Scrap.Cats.Love.

Have you checked out the Sassy Lil' Sketches blog today? It's the August reveal for week 3, which is the sketch I worked with. But since I "switch it up", my layout will only be revealed on Saturday.

It's a simple one photo sketch that leaves lots of room for creativity and your own interpretation. The designers did a wonderful job! Check it out here!



Don't forget that there are two more sketches that have already been revealed (every Tuesday), as well as card sketches every Thursday! Saturdays are the "Switch It Up" days, which show ways that you can "stretch" the sketch.

Here's the sketch for the first week of August:



And the sketch for the second week of August:



Remember that you have until September 5th to complete and link your LO for a chance to win a prize from one of our sponsors!

So make sure to check out Sassy Lil' Sketches and happy scrapping!

Martine

Posted in Sassy Lil' Sketches, sketches

Hello!

Have you heard the news?? Sassy Lil' Sketches has released their brand new sketch e-book!

-----NEWS RELEASE-----

At Sassy Lil' Sketches, we are happy to announce the first Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook has been released!

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook features about 70 brand new sketches designed by Cherie Averill!

You'll find sketches for layouts with one, two, three & multiple photos! You'll even find double page sketches! Plus, sample layouts from talented designers that will spark your creativity!

Most of the sketches use standard photo sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10). To get extra mileage out of the sketches, switch it up! Use the sketches to create cards, double pagers, etc.! If you need ideas for "switching it up", check out the cards in the Sample Layouts section or stop by the Sassy Lil' Sketch blog on Saturdays.

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook is available for online viewing or you can easily download and print it. It's your choice!

Visit www.sassylilsketches.com to get the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook & get scrapping!

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

Cherie's sketches are amazing, as always, and there are SO MANY of them! And at 8.99$US, you can't beat the price!! There is also tons of inspiration to be had from the many designers that contributed to the ebook!

I made one of the layout examples for the book, featured on page 5. I can't show you my LO, but I can show you the pictures I used. They were taken last summer during our trip to the Pacific Northwest. On our last day, we went for a biplane ride over Seattle in an old 1940's open cockpit biplane! It was such a cool experience!



And here are a few sneaks of my layout!









The gals at Sassy Lil' Sketches were kind enough to give us a copy of the ebook to give away on our blogs. Just leave a comment on this post for your chance to win! I'll pick a random winner on August 29th. If you don't win, remember that the ebook is just 8.99$US! I'll leave you with a screen shot of a page to give you a taste of the ebook!



Martine

Posted in giveaway, photos, Sassy Lil' Sketches, Seattle

Hi there!

Just a short post to announce that, after a 6 month absence, I'm back on the Sassy Lil' Sketches DT! Yay! Cherie's sketches are always inspiring, so I can't wait until August to get started! There are a few changes this time around on the blog. Layout sketches will be revealed on Tuesdays and card sketches on Thursdays. There will also be a new "Switch It Up" team who will reveal their layouts on Saturdays. I'll be revealing on the third Saturdays of the month. So lots of fun stuff ahead!


In the meantime, there are already 2 great sketches out this month, with 2 more still to come! Go check them out here for a chance to win a prize from Tally Scrapper or Sassy Studio Designs!

Happy scrapping!

Martine

Posted in Sassy Lil' Sketches, sponsors

Hi there!

Nothing scrappy to share with you yet. I'm working on my layout for the Sassy Lil' Sketches e-book, which is top-secret work! lol! But I do have some kitty news that I wanted to share!

After Chipper passed away last February, at the wise old age of 18 (yep! I was lucky to have him in my life for a long time!), I thought it would be nice to see Sable and Chipper together again. So I decided that it was time to finally get a portrait done of my angel kitties!

I had been wanting for a very long time to get a pet portrait done of my two special kitties, Sable and Chipper, whom I adopted as free kittens in a newspaper ad back in 1993. But I never found the "right" artist, until I came across Susan Faye's work on her blog and in her Etsy shop. I love her cute, pretty, colorful, whimsical style!

So here it is, my pet portrait! I love it!! It will be hanging in my scrap room, where Chipper used to hang out in all the time when I was working in there!



If you want to check out more of Susan Faye's art, go over to her blog, 365 Cat Ladies and Friends where there's a post about my kitties today! You'll find much more than cats too! There are bunnies and birds, pretty flowers, jewelry, prints, bookmarks and lots more... even dolls! (Oh, and if you stop by her Cafe Press shop, you'll find tons of t-shirts, mugs, calendars, aprons, totes...)

Here are a few pictures of my pretty angel kitties to finish off this post. Thanks for stopping by and tolerating my "crazy cat lady" post! ;)

Martine

Posted in cats, photos

Hi!

Here's my latest LO. It's my first page about our trip to Cuba last winter. It was my first time going south for the winter... and I loved it! I've never been a "beach person", so I didn't think it would be my thing. Don't get me wrong, I knew that I was going to enjoy it, but I didn't think I was going to REALLY like it! It felt pretty surreal swimming in the ocean in January when you just left snow behind you at home!

It's based on this sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches. I love muli-photo sketches!



I went with bright colors to go with the gorgeous color of the water over there! I used Tattered Angels "Glimmer Glass" as black accents. I faux-stitched around the page in black also. I stamped little tags for my journaling. I used bling to simulate waves under the palm tree, and added a few cute fish glass beads that I found on clearance at an art store.



Now for my toot! Sassy Lil' Sketches will be producing an e-book, and I've been chosen as a designer! I'm very excited to be part of this project! I'll keep you posted when it's all done and ready to go!

And the giveaway... Purple Pumpkin is having a huge giveaway to celebrate their first year! There's a total of $100 in vouchers to the store to be won! The winners will be announced on July 22nd, so go check it out! You know you can't resist these cute buttons and embellies!



Thanks for stopping by! Happy scrapping!

Martine

Posted in Cuba, giveaway, layouts, Let's Capture These Sketches, Sassy Lil' Sketches

Hi there!

Well, it seems like it's been forever since I scrapped... But I'm back in my scrap room now and I've made two layouts recently! I'm hoping that summer will be more productive than my spring was!

I made this LO for the cover page of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary album. I made a collage of pictures with Picasa. It was so easy! I had often heard of Picasa but had never used it before. I'm quite pleased that I finally got around to it! I'm not used to working with such a large picture, so it was a challenge for me to embellish the page. My mom really liked it though, so that's what counts!



This second layout was done with some old pictures that I came across as I was looking for photos for my parents' 50th anniversary. It's based on the April 28th sketch at Sassy Lil' Sketches.





I used a black cardstock base, which I don't do often. It was fun to mix and match the different patterned papers. The cute little mushroom button is from My Little Bit of Whimsy. It was fun to use cute embellies! I don't usually do cutesy LOs!


Well, I've got another LO in progress on my desk, so hopefully I'll have something to show you soon. It's going to be my first LO of our vacation to Cuba last winter, with some sunny, beachy pictures!

Happy scrapping!

Martine

Posted in family, layouts, Sassy Lil' Sketches, sketches

Hi there! Well, I've finally finished a new page, after more than three months without any scrapping! It was more than time for me to get scrappy... I used this sketch from Becky Fleck that appeared in the spring issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today . The photos in the LO were taken at Volunteer Park in Seattle during our trip there last summer. I LOVE dahlias! They are just so bright and pretty! In that dahlia garden, they had some of all shapes, sizes and colors! It was wonderful! (I'll eventually make a second page with journaling, and photos of dahlias just about the size of a loonie ($1 Canadian coin), up to some about the size of my face!) I used the fresh and springy "Green at Heart" collection from Basic Grey. The white flowers in the background are old Hambly rub-ons. It feels good to use up some old stash! The cloud (cut from some Bella Blvd paper and stickled) and the chipboard bird (covered with yellow Doodlebug chunky glitter and Diamond Glaze) were laying around on my desk, discarded from a previous page. I found that they just "fit" on this LO!

I made the red flower by free-hand cutting circles (4 large and 3 smaller ones) from some wide "tulle" ribbon I bought at the dollar store. I heated the edges with my heat gun (very carefully because it "melts" really fast! I had seen tutorials using a tea light candle instead... that might be a better idea!). Then I just stacked them and stapled them in the middle, and glued down some pearls with Diamond Glaze. I also added a bit of Rock Candy Distress Stickles to the edges, although you can't really tell, even in real life! I added a leaf from Making Memories and stickled the dots to give it a bit more shine. I really like how it all turned out! On a totally non scrapbook related bit of news, I said goodbye in February to my companion of the past 18 years, my sweet kitty Chipper! He really was the sweetest kitty around, and I miss him... although I can't complain as I was so lucky to have had him around with me for so long! Although no cat will ever replace Chipper, I do have another sweet, goofy kitty to share my life with. Câlin (which means "hug" in French) is the cutest orange tabby! I rescued him from the streets 5 years ago, but I had left him with my parents when it became apparent that my old kitties thought there were too many cats at home... He's back with me now, and he's as loveable as ever! He loves to have his belly rubbed at bedtime and loves to play and run around like a wild cat once in a while. He makes me laugh! Bear and Lexi (my two older cats) don't like him that much, but they're learning to tolerate him... most of the times! Well, hopefully my mojo will be returning with the spring, and I'll be having more pages to show! Hope you're all having fun scrapping away! Martine

Posted in cats, layouts, photos, Seattle, sketches