Falling with Momenta

Good Morning!  Don't you feel fall in the air? Here in southern Ontario we have cold nights and warm sunny days peppered with bouts of gray rain! So when I found these old photos of Max when he was 3, it really brought back those days at our old house on Riverside Drive and the many many many MANY leaves that would fill our yard each October.

 
 I began with a sheet of tan cardstock and added orange, burgundy and brown water colour paints to the background. I doodles a swirl in pencil and added the gold thread stitches by hand. The pennant shapes are cut from the Premium Paper Pad Fall (PA-2331).

 Some pennant shapes, some twine and some faux wooden letters finished it off. His eyes are so blue and his skin so fair. I can still recall the feel of his soft soft cheeks in the cold. I guess that's what scrapbooking memories is about! 

Thanks for joining me today, until next time keep doing what you love!
 

Inspiration Elevator Challenge #5: Something Old

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group 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 and grow. 

This month our challenger was the very talented Laurel Seabrook. Laurel loves flea markets and garage sales and would love to incorporate more of those items into her art. In fact, we have invited a valued guest designer to join us this month; her name is Christy Riopel. We welcome, Christy from her regular writing and creating job at Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.

Here's a bit of what Laurel had to say in her challenge this month.

"I love going to garage sales, flea markets and thrift shops to find fun items for me to upcycle into something else either for my own home or to give as a gift. I also love just to pick up some old things that appear to have some sort of story to them. I love the shabbiness of old, worn items and the warm comforting feeling they evoke.

My challenge for you is to scrap an old photo/photos. Not only that I want you to incorporate something that is not normally a scrapping item, upcycle/recycle something to include on your layout. Vintage is definitely not my style when it comes to paper crafting. I like clean and simple so this will be a challenge for me."

If you are following my IE journey, you'll know that I seemed to struggle with the last few challenges. It's not that I can't whip up something artsy or vintage, but is it really "ME"? It is so important for me to remember that when Ann and I started IE, we kept saying to each other: "We have to stay true to our style, no matter what the challenge is." That is what makes the IE a process, not just a challenge. Growth and genius can only arise from the ashes of inspiration, and good old fashioned hard work. Maybe a bit of hair pulling and gnashing of teeth...maybe.

Well, this month certainly resulted in lots of that!  Laurel's challenge to use an old photo really got me thinking about what "old" is, exactly and I am, as a rule, motivated and inspired to scrapbook my newest photos with the newest products. It's almost impossible to get my mojo flowing on old old pictures. But since it's for my own good and further develops my creative brain, I picked up all the clumps of hair I'd torn from my head, cleared my scrappy table and got down to business. I decided genius was not going to create itself!

In the end, I decided that my very own Kindergarten photo was certainly 'old' enough and in addition, since I was in the Back To School mood and couldn't seem to get anything else on my mind, I would go with this BROADLY chosen definition of "OLD".

Then came the hard part. (What?!! you say? It hasn't been hard already??!!) I needed to choose and old item to be upcycled into the design and still make it 'meaningful' for my back to school theme. Fortune struck and I discovered a set of old report cards in my own memorabilia stash. There was that inspiration I spoke about before!

 

My Kindergarten photo is a bit damaged and yellowing. In fact it has a few spots of orange ink on it! My mom (who is a redhead) likes to tell me that FINALLY she has a ginger haired child! :o)

In the end, I decided that if I kept my goal in mind and put away the Prima flowers, I could stay true to my more classic style even when working with vintage (yes, I admit to being a bit vintage!) photos. I added pieces of the report card via glossy accents, in collage format, to a large letter "K" in my title.

A few strips of Simple Stories paper, buttons, and twine finished the little owl off and made a fairly meaningful design. Am I in love? No. Genius? HARDLY! Was I challenged? You betcha! Have I grown in the process? I feel that I have and I want to thank Laurel for another great IE challenge.

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Laurel Seabrook

Cathy Harper

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Ann Jobes

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker 
 Audrey Yeager
 Lisa Moen
Guest Designer, Christy Riopel 

We would love to see what you are inspired to create. Add your comment below with a link, I will be sure to drop by and say hello.

hanks so much for joining us on this journey. Until next time, keep doing what you love to do.

Christa

We Scrap with Momenta and Xyron

Good morning friends! Today i am excited to share with you creations we are making with Momenta and Xyron.

I  have been holding onto this photo for a while. In fact, it sits on the bulletin board over my desk! It is of my friends Bev Code, Ann Jobes and I at the Zeal for Teal fundraiser. I decided to start with a sketch from Pagemaps. This little gem had lots of potential and allowed me to use the great patterns in the 6x6 pad from Momenta.

I used my Silhouette to cut a variety of circles from several of the double sided patterns. Using the Xyron mega runner I adhered the circles along the top of the striped border.

I also used my Xyron Sticker Maker to re-adhere the letter stickers. A bit stitching, some clips and buttons and it's complete!  I love these Xyron tools!

Until next time, keep doing what you love,
Christa

Making the Grade ..Grade Four, that is!

Good Morning! I love fall. I love Back to School, crisp fall evenings and bright sunny days. Even though Tuesday was a rainy day here, I managed to get some really cute photos of my kids before they left for school.

I also love to get those school photos scrapped as quickly as possible. Keeps me current in this small small way! Adriane is going into grade 4..whoa! Can you believe how grown up she is?

I used Queen & Co. most recent Disney paper line and a sketch by my fellow TSF DT Jayne Morgan. (Check our her awesome sketch here).  Both allowed me to create a Back to School design and match her grown up look and style. The patterns were funky and the arrows especially reflected "education" to me; lots of ideas moving in a new direction ..onwards and upwards! You know I always talk about being meaningful in my scrappy choices and with that in mind, I added a few elements of the number 4 to reflect her grade: four pins, four buttons and lots of spare 4's.

I also used my Silhouette to cut the title. The font is LD Franks Friends in differing sizes. My friends over at Two Scrapbook Friends blog are sharing a few more back to school ideas. I hope you'll head over and check it out!

Until next time, keep doing what you love

I'm feeling wishy WASHI!

Good morning friends! After what seems like a long break from blogging and creating I want to share this design I have created with my stash of washi tape.

I created this washi tape background for my design by layering the coordinating tapes horizontally on the cardstock. I left a tiny bit of white between each tape to allow for a visual break.

I also tore the edges, rather than using scissors to cut them, as this adds a bit of texture to the design.
Have you created a washi background? I hope you'll give it a try!

Until next time, keep doing what you love.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Good Morning friends! If you check in with me regularly you'll notice it has been a long time since I have had a chance to blog or even be very creative. My Dad hasn't been very well and has been in and out of the hospital throughout August. After a serious stomach issue he fell and broke his leg in two pieces. Poor guy has a hard time getting around and we continue have some serious rehab issues to contend with. I appreciate all your good thoughts and that you keep checking back for inspiration. 

I also wanted to share a few photos of my dolly decorating her Papa's toes and cast.

Until next time, keep doing what you love,

The Perfect Pick with Momenta and Clearsnap Blog Hop

Good morning friends! Welcome to the Clearsnap and Momenta Blog Hop. You should have come to me from the very talented Denise Hahn. Today, I am thrilled to share with you a design I made using Momenta and Clearsnap products.

Last fall my dolly and I went to the pumpkin patch to find just the right pumpkins for our porch. Ever since she was a little girl I have taken the camera along to catch the fun we have during the process. This year, though she is nine and I sadly admit that she is fast losing the excitement in racing up and down the row finding the pumpkins and loading them into our wagon. Sad, yes? But she still let me take a few pictures. This photo was snapped in between the ones with rolled eyes and fake smiles (some real ones thrown in there too).

I began with a grey Momenta background and misted some Opaque white on for dimension. I sewed a large circle in contrasting threads to provide the anchor for my leaves and title. I also matted the photo and added some pennant shapes. I used the Mudslide ink and inked the edges of all the leaves and paper pieces.

The designner adhesives and foils were very cool! I admit to being a little intimidated but they are so easy to use and create a distressed vintage feel. I cut and used the adhesives for anchor points along the upper right and along the left of the photos near the pennants.

The letters though, are my favourites. I used the Silhouette to create a large chunky font and ran it through my Xyron sticker maker upside down. Then I added the foils and inked over top with the Mudslide dye ink.

After I had fussy cut all the leaves and adhered everything to the page I inked the outside edge of the background and added a few bits of twine and buttons.

I loved this design and I will definitely be using these foils again. There are so many ways to create wonderful artistic effects on your pages and cards.

Please stop by the Clearsnap and Momenta blogs to see all the other creations my fellow designers have created. You could a $30 prize pack from both manufacturers! Deadline to leave a comment to win is 11:59pm (ET), Sunday 8/19.

Winners of the fabulous Clearsnap prize (shown) will be announced on our blog Monday, 8/20.

Here's the blog hop order..you should be off to Suzanne Austin next!

 Clearsnap

 Pinky Hobbs

 Diana Gonzalez
Sarabeth Burke
Tami Sanders
Kristine Berc
Megan Aaron
Nicole Wise
Denise Hahn

 Christa Uttley (that's me!)
Suzanne Austin
Kazan Clark
Momenta

You'll be amazed and inspired to create your own great projects!

Until next time, keep doing what you love.
Christa



Momenta Supplies
PA-2331 Premium 12x12 Paper Pad
PA-0925 12x12 Paper Pad
PA-2383 Kaleidoscope 12x12 Pyramid Pad

Clearsnap Supplies
Design Adhesives "Let's Party"
Designer Foils in Irish Eyes and Lucky Penny
Dye Ink in Mudslide

Other Supplies
Misc. Buttons
Misc Thread and Twine
Silohuette Fonts are LD This and That & SNF Lollihop
Studio Calico Mr. Huey Mist in Opaque White
Xyron Sticker Maker
Xyron Mega Runner
Beacon's 3-in-1 liquid adhesive