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The Secret to Increased Creativity

April 19, 2012 by saramspencer

Take the time to make cards and scrapbook pages together with other crafters! Hmmm, you say…that’s it…because that is hardly a secret. Well, perhaps not, but in the last year I have been to 4 Scrap-a-thons’ and much to my delight I have seen my creativity get a real boost.
Just a year ago I made my very first Scrapbook page. After 10+ years as a card maker I didn’t really think I was ever going to try my hand at it. But to date I have completed 15 layouts. I think that allows me to step out of the “beginner” stage and call myself a card maker and a scrapbooker.=)
This past weekend I attended Falköpings Scrapmara. Here’s a couple of layouts I made that day.

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The first one is the result of an experiment. After spray misting the background I die cut a few butterflies (SU!, Memory box, PTI) and attached them together with my photo. Next I experimented with a 12×12 piece of vellum. I wanted to tear an opening in the vellum and have the butterflies and the photo peak through. I got the idea of torn vellum from a Scrap 365 magazine and I figured if it didn’t work out I could always discard it. Turns out I really like the result! All soft and curled! Though I doubt I would get the same result if I tried it again.

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For my second layout I used a series of photos I took of the kids using the Hipstamatic app. The flag banners were cut from the Echo Park Playground collection. I have used it a ton! I love the bright colors and that the matching is already done for you. Each flag was treated to a little distressing before being attached to the background. To ground the images a bit I added a white border. It’s actually a heart border die. I hid the top of the hearts under the photos to get the look I wanted.

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Here’s a close up. I love that Joshua appears to have antlers! LOL

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The Scrap-a-thon was really a great deal of fun. I spent a large portion of it learning how to water color with my new Distress Markers. I’ll post those cards next.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

Posted in iPhone Photography, Scrapbooking | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

My Little Monster

April 2, 2012 by saramspencer

I made couple of cards at the Scrap-a-thon. Here’s one of them.

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It was part of a challenge where yellow had to be the main color. I colored the lite monster with my Copics. The little speech bubble is something I picked up from Scrapfabriken. It made the perfect spot for the sentiment. A fun and quick little boy card.

Thank you for stopping by,
Sara

Posted in Cards, Challenge | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

A Rejuvenating Day

March 28, 2012 by saramspencer

Being a mother of two toddlers can be exhausting at times! Not that I would trade it for anything, it’s a precious season in life I treasure dearly.  But in order to keep a good attitude I welcome little breaks from the routine like “Vårgårda Scrapmara” hosted by Scraptrion.  A full day of crafting and time with good friends is a great way to rejuvenate a weary soul.

Here’s a few pictures of the layouts I made throughout the day.

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The first one was a “Title Challenge”. “Du har pippi på morfar” loosly translates to “you’re crazy about Grandpa”. That is particularly true of Joshua. The minute he sees Morfar he wants to sit on his shoulders. He doesn’t leave his side willingly. The feeling is mutual and it’s a real treat to watch those two.

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The second one was a challenge to do a layout about “Your life in Numbers”. I chose to make a list of 1 through 10. The journaling reads: One husband, Two Children, I have lived in Three countries, I attended a Four year college, Five times a day I prep food (for my little ones), Six Swedish miles to Mormor and Morfar, that is better than the 600+ miles to Grandma and Grandpa, I have studied Seven languages, An Eight day week would be great – more time for crafts, Nine hour time difference to my other home, Ten pair of shoes are not enough.

I literally threw it together in 10 minutes just so that I could participate in the prize drawing. Apparently I do well under pressure since I won! =) Fun!!

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The last one was a sketch challenge. It was a struggle, but I had a lot of fun putting it together. Our boys love, love, love to read. We have many Dr. Seuss books and they are real favorites. I found a little quote from “The cat in the hat” to add to my layout.

As I was taking photos of the pages, Caleb wanted to have a look. And to a boy of almost 4 years of age, looking means touching!

I’m sitting here smiling as I type this post. It was just so much fun! To be creative is truly a relaxing thing for me. Though I don’t do it nearly often enough I hope to get better at setting aside time for it. A big thank you to Anna, Malin and Eva for putting together such a fantastic day! And thank you to Helen at Scrapfabriken for bringing your entire store on site for us all to enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

Posted in Scrapbooking | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

The Night Before Christmas

December 23, 2011 by saramspencer

It’s the night before Christmas Eve, the day we exchange gifts here in Sweden. A day of food prep, candy making and gift wrapping.
And if you are a papercrafter you might be finishing up a few last minute Christmas cards. :)

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These are the last two card I made.

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The first one is colored with Copics and the second one with Prisma Pencils. I distressed them just a bit before adding glitter mist and embellies.

Well, I’ll keep this brief since it is, after all, the night before Christmas…

I wish you a Merry Christmas and Gods blessing as we celebrate the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sara

Posted in Cards, Christmas, Copic Coloring, Prisma Coloring | 1 Comment »

December Daily Covered

December 9, 2011 by saramspencer

I finished the cover for my December Daily album! I had a blast making this. Glue and ink all over my fingers and paper scraps all over the floor. I went to town with all sort of products and techniques a la Tim Holtz!! Yes, my desk  is a complete mess.  I wanted to create a wintry scene using my “rickety house” die. Here’s what I came up with. I think that “scary house” looks pretty cute in its winter getup.

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An old cereal box made a great foundation for the cover. I simply cut out a 6″x 8″ piece and covered it with patterned paper. This particular one is from the Bo Bunny “Father Christmas” collection.

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The house has been distressed with several shades of green and brown distress inks. A wee bit of glimmer mist on top and a faintly stamped wood grain impression on top of it. I used Antique Linen Distress Stain directly on my stamp for this part. It worked like a charm. It’s a bit hard to see in this picture, but I covered the back of the house with packing tape to cover the windows. I then sprinkled glitter on the sticky side (showing through the front openings) to create that frosted look. The snow marker is a new product for me and I love how it turned out, all puffy and white!

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The alphabet stickers are from Sassafrass. To make them pop a bit more I colored around each letter with a brown marker. Then I covered them with a layer of Glossy. It gave them dimension and a pretty shine. I got that idea from one of Tim Holtz’ tags for Christmas posts.

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The tree and the birds are PTI dies. After cutting the tree and distressing it with ink, I stamped it with a red flourish (also PTI). By this time I was so into adding lots of fun product that I went over it with red stickles too! I do like how it turned out. The little birds has a layer of Glossy to help them stand out. So cute, don’t you think? And the fence…this is another new Tim Holtz die that I think I will find lots of use for. So fun with the snow on top.

I know I already said it, but sitting down and just playing with all my craft supplies was a blast!! Next up is finishing up the first few days of December.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

Posted in Christmas, December Daily, Project, Scrapbooking | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

December Daily in the Works

December 5, 2011 by saramspencer

I’ve been working on my December Daily album, inspired by Ali Edwards. I still have a ways to go, but I am determined to make it happen this year. So determined that I started my assembly of paper and embellishments over a month and a half ago. Go me!! =)

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So far I have cut all my papers (Cosmo Cricket), Die Cut all my page numbers (PTI) and pulled out a few embellishments and alpha stickers that works with my color scheme.

I have also begun to take pictures everyday. I use my iPhone exclusively for this because that’s the only way I’ll get this done. I’m not a photographer so I use what I always have with me. A few pictures have already been uploaded for printing and I hope to see them this week.

To remember all the little stories throughout the day I am using Evernote on my computer and my iPhone to jot down short journaling paragraphs. This is tremendously helpful as I am prone to forget things very quickly!! That’s why I’m so excited about making this album this year. I know that in a few years from now all the details of the boys childhood and Christmases will be fuzzy so Scrapping my memories this way will be valuable for sure.

I hope to post actual pages within a few days.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

Posted in Christmas, December Daily, Scrapbooking | Tagged | 2 Comments »

Fall Inspiration

October 27, 2011 by saramspencer

I finally finished putting a card together using an image I colored with Copics a while back. I intentionally worked with both patterned paper and die cuts to create a front for my card. After all, practice makes perfect.

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Since moving to Sweden I have discovered a whole slew of European paper craft blogs. One common design element that keeps popping up are little “piles” of embellishments wrapping around the focal point, be it on a Scrapbook page or a card. Some of my favorite card designers (Dawn McVey for example) also layers die cuts in a similar fashion. Well, I just had to give the “pile technique” a try too. =)

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The most important thing I discovered during the creation of this card -  I am playing, really playing with my supplies! And you know what, it’s really satisfying to do so. I am learning so much in the process. What I like and dislike, what works and a whole lot about what doesn’t. It’s a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. =)

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

Posted in Cards, Copic Coloring | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

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