HOT reservations... finally with Moon Doggie.

Yesterday was beautiful beach weather here in the Grove so I went down to the lake and lay on the sand for the first time this year, watching teenagers playing football in the water. So relaxing. I walked in up to my waist to a little sandbar just to cool off . The crisp smell of the lake brought memories back. Today its a muggy day here, a bit overcast, so scrapbooking won out over being outdoors!

Dining out in the Dominican was a nightly event which we all looked forward to together.

We would dress up and enjoy a wonderful meal someplace different every night!

When I started this layout I definitely had the floral paper from Moon Doggie in mind. But when I put the photos up against the surfboard paper, I liked it very much. I also used a plain wooden boards and found the reverse side was a subdued red, so I alternated two pieces from a 4 x 12 strip.
I coloured the word HOT in the title in Citrus leaf , Topiary and Tulip markers to pop it out.

I used ctmh Moon Doggie papers , ctmh Bold Colour Ready Alphabets, Basic Grey chipboard, and ctmh Journey Journalling Spots.

I am really happy with this layout. It took me about an hour from start to finish.

Facelift

The blog has received a fresh summer look. The facelift includes a new green background and a photo showing my daughter and I outside our home at her pre-prom party.
If I could afford an actual facelift, I would probably get my eyes done and also my jawline/cheek area. I would love to be able to afford Botox treatments . Maybe one day.

Under Water

The title for this layout came to me after I made up the subtitles: seascapes and rainstorm.

Thus, Underwater Seascapes and Underwater Rainstorm. (in the latter it felt like we were under a lot of water) I used colours to reflect the greens and grey blues of the ocean. The Dominican coastline was really interesting, in that many villages were built on jagged cliffs. And the houses were just a level up from shacks so seeing them appear on the rugged rocks was astounding.

Normally I love snorkelling but this day was a cool one, and I was worried about my daughter being seasick the entire time. The kids took pictures of the fish with an underwater camera but they were not as bright without sunlight in the water.

In the Rain layout, I wanted to convey with photos the amount and force of the rainfall we were subjected to. You can see the big raindrops bouncing off the flooded sidewalks in the picture that shows people jogging along with towels over their heads.

And yes , we weathered it.

I copied the shape of the dark grey chipboard label on the Rain page by tracing around it and cutting it out of regular cardstock. It is kind of a Persian shape. Or would you say Arabic. I am a great believer in tying elements together over a two page layout, and also over an entire "theme" album. Certain things can be consistent, without being repetitive (boring) : the font for titles, for example, or certain colours. This album is certainly blue and green, with a mix between so far 2 CTMH paper packs, Emporium and Caprice. Moon Doggie is yet to come

Parasailing and a Hot Tip for measuring colour

Just a fun layout that i built this past Friday night. I have always wanted to try those diagonal lines across adjacent photos. diagonal = action

Hot Pink was chosen as the accent colour in a limited quantity, to highlight my daughters bathing suit and plastic sunglasses.
tip: I use a triad of colour in my layouts that complements or contrasts with the subject of the pictures. Here, in this case, I was looking at the water and at the parachute colours and choosing different hues of blue until I get a good look. I think of my most important colour as a gallon, second most important as a quart and accent colour as a pint . This way I can accent with brights on top of neutrals without looking gaudy.

I added Clear Heidi Swapp daisies and pink CTMH rhinestone flowers to complement the tiny flowers on the background paper. The title is with colour ready adhesive alphabets . They come in white and you colour them with your markers, peel and attach. For consistency I am using the "bold" font throughout the album.

*****Prayers go to Tori Stafford ... all of Ontario weeps for you. *****

kiss your children and hold them tight

Music and Shtuff

Just a few thoughts....
I joined Mojo Monday. It's all about cards/stamping.
Maybe I will try a challenge. Maybe not. I just wanted to look at it.
It's a huge success .
However, note: the words Clean and Simple do not come into play.

Most of the time I design out of my head for layouts.
I am always working around my pictures primarily
so it doesnt matter how cute a layout design is if it
wont take 7 or 8 pictures!! lol

Also, I added a playlist recently to this blog.
Most of it is soft and supposed to be inspirational.
I realise it might not be to everybody's taste so if you find it annoying,
you can hit the pause button on the top of the black playlist box .
If you like, enjoy!

If it rains today I will get downstairs to the Studio and
crank out some cards or a layout or both.

also... Thank you to those who have recently joined my blog to Follow Me.
I consider it a compliment!
... ciao...

Be Yourself... everyone Else is Taken.

Do you like those BELLA stamps?? who doesn't!?!

right Ladies?? lol

our May stamp of the month is so freakin sassy and pretty and reminds me of BELLA.

It's called Be Yourself!

It is a silhouette picture actually.

Best of all, you can get her at a discount or even FREE when you order any Close to my Heart products this month.

http://www.closetomyheart.com/sotm_myctmh.aspx?Src=MyCTMH

beachin it

well, i got down to the studio and forged ahead with 2 more dominican pages tonight so i am ready to share the results . getting the right colours and choosing the right photos took some time.

no stamping!! just our papers.... a tiny bit of vellum from my stash, and our wonderful stickease! i could easily use a half dozen sheets to finish my travel album ... LOL i used my caprice brown stripe papers with the emporium blue pattern since the blues all blended nicely and i think it gives the layout an eclectic look rather than "matchy-matchy"