What inspires you?

To some scrapbookers, the story that they tell is the most important part of their scrapbooking legacy. But, I must admit to being someone who loves great photos. If my photos don't inspire me then I have a hard time choosing the papers and embellishments let alone feel I have made a layout to stand the test of time.  You might say that for me they are the foundation of all that I create. This past weekend my friend Angela Smith (whom I like to call the extremely talented-ever visionary- super photographer) met with my husband's extened family for some family photos. It was cold and the on the verge of raining, but she managed to take gorgeous photos. Now, she is away for a bit for a well-deserved vacation, but she did have time to send me a few photos.

I truly love it when she 'finds her light' as she likes to say. It is truly her gift and I am always inspired to scrapbook these moments once I see her beautiful photos. Thank you Angela for sharing your gift and inspiring me. What inspires you?

Drop me a line and let me know what keeps you going creatively?

Finally, last week my fav store Two Scrapbook Friends had an Easter Blog hop and as promised those who commented and are a follower, were entered in a draw to win a small little gift from me! Well, the winner was a fellow Designer at My Sketch World known as LisaM. Congrats and thank you for following my blog!

Keep doing what you love!
Christa

Hippity Hop! It's an Easter blog hop!

Happy spring! We are starting to see some of the signs of spring and I must say: It's About Time!  I love spring and with it comes thoughts of Easter. To me Easter is one of the most important times of the year. It gets me to thinking of all the blessings that fill my life everyday. A few of things I am blessed with is having great scrappy friends and the gift of creating scrapbook pages that represent the moments in my family's life.

My lovely pals at Two Scrapbook Friends decided we could do a Blog Hop to celebrate this wonderful occasion.  You will need to 'hop' from blog to blog leaving a comment on each and then a final comment on the blog thread in the Two Scrapbook Friends Forum to say you have completed the hop! Start at the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and progress to the following. (Be sure to leave comments at each stop!)

Here are the blogs of my fellow "Friends":



Carolyn

Joanne

Shelby

Dee

Avril

Sharon

Here's my lovely daughter when she is two years old, colouring eggs. I remember her joy and being able to handle the 'tough' job like her big brother. She felt like a big girl and couldn't help but have Big Easter Laughs!

   

I used a KI Memories calendar page and added Best Creations glittery Bunny Love line patterned paper. I added a pink frame from MME and pink letters from Paper Studio. I added Smooch and Tattered Angels glimmer spray to two acrylic butterflies and finished off with some stitching and various misc. buttons/ribbon.

The hop will be open until April 14th at 8 pm and then we will have a random drawn for a prize for those who completed the hop. For added excitement, those who leave a comment on my blog and become a follower, I will randomly award a small brand new prize to one lucky a commenter, from my own stash! I will announce the winner on my blog Monday, April 18th.

Also... if you create an Easter theme project in this week, please link up on the participation thread for some bonus buttons at Two Scrapbook Friends! (Not sure what buttons are, check it out on the forum!)

Any questions just ask! In the meantime, keep doing what you love!

Christa

Learning to "feed" my Creativity for a Lifetime!

I remember an old English proverb: Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach him to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime.  It came to me yesterday that my journey of discovery with Karen Grunberg and her class Finding Your Way was much the same as this proverb. I had for years taken classes that I truly enjoyed, bought magazines and products, but I was never very sure of what to do afterwards. Sometimes I was satisfied with my finished layout but when I was, I couldn't tell you why any more than I could if I didn't like it. I was "fed" for a day..a few days...but then my BFF Ann Jobes mentioned Karen's class. It has truly taught me "how to fish" my own.  I have learned about the fundamental aspects of scrapbooking creative waters; how to tap into what I am creating and what it is I like or need to be creative at my best. I now know "how to fish". The course is 3/4 of the was completed and we have covered a great many of the aspects of design and colour and organization. It is thrilling to learn things about myself I never knew!

Last week I mentioned we had a reveal for my Design Team at Two Scrapbook Friends. I was so excited to take in my completed projects and when I did my dear friend Joanne (one of the "Friends") was totally wow'd. I even heard from their in store designer, Shelby, yesterday. She took a moment out of her crazy day to drop me a line to let me know she loved this months work too. My fellow DT members have always been kind in their words, but this month I  feel great about my finished products. I am over the moon!

Here's the three layouts I produced for Two Scrapbook Friends. Drop me a line here or at their gallery and let me know if you like them.

Here's the first called "GO"

The second Called "Oh baby baby"

and my favourite (an experiment in Kraft paper, paint and sewing a banner!) called "Happy".

I have been telling anyone who will listen (and who is a scrapbooker) to check out Karen's class at Big Picture Classes, but it has come to my attention that registration is closed. I am sad to hear this but suggest for you to visit Karen's blog or contact Big Picture Classes to see when it might be offered again. After all, why not learn to find your way and 'feed' your creative soul for a lifetime of great scrapbooking and creating.

In addition, check out the April 1st release of My Sketch World's April 1st sketch. I too will have something to reveal on April 15th, but until then there is lots of inspiring and wonderful layouts to be seen in the gallery there.  My BFF Ann has one up on her blog as we speak!

This weekend I will be at Scrapfest in Kitchener on Friday night helping out my Two Scrapbook Friends from 4pm until 10pm. Pop by and say "Hi!".

Doing what love EVERY SINGLE DAY! Hope you are too.
Muah!
Christa

Friendzy Friday with Two Scrapbook Friends: Canvas Leaves

Helloooooo Friday!
I am exciting to share with you my first technique at Two Scrapbook Friends Friendzy Friday . A few weeks ago, my friend Avril Tanner shared  how to make a beautiful canvas flower. This week I am showing you how to turn plain old canvas triangles into gorgeous leaves.

For this project you'll need the following:

- canvas triangles like these Lil' Petals

- ink and a brayer. I chose green (or shades of green). For fall you might chose reds and yellow and orange. You can also use glimmer mist too.

- matching thread and a sharp needle

- stickles or crystal effects for finishing touches

- safe surface for inking or misting

- running water and a paper towel (not shown)

- gloves if you don't like to get messy (not used! I'm a crafty gal!)

1. Rinse the sizing out of the triangles. This allows the ink to settle right into the fabric and frays the edges a bit. Blot the water on a paper towel.

2. On your ink safe surface, brayer the ink on the triangles. I use a few shades of green to obtain the coloration I prefer.

3. Thread your sharp needle and tie off the end. You'll need it ready . Then, the tricky part. Fold the wide end of the triangle into a 'w' or an 'm' shape. It should look something like this when you have it right:

4. Using the sharp needle pass the thread through the end a few times until it is secure. Tie the ends tightly.

5. Now the finishing touches. Add some stickles (I used my finger to 'paint' them on) or add a few drops of crystal effects to look like dew. Be sure to let it dry thoroughly before adding them to your pages.

6. Now, get scrappy! Add them to your pages with those gorgeous canvas flowers Avril showed you. Your scrappy friends won't believe how easy it was!

  

Please share with what you've created! Head over to the Two Scrapbook Friends Gallery and show us what you've done! We love to see how we've inspired you.

Keep Doing What You Love!

Christa

It's Almost Time for the April Design Team Reveal at Two Scrapbook Friends!

The end of the month always finds me a bit frazzled. I am always worried about getting that last perfect DT layout completed for my friends at Two Scrapbook Friends. However, as many of you may have read in my previous posts that I have been undergoing a 'transformative' process with my scrapbooking! Sounds pretty complicated for something my dear, dear husband calls :Sticker Fun! But to a lifelong, hardcore scrapper like me, it is a very very big deal. Through my classes with Karen Grunberg at Big Picture Classes, I have been slowly Finding My Way with my scrapbooking style.  This month's end I felt excitement! I was thrilled to sit down and look at my supplies and create three layouts I adored! Three whole layouts that I cann honestly say I feel reflect my style and that I am so genuinely proud of the result.  Don't get me wrong, I am not suddenly in the same league with all the scrapbooking greats like Karen, but I am happy with my results and look forward to keeping this process going. I am anxious to keep delving into MORE about what it takes for me to love what I am producing; both for myself and for those who have honoured me with DT positions. Thanks for keeping up with me on this journey. I encourage you to maybe do the same..check out Karen's classes at Big Picture. Maybe it's not the right time for you..or maybe you are in a scrapping rut. But it really worked for me and my MOJO is OVERflowing!

Now for thanks for listening. Here's what you have all been waiting for! Sneak Peeks for the April 1st release! Please forgive the photo quality I am having camera/computer problems!

Here's a layout I called "GO" it from a quote from Dr. Seuss. maybe you know it?

The second Sneak Peek is of a layout of my DD when she was a baby. It has misting, layering and of course, some sewing!

Finally, my favourite! I call this happy. I used Kraft background, which I have never done before! I also painted (never done before) and sewed a banner. In fact I sewed so many places I couldn't count them all!

Watch for the big releases on Friday at  Two Scrapbook Friends, my fellow Design Team Members are so very very talented.  Also watch for the big release for the April 1st sketch at My Sketch World. My work for the folks at MSW will appear April 15th. Lots to look forward to! Until then drop me a line and let me know what you think of my new found scrappy epiphany!

Doing what love, hope you are too!
Christa

Remembering Why We Do It.

I started scrapbooking almost 20 years ago in order to preserve memories of my life. I wanted to remember how I felt when I dated my husband or how I felt when my son and daughter were born or the difference my husband's grandfather made to my life. But these days when I sit down to scrapbook I am not always thinking about those memories. I get caught up in the details of new products and techniques or in finding the perfect photo or in a timeline I have given myself to create. I was reminded today while listening to Karen Grunberg's (currently free) class Embracing Imperfection and Big Picture Classes, that I scrapbook my photos and tell my stories so that the details of my life are not forgotten. She reminds us to embrace the mistakes we make as they are often opportunities to be MORE creative and to learn something about ourselves in the process. Here's a layout where I made a mistake and creatively (I hope!) made it a part of my layout. I dropped the ink pad right on the layout (lower right) and added more to the page. If you have a layout where you made a "mistake" and you love how it turned out..drop me a line with a link. I would love to hear from you.

Until then I encourage you to listen to Karen's class (have I mentioned it's free?) and learn to love (or at least LIVE WITH) your mistakes. She issues a few challenges that I am going to work on this week and I'll let you know how it all turns out.  Loving what I do (even more today!)..hope you are too.

Christa

Happy Birthday to My Darling Daughter

On this day, 8 years ago, my darling daughter was born. She was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She burst into the world screaming and yelling and telling the doctors how to do their jobs. And then she smiled..some say it was me imagining things but I know differently. She would have alot to say and show us 'who was boss' more times than a little girl should over the years. But when she smiles..you forget ..what was I saying? Oh yes. Her smile...So on this momentous day I celebrate her with this layout; my beautiful talented daughter and how she is such a blessing. Enjoy.