Cindy's CHA Picks

Cindy here!  This is such a fun time of year, seeing all the new products debuted at the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) tradeshow.  I've pinned all of my favorites on a dedicated Pinterest board.  Here are just a few of the items that have caught my eye.

• Fancy Pants 'Nautical'

If I only get one new paper collection this year, it's probably going to be Nautical from Fancy Pants.  I love the colors (perfect for boy pages) and the fact that they're double-sided with non-themed B-sides makes them really versatile.   

• Simple Stories Letter Stickers

I'm already obsessed with Simple Stories letter stickers and typeset stickers and use them all the time.  Eight new colors?  A must-have.  I will probably get at least three sets each of the letter stickers and the typeset stickers.

• Doodlebug Sprinkles Vellum

I'm intrigued.  I never really stopped using vellum after its heyday years ago and I'm always a sucker for polka dots.  This seems like a really great basic. I'd like to see it in person to check out how translucent it is.

• Jillibean Soup Beanboard

Jillibean Soup is introducing Beanboard, described as thin chipboard that's colored on both sides. I love the look and ease of chipboard but hate the bulk, so this is ideal for me.  It comes in eight colors. I'm definitely getting the green, grey, yellow, red and navy.

• Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool

I have the standard ink blending tool and love it.  This mini would be great for covering smaller areas.  I'm not sure I can justify getting this one since I already have a ton of Tsukeniko sponge daubers that I love.  I'm definitely thinking about it though.

• Glue Dots Desktop Dispenser

I use a lot of Glue Dots and this dispenser would be handy.  I'm not sure if I want another thing that sits on my desk though.  Now, my Glue Dots hang from my pegboard, off my work surface. Something to think about...

Tanya's 2013 Favorites

Happy New Year, everyone!  Tanya here, to share my favorite projects of 2013! To narrow it down, I picked 5 layouts, 5 cards and 3 projects that I really love! :)  I have included links to the original blog posts too, where you can get more description and close up pics of each creation! :)

LAYOUTS:
RIP Droopy-Doo
I die cut this rainbow and used happy, fun colors on this tribute to my Basset Hound, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in January 2013.

In Sickness & In Health
My husband spent Valentine's Day in the hospital recovering from a second surgery in two weeks.  I used Doodlebug's Love Birds collection, and carried the 'birds' into the theme of the layout.

First Bloom
I used white-on-white and covered the background in die cut patterns.  It is a little hard to tell from the photos, but I think the stark background paired with the vivid color of the hyacinth is just beautiful.  The link above has some better close-ups.

Say Cheese
I love all the die cuts and messy stamping, along with so much going on with this fun layout.

9
I stepped outside my box for this anniversary layout.

CARDS:
Valentine
My favorite thing about this card is actually the envelope!  I die cut it from a Kerri Bradford Studio file and love the tear-open flap, along with the hearts on the front.

Whoo's Turning 8?
This was a fun card for my nephew using a die cut file from Miss Kate Cuttables.  I also carried the theme onto the envelope using an owl stamp for the "o" in his name.

Wedding
I love the colors, stamping, embossing and everything about how this card came together.

Party This Way
I liked how this card came out so much, I made several of them in different color schemes!

Thinking Of You
A simple card with lots of texture and dimention that could be used for many different occasions.

PROJECTS:
Mother's Day glass etching
I finally tried my hand at using etching creme with vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo to make personalized gifts.

Boat Vinyl
I made several decals for our boat using vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

Project Life title page
This title page from my first year of Project Life encompasses everything my life is made up of - love, my dogs, home, fun and bright colors, scrapbooking ... it makes me happy to just see it. :)

Thanks for looking back at 2013 with me!  I can't wait to see what others chose as their favorites! :)

Lesley's favorite work for 2013

Hi to all, this is Lesley with a few of my favourite layouts for 2013.  I don't have a set style but rather prefer to follow trends that I like and be open in my interpretation of what is scrapbooking in my own mind, in other words,  I scrap the way I personally want my work to look without following a trend just because it is done a certain way if it doesn't suit me.  Living in a small Island State of Australia my friend and I travel to mainland Australia whenever we can to gain experience, and have been lucky enough to do so with some really amazing teachers from Australia and Overseas.

This was my first ever attempt at a canvas and was such fun to do.  Loved playing with the mixed media background, stencils and stamps and then finishing off with some die cuts and flowers.  I used the Julie Nutting doll stamps 1st edition for my girl.  It brought back my memories of playing cut out dolls when a child.

Another layout where I've used different mediums to give an 'outside boy play' type of effect to the page.  Distressed the Kaisercraft paper, used a bit of cardboard which I dampened down to make it easier to remove the top plain layer and reveal the ridges.  Cog wheel and 'saying's' chippies are from Scrapmatts.

This became my favourite paper line for 2013, the Tilda lines, love it and will be using it quite a bit in 2014 so pretty and girlie.  Used Pan Pastels on the background, stencil with Gesso, and then cut the blinds from a sheet of paper to create the 'through the window' illusion, then lots of layering with the Tilda embellishments and fussy cutting.

I am very fortunate to receive a lot of photos of my grandchildren who live in the USA, and my daughter captured this delightful range of Sofia's 'personality faces', I wanted to use them all and as I love the square photo's I thought I would go back to a basic design and just keep a couple of squares for layering embellishments, very happy with how it came out and smile every time I look at all her different faces, this one ended up in a frame.

Another favourite paper line of mine from 2013 was the Marion Smith range, whilst only a few papers I had to have them and this picture was taken in a very old heritage building in Virginia and I thought it suited the 'cup of tea' style that I have created.  Fussy cut the clock and flowers, used a Memory Box die for the lacework around the white clock and the leaves.  The smaller clock is from Prima.

Again used a lot of mixed media with stencils and inks to create this 'boy' layout, the sticks chippy and cog wheels are from Imaginerium, doors are Prima and papers are mixed.  Chequer board chippy is also from Prima.  The background circle cut out was made using a Martha Stewart circle punch.

This layout is using a technique learnt from Janine Koczwara but I did the layout myself with leftover supplies from our day with her.  Actually there are two techniques, the first is how to use stencils, inks/paints/texture paste/gesso to create your own patterned paper, in this case it was the blue shape at tope of page where I used gesso with powdered mineral paint mixed in to create the little square shapes using a Prima chequer board stencil, drying, then using the Tim Holtz tool I applied Distress Ink over it in the lighter background shade.  The second technique is creating a tag and using the layering technique to create embellishment which are then easily added to a page, love using this method.

This is one of the layouts done with Janine Koczwara where you can see the technique explained in the previous layout which is the yellow circle on right, below that is the same technique used to create the pink patterned paper using a different stencil, and the yellow/white circle behind photo was created by using a stencil again and distress ink on a piece of white card stock then cutting around the edge of it.

Hope you've enjoyed my different styles, which are some of my favourites for 2013.

Favourite Layouts for 2013

Hi, it’s Gael here and I’d like to share some of my favourite layouts from last year.  2013 was a busy year and I was lucky enough to have a couple of trips to Adelaide with my scrapping buddy Lesley.  We always have heaps of fun on our scrapping trips and this year we went to Adelaide in April and did classes with one of our favourite teachers, Steph Devlin from Prima.  We also saw some amazing Graphic 45 layouts by Jane Tregenza and I hope to be able to do some of her classes one day.  Our April trip was timed so we could spend a day with the amazing Anna Dabrowska ( aka Finnabair).

In November Lesley & I were lucky enough to go to Adelaide again and do some more beautiful classes with Steph and this time we also spent a day with Janine Koczwara who does amazing layouts for Prima. This trip was timed so we also had a day with the lovely Heiddi Swapp who showed us some great techniques with her products.  I’m looking forward to having lots of fun playing with my goodies from Heidi’s classes.

I thought I’d start by showing you some of my favourite layouts we did at these classes. 

Below is one of the beautiful layouts from the amazing Steph Devlin classes. 

The following layout is my layout from the Finnabair classes.

Lastly I have one of my favourite layouts we did with Janine Koczwara.  Wow what talented local ladies they have in Adelaide (makes me wish I lived closer to do more classes with them!).

Now on to some of my own work.  One of my favourite layouts for 2013 was one I did that didn’t even contain a photo!  The fun papers were all the inspiration I needed to get motivated to create this layout. 

Some of my other favourite layouts from last year include the following layouts –

It’s amazing to look back at my favourite layouts and see just how much an influence the classes I did last year had on my style.  I’m hoping Lesley and I will be as lucky in 2014 to be able to attend some more classes with these amazing teachers as I have learnt so much and had so much fun in the process. 

Thanks for looking.

Cindy's Favorite Layouts of 2013

Cindy here!  Each year, I set a goal for myself to complete an average of one scrapbook layout a week.  It's a good number for me: enough to hit the highlights of our year, but not so many that we're drowning in albums.  In 2013, I made 55 layouts.  I like most of them, dislike a few, and love the rest. Amongst the ones I love, these stood out to me for one reason or another. 

Feel free to visit my blog at cindyderosier.com for more information about any of these layouts!

Cathy's Favorite Projects of 2013

Happy Friday!  It's Cathy here. My turn to share my favorite projects from 2013.  As I went back through the year to find my fav's, I could really see that I did far less creating in 2013. I've got to work on that! I'm a much happier person when I get to create!

Wanted: Lost Socks

Wedding Favor Tic-Tac covers for my niece's wedding. (Apparently I never posted this to my blog!)

Spring Bouquet Box

Never a Dull Moment

Sketching with Silhouette

A Little Hello Card

Mixed Media Journal

Silent Night Canvas

They are each linked back to the original blog posts so you scan see the details on how they were made. Except for the wedding favors, which I apparently never shared. Ooops!

Pam shared her favorite pages from 2013 HERE. Over the next week or so many of the other Contributing Artists will also be sharing their favorite pages and projects too.  We hope this gets you inspired to create!

VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S BLOGS/GALLERIES
Cathy Dippolito
Dolores Schaeffer
Cindy deRosier
Lesley Walker
Gael Spence
Sarah Routledge
Sharon Fritchman
Tanya Ham
Sheila Burns
Pam Callaghan