It's Been A While...An Update

Hello friends! Happy Friday! I hope you are all doing well. It's been a long time since I've posted on my blog. July has been a month of ups and downs so that is why I haven't been blogging.

On July 1, my first grandchild was born! It's a boy!

A healthy, beautiful baby boy that has captured my heart and let me tell you, the first time I held him, it was one of the most special moments of my life. He was born on Canada Day, which is Canada's birthday and it will be so awesome that every year he will share his birthday with my country Canada. My son says he will have to celebrate July 1 of each year with fireworks to make it extra special.

Also on July 1, my youngest child went by ambulance to the hospital. I wasn't at home, I was at a scrapbook retreat and my husband was able to be at the hospital for her and luckily she was going to be ok.

Then on July 5, my mother celebrated her 80th birthday and also my parents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on July 19.

My grandbaby arrived three weeks early so the plans that I had to celebrate my mom's special day and my parents 60th wedding anniversary got changed. I travelled to see my grandbaby, who lives about 200 miles away from where I live. To make it all work, I planned a little gathering on July 7, booked a hotel, ordered balloons, a cake and made dinner reservations near where my son, daughter-in-law and grandson live and my parents drove the 200 miles.

To make a long story short, my three children, their spouses, my parents, my grandson, and my husband and I all were together, even if it was for one day to celebrate three important milestones. It was so special! My parents were great grandparents for the first time and it was so beautiful to see the smiles on their faces when they held their great grandson for the first time.

That was a whirlwind weekend, but I was able to take lots and lots of photos to scrapbook later...

Then, my son in law was scheduled for major surgery on July 9 and in less than a week, he had a total of three surgeries because of unforeseen complications and a life threatening infection. He was placed in the Intensive Care Unit.  I had driven home for one day and ended up having to go back to stay at my daughter's house and give some help and support so she could be with her husband. It was scary. There were times that I wasn't sure the outcome was going to be good and a person doesn't know how strong they are until strong is all they have. I am happy to say that he was discharged from the hospital yesterday. Hopefully he will continue to improve and will make a speedy recovery.

With all the crazy happenings, needless to say, all of my paper crafting and design team commitments were put on hold. I simply didn't have the time and I simply couldn't focus on being creative. Things are starting to get back to normal and I am itching to create again.

Before July,  I was on a mini album kick and created a mini album for my parents 60th wedding anniversary, two baby mini albums for my new grandson, and a traveller's notebook for my daughter's upcoming trip to Texas next week. I love making albums completely from scratch and documenting the memories.

It feels good to be back creating again and I'm looking forward to the next few months designing for Paper House Productions, A Flair For Buttons, and also have a layout that will be published in the Fall 2018 issue of Scrapbook And Cards Today Magazine as well as an invitation to be a guest designer for a kit club named Scrapbooking Store.

So that is a little update from me.  Keep checking back to see some projects that I will be working on.

I hope you have a great day and happy creating!

Epic Alex

Hello friends! I am sharing a boy layout over at A Flair For Buttons today of this cute little guy.

I've had this collection of papers, stickers from the Max Collection by Bella Blvd. in my stash for quite a while. I used flair buttons from A Flair For Buttons to add some more pizzaz to my layout. The black "epic" flair button from the Epic Flair Set was used as part of the title of the page. 

and I also placed the "boy" flair buttons from the All Boy 2 Flair Set to the right of the photo. I glued it on top of round green sticker to make it more visible. I wanted to draw the eye to the photo. 

Flair can be used not just as an embellishment, but it can be strategically used to draw the eyes to the photo.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the A Flair For Buttons shop for these and many awesome flair sets. There have been many new sets added to the store recently.

Happy creating!

All Boy 2 Flair

Epic Flair

Play Ball Layout

Hello followers! Today I am sharing a sports themed layout using the fabulous Baseball Collection of patterned papers and stickers over at Paper House Productions.  This layout is of my youngest son when he played his first year of baseball a few years back.  Time sure does fly as he is now 16.

Play Ball Supply List

• Baseball 12" Cardstock Stickers
• Baseball Tags 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Baseballs 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Champion 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Field Of Dreams 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper

I used my antique sewing machine and stitched along the outside edge of the layout, the navy paper triangle, the circles and also the middle of the baseball stitched paper. I love the extra texture and homespun feel that stitching gives my layouts. This is totally optional.

I added lots of stickers to the layout and gave some of the stickers added dimension by using some foam adhesive squares on the heart sticker, the title "Play Ball" sticker and some of the baseball stickers.  I also added my son's name with the mini alpha stickers on top of the heart sticker and also on bottom right corner on top of the ticket sticker. 

Adding the star stickers directs the eye down the page to the title and photos.  

The banner sticker strip and the baseball sticker strip are tucked slightly under the 4X6 photo and the 2X3 photo so it finishes it nicely.   I also added the tiny circle heart sticker to the left triangle on the 4X6 photo.

To complete the layout,  I added a little "home plate" sticker beside the small photo and wrote the year with a black pen.

I hope you are inspired to create a sports themed page using the Baseball Collection. Be sure to check out all the beautiful collections at Paper House Productions.  Have a creative day!

Sk8er Dude Layout

Hello followers! Hope you are having a good weekend so far.  Today I am sharing a boy layout of this handsome little guy Quinn using the Sk8er Cut Files at Just Nick Digital Cut Files.

I chose to use some fun, bright colored patterned paper for my layout.  It is from Bo Bunny's Lil Monster Collection.  

I added lots of flair buttons from A Flair For Buttons and also some machine stitching to give it more texture and interest.

The wood veneer stars and ampersand were altered using Gelatos.  I love the rich color it gives the wood veneers.  They look like a tube of lipstick.  I just color them like I would color a paper and then smudge it with my fingers.  It doesn't need water.

I created a skateboard "ramp" with the patterned paper and machine stitched across the edge and also machine stitched over the diecut title and popped up the skateboarder diecut with foam squares for dimension.

Here is the cut files I used for my layout from Just Nick Digital Cut Files  

Sk8er Cut Files

This was fun to create a masculine layout.  Be sure and check out all the cut files in the Just Nick shop.  There are so many and there are new ones added each week.  

Happy creating!

Soccer Layout For Paper House Productions

Hello friends! Today I am excited to finally share my first design team layout at Paper House Productions for the 2016 term.

I thought I would begin with a layout of my youngest son, Clayton.  He loves soccer and I wanted to document him playing on his first soccer team at the age of 5.

Here are some more closeups:

I included some instructions to create my layout above.

Instructions:

1. Begin with a 12X12 sheet of white textured cardstock for the background.
2. Fussy cut three (3) soccer balls from the soccer ball paper.
3. Cut two  (2) green strips with white stars.
4. Cut two (2) strips of soccer words.
5. Cut the green with white star strips to the left and right edge of the white cardstock and adhere.
6. Cut the  two soccer word strips to the top and bottom edge of the white cardstock and adhere.
7. Arrange the three (3) fussy cut soccer balls , as shown on the photo, and adhere.
8. On the backside of the soccer ball paper there is a soccer field.  Cut two pieces of the green paper.
9. Mat the photo  (I used a 5 X 7 photo) with the black and white polka dot paper.
10. Place the green paper behind the photo as shown.
11. Cut out the blue “Keep Calm And Take The Shot” journal card and place over the green paper  and tuck it in slightly underneath the photo.
12. Add the stickers as shown.
13. Add dimensional foam squares to the the top and bottom soccer ball stickers, the “Kick Pass Score” sticker, the soccer cleats sticker, the colored arrow sticker, the “champ” sticker, the top and bottom round star stickers, and the “Love This Game Sticker”.
14. Add a dimensional foam square to the back of the left paper soccer ball.
15. Journal with a black acid free pen on the “On The Field” Sticker.
16. Add sticker ticket and blue mini alpha stickers to spell out the name of the player.
17. Adhere some black, grey, dark grey, and yellow enamel dots as shown. 

Supplies Used:

Soccer Balls 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper

Soccer Cardstock Stickers

Soccer Tags 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper

Star Player 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper

Check out all the wonderful high quality products at Paper House Productions here.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy creating!

Gamer Cut Files And Freebie Cut File At Just Nick Digital Cut Files

Hello friends! Today I am on the Just Nick Digital Cut Files blog sharing a layout of my gamer son.

I used the Gamer Cut Files to create this layout.

Gamer

Here are some closeups of the cut files.  I decided to make the title stand out even more by adding some hand stitching with several colors of embroidery floss.

I just loved the robot cut file.  I added some enamel dots to the eyes and popped up the head and body with some dimensional adhesive squares and added my journaling to the body.

I also added some enamel dots to the gaming controller die cut and some sewing machine stitching.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Be sure to check out the Gamer cut files and hundreds more cut files in the Just Nick Digital Cut Files Shop.  Also, there is a freebie cut file to download while you are there.  Use the code SWAKFREE at checkout.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

The November Issue of Scrapbook Generation's CREATE Magazine

Hello friends! Happy Tuesday! I just got back from a four day retreat and it was lovely.  While I was gone, a new issue of Scrapbook Generation's CREATE Magazine has arrived.

I really love all the inspiration and ideas for scrapbookers and cardmakers in this magazine.  I have a layout on page 191 using lots of the Pumpkin Spice Collection by Simple Stories and flair buttons by A Flair For Buttons.  

Be sure to download your copy of the November issue.  You can find it here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good day!