Moments Like These

When I saw this idea from Teneale (SU Artisan) using the Project Life Accessory pack from Moments Like These...I knew I had to recreate it. Mostly the same, some of my own twists, obviously my own family photos! I chose to use them in colour, since the sunset shots went well with the kit colours. I used black matting to tie it all together!
Such fun and quick to make! I love it!

(and I got to use my Rotary stamp that has such potential, but underused so far by me.)

smiles,

Laurie

Summertime Banner Building

Gearing up for a new Banner Builder class...pretty excited by the new shapes that are part of the new Build a Banner kit. Playing with the exciting Flower Patch stamp set and matching dies. 

Using stencils from the kit and the sun ray from one of the card kits. 

Lots of new products used to pull this together. I love the new Ronald McDonald House Charity stamp set and matching punch. So many possibilities ~ the tree, an icecream cone! 

Even used some "punch art" in this banner. What better than watermelon in the summer...and flip flops! Accented the whole banner with some pieces of  the wonderful chevron ribbon.

smiles,

Laurie

A little of This and That

One of my favourite styles of scrapbooking has been updated lately with the fun idea of Smash books, or the Stampin'Up! version, the This and That book. A great coil notebook with wonderful patterned pages to fill with memories. I ran  a class last year, online with prompts to Capture the wonderful moments of summer. And I'll be running another this summer. Here a couple sample pages of how easy and quick it is to document great memories.

 Some pages don't even need photos ~ some can be more of a 'classic' scrapbook layout.

 A bit of washi tape and some journalling easily complete a page.

smiles,

 Laurie

From the Herd~ some Advice from my Daughter

 I'm getting a head start to my new May...a Month of developing habits!
My daughter recently mused, "why wouldn't I break my time down into blocks like at school and do things in assigned times" There seems to be great merit in that...despite the fact that there are too many things to do in a typical day to actually schedule time for them all adequately and interruptions run rampant, but I'm going to give it a try this coming month...and within the scheduling define a few habits to create a streamline life. (Breathe! that was a long sentence!)
For example, we have just finished our taxes (in Canada, that's okay, we have till April 30) but it is the latest my husband and I have done them in years. For my part, I need to pull off data from our bookkeeping, which means having done the bookkeeping! ..and done it accurately. Fortunately, or not, I file quarterly GST reports which does create a deadline for keeping up with the biggest majority of it. One goal is to create a time for input more regularly (which will greatly reduce the paper clutter on my desks as well, yay!) and redefine a couple categories, so specific items needed for deductions will be easier to pull straight out from reports.
My reward for this should surely be time to create, don't you think!?

I'll keep you posted on the other habits I'm hoping to incorporate in my new "timetable".

I want to share with you this fun little card I'm doing for classes this week.

I adore this sweet stamp set. It was probably the first I spotted that I knew I needed to have while flipping through the Occasions catalogue when it was first released (and we know, there have become many sets that I have had to get from this great catalogue since!) I'm looking forward to playing with it with more ladies this week in the upcoming classes. Teaching them this neat Telescoping card template, along with a Spinner Window card idea.

smiles, Laurie

If you need to see more details and ideas for this set you can find them online in my store

www.lauriel.stampinup.net

Creative Blog Hop ~ Project Life by Stampin'Up!

Today is my turn to post on the Creative Blog Hop … typically these posts are done in the morning, I struggled with an early morning post in my house, but noon is pretty good for me! Thanks to Amber Meulenbelt at Stamp with Amber for nominating me. This blog hop doesn't require a commitment - just the one post where you answer a few questions and then nominate two other stampers to carry on next week. It's a sort of creative chain letter ;) 

So faced with putting together this post with no theme...I tried to think what I'd like to showcase...
So many stamps ~ so little time!
I'm not sure the exact chain of thoughts that led me to showing off our wonderful Project Life ~ I'm teaching a class of 10 Grade 6 Girls right now...Capturing their first year in Middle School...so scrapbooking is on my mind...
I'm very pleased with how these turned out...and planning on working with the Love set pretty soon to see how they'll turn out (stay classic Black & white or add dramatic splashes of colour!?)

I added in the Crazy About You stamps and a couple small flowers with pearls.

This was the first one I started with, using the background as a jumping point and adding in African animals to match the print. To use these cards you simply need to trim down the 4 x 6 card to 4 x 5 1/4. The little stamp comes from Let's Get Away...one of the new PL by SU sets in the new Occasions catalogue.

This was my last card and I almost didn't finish it up last night (it was getting late) but really look how simple it is! a little layer of textured paper, a couple little banners, and the most perfect stamp from my new Favourite set Adventure Awaits!

No stamps needed! How perfect is this? A 3 x 4 card layered over the 4 x 6 card onto a base. I added the smidge of 'bling' by using the banner die from Celebrate Today.

 Perfect cards for mailing!

The second component of the Creative Blog Hop is to answer the four questions:

1. What are you working on right now?
 I'm still finishing class content for the next couple ideas to share with the Ladies I have coming to class the next couple days....and I'm always working on organizing and decluttering my room.

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?
The way I do my classes is really unique...I do not pre-cut anything. I design a class, but when the ladies come they take the technique, template or idea and make it their own with colour choice and even altering the design a bit. I've always done this. It's really wonderful to see what they create!
 
3. Why do you create what you do?
I've always said the serendipity of working this business is that I actually do take time to create projects, pages and home decor in order to have it ready for a class. Usually seasonal cues for what I actually present in class.

4. How does your creativity work?
 I usually have a specific stamp or tool that I want to work with and then it just goes from there. Inspiration comes from Pinterest, blogs and magazines. Once I start working and get away from the computer, it seems to flow from actually working with what's in front of me~ colours, product, ideas.

 
And now it's my turn to nominate a talented lady to participate in the Creative Blog Hop next week: Krista Frattin at Stampin'Dolce  I'm so happy to have met her as a fellow Demonstrator. She inspires me with her creativity and verve for life.
 Check out her blog, if you haven't already. She is one of this year's illustrious Artisans! Let her know you've visited - and then come back next Monday (March 16) to see what she's come up with. I know you'll love her projects!

Thanks again to Amber for asking me to be part of the Creative Blog Hop. It was fun!

 (come back and visit here, too! I'll be sure to post again! thanks for stopping by!)

what did you do all day?

I came across this post a couple days ago and I loved it. Wanted to share!

what did you do all day?

A great reminder to remember all the little moments as well as the momentous!


A tradition we do around Christmas is sleeping under the tree, this is the girls snuggling back in the next morning. It's a bit of an example of what keeps me busy..but not 'productive' per se, right?!

smiles, Laurie

Friday Night ~ Working late!

I'm going to be a guest blog hopping stop on Monday...so watch for that!
In the meantime, I'm also busy scouring for ideas of page layouts for my Kids Scrapbook Club to do on Monday.
I started a project in September with ten young ladies to Capture their first year in Middle School.
We have been having a wonderful time doing just that. This upcoming class, I'm thinking we need to work in a place to Capture all the Field Trips they do throughout the year...trips that I don't necessarily have photos for!
I have an idea in my head of how I'd like the page to shape up...but not finding anyone online with the same thought as me!?! I hate when that happens...how can no one have already done what I'd like to copy from inside my head? : )
I'll let you know how it turns out..and how their adaptions come together!
I am coming up with a few other technique ideas to work with for other pages...even if just for my own pages!

A Delayed Resolution Kicked off ~ Cutting Clutter

An ongoing deal in my home is keeping on top of clutter. It’s easy to accumulate clutter. I've tried several "systems" and they all have great ideas. As i continue to read the many articles and books out there, I am pleased by how many practices I do have in place, but leaves me scratching my head, then why is it such a battle!  

For everything that comes in something has to go out; makes great sense to me, but is not practiced in our place at all... I have such trouble getting rid of things that might still be practical, or I might use someday. A favourite site of mine is FlyLady...She is wonderful with her Babysteps idea, and 15 minute timer...but that 27 Fling Boogie is impossible so far for me. Tried it again this afternoon! Congratulated myself with hitting 8...I'll keep working on it.

I try so hard to hold to the rule, "Everything to have a home", ...if it has a home, it's easy to return things, but when the 'homes' get crowded, then, it's difficult to put things back and it's frustrating as piles begin...and amazing how quickly they grow! In the craft room this is essential, paper pieces are like rabbits the way they multiply!
 ~ and Stampin'Up! has to stop making such fabulous Stamp sets...the shelves are starting to sag a bit : D
Specialists note that so much stuff around us each day can easily make us feel overwhelmed and defeated with the idea that it’s possible to get the home tidy and organised. Fortunately, for me, I am ever the optimist and will keep reading the "How-to's" and putting it into practice ~ and bit by bit keep it all at bay .

I've just had to find a spot in my Craft room to call home for the whole new Project Life by Stampin'Up! product line. This new avenue is fantastic and a whole new genre of stamps that work in Planners, the Daily albums and are versatile enough to make great cards, too! (look at these great examples by Aly Stamps).

Let me know your favourite tip or trick for keeping on top of a Hot Spot in your Home...

smiles,
Laurie

Jason F Wright ~Keynote Speaker at SU's Leadership Conference in Orlando

Just prior to packing to attend our annual Leadership the latter part of January in Orlando, I noticed that we would be having a keynote speaker at the event. I Googled his name to discover that he is an author ~ not only that but by sheer coincidence, he is the author of the book I had been reading at the time, having started it just before Christmas! A book called Christmas Jars Reunion.

I read a bit of the endorsements of him as a speaker and was really looking forward to hearing his talk.  His earlier books are about letter writing, so I knew he would be a perfect fit for the assembled group of cardmakers. Indeed, he was engaging and validated our art of card making. He gave examples from his own life experiences and others, of how letters touch the heart, renewing our belief that sending a note in a card is a powerful thing!

So my funny part of the story comes in here...I had decided that I would bring along the book I had borrowed from the library, not really having time to go buy another one of his books, yet. I was still reading it, and as a active patron of the Library, I thought, it might be kind of neat to return a signed copy to the Library here in town...

After the morning session, it didn't seem likely that he was doing a meet and greet,so I went on with the day, attending a breakout session and then having lunch. But later, down in the Product Playground area, I noticed him being escorted around by Donna Griffith. I scooched over and fished out my library book. He was thrilled to see I had his book, and beckoned me forward! I had it open, forgetting of course, that authors sign on the page that has the title and themselves, as the author, a few pages in, so as he searched for his marker and turned pages to get there I gushed about his wonderful talk. Then he saw the large stamp exactly where he should be signing his name of the Rocky Public Library. I think he was pretty surprised, but made a quick recovery as he exclaimed, "this is a Library book,... you've stolen this book...she's stolen this book." he announced to Donna. I hastily assured him, I hadn't, that I was a big patron of the libraries and figured they'd love to have an autographed book in their system by him!

this is him not quite believing me, I think! (I should assure you that he was taking this all in good humour! He is quite a joker and uses comedy to relate to his audiences!)

I flipped  a page back and said, "there, just sign there" He was laughing then and said "who should I make it to?" and then  "wait, others will want to steal this book!" so he proceeded to print on top of the page he'd signed, "don't steal this book!" and drew a happy face! 

thanks to Donna for capturing a few fun shots of the encounter! : D

smiles,

Laurie

New Entry ~ New Start

Ah, my little blog! I find sticking to it tough, when I'm pretty sure I'm talking to myself...however in the genre of keeping a diary...I'm going to start back at it...I haven't kept a diary for a lot of years now...but I have dozens of filled books from my 20's and before...having children and being happy seems to take precedent over self-exploration!
I remember travelling with a friend of the day and laughing as she stated the only times she wrote in her travel journal was when she was lonely, sad and cranky..and what fun that would be to read when she was an old woman! : D
I recently pulled out a couple old diaries and one evening was interrupted in my reading one of my entires. Later that evening, when leaving a friend's place, I told her I was really excited to get back home to finish reading a few more pages in my diary, I told her I didn't know what was gong to happen next and couldn't wait to find out! LOL ~ I'm glad I wrote quite a few entries to keep this tangled brain on track as I get older!
Sometimes I photocopied a letter I sent home before mailing it...for the exact reason my friend had said about cranky entries...Generally, when we wrote home, we sent newsy, happy accounts of what we'd been up to...so it rounded out any lonely entries. We're talking the old days, when travelling for several months meant maybe one phone collect call home and otherwise no other contact with back home except the one way communication by us via postcards and the odd letter... Loved the adventure!

So if you'd like to follow along, I'm going to start regular entries. I've been quite keen on the idea of sending a little love through the mail via a card over the past couple years, but not as diligent as I was few years ago. A Challenge was recently issued to send off 40 cards during Lent...so, bolstered by a number of other women joining this challenge, I'm going to start back at it and create a habit of something I heartily agree with!
Tomorrow, I'll post a funny story of meeting up with the author, Jason F Wright, at our recent Leadership Conference. He was our fabulous keynote speaker, and I was lucky enough to meet up with him afterwards!

This is one of the Curvy boxes I made back in December for my Daughter's tree...Seven Swans a Swimming!

smiles,

Laurie