First Communion

What an overwhelming feeling of pride it was to be included in Joaquin's First Communion ceremony.

 

I could not for the life of me figure out where the years had gone.

 

He was surrounded by his Godparents and family. The day couldn't have been more special for him and those of us who count our blessings in being part  of his world.

The layout is based on the Stick It Down June double-page sketch. It's a great sketch when you have so many pictures you want to display.  

I was thrilled to find such great themed paper. Blinging up a Silhouette cut file of a rosary was just the thing for drawing attention to our special man's big moment.

Stick It Down also releases a card and single-page sketch on the 1st of each month as well. Why not trying joining in with one or more of them?

 

 

Single Page Sketch

Card Sketch

I'm #1

Your first birthday should be something special and Eliya's sure topped that special scale on her big day. She even dressed to match her cupcake.

 

Does she not look like she became one with her birthday cupcake? Brother Sam was right there ensuring that the requisite sugar high and big mess were perfectly executed.

 

The inspiration for Eliya's layout came from the May 1st Stuck?! sketch designed by Laura Whitaker. I love that I got to play with thread and do some stitching on the page. This sketch lends itself to a quick fun layout.

 

Stuck?! will have another sketch on May 15th.

Check it out and get your creative on. Link up for a chance to win one of the monthly prizes.

happy Easter

Easter is such a "sweet" time of year. The time when our family puts on their bunny ears and gets together for great fun and far too much food and treats. After all they wouldn't celebrate all things chocolate, let alone hunt for it, if you weren't supposed to eat it. Right?

The layout is based on the Stick It Down May double-page sketch. I found there was lots of opportunity for creativity given the wide opens space and the fun idea of a large title.

Stick It Down also releases a card and single-page sketch on the 1st of each month as well. Why not trying joining in with one or more of them?

Single-page Sketch

Card Sketch

Pu??led

I'm very pleased to be the April featured member of the double-page design team at Stick It Down.


I chose pictures from our 2016 of our summer vacation. One of the things that is a constant during vacations is the ever present jigsaw puzzle. In a week we probably do at least five of them. They lay out on a table and everyone puts a few pieces in here and there as they wander by. The first thing you know you have a completed masterpiece and it's off to the next one.

The sketch presented some great opportunities and the odd challenge.

I'm not a big 'white space' person so I wanted to do something with the background outside of my usual misting of ink. 

Because I'm a quilter and there's more thread than food in my house, I chose to sew large puzzle pieces to offset the 'white' of my paper. Then, and this is thanks to my friend and mentor Danie, I used a black ink pad on cheese cloth, scrunched it up and nailed it down.

Some cut out puzzle pieces and flags got me to just where I wanted to be with this layout.

Stick It Down

Double-page Layout

As well as this great sketch you'll find a single-page and a card sketch posted on the Stick It Down blog.

Stick It Down

Card Layout

Stick It Down

Single-page Layout

 

Post your designs on the Stick It Down blog so we can all enjoy your talents. Who knows, you might become a featured designed for the following month.

Life Is A Party

You have to admit it's fun getting dressed up once in a while and going to a great party.


It had been a number of years since I'd last attended an employee party. What a great time it turned out to be. I was accompanied by best friends and my daughter. It was wonderful to see people I hadn't bumped into for quite a while.


Maybe I won't leave it so long to attend another gala.

 I followed along with the Stick It Down sketch by using a template of frames. I chose stars to complement the decorations at the party. Other than making some of the stars different colours to give the page some shine, it didn't take a lot of embellishing.

Double Page Sketch

The sketch is the March double page layout from Stick It Down. There's are also a single page and card layout to play along with too. Be sure to post your finished product on the Stick It Down blog and maybe it will be you we next see as a featured designer.

Card Sketch

Single Page Sketch

Chillax

CHILLAX: Urban Dictionary (Intransitive Verb)

1. To chill and relax simultaneously.
2. To loosen or reduce the level of stress by employing a more relaxed and groovy outlook.

and I think to add to that:

3. Something you should do every day while on vacation.

And that's just what we did.

The layout is based on the February 1st sketch from Stuck?!

Simple and easy, just like "chillaxing" should be.

Dominoes

Another of the many fun things I like about our cottage  vacation is "Domino Night". It's a monthly tradition with my girlfriends and we have never seen any reason why someone's vacation should interrupt our schedule.


The girls travel to where I am vacationing. They come prepared to stay the night so that we can enjoy ourselves. The day involves sitting in floating chairs on the lake, a great dinner and dominoes. Well there is the wine to take into account as well. :)

I thought I'd carry the theme of the dominoes we are all holding in the photo and do the whole layout in black and white.  The layer under the photo is actually what was left of the white paper after cutting out the dominoes. Thanks Danie for that great up cycling idea. I didn't add a title because it was pretty obvious what the title would be.

My jumping off spot for Dominoes was the February 15th Stuck?! sketch by Laura Whitaker. At first glance it may not seem so, but I swear most of the elements in the sketch can be found in my layout.

Enjoy!

CanIne go fishing too?

What could be more fun for a 6 month old border collie that the space and freedom of a lake to race around on?
 
Little Remmi went for her first ice fishing day with Mommy and Daddy and found the experience so much fun. She ran and ran. She watched over the fishing holes, posed with Mommy when she caught a fish and even kissed a lake trout. You have wonder what goes on in the mind of a dog.


By the time Remmi got home there wasn't an ounce of energy left in her.

The inspiration for this layout is from Stick It Down. It's February's double-page sketch on it's blog. The sketch encouraged me to use different size photos.

Stick It Down also has a card sketch and a single page sketch on their blog.

Maybe you can do all three this month?

It's fun to participate.

You may become next month's featured artist.

Single Page Sketch

Greeting Card Sketch

Girl's Day Out

I am so fortunate to have been the one to host Ellie's first Girl's Day Out.

We started our day travelling an hour to Orillia where we had our McDonald's lunch. Ellie was thrilled to find Gidget in her Kid's Meal box because one of our plans for the day was to see the movie The Secret Life of Pets.


After lunch it was off the park where she and Erica explored every climbing, swinging and playing apparatus there was.


The finale was the movie. Not only was it Ellie's first movie theatre visit but her first 3D movie. She took the 3D in stride reaching out on occasion murmuring 'kitty', 'come kitty'. So close to her did they seem that she thought she could reach out and touch them.


I have two favourite pictures of that day. The first is at the start of my first page showing Ellie all excited for her first girl's day out. The second is at the end of the second page with the little Sweetie sound asleep after her big adventure. It seemed a good beginning and end for my double-page layout.

The inspiration for this layout is from Stick It Down. It's January's double-page sketch on it's blog. The sketch worked perfectly for a sequence of photos. Using a sequence was important for my layout because I wanted to detail our day step-by-step.

Stick It Down also has a card sketch and a single page sketch on their blog.

Maybe you can do all three this month?

It's fun to participate.

You may become next month's featured artist.

Single Page Sketch

Card Sketch

ENJOY GETTING YOUR CREATIVE ON!