Just add winter!

Card: island indigo, pool party, whisper white
Ink: island indigo, pool party
Stamp set(s): lovely as a tree, silhouette sentiments
Accessories: brayer, dazzling diamonds, island indigo ruffled ribbon, linen thread, jewelry tag punch

I missed the challenge at JAI a few weeks ago, but I thought I would share this project anyway.  This was my take on adding winter to a project, because it's been soooo cold lately...

I used my brayer to add some colour to the whisper white panel, then I stamped the trees, but I stamped the image twice without re-inking the stamp, and I moved the image a little to create a shadow look. Loving how it created depth to the image!  Then, I just had to add some dazzling diamonds as snow to the whole panel - you may not be able to see this very well on the photo, but it looks amazing in real life (trust me!).  The ribbon and wee tag finish it off, along with an inside panel to add a message.

Surgery Day

Card: crumb cake, confetti white, pool party, soft suede, calypso corral, more mustard
DSP: SAB Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: soft suede, more mustard
Stamp set(s): creative elements, sweet shoppe lower alphabet
Ribbon: pool party ruffled ribbon, SAB calypso coral everyday enchantment organdy ribbon
Accessories: chipboard, alpha die, petal cone die, big shot, scallop circle punch, circle punches, sponge, clear buttons

A few weeks ago, I decided to have a go at the current JAI scrapbook challenge.  The challenge was to just add hidden journalling or memorabilia.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to scrap some pics by brother took while I was in hospital recently.

The journalling reads: On the 23rd May, 2012, I had emergency surgery to remove a brain tumour.  The surgery went well but I was dizzy & unsteady on my feet for a few days...  My brother & his partner came through before the surgery & he just had to take these shots a few hours after surgery, when I came out of recovery...  It's special to have this record of where I have been & what I have experienced.  I'm amazed at what I have come through!

I was chuffed with how this layout evolved as it took ages to work out...!  I love the SAB DSP, and I added some soft suede sponging around all of the elements to add some depth and texture.  The hidden tag was a challenge as I usually add journalling that you can see on my layouts.  For this layout, though, it lent itself to hidden journalling because of the personal nature of what was happening.  I love how you can process stuff like this through scrapbooking!  I found it was very therapeutic to put this layout together - I have more pics of my hospital stay to scrap, but I wanted to do these first...

Best wishes with french foliage

Card: very vanilla, early expresso
Ink: old olive, early expresso, cajun craze
Stamp set(s): french foliage, silhouette sentiments
Accessories: early expresso striped ribbon, old olive grosgrain ribbon, linen thread, circle punch

I CASEd this from Dawn awhile back and had to share it here...!  I love Dawn's work, and this project was no exception!  It lent itself to the french foliage stamp set (my fav!) so they got a bit of work out.  I randomly stamped the main panel with the different stamps of the set, layered a square panel with very vanilla, then a circle that has been stamped.  I just had to add some texture with the ribbons and the wee tag that holds the sentiment.  Simple but has some 'wow'!

On a personal note, I have now completed 3 weeks of treatment, so I'm half-way through!  Yay!!  I have noticed I'm a little more tired than usual, and my hair has begun to fall out where the radiation beams are (yikes!), but otherwise I'm doing well.  I'm so thankful I'm not working at the moment to have the space to rest and recover and process everything.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Welcome baby girl!

Card: blushing bride, wisteria wonder, whisper white
Ink: blushing bride, wisteria wonder
Stamp set (s): punch bunch, well scripted
Accessories: pearls, whisper white grosgrain ribbon, blushing bride stitched-poly ribbon, perfect polka dot embossing folder, big shot

A good friend asked me to make a card for her new grand-daughter who was born just before I had surgery just over 6 weeks ago.  It was special to spend some time creating this card for her, and with some online inspiration, this came together quite quickly.  My friend had told me she wanted a card that was pink/purple and that was all I needed to get started!

I added some texture on the wisteria wonder, and layered up the tags before adding ribbon.  I added some ribbon and pearls for the girly look.  A sentiment inside finished it off.  And my friend loved it!

Best wishes!

Card: early expresso, very vanilla

Ink: early expresso, crumb cake (marker)

Stamp set(s): creative elements, silhouette sentiments
Accessories: early expresso bakers twine, sweet buttons embosslit, big shot

When Dawn shared her take on this project, I just knew I had to give it a go!  Dawn calls this technique triple time stamping, and her video is a must see if you want to give it a go.  I love how it creates so much depth and the layers are just gorgeous!  It's a very easy technique, but I would suggest you use dotto to hold the layers of very vanilla together before you do the stamping...
I didn't have the button that Dawn used on her project, or any others that matched, so I used my sweet button emposslit and layered up several buttons to create a cool embellishment.  I'm loving how this came out and I think I'll be using this technique lots :-)

Butterfly thanks

Card: cherry cobbler, old olive, whisper white
DSP: old olive patterned dsp
Ink: cherry cobbler, old olive
Stamp set(s): so happy for you, fresh vintage
Accessories: pearls, beautiful butterflies die cut, beautiful wings embosslit, top note die cut, big shot, sponge

Well, I managed to pull this card together as a thank you for a dear friend who came and talked to a support group I below to.  It was perfect to go with the gift we presented to her!  She loved it :-)

I've given my big shot a bit of a work out here, and I have used the rock n' technique on the image inside, which gives it some extra colour.  The pearls and distressing finish it off.  It's a simple card that I felt I was able to cope with at the moment...  I can say that it felt good to get back into my creative groove - yay!

I'm back...!

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted, but I thought I'd put up a quick post to explain before I post any projects.
Just over 4 weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had urgent neurosurgery.  I will be needing radiation and chemotherapy (tablets - yay!) but at the moment, I'm recovering from the surgery.  Needless to say, it's been a journey that was very unexpected but the support and treatment I have had has been absolutely fantastic.  This journey has only just begun so your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.
I'm hopeful that during treatment I will be able to continue to craft and blog when I can as the future is so uncertain and I'm not sure how I'm going to respond to the treatment.  I'm picking that stamping will be my therapy and outlet for this journey - so thankful for the ability to be creative!  Will you join me on this journey?
Also just wanted to shout out a BIG thank you to my fantastic upline, Paula and the Paper Divas team for there support and encouragement over that last few weeks.  The flowers were incredible!  You're an amazing bunch of ladies!!  Thank you!