Life's a Beach Trio with Momenta

Good Morning Momenta fans! Winter has settled in many parts of North America and as a Canadian, I long for warmer weather and sunnier climes. Here is a sweet and easy trio of cards to make you feel a bit of the warmth of summer!  I used Family Outings paper pack (PA-2250) and the clear layered Beach stickers (ST-4720) added a bit of sewing and ink.

This first little card includes a shaker and some beads. It also includes some dew drops and sunny button to create a translucent flower.

The next card includes some machine stitching and those cool clear layered beach stickers. They chair has such dimension.

The last card includes a cute clear layered sticker crab and a pail and beach ball. The little clouds and sun are cut using a die cut machine.

I hope that these little cards really warm your heart and give you a little taste of summer! Until next time, keep doing what you love!

Christa

Sketchy Challenge with Two Scrapbook Friends

Good Morning! I am excited to share with you my very first Sketchy Challenge!  I must admit that this is my first attempt at a sketch of my very own! I hope you'll find it inspiring and use it to spring board your creativity.



and here is the layout I used to create the sketch!



I hope you'll pop by the forum and the gallery and share your creations with us! Looking forward to seeing your creations there.

Until next time, keep doing what you love to do!

Christa



Two Scrapbook Friends is Chasing Away the Winter Blahs!

Two Scrapbook Friends is holding and online crop to Chase Away the Winter Blahs! There are some super challenges and prizes to be won. I challenged our friends to Crash Their Summer Stash. Pull out your old summer papers and embellies and create a layout or a card to brighten up your day!

Here's a layout I whipped up using some old Cosmo Cricket from last season. I found these photo that my Dad took of my daughter BEFORE the digital camera days! They are one of a kind, so I wanted to make sure I captured this summer moment.

I used a calendar page for the background and added some layers of Cosmo Cricket. I cut a few tags too from the same line. I really wanted my journalling to pop so I layered it on journalling strips from My Little Yellow Bicycle. The yellow pompoms are courtesy of My Mind's Eye and draw the eye to the foursome of photos. I loved these bright sparkly fonts, two from American Crafts and one from Me and My Big Ideas.

Look at that little sun shaped charm! Two Scrapbook Friends has a bucket of all kinds! The metal is a little piece of genius for any page. I hope you'll pop over to our forum and see for yourself all the great designs and challenges. The gallery is filled with wonderful inspiration too.

I also wanted to share with you a design I made for Challenge Me Tuesday at Practical Scrappers. The challenge is get ALL INKY!! I chose some brand new Bo Bunny from their line Weekend Market. The background is already distressed but I added lots of extra ink and a stamp to a few of the corners. The chipboard "EVERYDAY" is covered in ink as well. All the edges got lots of ink too. I love this photo taken by the incomparable Angela Smith of Waterloo.

I hope you'll pop by the Practical Scrappers Blog today to see some other INKY designs. Next weeks challenge is to use 5+ sided shapes like hexagons, octagons etc! If you play along send your design to practicalscrapperslayouts@gmail.com.

Until next time, keep doing what you love!
Christa

Sweet Caroline, do-do-do!

I'll say it. I know you are all thinking it. New product is AWESOME! I love the newness of all the colours and designs and when they come into the store en masse, I get GIDDY! Friday night, I was into my favourite store, Two Scrapbook Friends and what did I see? My Mind's Eye overflowing the racks! I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Miss Caroline. The wood grains, and muted melon and lilac, the florals and plaids.  I chose a few papers (I need to pace myself here!) and when I got home I went right to work.

When I was a kid my aunt and uncle had a farm and I remember the worn grey boards of their old old barn. I remember the feel of the wood; warm from the sunshine. This wood grain paper brought back all those happy memories. I splattered white acrylic paint on the back ground and dried it with the heat gun. I layered the patterns and inked the edges. I loved the floral pattern and fussy cut them out.

I layered a duplicate rose on top of some of the flowers and popped them up with foam squares. I layered the cluster over a doilie and added a few pins, some grosgrain ribbon and green crocheted trim.

I hope you'll find some new product at Two Scrapbook Friends that lights the fire under your creativity!
Until next time, keep doing what you love to do!
Christa

Take a LEAP with the Lipstick Chicks at the XOXO blog

Today the chicks at the XOXO Blog have decided to challenge and inspire you to design your own LEAP layouts. This February is a Leap Year, a mathematical calendar alteration that means there are 29 days instead of February!

For this challenge I found a photo of Adriane leaping off a tree stump at a local park into the leaves. The Momenta Great Outdoors line is perfect for this design.

The wood grain is super trendy right now and this paper actually feels a bit like vinyl! The texture is very wood-like! Such cool texture. I splattered some white paint for visual interest and used to reversed pennant shapes. The fussy cut leaves and the yellow font embellished the design just to my liking. 

I hope you'll visit the XOXO blog and be challenged by their mid month LEAP challenge. Check out what my fellow designers have accomplished too!

Until next time, keep doing what you love to do,

Christa

Simple Stories Year-o-graphy and Two Scrapbook Friends

Hello! I am excited to share with you my first design team assignment in 2012 for Two Scrapbook Friends. When I was asked to work with Simple Stories Year-o-graphy, I jumped at the chance! I love Simple Stories lines and they make designing "wow" layouts really easy.
I first created this layout about my daughter. The papers made me think of that old song "Calendar Girl"..you know the one: "I love, I love, I love, my little calendar girl, every day of the year!"

The background paper does alot of the work here. I layered the months of the year border strip and the hearts and circles. I also mounted the banner on card stock (thanks Ann!)to give it more stability.



I used the lyrics from the song as my journalling.

My next design was one of my son and I at a local hiking spot. I just love spending time with him doing something we both like. The day was perfect.

I had intended to use that square brown piece un-wrinkled but it fell under the wheels of my office chair! Imagine my distress! However I decided (in frustration?) to crumple it up and when I smoother it out I found it added lots of great texture to the design.

My final design is one of my sweet, tolerant husband Richard.

I used my circle cutter and cut out the circles which I embellished individually. Watercolour paints in matching colours added texture and dimension in the lower right. This layout makes me smile.

Thank you for sharing this with me. I loved this line and hope you do too.

Until next time, keep doing what you love to do.

Christa



Twinery/ Momenta Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Twinery and Momenta blog hop! 



The designers of The Twinery and Momenta have created some wonderful projects to inspire your creativity! There are also some wonderful prizes to be won. There are 14 stops along the way and you will be inspired every step of the way!

The Twinery

Momenta

Julie Renae

Jamie Cripps

Cristal Hobbs

Monika Wright

Mara Campbell

Jen Carter
Christa Uttley

Tifany DeGough

Erin Morehouse

Angelica Suarez

Christine Meyer

Sarabeth Burke 

I was so excited to hear we were hopping with the Twinery! I adore their cotton twine and the variegated colour twists come in a multitude of inspiring colours. It wasn't hard to pair up some great Momenta papers and Twinery twine!

Here is a layout I made of my daughter this past summer. We were on vacation at the lake and she had just woken up. Her sun-kissed skin and crazy hair; her big smile and sleepy face were huge inspirations for this design.

I chose a white background and layered some of the Momenta Kaleidoscope pyramid pad (PA-2383) in green and floral patterns. I used the Twinery twine in honeydew and laid down a zig zag stitch.

I then used a chipboard circle and covered it in cantaloupe twine; wrapping it very closely.  I then used a circle template and laid out a sunburst pattern and stitched the rays to match.

I finally chose the vibrant puffy alpha in pink (ST-25574-VIB) and a cute little birdie from the cleared layered sticker sheet (ST-3838 EMG). I finished by tying his tail with a bow in Caribbean twine. I was very happy with the final result..and my daughter loved adding it to her book of summer memories!

How to WIN!

These great prizes are being offered by Moment and the Twinery:

For a chance to win leave a comment on each designer's blog and on The Twinery and The Momenta blogs.  To win the Momenta prize pack you must also leave a comment on the Momenta Facebook page.

Comments must be left on each participating blog to be eligible for prizes and will remain open until 11:59pm EST, Friday February 17th. Drawing will be done by respective companies and announced on their blogs Monday, February 20th.  Additional rules to win are detailed on the Twinery and Momenta blogs!

Next is TIFFANY!

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

Christa

Supplies:

Momenta Puffy Alpha ST-2557 vibrant

Momenta Clear Layered Sticker ST-3838

Momenta Kaleidoscope Pyramid Pad PA-2383

Twinery Twine in Cantaloupe, Caribbean and Honeydew

Other supplies:

American Crafts Thickers

LD Lollihop cursive font cut with Silhouette

Harmonie Crafts chipboard circle

Valentine Blog Hop

Are you in the mood for some scrappy love? Are you craving design inspiration for your Valentine's Day projects? What better way to 'feel the love' than to spend some time with your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends and be inspired in the process!

You will begin the hop at the Two Scrapbook Friends Blog and travel from blog to blog leaving a comment on each one. If you comment on each blog, you will qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a RED HIGHLIGHTED word on each blog which will make a phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once you have completed the hop to all our designers blogs, leave a comment on the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and email the phrase to us and we will enter your name for a second chance to win!

The hop will remain open from February 10th to February 13th at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on February 14th in the Two Scrapbook Friends' Blog. So, be sure to stop back at the Two Scrapbook Friends Blog and check to see if you are the winner of a fabulous prize from Two Scrapbook Friends.

So remember, in order to be entered to win:
1. Leave a comment on all the blogs as you go and then come back to the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and leave a final comment there.
2. To have a second chance to win, keep track of the HIGHLIGHTED WORDS from each blog and email the phrase to 2friends@execulink.com. Put "Blog Contest" in your subject line.
3. Check back at the Two Scrapbook Friends blog on February 14th to see if you are the winner. (Winners will not be contacted personally.)

Here are the featured blogs in our Valentine's Blog Hop:

Carolyn

Christa (that's me!)

Jayne

Joanne

Sharlene

Sharon

Shelby

Thanks for joining me today! I was inspired by the We R Memory Keepers like Love Struck  line to make this mini album for my daughter, Adriane for Valentine's Day. I actually made the album bases out of  two 12x12 cardboard inserts I got with an album I purchased.

I hope you'll be inspired and fall in love with all the projects the Two Scrapbook Friends have created for you.

I will be giving away a small PRIZE to one lucky follower/commenter on this blog hop. Check back on Valentine's Day to see who the big winner is!

Thanks for joining ME. Until next time, keep doing what you love to do!

Christa

Friendzy Friday with Two Scrapbook Friends

It's Friendzy Friday again and I am happy to share with you this cute rolled candle technique. I love the way it adds dimension and texture to my cards or layouts. It could be that "special something" on your design too.

Let's begin! Here's what you'll need:

1. A fun patterned paper scrap cut into 2.5 x 3.5 inch pieces (this is old Bo Bunny)
2. A flower you can shade with ink and whose petals look like the flames of a candle (I used Prima)
3. An orange ink and a yellow ink
4. A wooden skewer
5. Fast drying glue (I used Beacon's 3n1)

Step 1:
Trim your scrap into 2.5 x 3.5 inch pieces (one each for every candle you will need).

Step 2:  Roll the paper around the wooden skewer.

Step 3: Add quick drying glue along the open edge and roll tightly.

Step 4:  Add inks to the petals of the flowers in varying shades of yellow and orange to mimic

Step 5:   Add glue to the tiny end of the petal.

Step 6:  Insert the petal into the rolled paper.

When you are done, you can add them a layout or card .

 Here's a layout I made for my son's twelfth birthday! I can't believe he is growing up so quickly!

I hope you'll give this a try and light up your birthday designs and share them with us in the forum and gallery.

Keep doing what you love to do!

Christa