My 2011 Scrapbooking Top Ten

 2011 was a year of unprecedented growth for me in my scrapbooking art. I have learned much and I hope my designs reflect those new skills and my journey.  My BFF Ann has inspired me with her annual tradition of choosing a TOP TEN of my favourite designs of 2011.

Number 10:  NATURAL BEAUTY¸
This is my very first Design Team project and I made it for Two Scrapbook Friends in January 2011. It was also my first published design for a print magazine, Canadian Scrapbooker. It will always have a special place in my heart.

Number 9:  MY DUDE
This design of my son Max was in response to challenge issued by my friend Bev Code at My Sketch World. I created the layout and it sat for several months. In September, I got it back out and added and altered it until it suited the lovely pictures I`d used. It`s still true to her challenge too!

Number 8: YOU AND ME
 A design I made of my daughter and her BFF. This picture makes me smile and while I made it in July during my Layout A Day (LOAD) process, is till one of my favs from this year.

Number 7:  FALLING FOR YOU
This photo was taken by my darling Adriane when she was 4 years old while we were on a hike. I like the distressed feel of the design and the altered chipboard. It just makes me feel happy.

Number 6: HOLE LOTTA SWEET
This design is based on a sketch from Lucy Chesna at My Sketch World. I am not a huge fan of double layouts in my own work..but this design is a favourite. It colourful and the photos of my daughter eating a donut are some favs. The title work and water colours are cool too!

Number 5: YOU ARE MY HAPPY DAY
I created this design for a Friendzy Friday at Two Scrapbook Friends. The ribbon circle is of my own design and I think as a frame it really draws attention to the great photo of Adriane.

Number 4: EPCOT
I created this using Simple Stories Destinations line and an assignment from Two Scrapbook Friends. The smaller photos allow me to capture some of my favourite places in the World Showcase. I like the distressed feel and bits of metal.

Number 3: Beautiful Beach Hair
As my third choice for 2011, I chose this great picture of my daughter Adriane as we returned from our summer vacation. She thought she was being silly but I captured this moment of beauty with Instagram and my iPhone. The design uses We R Memory Makers and some miscellaneous flowers and buttons from my stash. This design never fails to bring back that wonderful moment of summer joy.

Number 2: Friends are Cool
As my second favourite, I chose this design based on a sketch created by my super talented friend Laura Whitaker. The smaller photos and bright colours in the Bella Blvd. paper steal my heart. My daughter is so lucky to have a great group of friends!

Number One: Finding You

My number one design of 2011, is created using Authentique`s Blissful line for a Practical Scrapper`s challenge. The yellow, grey and black reflect my daughter`s maturity. The picture is of her on her first day of grade three and she was so grown-up. She has settled into her style with a confidence that I had to envy. I wanted to capture it in a design that mirrored this stage of her life.



I hope you have enjoyed this look through 2011 with me. 

 I hope you will do the same! It`s fun to see the growth and change over the past year. I am looking froward to a new year of creating and doing what I love!

Christa

PS: If you haven`t seen the Sunday Picnic line from Webster`s pages, you really should! It`s divine and they are giving it away if you win! Check it out here.

Beauty: Inside and Out

Many of you will recall that I won some Authentique goodies a few weeks ago. I decided to get out the 6x6 paper pad from the FREE BIRD collection. The pads are surprisingly easy to use when scrapbooking a 12x12 design. I chose to leave them in their square shapes  but trim them down. I hand cut a flower too for the design focal point. It is a simple design but it focuses the design on the photo of my daughter. I hope you enjoy!

Keep doing what you love to do!
Christa

Friendzy Friday With Two Scrapbook Friends: Snowy Snow!

Happy December!

This Friday I wanted to share with you a simple but lovely technique I used to make these snowy letters.

You will need:

Letters in the word of your choice. (Mine are cut with my Silhouette and the LD Boogie Down Font)

A Xyron Sticker Maker (you can use a strong fast drying glue but it is messier and dry time increases accordingly)

Chunky Glitter (I used some I have had lying around for a few Christmases now)

Glitter tray

Let's begin:

1. Take your word of choice and place the letters into the sticker make BACKWARDS. This way the adhesive is on the front of the letter.



3. Taking the glitter tray apply glitter to the adhesive side.

4. Do all the letters so they look like this!



I used them on a design using Echo Park Winter Park Line. These pictures of my son Max were taken so long ago. Makes me nostalgic.

I hope you will give this technique a try on your holiday cards or layouts. Until next time keep doing what you love to do!

Christa

12 Days of Christmas Creations Blog Hop

The countdown to Christmas is here and with that in mind, your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends invite you to countdown the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with them. Each day a member of the Two Scrapbook Friends team and a few special friends will share with you some of the projects and inspiration that they have created to celebrate the Season.

Beginning on December 10th at 8 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog where you can be inspired and leave a comment. That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!

You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win! My secret word is CHRISTMAS.

The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd in the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)
2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)
3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)
4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)
5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)
Have fun celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with the Two Scrapbook Friends team!

For me, the celebration of the holidays is better since I was blessed with my children. When the Two Scrapbook Friends challenged us to design a holiday project and I chose a layout with a gorgeous folded tree created by the talented Connie Babbert. This cute tree symbolizes the happy joy of Christmas. I hope you will join me as I highlight how you too can make these cute trees for your layouts or cards this season!

I found at Two Scrapbook Friends:

Bo Bunny Dot Green cardstock

Miscellaneous buttons

White Pom Pom Trim

Jilly Bean Soup Corrugated letters (the #1)

My design uses the Bella Blvd. Christmas Wishes line

1. Using this link, open and print the template from Connie's blog. It appears along the right hand side but looks like this:

2. After I printed the template, I cut it out and practiced folding along the lines. It does take some finesse to get the folds right and I encourage you to do so before using your intended card stock or patterned paper.

3. I then chose my card stock and cut a larger circle and cut in half. You will get two trees out of your circle.

4. The best part is that no matter the size of tree/circle you need the angles are the same! I placed the template with its folds on top and along the straight edge and used my pencil and ruler to firmly press the lines into the paper below. The pencil lines are scored into the card stock below. Fold along the lines.

 

5. After I folded the tree I inked the edges and then used foam squares to adhere the tree's layers.

6. After getting the tree into its tree shape I used a Jillybean Soup corrugated #1 for the trunk of the tree and adhered it with my Beacon's 3 in 1.

7. After the trunk was attached, I used buttons and trim to match my paper choices and decorate the tree. I added a tiny yellow paper star at the top.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. Here are some other things I did you finish my design and take it to the next level.

I sewed a few machine stitches and some hand stitching too.

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 I also used some two sided tape to adhere some pleated ribbon.

After I decided on a title..which seems to be the last piece of my scrappy puzzle...I made sure to journal about why my daughter is so happy. Can you see why?

Here is the finished product with all the finishing touches!

 and a cute card:

A Prize, you say!?

I am offering this little prize pack of Authentique paper for those wonderful folks who leave a comment here on my blog. If you also tell me in your comment what  my daughter received that made her so excited I will give you another entry. Finally, if you become a follower of my blog and say you did, I will give you a third chance to win! If you already are..thank you so much! I will be sure to enter your name again too. 

Thanks to all who stopped by to say hello! I hope you will continue on tomorrow and check out Dee`s blog. The 5th of Christmas is amazing!

I hope the holidays find you happy, healthy and CREATIVE!

Christa

More Everyday

This weekend I was lucky to have my daughter, Adriane, all to myself for a mother-daughter day on Friday (and most of Saturday too!) What I realized is how lucky I am to have such a great daughter. I love spending time with her; she's funny and silly and smart too. A few weeks ago I made this layout for a challenge at Two Scrapbook Friends during an online crop. I loved the colourful paper from Echo Park and the silk ribbons. Although the picture is blurry, I loved the sweet look on her face, and the soft blonde hair framing her face.
I hope you like! I do.

Keep doing what you love!
Christa

Countdown to the 12 Days of Christmas Creations and a WINNER!!

The countdown to Christmas is here and with that in mind, your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends invite you to countdown the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with them! Each day, for 12 days, a member of the Two Scrapbook Friends team, and a few special friends, will share some of the projects and inspiration that they have created to celebrate the Season.

Beginning on Saturday, December 10th, at 8:00 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog, where you will be sure to be inspired in your paper crafting! That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!

You will need to hop from blog to blog, leaving a comment on each in order to quality to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET WORD on each blog which, when they are unscrambled, will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter your name in for another chance to win the draw!

The Hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). You can join in at any time. Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

Watch the Two Scrapbook Friend's blog on Saturday, December 10th, so you will know where to begin!

In the meantime, be sure to stop by our Forum for some fun Blog Hop Games! You will have an opportunity to win some Forum Buttons and Buttons mean Gift Certificates at Two Scrapbook Friends! See you there!


Now I would like to thank everyone who ame by my blog to say hello and leave a comment. It really makes my day when you take time out of your busy day to do so. The winner of my My Sketch World prize pack from Authentique is TAMMY FRAYNE! Congrats Tammy!

Until next time, keep doing what you love!
Christa

Welcome to the My Sketch World Blog Hop

Calling all layout sketch lovers! We’ve asked our designers to choose their favourite layout sketch and challenge their partner to show you ways to create fabulous layouts, each with their very own a twist!  Our international designers on this hop are:

My Sketch World 

Ann Jobes

Bev Code

Christa Uttley (you are here)

Cindy Noesen (go here next)

Deb Long

Ginni Gass

Joan Borgelt

Malin Rimby

The MSW details:

1. Visit each blog and leave a comment. Read carefully, there may be individual requirements as some designers are offering little prizes of their own!

2. After you have visited each Designer's blog come back to My Sketch World blog and let us know what you thought. Part One of the hop ends Monday, December 5th, 11:59 EST.

3. Everyone who posts a comment on each blog will be entered to win! Winners will be randomly chosen.

4. To receive an additional entry, scraplift a layout and link it back to the My Sketch World blog (in your comment) and tell us what inspired you!

5. Have fun! Be inspired! Part Two of this hop begins December 10,2011.

My challenge partner Joan gave me this gorgeous sketch:

Joan challenged me to distress and distress and distress; as we all like to do. I DO like to distress and I must admit that I have made two attempts at this challenge. I used the same photo but with two sets of paper. My first attempt I chose Fancy Pants St. Nick paper and a photo of my son and my Mom. The St. Nick paper is gorgeous and really lent itself to the distressing but I must admit I couldn't get the layout to come together. I actually deliberated for THREE WEEKS after I got the paper down!

In fact, it was THURSDAY this week and I still didn't have my post ready!   I decided to start from scratch. So I threw out the Fancy Pants! The design you see below does not include much distressing except some inking of edges. I have failed miserably in Joan's challenge to me but this attempt came together in in under an hour and I really am happy with it.  I hope you'll be inspired to distress and try this sketch.

Here's the final design:

I had some beautiful Bella Blvd. Christmas Wishes paper and added some doodle bug twine in a pattern around the outside of the large circle.

I also used my Silhouette to cut a funky Christmas tree and heart. I added some Liquid Applique to the branches and heat it with the heat tool so it looked like snow.



Here is the completed little Christmas tree.

I also chose two kinds of red glittery letters (Thickers and MMBI) as well as these awesome little letters from Lily Bee in black for my title. I really like how they flow together with the different fonts.



I hope you let this design and the process inspire you. Remember: if something isn't working, don't be afraid to start again til you get it right!

A Prize you say?

In addition to the prize offered at My Sketch World, of a $10 to A Walk Down Memory Lane, I am offering this gorgeous prize pack from Authentique to inspire you! If you would like to win, just leave me a comment and if you become a follower and let me know you did, I will give you another entry! If you are already a follower (Thanks So Very MUCH!) let me know that too! I will choose a random entry from all comments left here and announce it on my blog Tuesday, December 6th. Be sure to leave me an email address or blog address so I can contact and thank the winner!

Go and see my friend Cindy next!

Keep doing what you love!

Christa

A "Hole Lotta Fun" and MSW December Reveal



This month, Lucy challenged her designers with a double page design. I chose some Echo Park paper and pictures of my daughter eating a donut.

Started with a white background and splattered some multi coloured water colours. I love this transparent colour awash on the page. I then added the patterned paper sections and used the Silhouette to cut the title (except "Sweet", which are Thickers), and the large donut shapes.

The "o" in HOLE and the the other donut shape have beads that I added to mimic the sprinkles on Adriane's donuts.  I added some Beacon's 3-in-1 glue and the beads and pressed them down gently. Here's a close-up:

I thought the beads added visual interest and texture to the page. Overall I am very pleased with the design and I hope you like it too! Be sure to stop by the MSW blog and see what everyone else is creating!

I hope too to see you here tomorrow for the start of the My Sketch World Blog Hop!

Til next time keep doing what you love to do!

Christa