Inked!

June seems to be running away on me, so before it does, here is my take on Sue Sykes' June sketch:

BabyOfTheFamily is 13 and experiments with her hair.  A LOT.  She found some YouTube tutorials on how to colour hair using chalk.  The best part?  It's temporary!

As she is talking about trying this out, I say, "Hey, let's get out my Clearsnap Chalk Inks and give it a go."  [I probably shocked her with my enthusiasm]

The bright red and teal parts are blond streaks she coloured with the ink, but I think the purple showed up well at the dark bottom parts of her hair.

TIP 1:  After rubbing the chalk ink against your hair, heat set it a bit with a blow dryer. 

TIP 2:  Vibrant and bright ink colours work best.

And the part I was happiest about?  It cost nothing!

I used Glitz Design"Uncharted Waters" collection that has some fun plastic embellishments.....

Vintage slides

A cute banner

One of my favourite butterfly punches

I cut some chevrons from patterned paper

My Little Shoebox glitter alphabet stickers

I didn't colour my own hair, but I did alter the colour of my title letter stickers using a Spectrum Noir alcohol ink marker.  I got a great deal on my markers over at Canuck Crafts.  Click HERE to visit their online store.  Awesome service....and they know everything there is to know about alcohol markers.

Here is my quick video tutorial on how I coloured these alphabet stickers.  Or you can click HERE to watch it on YouTube.

After you're finishing colouring your hair....or your alphabet stickers..... stop by the Sketchy Challenge site over at Canadian Scrapbooker and have some fun!

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.

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 :)

Strong and Brave

Sometimes I whine.  

The laundry, cooking, cleaning, tidying, laundry....more laundry, more cooking....

I think some of you can relate :)

Then I was working on The Urban Scrapbook September staff challenge and decided to use a beautiful heritage photograph of my husband's German grandmother.

Emma Klapstein

This woman lived through the entire WWII as a mother of young children, living on a farm.

Her husband died at a young age, her 2  daughters died as children, and she was left to manage EVERYTHING with 4 young boys, two of whom were taken from her to fight in the war.

One returned home...the other was killed just before WWII ended, in a tank on the front. 

Elmar Klapstein(my husband is named after him)

Elmar in centre, on the Russian front

She managed to immigrate to Canada with her remaining 3 sons, but after arriving, and living with friends and relatives, her eldest of the 3 (Ewald) died from cancer.  

L to R: Gus, Ewald, Wilhelm(my father-in-law)

Her  youngest two boys were left, Gus and Wilhelm (Bill), my husband's dad. They were employed in trades: my father-in-law in carpentry and his brother a welder.  They built a house here in my city, where their mother resided until her death at 92.  

Wow.  

And there are times when I feel inconvenienced if my trimmer blade is dull!

Yep, time to stop complaining and pay tribute to this amazing woman whose strength and bravery is astonishing.

Thankfully, I was able to get to know her while my husband and I were dating and then married.  I even spent time with her to help label most of the photos in her albums before she passed away 17 years ago.  I now treasure these photos and albums, stored in my studio.

For me, this is the essence of what scrapbooking is about...preserving memories of our heritage to help us understand and appreciate how and why we are living today.

Here is what I created with the September kit from Urban, which has some yummy FabScraps and Glitz Designs papers....

The cream "doily" is cut from Bazzill card stock with my Cricut (Paper Lace cartridge)

A little lacing with this glittery copper twine

This vellum oval frame and the bling sticker are from Glitz Designs.

I painted the chipboard title with black gesso and added gold metallic paint (Adirondack) around the edges. 

FabScraps dress form and roses wreath sticker

Beautiful flowers and leaf from I am Roses

Click HERE to visit the Urban blog to see the other designers' wonderful layouts using this kit.

We miss you, Oma, and are so grateful for everything you did to make a better life for your family here in Canada.

DOUBLE the Fun!

I'm very excited to announce my upcoming first feature article in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine!

In the Winter 2012 issue [ yeah, I know .... I shouldn't say the "W" word at this time of year] I will write an article called "Double the Fun" that showcases a 2-page layout sketch I designed.


Here is the sketch....

And here is the sample layout I created for the Canadian Scrapbooker online Submissions web page...

All papers are Glitz Design "Pretty in Pink" collection. Die cuts were cut with my Cricut.

BabyOfTheFamily is a happy crafty girl and is taking a series of cake decorating classes at Michaels.  Yay for her....Boo for my expanding waistline!  {By the way, fondant isn't as yummy as it looks.  Sigh}


Some close ups....

Cricut cupcake, swirls and title.  Fiskars Scallop Border punch.  Sprinkles (aka sequins and beads) from the Dollar Store.

I just love the empowering quotes that are on these Glitz stickers!

One of my new favourite Spellbinders die:  Donna Salazar "Bitty Blossoms."

If you haven't submitted any of your scrapbook pages before, let me tell you, it's super simple and easy.  Just click HERE and you'll find the Call for Submissions, along with my sketch and this same sample layout.  Just take a photo of your layout and follow the upload prompts on the Submissions web page.


It's always fun to see your own layouts in print, so give it a try and submit your double page layouts!


My sweet scrappy friend Michelle (from Newfoundland) designed a wonderful layout using my sketch....click HERE to see it on her blog!  Beautiful work, as always, Michelle!


The deadline is July 15....and remember:  2-page layouts are not Double the Trouble....they are Double the FUN :)