Merry Christmas!  Or should I say, "Mele Kalikimaka!"  you know, 'it is the thing to say'!  Well, when you connect Hawaii with Christmas, that is.  Ever since our first trip to Hawaii when I was 10, Hawaii and Christmas have been linked together with Mom's traditional "Hawaiian Breakfast" with papaya and pineapple.  And then having visited Hawaii twice now in November as the decorations start coming out and the sounds of one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Mele Kalalikimaka" play over the department store speakers, Christmas in Hawaii will always be a great thing in my heart...  that's why, when http://scrapitwithasong.blogspot.com 's latest challenge was to scrap your favorite Christmas song, it was an easy choice for me...

P.S. ... If you haven't seen the layout yet, you'll have to wait now and get the Winter 2013 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine... that's where you'll be able to see this fun layout next!

WOW!!!  Can't believe it's been since February that I've blogged!  Seems that Spring and Summer just FLEW by and already we're halfway through Fall!  Well, the good part about Fall and Back-to-School is that it's also "Back to Crafting" and "me time"! It feels so good to have a couple hours each night to relax and create again.  With "Back to School" in mind, I took on a couple of challenges but instead of scrapping this year's back-to-school photos, I jumped all the way back to 1984 and flash-backed to being 15 again.

I started this layout with Canadian Scrapbooker's Magazine's "Sketchy Challenge" as my layout sketch inspiration and then when I saw "Scrap It With a Song's" challenge using Taylor Swift's "Fifteen", I knew exactly the photos I wanted to use.  As I mentioned earlier though, looking back on these days made me consider Charles Dickens' words "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." as much as Taylor Swifts lyrics...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-K2tXWK4w&feature=player_embedded

 



 Was so much fun doing these 2 challenges...  now on to October's challenges!

Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

Ohhh, have I had FUN this last month!  When I read the announcement from Graphic 45 that they were auditioning for a new Design Team, I knew I was going to get busy!  And busy I've been!!!  I've always been intrigues by Graphic 45's various lines -- so many of their Vintage looking papers and embellishments give me such inspiration!  They make me think of layouts that involve early childhood pictures of mine, black and white photos of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, pictures of Mom in her one-room school house as a teacher at 19 years old, and now, with their new Tropical Travelogue, make me excited about doing a mini-album when we travel to Hawaii this November with Crop and Cruise!  And what began as a "Design Team Challenge" has evolved over the last month into a lot of reflection, reminiscing and remembering and has left me with some beautiful projects that I am proud to share with anyone who comes to my blog and my home...

Last month I made the above single page 12"x12" layout for Graphic 45's January Blog challenge about "Heros" as well as the "Sketchy Challenge" for Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine...  I was inspired by my Mom as my hero for going after her dream of learning to play the mandolin despite arthritis in her fingers and being 70 years old when she started...  the "Curtain Call" line of paper seemed to fit this layout perfectly!

The first project I began at the beginning of February, after going out and purchasing everything I could find in the "ABC Primer" collection, was a gift bag for our end-of-the-year Teacher's gift for Jaren's teacher.  The bag ended up being so beautiful, it becomes as much of the gift as whatever we put inside it.  We will be hard-pressed to find something to go in as a gift that measures up to the bag and the mini-tag that it is wrapped in!

I fell in love with this project as I embellished it with Prima Flowers, Chipboard embellishments from the ABC Primer line, Theresa Collins ribbons and then used pop dots and fussy-cutting to give some added dimension to the books and the ruler along the bottom.  I was thrilled to be able to add the butterflies from the new "Olde Curiosity Shoppe" 8 x 8 book that is just out in the stores last week!

My pride and joy of this month's challenge is this double page layout inspired by the "ABC Primer" collection.  What started out as 'just another scrapbook page' turned into a 'wonderful walk down memory lane' as I rounded up every school year photo I could find.  I have to rummage through every photo box at my house and Mom's house to get as many as I could and as I did, I ran across many, many childhood memories that I was excited to share with my son and husband.

I love the vintage look and the distressing I did on this layout, using LOTS of Tim Holtz Distress Ink, the Tim Holtz Edge Distresser, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Prima Flowers and Petaloo Color Me Flowers along with the Graphic 45 papers and Chipboard elements.  I was having a challenge to find just the right letters from my vast collection of alphabets (I have a thing for letters), and so, was thrilled to find that the blue and red papers in the "Olde Curiosity Shoppe" 8" x 8" mini papers matched the "ABC Primer" blues and reds perfectly to make the photo frames and letters with my Slice Machine by Making Memories.
  

By making a pocket out of the red paper and the ruler on the right side, I thought it made a great place to store more class photos and school memoriabilia so I don't have to go on the "Great Photo Hunt" the next time inspiration strikes...

Again using the "ABC Primer" line, I was inspired by one sheet that had 4 6" x 6" pictures of kids in the rain.  Using 3 of them plus Core'dinations Graphic 45 Cardstock, some flowers from my stash and "Forever in Time" Deco Borders, frames and Tim Holtz Crackle Paint, I created a beautiful set of 3 pictures that will hang proudly in the hall next to the coat closet...

"Birthday Season" in our family begins in February with the birthdays of 2 nieces and a sister-in-law... not to mention Valentine's Day!  What better time to make some cards using the "Magic of Oz", "Curtain Call" and "ABC Primer" papers. 

After using the Cuttlebug and Tim Holtz embossing folder on the "Curtain Call" card, I found the Core'dinations embossed Graphic 45 Cardstock and discovered I didn't have to worry about doing anymore embossing...

One of my first layouts using some Graphic 45 paper from "The Magic of Oz" was done for a challenge at one of our local scrapbooking stores.  Every month we would get a 'mystery envelope' and the challenge was to use some of every item in the envelope to create a single page layout.  I so enjoyed these challenges because they would push me to use items or combinations of things that I would not have automatically thought of or even looked at in the store, like the very interesting yellow "web-like" ribbon used here.

I hope you've enjoyed my projects done with Graphic 45 papers, Tim Holtz products, Prima Flowers and other great products as much as I have enjoyed creating with them so intensively over this past month!  If nothing else happens, I have some great finished projects in my collection and a renewed love and passion for each of the product lines I worked with over the month!

I look forward to sharing with you again soon!

Bo Bunny Inspiration

So Bo Bunny has a layout challenge and the inspiration for this month's layout was this photo.  I was so inspired by the clean, crisp look of the blue and white that I had to do my first "Thanksliving" layout based on this photo.  This is what I came up with using the Bo Bunny "Back to Basics" line...

Let me know what you think...