I couldn't resist

After taking those pictures of Hayley, I couldn't resist making a LO with some of the pictures.









Supplies used: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, PPs: SEI, rub-ons: SEI & American Crafts, buttons: MME, ricrac ribbon: Maya Road, pins: Fancy Pants, stamps: Hero Arts, paper frill: Doodlebug.

For Granny

When I gave you the list of birthdays coming up in March last Friday, I actually forgot two. One of them being David's gran. I'm not sure how old she is, but it's close to 90. She lives in Norfolk, where I've never been and I've only seen her 3 times since I've met David. Nevertheless, it's the only grandparent we've got left between the two of us and of course we wish her a very happy birthday for next week. I hope she likes the card I made for her:





Supplies used: cardstock: Bazzill Basics, PPs: Amy Butler, American Crafts, ribbon, lace, buttons: ?, metal tag: Making Memories.

Ever considered doing digital scrapbooking to learn more about Photoshop? Jessica Sprague is running another beginners class starting next week and you can now register for it. I did this course and the next level, Now We're Rocking and they are invaluable, totally worth it. I just wanted to give you heads-up.

Mission Accomplished

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, next week it's Mothering Sunday in the UK. It always catches me off guard, as I've still not gotten used to it. It's not like the rest of the world every second Sunday in May, but it can be any Sunday in March. I think it might vary with Easter, and because Easter is early this year, Mother's Day is early. If you ask me, they just do it whenever, lol.

Remember I had something in my head... that went out of the window this morning after reading Ali's blog post. I loved the technique of the KI Memories lace and painting it. So, that's what I did. Of course I cannot reveal the whole thing yet, as that would spoil the surprise (and my MIL does read my blog(s)). You will have to settle for this little sneak peek (and I must say I'm quite pleased with the end result, even if I say so myself):



Hopefully it will make it in time to get there by Sunday.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for your lovely comments!

Ella

Today Ella, the youngest of my friend Claire in the UK is turning 3. Happy birthday, girl. I hope you'll have a great day. I made this card at the same time as I made the one for Hayley, so basically it's another round card.



Supplies used: cardstock: Bazzill Basics, PPs: Scenic Route, ribbon: Making Memories, flowers: Prima, bling: KaiserCraft, paper frill: Doodlebug, alphas: American Crafts Thickers.

March is going to be a big month for kids birthdays!! And besides that it's Mother's Day (don't panic) in the UK next Sunday, plus all other Birthdays... Here's the full list:

Dave H. (40)
Mother's Day
Lauren (10)
My dad (66)
Grace (1)
Ruben (8)
Louie (7)
James (9)
Danny (39?)


April will be a little relief, as I've only got three that month. Today I finished the Mother's Day card (hopefully it will still be in time if I post it tomorrow) and I made Ruben's card already too. Tomorrow I'll be putting together another little something for Mother's Day. I've got it all in my head, I just need to execute it with the assistance of the kids.

By the way, my LSS had my 'bark' Bazzill in stock. I did ring them first, so I wasn't wasting a my time, but of course it's never really wasted, right?

Have a great weekend!

Meet Baby Hayley

When Dana was still pregnant with Hayley I asked her whether I could take some pictures of the baby, to practice my photography. She was thrilled I'd asked. This morning I ran into her after I dropped the kids off at school and I went round her house around 11.00 a.m. to take some pictures. I asked her if it's okay if I put a few on my blog and she said yes. Here's a few of my favourite ones (also been trying out some of my new actions).









Yesterday I also started my Year In Review book for 2007. It's amazing how quickly these two pages came together. I did have a little head start as I'd already pre-selected 20 pictures a while back for January. I only needed 15 for this spread. Jessica's design was 8x8", but when I printed the left hand page I thought the pictures were too small. I enlarged it to 10x10", printed it with pictures on it. I then also printed the page again on photo paper and punched out the pictures with my square punch, which is the exact same size (how convenient is that?). I was a total copy cat a followed Jessica's design completely. This is what it looks like:



Now I've only got 11 more months to go, but it seriously only took me less than 2 hours to put together. The biggest job will be to find 22 more sheet of Bazzill cardstock in the colour bark, LOL!

Thanks again for stopping by.

Baby Cards and more

All I seem to be making at the moment is cards. I've got plenty of ideas for LOs, but without pictures you don't get very far. I recently got a new iMac, and David now got my old one. This means that all my pictures from the day before I got my new one are on that machine. I really need to get organised and get them printed. I'm reluctant to have them all printed as 4x6", as I'm pretty sure I don't want them all that size. How do you organise them?

Anyhow, back to the cards. A friend of a friend had her third baby last week. As I've gotten to know her a little bit as well in the past 18 months (can you believe we've been here that long already), I decided to make a card for her. Actually I made two, as my friend wanted me to make one for her as well. Here's one:



Supplies used: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, PPs: Scenic Route, alphas: American Crafts Thickers, buttons: MME and Autumn Leaves, ribbon: ? (I totally lost track of that, sorry, but if I had to guess I would say Making Memories), tag: local newsagent, stamp: baby girl Stampin'Up, ink: VersaColor, paper frills: Doodlebug.

And here's the other one:



Supplies used: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, PPs: Scenic Route, buttons: MME and Autumn Leaves, ribbon: local newsagent, tag: local newsagent, rub-on: American Crafts MiniMarks, scallop nesting die: Quickutz, pin: 'Lil Davis.

Last week I also made another male card, but I must admit I find those very hard. Still searching for some more inspiration.



Supplies used: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics and DCWV, PPs: Scenic Route, ribbon: ?, 'A': Sizzix.

One more. I was a bit adventurous with this one and made a card for our babysitter, who's celebrating her birthday next week.



Supplies used: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, PPs: Scenic Route, Collage Press, and 7Gypsies, foam stamp: CK, ink: VersaMark, embossing powder: psychedelic StampWorld, tag: ?, ric rac ribbon: Maya Road, buttons: Autumn Leaves, Sei, raffia, rub-on: 7Gypsies, bling: KaiserCraft, 'B': Silhouette die cut.

On thing that never appears in any of the photos, but I do use on all cards I make is a personalised stamp on the back. This is what it looks like:



You can buy them here.

Happy Wednesday (only two more days until it's weekend (again))!

New Actions

Yesterday I bought some new actions and had a little play with them today. I hired my usual model for the day (for 2 minutes, in between playing PS2) and tried a technique inspired by episode #25 of this blog. Don't get me wrong, I have no aspirations (at least not yet) of becoming a wedding photographer, but I'm always up for learning new techniques. I'll spare you the original shot, but it was pretty bad. But after I ran some of the actions on it, I absolutely love it. What do you think? (You've got to click the picture to enlarge it for a real impact).

3rd Card Reveal

Today one of my 6 Nike friends, Miranda is celebrating her birthday. Happy Birthday, Miranda! She's the baby of the bunch, lol. When we were visiting Holland in January, I finally had a chance to catch up with 5 of them again. Unfortunately the likelihood of all 7 of us to be together is really slim, as I live in Australia and Jessica, who's missing in the picture, lives in the US. Here's the picture we took in January (with the help of my trusty tripod):



And this is the card I made for her:



Supplies used: carstock: Bazzill Basics kraft, PP: Scenic Route, buttons: Autumn Leaves, ribbon: local newsagent, 'm' chipboard: Making Memories, black cord: Blokker, rub-on: American Crafts MiniMarks, journaling label: Etsy, 'happy birthday' stamp: Stampin' Up, ink: Staz'On & VersaMark, flower punch: EK Success, swirl stamp: CK, embossing powder: psychedelic StampWorld, pin: Fancy Pants, scallop edge scissors.

Have a great weekend!

Valentine's Card and Gift

Happy Valentine's Day everyone... I hope you all got something from your Valentine. I got a handmade card from mine, which I totally didn't expect, as he told me he wouldn't have time to make one and a large bouquet.

For my Valentine I made this card...



Supplies used: cardstock: kraft from Bazzill Basics, PPs: Making Memories 'Love Story', chipboard and ribbon: Making Memories 'Noteworhty', epoxy heart: Making Memories 'Sweets', cord: Blokker, mask: Heidi Swapp dots, ink: Versamark, embossing powder: psychedelic StampWorld, lace: Scrapologie 'Beloved' kit

Then my project... I knew exactly what I wanted to do, it was just getting the right images to go with it. I googled the golf picture on the internet. For the poker picture I could only find good ones, which you needed to pay for so I took the picture myself using David's poker chips and cards and put a piece of green cardstock underneath. Not bad hey, even if I say so myself, lol.





Supplies used: chipboard album: Basic Grey, PPs: Sei 'Penelope's Potpourri', Making Memories 'Noteworthy' and 'Kraft', Basic Grey 'Romani', Scenic Route and Love Elsie 'Roxie', alpha stickers: American Crafts thickers, buttons: Autumn Leaves and Making Memories, labels: Fontwerks, clear stamps: Autumn Leaves & Technique Tuesday, chipboard heart: Fancy Pants, word stickers: 7Gypsies 'Together' and Scenic Route, journaling stamp: ArtWarehouse, epoxy stickers: Creative Imaginations, ribbons: ?, embellishments: Making Memories, 'with love' stamp: 7Gypsies, rub-on: Basic Grey, black marker.

Thanks for stopping by, I love reading all your comments.

And the winner is...

I promise you this wasn't rigged... I put all the comments in Renee's hat and she picked one winner. And it was...


Your Valentine is a lucky man, but I know for sure that he knows that already. :-)) I love this sneak peek. Great color combo. Can't wait till tomorrow.

Posted by Ingrid to The Blank Canvas at 13 February 2008 18:53

Ingrid, I think I've got your address somewhere (lol... I'll post it to you tomorrow.

Phew... I did it (and a little giveaway)!

I started this little Valentine's project weeks ago and left it until the last day to finish it. But I did it. I'll show you everything tomorrow, after I've given it to my Valentine?? For now I'll leave you with a sneak...



For my little RAK, I have a brand new clear stamps (6pcs) set from Love, Elsie (Jack+Abby) to give away. Just leave me a comment today, that way I also know that you are visiting my blog and I can stalk yours in return, lol. I will announce a winner tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday!

My Valentines...

I know it's not Valentine's yet, but I should have some other things to show you on Thursday, if I can get my act together and finish my project in time. I'm really cutting it fine. Anyway, Sunday we went for a walk and dressed in Valentine's colours we did a little photo shoot on the way home. I've been wanting to create a LO with a huge heart for quite some time now, and I thought this was the perfect moment.







Supplies used: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, rub-ons (LOVE and XO), almost all embellishments: Making Memories, journaling rub-on Foof-a-la, pink felt heart with journaling: American Crafts, pins: Fancy Pants, Silhouette, font: Marketing Script downloaded from dafont.com

Enjoy your Tueday and thanks for stopping by!

2nd Card Reveal

Today our niece, Annalise is turning 7! Congratulations, girl, we hope you'll have a lovely day. I'm really starting to like making cards more and more and starting to experiment with different elements.



Supplies used: Kraft cardstock: Bazzill, PP: Making Memories, damask stamp: Heidi Swapp, glitter alpha: Making Memories, Ribbon: velvet and ric rac ?, pin: Fancy Pants, string: Blokker (Netherlands), tag: local newsagent, happy birtday stamp: Stampin' Up, die cut circles: Making Memories, ink: pinecone Versacolor, corner rounder punch: Woodware.

Just Like You.

Last night I finished another LO. I must say it was a real struggle. I lost count how many times I changed the design. In the end I forced myself to get on with it and finish it, as it was getting on my nerves as it was taking way too long. The pictures are beautiful (Eric, you did good on your portrait assignment), but for me it was more about the journaling.



Supplies used: PPs: Making Memories, October Afternoon, Foam letters: Thickers American Crafts, organza and ric rac ribbon: ?, Buttons: MME and Basic Grey, stamp: Fontwerks, ink: Staz'on, transparency.

1st Card Reveal

Today I can reveal one of the three birthday cards that I showed you a little sneak of the other day. This one is for my SIL Lisa-Ann in the UK. We're wishing you a wonderful day. Come back tomorrow, as I'll reveal the one I made for her daughter.



Supplies used: Craft cardstock: Bazzill, PPs: MME Tres Jolie, Ribbon: Spotlight, Pin: Fancy Pants, Button: Autumn Leaves, Foam Stamp: Creating Keepsakes, Versamark Ink, Psychedelic embossing powder: StampWorld, rub-on: American Crafts, bling bling: Doodlebug, corner rounder punch: Woodware, tag: local newsagent.

Just what I'm looking for

The last few months I've been thinking about putting together an album of a Year in Review for 2007, but haven't been able to make a definite decision on size, look, etc. Obviously I want to keep as simple as possible, so that it doesn't take forever to put together. I saw an article in the Jan/Feb. '08 issue of Simple Scrapbooks (pag. 87-93), which already inspired me. This afternoon however I received Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Friday email with heaps of links to downloadable files. One of them is featured in her new book Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking 2, and is the digital design she made for her yearbook and it's absolutely gorgeous. So, I've decided to use that. Nice and easy and very beautiful at the same time. You can download it here.

Engagement Card

My Aussie friend Beth asked me if I could make a card for her friend, who is getting engaged. She'd looked in the shops and didn't like any of the cards available, and she does like my cards. I'm not too sure what an engagement card looks like nowadays, as I haven't bought one in a very long time (even though I wouldn't be buying it right now, as I'm into making them myself). Anyway, this is what I came up with:



Supplies used: Cardstock Bazzill, PP, clear shape and epoxy hearts Making Memories, ribbons ?, cord bought at Blokker in Holland, pin Fancy Pants, Heidi Swapp ghost dots, VersaMark ink, psychedelic embossing powder, 'love letter' Maya Road stamp and Versacolor ink, Doodlebug paperfrills.

Almost Forgot

It's only a good thing that I've got my computer set-up to alert me a week in advance when someone's birthday is coming up. I thought I was going to have an easy month making birthday cards, but I only forgot about 4 of them. Oops! Anyway, I was in the mood today and I scrapped three cards. I can only give you a sneak peek, but I will reveal each one of them respectively on the 10th, 11th and 16th of this month. I think I have another 2 to do for this month.