Bo Bunny Challenge Layout

I recently saw the following sketch posted on the Bo Bunny blog as a sketch challenge and knew I had the right papers and photo to complete the challenge.

I chose not to include the die-cut as the base of my photo because the die-cut from the Bo Bunny  Cambridge line was cream and I really wanted a green background as my Grandpa was in the Canadian Armed Forces especially since the photo is black and white. 

I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder to create the checked pattern on the yellow and red papers. I distressed all of the edges of the papers and inked all the edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink.

It is hard to see in these photos but I also painted Tarnished Brass Distress Stickles on the lions and eagles on all the creasts as well as the wings and star on the cut out above the photo. I painted Black Soot Distress Stickles on the black portions of the crests. I also painted Aged Mahogony Distress Stickles along the red edge of the cream and red die-cut behind the photo. Ichose to paint the Stickles on as I just wanted to add a hint of extra texture to the elements.

Besides the technique items, pretty much everything else on the page is from the Bo Bunny Cambridge line. The only item I added that was not is the trinket pin pictured above which is from Tim Holtz.

I love the way this layout turned out. This photo has always been one of my favourites from the collection of photos my Grandma kept. It shows my Grandpa's personality and his love for his family (the boy standing is my Dad and the baby Grandpa is holding is my Uncle). This is definitely one I will always treasure.

A Layout with Authentique

It has been so nice to sit down and create something of my own! Granted, I created this layout for a challenge at Scrap-A-Lot (the scrapbook store I work at), but it will be all mine, mine, mine when the store is finished with it. I really need to focus on doing my own stuff more often. Between the work I do for the store (designing, working at the store and for the store at home), doing my own work for Heartland Studio, looking after my home, pets, DH and my LOM (Little Old Man), there just doesn't seem to be a lot of time left (as I'm sure you all understand completely). I definitely need to make scrapping for me a priority too since it makes me so happy (and my albums are feeling neglected).

So, here is the layout I completed for our recent challenge to use Authentique product for a layout. I love this new line of product in every shape and colour. I haven't done a lot on my own with this type of product (cutesy has been my mainstay for a while now) but I have been more and more attracted to anything with a vintage twist. I think part of that comes from working on my family genealogy. I am in a happy place when I look at this layout. I love everything about it. The photo was just taken last weekend while we were all dressed up for a wedding. The title "measure your life in love" has been on my title list for a long time. It is a lyric from my favourite musical "Rent".

Here is a few detail views of the layout. I did a lot of paper rolling on the measuring tape pieces. I love the look of it as well as the little embellishment clusters all over the page.

The chipboard hinges are from Twiddleybitz. I inked them with black craft ink and then sprayed them with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. The metal clock and the decorative button were also sprayed with the mist.

The Saga

The saga of my basement continues. Lots of you know that we had some isues awhile back during the first big rain week when water came in through the windows in the basement. After reinforcing the windows and pulling up the carpet in K's play area as well as pulling back the carpet under the other two windows to replace the underpad, we thought we had it pretty well licked. Apparently not.

The last big rain week showed us that we still had a leak on the large side wall of the basement. After doing some investigating, it turns out we have a crack in the foundation. The basement is entirely finished so finding the crack was no small feet. The crack is small but the water seeps in slowly, goes down the wall and pools at the bottom. Not cool. A good stroke of luck for us is that our neighbour's Dad is a general contractor who has fixed these types of issues before. We are hoping to talk with him sometime this week to get his opinion and get things going on fixing the issue.

In the meantime, the basement is a complete shambles. The carpet is still pulled back along two walls, furniture and stuff is in piles everywhere and the cats have taken it upon themselves to make things even worse by continually "marking" the basement carpet. We are thinking now that we may replace the flooring down there entirely and put in the laminate that we put in K's playroom (or something along those lines). Easier clean up would be great and I can't take the smell down there! No matter what I try, it doesn't go away.

Now with the warm weather, I am definitely missing the coolness of the basement and my space to work on scrapbooking. K is missing his playroom and his run around space and A is missing having his man cave (both his tv area and his office space- most of K's toys etc. are in his office). We did manage to clear out some of the toys this evening as the floor in K's playroom is done and I was able to access some of my scrap supplies (insert "Hallelujah" chorus here). That's right! I got some scrapping done tonight (upstairs of course) so I should have something to post tomorrow. Just have to put some finishing touches on my page.

At Last!

I'm back in the blogging world (and blogger is giving me a hard time)! It has taken some doing since I am so grumpy about having my site look exactly as I want it. But I think I am pretty close.

I've come back to blogging as many of my friends in scrapbooking are getting into it. I love seeing everyone else's work and being able to share this way since we don't always get time to see one another. I also really missed archiving the daily happenings in our life. I have a super bad memory, so a blog becomes my way of keeping things straight and writing things down. I just never get around to actually putting pen to paper and I spend so much time on the computer that this is a no brainer.

I hope you all will join me in this adventure and enjoy my crazy rambling stories. Since I am still in the process of getting some new scrap pages done (and my other recent work is hidden behind crazy kids clutter in the basement due to a little bit of basement flooding), I thought I would share a few of my old pages that I have images of on my computer. These are all pre-mamahood and might be a little rough around the edges but that is what I love about scrapbooking- it's a journey and a learning experience.

One of me as a little one. I've only done a few pages about myself growing up. I would like to do an album about myself but considering I haven't even scrapped my wedding yet, we'll see if it happens.

Me & my DH. Not a lot to this page but the sentiment is there. Going to be doing another page with this photo again in the future since I don't really scrap this size (originally did this layout for a challenge).

Above is furbaby #2 as a kitten: Jack.

Below is furbaby #3making sure he doesn't get left behind during his second move (poor baby has moved 3 times): Fife.