Celebrate with Bo Bunny

Yesterday, BabyOfTheFamily turned 13.  Is it the beginning of the end?  ha ha  No, I am going to think of it as the beginning...of growth towards adulthood, maturity...and maybe even doing her own laundry!

And guess what her big present was from her mom and dad?  

Her very first camera!

I'm hoping this camera will lead to bigger things....like scrapbooking. [wink]

I made this birthday card for her using Bo Bunny's new "Surprise!" paper collection.

Aren't these colours happy?  

Last weekend, I did a blog post for Canadian Scrapbooker featuring Bo Bunny.  Click HERE to check it out.

And I have my own Surprise for you....I made a video tutorial for this card!  

You can watch it here by clicking the PLAY button in the centre of the image, or click on "YouTube" to view it larger.

If you click subscribe while watching this on YouTube, you will see all the other videos I made and be notified of when I have uploaded a new one.  

I know, I know....this online stuff never ends, does it?  Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter....who has time for laundry anyway??

Guest Designer for 13 Arts

This month I was invited to be a Guest Designer for 13 Arts and received some beautiful papers to work with! 

I designed 2 layouts:

For her 16th birthday last month, our daughter planned a dinner out with friends at a restaurant.  They dressed up and had a wonderful time...and this is the photo I took of her before their meal.

I used some dollar store bling and a doily and punched the pink paper with a Martha Sewart border punch.

The title I [heart] U are letters cut from an alphabet on one of the pieces of paper.

The heart is a special technique I will share on another blog post in the near future.

The dress form is a Prima canvas element...

For my second layout, I decided to use a photo of my husband's parents' wedding...

The chipboard branches with birds is a Dusty Attic piece painted white and glittered...

I cut a tag from a piece of paper to use as my title "Love"...

Seam binding ribbon, cheesecloth and Prima flowers adorn the tag.

The white resin corner is Prima.

I enjoyed the soft colours of these papers, and the patterns themselves created so much texture.  Loved designing with them!

I hope you have time to stop by the 13 Arts blog where you will find even more inspiration from their talented designers!  Click HERE to visit 13 Arts.

Pushing FIFTY...[away]

I had an idea (surprise surprise).  It came to me while I was thinking of writing about my birthday.  I'm going to try something called "Flashback Friday" where I share an old layout or photos with you on Fridays.  We'll see where that goes....

Me at 6 months

Tomorrow I turn 50.  Gulp.  What does that mean for me?  I've had a whole year to think about it and have decided to share 5 "I will's" and 5 "I won'ts" for when I am 50.  But it won't be easy....because I've forgotten and lost most of the lists I made for this post.  Ironic. Ha!

Grade 1

When I'm 50, I will not...

.... wear polyester pants with an elastic waist (but they do look kinda comfy)

....tell everyone that "50 is the new 30" (because it is NOT)

....let my muffin top grow into a banana loaf (thanks to Monica for that one!)

....hold back my opinions (just to be nice)

....worry about growing older (tough one)

Grade 2

  When I am 50, I will...

....eat less sugar (just a little less)

....write more (and finish my novel)

....make fewer excuses (and take more risks)

....challenge myself artistically (without fear)

....stay on top of the laundry (ok, who am I kidding?)

Grade 4

I've also decided to set a goal of making layouts just for myself with very little planning.  eeeek. And I hope to make a layout for all of my upcoming birthdays in the future.

I used a sketch for a blog hop I'm participating in next week and will post it then.

With one piece of leftover Glitz Design paper, a couple of scraps from the same "Hello Friend" collection and a package of random embellishments "TM Exclusives", I designed this....

I know my face is hard to see, but I'm 10 years old in this photo, standing in my neighbour's backyard (4 decades ago. yikes) 

My mom and our neighbour (who had no children) decided to enter me into a Mother's Day contest at our local mall.  They dressed me up in this outfit, including a wig.  (I still have that wig in a box in the basement storage room) And I got to wear high heels!

I walked around the stage and smiled.  A LOT. And I WON first prize.  

We were all shocked and thrilled, and I was SO excited because the first prize was a 2-wheeler big bike!  It had hand brakes, which was a HUGE deal for me.  Wow.  High tech in those days. ha ha!

It was the first and last contest we entered, but it was the BEST.

Thanks Mom.  This is a memory I will always treasure.

Inkido Guest Designer

I am very happy to share with you today a couple of layouts I designed using the wonderful Inkido paper collections.

Papercraft Scandinavia is a manufacturer that designs unique materials for scrapbooking, card making and other crafting. They design stamps, patterned paper, lace, flowers and much more in a romantic vintage style. Their products are of high standard, inspiring and amazing to create with.  I feel very honoured to be invited as Guest Designer and really enjoyed designing with these papers.

Here is the first layout...

When I saw this butterfly paper, I knew I had to use this photo of my daughter.  I admire her sense of adventure, and she is not afraid of anything.  I was not like that when I was sixteen!

Prima canvas alphabet stickers

Martha Stewart border punch & Bazzill cardstock

Prima flowers, cheesecloth and seam binding ribbon

For my second layout, I wanted to scrapbook a lovely photo of my friend's daughter.  Christy Dean is a super talented commercial photographer, and I love this pic of her sweet child.  Actually, Christy also took my "professional" head shot photo.  If she can make me look good, then you know she is a PRO! ha ha

The crocheted doily in the background is something I found at a garage sale.  yay!

These white frames were cut with a Spellbinders die called "Marvelous Squares" Nestabilities

Prima flowers and May Arts ribbon

Prima alphabet and resin bird

I have also made a video showing how this layout came together.  It is a fast forward, so it doesn't take long to watch.  

I've just started making video tutorials for scrapbook layouts and cards, and I'd love you to subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Just click the PLAY arrow in the image above.

I had a wonderful time designing with all these gorgeous Inkido papers.  Please click HERE to visit the Inkido blog and be inspired.

Glitz Design "Hello Friend"

I did something that I haven't done in a very very very very very long time.  Yes, that long.  I met a friend in a scrapbook store yesterday and bought some new papers that I LOVED at first sight :)

Glitz Design "Hello Friend"

I stopped in front of those paper racks and was enchanted by this collection.  So I picked up a few pieces of the beautiful papers and matching embellishments....

...and today I took them out of the bag and designed a layout.  No planning, no sketch....nada....just plain ole' inspiration and adhesive.  

I immediately knew which photo I wanted to scrap since Valentine's Day is here.

My wedding pic....over 23 years ago.

You know what?  It felt GOOOOD to create this layout.  

And I reached another goal this week...I started making videos to showcase my layout designs and techniques.

On Cloud Nine

Here is my first video showing how this layout came together.  It has a fast forward of the designing process from start to finish so it's not too long and boring.

I hope you enjoy it enough to subscribe to my YouTube channel "kellycreates".  I have a few more videos lined up for the next couple of weeks, too.  

[For those of you who are unfamiliar with YouTube videos, you can watch right here. Just click on that triangular "PLAY" button in the centre of the image above]

Thanks for watching....any feedback would be greatly appreciated (but be gentle ha ha!)

And Happy Valentine's Day :)

Graphic 45 February Place in Time

It's no secret that I love designing with Graphic 45.  The vintage themes are so inspiring!  

When I saw the "Place in Time" collection, I wanted to use every single piece of paper, so I decided to create a 12 x 12 album for my mother, using photos from her scrapbooks.

My mother's precious scrapbooks

Her birthday is in November, so I have lots of time  to design the layouts.  Although I am teaching this album as a class at The Urban Scrapbook using double page layouts, I will only share the single pages and some techniques here on my blog each month. 

Here is my February layout...

Whoa Mom!  Two men...not one!

The large distressed heart in the top right is made with Tim Holtz Ideology Tissue Wrap and chipboard.  Here is how I created this special page element.

First, I cut a heart template from scrap paper and traced it onto a piece of chipboard.

 I tore off a piece of Tissue Wrap that was larger than the heart.

Using a foam brush, I applied Mod Podge all over the heart in a thin layer.

Crumple the Tissue Wrap and press it down all over the heart, scrunching it into wrinkles as you do so. 

Flip the chipboard heart over and apply Mod Podge to edges only.

Trim off excess Tissue Wrap and press down flat along the edges of the heart. 

Rub the entire ink pad of Aged Mahogany Distress ink across the Tissue surface of the heart.

Because the Tissue Wrap is somewhat resistant to colour, I rubbed off the excess ink with a dry baby wipe.

I wanted the colour to have more of a brown tone, so I added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Remember to wipe off the excess ink.  You can continue to layer the ink like this until you achieve the desired colour.

On my layout, I backed the heart with a heart doily, that I found in the Dollar Store.  

I hope you have someone special in your life that you can give your own heart to this month :)