Life is Better with Friends (Scrapbooking)

Hi everyone.  I've been scrapbooking again.  I can't tell you how happy I am to be back at scrapbooking.  And the creative outlet is so good for me!! 

 

Here is a page I made about my son's 13th birthday party and his friends.  The faces are blurred out as I don't have permission to share their images online.  Respect!

 

 

Did lots of distressing on this one. It just was required when using those papers!!

Papers are from the Industrial Park Collection by Scrap Within Reach (excellent boy papers!).

Stamps - finger pointer is from Purple Onion Designs, circles are from Boarders & Corners {Circles} from Papertrey Ink, Chinese Man is a stamp I made myself, small letters are from Simple Alphabet from Papertrey Ink. 

Title sticker is from the Note to Self element sticker page by Echo Park and the 'Don't Ever Forget' sticker is from the Alpha Sticker page from the same collection (again, great boy colours in this collection .. if only I had the papers!).  The numbers 1 and 3 are from bon bon coloured teensy type stickers by Doodlebug Design. 

 

Don't you just love my little chinese man??!!  He took a bit to carve but I think he turned out pretty good.  DS was pretty impressed so that means a lot.  It's a funny saying that he and his buddies say these days ... want to scrap it so he can remember it when he is older!

 

 

Thanks for dropping by for a visit.  Enjoy your day.

Donelda

Scrapbooking Starting Point with Shimelle - You Rock (Scrapbooking)

I am a huge Shimelle fan (and a Glitter Girl fan too!).  I visit Shimelle's blog often and was excited to see she had a challenge up called Scrapbooking Starting Point.  She started with this basic layout and added her own photos, title, and embellishments.  She wanted us to start at this point in the process, forget what she did and just do our own thing!  Awesome idea!!

 

 

I had to give myself a few days break to actually forget what Shimelle did (or try to forget) so that I wouldn't just copy her overall finished result. 

 

In the end, I scrapped these photos of my son playing his guitar when we were camping.  I chose bright colours for my patterened papers (all BasicGrey)!  The arrow-like stamp ... that is one I created myself! 

 

 

While Shimelle always uses stickers for her title, I decided to go with stamps and used jibber jabber from Alley Way Stamps (stamped with Walnut Stain ink by Ranger).  I also used the ticket stamp from the Miss Caroline set by My Minds Eye (with Fired Brick ink by Ranger).  And see that brown circle with the embellishments - it is actually a postage circle stamp from French Country Postage by gel-a-tins.  I like it alot because it is not a perfect circle but has imperfectios. 

 

 

To finish the layout, I added a few blue heart brads to my 3 embellishment spots as well as a few green brads at the top right and bottom left corners.  I spattered on some Mr. Huey's Dark Calico color mist (that is becomming a favourite of mine!) and drew some brown lines around the edge of the cardstock to finish off the page.

 

 

So, if you are interested in scrapbooking and want some inspiration, you MUST visit Shimelle's blog! (and go see Glitter Girl at 2peas as well!!)

 

Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

Moxie Fab Challenge - Cure For the Winter Blues

Just squeezing this Multi-Blue and white card in for Moxie Fab World's challege - Cure For the Winter Blues.

It features another one of my home-made stamps - 'Military Chevron' stamped in rows using various shades of blue.  The whole overall design was stolen borrowed from Jennifer McGuire's card shown in THIS POST.  I accented the whole thing with some white feathers, apaper flowers from American Crafts, a paper flower (from my stash) and a few half pearls scattered around.

I love working with feathers!

Thanks for dropping by,

Donelda

Tulip Baby Welcome

Hi everyone!

I tend not to combine challenges and then, if I'm ever brilliant enough to do so it is usually a maximum of 2 different challenges.  So you can imagine my surprise when I realized that I could combine 4 different challenges without my head exploding!  LOL!

First up, the CAS-ual Fridays challenge was to make a baby card. Also, Use it Tuesday's challenge is also to make a baby card - in celebration of Heather's new arrival Clarie!  As it just so happens, I need one!

Then I saw these lovely soft colours on the Play Date Cafe challenge ... that would work!

and finally over at Our Creative Corner the challenge is Over the Edge, which I love but rarely think to do....(and I see I am too late to link it up for the challenge ... sigh!)

In the end, it all came together with this card:

Featuring 2 of my own hand-created stamps.  The background image is a new one - a starburst of sorts, and then my flower image - which I think can be used as a rose (see yesterday's card) or as a tulip as shown here.  It also features my home-made template for the Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!) panel across the front (looks way more kraft in the image but is a much softer sand colour in real life!).

Here is a close up of the dimension.  Senitment if from Round and Round (Papertrey Ink anniversary stamp set).

This card was so much fun to make!!! Now I'm off to load it up and check out what all the other challenge go'ers made with these challenges.

Donelda

Home-made Rubber Stamps #7 - Flower and Stem

Okay, so today I am showcasing my favourite home-made stamps to date.  Yup, I hand carved that flower and that stem.  They are seperate images.  I could use them seperately or together like I've done here.

I had used Hibiscus Burst ink for the flowers ... and when I added the strip of Hibiscus Burst paper it was SO much brighter (probably because I am waiting - not so patiently - to purchase the new PTI ink as the old pads are getting dry).  So to fix the problem, I layered the pink cardstock with a bit of vellum punched with a scallop edge. 

It's true, I am totally addicted to creating my own stamps.  It is nice to be able to create something I want without having to purchase it or wait for it.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

Donelda



Home-made Rubber Stamps #6 - Smiley Face

Isn't this a FUN card!  Wouldn't it bring a smile to anyone's face!  I think so. 

And that perfect sentimet is from Hero Arts!

and the smiley face is a home-made stamp.  I stamped it in black ink and then used the largest single dot in Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink) to fill in the smile with yellow ink.  These papers are from an Echo Park 12 x 12 pack called Dots & Stripes.  It has various papers of dots and stripes in this yellow and also in brown, blue, orange, and a soft and a bright pink.  What a great collection of papers!! 

Thanks for joining me today!!

Donelda

Home-made Rubber Stamps #6 - Large Damask

So I finally got brave enough to try carving a stamp out of the "real" rubber - the pink stuff instead of just using cheap erasers.  And I also decided to kick the image up a notch and try a large damask design.

The dots near the top were very difficult but the rest was okay, and I think it turned out pretty good.  So much fun to create!

And here is a pic of the card without all the materials in front of it.  I used one of these fabric flowers from K&Company.  Love them so much.  The sentiment is from Autumn Abundnce (Papertrey Ink). 

Okay, so tomorrow is my Crafty Creations Challenges but I will return on Thursday with a FUN card using another home-made stamp.

Donelda

Home-made Rubber Stamps #5 - Interlocking Images

Welcome to another week of Home-made rubber stamps!  Today I am showcasing these cool interlocking stripes.  Cool!!  Again, I am just mimicing what I have seen on Godelieve's blog.  Her sample with these stamps is amazing (and I was tempted to just replicate it) but decided I should try something different. 

A close up.  And you can see that I stitched on some glass seed beads in the orange, turquoise, and blue colours (which was a colour challenge a while ago and it is way too late to upload!).

Wait until you see my stamp tomorrow ... It is created with the pink stamping rubber .... Can't wait to show you....

Donelda

Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesday - Colourful Home-Made Stamp

Last week's Trigger Tuesday image from Moxie Fab was so crazy I knew I had to try it out!  I LOVED the pattern on that black and white douvet and I decided that it would make a great home-made stamp ... so I made one and used it on this card.

On my card I focused on the colours - black, white, turquoise, pink, gold and a small bit of orange!

See the black and white .. that image is my own!  I think it worked pretty good here.

Here is a close up of those great colours.  And that gold headboard is a sticker that a friend gave me.  I cut it in half and it worked perfectly. 

Of course today is Tuesday which means I am too late to actually load this up!  Some things just never change!!

Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

Home-made Rubber Stamps #2 - Chevron

If you were here yesterday you will know that I have been playing around with making my own stamps.  I first saw it on Godelieve's blog who is taking a course from Julie Baltzer. 

Here is my second attempt ... actually a bunch of different styles of chevron. I don't own a chevron set so I thought this would come in handy.  You should see all the great cards I created with it!

Here is one example:

This particular Chevron I call "chevron stitched".  I thought it kinda looked like a jean pocket ... which reminded me of this star I had made out of some old jeans.  I think the end result is real rustic looking.  This card would be great for a young boy or teenager.

Tomorrow will be my Crafty Creations Challenge but then I'll be back on Thursday with some more cards using some of the other Chevron stamps I created!  One might just be a Christmas card!!

Thanks for dropping by, Donelda

Home-made Rubber Stamps #1 - Star

So I love to check out what Godelieve is doing on her blog regularly as she is an amazing crafter.  I was intrigued when I read that she was taking a class from Julie Balzer on carving your own stamps.  I loved what Godelieve was showcasing but can't take the course - so I started checking out this whole stamp-making adventure on line and decided to just go for it!

Here is my first stamp ... a little star... and a card I made with it.

I decided to buy some cheap Dollar Store white erasers to start with so I didn't want to waste the "good stuff" (sheesh, I'm even hoarding stamp rubber! LOL)

Stay tuned for the rest of the week as I will be posting a number of my other stamps and cards created with them.

Thanks, Donelda