Merry Christmas

I thought I'd share one of the cards I recently made. I cracked out my long neglected Copics and some House Mouse images. I just realised that I mailed away most of the other cards without taking photos! Here I used MME papers and a Pebbles rub on.



Merry Christmas!

Friendzy Friday--Felt Flower Roll Ups

For my Friendzy Friday for TSF this week, I thought I'd show you an easy way to make felt flower roll ups. There are lots of dies out there now that can do this for you. But if you find you are separated from your dies (like at a crop or retreat), or just want to experiment with different sizes, give this technique a try.

You need some felt, liquid adhesive (I find this Tombo glue works best for felt), and scissors.



You can free hand cut a circle, or die cut a flower with subtle petals like I did.



Cut a spiral into your circle or flower, beginning on the outside and working your way in. Make your cut irregular, it looks even better that way! You can also experiment with different width spirals. This will determine how "tall" your finished flower will be.



Roll up your flower, beginning on the outside.



Roll 'til you get to the very end, with just a flap left.



Put lots of glue on the bottom and press the flap firmly into it. Hold it for a bit until it starts to dry.



Then you have a finished felt flower!


Here you can see I used it to finished off the cover of a mini chipboard album made with American Crafts papers!



I hope you try these flowers and experiment with different sized spirals and circles/flowers to start.

Noel Banner

So I wanted to show just one more thing I made with my Simple Stories DT package. I made this NOEL banner! It was amazing how many things I could make with just the 6 pieces of paper I received. I added twine, letters from K&Co., trims, ribbons, burlap and ric rac. I really like how it turned out. Thanks for checking out all my DT projects. Hopefully I'll get more to do soon!

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop with TSF

Welcome to Day 8 of the 12 Days of Christmas Creations Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Joanne's blog. If not be sure to go back to check our her "Peace" creation. And the master list for the entire blog hop is below, so be sure to visit everyone and leave a comment for a chance to win a prize!

I have always struggled with what to do with all the lovely Christmas cards I receive each year. So this year I made a special "Believe" banner that I have hung across a shelf in my living room and I will hang my Christmas cards with mini clothes pins from twine at each end of my banner. Pretty cool!

I really had a hard time getting good photos of my banner so please forgive my photo quality! These short days with sharp angles of the sun!

I used papers from MME's Wonderful Winter collection, sparkly letters from K&Co., plus bling, ribbon, tulle, twines, ric rac and trims from my stash. I also gave my various dies a work out plus my crimper!



Here you can see the details in each banner.







And I know this is not a great photo, but you can get an idea of where I have hung it with my cards attached down the sides.



I hope this gave you a little bit of inspiration for some festive crafting this season! So tomorrow don't forget to hop on over to Shelby's blog for her big reveal!

Here's the master blog list so you don't miss a single inspiring creation! It's not too late to back track if you have missed anything!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Joanne (16th)

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th) That's me!

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)


And your next secret word for the Blog Hop is "and"!

Life is Rough

Oh life is rough when you are stranded in a strange city without anything but the clothes on your back...

Never fear! Airport lounge access to the rescue! I knew these pictures of us at Dulles airport in Washington last December would make another fun layout with my Simple Stories DT kit. I love how all the different fonts and colours on the alphabet sticker sheet still work together.

I fussy cut out the poinsettia and leaves from the patterned paper and made a few rolled roses from felt and paper with my Dienamics dies.


Thanks for looking!

More Simple Stories...

Next with my Simple Stories DT kit, I created a layout showcasing one of my favourite recent photos. Here we are "stuck" in Washington, DC last December on route home from Florida. We took a walk on this gorgeous golf course on a bright but very cold morning. We had nothing with us besides the clothes on our backs! Always make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear" I say!

I used some of the strips Simple Stories is famous for to make a backdrop for my main photo. I included our boarding passes too which is kind of fun. Sometimes I forget to put memorabilia like that on my pages. I like how these K&Co sparkly black chipboard letters really coordinate with the papers. And the mini alphas from the Simple Stories sticker sheet really finished off my title.

I used my Dienamics banner dies to make this element. I really like how it turned out! I cut the acetate snowflakes from my kit in half and machine sewed them down. Pretty cool! And another strip (this time with words) from the patterned paper added another nice element here.



Thanks for checking out my DT reveal...more to come!

More DT Revelations

Here's another layout I made with my Simple Stories 25 Days of Christmas DT kit. I used kraft again for the background with more mists and paint slapped on. I decided to scrap our mini tree I brought to Florida last year in my carry on! I will never get the sparkles out of my knapsack! I made the felt garland for the tree too.

This line is so distressed and muted looking so I knew some scrap burlap would go great!


Here's some detail shots. I thought this glittery frame was perfect for the tree on the "C" tag.



I also made another accordion element and hand cut the trees and presents from the paper too.



Thanks for checking out my DT projects! Stay tuned for more...

Design Team Reveal!

I know it has been AGES since I got to do some DT work. Well finally here are some creations! I received Simple Stories 25 Days of Christmas papers and a sticker sheet, plus some wooden snowflakes, ribbon, some acetate snowflakes, two decorative pins, a burlap stocking and a metal flower/bottle cap.

I was pretty amazed how much I could create with just 6 pieces of paper. Simple Stories goes pretty far with their strip pages and divided "post card" pages.


I chose to scrap this special photo of us with our little Christmas tree in Florida last year.

I knew kraft would make a great background with this line. But I really wanted to kick it up to contrast with the warm muted tones in the paper. So I went at my background paper with several mists and some paint too.

I made a few accordion flowers and added a little banner I cut from one of the sheets.



Here you can see all the dimension I added with some cool burlap trim from MME, as well as a doilie (which I misted) and some flowers from my stash!


Stay tuned and I will keep revealing the fun things I made with this DT package.

We're having a blog hop!

The countdown to Christmas is here! So your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends invite you to countdown the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with us. Each day a member of the Two Scrapbook Friends team and a few special friends will share with you some of the projects and inspiration that we have created to celebrate the Season.

Beginning on December 10th at 8 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog where you can be inspired and leave a comment. That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!

You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!

The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

Be sure to check back and join in all the fun. Plus we are running some fun games on the forum too!

Sizzix/Hero Arts Stamp and Die sets

You may recall that a few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a generous prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! I won one of the new Sizzix/Hero Arts stamp and die combo sets.





Well this past weekend I finally had a chance to play with it. I made this card using MME papers. I stamped, embossed and cut out the tree and the "joy" tag. It was so fast and easy! The stamps are very high quality and those dies cut like butter! Some bling, seam binding and a button and I was done.



I am looking forward to playing with this set over and over again. Thanks again Joanne and Carolyn!

Merry Christmas Banner

I decided to join in another banner swap with my pals over at the TSF forum. This time we made a "Merry Christmas" banner. We collaborated on a colour scheme and got the store cut us all the same kraft banner bases. I used MME papers from their Christmas line last year. I also gave my Dienamics dies a work out and my crimper!



Here is the beautiful completed banner on my mantle. I just love how each piece is a tiny work of art. Thanks ladies for all the skill and care you put into each one. I just love how it looks!

Friendzy Friday-- Paper Snowflakes

For this week's Friendzy Friday at Two Scrapbook Friends, I thought I would experiment with some paper Christmas tree ornaments. There are lots of examples our there such as in the recent edition of Scrapbooks Etc. I adapted some of them and broke down the steps for this tutorial for paper snowflakes.

You will need some stiff patterned paper or card stock (I chose this textured cardstock), a scoring board, liquid adhesive and glitter and/or stickles.




Cut 7 strips at 1/2 inch by 6 and 1/8th.



Score the strips at 1/8th, 1 and 1/2, 3, and 4 and 1/2. Basically you are scoring the strips in quarters with an extra 1/8th at the end to glue your diamonds together.


Do this for all 7 strips and then glue them together using your liquid adhesive.


Next, cut 7 strips at 1/2 inch by 3 and 1/8th. Score at 1/8, 3/4, 1 and 1/2, and 2 1/4. Again, you are basically scoring your strips in quarters with the extra 1/8th at the end. Glue these smaller diamonds together.



Assemble the large diamonds by gluing the edges together to form a snowflake.



Then glue the smaller diamonds inside each larger diamond. Don't worry if it doesn't look "perfect," remember snowflakes are unique!




Then I added stickles AND glitter to the edges of the snowflake.



A blue ribbon and a glittery snowflake button in the middle finished it off!


I hope you give these a try this season and be sure to show us your creations!

Cream, Teal and Yellow Challenge!

The Burst of Colour on-line crop is in full swing over at Two Scrapbook Friends. Dee challenged us to use cream, teal and yellow on a project.

Here's what I came up with...



The papers are Cosmo Cricket, American Crafts and Studio Calico, Glitz and MLS alpha stickers, Thickers, and Prima embellies, plus some Doodlebug twine. My mom made the crochet flower.

I love how it turned out! And I just love the irony of old "Bob" sitting under the "Beware of Gators" sign.

On-Line Crop at Two Scrapbook Friends

Over at Two Scrapbook Friends we are having an on-line crop all week with a very colourful theme!

My challenge is to "chase those blues away" that we all get this time of year when the days get shorter and the sun rarely shines, by using lots of blue on a project.

Here's a layout using different blue pattern papers from BoBunny, Echo Park and Scenic Route, two shades of blue card stock and blue embellies.



I can't wait to see what the participants come up with for this challenge!

Doilies Challenge

Over at TSF it is my turn to post a challenge on the forum. I chose doilies since they are everywhere right now and there are so many options. I used a crochet Kaisercraft doilie here on this layout of my Aunt Pat! I dug out some BoBunny and Scenic Route from my stash plus Glitz alpha stickers.




And a close up...



I can't wait to see what the ladies on the forum create for my challenge!

Happy Harvest

A while back I won a prize pack from Imaginisce, the entire Happy Harvest line! Papers, stamps, canvas, stickers, die cuts...What a score! I finally got to start playing with it at the retreat in Grand Bend with photos from last fall at Laurel Creek.

These papers are so perfect for tearing and distressing since they are so thick and one side has shiny embossing. My base was so dimensional by the time I did all that I had to pop up my photos to get them to stick!



I added some of that gorgeous coloured seam binding from my girl Dee. Just the perfect pop of orange in a naked wooden button.



And I stamped these clouds using an Imaginisce "Snag em" stamp and popped those up too.



I am looking forward to creating more with this line really soon.

thanks for peeking!

More Retreat Layouts

At the recent Two Scrapbook Friends retreat in Grand Bend I also made this layout, another of the Helsinki Cathedral. The sun was out for these pictures! More Echo Park, BoBunny and Scenic Route. I added some fun stitching too. And lots of journalling! Plus I got out my neglected Tiny Attacher and went at my layout with lots of staples. Plus my paper crimper got into the act too.

TSF Retreat

I know it's been quiet around here. Haven't done much designing lately, hopefully soon.

But I did attend the recent TSF retreat in Grand Bend and had a blast with my fellow DT ladies, past and present! They are one talented bunch of girls! I loved watching them create and we shared tons of laughs as well.

I was pretty productive. I worked on my Merry Christmas banners for the upcoming banner swap. I used some MME I had from last year. And the girls had fun making fun of me as I rolled 28 rollie roses! I had to ice my wrist after wards!

Here's a sneak peek...



I also got lots of layouts done. Most are for upcoming challenges. But here's a few I can share...

Here's Roamy, my roaming gnome! He makes me so happy I had to scrap him with some Nikki Syvils papers. Plus, check out the feltie snail in the bottom corner!



I also worked on some pages to finally complete my album of our Europe trip last summer. Here's the Helsinki Cathedral using stash from Echo Park, BoBunny and good old Scenic Route. I miss those guys! The green ribbon in the big blue button is from my friend Dee. That stuff ties like a charm. Thanks girl!



I'll post a few more of my creations from the retreat soon.