It's Berry Sweet with Momenta and Score-Pal!

Welcome to the Score-Pal and Momenta Blog Week! If you are anything like me, you love your Score-Pal and I have one in every size! I thought that with so many inspiring things on both blogs this week, I'd share with you an idea inspired by a Pinterest post from Holly at Paisley Petal Events. I changed it up a bit and used my Score-Pal to make an accordion flower sign and gift card box for my daughter's Grade Three teacher.

We live in an area where the fresh Ontario strawberries are ripe for the picking and this little green basket held many of those juicy sweet treasures. I threaded a large piece of red grosgrain around the base and chose the Family Outings pack's red and white large check for my accordion flowers. Once I'd punched the edge, I scored the accordion folds at 1/2 inch. The larger flower used two 2x12 lengths. The smaller one uses a 1x12 length.

I used my computer to print the sentiment and left room for my daughter to print her teacher's name and her own name on the sign. The stand is a large Popsicle stick inked and distressed a bit.

The gift card holder is a pillow box template I received from an old Stampin' Up! class many moons ago. I used a green piece of paper from the Chloe's Garden Pack.

I hope you will find this idea a reason to create and gift someone with a little sweet treat!

Until next time, do what you love!
Christa

Good Day Sunshine and Authentique Fresh

Good Morning! Just a little post to share with you from my Design Team kit at Two Scrapbook Friends! Not surprisingly it is more of Authentique's Fresh line. My FAVOURITE summer line this season. The red and baby blue are pair with the subtle greys of the this line to create a nostalgic summery feel. I wanted to keep it simple here and used some red machine stitching and twine to accent the reds in the papers.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, keep doing what you love,
Christa

Supply List
Authentique Fresh Detail Stickers
Authentique Fresh Light
Authentique Fresh Crisp
Authentique Fresh Pure
Misc. Glass Beads, twine and thread
Buttons are CTMH

Score-Pal and Momenta Week

Good Morning! This week Momenta and Score-Pal are teaming up to share with you some inspiring and creative projects!

There will be lots of fun, inspiration and prizes, so I hope you will join us!
Until text time, keep doing what you love!
Christa

Dig Deep with Authentique's Fresh

For those of you who know my work, you'll know that I adore Authentique. This company produces high quality paper and embellishments in unique patterns and they do it with style. What I love most though, is how they promote a family atmosphere at their company and good values in their blogging, design team and presence in the scrapbooking industry. It is to this end that I actually feel happy when I take out my Authentique products and when FRESH became my design team assignment with Two Scrapbook Friends, I squealed with delight!

I thought i would share these designs with you a little bit at a time, and my first design is called Dig Deep. It features photos of my son on the beach. He kept telling me he was digging to the centre of the earth! Every evening he was covered in more sand than we left on the beach.

I added stitching on the background, jut followed the lines already on the paper! 

 I also used some Authentique stickers for my title accents. These sayings are perfect! I wonder (every time!!!) where they find such perfect words. My favourite here is : "I live for the days when my cheeks hurt too much from smiling". Isn't that fabulous?

 

Authentique has issued a color challenge and I am sure it is no small coincidence that it matches Fresh's colour palette perfectly! I hope your find yourself some FRESH (at Two Scrapbook Friends OF COURSE!) and play along. You could be entered to win some of their great products of your very own.

Until next time, keep doing what you love,

Christa

Supply List

Authentique Fresh papers and sticker sheets

Silhouette Fonts

Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Miscellaneous charms, twine and thread

Inspration Elevator Challenge 2: Telling The Story

Welcome to our second Inspiration Elevator challenge. You may recall from last month`s challenge that the purpose of this venture was to take our scrapbooking to the next level; to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work hard and stretch our art. This month`s challenge was issued by the very talented Laura Whitaker. Here`s a sampling of what Laura asked us to do:

``For my challenge I wanted to get back to the root of scrapbooking a little bit, back to the preserving of memories; to encourage you to look at your photos a little more closely.  We all have cute photos of the sweet-faced children and beautiful family members, in our lives, that we can scrapbook.  But I want to challenge you to choose a photo that tells a story or evokes an emotion, something a little different than our children playing or family members posing.   We all have heard that a picture speaks a thousand words. Chose a photo that was taken from behind the subject, preferably one in which you cannot see their face.  Maybe you have chosen not to scrap a particular photo in past because you couldn’t see the subject’s face very well, this is the perfect time to use that photo. Then the story will be the focus and not the face.   Then tell the story that goes with the photo via your journaling.  This way when our families look back at this page years from now, they will truly be reminded of the moment.``

What an incredible challenge! For those of you who know my work, I am not a big journaller. Now, I know that for some it is the whole point of Scrapbooking; to create lasting memories for our families and that the `story` is as important as the photo and the art. But for me it is about the creative process and sometimes the words just don`t fit into the design. So I began my process as I do every other layout: with a picture that inspires me, great products and an idea. 

This photo of my children was taken 4 years ago in Cuba. I had made them get up early (very early!) and dress in co-ordinating colours (did I mention I made my hubby, Rich and I do it too?) I wanted to beat the crowds and catch the water at a calmer time. The light was lovely and they actually co-operated (even Rich!) I got lots of great shots and when I finished (amidst whoops and yahoos!) we decided to head up to the main hall for breakfast. Max took Adriane`s hand and I snapped this last shot. Here`s the journalling I created for the design and the challenge. Laura is right; this photo had a story (even though it`s a short one) that I want them to remember.

I have waited many years to scrapbook this photo and it is like Authentique`s Fresh line was made for it. The soft blues and greys really accent the water and the sand. It captured the calm morning light and seemed to bring out the emotion in the photo. My design includes lots of `Christa` things like machine stitching, minimal card stock and a short title. I also created a small cluster using clear beads and a starfish. I wanted this design to remain simple and uncluttered so that the photo and the feeling shone through.

I loved this challenge and it did make me think about why I do this craft, and what I have to `say` when I create. It helped me remember the story and to find room on the design to tell it for posterity. Thanks Laura!

I hope you have been inspired, I know that my fellow group of artists have been working all month to create gorgeous and inspiring designs. Here`s the list of my IE friends and I hope you`ll pop by and see what they have created and perhaps take a moment to say a word or two.

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Carolyn Wolff

Cathy Harper

Ann Jobes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Sue Sykes

I hope you will come back next month and see what the extraordinary Audrey Yeager has in store for us. Until then keep doing what you love (I know I am!)

Christa

Supply List
Authentique Fresh Papers: Clear, Clean, Details Stickers
Misc Glass beads
Lollihop Font and starfish embellishment by Silhouette

You're a Sweet Treat!

Good morning! Today at Practical Scrappers we are sharing designs with natural elements and I created this design using My Mind's Eye Indie Chic line, some cork and cotton twine. Natural elements can add such texture and interest to a design and there are so many to choose from: Feathers, shells, and wood.

I splattered some acrylic paint on the patterned back ground. If you love the splatter acrylic paint because it is thicker and adds some dimension, I usually thin it with a paint brush and a bit of water. I also used thick acrylic paint and smeared it with my finger (thanks Audrey!) It made a great spot for my title!

I purchased the cork from Two Scrapbook Friends and it is thin enough to put through your punches or even your Silhouette (check your blades and settings). Here I used a scalloped circle punch to create my flower centres. I hope you'll pop by Practical Scrappers and see what my fellow Scrappers have to inspire you!

I also want to announce the winner of my prize from the Celebrate Dad blog hop! Thank you to all of you who follow me and left lovely comments. The winner is Louise! I have emailed Louise and will make sure she gets her winnings very soon!

Until next time, keep doing what you love,
Christa

Little Fashionista

Good Morning Momenta friends! Today it`s my turn to share with you a design I created using the great Momenta products I have at  my fingertips. I had these great photos of my daughter at my Grandmother`s 80th Birthday several years ago. She was so into fashion and often chose her outfits with great care to detail! I wanted to choose the right papers to express this grown up girl and I really needed to get all three photos on my page.  I admit to being a bit stymied! But then I found this wonderful sketch at Let's Get Sketchy. It had lots of those wonderful pennant shapes and spots for THREE photos.

Here's my take on this gorgeous sketch using Momenta's Super Pad (PA 2263) and their really cute Black Glitter Letters (ST-2346).  The patterns are perfectly sophisticated in a very cool way!

I began with some paint splatters to match my patterned papers and then added several 'frames' of black machine stitching. I matted my three photos and cut my pennants. I also added a few washi tape pieces, don't you love their transparency and patterns? The accordion flowers look great in these papers and create flow across the photos. In fact, that little green flower is hiding an unsightly door knob in the photo!

I hope you have been inspired and will check out the Let's Get Sketchy sketches; there's a new one every week!

Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Christa

Additional Supplies:

Twinery Twine and unknown embroidery floss

Washi tape from Queen and Co. and Bazzil Basics

Card Stock is Bazzil and Stampin Up!

Large Alpha is American Crafts

Font is LD Franks Friends

Flower Punch is Srampin Up!