Pay It Forward Contest

It's that time again where I have this overwhelming urge to thank the universe for being so giving by Paying it Forward. If you follow my blog you will have read a post about a little girl named Keaton aka Kiki. She is a precocious two year old with cancer. For more details and photos please go back and read Kisses for Keaton. I am doing an album ( a very special album) for the family. I asked a few people for donations and was thrilled to get a few yes'! So as a way to say thank-you I am hosting another contest to say thank-you to those that give back. Yesterday September 29,2013 Kiki's mom decided to bring herself to her daughters level. Mom wanted to show her how much she loved her and that she would do anything for her so mom shaved off her beautiful long blonde hair at a benefit held in Toronto called Kisses for Keaton Bald is Beautiful Fun Fair.

This is Kiki and her mom today.

 

The prize for this Pay it Forward Contest includes the Crate Paper Collection Emma's Shoppe including the diecuts. Rubons, Trinkets & Brads from Bo Bunny's Prairie Chic Collection, a Chippy from LeakyShed, ATC Chips from 7 gypsies, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad in Red Brick, a music note stamp from Kaisercraft, and a package of Pink & White Roses from Prima. This is my gift to the winner.

 

All you have to do to have a chance to win this prize is:

1) Become a FOLLOWER  of this blog!

2) Share this contest on your Facebook page and or your blog and it will get you a extra entry for each share! (Optional)

3) Visit the Kisses for Keaton facebook page and leave some love tell them who sent you (Optional) I will be checking and again this will count for an extra chance to win!

4) Also leave a comment and let me know where you shared this post! (if you did)

That's it. Really it's about paying it forward to Kiki this month and I hope you'll join me!

 

The contest begins October 1st and ends on October 31st. The winner will be announced on November 1st, 2013.

I thank-you from the bottom of my heart for participating in this contest and can't wait to give away this prize that comes from my personal stash.

All the best!

Hugs

Pam

too cute for words

This a layout I did for the September Sketch Challenge at Creative Scrappers. Another grandchild page of course. Four year old Emily on her first Ferriswheel  ride a Santa's Village in Bracebridge. 

 This was the sketch we had to work with.

I wanted the circles and stars to really stand out so I gave them a little extra attention.

 I will let it be known now that I had major issues masking this layout. One I wasn't feeling well and was also having issues with my right arm (currently under investigation).  Trying to mask around all the circles and stars well it didn't go the greatest but I didn't have another sheet of paper this color so I just tried to clean it up a bit and forge ahead. I mean they can't all be perfect right? Right? :( I doubled up my circles and then stitched them in the middle. I also stamped this one with a heart and the next one down with stars.

The smaller circles I cut with my silhouette and then backed them with another circle sprayed with gold shimmer mist.

I painted over the stars with Modge Podge then added glitter. In order to hold the glitter in place I used hairspray because I ran out of Glimmer Mist. Hey it worked :)

 One last close-up. The papers are from Websters Pages ParkDrive Collection. The bling was just some I had in my stash. Well I finally received my bottle of Ferro in the mail yesterday. Mine dried out because I let it sit too long, then the company sent me the wrong color and when we established the right color it took almost four weeks to get here from Colorado. A record for sure. Most of the time things come within a week or two. Not my month I guess. So I am going to try and finish my Advent Calendar after I do a ton more Fall cleaning. I am also hosting a huge baby shower this weekend with 50 people and am pulling out my hair trying to organize not only the shower but the rooms as everyone of my girls is spending the weekend with their kids! Full house!

Yeah me!

All the best!

 

The Good Life 13@rts Sketch Challebge

 This is the sketch at 13@rts this month. You had to use 2 stamps and 2 different media forms. I used moulding paste, gelatos, mists and my two stamps and this is what I got. . .

Granddaughter Lilly playing in the sprinklers. I love the absolute look of joy on her face! She always begs to come to grandma's house because it's always fun. Eat, sleep and play the Good Life! I used Pink Paislee's Cottage Farms paper for this layout.

This is the first time I used this mask by Finnibar and I love it! I stamped my page first let it dry then added the moulding paste on top the stamping.

I stamped some buttons and I inked some from Pink Paislee's London Market line. The flowers are a variety from both Petaloo and Prima.

Dug deep in my stash to find these two embellishments. They are from Kand & Co. the Mira line.

Flower and button bouquet at the top left of the page.

I stamped the title on the page with a lot of mishaps which shall remain nameless! Little bird also from K& Co. Mira line. I used Tim Holtz ink pads and Faber Castell gelato to color the background. I not 100% happy with this page which means I need more practice but isn't that how we learn?

 

On another note keep your eyes peeled as I feel another PAY IT FORWARD CONTEST creeping up on this blog!! So Stay tuned and have an amazing day!

 

A Family Affair

This is the sketch this month at My Creative Sketches

And this is my version. . .

This is my wedding party which includes my five daughters and two of my granddaughters. I separated the page by using a Prima mask and some moulding paste. I liked the elegant feel it gave it. I used the August Limited Edition kit from MCS which featured the beautiful paper line Plum Seed from Webster's Pages.

Sadly as I was shooting my layout it clouded over instantly and by the time I was done it was raining! I wanted to show that I used some Glimmer Glam in Chandelier and covered all the moulding paste to give it a sheen. It looks great but you can't really see it here :(

Rather than go with a big flower cluster I used the small ones that came in the kit. I wanted simple and elegant for this layout. Of course the flowers are Prima.

I used the Websters's lace that came with the kit (so pretty) and used it to help make the border on the top. A few randomly spread out beads and a cameo from Bo Bunny finished off the page. I have to be brief today as I am up to my eyeballs with things to get done. I am hosting a baby shower for my  youngest in two weeks for 40 people and am helping her get the house ready (grandpa is renovating the nursery so you can imagine the plaster dust!). She is so lucky we live only a block apart! Plus I have company coming this weekend and next weekend all five girls are coming home with the grandchildren for the shower and everyone wants to spend the whole weekend with mommy!  (I love it :) ) It's Friday the 13th so either be careful or buy a lottery ticket depends upon your view of the day. Either way have a great weekend! :)

 

Kisses for Keaton

This is not one of my regular blog posts. This one is very special. I would like you to meet an incredible little girl. . .please allow me to introduce two year old Keaton aka Kiki



Adorable isn't she? She's two years old

AND

on February 24th of this year Keaton was diagnosed with ALL

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

this is Keaton today

Acute Lymphoblasitc Leukemia is a fast growing cancer of the while blood cells. Lymphocytes are those blood cells that protect us from infection and are produced by our bone marrow. In leukemia the lymphocytes don't form properly  and suddenly the bone marrow is pumping out too many not properly formed white blood cells. The immature and malformed cells  mass produce and end up crowding out the red blood cells which is a huge problem as it is our red cells that carry oxygen through our body. Keaton's own body is attacking itself. Keaton is in the fight of her life.

 

It was through a site on face book (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kisses-for-Keaton/148650585296073)  (we also share a mutual friend) that I first learned of Keaton. Her story conveyed by her mom brought tears to my eyes. I am in awe of Keaton's mom as her approach to this battle is so positive and yet there is that underlying current of fear. She passes on insights that are heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.

 

I want to do something for this family so I have offered to document their journey as a family through this chapter in their life through a special scrap album(s) that not only will include pictures but also excerpts from Keaton's FB page and posts from her mom.

 

They are having a fundraiser for Keaton

http://baldisbeautiful2013.webs.com/

 

 

 

 

I know that most of you cannot attend but I ask, I beseech you to visit Keaton's site and leave a note of encouragement.  Not everyone can afford to make a monetary donation but there are other ways to be supportive. My daughter Jessie who is currently pregnant plans on donating her cord blood for the cause and I plan on donating blood. September is Cancer Awareness in Children month. I bring this to you today in the hopes that we can all learn from this remarkable family and their amazing little girl Kiki and do something selfless in return!

 

I will be posting the pages to the album Kisses for Keaton as they are done so stay tuned and follow this journey with me! I am currently working on getting donations of paper, embellishments, flowers etc. . .for the album from our big paper companies (so far Graphic 45 immediately came on board!) and I hope more will step forward to help.

 

Gold is the color for Child Cancer Awareness month so let's see if we can light up the world this month by wearing, scrapping or doing something in Gold. Take a picture and post it on Kiki's page! Please. . .do it for Kiki.

 

Thank-you for taking the time to read this and I truly hope that you visit the above sites. What if it were your child?

 

Pam Ellis

 

 

 

 

 

A Mother's Love @My Creative Scrapbook

A layout done with the June 2011 Main Kit from MCS. I know I'm way behind on kits but as I've mentioned before I was so busy taking care of my mom that scrapbooking took second seat and things got backed up and piled up. I am enjoying going through the older kits you forget what was out there and "in" at the time. This my daughter Stephanie and our granddaughter Isla. I love this photo. Just out for a walk on a nice day.

This is for the Dusty Attic September Sketch Challenge. The papers are Basic Grey Sweet Threads. This piece of Dusty comes from the bigger piece Floral Corners. I cut it up and used a piece here in the corner and one by the picture. Again I used Tim Holtz markers and inks to colors it. I painted behind the chipboard and then stamped it.

Here you can see another piece of the floral corners and the title which is also Dusty Attic (A Mother's Love). The flowers are Prima and the other chipboard comes from Basic Grey's Knee High & Bow Tie collection.

 

I masked around the picture with a Chevron mask and moulding paste. I also did the same paint and stamp technique here as I did in the bottom corner.

I used a rub on quote from Kaisercraft and I made the chipboard with the saying lovely, beautiful, darling. I cut a piece of chipboard out then measured the paper to fit used a little Modge Podge and then added the words easy peasy as they say! Well that's it for now I have a special post coming up I am waiting on the graphics for it but it is about something near and dear to my heart so please come back and visit again soon! In the meantime all the best!



 



Dave- Mixed Media with Bo Bunny

Last month I did a layout called Kelly. I have been working on this engagement album for awhile now and decided to end it with a profile page of the bride and one of the groom. This is the companion page to Kelly. I used Bo Bunny's Cambridge Collection with it's nice bold colors. 

 This page was more difficult as I had to really root through my stash to find more masculine embellishments. I also had to decide which mists to use without losing control of the page completely. So as you can see I went with blue, brown, green and hints of yellow.

This is how the page started. You can see the Bo Bunny papers here. I went over them with watered down Gesso.

Then came the addition of all the embellishments. A lot of Dusty Attic and Prima trinkets on this page.



 This is after I have covered all the embellishments in Gesso. I painted all my chipboard first. Because some of the pieces are so fine like the doily and the trim I wanted to be sure that all gaps and creases were properly covered.

Two of my more masculine embellishments the clock from Tim Holtz and the guitar I bought at The Art Studio in Cambridge. You can see the bold colors here. Initially I was going to continue to paint over the embellishments until they were completely white then realized that I liked how they bled through.

I thought the Dusty Attic wall was appropriate given Dave is leaning against a brick wall in the picture. You can see the blue bleeding through on the bricks and the cog I loved this effect so I left well enough alone! The birds and the leaf stem match the one on Kelly's page identically. I also set it up that when the pages are in the album the pictures will be side by side.

You can see the blue mixed with the green and brown here. I also used the keyhole from Tim Holtz to help frame the picture.

Flowers on a guy page? Yeah I liked it. I chose this flower from Prima because I loved the centre with the crystal hearts. Again I love how the green peeked through!

The ribbon was from my stash and I liked how it had that look and of course the title Dave done in Dusty Attic's Bookman letters.

Rather than use a flower on the corner I used the Dusty Attic piece doily instead and placed a bottle cap as the centre. It's still a form of flower but more masculine (to me anyways).

The last close-up. Again I really like how the colors came out at least for my first attempt with dark mists. It will take time and practice to learn misting but I have the time! Now that the album is done I can ship it out and get back to my normal routine!

 

Today is incredibly chilly! We've gone from summer straight into fall no slow transition just bang from warm to cold. The yard work beckons but I have an excuse for today anyways (wearing a heart monitor) so another day:) Well the weekend is fast approaching and I hope you have a great one! All the best! Thanks for taking the time to come and visit I hope to see you again.

 

P.S. I have a surprise coming up so STAY TUNED!

 

 

The Divine Miss Em

 Happy Labour Day Weekend! It's so hard to believe that summer has come to an end. The trees here are already dropping their leaves an indication that fall is fast approaching.

:( I love summer oh well fall is gorgeous here as well. 

After a lot of soul searching I decided to take my time and reinvent myself ( in every facet of my life). Part of that process is going back through my stash and start using up old kits and papers I've had on my shelf for years. This is my first project. It was the very first paper pack I bought from Crate Paper called the Katlin Collection. I bought this wow maybe six years ago, I know it was one of my first purchases. It matched this picture of my granddaughter Emily perfectly.

I love this picture of Em. She is a tiny four year old with the smile of an angel and a larger than life personality. It was her hat that threw me off and it took awhile before I realized that I had to change the paper a bit to fit perfectly.

I did a lot of inking on this page trying to pull in the colors of Emily's hat. The dark purple stood out the most so I decided to use it as my primary color. I also did some stamping and  masking as you can see along the left side. The chipboard is Dusty Attic (Corner Flourish #2).

Dark purple is Bo Bunny, light purple is Prima and all the rest are my flowers. I made the pink ones using paper from the collection to add more pink to the page. I also made the white ones. The little heart trinket I bought at the Art Studio in Cambridge a store owned by Karen Ellis from Canadian Scrapbooking magazine. I could live in that store! She has an amazing collection of masks and mists and everything!

I punched out a flower border and used ZVA crystals as the centres. You can see behind everything is more stamping done in yellow. I tired to used all the colors of the line that were also in Em's hat.

Close-up of the Dusty Attic piece Corner Flourish #2 I used. I painted it with white paint as a primer then used my trusty Tim Holtz markers and ink pads to color it. I gave the blooms a little spray of Vintage Pink Shimmer Mist. You can't tell here but they do sparkle. I also hand stitched around the page with purple floss mixed with a metallic pearl.

Another Dusty Attic piece ATC Frame #1. Originally I was going to cut the frame in half and have only half come from the top of the page. But I had stamped this image on the page very lightly and when my daughter saw it she picked up the frame and put it over the flowers and the light bulb went off. She was right it looked much better so I went over the image with a marker to bring it out more then framed it.

And a final shot of the piece.

This month is going to be very busy for me. I have the engagement album to finish and then ship out. My youngest daughter Jessie is expecting and today I got to see my little grandson on an ultrasound! He's gorgeous! I am hosting a shower for Jessie this month as well for about fifty people and still have to get the garden back under control and ready for the fall. And of course there is scrapping! I hope you all have a great weekend! Be safe have fun! All the best!