about me

another fun night at work. the crop was catered with home-made cooking by one of the owners. we were extra thrilled to be working on the same night as such a yummy supper. i am almost positive a few of the shoppers that night regretted not signing up for the crop just so they could enjoy a fantastic meal.

it is rewarding when someone needs your help or advice and i can actually help them out! even more rewarding when your advice is helpful!! funny.

i had some papers and products spread out on the counter checking out the possibility of using them in an upcoming layout. it was a busy night, so they stayed on the counter for most of it. i'd have about 5 minutes to look at the colours and see if i could come up with some design ideas or techniques to use or embellishments to work. then i'd be needed elsewhere in the store. i would make a guess that at least 5 other scrapbookers saw the paper on the counter during the evening and ended up buying some of the same products! pretty cool we thought. it will be even cooler if my design idea is as awesome today as it was late last night.


each of the 'Urban Girls' have their names and a layout about themselves on one of the walls. it was time for a layout of me to get added. when you are the one behind the camera, very few photos of you get taken. thankfully Sheri, another Urban Girl took headshots of us a few months ago. i love how it turned out! it had a plain white background, so i actually found a background in photobucket (or was it flicker?) and added it in with PSE.

for my layout i wanted to use paper and embellishments to tell about myself. no words. just my name.




i had pulled out some Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories and Studio Calico as well. in the end Websters' Pages and Graphic45 were my top choices for the photo. i thought the reds and dark colours accented each other well. lots of flowers by Prima. as well as Maya Road. i also made a few of them myself.



for the dark coloured paper i accordian folded it, then used an edge punch.

the brown paper was also edge and corner punched. then i embossed it a few times. one of my favourite looks these days.

i searched the shelves at the thrift store for music paper that has a smooth texture and aged edges. it is a huge bonus if it is also written in, like the above.



i hadn't used these 7gypsies paper clips for awhile on a page. love, love, love them. not sure if they can be ordered anymore or not. i made 2 paper flowers from the G45 paper using a tutorial i found at the Pink Paislee blog. you will be seeing more of these! the unfocused "fluffy" flower is made from pattern tracing paper. you can also use tissue paper. when you punch the tissue paper, sandwich it between regular papers and it won't get torn or stuck. if you spray tissue paper with glimmer mist or water you can scrunch it easily. then if you apply heat it will get crispy.



HAD to use some of the filmstrip ribbon from Tim Holtz. ha! if you don't want it to move or shift....staple it! his mini stapler is on my wish list. maybe for Mothers' Day i'll gift myself?

after i took these photos, i was thinking how awesome some microbeads would look on certain spots. i had some clear ones, but nothing with a copper or chocolate appearance. enter my caramel alcohol ink. pour about a tablespoon of the beads onto a quarter folded paper towel. i also put my splash mat underneath. alcohol ink is permanent! then just dropped the ink on top, stirred it with a bamboo skewer. (a popsicle stick would also work, i just grabbed what was nearby.) some of the beads really grab lots of colour and others just a touch, so you will have some variance in tones. love! you know when you tip a cake pan upside down onto your cooling rack? use that same technique with another paper towel. then spread out the beads to dry.

i added them to the flowers, letters and my photo mat. i also ran into the "trouble" of  the bead sticking to the adhesive swirls of the prima gems. happy mistakes. how awesome with mistakes work for the layout.


without using words i shared a bit about myself:  heart key. film strip. music. sewing pattern. chocolate. notebook. variety of flowers. polka dots. paperclips. ribbon. texture. 






here is my challenge to you. create a layout about yourself or someone else and use embellishments or techniques to tell part of the story. no words. just use letters to refer to the person in the photo. start "your story" with papers.


then link me up! i want to see what you use.



enjoy your weekend. we have some sun here, and clear biking trails. i think i see an activity and photo opportunity!