Once Upon A...Sketch reveal and Your Scrapbook Stash sponsoring!

This is what I came up with for Once Upon A...Sketch this time.

The sketch is versatile and I actually did two layouts with it that are completely different from each other.
I will share the second one tomorrow after it has been posted to the YSS blog.

And here is the sketch :


Quite interesting looking I thought  and for the most part  I kept quite close to the layout of the sketch.


























This beautiful lazer cut chipboard frame is from Imaginarium Designs. Would you believe it,...Jane from Imaginarium and Seriously Scrapbooking is so generous that she has given each of us in the DT chipboard to use on our layouts. I think that is just awsome and very kind!!
The beautiful Imaginarium chipboards can be bought at Seriously Scrapbooking.

I painted this frame in a soft green/yellow colour to match my layout.
I think, however, that these chipboards look fabulous raw too.



























Instead of the little circles spread on the sketch I decided to scatter some flowers over the page. I then painted over them to make them less obvious and to achieve a more artsy feel to the layout. I punched the retro flowers from pages of an old novel. I stuck the pages together by twos to make them more sturdy. I added tiny mulberry roses from Your Scrapbook Stash to the center to get some dimension.


























The pieces of patterned paper that you can see here are from "Pink Paislee" "Sweetness" collection. You can find it in the YSS store now with a 25% discount. I think they are very pretty. On tomorrows layout I will use the same collection but it will look very different from this. I love the big tea roses on those papers.

Here you can see that pretty frame again. The yellow letter stickers are from the same Pink Paislee collection that I mentioned above. The b/w letters are by "Echo Park" collection "Be Mine".

I used mostly cardstock on this project and I think it looks okay even though I am really a big pp 'junkie'.
I distressed the papers with different techniques and then painted and inked the edges. I  painted several layers of differently coloured paints, without covering the cardstock completely. I even 'grunged up' the letter stickers because from the beginning they looked to pretty and priestine to match the rest of my layout.

The pictures are of my middle DD Victoria, taken last Summer when she was 15.
She still has a thing for hats and flowers, and who can blame her...? They make her look good and compliment all of her other good qualities!
Let me hasten to add though,..Victoria herself  'hates'  these photos..

If you have not already checked out the challenge I recommend you go HERE to see the sketch and read all about the rules.There are not many, but one important rule is that you have to journal. It is NOT enough to note time and place OR add a title. You MUST write something more.... A good thing is that you ARE allowed to combine OUAS with other challenges as you wish!

Just like last time you can double your chances of winning by submitting your layout both to OUAS and to YSS. We all enjoy winning prizes, right... I mean...prizes are FREE stuff...lol!!

Thank you for taking an interest in my little blog.
I really appreciate each and every one of you so much!!
Welcome back tomorrow!!

CCG 192 Jump for Joy!!

Stunning colours for a girly page.
It is time again for the Color Combos Galore reveal.
It was really yesterday, but with all the problems with Blogger all over the world the layouts are not being blogged until today!
I used an oversized older flower from Prima. I am trying to use up all of those as I will soon get a load of new mulberry flowers sent to me.
I recently received a very much appreciated RAK from one of my TOP favourite scrappers Leeann Pearce.
The little doilies stuck behind the green cardstock is from her. You will soon see more here of my work done with her products!
When I say green cardstock I really mean that. In the pictures it looks almost aqua in colour, that is really strange! My colour is a celadon green.

I even used this sketch ( # 46) from Sketchabilities as inspiration for my layout!

Ok so the colours we were given this week are noting short of fabulous.

I really did love them at first sight but thought it might be a pretty difficult one this time.

Still, turned out the most difficult part was to find these colours in my stash. I ended up using almost all cardstock. But I suppose as I work the papers quite a lot so they are wrinkled and bent, the absence of pattern is not so obvious.
I do love my patterned papers and much prefer working with those, so this was a bit outside my comfort zone...Can you tell...? LOL!

My layout is bulging in all directions.

I even added corrugated cardboard which I love but have not used in a while.
I matted my pics with black to make them stand out more and work better with the black title. For that reason I even added a black die cut border. To make the black title show off better I painted with a white acrylic paint behind the letters.

























I used pearl maker to add a border of tiny pearls along the edge of the lilac cardstock, that I die cut using a template that I made.




























I think these pictures are cute.
Beatrice was jumping on the trampoline in the garden, and as if that was not scary enough she had to use the skipping rope at the same time.....
The deep edge puncher is by Martha Stewart..
The pretty bling swirl is by Zva Creative. Very lovely indeed!
I have been saving that but now I feel much better having used it,and besides, now I am allowed to buy a new one...lol!

















































This is my happy girl!
























And this is my constant companion and scrappingbuddy,...lol!
I think you have seen her in my pics before.
She always appears when it is time to photograph my layouts.

Yeay,...so good to be able to finish a post without interruption by Blogger!
I just hope they will give me back my comments too....
Thanks for taking a peek at my work and ramblings...

Les Papiers de Pandore "Maison de Campagne" "Petits Secrets de Famille"

Today I have a layout to share that I made with the new papers from Les Papieres de Pandore.
These papers have so many lovely patterns that it is difficult not to want to do a lot of cutting.

This layout started out fine and it looked totally different from how it is now, but suddenly with no warning(...lol..) I was completely stuck. I guess it happens to all of us.
I tried to finish it but had to give up. Last night I decided I would try again. I tore off layer after layer and decided to go simple on this.
I think I managed to salvage some of it and there is also a  little story behind the page.
When we are in the South of France in the Summers we like to take short walks. One is down the gravel road to the local wine chateau. I will confess now that we have made a habit of stopping and pinching a few grapes now and then. They taste very nice and it feels very exotic for us Scandinavians. We are of course very careful not to disturb anything...I hope they won't see this and send the police when we go there in July! :-D

I cut the sweet border from one of the papers.I added rhinestones to the green circles.

I added a red Prima flower and leaves. In the middle I put a wooden bird.

The title is also from the same sheet as the border. It even includes journaling spots.

The title means 'Small Family Secrets' and I thought it was appropriate for my confession!

A shot from the side so you can see the way I put pop dots under some of the embellishments.
The yellow and green butterflies are also cut outs from the collection.






































It really is a very pretty collection and very versatile. I think this brown patterned sheet go very well with my photos. I am in the middle of my next Papiers de Pandore layout right now and the collection really is a delight to work with!

That was all from me for now.

I would just like to take a moment to remind you that there is only a couple of days left to submit your creations based on the sketch to Once Upon A...Sketch.

The good thing is you can even submit those to Your Scrapbook Stash who is sponsoring  OUAS  this month. You double your chances of winning and that cen only be a good thing, right...?

This whole month you even get a 15 percent discount at the shop using the code MAY15. Make sure you don't miss any of the news! -Especially as you get free shipping on US orders!

CCG 191 Card inspiration. Doilies, seambinding and packaging!

We are getting near to Mother's Day, so what better inspiration this week for Color Combos Galore than mothers!

I decided to do a card this week, and this is how it turned out!

I recently managed to get hold of some seambinding  from a British online store called Ribbon Girl.
Really excellent service and all ribbons and buttons etc came individually wrapped. It felt as if I were receiving a goodie bag when I opened my package! I can really recommend the shop after having shopped there once. The postage was reasonable too.

So I used the seam binding for the first time and I recycled a Prima packaging for the green colour.
The tiny butterfly I made using my sisters (Hello Sylvi :-D) Quickutz die.
The letter stickers are "October Afternoon". I love the size and shape of them.























I think the evening light tweaked my colours a little. The yellow doesn't look quite as strong as on the board. The gold I used just as a tiny accent outlining the butterfly and in the golden button on the hat pin.
I just love those tiny doilies. Their size is so adaptable. -Gorgeous for all kinds of cards of course.

This is the inspiration board that Janet prepared for us this week. All the info about this particular challenge can be found there.

 


 A few more close ups of the card that I will give to my MIL.

If you are ready for some serious inspiration please head over to the CCG site to be wowed.
Those girls never disappoint!!

And don't forget that Your Scrapbook Stash is sponsoring Once Upon A...Sketch this month. You can submit a link to both sites and double your chance of winning. If you are doing a layout anyway you might as well up the odds a little, right?
You can read about it in this post HERE.

Have a lovely day all of you my scrappy friends!