January Sketchy Challenge

Once again I'm squeaking in my January Sketchy challenge layout.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should make a resolution about getting that done on time!

Here is Sue Sykes' awesome sketch, which I rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise:

Winter layouts are almost becoming a thing of the past for me.  That's because my teenagers don't really go outside much in the winter anymore.  If they do, it's only to take a bunch of goofy selfies. ha ha! Luckily, BabyOfTheFamily agreed to some pics a couple months ago.  I LOVE winter photos!

For my frosty layouts, I often use Bo Bunny, and each winter I'm excited about seeing their new papers.  I just love the colours and patterns in the Woodland Winter collection:

I put baby powder on the backs of my snowflake stickers so the edges would lift off my background.

BoBunny's matching embellishments and stickers always make designing so easy.  I must admit, I'm kind of a matchy-matchy type of girl :)

The navy twine is May Arts.

Every season I say how much I don't like winter, but I love creating winter layouts! 

I hope you have a chance to design a layout for Canadian Scrapbooker's Sketchy Challenge!  In a few more days, the February sketch will be posted.  Click HERE to visit the Sketchy Gallery and be inspired!

Stay warm...

Double the Fun with Kaisercraft

The Summer issue of Canadian Scrapbooker has hit the newsstands and the Fall call for submissions is over....which means that I have a new Double the Fun sketch and layout for Winter 2013! [I know, I know....the "W" word should not be uttered at this time of the year]

Here is my sample layout and sketch, which you will see on the Home Page of the Canadian Scrapbooker website:

I used the beautiful "Elegance" collection from Kaisercraft for these photos of DramaQueen and one of her best friends, Lauren.  They were all dressed up to go out for dinner together.  Ah...to be sixteen again!

This layered title is actually a combination of sticker elements from a few different Kaisercraft collections, along with the pretty leafy wood embellishment.

I added some Kaisercraft pearls to highlight the journaling stickers.  Don't you love these 'faux' Dymo label stickers from the Kaisercraft "Pickled Pear" collection?

The feathers are fussy cut from a piece of "Elegance" patterned paper called "Paper Pure."

The gold doilies are from The Dollar Store, and the border punch is EK Success/Martha Stewart.

You have lots of time to work on your double layout and submit it for publishing! Have fun :) 

March Sketchy Challenge

For this month's Sketchy Challenge at Canadian Scrapbooker, I decided to have some fun with another new Bo Bunny collection called "Family Is..."

I am POSITIVE that the paper designers at Bo Bunny had a real life peek inside MY family when they came up with these hilarious and playful stickers...

Here is Sue Sykes' awesome March sketch...

Immediately I thought of some recent pics of my teenagers.  Sure, I had one "good" shot of them together for DramaQueen's birthday, but why scrap that photo when I had 10 other funny outtakes?  

I love the colourful, bright patterns....a reflection of my chaotic, loud teens!

Using the card stock and chipboard stickers makes designing a breeze...

I also did a fast forward video of how this layout came together. [You can click HERE to go to YouTube and watch on a bigger screen.  You can also click "Subscribe" if you'd like to watch all my videos]

I hope you can join in the fun over at the Sketchy gallery this month!  It's a friendly online community with lots of inspiration!

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 :)

Winter Wishes from Echo Park

This year, Urban Scrapbook is going to create monthly kits with paper collections that correlate with a calendar theme.  So, January's kit is featuring the cutest collection from Echo Park called "Winter Wishes."

To get my scrappy brain in gear after our 2-week Christmas break, I turned to a PageMap sketch, from November 2012.

I was also inspired by Tracey Gregory's layout from this month's ScrapThat! kit club that has cut out circles in the design.  You can click HERE to visit Tracey's blog and see her wonderful layout.

Here is what I came up with...

There are a couple of ski hills right here in our city, and we sometimes go to the smallest one for some serious sledding action.  I took this photo of BabyOfTheFamily during on of our trips to the hill.  Sad to say, most of my sledding pics did not turn out great that day.

The kit includes this awesome sticker sheet, along with patterned papers, Bazzill card stock, ribbons, bling, glitter paper, vellum snowflakes....

A close up of the vellum snowflakes, cut with the new Tim Holtz die...

Here is a closer look at the cut-out circle windows...

I designed a winter scene with the stickers to create a title element...

I thought I'd share how I designed those circle windows..

My 'old school' Coluzzle....to cut out the circles.

Scrapbook Adhesives 3L 'Crafty Foam Tape' works really well to lift the entire piece.

Square pieces of Winter Wishes patterned paper.

The white paper with circles is placed on top.

A closer look at the circle windows

Then I just took my sticker sheet and went crazy adding sticker elements to each circle.

Prima Crystals are also in the kit...which I added to each circle window scene.

This January kit is now on sale at The Urban Scrapbook, so drop in or shop online to pick one up.

You can click HERE to visit the Urban blog where all the staff January layouts are on display.

January Sketchy Challenge

On January 5, DramaQueen turned 16! 

 Sorry...I just couldn't resist posting her "hand" photo! ha ha ha!

For those of you who are new to following or reading my blog, I should let you know that I refer to my children here using affectionate nicknames. My husband started calling our daughter Drama Queen quite a long time ago although she has been the easiest child to raise thus far and thinks it's pretty funny that we call her this.

Here is Sue Sykes' sketch for January over at the Canadian Scrapbooker Sketchy Gallery...

This sketch was perfect to feature a group of photos taken on DQ's birthday...

"Sweet Sixteen"

I took a risk with this layout...is it too cute for a 16-year-old?  Actually DQ told me that she didn't like ANY of her birthday photos, so I was NOT allowed to scrapbook them.  [oops]

These papers are from a couple of My Little Shoebox collections, along with the stickers and alphabets.

The title is all MLS stickers, plus I add Crystal Stickles to the number 16.

I drew a balloon template and then traced and cut out three.  I outlined them with a white pen and then Crystal Stickles.  They are tied with white embroidery thread.

These Peel-off adhesive flowers from Harmonie are so cool!  They are clear stickers with sticky tops that you can cover with glitter, microbeads, flocking, etc.  I used black Craft&Glitz microfine glitter.

This white flower frame is cut with my Cricut.

A journaling spot. [Dang! I wrote 2012, not 13!]

These 6 cards are cut right from one piece of My Little Shoebox patterned paper....an easy way to create a grid and mat photos!

How about starting the New Year off with a challenge?  Join the Sketchy Gallery and design a page based on Sue's sketch, then upload it to the Canadian Scrapbooker website HERE.

I'll see you over there!

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a little girl who brought laughter and sunshine into her family's life.  Her mother thought she would never grow up and would stay little forever.

BabyOfTheFamily Age 2

Am I still moaning about my Baby growing up? Yes.  ha ha!  So now I can gaze longingly at this layout and remember when....

I designed this page using the gorgeous Teresa Collins "Vintage Finds"papers and embellishments found in the new November kit that is on sale now at The Urban Scrapbook.  

I have discovered how much I LOVE working with neutral colour palettes like this.  The style is borderline Shabby Chic, which usually isn't how I create, but I kept things fairly simple and enjoyed the result.

Here are some close-ups...

The bling here and there on the page is from the BoBunny  "Apple Cider" collection.

I layered the Bingo cards to create a title. The fabric flowers are cut from the Sizzix Tattered Flowers die.

I die cut a Sizzix clock with the card stock in the kit and then coloured it with Brass Metallic Distress Stain.

The dimensional card stock stickers in this TC collection are wonderful!

It's a snowy day today...and the perfect time to pick up this kit from Urban and scrapbook!

Click HERE to see the other gorgeous layouts by the Urban Design Team.