I am in Love!! + A Summer layout using the new Pandore collections just released!!

If you ar looking for beautiful patterns , lovely colours and great quality paper 

you need to look no further!! 

Without more ado I will show you some pictures of the latest collections 

designed by my gorgeous friend; Julie Blanc.

First the cool *Urbanessence* which has a distinct urban feel to it.

  

Just look at the versatility of this collection. I can think of so many ways that I want to use it and I already have many pages in my head waiting to get out. 

Watch this space!

 Even the stamps to go with this collection seem great for travel pages or pages about teenagers or for all those photos of everyday life.

 Maybe you think it's a boy's collection when you see it, but that's not so! 

Follow the link to the blog and you will see a gorgeous layout thet Julie made with a little toddler girl.

And then for the next collection that is more floral and feminine in style. 

It is called *Invitation*.

I just adore the soft patterns and lovely colours! 

The glorious large butterflies are perfect for fussy cutting and also the many flowers. 

I love the chandelier on one of the papers! There are music notes and hearts and swirls and everything you can wish for... :-)  

Can you tell I love it yet?

 Even here the stamps have beautiful designs for all kinds of occations. I have tried the stamps out and they really work beautifully! I just love that beautiful swirly font.

 

Well, before I go I have a page to share that I made this afternoon with *Invitation*. 

I have been so busy working lately that I've had no time to scrap, but I could not wait any longer....

 I took this photo of Beatrice right after school ended and the looong holidays started.

She had invited a friend over for a bbq. I got to have a mini photoshoot with the girls but really most of the shots with Beatrice turned out crap!!

I used some of my older Pink Paislee chippies for the title. And the felt decoration is by Prima Marketing.

 

 I added a Melissa Frances resin corner piece and I fussy cut one of the large butterflies from the pp.

 

I used some flowers and berries from my stash and embellished the felt border with some cream liquid pearls.

Don't you agree this is a tempting collection? -And soon I will share one with *Urbanessence* too!

 If you would like a shot at winning one of the collections click your way over to 

the BLOG of Les Papiers de Pandore.

All you have to do is post an image on your blog with a link back and also leave a comment on that post. 

 Remember that in Canalblog copy and paste  doesn't work very well. 

You have to right click and save the image.

There is one draw for *Urbanessence* and one for *Invitation*. 

Open until July 10th.

Good Luck everyone!

Goodbye OUAS! "Birthdays" Prima "Natures Garden"

I am sad to say that this is my last reveal for Once Upon A...Sketch...

I have truly enjoyed my 15 months on the team and had it been an option I would gladly have applied for a place on the team again....I guess the other girls feel the same and then there would not be any spots for new girls....LOL! Like you I have seen who's on the new team and I can already tell we are in for a treat. OUAS will go from strength to strength!

I just want to say a big warm thank you to my friend Nadia who had confidence in me from the start.

When I received her email asking me to be on the original team I,..or she,.. had no idea that this new challenge blog would be such a success. Had I known Nadia then as I do now I would have kown though, as she is a wonderful organized, driven team leader and such a beautiful soul!! 

Thank you and much love, Nadia!!

This is  the layout I created:

And here s the beautiful sketch that Nadia made for us:

The theme of this challenge is BIRTHDAYS. 

We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "BIRTHDAYS" 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 below. Please make sure that we see some sort of journalling on your layouts and please tell us where your journalling is . Hidden journalling is perfectly fine. 

Ideas for Journalling:most memorable birthday celebration for you or anyone in your family, the last birthday you celebrated and tell us your thoughts on turning this age, your child's/other family member's birthday and your thoughts on their age, a birthday that was a turning point in your life and your excitement/fears or other thoughts you had, an upcoming birthday for you or anyone and your thoughts, the best birthday present you ever received/gave and why?. You can also base your layout on a non - person birthday. This means your birthday theme can be based on : a pet, a business venture, a milestone anniversary etc etc. Its up to you how you interpret "BIRTHDAYS

I will just share a few short and sweet comments as I really heve to be off in a minute. Our company is taking part in the local market activities this week end so it's all work and no play I'm afraid!!

If I can I will be back this afternoon to update my comments for the different photos.

Wishing you all a lovely day! Here it's raining and we have to be outside most of the day!!

Thanks for visiting!!

Celebrate Summer crop at "My Scrapbook Nook"

Today I would like to tell you about a fun event that started yesterday on the blog of 

"My Scrapbook Nook".

We call it "Celebrate Summer" crop and it will be open all Summer!

The rules are short and sweet: 

You will have all of the challenges posted for you at one time. All challenges are due by Sunday, August 12, 11:59 p.m. PST. Please post your creations in both the gallery and the challenge thread. Sound easy enough? It is! We want this to be a slow-paced source of inspiration to keep you scrapping your summer photos, so play along and have fun!!

It is open to everyone, even if you don't have a Nook kit. Join in and use what you have!

All the challenges are posted at once but will be presented one by one on the blog.

There is a printable list that the talented Pam Brown made for us. Pretty isn't it?

Here is the link that lets you print it directly:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HUSpTsfxRd8Jk8zFcHy9n-xhD4y5JF6DrIEExEaBB6E/edit

I hope many of you will join in. 

Remember; you can do as much or as little as you like, and you do it all at your own pace.

Hugs!!

Berlin, Sing,Laugh,Play. "Simple Stories" "Summer Fresh" June Nook kit.

Those of you with teenagers might know it can be hard soemtimes to get your offspringg to share photos with you. Sometimes there is an event that you would like photos from and you even send the camera along,...but alas,... no photos taken! This was such an occasion! Victoria and her friends from the youth leader group went to Berlin to sing at a church and to meet with new friends. 

I spite of my efforts,...I had to steal this picture off Facebook to have something to scrap from her trip! Thank God for FB... LOL!

 I used the "Summer Fresh" collection from "Simple Stories" that came in my June Nook kit to create this page. In retrospect it looks a bit like Christmas in June to me. But I did not stop to see that the colours would signal Christmas so that's the way it has to be...LOL!

I misted through a mask by Crafters Workshop. I love almost all their masks. The colour turned out very green and I was contemplating what to do. I decided to add some glass bubbles to take some of the edge off .Apart from that and the flowers everything here is from the kit.

Some time ago I got some fancy collars from "A Million Memories". I got them to use as flower embellishments on my los. This white rolled flower is one of those that I cut off.

 The words Play and Laugh were cut from one of the journalling cards in the kit. 

It had the word Live, too.

Finally a reminder to stay tuned for the "My Scrapbook Nook Celebrate Summer" crop.

It will start tomorrow!

I have seen the challenges and they are so much fun. 

-And you can take part even if you do not have a kit!!  Everybody is welcome at the "Nook"!!

Thanks for coming by to say hello!

Some simple cards using "Summer Fresh" from the Nook kit.

 I just made some quick C&S cards today.

I felt a little inspiration as my youngest DD is going to a moving away-party this week end for one of her  class mates .

Playing with one of the patterned papers gave me the idea when I thought the chevrons looked like little 'roof tops'.

I used the journalling cards as a base for my cute little houses. As you can tell this is such a quick fix if you wan to create something but don't have much time...

The design for my houses are very similar and I used pop dots on parts to make a little more dimension.

Thanks for taking the time to come and visit my blog! 

 I so appreciate all the kind ciomments you leave me. They truly make my day!! 

Hugs!

Beauty and Grace, -More from the Nook kit using "Summer Fresh"

I am so happy with my kit from MY Scrapbook Nook. The colours are very happy and the patterns are lovely and it includes some cute embellishments  from Jillybean Soup,too!!

Today I have a card and a Layout to share. 

The layout is showing my eldest daughter Alexandra who moved to the UK last October to attend university. In a few weeks she will be back home for her Summer hols.We are all looking forward to that. Thank god for Skype thet lets the whole family have long conversations over the computer. 

What a wonderful invention!! 

These kind of papers and patterns don't really lend themselves to my usual rather shabby layered style so I wanted to try another approach. 

I picked some of my favourite sheets. To blend them together and add some pizzazz I decided to use a sheet of  red cardstock and mat most of my elements with that. 

I think it adds freshness to my design, (that I decided to keep quite simple).

It felt a bit strange to use two 4x6 photos as the style nowadays is more towards the smaller sizes.

For the blooms I used my old trusted jumbo retro punch and layered two flowers with a button in the middle. The saying that I cut from one of the papers, and the flowers too, were pop dotted to my page.

Just look at those so so cute butterfly pins from Jillibean Soup. Aren't they just adorable. I will add a photo of just the pins at the end of my post. And that little Jillibean corrugated  house also comes in the kit together with a whole bunch of others similar. Mine was painted and inked. I wrapped some orange twine around the tag. The kit even includes some yellow twine.

For the title I used the stickers from the large 12x12 sticker sheet. There are also small letters and some word stickers on the sheet that you can see I used on the birthday card below.

 More of the cool pieces that can be cut out from one of the sheets!

 Finally the last close up of the layout: 

 Everything here is from the kit except the red cardstock and the two buttons!!

The forum at the Nook is a very friendly place indeed, and when I first was introduced I noticed they have a few nice traditions. 

One of the sweet thoughtful things the designers do is to make a card and post a special birthday greeting for the members who have a birthday.

This month I signed up to make a card for my new friend Patricia who joined the DT at the same time I did. She is such a wonderfully creative person and you can visit her blog HERE.

I used pop dots to add some dimension to the design at the front of the card.

That was all for today my friends. Enjoy the rest of your week.

I'll be back again soon!

Hugs!

The very "Summer Fresh" June kit from My Scrapbook Nook.

Yayy I received my kit from My Scrapbook Nook, the DT that I have become a new member of.

It always seems such a long time when you are stalking the mailman and waiting for something that you really wanted yesterday! In reality it arrived very fast!

I will start by showing you a picture of the contents of this beautiful and versatile kit based on the "Simple Stories" "Summer Fresh collection".

These are the facts for those interested in subscribing to the kits:

12 Month Membership (Receive 13th Month FREE)

My Scrapbook Nook kits are loaded with the latest and greatest products in the scrapping industry, always balanced and creatively designed to help you in your creative journey! We draw from a variety of manufacturers, favoring textures, patterns and concepts that compliment and enhance the paper line of the month. The kits are one of the best deals in the industry as we load them up with as much scrappy goodness as we can find, and always charge only $29.50! If you sign up for a 12 month subscription you'll get a free kit after your 12 month mark! Now that's a bakers dozen of goodness!

I wanted to make a quick and simple page to go with my presentation of the kit this month. 

I only used the contents of the kit and I did not even open the containers of embellishments as there are so many elements to cut out from the "Summer Fresh" papers. 

I did use the green Thickers that came with the kit for my title.

 

I did a little bit of fussy cutting and I misted the background. I am a bit sad I did though because the lo does not come across as fresh as it might have without the mist, but originally I thought the background I had chosen looked a bit too busy. 

I don't think so anymore and would actually have prefered it as it was!

I think these photos are very cute and you will probably see them scrapped again!

I took them last week end when Victoria hed helped Beatrice dress up for a sleep over with a 70's theme. I think she look sso cute here!! (Hey I'm her mum! I am supposed to say that! LOL!)

These are elements I cut out and some stickers from the alpha sheet as well as the larger chipboard alphabet in the kit.

I popped the little banner on pop dots to add some dimension. 

                                            It looks pretty sweet with those tiny clothes pins. 

Those are all my closeups for this layout.

 I hope you liked it and that I will see you around here pretty soon again!

Thanks for looking!