Just Beee .... a little blog giveaway !

I had so much fun with this little canvas project 

that celebrates are a coupla firsts for me : 

made my first music paper type flowers

 ( using Jillibean Soup's Chicken Bouillon pp ) 

using a tutorial by Lotus Paperie . 

Now I  totally understand why making your

 own handmade paper flowers is soo addictive !!!

This is also the first time I tried a Glimmer Misted background on canvas 

&I  just love how unpredictable it was & the result ! 

I used Candy Cane Red , Yellow Meringue , Olive Gold & Tattered Leather. 

All papers used here are by Jillibean Soup -

mainly from the Chicken Noodle on white collection . 

A little handcut leaves , some paper twirling & curling , punched leaves .

Misted two of the "music sheet " flowers . 

I also used a little bit of everything else that's JBS -

 a little full stop from their corrugated alpha set for the flower center, cardstock buttons, canvas flower.

The cute bee here is from Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety chipboard set.

& I'd like to give this away to a  randomly picked follower . ;) 

Just for fun !

(I will ship anywhere in the world .)

Just become a follower using the link on the upper right here =>

& then leave a comment here that you've done that ! 

that's all !!

Existing followers are automatically placed into the draw.:)

I will announce the winner in a week's time ! 

ICSketches #57 (2nd post today )

ICS #57 is up over here .

Do hop over & check out all the DT inspo ! 

This week the sponsor over at ICS is The Stamping Boutique.

& The prize being offered is 3 of the rubber Cynthia stamps or 5 digi's - Winner's Choice ! 

Here's my take 

using a cuttlebug embossed card base, May Arts Ribbon , Jillibean Soup pp, 

CI Old Guys Rule chipboard.

Pencillines 176

Time For a change in pace - 

I tried out a Pencillines sketch 176 

& used up some Jillibean Soup from last year. 

Love how the white printing on kraft background resisted the GM in the places I misted. 

My fave GM colors used here : Tattered Leather & Brick ! 

Buttons are all by Such Sweet Tierney. 

The Scrappiest layout sketch 55

Kenrokuen Garden is one of the 3  most beautiful gardens in Japan   and is a “strolling-style” landscape garden,  in which natural scenery is  reproduced within a limited space,  and natural elements such as trees, rocks, hills and streams The calm, serene atmosphere created by  snow-covered trees makes a winter visit to the garden a must as well.  Kenrokuen has all of the beauty of a Japanese landscape garden.

Our pals here had the pleasure of visiting Kenrokuen garden in late autumn last November.

Gotta love the colors of Fall in Japan .

Supplies used : BG Origin pps, JB die cut journalling tags , MLYB mini alphas , 

Such Sweet Tierney Buttons , Prima pearls & crystals. 

MLYB Generation Z !

really having fun with these acrylic photo stand ideas. 

This time I tried out using Shimmerz Blingz paints &

 masking in a lace cardstock design

 within this My Little Yellow Bicycle Generation Z line . 

 This new MYLB line is perfect for teens & boys  of course ! 

& I'm happy with how the Blingz paint turned out on acrylic .

A Wonderful Day

is one cutting into brand new papers ! 

Webster's Pages papers have descended upon us here this week . 

We were only able to get the loose papers & journaling cards. 

No coordinating alphas or embellies have arrived yet 

so I made do with some new BG Green at Heart embellies 

& Cosmo Cricket's Pink Oak Chipboard alphas to match these pps . 

I used the Tea time paper from the Garden Gala line as my background 

& cut out some images from different Lullaby Lane pps 

to blend in with the BG Green at heart dimensional stickers. 

The pale yellow lace is new by American Crafts. 

DI Hickman's Mar Card sketch #1

Supplies: GCD Studios' Homespun Chic pps by Melody Ross , Maya Road leaf pin , Prima burlap floral , Cuttlebug embossed flourish

ICSketches #56

Check out ICS #56 over here 

& all the wonderful DT examples . 

I love using Crafty Little Secrets' stickers for cards . 

& I've used this school themed ones with Jillibean Soups kraft pp 

& Alphabet Soup pp . 

Our amazing new sponsor this week is Whimsy Stamps aka owner Denise. She

has offered the winner of this challenge a $15.00 dollar gift certificate.

Remember to play to win ! ;) 

Beautiful new inspiration !

Much Thanks to Sindy Wong 

& her colleague , Giselle 

for allowing me to use this photograph to scrap ! ;) 

& congrats to Sindy on her first DT gig -
it's for Bad Girls' Project 52 blog !!! 

way to go,grrlll ! 

This layout is inspired for a Scrapjack challenge as well 

over at Scrapping Outback . 

Supplies : GCD Studios' Artsy Urban line by Melody Ross , Prima

Crystal swirls , stitched embellie , Lily Bee Audrey rub on for the title. 

The Scrappiest layout sketch 54

Time for another fab Scrappiest Sketch.

check Sketch 54 here & all the wonderful DT examples . 

for this week's sketch I wanted to use my latest & greatest findings, of course ! 

& tried to get as many different brands in here as I could too ! lol ! 

Do you see new JB Homespun Chic ,
Sassafrass Lass Cherrylicious , Cosmo Cricket Material Girl , AC Dear Lizzy ?

Loved  using stitching as a border ( which really finished the whole layout off for me )  

& I think I should do it more often than I do .

I have also used my latest Such Sweet Tierney mailing of buttons & am very pleased that the BG Origins colored buttons also work with these pps .

BTW - do check out the HUGE sale over at Such Sweet Tierney now !
Included in this sale are Buttons, Mini albums, Paintings and several jewelry pieces
London has put up half her store on sale to make way for new Spring creations ! 

Debonair !

I was so happy with my altered acrylic stand made 

during the Webster's Pages 12 days of Christmas crop 

( taught by Iris Uy ) 

that I had to do another one with a masculine take , since the opportunity arose . 

This pic of our debonair friend  from our church 

was taken during last year's year end party . 

Their theme was Flash Forward & 

everyone was supposed to come dressed as  

who they would dream to be in 10 years' time . 

One of this young man's dream is to become a top investor 

& A  is in fact in the financial industry at the mo. 

I had fun using some silver & gold mixatives on a Tim Holtz compass mask here . 

The paper is G45's A Proper Gentleman line 

which was perfect for my purpose . 

I also took the opportunity to use up some Tim Holtz hardware 

- game spinners , metal corner , word key ...

My first batch of G45 masculine cards were well received & all used up ,

so I also took the time to make some more . 

For this card here , the sentiment  is by Creative Imaginations . 

I also cut out a Cuttlebugged star with some GM Tattered Leather smooshed on it . 

Love the effect ! 

ICSketches #55

Have you been kind to your dreams 

in 2010 , blogging friends ? 

I more than hope so for you  . 

The year has been off to a roaring start for me 

as far as I'm concerned, even when sometimes 

daily situations conspire to throw me off my feet. 

I just keep on looking up !

Supplies used : GCD Studios' Artsy Urban pps & embellishments , 

Prima lace and

 MS pinked scallop border punch

 (which I highly recommend in terms of ease of punching ,

 love the doily lace punch the best for the design but punching it ain't no fun sometimes . lol. ) 

We have another new awesome sponsor this week, Sew Many Cards owner Angela is giving the winner for ICS #55  5 Free Images of their choice as prize. Remember to link up your creation here .

Are you gaga ?

So this was my original take of the Scrappiest Sketch 53 this week .

(See my post below for a take 2 )

My nieces here themselves provided the title for this layout . 

They do fancy themselves a little gaga-ish with those overlarge sunglasses ! 

I used mainly Prima's new Flight of Fancy pps here 

and kept everything rather simple & true to the sketch 

so that some of the overlarge / dramatic elements will add their magic to the overall design.

Before I stuck anything down I misted in part of a scroll design using a TA Glimmer Screen ( from their Garden Lattice line I think ) , using Maya Mist in Avocado & GM in English Ivy.

I just can't leave pastel colors alone & have to add in a little color intensity & depth somewhere . ;) 

To add some interest to a straight edge I used my fave MS deep edge ( well it is only my sole one for now too! ;) ) punch - the Garden Lattice - here. I tried out using a border punch too on my  smaller photo directly. I don't like matting pics much, so I sometimes get around it by adding in a black frame to the photo before printing. 

I found the   curved lines drawn at 2 corners of the sketch rather interesting. 

At first glance , it reminded me to use swirls to finish off the design . 

& I was more than pleased to use this overlarge Prima black crystal swirl  which I have long forgotten I even had 

but thanks to the sketch - was unearthed   from my stash ! ;) 

for the smaller suggested swirl ,  I used a new Prima pearl swirl with the little rosebuds to dress up the photo corner.

This particular new design in this lovely peach is really addictive & definitely good to ALWAYS have !  . 

For the titlework ; I wanted to keep "gaga" larger in proportion to the other words 

& chose to use the new Prima chipboard alphas that matched this Flight of Fancy line as well.

I added Red distressed stickles as well as an icicle type . 

To finish off the titlework I used a black marker to outline my misted design , as well as to outline the chipboard alphas to add some pop . 

If you want to try the sketch and hopefully get your hands on that rockin' kit from Scrap For A Cure, link your LO up to Mr. Linky here before the month is over.

The Scrappiest layout sketch 53

Sketch 53 is up & running over at the Scrappiest this week. 

& just for this week I have take 2 here for this sketch. 

( you can see my original take using mainly Prima over at the Scrappiest ) 

My latest mailing of Such Sweet Tierney buttons arrived

 soon after my latest scrappy purchase last week.

Now I'm very happy to report that I am keeping up with my one of my goals 

this year to keep expenditure on the latest & greatest scrappy findings

 to at least 50% ( or better ! ) of last year's spending . 

One of the best ways is simply to buy 2-4 pps per line that interests you .

And certainly not every coordinating embellie in sight. 

So, this time, I got hold of 3 pps of the SF Cherrylicious line ,3 pps of the CC Material girl ,  2 of the  JB Homespun pps etc etc a coupla of Dear Lizzy pps ...I skipped the latest Anna Griffin ( they are beautiful as always ! ) , MME & Teresa Collins . woot ! 

We got lucky here that quite a few brands landed at the same time last week 

so I was able to buy the latest in a more coordinated way & have 'em kit up  .

I managed to use some of the Sass Cherrylicious pps here for this layout , 

mixed with some SEI snowflaked pp , and a Dear Lizzy Golden Gleam pp ,
 Doodlebug Design snowflake stickers 

For the title I used a CI cardstock sticker & then I used fibre & yarn 

with the Such Sweet Tierney snowflake themed buttons 

for some fun , textured wintry feel of a different kind . 

Gotta love the details on these buttons .

 I don't worry about having to do my own stamping when I use these as accents.

After I finished the layout I realised I could have used my new Prima music score stamp 

in some of the white spaces .

 ( oh well ! perhaps the next layout then ! :) 

Photo credits : Metal_Minish , his BJD Snow Buddies here are Konami & Nintendo . 

I will be back in my next post with take 1 for Sketch 53 . ;)

Frame it with a Challenge ! - GCD Studios

Here's the Challenge from GCD Studios :

Create a layout about "what I've learned in 2009" (this does not have to be the title, but it has to be the theme). Use frames as well . You have until Feb 25th (Midnight) to enter this challenge and need to have at least 25% of GCD on it :)

 The winner of this challenge will win GCD Studios' new Ava papers! 

--------------------------------

Any reason to use up more of the new Homespun Chic line is good for me right now ! 

I decided on a singular focus for this challenge  - 

so I used only one frame & one main lesson to share from 2009. 

& this is a lesson that I am so passionate about

 in terms of sharing it with 

whoever might be in need of it this year !

   ( I know I have shared with a coupla blogging friends already ;) ) 

What I learned in 2009 ? 

focus on the transitions , 

not the changes ,

in life . 

By transitions - I mean our emotional & mental response 

to the good, bad or ugly changes that come into our path . 

Focusing on managing the transitions better will put us in better stead , 

with a much better attitude & with greater resilience . 

I have found this to be useful, applied in many areas of my life. 

This lesson was crystallized for me by Paul Scanlon . 

2 other fave lessons from 2009 ? 

2. Stop looking back . 

3. I survived this past decade , now I'm a reviver ! 

GCD Studios' Melody Ross' Homespun Chic line - Sew much fun !

I'm just so surprised how easy it was to create with this new Homespun Chic line . 

Loving all the different ideas I have in terms of using it, 

even though I didn't get all the papers or embellishments  in this line at one go. 

Love the turqouise & pink shades here . 

And this fun dress pattern paper. 

Other supplies : New Jolee's Boutique birdcage sticker, 

Jenni Bowlin stick pin , 

New Prima Burlap flower

Pretty little things with Prima !

I wanted to try out these Prima Strawberry Kisses pps 

on an altered project 

& decided on  it a quick, practical gift idea 

A notebook for her.

And then I tried the papers on a layout too .

4 pretty nieces from the same fam ! 

I had some fun splattering some Shimmerz Blingz just to see how they turn out. 

The Butterflies are by Chelley Bean Designs

 which I altered slightly by outlining & adding some pearls for the body.

The dimensional circular frame here was also given some Pixie Dust Blingz treatment . 

(soon to be replaced by the use of Antique Lace Blingz - gotta try 'em all ! ) 

Love this particular lime green Prima lace & used touches of it within the frame. 

Layout Design is based on a sketch by Julie Bonner for Magpie Club's Feb Challenge. 

Spring in the City !

This is sooo gonna be a banner year - at least in scrappy terms , it already is . 

Scrappy, blogging friends will know what I'm talking about - 

especially in terms of supplies & embellies that are banner themed galore

from CHA Winter ! 

last year I fought against that trend - this year I'm simply jumping right in . 

This is only the 2nd layout ever that I've tried with a banner of sorts .

Being that its Chinese New Year here

 I tried to create a red banner that is commonly hung over the doors/doorways of homes /buildings etc 

I took a piece of scrap night curtain material & simply misted it in TA's GM in Candy Apple Red.

The result was not as bright as the color actually is but I didn't mind 

since the rest of my red embellies more than made up for it . 

Used a Dear Lizzy chipboard shaped piece for the title. 

& my photo is framed in the Chinese character for Spring ! ;) 

This creation is inspired for the Banner Bonanza Contest over at AMM.

ICS #54

Here's ICS #54 up & running this week ! 

& my card using up scraps of Prima Flight of Fancy after completing a Scrappiest layout . :) 

This week's prize is a RAK sponsored by DT member , Debra ! 

It includes : 

44 sheets 6"x6" K&Co Paper

Whiff of Joy stamp Willow

2 packs roses

2 bunches of leaves

All you have to do is create a card or some other paper project using the sketch. 

You can rotate, flip, stretch or anything your heart desires.

 As long as we can see some of the sketch your good to go.

 BUT remember to always have fun.

The Scrappiest layout sketch 52

The latest sketch for the Scrappiest is up ! 

Our sponsor this month is Scrap for a Cure. 

Complete the sketch and link it up

 and you could win an awesome kit! 

Still cutting into the new paper collections by Prima . 

This time I used some Flight of Fancy pps 

& a coupla new florals, 

mixed with some older Say It with Crystals , 

felt viola & flocked transparency.

I tried painting around the Say It with Swirls crystals 

in hottie pink blingz by Shimmerz 

for some definition & color. 

Had fun with these new Prima Canvas alphas -
 outlining it with some remnant Hottie Pink Blingz
on my brush after painting around the crystals.

Happy V-Day ! & Have a Tiggerific Chinese New Year 2010 !

dear blogging friends , near & far , 

from the East to the West ! 

It's already Feb 14th here 

& we usher in the Year of the Tiger 

this Lunar New Year 

while its also Valentine's Day ! 

You bet I could be dressed in Red & tiger prints today !;) 

( haha ! jest kiddin' )