Got Me a New Hat!

Happy Monday - Happy Spring Break - and Happy MDS Monday card sketch day!  Well, Beth does have a card sketch for us - but I decided to try turning it into a scrap page.  

The other thing that Beth would like us to try this time is recolouring an embellishment.  I took one of the little diamond cork pieces from Sale-a-bration and recoloured them, and reproduced them.

I've never turned a card sketch into a scrap page before, I've never done that before, but I think it worked out not too badly.   It was a bit tricky picking photos that fit properly into the little flags…good thing I take scads of photos!  Never would have done that in the old days of film!

Hope you try out the challenge - check out the challenge blog for some AWESOME inspiration!  And be sure to link your creation back to the blog so we can all take a peak!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have  great day!

Joan

Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

It is apparently true that I don't read instructions properly….all the time.  When I was working on the sketch for this weeks' MDS Monday challenge, I had initially used it as a scrapbook sketch in my attempt to get more of Elliot's 2013 book finished.  When I went to post it on the challenge blog I realized that I was suppose to change the colour of the DSP - well I tried, but I didn't like how it looked on this spread - so I kept these pages as they were and created the card I posted Monday.

But I had to share these - I'm pleased with how the cat turned out - not exactly like Button, but pretty close.  She doesn't run away from him as much any more - in fact she'll put herself into his hand to be pet.

Here is the page for the adjoining page to tell the whole story.

Fun with Filmstrips

We're having fun with filmstrips this week over at MDS Monday.  Tami is right in with the trend right now of using filmstrips or polaroid images.  The filmstrips work perfectly if you have a series of photos from one event……as I usually do when I'm taking pictures of Elliot while he's playing.

I pulled out his dad's hot wheels a couple weeks ago and he had a blast.  I have other pictures to share once the pages are done.

Be sure to pop by the challenge blog because there's a wonderful array of interpretations of the sketch today….here it is.

Hope you Monday is off to a fabulous start - thanks for visiting.

Joan

Supplies for this page...

Background

     Color = BASIC GRAY 118,122,121

Embellishments

    _Designer Kits/Candid Frames - embellishments/Candid Frames - film frame

    Hodgepodge Hardware/Clip Assortment - library clip

Stamps

    Epic Overlays/Epic Overlays - ink splatter 1, Color = 0,0,0

    Epic Overlays/Epic Overlays - ink splatter 1, Color = 0,0,0

    Splatters/Ink Splatters/Ink Splatter 1, Color = 0,0,0

    Epic Overlays/Epic Overlays - epic, Color = 0,0,0

    Epic Overlays/Epic Overlays -  - letters for the title

    _Designer Kits/On the Go/On the Go - tractor

    _Designer Kits/On the Go/On the Go - dump truck

    _Designer Kits/On the Go/On the Go - car

    _Designer Kits/On the Go/On the Go - tractor

    _Designer Kits/On the Go/On the Go - car

    _Designer Kits/On the Go/On the Go - dump truck

    Epic Overlays/Epic Overlays - ink splatter 1, Color = 0,0,0     

Snow Piles and Puddles

My friend Desiree challenged our Stamping Team members to join in on a challenge blog she's a design team member of… As You See It.   

I have been wanting to join them for a while now - and today is the day.  

The challenge this time round is to use polaroid frames.  I'm chugging away to get Elliot's book done and to speed up the process a wee bit, I'm taking inspiration from some big wigs!  The sketch I've used is cased from one done by Heather Summers.  It will be a page spread along with this one….

Almost a year ago - wow time flies!

Have a good one!

Joan

Play play play...

Just a quick update today with pages I've been doing in Elliot's 2013 book!  I've got to get concentrating on it!  I thought I was more ahead than I was last year - but I goess not.

I've used sketches inspired by Heather Summers - Love love love her work! I've used different colours and some different stamps - but I think the sketches are fun.  And when I have so many pages to complete - it's nice to have a jumping off place with incredible inspiration!

Off to work I go - these full days keep me from doing too much extra crafting - so I look forward to my half days!

Have a good one!

Joan

Changing the Guard

Good (freezing) Monday Morning - Today at MDS Monday Cindy has us joining in on her passion for maps and her country.  While she, and her fellow Americans are using the Niffy Fifty download, we Canadians have the Providence of Provinces Kit download to create pages commemorating trips around our country.  You can check the kit out HERE.

I am so behind on my book making, that I'm glad I was able to create another page for our summer stay in Ottawa this past year.  Greg was very excited about going to Rideau Hall - and I enjoyed it too.

Here's the awesome sketch - hope you have fun with it!

Stay warm - and thanks for visiting.

Joan

Go…Go…Go...

Hi everyone - Beth has a cute sketch for us today, at MDS Monday where we're suppose to use our "scraps"….which is one nice thing about MDS - we don't end up with any - so it's fun to remember that they do exist in our crafting lives!

I love watching Elliot grow into play at our house; and these "On the Go"  "scraps" worked well with the photos.

I've "stitched" the scraps together, and cropped two of the embellishments to be able to arrange them the way I wanted on the page.

Here is the sketch…

I hope you play along with us this week.  Be sure to link your creations back to the MDS Monday Blog. We love seeing what you do with our sketches.

Thanks for visiting - have a great day.

Joan

Catching up...

Welcome to another MDS Monday - Holly has a great sketch for us today and wants us to use stitching  on our page.

One of the things I love about MDS is that you can flip images -it's nice to be able to make the little animals from the Storytime kit face the direction I  want/need them to. I've attached my photos and the two top strips of paper with stitching, and I've "stitched" the button on also. by making a piece of Baker's Twine the length between the button holes.  I actually discovered something I never used before - because the piece needed to stitch the button was so small, it was hard to grab and place it properly.  I increased the "canvas zoom" and was able to manipulate things better.  Not something new, but I'd never used it before.  

Here is the sketch for you.  I hope you try it out and then link your creation to the challenge blog so we can take a peek!

Enjoy your Monday - Thanks for dropping by.

Joan

Reeling in Balloons

Welcome to MDS Monday - this round I'm the host with a scrapbook layout. To be honest, I went to the photo layout portion of the resource palette on MDS for some inspiration.  I don't use that area enough - and it can be a big help.  I've elongated the photo boxes to fill more space. I initially thought I would group the photo boxes  and drop on photo into them - but I ended up catching Elliot reeling in a balloon someone gave him while he was in the trampoline at his birthday party.  They worked perfectly in the slender photo boxes!

 The little stars at the bottom of my sketch can be anything you desire.  I decided to use balloons - to fit the theme of the page.  To create the "shadow" on the balloons, I created a curved line with the Freeform tool, got it the size I wanted, thickened the line size, changed it to white and finally change the opaqueness.

Here is the sketch - have fun with it - and you've gotta check out what the rest of the MDS Monday Design Team has done with their sketches…. AWESOME!

Thanks for visiting - 

Joan

Fun, Fun, Fun

Welcome to a new scrapbook sketch at MDS Monday created by Tara.  I appreciated this clean and simple sketch and used it to coordinate with another spread done about Elliot's evening with paint.  I'll put the two of them side by side.  I'm desperately trying to get Elliot's 2013 book done in better time than I did his 2012 book!

I changed Tara's large photo box to a circle so that it would coordinate with the twin page from a couple weeks ago….

I may change a few things between the two pages when I'm getting down to publishing (border thicknesses for instance!)  But they work well side by side.

Here is the sketch.  Have fun with it - the rest of the Design Team did too!

Be sure to let us see what you create by linking it to MDS Monday.

Thanks for visiting!

Joan

Where there's a Will.....

Welcome to MDS Monday and Heidi's sketch.  She's given us a chance to use a number of photos on the page - which is great because I often keep snapping pictures when Elliot is up to something.

During the summer he was chasing after a ball on the deck and for some reason decided to work his way through the table ..... I doubt he'll do that next summer.  To help with the sequencing of the photos I added the little burlap banner with a punched number on it....matching the colour with the deck paint.....and "stapled" it to each photo.

I hope you pick up the challenge to use a group of your photos on this great sketch.  Be sure to link your creation back to the MDS Monday blog so we can enjoy it.

Here's the sketch.

This is concert week for me - set up and dress rehearsals.  I don't know how much crafting I'll get done this week - but I'll probably try - just as a way of relaxing.

Hope you have a great day, thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Playing with Paint

Tami has a great sketch for us today at MDS Monday - lots of fun layers to play with.  

I had decided to let Elliot delve into my paint last weekend - and had fun watching him work with my sponges and brush.  He did very well only a couple drips on the floor - but I did put him in the bathtub to clean him up before his parents picked him up.  I had to giggle when he started painting his belly.

The only pain-stakingly tedious part of this layout was the paint palette - I added an extra splash of paint - but I also included a white "edited" circle punch and a bunch of tiny little circle punches, all filled with white, to create the "background" of the palette.  Otherwise you would be able to see through to the layers below.  It's one of those items that I'll save to use another time!

Here is Tami's sketch - I hope you have fun with it and link your creation to the MDS Monday blog.

Have an awesome week - thanks for visiting.

Joan

Helping with the Salad

Welcome to another scrap sketch at MDS Monday.  This weeks' sketch is brought to you by Kathya.  It's clean and simple - and versatile.  

I love being able to use a series of shots for this sketch - I sat Elliot down one Sunday evening and had him help tear up the lettuce for a salad.  He got right down to business - and kept his hands flying as you can see by motion in the pictures.

I used a photobox for the DSP instead of a punch so that I could recolour the paper to co-ordinate with the photos.

I also recoloured the chevron embellishments.

Finally  - I got "fancy" and used two different colours on my title...changing where the words trailed onto the background.

Here is Kathya's sketch - I hope you have fun with it and then share it with us at the MDS Monday challenge blog so we can take a peak.

Hope your week is off to a good start.  Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Following an Ant...

Welcome, everyone!  It's my turn this week to host another sketch at MDS Monday.  It's a fairly simple sketch with a number of photo boxes.  (I tend to take scads of photos at one time).  I have an added challenge for this week of adding a vertical title.  I have mine so that it is read vertically, however the other option is having the letters on top of one another.....whatever suits your project best.

Check out the projects from the rest of the design team.....and have fun!  I'm looking forward to checking out your creations.

Thanks for dropping by!

Joan

Dandelion Fluff

It's MDS Monday again - woo hoooo - and Holly has the sketch and a challenge for us today. You are to create a neutral page with a pop of colour.  This can be achieved in a number of ways: 

• Black and White photos with colourful embellishments or title
• One colourful photo and everything else neutral
• Your title and journaling in colour and everything else neutral

I had a blast last weekend walking in the woods with Elliot shuffling through the leaves.  It is my absolute favorite fall thing to do - and there will be more picture and pages coming with that portion of our walk.  For this neutral page, I focused on Elliot's  intrigue with the fluffy dandelion which he bent completely over to pick up.  He then kept it in his hand until we got to the car.

The page is pretty straight forward - the only "special" thing I did was to increase the opacity of the "bursts" under the journaling.

Here is Holly's sketch - I hope you can take time over the next two weeks to create something and post it to the MDS Monday blog so we can take a peak.  

                                         

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Joan

Elliot and Bubbles

It's MDS Monday and Tara has a great sketch for us today.  I love how you can have a feature photo and one that focuses in.  Easy peasy!  

I used the "Amped Up Ampersands" - the papers are so much fun!  There is an embellishment in the set that says "You & Me" - I recreated it with the same colours for the title in the top corner.

Here is the sketch - have fun with it and be sure to link your project back to the MDS Monday blog so we can take a peak.  

Have a fabulous Monday - Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Supplies for this page:

        Designer Series Paper/_Designer Kits/Amped Up Ampersands - designer series paper/Amped Up Ampersands - 6

Embellishments

    Grosgrain Ribbon/Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon

    _Designer Kits/Get It Done - embellishments/Get It Done - tag 1

    Brads/Basic Black - brad

    _Designer Kits/Amped Up Ampersands - embellishments/Amped Up Ampersands - ampersand

    Grosgrain Ribbon - bow/Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon - bow

Stamps

    _Designer Kits/Amped Up Ampersands/Amped Up Ampersands - ampersand, Color = 86,180,146

    Noteworthy Alphabet/Noteworthy Alphabet - b, Color = SUMMER STARFRUIT 214,183,67

Punches

    Basics/1.25 Square Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper/_Designer Kits/Amped Up Ampersands - designer series paper/Amped Up Ampersands - 5     

Serendipity Vineyards

Welcome, welcome.....to MDS Monday.  Heidi has a wonderful sketch for us today - we're practicing using the Arrange > Align > and Group functions on MDS.  

One of the things I have the most difficulty with on MDS is selecting DSP!  Part of my problem is probably that I have TOO MUCH digital DSP!  I think I changed the papers on this sketch 3 times before I decided on "Well Worn".  I just kept filling punch boxes - going down my list of selections trying a different series - again and again.  At least all this changing didn't leave me with a bunch of extra scraps on my workspace.  That is one bonus with MDS - no mess!  Or waste, for that matter.

Be sure to take a peak over at MDS Monday for some wonderful inspiration for this sketch.

Hope you have a marvellous Monday!  Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Summer Travels

I've been working a little on our Summer 2013 book.  I didn't get as many pages done on the road as I'd like - but it will come.

There isn't anything fancy about this page, but I did have fun adding the little map of Canada with the "travel" line.  I keep forgetting about that set!

Today is Digital Download day for MDS  - it's always a dangerous day, and today is no exception.  There are quite a number to choose from, but I'll give you a peak at the "Old School September Kit.  I love vintage type images and these are great.  I'm loving the papers too.

Old School September Kit - 134978 - $12.17

Download includes: 
* 33-piece SVG stamp brush set 
* 12 Designer Series Papers
* 14 embellishments 

  What a deal!  And, beginning this week I will be offering a weekly Hostess Code to allow you to purchase anything from my on-line store (see the "Shop on-line 24/7" on the sidebar) from anywhere in Canada.  You can place your order, use the code and your order will be shipped directly to you.

This week's code is 

QCVHZSGS Here are a few of the details about ordering through a hostess code:   1.  Go over to my online store:  http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/jjcreations  2.  Click the SHOP button in the top right corner 3.  Order ANY product you like (catalogue merchandise, MDS downloads, print products, clearance rack, specials...ANYTHING we sell!)   4.  Click on the "checkout" option 5.  Log into/create your account 6.  Enter in your payment method 7.  Enter in the hostess code 8.  Submit 9.  Your order will be shipped directly to you as soon as you enter your order!   I'm only sharing one of the new downloads with you today - there are a bunch of other great ones - so take a peak! Thanks for stopping by today - I'm off to finish getting my classroom in order. Joan

Tried and True Toy!

Happy MDS Monday morning - Beth  has a wonderful sketch for us this morning and the added challenge is to use fun frames around your pictures. The great thing about MDS is that those frames could be stamped or "paper" or embellishments.  So many fun options.  That's why it can take so much time, sometimes, to get a page done.

Today I'm featuring Elliot playing with that tried and true Tupperware Shape-o-Ball.  This is the one that Grant and Allison played with as kids.  I was a Tupperware Queen (demonstrator) at the time.

Beth's sketch has a simple embellishment grouping, but I decided to challenge myself with reproducing all the shapes that go into the ball.

The circle, oval, square, star, triangle, and hexagon were simple - we already have those shapes.  The quarter circle was easy too - just crop the circle! 

For the pentagon, I took the hexagon shape and edited it; moving the points until I got the pentagonal shape; and I removed one of the lines.

The trapezoid was fairly easy too....starting with a square and adjusting the points  to create the shape.  I would like to see a grid on this page so it would be easier to "eyeball" where the points are going.

The Swiss Cross was the hardest -beginning with a square and inserting points on each side before moving them into shape.

Here is Beth's sketch.....

Have fun with it and be sure to link your creation over to the MDS Monday challenge blog so we can see what you've done.