Japanese Waterfall Card

If you have never made one of these , they are a lot of fun and make a great Special Occasion card. The tab at the bottom pulls out to flip up 4 panels and reveal a message on the long tab.

My friend Karine came over and reminded me as we made these cards that her favorite papercraft theme is Japanese.... I showed her my stash of real papers from Japan and plan to show her the Kimono and fan template that I use for iris folding (which works wonderfully with oriental papers.)

Papers are from the Caprice Level 2 collection by Close to my Heart.
Stamps are Vintage ctmh circa 2003-4.

Serenity Prayer

I made 8 of these by request for Bev T, who

does a great deal of selfless volunteer work with St Stephens Home in London ON. and with Alcoholics Anonymous thoughout Ontario.

Here she is with us at a Tigers game in August.

I used Life Delights level 2 and Stickease and made a little gift box for the cards.

She wants to pay me for them but I dont want the money! I appreciate all she does.

Happy 18th to my little girl

Chloe's 3 good friends came over to celebrate her 18th birthday at our home, all wearing matching floral tops and bringing her one to wear as well! I had fun taking some crazy photos of them and fed them Mexican fare: Nachos, tacos, and gooey dip. It was a very nice time.

I wanted a simple, modern look for the layout , with a little "edge" to it. I had copied a template for the scallops some time ago . It looked like an easy and colourful way to showcase the 4 photos. I traced the scallops onto cardstock and cut out both layers at once to save time and it actually worked ! ( I don't recommend you try cutting two layers of anything detailed at once unless you want uneven results) . The black die cuts were done at Peggy N's home on one of her many machines... I added CTMH corduroy brads from the Autumn Garden mini-medley accents collection ... colours olive, hollyhock and goldrush accent the Blush, Tulip and Creme Brulee cardstock perfectly. More black and white accents as in the prom layout. The black capital letters and brackets are from a promo set of CTMH alpha diecuts. I hadn't used any of them at all, so figured an eighteenth birthday was well nigh time to break into the fresh set of alphas. Peggy also showed me how to make the chipboard frame in soft green at her home. The colours look much warmer and richer in true light.

We went shopping for college today and I splurged and bought her a funky purse, heeled boots, and stretchy heel shoes at Aldo. Spoiling her for the last time? Making us both feel better about her not living with me anymore? Getting the hugs and hearing "I love you Mom" felt great.

Hosting a High School Pre Prom Party

I love the way this layout turned out for Chloe's Prom. We hosted a party for 24 of her friends in our back yard by the pool before they boarded the limo - bus to the prom. I was concerned about drinking getting out of control since many of them were 18 but everything went well and I would do it again for sure. We had help from lots of parents in supervising and the kids were just happy to be celebrating. Since my daughter's dress had a very vivid colour pattern to it, I decided to do the background in formal black with a bit of shimmery hot pink accent paper and black and white accents. I found some circular black gemstone accents and pink gems at Janice's Scrapbook Store in Reeces Corners that dressed the page up perfectly. The black background paper has tiny holes punched in it on the sides so I just let the hot pink peek through for a bubbly effect. The right hand page has a flip flap so that I could add the extra pictures of Chloe lined up with her friends.

Chloe was so pretty and feminine in her lovely dress. I am so proud of her.

She is now attending college and studying Fine Arts! She even won a small scholarship from Gallery Lambton that will help pay for her art supplies.

The photo of my daughter and I turned out to be the cover photo for both this website and my facebook home page for several months.

BWB: Bluewater Bridge

It's a family tradition to go for fries under the bridge when my brother visits each summer.
It turned out that Colton and his friends had also planned to be at the bridge as we arrived with my niece and nephew in tow, but had a slightly more daring idea of how to enjoy the view.
Some folks need more adrenaline than others.
I brought my camera to capture the view and portray my niece and nephew under the bridge, and was lucky to catch these shots of the teenagers jumping off the guard rail. There is a perfect shot of my son doing a backwards dive over the St Clair River.
I used the rusty brown plaid Sasaparilla papers and black matting to compliment all the blue in these photos. I added chocolate ricrac . All products are Close to my Heart.

Family Fun

This is the companion page to Fam Damily, posted yesterday.

The images are somewhat blurry but I wanted to show how the second page complements the die cut border used on the first one. I kept the background blue consistent on both pages and left it simple as a 10 inch square. More Emporium circles... I dont get tired of them do I?

and matching library cards for the journalling.

i am not the greatest photographer, so I apologize for the images... I dont mind too much about that personally. When I select a photo to scrapbook my main intent is to capture a memory not acheive photographic perfection.

One day I will take a photo course and get a better camera... one day!

our Happy Fam Damily

This is the left side of a layout I did using the cocoa die cuts border from CTMH. My dad likes to take his grandkids golfing as part of my brother's yearly summer visit from faraway Ottawa.

This year they went to "Crabbies" in the Grove.

As a side note, I finally figured out how Brights Grove got its name as I was driving down Waterworks near Old Lakeshore today. I saw dozens of rotten apples in the gutter, fallen over ripe from overhead apple tree branches on folks front lawns and thought, those trees must have been planted a long time ago and survived the suburbanisation of Brights Grove. It must have been an orchard grove belonging to the Bright Family at one time. I think I will google it and see if I can find out if my theory is correct.

Back to the layout... more Emporium, cut around the circles to create scallops, Floral Tapestry Stickease for the lettering, more of my library card journal spots from Lasting Impressions, and some cute little buttercup brads. Not your typical golf green colours are they. But it works.

Happy Birdy Card

Okay, I remade this lovely 6 x 6 card that I posted in February http://cuttingedgestudio.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

with new bling, stickles, and tiny paper flowers on the heart and I think it is nicer this time! the inside says, Happy Birdy.

I stamped the scalloped border using the Serendipity stamp set on Twilight Cardstock and cut it out. It fit perfectly around the 5 x 4 background piece, a bit of luck in hindsight.

The bird wing has been stamped on blush paper and added.

I really dont mind doing all the cutting , I find it relaxing and I think it makes the card extra special to have all that rich textural detail.

The papers are from Sassaparillia and the Acrylix Stamp set for the five inch heart and bird is Love Language, all by Close to My Heart.

The new fall winter catalogues have arrived at Driftwood Ave... if you want one, let me know and I will deliver it to you!

My own take on the NeverEnding Card

And... here is my version.. ta DA!

I created a birthday card and added

some bling to the stamped images.

All papers are Emporium by Close to my Heart.

Never Ending Cards

Oh where to start... and where to finish!

I learned to make these unique square cards from Amy Leggate in May.

It took me a while (blush) to colour in the images with my waterbrush and ink pads, as I left them blank because as I recall it was Stanley Cup playoff finals the night of the class!

I was pleased with the soft watercolour images that resulted nonetheless.

They fold in 4 different ways and are called "Neverending".

They are really quite simple in theory but it helps to have someone show you how to glue the corners so the card will "flip".

I googled the instructions and came up with

some that helped remind me of the correct process in order to make a second card, using
stamps from "Youve got Flair" and papers from Emporium.