Wild dolphins

This summer we have had visitors no one can remember have seeing here earlier: wild dolphins

Patterned paper: American Craft (Project life). Vellum shapes: Studio calico. Alphas: Jillibean Soup (red), Basic Grey (blue). Buttons and ric rac: unknown. Flair: The Paper Bakery

Journaling says; "On irregular times wild dolphins have visited Aarefjorden this summer, not the regular harbour porpoises, but the real common dolphins. J & H were lucky and got to swim with them, and lots of us could watch them from either land or boat."

Details:

I don't do Project Life, but the AC Nautical PL collection is perfect for any layout featuring our life by the sea

 Instead of inking up the edges of the cards (to make them pop more), I have oulined them with a black pen. Not perfect lines, but it softenes up the straight design.

I haven't scrapped much this summer. We have had the most lovely, warm summer ever,  it has been too nice to scrap, and we have been busy just enjoing the time off. This means I have tons of photos to scrap, and I needed some fresh ideas to get me started again.

I was browsing for inspiration when I stumbled upon the sketch blog Sketch-N-Scrap and their skethches made it so easy get going. The layout above is made with the August 1th sketch by Lisa Hidy:

If you are in need for a sketch for inspiration, I strongly suggest a visit to the Sketch-N-Scrap blog - they have lots of great sketches for both layouts and cards!

Every day is a fashion show...

This is my 15 year old son:

Printed black cardstock: ClubScrap. Orange paper: Karen Foster. Other pattern paper: Lemon Owl.
Chipboard: Maya Road. Epoxy stickers: Freckled Fawn. Alphas: Basic Grey (small), AC (others).
Journaling spot: Kaiser Craft. Tab: Simple Stories

He is a fashionist and plans his outfits very carefully. But then his dad cought him dressed like this on their annual "Dads-and-kids-camping-on-a-nearby-island" trip: pyjamas trousers, crocks - and his mother's rain jacket. Scrap worthy!

I found the inpiration for this layout in the Scrap Around The World's August mood board:

The theme, Fashion, was perfect for my photo, and I let the long title be one of the main elements in my design.

Here are some close ups of details:

Hand cut "arrows" and cloth themed chipboard inked in black.

Thank you for taking your time to stop by! Tell me, do you have a fashionist at home, too?

Thank You cards part 3/3

Today is the reveal of the last Thank You cards I made to than friends and family for the support after FIL passing away. You find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

For today's cards I have played with old Webster's pages 6*6 papers and flowers:

Thank you for stopping by - it means a lot to me :-)

Happy - The Studio Challenges Mood board challenge

The wonderful Tessa has created an awesome mood board for The Studio Challenges to work with:

The entire mood board inspired me to make the layout below: the theme, the colors and the details as the swim wear, sun deck chairs and the waves.

My youngest son just loves to swim - ocean or pool - it doesn't matter as long as he may swim.

Splash paper: Bo Bunny. Yellow paper: Studio Calico. Feelt stickers: Creative Scrappers. Chair border: SEI
Badge: unknown

Want to use a sun burst paper background but don't have one? DIY! It's so easy - all you need is two paers and a craft knife. I sketch up where I wanted the burst with a pencil and cut out the parts free hand. No ruler involved :-)

More detail photos:

Do you want to play with us at The Studio Challenges?
Please head over to the blog to see the rest of the DT's lovely interpretations of the mood board and to see how you can win a prize from our sponsor, 

Thank you cards (part 2/3)

As I promised in Sunday's post I would show some pink Than You cards today.

The design is pretty much the same on all cards, which makes them fast to make, but the different recipients will never know they are "mass produced".

As I have used papers from my scrap pile, I'm not sure about manufactores, but I believe there is some Lily Bee and SEI on the first three ones and SEI on the next ones. Chipboard from SEI.

Next Wednesday I'll give to you part III of the cards I made to thank family and friends for the support we received when my dear FIL died three weeks ago. They are made with papers from Webster's Pages and even include lots of flowers (!).

Thank you for taking time to stop by!

Thank you cards (part 1/3)

My FIL passed away 2 1/2 weeks ago and his funeral was on Tuesday. We are happy to have good friends and family members who have supported us since his passing away, and they all deserve a big Thank You.
Hubby and kids have been away this weekend, their annual father-and-kids-no-mums-allowed trip with the neighbours, so I decided to use my free time wisely and make cards.

I managed to whip up twentytwo cards this weekend - and still had time to do other stuff, too. My secret? I make small card kits when I have too much scrap and on-of-a-kind embellies! They were perfect for this occation - no need to look for matching papers and embellies - it was already done (papers even cut down to 6"*6"). Manufactorers/paper lines? I don't have a clue *lol*

Today I give you six cards - all of them quite flat and ready to be shipped by air mail.

As you migh have noticed, these cards all have bows (so easy to add structure to a simple card!) and the same main colors: blue, green and yellow.

 Please come back on Wednesday for pink Thank You cards :-)

The Last Stroll (The Studio Challenges August 3rd Button challenge)

This is my FIL, who passed away last Wednesday night. He was very special to us as he has lived with us since 1995 - my kids has grown up with him too, not their parents only. The journaling says: "The last week grandpa was alive, he chose to stay at the hospital. There he would get the nursing, and the care, he needed. Cliff visited him every day, and the day before grandpa died, grandpa asked to be taken on a stroll - a wish Cliff gladly made come true".

Background paper: Webster's Pages. Flowers: Petaloo, Prima. Alpha: Jillibean Soup. Buttons: from my stash

This layout is made for The Studio Challenges' button challenge:
Today's challenge is all about Buttons! We want to see the creative ways you use buttons on your layouts!

I very often use buttons on my layouts: as the main part of my layouts are masculine, and masculine embilleshments can be hard to find, I find buttons very handy. I usually scatter them around to balance the design, like on the layout above.

Details:

I just love how many colors and structures buttons come in!

Please head over to The Studio Challenges' blog to see how the rest of the DT has used buttons and to play along.

This month the winner will receive a package of chippies from this month's sponsorA2Z Scraplets.