End of Summer Fun!

XOXO DT has been busy enjoying their families and making memories!

I don't know about all of you but our Summer started off crazy and school wasn't even out yet!

Up here in the Northern part of the continent it took us some time to get that Summer weather...

We got the chance to get a family trip in!

Got a new sport captured for my son...He started T-ball this year. My daughter went back into Soccer after taking a season off. So, I will have some more scrapping to get in!

I am welcoming...well this Jersey Girl doesn't want to welcome the end of Summer!

But I am excited for Back to School...

every time I see school supplies lining the aisles. 

I get that jingle from that Staples commercial a few years ago! 

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Anyway, I am going to get us started with a page! 

I did this page using pictures from one of our favorite stops on our New Jersey broadwalk before our move to Canada!      

Wendy's DT Reveal For April

At XOXO Scrapbooking, we are fortunate to have Renee Johnson from Australia to provide us with a great two-page spread!  Renee's page is very artistic with great feminine elements.

Unfortunately for me, I could not simply copy/lift her page as is.  I had more masculine photos on hand.  However, I enjoyed referring to Renee's work to get me started.  First, I reduced the size to just one page.  I lifted the paper layers.  I also added twine trim (instead of the banner) and simple brads (instead of the tulle).  Overall, I am pleased how my page turned out.  Thanks Renee for the inspiration!

 I can't wait to see what you come up!  Be sure to link up your work by April 30th.

Materials Used: Bazzill cardstock, Fancy Pants Design Inc - Blissful Blizzard papers, Paper Trunk - Benny alphabet (white), Prima - twin trim, brads, Simple Stories - Harvest Lane alphabet (blocks), and Close To My Heart - cocoa ink.

April Challenge... Its a good one.

Here we are, now in April, and the year is slipping away from us already. This month we have a great challenge for you. Can you be inspired by a double page layout? We hope so.

 

Introducing Renee Johnson, our guest designer for April.

 

 

My name is Renee Johnson, and I live in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. By day I coach gymnastics and look after my three children, whilst my nights are mostly for scrapbooking.
Whilst I have always been into journalling and trying to record those precious moments and hilarious comments the kids come out with, I fell in love with scrapbooking whilst trying to find a gift for the family member who has absolutely everything. When I saw how much better the photos looked rather than drably sitting in my album I became very hooked, and am still on a crazy mission to get through those albums and piles (and piles and piles) of photos.

After several years now of copying layouts in magazines, trawling the internet for inspiration and trialling new products  I am finally 'getting there' and will greatly enjoy sharing my work with others and discovering new styles and trends. I am so excited to join XOXO as a guest designer and I hope you find something in this layout to inspire you!

 

To see more from Renee, please call past her blog and make sure you leave some love.

Renee has put forward a layout that can inspire you in many ways. Remember that the aim is to scraplift the challenge layout or use the elements from it as inspiration on your project.

We would love to see what you come up with from this one. Will it be a double too, or will you use the colours, the general design or embellishment ideas as your project base. Whatever you do, don't forget to come back and upload it to our linky in the sidebar, so you to may have a chance to be our guest designer.

 

If you don't have a blog, please link it to our facebook page.

 

We look forward to seeing your awesome projects this month.

My Kids on the ROCK!

This month I used colors! OK, OK and Black, but everything goes with black!

I tend to go to earthy tones and use distressing a lot in my crafting. But this month, our guest DT, Kerry gave us an awesome layout to lift!

So, since my son had on a red t-shirt and overalls. My daughter in white with a black sequined skirt. I found the perfect papers in my stacks! I turned the direction of the sketch/layout to fit my pictures.

I didn't journal yet! The lighting could have been better! But this month was flying by and I wanted to make sure I got this post up! 

The photos were taken before my son's 3th birthday photo shoot. 

It was the 1st studio pictures my kids had done together on the Rock! 

To Newfoundlanders, they proudly call the island of Newfoundland the "ROCK"! 

And how fitting that the prop for this occasion was a rock! Which was totally coincidental!

Here is Kerry's page:

There is still time to play along! Just link your layout on the sidebar!

Another DT Reveal for March

It is my turn to reveal my take on this month's challenge at XOXO Scrapbooking!  Our guest designer, Kerry, created a beautiful layout for us to lift this month!  I enjoyed working with the triangles and all the little details Kerry used on her page.  Here is Kerry's work:

This is what I created:

It is funny to me that after I take a picture and then upload it that I realize I need to fix something.  In this case, it was my banners (too big) and my title (just off).  So I adjusted my layout to create this:

Better.  However, since I lifted and moved my letters, I left behind a bit of distressing.  So to even out the look, I grabbed those orphaned sticker letters in my stash and applied them all over the white background paper.  Then I removed them.  Now the white paper is evenly distressed and nothing looks out of place.  A new use of alphabets - AND the best part was that I was able to toss an empty alphabet sheet in the trash!  YAY!

I hope that you are able to join us in this challenge.  The links close on March 31st.

Materials Used: We R Memory Keepers cardstock, cardstock, scrap paper, silk flowers, glitter brads, My Mind's Eye - Lush 2 Turquoise rhinestones, Snap - Flair, Paper Trunk - Carson alphabet, unknown manufacturer of sticker, and metal hearts.

Welcome to March

Our March challenge has been set, and the sample layout is stunning. Our guest DT member Kerry is back again setting the challenge for us.

 

Remember the challenge is to scraplift this layout, or be inspired by something on it. It could be the colours, shapes, papers or photos.

 

Isn't it beautiful?

 

Don't forget to upload your take on the challenge by the end of the month to the linky in the sidebar.

 

Thank you Kerry for being our guest DT. Its been fun and we hope you play along with us again soon.

Say hello to....

our gorgeous guest designer for March

 

Kerry Bruce

 

 

Hi everyone my name is Kerry Bruce, I live in the East of England and have been scrapbooking for about nine years.

I also run a scrapbook club locally, enjoying the company of like minded crazy crafters!

My three girls are usually the subject of my pages so most of my layouts are feminine and flowery with added bright colours. 

I love to travel - armed with camera of course! Any opportunity to get more photo's and I'm a happy bunny.

My worst habit is not adding journaling straight away and my favourite thing to do on my page is to fussy cut flowers from patterned paper for my embellishing. Hope you enjoy my layout. xx

 

Call past Kerrys blog and check out her work. Don't forget to leave some love.

 

Here is Kerrys take on Kimmys February challenge layout.

And here is Kimmys original. You have a little bit of time left to get your layouts uploaded to be in the running to join the DT, like Kerry. Get scrapping and uploading, we want to see your stuff. 

 

Join us soon for Kerrys guest DT layout will be shared in March.