Dream a Little Dream: Pion Papers

Hello Everyone,
I have been enjoying the Birdsong Collection from Pion Papers (received in the last Scrap That! kit).  This l/o is of my grand daughter at 3 weeks, dreaming a sweet baby dream:

This qualifies as a "scrap lift" of Karola Witczak's layout, "You", which you can see here.  I love the way the patterns are mixed and layered with soft, paper punched edges.  I used a little gesso and dry-brushed almost everything with white paint. Thank you, Karola, for the inspiration!
The flower is made by layering some mulberry flowers and adding an apple blossom centre.
Pion Papers are a dream to work with  - they lend themselves so beautifully to timeless vintage layouts.
Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you some happy scrapping this weekend.
Thanks so much for stopping by.

Lavish Brown and Sophisticated Amber: CCG Challenge #210

This is my layout for Colour Combos Galore Challenge #210:

And here is the inspiration pic:

Finding the colours in my supplies was relatively painless.  The design challenge was not so simple for me. The design challenge was to use architectural, ledger, woodgrain, or geometric patterns in the project.  Yikes!
Architectural PatternsI have to admit - I do not "get" the current trend of woodgrain papers. I am baffled by the popularity of ledger paper. 
So I chose a lovely Bo Bunny paper with an architectural medallion motif, and a Graphic 45 pattern with a repeating pattern of corsets!  (Which I counted as an architectural pattern because corsets alter the architecture of the body.)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Challenge
As usual in CCG challenges, something happened:  mid-creation I found myself experimenting with a numerical grid paper as the second  background layer - and I liked it! 
I chose my photo for many reasons:  they are wooden (woodgrain), they have nice neat rectangular sections like the bookcase in the inspiration board, they are themselves an architectural detail, and the beautiful tribal design has hourglass-type curves like the corsets and dressmakers form.
Doors I Have Loved
I have always loved doors, for some reason.
In the photo are the front doors at Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico. I was attending a women writer's workshop when I stayed here.  I walked through those doors and I knew I was home. And since "home" was the musical theme song this week, the photo was the perfect one for this challenge.
Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend.


Materials List:
Patterned Papers: Bo Bunny Gabrielle Collection, Promenade
Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante Collection, Victorian Transformers
Dusty Attic Laser Cut chipboard Dressmaker's Form
Flowers from my stash
Leaves cut with Spellbinders die
Thickers letters, Sunrise

Good Times in California

Dusty Attic September Challenge

This month's sketch at Dusty Attic is just scrumptious!  My page is built around the sketch, with a few modifications.  

The photo is of my son and his girlfriend in San Francisco earlier this month. I was inspired by the current colours at Color Combos Galore.  Here is the Dusty Attic sketch:

I did a criss-cross lacing with eyelets and a fabulous fibre thing-y which has been in my stash for...years! The use of fibre and criss-crossing echoes the structural elements of the bridge in the photo background. 
My storehouse of DA items is not extensive, I had to do some substitutions.  Instead of the suggested baroque corner and scrolling vines, I used one of my favourite Dusty Attic nesting frames.  I did some paper punching and tucked in some Bo Bunny Noteabilities, one of which I used as a journalling tag.
Thank You to the Muses
There are a couple of techniques here that are relatively new for me: 
lacing and 
using string as an embellishment.  
Like many scrapbookers, I  gain much inspiration from other scrappers on line.  Right now is a good time to credit these artists for their ideas and creative inspiration. We are all one big creative family, whatever our level of expertise.  Everyone, no matter how renowned, can use more "thank-you's".
Among my muses are Natasha Aguirre ( lacing technique) and Lilith Eckels for the use of fibre and twine.  You can visit Natasha' blog Moments of Tranquility here; you will find many wonderful tutorials there.  And here's the link for Lilith's blog, Lilith's Scrapbooking Venture.
Thanks to all the wonderful papercraft artists who inspire me and others every day with their creativity!
Thanks for looking, and happy scrapping!

I was Blogged: Retro/Vintage Chic

Whoot! Whoot!
Happy Friday, all.  What a great day here - sunshine, crisp fall air, coffee & muffin with my DH, and when I got home...discovered that I've been blogged at Ideas for Scrapbookers
Pam Callaghan has been running a series called Scrapbook Styles, and today's post includes 3 of my layouts from this summer.  Pam created a new style niche on her list for my style, which has been christened Retro/Vintage Chic.
Here are the l/o's that are shown, and an excerpt  from the post:

This is what Pam said:

When deciding on a style it was a apparent that Fran was Vintage AND Retro Chic. So, we combined the names to come up with a new style.  Fran displays a lot of vintage influences in her pages. Check out the old classic photos she uses and embellishments and other items like classic roses, scroll frames, and vintage letter. I really love the use of these elements. You can also get an idea of the retro influence in Fran's style in her first page with the use of and old police car and aqua with red polka dots. She also added some letters which fit more of the retro look. Overall I Fran has a unique style and beautiful style!

I've been learning that style takes our hand and leads us where it wants to go.   I have to admit that I've been wondering what the heck my huge obsession with Retro was all about.  And now I shall be flying my Retro/Vintage Chic flag high! 
The world of scrapbooking is vast and wide - check out Pam's list of Scrapbooking Styles at  her  blog, Ideas For Scrapbookers.  The site is well worth a visit, as it is replete with wonderful tips, techniques and templates for scrapbookers of all sorts, and articles too.
Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

In This Life: Scrap That! September Challenge

The Scrap That! challenge was to create a page with the name of a song in the title.  I used the beautiful Pion papers in September's kit to create this page:

Scrap That! Sept. kit:   Pion Papers (Birdsong Collection) 

The photo is of my grand daughter with her parents (my daughter and son-in-law). I love this photo because it absolutely captures the depth and breadth of the new parents' love for their baby daughter.
I thought the song "In This LIfe" was perfect for this layout.
My favourite version of the song was sung by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. (I tried to find a video link to post for you, but there seems to be some kind of blackout for his songs.) Here are some of the words:

I will know deep in my heart
The only dream that mattered had come true
In this life, I was loved by you.

I used my Cricut to create an interesting shape from the Pion papers to place under the photograph, and added a doily. The lovely white Prima flowers came in the kit.  I made the eyelet flower from the trim that came in the kit.  Actually, everything here came in the kit, I just added a bit of TH trim, and inked the chipboard letters with London Fog.


Here's a  tag I created from the same kit:

This baby is no relation - it's a vintage picture on one of the Pion papers in the collection.  I could not resist her winning smile.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Thanks to those who take the time to leave such sweet comments - each one is read and appreciated.

High Tea with Mme. Dubois

Let's Get Shabby Challenge #27

A fun and unusual challenge at Let's Get Shabby.  First step - visit Tallulah Belles Etsy Shop.  Pick an image that inspires you, and create a project!
Here's my creation:  It's called High Tea with Madame Dubois.

Altered Cigar Box:  High Tea with Mme. Dubois

And here's the image that inspired it:

Image from Tallulah Belles:  High Tea with Madame Dubois

This image just said "fabulous tea party" to me.  
I started with a lovely wooden cigar box.  The altered cigar box contains individual tea booklets for Madame Dubois and her friends.  I imagined her to be an elegant Parisienne, hosting a tea for her fabulous friends from around the world. ( I imagined her friends to be rather goddess-like.)
Here's Madame Dubois:

And here she is with her friends:

The folders are to be filled with (very chic) individual tea bags, and the whole set to be given as a gift by me to someone very special next month.
The challenge at  Let's Get Shabby runs until Sept. 20, so you still have time to join in!
Thanks for dropping by, and for having a virtual cup of tea with me today!

Materials List:

I used anything and everything that I had in my supplies. including:

Cigar Box painted with Rose Distress Crackle Paint

Papers: Graphic 45, Webster's Pages, Bo Bunny Gabrielle (among others)

Prima Flowers

Recollections Pearls

Happy

My little niece at the end of summer discovered her love of horseback riding.

The picture was taken in St-Etienne-de-Lauzon near Quebec city. Riding a horse was a dream come true for her.  Doesn't she look born to ride? She is simply the picture of happiness.


The layout was made with the July Scrap That! kit. The flowers came in the kit; the brown leaves were added from my stash. I painted the leaves with a layer of Rock Candy Crackle Paint. 
I made the curling swirls from slender strips of corrugated cardboard.

The beautiful frame is a Dusty Attic piece, painted with Distress Stains and inks, especially Faded Jeans.

Wishing my fellow Canadians a lovely long weekend - with lots of scrappy time!
Thanks for stopping by, and for your sweet comments.

Vintage Black/Gray: CCG Challenge 206

For this challenge at Color Combos Galore,  I selected a vintage photo taken in 1946 of my mother and her friends:

Montreal Friends, 1946

I love this photograph, because it captures a youthful, happy and hopeful moment in the lives of these young women. WW II is over, which must have been reason enough to be happy. The young women all have new secretarial jobs, their boyfriends are back home, and they have some money to wear fashionable outfits. There's a sense of being at the doorstep of wonderful new lives for these three friends.

The challenge required certain un-related elements to be brought together: wood element, a shelf, some kind of stripe, and a ledge effect.  The title had to be in capital letters.  Plus the specific colours of the challenge.  I was able to find a piece of Imaginesce pp in my stash which had most of the colours in it. 

Ledge made of chipboard, painted with pewter crackle paint.

I used Bingo tokens as my wood element and placed them on the ledge. (Thank you, Nancy!)

I enjoy the CCG challenges so much - I can never really plan what my project will look like! It always starts with utter chaos on my craft table (not my favourite part...I prefer order and stability!), but somehow it comes together if I give it a few days.  (Which is the fun part!)

TH film strip
transparency

I've included some journalling around the edges of this layout, which is a new technique for me.  Since I scrap at least partly for the family record, I've realized that it's important to include some basic details on the layouts.

Thanks so much for looking.  The link for the current CCG challenge is here.

Materials Used:
PP - Imaginesce, Audrey; G45 Curtain Call
TH Distress Ink, Black Soot; Crackle Paints Picket Fence, Pewter
TH Ideology Film Strip Ribbon
Bingo Tokens and chipboard from my stash

Back to the Garden: OUAS Challenge

This is my layout for the Aug. 15 challenge at Once Upon a Sketch.

The challenge was to incorporate two lines of a song into a layout based on the sketch.

I chose my photo by having it fall out of an album the other day.  It's a picture of me taken in the beautiful garden at Kripalu Center in Massachusetts some time ago when I was taking a course.
The gardens at Kripalu are among the most beautiful and peaceful that I know. The lyrics come from Joni Mitchell's song Woodstock.
Here are the lines that I included:

Well, maybe it's the time of year,
And maybe it's the time of man,
I don't know who I am, but life is for learning.
We are stardust, we are golden/And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.

It's an old song by now, the words branded into my consciousness a long time ago.  Nonetheless, they seem even more prophetic and meaningful to me as time goes on.  There was a line in the song about butterflies, too, so the Gabrielle papers seemed especially appropriate for this project.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Take a moment if you can to leave a comment - I read and enjoy them all.

Special wishes to anyone affected by Irene recently.  Better days coming soon!


Bo Bunny papers, Gabrielle
Webster's Pages trim and  Journalling Tag

Rose/White Photo Tray

This was created as a gift for a dear  friend of mine who recently had a baby.

I used a 7Gypsies photo tray, painted white with Ranger Ink dabber paint.  I chose Webster's Pages patterned papers in soft tones of white, cream, and rose.  I used Prima blossoms in white, touched lightly with pink chalk ink.  
The large flower is made from wide white ribbon and a Gluber.
This was a happy project to work on;  I'll be making more of these since there are 6 babies that have arrived recently to friends and family!
Thanks for stopping by.  Wishing you a lovely day.

Little Toot: Gallery Fave!!

I am pleased and so honoured to say that this layout was chosen as one of the Gallery Faves on the Color Combos Galore Site  yesterday!!  Yay!!

Oceanside 1946

Here are the colours we had to use:

I have hundreds of beach photos - mostly because looking for the perfect beach is a hobby of mine!  But not one of my beach photos was right for this project.

I ended up choosing the photograph that you see here of my mother, taken in 1946.  (or did it choose me?)

Arrange whatever pieces come your way.-- Virginia Woolf

Sometimes scrapbooking is about more than preserving a moment.  I find that with my interest in vintage photos, scrapbooking can be a way of unravelling mysteries and making important discoveries about one's own life.  Here's the little story about my discovery.

Elements Selected and Arranged...Themselves?

We were required to use vellum and translucent elements. After that, the elements more or less selected and arranged themselves. (It's happened to me before, too - it's a little eerie!)  For some reason there just had to be a handwriting design in the background, some letter/post card embellishments, as well as a clear glass bottle.

As I was arranging all the elements, I decided to cut into the paper.  This is something I rarely do. On the occasions where I do cut,  I usually trace the lines first, think about it a lot, and cut slowly. 

This time, the cuts were made really fast - no lines, no dithering.  Cut 1.   Cut 2 -zip, zip.

Okay. Sea shell, bottle, letters.  Message in a Bottle, anyone?  And then it just came to me - floating up like a message in a bottle:

Even though she never talked about it, my mother really loved the beach.  She loved it as much in her day as I do in my time.  Doing this layout helped me realize it.  And  all of a sudden, my eternal quest for the perfect beach started to make more sense to me!  It's been passed on to me from my mother - like an invisible inheritance.

See what I mean? I so love the papers, embellishments and techniques of scrapbooking,  But I think that on some other level, it's really about understanding our present by understanding our past: 

Go back. Go back in time. Everyone's life is a chain of memories. In each chain there are shining links, happenings where this element of wonder...was very strong. Why don't you reach out and relive some of those memories? If you work at it, remembering the wonder can revive your ability to live life as it should be lived.-- Arthur Gordon

The new challenge is up at Color Combos Galore, effective last night.  The talent and creativity on this site is amazing. I never end up creating the project I had planned! If you're looking to boost your creativity, head on over and take a look.


Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely weekend!

Joy Joy and Blog Candy Giveaway

The big day has finally arrived...we are grandparents!  Of course we are over-the-moon happy.  Mother and father and baby are doing very well.  The new grandparents are coping somehow (!)
Here's the card I made to celebrate the little one's arrival:

Too Beautiful to Use?
For this card, I used Webster's Pages.  Because the papers are so beautiful, initially I was afraid to cut them or to work with them. Instead, I was keeping my beautiful papers the same way I store my good tablecloth - wrapped up and placed on a high shelf until that special occasion. (I guess this could be called paper hoarding!)
My scrap friends at Scrap That!  advised me to  "Cut them!  You'll feel better. Some of the most beautiful embellishments you'll ever create will come from cutting them."
To all my lovely, creative friends - you were so right!  I do feel better, and now feel able to tackle more cards and using Webster's. 
Blog Candy Giveaway at Scrap That!
Heads up - there is a wonderful blog candy giveaway right now at Scrap That! blog. You could win a beautiful assortment of fabulous Prima papers and embellishments including Zva roses, Maya Road, and Glitz.  Just leave a comment on their blog here before August 19th. Couldn't be easier!


Meanwhile, we are getting used to the idea of being grandparents for the first time.
Have a wonderful weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

Materials:
Webster's Pages Ladies and Gents
Center Panel - Prima Notecard Sweet Fairy Collection

Retro Summer Continues!

Friends 4Ever June 1946
This is a lovely vintage photo of my mother's friends at the end of June 1946.  Their high school years had just come to a conclusion and you can just see the joy and hallelujahs in their expressions.

The inspiration for this layout came from a sketch at October Afternoon.

Just 4 Embellishments
Because this is a group of young women tasting freedom at the end of their high school years, the lovely TH die-cut bird is sitting outside of her cage, about to take flight. Otherwise, I used only 4 embellishments: a fabric flower, a round sticker, a manila tag, and a telephone cut out. 

I am trying a "less is more" approach as I work my way through this Retro obsession of mine.  It's SO challenging for me to embrace empty space.  Choosing this highly patterned paper from the 5&Dime collection made it easy to omit extra embellishments.  


I love the October Afternoon papers.  The patterns and colours do recall days gone by, and the papers are a lovely weight to work with. Perfect for my Retro scrapping -  just going with it, and we'll see where it takes me.


Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you lots of spaciousness in your day!  Thanks so much for your encouraging comments - very much appreciated.

Materials List:

Paper:  October Afternoon 5&Dime Collection/ Circus Peanuts, Root Beer

Bird & Cage DieCut:  Tim Holtz Alterations

Chipboard Alphas: Thickers

5&Dime Shape Stickers, October Afternoon

Law & Order Back in The Day: Retro Days 4

Continuing with my retro obsession during the summer of 2011:

One look at a car like this, and I'm thinking malt shops, ponytails, poodle skirts, and Happy Days.
I really had fun with this one.  I enjoyed the contrast of the big, serious vintage police car with the flowers, polka dots and lacy trims on this l/o.

I did a little sewing around the edges and added a stencilled flower with acrylic paint.

The black frame is a Kaiser Craft piece, covered with Enamel Accents.  The centre frame is Dusty Attic chipboard, covered with distress inks and crackle paint.  I tucked some lace in behind the frame for contrast.
Hope you enjoyed this little retrospective of a by-gone era that surfaced in my life that summer in My Little Town!
If you have some spare moments, feel free to leave a brief comment - each one is most appreciated!

Materials List:
Paper: Crate Paper Emma's Shop
Hanging Sign: Kaiser Craft
Baroque Frame: Dusty Attic
Tim Holtz Enamel Accents

Autobiography of a Bird: CCG Challenge 201

The colour palette at CCG this week inspired me to create the cover for a little book that has been living in my head for a long time.  (You can read about the colour challenge here.)

I cut the cover from an old packing box, and covered it with patterned paper from my stash. The bird and bird cage were cut from canvas fabric using a Tim Holtz Alterations die. (Before cutting, I adhered the fabric to grungeboard to prevent fraying of the fabric. ) The the cage was coloured very simply using dabber paint. 
I couldn't make myself put the bird IN the cage - it just felt too trapped!  So the little bird was placed on her pearl-covered perch outside the cage. 
Hanging from the bottom of the cage are three TH Muse Tokens: Inspire, Altered, and Wander.
I added some pink tulle edging for fun, and used a Martha Steward paper punch for the top edge.
The stamp for the title comes from a gorgeous art stamp set by Tweety Jill.
I'm glad that the cover is finally done.  And now to get around to completing the pages of the book!
Thanks for stopping by!

Materials Used:
Stamps: Tim Holtz flourish; Tweety Jill title
Die Cuts: Tim Holtz Alterations
Metal Embellishments: Tim Holtz

For the Record: Retro Days 3

I'm fascinated with the way time has speeded up recently. Seems like you just get dressed and then  it's time to put on your pajamas and go back to bed again. Or is that just me?

But in My Little Town, time is gracious and stately.  There's a beautiful century house by the water, with a black rotary-dial telephone....and it still works!

Yes, the telephone still works!

So the receiver weighs a few pounds and talking into it is like speaking into a medieval device...it is still communication! It makes me realize how much time we spend (waste?) on the phone back in the Real World.
Here's a close-up of the patterned paper and the embellishments from For the Record:

We spent a very pleasant few weeks here last summer.  Long, luscious days when my whole to-do list was just one item:
 Buy an onion.

Time spent in My Little Town soothes all the frayed nerves and jagged edges.  When I'm here, all is right with the world.  It's  good for the soul to spend some time like this.

It's not that I wish to live in the past, but I do love the retro thing, and there are some fantastic pp lines available right now.  

Thanks for looking!  

Have a wonderful day, and if you have a spare nannosecond, I love reading your sweet comments.

Materials:

Crate Paper:  Emma's Shop

Stickers: For the Record 

Book Page: Glitz Designs