Ad's for Inspiration

Ever get in a creative slump?  Mojo on vacation?  Just need a jump start?

Happens to me frequently.  One thing that really helps is to find a print advertisement and lift the design!

Here is one that I did recently:

Lots of white space with this one....always a challenge for me, and I really loved the solid blue line running across the bottom, really tied it together for me.  So I decided I would work on a digital layout this time around.  I chose to use my Webster's Pages All About Me digital collection and this is what I came up with:

I flipped it a bit but I used the basic design.  It was a great way to restart the creative process :)

Webster's Pages converts all of their printed paper collections in to digital, did you know that?  Even the new ones that arent shipping yet....I love having the freedom to us whatever I want whenever I want over and over...the beauty of digital :)  Go to see Webster's Digital collections HERE

Have a create day!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Just wanted to share some Valentine goodies that I created this year :)

I recieved the Echo Park Yours Truly collection and paired it with my Epiphany Crafts epoxies to make these cards for my grandkids.....my little Valentines :)

You'll have to forgive the cell phone photos of two of the cards as my camera is out getting serviced :)

Also I created this digital layout using Webster's Pages digital collections Sunday Picnic and Western Romance:

And happily shortly after I made this layout he asked my daughter to marry him :)

And lastly, I love to paint on rocks so I created these beach rocks using paint, papers, rub ons and my Epiphany Crafts epoxies and buttons:

Hope you have a great Valentines Day with your special person or peoples!!

Quick Quotes 2012 Design Team

I made the team!!  So stinking excited to create with the Quick Quotes product!!  Have you ever tried their inks????  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!!!  I got acquainted with their product at CHA a few years ago and made sure I visited that booth every year after, incredible make n takes, simply incredible!  Do make the effort to pop in next time you are at CHA, I promise you will be happy you did!  So this year I get to create with Quick Quote product...so looking forward to that and I hope that you will follow me on this new journey :0)  And I thought maybe I would share with you some things that I cant wait to work with:

The new laser cut chip board!  So many possibilities with this...paint it, ink it, cover it with paper, use it raw!

 

Stackable Flowers - Bag o' Chips

Butterflies - Bag o' Chips

And check this one out....a 12x12 chipboard layer that looks like a Printers Tray:

Printer's Tray - 12" x 12" Chipboard

I really am loving the color combo in this new line of paper:

One Fine Day

And of course I love the Vellum Quotes especially in color!

These are the Best Times - Color Vellum

I thank you for coming by to visit my blog and I hope that you will come by often :)

Winter Park by Echo Park + Epiphany Crafts = Fun!!

Echo Park graciously traded product with Epiphany Crafts and I was the lucky recipient of  2 Echo Park collections....so generous and I have to say I love Echo Park!  Its so easy to create with the Echo Park papers!!

One of the collections I got was Winter Park, and though we have no snow in California and this year very little snow anywhere close I had to really stretch to find a photo for this fine collection...but I did find a great one!!  My mom and I went to Canada in the fall and we took some crazy pictures....that's what happens when you are gone 15 days I guess, LOL!!

 I couldn't resist creating a "scene" with this collection!  Tearing that paper just felt good, lol! Oh and yea...that's my mom, shes a great model for doing the crazy things I think of :)

 I used the Epiphany Crafts Round 14 buttons to make snowflakes.....perfect I say!!

And the bigger Epiphany Crafts Round 20 buttons made great snowflakes for the ground :)
I really love the pop of red in this collection!!

Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #12

Quick Quotes

Friday Challenge #12

It's a Sketch!

We thought it would be fun to have a sketch challenge!  What do you think? 

Our friend Liz Qualman was so sweet and shared her lovely inspirational sketch with us for this challenge.

I got to work with the delicious new line Summer Samba, and the new embellishments (Chipboard and Frosted Dragonfly), and one of the fun new ink colors (Lemonade)

 I am in love with the cute little flip flops Chipboard...what fun they are to alter!! I inked the edges with the *new* color ink, lemonade!

 I would love to have a pair of these for real :)

 This is one of the *new* Frosted embellishments, I added some of the Lemonade ink to it to help it stand out a bit.

 When I do some fussy cutting I love to have it stand out a bit from the background, I did it with these flowers by cutting into the flowers and bending them a little away from the background.  You could also add some foam adhesive spots to get some dimension.

Quick Quotes Product:

Paper - Summer Samba 100, 200, 300, 400
Chipboard - Beach 8x10
Ink - Lemonade Powderpuff Chalk Ink
Frosted Dragonflies
Vellum - Color,  the Contagious, Bubbling Laughter of a Child
Other:
Stickles - Ranger
Gems, Ribbon - Stash
Alpha, My Little Shoebox, Authentique

The Challenge: 

• Using the sketch, take inspiration and create a project.
• You can create a layout, card, mini album or altered art, just use the sketch as your inspiration.
• We know what you like to do with a sketch so go ahead, flip it, rotate it and tweek it as you are inspired, just have fun with it!
• You may use any products to participate in the challenge.

Challenge begins today and will be open until 11:59 pm PST on the 25th.

The 'Top 3,' as chosen by our Design Team, will have bragging rights with a 'Top 3 fave' button to display at their own blogs + everyone who participates will be entered to win the prize for this challenge.

Prize = $25 gift certificate* to shop at http://www.shopquickquotes.com/ !!!

 

(*QQ Prize Disclaimer: prize contest open to US residents only.

If you live outside the US and want to play,

you would be responsible for any shipping costs for prizes won.

The $25 gift certificate does not cover shipping costs.)

 

To play upload your project to the link on the Quick Quotes blog HERE. (Scroll down to the bottom of the post)

 

Cant wait to see all the different takes on the sketch.....and wow what a generous prize!!!! 

 

Growing my Digital Skills

So this year I have decided I want to grow my digital skills..I feel like I am a bit rusty, lol!!  So far I have taken a class with Jessica Sprague on Digital Art Journaling and picked up some new skills and recovered some lost ones lol!!  I plan on reviewing some of my previous classes...and making some notes on things I have forgotten about.  Here are a few of my favorite layouts from the class:

and then one that I did with Webster's Pages and the WEstern Romance Digital collection:

Something new on this one that I learned was the stamping technique where I masked in some of the patterned paper in the design of the stamp...and the filled alpha.....love it!!

Echo Park and Epiphany Crafts Bog Hop

Sorry.....I am at CHA and my post has disappeared. I don't have my computer so can't redo the post. Your next blog is the fabulous Rhonda Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com/
 I made it home!!!!  Time to fix up this post a bit!  I got to use the fabulous Echo Park Yours Truly line with my Epiphany Crafts tools and this is my layout:

 I love being able to make custom buttons with my Epiphany Crafts Button studio so that they coordinate perfectly with whatever I am working with, this is the Round 20 Button:

 The new square shape is so much fun to play with and when I saw the pattern on the papers matched the size of the square epoxy exactly I knew I found a great match, turning the squares on a diagonal made a great diamond pattern border.  I used the Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio and the Square 25 Epoxys:

 

 Welcome to the Echo Park Paper Co. and Epiphany Crafts Blog Hop! On this hop you'll see the amazing things you can create when you combine Echo Park Paper Co. paper and embellishments with the amazing tools from Epiphany Crafts. Below you will find the blog hop list. Simply hop from one blog
to the next to discover entirely new ideas for using these amazing tools with our beautiful products. Leave a comment on each designers' and company's blog to qualify for the drawing for an Epiphany Crafts Heart Button Tool and Heart Button Epoxy stickers, as well as, two collection kits "Yours Truly" and "A Boys' Life" from Echo Park Paper! We hope you enjoy all the inspiration created by these two amazing teams. Winners will be announced on Friday, February 3rd on the Echo Park Paper blog and the Epiphany Crafts blog. All comments are due before midnight EST on Wednesday, February 1st to qualify for the drawing.

Start at Epiphany Crafts blog: www.epiphanycrafts.com/blog
Then hop to:
Audrey Pettit http://audreypettit.wordpress.com/
Nicole Martel http://www.nicolemartel.blogspot.com/
Aly Dosdall http://alydosdall.blogspot.com/
Keri Babbit http://kensingtondesign.blogspot.com/
Julie Walton http://seejuliescrap.blogspot.com/  YOU ARE HERE
Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com/
Linda Auclair http://elendae.wordpress.com/

Then onto the EP team:

Wendy Sue Anderson: http://wendysueanderson.blogspot.com/
Leslie Ashe: http://leslieashe.blogspot.com/
Amy Heller: http://www.amyheller.typepad.com/
Jennifer Gallacher: http://jengallacher.blogspot.com/
Kandis Smith: http://www.mycreativetreasury.blogspot.com/
Tamara Tripodi: http://happylifecraftywife.com/

End at:

Echo Park Paper Blog: http://echoparkpaper.blogspot.com/




Your next stop is at the fabulous Rhonda:
Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com/

Have fun hopping and thanks for stopping by!

Epiphany Crafts and Echo Park Blog Hop

Sorry guys....I am at CHA and my scheduled blog post has disappeared. I don't have my computer with me so I can't redo it. But your next blog is the fabulous Rhonda http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com/

Favorite Projects of 2011

The last day of 2011.....and I am heading into the scraproom to create my last projects of the year, but I thought I would share  my favorite projects from this last year...

 

 

I wish you a happy happy new year of creating!!!

Favorite Webster's Pages layouts of 2011

It has been an amazing year creating with Webster's Pages digital collections AND working with the Webster's Pages Design Team and Owners.  I have had Design Team spots in the past but I have to say none of them compare with the experience I have had at Websters' Pages.  I have learned so much this year about design, and had so many new opportunities and I have to thank Brandin for that, I even had a bucket list item checked off :)  It is so great to work directly with the owners and creators, definitely a family experience that becomes a part of who you are.

So one thing I like to do each year is to choose my favorite layouts I did that year.  And this year I am going to single out Webster's Pages layouts because they carry such meaning for me :)

The Trendsetter collection was perfect for Jenna's first day of School picture this year:

I love this picture of my daughter Rachel....and it was so funny when I showed her the layout because she had just written a self description of herself for school and it was exactly what I had written about her:

This layout shows my style changing a little bit, something that I have fully embraced now.  As Brandin told me over and over......you need space for your eye to rest :)  This is my baby Ariel....she is a 7 lb Chihuahua and has added so much to my life....she is a love!

I am a sucker for a beach themed collection.  I love the beach and these photos of Jenna taken 2 summers ago continue to be among my favorite of all time.  The Yacht Club collection was also perfect for these photos:

The Winter Fairy Tales collection was calling my name for my Disney On Ice pictures:

One of my favorite lines of all time from Webster's Pages is All About Me, I turn to that line over and over.  My favorite color combination is turquoise/white/lime green and this is one line that does it right!  I feel like Brandin made it special for me :)

This spring/summer I had the amazing opportunity to work with Webster's Pages to create photobooks with Webster's Pages digital collections for their new journey with NovelTree.  This page is created from a page in one of those books, my favorite, The Boy book using the Natures Storybook collection:

The 911 anniversary this year inspired me to create this next layout again using the All About Me collection and photos from Jenna's school performance in May which was patriotic themed:

I had alot of amazing travel adventures this year and one of them was San Francisco with my Mom and daughter Rachel and her guy Chuy for Thanksgiving....Waiting for Santa was perfect for this layout of ME...yep I did a layout of me ;)

Okay now...check out this white space and off the page design...from ME???  Yeppers!

I told you I was a sucker for beach themes and beach pictures ;)  This layout uses Yacht Club once again and is also a page I created from one of the NovelTree book layout pages:

Ahhhh yes, have to include the layout about Sadie....she is a huge life size deer made from cement which my mom and I bought and loaded into my little car...in the back seat...and had to have someone come over and unload it...but she is a great addition to the backyard and the kids love her:

This layout is a fun quirky one that just makes me smile every time I see it....Life as we Know it, outtakes from a family photo session:

And one last layout to share with you...using the brand new line called Sunday Picnic and featuring the Clean & Simple line being introduced by Webster's Pages....and pictures from the above photo shoot with Kimberlee Miller:

And there you have it....my favorite Webster's Pages digital layouts for 2011!!
Thanks for visiting and sharing this time with me :)
Hope that your new year is amazing!!