Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #282

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #282 is revealed today and as I am not usually a two page layout scrapbooker, so I challenged myself to do one.

Christmas trees all over the place!

Why don't you play along with us.  There is a one page sketch and a two page sketch, so choose your sketch and challenge yourself.  You can find the fabulous sketches here:

Have a scrappy Monday!

Gotta Love My Art Journal

Last September,  I took an online workshop taught by the wonderful Christy Tomlinson called "She Has Three Hearts".  It inspired me to keep an art journal.  Actually, I have many art journals.  Some are personal that I keep to myself and some I share with my family and some I share with the world.  I love that I can paint, mist, stamp, stencil, write, draw and use Pan Pastels to express myself in a deeper way.  It helps me to concentrate on being positive and grateful everyday.  It helps me through many bumps in the road.  It is so good for the soul and it's a way of being creative at the same time.  It doesn't matter if the art doesn't feel perfect.  The reason is to jumpstart my creativity and be therapeutic at the same time.  Art journaling is very popular at the moment and I love it.

Here is an art journal page that I created of all the things that I love and make me happy and grateful:

Christy's workshop is fabulous and I urge everyone to take it.  You will laugh, you will cry and you will explore your creativity.  You will surprise yourself.

Pinterest has many ideas for your art journal and you can follow my Pinterest account as I have a board set up exclusively for art journaling.  This is where I got the idea for this page.

Have a fabulous day!

Photography....My Other Passion

Scrapbooking isn't my only passion.  I also love photography.

Whether a person has a point and shoot camera or a DSLR,  photography is what your eyes see and not what the camera sees. Anyone can take great photographs.  It just takes a will to learn and get out there practice and have fun! I have a long ways to go in my photography journey, but I love to learn.

When my scrapbooking mojo is lacking, I like to head out with my camera and take photos.  Living close to the mountains, my husband and I go there often to get away from the hustle bustle of everyday life and go on a search for some landscape and wildlife photography opportunities.  Macro photography is another interest of mine and I enjoy the challenge of taking photos of beautiful flowers.  I also love photographing architecture and my one of my photography dreams is to go to Italy some day and enjoy capturing all the beauty of the old buildings and also to New York City.

While I was out and about yesterday, I took some photos of my beautiful hometown.  It has tripled in population since I was a child, but I still love the beautiful city that I grew up in.  Calgary is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada and because our economy revolves around the oil and gas industry, there are many people moving here.  The mountains are just an hour away so many people enjoy going there to ski some of the most beautiful and challenging ski resorts in the world.  The sky looks quite smoky 

because  there is a landfill fire west of the city, but I still enjoyed the view and got out and captured these:

Calgary Downtown Skyline

Alberta Children's Hospital

University of Calgary Campus

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Polytechnique

Looking Southeast 

CTV Calgary Tower

Have a wonderful Friday and enjoy your weekend!

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #281

Today over at Scrapbook Challenges the Monday sketch is posted and I love what the design team has created.  Here is my layout that I created of my niece Laine and her horses:

Laine Is A Horse Lover & Cowgirl

It was fun creating this western theme layout.  In this layout I used my Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors, my Slice and the Happy Trails cartridge for the stars and the letters and words, some thinner jute to give it the lasso feel and a plaid stamp from Hero Arts to stamp on the die cut letters.  I also used pops of red in the Cosmo Cricket letter stickers and the red pom pom trim.  Finally I took some brads that I have had in my stash and embellished the stars with them and added some more buttons tied with some twine onto some horse patterned paper.

Come play along with us over at Scrapbook Challenges.  We also have some prizes for our membership drive.  Tell them that Lee-Anne sent you.

Here is the sketch and the entire design team's take on the sketch.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Twisted Sketches #137

Today there is a new sketch over at Twisted Sketches.  You can find it here:

I created this festive layout with the Wonder and Wishes collection from Little Yellow Bicycle.

Come have some fun and see what you can do with the sketch and post it at www.twistedsketches.org.  Have a great day!