My fifth and last week as Special Agent at CSI. Case file # 35.

When Debbi asked me quite some time ago if I would be Special Agent for August, I did not jump at the chance straight away. I have quite a lot on my plate and I had to think wheather I would be able to fullfill my obligations. I said yes at first thinking I would do 'a few case files'. 

Turned out I did them all! I was a little late posting all but one case file but Debbi being a very gracious lady gave me some extra time when I needed it. Tonight I just managed to finish my lo in time to take a picture of it before darkness fell. Lucky for me the US is six hours behind,...LOL!

Here it is:

I so love the added depth of that fabulous frame!
This is what the lo looks like without the frame:

 I absolutely do not like the messy handwriting part here. To me that is the most prominent feature on the page. I did not, however, have time to do the journalling on my pc this time. It'll heve to do!

Here are some close ups:

This is a lovely photo of my two eldest daughters. 

We were on vacations in the South of France and we were happy we'd found  fields and fields  of gorgeous sunflowers!

I used a white Bazzil as a base and smudged some of the paint colours on there. I layered a blue paper on top and fastened my bits with stitching. I painted a thick layer of gesso. After cutting the blue and green paper with pinking scissors, just a little larger than my doily, I layered the two on top as well. Then I painted around the brim of my circular shape with yellow to symbolize a very abstract sun.

 My evidence this week is: paint, flowers, sun

And for my testimony I am documenting a vacation.

 I love the look of he beautiful sewn border here. I cut it from an older specialty sheet by Prima. I still have some of the machine stitched papers that they came out with about three years ago. 

Actually I have been hoarding them,...There; I said it!!...But now the time has come to use them!

I used a mixture of all 'possible' brands of flowers on this. -But mostly Prima's and Petaloo's. 

The green tag is by Les Papiers de Pandore and I cut the yellow one with a die.

I quite like the mix of paint and stitches in this corner. It looks so layered. 

The letter stickers are by October Afternoon.The blue and green patterned paper is by Lily Bee, and the green title is a chipboard from Prima.

I am leaving you with a view of the kind of layering I have used on this page. I think there are about nine layers around the photo.

It is not as bulky as some of my pages but there is still  lot of texture.

 Thanks so much for dropping by. 

I recommend you head over to CSI Color Stories Inspiration to have a peek at what the other guest designers and the awesome DT did. It is well worth it.

I would like to say a big thank you to Debbie for having me as a 'Special Agent' for the latest five case files. I have enjoyed it very much!

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"So Proud" - Page in "Invitation" from Les papiers de Pandore.

Hello my dear friends!

I told you before that this Summer I developed a love for using strips of patterned papers on my layouts. Here comes one more example of that!

I used the beautiful 'Invitation' by 'Les Papiers de Pandore'. I admit I grunged it up a bit but of course you you will still recognize the beautiful colours and patterns.

Here are some close ups:

 Thanks for dropping by to have a look at my work. It is much appreciated!!

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May 15th OUAS; Theme "Mum" usin Prima "Nature Garden"

Welcome to the mid monthly reveal for the May sketch at OUAS!

 We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "Mum" however you like based on the following sketch. You can journal as little or as much as you like, but your layout must incorporate this theme and the sketch.

Ideas for journalling: you as a mother, your role as a working/stay-at-home mum, sacrifices/benefits of being a mum, one day in your life as a mum, how your life has changed since being a mum, a tribute to your own mum, grandmother, guardian or someone you consider as close as your mum, your relationship with your mum or your daughter, one trait you have take from your mum, your desire to be a mum, your feelings on motherhood, what does it mean to be a mum?, what kind of mum do you want to be? , Mother's Day celebrations/traditions, your favourite Mother's Day gift given/receive etc

For my layout I used one of the new collections from Prima called "Nature Garden".
The colours and patterns are very subdued and easy to work with.

And this is the beautiful sketch that Nadia prepared for us:

I made my example with lots of layers and sooo much distressing.

I painted, inked and misted the different layers and also made good use of my sewing machine to adhere different elements.

My journalling is about the awesome feeling it was to become a mother of three.

I have talked to a couple of my friends and they felt the same after number three was born,...just elation!

At the same time as being so excited about the new family member I also experienced a strange yearning for one more baby,...to be able to experience this undescribable feeling one more time. I was always happy about waiting before having my firstborn. We had so many things in our life with Uni and work and travel that we would not have been able to do with a baby.

But also with every baby you are a little older and at some point you have to realize that you are not going to have any more. Having had two miscarriages before our eldest was born we felt so blessed with one child . Now we have three  intelligent and beautiful children and could not be happier!!

I have hidden most of my journaling in the rolled up scroll.
For the doilies I used my Cheery Lynn die and the branc is one from Prima Marketing.

I used a chipboard ornament from Imaginarium Designs to form part of my title.

I made a small shabby banner from triangles.

I inked the edges and outlined them, I drew a small messy heart on each of them, and then with my finger I smeared paint on top.When the paint dried I added some liquid pearl from Viva.

I really like this photo of Beatrice.She was happy outside jumping on the trampoline whwn I asked her to pose for a few photos. Her hair is all messy like that!!

Why don't take a peek at what the rest of the team cam up with?

Visit OUAS HERE!

Joy,.Les Papiers de Pandore and OUAS

I am a bit behind with my blogging lately!

Those of you who are frequent visitors here will know that it is due to my PC acting up on a regular basis.

Last period I was not required to make a lo for Once Upon A Sketch,

but I loved the sketch so much I had to give it a go anyway.

There is a new sketch up as of today and I will get back to that one in my next post,but decided that first things come  first and I will start with  my lo for Dec 1st. I already shared the sketc in a previous post.

Yesterday I could only share a sneak and this is what the whole page looks like:

 Don't you just love the beautiful new collection from "Les Papiers de Pandore"?

It is called "En Attendent" ( Waiting ).

For those of you who live far away from France and don't know how to get hold of it I have some news.

Julie is sponsoring the current challenge over at OUAS.

Go over there and check out what you have to do to be eligible to win no less than TWO whole  collections from "Les Papiers dePandore"!! 

We were supposed to journal about what we love and look forward to in December. 

I chose to write about spending time with family and seeing the happiness shared by my children

 enjoing time together.

This holiday will be precious as Alexandra is coming home for the first time since going away 

to University in the UK.

 The cute flowers I made using a die from Marianne Design, a Dutch manufacturer. And the doilies were made with a die from Cheery Lynn Designs.

I love the little cut-outs and journalling spots from "En Attendent".

Together with the gauze and felt snowflakes they add a lot of dimension to my lo.

I chose to only add glue to the center and thus have the possibility to keep sticking things underneath  

(and on top...) as my lo evolved.

I hope you enjoyed a little Christmas Joy here and that you also will experience a lot of that in your lives!

Thanks for dropping by!

"Snow much fun" "Les Papiers de Pandore" "En Attendent"

Tonight I have another page to share that I made using the new "Les Papiers de Pandore".

I like the slightly untraditional Christmas/Winter colours alot!

I used the different elements from the cut out sheet as decorations and added some glitter to enhance the wintery feel. The long strips are the pieces at the bottom that you would normally throw away, but here you cut them off to save them as they are the perfect colour accent.

I cut some circles and layered them. Around the outline I fastened a length of pretty white lace.

Again I used my new "Shape Boss" to help with the pleating to make the rosettes.

I layered the photo mat on top of the gauze to mimic snow. On both sides I stuck a journallingspot underneath the mat.

The gorgeous chipboard letters I love to use are from Imaginarium Designs. They are an Australian manufacturer with some awesome products. I used white acrylic paint to give a touch of Winter to the letters.Here and there , like on the small snowflakes I added some pearl dots.

You can find the alphas HERE

Here are some more close ups for you.......

The photos were taken last February when the whole family went to Norway, where I am originally from,

It was Beatrice's first time skiing. At first she was very excited, but then despaired when she disciovered it was hard. But when time came to call it a day she did not want to go home...The youngest learn very fast!

It's almost Friday,folks......I hope you'll have a lovely weekend.

Thanks for dropping by!

An earthy combo at Color Combos Galore using Hambly and woodgrain.

I can't believe it has been almost a week since my last post,...Where did time go?

This week at CCG the colours are tones of brown and tan with a burst of amber orange. The colours  look very lovely together but I will admit that I had great difficulty going through my extensive stash looking for anything that would match the combo. I pulled out everything that would work and just added it all to my page.
Rummaging through my stash I found I have little brown and little or no orange. I realized I am more of a pink, green, teal,and cream girl.
But this is how my page turned out anyway;

The designer challenge said use  for example woodgrain and lined paper which I did. I used a piece of transparency by Hambly tht had a woodgrain pattern. I bought two but have still been hoarding them. They are so pretty. For the middle photo mat I used a paper from DCWV that has the pattern of a tree trunk.My journaling was written on some graph/lined paper from Prima arketing.
I had to use a lot of editing on this and the contrast I applied made my page look a little lighter than in real life.

And this is the Inspiration Board for this week;

And then the customary close ups;

The chipboard butterflies and the large branch are by House of Three, Parisian Anthology. The same goes for the piece underneath my title.I added some half glass beads to the tips of the branches.

The little bird house was cut from a piece of the Hambly woodgrain transparency and I made a small roof for it as well as added a tiny button.In the background underneath my photo mat I have use cheese cloth or muslin that I dyed with strong coffee to get the right tone of light brown. At least my lo smells good!

I put a lot of my embellishments down the side layered on top of the transparency. The round spots are made with a Spellbinders die.

I love to use a sepia or black/white photo with these kinds of colours. It can be difficult to find a suitable photo otherwise. I used Webster's Pages letter stickers for my title.

The photo was taken in Provence this Summer when Beatrice and I went for a walk and we had our own little photo shoot. We took a lot of nice photos and had a lot of fun until my memory card was completely full and it was time to walk home for a new one.

I hope you enjoyed looking at what I have been up to.

And a report on my computer,... As Monty Python would say IT IS NO MORE, it is completely deceased like the dead parrot.My two beautiful memory drives that were for all my photos had been ruined by lightning. When the nice computer repair man tried to replace them with a new one that one broke as well. So we have mutually decided that I have to make a change. Fortunately I made a copy of my pics in the eleventh hour and fingers crossed I got all of them. I have not been able to  check yet. Now I am on the look for a new PC.
I am blogging (far too seldom, though) on Alexandra's laptop, but editing and posting on the laptop takes me FOREVER,...it does ...really!
Hope you are all enjoying your week end.
Bye for now!