GreenMint

after a few weeks without making anything scrap-related, i´ve tried to catch up on some of my favorite challenges. so i made this for "scrapjacked", this time jacking lisafisa:

and, hey, those lovely girls have chosen again this page as one of the favorites!

then there is another challenge blog that i love, I wanted to play along with them since a long time… finally i´ve done it. the blog is “inspired by amelie” and is very funny and “magical”. this time (challenge #4) they proposed some quotes from the film (amelie, obviously) as inspiration for your project. and i made this:

i used this quote: “without you, today´s emotions would be the scurf of yesterday´s” and tried to make a kind of art journal page (quite meaningful for me).

and that´s all so far, i still have some more challenges left...

winner!!

do you remember this page that i posted a few days ago?...well, i´ve been one of the winners of that challenge at Scrapjacked!! you can see it here

i´m so excited... it´s just fantastic!!

layers and other challenges

this weekend my scrapping stuff has been all about martha bonneau (aka subbacultcha), one of the newest fashionistas at SIStv. first I took the challenge of scrapjaking one of her layouts at scrapjacked challenge blog and this is what i made for it:

i love her style and how she uses colors and layers, so when i saw she had proposed a challenge about using layers at SIStv, i immediately began to think of making another layout and i came up with this:

finally i wanted to upload this other page that i made for the previous OLW challenge (#25 GROW). i have been a bit lazy for blogging lately and i still hadn´t posted it. i´ve realised i used a lot of layers here as well (even before being conscious of it)

it´s quite funny to work using layers and more layers, i always find something else to add, but as i want to keep my pages more or less simple... i have to stop myself from doing it!!

about books

today has been a productive day.

it has been here "the day of the book" and besides we´ve had a free day

sunny, breathing spring at last... a long walk  and book shopping in the morning, a long session of scrapbooking and crafting in the afternoon.

wondering what i could do with those lovely tags from yogi tea that i had gathered, i´ve come up with this:

then, i wanted to celebrate somehow the day of the book, so i´ve thought of taking up again an old habit i used to have: writing quotes or even entire paragraphs from the books i was reading that i liked most.

i want to do that but in a more creative way to motivate myself, so i´ve started a mini to introduce pages with those quotes, taking advantage of scraps and leftover embellies from my scrapbooking projects. these two first ones were among my everytime favorites, they were from the book "the bridge across forever" by richard bach, that i read when i was much much more younger, but still love it.

but my challenge is to continue adding pages to this book until it grew really fat.

so now a bit of reading before going to bed to complete the day!! enjoy!!

dares again!

there was a lot of time that i didn´t make anything for the dares, since they had an hiatus and then i had mine... but a couple of weeks ago they proposed in dare #87 to look for an old photo and to decide if it was hot or not hot. i had lots of not so hot photos from the eighties, of course. but this one i´ve choosen was one of my favorites, and i decided it was absolutely hot (for me). i scanned it cause it was a bit wrecked (more than 30 years are too many years) and as it was a copy, i embossed the corner with a punch and inked it a bit

i´ve chosen this new bam pop paper which is one of my latest favorites with the new hambly collection. later i decided to add a pin on the lace ribbon to top it all...

what lovely days they were!... i think that i´ve liked anything i had done with this photo because i really love it.

today is sunday...have a nice and creative day!

spring issues...

must be the spring, but i had to do something with butterflies...

...and something with all the old  "new" clothes that are coming out from my wardrobe again...

and then, coming back to butterflies, i added some bits here and there...

enjoy!!

more hambly

just using more hambly stuff.

i´m very happy with my new camera and wanted to say it! journaling doesn´t read quite well with the scanning but it says:

"my new best friend. comes with me everywhere. captures my little world. makes me learn more everyday: about light, about color, about photography techniques, about my environment, about my own life..."

"yummyness"

last tuesday was a very hard day at work... well, one of those days that when something can be bad, then is even worst. but things are never completely black, so when i arrived home tired and hungry...

i had this package, full of new hambly goodies! and suddenly that brightened my day. what a wonderful and comforting feeling! i participate in screen prints blog for a giveaway last month and for the very first time in my life, i won!!! and here is my prize, absolutely lovely and yummy and can´t wait to play with those cool papers and overlays.

so i made this, about "yummyness"

and as i´m going to stay at home for the next four vacation days, i´ll continue playing and creating for sure.

have a nice weekend!

PS: have i mentioned that i LOVE hambly?

olw #21 challenge: time

12x12. papers: My Minds Eye, Making Memories, BasicGrey; letter stickers: American Crafts; rub-ons: American Crafts, BasicGrey, Hambly; stamp: Autumm Leaves; blings: Me and my big ideas; clear clock: Heidi Swapp, sticker: Love, Elsie. TFL!

last week was a busy one, so i tried to join 2 challenges in one page... thus, one of them was OLW#21 using the word "time" and the other was proposed by Ellen for 1worldscrap: "making comparisons". I used Ellen´s sketch, she´s very skilled for making sketches, something that it´s not easy for me, so I wanted to try one of hers and I loved this. I also "stole" her the title ("time flies") for the time challenge and finally I came up with this layout!

me.

this minibook is my new "work in progress", a kind of "all about me", but i would like to use it more as a draft notebook for jotting notes to self, or reminders, or just use as a basis for making regular scrapbooking layouts... but i want to feel free with it, as if it was an art journal.

BTW, i made the cover inspired by some Emily Falconbridge´s minibooks... and this is my first page, about my new favorite word: elegance

i know, i know, my words for this year were simplicity+grow...

but elegance is a word that has been frequently in my mind lately. i think it´s something that has to be more with an attitude, a state of mind, but very easy to apply in order to get more consciousness of what you are doing just in this moment and... isn´t it more beautiful and glamourous when you are mopping the floor or washing the dishes with elegance? or when you are eating a greasy slice of pizza with elegance? isn´t it more pleasant with you answer to someone with elegance or when you solve a problem with elegance? if you are thinking of doing everything with elegance in fact what you´re doing is paying extra attention to that (this is something very yogic too, isn´t it?)

so you are more in the "everydaylife"

no matter what your style or your way of life is you can be elegant

(did i really need so many excuses to embrace the word elegance?)

is spring coming?

Cydonia japonica

i´m sure that this warm weather is not going to last (is already getting worse by the minute indeed…) but the color explosion in some bushes and trees, those newly tender greenish twigs…make my soul vibrate!

and couldn´t wait 20 more days to make something spring-related

although i´m afraid we´ll have to wait a bit more...

cardstock: Bazzill; pp´s: My Minds Eye, BasicGrey; letter stickers: American Crafts; white pen: Signo Uniball. TFL!

i collect beads...

that was the subject for the 2nd overlooked challenge: collections. i made my photos, i wrote something and this is what i´ve come up with...

i wrote the journaling directly onto the photo with a white signo uniball pen, it looks great and when you touch it it´s like it has texture, love! i used some papers from SIS TV collections, and a bunch of embellishments, i found the little wooden ladybug (on the top left) in a stationery store within a lovely collection of wooden pieces.

about the beads... some has been bought and some are hand-made and home-made (felted and polymer clay) and i love having them all together, although i usually store them by color!

TFL!

olw #20 challenge: trust

12x12. Cardstock: Bazzill; Pp´s: Making Memories, American Crafts; chipboard letters: Scrapworks; glittered letters: Making Memories; clear butterflies: Heidi Swapp; frame and epoxy sticker: Love,Elsie; ribbon and sequins. TFL!

this is my layout for this week One Little Word challenge, the word is "trust". lately everything seems to be like pink around me... although it´s not my most favorite color i´ve always liked the green-pink combo. and i had that embroidered ribbon that i was wishing to use and didn´t find where, so i finally staple it here. then i painted with pink pastels the edges of the cardstock and put glittered pink glue to adhere the butterflies. love these scalloped papers!

journaling reads: "i´ll teach you how to walk, how to run, where to go... i´m older than you, trust me, i know what to do!!" (my daughter to her little cousin).

Have a nice weekend!

let me tell you...

i wrote something about journaling some days ago and mentioned Shimelle´s prompts for february... well, this is what i´ve done with the first: "let me tell you about..."  the truth is that having something to begin with makes it much easier.

i made this layout as part of my work for the 1worldscrap DT, using basically 2 collections: Baby Girl from American Crafts and Lola from Love, Elsie. anyway i felt creative and made myself the felt embellishments and handstichted a bit

and hey, PJ, look...i´m begining to make pink stuff!

olw #19 challenge: create

i like to create, i like to be creative and i like the idea that Gigi proposed about not only create stuff but create the life you want, the world in which you would like to wake up every morning... i wish i could do it not only for me, but also for my daugther and for all the people i have close to me.

this is my page for OLW #19 challenge: create.

TFL!

all about journaling

this month is going to be my "dedicated-to-journaling month". it wasn´t anything planned but a bunch of coincidences made me realize it would be a good idea. since i started scrapbooking, journaling has always been my biggest challenge, not only because doing it in English means an additional effort to me (although i love it) but because i seem to be very frugal with words, i´ve got a scientific training and tend to be quite schematic, this combined with the fact that i´m quite a shy person not very fond of showing my soul makes my journaling not too free-flowing. and i must change that, i want to change that.

so these are the facts that have made me come with this idea:

• the very cool project that shimelle is sharing in her blog this month: all about journaling, one prompt a day, 29 days in February, 29 prompts. great homework, it works, really!
• another cool challenge blog: Ashley Wren´s overlooked. she gives you something to photograph one week, a prompt to write about it the next week and the third one you must join it all together in a layout, art journal page or whatever. funny and very inspiring! i made this layout for subject one, and i had written so much that i needed to add some extra hidden journaling on a tag (wow, that´s much for me!):

...and there are two other facts, more "personal": i´ve received at last a book i ordered... two months ago! (the journaler´s handbook by tracy white) and in a couple of weeks or so i will have my first semester exams for the 4th English level at the official school of languages (where i am studying currently, again, after hundreds of years of self-study) so...i have to practice!

please, be patient with me and please, if i make terrible mistakes, tell me!

olw #18 challenge: still (*EDITED*)

12x12 layout. papers, ribbon and mat:rainbow sushi collection from SiSTv; tag: Jenni Bowlin; thickers: American Crafts; overlay: Hambly. TFL!

i missed the two last OLW challenges and this... well, the last day! but didn´t want to miss another one. i painted a corrugated cardboard for the background because the bamboo mat was a bit heavy, and wanted also to put into practice something of what i´ve learned in Emily´s class about paint. besides, i´ve tried to keep the rest quite simple.

the photo wanted to reflect the still life of a sunny saturday afternoon, i love the sun in winter, as we pass the whole summer triying to escape from it, in winter the feeling of its warming light is one of the best things and after several cold days or, what is worst thick fog, this sunny afternoon brightened our saturday.

have a nice weekend!

*this layout has been chosen this week for The Catwalk at SIS TV, i appreciate it so much and i´m so excited...WOW!thank you!*

using an onomatopoeia: sniff

12x12 layout. Cardstock: Bazzill; papers: Jenni Bowlin, Creative Imaginations, 7gypsies; overlay: Hambly; labels: printable digikit from 2Peas in a Bucket; rub-ons: Chatterbox, Love Elsie; chipboard accent: ScenicRoute; ink: DistressInk. TFL!

I made this layout for 1Worldscrap´s January challenge: using an onomatopoeia as title. Journaling reads: "princesses don´t cry..." "sure! but i cry because i´m a little princess" (note: she was dressed with her brand new "The Beauty" princess costume).

This weekend is being quite productive: some scrapping, practising new photography skills, mainly reading the user´s manual and -just in time- the new Tutorials at Two Peas in a Bucket "12 weeks to better photos" (have a look if you still haven´t, it´s interesting) and, of course, painting for Emily´s class...and I still have a whole Sunday ahead!

Enjoy yours!

art journal

This is an art journal i´m making for Emily Falconbridge´s "Got Paint?" class (Big Picture). So much fun playing with paints and Emily´s tips... it´s being fantastic!! I´m enjoying my messy table full of paints and painting tools and learning new techniques, of course. Signing up for this class was a kind of b-day present and i can say i´m very happy for it!

words, photos and necklaces

The day before yesterday (Jan 6th) The Three Kings (Three Wise Men) came to our home and left all kind of toys and presents. Such a generous treat once a year is very pleasant, especially for kids of course, but I can´t complain either. I´ve got a new SLR digi-camera, my first digital SRL in fact! A bargain. Won´t be “the latest”, won´t be the best but it´s good enough and for me is a very important qualitative step which will allow me to learn and explore and improve my photography skills (or so I hope) I´m so excited…

And just talking about learning, my little word for this year is going to be this: GROW. Well, last year I chose SIMPLIFY but I think I didn´t take it seriously enough so I´m going to reelect it again and this year I want to commit more strongly. Therefore, here there are my two words:

SIMPLIFY + GROW

Both are full of meanings for me. SIMPLIFY is cleanliness, order and organization, surrounding myself with few beautiful things that touch my soul, focusing on the very important, doing less things but do them more consciously, recycling as much as possible and throwing away what you don´t like, need or use anymore… and GROW implicates to learn and improve my mind, my soul and my body, be more patient and balanced, take more steps forward than backwards… Too much?? Sure. Too unspecific?? Maybe. Let´s try anyway!

These days I´ve not been too much devoted to scrapbooking. With some days travelling, some days out of home, some days with people at home…I´ve been really behind with my Christmas Journal and feel totally unable to catch up, and now that everything is finished I don´t know if I´ll complete it, but I´ve had so much fun browsing the forum and the gallery and I´ve promised myself that next year I´ll try to organize it much better.

What I´ve made are some presents, like these necklaces with polymer clay and felt beads for two of my very best friends.

There was a long time that I didn´t make this kind of stuff and it´s necessary to change your “creative activities” once in a while, isn´t it?

Yesterday it was a day for cleaning up and take a peek at January sales, but today… back to work, back to routine, back to real life and a whole year ahead to fill with great projects!