Question of the day

I am in charge of asking the Question of the Day for the next three days at Practical Scrappers. Today's question is:

Are you a chronological scrapper? How do you choose which photos to scrap?
I am not a chronological scrapper, I have about 12 unfinished albums at the moment, and never ever finished one! I scrap what inspires me at the moment, in any order, so I don't think I'll ever finish an album. I have just received a package with two extra albums in the mail so that's 14 now!

I'd love to read your comments, see how you organize your albums and choose the order in which you scrap photos. Please, leave your comment here or at Practical Scrappers' message board.

Alphabet Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the alphabet giveaway is Crafty Girl, who left the following comment:

CraftyGirl said...

I am already a follower! Love visiting your blog!!

Barb :)

Congratulations Barb, and thanks for participating in this giveaway. Please, e-mail me your address.

If you also participated in the Scrapword Puzzle, visit Let's Scrap to see who's won the other alphabet set.

Thanks to all the people who participated in this challenge, I've had lots of fun and will be doing this again soon!!!

Scrapword Puzzle - May 1 to May 31

**This post will be pinned to the top until May 31st, please scroll down for newer posts.**

We are really celebrating NSD and MONTH at Let's Scrap this month. You need to visit the site and check the challenges, games and activities there!

I have posted a Scrapword Puzzle game and challenge with a set of 6 packs of Ki Memories Hip Chip Alphabet Chipboard, from my favourite deal of the day shop, Crafty Steals!

In order to get your name in the hat for a chance to win this prize, become a follower of this blog and leave a comment. If you have a blog, post a comment there. There's an identical prize also waiting for you at Let's Scrap NSD#6, check it out!

Practical Scrappers - Fabric, felt or tulle & Sketch

Practical Scrappers challenge for this week is using fabric, felt or tulle. I made three very girly minibooks and embellished them using tulle. You can have a peek inside the minibooks by clicking here or scrolling down. I only used scraps for these books, so you'll see a little bit of every pink leftover in my statsh!

There's also a sketch challenge starting today, based on a great sketch by Pia. Here's my take on it, visit Practical Scrappers to check the sketch and see what it inspires you to create!

Princess minibooks - Peek inside!

If you liked the minialbums and would like to peek inside them, here are some of their pages and close-ups of some details. Warning: pink, bling, and hearts everywhere - just what a princess like mine likes!

This is the cover for minibook one, "My journal":

Minibook 2 is called "Little princess":

And minibook 3 is "Perfect Princess":

I have been using this pink foam alphabet for some time, so I had to choose titles I could spell, cut letters to make new ones, and replace some of them!

These are some of the pages inside the books:

And these are some of my favourite details:

The flowers are what got me started, since the challenge was using tulle and I started thinking about what I could embellish with tulle flowers and thought of princess minibooks.

I got the lovely graphic sets and alphabets from Lettering Delights.

And some other flower combinations I like, I've finally used those flowers, I've had them for ages!

The princess has a tulle skirt and a very glittery hat!

Let's Scrap - Sketch 5-26-10

This sketch was trouble! I wanted to scrap Mother's Day's photos while I still had the warm feeling of the party with me, but I had too few photos for a double pager with this sketch, and too many for a single one. I decided to include more photos in the strip on the left side of the layout, but somehow they didn't fit in the place where they were supposed to be, so I finally moved them to the right. As a result, it doesn't really look like the sketch :(. Sketches are for inspiration only, though, and sometimes once you get the inspiration, it takes you far, far away from the starting point!

The title was originally going to be "Mommy is her name-o", but it was too long to fit in the space I had, so I just used the M, and wrote the lyrics to the song around then. It looked too small for the space I had, so I added the heart.

Blog Hop #8 winners!!!!

So I know we said announcements would be made on Sunday and Tuesday, but we just couldn't wait! The Blog Hop has been so much fun we really wanted to give the prizes away! The randomly drawn winners for Blog Hop #8 (I asked my daughter to draw the names out of a bag) are

1) Wendy Crowe, who left the following comment in this blog:

Wendy Crowe said...
Love your blog Caroline! Thanks for the inspiration! I finished my layout and it's uploaded on Let's Scrap. Not sure if we are supposed to link it here too...

2) Rebecca J Strom, who posted this fantastic layout at Let's Scrap:

Wendy and Rebecca, please send me an e-mail with your address at scrappingnomad@gmail.com or contact me by PM at Let's Scrap, whatever you prefer.

To see the rest of the winners, and the winner of the GRAND PRIZE, go to Let's Scrap's NSD Winners page.

Thanks to all of you for playing along!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blog hop finale!

I have to say that being a part of the Let's Scrap Blog Hop has been so much FUN!!

I have been amazed at the talent and creativity on all the layouts that were uploaded over at Let's Scrap! And SHOCKED at how many of you were able to complete ALL TEN projects in the hop for a chance at the $50 Grand Prize!! How cool is THAT!!!

We are nearing the finish line and all projects must be uploaded and properly tagged at the Let's Scrap website no later than 11:59pm CENTRAL time TONIGHT!! And now for the part you are all waiting for...the WINNERS!!

Winners for each individual challenge will be chosen randomly Saturday morning. Because the design team members live in several different time zones and countries, it is not possible to give you an exact time. Just keep checking!!! Sunday afternoon a complete list of winners from ALL stops on the blog hop will be posted on Let's Scrap and our individual blogs. If you see your name, be sure to contactthe Design Team member of the blog stop that you won and send her your contact information so your prize can start winging its way to you! For the BIG mama prize....the $50 gift certificate to A Cherry On Top, you will have to be a little more patient while we determine how many of you participated in each stop of the blog hop! The winner of the Grand Prize will be announced on TUESDAY MORNING.

 

On behalf of each of my fellow design team members, I want to thank you

so much for making this such a fun Blog Hop! We hope that you really enjoyed it and are so proud of yourselves for all the hard work you did in getting all those challenges done in just a two week period! Your albums should be busting at the seams by now!!


So, should we do this again sometime?? Let us know what you think!!!

Patterned paper challenge at Practical Scrappers

This week's challenge at Practical Scrappers is using patterned paper. I received a great kit on the day I worked on that layout, and decided to use at least 4 different papers from it. The layout is based on a Julie Bonner sketch. The photos show a trip to the Explora museum in Rome, where my daughter and husband played with machines, so the little gear brads I got with the kit were just perfect! I then downloaded a gear clipart and printed a transparency to use as the background to my photos.

It is one of my all-time favourites, I think it says FUN!

There's also a new sketch challenge going on, don't forget to check it out!

Blog hop! May 7 - May 21

**This post will be pinned to the top until the Blog Hop prizes are announced on May 21st. Please scroll down for new posts!**
You are at Blog Hop #8 on the Let's Scrap Blog Hop!!

National Scrapbooking Day was last weekend, right? Well not at Let's Scrap. We are celebrating our scrapbooking ALL MONTH LONG. We started with some great games and challenges during NSD weekend, and now we are back with the Let's Scrap Design Team Blog Hop. Below you will find a list of those DT's who are joining us in the blog hop. Each stop on the hop will offer you a different challenge. Become a follower of each Design Team Member's blog and as you complete each challenge, upload your finished project to Let's Scrap. Return to each blog and make sure to leave a comment letting us know that you have completed the challenge and uploaded it to Let's Scrap. Make sure you tag your project with the appropriate tag (you will find those instructions on each of our blogs-ie: bloghop1, bloghop2, etc.). Each Design Team member will randomly select a winner of a small prize for participating. For the ULTIMATE challenge, and for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to A Cherry On Top, complete the challenges you will find on EACH stop on the blog hop. Make sure to tag your uploads properly so you are sure to be entered into the random drawing.

Scrapping Nomad's Blog Hop challenge is (surprise!) about nomads. I have selected a list of quotes about travelling, moving and changing, constant elements in a nomad's life. Your Blog Hop challenge # 8 is to use one of these quotes (or part of it -as a quote, journalling, title, whatever works best for you) in a layout based on one of Let's Scrap sketches. I have many travel layouts with quotes, maybe because I feel so many of them describe our nomadic life! This is an old one which I still like a lot (it is probably scraplifted, as it is one of my first layouts and I got lots of ideas from magazines then, but I really don't remember where I got it from).

Once you've finished your layout: 1) upload it to Let's Scrap, tagging it both bloghop8 and the sketch number; and 2) become a follower of Scrapping Nomad and leave a comment here with a link to your layout. Scrapping Nomad's prize, to be drawn among those followers who leave a comment, is this fantastic KI Memories Travel Kit (if you don't win but LOVE this kit, like me, check Crafty Steals, it will be one of their steals soon!).

You can start anywhere along the way within this great group of blogs and each one will link from one site to the next where you will find all the great challenges! And the best part is you have two complete weeks to upload your challenge entries. Even if you don't win the grand prize, if you choose to complete all the challenges available, you will have 10 completed projects! Let's get this hop started!! Remember, to become a follower and return to leave a comment after completing each challenge. Good luck, and have fun!!!! Your next stop is Nana.

1. Susan

2. Cori

3. Deb 

4. Jean
5. Sally
6. Rosalie
7. Scarlett
8. Carolina - You are here!
9. Nana
10. Kristie

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Let's Scrap's sketch for this week is, at first glance, puzzling. You look at the sketch and think.... what can I ever do with this? At least, that's what I thought for a couple of weeks. 

But I always find that this kind of task challenges your creativity, makes you think before you scrap and produces great results. Do take some time and check the DT's fantastic cards for this challenge. And while you're doing that, why not post your own take on it? There's a great prize for the winner, as usual!
My card is a Teddy Bear card, no sentiment on it, so it could be used for different occasions. It was easy to make but I like it a lot, and I will probably make a couple more for the new babies in our complex, I'll just change the colour scheme to soft pink or blue.

Mother's Day Photo

This is my photo for Aleida's challenge for the month of May. It was taken at my daughter's Pre-K classroom mother's day celebration. They sang "Mommy is her name-o", and shared delicious bear cookies with us. And I got to take those beautiful handmade flowers home with me!

Practical Scrappers punches challenge and new sketch

This week's challenge at Practical Scrappers is using punches. I don't have many punches, not because I don't like them (I look at them online and drool) but because they are so heavy to ship to the other end of the world. Here's my layout, based on a sketch by Julie Bonner:

The title is "Shall we play?", because I had about 12 photos of her with the toys and she was just looking at them in all the photos, she was only 3 months old and probably not ready to play yet!!!

There's also a great sketch challenge for you to play with, plus a new Monthly Bonus Challenge. You don't wanna miss them!!!

Beautiful banners at Let's Scrap

This week's sketch at Let's Scrap is full of banners! Come and check out the many different banners the DT have come up with, and then join the fun and post yours! My banner has multi-layered flowers. I saw a flower banner somewhere not so long ago (probably one of my CK magazines) and wanted to do one myself. The flowers are made of stamped crepe paper for the bottom layer and slightly died trim for the top one, and they have a brad in the centre. Love the way they look, will probably be using them a lot in future layouts!

Sticker challenge

This week's challenge at Practical Scrappers is STICKERS. Have you, like me - and, apparently many other scrappers- bought a million cute stickers you've never used? This is your chance, then!

This is my stickers LO. I got my inspiration from Jennifer McGuire's fantastic sticker circle frame in the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes and grabbed my Alice in Wonderland sticker pack. Of course, there weren't enough stickers in it, so I created my own by printing some yummy graphic sets from Lettering Delights.And here are some close ups:

And if you need an extra challenge, there's also a great sketch challenge. Here's my take on it:

It's entitled "the look", because it shows my daughter's new look. She's three years old and getting more and more independent, so she's now choosing her own clothes, and experimenting. This outfit was too much, especially the stripey socks and bright pink sandals!!!

Nomads galore

Don't forget Let's Scrap's Blog Hop starts tomorrow and there are great prizes to win and lots of challenges to play with! I can't say much about it yet, but here is a little hint: think nomad. Here's a list of quotes* about travelling, moving, changing, the constant elements in nomad's life! You may be needing some of them for this blog's challenge, so have a look at them and pick your favourite ones:

• "A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places." Isabelle Eberhardt
• "I'm an adaptable nomad. I love Paris, I've been living in Los Angeles and New York since 1990. I love London, too. My roots are inside of me." Julie Delpy
• “Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in. Without serendipity, there are no surprises.” Rita Golden Gelman
• "They may be America's last pioneers, urban nomads in search of wide open interior spaces.” Cathleen McGuigan
• “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” Jack Kerouac
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
• “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” Miriam Beard
• “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller
• “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” Jawaharial Nehru
• “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” Tim Cahill
• “Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” Fitzhugh Mullan
• “Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God.” Kurt Vonnegut
• "Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.” Frank Herbert
• "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." Anatole France
• "Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights." Pauline R. Kezer
• "There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self." Aldous Huxley
•  "We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations." Anais Nin
• "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." Harriet Tubman

Come back and join the BLOG HOP tomorrow!!!

* When I got these quotes from the internet I meant to check them for accuracy. However, being a double DT on National Scrapbooking Day-Month hasn't left me much time!!! I'm sorry if there are mistakes in any of them.

Jacque's Joie de Vivre

There's a blog I love visiting and I recommend to you, Jacque's Joie de Vivre. I never cease to be amazed by:

1.- Jacque's cards, you really can't miss them, if you told me to choose the most beautiful card, I could spend years and never make up my mind, they are all fantastic!!!

2.- The blog candy!!!!!!!!!! you can't miss that either, so much, so great, so often!

Stop by Jacque's blog and then let me know what you think. I'll leave a permanent link in my side bar.

April 30 Sketch at Practical Scrappers

There are two challenges going on at Practical Scrappers this week:

1) a sticker challenge, which is a great chance to use up the many stickers I'm sure you've been piling up!!! I used ALL my Alice in Wonderland stickers plus had to find a way to make more, but I can't show you that page yet, not until Friday.

2) a sketch challenge, with a lovely sketch by Heidi. This one I can show you, as it has already been published on the page.

I didn't have any paper I liked for this layout, so I stamped and hand cut the border. I made a sun from patterned paper and filled it with brads:

The other embellies were printed and paper pieced from a beach graphic set by Lettering Delights.

Scrapword Puzzle - Examples and tutorial

The Scrapword Puzzle is on until May 31 at Let's Scrap. You can participate in two ways:

1.- Complete the crossword puzzle!
2.- Create a card, layout or altered item using a crossword puzzle as an element in it. Here are my examples:

This is my husband reading a pile of newspapers during a holiday. We can't read local newspapers, so we LOVE papers and magazines when we go abroad. I soaked the newspaper strip in tea to give a vintage look. The LO is based on sketch NSD#1 from Let's Scrap.

The card uses a crossword puzzle as the main element. I have been asked to post a tutorial on how to make this puzzle, so here it goes: