More puzzle pieces.......

these are more pieces that I have for the swap my FB group is doing. I have had these for over a month I would say and finally got around to getting them done!! I like 'em :)

Red, white and green color challenge.....

I did this simple tag today for the Red, White and Green Challenge at Catherine and Cathy Create. You cannot see it in the picture but the snowflake is covered in white Glitter Ritz- so pretty. The stamped sentiment is my favorite aad most used Christmas stamp- i don't know what company makes it however. The background paper is Bazzill, the ribbon is Bo Bunny. The die cut snowflake was included in a gift from a scrappy friend- she sent a whole bunch!! I love snowflakes :)

So, there you have it- simple, but cute I think. Now I have a head start on next Christmas LOL

Christmas 2013......

I am not too creative with the titles of my blog posts LOL. This Christmas has been lovely, despite the fact I had to work Christmas eve and day. I do work permanent night shifts so it certainly beat having to work during the day, but made for one tired nurse. I work one more shift and then I have 4 days off in a row for New Years- yay!!

First of all, before i post any Christmas pictures, here are my last 2 Nuts About Sketches posts. I am working on a Disney album from the trip my daughter and I went on in September. The Simple Stories Say Cheese collection is fabulous, I adore it!

This layout was taken by a Disney photographer at Hollywood Studios. I love the picture frame prop, so cool! I suppose we could have smiled lol

As you can see, I rotated the sketch

This next one was during the afternoon parade at Animal Kingdom. I love Minnie Mouse

 <3 and she looked sooooo adorable! Amazing that this picture was taken with my iPhone- that's all I used down there and got some awesome pictures!

Now. on to some Christmas pictures and things!!! 

My tree and some of the house decorations.

The family portrait-  I made my husband get this taken to send to his Grandmother's, so I am lucky that he did it, I couldn't get upset that he didn't smile LOL. Kate is 16, and her brother Christopher is not here- he is 28 and lives in another town.

My beautiful girl and I <3

Soda gets to open her gifts first :) she was so excited and got plenty of treats!

                     A mobile cart for my scraproom!!!! My favorite gift from my hubby

My Mom and Dad opening their gift from me

The cousins :) My daughter with my sister's two boys. I love this picture. very seldom do we get three of them together now that they are older.

So there you have a little peek of what Christmas looks like at my place. 

And lastly, two of the last Christmas cards that I made for my sister to give to her best friends. I really like how these turned out. This first one was an idea I took from Pinterest

On this one, the snowflakes are die cuts I cut with my Big Kick and they are embossed with iridescent embossing powder- the picture doesn't do it justice, as the snowflake is much prettier in real life

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and here is hoping that 2014 treats you all well!!!!

Darlene

I've been published.........

WooHoo!!!!! It's my first time, and can you say excited???? It's quite a feeling, let me tell you :) I have friends that have been published numerous times so I guess they are used to it, but I don't know how you ever could be lol. It's such a rush to see your work looking back from the pages of a magazine-  it looks soooo pretty!! The only thing was, they got my province wrong :( I am from Newfoundland, not Ontario!! It's not a huge deal but my belly sank a little when I saw it. I have emailed the editor about it. 

so, here it is...........................

Everyone has made me feel so special about it, it's awesome!! I hope it won't be my last time being published :)

I'm on a roll...LOL

I did the Monthly Challenge at Catherine and Cathy Create, one of my favorite blogs. It could be anything Christmas, but I did a card, as I need Christmas cards right now, so it made sense :) I found this idea on Pinterest, I wish I had a similar embossing folder as the one shown in the picture, but alas, I do not, so I used another. I think that it came out ok. I lightly inked over the embossing, more so to match it more to the ribbon.

I really like the gold lacy ribbon. I have no idea where it came from, but it sure is purdy :)

Oh my, long overdue for an update.......

 First of all, I will start by posting the last few of my sketches at Nuts About Sketches. It's hard to believe that I will only have until the end of February and a whole new team will be picked. I will miss it. And no current members are allowed to apply- phooey!! :)

So, here they are....

This first one is my absolute favorite :) My daughter and I on a trip to Disney in September

I'm pretty happy with this one too. It's funny, this was during a trip to Florida, where we also went to Disney, back when my daughter was only 2

I love this one too! Look at the chubby little legs on my daughter <3

Another layout that I was really happy with

So, there we go, all caught up with the sketches. Boy, I am lazy with the blog postings. 

Now, this next card is for a challenge at Catherine and Cathy Create. The challenge was simple- make a card with a Christmas tree on it- easy peasy! I love making cards, even more, I love making Christmas cards. It's the first time that I made a tree like this, and it was FUN! I'm gonna do more. I finally used that ribbon with the sequin thingeys on it- it's perfect for the bottom of the tree- whatcha think?

Another challenge completed....

At Catherine and Cathy Create. The challenge was to make a card with an element you could use in three's. I broke out the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers- oh how I adore this collection!! I love the colors, patterns and the steampunk like images, sooo beautiful. And so, here is the card that I created. I just adore that blue color ! The sentiment may be a little hard on the eyes for some people, but I like it :)

Have a great day!!!

Puzzle Piece Swap....

This is something that i am participating in with my awesome group of Newfoundland scrappers. We all buy a puzzle and send the pieces to the group members, they alter the piece and send it back and you put your puzzle back together- awesomeness!! A little bit of every group member,such a cool idea.

Here are the pieces that I have altered so far.....not the greatest of pics as I had to take them at night.

I have more so I will come back and add them a little later today- gotta go bake cookies!!! TFL!

Ok, here are more (cookies are cooling)

 Oh my, this next t picture in particular is really bad. I HAVE to stop taking pictures at night, but i get so excited when I finish up, and I do mos tof my scrapping at night, that I just want the picture NOW. But it does not do my work any justice at all. 

The following pictures were taken with my good camera that I finally had repaired. The picture quality is better but the exposure is off- I obviously just do not know how to take a decent pic **sigh**

Anyway, that's all the pieces I have done so far. I think I mailed out one that I forgot to photograph. I am anxiously awaiting more pieces as this is SO much fun!!

Monogram Tags Challenge....

In case you haven't noticed, I am a fan of Catherine and Cathy Create. It's an awesome blog with some very talented people, you should all- like I have a lot of people looking at MY blog haha- go over there and check it out. They have awesome challenges every week. This week we had to make a monogram tag. The tag could be part of something else or stand alone. I decided to make a tag for a Christmas gift. I like to make my gifts look pretty, even for the boys, so this one is for my son Christopher.

I covered a white tag in the Christmas paper, not sure of the manufacturer. I inked the edges in a silver ink. I used two doilies that I stuck together with glue dots as I felt one was too see through. The chipboard letter I stamped with a VersaMark pad, covered in silver embossing powder and heated it- I love the shiny silver look, so pretty! I cut a little strip of paper and attached it with a brad. There you have it!!

New layouts at Nuts About Sketches.....

Here are the last two sketches that I did at Nuts About Sketches. I love the pictures of Soda but I am not happy at all with my work on this one. I just didn't have the inspiration in me that night. She deserves a nicer layout cause she's Momma's sweet puppy <3. I did, however, use that super cute tag that I have had forever! Oh, it was a double page sketch but we were allowed to do only one side of we wanted.

I did the following layout for my brother and sister-in-law for their new baby's album which I will give them on his first birthday. Luca was christened in London, England in May. The couple holding him are my awesome in-laws, and in the other picture are his parents and little brother, Alessandro. Aren't they all beautiful??

This last layout I love because the picture is awesome. Not because it's me, but because it's so vibrant and shows off the colors of my tattoo beautifully! What a great job she did! And I looooved my purple hair :) I wanted to keep the look as retro as possible because they are "pinup" pictures, so I used the vintage looking background paper and the gingham checked paper. I love how it turned out. And look at the awesome vintage sticker on the bottom right!!

Thanks for looking!!

Orange and black.....

The colors of Halloween!!! That is the monthly challenge at my favorite blog Catherine and Cathy Create. I am not a big Halloween person, but I do put up a few decorations and decided to make a banner. I initially wanted to make a horizontal banner but it didn't turn out as I had it planned in my head, so voila! The letters were much bigger than I had wanted for where I was going to initially place it, but I am happy how it turned out. I had a few embellishments lying around that were perfect to add some interest. I heat embossed the silver on the letters as an attempt to make it a little "dressier" and possibly spookier- not sure it made it any spookier though :) I heat embossed the skull and cat with a black glitter powder. Once I had the skull done I thought "skulls aren't black!", but hey, it's Halloween so anything goes!

So here is the end result for the October Challenge: Orange and Black