My Furry Valentine

Good morning.

It's Friday.....an extremely COLD Friday for sure, but never the less it's the perfect time to get your craft on!

I'm killing two birds with one stone today in the form of 2 DT projects.......I try my best not to do this but my time was fairly short the last couple of weeks so needs must!

I was given a great new kit from Two Scrapbook Friends containing the Hugs and Kisses collection by Simple Stories.  Perfect for those Valentine pages, but if you're like me and not much into lovey dovey photo shoots, it works great for the everyday too.

Also as it's Friday, it happens to be time for a brand new Sketch challenge over on the Scrapmuch? blog.

Team B is up this week so here's my take on this weeks sketch using the Hugs and Kisses line.......

Here's the sketch for you to play along with:

I flipped my page 180 degrees as I'm sure you can tell, purely because the background paper I chose to use has a flower cluster in the bottom left corner, and that's where I wanted to place my title.

I happened to have 2 sheets of this paper so I fussy cut the flowers from the second and stuck them over top with foam dots.

More fussy cutting for the line of hearts which were taken from another sheet of PP, then stitched with embroidery floss.

Finally, the photo (a selfie of me and my boy!) and lots of layers using a combination of papers, chipboard, paper clip, pin badge and the perfect co-ordinating stickers you can find in this collection.I also added a little embossing to the background using a stencil and pale pink embossing powder, and a little 'print' with a rubber stamp and black ink.

I also added some embossing to the background using a stencil and pale pink embossing powder, and a little more 'print' with a rubber stamp and black ink.

I think that's about all.

You can obviously find the Simple Stories line over at the Two Scrapbook Friends store so you can grab your own supplies.

Also I'd love for you to play along with this weeks Sketch-y Friday challenge with Scrapmuch?  You have until the end of the month to play along......just link up your creation over on the Scrapmuch? blog to be in with a chance of winning some goodies.  You can check out a little more inspiration from the rest of the team whilst you're there too.

Have a wonderful weekend.  We have an extended one here due to extreme cold temperatures and schools being closed......I wonder if it's too cold to shop?

See you next week,
Jayne.x. 

Inspiration Elevator - A Fond Farewell!

After some thought and consideration, the time has come to retire Inspiration Elevator. But before we go, we need to hold a big retirement party, so we've invited everyone who's been involved with Inspiration Elevator back for one last reveal, and to our delight most were able to accept! We are so delighted to have so many IE alumni along this month! Thank you to each of you for helping us end our elevator ride with so much fun and creative energy!

This month's challenge is posed by one of IE's co-creators and team admin, Ann.

This month's challenge is simple, but I hope, challenging as well. 
Here's the challenge: Inspiration Elevator launched on May 15, 2012 and at that time, we explained our purpose as, "Welcome to Inspiration Elevator! What a thrilling day! Today is the launch of Inspiration Elevator (IE), a challenge blog created by my dear friend Christa Uttley and me. We chose the name Inspiration Elevator because it is our intent to raise our creativity to heights through challenges issued every month. We want to raise our designs from the ordinary to the extraordinary. We hope you'll join us on our journey!

IE is a group of like minded scrappy friends who want to raise the bar in their own creative process through unique challenges that we issue to each other once a month. These won't be run of the mill challenges and we hope you'll join us each month and be inspired by the creative designs we've created." 
That vision has remained unchanged over the last (almost) 3 years. The challenge this month is to just create - no holds barred. Take some time, or challenge yourself to do it in 1/2 hour if time is tight, but think about what you'd like to create if there were no agenda, no design team requirement. In other words, create for you, and enjoy the process!

So there you have it.....one final no holds barred challenge from Inspiration Elevator!

So that's exactly what I did with my page.  
One totally messy, just for the fun of it, no worries about using a particular paper or product, just a get down and dirty kinda page.

And I had a blast!

Just Imagine

It all started with the photo I've hoarded for the last couple of years not quite knowing exactly what to do with it, and a challenge that was issued on the Scrap Around The World blog.  I'll get to that later.

I think the photo was taken by my youngest daughter whilst I was lying on my bed, and after a little play around with editing, it always gave me the impression of being underwater....the hair floating across the bed sheets!

So that was the start that inspired me to get creating with some absolutely gorgeous new beach/water themed papers I'd picked up a couple of weeks ago....the Sandy Toes collection from Kaisercraft.

I began with the background.....

I scrunched up a plastic bag and dabbed white Gesso here and there, followed by a layer of texture paste applied through a burlap stencil.  I then stamped in brown with a cross hatch kinda stamp, all around the paper placement.

Layers then came into play......

All of the papers and my photo were brushed with a little Gesso to create that whitewashed look.  I cut a lace trim using my Silhouette then tore chunks from it to distress a little.

The chicken wire chipboard was also attacked (in a loving way!) by cutting sections from it, brushing with Gesso then layered between the papers.

Finally, the embellies......

Lots of flowers, wooden leaves, Silhouette cut vines, dew drops, cheesecloth and more chipboard all finished with a covering of brushed Gesso and splatters of mist.

Love it!  So much fun.

We hope you'll take the time to hop through and visit each of our participant's blogs, beginning with our guests, then our current team, and finishing off with our co-founders. Feel free to leave comments and lavish each one with appreciation for all that they each brought to the Inspiration Elevator challenge over the last 3 years!

Audrey Yeager

Christy Riopel

Denise Morrison

Jodi Wilton

Laura Whitaker

Laurel Seabrook

Shelby Dwyer

             Jayne Morgan - that's me!

Joanne Burton

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen

Lisa Spiegel

Michelle Hernandez

Wendi Robinson

Christa Uttley

Ann Jobes

I would personally like to thank Ann and Christa for all their hard work over the last 3 years, and to the rest of my team mates who have continually challenged and inspired me to create to my limits.

Finally, a big thank you to YOU......everyone who has visited and encouraged me on my journey with IE, through comments and 'pins' etc.  I do hope you'll stick around in the future.

Before I go there's a few more deets I need to cover regarding a fabulous challenge over at Scrap Around The World, but needless to say.......have a great day,

Jayne.x.

----------------------------------------

Challenge Entered:

Scrap Around The World - Mood Board

So obviously my inspiration was not the colour green.....I am not a big 'green' fan!

However, my starting point was the hair (cue hoarded photo!)followed by the water, then all that lovely texture jumping right out of each and every photograph.

Finally.....the quote, which seemed to trigger the perfect title!

Together

Good morning.

I'm a little later than intended with today's post, as Scrapmuch? combined forces with Stuck?! Sketches on Saturday to create a Colour/Sketch Challenge.

As a member of the Scrapmuch? DT, I was given the opportunity along with the rest of the team to create a page using the current Sketch at Stuck?! combined with the current Colour Challenge from Scrapmuch?

Make sense?

You can check out all of the creations from the Scrapmuch? DT over on the Stuck?! blog (lovely they are too!), but here's my effort.

Together

Before I continue with the deets, here is the Sketch......

and here's the colour combination.....

Pretty nice huh?

So for my page I went a little 'artsy', in other words I had a little play with some mixed media......more so than usual I guess.

The background started with a subtle wash of blue watercolour, followed by stencilled modelling paste, stamping and some paint splatters.

I managed to get a little wood on there and some of my recent chipboard winnings from Creative Embellishments, which I covered with a pale pink embossing powder.

A stand alone cluster of pretties here.....

And the main group around the photo.....flowers, die cut, clothes pin, cheesecloth and more chipboard.

I finished the whole thing with some pencil drawn circles and a few dew drops here and there.

So, do you feel like a challenge?  If you combine the two challenges and link up on both the Stuck?! and Scrapmuch? blogs, you could be in with a chance of winning two prizes!

Can't beat that!

I'll be back again sometime this week so till then have a good one,
Jayne.x.

Sketch-y Friday at Scrapmuch? - Blowing Raspberries

Good morning!

There's a brand new Sketch over on the Scrapmuch? blog which means it's time to get your craft on!

I don't really know what it was about my page, but when I started this one I had no idea where I was going with it......the only thing I'd decided upon was the title.

Interesting where creativity takes you I guess - sometimes good places, sometimes not so!

Blowing Raspberries

Is he a whole load of cuteness or what?

Shame he looks nothing like that now after his recent 'trim'....more like a chihuahua!!

I started out with a kraft base and used my Silhouette to cut various files from the Ahoy There paper collection by Carta Bella.

Once everything was on there I splattered away with a little white acrylic paint.

Did you see I managed to get one of my faves on there?  A pin button holding down that messy thread.

And here's that title I mentioned.....the only sure thing on the page!

So all you need now is the lovely sketch and then you can join in with the challenge to try and win yourself some goodies!

Tadaaaa!

Don't forget to link up over at Scrapmuch? and check out a little more inspiration from the rest of the team.

Have a great day and I'll be seeing you again tomorrow with a sweet little page for another sweet little challenge!

Till then,
Jayne.x.