Stylin' then and now

Vintage stickease and papers... in the hoard! are getting put to excellent use here in the Studio.

I still LOVE the look of these pert dresses. The long pink one is a bridal card and the short black and white one is a birthday card. The third silhouette of the girl is a friendship card!

I also put the cuttlebug to good use, as well as my sentiment stamps, and baby pink textured cardstock . The dresses and flowers feature bitty sparkles and clear sparkles , from Close to my Heart.

Growing Older Gracefully

Phew. A long hiatus with no posts in March!

I was back to work on creating layouts this past week, and finished 3 quite quickly that I will share here on the blog.

The first is called:

Grow Deeper as you Grow Older...

I interpret that to mean, be spiritual, and always remain True to your inner self.

And I like the image the words create, that of a tree growing deeper and stronger roots the older it grows.

I turned 50 in October, which was cause for celebration. I know myself better than ever before, and in spite of that, like myself very much! (humour)

It is a new period in my life, which brings strength of conviction, clarity, and even more passion than ever. I am so proud of my family and all that we have done together.

I started this beautiful fall layout back in October 09 as a class that I taught, using the Grace workshop on the go from Close to my Heart. I earmarked it to use for my 50th birthday layout. I had over 35 guests at my birthday, held at the Brights Grove Golf Club (aka Crabbies) and narrowing the photos down for a 2 page layout was difficult. I couldn't decide just how to do it, until I selected a sepia 5x7 of myself for the left hand photo. Then I was able to print lots of 2x3 photos of everyone there and put them into 4x6 flip flap photo protectors, on top of the page protector. Problem solved.

The embellishments are clear buttons backed with Grace floral paper, and metal edge anchors in autumn colours. I used a tiny bit of very arty Japanese paper in an eggplant colour, that I tore, and it really looks great with the golden yellow , rust and teal blue.

Serenity

Welcome March, Spring, Time of rebirth.

New peaceful music has been added to the blog, for your pleasure. The choices are becoming more spiritual.

I was so inspired by K D Lang singing Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen at the Olympics.

Also , Blackbird , by the Beatles, who sing "take these sunken eyes and learn to see"...

We can all heal and arise , change and deal with reality in dignity.

The Serenity cards are for my boyfriends Mom who runs a charitable home for alcoholic men in London. She has given her entire life to helping others in need.

I recycled a plastic envelope from Shoppers Drug Mart . It has a tab closure hidden underneath the paper strip. It holds a double row of standard size cards perfectly.

I made 10 cards of 5 different designs using the Grace paper pack. It is so rich and elegant.

All supplies are Close to my Heart.

Piece of Cake

This lovely cake is one of 6 included in the February stamp of the month. It looks so dimensional pop dotted onto the embossed cardstock. If you look closely, you can see just a little Its a Party Random Stamping on the Moonstruck background and texture paper . It was enough to make a celebratory backdrop with punch for the beautiful tiered cake! I used watermelon, citrus leaf and ocean ctmh markers to colour in the cake, and light green rhinestone flowers and white daisy organdy ribbon to finish off the look! All products are Close to my Heart.

A Felicitous New Years Wedding

A new year , a new decade, a new couple, a new life!

Our family attended the wedding of Kelly and Brad on New Years Eve 2009. It was a very happy and exciting event.

I used my new Felicity alphabet to stamp the title and the twilight blue Felicity die cut with vintage smoky plum CTMH fleur de jardin papers for the quarter cut background. The journalling will be on the lower right hand corner.

Holidays: Our Family

The Holiday dinner we held with my cousin was a success.

Our two families can play poker, enjoy high spirits, get dramatic, discuss science, behave silly, share a musical vibe, and always appreciate each other.

I used a 9 inch square within a square layout design for the background and layered the smaller photos, journalling, and texts at the bottom below the 5x7 photo.

The title will be our family name at the top of the page in Crimson lettering.

The colours really stand out in real life!

Strike a Pose

We had SUCH a good time with my cousin and her family just before Christmas. These photos show the relaxed and happy personalities

of our kids. They range in age from 16 to 20. It is a really neat age to witness and be involved in. They are so funny, creative and free at this age.

The layout was fun to do. I started with a horizontal background of intricate and subtle designs, and added the vertical 9 inch paper with the circular design. The dark colour seemed to really ground the photos.