Hi there! I've been a bad blogger! But I haven't done much scrapping either... The end of the school year was super busy, with the usual testing, grading, report cards, packing up the classroom for the summer... But on top of all the usual hecticness, my father-in-law passed away in June. He'd had heart problems for the past 8 years, but in the last year or so, he was getting weaker and weaker. His passing still came suddenly and was a shock. I made two layouts about him for his wake. The first one is a picture of him taken in 2008 at the wedding of his step-son.
The second one is about him as a dad, with Mike and his two sisters. The photos date from the 60's at their lake house, the 70's during a family trip to Des Moines, and the largest one from 2010, in our backyard.
Both pages use Basic Grey papers, the first one from the Ambrosia collection and the second one from Marjolaine. Both are based on sketches, but I'm embarassed I can't find which ones anymore... I usually write all this information behind my layouts, but I forgot for those two. I'll try to find the sketches and give the links when I do. If you recognize one of your sketches, please let me know!
On a happier note, I did this layout about my latest rescue kitty, Bajoue (found him as a stray this winter). The title means "Don't Trust his Angelic Appearance!" As we found out,he's one high maintenance cat! He always wants to play and he knows how to ask for it! He certainly gets our attention! It's a good thing he's also cute and lovey-dovey, so we love him anyway! ;-) lol! I made this page for a DT call at a new sketch challenge site, Simple Sketches. If you're interested, you have until tomorrow to apply! Whether I'm picked up or not, I'm happy I found a new sketch site... I love sketches!
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And finally, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of June, I also had to say good-bye to Bear, my 16-year-old kitty. He hadn't been feeling well in the last couple of weeks, not following me around like he usually did, sleeping a lot... When I took him to the vet, they found he had cancer all over his lungs. His breathing became difficult. Within two days, I had to put him to sleep. I lost a big chunk of love that day... Bear was my faithful companion, he only had eyes for his mom! He followed me everywhere and was always there to greet me when I got home. I took these photos of him on our last morning together.
And here are a couple layouts of my Mr. Bear.
Hope you're having a great summer! We're leaving for the Netherlands in two days, so I'm ready to come back with a huge batch of new pictures to scrap!
Happy scrapping!
Martine
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Basic Grey,
cats,
DT call,
family,
layouts,
photos,
Simple Sketches,
sketches
Sketch~N~Scrap is having a guest DT call for September! All you need to do is complete a layout based on this sketch by August 20th.
I loved the multi-pic sketch with all those squares! This page is about Amish country, in Pennsylvania, which we visited this summer. I used the old Basic Grey collection "Urban Couture". For the squares of pattern paper, I actually cut out the examples from the "cover page" of the collection pack! Great way to get the same patterns but in a very small size!
I also did a layout of sketch 14 from Sketch~N~Scrap, one of my rare single photo pages! This is a picture of my brother and my niece. Don't they make a nice "couple"? I used an even older collection of Basic Grey for this one, Skate Shoppe!
Hope you have time to join in and play along with Sketch~N~Scrap and their cool sketches!
Martine
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DT call,
family,
layouts,
Pennsylvania,
Sketch~N~Scrap,
sketches
The new monthly challenge at Scrap Your Crap is all about twine! I'm sure you have some in your stash... it's been so popular lately!
Here's my layout. I wrapped twine around one of the photos, and threaded a button with it.
It's based on a sketch by Becky Fleck. I used a collection from My Mind's Eye. It's about all the dogs we saw during our trip to Cuba in the winter of 2011. It was sad to see them begging in the streets!
Check out here what the rest of the DT did with twine and let them inspire you! Hope you join us and use of some of your stash with us!
Scrap Your Crap is looking for the next batch of "Queens of Crap"! lol! There's a DT call going on. You can check out all the details here. It's a great team to be on! You should give it a try!
Happy scrapping!
Martine
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DT call,
layouts,
Scrap Your Crap
Hi!
Just a quick post to let you know that Let's Capture These Sketches is having four DT calls! There's a call for sketch designers, layout designers, card designers, and card sketch designers. I used to be a layout designer for their sketch blog and it's a great team to be on! You should give it a try!
And finally, the giveaway! Nadia Cannizzo is having an amazing giveaway on her blog for her birthday! Actually, it's five giveaways! Pizza boxes full of stuff! You really need to go check it out!!
Have a great week!
Martine
Posted in
DT call,
Let's Capture These Sketches
I found "Let's Get Sketchy!", a new site that's all about sketchy challenges! There will be two challenges every month. You all know how I love sketches! They're currently having a DT call until February 13th, based on this sketch.
This is my take on the sketch. I added a second smaller photo and changed the title placement to fit my pictures. The photos are from our trip to the Pacific Northwest in 2010. We saw the most amazing sunset at Ruby Beach, in Olympic National Park. It was gorgeous!!
You should hop on over to Let's Get Sketchy and check out their DT call! They even have a mini-challenge going on right now before the real challenges start on March 1st. You could win a RAK!
Hope you check it out!
Martine
Posted in
DT call,
layouts,
Pacific Northwest,
sketches
Hi there!
It felt so nice to work on this page! I hadn't scrapped in almost two months because life just got in the way. It felt so good to play with my scrappy stuff again! :)
So here's the sketch we had to work with from Sassy Lil' Sketches. It was such a fun one with all the circles in the background!
And here's the LO I did. It's about my cat Bear, who acts all tough around people and the other kitties in the house, but is putty in my hands! He's a very exclusive cat and just LOVES his mommy! He follows me everywhere in the house, and is never far from my side! He's my big baby! I adopted him over 10 years ago from the shelter when I used to live in Fairbanks, Alaska. He's almost 13 now, but doesn't act his age. (In any case, when there's a 17 year old cat in the house, being 13 is young! lol!)
I used my new Max & Whiskers BG paper for this page, which was just perfect! I love using BG when I have lots of different papers to use in a LO. I also stamped on a transparency with Staz-On the word "LOVE" as well as a journaling stamp.
Here are a few more pictures of my purrty kitty, just because I think he's so cute! (Yup, I'm biased! ;)
So make sure to go check out all the other DT layouts at Sassy Lil' Sketches and play along with us! And don't forget the DT call if your interested!
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cats,
DT call,
layouts,
Let's Capture These Sketches,
photos,
Sassy Lil' Sketches
Sorry I've been MIA for so long... Good news is I've FINALLY scrapped a page! I'll be able to post it Monday as it will be reveal time at Sassy Lil' Sketches! Speaking of which, I missed posting many of their last sketches, check them out! The DT made wonderful LOs, and it's never too late to do yours!
The April 28th LO sketch:
The May 14th card sketch:
The May 21st LO sketch:
And finally the May 28th LO sketch:
And speaking of Sassy Lil' Sketches, they're having their next DT call right now! You have until June 20th to put in your application for the card or layout DT. You can find out all the details here.
Here's the sketch you have to use for the layout DT:
And here's the one for the card DT:
You should give it a try! We always get inspiring sketches to work with! It's lots of fun!
Ok, so the only scrappy thing I've done in the last two months is spend a day with Tim Holtz!!! That's not too bad, right? ;) It was such a FUN day! Tim is a great teacher! He really seems to enjoy what he does. He was so nice and patient with everybody. He would go around all the tables, talking to everybody and helping anybody that needed it. He was always smiling! And never tired of taking pictures with everybody and signing things!! He signed my book (I had brought his book "A Compendium of Curiosities"), the mini-album I made, and the lid of my favorite distress ink, Shabby Shutters! lol! I took two classes. We made a frame with grunge paper flowers in the 1st one, and a mini-album in the 2nd one. Here are a few pics of the day!
Tim teaching:
Tim helping some ladies at my table. He was always so patient and helpful!
The grunge paper roses in progress:
Tim and me, showing off my morning project:
Me working away at the afternoon project, the mini-album.
I didn't have time to finish mine, but I'll use it for some of the flower pictures from the British gardens we visited last summer.
Getting dirty with Tim was fun!;)
Well, that's it for today! I'll see you in a couple of days with my new reveal! Thanks for reading this long post!
Posted in
DT call,
Sassy Lil' Sketches,
sketches,
Tim Holtz
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