retrospective 2013

 And here are the rest, including a wedding, an anniversary, summer fun,

 baseball and hockey highlights, art gallery events, and landscaping,

 Thanksgiving at Korny Korners, Chris Hadfield speaking at SCITS,

 the woods behind the gallery in November, encountering a butterfly and meeting Chris Hadfield for a quick kiss at a book signing,

 Holiday memories,

Christmas celebrations. I still have one more 2 page spread to finish on my daughters art show at Brockton Gallery.. I am so inspired by this timeline flow that went out and bought a paper pack and some embellishments to continue the theme into 2014. Perhaps I will change to a dark grey background or another neutral.

retrospective for march, april 2013

This layout has 21 wallet sized pictures, featuring artwork, my sons birthday at Moxies, a trip to Samana DR, students work, Easter, and Music Monday .

2013 retrospective

 

I decided to scrapbook 2013 as a year in retrospective, inspired by the timeline on facebook. In fact, I used many pictures from facebook, that had come from significant events in the course of the year. So most of the pages have multiple events featured. This format has a flow and it works well because I wanted to include one or two photos of a family birthday, events at school, or at the art gallery instead of doing larger photos within themed layouts as I have in the past.

I used a soft grey background paper to keep the entire year within the same colour boundary, and then I added to that, mostly within the pastel or muted palette. This layout is from January and features a candlevigil for Noelle, Chris Hadfield inside the ISS, a visit to my son in London, Valentines day, and my aunts birthday.

To every thing , there is a season

I created these to send kind thoughts, a show of respect, a gentle word with some beauty and care to lift someone's spirits who is in pain, has experienced a loss, and is feeling alone.

I particularly like the sentiment, to every thing, there is a season, a time for every purpose, under heaven, set withing a circular frame and surrounding the bursting dandelion. The invevitability of our mortality can be tolerable within the philosophy of acceptance. Our natural cycle is the same as any living creature, high or low. We alone have a higher sense of awareness. This bursting dandelion calls to mind the exquisite power of our awareness, the third eye if you will. I want to take each day as a gift, to be honored . I want to treat my body with reverence, and keep it clean and healthy out of respect and care for my children and their future children. And finally, the five banners are like family banners... they represent the past , present , future, and all those we love.

Picasso cards

Three different
all occasion cards using Picasso prints that I purchased this summer at the
Art Gallery of Ontario.

Christmas Layouts 2012

I just completed a 4 page spread on Christmas with the family, using bright happy colours : lime green, aqua blue, and some traditional deep red. This is my own design, it just evolved from the papers and photos. I try to keep a bit of each type of paper or accent on both the left and right of the layout for balance. The papers are from lily bee design. The accents are Jovial by Basic Grey and there is a little ribbon and a rubon.  I think the black and white help make the colours and photos crisper. I also threw in a couple of black and white photos . I like leaving all the white "negative space" behind the featured papers and photos . I journalled in pen right on the white paper, very easy and simple to do. It was nice having my brother and sister in law from Toronto , along with their young family this year, making a big group of 8 of us for 3 days!

BG Kayak

Colton and 2 of his buddies decided to kayak at sunset on a beautiful summer evening in August. I followed them down to the beach , deciding to take some photos . Sometimes the beach atmosphere is simply enchanting and magical... and this was one of those nights. I got a few shots of the kayak under the setting sun and enjoyed the serenity of the beach for a while.
This layout is simple enough to feature a masculine subject... something the typical scrapbook kit is unlikely to do. I left off the flowers and ribbon accents , just added the little strips of regatta penants and a denim coloured pinwheel ... perfect.

Ninabrook Layout "Shindig"

This beautifully accented layout was created by the Ninabrook team for us to assemble.
My summer Shindig photos ( food, family, and campfire) go perfectly with the bold colours and soft background page.

Ninabrook Layouts

I was asked by Peggy to attend the wonderful Ninabrook Designs scrapbook Saturday in London at Hillside Church. www.ninabrookdesigns.com We had a choice of 12 four page layouts for our 3 classes, and were served a very wholesome, delicious lunch of assorted homemade sandwiches, salads, dips and sweets. Also included in our admission price were 2 extra kits, some adhesives, and make and takes. I was so impressed by Sharon and Heather and the work they did to make this day special. Peggy and I were resolved to really enjoy the day, relax, socialise, and have fun. We both did exactly that.

I had a particularly productive day, because I was able to add my photos to 3 of my layouts, with Noel set aside for future use.
Yay!

 

Here is the first of the finished layouts, with a visit to Stratford as my theme.
We did a few tears along the top and sides of the papers, and then placed contrasting
papers in behind the torn away areas to get a shabby chic effect .
I used a mix of colour and black and white photos. I really love the pennant banners with little pompoms and the hatpin embellishments we were given to add to the layout.

Grad Layout with Flip Flaps

This layout is of my daughter Chloe's graduation ceremony from Fanshawe College.

It tells the story of her day, from getting the diploma to the reception afterward. We were lucky enough to spot the art Fanshawe Student Union had purchased from Chloe hanging in the Student Union Presidents office. I had a chance to take her picture standing with her art in the office . She was absolutely glowing with happiness. This was the first piece of art she had sold.

 

The flip flaps are additional 4x12 and 8x12 sections that adhere to the page protector, enabling me to enlarge the layout by an additional page.

They open and shut like door panels at the side of the layout. When designing with flip flaps, I treat them as natural divisions within the 12x12 page. In this case I split a 2012 grad print page into 2 pieces for the front, and on the inside I used extensions of the paper theme patterns in black and white to keep the flow consistent.

I also laid the photos straight across the pages in a horizontal path to keep the design clean and simple. I embellished with chipboard letters and a bit of bling.

 

 

Serenity Butterflies... my Passion

My serenity is a gift that allows me to live without giving power to pain, grief, anger, depression, loss, bitterness, judgment. I attain it through prayer , forgiveness, and by loving and accepting myself. I hope you can tap into serenity. It has helped me greatly in my relations with my family.
These 10 cards were made for my friend Bev . She has been an inspiration for me and thousands of others. She has been nominated for a Pillar Award for her work at St Stephens and Turning Point with recovering men and women in London, Ontario.

I stamped , inked, and cut out 10 butterflies by hand.

 Here are the 3 different variations:

 I lined the inside of each card with a pretty matching paper.

I am glad she always asks me to make these cards specially for her because I can support her work by working my creativity and sharing the beauty of one of my passions.

Beautiful Butterflies

This was really intricate but satisfying work. I made a series of 6 cards using different background papers so I vaired the colours in the butterfly. The butterfly was stamped in black and then inked in with a sponge dauber in blue and green and rose, then blended with orange and lime green chalk, then outlined and shaded with bright green or pink marker, then dotted with white gel pen along the antenna and lettering, and finally glazed with stickles in 2 colours for a saturated effect.
I added dew drops, gems and Close to my Heart buttons on the embossed background.
I highlighted some phrases on the butterflies as well. Click on photo for a closer look at details!

UWO Rez layout

My son had a great time at Residence during his first year this past year at Western. Creating this layout for my son involved "stalking" his facebook page to get the pictures of his residence floor at Saugeen, his floor hockey team, and his roommates.
I did get into a slight amount of criticism for doing so but laughed it off as usual. :)

I went with Mustang Purple as an accent colour to some very funky papers along with sorbet paper and lettering. The focal point is created by the straight line of 4x6 photos across both pages. I just pieced in accents subtitles and lettering from that point onward and used light grey pennant pieces for the hand journalling. Hand journalling is fast and doesnt require me to pre plan or print ... too many steps for me for my day to day process.

This Day is the Best Day Ever

Just a cute birthday card I whipped up today using some of the latest trends for fall:  pennants , some bakers twine, and chevron stamping. I tried out the new double stamp set Its Your Day from CTMH for the first time today ! Inspiration is in all things new !

Be prepared for more posts this month .... I am off rehabbing from hip replacement surgery. Not the easiest thing for an active person... so I will make the best of it by  creating!

TRENDING! Fabulously Artsy: New Trend Colours from Close to My Heart

Fabulously Artsy: Color Confidence with Flirty  is a link that will take you to provide a Colour Palette to view or download for all 3 paper packs featuring Close to my Hearts new Trend Colours.
Tresa Black (aka the Stamp Goddess) has put this all together for us to use!
She has an amazing blog so I thought I would share while I drool over her cards.

Pictured here is the Flirty paper pack with trend colours and complementary colours to `step it up`. and one of Tresa`s beautiful cards. I am noticing that burlap is also becoming a TREND.

Debuting the new Fall/Winter 2012 catalogue you’ll find three new paper packs that feature “Trend Colors." Flirty, Avonlea and La Belle Vie  paper packs have two or more limited edition colors added to their exclusive 40 color palette.
These limited edition Trend Colors are only available in their featured paper pack, and they are only included as cardstock, AND they are only available during the life of the catalog.
These colors are fabulous and fun, but they are trendy, so CTMH has devised a way to bring you the latest and greatest, without changing their tried and true color palettes.

Thanks Tresa! 

CUZNS

This group photo of the kids was taken in Toronto on the floor of my brother Steve's home the day after his 50th birthday celebration this year. We had celebrated at a pub the night before with lots of finger food and a live band. The only cousin missing is John who is 4 so this is actually more about the older cousins. The cousins now range from age 12 to 21. My nephew Alexei is on the left at 9 o clock followed by my son Colton at 11, Natasha at 1, Jacqueline at 4 and my daughter Chloe at 7. Chloe is the oldest . They all loved this picture when I put it on Facebook in March. I think they are at an age where they all like the same music, TV shows, sports and have more in common to talk about.
Papers used are Elements, Stella, and Dotty for You by Close to My Heart.

Kerlovich Easter... with bird houses

At the recent Itsy Charity Crop, I created this layout using really sweet birdhouse paper and some matching scraps to create the little pennants tired with bakers twine. I pop dotted a few of the bird houses, to stand out, which you cant see. Perhaps by clicking on the photo, it becomes larger, you might be able to see the details.
As a side note, I won the twine as part of my raffle prize, which was a sewing kit. Since I never win anything big I was quite happy.
Our family got together for Easter at my cousins in Windsor Ontario. They have a great back yard with an enclosed deck and the weather was perfect all afternoon for sitting and munching . The photos for this layout are a combination of black and white, and colour, which makes it unique. I love seeing the kids enjoy our family times as they all get older. Great memories.

Grad Exhibit layout . Proud of her!

My daughters grad class had an art show to celebrate graduation so I created this Fanshawe Grad Exhibit layout, showing the Google style grad brochure whish showcases the artists and their works. Featured is the painting my daughter sold to Fanshawe College in London for their permanent collection. My daughter is into paint manipulation, which is taking thick pieces of dried paint and shaping them and adhering them onto a canvas. It is unique. She will be attending OCAD in Toronto in the fall to pursue a bachelors degree in Fine Art.
I used chipboard for the pennant and some bakers twine to tie it together. Colours are orange, turquoise blue, and neutrals. For the patterned paper I kept it simple, to keep the focus on the art. I chose a paper that has an architecté drafting look to it. You can see some of my tools and my little tool bag that stands in front of me whenever I scrap book. Also some Tombo adhesive. I go through an entire Tombo every time I do a days worth of scrapbooking. Its worth it. Its fast and it holds and I can control the amount.

october celebrations

I had a lot to celebrate in October. This layout contains pictures from two fabulous birthday dinners in London Ontario , with my family at Maggies Jazz bar, and at The Only on King, prior to a Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show! It was a great month.
These layouts were basically single photo layouts, with some white space on the perimeter.
I added some small black and white photos along the bottom for fun, which also help tell the story in a bit more detail.

Happy 19!

My son Colton turns 19 this week . I enjoyed making him this pennant inspired card that I cased from Vicki Wizniuk. The felt letters and chipboard pennants, circles, and numbers  are from Close to My Heart.