Seeing Red 2

Another photo I took for the seeing red challenge. I love cherries, don't you? They are the perfect fruit for this time of year: juicy, sweet and refreshing.



I used the same background (Rouge de Garance Scrapbook paper), and played a bit in Photoshop, adding more contrast and colour and also textures.

Seeing Red

A few days ago I found out about Sara's Seeing Red challenge by way of Artsy Mama. Yesterday while rushing to get out of the house I pulled this ribbon from my purse and it landed next to this lovely blue Rouge de Garance paper. A sign if ever I needed one.

MATADFAM Day 2

Another scrapbook page. This time for the Scrapjacked Challenge


What did you create today? Don't forget to link me up!

While I was out

I did manage to get some pages done while I was traveling. Only three, and a card, which totally do not justify the amount of crap I lugged with me, but a girl has to have a choice right?

Exhibit A - for HMITM #80



Exhibit B - Scraplift Challenge



Exhibit C - Sister Scrap



Exhibit D - Birthday card for Sarah

MATADFAM Day 1

And we're off! It took me the entire day to get over my inertia, but I did it! Today's project is my page for the latest HMITM Challenge.



What did you start off the month with? Link me up by midnight PST to be entered in the draw.

And if you're looking for some more Make Something Everyday fun, check out the month long challenge at Scrapbook Takeout on the forum. You could win a Purple Cows paper trimmer!

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!

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

Weekend Scrappage

Somehow I managed to sneak in three layouts this weekend. We had a relatively busy day Saturday, helping friends paint their first baby's room; and then having them over for dinner. But Sunday while Lucas relaxed after his winning performance in the Table Tennis Championships, I got scrap happy.


This week's How Much is Too Much



The latest Dare and a scraplift challenge



I finally got my hands on some of the new Pink Paislee stuff! It's all available at A Walk Down Memory Lane. To see more details and read the journaling check here

7 times 7

This week's How Much is too Much Challenge. I wasn't sure I would make it but I did!


This is Naala. She does this funny combo of a meow and a yawn. sometimes it's a yawn that becomes a meow. She keeps us giggling!

On another note, we have a problem with our phone line, so our internet connection has been spotty. It's on now but can go at any moment. The phone man will be here later to fix it, so with any luck I will be back on track in a few hours. I was able to upload some new items to my etsy store so don't forget to check it out. if you love vintage items you will probably find something you like. Also, what kind of French vintage items would you like to see in the shop? I need more excuses to go back to the flea market. :)

Don't be a hoarder

This week's How Much Is Too Much challenge encourages you to use up your new stuff before it becomes old! Use 10 new things on a layout. I happily complied and played with some stuff I've been holding onto for 'the right page'

Remember I had some fun news?

I'm now a How Much is Too Much Girl! This is one of my favourite challenges blogs ever, so I am tickled that they asked me to join the team. Here's my layout for this week's challenge

5 patterned papers, 5 stamps, 5 brads/eyelets, 5 rub-ons and 5 other embellishments.

{21 Days}

I mentioned on Saturday that Rhonna Farrer is leading an Art Journal Challenge on Two Peas. I finally got started on it today, the weekend just didn't lend itself to starting a new project. The idea behind the challenge is taking 21 days to make or break a habit through the creative process. My goal is to develop a more efficient morning routine, consisting of waking up earlier and spending less time online, among other things. Today I worked on my album cover, title page and the first day based on the Day 1 prompt.



For the first week I am focusing on waking up earlier. I think that will be the hardest part for me. If I get that mastered I'll be half way there. I'm keeping the album fairly simple and not very artsy. Since I want this to be the first thing I work on in the morning, I decided to stick with what I know best, rather than trying new techniques, because I know I would get bogged down and end up spending the whole morning working on it, which will defeat my purpose.

Coincidentally, when I read Zen Habits today, his post was all about how to be more efficient with your online time. It's amazing how the universe just knows exactly what I need to see.

February

Get ready for Francine's February Make-a-Thing a Day for a month! I arbitrarily decided this morning that I will create something everyday this month and follow in the footseps of people like AliE and Shimelle, both of whom have done this previously. It might be a scrapbook page, or a card, or something sewn in felt. I might even knit, crochet or sew. Some days it might just be a pretty photo I take because that might be all I can manage.

I think my success with keeping up with my Photo-a-Day project went to my head, but luckily I decided to do this during the shortest month of the year, so it seems achievable. And at the end of the month I'll have 29 lovelies to show for it.

Here's today's thing
The card I made to start off Wub Week at Scrapbook Takeout. I'll be hosting a card class every day for a week (so the first week of make a thing a day for a month, henceforth known as MATADFAM or FFMATADFAM is a done deal!)

Complete instructions to make this card can be found here

If you want to throw all caution to the wind and join in with MATADFAM leave a comment and a link to your blog so that I can drop by and nag, uh support you. :)

Chit Chatting Away

Here are my layouts for the last two Chit Chat Challenges



You can enter the current challenge until next Thursday at midnight. All the details are here. Come join us!

Been Scrappin'

A few layouts to share. First the two latest Chit Chat challenges.

As usual all the details can be found on the blog.

And this layout I did for a challenge at My Scrapbook Nook - use the theme Today to scrap an all about me layout.
You can get a closer look in the gallery.

I'm working on plans to shake up this blog starting soon!

Happy New Year to you

I am still working out my plans and goals for this year ahead. I have many ideas I want to work on, not just in my scrapbooking career (such as it is!), but I also have ideas for this blog, and for general crafting and creativity. Here are a few things I plan to work on

• Cleaning up more frequently, i.e after two or three completed projects, not waiting until the point that I have a 1" square space to work in!
• As much as possible execute the ideas I have when I have them, don't wait until 2 months later when I can't remember what I was going for
• Share more, especially via this blog. More ideas, more techniques, more how-tos, more general creative thoughts
• Doing other craft forms such as sewing, general crafting, knitting....

I am also toying with the idea of doing a number of year long challenges. One, Project 365 is already started, and you can follow along here. Others under consideration:

overlooked
52 Blessings
Paper Adventure 08
The Best Me

I of course want to do them all, but I know that will just lead me down the usual path of being overwhelmed and then doing nothing, so I will attempt to judiciously select one or two to work on. Especially since I have already decided to do the How Much is too Much and Pub Ad Challenges every week.

I'm looking forward to a year full of creativity and I am wishing you the same!

All that glitters

This week's Chit Chat Challenge calls for seven bling elements. Just perfect since I had all my sparkly supplies out for making Christmas projects.



Get more details and join in here.

Check back later for a holiday giveaway!

I challenge you

A couple challenges if you're looking for inspiration!

The latest Chit Chat Challenge. Hurry, it's due tonight!


Global Perspectives December challenge: How do you celebrate?

Be back later with some more Christmas projects!

Catching Up

I've been under the weather for the last week or so, as well as working on a couple projects that I can't post online (due to the magazines' "never-before-seen" submission rules) hence my lack of posting. But today I can share the last two layouts I did for the Chit Chat Challenge blog. This one was for last week's challenge about family moments.

This is a photo of my sister Vernell and I and two of our cousins, taken back in 1985 (I think).

The second one is for the current challenge which was posted today.

Hope you'll join in this week! If my day goes as planned I will be back with another project to share later.

Tell me about yourself.

The theme for this month's Global Perspectives Challenge is your background. What made you you? Here's mine. You can click on it to see details and journaling.
Get all the challenge details here!