Ode to my Forsythia

This year we had to remove our forsythia. I will miss its gorgeous burst of yellow colour in early spring.

For Regan's weekly layout challenge at TSF, I used kraft paper from Jillibean Soup for this layout of the last blossoms of this old tree.

Friendzy Friday--Stencils

Sometimes I like to make my own background paper. And this is even better when you can coordinate it with your embellishments. So I created my own stencil using a die and some acetate from a bling package.

Supplies: craft paint, sponge, acetate, your favourite die, background paper.

Run the acetate and die through your cutting machine to create the stencil. Hold the stencil carefully (or tape down with green painters tape) and sponge paint onto the paper through the stencil. Start with a light coating of paint and build up your colour slowly.

Let paper dry. You can wash your stencil and use it over and over again. And voila you have your own unique background paper! I used a tone on tone effect here, pink paint on pink paper, so it is a bit hard to see in the photo. This layout is from the NSD challenges, using one of Joanne's sketchs.

I used pink paint on white paper to make this fun card for our niece and God daughter's birthday earlier this week. And the best part was I could coordinate my green die cut flower embellishments with my background floral design!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Sunshiney Day

I also made this card with the July DT kit. I thought the pink ruffled ribbon looked like curtains so I punched a "window" in the card and cut flowers from the pp to fill a window box. I thought this Bella stamp was the perfect sentiment.

Design Team

Happy Canada Day! Today is the first day of my term on the design team at TSF. It is going to be great fun!

Here are my July DT layouts using My Little Shoebox "All A Flutter" papers, acetate overlays and mini alpha stickers.

This is the last day of our trip to Dubai and Singapore last summer. We had a day-long layover in Frankfurt so we spent it touring a few cathedral towns. By this point we were tired and hot so we stopped in a lovely park in Speyer. We were getting a bit silly and giggly...must have been time to go home.

This layouts show the condo we didn't pick in Florida. But that view...I still think about it!

Eating grouper at Harpoon Harry's and debating about which condo to buy. Stressful stuff!

My folks on their 41st anniverary, July 2009. I sprayed diluted paint on the background paper for a soft contrast to the bold papers. See the little ladybugs at the very bottom? My mom loves ladybugs.

We joined them for dinner at Red Lobster to help celebrate. A great evening.

This was a great DT kit to work with. It took me a bit to figure out what to do with the acetate overlay. But once I cut it apart it was fun to use the flowers and words separately on my pages. And I just love those tiny alpha stickers.

LRW Beads

I haven't played along at LRW in a while. This week's challenge is to use beads. I love beading and have tons of beads. I made this card for my sister in laws as they just moved into a new house. I strung pink seed and bugle beads and wound the length around my card several times. I really like the effect!

We got to see their new home during our recent weekend trip to St. John's, Newfoundland. The first day was typical rain, drizzle and fog (RDF to locals). You could barely see Fort Amherst from Signal Hill. The city itself was entirely shrouded in fog.

Then the sun came out and we went to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America. What a view!

National Service Dogs Crop

This past weekend, a scrapbook friend Dianne hosted a charity crop for National Service Dogs. She is currently raising "Lindor" and is a dedicated volunteer for the program. It was a fantastic day crop with great food, tons of generously donated prizes, games and a bake sale. Several new puppies in the program were special guests. This little guy was too cute! We love Goldens and have had many in our family.

My mom attended with me and she made some great cards. Her first ever! I had lots of layouts to catch up on. I started with this TSF kit that I have had for a long time. It was the last layout in my album of our trip to the German Alps in March 2009. It seems most of my layouts of that trip are of eating and drinking!

Next I did this layout of our trip to Florida last summer.

I finished off the day with this layout of our trip to the Singapore Botanic Gardens last summer. Did I mention it was hot there?!!

What a fantastic day. Thanks Dianne!

Relax

I love the sketches over at ilovesketches. I recently made this layout of our trip to Vaduz, Liechtenstein using sketch #2. Thanks Joanne!