This will be my last Scrap Your Stash month for a couple of months to come. I have actually scrapped my stash away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This month I had to buy metal embellies and pearls, as I had none left. And I really, really need to buy some new supplies, otherwise I will soon be working with newspapers and my daughter's crayons!!!  Will do a couple of months of hoarding and re-join you after that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zoo animals

The LO I'm going to share with you today was created following Pia's February Sketch at Practical Scrappers. The sketch has big circles in the background, and I wanted to reproduce them in my layout, so I took this gorgeous Curio Pinking Shears paper and heat embossed the circles. The pics are not very colourful (pretty cloudy at the zoo), so I kept my colours quite muted. The result is quite different from what I usually create, and I like that!

I used my Silhouette to cut the titles and embellies, and embossed them to match the rest of the layout. Love that little lizard in particular (must be because I have so many lizards and iguanas in my backyard!).

Good news!

I am very happy and proud to announce I have re-joined the DT at Practical Scrappers. I was sad to leave when we moved last year, but now that I have finally settled in, I can join the team again. The site has changed a lot in the past months and is buzzing with activity, so if you don't want to miss anything, you should check it out!!!!

More summertime

I had so much fun playing with the summertime collection, that I decided to make a card with some of the scraps. But the balloon I wanted to use was too big for the card I had in mind, so I decided to create a banner instead. I think it would be nice to get a lovely banner instead of a card, hang it somewhere you can see it and enjoy it. And there's even a cloud with lines where you can write a personal message for the person who receives the banner. Here it is:

It was very hard to take a picture of it, being made of acrylic, but I think you can get an idea, and here are some close ups for a better look:

I must say I love the final result, and it looks much better in person!!!

Rosie and me

You may be wondering who Rosie is.... well, she is DD's favourite doll in the world. She got a set of almost identical twin dolls for Christmas, but for some reason, she has taken to love only one of them (the other one always misbehaves and spends her days in time out!!!). Last week, she painted her face and wanted Rosie to have exactly the same look. I love this photo, and wanted to scrap it as soon as I took it, so I used it for Challenge 85 at Let's Scrap. For this challenge I used fabric, ribbon (well, not exactly ribbon, but I guess it counts) and metal. I made the pinwheel embellies and used both acrylic paint and ink in the background. 

And this is a close up of the pinwheels:

This was lots of fun, Kathy, so glad I could take part in this challenge!

Two little ducks

This is a LO I made for this week's sketch at Let's Scrap. I'm not into multi-photo layouts at the moment (and when I force myself to work on them, they don't look right!) so I took the right side of the sketch, used the strip of photos to the left, and replaced the big photo to the right with a die cut.

It doesn't show in this pic, but I added flocked circles to the sun, to give the layout more texture, and to try and balance that very busy strip to the left. You can see the flocking in this close-up:

And this is a close-up of the bottom of the strip:

It is a great sketch, so I hope you visit Let's Scrap and show us your take on it!

Playing with acrylic

After so much "hard work" for the blog hop, I felt like relaxing and playing a little bit last night. It has been a very bad week, we had a bad car crash last Saturday, and although we are OK, it was a very scary experience. So, when DD and DH were both asleep in the living room couches at 7 p.m. yesterday, I decided it was time to play. I chose sketch 225 from pencillines, which had a banner in it, and decided to make an acrylic banner. But I didn't want something completely clear, so I painted it with acrylic on one side, and heat embossed it on the other. So great to have my heat gun again (the other one lasted only 5 minutes after I plugged it into a 220 outlet!!!). This is the final result, and I must say I LOVE it:

Ok, you can see I love the banner more than the LO, as I showed it first, but I think the LO looks good, too. 

This Pink Paislee Sweetness collection was just perfect for this photo. I've cut holes in most of the papers I got in my kit for this layout, so I will be using the rest for cards, otherwise, if I leave them with other scraps I might forget to use them, and they are too yummy to waste!!! Now, here comes a warning, lots of more close-up pics coming now! First the banner:

Then the other details:

Now, off to work on the Pink Paislee scrap cards!!!!!!!!!!!!

My blog has got attitude!

Thanks Charlotta for giving me this prize! Having a look at your multilingual blog, I am thinking it would be a good idea to start posting in Spanish as well. Double the work, though, so I'll have to think about it a little bit longer.

It's a beautiful day

"It's a beautiful day" is the sentiment in the card I created for this week's sketch reveal at Let's Scrap. I got some papers and embellies from this collection in this month's scraproom kit and my mouth started watering as soon as I saw them! They are just gorgeous. Not too sure what I'll do with the papers yet, as I don't want to waste them, they are too yummy. That's why I decided to use this little die cut as the sentiment in my card.

And this is what it looks like inside:

Not too much space to write on, but you could always tuck a little note in the trim if you are going for a longer text.

Soaring high

This is a card I made for a colour challenge resolution. I started looking and realized I didn't have many things in those colours, but managed to create a card with what I found. I've run out of pearls, so I need to buy more!!!!!!!!!!

Little Science Geek

When I got this layout with one of my Scraproom kits, I thought it would go to waste, as I couldn't think of any pics to go with it. Last week, while I was looking at pictures for yet another blog hop resolution, I found these pics of my daughter at 7 months, playing with daddy's laptop. They couldn't have been more suitable for these pics!

The blog hop has started!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to Resolution #5.

This post will remain at the top until the end of the blog hop, please scroll down for newer posts.
I'm so happy that you have decided to join us for the Let's Scrap Hoppy New Year Blog Hop!  It starts Friday, Jan.14, 2011 and runs until 11:59 pm central time on Monday, Feb. 14, 2011. That’s right: it runs for a whole month! Because it is the New Year we thought it would be fun to name the challenges Resolutions rather than Challenge #1,Challenge #2 etc.

There are 15 Design team, Contributing Design Team and Administrators from Let’s Scrap hosting the blog hop. They will each have a Resolution (challenge) for you to do and a prize that you can win. Also one of the members of the group who doesn’t have a blog is posting a couple of great challenges in the Let’s Scrap Forum and there will be in depth rules and other important information posted in the forum, so make sure to check it all out.  

Not only do you have a chance to win a prize for each challenge you enter but if you complete and post an entry for EVERY challenge along the blog hop by February14, 2011, your name will be entered into a random drawing for a wonderful prize supplied by Cosmo Cricket. On every blog in the hop you must become a follower and leave a little love (a comment) for the host. Okay, are you ready to start the Let's Scrap...hop?  First of all, make sure you start by checking Resolution#1 at Let’s Get Scrap Happy (though, of course, you may complete resolutions/challenges in any order and/or may choose to skip some if you’re not aiming for the big prize).  Now, have a look at the rules for the hop here.

Now we are ready to play. Resolution #5 is VERY simple: NOT TO OPEN ANYTHING NEW FOR THIS PROJECT. All you have to do is use a Let’s Scrap Sketch for a layout, card or project and promise not to open any new pack of ANYTHING for this layout. It doesn’t mean you have to use old products, it just means you need to have opened the pack of materials you are using now for a previous project. Of course, I can’t go to your house and check whether you have actually used a new set of stickers or the remaining letters from an older set, but what is the point of joining a challenge and not following the rules?

This is my example for this challenge, based on the left side of sketch 1-12-11.

Leave a comment here and load a photo of your work at Let’s Scrap and Tag it Resolution#5, otherwise I won’t be able to locate it among all the other layouts, cards, and  projects that will be posted. This is the prize you can win (randomly drawn winner): .

Good luck and enjoy the hop! And now, move on to the next blog in the hop: My Scrappy Story. If you get lost on the way, you can always check the list of blogs and summary of rules at Let's Scrap's main page.

Another Valentine's card

Another Valentine's card, this time for Resolution #4 in Let's Scrap's Blog Hop. The instructions were to use a Let's Scrap sketch and include a list, so I included one inside the card.

Almost there!

Only 4 more resolutions to complete before the end of Let's Scrap's Blog Hop!!!! I think I can make it, keeping my fingers crossed! I have a few things to share with you today, the first one is the LO I made for this week's sketch at Let's Scrap. I wanted to enter it in the Sassafras Project Challenge at Two Peas, so it's made with paper from their Apple Jack and Count me in collections.

I've also made two cards for Resolutions #7 and #6 in the Blog Hop (I'm doing a countdown, and #5 was my challenge, so that one's already completed!).

  While I was taking pictures of this card, under the mango tree (love the light there in the morning) I saw someone spying on me and finally captured him on camera (been trying for some time with no success).

I have to say he doesn't look so threatening in person as he does in the pic. It probably has to do with the fact that he is only a few inches tall, just a baby!

Mango picking

I started thinking on a LO for Let's Scrap's Resolution #9 yesterday morning, and it was hard! The instructions are to scrap a moment that makes you laugh or smile, and I kept changing pictures, choosing different moments from our life in Libya, from our trips, thinking about journalling for them. While I was doing that, I heard DH and DD picking up mangoes from the tree in the front garden. They love doing that on weekends, and it always brings a smile to my face, as they really enjoy picking and eating those mangoes -and doing it together. I decided to take a picture of that moment and scrap it.  

I wanted to go for a cleaner style, and it was very hard, as I have been adding tons of stuff to my layouts lately. It's not 100% clean style, but it is a style change. I like changing styles every so often, it helps keep me motivated. Still 7 LOs to finish before Feb 14th, lots of scrapping this week!

I've ridden on Thomas!

I'm still trying to finish all my resolutions for Let's Scrap's blog hop before the deadline, so here is my LO for Resolution #10. This is a trash to treasure challenge, and as soon as I had a look at Megan's example I knew what I had to scrap: the "I've ridden on Thomas" sticker I've had on my desk for months, always fearing it will get lost or damaged (it has miraculously managed to avoid several coffee spills by just millimeters!). I added another trash to treasure item: a fabric tag I'd cut from DD's pyjamas a year ago.

And in case you are wondering why my husband's face is so small when you compare it to the restt of his body, it's because he was posing in a Fat Controller sign! LOL!

Gift Tag Box

For Resolution #11 in the Blog Hop I decided to make a small box for storing Gift Cards. I based my design on a Let's Scrap card sketch, and used the three required colours: blue, white and silver. 

It was easy to make, but now I need to make the tags that go in it!

Resolution #12

I made a card for Debby's challenge, Resolution #12. The instructions were to use a Let's Scrap sketch and eyelets. I wanted to use this butterfly I've had for some time, so I made a brown card to match it.

And with this card, I've used up my JB Hodge Podge embellishment tin, so I think I deserve to buy a new one, I hope my Scrap our Stash friends agree!

Camina??? - Let's Scrap - Resolution #8

I'm working hard trying to finish all the LO's for the Let's Scrap Blog Hop, though I'm not too sure I will! This is my take on Resolution #8:

The title means "Is she walking???". The photos are from when DD was 4 months old, and, of course, she was not walking, but with so much hair and those new clothes and shoes, she looked like a big girl!

If you see similar embellies to my previous layout with flowers and circles it's because this one is meant to go next to it in the album. It's not a double layout, but at least having similar colours and embellies, they won't clash. Here are the close-ups:

And I'm really scrapping my stash! These foam hands had been in my drawer since 2005!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's Scrap 2-2-11 - Colour Invasion!

I have a problem when I start with this kind of colourful LO: I can't stop adding cute things, and always end up feeling my photos are lost in a sea of colour at the end. I still enjoy the colourful look, though, so will certainly find the same problem in some other layout soon. They do brighten albums up, that's for sure.
The title reads "G is for the most yummy, delicious GNOCCHI," and the phrases in Spanish say: "I want more!" "Me too!" (says the frog).

Let's Scrap - Resolution #13

This was a very hard resolution for me to follow, as I don't scrap on cardstock any longer, I usually find patterned paper more appealing, even for backgrounds. I started looking at past sketches to try and get inspired, and when I saw sketch 6-9-10 I remembered this gorgeous LO by Kinsey Wilson I'd seen at Two Peas

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/gallery/member/425872-kinseywilson/1699890-sleepy-face/ and I decided to lift the idea. I used the Silhouette to cut the circles/flowers, which made it very easy (I have kept the file, so mail me if you want to give it a try), but then I ruined the page by misting the wrong side, so had to hand cut the design from the page and paste it on a different background... lots of work! I like the final result, though, so I am happy about the process. Here is the layout:

And here are some close ups. I really like the fact that I was able to include lots of small details in this layout without making it too crowded. Working on a page for the right side of the album, now, and it is hard to make a LO that won't clash with this!!! What do you do with single page layouts in albums?

Anyway, here are some close ups of the details:

Just 11 more resolutions to scrap!