Make a Thing a Day for June!

Are you ready? I'm getting geared up by tidying up my scrap space which I left in a total wreck. I need to unpack and put away the stuff I took with me, as well as put away some new stuff that arrived while I was gone.

Here's how this will work:

1. Every day I will do a blog post either to talk about my crafty plan for that day, show what I made that day, or what I made the day before. I'll invite you to comment with a link to your project for that day
2. Every Tuesday for the month I will post one of my Tuesday To-Dos, and give everyone until the following Monday night to make and post a link to their version of my project. I'll draw a name to win a goodie each week.
3. Everyone who links me up to a daily project gets thrown into the monthly pool. I'll draw three names at the end of the month for goodie prizes.

And that's about it! I'm hoping this will be a month full of inspiration and craftiness. Remember you can do anything creative this month, be it taking a photo, or making a quilt. It's all about getting into the habit of making creativity part of our daily lives.

So as a pre-challenge, get those scrap spaces, studios and desks in order for Sunday!

Tuesday To-Do - Online Photo Editing

Have you tried out the new online editor by Photoshop? It's called Photoshop Express and I tested it out about a month ago, but never really needed to keep using it. However it has come in very handy now that I am travelling and have no access to the program on this computer. My initial views are that it is not very intuitive or user friendly, but that if you have some knowledge of photoshop, and/or are willing to play around you can get quite good results. I was able to go from this

to this in a matter of minutes

I lightened the photo slightly, pumped up the saturation, and applied a soft focus filter. Other things you can do: change the white balance, sharpen, crop, rotate, tint, change to black and white and the list goes on. To be able to use the service you need to sign up, and you have 2 Gigs of space free on the site. They have recently added the capability to transfer your photos from Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa to work on, and then back again. Or simply upload your photos from your computer and then transfer them over once you're done editing.

Give it a try, it's the perfect solution to photo editing on the road!

Mother's Day Surprise

I'm really tickled to have two layouts in this new idea book by Lisa Bearnson


But even better, I got an e-mail from Vivian today with a link to a website showing a few of the pages from the book, and one of them is the page I did about my Mum's trip to Paris last summer. I didn't get my copies in time to bring one down with me so this was a good stand in! You can see the page in question here, it's called Stars in her Eyes.

Tool Caddy - Tuesday To-Do

I bought this cutlery holder to alter for my scrap space.



First I covered up the design with some patterned paper, scraps from a current favourite by Pink Paislee

Then added a piece of KI Memories Lace Cardstock


Followed by the scallopped edge from the Making Memories sheet

Then an arrow tag from Every Jot & Tittle and the word using American Crafts Thickers


The entire project took me less than 30 minutes, including taking the photos. All supplies except the tag came from the store at A Walk Down Memory Lane

Leaving on a jet plane

I'm headed home (Barbados and Grenada) for a long overdue, much needed break! I get on the plane first thing Thursday morning in Paris, but I actually leave Lyon Wednesday afternoon by train. I will of course be taking some supplies with me, but who knows if I will even take them out of my suitcase. Yeah, I will. I'm obsessed after all, plus I want to do a travel journal while there. I'll be posting to this blog when I can and have something to share, but if you want to see what I am up to while away (i.e. sun, sand and cocktails) check out my regular blog, where I'll post photos and updates.

I am thinking that when I get back to France, in order to get back into my crafting and creating groove, that I will do another month of Make A Thing a Day (also known as MATADFAM) in June. I'm putting this out there now, and inviting you to join in with me. You can make anything, not just scrapbook pages: take a photo, a card, sewing, basically anything crafty/creative counts. Each time you link to a daily project I'll throw your name in the pool, and pick three people to get a goodie package at the end of the month. No idea what will be in there yet, other than some vintage goodies and chocolate. That's already a start though! So keep that in mind, I'll post about it again when I am back on the 27th.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a peek at my travel journal and some other recent projects!!

Spend May in Paris!!

Well virtually anyway with the May Scrapbook Takeout Kit, Parisian Vintage Chic. Lots of vintage inspired products and some shimmer and shine!! I can't wait to get my hands on this kit!


And there's a subscription special for National Scrapbook Day too!! Some of the items in the kit are maya Road Chipboard, Imaginisce charms, velvet brads, crochet blossoms and flash cards. This will be a joy to work with!!

National Scrapbooking Day and more

We're having a mega crop for NSD over at The Scrapbook Siite. The DT will be hosting challenges, games and classes, and there will be two Celebrity Chats with Betsy Veldman and Emilie Ahern of Tinkering Ink. Points will be awarded for your participation in the challenges and games, and the grand winner will take away a rolling crop tote worth $79.99!! The amount of points you collect will also determine your discount in the store at A Walk Down Memory Lane!! So go sign up on the message board and come spend your NSD with us.

In other fun news my good friends Paula is giving away a free pass to Debbie Hodge's Scrap Your Events Class which starts this week. This is a quick one, so go tell Paula hi, for a chance at this drawing.

Yesterday the new How Much Is Too Much challenge went up, and Cindy challenged us to use chipboard, felt and ribbon as the main "ingredients" of a page. Here is my take of it.


I also posted a new page to Sister Scrap. Vernell and I each scrapped the two photos shown below. So take a gander over there to see what we came up with!

Some eye candy

Earth Day Challenge

Today is Earth Day and to celebrate we are running a challenge over at Scrapbook Takeout.
Reuse something non-traditional on a page or project! We'll be choosing the project with the most creative use of a reused item to win a copy of the Embellish Idea Book by Scrapbook Trends.
All the challenge info can be found here

TGIF - fuh real!!!

It's been quite a week. I can't believe it's Friday already, seems like just yesterday it was Monday and I was telling Lucy that I needed to plan my week out to stay on top of things. Well, I'm not sure I achieved that but I made it through!

And now I can finally spill the beans I've been holding onto since Tuesday night. I've been invited to join the ScrapGenie/ScrapDreamie Design Team!

Scrap Genie is a UK distributor of Scrapbooking Products, and ScrapDreamie is their inspirational blog. I am so looking forward to getting started on this gig, and can't wait to work with all the other talented designers.

As I collapsed into bed late Wednesday night, totally worn out from working on projects and teaching the minibook class at The Scrapbook Site, I realised that it was a happy tiredness because I so love what I do! And at the risk of sounding way too gushing, I am so thankful to have found this hobby and all the wonderful things and people it has brought into my life.

Speaking of the minialbum, here are a few more views of it. If you'd like to see all the pages, feel free to check my gallery.
And finally, I know it's been a while since I posted a Tuesday To-Do. They will be back next week!