Family Celebrations

Hi there,
It is a beautiful summer here in Michigan. Very hot at the moment, but I wait for these days all winter, so in no way am I complaining. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I am sitting in front of an open window, just drinking in the beauty around me...JOY!!!

Today I have another page from my daughter's album. This one is about the baptism of their first child. Oh, what a beautiful memory that is. We are so blessed that their home is a God filled haven for the kids to grow up in. The ceremony at the church was beautiful and it was such a happy event. Their son is now 22 years old and getting his PhD at MIT. Woo hoo... we are so happy for him. He is a wonderful, God filled young man. May the Holy Spirit lead him to fulfill the dream God has for him.

So, here's the layout:

The paper is an old world tapestry print that I just love. It has the muted colors of blue, olive green and tea stain. Great for traditional moments like this.
As you can see, I matted in blue and olive green. The branch flourish on the side is from Blue Fern and I added some some small flower dies from Memory Box dies. That's the little blue bells that you see. The dies that are on the market right now are so amazing. They are just beautiful. The problem is, I keep waiting to buy because everyone is coming out with new stuff. Especially with CHA coming up...I guess we had better all wait what all is new after that!!!

I love the sentiment at the bottom.
I used a CHERISH rub-on and then stamped over it to say "remember this moment". I had put the cherish on first and then got this new stamp for "remember this moment" and just really needed to use that in this layout. I like the way it looks.

Here's the challenges I entered with this:
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/ "Therefore with joy shall you draw waters out of the well of salvation" from Isaiah...how fitting is that?
http://citycrafter.blogspot.com/ "Dress it Up" I feel this is dressed up with the large branch flourish and the flowers added on...plus the sentiment on the bottom. I hope this fits with City Crafter's idea of "dressed up".
http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ Anything goes...this is my second submission for this month.
http://www.rheddandrosies.blogspot.co.uk/ This one is anything goes also.

That is it for today!!
Thank you so much for visiting. Please leave a comment...I love, love, love to hear from you...

elena

My favorite things...A day at the beach...

Hi there everyone,

What a week...
I've made several layouts for that album I'm working on and it is so much fun!!!
Seeing pictures of my grandkids when they were babies is just PRICELESS!!!
It's hard to even stop looking at pictures and deciding what to scrap. I can't include all the pics just because they're so cute, I have to pick important events. But, for me, that is the hardest part. I ooh and aah and procrastinate. Finally, I have to just make myself stop, decide and get on with it.

This layout I am showing today is the last one I made, because one of my favorite challenge sites is "Scrapping Every Day Miracles" and their new one for July is to scrap about "favorite things". That was great because I wanted to include these pictures in the album and they represent my very favorite things...family & beach. There is nothing I like better than to be with my family AND be at the beach.  I always tell people that when I get to heaven, God will have a place for me by the ocean. I can really see it...a nice open cottage...lots of windows...a beach, an adirondack chair, a pretty white large shawl and a paint canvas with brushes and paints. (I don't have the talent to paint here on earth...but it's one of the gifts I want in heaven).  Daydreaming again....what's your dream????
http://scrappingeverydaymiracles.blogspot.no/  favorite things and an office supply item. Mine is the star paperclip.

Okay, on to my layout...
I have to tell you that this is a lift from a layout I saw on someone's blog a long time ago. I printed it out and have used it several times since. It's such a different layout and I've liked it every time I've had the chance to do it. This one is the beach, but it would be really good in snow too...

The pictures were taken in 1995 with our middle daughter and her three youngsters. The baby at the top is baby Rachel. That skinny guy in the middle is my hubby. That layout was perfect. You have to cut the pics up really narrow and that brings the images to the front focus.  So, as I am sure you can tell, I am happy with the outcome.

So here's the other challenges I am entering:
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/anything goes...
         fun with family and grandchildren
http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/summer sizzle
         what's more sizzling than a day at the beach with little people!!!
http://dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com/summer pictures and colors
         It's hard to see on the photo, but I used white pearl paint to stencil circles         on the background and also stamped quite a few dragonflies around the tiles.
 http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com/ freestyle...anything goes.

That's it for today.
Have a very blessed day...

Elena
 

A card for my hubby,

Hello peeps in blogland,

We are having such wonderful weather here in Michigan.
I look forward to spring and summer so much. Everything turns that beautiful bright green...flowers of every kind start to pop out all at once...and there it is!!!
That long awaited spring with the feel of fresh, warm breeze. It seems to wash everything clean
and make us feel like everything is better.
I wish it would last forever, but that wouldn't work because we probably would get tired of it.
I would sure like to try it though.

I have been quite ill lately and have not kept up with things very well. I get migraines and the last few weeks have been really tough. Hard to be creative when you just want to crawl into bed and stay there.

I did get some stuff done though and will be sharing it as I get better.
Mostly, I made cards for family and our church shut-ins.
I can honestly say I am really tired of working on cards.
Last night and this morning I went back to working on a layout and put another page together for my daughter's book. It was so fun to get back to a layout. And it's fun too because of the pictures and the memories that come up.

But today I am sharing a card I made for my hubby.
It's very simple, but that's all that I could come up with.
It also fits really well with a challenge I saw just as I was making the card.
Here it is:

The challenge is at http://musecardclub.blogspot.com.au/
We are given an inspiration card and need to create a card using any of the elements for inspiration.
My card uses the color blue and also the chevron design. I was already thinking of the chevron before I even saw the challenge so I was very happy to be able to join that challenge site and play along for the first time.

I am also entering the challenge at http://dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com/
Dutch Dare is asking for anything that begins with "B"....in my card that is BLUE & BROWN

The card really doesn't need any explanation. It's pretty straightforward and simple.
Actually, I am not a big fan of plain and simple cards. That seems to be the rage right now and some are really beautiful and I am trying my hand at them too. But I tend to like more "stuff" on my cards and pages. Plain and simple always makes me feel like I'm not finished. Something should be added to all that white space.

That's what's so great about this craft...Anything and everything is wonderful as long as you love what you are doing!!!

Be blessed and have a great week,

Elena

Hello again....

Well, almost two months went by since I blogged, I just can't believe it.
I never stopped creating, I just procrastinate about posting it!!!
I'm working on that!!!

There are two crafty projects that I am working on right now.
One is to make cards for our church shut-ins, the other is an album for our daughter's 25th wedding anniversary. I love both of these projects so much!!! I tend to enjoy layouts a little more than cards, but both are great. And I like it because it shifts your thinking. Smaller projects just work differently than a large piece with several pictures on it.
YES...crafting is good, fulfilling, energizes our lives AND gives much joy to the receiver.
Like Hallmark says, "When you care enough to send (or give) your very best"...and our very best is a piece of ourselves...our very inner being. That is a gift beyond compare.

So, in this post I am going to share a page from the album. It's 4 pictures of our daughter's oldest kids when they were babies. Luke was first and Bekah came 14 months later. These pics are so adorable!!! It's really a special privilege to be a grandparent and see a second generation grow and become adults. Both of these kids are now in college and doing very well.

So here's the pic:

Right away I wanted to do a scalloped side border, but I didn't want it to go all the way around, and I wanted it to look like it was sticking out of the top page. I cut the turquoise sheet at an angle on the two corners and folded it over the scallops. Looks really good...I like it!

I am very bad at journaling and I really wanted to say something about those pictures. So I cut tiny tags in yellow and attached them to the appropriate picture. I am sure it could have been done more creatively, I've gotta work on that!! The picture where Bekah is kind of laying is so CUTE!! I have loved that ever since we took it. She is really skinny now so I can show it in the album without em-barrasing her, but she was a little chub and every time we tried to sit her up (she was only about 3 months old!) she would fall back in this sprawled out position that just brought so much laughter, we would all be in tears. The little tag says "I could get a bite...if I could just sit up!!!"

The dragonfly is sitting on a circle medallion from Memory Box. Their products are among the
 best !! Their dies are so thin and delicate and look beautiful on anything!

I am entering this into the http://littletangles.blogspot.com/
     Their challenge is to use pick two colors from aqua, yellow & coral. I picked the aqua &
     yellow.
Also entering the http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/
     Their challenge is "Anything goes". Their Scripture is "children are a gift from the Lord".

Thank you so much for stopping by.
I love to read other designers' blogs...hope you enjoy looking at mine too!
Leave me a comment, please...I love to hear from you.

Bunches of hugs,
Elena

Hi, welcome to my little space of creativity...

Today I am playing at a challenge site that I have not had an opportunity to participate in before.
http://www.runwayinspired.blogspot.com/ I have seen this "Runway Inspired" challenge for a couple of months now but never had the right project to enter with.

I LOVE the idea of a beautiful dress or outfit and then creating something that would complement it. Their DTs come up with some great stuff and there's been a couple cards in the past that I thought were outstanding.

This time it's a young looking outfit made up of a white Tshirt with a design on the chest and black/white striped sleeves coming out from under it. A Bright yellow (looks like leather) short skirt, yellow high heels and a pink purse. There is pink in the design on the chest too.
It was love at first sight!!! I immediately saw one of my granddaughters in those colors and I knew I could do it this time.

I had so much fun with this. I made a bookmark tag and I truly think it looks like her. She is a diva, loves glitz and shiny things...but yet is quite modest and doesn't want anything too outlandish. I hope she loves it like I do.

Hope you like it too. Here it is:

http://www.runwayinspired.blogspot.com/

 I also found another challenge that I could enter:
http://craftyribbonschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/


Well, what do you think?
Leave me a comment to let me know.
Not too much to go into detail about. Everything is from stash that's been hanging around. That black and gray striped piece is from a chipboard flourish that I got long ago and never could find a use for the negative piece. Doesn't it look great there though???

Thanks for visiting,
Elena

Our daughter's 21st Annivversary...

Our daughter was married on leap day 21 years ago. She was so excited about doing that and still enjoys it very much. We always laugh about how many years (counting only the leap years, of course); being one of a few who can choose between two days 3 years out of four; etc. Their wedding was even covered in our city newspaper as one of a handful who chose to get married on that day.

So I made this card as a "not the traditional" anniversary card. Leap day is not traditional so I thought they needed something out of the ordinary. I love the heart cut-out. It is a Dazzles heart from "Hot off the Press". Dazzles come on a lift-off sheet and are the basic design outline, plus a cut-out design on the inside. They are really beautiful and you can put them on anything, beautiful paper, fabric, or like in this case, a painted transparency.

Two years ago, Tim Holtz did his "Chemistry 101" class...all about alcohol inks. It was really fun to learn and I did a bunch of layering colors on transparencies. I kept the pieces and use them once in a while for embellies. Those transparencies took the color really well and came out very richly colored.

The heart is layered on a TWINCHIE (2x2 inch) and has a gold key attached at the bottom. (Key to my heart...get it? (hee hee). The black twinchie was embossed with clear UTEE and came out quite thick. I bent it back and forth to get it to crack in places. It's difficult to see because the heart covered most of it, but it's visible when you look closely.

The paper was a pretty flowered piece that I distressed with Distress color (burlap brown) and I added some pink dots. After looking at it though, I wish I had put on some small hearts...

That beautiful lace is from Frilly & Funky...she has the most beautiful lace at a wonderful price.

Here's the pics:

I am entering this card in these two challenges:
http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/
http://twinchie-twinchiehotmaillive.blogspot.com/

That's it for me today.
The whole country has had a lot of bad weather this February...
I'm looking for a much better March...SUN!!! YES!!!!

Blessings,
e

Have you made your heart sing today?

I don't see too much Iris folding on the blogs right now.
I'm sure it was popular at different times, but a friend and I went to a card class and she had us try this technique. It was really a lot of fun!!! 
I was kind of surprised that I liked it because, while it looked kind of interesting, I never thought about actually using it on a card. The teacher had several patterns for us to choose from and that boot was just calling my name...I knew I'd find a use for it.

I got home and I realized that it would soon be my granddaughter's 17th Birthday and the boot would be PERFECT!!! So I made a tag that she could use for a bookmark and I really like the way it turned out.
My big mistake was that I did not have any gesso to prep the paper before I painted it that blue color.
The acrylic paint made the card wetter than I thought, and because of the bulk of the folded paper underneath it stayed wet for a long time.

So, I learned a lot:
       Don't use acrylic paint unless you use gesso first.
       Prepare the front piece BEFORE you adhere it to the folds.
       Prepare the back BEFORE you adhere it to the front.
       In other words, do everything seperately first. Much easier that way.

And here's the pics:

 Isn't that boot great??? The colors turned out so perfect!
The top and the heel of the boot are cut in a single piece of a black glittery sort of paper.
Very cool looking. The rest of the papers are just pieces left over from other projects.
I guess that's the great thing about this Iris folding. You really do get to use up some of those papers that were just too good to throw away. Also, when the paper is folded it brings out different parts of the papers
and looks completely different.

And I LOVE this little statement I found on Pinterest.
So cool! So right for her...but really, so right for EVERYBODY!!!

I've been thinking a lot about this little statement.
To "EVERY DAY DO SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOUR HEART SING"....
Which means that most of the time we will do something to either treat ourselves to something lovely,
or treat someone else to something lovely (a smile or a hug perhaps???)
Most of the time, our heart sings when we have made someone else happy or lightened their load in some way. As we well know though, sometimes we're the ones who need something wonderful to happen. So it's okay to do something to pamper or give ourselves a break.

Take the time, right now, to love on someone who's with you,
     and love on yourself too.

I did find a couple of challenges to enter this tag in:
http://www.frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/2013/02/challenge-be-bold.html
http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/ picture inspiration...my inspiration was the blue, brown & maze

Blessings,
e

I WON...continued

I am making this a separate post so that the first one doesn't get too lengthy and I can give proper attention to both companies that blessed me with such wonderful prizes.

So now, on to the next win.
This one is from "Heartfelt Creations".
I knew Heartfelt from the dies that they make (i LOVE dies)...but this time they were featuring two separate collections. It included the paper, cut out labels for cards and layouts, stamps AND a beautiful new die.

See it here:

This collection is "Countryside Evening Collection" It is absolutely gorgeous.
I didn't know what a "collection" is...never having gotten one before. But WOW!!!
All you need to add is imagination and embellies!

The paper is double sided and goes perfectly with the stamps. The colors are kind of earthy, some are dark and moody...just like an evening in the country. It will be great with mixed medium...but I don't care much for the messy kind and I can see this more in the vintage elegant Graphic 45 kind.
I really love it!!!

And how about that DIE???? I was already saving to buy that because I watched a video one of their designers did using that die to make half circles and full doily circles. The two are different sizes and different in design so you actually have two different sized doilies or half circles OR corners, of course!!!!

Oh my....now it's time to go and create something!!!

Hope this inspires you to participate in some blog hops (or wherever they are giving something away) and
leave me a note telling me about YOUR win!!!

Many blessings,

Elena

I won...I WON...really!!!!

WOW!!!
It's really fun to win something, isn't it???
In this scrap world of ours most of us enter challenges, do blog hops, and whatever else is available to have a chance at winning some of the wonderful giveaways that go on.
I don't make it a point to enter too often because blog hops, etc. take a lot of time.
They're fun, but you have to have a hunk of time dedicated to doing just that one hop.
And I'm glad that I do take the time to do these now and then
          Because somtimes good things happen ......
I was the lucky winner of not one but TWO prizes from two different manufacturers.

I could hardly contain myself when I saw my name on their blogs...it was AWESOME!!!

First one I want to show you is the prize package from Blue Fern Studios.

Blue Fern Studios are new and they make BEAUTIFUL chipboard pieces. As you can see here from the pictures, the designs are beautiful and the cuts are very intricate. They're the type that we all want to have on our pages. The pieces are sturdy and ready to be anointed with whatever kind of paint or media you want to use. I had been looking at their site and oooing and aaahing over everything!!! This was right around Christmas of course, and buying new goodies for scrapbooking was not on the agenda right then.

When I received my package from them I was just so THANKFUL and absolutely THRILLED
with what they picked to send me.
Here's the link to their store and blog.
http://bluefernstudios.com/

Thank you, thank you...

 Elena  

Did YOU get anything new from CHA??????

Hello fellow bloggers,
Mid January already...WOW!!!
Of course, that means that CHA has happened and we are flooded with NEW EXCITING stuff!!!
I don't know if it has something to do with crafting, or some other personality trait that seems to pop up in this field, but I want everything that I like!!!

Every year the manufacturers come out with products that are just MORE of what we want!!!
It isn't just the trends...it's that the things we already have and love to use are even more appealing than they were before...
     the die cuts are more interesting,
     the papers are gorgeous,
     the stamps are more artistic
     And the stencils & masks....what can I say...I WANT SOME!!!!

BUT...hold on, take your time and enjoy getting some products little by little.
Unless you have unlimited funds, you're going to have to work with your budget...and you CAN do it!!! That's what I'm telling myself, and I know it's what I have to do.

So with that, I want to show you a page I made for my Life/Prayer Journal.
This journal is happening as I am finding inspiration for pages that reflect my feelings at that time.
 Right now this is my first page. I don't know if it will stay that way, but I am using a 3ring binder so that I can change the order if I feel like it.

  It seems kind of plain on the post here...but I really like it.

Here's the challenges I am entering with this layout:
   
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/ one for the girls
         No pinks for me...this is as girly as I get :o)
http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.co.uk/ follow your muse
           I am journaling my inspiration for 2013
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/ anything goes
http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/ inspiration photo
         I love the photo and the red of the trees was exactly the color of this paper I had that
         I wanted to use. I had to add the green because I want to remember that after the red
         of fall comes the white beauty of winter and then comes green and the earth is renewed 
         again!

I used "Lost & Found" paper by DCWV...I love this paper.
There's a  rub-on butterfly, a metal butterfly and a handmade flower that is specifically made to
     stay flat.
I have used rub-on words, bling letters & words cut from paper.
I have stamped & embossed the gold flourishes and the typewriter is printed on the paper.

That will do it for me this time.
Please leave me a note to let me know you've been here...I would love it very much!!!

A New Year...a new adventure!!!

I pray for all of you a wonderful and blessed 2013!!!

May you grow in grace and beauty.

May you lavish your love on all those God has given you.

May your relationships be beautiful and sweet and fill you with healing and peace.

This crafting world that we are a part of is so supportive with such a positive attitude on their blogs.

I follow quite a few of my favorite designers, and there are so many more that I am not even aware of,

but it's so good to see everyone sharing their knowledge, their creativity, their spin on things...

Most share freely, spelling out everything they have done so those of us who want to learn more can do so.... Even to having some free wonderful classes (or at a small cost).

I am so EXCITED!!! I saw a class that was being given "Creative Jumpstart 2013 Summit" by N*Studio

and it started on Jan. 1.  It was free but you had to sign up (I don't know if you can still sign up or not).

Anyway, there are many designers who are participating and it's so exciting to have an email class every morning when I get up.  This morning it was HEIDI SWAPP!!! My absolute favorite from the time I started in scrapbooking (back in 2005) and she is just so creative...you just can't help but want to get up and go MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL!!!

So now I want to tell you about a very new adventure for me.

I started a Life/Prayer Journal.

I know, I know, the whole crafting world out there is into life journals...

And after reading about all these themes of "make sure you get yourself into pictures",

"journal about your dreams, your wishes, your life", it finally started to sink in that that's a world

of scrapbooking that I had never really thought about.

I think I even felt self-conscious of even wanting to scrap about me.

But the more I read about it, the more I wanted to do it!!!

Then it hit me, I wanted to document my life as I really am and want to be...

       a Christ follower...a daughter of the King...a lover of the LORD of my life.

I actually got my first page while I was visiting my daughter last September. 

I hadn't brought any materials with me, but I was bored while she was studying and decided it was the time to start.

We went shopping at a Michael's (in Virginia Beach)...got some great buys, beautiful paper and enough stuff to work on my first page.

What fun!!! 

I was happy!!!

Now, the one I am showing today is not my first page but it is so appropriate for the theme of the new year...I called it "I See Beautiful"  sounds weird, doesn't it? But the phrase comes from a music album by Tammy Trent, done a few years ago. She did a concert at our church and she called it "I See Beautiful". And that just never left my head. I loved it!!!

So, I see beautiful too...beautiful Scripture,

      beautiful people,

      beautiful things...

I added some of my favorite Scripture on the page (in my own handwriting, of course...gotta do that to be journaling about me, right?) and made the page beautiful (at least in my eyes)...and that's what counts, right????

Here's my layout: 

Here's a closer look so you can read the heading easier:

The paper is from a pack I bought that I just love. It's called "Lost & Found" by My Mind's Eye.

    The big beautiful pink flower is from a magazine. I saw that flower and  instantly knew that I needed to do a page on beautiful things that I see. The colors are just so striking. And I am a person who is totally passionate about color. It's what I see.  It always has to do with the color.

     Then I wanted to set off the title and I used my Cricut for the word.

      I cut some flourishes with the Cricut and also used other flourishes, flowers, the butterfly and other embellishments from my stash on hand.

I am entering this on these challenges:
http://zeusandzoe.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-challenge-your-word-for-2013.html ... My word for
         2013 is I see Beautiful.  It is what I will live by and make it a practice to see the world through
         God's eyes
http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ It's all about me.
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/ Trust in the Lord...My focus is to see my world through God's
          eyes.

Ok...one last bit about this journal.

Working on these pages somehow is different than working on my other projects.

I think it might have something to do with emotions. 

These pages are about my feelings. My passions. What is important to me.

I leave a hunk of me on the page.

Not that I didn't invest myself into the other projects. I did. 

I never stopped making cards and albums of trips, gatherings, etc. and I enjoyed doing them very much.

The memories were great and it was fun.

But this journal is more than that...

If you have not started one yet...try it, you'll like it!!!

Many blessings,

e