Things on Thursday – The Crafty Tutorial Edition

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Techniques, Things on Thursday..., Uncategorized

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1. I’ve started this online workshop by Christy Tomlinson and I’m *loving* it. Really so good – great videos, and tons of them, awesome PDF’s, and fabulous information. Have I mentioned that I love it? 🙂 I’m hoping to play a little this weekend and will post what comes out of it next week!

(Want to give Christy a “test run?” Check out this!)

2. This is a really neat idea for a canvas from October Afternoon. I never would have thought about putting the frame in the middle…. and I’ve done my fair share of canvases!

3. This is an awesome tutorial for a quick and fun back to school project. Simple enough that if you have kiddies they could help but cool enough to do for yourself – whether you’re in school or not! 🙂

4. Here’s another awesome one from October Afternoon. This one shows you step by step how to cluster embellishments so they look good – easier said than done! Love seeing how they build it all up!

5. Finally, this one is more artsy-craftsy in nature but come on people, rectangular snowmen? Love! I have plans for embellishing them a little more and if I actually have the time to do some, I’ll show you how they turn out!

A super lucky day!

29 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Family

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Kiddies, kiddies, ladybug

Yesterday was a very exciting one for the kiddies – this face should say it all (even more so since you all know what she’s normally like about getting her picture taken!):

Could she be any happier? Can you tell why?

Yup. That’s a little ladybug on her arm! Isn’t it a neat colour? It was kind of brown with orange spots – very cool.

I have to give a ton of credit to that ladybug, it stuck around and allowed itself to be passed from child to child to child to… for at least half an hour. Seriously. Most patient ladybug ever!

As you can tell, the kiddies loved every second.

G was thrilled that it walked on him, as he laughed and said, “He tickle me!”

And Miss M was fascinated by how it would walk over her fingers to her other hand:

All in all, a fun and lucky adventure yesterday. And it dispelled those late afternoon crankies too! 🙂

Sail away…

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Uncategorized

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…for a couple of hours!

I had to teach my Yearlong Album class on Sunday morning and my dad had said he would take us sailing in the afternoon if the winds permitted. The problem with Newfoundland, my friends? There’s either no wind or there’s too much!

It was pretty gusty but we haven’t been on my dad’s boat all summer so we went anyway, with a last minute addition in the shape of my friend Lori who gave me puppy dog eyes when she heard of my afternoon plans! 🙂

My kiddies love the boat, M is always asking Poppy to take her out and she actually has been out a couple of times this summer with him while the rest of us slave away at work!

Here’s my dad, Captain Canada:

He looks pretty intense because he’s steering us out of the harbour. It’s always good to avoid banging into the other boats!

Here’s D waiting to go:

I think sailing stresses him out a little (though he’ll disagree!). He’s always holding the kiddies,which they hate, even though both are in life jackets, and Dad keeps them tied to the boat. If they happened to fall over (highly unlikely) they would dangle over the side which might make for a funny picture and story in a LO! No worries, I’m not about to stage it – M and G would probably love it and want to hang over the sides forever! I guess if one was port and the other starboard they would at least balance out…. 🙂

Me and Lori:

She loved almost every second. I say almost because with the gusty winds we heeled pretty severely a few times and she wasn’t a fan of that, even after Dad explained the whole centre of effort deal.

This one now:

She was in her glee – the more we heeled, the more she laughed. Definitely born to be on the water, that one! I would show you pictures of that but my camera chose to quit working about 10 minutes into the trip…. 😦

Finally, Mr.G:

He loves the boat too, though is not the fan of water that his sister is. He likes to freak out his father and sit on the edge… Makes me laugh! 🙂

All in all, a great couple of hours on Pyxis 2, followed by ship’s dinner of canned ham, potatoes, and veggies. And cookies, of course!

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you would have seen some pics I posted after my camera died! Click the Instagram link if you’d like to see more from our day!

5 on Friday

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Things on Thursday..., Uncategorized

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2012 Yearlong Album, BoBunny, Simple Stories, The Paperie

The weather has been so amazing here that the blog has taken a bit of a backseat this week – sorry!

Since I missed my regular Things on Thursday post yesterday, I decided to steal from Krista for this week and do a 5 on Friday (thanks, Krista!)

1. Crop night at The Paperie tonight – yay! Love getting out with my friends and having a scrappy night, finished off with food, of course! Are you going? Still time to sign up! 🙂

2. I’m teaching my Yearlong Album 2012 class on Sunday and we’ll be working on the September LO. Here’s a sneak for those of you going:

3. The Paperie has an awesome Facebook page and they’ve started tweeting – are you following them? You should!

4. There’s some pretty cool distressing tips on the Bo Bunny blog – the first one looks awesome!

5. I love Simple Stories, and the mini album that DT member Wendy Morris is showing on their blog is amazing – super simple and gorgeous!

Hope you all have a great weekend and crossing my fingers I’ll see some of you tonight!

Layouts!

21 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in ScrapBook

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Kiddies, Layouts, Scrapbooking, Studio Calico

It seems like this summer has been very uncrafty for me – who has the time? Especially since it’s actually been summer-like here this year and I’m taking full advantage!

That being said, I have a couple of LO’s to show you that were made before summer started!

Don’t you love his face? That was his “smile” expression for a while – cracks me up!

And just so she’s not left out:

Love that pic of her, wish I knew what was going through her head!

And don’t you love those flowers? The LO was done with a Studio Calico kit and those were made from the included stamp and Amy Tangerine Border stickers – love them!

Something I’ve noticed lately is that I almost always have hidden journalling. Don’t ask me why it took me this long to figure that out, I’m sure some of my friends are shaking their heads right now and thinking, “Umm, yeah!”

Not the swiftest here sometimes people!

So I guess my “signature design element” would be a toss-up between sanding the heck out of everything and hiding my writing. I don’t do it on purpose, it’s just that I don’t think about it until everything else is done and then I don’t want to add anything else. On the occasion I don’t do hidden journalling, my other trick is to write around the borders of the LO or pictures – it gives them a neat design element and gets the writing in there at the same time!

What are your signature design elements? Take a look back over your most recent LO’s and see if something pops out. I love to hear what you do all the time!

Arrrrr Mateys!

20 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Family

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Conception Bay South. Topsail Beach, Kiddies, Pirate Day, Ray Lake

Yesterday was Pirate Day at Topsail Beach and though D took the kiddies last year while I was working, this was my first time experiencing it.

We were lucky enough to get there early and get parking at the beach thereby bypassing the hassle of walking or taking the shuttle – both a bit of a pain, especially at the end of the afternoon with two tired little ones!

The fun thing is that almost everyone dresses up! Of course, all the kiddies were fully decked out:

…but most adults wore a pirate hat, at least, and for those who were underdressed, Tim Hortons was there with free coffee, timbits, and pirate hats!

We were a little early, so had some time to wander around and take pictures:

Or not! 🙂

Well, we had time to do some exploring at least:

And to look out for the pirate ship:

Finally, it was time for a bit of fun! Ray Lake performed and the kiddies all had a blast! I have the best video of M dancing and trying to hula hoop without actually having a hoop on – funny!

I also finally got one of them to pose for me:

And they were happy to show off their red and green eye patches:

And then suddenly, there she was, with some very loud explosions of cannons!

For such an awesome sight, two eyes are needed – bye, bye eye patch! 🙂

They came ashore with their pirate booty and agreed to trade it, along with the mayor, for their lives and their skeleton friend who was hanging on shore. And the best part was that everyone got some gold coins!

All in all, a fun day and everyone was pretty tired by the time we got home. Another sign of a good day? They didn’t want to leave and are still wearing the pirate hats this morning!

Exciting news…..x2!

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook

≈ 22 Comments

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Create: For the Home, Northridge Publishing, The Collins Rep Group

Lots of fun news for me in the past couple of days and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Have you seen this magazine yet? I love it – getting my print subscription every month makes for a great mail day!

For a long time, friends have been encouraging (aka badgering and harassing) me to submit some work to publications. I actually did submit one piece years ago but that was it. When I started this blog I thought that maybe I should finally heed their advice. And the first time I tried I had a piece accepted!

The exciting news? It’s finally in print and….. it’s a double pager!!!! And I will just say that seeing it in print and photographed professionally made it worth the small fortune it cost me to ship it in! 🙂

So, call The Paperie, they have a bunch coming in, reserve a copy and then check out page 118!

Second, many of you will remember that last year The Paperie took me to Houston for 4 days worth of classes and workshops from the industries best – Tim Holtz, Jennifer McGuire, Shari Carroll, Mitra Friant, Cheryl Mezzetti, Candy Rosenberg, and so many more! I was like a kid in the world’s largest candy store – it was kind of ridiculous actually. 🙂

This year, I am lucky enough that they have asked me to go to the same Education and Trade Show with them but in Orlando this time. And although I don’t know yet what classes I will be taking, the line-up of instructors is amazing – Ranger – Tim Holtz, Dyan Reaveley, The Crafter’s Workshop – Jamie Echt, Creative Imaginations – Cheryl Mezzetti, Basically Bare – Angela Pruitt, Lawn Fawn – Kelly Marie Alvarez, Impression Obsession – Mitra Friant, and so many more, like Hero Arts, Queen & Co, 7 Gypsies, and My Favourite Things!

You all know what this means right? Lots and lots of fabulous inspiration and amazing classes when I return! Who wants another weekend full of awesomeness like last year? 🙂

Yeah, me too!

So there’s all my news, hope you’re excited for it all too!

The Simplest Mini Album Ever

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Mini Album, ScrapBook, Techniques

≈ 4 Comments

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American Crafts, Dear Lizzy, Mini Album, Neapolitan, Washi Tape

I needed a super quick and easy mini a while back and this sheet a paper was in a Paperie kit I had open in front of me. I don’t know about you, but to me it looked like a mini book kit waiting to happen!

Let the fun begin…

I literally printed my 12 on Twelve pics from June, pulled out my washi tape and a black pen and that was it. At the very end I added some baker’s twine but there were no other embellishments or adhesive. In other words, if you want an on-the-road kit for a vacation project, this is what you’ve been waiting for! 🙂

I cut all the elements from the patterned paper apart and trimmed out my pictures.

I then took the two largest patterned pieces, laid them side by side and adhered washi tape to the seam on the outside.

After that I just washi taped in the other pieces, paper and pictures, as needed.

There is very little journalling as the pictures were simply an overview of one day so I felt they only needed quick captions.

There are also no embellishments because I felt the assortment of washi tape and the interest of different sized papers added enough.

Also, I made some extra little flaps and tags with the smaller pieces of patterned paper to add to it all!

Obviously, you can use any paper for something like this, and you can add many more embellishments, journalling, extras, etc. but this is a great starting point for those of you always asking, “What do I take with me as a small kit on the go?” It doesn’t get any smaller than this, my friends!

I may go back and add some stickles here and there (I have just a small obsession with Rock Candy!) just to bling it up a little but…. we’ll see!

I hope you try out a quick mini and leave me a comment so I can see what you make. Or, if you want more detailed instructions, let me know, I can always do a tutorial for you!

Back tomorrow with some exciting news….. times 2! 😉

Some cards…

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by Sara in Cards

≈ 3 Comments

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cards, Friendship, Papertrey Ink, Pink Cat Studio, Sympathy

I thought I’d post a couple of cards today that I’ve never shared. I don’t really consider myself a card maker but now and then I do one that I really like – here are a couple!

Note: Sorry for the pics – I took these ages ago and the lighting was terrible!

one of a kind

Come on! Those owls are seriously cute! They’re from a company called Pink Cat Studio and they have cling rubber stamps that are totally fun – go check them out! If you’re not sure, get a digi stamp from them for a “test run!”

As I was linking this I saw this stamp – may have to break down for that one!

With Heartfelt Sympathy

This is a stamp set from Papertrey Ink and it’s perfect for sympathy cards, though I have made some nice birthday cards too, with a different sentiment obviously! I love how the shading turned out.

I have another project to share tomorrow – a super simple and quick mini album so come back to check it out!