want to check out.....

Check out Lim's batch of goodies.... here.

Check out this yummy stash of treats.... here.

And finally, check out these yummy ones too... here.

Some helpful blog candy from my buddy Renee... here.

Win some delicious stamps.... here or... here or.... here!!

So check out some of the candy out there today!!

-------------------------------------------------------

And some goodies of my own....

Now some of you know that I was at ScrapFest this past Friday and Saturday. Well, I found out about 3 days before going that Spellbinders was coming to showcase some of their Nestabilities dies and I was in heaven!

I ended up getting 6 sets; a circle and scalloped circle, a scalloped square and a scalloped rectangle, an oval and a scalloped oval. I also bought the white spacer place and the embossing mat so the dies will work in my Original Sizzix machine. I'm so happy I bought them! I love them all!

Well I'm off for a day of scrapping at my buddy Laura's house! Have a great Hump Day everyone!


Birthday Cards out the Wazzoo!

I'm going to ScrapFest in Kitchener, Ontario this Friday and Saturday with a few of my scrappy pals and I can hardly wait!

Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine is asking people to donate birthday cards for local children's hospitals so I have been hard at work creating as many cards as possible.

A few of my favs...

(made for Danielle's card challenge: butterfly, chipboard, paint (around the edges & on the chipboard) and polka dots!)

I just love how these sheep cards turned out!!!

I just thought I'd share a few more of them with you....




Congrats goes to....



Congrats goes to...... #23!

Scrapbit, my scrappy buddy Savitri, yes... you are my "lucky day" RAK winner!!!

Congrats girl!!! I'll leave a little message on your blog! Send me your snail mail address.

Wanna be a Member????

Spring Membership Special at the International Scrapbooking Association!!!

Scrapbooker memberships are only $5.00 - that's 75% OFF the regular rate!

Please tell them "thecircleguru" sent you!!!!

Tell all your friends about it!!! Hurry - this is only on for a limited time only.


A Little Update...

So my Mom phoned me about 10pm tonight. Dad is home but he's been put on another new medication to better control the fluttering of his heart. Thankfully all his blood tests came back normal. There was some discussion of a thyroid issue causing some of the heart actions but the test results revealed that everything was fine.

He's home but my Mom is due to fly to Washington for about 9 days or so in the morning. I'm worried that if she's not there, that he will have further issues and have no one there to help him. My sister lives closer but always seems to be busy so we'll see. I may go down for a few days but taking Spencer with me may not be the best thing for Dad right now. We'll see though.

Thanks for all you well wishes and prayers. Keep him in your thoughts as he may have more issues in the next few days with his new meds.

Thanks all!

PS.... I will leave my "Lucky blog candy" open for the remainder of the weekend so if you're interested in possibly winning some scrap goodies.... please read the blog entry and leave a comment! Good luck! I guess my lucky ran out, eh?

Say a little prayer...

Please say a little prayer for my Dad. I got a call in the last hour that he's in hospital with heart trouble.

You see, my Dad had a hole in his heart repaired when I was five. Surgery back then was very trauma inducing to the body and he'd been told he'd always have issues with his heart. I still have very vivid memories of him all hunched over in his blue gown at the hospital after surgery.

In July 2005, just 2 weeks after my son was born, he was in hospital again for almost a week as his heart was in a tachacardic state (out of rhythm) and it took the doctors a week to get it back into it's normal rhythm again.

In the fall of 2005 he had the a part of his heart "burned" to remove the cells that were causing his heart to beat out of rhythm and he had a pacemaker put in.

When most pacemakers are put in, they are put in to assist the heart when it goes out of beat but because my Dad doesn't have those special cells to keep his heart natural beating any more, his pacemaker is what keeps his heart beating everyday. So, without the pacemaker, he would die.

Every time I get a call from my Mom, it scares me because I know one day it will be a call saying that my Dad has passed. But I'm not ready for that phone call... not yet... not any time soon! I want my son to know and remember his Papa.... for a long time!!!

Please say a little prayer for him!

Thanks for listening!

Holy SCRAP Batman!!!

Okay..... can I say this has been the COOLEST scrappy day EVER!!!

1. I got a REALLY SPECTACULAR call this morning.... stay tuned for further details on this later! Sorry.... no details!

2. I went to the mail today and I had TWO scrap related goodies in the box! I got my SUPER cool RAK from my scrappy pal Colleen. I had won a RAK from her blog!! How cool... a new tool to play with... a MM Ribbon Curler! THANKS COLLEEN!!! The other package was my published scrapbook page from Scrapbooks and Cards Today! And for submitting my page I got TWO copies of the latest issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today!! YIPPEE!

3. I got a call from a LOCAL fellow scrapbooker! She wanted to know if I'd be interested in organizing a monthly crop in OUR town!!!!! Yippee!!!!

4. Then I found out that my name was drawn to receive a RAK from Wilna's blog, he{art}!!!!

5. I also got my monthly newsletter from Scrapbook Star today and I found out I won their monthly layout contest!!! And my prize was one of their mini May kits..... can you say DROOL!!!

HOLY SCRAP!!! I just can't believe my luck today! I need to buy a lottery ticket... or TWO.... or THREE!!!

So......... to share in my AWESOME LUCKY day today, I'm giving away a copy of the latest Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine along with a bunch of scrapbook related goodies! In order to win, please tell me "What your luckiest day was and why?" in the comments and I'll pick a random winner on Friday.

*** EDITED April 5 ~ I will leave this open until Monday! ***

***Leave me a way to get in contact with you some way as well... a link to your blog or an email or your username on a place where I frequent or something to identify who you are! Thanks!***

GOOD LUCK!!!!


With a Cherry on Top... and more Sweet Pea Scraps!

I made this card for Caardvark's "Fruits and Veggies" challenge. I also used Taylor Vanbruggen's sketch from her "Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge 9".


I used the Sweet Pea Scraps April kit to make this card! What an awesome kit! This is a MUST HAVE for your scrapbook stash!

Don't forget to check out the Sweet Pea Vine for weekly challenges! I had the honour of posting the first challenge of April! Check out my page below and the challenge here!

"Our Family Resemblance"


Happy Scrapping!

Congrats Alalila!!

Congrats to Alalila who won my Random Chaos challenge!!! Congrats girl!
I left you a comment on your page... please send me your mailing info!

Speaking of Random Chaos.... the latest challenge [9] is up and here's my page...

"Just Beginning to Bloom"

Thanks for looking!

 
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